Anime I Have Watched And Enjoyed (the more thought provoking collection)

Mostly I watch anime for the same thing I watch all television: escapism. However some anime series made me think a little more deeply then you average fun and fluffy show. These are my favorites thus far:


Death Note:

Love it or hate it, people who watch the show generally come away with some sort of strong reaction to it. In fact anime fans are so divided over whether the series is genius or simply unwatchable that some review sites post two completely different reviews from either stand point.

I have to say I love Death Note. I think it's a fantastic anime for many reasons but most of all because it made me think while I watched it. Death Note tells the story of a young man (Light) who, through chance, ends up getting the power to kill anyone in the world and the brilliant young detective (L) who is hell bent on stopping him. The series delves into such questions as: what is justice, is killing ever justified, who decides what is moral-an individual, society, the government, does power always corrupt, and does the ends always justify the means?


 It is available on Netflix watch instantly.

Mushi-shi

 Mushi-shi was the first anime I ever watched were I said to myself 'this is art.' The animation style is beautiful; soft and dreamlike while still being highly detailed. The sound track is so lovely that, for the first time ever, I went out and got it. The story itself weaves science with mythology together to create an organism that exists both in our world and outside of it called 'mushi'.

 The anime is set sometime between the Edo and Meiji periods and follows Ginko-a mushi master-who travels, studying mushi and helping out when the mushi's world and out world don't intact as harmoniously as they could.

There is a lot in Mushi-shi about how we choose to interact with our surroundings, and how even things we can't see or outwardly detect can change our environments and lives.

Mushi-shi is available to watch on both Netflix watch instantly and Hulu.

Durarara!!

Durarara!! tells the story of several small groups of people-sometimes connected and sometimes not-living in Ikebukuro,Tokyo. The anime uses magical realism to look at the phenomenon of urban legend; how legends start and how information travels and changes.

In the series some urban legends that seem incredible are true. For instance the legend of the headless motorcyclists is true, she is in fact headless and sharing an apartment in the city with a med student. While some legends, like the Dollars Gang, start out as false and end up taking on a life of their own.

I have to admit I haven't finished the show yet but I love the art style and how it make me think about how and why we tell stories and the kind of power these stories have over us.

Available to watch on Crunchyroll

No.6

No. 6 is the only anime on this list which is still on going. As of today only 8 out of 10 episodes have been aired in Japan and the entire series won't be officially available in the US for another year. However you can watch the show so far subbed online.

No. 6 is a dystopian story that follows one, rather quiet and geeky young man living in an utopian-like city-'No. 6'- completely cut off from what seems to be a post-apocalyptic world.

I am not a huge fan of dystopia in general but I have fallen in love with No. 6 because it emphasizes human kindness. Sion the main character shows kindness to a hurt and scared boy his own age (Nezumi) when he's twelve an act that changes both their lives forever.

In No. 6 the fear, hatred and oppressive government regime that has separated the city from the destroyed wasteland outside is broken down when Sion acts in kindness towards someone he has been taught to fear. When Nezumi returns that kindness four years later the two create not only a deep personal bond but also a knew way of being totally foreign to life both inside the city and outside.

A few days ago I wrote a post about kindness in post-apocalyptic literature. So I'm thrilled to find a dystopian/apocalyptic sci-fi show that portrays kindness as being our greatest strength against oppression and out greatest tool for survival.

The show has also generated a lot of controversy because the relationship between the two main (male) characters seems to be making its way from friendship towards a romantic relationship. I think it's a little too soon to say if these characters will be portrayed as gay but if so it would definitely be one of the best portrayals of a gay relationship in anime and probably grounds for me to write totally separate review.

Available to watch with subtitles as it is air in Japan on Crunchyroll

Crafty Me

So I'm starting school again in a week, and I've also been moving into my new room. The bad thing about moving is for me it's super stressful. The good thing about it though is that it's a great time to get rid of stuff you don't need, orginizing stuff you've been putting off, and fix up things you've just had hanging around so they work again.

One of the things I fixed up for the move was one of my lampshades which had been peeling apart. I used an old book that wasn't any good any more and mod podge to make a new, much more attractive lampshade. It took me a couple hours one morning, drinking my coffee and gluing squares of paper onto the lampshade. I then gave the whole thing about three coats of mod podge to finish it. I think it came out nice.

I am also commuting back and forth to school so I need to pack my lunch. I have a very small Wonder Woman lunch box I've used to pack lunch in before put I decided it was too small especially if I want to bring a thermos of soup with me or something. My mom found this super cute lunch bag pattern  so we decided to try making it. 

I'm not super good with the sewing machine but I did do a fair amount of the sewing for this which I am proud of myself for. I used cotton canvas for both the outside and the inside so I can throw it in the wash if it gets something spilled on it. There wasn't a huge selection of cute or whimsical cloth in cotton canvas which was sad but I think the cloth I picked out looks good anyway. We added a flap and button to the top to keep it closed better. We also recycled an old sweater as the insolation instead of buying cotton batting especially for the bag. 

It might not look it but the bag ended up being big enough that I will definitely be able to fit a thermos or water bottle plus a lunch box. My old Wonder Woman lunch box is really too small for me to carry a whole meal in so I've been thinking about buying a bento box. I really like Edge bento boxes. 

They're both big and very sleek looking. You can also just use two out of the three layers if you want a smaller box. Kokeshi bento boxes are some of the cutest things I've ever seen. 

They are a little too small for my needs though I think. Mostly because I'm planning to use my bento box as predominantly a lunch box not actually pack things as compact as bento in it. 

Wether or not I'll get a bento box will depend largely on whether or not I get money for my birthday though.  

The animes I've watched recently that I've enjoyed.

Hello wonderful beings!

I love anime as a way to combat the stress of work and grad school applications. Over the last few months I've watched a couple series that have really stood out.


Kuragehime: 

only 11 episodes long Kuragehime is about a group of reclusive geeky women who must band together with a young cross-dresser to save their apartment building from being torn down. Fashion and jellyfish play a key roll in the over all plot.

Kuragehime has an adorable sense of whimsy from beginning to end. It's tone is light, gentle, and comical, the art is beautiful. There a lot of playing on what things 'seem' to be, but mostly this is just a cute feel good show.


Ristorante Paradiso:

I have a weakness for anime about cooking. I just really like watching shows that revolved around peoples' love of food. I really enjoyed the show Antique Bakery which was in fact about a bakery so I thought I'd like this show which was recommended for fans of Antique Bakery, and I was right.

Ristorante Paradiso is the story of a young woman who comes to Rome in search of her biological mother who she hasn't seen since she was a child and finds a new life, family and job in the process. It's a very gentle, slowly told story about the people who work at a small Italian restaurant. It's also a love story that unfolds so gently and naturally that (even though it's not BL) I couldn't help but love it. The art style is also smoking and beautiful.


InuYasha

InuYasha is one of those classics of shounen anime, like Naruto or Rurouni Kenshin. It just so happens that I am a huge fan of shounen anime, I like the adventure and combat elements, I often like watching the characters as they struggle to come of age. InuYasha is both enjoyable and intruging to me because it combines all of the things I love about shounen anime with an historical setting, much like Rurouni Kenshin at least in the manga. Unlike the anime version of RK the anime version of InuYasha does not make me want to bang my head against the nearest wall until I pass out. It's fun not painful to watching, exciting and fast paced, I love the whole theme of demons and the different kinds of demons in the series. I love the character of InuYasha as well, simply adore him, which helps. In fact I don't hate any of the main characters which makes is a very pleasant experience. The art is very typical of 1990s anime everyone has too big eyes and pointy, pointy noses but when you get over that the backgrounds for the scenes are really quite beautiful, and detailed.

I will also say I'm not even close to done with the series either. Unlike like the other two series on this list  each of which only had 11 episodes therefore made it fairly easy to get through, InuYasha has a 167 episodes in all so I figure I will be enjoying this series for a long time to come yet.