Op-ed
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Fun With Names: Esdeath
- By hoshi-kun
- On 12/09/2018
- 0 comments
Welcome to Fun With Names, where anime names get broken down to reveal some form of shining brilliance! Today, we look at the ice-princess herself, Akame ga KILL!'s Esdeath! The play on words that the name "Esdeath" is, is quite a simple one as far as Japanese is concerned and it follows the same pun blueprint as the series' title (which I may or may not break down at some point in the future). The anime is notorious for its treatment of its characters, but I won't say much in order to preserve the sense of novelty for those who haven't seen Akame ga KILL!.
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Fun With Names: Sibyl System
- By hoshi-kun
- On 22/08/2018
- 0 comments
Don't you sometimes wish you could see into the future?
Welcome to Fun With Names, where I will be picking apart the various names in anime to find out what greater significance they may have in the series' context. Today: the Sibyl System from Psycho Pass. This one didn't take very long to uncover, but it is one that could go unnoticed. Since I'm into various kinds of mythology, I appreciate this particular name for the instantaneous "Ohhhhh, right" it produces when one puts the pieces together. -
Fun With Names: Michiko Malandro
- By hoshi-kun
- On 15/08/2018
- 0 comments
Welcome to Fun With Names, where I will be picking apart interesting names in anime! Today's interesting anime name is Michiko Malandro, one of the titular characters of the awesome anime Michiko to Hatchin (Michiko e Hatchin)! Produced by the now-defunct Studio Manglobe (RIP), Michiko to Hatchin is a beautiful anime I'd recommend to everyone and their dog. Partly because I adore Manglobe, the studio that gave us Samurai Champloo and Ergo Proxy too, but more because the anime is, like, totally badass. Michiko to Hatchin shows us the journey of a mother/daughter pair travelling the crime-infested, heat-scorched land of Diamandra in search of someone from their past.
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Film Appreciation: Episode Two: The Silent Era Part 2
- By lucidunicorn
- On 15/08/2018
- 0 comments
Alright let’s do a quick recap, so in episode one: the silent era part 1, we established what film appreciation is and why we appreciate film. We also started with the silent film era and two of its four main film movement.
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Fun With Names: Katanagatari (刀語)
- By hoshi-kun
- On 11/08/2018
- 0 comments
Welcome to Fun With Names, where I break down the various names in anime and this week's name of interest is none other than NisiOisiN's Katanagatari. This author is known for his character-driven mystery works and his widespread use of wordplay and emphasis on the eccentricity of his characters. NisiOisiN plays around with a whole lot of the names in his works, including Hachikuji Mayoi from Bakemonogatari (you can find that Fun With Names entry here: Hachikuji). With the author's emphasis on wordplay, I figured it would be cool to look at a NisiOisiN work that anyone somewhat familiar with his work will automatically link to him: Katanagatari.
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Film Appreciation: Episode One: The Silent Era Part 1.
- By lucidunicorn
- On 03/08/2018
- 0 comments
Film Appreciation will be a series I’ll be doing where we basically appreciate film (it’s literally in the name lol). This for me will be kinda of like film school revision and hopefully we can learn some new stuff together, before we can do so though we need to know what is film appreciation and why we as cinema lovers do it and why some of us even study film appreciation.
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Fun With Names: Bakugou Katsuki (爆豪勝己)
- By hoshi-kun
- On 01/08/2018
- 0 comments
Welcome to Fun With Names, where I will be dissecting the names of all things anime-related. Characters, shows, powers - whatever it it may be, because names are important. Today's focal point is Boku no Hero Academia (My Hero Academia) hothead Bakugou Katsuki, one of the main characters of the series and an interesting individual in the context of the series given his nasty proclivities and seemingly contrary desire to become the best hero. While I could go into what makes Bakugou such an interesting case in the greater scheme of things, I'd rather just blast right into why his name is straight banter.
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Fun With Names: GOSICK
- By hoshi-kun
- On 26/07/2018
- 0 comments
Welcome to Fun With Names, where I pick apart the various names that appear in anime! Today I'm looking at GOSICK, an interesting mystery anime with romance and drama to boot, GOSICK focuses on Kujou Kazuya, a Japanese exchange student studying at the prestigious Saint Marguerite Academy in the Southern European country of Sauville. His jet black hair and eyes become the object of the scorn of the other students, who call him "The Black Reaper", based on a local myth about a traveller who brings death in the spring. A trip to library looking for ghost stories leads to his discovery of a golden strand of hair belonging to one Victorique de Blois. Her foresight allows her to predict their futures as they get dragged into a mystery involving the appearances of an alchemist and a ghost ship. With things getting pretty weird around them the two stick together as the mystery unravels. I'll be unpacking the hidden pun in the title with tricks I discovered... by mistake.
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Fun With Names: BLEACH
- By hoshi-kun
- On 18/07/2018
- 0 comments
Dragon Ball, aptly named for the seven magical wish-granting orbs which are the coveted relic of the franchise. One Piece, aptly named for the mysterious treasure said to bestow upon whomever finds it the title of Pirate King. Naruto, aptly named for the titular character of the franchise, Uzumaki Naruto. What these titles have in common is that they're instant identifiers of the universe that they represent. Having mentioned One Piece and Naruto, the consequence is that the third of Shounen Jump's legendary Big Three must be mentioned too. BLEACH, aptly named... named... for... uh... the characters wash their clothes?
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Fun With Names: U.A. High School (雄英高校)
- By hoshi-kun
- On 04/07/2018
- 0 comments
Fans of the Shounen genre will have seen, or at least heard of Boku no Hero Academia (My Hero Academia), a third-wave Shounen title which has taken the mantle from previous Shounen proponents and brought out tried and tested formulas from the genre and applied its own range of twists to what we know and love. The hype around this show is immense, but that's not what we're here for. Welcome to another Fun With Names, where I will be breaking down the names of anime characters, titles and basically anything in an anime with an interesting name; all to see how these small pieces of information link up with the rest of the story.
