Summer 2014 – Season Preview

The Summer 2014 anime season is already upon us! With no time to spare due to all the thrilling and sensational anime that are already out or going to air soon, this Summer 2014 Season Preview will provide a glimpse of what I have planned for the season and some of my initial expectations for all the new shows and sequels this season. So what exactly am I looking forward to the most for the next three months? Let’s find out!

12 Days of Anime (2012) – Day 10 – Sakura-Con, My First Anime Convention

In April of 2012, I attended my first anime convention, Sakura-Con, the premier anime convention in the Pacific Northwest.  Although I’ve had numerous opportunities to attend the convention since its inception in 1998 and even made legitimate plans to go while in high school, this year was the first that I actually went to.  For three days, I witnessed and participated in a paradise created by and intended for anime fans such as myself and my experience has provided a permanent impression on how I watch, understand and appreciate anime.

12 Days of Anime (2012) – Day 12 – 13 Hours in Tokyo

Today marks the return of the 12 Days of Anime, the series of posts recounting and detailing the twelve greatest moments, influences or events of the year in regards to my anime/manga life.  Over the next twelve days, ending on Christmas Day, I will have a special post documenting some exceptional and unforgettable thing that happened to me this year in hopes of sharing this cherished memory with you and adding a bit of personal touch that otherwise remains absent from this blog.  Be sure to check out the other blogs participating in this tradition and enjoy the fun and celebrations.

In late 2011, my family was planning a vacation to Thailand, the first trip to Asia in my life.  During the planning stages, I took the initiative to see if we or I could spend some time in Japan either heading in or going home.  Since the Thailand portion of my trip was being paid for, I was informed that this excursion would need to be financed by myself but that I could leave a day early to fit it in.  With these circumstances in place, the only chance at visiting Japan was a 22-hour period between arriving from Bangkok and departing to Seattle.  It didn’t even take me a second to decide nor did I even look at the estimated bill; I leapt at the opportunity and this… this is my adventure:

Autumn 2012 – Week 9 Anime Review

This week: showing how characters change in Magi, questions on accessing the files in Robotics;Notes, thoughts on Shun’s mask from Shin Sekai Yori, offscreen character growth in Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai!, prioritizing girls over panzers in Girls und Panzer, and questions about unintentional stress, stress relievers and criminalization in Psycho-Pass.

Spring 2012 – Season Review

With the conclusion of the Spring anime season comes a period of evaluation and judgment based on everything that was watched.  In the end, a final mark is given that encompasses our thoughts and feelings on the series and is the assessment we return to when looking back at the series.  Though this closure for an anime series may seem shallow compared to the experience we had over the past twelve or so weeks, it does feel like a way to properly finish a series before we fully immerse ourselves in the Summer anime season.  And with that, here is the final review for the Spring 2012 anime season.

Casting Japanese Seiyuu with Michihiko Suwa – A Sakuracon Panel Recap

Perhaps the most appealing feature of Sakuracon (besides meeting and hanging out with dozens of awesome people) was the impressive list of special guests from all levels of the anime industry.  Among the distinguished crowd visiting the 2012 Sakurcon was Michihiko Suwa, a producer for numerous notable anime including Detective Conan, Inuyasha, City Hunter, Black Jack, and most recently, Rinne no Lagrange.  Of his three panels at Sakuracon, this post will provide a summarization a panel led by him that covered an aspect of the anime industry that holds particular importance to me: voice acting.  Using Rinne no Lagrange as his primary example, Michihiko Suwa provided a rare and valuable insight into one of the most essential pieces of anime production.

Spring 2012 – Season Preview

With a number new of Spring anime airing over the next two weeks, it is again time for another comprehensive (or close to it) season preview.  This upcoming season appears to be brimming with optimistic hopefuls and candidates eager to display their best but the sheer number of anime debuting over the next few weeks creates some issues when determining a viewing schedule and for those with limited viewing capacity.  As with previous seasonal previews, this preview will focus toward my impressions toward each series and my initial likelihood of watching an anime, not watching an anime, and how I think the borderline anime will perform.  With that said, it’s time to explore the Spring 2012 anime season.