12 Days of Anime (2015) – Day 9 – The Quindecim and the Setting of Death Parade

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the setting is my favorite aspect of anime. To me, it is the most significant attribute of an anime because the setting is the foundation for which the stories and characters are shaped and constructed, the ground from which they grow and progress.  It is what provides the story and the characters with the appropriate tools, direction, and limitations for which we, as an audience, are able to watch, appreciate, and enjoy. And the setting is more than just a pretty backdrop, but one that defines the culture, society, technology, clothing, architecture, geography, climate, diet, and lives of the characters we love. As a result, I absolutely adore any anime with a captivating, distinctive, and inspired setting because of how it influences the story and the characters. And that brings me to Death Parade and the Quindecim, arguably my favorite setting in all of anime for 2015.

12 Days of Anime (2015) – Day 10 – 123,714

This might seem like an odd topic for a 12 Days of Anime post, but it’s a topic worth discussing given how it continues to grow on me every year and with every new anime. In fact, it’s routine for me now, something constant and universal that occurs every time I watch an anime. And it’s a subject that can be entrusted quite easily by the number 123,714. So, what exactly does 123,714 mean?

Summer 2015 – Week 7 Anime Review

This week: reading between the lines of Miki’s decision and her subsequent character development in Gakkou Gurashi, criticisms over the number of disrupting flashbacks in Gangsta., complaints over the expansion of Hajime’s breasts in Gatchaman Crowds Insight, and chuckling at how Charlotte handles Ayumi’s “death”.

Summer 2015 – Week 6 Anime Review

This week: why Adlet, the strongest man on Earth, is the weakest brave in Rokka no Yuusha, questioning the origin of Yuki’s psychosis in Gakkou Gurashi, defending Haruka’s egregious probability errors in Joukamachi no Dandelion, and complaints about Ayumi’s lack of character development in Charlotte.

Spring 2015 – Week 13 Anime Review

Last week: the vivid and dazzling display of emotions of Kumiko in Hibike Euphonium!, Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works demonstrating the necessity of an epilogue for an anime, questions regarding the Nagato of the Disappearance arc in Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu, and the best possible ending for Plastic Memories.

Spring 2015 – Week 4 Anime Review

This week: why Hibike! Euphonium, a school club anime, feels more ‘school club’ than ‘anime’, the background art as an indicator of quality and personality in Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, how the scarcity of direct fights negatively affects JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders – Egypt Arc, and inherent positives with 3D animation in Sidonia no Kishi: Daikyuu Wakusei Seneki.

Spring 2015 – Week 3 Anime Review

This week: concerns over the content and direction of Plastic Memories, determining a time and place for Arslan Senki, censorship in Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, and the wonderful return of Kakyoin in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders – Egypt Arc.