At the age of 72, Hayao Miyazaki announced his retirement from film making. For those few of you who don’t know, Miyazaki is one of the most influential anime film maker with titles like Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and Castle in the Sky. Many people think Miyazaki’s films are overrated….
Category: Anime
Kaze no Stigma
Mafias of magic users? Sounds like a war waiting to happen…only it wasn’t. Kaze no Stigma (Stigma of the Wind) is an alright anime. Kazuma Kannagi was a useless heir to the fire family considering he, well, couldn’t use fire magic. He left the family be become a Contractor, a person who makes a contract…
Reality Virtual. Sword Art Online and the Subjectivity of Reality.
Anime, despite the Western view of cartoons as being childish, addresses difficult and looming concepts. Beneath the virtual facade and wonder of the anime Sword Art Online, there dwells many heavy concepts. For those who haven’t watched SAO, it deals with concepts of reality with depth rivaled by Ghost in the Shell. Unlike Ghost, SAO…
Sword Art Online
There are very few anime that left a lasting impression on me: Spice and Wolf, Eureka Seven, and Ghost in the Shell. Sword Art Online is the latest addition to the short list. Sword Art Online is a Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (phew, quite a mouthful) where people “full dive” into…
Odd and Impossible Anime Hair Styles
Anime hair ranges from drab to the impossible. I thought to turn toward some of the The odder hair styles we can find in our favorite medium. The hair in Afro Samurai reminds me more of a tree than hair. It is a blob of color that swirls like smoke. It lacks a lot of…