30-Day Anime Challenge, Day 19

So when I saw this topic I got a little excited. Tons of anime have really epic scenes, how can I pick just one? With that in mind, to narrow down the list, I tried to define "epic". I came up with a few criteria:



1. It must be of paramount importance to the story. I'm not talking about some random epic things that a character has done, it has to mean something.

30-Day Anime Challenge, Day 11

Now Mecha is an interesting genre. Not only because the concept of fighting humanoid robots is cool, but also because that's never ALL that the show is. Mecha can be so much more. From really sad, to intellectually stimulating, to incredibly ridiculous. My favourite mecha anime definitely falls into the last category. I think you all know what it is.



TENGEN TOPPA GURREN LAGANN

2007, Part 1: Seven for Seven: Three Robot Tales

Owen writes copy for a living, and has been known to occasionally extend that ability to anime, although it's a while since he did so. When he's not attempting to finish his backlog of games on , he can be usually found on , trying to break language 140 characters at a time.Everyone knows how this list ends. It's the beginning, however, that makes the most of what it really is: an unbridled look at nostalgia barely six years old. That's kindergarten age! How do you tell Nostalgia that they have to get out of the house, put on a uniform, and play nice with the others? One week at a time, I think.



For this year, I decided to focus on seven original, made-for-anime works. No adaptations, please; we try to keep the riff-raff out. The emphasis on "made for anime" here was a no-brainer; the problem with adaptations, inevitably, lies in how the original's vision has to be molded to fit into the target medium, and in this case anime. In this the premise of an adaptation is usually flawed; the arcs in a manga are either ignored or overtly drawn out, the sparse text of a light novel becomes a plodding 25-minute exercise in animated dramas, and the less said about visual novel adaptations, the better.

Animation Talk: Anime Recommendation 3

Yes, another list of anime that I can recommend for some reason or another. Not all of these might suit your tastes, but in my description I will give my reasons why you should watch these and if those aren't enough for you, then it might not be for you (although it doesn't hurt to check out the first episode at least).



1. Beelzebub (60 episodes)

Dreams Come True: Reliving My Childhood through Little Witch Academia

It probably goes without saying that as you grow older, your tastes change, and even perhaps mature. I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds myself increasingly cynical of modern media, be it film, anime, video games, or one of the many other forms of entertainment available today. Believe it or not, when I was in high school, I recall myself boastfully telling a friend that there wasn't a single anime I'd seen that I didn't like. Let me assure you, I've watched some anime that I wouldn't think twice about going back to now! These days, however, I find myself in the complete opposite position - while I still like anime, it's much more difficult to find titles I enjoy, and there are only a handful of series that I would wholeheartedly recommend to friends without hesitation.



I'm not really interested in talking about why it gets harder to enjoy certain things as you age, because that's a whole other topic in and of itself. Instead, I'd like to highlight a title that instantly brought me back to that feeling I had when I first saw Sailor Moon transform on Cartoon Network many years ago: Little Witch Academia.

The Anime Music Tournament 2013 Bracket Charlotte

Very late with this one, as the have already closed, though I was a little busy with other things, namely having a good time at Otakon 2013. That being said, let's get into the swing of things again.



BCR1P1

GenCon 2013 Photos, Part 3 of 6: Still More Costume Contest (Last Call)

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: GENCON GENCON GENCON GENCON GENCON. My wife and I average four conventions a year, and GenCon consistently has the broadest, most impressive assortment of cosplayers and handicrafts of them all. Sure, we could leave this work up to the professionals with better cameras but why?



In we listed all the Costume Contest winners. In we celebrated several other entrants, all game-themed. This time around is the last of the contest photos, what we have left that's as close to usable as possible. We would've taken more and better photos if circumstances had permitted. Traditionally we've been able to do so after the contest ends, when many of the contestants usually hang around the ballroom and/or the adjacent staging room for a while. Unfortunately this year's contest ran much longer than usual. By the time the house lights came up and all the prizes had been claimed, the majority of the cosplayers had long since fled the vicinity for parts unknown.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Up until now, I'd avoided this series. Initially, it seemed like something that I wouldn't like to watch, for no reason in particular. Recently, though, a certain reviewer came up with a review of this series, and I, lacking any series to watch, decided to give it a shot. As such, I'd like to start off this review by stating that Gurren Lagann is an amazing anime. It offered three of the most important things I look for in an anime -- emotion, action and raw entertainment. If you haven't seen it already, I suggest you watch it immediately after reading this review.



Gurren Lagann is a story told on a grand scale, large to the extent that it's nearly unfathomable. For years, humanity has been hounded underground by the Spiral King, oppressed underneath the surface of the Earth by monstrous Gunmen, which are essentially mecha, piloted by the cruel Beastman race. Simon, a digger in one of the underground villages, finds one of the Gunmen buried deep underground. With the help of Kamina, his friend and inspiration, and the company of Yoko, a girl with a rifle, Simon is forced to help free the human race from the iron hand of the Spiral King, armed only with Gurren Lagann, the Gunmen produced by combining his and Kamina's mecha. That's only half of the plot, until the series undergoes a time skip after the aforementioned king's defeat. In the end, though, the story that's told is worthy of being considered an epic, spanning decades over the course of twenty seven episodes. As the characters progress in both their attempts to overthrow their enemies and their lives, new cast members are introduced and taken away. All in all, this leaves for a captivating plotline that I can't describe very efficiently. The best way to understand the grandness of Gurren Lagann's story is to watch the show yourself, which I highly recommend you do.