Behind The Nihon Review » Bakemonogatari

Winter 2012: First Thoughts

NHRV Staff — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:08:54 +0000

Ahhh the New Year. A time of beginnings, resolutions, and rebirths. A chance for everyone, everywhere, to start over with a fresh beginning. A chance to wash away the bumps, bruises, smudges, and stains of the last three-hundred and sixty-five days so that we may try again for the better. While the Winter season is sometimes considered part of the previous year, we here at NHRV like to use it as the starting block for what will come. Last year had so many great titles that it would be unfair to compare what will come with what has been. Still, 2011 got off to a great start with epic titles like Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Level E, and Rio: Rainbow Gate so it is only appropriate that 2012 must do the same to keep up. As Stan Lee would say: “Excelsior!”. Thus, we NHRV’ers have put together our first of the first thoughts for the year How does 2012′s start look so far? Read on and find out!
Introduction by: TypicalIdiotFan

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Copyright © 2012 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By NHRV Staff | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to StumbleUpon | Tweet! | reddit
Post tags: Amagami SS, Ano Natsu de Matteru, Another, Bakemonogatari, Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou, High School DxD, Kill Me Baby, Moretsu Pirates, Natsume Yuujinchou, Papa no Iu Koto o Kikinasai, Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki, Recorder to Randoseru, Rinne no Lagrange, Senhime Zesshou Symphogear, Sousei no Aquarion, Thermae Romae, Zero no Tsukaima

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Five Tsundere Anime Girls I’d Gladly be Berated by

Sorrow-kun — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 11:30:59 +0000

Freud would have a field day with this post title.

October marks the beginning of “Tsundere Appreciation Month” at The Nihon Review, an occasion that’s enticed me out of my self-imposed hiatus, at least temporarily, to open our month long celebration of everyone’s (or, at least, our) favourite moe archetype. “Tsundere Appreciation Month” started last year after a random thought about what makes tsunderekko so damn sexy inspired six (go ahead and count them: six) articles from Akira, Kylaran and myself ruminating over the charms of anime’s bipolar sex symbols. (Major spoilers for the tagged titles.)

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Copyright © 2011 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Sorrow-kun | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to StumbleUpon | Tweet! | reddit
Post tags: Bakemonogatari, Clannad, Love Hina, Mai-HiME, The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, Tsundere

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Who’s Had a Good Year in 2010?

Sorrow-kun — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 09:38:23 +0000

It’s December, the time when the anime blogosphere reflects on the year that’s been, so we can expect a swathe of “the year in review” articles coming soon. Our own “Year in Review” article will be published in the first few days of January (here’s last year’s for those unfamiliar to our yearly tradition), and it’ll be the sixth one we’ve done since the site started back in 2005. We’re in the initial stages of planning, making up our minds which anime we want to discuss, which we believe are representative of the year that’s been and which we think, individually, were the best of 2010. In between the usual banter and debate that goes on behind closed doors (:P) I’ve noticed a few trends that have already appeared in the titles likely to make our list. (Above image from oreno.imouto.org, yes, I was also surprised they had anything from The Tatami Galaxy.)

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Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Sorrow-kun | Permalink | 19 comments | Add to StumbleUpon | Tweet! | reddit
Post tags: Amagami SS, Angel Beats!, Arakawa Under the Bridge, Bakemonogatari, Dance in the Vampire Bund, Hidamari Sketch, Kobato, Kuragehime, Nodame Cantabile, Ookami Kakushi, Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai, Seikimatsu Occult Academy, Shiki, Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, Strike Witches, Yojo-han Shinwa Taikei

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Tsundere Sexuality: A Second Cut

Akira — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 06:00:22 +0000

Tsundere? Her? Nah...

October must be Tsundere Appreciation Month here at BtNHRV. Sorrow-Kun‘s random twitter thought seemed to have generated much discussion and debate amongst the readers of this blog. I happen to think that there’s no direct correlation between tsundere and sexuality or promiscuity. Each character is different; it is our reaction to them remains constant across series.

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Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Akira | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to StumbleUpon | Tweet! | reddit
Post tags: Bakemonogatari, Clannad, ef -a tale of memories, K-ON!, Kugimiya Rie, Lucky Star, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Seikimatsu Occult Academy, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, Toradora, Tsundere, Working!!

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Love is Not a Game

Akira — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 15:15:23 +0000

Take your pick.

Throughout the years, I’ve noticed that most anime only depict the first half of a romantic relationship. This doesn’t sit well with me.

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The Nihon Revue, Episode One

Akira — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 06:46:33 +0000

This is what my face looked like when I first inspected my mic quality.

That’s right, kids— The Nihon Review now has a podcast! It’s called The Nihon Revue, and features the ever-so-charming Sorrow-kun and everyone’s least favorite blogger (yours truly) doing what The Nihon Review does best: reviewing anime.

For our pilot episode, we have for you five of last season’s hits. Most of these shows have finished only recently. Here’s the program:

Bakemonogatari: 0:30

Angel Beats!: 5:50

Senkou no Night Raid: 11:05

Working!!: 13:30

Arakawa Under the Bridge: 19:25

Total runtime is 27:40.

We realize that there were a lot of things we could have done better— this podcast is a work in progress. We’re hoping to put one of these out every season for everyone out there. Also, I definitely need a better microphone, but I’m currently abroad, so bear with me on that one. Thanks for supporting us, and enjoy:

Also, a download link if you so please.

Don’t forget to come join us down at #nhrv @ irc.rizon.net. We always welcome new faces, so drop on by.

Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Akira | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to StumbleUpon | Tweet! | reddit
Post tags: Amagami SS, Angel Beats!, Arakawa Under the Bridge, Bakemonogatari, High School of the Dead, Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi, Seikimatsu Occult Academy, Senko no Night Raid, Shiki, Strike Witches, The Nihon Revue, Working!!

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Primary, Secondary, Tertiary – Reducing Anime to Color

Kylaran — Fri, 21 May 2010 11:42:22 +0000

Paraietta is a BABE. Screw off, Akira.

The Impressionists had been fascinated with color. It was a playground for them; a fertile field from which they could explore that very subjective experience of color qualia. A hundred years later, anime studios continue to carry on the tradition of experimention. However, I think we sometimes take for granted how the mood is conveyed in anime. We certainly can dissect it in a way by talking about the lighting, the facial features of the characters, the placement of the items, all the while coherently picking out the mood that the scene contains, but we haven’t delved far into the heart of the art behind it at all. Let’s take a second and see just how the completed product – the artistic experience from watching anime – can be reduced to the most fundamental of building blocks: color.

Warning: spoilers for the anime tagged in this post. Particularly Haibane and Simoun.

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The Purity Fixation

Akira — Sun, 16 May 2010 16:22:24 +0000

This article is also titled "In Defense of Dirty Hoes." Because who wouldn't defend a ho like Nagi?

Two years ago, a comic serialized in Comic Rex stirred up a huge controversy after the sexual purity of its main heroine came into question. Flamewars were had on 2ch, and over-zealous fans teared up their tankobon volumes in protest. The author fell deathly ill after the controversy occurred (in an unrelated and extremely unfortunate incident), and she has not returned to drawing manga since then. To this day, there is no official resolution to the controversy.

Have you worked out what series I’m talking about? Correct. The answer is Kannagi.

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The Markings of a Good Season

Sorrow-kun — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:35:07 +0000

It's the busy review writing period, which is my half-assed excuse for not having posted anything on this blog for ages.

While everyone’s writing about the season that’s just started, I figured it’s a good time to go against the grain and look back at the season that just ended. Reviewing seasons is a completely different kettle of fish to reviewing a single series… there are multiple things to consider such as the number of “good” series (momentarily ignoring that there’s never a complete consensus about whether a given series is good or not), the variety on offer and whether the current trends are for the better or the worse. I don’t think there’s too much disagreement that Summer 2009 was last year’s best season (and arguably the best in anime for a long time), but in the wash-up, if our reviews are anything to go by, it was a season that had a lot of “good” titles, but only one “great” anime. (This post was originally going to be significantly longer, but I’ve split it into two parts. Arguably it weakens my argument, but it’s just much more manageable this way, and it’s not so blatantly tl;dr.)

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Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Sorrow-kun | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to StumbleUpon | Tweet! | reddit
Post tags: Aria The Animation, Bakemonogatari, Hidamari Sketch, Nodame Cantabile, Ouran High School Host Club, Spicy Wolf

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2nd Anime Oscars?

Sorrow-kun — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:36:28 +0000

More mock awards on the anime blogosphere (as if there haven’t been enough), this one being a sequel of the one I did last year. Just like the last effort, this set of awards will be structured to (somewhat) resemble the real Academy Awards, cheekily timed to coincide with yesterday’s ceremony. Again, these awards are completely biased by what I’ve seen (as well as the small detail of my own taste), and I’m pretty much going to conveniently ignore ongoing series except where it’s utterly clear that there’s no worthwhile competition within cooie. The other anomaly is Bakemonogatari, which is near enough to completion that I may as well treat it as such. I’m also going to snub worthwhile series like Aoi Bungaku and Kemono no Souja Erin because I still haven’t finished either (which is unfortunate, because what I’ve seen of both series has been outstanding, but they’re not what I’d call “easy” shows to watch, which is why I’ve been pacing myself with them). Oh yeah, and seeing as I’ve had to try to recall an entire year’s worth of anime, songs and seiyuu, there’s almost certainly something or someone I’ve unintentionally left out, so feel free to point out if you think I’ve tripped up.

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Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Sorrow-kun | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to StumbleUpon | Tweet! | reddit
Post tags: Aoi Hana, Bakemonogatari, Canaan, Clannad, Eden of the East, Kara no Kyoukai, Natsume Yuujinchou, RIDE BACK, Taishou Yakyuu Musume

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