500 Follower Appreciation Post + Random Anime Reveal

I thought I timed it so that 500 followers and the blog's third anniversary should happen at about the same time, but looks like we hit the milestone early. Well, you people really rock! I'm still a bit jet-lagged as I write this, so please pardon any less coherent bits. Starting this blog might be…

Personal Update: Traveling During the Pandemic

As the title of this post suggests, I have made the somewhat ill-advised decision to travel to my homeland, Taiwan, during this pandemic. In fact, my flight is tonight. Looking forward to the ~30 hrs of masking and the 14-day quarantine that ensues... It's not an extremely essential trip, but my younger brother already had…

Accepting Random Anime Recommendations

A big thank you to all who contributed ideas in the last post for my 500 follower celebration. After looking at everyone's ideas, I chose Aria's comment as the winning suggestion (but will combine a few other ideas with this): Maybe take recommendations from your followers (anime-only if you want to stick to your theme,…

Help Me Celebrate You and This Blog

Against all odds, this highly inconsistent blog is close to reaching 500 followers. It is also reaching its third anniversary, though I can't recall when the exact date is until I check. How did this happen? I seriously have no clue. So what should I do? I'm asking everyone now because I was busy last…

[OST Spotlight] In This Corner of the World: Healing with “Migite no Uta”

It was fun doing soundtrack analysis for The Promised Neverland, so I'm back at it again! Technically, the piece featured today is more of an insert song, but it encapsulates the movie so well that I really couldn't choose anything else. "Migite no Uta" (みぎてのうた; "The Right Hand's Song") is the official theme song of…

What Makes a Spoiler a Spoiler?

This is something I wonder about sometimes, which a certain Tweet caused me to reflect on again: https://twitter.com/spookyredh/status/1262012943144636417 People have different degrees of tolerance when it comes to spoilers. For me, as I'm sure it is for most people, my avoidance of spoilers is dependent on how much I care about continuing a show. I've…

Translation is Hard: 5 Obstacles to a Good Translation

There seems to be a lot of discourse on anime subtitle translation these days. The louder voices on Twitter tend to defend localized, less literal translations. I've been wanting to write a post on some of my own experiences with translation, but I've also been going through a bit of a burnout. Here it is…

[OST Spotlight] The Promised Neverland: A Series in One Soundtrack

It's been a while since I finished the anime and I still can't get over how good the music was. Takahiro Obata's soundtracks were largely responsible for getting me hooked on the series since Episode 1. In particular, I want to offer my interpretation of "Main Theme 1," which encapsulates the series wonderfully: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEu9A9yNgXs ***This…

Jon’s Creator Showcase: March Post Submissions Open

Hi everyone, welcome to April! Just in case you haven't made your vacation plans, here's some inspiration: Well, that aside, post submissions are open for the next Jon's Creator Showcase, hosted by me! For those of you who don't know, the JCS was established by Jon Spencer, and you can find all the information you…

2 Songs 1 Myth: Lady Meng Jiang and the Destruction of the Great Wall of China

Digging through my drafts led me to this half-finished post on a Chinese myth, started around the same time I translated the original Ballad of Mulan. I'd like to share two wonderful songs here based on the myth of Lady Meng Jiang (孟姜女) - one of four great Chinese romantic tragedies that are more-or-less canon.…