[Highlights] Kino’s Journey Ep. 5 (Three Men Along the Rails)

Starting to notice that one of the main differences between Kino's Journey and Mushishi is that whereas Mushishi observes the nature of life (both human and mushi ones), Kino's tends to have something to say about it. The strong themes and at-times-heavy dialogues in Kino's makes it kind of like watching oddly familiar fables told…

[Highlights] Kino’s Journey Ep. 4 (Land of Adults)

Backstory time! This episode feels more poignant and aesthetically intense than the last few, in a way that I rather loved. Took me a while to figure out that Kino was singing a lyric version of Pachelbel's Canon in D at the start of the episode. I've never heard Canon in D with lyrics before,…

[Highlights] Kino’s Journey Ep. 2 (The Tale of Feeding off Others)

September's not even over and it feels like winter already (T_T). Perfect for this episode of Kino, I guess. Check out the Episode 1 highlights here if you missed it. Kino ready to survive winter, a pandemic, or a round of Among Us Big change in season and scenery from last episode. It makes me…

[Highlights] Kino’s Journey Ep. 1 (Land of Visible Pain)

The end of a trip is the start of another! If you still remember, I promised to episodically review an anime series in celebration of 500 followers, and the anime that was chosen was Kino's Journey: The Beautiful World (2003), suggested by  Fred @ This is my place. Now that I am back from my…

[Spoiler-free] Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel III. Spring Song Review

Ever since I gave up on my final essays to catch Heaven’s Feel I. Presage Flower on the big screen and failed because all the seats were booked, I’d been committed to watching the rest of the movies in theatres. I am very lucky that I was able to do so for not only Lost…

Anime x Lit Crit: Toradora! Episode List

Following our wrap-up of the project with Toradora!'s last episode, here's a master list of all the episodic reviews that NegativePrimes and I did for Toradora!. To briefly recap what this project was about, it's a conversation-style collaboration that focuses on analyzing characters and themes in the anime Toradora!, from a vaguely literature-informed perspective. Compiling them has…

Anime x Lit Crit: Toradora! 24

Penultimate episode analysis, here we go! I said last episode was intense. Well, I was wrong. Intensity is relative... Primes: So true! This is one of my favorite Toradora episodes! In our last discussion, Primes asked if I thought "[the main characters will] finally see the ghosts and UFOs they believe in." I suggested that…

10 Best Things: Tower of God

It's been forever since I've done a "10 Best Things" post, and I'm not exactly writing one now because Tower of God was more outstanding than anything else I've seen recently, but just because I've remembered how much low-effort fun this kind of post is. You will find that this list consists of oddly specific items,…

Anime x Lit Crit: Toradora! 23

Phew! Finally, an episode that builds up to some satisfaction. Primes: Wait, does that mean you were unsatisfied with the previous episodes? I'm going to go cry now... *jk* This episode is among the best emotional moments in the series, for me at least. Well, no, but at the end of most episodes before this,…

Anime x Lit Crit: Toradora! 22

Three more episodes until the end! Negative Primes and I are still trudging on. This episode is loaded with symbolism and random bizarre moments. Primes: Ain't that the truth. It opens with a continuation of Ryuji's rescuing of Taiga, but it turns out that it was all just Ryuji's nightmare in the middle of class.…