February 2021 Monthly Favorites

Hello and once again welcome back to my Monthly Favorites. It’s a section I manage to crank out once a month gathering the good stuff to introduce or occasionally re-introduce to the blog-o-sphere. This month is a bit longer then my past few features so be sure to snag yourself a drink and snack and get ready to scroll!

One thing I want to mention here before diving into other content is to talk a little about my own. From the month of March and forward, I will be shifting my long time every other day content to being once every three days. This is mostly just to open up more time for me to get back into studying Japanese seriously, and work on some other personal life details. Nothing too dramatic, just looking to make a schedule change in order to have a better work/life/hobby balance. Otherwise for me, not much to report. Staying indoors, social distancing, washing hands, all that good stuff.

Anyway, that’s a lot about me for a blog intended to be about anyone but me. So let’s dive into some non-me stuff. First up is a pairing for your reading and then your viewing pleasure about, of all things, Japanese school uniforms, specifically, the Sailor Fuku. Kicking off is Artemis of Otaku Lounge with “Sailor Fuku: The Long and Short of It “. It’s a refresher of one of their older posts, and a nicely put succinct history of the garment that so many of us have come to know through various medias.

In Mina Le’s video, “Let’s talk about the Japanese Schoolgirl.” There’s a bit of repeated history from Artemis’s blog post, but also a lot more context of the social and pop culture aspects of the uniform. While a lot of us usually go with a uniform is just a uniform, with Japanese school girl uniforms specifically; that’s rarely the case. It’s not so much a good, bad, ugly insight, so much as it is the uniform has a bit more weight to it then you’d think.

So now, let’s dive into the good stuff from this month!

Anime

I think this post deserves the top batter spot given on the title alone which is, “You Only Get One Watch Shot” by LitaKino. It’s a blog about the value of the first watch, initial viewing, first impression of a series, etc. It’s something that’s widely understood, but pretty under-discussed.

From Rainbow Cornucopia, we have “Flying Witch – Thoughts“. It’s a short and sweet blog post highlighting one of my favorite series I watched and read last year. So it’s always nice to see what other’s think about it!

This following blog post is very self explanatory and very straight forward, “Please, Please Don’t Watch Scar on the Praeter (or, Writing a Scathing Review of Ex-Arm Would Have Been So Much Easier)” from General Tofu of The Backloggers. I would highly encourage giving it a read through, and would like to throw in my two cents here; that I agree with what they say.

Next up we have Karandi from 100 Word Anime with “The Reason Anime Fans Should Care About Banned Shows“. I feel that until it arguably ‘happens to you’ the community doesn’t always notice when other countries in the fandom are affected by legislation or other higher powers. I know I don’t, so it’s really good food for thought.

From Polyphony, we have “A Not-So-Colorful Story – A Review of Colorful (2010)“. I really appreciate other’s talking about films I enjoyed, in a more articulate manner then I ever could. Be sure to give Colorful watch, and read this blog post as well!

Manga

Dee from Anime Feminist published their blog, “You Don’t Have to Kick Ass to Be Kickass: Shoujo fantasy and the value of the noncombatant hero“. I really appreciate their insight on how in Shoujo the hero isn’t always armed to the teeth.

From a DeathBy1kSlimes, a blog that recently popped onto my radar this month, blogged about “Oyasumi Punpun Broke Me… But Not The Way You Might Expect“. As someone who had a similar experience with the audience splitting series, it’s always nice to see someone articulate their points as well as DeathBy1kSlimes does. Love or hate Punpun, this blog is worth reading to better round out your experience with the series.

Al’s Manga Blog is reminding me that Marimo Ragawa is still having their works licensed in the West! In “The Vampire and His Pleasant Companions Vol 1 Review“, we learn about the newest licensed work. I’ve seen this title floating around in my periphery, so it’s nice to see it getting some love here in the blog-o-sphere.

Dramas and Movies

To kick off this section is dramaholic with their blog “Flash Review: Rock ‘n’ Roll Meets Dostoyevsky In Japan’s Grim Retelling Of ‘The Brothers Karamazov’“. It’s a short but sweet read about a drama that’s star studded, but I had never heard of. Be sure to give it a read and maybe add the series to your PTW list!

Minty from BAYOG wrote their blog “Cute Drama Moments That I Think About Alot~“. Which is just in time for the month of love, and just adorable! A great way to reminisce about some cute drama moments that are worthy of swooning over!

Circulating around is the Colour Challenge, the version I really enjoyed was Annie’s. “Colour rush: using colours to classify Japanese dramas and Kpop songs” covers not only Japanese dramas, and Kpop music videos which is really unique in my opinion. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled if the challenge comes your way!

Music

From Weeb Revues have their blog, “Ten Japanese Music Artists I Wish I Liked More“. It’s always fun to see people talk about not just their faves, but artists and medias that you understand the appeal but just aren’t on the bandwagon. I have a few myself so I might borrow this idea in the future, but be sure to check out the original first!

In the realm of Visual Kei, Shinryu Reviews has created a guide that I was actually planning on making myself lol. Their blog, “An [in]comprehensive Visual Kei and Japanese CD term dictionary [with pictures!]” is the guide you always needed but didn’t know you wanted since the last few of these floating around are a few years old.

Appearsdx has posted, “Bold & ambitious: Innovation in Ayumi Hamasaki’s (miss)understood“. Appearsdx always has the best commentary on music, just hands down. Their commentary and points are just spot on, especially with such a beloved artist as Ayumi Hamasaki. If you’ve never listened to (miss)understood, pop it on your music player of choice and start reading!

From A Touch of Drama, we have “Encore – Here’s to new beginnings“, which features the recently suspended in status kpop group Got7. It’s just nice to see other Ahgase’s talk about the group and how, after a clean split aren’t disbanding but just continuing on solo. I guess I might have to re-follow a few members to keep tabs on them again…

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I’ll just leave this as a final note. Be sure to bump SIRUP’s “Overnight” as we all await his next album!