Welcome back to the best monthly blog post on WordPress, if I do say so myself, my Monthly Favorites! I might be more or less absent from blogging, but that does not mean the community is. It’s a pretty stacked month between posts and videos, so let’s go ahead and jump into it!
Anime
From The Animanga Spellbook is “How Cowboy Bebop Does Horror Well“. I just missed being able to add this to last month’s favorites, and horror is all year round so here it is! I’ve never considered Cowboy Bebop having horror aesthetics, but perhaps it’s time for me to revisit it and take a look myself!
“Seeing Too Much Influence In Older Anime?” is an interesting question from Mechanical Anime Reviews. It’s certainly an interesting concept to consider now that older anime is more widely available, in tandem with new series that clearly have their influences. Be sure to give your thoughts on the subject back on the original post!
On Youtube is the creator SailorGaurdianHope with “💖The Magical Girl Anime Stuck In Production HELL (Six Hearts Princess Review)💖”. I’ve been keen on waiting for Six Hearts Princess to finish their production, before watching but- given Takashi Murakami’s choices I might be waiting for awhile. However, for those not in the know about the series, be sure to give this video a watch, or listen? Whichever works for you.
I do admit – there are certain bloggers that I don’t always quite grasp their posts the first time I read them. I go back re-read, sometimes more then once and admittedly this is a post where I’ve re-read it several times but still don’t get it. And that’s okay, I have a new anime to watch and a post to come back to with “An Anime That Slapped Me in My Face” from Anime As A Cup of Tea. Maybe other reader’s will have a better grasp of this post then I?
Anyone whose been around my blog for a minute, knows I had some pretty strong feelings about Visual Prison. BUT! mosaicboy’s Interest Nook had a completely different perspective in their post, “The Brilliance of Visual Prison“. It’s a very passionate post, and I highly encourage other reader’s to check it out to gain more insight on the series.
Manga
Technically this isn’t a manga, more of a twitter web comic but it’s close enough (and I think there’s potential for this to get a manga version) that it’ll go here. “My New Favourite Yuri” from I Drink and Watch Anime, is all about The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy at All or The Person You’re Interested In, Isn’t A Guy as I called it – it’s so good. Go read the post if you don’t believe me, go read the comic on twitter (if it’s still around) if you can!
JDramas and Movies
With a post title like “Falling for “Why I Dress Up for Love” by Sunset Dramaland got my attention right away. I managed to miss this title last year as well, but with Kawaguchi Haruna in silent and this review – I am absolutely intrigued and want to check this out ASAP!
Off of WordPress from MDL by users Somu-chan and laia is “The Kawaii Factor in J-Dramas: Female Leads“. I’m not sure I completely agree with this post, the word “kawaii” gets muddled in it’s meaning the more it’s used outside of Japan – but there are a lot of solid research and surveys that it’s well worth the read.
Also off WordPress but on Youtube is the channel The Cinema Cartography with “The Essential Japanese Cinema” video. It’s a very dense, both in script and visuals, but for anyone looking as to why I like Japanese Cinema – this video covers it pretty well. I might need to re-watch it again just to be sure I got it all.
Music
I try not to double-feature bloggers but sometimes it has to be done. Nick from the Bias List posted “My Favorite J-pop: AAA” and “My Favorite J-pop: The Rampage from Exile Tribe“. I think they’re an excellent introduction to two groups that I love, and highly worth reading and listening. Go check them out!
From A Dot of Mind is “Snow Man = Culture Shock“. I always find it interesting to read the thoughts about new to JPop or new to Johnny’s and Associates, and how it differs from their previous experiences. This is a really sweet post about Snow Man and culture shock of their company and release schedules. A lot of good insight if you too are new to the group.
“DIALOGUE+ and Being a Fan of Seiyuu/Idols — Is There Such Thing as Liking Too Many?” is a question posed by omunibasu. It’s another very good question that will vary from person to person. If you want to read my impression on the subject, and more importantly Al’s thoughts, be sure to read the post!
Off WordPress and on Youtube is Sakura Stardust with “This is the Most Controversial Band in Japan” – which is about X Japan of course. While I have a few nit picks personally on phrasing the actual content, and research is superb. If you’re curious about X Japan, the origins of Visual Kei and all the controversy in between, this is the video for you.
With that, I’ll see you all next month! Fingers crossed that all goes smoothly as December begins!
Phoenix Talks Pop Culture Japan 
Oh yea – someone else liked Visual Prison! Thank you so much for introducing me to them! Also The Person You’re Interested In, Isn’t A Guy is still on Twitter! (It was yesterday, hopefully, that hasn’t changed…)
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Yeah! I’m glad to introduce you more or less.
The Twitter thing was a bit of a joke since it’s ‘burning down’ and all that because of Musk and staffing issues lol.
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Thanks for the shout-out! Glad you thought that post was interesting to read lol
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You’re most welcome!!
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