Posted inSeason Preview Series Introduction

Fall 2015 Preview!

The fall may be upon us, but with El Niño in full effect and warmer than normal temperatures expected to continue, we'll be keeping the spirit of summer alive as we go into the new season. First up are a slew of sequels, including the newest chapter of K in Return of Kings, the much anticipated second season of Haikyuu!!, the return of Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu Ka??, the near final iteration of the Monogatari series in Owarimonogatari, and continuations of Hidan no Aria, Noragami, Owari no Seraph, and Shinmai Maou no Testament. Rounding out the mix are an assortment of light novel and manga adaptations, highlighted by Heavy Object (bought to you by the creator of Index/Railgun) and One-Punch Man, as well as the arrival of a new original Gundam series in Tekketsu no Orphans. Subete ga F ni Naru: The Perfect Insider also warrants mention for its award-winning source material, adding a much needed mystery series and showing off the assortment of genres the fall has to offer. Ultimately, it’s a great season for those who wanted sequels to the aforementioned series, but the lack of other offerings (especially original series) makes this a weaker than normal fall season, and the season’s enjoyment may boil down to whether the other series pan out. Either way, it’s that time of the year again, and I’m proud to present to you Random Curiosity’s Fall 2015 Preview.

* This preview will be kept at the top for the next while, so be sure to scroll past it, check the slider on top, or the Recent Entries on your right for new posts.

Posted inFinal Impressions First Impressions Snapshots

Joukamachi no Dandelion – Anime Family Done (Mostly) Right

Here's the story, of a lovely family.

Family is so often mined for drama, and siblings relationships have unique challenges in the anime medium. Joukamachi no Dandelion ended up dodging most of those issues, to give us a story as built around the theme of family as Uchouten Kazoku, but with a much fluffier, sillier, and more idealistic bent. It's a good little show, if a touch uneven.

Posted inMiscellaneous

Introduction – “I know it’s not ordinary. But who ever loved ordinary?”

Jig 1

Hey everybody! c:

I’m honored to be the newest addition to RandomC’s staff of writers! The profile says Jig, but you can call me The Jig Man…or Jig Meister, Jiggy, McJiggerton, Andre Jiguodala, Jiggy Azalea---you get the idea.

Or Sweet Jesus. You can call me Sweet Jesus if you want to.

First and foremost, I stumbled into anime from a very early age. Having parents that worked as artists in the animation industry since before I was even born, I grew up around the medium in all of its forms---from Western to Japanese. I have thus grown to cherish animation as one of my most beloved modes of storytelling. Some of my favorite shows growing up ranged from programs I watched on the tube like Batman: TAS and Dexter’s Laboratory, to old tapes of stuff like Astro Boy, Mazinger, and Brave Command Dagwon that I would rent from the Asian video store.

My great love of anime stems from the Japanese’s very sincere regard for the storytelling possibilities and creative potential of the animated medium. Aside from a couple of rare exceptions (Avatar: The Last Airbender, Transformers: Prime, Pixar films, and the like) it’s really difficult to find many American animated productions which take the art form seriously (given the more Western consensus that animation should be reserved for kids’ cartoons or lo-fi mature comedy shows ala South Park and Family Guy. Not that I’m discounting these programs---they’re great for their own reasons). Anime, though, doesn’t play it safe---it dives headfirst into the absolutely insane levels of creative freedom and narrative possibilities which can be realized with animation, and it is so goddamn sweet.