Normally pride goeth before a fall. But the Animanga Festival says it’s okay, so here’s a list of my favorite posts on the site!

So! We’ve done a LOT of posts over the years. Actually, it looks like we’re coming up on 1000. That’s exciting! But we’ve got such a huge variety of different stuff. Mostly reviews, yes, but lots of different styles. And Bulletoon! So here’s what I’mma do. I’m gonna make this a Top 10 list! Or, more accurately, two top 5 lists! My favorite written posts and my favorite Bulletoon episodes. Hope ya like it!

Written Posts

First off, I’m not going to be counting Anime TKO or any of our seasonal anime reviews. If I had to sit here and read through all of those, even just the better ones, this post wouldn’t go up until next October. So I’m sticking to Editorials and Retrospectives, here.

5 – What’s Wrong With “Happily Ever After”?

Perhaps the peak in the saga of “Voyager is a total softy” articles, but my own sensitivity (or lack thereof, depending on your perspective) aside, I do think the article does manage to make a pretty firm case. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a good happy ending. And I can’t help but roll my eyes whenever I see someone complain that an ending wasn’t bittersweet or bleak enough. It may seem immature, but I think true immaturity is being so cynical as to believe happy endings exclusively belong in media aimed at small children.

4 – Suffering in Storytelling

Beginning the saga of “Voyager is a total softy” articles (I think?), this one was less of a thesis and more of a discussion. I just like that I handled it that way. Because I didn’t really have an especially strong position on the matter yet still found it interesting and wanted to talk about it.

3 – Reincarnation Endings Are… Problematic

Honestly, this just needed to be said. This is on here because it was one of the most cathartic posts I’ve written. Bob and I were just having a conversation about the subject and I recall being rather impassioned about it. So I went and wrote this article. And I recall having a lot of fun doing so, basically just covering all the bases I did in our conversation.

2 – Kill la Kill Retrospective

To this day, I honestly think this is just my best-written review. Hence why it’s the only review even on the list. I just think it reads well. It has a nice flow to it that I can’t say I’ve quite managed again, since. It’s possible it’d just take the right series to bring that out of me again. It’s abundantly clear from reading it, I think, that I adore Kill la Kill. So it’s possible I’ll just have to do this again with another series I feel comparably about.

1 – Books vs. Alternative Media

Based on the response to it… I guess I just struck a chord with people on this one. But it’s a subject I’ve always been exceptionally passionate about, given my own experience with books and other forms of media. And it also made me feel good to say.

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Bulletoon

Similarly to the prior section, I’m not going through the entire Bulletoon archive. I’m just going to keep things down to episodes that came after the revamp. With that being said, there is one honorable mention.

Honorable Mention – The Ruby Rose Batwoman Backlash

I’m not sure if this was the first time, but it was the time that jumped out at me the most in which we covered a touchier subject and used the show to say something that really needed to be said. I like getting to use the show in that fashion. Makes me feel like it can speak to a lot of people and be more than just a couple of anime twins geeking out over stories.

5 – The Significance of the Secret Identity

The episode didn’t do especially well, but we’re mostly an anime site/channel, so that much was expected. Even so, I really enjoyed working on this episode because superhero comics are, by far, my favorite overall form of entertainment. Yes, more than anime, video games, and so-on. I don’t get much time, these days, to invest in them. But superheroes are my bread and butter. So any chance I get to talk about them is well worth it in my time. And the subject, itself, was really interesting, I think! I find it fascinating how one simple detail can create such a massive disparity.

4 – The Promised Neverland vs. The Board of Education

The first real test of the Bulletoon revamp when we came back, and I think the amount of time and care we put into the episode shows. It was a team effort with Bob and I really pooling hard over all of the anime and manga up to that point to put together a really conclusive thesis and compelling arguments for it. The subject of The Promised Neverland unintentionally being a metaphor for the education system (particularly early on) is amusing.

3 – Android 18 vs. The Dragon Ball Curse

Android 18 is waifu. Duh. But in all seriousness, this was the first real test of the new Bulletoon and the first test of a format I’d been dying to try out. I love doing character spotlights and I like the freedom of being able to base them around a particular thesis so I can come back to the character later and focus on some other aspect. Starting with a character I love so much was a bonus. It was a blast to edit, even more so to write, and I can’t help just going back to watch it again on occasion.

2 – Deconstructing Perfection in Medaka Box

Yep. The most recent episode. I think the more I do this, the more I expand my editing skills. It was a rather small bump up from the Android 18 episode in terms of technical improvement. But it was also just really, really fun to put together. And it makes me kind of sad the episode underperformed so hard (by our standards). It’s an interesting topic, a fun anime, and I think a pretty well-thought-out overall thesis.

1 – The Costume

I love nothing more than creating original content. We’ve done Bulletoon comics before, of course. But this is easily the best one. Great artwork by a great artist, a fun sense of continuity with the main show, and I think a better overall story being told in that one page than any of the previous comics, with a clear beginning-middle-end structure. Also, the punchline’s funny, the edit amused me, and we even get a lil tease of Rori! Fun stuff.

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Conclusion

Whaaat? The Yuki Yuna article isn’t in here?! Yeah, well. I like Editorials more and I think the Kill la Kill article is written better. That said, Yuki Yuna is definitely still one of, if not my favorite anime. Right up there with Mob Psycho 100, Log Horizon, and Noragami. I absolutely recommend watching it. But the article’s not necessary for me to tell you that. Anyway, this was fun! It’s not often I get to brag and not feel crummy about it! If you guys want to check out a lot of other posts from some awesome people, check out #theAnimangaFestival on Twitter! What are some of your favorite blog posts? From us or anyone! Let me know, down below!

Keep up the Awesome!
Voyager

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