It has been a little over a year since I was first featured on Crunchyroll News, gushing over how GJ-bu charmed me to no ends. Being able to have my texts published on the largest English legal streaming website for anime made me incredibly happy. Continue reading
Did you follow The Oscars this year? I personally never follow it, but that does not stop me from seeing all kind of mentions in newspapers or on the Internet. This time around, however, there was one little thing that caught my eye and bothered me for many reasons.
If you have some knowledge regarding the whole Academy Awards ordeal, then you might know that animation has never stood a chance against live-action films. In fact, only three animated films have ever been nominated for the Best Picture award. Continue reading
In recent years the entertainment industry has seen some drastic changes to how you acquire media. Not too many years ago, you had to have some sort of physical storage device in order to, for instance, play movies or television programs. VHS, DVD and Blu-Ray; neither of these are required anymore. Providing that you have a good bandwidth and a stable Internet connection, it is today possible to access a vast library of entertainment via your computer or TV within mere seconds. This is all thanks to streaming.
What I want to focus on in this text is anime in particular, although you could argue that what I will say here could be applied to movies too. Continue reading
Have you visited Crunchyroll these last few months and perhaps stumbled upon a news article that seemed awfully familiar? With three posts from Anime Viking now featured on Crunchyroll, I figured it was time to write a short notice about it.
So, long story short: Anime Viking is now (sort of) on Crunchyroll! Continue reading
Obligatory head tilt.
To start, I want to say that I am sorry for not having updated for quite some time. I caught the flu and cannot say I was in a state to blog anything coherent. I hope you understand.
Everyone probably has their own favorite anime studio for one reason or another. Mine is Shaft, the studio that is both hated and loved for their unique approach to directing anime (thanks to Akiyuki Shinbou).
I will probably be accused of being an extremely shallow person for saying this, but this happens to be the very reason I love Shaft so much. Continue reading
This year the way anime is created has changed. The Kickstarter Kick-Heart managed to gain $201,164 (of a $150,000 goal) with 3,232 backers in total. That is an average of $62 per person!
2012 marks the year of the success of crowd-funded anime. Continue reading
Do you remember my old post back in March 2012 on how I raised the question whether or not funding platforms were a possible future for anime? Prayers have been heard and anime has finally found its way onto Kickstarter.
Called Kick-Heart, it is a short animated film about a pair of pro-wrestlers which will be directed by Masaaki Yuasa (Mind Game, Kaiba) and animated by Production I.G (Ghost in the Shell, Guilty Crown). Not only could this be a piece of interesting animation in itself, but more importantly, this could be the start of a new era in the anime industry.
If you are a fan of anime, I wish you head over to the Kickstarter page and donate your share to the project and help make it a reality. Continue reading
“All shit” they say.
A common complaint these days is how anime is declining, that true quality is a dying breed. “Moe is taking over the industry! Fanservice is everywhere! Whatever happened to the good old series that were actually mature and oozed “masterpiece”?”
To strengthen their arguments, people bring up old classics such as Cowboy Bebop or perhaps Neon Genesis Evangelion while pointing out K-ON! and other “four girls” series as the harbingers of death. Anime of today sucks.
Although, let us be honest here. Anime is not becoming worse nor is moe killing the industry. Those who claim that are utterly silly and probably ignorant. I would say that they lack perspective on how our viewing habits have evolved. Continue reading
If there is any anime studio that has made a name of themselves lately, it surely must be the Toyama-based P.A. Works founded year 2000. With the help of lovely, no, gorgeous, wait, masterful animations and visuals, they manage to charm and captivate the viewers unlike any other as if it were child’s play. In a sense, they are out of this world when it comes to weekly series, playing in their own league only truly rivaled by Kyoto Animation and Production I.G. Who was not stunned over the dazzling Hanasaku Iroha last year, or why not the remarkably detailed and moving backgrounds in True Tears from 2008? Instead of creating artsy and abstract low-budget slideshows, P.A. Works take the word “animation” literally and brings us some of the currently best-looking series, seamlessly blending hand-drawn animation with CGI. Continue reading
Let me start by telling you a story of a video game company called Double Fine. On 7th February, they started a fund raising project on a website called Kickstarter, one of many so-called “funding platforms”. The idea of these websites is that you come up with an idea you want to realize, but cannot afford, and you let other people donate money to your project. You could say it is a product paid by its customers.
Anime Viking 