A PSA on Ao No Flag’s Artwork

Ao no Flag (or Blue Flag) is one of the purest and most sincere manga I’ve had the pleasure to read in a while.

A classic love square where half of the main cast is LGBT+ already lets you know that Ao no Flag is a special manga. Kaito, the author, is a master of understanding the impact of every-day life and situations, and boy do we need it. We need so much more LGBT+ representation in mainstream Japanese media. Queer people being real people, coming to terms with their true self, making friends, facing homophobia…

I feel like this is a major milestone considering the context of publication and the intended readers, and it reminds me a little about another great work, Shimanami Tasogare (which I’ll review, sooner or later). But representation deserves a post on its own, today I want to talk about one of Ao no Flag’s key strengths: its artwork.

Setting a Daily Writing Goal

Hello everyone! Who’s never heard of the “you should write everyday” mantra? This old adagio has been told thousands of times by professors, coaches and fellow writers: “You should write everyday.” And it’s true, 100%. But not exactly as you think…

Summer passes, writing stays: Back to blogging

Hello everyone! After a long hiatus, I decided to go back to blogging. There are so many reasons I’m doing this, but one of them is simply to keep sharing my thoughts on this platform, because it’s fun, it’s good practice, and I’ve missed all of this so much.

13 Years for a Meal: Honorable Eating in “The Promised Neverland”

Recently, I have started reading The Promised Neverland, a relatively new  Jump series with more than a touch of Machiavellian, Death Note-like complexity.

While this is definitely one of the reasons I am enjoying the manga so far, it’s also quite fun to theorize about demon society because, like other series’ villainous races (ie the vampires in Seraph of The End) the demons are surprisingly human, for example in the way their society assigns status and social prestige.

(very minor spoilers from the manga will follow)

Animated Emotion in “The Tale of Princess Kaguya” – A Long Due Review

A couple of weeks ago, co-founder of Studio Ghibli Isao Takahata passed away. While this has justly come as a shock for many animation enthusiasts and fans, I think that a good way to commemorate his contribution to the art is to stand together to recognize the beauty of his creations.

As I’ve seen many fans do in the last days, here comes my own reflection on Takahata’s work: a long overdue review of my favorite Ghibli movie, and Takahata’s last creation as director, 2013 The Tale of Princess Kaguya.

Monthly Roundup – March 2018

Hi and hello! It has roughly been a month since I committed to a new, consistent schedule for this blog and this means it’s time for the Monthly Roundup!

Anime Con Experience – A Day In The Life

Hi and hello! It’s been almost a week since I went to the Con and it’s time for a Con-experience post, complete with pictures and merch because, well, I’m weak and I ended up buying stuff I didn’t really need… but that’s the true spirit of Cons amIright?

“Young people nowadays, they don’t read anymore” – Wednesday Thoughts

It is a peaceful weekday evening. I skip the last term because I really don’t feel like coming home at 9pm but, being my mind the bargaining little devil it is, I’m still reading a textbook in exchange for these few hours of liberty. It sits not-quite-comfortably in my hand, while in the other I wield a mechanical pencil. Somewhere between my shoulder and my arm I managed to nestle both my bag and my coat. There’s never room for seat on public transport.

A Family of Pins and Anime Convention Rituals

Hi everyone! When it comes to buying anime merch, I’m not really the type of fan you would bring with you to make you feel better about purchasing $100 worth of manga. I do have a huge collection of Disney Comics that I dotingly built up over my childhood and I enjoy animation and comics, both western and eastern, but I rarely spend a lot of money on merch.