This is one of those articles where I can’t think up an interesting topic and I’m writing purely to keep up with my self-imposed schedule, so excuse me if it seems uninspired.
I recently watched Amaenaidayo, a rather generic fanservice anime with a mind-numbing plot and cliched characters and, shoot me, I actually thoroughly enjoyed it. It wasn’t special, it wasn’t brilliant or intellectually stimulating and most other critics would happily can it, but I found it incredibly fun and entertaining. I laughed at the jokes, I found myself caring about and liking the characters and, hell, I even dug the tsundere romance. And, yet, this is the type of anime that, just a few years ago, I’d have rather killed myself than watch. I think I’m starting to get more tolerant of harem anime as I see more of them, and come to understand the formulae they follow, their tendencies, their strengths and weaknesses. I mean, harem anime get canned by many a critic for various reasons, usually for not being intellectually inspiring or breaking long-set molds and while such criticisms are probably fair, they’re not really intending to be that way in any case. It’s mindless entertainment and as long as it can deliver on that, and actually be entertaining, then I can’t complain about it at all.
New blog: Behind The Nihon Review
I now write at the new blog, the joint-staff blog project, Behind The Nihon Review. Go there instead.