Category: The Mind of a Character

  • We Need to Talk About Naofumi (Rising of the Shield Hero)

    We Need to Talk About Naofumi (Rising of the Shield Hero)

    More like Falling of the Shield Hero, am I right? Unoriginal jokes and season two commentary aside, let’s talk about Shield Hero. Of all the countless isekai anime to come out in the last five years, there is no doubt that this one made the biggest splash (not counting sequels, like Re:Zero season 2). It…

  • Synergizing Music With Character

    Music is an important aspect of many mediums. Many movies, anime, and video games are elevated by having spectacular soundtracks. Sometimes it becomes the aspect that people remember the most, such as with Cowboy Bebop or many classic Disney movies. It isn’t hard to understand why. Music is an excellent tool for communicating the emotion…

  • On Crippling Characters

    Generally, most stories fall into a pretty simple loop. They usually go something like this: Character goes through great struggle of some kind Character learns a valuable lesson and gains a new skill Character uses new skill to overcome trial Rinse repeat until story ends A strong example of this is in shounen anime. Usually,…

  • The Narrator: The Spice that Makes Kaguya-sama Tick

    Okay, I know that sounds ridiculous. Just hear me out on this one. Kaguya-sama: Love is War is one of the best examples of a character-driven comedy we’ve gotten in years. Aka Akasaka has shown time and time again that he knows exactly how to continuously squeeze laughs out of his characters without running out…

  • Big Mom: One Piece’s Most Terrifying Villain

    Big Mom: One Piece’s Most Terrifying Villain

    The sheer number of villains occupying the pages of One Piece put every other shounen series to shame. That’s to be expected, with the length of the series. But the sheer quality of each and every one of them is something to be admired. Almost all of these bad guys are unique and interesting, and…