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Kitsu | MyAnimeList

# What I'm about ***

For the Swarm! *** StarCraft is my love. I'll always be rooting for the Zerg player Lee Jae-dong, even though he fights with injuries and falls short of the new greats since the re-emergence of Brood War tournaments.

I prefer watching dubs if they appeal to me. Since I don't speak japanese I just derive more value of a work if it has a good dub. And it's easier to ascertain and appreciate good acting if you're actually able to understand the language.

Rating anime is not my cup of tea. This is due to a deep respect to the often times overworked and underpaid warriors that work in the crowded anime industry. Throw in some inspiration by the late John "Totalbiscuit" Bain and his disdain for scoring art. A number just does not do justice compared to a few words of personal perspective, context and a bit of analysis sprinkled on top. I don't deem myself competent and well-read enough to assume I'm able to quantify the qualities in writing, art and animation and notice all relevant little details of a work to judge it with a buttons press. Also, analyzing a work in good faith is a metric ton of work. So I settle with answering to questions about whether I enjoyed a work or not or giving out recommendations.

That said, here are some thoughts on my absolute favorites.

# Favorites *** /anime/12355/wolf-children

Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide

is a gripping and heartwrenching display of a single mothers life, coping with the loss of her love, coupled with a at times hilarious but most of the time endearing fish out of water story borne of the fact her children are shapeshifting wolfpeople. We get to see diverging coming of age stories for the children and a beautiful display of the nature the family surrounds themselves in along with a beautiful soundtrack.

/anime/2001/gurren-lagann

Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide

I don't know if the phallic allusions are just a meme or if most people really think that's the meat of the story, pardon the pun. What this series did best for me was a masterful marriage of the classic heroes journey and coming of age story, emphasized by the growing drill and mecha symbols, simultaneously criticizing the tendency of humanity to evolve in terms of technology and civilization without regard of the consequences. I always thought this was plain as day after the dialogue between the Antispirals and Simon and afterwards when he decides to abstain from abusing his power to resurrect Nia to keep the promise of watching over humanity and reigning them in to avoid inevitable annihilation of the universe around them. Gainax accomplished this while letting Gurren Lagann appear as a spectacle mecha show first and not beating people over the head with dumping its themes just in dialogue. Okay, I won't pretend these are original thoughts. Yeah I watched BestGuyEvers analysis on TTGL. Fuck this show is good.