About

Yep, this is another anime blog. I mostly follow a few current unlicenced shows and new UK DVD releases although every now and then I’ll also dig into my reviews archive for old favourites, do an editorial or manga review, or an occasional soundtrack article to spice things up a bit. I’m a twenty-something male (blood type A) from a sleepy corner of North Yorkshire, UK and my real name’s Martin in case you’re wondering.

The Blog

The blog’s updated fairly regularly in typing sessions fuelled by copious quantities of coffee and fanboyish enthusiasm. Categories are listed on the right, with individual series and sub-categories in the tag cloud. I designed the theme, Frozen Twilight, based on the default Wordpress Kubrik layout with a few tweaks to extensive butchering of the code and an all-new CSS style. So if it looks bad, it’s my fault…unless you’re on 800×600 monitor resolution or something.

I’m a quality elitist by my own admission, which basically means I’m short of free time so overly selective with what I watch. I over-analyse, read between the lines and prefer anime that has interesting themes, pretentious complex approaches to storylines and decent characterisation. Satoshi Kon, Makoto Shinkai and Hideaki Anno are among my favourite directors and Yoko Kanno is the best OST composer evaaar. If my views offend you it probably means that my sense of humour is a little too twisted and insular, e.g. the pic below which refers to this editorial, before you ask. I also believe that 4chan sucks. No, really.

The End of the World is a reference to the Haruki Murakami novel of the same name - one of the settings of the novel was Yoshitoshi ABe’s inspiration for Haibane Renmei and more or less sums up how this place is an isolated haven for one mad bugger’s mind. It has existed in various guises since April 2006, initially jumping on the anime blog bandwagon but gaining little popularity since I was too open in stating how Mushishi > The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Actually, Mushishi > *. I try to go for quality and honesty over popularity and keeping up with everyone else, which is usually why I don’t care about being on the fringes of the blogosphere.

The ABC

I do have some awesome fellow bloggers that I really look up to and turn to for inspiration/discussion though - the ABC is a group of (at the time of writing) around thirty enthusiastic writers who indulge in anime-related discussion and occasional simultaneous posting around a pre-determined topic or theme. Additional contributors are always welcome so if you’re an anime blogger who wants to be part of a fun discussion group and get some additional healthy debate going, head over to the Google Groups site or drop one of us an e-mail.

Recent anime viewing

My top ten

It had to come up I suppose. This is alphabetical rather than in order of awesomeness since I change my mind so often.

  1. FLCL
  2. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
  3. Gunbuster: Aim for the Top
  4. Gunslinger Girl
  5. Haibane Renmei
  6. His and Her Circumstances
  7. Macross Plus
  8. Millennium Actress
  9. Mushishi
  10. The Place Promised in our Early Days

Thanks for being awesome enough to visit and read this to the end. Link me and I’ll link you. ^_^

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