So I’ve Changed My Mind About Dr. Stone’s Senku

A couple of months ago I wrote a blog post called “Dr. Stone’s Unconvincing Hero”. Like its title would suggest, it was about Dr. Stone’s hero, Senku, and why I struggled to get on board with his mission. To boil a 800-word-long post down into just a few key phrases: he doesn’t look hero material, but kind of sinister and velociraptor-y, his “good deeds” all seemed to be motivated by a desire to win people over to his “Kingdom of Science”, and I wasn’t sure whether restoring humanity to its former “glory” was such a good idea in the first place, given the problems our present-day world is beset with. While some of the things I wrote in that blog post still stand, after getting to know Senku a bit better, I’ve come to change my mind on a few key points. These are as follows… 

Fire Force, a Frankenstein’s Monster of a Series

One of the anime that I’m enjoying the most right now is last season’s Fire Force. Fire Force is set in an alternate Japan where the phenomenon of human combustion has become a very real, very serious threat. To combat this, the special fire force, made up of various brave and talented pyrokinetic firefighters, was born. Our hero, Shinra, is one of these firefighters. The show follows Shinra as he sets out to become a hero, unravel the mystery surrounding human combustion, and discover just who’s responsible for his family’s death. 

Fire Force is super fun! It looks stunning and has a varied and entertaining cast of characters. Not to mention that I’ve loved watching the mystery at its core be slowly teased apart. But… the more I watch Fire Force, the more I realise that, for all its strengths, it’s actually pretty unoriginal. It’s like its creator, Ookubo, in a crazy bid to create the ultimate battle shounen, stitched together all of the best parts of all of the best-loved battle shounen in existence, to create this, a Frankenstein’s monster of a series…  

Dr Stone’s Unconvincing Hero

Dr. Stone is one of this summer’s most popular anime, with good reason. The show’s premise, two young men, Senku and Taiju, setting out to restore civilisation using the power of science following mankind’s mass petrification 3000 years prior, is extremely interesting and quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Another of its strengths is the way in which it walks its viewers, step by step, through everything its characters craft (including the science behind it). It feels great to have learned/been reminded (it’s been a long time since I last sat through a high school science class) so much about the world around me. I also love the fact that the show has opted for a setting that is lush, verdant, and teeming with life, as opposed to the dark, dreary, concrete wasteland that most post-apocalyptic shows seem to favour. Dr. Stone definitely has a lot going for it. Unfortunately, however, for all the show’s strengths, it has one major weakness: its unconvincing hero. 

The Significance of Fire in Violet Evergarden

It took me quite some time to get ‘round to watching Violet Evergarden. There are two reasons for this: the first is that, for the longest time, I was much too poor to be able to afford a Netflix subscription and the second is that I was convinced that it couldn’t possibly live up to the hype surrounding it… Whilst I was spot on about being broke, I was dead wrong for suspecting it of being undeserving of the attention that it (still) receives! Violet Evergarden is one of the most gorgeous shows that my eyes have ever had the pleasure to behold, its sweeping, orchestral soundtrack is bewitching, and everything about its story and characters is designed to move you (mainly to tears)! It became an instant favourite of mine and I would be remiss if I didn’t record some of my thoughts on it. Whilst there’s no shortage of topics that I could discuss, during today’s blog post I would like to dig deep, really deep, into just one of them: the show’s fire motif.

How I Approach the Very Serious Business of Scoring Anime

The idea for this blog post came to me after reading the lovely Irina’s post, titled: “I Don’t Know Who I Am Anymore… Why My Anime Scores Do Not Represent Me!” During this post Irina discussed why we ought to take her scores on Anilist and on MAL, which fluctuate over time, with her mood, and as a result of comparison, with a pinch of salt. Please do give this post a read, as it’s very entertaining! Anyway, this got me thinking about my own scores. I don’t know about you, but I take the process in which I score anime very seriously! I think that each show represents an investment, in terms of time spent watching it, so if my scores have a part to play in encouraging people to or warning them off of making a wise or unwise investment, shouldn’t I take scoring seriously? As part of this (very serious) business, I consider lots of different things and use many different rules of thumb. Join me as I discuss some of these! Who knows, maybe you use a few of them yourself!