Character Spotlight: “Immortal” Sugimoto

I recently finished watching both seasons of Golden Kamuy and, let me tell you, what a wild ride that was! Set in the wilderness of Hokkaido during the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese war, at times it is reminiscent of a History Channel/Natural Geographic documentary, especially with its emphasis on the indigenous Ainu people, their culture, and belief systems. But, at other times, it feels a lot like Hokkaido’s answer to Food Wars (with its near sensual depiction of the Ainu dishes) or to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (with its cast of buff manly men and its propensity to throw logic straight out the window). Watching it was an experience like no other. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough. Anyway, today I would like to talk about its hero and my favourite of its many characters: “Immortal” Sugimoto.

Ty’s Year in Review (2018)

This has been the first year (since 2012, and, boy, does that feel like an age ago now) that I’ve made a conscious effort to watch a good percentage of seasonal anime. I do feel that, as an aniblogger, it’s important to keep my finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the anime world and that keeping up with seasonal shows is a good way to do that. But, blogging aside, it’s also so much fun to be part of the conversation and to share memes, news, and theories with other anime fans. That’s difficult to do if you’re only watching the most ancient and/or obscure shows out there!

Anyway… I managed to watch 30 of this year’s anime. I know that that’s a pretty paltry figure to some, but I’m not in the habit of dropping shows, so I prefer to only pick a handful per season that I know beforehand that I’m likely to enjoy. In the following post I attempt to collate what I loved (or loathed) about the 30 shows that I watched this year.

Author’s note: if you feel that an anime has been unduly underrepresented, chances are, I didn’t see it. See the bottom of this post for a list of the shows that I did see this year. If you’re looking for something a bit more comprehensive, check out The First Ever WordPress Anime Awards. This features an impressive collection of categories and nominations put together by a team of brilliant bloggers (including yours truly)!