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Spirited Away

orionautoparts

Death Note

What chip flavor do y'all think it was?

clnme

Definitely barbecue

#Youtube

anime-by-kr

Death Note

Hey everyone! 🌟

Death Note is honestly one of the most intense anime I’ve ever watched, and one of my favorites. I’ve rewatched the show (up until Light’s death) 3 times and every time, it still hits me. There’s something about the mind games, the questions it asks, and the whole cat-and-mouse thing between Light and L that just keeps me hooked.

The anime starts when a super smart high school student named Light Yagami finds a strange notebook called the Death Note. It lets him kill anyone just by writing their name in it, as long as he knows their face. He meets a Shinigami (death god) named Ryuk, who dropped the notebook into the human world just to see what would happen.

Light decides to use it to “cleanse” the world of criminals and create a new society where he’s in control. But then comes L, a genius detective, who tries to catch him. From there, it turns into a battle of brains, lies, and crazy plans.

Power and Control + Justice and Morality

What really gets me is how Death Note mixes power with justice. Light starts off saying he wants to make the world a better place, but the more power he gets, the more twisted he becomes. In episode 5, he doesn’t even hesitate to use people and throw them away like tools.

It made me wonder: does power really change people, or does it just show who they’ve been all along? I mean, Light doesn’t think he’s the bad guy. He thinks he’s the hero. And that’s what makes it scary. When someone truly believes they’re right, they’ll do anything to protect that belief.

L, on the other hand, believes in justice too, but his version is more about truth and keeping the law. Even if he doesn’t always follow the rules, he’s trying to stop someone who’s acting like a god. That clash between them is so intense because neither of them sees themselves as wrong.

The Weight of Decisions

One thing that really hit me was how fast the Death Note changes Light’s life. In episode 1, he hesitates. But by episode 2, he’s already planning how to avoid getting caught. And by episode 10 and 11, he’s willing to hurt innocent people just to stay ahead. Every choice he makes pulls him deeper. It’s like once you step into that kind of power, it’s hard to turn back.

It made me think about how even small decisions can lead to bigger ones. One lie leads to another. One bad choice becomes part of a chain. And suddenly, you’re not the same person anymore. That’s what makes this anime so good.

Death Note has so many layers. The action, the smart moves, the mystery, it’s all awesome. But what sticks with me the most is the way it makes you question what’s right and wrong, and how far someone will go when they think they’re saving the world. Every time I rewatch it, I notice something new.

No matter how many anime I watch, this one always stays in my top favorites.

clnme

I love your post! I like how you mentioned that it's hard to turn back once you experience that power, I definitely agree. While I was watching, I also got whiplash from how quickly and drastically the Death Note changed Light's life. It was a little scary.

Death Note

When I watched Death Note, I found the ideas it posed to be very interesting. Light gets his hands on the death note, which he can kill anyone with by writing their name in it, and he begins to use it to execute criminals, with his behavior growing more unhinged and extreme as the show goes on. In the later parts of the show, Light even begins to kill those who try to uncover his identity, even if they have not committed any crime, such as government workers and eventually L. This question that the show poses is whether it is just to kill evil people, or if it is wrong. Light believes that he is enacting justice, while L believes that this behavior is immoral.

I think that a good portion of L's belief stems from themes similar to the ones represented in Psycho-Pass. Even if it were just to kill evil people, it would be wrong for a single person to do it, as it the solely depends on this person's subjective idea of evil. If I remember correctly, some people within Death Note even refer to Kira as "playing judge, jury, and executioner," which perfectly represents this concept.

What's most interesting is that the how never really sides with either Light or L. The audience is free to view either one as the "protagonist," and thus their ideologies are depicted as equal. This is represented in their conflict as well, as I felt like whether L proves that Light is Kira or Light kills L became more about deciding whose ideology is better rather than one driven by survival.

Personally, my beliefs are more in line with L than with Light, but I don't think that it's necessarily objectively correct. Whichever side is correct is very philosophical, and depends heavily on which ethical values one perceives as most significant.

mawnies-blog

Full Metal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood was one of my first anime and is honestly still one that's very close to my heart. I first started watching Full Metal Alchemist with my older brother and it was really the only anime that we watched together and kind of bonded over so that's why I really was a special place and the overall theme and core meaning of the movie is also very powerful. For example, when they touch on the laws of Equivalent Exchange as well as the seven deadly sins and what they plan to Human Nature, I feel it could really be reflected in real life and even today's society. To start off a really introduce to the brothers and kind of see the immediate effects of what Alchemy can have, We see the price they had to pay for what they were trying to gain using Alchemy. Later on into the show really see how War can really affect the lives of others and different aspects show both sides of the story. I feel like with Scar and Winry, this is a great example to really show how both of them are really victims of the war. Furthermore, I feel like you can really see how this war was a play for economic gains. That being with the creation of the homunculus Stone. Furthermore always felt like the war kind of referenced Middle Eastern Wars and our Society. especially with representation of terrorism and refugees. Overall I feel like this anime really did cover a lot that we went in class when it came to society and War but also capital and Grand narrative. I feel like characters like Roy Edward Shou and Scar are present in different aspects of human nature. And ultimately, I feel like a lot of it really shows how it's important to be content with what you have and not always look for more.

clnme

I haven't watched the anime before actually, so I don't have as great of an understanding of the show. I personally focused on the themes of war, but I liked how you went a different route about the "price to pay."

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

I haven't seen Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood before, so I don't have much of the context of the episodes outside of the ones we were tasked to watch. I was able to notice the themes of war and racism in the Ishvalan genocide and war in the show, which was apparently orchestrated by someone who shot an Ishvalan child while disguised as an Amestrian soldier, for the purpose of creating a Philosopher's Stone. I don't really know how to talk about war and stuff in an analysis though. However, I did notice that this was similar to the claim made in Sensōron that Chinese soldiers had disguised themselves as Japanese soldiers and orchestrated a large portion of the Nanjing Massacre. In both of these scenarios, the end result fuels the war through the dehumanization of the side who apparently committed the atrocity, which is how further war and genocide often get justified by modern nations.

Aside from dehumanization, I also noticed a sort of cyclic nature of vengeance and hatred. As the different sides in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood commit evil, it causes the opposite side to fight back as a result of this vengeance and hatred. This can go on back and forth between the two sides over and over again, and eventually the original reason is lost. I didn't really notice that last part in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, but it was a theme that I was reminded of from other works.

There were also themes of surveillance and government control. King Bradley is a strong example of this, as through his "Ultimate Eye," he maintains control through constant surveillance. This is very similar to the concept of Panopticism that we explored earlier in the semester, and also similar to the method of control used by authoritarian regimes in the real world as well.

difanime

Akira

I felt like this anime was different from anything we have watched. It has a heavy atmosphere, a messy world, and a tone that never really tries to comfort the audience. The story builds fast, but it does not explain everything. You just get thrown into the chaos of Neo-Tokyo, and somehow it works. What stood out to me first was the way power is treated in this anime. Tetsuo goes from being weak and insecure to gaining power so intense that it completely breaks him. His transformation is scary but also kind of tragic. He has always felt small and ignored, so once he gets this power, he refuses to let anyone control him again. The problem is that he does not know how to use it. Instead of becoming free, he becomes something uncontrollable. The anime shows that power without emotional maturity only leads to destruction. Another strong theme is how this world treats youth. The government experiments on kids. The police beat teenagers in the street. Adults either try to control or ignore them. Everything feels broken, and the younger generation is left to deal with it. This connects to real concerns about authority, especially in how the system reacts with fear and violence instead of care. Kaneda’s group is reckless, but they are just trying to survive in a world that already gave up on them. There is also something about memory and trauma running under the surface. Neo-Tokyo was built on the ruins of disaster. Everyone is pretending like life moved on, but the cracks are everywhere. The city looks advanced, but it is also filled with poverty, protests, and corruption. Tetsuo’s powers feel like the return of a buried trauma that was never actually healed. The animation is intense. Every frame feels alive. The city looks gritty and real, but the psychic scenes are surreal and disturbing. I can see why this anime had such a big influence on later works. It is not just about style. It is about fear, collapse, and what might rise after everything falls apart.

clnme

It's interesting that you thought that Tetsuo's transformation is tragic and that he does not know how to use his powers. While I was watching, while I recognized where Tetsuo was coming from, I felt like his actions were illogical, yet intentional.

orionautoparts

Akira

ANXIETY STOP

clnme

This is so real

Akira

Personally, I didn't like the movie that much. The plot didn't seem very strong to me, and Tetsuo didn't feel realistic. The scene where he puts on a cape is especially too on the nose. The animation was fantastic though, and apparently the story is way better in the manga since they cut a lot of things out.

t was interesting to view Akira in terms of humanity's relationship with power and the world. What was particularly noteworthy, as mentioned by a few others, was the fact that the government continued to preserve Akira's remains, even after the devastation and destruction that Akira brought to the city in the past. They hold onto and try to weaponize things that are objectively harmful for society just for the sake of power, and I think that this says a lot about the human tendency. I also thought that this concept was very similar to the environmentalist themes we analyzed previously, in works such as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Xenoblade Chronicles 2. In these works, humans are shown to continue to consume and destroy the environment that provides for them, and they acknowledge this behavior as normal.

I also liked what was mentioned in class by the professor. The professor brought up a scene from Akira where a general who is trying to save the city, despite hating it, explains that long after Akira's devastation, "[t]he passion to build has cooled and the joy of reconstruction forgotten, and now it's just a garbage heap made up of hedonistic fools. In other words, there was initially energy and purpose in rebuilding, but this slowly faded into complacency and pleasure-seeking, as people lost their drive for meaningful progress. This parallels the sentiment shared in Sensōron on the topic of Japan post World War 2, which represented the group of people who hated modern Japan for its complacency and submission to the United States.

introtoanime0

Kobayashi- Sensoron

Reading Kobayashi Hideo’s Sensoron wasn’t particularly enjoyable to me personally: the writing style is dense, and at times hard to follow. It reflects a kind of emotional surrender to the idea of war. Kobayashi doesn’t try to explain why war happens or whether it’s right or wrong—he just accepts it as something that happens, something too big to question. At times, this feels more like giving up than offering insight.

But looking at Sensoron through Ernest Gellner’s historical lens helps make sense of what Kobayashi was feeling. Gellner divides human history into three main phases: foraging, agrarian (farming), and industrial. In agrarian societies, people were born into fixed roles. Culture didn’t need to match politics: empires ruled over many languages and customs without trying to unify them. But industrial societies are different. They need mobility, education, and shared language. Everyone has to speak the same way, read the same code, and learn the same things to function in the modern state.

That’s where nationalism comes in. According to Gellner, nationalism isn’t ancient, but rather a modern invention. It appears when governments need to turn large populations into “same-culture” citizens who can work, learn, and obey efficiently. Schools, media, and the military all help shape this shared identity. In that kind of system, war isn’t just about fighting others- it’s about protecting the identity you’ve been taught to live by.

Seen this way, Sensoron is a window into what it feels like to live inside a nationalist society. Kobayashi doesn’t resist the war because he’s already been shaped by the system that demands it. His “acceptance” of war reflects how nationalism can make certain thoughts feel impossible.

So, while the essay is frustrating to read, it does show something real: what happens when individuals stop seeing themselves as separate from the state. Not because they’re weak, but because modern life has taught them not to.

clnme

I kind of had a different interpretation when I read through Sensōron. I don't think he just accepts or surrenders to war, but is instead fighting to promote the view that Japan was not in the wrong in World War II.

Sensōron

This was a pretty wild manga, which presented a revisionist perspective on Japanese war crimes during World War II and claimed that the United States exaggerated these crimes and essentially brainwashed the Japanese people over the next 50 years. The main focus was on the United States' claims about Japan's Nanking Massacre. I honestly don't know too much about the Nanking Massacre, so I have no clue how true any of the manga's claims are, but they seem really dubious to me. While the manga attempts to point out multiple facets of propaganda that apparently exaggerates Japan's crimes, it is also obvious how the manga itself is propaganda as well, and quickly jumps to large and often absolutist claims through logical fallacies.

The associated text, A short history of mankind by Gellner, provides more context for the claims made within Sensōron by analyzing the concept of nationalism. Sensōron appears to be driven by a desire to reclaim Japanese national identity that was corrupted by American influence, which is also apparent in the later pages of the manga that switch the focus to how Japanese people have come to develop individualism as a result of the United States, rather than nationalism or unity through Japanese identity. The manga does this by framing Japan as the victim rather than the aggressor, which directly opposes the history that Japan and the rest of world have come to accept.

The biggest thing I noticed, though, was how the manga attempts to make its perspective appear more appealing by frequently depicting the "brainwashed" Japanese people as extremely childish and infantile, mainly through their dialogue. The author also claims that he used to be brainwashed too before he realized the truth, which his parents and the older generation have always believed. Through this, I feel like he attempts to establish himself as an authoritative figure through the age of the older generation in addition to his own experience and development. It can make the audience feel like they are intellectuals for siding with the author, because they were able to "see the truth."

Your Name

This was like the fifth time I watched this movie, and I still love it. I'm late with this one, so I'm going to be summarizing the points that were discussed in class.

We were told to view the film in the context of the associated assigned reading, The History of Sexuality by Foucault. Foucault claims that while we feel the pull of power distinctly, there really is no entity pulling us in that exact direction. Instead, what we observe is the vector sum of all different kinds of pulls. As a result, the power that we observe comes from many, many places, rather than one distinct place. Some of these elements come from broader entities such as the state or society itself, but also from entities that are more personal, such as your teachers or friends. Simultaneously, we also enact power on those people as well. Another byproduct of this interpretation is that power is inherently unstable: people can come into and out of one's life or change their minds, which moves the vector sum. Power is also everywhere, not because it embraces everything, but because it comes from everywhere, and is produced in every interaction we have with everyone else.

This interpretation of power is demonstrated multiple times throughout the film, Your Name. During the first time Mitsuha swaps into Taki's body, Mitsuha talks with Taki's friends during lunch and gets Taki's pronouns wrong multiple times, until she finally uses the correct one. Though this is done for comedic effect, Taki's friends are essentially policing Mitsuha's gender performance until it falls in line with societal norms. However, at the same time, Taki's friends do not look at Mitsuha weirdly during this scene with the conscious intent to enforce gender norms. This demonstrates the idea that power lacks subjectivity. We feel power acting on us, but there is no one entity doing that power, and thus no entity to truly blame. Both Mitsuha and Taki's friends exert power on each other and have power exerted on them by everyone else, and the movie even exerts power on its audience by framing a non-normative gender presentation in a comedic light.

anime-by-kr

Your Name & Foucault - “Method”

Hey everyone! 🌟

The story follows two teenagers: Mitsuha, a girl living in a small rural town, and Taki, a boy in bustling Tokyo, who mysteriously begin switching bodies. At first, it’s funny and confusing, but as they start to understand each other’s lives, something deeper forms between them. The twist? They’re not just separated by space, but also by time, and a natural disaster is about to change everything.

What really hit me in this anime were the themes of Time and Memory and Fate and Connection. The way Taki and Mitsuha’s memories fade the moment they stop switching bodies is so heartbreaking. They remember the feelings, but not the details, like trying to hold on to a dream that slips away. I think that says a lot about how memory isn’t just about facts; it’s also about emotion, and how we carry people inside us even when we forget their names.

Foucault’s “Method” helped me understand this more. He talks about breaking the idea of a “continuous history,” and Your Name does the same thing with time. Time isn’t straight in this movie: it loops, overlaps, and resets. It’s like Foucault’s idea that we shouldn’t look for one single, neat truth, but instead recognize that meaning comes from fragments and moments. Mitsuha and Taki aren’t connected because of some perfect timeline, but they’re connected because they choose to keep trying, even when they can’t remember why.

That brings me to Fate and Connection. The movie suggests that some people are just meant to find each other, no matter how much the world pulls them apart. But it also shows that fate isn’t passive, it’s something you fight for. Taki running to save Mitsuha’s town, even when he barely remembers her, was one of the most powerful scenes I’ve seen. It felt like a message that connection goes beyond logic.Overall, Your Name is a romantic anime but not only. It’s about the invisible threads that tie us to people and places, and how those connections shape who we are, even when we can’t explain them. It’s emotional, gorgeous, and deep.

clnme

The way you connected the movie to the reading was interesting! I was more focused on the social dynamics around their body swapping.

gigadrillbreak

Hetalia

Out of every topic that could be chosen to anthropomorphize the subjects and make a gag anime about, World War 2 is probably one of the best there is. The amount of genuinely absurd things that happen during the war make for great material to satirize even further. That said, this show is just not funny. I find all the characters (specifically Italy, which I find odd that he is such a pushover considering the fascist movement during this time) to be extremely annoying. The characters interact with each other in a way that causes complete chaos to unfold, especially in the first scene of episode one, although that isn't unrealistic. Other than that, the show continues on satirizing different topics and making fun of history through the form of anime humor.

clnme

Italy just kept talking about pasta 😔

Hetalia Axis Powers (Season 1 Episodes 1-19)

I agree with what some of the others wrote in their posts. I also had some mixed feelings about this anime, as the anime can seem offensive in a way. The name of the anime itself, Hetalia Axis Powers, uses the name Hetalia, which is a pun on "hetare," meaning unskillful, poor, or awkward, and "Italia," which refers to Italy. This is also referenced in the reading. An anime that's essentially centered around making fun of Italy, and to some extent, the rest of the countries, takes some balls. I still personally enjoyed the anime though, somewhat.

When I read the associated reading, Word Conflict/Word Conference: Axis Powers Hetalia, I was surprised to learn that the anime was extremely popular specifically among female fans interested in BL. There is definitely a wide variety of male personalities, but it never really came across as an anime catered towards a specific audience to me while I was watching. I could see myself enjoying the anime, including the story line of the chibi Italy and Holy Roman Empire, even though I am completely opposite to this audience and personally do not consume BL.

The reading thoroughly explains all of the problematic aspects of Hetalia Axis Powers, including its depictions of ethnicity, nationality, and colonial relationships. The anime apparently even sparked international controversy, and was canceled from television broadcast as a result of heavy protests in South Korea, for example. I wasn't really surprised about this.

I am concerned about the potential impact that an anime that irresponsibly parodies real people/places can have though. I read in some other posts that it felt like Hetalia Axis Powers trivialized some serious topics, which can be disrespectful. Other than that though, I think that the more significant issue is that this sort of parody can generate or encourage similar behavior. While it can be argued that the anime is "just a cartoon" or "just a joke," the reading does recognize that some anime fans cosplayed as the Germany character at a convention and performed the Nazi salute.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that the anime shouldn't exist or that serious topics shouldn't be parodied at all, but I do believe that serious topics should be handled more responsibly. It must be possible to preserve all the jokes within Hetalia Axis Powers while also implying that though funny in a fictional media, the jokes would be inappropriate in real life. Kinda like how there are TV shows where adults do stupid or dangerous things but also say "kids: don't try this at home!"

That's basically all I got. One thing that did stand out to me though was how in episode 8 at around 2:00, in a show where all countries are personified as people, Italy said "I'm in North Africa right now." That made me raise my eyebrow a little bit.

anime-by-kr

Drama of the Anthropocene

Hey everyone! 🌟

"Drama of the Anthropocene" by John B. Cobb, Jr., makes us think about our impact on the planet. Cobb explains the Anthropocene as this era where human activities are massively affecting Earth. For example, think climate change, pollution, and species loss. He stresses how everything on Earth is connected, meaning our health is linked to the planet's health. He also pushes us to reconsider our values, suggesting we need to prioritize environmental care over profits and rethink our economic system, which often harms the environment and creates social inequality.

Cobb sees science and tech as both part of the problem and the solution, urging us to use them wisely. He believes a cultural and spiritual shift in how we think about nature is essential. Despite the challenges, Cobb is hopeful. He emphasizes activism and policy changes, believing that if we work together, we can make a positive impact.

clnme

Great synopsis of the reading! I didn’t really have much time to read through it myself, so this helps a bit.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Cutscenes)

This time, we were told to view the cutscenes from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in the context of the reading, Drama of the Anthropocene, which focuses heavily on environmentalist topics. The part that relates shows up at the very end, where it is revealed that the person that created the world that the the main characters live in was actually a human. This person recognized the same problem that was acknowledged in Drama of the Anthtropocene, which was that humans have greatly damaged the Earth that they relied on, and begun to even damage the skies. As a solution, he essentially completely remade the world to allow it to repair itself.

Even after this solution, the problem still persists in a somewhat different form. All throughout the game, we are shown that humans live on Titans, which are a part of this new nature, and that these Titans are slowly dying out as a result of human activity. Some of the main antagonists are motivated by this fact that humans are causing harm, and wish to exterminate the humans as the most straightforward solution.

I wasn't really able to get much out of the cutscenes we were assigned since we skipped around a lot, so those are pretty much the main things I observed. Overall, I think that the game argues multiple environmentalist points, such as that the way we approach our usage of natural resources is very flawed, and that humans may always repeat destructive patterns. When comparing the new world that the game takes place in and the ancient world which was overwritten, it is evident that the problem is cyclic in nature.

I also thought that the fact that the blades, unlike humans, were cursed to live forever but also forget their past, was pretty interesting. I don't really know how to relate it to anything though, but I bet it connects to some sort of meaning.

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