Komi Can’t Communicate is a typical slice of life anime with some humor. The humor is very Japanese, but if your familiar with anime you would probably like it. Newer anime viewers looking for a comedy anime, I highly recommend watching “The Disastrous Life of Saiki K”. Komi Can’t communicate keeps a fast pacing, keeping the story fresh, but Saiki K takes things to the next level, landing joke after joke.
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Arcane
Oh my god. This show. The backgrounds design, music, and animations are off the chart. I was hesitant to watch it since it was based on a video game but watching it you wouldn’t even notice. The story has a great emotional depth to it and ends each episode with enough of a cliff hanger to keep you watching.
The animation itself was a very stylized 3d version, think very high-level video game but with cinematographic shots. This has the potential to set the standard when it comes to future 3d animations. Although some 3d anime’s like Ajin have mixed reviews, this executed 3d animation flawlessly. Too bad that the production quality is probably too high to become a long running show that releases frequently.
Forest of Piano
There isn’t a lot to be said about this anime other than it is an underrated anime and you should really check it out if you enjoy music. Although, having knowledge of music is completely optional. The show gives you a real appreciation for classical music as it follows two children with vastly different backgrounds through their journey on becoming professional pianists.
With that said, its animation is pretty bad. Well, more like, really, really bad. The cut between 2d and 3d animation for the piano playing is jarring. Plus, any scene with a crowd is poorly animated, which is usually forgiven since these are one off occurrences in most amines. However, this show relies upon competing in front of a crowd, so the poorly animated crowds stand out like a sore thumb. This feels more like an anime that was produced in the early 2000’s and not a Netflix anime produced in 2018. The show is carried upon the music and plot alone.
Sonny Boy
Wow, I don’t really know what to say about this anime. It isn’t flashy, it doesn’t have high production, but nevertheless, it is definitely an anime that will stick with me for a long time.
The story follows a group of high schoolers who went a-drift in this weird multi-dimensional universe. Each scene in the anime has this painted quality adding to the sublime nature of their universe. This story feeds into this underlying feeling of existential nialism. If our lives are so small and inconsequential compared to the universe, what is the point of living? How do you live day to day if you can live for literally thousands of years? What is the nature of our universe?
Sonny boy tackles all these deep philosophical questions while at the same time is a story that heavily leans on character development and emotion.
Demon Slayer: Manga Finish
What a journey the manga of demon slayer has been. I first picked up the manga after watching the first season of the anime and being blown away by the animation. The manga is no different, the artwork is beautiful, and there is the same humor throughout the manga as in the anime — no shocks there.
Volume 23 gave us a conclusion to the Demon Slayer story. Which, I am glad that this story does in fact have an ending and doesn’t continue in a perpetual cycle. The ending gives us catharsis for a story as a whole. I have mixed feelings about the ending where it shows us what the ancestors of the characters’ lives are like. This gave me flashbacks to the ending of The Promised Neverland Season 2’s ending. Personally, I enjoy a more open-ended ending like in Full Metal Alchemist. But, this ending gives a definitive ending that is closed to any additional sequels since all the demons have been killed and show no signs of returning. But, there is enough back story and lore to have a few prequels.
For a shounen anime, the ratio of the plot to fighting is normal. However, nearly 90% of this anime feels like it is fight scenes. Not to say that is bad, but long durations of fighting in the manga are often confusing. Especially when fights are cut mid-chapter and even between manga volumes. The final battle with Muzan took 7 manga volumes! But, it was a satisfying ending overall, and I can’t wait to watch the breathtaking anime version of it done by Ufotable.
Is Content King?
Back when I first started creating websites, I first heard the saying “CONTENT IS KING.” It doesn’t matter if you have the fanciest website, or if you have the best tech stack, if you don’t have any content, nobody will view your website. This holds true in so many fields. Youtube, photography, programming, art, social media. Simply put, if you don’t have quality content out there, people won’t find or recognize you.
However many people balk at this phrase, it remains a salient point of discussion in 2021. For most individuals, the discussion around the debate is quality vs. quantity. Where for companies, the interesting debate is around shifting paradigms with media ownership and distribution.
Quality vs. Quantity
There is an inverse relationship between quality and quantity of content one creator can produce. The best advice that I have received and would give to others is that when you start out, prioritize quantity to improve your skills and then slowly shift over to quality. Although you may think that this advice is all circumstantial, it actually applies in most fields. Consider photography if you want to get noticed and improve your skills. You have to take photos daily. You can obviously keep all your photos to yourself and never share anything, but that doesn’t help you in the long run. Sharing content created as frequently and as early on as possible is beneficial because it starts your network, and it allows you to receive feedback on your work. Additionally, publishing work in an open medium is a great way to get and stay motivated.
What about programming? Same thing, the code you write and publish to Github will be trash at first, but it will build your portfolio and give you experience with open source development. When hiring, I would always go with the person with more visible experience that has shown growth and development rather than someone with only one project — despite how good that one project may be. Content is king. Experience allows you to hone your skills and constantly improve.
Blogging? You bet your ass content is king. Obviously, there is a minimum bar you should exceed to publish something. It is better to start fast and write more good posts than hope Google will bless the one excellent post you wrote to grow a website. That is how the algorithms work.
You can also see this on Youtube. Creators that publish frequently are more viewed. Those that don’t upload often lose their fan base. However, there are some exceptions where creators can infrequently publish yet receive millions of views when they do. But, in those cases, these creators are always creating top-notch content.
Media Shifts
Content is king, yes. Period. However, how do companies get content? There are three main types of media: owned, paid, and earned. The first two are obvious. Owned media is media that you produce and own fully. Paid media is where you pay someone or another company to lend you media. Earned media is media that comes to you. IE: someone writing about your site or users posting on your site.
Social media and other websites have made a stupid amount of money with earned media. Consider Youtube; it is entirely community-driven. Although Youtube does enable you to place ads on your videos, making them quasi-paid media. And, they do have some owned media with their new efforts with Youtube originals.
Another prime example of this is with Netflix and the streaming war. Initially, Netflix was solely a company that distributed DVDs and then a service that streamed movies. However, when other streaming services cropped into the market, Netflix realized that it was more advantageous to produce their own media.
Where does the leave us? It is not necessarily that any one of these media types is leaving, but that all types of media are increasing because media is the only commodity that is served on the internet. Content is king.