Time to get this started

 No more delays. Let's get this thing going! I've been compiling a list of all the opening and ending themes for anime starting in the 1950s, and have made it all the way to the late 80s. Still a lot more to go, but I think it's about time I start reviewing music starting from the very beginning.

I'm interested in a few things, like how the music changes over time, singer/band debuts, animation changes, and so much more. I will be doing ranking lists for the following:

• Season
• Year
• Decade
• Artist
• Series

These aren't necessarily the only lists that I'll do, but it's a beginning. For each, I'll have rankings for openings and endings separately. They have very different feelings, as openings tend to be more energetic, while endings are calmer.

Other things I need to do include improving how the page looks and some organisation. The image in the background is one I took several years ago in the Ueno area of Tokyo. I need something that doesn't look so busy.

Anyway, I'll be doing a lot of work on this, with an opening and ending every couple days or so. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out!

I Think I Have Too Much Going On

 It's become clear to me that I just can't seem to write reviews. I remember why I stopped running an anime review site all those years ago. I simply didn't enjoy writing the reviews. I'm trying to think of what I can do, and this is what I've come up with.

I will write reviews (brief) on MyAnimeList. As I watch an episode, I'll enter my thoughts about each episode, and once done, I'll write fairly brief reviews.

On this blog, I want to focus on the music of anime. Why? Because I can't really review the openings and endings on MyAnimeList. I'd like to create full lists of the songs for all series I watch, including those listed by anime title, artist, and year. For the year, I want to include a rating out of 5, so I can compile lists of my favourite songs of each year. Why? Just because I like rankings.

Let's see what I can do. I'll just watch anime when I want without worrying about having to write reviews. I think that's better. I found that I was delaying watching because I wasn't in the mood to write a review. Now, I'll just watch as much as I want without worrying about the reviews. I'll get more done, I think.

Let's Get to Work! New Reviews, New Pages

 I just had a very busy two weeks and managed to watch only two episodes of anime. I'm behind on Ao no Hako and Ranma 1/2, but I plan to work on getting caught up over the rest of the month. But there are some other things I have in mind going forward.

I've mentioned this before, but episode by episode reviews will only happen with current series and select series that are within a couple years old (and possibly some very select older series). I do have two new series I plan on starting in January while they're airing.

Second, I'm going to be adding pages for music sorted in a few different ways: year, series, and artist. I will also be adding ratings to them so that in the year listing, I can sort them by rating. I will go back to the openings and endings I have already reviewed and add ratings to the posts.

Next, I really need to get the reviews of completed series up. In the progress page, you'll see what I've finished and what's coming up. I will be finishing another two series very shortly (Tenchi Muyou Ryo-ohki 1 and Planetes). 

So, I'm going to be busy for the next while getting everything up to speed here. Expect a new background for the blog, too. Something simple.

A Change in How I Do Episode Reviews

 I'm currently watching 12 series, and it takes a lot of time to write episode reviews. For now, I'm only going to write episode reviews for series starting at episode 1. There are a lot of series I have been watching a while now, and it doesn't make sense to write episode reviews part way through a series. So, for now, I'll only be doing reviews for Ao no Hako and Ranma 1/2 (2024). There are a couple series I'm finishing right away, but I will only do episode reviews for relatively new series (that is within the last 2 years). As for the completed series, I need to write the full reviews. In addition, I will continue to do music reviews for openings and endings, and embed the videos on the blog for those. I think this will help me get caught up, as I actually haven't watched anything in a couple weeks. I've been busy. I'm thinking of doing the next Ranma 1/2 episode tonight!

Episode Reviews?

 As I watch anime titles, I thought I would do something to make it a bit more interesting. After every episode I watch, I will write a very brief post about the episode. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but I want to talk about my thoughts and feelings about the episode. I think that will allow me to post more content on the blog while I write the full reviews.

Some of the series I am most of the way through or at least part of the way through. I will be starting with the episode I'm currently on. So, expect to see a post on Rurouni Kenshin (the original series) episode 8 very soon.

I am also going to be finishing three series very soon, including Planetes, Ah! My Goddess, and Tenchi Muyo Ryo-ohki series 1. I'm going to include the special episode 7 in this review, as it is related.

Upcoming full reviews are for Macross Plus, Dirty Pair Flash I, Slayers, and Shamanic Princess, all of which I had watched long ago, back in the 1990s. The only series I am currently watching that I had never seen any of before are Planetes and Sousou no Frieren. I had seen a little of Rurouni Kenshin and Stellvia, but I'm already beyond the episodes I'd seen before. I had also seen around 40 episodes of Ranma 1/2 and about 8 of Maison Ikkoku, so I'll be watching "new" episodes of the former very soon.

I would like to get into watching recent or current series, as well. I do plan on starting the new Ranma 1/2 series when it starts on Netflix in October. But I would like to figure out some others I may start. I don't want to increase the number of series I watch at once, though. Ten is enough! Let me know if you have any recommendations for new series.

A Focus on Voice Actors

 Way back when I was watching anime regularly, I developed a liking for various voice actors (seiyuu). I enjoyed a lot of shows starring Megumi Hayashibara, Aya Hisakawa, Kikuko Inoue, Hikaru Midorikawa, Kappei Yamaguchi, and more. There are so many I've forgotten, too. And now, I have an interest in Sumire Uesaka, though I have never watched anything she's been in. Why then? I knew her. When I lived in Japan, I was her English teacher. And no, I don't have any interesting stories about her. She was fairly quiet and polite.

Enough of my personal stories with voice actors. What am I going to do about them here? For each anime I review, I will be listing the voice actors at the end of the review, and will have another page that lists voice actors by name, and links to their own pages. The pages will have links to the reviews I have done with them being actors. I will likely miss some, as there are some very minor roles that voice actors take, but I will get as many as I can.

When will I start posting the reviews? Now that I know exactly what I want to do for the reviews, they will be coming very shortly. I am also updating the Upcoming page as I finish each episode I'm watching. I'm nearly finished several series now, and will be starting new ones soon. Most of what I've been watching is me reminiscing about old series I watched, but I do have one new series going (Sousou no Frieren).

I do have a question for you, though. Which newer series do you think I should watch? Let me know below.

Why Natsukashii? My Anime Journey

 Nostalgia. For me, anime has a nostalgic feeling, as much of what I watched was so many years ago, I have very fond memories of it. But that doesn't mean I will only watch older anime. No, I'm always interested in new stuff.

I started watching anime before I knew it was anime. You know, Astroboy. Tetsuwan Atom. Then I started university, and the only anime on TV was Dragonball and Sailor Moon. 1996 was the year everything changed for me. I attended a two day long anime festival near my home. I could literally walk there within ten minutes from my apartment! This is where I discovered the wide world of anime. Everything was subtitled, which was a first for me. I was introduced to such series as Dirty Pair Flash, Armitage III, and my memory is foggy about anything else. I mean, it was 28 years ago. 

I moved to another city shortly after because of my field of study, and discovered that Blockbuster had anime. I rented it all, and it wasn't much. But there was another, even better video rental store that had a much larger selection. I discovered Ranma 1/2, Devil Hunter Yohko, Bubblegum Crisis, and so much more. I then found out about fansubs, and I collected so many video tapes, I was running out of space. I discovered an anime club in the city, and joined. I enjoyed even more anime, such as Evangelion, Slayers, Escaflowne, Gundam Wing, and so much more. I was a member of that club for about four years, and was even asked if I would run for president of the club. No thanks! Not my kind of thing. But during this time, I bought a DVD player, plenty of DVDs, and started an anime review website. This was back when I was having a lot of fun with html. I was proud of my late 90s website.

Eventually, I graduated from university, then moved back to my hometown. I left behind friends at the anime club and had to find work. Thanks to having high speed cable internet at this time, I started downloading anime through torrents, which was what everyone was doing at that time. But one thing bothered me. I was always starting series and never finishing them. The video stores rarely had complete series. I borrowed DVDs from my friend at the anime club, and was able to watch the full series of Kimagure Orange Road, Boys Be, and more. I was able to watch full series through the anime club and anything I bought. But I was finding that I wasn't completing series.

And then in 2004, everything changed again. I got a new job. A job in Japan. So, in 2005, I moved to Yokohama, and lived in Kanagawa prefecture, just south of Tokyo, for 11 years. I watched .hack//Roots, Aquarion, Aria the Animation, and Uninhabited Planet Survive (reruns on NHK). And then I stopped watching anime. I found comedy variety shows. And that is where I got most of my Japanese language listening practice. They spoke quickly! I never really returned to anime during my time in Japan, though I did occasionally catch an episode of Fullmetal Alchemist from time to time. I got married, had a kid, and watched way too much Anpanman. But in 2016, things changed again.

We moved back to my hometown, where we remain today. I was able to start watching a little anime again through Netflix, but not much. I watched season 1 of Attack on Titan, and was forced to watch some Pretty Cure with my daughter. But it wasn't until a couple years ago that I started watching more, but only occassionally. I watched all of the original Macross series, which was something I'd wanted to do for a long time. And this year, I decided to start watching a lot more, and I'm finding that a lot of memories of anime I watched nearly 30 years ago came flooding back. And that's where I'm starting.

You see, I love the anime from the 1980s and 90s. That's why this review blog is called Natsukashii Anime Review. I'm going back to my old favourites, and some of my not so favourites, to see if my opinions have changed. But I'm also watching a lot of newer stuff. Frieren. I'm loving it. But I want to watch it all. There's so much to watch and so much to catch up on. The anime of 2006-2023 is mostly a mystery to me. But I will try pretty much anything. 

In the "In Progress" page, you will find everything I'm currently watching, as well as a handful of series waiting to be started. I am watching a maximum of 10 series at once. I like variety, and I'm not usually in the mood to binge watch a single series like I used to. However, on that page, you can request anime for me to watch, and I'll add them to the "coming soon" list. I'll watch pretty much anything, though there are some series I really don't care to watch. But I'll talk about that another time.

So, welcome to Natsukashii Anime Reviews! I look forward to discovering a lot of amazing anime.