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.