Wabi Sabi

 Ping Pong: The Animation      Ping Pong tells the story of childhood best friends Makoto "Smile" Tsukimoto and Yutaka "Peco" Hoshino. Smile is innately talented but holds back his skills when he plays. Peco is also incredibly skilled, but he cannot bring himself to be disciplined. As the boys make the way to the top of the competitive ping pong world, the show explores the harsh realities of pursuing glory, the struggles and expectations that come with being "gifted," and even the reasons the boys have for living and playing the sport. The visionary director Masaaki Yuasa uses incredible visual storytelling in his idiosyncratic animation style and grounded screenwriting to make this one of the most poignant pieces of sports fiction ever created.       The main cultural element that Ping Pong explores is the intensity of competition in Japan and the expectations placed on young children early on. Both Smile and Peco begin training in ping pong as ...

 Cyberpunk: Edgerunners      This show is fascinating because it is based in a world created for an American table top game from the late 1980s which was adapted into a video game in 2020. The story takes place in Night Society, which is the 2070s equivalent to Los Angeles, and follows David Martinez, a poor teen who faces tragedy after tragedy and turns to a life of crime. David is a good could who was dealt a bad hand. In the 2070s people use cybernetic implants to make themselves stronger and their lives easier. As the jobs David and his comrades take on become more and more high stakes, David gets more and more implants. The characters are endearing and surprisingly deep for a 10 episode show. The story and world-building are near perfect. The animation by Trigger Studios, possibly the best animators in the current anime landscape, is the perfect cherry on top for this phenomenal story.      It was rather hard to make out words and phrases that I r...

 Chainsaw Man      Chainsaw Man, an ongoing manga, is one of my favorite stories, and I was ecstatic to hear that it was getting an anime adaptation. The story follows Denji, a boy who is forced into servitude by the mob after his massively indebted father dies. The world of the story is host to devils that form out of fears (bats, darkness, eternity, and even tomatoes). The stronger the fear of the thing worldwide, the stronger the devil. Denji is employed as a devil hunter along with his dog, Pochita, who has a chainsaw sticking out of his head. After both are killed by the Zombie Devil, Pochita fuses with Denji, and he becomes the titular Chainsaw Man. He is employed by the Public Safety Devil Hunters and provided with a home and basic necessities for the first time in his life. He then takes on cataclysmic horrors in order to maintain the simple pleasures that he has been afforded. The story is comedic and action packed, but it is also incredibly emotionally reso...

Mob Psycho 100 Season 3      This is the third season of one of the most acclaimed (and one of my personal favorite anime). Mob Psycho 100 tells the story of a socially awkward, middle school boy named Shigeo, who is often called by the nickname Mob. Mob was born with unfathomably powerful psychic abilities that can shape the world around him and allow him to communicate with spirits. After hurting his younger brother with these abilities in a no outburst as a child, he decided that he didn't care for his powers. In middle school, Mob meets the hustler Reigen Aritaka. Reigen runs a spirit consultation agency even though he possesses no real psychic powers. Reigen helps Mob come into his own and discover his worth as he faces potentially world-destroying threats due to his great powers. The show is incredibly funny, the characters are expertly written and incredibly endearing, and the animation quality is unmatched. It masterfully balances action, comedy, and heart.  ...

Summertime Render   This show is strange, complex, and entirely engaging. It tells the mysterious story of a man returning to his island hometown for the funeral of his childhood best friend. He realizes that things are more sinister than he initially thought when he learns that his friend's official cause of death was drowning but there were strangle marks found on her neck. After he is killed by someone who looks exactly like a close friend of his, he jolts awake a day before. The story then becomes a complex serious of jumps backwards in time as the main character gradually unravels more of the disturbing doppelgänger phenomenon that afflicts his hometown. A large event in the story revolves around a summer shrine festival to honor the local Shinto deities. The head of the shrine also helps the characters in the show to learn some of the island history linked to the mysterious events occurring. Through this, I was able to learn some of the duties of a shrine keeper as well as co...