Wabi Sabi

Land of the Lustrous Phos on a scouting mission      Houseki No Kuni (or Land of the Lustrous in English) is easily one of the most entrancing anime I have ever had the pleasure of watching. From the very first scene, the world pulls you in with its beauty. CGI animation in anime is often maligned because it is often jarringly different from classic 2D animation, but Land of the Lustrous shows that a full CGI anime can be stunningly gorgeous. The next thing that the show grabs you with is its fascinatingly mysterious setting. The inhabitants of the world that the show focuses on are crystalline organisms composed of minerals with smaller entities flowing through them. These units come together to make a whole Gem as they are known. Due to their beautiful mineral composition, a moon-dwelling species called Lunarians travels to earth in order to destroy the Gems and take their bodies as decoration. The Gems all of their jobs to maintain their community and fend off the Luna...

 Blue Lock      Blue Lock tells the story of Yoichi Isagi and his journey to become Japan's top soccer striker. Project Blue Lock is an absurdly over-the-top training combine and competition. Teams and players are given soccer challenges and games to develop their "weapons" and unlock their fullest potential. Those who rise to the top are the one's who develop their ego into their greatest asset. They reach out and grab every chance at a goal, never settling for complacency. Isagi is in the lowest tier of the players in the Blue Lock, but he is determined to make it to the top, even if it means crushing the dreams of 299 other hopeful players. Along the way, he meets teammates who will eventually become competition and encounters what can only be called monsters, players so skilled and intimidating that their presence on the pitch is near paralyzing.      I was able to make out a lot of the dialogue content when I turned off subtitles because there wer...

 Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War Arc      I just recently finished reading all 705 chapters of the Bleach manga. While it was being actively published for much of the 2000s, it was considered to be one of "The Big Three," the top shonen manga in terms of relevance alongside One Piece and Naruto. The story follows Ichigo Kurosaki as he is roped into being a Soul Reaper, an individual tasked with leading spirits to the afterlife. This task is far more complicated than simply providing directions, as lost souls can become powerful, violent entities known as "hollows." The current arc that is being adapted into anime is the final arc of the manga, "The Thousand Year Blood War Arc." It is the darkest and most serious arc of the series, though their are still moments of levity even with the death and despair that Ichigo must come to terms with as the Soul Reaper Society fights an enemy force that they had warred with and seemingly wiped out completely 1,000 year...