***Contains spoilers for Final Fantasy VII*** The Final Fantasy VII remake is finally happening. If you’ve met me in person in the past month or so, I’ve probably talked your ear off about it. I’m currently replaying the original, remaking my Cloud cosplay, and rereading fanfiction I wrote when I first discovered FFVII 8 years…
I’m certain you have seen at least one place in an anime series or movie where you thought, to quote Liz Lemon from 30 Rock, “I want to go to there.” Be it a scenic getaway in Japan, or an awe-inspiring fantasy land, the locales in anime are definitely travel-worthy. As an enthusiast of fine…
With the autumn anime season wrapped up, one series making big waves is One-Punch Man; a story about a hero who has become too strong for his own good. The laid-back demeanor and beautifully animated fight scenes have made the series one of this season’s must-watch shows. Even more interesting than the show itself is…
Words can hurt. In today’s Internet culture, hateful and spiteful comments are thrown left and right without a second thought. It’s easy to forget that our words can carry weight and greatly affect others. The Anthem of the Heart is a genuinely endearing modern fairy tale that reminds us of the power of our words.…
**This essay contains spoilers for Tiger and Bunny as well as the movie Tiger and Bunny: The Rising** As much as Tiger and Bunny is a story about superheroes, it’s also a drama about human relationships. To that end, director Keiichi Satou, character designer Masakazu Katsura, and scriptwriter Masafumi Nishida have carefully crafted a unique…
Welcome to the first ever Round Table Round-Up, where we highlight topics and ideas discussed in a recent AnimeChicago Round Table. This article covers director Satoshi Kon’s television series Paranoia Agent. As pointed out by Neil, our discussion moderator, Paranoia Agent was formed as set of experiments based off of story “scraps” that Kon had…
If you attended ACEN (Anime Central) over the Summer, you may have seen waves of con-goers proudly displaying shirts emblazoned with the letters S-C-A-N-D-A-L. In case you mistakenly thought that otaku throughout the Midwest simultaneously developed a sudden obsession with the ABC political drama of the same name, allow me to enlighten you: Scandal is…
The series Death Parade centers around the lives and work of Arbiters, whose job it is to judge the recently deceased souls and determine those souls’ ultimate fate. The method that the Arbiters use to achieve this goal involves pitting two souls against each other in various games in an attempt to elicit desperate emotions…
For this month’s Anime Round Table, we watched Tekkonkinkreet, the tale of two orphan brothers, Kuro and Shiro, who are living on the streets of the dream-like Treasure Town whilst fighting against the Yakuza, possible aliens, and ultimately the inner workings of their own minds. Kuro, whose name literally translates to “Black”, is the older…
Welcome to our new column OTP where we combine anime with amazing things! AnimeChicago member Jeremy P. has an exquisite palette for great beer and great anime. Here are his recommendations on what you should drink while watching our January Round Table selection. Cowboy Bebop is such a deep and vast series that to pin one particular style or theme is definitely difficult, if not downright impossible. So…