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 Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2020 10:26 pm
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The 11 Best Kyoto Animation Works Ranked!
J-List
Fri, Jul 31, 2020 10:24 am
The 11 Best Kyoto Animation Works Ranked!
Every morning I wake up and check the replies in J-List’s Twitter feed on my phone, which is a good way to spin up my brain slowly while my body still wants to stay anchored in bed. In one of my recent tweets, I asked my followers what their top works from our beloved friends at Kyoto Animation were, and got a lot of interesting responses. One follower asked me what my own personal best Kyoto Animation anime ranking was, which made me realize I should write a post on this!
Of course, any such list will be subjective, and each of us might have our own list that’s totally different. Both as a personal fan and longtime observer of the anime industry, I love all the works by Kyoto Animation and have the deepest respect for the huge effort they always put in for their fans. I’ve tried to base my ranking on the following criteria:
1. How much fun fans had to watch the show while it aired, dancing and making memes online.
2. How deep an impression it left on me personally, and on fandom at large
3. The visual quality of the animation, and how well the overall execution of the work was
Peter’s 11 Best Kyoto Animation Works, Ranked!
11. Lucky Star
Although it wasn’t the first anime to popularize the 4-koma-manga adaption formula, Lucky Star was done so well that no one could avoid loving the characters. It was a great gateway into anime for many young fans.
10. Air
A fantastic anime that began the relationship between visual novel maker Key and Kyoani, Air was one of the most moving shows I’d seen up to this point. It was only the second anime created entirely by the studio, and I still remember how riveted Mrs. J-List — who insists she’s not an otaku, yet watches 80% of the shows I watch with me — was to the time-spanning story of two lovers doomed to be reincarnated again and again yet never be together.
9. Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions
A beautiful story of two middle-schoolers who suffer from chuunibyo, or 8th grader’s disease, which describes the in-between time when young people have trouble letting go of their childish inner fantasies and face the responsibilities of adulthood. Watching the love between Yuuta and Rikka grow was a wonderful thing.
8. Nichijou
A bold new direction for the studio, Nichijou is a slice-of-life comedy based on a manga Keiichi Arawi, with incredibly deep humor. In the tradition of Haruhi novel author Nagaru Tanigawa and AnoHana creator Mari Okada, he set the story in his home town, including the high school he graduated from, which was Isesaki Commercial High School…which by freakish coincidence is where my wife went to high school, just a few kilometers from J-List.
7. Koe no Katachi
Have you ever been unkind to someone at an earlier point in your life, and spent years regretting it? Have you wished you could make it up to them? That’s the basic concept behind A Silent Voice, and it’s one of the most moving and beautiful films I’ve ever watched.
6. Violet Evergarden
Although some of their recent works haven’t shined as brightly, Netflix’s entry into funding anime for its streaming platform started with Violet Evergarden, the story of a former soldier who tries to move on from the war by becoming an “auto memory doll,” a person who writes letters on behalf of people who can’t write, so they can express the feelings they have inside to others. It’s a very moving series, with Clannad-level feels, and I highly recommend it.
5. Clannad and Clannad After Story
Clannad starts out as a somewhat predictable harem anime in which the main character Tomoya is surrounded by a group of cute girls, though in the end he only has eyes for Nagisa. After Story is…an anime that makes us appreciate electricians. Yeah, that’s it!
4. K-On!
Another candidate for the best Kyoto Animation work, K-On! is about four girls (and later one more) who form a light music club. Although the whole show is a calming slice-of-life experience,
3. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
With a bizarre “episode 0” and episodes originally broadcast out of order on purpose, I’m sure a lot of fans will have initially been confused by the story of a high school girl who’s only interested in meeting “aliens, espers and time travelers” — so naturally all three promptly pop into existence. Haruhi was a fantastic anime, loads of fun to geek out over then and today. It also gave us the best anime song of the 21st century, so far (God Knows).
2. Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon
Since writing about anime is my job, I love it when a show comes along that provides plenty of neta (the top part of a piece of sushi, or material for writers) for these blog posts. And I remember writing many posts about this show, the story of an immortal dragon who becomes friends with a programmer named Kobayashi.
1. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
Finally, my pick for the #1 best Kyoto Animation works ever, which naturally is The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya film, which I re-watch every Christmas. It’s such a deliciously complex story, wrapping up the story elements of the series, and the overall execution of the film is so flawless, it’s my favorite Kyoani work of all time.
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Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2020 9:34 pm
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Is Anime Marketing Taking Over? Here are Seven Examples
J-List newsletter@jlist.com
Mon, Aug 24, 2020 10:18 am
Is Anime Marketing Taking Over? Here are Seven Examples
The other day I was exploring some new parts of Tokyo when I started to feel woozy in the extreme August heat. I ducked into a shop to make use of their air conditioning and buy some drinks, as well as some “salt candy” which is candy made containing the salt that we all need to stave off dangerous health issues like heat stroke, which is a problem in Japan. While in the store, I noticed several anime-themed products in pretty much every aisle I walked down. Is anime marketing taking over?
Sailor Moon…Bufferin?
Anime is great because it’s a medium that forms strong emotional connections between fans and the characters they love, and any product tied to those characters is likely to share in that positive energy. Since the original Sailor Moon fans are at an age where they might experience some migraine headaches from time to time, why not make limited Sailor Moon Bufferin aspirin to help ease their discomfort? We can’t be far off from official Sailor Moon-branded hair color products to hide grey hairs.
Tying Unrelated Products to Popular Characters
These energy drinks are totally unrelated to Kimetsu no Yaiba, but the fact that they were placed in a display case with cute-as-a-button Nezuko made me reach out to buy them before I could stop myself. Anime marketing companies are so sneaky!
Cross-Marketing Anime with Pizza
Although Levi’s is a famous brand in Japan today, back in the 1970s this wasn’t the case, as the company struggled to gain traction in the Japanese jeans market. The company hit upon the idea of tying its famous brand to iconic (and dead) names like James Dean and Marilyn Monroe. Awareness of Levi’s brand skyrocketed among young Japanese, and it didn’t cost the company a lot of money, as it turns out that hiring dead people to represent your brand is quite inexpensive. The marketing campaign was one of the most successful in history.
Another legendary marketing coup was when Pizza Hut Japan, after seeing another pizza delivery chain co-brand with the Eureka 7 anime, approached the creators of Code Geass about partnering with them to cross-market, having pizza delivered in boxes with Code Geass characters printed on them, and actually featuring Pizza Hut’s products in the anime itself. It was a huge success, especially since people all over the world know the company and were compelled to eat more pizza because of the anime. Now anime co-branding with products like pizza is everywhere. Convenience stores also engage in anime marketing these days, paying to have their names featured in popular series and selling limited products from the shows in their stores.
UCC Coffee Defines the Evangelion Era
Back in the 1990s when Evangelion was airing, it was quite innovative to have official cross-over products like UCC’s canned coffee exist. By the time of the Rebuild of Evangelion films began in 2007, anime had progressed to the level that we all expected official crossover products, like the ANA Evangelion crossover campaign and even showing Misato drinking official Yebisu beer, rather than Ebichu brand.
McDonald’s Makes an Idol Anime
McDonald’s is an old hand at using anime marketing to generate buzz for its products, whether it’s making us want to go work at McDonald’s or capturing the refreshing feeling of drinking a McShake in the hot summer. Then there was the time they made a full-blown idol anime, in which three girls who love to eat Gratin Croquette Burgers in the winter meet and reminisce about their university days.
Want People to Feel Good About Your Company? Hire Makoto Shinkai to Make an Anime Commercial!
That’s what Taisei Construction Company did, commissioning a series of commercials about hardworking engineers building important construction projects in Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Turkey. The commercials make me want to go back to school and become a civil engineer.
Anime Canes for Old-School Mecha Fans?
Let’s face it: anime has been around for a while, and some of us anime fans aren’t the spring chickens we once were. When we get to the age when we need to use a cane to get around, it’s nice to know there’ll be official anime-themed canes for us to use!
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Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2020 9:20 pm
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What Will J-List Be Watching in the Fall 2020 Anime Season?
J-List
Fri, Sep 25, 2020 10:30 am
What Will J-List Be Watching in the Fall 2020 Anime Season?
One thing about the Japanese: they really love appreciating the changing of the seasons and celebrate each by eating different seasonal foods and doing different representative activities for that time of year. Because many Japanese have only visited California, they often believe that Japan is the only country in the world that has four seasons, and will potentially stop a foreigner on the street and say something like, “How are you enjoying your time in Japan? And did you know that Japan has four distinct and differentiated seasons?” Seasons are important in anime, and since the final cour of 2020 starts soon, I thought I’d write a post about what J-List will be watching during the fall 2020 anime season!
Our Fall 2020 Anime Season Picks
The COVID-19 has placed stress on the anime industry, causing delays in some shows a re-shuffling of some schedules, but in the end, there’s still way too much anime for even the most dedicated fan to reasonably watch. That’s why I’ll do my best to watch as many of these series as I can and pick the ones that are worth your attention. Enjoy the J-List fall 2020 anime season preview!
Golden Kamuy 3rd Season
One of the freshest and most fun anime in years, Golden Kamuy is about a survivor of the 1905 Russo-Japan War nicknamed the Immortal Sugimoto who befriends an Ainu girl named Asirpa and learns many of their customs. Golden Kamuy has great storytelling, a clear goal (the Ainu gold all the characters are seeking), and an outstanding enemy (First Lieutenant Tsurumi, a soldier wounded so badly he has to strap a plate to his head to keep his brains from spilling out). Read my separate blog post about Golden Kamuy here.
When They Cry – New
I’m both excited at the project of an update to the classic psychological horror thriller and nervous that modernizing such a classic will somehow ruin the magic. But I’ll certainly be tuning in to this one!
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? III
Sometimes anime studios can take so long to get the next season to you that it can be frustrating for fans. Other times we get the next seasons so quickly it can be hard to keep up. I’m sure a lot of will be enjoying more Hestia, Bell, and all the others very soon!
The Irregular at Magic High School: Visitor Arc
I’ve always loved the character designs of Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei, and will be following the new fall 2020 anime. Will you?
Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka? 3
The anime that pretty much defined the Cute Girls Doing Cute Things genre, now we can get more coffee vs. green tea.
TONIKAWA: Over the Moon For You:
It’s odd that I can get excited about an anime before I know anything about it at all, but somehow the emotions flowing from the official visual above have me thinking this will be a hit. It’s about a boy with the peculiar name of Nasa (星空 in kanji, meaning “starry sky”) who meets his future wife after a bizarre accident.
One Room 3rd Season
I’m a huge fan of Kantoku, which you can probably tell by the high number of his doujinshi and figures on J-List. The short series about the main character interacting with cute girls from his personal POV (making the main character in the series “us” basically) is charming and relaxing to watch, and J-List will be following the new season for sure!
Hang On! Climbing Girls
Where did the boom in rock climbing in anime come from? Suddenly we’re getting rock climbing scenes every season. I imagine this show will be something like the Harukana Receive of the sport, and naturally I’ll be tuning in.
Kamisama ni Natta Hi
What would you do if you were told that the world was going to end in 30 days before, until that time, you were God who could do anything you wanted? I’ll certainly check out The Day I Became a God by P.A. Works.
Assault Lily: Bouquet
I don’t even need to do any research on this show to guess the plot. The Earth is under attack by some terrible enemy, but don’t worry! A unit of Battle Maids has been trained at a special high school set up for that purpose, who will defend us.
Yuukoku no Moriarty
I guess the genre of bunkei anime (stories for fans interested in literature and books) is growing, thanks to popular series like Bungou Stray Dogs and Bungou to Alchemist. This show, Moriarty the Patriot, tells a story around the famous antagonist to Sherlock Holmes, and basically the first super-villain in history.
Rail Romanesque
A short fall 2020 anime in which trains are piloted by cute female human avatars called Raillords, and are in competition with a new transportation technology called “aerocrafts.” If you love trains and cute girls, you should watch it!
Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club
An anime about a bunch of cute girls who seek to become idols in order to keep their school from being closed. What a fresh, new concept! Whether the newest generation of the Love Live series will be a hit will depend on the charm each girl exerts on fans. Going by my “Pixiv-o-meter” method of judging future popularity based on how much naughty fanart exists online, it doesn’t look good for Nijigasaki so far.
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2021 11:48 pm
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Happy 2021! 8 Facts about New Year’s in Japan
J-List
Sat, Jan 2, 2021 11:23 am
Happy 2021! 8 Facts about New Year’s in Japan
Happy New Year and welcome to 2021! We hope that this year will be a kinder one to all of us! In order to say thank you for your warm support of J-List during the crazy year we’ve just finished, we’re giving everyone otoshi-dama, that is New Year’s Money, which is a tradition in the new year here in Japan. Enjoy $20 off any order of $100 or more, automatically, with no coupon code to enter! (Preorders and Fukubukuro are not included, sorry.) Start browsing now!
8 Things the Japanese Do on New Year’s Day
I thought I’d write a post about the things Japanese people do on New Year’s Day, so you could better understand Japan and its culture. Enjoy!
They do as little as possible. New Year’s Day is the most important day of the year in Japan, and everything is shut down on January 1st. Most business close from December 30 through January 5, including J-List and all the companies we do business with. This is why we pre-added so much stock of our signature products this year, so we wouldn’t run out during the long holiday.
The single best episode to watch on New Year's is episode 20 of Hyouka, which captures the solemnness of quiet of the arrival of a new year in Japan.
They greet their friends and family. In Japan, the concept of 挨拶 aisatsu or formal greeting is culturally significant, and the most important greeting might be congratulating family members, neighbors, friends and co-workers the first time you see them after a new year has started. The greeting is akemashite omedetou gozaimasu, lit. “congratulations on opening a new year,” perhaps followed up with kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegai shimasu, literally “please allow me to be in your care this year, also.”
They give New Year’s money to children. Families will generally travel to visit with relatives, either on January 1st or soon after, and when they do, they generally prepare little envelopes of cash for any children at the house, each containing 3000 yen (USD$29). This is otoshi-dama or a New Year’s money gift, and I love it for two reasons. First, receiving a cash gift from relatives leads to extremely polite and well-behaved children. Second, parents generally give the kids half the money to spend and make them save the other have, which helps form good saving habits in children. By the time most kids become teenagers they’ve got thousands of dollars of money in the bank, which help them become more responsible adults.
Sometimes receiving this New Year’s money can be a problem. In an episode of Himouto! Umaru-chan, Taihei prepares a new year’s money gift for Ebina. This is the last thing she wants, as she’s in love with him, and wants to be seen as a woman rather than as a girl to give childish gifts to.
They take as long a holiday as they can. In 2018, I did toshi-koshi — crossing into the new year — at our condo in Tokyo, because I wanted to visit Meiji Shrine right after midnight and pray for good luck in the new year along with thousands of others worshippers. I was amazed at how many businesses had closed for a week or more during the year-end/new year period, to the point that there were almost no businesses open in Tokyo — I couldn’t even visit my local Subway and get a sandwich as it was closed for a whole week. My impression at the time was that the Japanese economy was so strong that nearly every Japanese had the economic choice to stop working for a long period of time, which seemed amazing to me. In the 2020-2021 period, businesses are also closing for longer than they usually might, but this is because of the economic stresses and dangers caused by COVID-19.
They engage in New Year’s Cleaning before the new year arrives. There’s nothing as psychologically cleansing as entering a new year with a house that’s spotless. They also wash their cars and fill up the gas tanks so everything is
They eat soba noodles on December 31st. The long soba noodles are meant to lengthen your life, just like the noodles.
They eat mochi rice cakes on January 1st. Mochi are squares of extremely glutinous rice that have been pressed into a solid shape. Pop them into a toaster oven and they become the most delicious chewy goodness. They’re fabulous, though I rarely eat them because they’re very high in calories. They can also kill you! In the past 10 years, 661 elderly and children have died from choking on the dense sticky rice cakes.
They go to the Shinto shrine to wish for good luck in the new year. There’s nothing quite like lining up with hundreds of others at a Shinto shrine in the cold on January 1st, then finally arriving at the shrine, tossing your coin in, and praying to the Shinto kami. Of course, that’s not safe to do during the current crisis, and this year shrines are spreading their New Year’s celebratory period over several weeks, so visitors can avoid crowding.
(Since J-List is a business, my wife makes her visit to a special Shinto shrine for business owners associated with the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto. She has a very specific system she follows each year to make sure J-List has good luck all year long.)
Thanks for reading this post about New Year’s in Japan, and we hope 2021 is a much better year for all of us. Please browse the site and make an order using the new $20 instant coupon!
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Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2021 7:14 pm
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Why Does Japan Enjoy the Mystery Genre So Much?
J-List
Fri, Sep 17, 2021 10:24 am
Why Does Japan Enjoy the Mystery Genre So Much?
When I first came to Japan in 1991, I enjoyed learning about my new adopted home close-up, experiencing the “real” Japan and its people as opposed to the more formal language and culture I experienced through my Japanese classes at university or the stylized world of anime and manga. Some things I was surprised by:
The works of H.P. Lovecraft are surprisingly popular in Japan, thanks to early translations of his stories starting in 1949, as well as Hobby Japan’s licensing of the Call of Cthulhu dice-and-paper RPG for the Japanese market in 1981.
Audrey Hepburn died soon after I arrived, and I was surprised to find she had many fans in Japan who positively worshipped her. According to Mrs. J-List, she was popular because she was the first actress who became famous around the world despite being an A-cup.
American-style situation comedies aren’t part of the zeitgeist of Japan, but two American imports, Full House and ALF, were huge hits in Japan. You can tell something is ridiculously popular when the Japanese Wikipedia pages (1, 2) are much longer than the English ones.
Japan probably has more active fans of The Carpenters than any other place in the world. Columbo, the old crime drama series, is hugely popular and is still regularly shown on prime time TV today
Then there’s the mystery genre, in which a murder takes place and a “famous detective” must enter the scene and solve the crime. For some reason, Japan took to this story format like a duck to water, and Agatha Christie is among the most famous foreign writers in Japan.
The History of Detective Stories in Japan
Edgar Allan Poe doesn’t get enough credit for all the things he achieved in life. One of the first important writers in the new country of America, his fascination with then-cutting edge technologies inspired the genre of science fiction, and Jules Verne specifically credited Poe for providing the inspiration to create stories about science. Poe also single-handedly created the modern detective genre with his stories based on his detective C. Auguste Dupin.
Over in Meiji-era Japan, these stories got translated and published in the literary magazines of the day, having a great influence on the country as she was in the middle of Westernizing. A writer who especially loved the mystery genre and the methodical way a detective picks apart the clues of a case in order to discover the culprit was Taro Hirai, who started publishing his own detective stories under the pen name Edogawa Ranpo, a tribute to Edgar Allen Poe.
Mrs. J-List is a huge fan of the mystery genre, and can generally be found watching reruns of the 90s and early 2000’s daytime crime dramas in which a murder has occurred and a grizzled detective must solve the case. These stories are quite formulaic and corny, but she loves them. This love of mystery stories isn’t limited to Japan, either. The other day I noticed her watching a Korean drama with characters wearing old-timey costumes, which turned out to be Miss Ma, Nemesis, a 2018 series adapting famous Agatha Christie crime stories.
Did you know there’s a Korean version of Criminal Minds?
Five Mystery Anime
The mystery genre is well represented in anime, of course, both in serious dramatic form and as self-parody. Here are some of the best examples!
One of the more enjoyable series of the current anime season has been The Detective is Already Dead, which has great animation and great “seasonal waifus.”
An anime that’s so popular it will probably still be airing when we’ve all shuffled off this mortal coil, Case Closed is the story of a young boy who helps the police solve crimes every week.
Although they’re not solving murders but far more casual mysteries, Hyouka is a gorgeously animated work about the eternally curious Chitanda and her deadpan assistant Oreki.
A bizarre but adorable show in the cute-girls-doing-cute-things genre, Tantei Opera Milky Holmes is about cute girls who solve crimes.
If you’ve always wanted to be at the center of a reverse harem of famous bishie detectives, check out the London Detective Mysteria, an otome game that’s available on Steam.
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Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2021 8:14 pm
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What New Anime Will J-List Be Watching?
J-List newsletter@jlist.com
Mon, Oct 4, 2021 10:22 am
A New Anime Season Begins! J-List’s Top New Series
Time flies when you’re having fun… or watching anime, and before we knew it, it became time to say goodbye to the surprisingly enjoyable Summer 2021 anime season, and hello to the new Autumn 2021 season. As usual, we never know ahead of time how an anime season will unfold, and what series will make us burst out laughing or reach for the tissue box because we’re crying… or for any other reason. Here’s a post on the 13 series J-List will be paying attention to this season!
Anime continues to explode in popularity around the world, and the upcoming season offers 45 new anime series for us to enjoy, which is separate from the second cours of continuing series, or never ending shows like One Piece. What gems will the new season hold for us? Let’s find out!
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Part 2
In the second cour of one of the most well-executed isekai stories in years, we’ll finally get to enjoy more adventures of Rudeus Greyrat, Eris, Roxy, Sylphy, and all the rest. While it can be frustrating having a 24-episode series split into separate parts with months in between, it’s actually a fun way to experience the thrill of anticipation for a beloved series returning, as well as giving extra time for the studio to make cute figures for fans to buy.
Komi Cant Communicate
We’re living in a golden age of manga-to-anime adaptions in which most any manga that attains a certain level of sales popularity and/or meme-ability on social media can look forward to getting an anime adaption, whether it’s Uzaki-chan or Nagatoro-san or the highly anticipated Komi-san wa Communication Shougai Desu, about a girl who had problems
communicating with others. I’m totally looking forward to this one!
Platinum End
Based on a manga by the creator of such legendary works as Death Note and Bakuman, that alone is enough to get me to tune in.
Blue Period
An anime about young people exploring the world of art. It seems to be aimed at increasing interest in art clubs, the way Rifle is Beautiful tried to get people into competitive shooting, or Asteroid in Love promoted interest in geology and astronomy.
Eighty Six 2nd Season
The continuation of the popular military sci-fi series about a country that’s fighting a war with “automated mecha” which are actually piloted by humans considered to be sub-human by their society.
Mieruko-chan
An anime based on a manga about a girl who can see horrifying ghosts and spirits, which all others are oblivious to. She tries to enjoy a normal high school life despite seeing lots of spooky creatures every day. This looks like the perfect anime for Spooktober!
The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated In Another World As an Aristocrat
One thing you can say about isekai and tensei (reincarnated in another world) series, at least they keep coming up with creative titles. Based on a novel series by Kadokawa, Ansatsu Kizoku — the official Engrish title is The World’s Best Assassin, To Reincarnate in a Different World Aristocrat — is the story of a super-powerful assassin who gets reincarnated in another world where he does badass assassin stuff.
Muv Luv Alternative
A continuation of the popular alien invasion sci-fi visual novel from the makers of KimiNozo / Rumbling Hearts, back in the day. It should be good!
Restaurant To Another World 2
Sometimes all we want from an anime is to help us relax with a low-stress stress story, and maybe some images of delicious Japanese food to look at. If there are sexy elves and other isekai tropes, that’s even better!
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Mugen Train Arc TV
If you want more Demon Slayer, it’s coming! The Mugen Train film has been expanded with additional animation into a new TV arc… because once Sony has a hit on their hands, they can’t stop revisiting it again and again, until the end of time.
Lupin the 3rd Part 6
I’ve been impressed with the quality of many of the recent Lupin the Third works, which really capture the grit of the old Monkey Punch days while updating the story with high-quality animation. I’m definitely looking forward to the upcoming 6th Lupin series.
Gunma-chan the Animation
Bonus: an official Gunma-chan anime is coming! Gunma-chan is an example of Japan’s crazy penchant for creating local kigurumi (full body suit) characters to represent Japan’s local regions, though he’s actually the first such character created. Now that an official anime is coming out about the character, I’ll naturally have to tune in and let you know if you should check it out, too.
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