whiteflame

As many of you have become aware, there is apparently an issue connecting with the site, particularly from mobile devices. I know not everyone is having this problem, but it does seem like it is affecting quite a few people, myself included. I'm able to bring up the site on my home and work computer, but not on my phone. Hopefully the problem will not persist, but I'm doing what I can to investigate it (no, I do not have access to the site's code and cannot do anything personally) and see what we can do about it (yes, I've reached out to Mike).

I received an invitation for the annual Mafia Championship tournament. Apologies for not getting this out sooner, but it looks like we'll have to select someone by April 20th, assuming there is someone that wants to participate. If you're interested, information about the tournament can be found in the link below.

Hey everyone!

Those in the know may recall that we've been involved in an inter-website mafia championship in previous years, and it looks like another one is just around the corner. The link for it is given below, and the tournament is supposed to start on April 22nd. We've participated before and I hope someone will step up to the challenge and join the competition this year. Note that the Google Doc details some of the requirements, including a good amount of activity in a forum mafia game on a daily basis. Let me know if you have any questions and I can relay them.

Many of you probably won't recognize this account. I had to dig back through The WayBack Machine to find his account, but I still remember my debate against Ajab and the discussions we had all those years ago. He's also one of only a handful of people that I stayed in contact with well after leaving DDO. We spoke with some regularity, despite the fact that he lived in Pakistan, half a world away.

Unfortunately, that ended early this morning when he died. I know his death hit me hard - he was in his mid-20's, and while that alone is a tragedy, he was also a person who had been through a lot in his life and persevered, someone who was thoughtful and passionate, loving and caring. I won't go into details about his death, but his family and friends will miss him dearly. For everyone who knew him or wishes they could have, we are all affected by this loss. Rest in peace.

After substantial discussion regarding several votes on the election thread (we appreciate everyone's patience), we have determined that the outcome stands as written at the end of the election thread:

I feel like we haven’t really had a retrospective on recent anime on the site, really just an assorted set of picks that each of us likes.
 
So, I'm starting something new and ongoing - a series about each season of anime and manga as they're coming out. Rather than starting with the current season though, as I'd like to pace this out a bit, I'll be taking a step back a couple of years and focusing on the best of each season starting in 2016 and going through 2021, hopefully getting through a year of anime and manga each week. I’m up for doing earlier years and 2022 onward, but for now, my focus will be on the more recent past and present.
 
I’m not going to try to be exhaustive about what came out each season, but I will try to cover both what I saw and the basics of the series that I missed and either wish to return to at some point or just think warrant attention for one reason or another. I will provide a rating for each of the ones that I’ve seen/read (on a scale of 10, with a 5 being a weak but average series, a 10 being a basically perfect series, and a 0 having no redeeming qualities) and will include a best-of-year among the ones I watched at the bottom of each post.
 
If I didn’t cover something you liked from any of these seasons, you'd like to provide your own views on what I've covered, or if you just want to interject with something related to anime and manga, feel free to post. My hope is that we continue posting here as new anime come out to give thoughts, or, barring that, just have some further discussions of some recent favorites.

I've watched quite a few anime over the years (full list here: https://myanimelist.net/animelist/whiteflame55), but picking out a top 10 is difficult for me. Used to have a clear set, but now, it's impossible to leave it to even that many. So, while I have a top 10 series (I'm giving those in no particular, though I do have some idea of how I'd rank them), I have to pick some favorite movies for a separate list.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (2008)

Hard not to love this bombastic, over-the-top series by Gainax. You might know them best by the work of another studio that spun off from them, Trigger (BNA: Brand New Animal and Kill la Kill). The animation is colorful and sharp, as in those series, but what really sets this apart is the emotional stakes baked into it and the incredible characters. It's a story of perseverance against impossible odds that always struck a chord with me.

Fate/Zero (2011-2012)                             

The series that would probably top this list, it's a Greek tragedy done up in the style of mages summoning some of the greatest heroes from history to do battle over the Holy Grail. No one in this series is free from guilt, and it's incredible to watch the characters bounce off one another and challenge each other physically, emotionally and psychologically. Never had a series before that just worked on every level so well. To top it off, the studio (Ufotable) is known for their superb animations, having recently done the adaptation of Demon Slayer.

Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World (2016, 2020-2021)

Wouldn't have said this back in 2016, but this series is incredible. It does an amazing job developing its main character, and for a show with one major gimmick (return from death), it gets an amazing out of mileage out of it. The expanding cast only gets more intriguing and the show constantly keeps us guessing as it develops, never letting us or the characters get complacent. 

Made in Abyss (2017, 2020)

Another series that gets a lot of mileage out of a single gimmick, the whole series is built on the knowledge that there is a giant abyss and people go in to explore it for riches and fame. The whole series is built on the absolutely dismal realization that our lead character is after something she cannot obtain without condemning herself to death, it's really more about the journey than the destination, with every new level of the abyss being a tour de force in animation and the music being among the best in any series.

Code Geass (2006-2007, 2017-2019)

This series has a similar vibe to Death Note, though with a grander scale and mech battles to boot. The series gets going fast and focuses on a character who is caught up in a world where the British Empire never stopped expanding, and plays a deadly game of chess with people as pawns to exact revenge. Though it has its low points, it's riveting to watch the series play out, and has an incredible ending.

Cowboy Bebop (1998, 2001)

The absolute classic on this list, Cowboy Bebop is a must-watch for any anime fan. Space bounty hunters who absolutely do not get along going on adventures with an intelligent corgi and an eccentric young computer hacker, all with a dramatic and suspenseful through-line story, some great comedic side-stories, and characters whose interactions are actually more interesting than their personal backgrounds. With one of the best endings in anime and one of the greatest OPs of all time, it's worth your time.

Steins;Gate (2011, 2013)

Time travel is rarely done well, but this series bucks the trend. With a main character who is always a joy to watch and a twist in the plot that starts about halfway in, the series goes from fun exploration of a new technology to a suspenseful, high stakes thriller, this series constantly had me on the edge of my seat.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009-2010, 2011)

Honestly, I can't say anything about this series that isn't commonly known. It's the best all-around series for a reason. Everyone loves it. Watch it.

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! (2020)

This is the only series on this list that fits comedy and slice of life, but it absolutely deserves to be here. With some of the most innovative animation of any series, a trio of main characters who play off each other beautifully, and a plot line that never gets stale, this is a series that breaks down the process of making an anime while putting on a master class.

Mob Psycho 100 (2016, 2019)

Almost everyone should have heard of One Punch Man by now, and while that series is great, this one has it beat. Having a nearly all-powerful main character is a big risk, but this series manages to use it in an interesting and relatable way. The animation is incredibly fluid, the characters incredible, and the plot of the series, both in individual arcs and as a whole, riveting. Also, both of the OPs slap.

Onto the movies.

I’ll try something I’ve seen a little of under different topics, though nothing too centralized. I’d like to just have a spot where we can all provide some insights into what we feel needs work and what we’re doing about it in our debating. This can also be an opportunity to provide some constructive feedback, particularly to people who are either unclear on what to improve or just feel stuck for whatever reason.

In my case, I’d say I have two major problems. First is that I’m just generally too verbose. You give me a character limit and I’ll almost always fill it. It normally takes a lot of editing before I have decent word economy. Part of what I’ve idolized from the best debaters I’ve seen (mostly in live debates) is their ability to be concise and incisive, whereas I almost always feel like I’m failing at one or the other.

The second is that I don’t feel I put out good first rounds in debates. They’re all serviceable and they get me where I need to go, but they almost never stand as my best round. I’m much stronger on rebuttals and conclusions than I am on case construction, which is strangely the opposite of where I was in my early days as a debater (when, to be fair, I wasn’t very good at anything). I’ve got a few examples of strong first rounds, but the vast majority are just there to get my points out.

As for what I’m doing about these, I keep challenging myself by enforcing a lower character limit on what I’m writing than the debate requires. I still fill it, but I figure if I can keep moving the limit down and then one day remove it, I can feel a little more confident in using fewer words to make my point. In the case of the latter, I’m mainly just trying to break out of my usual structure for the opening round. I’ve come to be rather regimented there, whereas I’ve made a lot of changes to how my conclusions are structured. I think that the more I experiment, the more likely I’ll find what fits. I’m also trying to make them feel (at least to me) more like rebuttals, as though I’m attacking something rather than making my own stand-alone points. That’s precarious because I’m not at all a fan of pre-rebuttals (anticipating what your opponent will say and addressing it before they say it), but treating it as though I’m challenging a probable mindset of my audience or the topic itself helps me skirt around that.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Interested to see how other people respond to this. If you think you’re perfect, then I suppose that’s a response as well, though I doubt anyone’s so good at this that they couldn’t stand to improve anything about their debating.

Hey, for anyone who's interested, Virtuoso's interviewing me today. We'll be talking about my PhD research, which I've finally finished, as well as a bit more about me.