#vs 'this is a genuinely cool and unique idea and if you don't give it 100% you're WASTING POTENTIAL'

[tyrannuspitch]

11,500 words into this project. still four chapters to go. gnawing on the bars of my cage. the next four will be FUN but i want to be FINISHED......

[ox-imagines]

Dsgjfkk hello, sorry to bother you with my brainrot but I'm so curious. Which tokyo debunker ghouls do you think would be into taller women vs not? I'm 5'8-5'9 and a (chunky and comfortable) Heel Enjoyer, so I typically end up standing around 6', and it's made a couple reallll weird dates lol

Thank you for your ask! I hope I answered it to your satisfaction!

Into it: Alan, Jin, Haru, Zenji, Jiro, Sho

Alan

Really Alan isn’t too picky about his partners visually, and he’s a tall guy who doesn’t mind dating someone who’s also tall. I feel like he’d be the type to equate short=cute and tall=attractive. It also doesn’t hurt to be tall because that means you’re less small and therefore probably not as easy to harm, though regardless he will still treat you as if you’re fragile; it just helps subconsciously loosen his mental block.

Jin

Jin is another one who is tall and wouldn’t mind a tall partner, he’d just prefer you not be taller than him. Even if you are though, he’ll eventually put his reservations about it aside. Fuck society, after all; who cares if people don’t consider it “normal”? If someone has something to say about it, they can say it to his face, and let’s just say it won’t go too well for them if they’re actually bold enough to.

Haru

Ok look. I am pro sub Haru. I think a tall woman would easily have him weak in the knees. He finds it so attractive and too often catches himself thinking about you having him pinned to a wall. He would be a SIMP. Please step on him. If he has to climb you like a tree he will gladly do so. He often acts up and gets cheeky with you as a way of subtly begging you to put him in his place.

Zenji

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Zenji genuinely thinks everyone is beautiful in their own way! I don’t think he’d necessarily want to be with someone taller than him, but luckily he’s over 6 feet tall and usually wears platform sandals, so that won’t be a problem for most people. He otherwise doesn’t mind your height at all and thinks it’s part of what makes you unique! He enjoys waking up next to you because both of you have long limbs and you'll often end up tangled together cuddling.

Jiro

Like his brother, he is quite tall. He doesn’t view people the same way his brother does, but he would also date someone tall, though he wouldn’t care in the least if you happened to be taller than him. He doesn’t care about or think in terms of social norms, so he doesn’t think the height of a potential partner should matter, unless for some reason you’re trying to have children of a certain height. In fact, for Jiro, if you’re taller than average he’d probably take more interest in you because you stand out as compared to other girls he studies.

Sho

This man is another who finds tall women attractive. He’s fairly tall himself and loves the idea of having a tall partner, like the couples in the media who are both tall and hot. It doesn’t at all detriment his ego to be with someone his height or taller, even if Leo makes snide remarks about it. He likes to show off, and for him if you were around his height or taller it would be a point of pride that he was able to bag you since most women seem to like men who are taller than them.

Iffy about it/it depends: Lyca, Kaito, Tohma, Leo

Lyca

Social norms don't affect Lyca. In fact, a bigger mate might be beneficial because size usually equals strength, right? That being said, though, it might take a while to get to the point of being with him because girls make him nervous, and you being tall would make you seem a little more intimidating to him.

Kaito

Surface level, Kaito is very subscribed to what other people think and what the media says is cool and right. He's not actively into tall girls, especially since he's not very tall himself. However, if you start giving him attention, it won't take much to get him thinking about you and he'll quickly become more like Haru, practically begging for you to do whatever you want to him.

Tohma

Tohma doesn't really have too much of a preference either way. He'd prefer you to be at least a tiny bit shorter than him, but otherwise, he doesn't think it's much of a sensible concern. Height isn't a trait that makes someone a good partner.

Leo

Leo would prefer for a female partner to be shorter than him in most occasions. He thinks it's a better aesthetic, plus he could tease her about being short and put his arm on her head like an armrest. But just maybe you could convince him to date a tall girl. He's cuddly, so if you let him cuddle into your side and put your arms around him he'll enjoy it. Also if he gives it some thought, he might decide it would actually be beneficial to date a tall girl. It's outside the norm, so it would inevitably get people talking, and any attention is good attention in Leo's opinion.

Doesn't like it: Towa, Romeo

The only two I can imagine just not liking it are Towa and Romeo, and even they could be convinced if you can get past their initial distaste.

Towa

Towa wouldn't like the idea of a girl taller than him. It doesn't fit into his traditional understanding of romance, and he likes when girls seem small and weaker as compared to him, he thinks it's cute. He's an affectionate person, so if you can convince him to like you as a friend first it could go somewhere anyway despite him initially not seeing you as "suitable".

Romeo

Romeo is a bit too shallow and a bit too invested in appearances and societal expectations to even consider dating a woman his height or taller. If you somehow manage to endear yourself to him, you may be able to change his mind, but it'll take a lot of time and effort, so good luck.

[words-of-wolf]

hello, I’m feeling generally a little lost and not really sure what to make of my own feelings - I was wondering if you could talk a little about what it actually means to be therian, and your experiences with it? (explain it like I don’t know anything about it)

Hello!! Torn between wanting to take some time to mull over how to answer this, vs knowing exactly what my ADHD brain is like and that I will 100% forget if I leave this in my inbox so I can "think it over". So just gonna wing it ahah!!

This is a pretty big question, but it's also a very good and important one. Outside of essays I think it can be hard to find descriptions of what the experience of therianthropy actually is, so I understand how you could feel a bit lost!

I figure I have a fun perspective on it too because of the situation in which I started to figure it all out, which was before otherkinity and therianthropy were anywhere near the mainstream - I didn't know about nonhuman identities till after I realised I identify as nonhuman! An experience that's probably a bit harder to have nowadays, with the ever-increasing spread of "kinnie" stuff plus how online everything is nowadays. '^^

I apologise in advance if this is a bit rambly, but I'll do my best to explain!

What it means to be therian, to me, is... it's a very visceral idea in a way - it's an experience of being nonhuman in a way that is devoid of any kind of anthropomorphisation or romanticism. It's very raw, this bundle of feelings and emotions and instincts that sits of the centre of who I am.

I am a wolf. I'm a wolf in a human body, a wolf working with a human brain. The way I think and feel can, for the most part, be understood as human.

But the thing that's doing the processing is a wolf. The thing that's seeing out of my eyes is a wolf.

I'm a wolf that not only has a human body, but was raised to be a human. So what does the wolf part mean in that?

And the reality of it is, it means so, so much, but also nothing at all!

People in the alterhuman community, I think can sometimes give weight to the idea of a nonhuman identity beyond what is warranted, y'know? So you get this culture of doubt, or trying to weed out anyone who's not "real" enough about it, and like... ultimately, that's meaningless. It's not better or worse to be nonhuman rather than human. It's neutral.

So when anyone asks me for help figuring things out, I tend to give the same advice - sometimes helpful to people, sometimes decidedly not - that you've just kinda gotta give the identity a try and see if it feels right. Do you feel more you to see yourself as an animal? Does it make you happy? Does it feel like home?

If it doesn't, that's fine. Doesn't make you any less interesting or cool or unique or whatever other quality might be associated with it!

And to be clear, the feelings here don't have to be in an all-encompassing sense.

For example, you can find it comforting to view yourself as an animal, yet know for sure that you would NOT swap your life to live as one, if that were a thing that was possible (which is, coincidentally, how I feel).

You can view yourself as kinda an animal. You can view yourself as human* (*but also animal).

You can view yourself as utterly animal, down to the core of your being, such that every aspect of human existence feels immutably alien to you, and such that you'd give up your whole human existence in a heartbeat for the chance to live as the animal instead.

You can be any of these things, or all of them. Often, it'll change over time. The feelings might fade, or maybe they start to present differently after a while.

The core question is - does seeing yourself as this animal feel genuine?

Setting aside the doubts, the uncertainty, self-consciousness, whatever you've been taught about being human and being normal... taking off all those layers that have been hiding you, some put there by your family, some by your peers, some even by yourself! What's underneath it all?

What are you?

And of course, this is a really, really big thing to wrangle with.

Some of us get it easy. I noticed I felt different, looked underneath the surface, and: duh, I'm a wolf. I landed on that answer pretty quick and it's never once changed, or even felt uncertain.

Most folks don't have quite as smooth a time figuring it out, but that's okay. It's daunting, I think, to read that some people spend years figuring it out... but it's a journey, and the journey can be very fulfilling - it can even be fun, if you let it!

I didn't have such a journey with my theriotype - it was like I looked around and unexpectedly found myself at a destination already. Not one I expected, but one that was home to me.

But my spirit kintype was far more complicated, and that one did take me many years to get to the bottom of, and it was convoluted and I did so many u-turns and hit so many dead ends! But looking back on it, I don't regret the path I took, and I don't regret any of the time I spent on it.

One thing I see a lot with nonhumans who haven't figured stuff out yet, especially newly awakened folks, is this like... itchy feet impatience to get to the end of the journey! And I absolutely understand it, I do.

But this rush can make things stressful, and that makes it harder.

I think for some folks the idea that it might take years to find an answer is a bit scary, but... hmm. Y'know. I think the problem here is the importance put on "The Answer" over whatever feelings, thoughts and experiences lead you there.

The meaning in a nonhuman identity isn't found in the label you stick on it. It's found in the path you walk. The label is just an short-hand - it's a short-cut to describe a collection of incredibly nuanced, personal feelings. It's not an answer.

Your destination isn't to find a word that succinctly portrays your entire being - your destination is just to know yourself, and to find happiness in that understanding.

And on that journey, you may well try a lot of things before finding what feels right! That's not just "okay", that's a fundamental aspect of what this journey is. You probably will be wrong! You will probably be wrong a lot! There's absolutely no bad in that. To realise you were wrong is to learn something - and everything learned is a step further along that path you're walking.

Now, as for actual experiences... my experiences as a therian have been very diverse, and really they span the entire breadth of what an experience can be - from silly quirks to absolutely life-changing spiritual epiphanies. In a way, everything I do is a therian experience, because I'm a therian and I'm experiencing it in a therian way. :P

Shifts were a big part of me figuring things out early on. What prompted me to question my humanity was my experience of shifts - a combination of mental, phantom, and dream shifts, to be specific! Getting across what each of those feels like to me would take a LOT of words, and would probably be better suited to their own posts.

Suffice to say, I started to experience these moments of feeling more like an animal, and it was an impactful enough thing that I both recognised it and wanted to find an explanation. And the explanation I landed on was that I just wasn't human. Somehow.

That said, there's a lot of other experiences that I've had related to being a wolf!

Species dysphoria was a big thing I struggled with, especially during my teen years. Sometimes I didn't want to be human. Sometimes it was more like an agonising feeling of unbelonging - that I wanted desperately to belong somewhere but couldn't, because everyone else was human and I wasn't. Sometimes the way my mind worked felt out of tune with my sense of self. Sometimes I just felt so overwhelmed by human life, and a wolf life sounded... not easy, but simple. Easy to understand.

Far more impactful as I've gotten older, however, has been species euphoria! There is an incredibly deep, rich joy for me in embracing my identity as a wolf. And I think that feeling is something that is enough to make an entire nonhuman identity - what matters most is that knowing yourself as this creature brings you joy and fulfilment. Calling myself a wolf makes me feel seen. Knowing myself as a wolf and a werewolf brings me so much happiness and so much comfort.

There's things like memories, too. And noemata - the things you just feel are right about yourself.

But there's also been so many experiences I've had that have felt small. Not every therian experience is big or dramatic or defined - for some folks, none of their experiences are.

Sometimes what makes you feel most sure you're an animal isn't a shift or a memory of some other life... sometimes it's that you read a little quote about animal behaviour and realise, wow, I do this exact same weirdly specific little thing!

Sometimes it's like... the way I, without really realising it, will try to bow at my cat to invite her to play (she just looks at me very confused).

Sometimes it's smelling the flowers, not because you have an extra good animal sense of smell (I sure don't), but because the experience of focusing - just for a moment - on scent over any other sense, makes you feel like a purer, more candid version of yourself... like for a moment you embodied the truest, most instinctual version of you, and how freeing that feeling can be even when it only lasts for a second or two.

Sometimes it's things that nobody else would think twice about.

But if something compels you to want to think twice about it, I think you should. Even if the experience doesn't seem significant, the feelings it evokes in you surely can be.

I wrote very much here ahah! I hope it's not too hard to follow, and that it helps in some way. ^u^

And absolutely feel free to ask more questions if you have them! I'm very happy to clarify or talk about things some more if you'd like. c:

[lozmastermm]

There's no Aliens or UFOs as we know them.

Truthfully the idea of other life being as "advanced" as us is rather humorous. Until we can build planets, we're all ants on a spec of dust in the middle of no-where space.

What we are is an anomoly that is also very boringly normal. But any kind of travel beyond where humanity has already gone, won't be possible to go much further, and at no point are we capable of moving to other planets, at no point are we gonna be capable of understanding another lifeform.

Peace isn't inherent and nor is security. We're not that evolved, so the chances of, essentially cavemen who somehow achieved space travel, is humorous at best. They won't be humanoid, they won't understand elecriticity or language.

In no lifetime will planet earth have aliens meet. At no point will we meet aliens. At no point will UFOs be anything but something someone made or mistook.

So excuse me when I call bullshit anytime the government or media tries to make the whole "ufo" shtick an actual budgeted consideration of alien life, when in reality, it's some military shit. Boring. Stale. Military bullshit.

Want me to believe otherwise, you gotta have more than a bunch of never was people talking about ufos on god damn tiktok or instagram. Declassified documents that are innaccurate or meaningless. But most of all? I don't give a shit.

Are they gonna raise wages? No? Then genuinely fuck off before one of us starts an intergalactic fucking war. That's all our governments are even doing anyways, and we all know, right now, a republican would be the first to find and then immedietely kill an alien, starting a war.

So please, aliens, though you aren't real, christ alive stay away, nothing good will come from their existence, nothing good will come from hopping to planet to planet killing each one. We're not special, but we are unique in that, god, we're genuinely terrible for other life. Including our own species. Look at the fact we have poverty when we don't require it, and tell me Aliens would be beneficial to that.

Just childish nonsense that will never amount to anything but clout-chaser never was, grifting ex-employees. They once had a title, and took the most fantastical, profit driven approach to announcing a lie they could profit off of. UFOs!!! They were cool before this shit, but now it's genuine cringe. Not the good kind either.

UFOs were a fantastical concept of interesting ideas and creativity, horror and kindness.

Now it's a fat grift. Boring, stale, and the story is inconsistent and poorly made. AI could make a more interesting story than whatever narrative is being profited from.

In fact? It's like a cool twitter account vs a brand twitter account. That's what UFOs have become. Brand Twitter. Boring, stale, played out, never funny, never cool, but always cringe and pointless anyways.

[angel-bubbles]

Predictably I have 2 ask David!!

Maybe Marcus n James too? Otherwise thoughts on mr steal yo girl (Gavin lmao)

you dare ask me to talk about david? talk i will. (putting it under the cut bc... i have some things to say)

Im gonna start with Marcus n James first (combining them >:3)

How I feel about this character

ok i have so much conflict bc i really genuinely do not hate marcus? i feel like everyone does and i don't? we won't dive in to what that says about me. but james stresses me out a lil i won't lie like i have so many questions sir. i do appreciate his hint of a moral compass and his value of love as a being, but these two really mess with my pea brain jsdkla i have no idea what to think of them 92% of the time.

All the people I ship romantically & non-romantic with this character

i ship them romantically with no one. even though i don't hate marcus, i do not vibe with him and love and like non-romantic?? idk i think he's a lil messy in the head thus i don't really put him with anyone in my head. same goes for james i just don't have anyone to be pairing him with? so i simply Do Not

My unpopular opinion about this character

most definitely that i don't hate marcus asdjkl also james gives me horrendous vibes which i have no clue if that's unpopoular, i just know i get such bad vibes.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

literally any type of clarification jsdkflsjdkl that whole series is so confusing to me i want to know whats going on so bad

---

DAVIDDDDD >:3

---

How I feel about this character

we all know how i feel about him i absolutely love that man. i love watching the way he develops over time. going back and listening to the earlier videos and listening to how sharp his edges were vs now? he still has them but you can just tell that he's grown into himself with angel and as an alpha. and even within his ability to be softer with like other people in his pack idk i ALSO think its really cool to see him grow through his grief of his dad and to watch how the healing, even for this untouchable big strong alpha, isn't linear. as a listener it is Nice to hear. i could go on.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

angel >:3 and, like i said for sam the idea of sam/darlin/david/angel does a lil somethin to my heart. but mainly, romantically just angel, i think their connection is just so unique and his mate being an unempowered human just adds a certain level of vulnerability between them that i don't think can really be duplicated

My non-romantic OTP for this character

ASHHHH i <3 those boys i love their friendship so much without asher i don't think david would be half the person he is now. as much as he complains about how annoying asher is i fr believe that ash probably saved david from himself and that type of connection with someone? yea they are platonic soulmates and im taking that to my grave.

My unpopular opinion about this character

unpopular opinion? i don't ship him with darlin romantically (not without angel and sam present in the romance as well at least sjdklsj). i do love the stories that come from it, but like i said, i think angel and david are just meant to be ya feel me. i also know some people don't like his earlier videos because he was harsh but like... i love those videos. again, we won't talk about what that says about me or where thats landed me in life ajdfkslfjskl

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

i don't know honestly more pack interactions? more sweet domestic shit? more? i love him i will take any sort of crumbs that are thrown at me. i rlly wanna know how he told angel about magic but beggers can't be choosers jskfldsj

[ufoparty]

How did you get into art and what's the best way for people to get into it?

being bad at video games

GENUINELY i got the kingdom hearts manga because i couldn't get very far in the game and as i looked at the art i thought "i want to make stuff that looks like this." so i began with copying and then started drawing freely with obvious references to KH art (eyes mainly lol). pretty much every skill leap i've experienced since then has also happened once i discovered an art style i wanted to borrow something from. plus series with very engaging characters+plot makes me want to explore it more (i.e. i get hyperfixated) so i've ended up practicing a TON with little frustration because it's usually catharsis/Jokes™ that are the driving force rather than making something that looks good.

(not to say i don't ever doubt myself, because there are pieces in my head i wanted to make years ago but didn't because i lacked the technical skill)

i can only really give advice about getting into character art, because i've never been very interested in making abstract or photorealistic art or whatever. they definitely have their place but that's just my preference. that being said:

being super invested in something whether it's your own story ideas or someone else's is a great gateway to art. if you ever have the thought "haha it would be funny/cool if this happened" and the imagery/expressions stick with you moreso than like, Phrasing (personally different ideas i've had have struck me as being more suited to written work vs. drawn, or vice versa), just go ahead and draw it. and do it every time you think of something else. you don't have to show anybody. i drew fruits basket comics in 6th grade and never showed a soul. those drawings are for You

looking at other people's work.. novels, manga, cartoons, paintings, design, typography.. even if the work as a whole is something you're not that into, if there are stylistic choices you appreciate then take them. you can just straight up redraw someone else's art if you want to get a feel for how it all fits together, as long as you don't post it/claim it as your own (my rule is: no posting copies of a peer's art without permission, but yes to a famous/dead artist as long as credit is given). when you mash influences together it becomes something unique to you very quickly because no one else is going to be drawn to the exact same things as you

a major DON'T is second-guessing yourself. it's super easy to compare yourself to others especially as you get older, because if you start making art at like. 45 you may think you need to be at the same skill level as another 45-year-old who's been doing it for 30 years. it can be hard not to think this way especially if you're looking at other people's art like i suggested lol but get in the habit of hyping up your own ideas to yourself. "this such a good idea." "wow i'm so funny." "this is silly but no one has done it before so it's my job to make it."

there are people who could say all of this more eloquently and succinctly, and who follow their own advice more often--i haven't followed the third bullet in a while :o) but when i think of the most productive periods in my life these are the things that stand out the most. so i hope even just like one sentence is useful. also having adhd or autism can make this easier so try that too 👍

[mbti-notes]

Hi mbti notes, I'm an enfp dealing with the issue of transition: when developing my aux Fi, i realized that i wanted to be a man. Like most enfps, my Ne-Fi led me to live in many different countries and cultivate many friendships over the years, so my friends are cool and accepting. however, i would like to know the best strategy / possibility for handling this in a professional situation. My company is cool and forward-thinking but I'm struggling with Ne and aux-Fi development

[con't: Although i like the work itself and find my colleagues open, cool & friendly, i realized that I find it difficult to express myself around them; instead becoming paranoid and worried about whether people will accept/reject me. In addition, it became very difficult for me to come up with conversation topics to discuss with others - my brain feels like it's perpetually made of swiss cheese. as a result, i noticed people distancing themselves from me and only approaching me for Te-related matters.]

Relationships are inherently risky. You can't control what other people think, how they feel, or how they behave. Nor should you have such control because it's their business - not yours. Do you think it's reasonable to hold yourself responsible for other people's existence, including all their hangups, biases, and prejudices?

The only thing you really have control over is yourself and whether you present yourself to people authentically. Generally speaking, if you continually choose to be inauthentic, be it out of fear or some other reason, your relationships won’t advance, because people will never know who you really are. When you don't let people in, they have little incentive to make an effort with you.

That said, it is very important to draw healthy boundaries in relationships. No matter what you do, there will always be people who dislike you for their own reasons. Not everyone has your best interests at heart and you don't want to put yourself in a position to be victimized. At work, there should be a boundary between professional and personal life, otherwise, your relationships will get messy and complicated very quickly, which might make it difficult for you to do your job well. It isn't always a good idea to get close to people at work, depending on the workplace culture you're dealing with.

With regard to transitioning, it’s better for you to speak with people who have gone through the process. All I can say is that each person's journey is unique. Some people choose to move gradually and give everyone around them time to adjust. Some people choose to move quickly, like ripping off a band-aid. It is not for me or anyone else to tell you what is classified as "private” vs “public” in your life. You have to trust your instincts and exercise your own best judgment based on: what your circumstances are, what you need, what you want, what you're comfortable with, and what is right -> Fi.

Fi only gives you one choice: Do what is right. Especially when it's hard. Fi is the means through which you feel genuine pride in who you are. When you fully own yourself, no one else can own you. The more you resist/reject Fi and keep doing things for the wrong reasons (Te loop), the worse and worse you will feel about yourself for not staying true to what you believe is right. The choice is always there. Every choice has its consequences, so you must decide which option leads to the most bearable consequences.

[recentanimenews]

OPINION: I Don't Know Who'll Win the Anime Awards, But Here's Who Should 2021 The More Correct-er Edition

  Ah(hhhhhhh!), the Anime Awards. It comes earlier every year. It was only some 360-ish days ago that Demon Slayer took the coveted title, and I went 0/6 on my predictions for who would win. But as another awards show comes, much like the changing of the seasons, does a whole new collection of hot takes begin to bloom. And oh how I have been taking care of them like my new pandemic succulents (poorly)!!

  There's a lot you can say about the last year. There's a lot you can say about the last year in ANIME! But since I don't have a Clubhouse invite yet, you're gonna have to hear about it right here in written form. This is also the only opportunity I have on company time to talk about who should win and who actually should have gotten nominated in the first place, as well as make up my own totally fake awards because this is my article!!

  When presented with the likelihood of something being infinitely close to zero, Simon from Gurren Lagann said that means it isn't inherently zero, so as far as he's concerned, that makes it the same as a 100 percent chance. That's the sort of cartoon logic that is very healthy to bring into the real world, as well as guessing who is going to win an awards show, so let's get to it! 

  1. Best Director: Shingo Yamashita

  While he is not nominated, Shingo Yamashita has had an incredible year, not only directing two of my favorite openings, but also ones I could consider all-time highs. Simply put, I really like the guy and his art direction, and he always seems to deliver something unique and interesting when he is in the director's chair. Through that unique style, he was able to work with a team of really talented animators to make that statement right from Episode 1. Pay attention to the people in your life who have opinions on the direction of the Naruto vs. Pain fight, but then turn around and talk about how cool the aforementioned openings are.  

2. Best Japanese VA Performance: Mamoru Miyano's Kansai Accent

  This is a very indulgent choice (well, this whole article is), but out of all the voice actor performances this year, I'm still thinking about Mamoru Miyano's Kansai accent. Playing the volleyball star Atsumu Miya from Inarizaki High in HAIKYU!! TO THE TOP, either Miyano or the people he worked with really made sure to train him to have the thickest Kyoto accent imaginable, and I was enthralled. It's kinda hot? I think Miyano works best when he plays characters with a bit of an edge and goofiness to them (see his performance Kotaro Tatsumi in Zombie Land Saga), so having him star as the eccentric setter was a perfect fit. I do wonder if Atsumu Miya and Kotaro Tatsumi ever met if it would be an unstoppable force/immovable object situation.  

3. The "You Were Right" Award: Akudama Drive

Image via Funimation  

This is not a real award in this year's Anime Awards, but I think it deserves mention for a series that was so under-nominated. So, Akudama Drive started last October and everyone was losing it. One person (I think it was our own Adam Wescott) described it as "a show where every episode feels like the season finale." But I continued putting it off. Sure, the first episode has a guy who swings around Osaka like Spider-Man on his motorcycle, but there's no way it could keep up. I also haven't played any Danganronpa, so I wasn't familiar with this sort of Kazutaka Kodaka romp, as his storytelling and style is written all over it. But after the show finished, I went back and gave it an honest shot ... and you were all right! It's really great and doesn't let off the octane at any point! This was definitely one of the strongest series I watched this last year, with its pointed cyberpunk storytelling and a particularly fantastic season finale — which might be my favorite episode. So whatever categories Akudama Drive is nominated in, sure, I think it should win ... wait, it was only nominated for Best Fight Scene!?  Anyway, I should have listened to you all sooner. Mr. Kodaka, I'm sorry for doubting you. 

4. Best Animation: Beastars

Image via Netflix

  As I wrote in our Best of the Decade list last year, Studio Orange's utilization of 3D animation is a treasure to behold and a jewel of the industry. Eiji Inomoto and the staff at Orange are putting out shows that are frankly the gold standard for the form. Beastars is no exception, far exceeding any expectations I had for what an adaptation of Paru Itagaki's animal drama would look like. However, in the case of Beastars, it's not only the CG, but also the multitude of other animation styles the staff integrated throughout the show, and none of those unique styles ever repeats! I think it says a lot for a studio and a show that not only perfects its main style but also includes phenomenal companion pieces that are fantastic on their own. For such drive and direction, and excellence in their field, not only would it be a win for Beastars, but also a win for the everlasting creativity coming out of Studio Orange. 

  5. Anime of the Year: Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

  In any other time, I would have chosen Beastars as the Anime of the Year winner (see my praise above). But this hasn't been any other year. It's been quite a terrible one, to be honest. But in some sort of cosmic irony, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! started 2020 as one of the most optimistic and deep-hearted series I've ever seen.

  A lot of people pitch Eizouken as an anime about making anime. I agree, to an extent. Anime seems to be the surface for the themes the show is playing with, as it's far more a series about the creative process and the imaginative fuel artists use when molding their ideas into something tangible. It's also about the interpersonal relationships of those creatives and how people can create community and teams around their strengths and weaknesses. It's also about how tiring and expensive it is to make one of these things! Truly, it takes a village. Eizouken grabbed a lot of anime fans' attention early last year, particularly those who enjoy these sorts of explorations of the artistic mind. My former editor and good friend Zac Bertschy was one of them and wrote the episode reviews for Eizouken every week. Each time I read one of his articles, that passion and enthusiasm lept off the page. And let me tell you, when Zac was passionate about something, he'd let you know. His thoughts and takeaways were genuine to an extent I hadn't seen in a while. This series truly was something special to him. Zac's passing still hurts, and seeing Eizouken's nomination continues to remind me of what was not so long ago. But seeing it nominated in the first place gives me confidence that anime fans around the world also saw that passion Masaaki Yuasa and Science Saru were presenting. Seeing Eizouken take a big win would be a triumph for the art and artistry we all love so much, as well as an exemplary showcase of the drive that truly makes this stuff magical. Jonathan Clements ended his book Anime: A History with a line I've been thinking about recently: "... the future of anime as an art form, and as a thing of enduring value, still rests as it did at the time of its inception, in the hands of artists and artisans with vision." I truly believe Eizouken is a celebration of that ethos. And for that, I hope it wins Anime of the Year.

  Anyway, as always, waitin' for the big one when I'm 5/5 on these predictions.

        Kyle Cardine is an Associate Editor for Crunchyroll. You can find his Twitter here!

By: Kyle Cardine