AniMeh

I have to start this review with an admittance: I don't know shit about Anime. I know as much about Anime and Asian film as I do about Indian culture, which is basically nothing, as a few commenters were so kind to point out to me a couple of weeks ago. To those "commenters" (some of whom I suspect may have been or known the reviewed blogger) I want to make it clear that my critique of a blog written by a person who belongs to a culture outside of my own is not a reflection of my feelings or opinions about all the people who belong to that particular culture. In other words, if I hate your blog it's because your blog sucks. My hatred of your blog has nothing to do with your ethnicity, country of origin, hair color, religious beliefs or sexual orientation. I'm not swayed by what you look like, what you weigh, where you're from, or what you do for a living. When I review, what I give is only my personal opinion, which you asked me to reveal, and I base that on the merit of your skills as a writer and story-teller. And for the love of of all that's holy and unholy, if I compliment your grammar or language skills don't get your panties in a bunch and start accusing me of being racist and condescending. If you ask me to review your blog, then an honest comment on your skills as a writer is appropriate. You can shake your fist to the sky and whine and call racism and your blog will still suck and I will still hate it. Only after all that, I will also hate you. Got it?

Back to my review of JapanCinema, an Asian Film/Anima Review database. My only peripheral experience with this film genre was in college when I knew this guy who spent most of his spare time watching it and obsessing over it. He eventually got so depressed that he was hospitalized in a locked psychiatric ward and needed electric shock treatments. It was a fucking horrible situation. Did watching big eyed cartoon characters deal with cataclysmic world events drive this guy to madness? Probably not. I'm fairly certain there's no causality between him watching Anime and developing severe clinical depression, but since that time the two have become inextricably linked in my mind. So when I saw my review assignment was an anime film review blog, I had to resist the urge to swallow a handful of pills from an old prescription for Zoloft sitting idly in the back of my medicine cabinet.

The bottom line is that if you watch Anime/Asian films, then this blog may be of interest to you. Otherwise, there is really no point to reading it at all. The blogger, whose name is Marcello, acknowledges in many of his reviews that he is writing for an audience already familiar with the genre, such as in this recent post where he says, "I won’t waste time giving you a synopsis. Those of you interested in reading this review should be familiar regardless". He is self-aware enough to realize that his blog is a niche blog and writes his reviews accordingly. He makes no real attempt to appeal to a wider audience.

I do admire this Marcello's obvious enthusiasm for Anime. He has a deep respect for the artistry involved in the creation of the films. In fact, his passion for the beauty of some of the reviewed films is almost enough to make me want to risk a mental breakdown and pop one in my DVR. He even provides some helpful preview videos of the movies he's critiquing. I have to agree that the animation is quite lovely on some of these films. Those big-eyed children are a little creepy but also beatifully drawn and interesting. This blogger also reviews live action Asian films and some American films that were inspired by, or direct remakes of, Asian films (i.e. The Departed, which is based on the Chinese film "Infernal Affairs").

Truthfully, though, most of Marcello's reviews read like a junior high school book report.

The one thing that really annoyed me about the movie was the ending I can’t say why to much because that it’ll give it away but it is heart breaking with what happens to one of the characters in the movie.

Amusingly, he has the tendency to make up words, such as "dramatical" and he makes some odd word choices, such as here where he uses the word "nature" rather than the more logical "name" - "Eureka Seven...is of course another film based off of the popular tv series of the same nature." There are also some careless spelling and grammatical errors ( i.e. "In terms of story
this didnt left me with an empty feeling"). It's actually hard for me to believe that this guy even managed to publish a children's book, but according to his About Me he did. Perhaps Marcello is capable of better writing but gets lazy and fails to edit any of his posts before publishing them. I sometimes make grammatical errors when I write, but I don't make a habit of it. If this blogger has any respect for his readers and himself, he should spend a little more time and effort editing his work before posting it.

He also might want to read over some of his reviews to make sure that they actually make sense. Take this contradictory excerpt for instance:

I was very skeptical as to whether or not I’d like this movie, since I didn’t particularly enjoy the time I spent with the TV series. The movie was breathtaking. The animation quality, the art style, character design, everything in the artistic realm of this movie has been improved from its television form. Again, I’m not sure how much it would appeal to fans of the TV series. However, if you’ve never seen Escaflowne, I’d say this is a good place to start. It feeds you the plot with relative consistancy, and it’ll probably get you itching to see the TV series, too. But if you’re like me and you love the show and everything about it, then you may walk away complaining.

So does he like the original television series or not? I'm not going to pretend like I care about the answer to that. But maybe his readers do. I'm pretty certain that they want him to have a consistent opinion.

As for the template, it's very functional and easy to navigate. If you're anything like me and seeing use of the phrase "love da laydeeeez" makes you die a little inside then I would suggest avoiding the About Me section of this blog altogether. The sidebar is very busy. Is it really necessary to have sections called Categories, Archives, Popular Reviews, Newest Reviews, and Anime Series Reviews? That's overkill. On top of all those, he has a damn Twitter feed. I have an irrational hatred for Twitter feeds on blogs. If you must include your Twitter in some way on your blog, then I just feel that a "Follow me on Twitter" link should suffice.

There's a part of me that wanted to give this blogger a flaming finger or two. But I can't bring myself to do it. So it's a