Violet Evergarden is an anime series released in 2018, based on a light novel series. It depicts the eponymous Violet Evergarden, a young lady who loses her arms and a loved one while she’s a child, from fighting in a horrible war. After the war is over, and after she receives mechanical arms, she then trains to be a special kind of typist, known as Auto-Memory Dolls (the show doesn’t quite explain why). They function primarily as ghostwriters for clients who want letters written, or for whatever other clients who want things typed up.

You’re probably detecting some aggression through the title. Well, you’d be right to, so well done. I’ve written about Shōgun before, mostly praising it for its good writing and enjoying the character Usami Fuji. However, Shōgun continues to write characters well, in that the writers tried to create a character that I really could not muster any enthusiasm for, and they did that really well too. I really had no time for this man whatsoever. Not that they were writing this character for me.

First post of 2025, then. I finally got to writing a post that was seasonal and timely around Christmas, and you can see it here. So what now? A lot of good movies came out last year, some of which I’d definitely like to cover at some point. In a return-to-form, though, here’s an anime from 2018.

Hot Frosty is a 2024 Netflix Christmas movie starring Lacey Chabert and Dustin Milligan, where Milligan plays a sexy snowman come to life. We’re going to park that insane premise for now. Note that I haven’t called it a romcom like Wikipedia has, or labelled it with any other genre title, because I don’t know what to call it really, and that’s what this post is about. On the bright side, though, I’m finally on time with a topical, seasonally-appropriate piece of media! Hooray!

I was on a long plane flight once, not long after Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes was released in theatres. As such, it was on the plane-TV thing, and so I thought what better time than now, while I needed to waste a few hours, to watch the whole rebooted Planet of the Apes trilogy, from Rise to Dawn to War. And in the end I found it all weirdly compelling, and apparently I was engrossed enough that the guy next to me, who didn’t even speak much English, started watching Rise too, on his own TV thing. I hope he didn’t find it too unsettling because we happened to be flying into San Francisco, which also happens to be where the apes go rogue in the film. In my defence, I didn’t know that when I put it on. Anyway.

I’m a bit late to the Shōgun train. This isn’t a new thing; I’m late to media trains all the time because I’m the type to wait till a series finishes, and then watch it at my leisure (or more realistically, watch it when I can actually find the time, and then I can binge if I like). But now that I’ve gotten on the train, I am firmly staying on it to wave katanas around and/or sit around in fabulous regal robes. The show is really strong in so many areas that I’m dying to tackle at some point — where to begin? Probably the premise is a good place to start.

There’s always been big debates among fans of whatever story whenever the source material is adapted into other media. Usually when I hear about it, it’s a movie adaptation of a book, or an anime adaptation of a manga. Almost always, the consensus is that the source material is better for one reason or another. I’ve personally not always found that to be the case, though.

I heard not long ago that they’re making another John Wick movie, and I found that odd. Not completely odd, seeing that John Wick movies make loads of money — they’re even making spinoffs now. But considering how the fourth movie went, I absolutely don’t know what’s going to happen next, and not in a good way.

Now, it’s admittedly hard to explain the anime series “Shikimori’s Not Just Cute” without mentioning the obvious main appeal — if you’re not into Shikimori, or girls like Shikimori, there doesn't seem to be much to glean. But if you're reading this, you've presumably already been filtered through that funnel of ‘female who can feasibly fight her way out of a fortress.’ Either way, there’s an interesting dynamic to learn from for that audience, as well as from that audience.