Over forty-four years ago, on September 3, 1980, the series finale of the now-classic Rose of Versailles, entitled “Adieu, My Beloved Oscar,” aired on Japanese television. It depicted revolutionary leader Louis Saint-Just telling an assembly of Frenchmen, in 1792, that “the King’s own existence is itself an unforgivable crime” and “The King is the crime!” […]
Tag: animation
Love Me Review
The core theme of Love Me destined it to be labeled a pandemic-era movie. While Americans had already been experiencing epidemic levels of loneliness in the late 2010s, the outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent lockdowns highlighted what was already there while deepening that isolation. We were drowning in a preponderance of think pieces and studies […]
Burkely’s Top Twenty Animated TV Shows of 2024
Last year I published a list of my top ten Western animated series. I am doing the same this year. Some are holdovers from last year, like Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, My Adventures with Superman, and Hailey’s On It!. Others are new additions, such as God’s School, Static Shock, Hazbin Hotel, Avatar: The Last […]
From Mahjong to Loving Magical Girls: LGBTQ+ Representation in Animation in 2024
2024 began slowly, with the premiere of the ecchi magical girl series, with yuri themes, Gushing Over Magical Girls, on January 3, and Pon no Michi, a yurish anime centered on mahjong, on January 6. While the former was on HIDIVE, the latter never aired on any streaming platforms available in Western countries. Following that, […]
A trend toward “nomance” in animation?: Increased depictions of female friendships
Recently, UCLA’s Center for Scholars & Storytellers released their Teens & Screens Report, which stated that of the over 1,600 adolescents they polled, over 63% preferred stories focused on platonic relationships/friendships, as opposed to romantic ones, with movies remaining a top choice for entertainment, and a preference for live-action over animation. Respondents still rated animation, […]
Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3 Spoiler-Filled Review
Star Wars: The Bad Batch is an action-adventure sci-fi animated series created by Dave Filoni. He is the creator of Star Wars Resistance and Star Wars Rebels, and supervising director of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Tales. For over eight years, Filoni has headed Lucasfilm Animation, which has produced all Star Wars-related animated series […]
Yuri and Beyond: LGBTQ+ Representation in Animation in 2023
2023 began with a bang, with the premiere of the yuri anime The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady a.k.a. MagiRevo on January 5th, Velma on January 12th, The Legend of Vox Machina on January 20th, and Princess Power on January 30th. It went far beyond those which premiered last year, […]
Mog’s Christmas Review
Channel 4 has developed a tradition of adapting popular children’s books into animated specials for Christmas. 2023 sees the second book in Judith Kerr’s Mog series getting this treatment. Mog is a dim and forgetful cat that the Thomas family owns. Her peaceful life gets disturbed by a strange tradition the humans celebrate. This includes putting […]