Jon’s November Creator Showcase: Not Exactly Hollowcentric But Definitely a Feast For Us Readers!

Wow, guys, I am SO embarrassed right now! I’m sorry, this post was supposed to be out almost two weeks ago and I’m only getting it out now! I would explain but I think I’ve left you all hanging for too long. Let’s get started!

If this is your first time hearing about this project, here’s a little info about it (I’d also check out Jon’s official post):

The Jon Creator Showcase was created by Jon over at Jon Spencer Reviews at the beginning of the year. His goal for this project was to have content creators share their work in an interactive way regardless of skill or following. The project was run by Jon for a month because of IRL situations and as a way to not let the project die, Raistlin suggested having multiple hosts. Which is why all you lovely people are here~

October was hosted by KawaiiPaperPandas, and just in case there was a month you missed, the full list of stops can be found right here. There are tons of great posts on there so be sure to check out a couple (or all of them)!

If anyone is interested in hosting this showcase for 2019, here is the signup sheet! There are slots open for March, the summer, and winter 🙂

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NOVEMBER EDITION

Oh my, I feel like it was much harder to group certain posts this time around because there were so many crossover themes but hopefully I did these posts justice! And just like last time, if any of the posts have a double asterisk (**), it means I was especially impressed by them 😉

Also, as an FYI (though I’m sure everyone knows already) Arthifis is already taking entries for the December JCS. To submit use #jonscreatorshowcase on Twitter. Here is his startup tweet so get those posts in!

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REVIEWS & IMPRESSIONS

Ok, I decided to start off with one of the simpler categories: reviews and impressions of anime and movies. While they might be some of our more straightforward posts, I also just REALLY enjoyed the variety of voices and thoughts behind many of these shows

• ** “Narumi Couldn’t Remember What Pair of Underwear She Was Wearing.” – A Review of the Relatable “Wotakoi: Love Is Hard For Otaku” by Shoujo Thoughts: Honestly, this was one of my favorite animes and it’s one I’ve been meaning to finish (I’m TERRIBLE) and review. Though after reading this post I feel like there’s nothing else to say. Shoujo Thoughts really explains and captures why Wotakoi was one of my favorite watches this year (and why you all should pick it up!)
• Christopher Robin: Could They Make This Movie Any Cuter? by Spooky Red Head: If you guys didn’t know, last year I had a bit of a movie craze phase where I went to watch as many new movies as possible. For (mainly) financial reasons, I’m not able to do this anymore but I still like to check out movie reviews. Christopher Robin is actually one of those movies I really wanted to catch in theatres but missed so I was super glad I got to read this post. Like always, Spooky Red Head gets to the point of the review and makes you excited without spoiling the premise. Definitely one I plan to watch ASAP!
• Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla – Movie Review by Joe: Not going to lie, this was QUITE the review and I’m super glad I read it. I believe Takuto also submitted a Godzilla post the last time I hosted the JCS but it’s always awesome to read different takes of the same (or similar) topics. I’ve never watched a Godzilla movie because of things Joe touches on in terms of animation but I can see how these movies were The Thing back in the day. A very thorough and interesting review!
• The Worst/Best Anime You (Might) Not Have Seen Yet V1 by Raistlin: Raistlin seriously keeps impressing me with the specials he puts on his blog! I mean, WHO is truly brave enough to randomly watch anime?! I feel like I wouldn’t be strong enough to do this but this is basically what Raistlin is doing and for his first show he talks about Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom. I’ve actually seen people mention this show many times before and it’s one I’ve kept telling myself to watch but I never really had much of an incentive to do so. Now with Raistlin’s stamp of approval, I do!
• Bloom Into You Episode 4: The Puzzling Puzzle by OG Man: Some of you guys might have noticed but my anime content has hit rock bottom the last couple of months. It’s honestly because I haven’t found something I really want to watch but Bloom Into You, yeah, I wanna watch that. It’s actually been on my Need to Watch NOW list since I picked up the manga and OG Man has nicely reminded me as to why. I’m not 100% sure if this series is done or not but if you want to talk about the series with someone, OG Man is up to date!
• Berserk – Casca restored, regains memory by YumDeku: As someone who has always been passionate about manga, I seriously enjoyed reading this post. While I haven’t read Berserk before, I have heard about it. Actually, it’s one series that has been recommended to me a couple of times but it wasn’t until I read this post that I am really feeling I should check this out! Unless the author goes on hiatus again, then I’ll just wait til it’s over, lol! Beware spoilers 🙂
• The Horror Show That Became A Sweet Masterpiece: Satsuriku No Tenshi by MirrorPurple: Oh my! I don’t think I’ve seen many people talk about this title yet so I’m glad I got to read this post. Especially since my horror anime list is very…uh, nonexistent, lol! MirrorPurple does a great job at giving us the rundown for this show and ok, I’m all about the psychological thriller stuff, now I want to check this show out!
• A&H Club Volume 1 By Rick Griffin [Graphic Novel Review – Furry / Lesbian / Drama] by Matt Doyle: I feel like as I get older I start to try new things and I think this might be the next thing for me. Actually, if I’d seen this book in stores I probably wouldn’t have picked it up because of the cover but Matt’s review has made me do a 180. I think furry content tends to get a lot of bad rep but if there’s more content like A&H Club, we should give it a try. I mean, who doesn’t like realistically portrayed characters and romance??
• **Goblin Slayer sucks (so far) by Kyrios: I wonder if it would be appropriate to scream right now, lol. I swear, someone JUST asked me what I thought about this show, which I have not seen (yet) and Kyrios does such an excellent job at explaining it to me. While not a positive review, I just really liked how honest and blunt Kyrios was about their opinions

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NATSUME WEEK

Next up are a couple posts that did me the favor of already having a similar theme: Natsume Week. Honestly, I am really blown away by all four of these posts because it’s so apparent that these bloggers really love this show. It’s a show that I tried to pick up at one point and just couldn’t get into but that I appreciate for its many messages of love and friendship (and FEELS). *cries* This is too pure for me!

• (Natsume Week) Giving Meaning to a Meeting: Natsume & Tsubame by Keiko
• (Natsume Week) Natsume’s Sense of Pacifism by Scott
• 6 Things Natsume Taught Me About Friendship | Natsume’s Week by Arthifis
• **The Importance of Impermanence in Natsume’s Book of Friends (Natsume Week) by BiblioNyan: I know I shouldn’t pick favorites but considering I just came back from a study abroad trip where Buddhism is the main religion, getting to read this post was very informative and fun, so do check it out!

p.s. I decided not to write after each title because I felt the post titles were self-explanatory and I didn’t want to spoil anything. You all have to visit each post to find out why this is such a great and heartwarming series~

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Ok, this is where things get a bit more complicated but I’ll try my best!

THE ACADEMICS

Remember this category from last time? Yeah, I liked the title so I thought I’d use it again! Basically, these are the posts that I felt really went into some analysis on shows, characters, and/or themes. Why was this a hard one? Because I got so many analysis type posts this month! I mean, all of the Natsume Week posts could have been dropped in here (along with others I’ve decided to group as something else). Like always, make sure not to miss any of these~

• Symbolism in Anime: What a Strange Thing to Be Alive Beneath Cherry Blossoms by KawaiiPaperPandas: I have a confession to make. I have a love for posts that talk about symbolism for things because I NEVER KNOW. So to see that Ayano has a series of these posts is one of the best things I’ve seen since The Ancient Magus Bride flower analysis posts! Plus, when do we Not see cherry blossoms in anime? They’re everywhere!
• **Ballad of Mulan: Translation and Interpretation by Moyatorium: *Passionately adds double asterisks to this post!!* Yeah. Oh my, confession time again. Languages are one of my top 5 passions and I seriously respect anyone who does translation. As someone who has tried to do it and realized it’s harder than it appears, I really admire Moyatorium for doing this post. And of course, double points for picking Mulan of all things. I seriously didn’t know the movie was based on a Chinese ballad. Definitely check this post out!
• Symbolism Saturday by Pop Culture Literary: OK, I was impressed with this one. I was not expecting this type of submission but you know what? It’s quick, simple, and gets the point across! Bonus points for being, not just Halloween related, but about one of my favorite movies~
• [OWLS Blog Tour] Architecturally Grotesque by Zel: Don’t you guys love reading posts about anime in relation to people’s careers? Yeah, me too! And Zel has us another post relating to her architectural prowess. Informative and right to the point! Also, I may have screamed at the section about Pidge #mindblown.
• **Nobuchika Ginoza: Those Who Can’t Bend, Break (Megane Day) by Irina: Here’s another confession. One that might be pretty obvious considering the name of my blog but posts about hot guys? Yeah, hit me up with those. Thank you Irina for submitting this post! Totally made my day in a weird way because yeah Ginoza be hot but the content is so sad! #tragicbackstorybishie. But you know what, this has made me want to continue the series!!
• Hiyori Toono: Solitary Misunderstood Polar Bear by Mel: Another great Megane post! And one that has me REALLY intrigued. Like Mel mentioned, FREE is a sports anime but also a slice of life with tons of drama and a focus on character relationships. It’s nice to see that it continues to be this way into the third season but the part that really gets me is that she wanted to defend Mr. Polar Bear and I LOVE posts like this (the drama of the drama!). I think I’m just going to go watch this as soon as I’m done with this post! >_>
• Magical Girl Raising Project: Being Irresistibly Drawn to Death | OWLS “Grotesque” by Takuto: Even though Takuto has been really busy lately, I’m super glad he was able to submit something for this month’s showcase! And wow, his writing has gotten more intense lately #Noticemesenpai! While I’m not a huge fan of the horror genre (I’m a wimp ok), I will say that psychological thrillers and the macabre are some of my greater fascinations and Takuto talks about why that may be the case (hehehe)
• **Why Are Anime Girls Always Dieting? Female Body Image and Weight in Japan by Rai: I think it’s pretty obvious why this is one of my favorite posts but if not, I can be really passionate about body image issues and I just really thought this was a well-written post. Also wow, even larger size clothing is much cuter in Japan!

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DISCUSSIONS

Oh my. Maybe I should have called this category My Favorites, lol. I just noticed that a lot of the posts that I liked ended up in this category and I think it’s because they’re very open to discussion and feel more personal than most posts (and who doesn’t like that?). Make sure to check them all out!

• The Inevitable Politics of Anime About Police, Detectives and Everyday Heroes by MagicConan14: A bit of a short post but one I thought was really interesting. I think people generally shy away from anything politics related so I’m glad to see this type of post out there. And who knows, maybe it’s because I just took a class with a focus on morals but I’ve started to think about heroes and what they are, and I think MagicConan presents some good points!
• **Embracing Or Destroying Our Inner Perfectionist? by Clo: So Clo is actually a blogger I recently started following and they have some of the best discussion posts ever. I mean, maybe the content isn’t out of this world but I just really enjoy the variety. Plus, this post really touched me because I’m sure many of us consider ourselves perfectionists and sometimes we need to find a balance to our little quirks
• **Violet Evergarden & Special – A Letter From the Heart by Jon: Ohhh! I really enjoyed the topic of this post since I feel it’s something we don’t talk about enough: disabilities. While I feel this topic has gotten more attention in the book community, I feel it’s not very present in anime and I felt it was admirable that Jon talks about his conditions and relates his experiences to anime characters.
• **Reincarnation Endings May Be A Little Too Romantic | Electric Editorial by Galvanic: OK, I had to double asterisk this post because reincarnations are kind of a pet peeve of mine and Galvanic explains very well why I’m not a huge fan of them. While I haven’t encountered them much in anime, the topic used to be very popular in fanfic and just…there’s a disconnect. Definitely read this post!
• **NC#1 – The Attitude of Searching For Love in Anime by Nesha: This is going to sound strange but I’m not the best person at noticing tropes and themes in shows I watch but the topic of searching for love (as Nesha calls it) is something I’ve only recently started to notice. I started to notice it after reading “Memories of My Melancholy Whores” and when Takuto wrote a post on Longing, I had a bit of a mindblown moment. I hadn’t realized it was such a big topic! And Nesha does a great job of talking about this theme with many anime examples. Shows where I loved the romance and I think this topic of searching for love is one of the main reasons, go check it out!
• ****Let’s Talk About: Moral Superiority in the Anime Community by Lethargic Ramblings: You know what. I think Lethargic Ramblings is now one of my favorite writers in the ani-community. I have really loved all their posts I’ve read so far and this one is right up there. It’s about a topic I feel is very relevant right now and a topic that makes me very sad. No, I’ve never been talked badly to but I know I like certain content that’s not considered “morally ok” (bleh) so I connected with this post. I’m a huge respect others type of person and I agree with Lethargic Ramblings’ stance. Read it and be nice to people 🙂

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TOP LISTS

Can you guys tell I’m starting to flounder around on category names? Lol. Actually, I’ve never been good at choosing a category name for these types of posts because not everyone sticks to the “top 5” or “top 10”

• Tuesday’s Top 5: Horror Anime Released in the Last 5 Years by Karandi: I have to agree with Karandi here. Making horror anime lists is tough but she’s gone ahead and pulled it off. While I haven’t watched many horror anime I will say that TG is definitely a favorite of mine (*cough*S1*cough*)
• Guest Post: The AMV Made Me Do It by WingKing: GO READ THIS. Eherm, I mean, this was a really fun post! Actually, now that I think about it, this is the first post I’ve read that’s about AMVs. I think it’s pretty common to be inspired to try things out when you watch an anime (raise your hands you volleyball noobs) but to be inspired to watch an anime based on AMVs? This is like Raistlin level brave!
• We are one! – Top 5 anime characters with symbiotic partners (Happy Halloween!) by Matt: Oh this one is an interesting one! I hadn’t realized how many characters there were with symbiotic partners and it definitely ticks my Halloween itch, lol. It makes me curious though, are there characters like this where the host identity has been destroyed? HMMM
• “Guilty Pleasure” Labels: Is It Just Schoolgirl Mentality You Can’t Let Go Of? by Evelina: I think I’ve said this so many times but romance is not really my genre. I’m not a huge fan, I always find flaws with something, and IDK, I just always have a complaint. But let me make a confession, romance stuff will destroy me 100xs more than any other genre. The slowburn #clencheskokoro! In a sense, Evelina is right. To me, romance is my guilty pleasure and it’s so funny because she talks about her music phases growing up and I can relate to my like/dislike of romance to it. And to top off her discussion/list post, she gives us some romance book recs 🙂
• 3 Awesome Mangakas And Their Gorgeous Artwork by Lumi: I think a common question with people who read manga is who their favorite mangaka is and I always have such a hard time choosing because I love so many different styles and of course Lumi had to give us 3 amazingly talented and super detailed mangaka to get lost in. GOD, their work is so beautiful! You guys have to check it out
• 5 Things YA Contemporary Novels Need More Of by ERK: Yes! I agree with it all! Not just in YA books but in all forms of entertainment. I feel like a lot of people sometimes want to escape reality by reading certain content (IDK, maybe something sugar sweet and happy) but there are also some of us who just want more relatable content. I think YA has become much more diverse in the last couple of years but I also think we can do so much better. Onward to more representation!

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THE ARTS: SHORT & SWEET

You guys have no idea how happy it makes me to get artsy content for this showcase!! I feel like everyone who submits do blog posts, which is totally fine, but as an art student, these submissions make me teary eyed! Like the category says, these works are short and sweet and very cute (and dragon-centric)!

• Day 3 of Inktober by Minerva
• Day 16 of Drachtober by Ava

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AND THAT ROUNDS UP THE NOVEMBER SHOWCASE! Again, I am SO SORRY this post is only coming out now and I hope I did these posts justice. While I was hoping for more Halloween type posts, I was also glad there was so much variety and everyone has piled even more shows to my TBR/TBW lists. A list I should start diving into now that I’m officially on school break~

Thanks guys for stopping by!