What Whitney's Watching

*sighs* How are we doing guys?... Look, I know what the answer is but I'm just being nice by asking. This winter sucks. It sucks and it's bad and if you're like me, you're holding yourself together by a thread. This Winter so far has been brutal and harsh, filled with controversy, tragedy, and honestly very little to celebrate. I'm so miserable, I haven't even thought of any puns for this opening! However, despite how genuinely lame it's been lately, we need to persist and move forward and the best way to do that, is to look forward to the zaddies we can expect to see during the remainder of the season. So grab some hot cocoa and turn the heat up, it's time to talk zaddies: Kai Chisaki (Overhaul) Kai Chisaki (better known as overhaul) is the menacingly sexy main villain of season 4 of the mega-hit anime Boku no Hero Academia. Featuring the sexy voice, unwavering determination, and provocative face mask that you would expect from ...

The best content is the kind of content that not only makes us think about the world around us but content that actively questions our societal foundations and makes us remark upon that questioning. It's not enough to point out the issues (police brutality, capitalism, the automation of everything, etc.) because anyone can say "Thing bad" but it takes real skill and dedication to commentary to force people to engage in commentary about your commentary itself yet, Psycho-Pass does this perfectly. The first season of Psycho-Pass is hands down some of the best action-thriller suspense content I've ever seen across any medium or genre. Every episode builds suspense in an increasingly intense way until the final episode of season 1 gives you the perfect catharsis needed after all of the buildup. However, as with all really good anime, the exploration of it's specific themes are what truly shines in this anime. Without spoiling it, Psycho-pass is mostly an explorat...

So, let's say you have a friend. Let's say this friend is close to you or at least close enough to you that if they recommended something to you, you'd check it out and vice versa. One day, your friend finally works up the courage to bring up that "anime stuff you're always watching" and you explain to them that anime is the most advanced medium of story-telling and that they are missing out on some of the best content ever written. They seem intrigued and they ask you that one question that EVERYONE who watches anime has been asked: "If I wanted to get into anime but like, I've never seen anime and I don't want to watch anything weird, what would you recommend?" What do you say? Well many people suggest the popular basics like Naruto or Dragon Ball Z or anything that has been on Toonami in the last 5 years which is fair and fine, but not necessarily the right answer. In fact (and yeah this is unpopular to say but if you had sense yo...

*sniffs deeply* Do you smell that? *sniffs again* Ah yes, it's the smell of a crisp, fall breeze flowing in over the horizon. The equinox has passed and it's finally Autumn, meaning that Winter is not so far behind. And what better way to keep you warm and satisfied during these chilly nights then to hurry home after work or school, tune out the rest of the world, and wrap yourself tightly in the arms of your favorite anime zaddy. Engross yourself the big, animated biceps and perfectly styled spiky hair. Lose yourself in the smoldering looks and become entranced with the soothing voices. Truly nothing is better than a fine anime zaddy and to help you get started on finding your perfect anime zaddy to keep you occupied during the holidays, I have compiled a brief starter list of zaddies to watch for this upcoming fall. While you may not see your fav here, these three are guaranteed to heat you up, as the temperature goes down: Senku Ishigami Senku Ishigami is...

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is a masterclass in emotional and impactful story-telling that isn't afraid to hurt it's audience. This anime not only subverts your expectations but completely crushes them all while guaranteeing that the audience experiences excitement, suspense, and some pretty decent anime zaddies. Gurren Lagann is one of the few successful anime to not have an originating manga and even though that meant that the creators had no structured story to work from, the anime is beautiful and rich because of how unencumbered it is. You can tell in the way it's written that the writers were excited to be able to work in this medium with free reign, free of any backlash of manga purists or even slight comparisons to a manga. This enthusiasm and excitement comes out mostly in the dialogue between characters, which feels very fresh and real. For example, there's a big romantic scene about a third of the way through the anime that feels less like a typical shonen ...

Saiki Kusuo is the strongest anime protagonist of all time, with an ever-growing list of greek god like abilities that in comparison, makes the abilities of other popular protagonists look like neat party tricks. You know that tired ass "Who would win in a fight, Goku or Superman?" argument that all the dusties in 2012 would always debate on twitter? Well, the answer is Saiki and it isn't even close. The entire fabric of the universe in which Saiki exists is being bolstered and supported by his abilities and if nothing else, you need to watch this anime just to get an understanding of what he can do. From casual time travel to all and any form of telekinesis you can imagine, it is so much fun to watch someone so OP do virtually nothing but navigate high school with his power. Truly a ROMP, if I do say so myself. Also, for my fellow shonen heads let's not act dumb. Watching strong ass characters become OP over time is half the reason we love these shows and since ...

One Piece is one of the greatest anime of all time and I will never let anyone convince me otherwise because they would be wrong and I don't listen to wrong people. It is a MASTERPIECE. An exercise in impressive and engaging storytelling. You know what's crazy? The One Piece Anime is 20 years old and still manages to keep an audience engaged and build suspense. 20 YEARS of the same handful of pirates and we STILL CARE ABOUT THEM!? Your favorite show can't keep a character interesting for 2 seasons and One Piece has kept Luffy fresh and dynamic for almost my entire life. That alone is so much of a feat that I don't even know why you would need convincing after that. Honestly, anime aside One Piece might be one of the greatest shows period across all mediums and it's not hard to see why. One Piece is about a boy, Monkey D. Luffy, whose life goal is to become king of the pirates. We watch him compile his crew, grow and train, and travel the seas as pirates do....

The Promised Neverland manga is some of the most compelling new manga to come out within the last few years and anyone who still insists on sleeping on it is severely missing out, a flop, and hates good things. Seriously, it's really good and is just the sort of biting social critique through an unconventional lens that seems to be gaining in popularity, especially in the United States. The best content to come out of this year in fact, acknowledges how dark our world is and then guides the audience through digesting that darkness through it's style and structure. A perfect example of this is HBO's "Euphoria", a show that finally captures how toxic, dangerous, and confusing the American high school is, while also accurately framing this chaos as commonplace and ordinary, almost banal. The sort of normalcy which, if you've been in any high school in the last 5 years, you know is the standard.  This also makes for powerful storytelling as up until now, it see...

A LOT of people watch anime. Like, a stupid amount of people I'm not kidding. In fact, randos on Quora estimate that 2 to 3 BILLION people watch anime. With that many people binging on their couches until 2 am every day or sneaking episodes at work because they're irresponsible, you'd think more people would be proud and open fans, right? NO because they're embarrassed as hell of being a weeb and tbfh, they have every right to be. A lot of  the more extreme weebs are embarrassing and obnoxious and while I appreciate everyone being enthusiastic about their anime, it's clear that y'all quizzing strangers about Goku's power level or arguing in public about why your waifu is the ultimate waifu or some shit is putting people off and ultimately, it's damaging the community at large. Even I have found myself pulling away from the anime community, and in ways that I'm not exactly proud of. *special effects sound usually associated with time travel* Pi...

Last year, I had the pleasure of going to my first anime convention. It was an incredible experience with amazing cosplay everywhere, panels with new and interesting content, and so many different creators that I nearly burned through all of the money I had. It was honestly one of the best days of my life but the most beautiful part, was the community I found. Everywhere I looked there was a woman who looked like me having the time of her life. Whether she was buying merch at the artist alley, or dancing to anime openings at a sing along panel, or posing for pictures in her bomb cosplay, they were there and then it hit me- even though these are expensive women, specifically black women, that like anime or manga or K-pop or whatever NEED to be going to these conventions. Period!! Now, I understand the hesitation, I really do. The idea of going to a con is very unappealing upon first thought. Many of us are introverted and shy and while there is nothing wrong with that, it does ma...

Do you ever find yourself desperately thirsting over that hot teacher you met at that overrated beer garden last Saturday? You ever zone out watching the same BTS Jimin fancam performance for the 36th time? Held eye contact with a human male for longer than three seconds? If the answer is yes to any of these questions then guess what... you might be a little thirsty and you need to get some help for that. "But Whit, how in the hell do I stop being so thirsty? As every new moon passes during this dry spell my strength wanes and I feel my life force draining!" Well,... first of all...yikes that sounds really painful and I'm sorry about your life force and everything but you really shouldn't worry about it too much. "Why wouldn't I worry about something so pressing?! What about my loins!!!?" Truly I don't know how to respond to that but if you're an avid anime or manga consumer then thankfully, there is a very effective and safe solution ...