My Top Anime, Part 1

Posted on by Puja B. Canta

I’ve been wanting to share my personal list of top anime for a while because it isn’t a typical list at all, and I really want to see if I can turn some new people on to beautiful stories they haven’t heard of before. My favorite anime of all time made me feel something incredibly special or came along at a time in my life where I was ready for that particular story and capable of being blown away.

Since my list is probably unusual and I have a lot to say about each one, I’m breaking it up into part one and part two. Part one may be a little less surprising. Part two gets pretty wacky… Mainly, though, it’s fun to share one’s gateway anime and also which shows appealed to them most growing up. There’s like a party game in there somewhere: share your gateway anime; then the one that made you cry the most; then the one that made you laugh the most… And do a shot every time someone mentions Cowboy Bebop?

Anime From the Lens of a 90s Kid

A bit of context before I start my list… My sis forced us to watch Inuyasha in the 90s, so that was my gateway anime. And this also means I started in the era of downloading fansubs on forums… you couldn’t even buy the ones you wanted to watch subbed in English, let alone find dubbed versions of your favorite anime. Then I was exposed to Escaflowne, the classic Vampire Hunter D, Cowboy Bebop which since became another classic, Twelve Kingdoms… I didn’t find out about the Studio Ghibli stuff until college. And college was also when Bleach exploded onto the scene and I went to my first anime convention.

Riding on a Escaflowne as dragon through a sunswept sky.
Escaflowne, by seli-chan on zerochan.net

The upshot of my particular list being… you may not have heard of some of these before. And they are all freaking wonderful. I should also note—I chose these, not for their quality or popularity. For me, it’s all about how each show made me feel; actually, how much love they made me feel. How deeply each one has impacted me and shaped my sense of humor or how I see life, and storytelling. So I’d say this is a list ranked by complete and utter subjective, illogical, instinctive, passionate love. You will not agree. But you will be highly amused.

Continue reading My Top Anime, Part 1

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Last Minute (Seriously Last Minute!) Holiday Gift Ideas

Posted on by Puja B. Canta

These are gifts everyone will like that you can get right now (like seriously, this instant) or even after you’ve hopped out of the car or jumped off the plane. Good luck, my fellow princes of procrastination, you kings of last minute gifting!

Cider House Rules: "Good night you Princes of Maine, you Kings of New England."

I’m ranking these by ease-of-access.

#1 Digital Copies of Video Games

I’m old school… I thought I was buying a copy of a game to send to my sister that would arrive in a plastic box and a tight wad of folded instructions inside to show her what to do after the CD installed on her computer and the game finished downloading gigs upon gigs of updates.

Cue Godvoice: “How wrong the 90s child was.”

Digital copies of online games like Cuphead, and certainly other digital games you can find in online stores, can be downloaded by you or your gift recipient in minutes. Then, once you have the game code, you can share it. The game may have an obvious ‘buy as gift’ option, or you may need to email it once you’ve received it after checkout. By the way, don’t make the same mistake I did… if you’re a n00b to this mysterious practice, don’t click through all the different windows after you buy a game until you accidentally redeem the code and claim it for yourself. Get the code, get it to the person you love.

Continue reading Last Minute (Seriously Last Minute!) Holiday Gift Ideas