Category: Essays, Criticism, and Analyses

A World Cut From One Cloth: Personal Sin and Systemic Sin in Kill la Kill

Originally published on The Ontological Geek. Ragyo’s grand entrance in Studio Trigger’s Kill la Kill (2013) marks the begin­ning of a chang­ing tide in the story. Up until this point, Ragyo’s daugh­ter Satsuki is the main villain. Satsuki rules a high school called Honnouji Academy with a sim­i­lar bril­liance to her moth­er. There, cloth­ing is lit­er­al­ly power as… Continue reading A World Cut From One Cloth: Personal Sin and Systemic Sin in Kill la Kill

Your Truth in Music: Honesty and Performance in Your Lie in April

I’m slowly getting around to watching the anime my Internet circles keep talking about and just recently finished Your Lie in April. I particularly enjoyed how the series dramatizes musical performance and the emotions that go into it. Music is the only consistently honest expression in the entire series. By that I mean in just… Continue reading Your Truth in Music: Honesty and Performance in Your Lie in April

Refusing Octavia Butler’s Vision in The Parable of the Sower

My church family has been passing around The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. When I finished it, I closed the book thinking, “Huh, okay then.” I’ve read my fair share of bleak novels all through college and for me, The Parable of the Sower comes in second place in the extremely short list… Continue reading Refusing Octavia Butler’s Vision in The Parable of the Sower

God Have Mercy: Justice and Judgement in Death Note

I’m ten years late to the party, but I finally watched Death Note. I’m actually glad I avoided it for as long as I did because I don’t think my teenage, anime-loving self would’ve appreciated or understood the complexity. Certainly, anything I could say about Death Note has been discussed ad nauseam from religious references… Continue reading God Have Mercy: Justice and Judgement in Death Note

Carmilla: A Glimmer of Hope in a Sea of “Bury Your Gays”

Last month, the YouTube series Carmilla ended and neither member of the main lesbian couple died (permanently). In fact, Carmilla lived and I have some theological feelings about that. Carmilla is loosely based on the 1872 novella of the same name. It follows Laura Hollis, a student at potently supernatural school called Silas University, as… Continue reading Carmilla: A Glimmer of Hope in a Sea of “Bury Your Gays”

Why I’m Supporting #HamiltonElectors

Over the past couple days, I’ve been watching the #HamiltonElectors movement grow. If you haven’t heard of it yet, it’s an effort led by a group of actual electors to spread awareness of the Electoral College’s role in elections and to encourage GOP electors to consider voting for another Republican candidate such as John Kaisich… Continue reading Why I’m Supporting #HamiltonElectors

Cutie Marks and Extending the Table

When My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic first aired, I noted how cutie marks represent both growing up and spiritual calling. Since then, the show has explored cutie marks in much greater depth. Wrapped up in cutie marks is all the bliss and anxiety about identity–when will I know what I’m supposed to do with… Continue reading Cutie Marks and Extending the Table

On Moé, the Queer Female Gaze, and Representation

An article on The Mary Sue about moé caused a bit of a stir on my Twitter feed a few weeks ago, mostly because the author was constantly defending herself against asinine hate comments by people who either read the headline and nothing more or skimmed the article without comprehending its content or aims, or… Continue reading On Moé, the Queer Female Gaze, and Representation

Transcendence and Subtlety in Queer Ships

Queer erasure and censorship in media isn’t a new problem. Although things have certainly changed in recent years, overt representation of queer women in cartoons (and anime to a lesser extent) is still pretty sparse. Where it does occur, it’s sometimes embedded in some type of spiritual or transcendent narrative in which the transcendence of… Continue reading Transcendence and Subtlety in Queer Ships