Filler vs. Canon: A Beginner's Guide to Understanding Anime Arcs (and Which to Skip)   You're watching a long-running action anime, like Naruto. The main plot is intense; the characters are in the middle of crucial training or a life-or-death battle. Suddenly, the next episode begins, and the main characters are on an unimportant side mission, like helping a talking ostrich or cooking the...

'Zenless Zone Zero' Review (2025): Is This the Next Big "Anime-Gacha" Hit?   When Zenless Zone Zero (ZZZ) launched in July 2024, the question on everyone's mind was whether HoYoverse (the creators of Genshin Impact) could strike gold a third time. Expectations were incredibly high. Now, almost a year and a half later in November 2025, we can look back and answer that question. ZZZ is not...

Loved 'Spy x Family'? 5 Other "Found Family" Anime You Need to Watch   Spy x Family is a global success for many reasons: it has action, comedy, and memorable characters. But the true center of the series is the "found family" theme. The plot follows Loid, Yor, and Anya—three individuals unrelated by blood (a spy, an assassin, and a telepath) who pretend to be a family for their own...

The “curse of video game adaptations” is a real phenomenon. For decades, most anime based on video games were, at best, 20‑minute commercials and, at worst, rushed adaptations that stripped away everything that made the original great. But that has changed. In the modern era of streaming, creators have had the freedom to take the lore and world of a video game and build something...

The "window seat and last row" trope is a near-universal visual convention in the school anime genre (slice of life and shonen). The protagonist, often an introverted, melancholic character or the "chosen one," is invariably positioned in the far right corner of the classroom. This placement is not random; it is a deliberate choice dictated by visual composition, narrative necessity, and...