Glassblower45

To see a selection of favorite works and memorable titles I would recommend, skip down to the end of the bio. Otherwise, read on to discover some of my history and tastes in anime, manga, light novels...and, you know, the other related stuff.

In the beginning...

Glassblower45 knew about Pokémon and Digimon at a young age. But she never knew "anime." That came in middle school when she met an upperclassman was always drawing things from anime and manga. Glassblower45 explored the manga titles becoming available in English in bookstores at that time. Bleach, Naruto and Onepiece were all titles she read then.

Then Glassblower45 stepped away from any anime and manga for about five years. These Years were her late teenage and early twenties. Glassblower45's tastes in anime and manga showed maturation and evolution when she started consuming them again in her early twenties.

Developing Tastes

Glassblower45 re-entered the world of anime first with watching all of Dragon Ball Z Kai (the remade, re-dubbed version that cuts the filler and improves story pacing). She had just gotten back into consuming TV, movies and the like a few months prior after two years of voluntarily fasting from all TV, movies, YouTube and the like. Shows like Naruto, One Piece, and Fairy Tale did not hold the same appeal anymore. The licensing and availability of anime and manga has changed so much in 5 years. 

After Dragon Ball Z Kai, Glassblower45 remembers exploring manga titles made available through scantilations (technically a form of piracy). This exploration was a journey into more mature works, finding unique titles, and reflecting on elements accross different works that consistently captured her interest. Glassblower45 eventually came across anime YouTube's Mother's Basement, Gigguk, Super Eyepatch Wolf, and Glass Reflection. These are anime community reviewers, commentators and enthusiasts. Watching their videos expanded her appreciation and understanding of storytelling, entertainment and production in anime. Their videos gave her sharper artistic intuition and articulation of her experiences with anime, manga and the like from title to title.

Here are pretty consistent tastes Glassblower45 has noticed amongst the works she remembers and/or enjoys multiple times:

• Works like From Far Away/Kanata Kara and Snow White with the Red Hair reflect romantic couples she loves and admires.
• Assassination Classroom and Haikyuu!! reflect a sandwhich composition of grounded cast growth, action, comedy, and mature life lessons. Glassblower45 savors select works like these. Their anime adaptations reflect a different kind of fun experience with the things anime adds: voice acting, animation and music.
• Big Windup!/Ookiku Furikabutte, Natsume's Book of Friends and By the Grace of the Gods reflect a taste in slower paced, healing slice-of-life stories--including fantasy and supernatural ones--with protagonists Glassblower45 can sympathize with or identify with.
• Solo Leveling/I Alone Level Up, Isekai Yakkyoku/Other World Pharmacy, and Noblesse reflect a taste for "overpowered" protagonists who are interesting as characters in the world they live. They are particularly liked if there is a warmth for other people, a use of their strength to serve and protect others whie having close companions.

A selection of Glassblower45's favorite titles to watch & read are:

• Haikyuu!! manga and anime adaptation (I prefer the Japanese dub performance overall).
• Big Windup/Ookiku Furikabutte English dubbed anime adaptation. I want to read the original manga!
• Yona of the Dawn/Akatsuki no Yona manga and anime adaptation (English and Japanese dubs are great!).
• From Far Away/Kanata Kara manga.
• Assassination Classroom English dubbed anime adaptation. I love the English dialogue adaptation and voice work.
• Kiki's Delivery Service anime film. A film from childhood that I still remember fondly today. Could totally watch it again.
• Solo Leveling/I Alone Level Up novel and webtoon adaptation. I'm so excited to see more of this series in media adaptations!
• By the Grace of the Gods (reboot edition) novel and manga adaptation. Anticipating the 2020 anime adaptation. The first thing that ever got me to pre-order their release (in the official English novel release, with manga on the way!)

Memorable works that are not necessarily favorites (by my personal standard for "favorite"), but I remember them well and recommend them:

• A Silent Voice manga and anime movie adaptation.
• To Your Eternity manga. (Same author of A Silent Voice)
• 91 Days original anime.
• Summer Wars anime film.
• Snow White with the Red Hair/Akagami no Shirayukihime anime adaptation. I want to read the manga in an official English publication!