Welcome once again to Blog Spot, where I take a pause from shameless self-promotion to bring to your attention other reviewers whom I respect, admire or revere.
As some of you may have gathered, I'm a big fan of the comedy reviewing site ThatGuyWithTheGlasses. It can hardly have escaped you, considering my incessant postings both here and on Twitter (@mumbyatmovies) about To Boldly Flee, the site's brilliant 4th-year anniversary film.
Originally I intended for this Blog Spot to be a tribute to the whole site, either as a general overview with some backstory of how I came to it, or as some kind of Top 10 list of my favourite reviewers. But either structure wouldn't let me go into enough detail about why I love certain reviewers, so instead I'll be focussing on the one I have devoted most time to recently - anime critic Hope Chapman, a.k.a JesuOtaku.
I first became aware of JO through the Nostalgia Critic's Digimon crossover review. It was pretty funny and engaging, despite my total lack of any anime knowledge outside of Hayao Miyazaki. Shortly afterwards To Boldly Flee hit our screens, with JO cosplaying as Radical Edward from Cowboy BeBop and stealing pretty much every scene in which she featured. As a result of that performance I checked out her Bebop review, and I've been pretty much hooked ever since.
There's a number of things that appeal to me about JO. In a profession stereotypically characterised by neurosis, rage and accentuating the negative, she takes time to point out the positives of any given production and will strive to recommend it on some level (even Eiken). Her analysis is nuanced, intelligent and multi-layered so that you're never entirely sure which way she's going to go, which acts as an incentive to keep watching. She puts the material and its merits before any cult of personality or ongoing story arc, going so far as doing most of her reviews in voiceover. And on top of all that, she's one of the best actors and comedians on the site, as evident in her numerous crossovers.
As well as reviewing anime, JO has a number of other strings to her bow. She is the creator of the Fruits Basket Radio Drama, based on the manga of the same name. I'm only a few episodes in but it's really gripping, and the production values are quite superb. Her weekly streams are apparently a hoot, though being 5 hours ahead I very rarely get the chance to catch them. Finally, she has made a number of guest appearances on What The F*** Is Wrong With You?, a weekly show on Radio Dead Air hosted by her friend and TGWTG colleague Nash Bozard. Click here for a good example of what happens on the show (WARNING: not for the faint-hearted!).
You can watch The JesuOtaku Anime Review on TGWTG, on Blip.tv. or on her newly-launched website, jesuotaku.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @jesuotaku, which is quite an experience in and of itself. Join me in January for another Blog Spot, but until then, sayonara bye bye!
Daniel
As some of you may have gathered, I'm a big fan of the comedy reviewing site ThatGuyWithTheGlasses. It can hardly have escaped you, considering my incessant postings both here and on Twitter (@mumbyatmovies) about To Boldly Flee, the site's brilliant 4th-year anniversary film.
Originally I intended for this Blog Spot to be a tribute to the whole site, either as a general overview with some backstory of how I came to it, or as some kind of Top 10 list of my favourite reviewers. But either structure wouldn't let me go into enough detail about why I love certain reviewers, so instead I'll be focussing on the one I have devoted most time to recently - anime critic Hope Chapman, a.k.a JesuOtaku.
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