Reviewing What You Are Reading, Watching, or Playing

I came across an interesting passage in THEM Anime’s review of a 2023 anime series titled The Dreaming Boy is a Realist. The line and the review were authored by Allen Moody, who I quoted once previously in a New Leaf Journal article on review systems. I emboldened the key point of the quote: Kei sits behind Wataru in class, is apparently much more social (Aika seems fairly reserved), routinely talks to Wataru despite Aika’s supposed annoyance with him, and in general seems a much more FUN person than Aika, and if I were Wataru I’d be asking KEI out instead. So once again, as in Miharu vs. Chitose in The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten, and Kukuru vs. Fuka in The Aquatope on White Sand, I felt the female lead was considerably less interesting than her friend. (Film critic Roger Ebert used to recommend against comparing the show you’re watching with the one YOU might have written, but I’m going to ignore that advice here.) Allen Moody We have two things happening in this quote.…