(The following will be included in the “About Me” section of this blog)

Major Motoko Kusanagi from 2002’s Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

My name is Matthew Magnus Lundeen (or Sakura Sunrise on Steam). Ever since the winter of 2014, I have fallen in love with Japan’s animation industry and grown to appreciate visual direction and choreography so much that I have become more appreciative of those same qualities in American media.

To me, Anime is a medium that shatters the monotony that turned me off of American television. Whether it’s an action show, a romance, a comedy, or a fantasy epic, Anime is constantly tapping the never ending wealth of ideas that exist within human minds and expressing it through images that can be gratuitous, violent, sad, happy, or sexual. Some may brand the medium as juvenile and lacking in substance, but for every show that degrades the medium, there is another that is beautiful and worth caring about. Man is a narrative animal and nothing has allowed me to appreciate the narrative of life more than this medium. So what can you find on this blog?

Reviews of Anime new and old, updates on newly announced productions and seasonal anime schedules, personal posts about my thoughts on the industry and new trends, and my own analyses.

If you are like me, you have a love for narrative, but an equal appreciation for all the factors that make up your works of art, such as visuals, music, and– of course– the animation. I implore you to join me as I explore this medium and hope you find some worth in the words of a simple man who loves Anime.