For a series as superficially predictable as this one, Ore Monogatari offers up a surprising number of surprises. Every so often a line of dialogue crops up that reveals itself to be useful in a wide variety of situations. For me, Midousuji’s description of Onoda-kun in Yowamushi Pedal – “He’s […] Read more
The peculiarities of Japanese baseball never cease to surprise me. Any way you slice it, the Seidou v. Ugumori matchup feels like a stop on the journey, not a real destination. When you consider that this is a game against a secondary opponent – a preamble – and part of […] Read more
It’s tough out there for a prince. Things just aren’t getting any easier for Arslan – and as if a new invasion force wasn’t bad enough, now he has to endure a recap episode next week (quality animation like this doesn’t draw itself, you know). On the plus side, there’s […] Read more
So ends a real head-scratcher of a season for Sidonia no Kishi. In many ways, I’m at a loss to explain Daikyuu Wakusei Seneki. There was an awful lot of plot drift here – in fact, I’d go so far as to say the entire cour could easily have been […] Read more
Enter the tennis mom. “I play tennis for a living, even though I hate tennis, hate it with a dark and secret passion, and always have.” – Andre Agassi Given that Baby Steps is probably the most comprehensive look at youth sports in manga history (I would place only […] Read more
How fitting that a Fate/Zero character best sums up my feelings about the last arc of UBW. But why rub it in? I can’t say it any better than Waver did, so I won’t beat it into the ground. And truth be told I said pretty much everything I needed […] Read more
For one day at least, it really is the most important meal. I love breakfast – namely, eating breakfast out. Especially at hotels, especially hotel buffets. I love hotel breakfasts even if I’m not staying at the hotel. They mean something a little different in Japan of course – Japanese […] Read more
Somehow, it seems only fitting for Punchline to end with an episode that leaves me totally exasperated. I’ll cut to the chase: I hated the way Uchikoshi ended this series. And that’s despite the fact that I smelled it coming for several episodes and wasn’t remotely surprised by it. But […] Read more
Forgive me for ever doubting you, Rumiko. Kyoukai no Rinne isn’t second-rate anything. Every season, it seems, there’s one series that blows the field out of the water when it comes to the gap between quality and attention. This season it’s Kyoukai no Rinne, almost universally ignored by the English-language […] Read more
It’s becoming quite the problem to blog this show, though it’s through no fault of its own. Let me preface this by saying that my affection for Ore Monogatari!! isn’t waning at all – I’m still enjoying the series very much. But as it’s becoming clear that this is mostly […] Read more