For the first time this week, Hunter X Hunter put me in mind of The Princess Bride. I’m a big fan of anime characters who don’t speak all that much, but when they do you damn well better listen. Kaitou is rapidly stamping himself as one of those. He’s a […] Read more
Nope, definitely not getting any less silly. My reactions to Attack on Titan continue to be somewhat different than with most series. I find myself laughing at seemingly inopportune moments with alarming regularity, yet it doesn’t make me dislike what I’m seeing. I’m not sure whether this is because I […] Read more
Since RDG never acted like a normal series I suppose it’s fitting that it didn’t end like one either. Even in a medium full of non-ending endings, Red Data Girl’s felt like no ending at all. “Go read the novels” is pretty much the message I expected to get at […] Read more
Confession time: I may not have been glad Chihaya lost her match, but I was definitely relieved. The passage of a week’s time hasn’t changed by view that last week’s developments in Chihayafuru were a bit of a stumble, both narratively and in the larger context of its realism as […] Read more
GKMP has certainly ended up as quite a different show than the one I expected. I guess I’m both surprised and not surprised that Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince seems to have generated relatively little following among mecha fans. Among all genres, mecha seems to be as much of a closed […] Read more
This series is really starting to make sense. What I’m not sure of yet is whether or not that’s a good thing. There’s a truth in advertising element to Kakumeiki Valvrave in that for all its balls-out plot overload, it’s basically mixing and matching mecha and sci-fi cliches rather than […] Read more
Memo to Suisei no Gargantia – that’s how you do a swimsuit episode. And we’re not going to get a 2nd one next week, either. Fanservice eps are a minefield for anime, to say the least. For every one that actually contributes something besides crass commercial pandering there are a […] Read more
There’s been an interesting discussion going on as regards Shinkai Makoto’s place in the echelon of great animators since the release of Kotonoha no Niwa. Much of it surrounds the technical side of his work, and how some feel it doesn’t measure up to the best in the field. While […] Read more
There’s a new Author on the scene, and this one plays into the dual nature of this series more literally than any that’s come before. I’d say that this was probably the least memorable episode of Dansai Bunri since the premiere for me, though with the standard the series has […] Read more
When it comes to the visual side of anime – or animation – there’s Shinkai Makoto, and everyone else. Two different categories, period. I spent a day at Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden this past Spring, during Sakura season. In fact I’ve gone there twice over the years and ironically, it […] Read more