The buildup to the end continues on all fronts. I mentioned in my Chihayafuru post earlier this weekend that Arata is like the dark matter of the Chihayaverse, in that he has a tremendous impact on the story without actually being seen. Well, it’s pretty obvious that Azuki Miho very […] Read more
The only thing I don’t love about this superb season of Minami-ke is that it’s already almost over. You just can’t have too much Makoto/-chan as far as I’m concerned, but I will say this much: the fact that his appearances (like Hosaka’s) are relatively infrequent gives those episodes a […] Read more
If there’s a pure shounen heaven, surely this episode of Hunter X Hunter must be it. I keep making the mistake of thinking that Madhouse can’t keep topping themselves, but Madhouse keeps topping themselves. I don’t know how they do it – or how Togashi did it, for that matter […] Read more
Training arc #2, start! I’m occasionally struck by how much Space Brothers and Hunter X Hunter – two seemingly wildly different shows and my Sunday companions for the last year – are similar to each other. Above and beyond the obvious fact that both are superb anime that seamlessly combine […] Read more
The nekokissa really is one of Japan’s most intriguing and charming innovations. This Saturday I visited a couple of Tokyo institutions in Ikebukuro – Jiro Ramen and Nekorobi. Jiro Ramen is hard to explain until you’ve tried it – many locals are fond of saying, “It’s not ramen, it’s Jiro.” […] Read more
Cliffhangers are cruel to begin with, but at the end of these 5-minute episodes of SSY, they’re really brutal. Only a show I love as much as this one is capable of making me rage so much about its flaws, but that doesn’t mean the feelings aren’t real. This ep […] Read more
To say that this episode was a long time coming may be an understatement, but it definitely proved worth the wait. It’s no exaggeration to say that Arata is a highly unusual character in anime, close to unique in the sense that while he’s universally acknowledged as one of the […] Read more
Robotics;Notes was always going to have to go big at the end if it had any chance to tie the loose ends together, but now that we’re in the moment the change is still a bit shocking. This is what is looks like when you try and do 22 episodes […] Read more
Psycho-Pass is nothing if not a study in contradiction. I keep hoping that this series will somehow transcend itself and find a kind of profundity in its character development before the end, though admittedly that seems extremely unlikely for many reasons. Of course character development isn’t really the maint point […] Read more
Gods, there are times I really love BONES. Thank goodness there are still folks in the anime business who care this much. Zetsuen no Tempest may be last in my my list of tags, but it’s rapidly climbing towards the top echelon of recent anime. I’ll spoil any suspense now […] Read more