How is it possible for an anime to make me smile so much in 22 minutes? It occurs to me in watching Tsuritama that if the four main characters were girls, this series would likely be hugely popular. It’s superb on so many levels and quite unique, and deserving of […] Read more
Hey Babe, take a walk on the wild side… Once you surrender yourself to the central conceit of Shirokuma Café, stuff like what happened in this week’s episode in almost at the level of genius. This might have been my favorite ep so far, because it had a cohesiveness through […] Read more
“Tilting at Windmills Wednesday” continues with another show with an, er, exclusive following… When you stop and think about it, there are very, very few anime that focus on what Shouwa Monogatari focuses on – the hard struggles of lower-middle class people to make ends meet. Not everyone in anime […] Read more
Today’s Afterschool Special: “Let’s Make Friends With the Drunk Guy in the Park!” The best show you’re almost certainly not watching continues to be great fun, and I’ll continue to talk to the four people who are watching. As I’ve said already, everything about Ginga e Kickoff is just better than you […] Read more
With this episode, clearly, Jormungand has stepped up to claim its place as one of the best shows of the season. This has been an extraordinarily faithful adaptation of Takahashi Keitarou’s manga so far – more so than I expected in fact, given how unconventional the first volume of the […] Read more
I think the greatest compliment I can pay to Zetman is that I’m still wrapped up in it, despite suffering from whiplash trying to keep up and keep it all straight. One of the fundamental tenets of superhero mythology is that being a superhero is a burden. Superpowers carry a […] Read more
Most unwise pinky swear ever… Tasogare Otome x Amnesia – 05 If there’s one series of the Spring that I’m almost exactly on the fence about, it’s this one. It pleases me, bores me and irritates me in just about equal amounts. I really do like Kirie as a character […] Read more
“The Old Gods and the New” Well, Dear Readers, you and I are finally in the same boat this season – because I had no effing idea what was going to happen most of the time. This was the first time more things were changed that faithful to the book, […] Read more
I confess I’m quite baffled as to where Gundam AGE is headed with this final arc. Gundam has, over the years, mostly earned a reputation as an anti-war franchise. In my personal view that’s a bit of an oversimplification, but it’s more or less correct most of the time (how’s […] Read more
Wait a minute – a grouchy, self-involved layabout who solves mysteries with his team, usually based on the principle “everybody lies”? Hmm… While there’s still not all that much “there” there with Hyou-ka, it’s kind of fun being nowhere with it. The formula could hardly be simpler, but it’s undeniably […] Read more