I’m convinced at this point that grouchy old Miyauchi-sensei knew exactly what she was doing when she forced the Karuta Club to name Taichi as President. And right now, she looks like a friggin’ genius for doing it. I’m quite struck with just how thoroughly Chihayafuru blends its genres to […] Read more
This is certainly a show that holds up well. With each new opportunity to revisit it I’m reminded of just how much I love it. I confess I sat on this episode for the better part of a week, wanting and yet not wanting to watch it. As long as […] Read more
One of the things that’s always set Shinryaku Ika Musume apart from lesser comedies is that when it decides to go straight for the heart, it’s aim is usually perfect – and this week’s last chapter was proof that’s still as true as ever. Before that, we had a couple […] Read more
Here was another episode I found entertaining and suspenseful, but I confess I find myself having a relatively hard time figuring out exactly what just happened. Whether this is an issue with the adaptation or the manga I‘m not sure, but I don’t think all of that obfuscation is intentional. […] Read more
Tons of interesting stuff this week, but first things first – who would have thought it was actually the good Yuno we’ve been watching until this week? On balance I think this is a very compact, lean episode of Mirai Nikki. This conclusion to the arc fit perfectly into the […] Read more
Shakugan no Shana III – 09 Alas, poor Fecor – we knew him well. It appears as if our goatish friend (who frankly always seemed a bit of a bumbler to me, and was generally dissed by The Trinity) was offed by Tenroku, the mystes who created the Nietono no […] Read more
Miura is dumb. Hattori is good. That is all. As much as I liked Bakuman’s first season, it’s just astonishing how much better this show has gotten. It’s become genuinely exciting each and every week, and furthermore, it really gets my blood boiling in righteous indignation. I love the realism […] Read more
Hisoka is making a case as the character who gets the most out of his screen time of any this season. You don’t see him much, but the trail of devastation he leaves in his wake is pretty impressive. I was a little surprised by the direction this episode took, […] Read more
After three blessed weeks of almost none, we endure an episode dedicated almost entirely to Ume. And it seems to have achieved the impossible – it made me hate her more. You don’t want to hear me go on and on about how awful a character Ume is, so this […] Read more
I certainly hope Gonzo has those little financial issues worked out, because they dropped a whole lot of yen on CGI with this episode. I’ll leave it to the military history buffs and technogeeks to dissect the relative merits of The Slivius’ armaments and defenses vs. The Silvana’s, etc. That […] Read more