I continue to marvel at the ability of Fate/Zero to make 22 minutes seem like 10. Betrayal was certainly the theme of the first chapter this week, fittingly as it recalled the mortal life of Diarmuid Ua Duibhne. Lancer has been my favorite servant (along with Rider) from the beginning, […] Read more
I guess it’s only fitting that an anime starring anime’s ultimate troll, Souma Hiroomi, would seriously troll its own audience. I started off a little peeved that the Yamada siblings’ storyline was going to be shoved aside this week, but it didn’t last too long as the series delivered another […] Read more
It’s amazing how an anime made so obviously on the cheap can look so cool. This OVA is really all about Sawa Ryochimo, the director, AD and character designer. A look at his résumé shows that at the tender age of 32, he’s already worked on a startling number of […] Read more
On balance, I’d say this episode of Haganai had just about everything you’d want – humor, irony, fanservice and even a little pathos. I don’t know if I’ll call this my favorite episode, but it’s certainly one of the best. The Hippocratic oath for Haganai is “First be funny”, and […] Read more
Episode 20 of Mawaru Penguin Drum was cryptic and full of mysteries, and as always raised new questions with every one it answered. But as a whole, the emotional impact was as powerful as any episode in the series’ entire run. Maybe it’s my tryptophan and wine-addled mind that’s the […] Read more
There’s no Fall anime that guards its secrets as closely as UN-GO, and none that makes you think so hard almost every week. Whether you consider that a positive or a negative probably determines how much of a fan of this series you are. I’ve actually had to think quite […] Read more
I don’t know what’s more remarkable – that Guilty Crown keeps finding ways to get stupider, or that it continues to by oddly entertaining in spite of it. After a little break, the anti-internationalism is back in full force this week – more specifically anti-Americanism in this case. It arrives […] Read more
Towan no Quon continues to traverse some pretty dark territory, and still feels very much at home smack dab in the middle of the BONES tradition. While we still aren’t getting much in the way of background, bits and pieces are continuing to trickle out. We also saw a continuation […] Read more
Complete this sentence: "Chihaya x…" Finishing order: Taichi winning comfortably, and Arata edging out Karuta for second place. Poor Harada-sensei finishes a distant fourth… It didn’t surprise me to see Taichi come out on top, though the margin did. I was surprised to see “Karuta” fare as well as it […] Read more
Subtlety and understatement pretty much went out the window in this week’s ep of Mashiroiro Symphony. Cute kittens abandoned, angelic Miu working herself to collapse – Manglobe pretty much went straight for the hard stuff. I don’t know id ever seen a kitten flag in a romance before, but we […] Read more