There’s stuff to like with Shokugeki no Souma, no question. But is it enough? Whilst I sincerely appreciate the angst all those naked apron scenes surely caused the otaku who otherwise have many reasons to enjoy Food Wars (and indeed, that disconnect is one of the things I like about […] Read more
Next week, I fully expect the kitchen sink. We’re already getting everything else. The idea that there’s a kind of bait-and-switch happening with Punchline has been part of the series’ zeitgeist from the beginning – comments by the staff and cast have made sure of that. But truthfully, I think […] Read more
Lucky Abrams has nothing on Gouda Takeo… OK, let me just say up front that I have no idea WTF is going on here. One time is a twist, maybe an asspull, maybe parody – but two weeks out of three we have a convenient disaster allowing Takeo to strut […] Read more
Sadly, Taki-sensei passed up a perfect opening to slip a “not quite my tempo” in there this week… Anyone who thinks Taki-sensei is an unduly harsh teacher probably hasn’t seen Whiplash, I’m guessing – and obviously, as a musing on the topic of teaching kids how to play music it […] Read more
So what the hell do I call this episode? OP4: HEROES” by Glay Let’s see – the series continued without an interruption, so I guess this is Episode 76 of Diamond no Ace. Except there was sort of a break – so it’s Season 2, Episode 1. Or do you […] Read more
It’s official – Kyoukai no Rinne is a good show. I’m enjoying Brain’s Base’s adaptation of this series so much that it’s making me wonder if I don’t need to give the manga another look, because I definitely don’t remember the same level of enjoyment. It was pretty good, but […] Read more
“High Sparrow” I admit I was sort of worried when the critical reaction to the first four episodes of this season (you know – the ones that coincidentally ended up leaked online) of Game of Thrones seemed pretty lukewarm – especially in light of the fact that the end of […] Read more
And off we go into the minefield one more time… One might be forgiven for thinking that blogging Fate is a damned if you do, damned if you don’t proposition. On the one hand, if those at both extremes think you’re wrong maybe you’re doing something right. But one unassailable […] Read more
Memo to Sidonia – you may be taking this whole “moeblob” thing a bit too literally… Sidonia no Kishi is nothing if not consistent. When it does characters, it’s clumsy and stiff in every way. When it turns to sweeping plots, action scenes and hard sci-fi intellectual navel-gazing (no other […] Read more
The pedigree of this series is showing through in subtle ways. To be honest, this episode is more in-line with what I was expecting from Arslan Senki. I know the story Tanaka and Arakawa are telling here, but it nevertheless surprised me just how densely packed the first three episodes […] Read more