That certainly wasn’t the flashiest episode of this series in terms of huge belly-laughs or cosmic events, but it was a winner nonetheless. Discreetly charming and altogether winning, with a couple of great moments that stood out for me. There are only two eps left and the writers don’t seem […] Read more
Fuyumi Ono, the author of Shiki, has done a brilliant job of setting up the role reversal in this series. The humans have becomes the hunters, the aggressors, in their own way hungry for blood. They’ve even taken over the roadblock the Shiki set up to keep outsiders out – […] Read more
While the penultimate episode of Shinryaki Ika Musume wasn’t the funniest, it did bring home a couple of the elements that make this such an unusual comedy. First of all, this show does the creepy factor really well. Usually it’s Sanae and her bizarre loli-S & M fetishism, and we […] Read more
Tamazuki shows his true stripes in the penultimate episode, pretty much wiping out his entire night parade. It wasn’t that hard to see coming – though Inugami certainly couldn’t – but it was a little shocking nonetheless. This was a pretty straightforward action episode for the most part. The Nura […] Read more
“Ishihara Shintaro on line two…” I can’t help but note the irony of blogging this episode on the same day the “Youth Development Act” is about to pass the Tokyo Assembly. Surely this is everything paranoid little toads like Ishihara fear and loathe about anime (though he’s only too glad […] Read more
This is not a political site. And while I certainly have no qualms about debating politics in real-life, I have no desire to turn it into one. Nevertheless, since this site (like it’s owner) is obsessed with Japan and otaku culture, I don’t think it can ignore what’s happening in […] Read more
My favorite Mamani expression by far Did you get all that? Wow, but a busy, exhausting, emotional roller-coaster of an episode that was. It felt like every emotion was at the extreme end of the spectrum, and about six eps worth of development was crammed into one. But it didn’t […] Read more
Things are heating up quite a bit this week in Bakuman – except between Masahiro and Azuki, of course. But other than that we had a pretty fast-paced episode with a nice mix of manga business and relationship stuff. We had our longest look yet at the mysterious Nizuma Eji […] Read more
A nice gustatory tradition is the Trader Joe’s Vintage beers, a part of the holiday beer craze that’s taken off in popularity over the last 20 years or so. TJ’s has these beers made for them by Unibroue, the Quebec brewery responsible for a rather excellent line of Belgian-styled ales, […] Read more
Soredemo continues to evade the trap of predictability through 10 episodes. While last week featured time travel and a focus on a minor character, this week showcased space aliens, ghosts and starred a character who wasn’t a character at all until this week. While the episode did in fact feature […] Read more