As I suspected, Bakuman veered slightly off the path of manga 101 this week, turning its attention to the “romance” between Masahiro and Azuki. I don’t use those parenthesis to indicate disdain – it’s just that this may be one of the most innocent and low-key romances you’ll ever see. […] Read more
First rhinos, now sea lions Letter Bee continues to impress with dazzling new landscapes, crazy place names (Blue Note Blues – superb!) and odd animal conveyances. Bes of all, the story is on track and continues to impress every week. Wow, a lot sure happened this week. Zazie really got […] Read more
This is the last (and best) of the three-bottle wildfire sampler from Navarro – three reds that Ted Bennett and Jim Klein decided had too much smoke taint to release under the regular Navarro label. This wine is interesting both on its own merits, and as a comparison to the […] Read more
I’ll make no bones about it – I don’t especially like Railgun. Oh, I like Biri-biri OK – she’s not the problem with that series, though I don’t especially think she’s a strong enough character to carry a show. But the premise in general and Kuroko especially don’t really do […] Read more
I think I’ve figured out Arashiyama. She’s an idiot savant – OK, the focus is on the idiot, I admit. She’s incredibly dense about lots of things, guitars and computers being two prime examples this week. But she’s not a straight-up baka, either – she’s actually quite clever about detective […] Read more
Sora no Otoshimono, your plot is here… And it only took 7 episodes! This was probably my favorite episode of the season, along with the Buddhist retreat parody one. Almost no Mikako or Sohara, minimal Sugata, and a notable absence of Chibi-Tomoki bar a few seconds. All good things. It […] Read more
Well, the question I asked about Kuronosuke at the end of 03 has definitely been answered. He’s interested – and it’s on! Kuragehime continues to take the unorthodox path at every fork in the road, and that makes each episode delightfully surprising. I loved the fact that Kura came storming […] Read more
It’s not a big surprise that the intensity level was turned down a few notches this week – episode 14 was about as intense as any episode of any anime I’ve ever seen. But that doesn’t mean it was much less powerful. This was very much a “calm before the […] Read more
I just can’t find it in myself to dislike this arc, or be irritated or even annoyed by it. Rihoko is likable enough and there’s nothing offensive about any of it. Problem is, it doesn’t really feel like a story – and certainly not a romantic one. I don’t think […] Read more
I somehow missed the fact that this OVD episode of Durarara was subbed about 6 weeks ago. These DVD extra episodes can be pretty hit or miss – very often there’s a good reason they weren’t part of the original series. But on balance, this was a fully worthy addition […] Read more