I was surprised to see all the controversy surrounding this series over on the boards – a lot of folks hot and bothered by the way Ika is being treated by the humans. I think she gives as good as she gets, personally, and as smart as it is this […] Read more
Lots of exposition this week as we come careening towards the end of this two-cour run, with no notion of a second season and no possible way that things can be wrapped up in 7 episodes without some serious improvisation. Manga readers everywhere quake in trepidation – I await in […] Read more
Another two eps, another arc ends, another notch on Haruka’s belt. Judging from the post traffic I’ve seen, I think I’m in the minority in feeling that this “modified omnibus” format makes the relationships seem arbitrary. I still feel like Haru jumped right out of Kazuha’s bed and into Akira’s […] Read more
I guess things are a little bit different in the world of mangaka than they are for aspiring writers in the States. I’m not an artist and I can’t speak for aspiring comic book authors, but as someone who’s submitted written work for publication many times I can tell you […] Read more
Wow – that was a serious change of pace, to say the least. After the intense emotion and drama of the last few episodes, this one focuses almost entirely on Kyousuke and his visit to Manami’s (crazy) family – grandparents, dad and little brother. It made a welcome change and […] Read more
I haven’t got any pants on… It’s seems almost unnecessary to blog Letter Bee at this point, because it’s just so absurdly consistent. And consistently itself – there’s no other series quite like it. That said, they always seem to come up with a few new absurd word combinations or […] Read more
Soredemo is like the Goldilocks porridge of Shinbo shows – it’s just right. In that sense it still reminds me of the first season of Natsu no Arashi, which struck that balance off creativity and restraint better than any other Shinbo show for me. I don’t quite put this one […] Read more
It’s not so often that we get to see a big, strong youth punch a cute, tiny little girl in the face at full force. Twice. Add to that she’s a nun, and you have the makings of a true classic. Of course there have been many times where I’ve […] Read more
This week’s episode was back to the formula of the first four. There was absolutely no serious plot development at all – until the postscript, anyway. Nothing earth-shatteringly funny this week, just a couple of amiable “Bwaaaaaaka!” based storylines. The first involved Tomoki’s desire to prove to those snotty girls […] Read more
Three episodes in and we still really haven’t had a misstep here. Not everything has been comfortable to watch, but I think that’s intentional – in a way this show is like spying on the characters private lives. And what you see and hear isn’t always pretty. This was definitely […] Read more