“Into the Dalek” The first two episodes of Doctor Who’s 35th season (8th, if you’re a revisionist) have been a bit of a strange experience for me. I’m completely sold on Peter Capaldi as the Doctor and that should, in theory, be the most important thing. But the rest of […] Read more
Where’s the Kin-youbi Club when you need it? The spotlight turns away from most of the comedic heavyweights in Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun this time, with most of the episode being devoted to the nominally “straight man” lead pair and the second-tier supporting cast. But it’s the strength of this series […] Read more
The soundtrack of our youth continues to influence us, long after youth is but a memory. In a sense, this was the perfect follow-up to last week’s tour de force episode of Space Dandy. There was no realistic chance any ep could compete with that one on its own terms, […] Read more
No shortcuts – period. Me, last week: “The problem for Maruo is that in looking at Nabae he’s not really seeing his reflection, but himself a year from now – someone who’s had a lot more time and experience to hone that style to its current fine sharpness.” Nabae, this […] Read more
Ace of Diamond has definitely found its big bad – and he’s a dumpy little blonde kid. Diamond no Ace – 46 This whole matchup between Ichidai and Sakurazawa had the air of an execution about it from the start, but it was still a little startling how quickly and […] Read more
If next week was the final episode, this one’s ending would have me worried. As is, not so much. The engaging if somewhat scattershot Captain Earth continues to steamroll towards the end, with the big players all showing their hands except for one, who’s keeping them very close to the […] Read more
“Throw a Pitch” This isn’t what I would call a supremely eventful chapter, devoting as it does more time to Punch being sick than anything else (and in the end, he’s not even sick). There are a few interesting developments, though, as Adachi-sensei continues to drop hints about the Touch […] Read more
All aboard the Slaine pain train… This was another fascinating mess of an episode that had the long reach of Urobuchi’s hand all over it, but as sometimes happens I think I really need to start at the end and work backwards, because this elephant pretty much takes up the […] Read more
Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in… I was pretty defeated after the last chapter of Chihayafuru, which was really the first time I felt so acutely that the series was stagnating and that we were really being strung along as an audience. It’s not […] Read more
I guess it’s getting close to pot-committed time here… Jamie who? Seriously, I’ve seen a ton of bitching about Jamie not saying anything this week. Well, first of all this was an episode mostly about the “enemy” (though not really), Ingelmia. And guess what, Jamie isn’t the main character – […] Read more