Tamaya! I have gunpowder in my hair. For the second year running I attempted to brave the crowds and see the Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival, Tokyo’s most famous hanabitaikai. Last year I made it to the site and was in a halfway decent viewing spot, my body reverberating with the sound […] Read more
Anime fandom can be an unforgiving place. Here are two shows that are meeting with a pretty harsh reception for the most part, and to some extent I think the reasons behind that are similar. We’re talking about series where events are handled at an unusually deliberate pace, albeit in […] Read more
Damn, it’s hot. If it’s 35 degrees with 70% humidity, what else would anyone do but go outside and dance? Here’s a few pic pics and videos from a couple of Obon Odori matsuri – the first in Ebisu (I did) and the second in my village of Kagurazaka (I […] Read more
I think it’s the snakes who should be careful. No question about it, Sebastian was having way, way too much fun in this episode and that can never be a good thing for those unfortunate enough to be around him at the time. Intellectually the idea of having Ciel join […] Read more
As anime episodes go, that one was quite the slap in the face. It’s not like the first three episodes of Tokyo Ghoul were low-key and discreet, but the insanity was sure cranked up in a big way this week. It was brought off with a lot of style by […] Read more
Not much in the way of surprises here, but when what you’re expecting is what I was expecting from Zankyou no Terror, that’s not a bad thing. We’re still very much in the feeling out stages with Terror in Resonance, I think, which is interesting for such a short series. […] Read more
Among the qualities which make a series enjoyable, plain old charm is one which can’t be overlooked. Majimoji Rurumo is further evidence of one of the my long-standing dictums of anime, which is that pedigree usually wins out. Quality simply has a way of making itself noticed, a pattern we […] Read more
The hits just keep on coming. Author’s Note: Please be very careful to avoid divulging any information about upcoming events from the manga. When in doubt, don’t post it, even if it’s remotely possible to view it as a minor spoiler. Thanks for your cooperation. There’s really not much left […] Read more
Is it just me, or is Space Dandy getting damn dark this season? A marriage between Yuasa Masaaki (Ping Pong, Kaiba, Tatami Galaxy) and Space Dandy always seemed destined to happen sooner or later. A series that’s given over weekly to a different auteur to re-shape in their own image […] Read more
What an odd duck is Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun… Historically I haven’t blogged very many 4-koma gag manga adaptations, and I’m starting to remember why. Simply put, they’re damn hard series to write about. Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou is about the funniest one I can remember – the first five episodes […] Read more