When an Okada train leaves the station, you better be damn sure you want to be on-board. I’m never going to skip the premiere of an Okada Mari series, because the curiosity factor if nothing else is enough to draw me in. And in truth, for all her flaws as […] Read more
How could Nagi no Asukara have possibly finished with an episode that was anything but a mixed bag? So, there are two thoughts running through my mind as I reflect on this series. Sucks to be Kaname, huh? Let me get this straight – the showcase hug we get in […] Read more
In the annals of anime fandom, no words so often unjustly doom a series as “That’s a kid’s show, right?” Spring is finally here with the first official LIA premiere of the season (unless you count the Anime Japan Mushishi screening) and it’s a show that wasn’t prominent on my […] Read more
Anime is starting to get the kinks worked out of this short-format anime thing… In honor of Tonari no Seki-kun ending (for now) I ate dinner at Tonari Ramen last night (a local tanmen chain – very delicious). Happily this isn’t really the end, as the DVDs are going to […] Read more
Togashi Yoshihiro continues to be the sorting hat of mangaka. with the help of Madhouse and Koujina-sensei. This is a landmark episode of Hunter X Hunter, though only for personal reasons. It’s the first time in at least a year (to be honest I can’t remember the last time) that […] Read more
That was mostly predictable, but mostly in a good way. Mostly. Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta could be a poster child for any number of phrases: a mixed bag. Scratching the surface. Leaving a lot on the table. In sum, there’s an awful lot that can be picked apart with […] Read more
“Chimera Ant” has nothing on Yowamushi Pedal. Forgive the briefness of this post, as it’s pushing Midnight here already and tomorrow is another full day of travel. Time is a theme here, because this episode of Yowapeda continues the presentation of perhaps the longest 400 meters in sports history. The […] Read more
Sometimes we can only appreciate a series fully when we can look back on it as a whole. Yeah, right – as if… Read more
Space Dandy finishes its first season pretty much where I expected it to back when it all started. There were definitely some peaks and valleys in the first cour of Space Dandy, which are inherent in the style with which it chose to tell its story. But in the end […] Read more
Let the torture begin. In today’s anime reality one-cour series are the norm, but sports manga adaptations are a different animal. They’re a throwback in that way – a series like Daiya no A effectively takes two full cours just to exposit the prologue, and is only now getting down […] Read more