Nothing in fiction is quite so heartbreaking as that which is completely believable and realistic. There are definitely times where I feel as if I’m doing a series a disservice by writing about it, because an episode does such a perfect job of speaking for itself. And that’s something of […] Read more
Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes? The second episode of Little Busters! EX is very much more of the same. The same as the first episode, that is, which is quite a bit different than either season of LitBus the TV series. There still isn’t much of the original […] Read more
It’s another tough week for the translators. In a sense, this episode of Hoozuki no Reitetsu seemed a lot closer in spirit to the first couple of episodes than the last few. The difference is that I’m so wrapped up in the sensibility of the series now that it doesn’t […] Read more
Dear me, this emotional morass is just getting deeper and deeper. Uroko-sama may have detected the scent of a woman in the air this week (Hoo-ah!) but what I’m catching more than a whiff of is impending heartbreak. As we crawl inch by inch towards the conclusion of Nagi no […] Read more
Predictably, just as Inari Konkon is about to end it’s finally getting good enough to make me miss it. What’s this – two strong episodes in a row? An even-numbered episode that carries its weight? There were two directions Inari Konkon could go from its middling inconsistency – it could […] Read more
“Sasuga Seki-kun”. If ever the shoe fit… Tonari no Seki-kun – 09 “A boy knitting?” Let’s not get too caught up in old-fashioned gender roles, Yokoi-chan. Especially when the boy is Seki-kun, for whom no art, craft or skill can be limited by something as confining as gender politics. By […] Read more
Chalk one up for innovation and weakness of the flesh. Unless you’re one of the contingent who soured on Hunter X Hunter during this arc because of the narrative structure and narration itself, you’ve been utterly spoiled like me by the astonishing – and astonishingly consistent – run the series […] Read more
Well, I was right – ending here seriously sucks. If you (like me) were hoping for an announcement at the end of this episode of Kingdom, then you were just as disappointed that all we got was “END”. Of course hoping isn’t the same as expecting, and it figured to […] Read more
Seems Hakonegakuin tends to take “pulling a fast one” a little too literally. I confess, that was a development that took me by surprise. No question that competitive cycling can be a contact sport, but I’ve never seen a cyclist horse-collar a competitor like that before. Chalk it up to […] Read more
Plot movement is a good thing, generally speaking. If there’s an upside to the fact that Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta is dealing with a ridiculous amount of plot in 12 episodes, it’s that by necessity if nothing else it doesn’t dilly-dally much. The process isn’t always smooth but the […] Read more