The oddest series of the season enters the fray… OP: “Jigoku no Sata mo Kimi Shidai (地獄の沙汰も君次第)” by Jigoku no Sata All Stars I had very high hopes for this series going in, for a number of reasons. It’s a seinen, the director has a very solid track record (Tonari […] Read more
Somewhere deep beneath the sea she sleeps, even now… OP2: “ebb and flow” by Ray Or Nagi no Asukara II – 01, if you prefer. Well, the timeskip I’ve been dreading has happened, and the game has officially been changed by Okada-sensei. We’ll see how it goes, but my first […] Read more
Whether it was necessary or not, the second season of Chuunibyou arrives with the same broadside that ushered in the first. I liked 2012’s Chunibyou pretty well – better than thought I would at the mid-point, anyway. It didn’t hit my Top 20 for the year, but it didn’t miss […] Read more
I won’t lie, this show erected some formidable hurdles for itself in the first five minutes. That I didn’t hate the first episode of Mikakunin de Shinkoukei probably speaks to the fact that it’s pretty good at what it does as much as anything could. When you have both an […] Read more
Let the madness begin. Hamatora – 01 The next few days are pretty much going to be a death march to try and keep up with the flood of premieres, especially with the second cours of the Fall carryovers starting in earnest tomorrow. Today it’s two from the vast mid-tier […] Read more
No surprises in the results this year. Shin Sekai Yori claimed the top spot on the first day of voting, cruising to an easy victory in the 2013 reader poll. The only real drama at the top was the see-saw battle between Shingeki no Kyoujin and Kyousougiga for third place. […] Read more
After 111 episodes of brilliance – and a preview full of spoilers – Hunter X Hunter can still utterly surprise me. That’s brilliant writing and direction, plain and simple. Here’s the truth – when this episode ended, I broke out laughing for a good five seconds. It’s not as if […] Read more
Another top pick weighs in, as Winter 2014 really starts to heat up. OP: “azurite” by petit milady OK, let’s get to the elephant in the room – Kal-el, really? Was the light-novelist Inumura Koruku aware of the connection? I assume that’s a yes, but if so, is he just […] Read more
The first Fall show to weigh in for Winter may just be the best, and the new year finds it still in rhythm. OP2: “Yowamushi na Honoo (弱虫な炎)” by Dirty Old Men Yowapeda starts 2014 with a new OP and ED – I like the former the better of the […] Read more
There’s just no stopping moepigs. I actually thought Space Dandy might come out on top in this poll, but Gin no Saji sniped the lead from it on the second day and never looked back. Despite a relatively weak season on paper, this poll broke the record for most votes […] Read more