As much praise as I’ve been lavishing on Zetsuen no Tempest lately, I still don’t think I’ve been giving it enough credit. I’ve noticed a curious trend in my reactions to ZnT. The series on the whole is, at the moment, exactly like each individual episode. I tend to be […] Read more
NoitaminA is in good hands this season. This is something of a throwback season in that we’re seeing some of the titanic studios of the last decade show us why they achieved that status in the first place, after struggling some over the last couple of years. BONES has had […] Read more
I think that was an episode that pretty much speaks for itself. Psycho-Pass mostly set aside the philosophy and social satire this week and stayed solidly in action-thriller territory, in the process delivering a tense and exciting episode that connected on pretty much every swing. This was the product of […] Read more
Enter the Dragon. One of the many things I love about Jormungand (it’s a long list) is how internally consistent the story is. It’s outlandish beyond reason, of that there can be no doubt, but the internal logic always holds up. Everything that happens in the story happens for a […] Read more
Hey – 12/12/12! How about that. Last one of the Century, Kids – seize the day. Most of you have a lot more of it left than we do here in Japan. Sakurasou no Pet no Kanoujou – 10 I don’t think there’s any doubt that this episode is another […] Read more
For a series without special effects or combat or any supernatural powers whatsoever, Bakuman can be incredibly intense sometimes. I have a lot of thoughts as I reflect back on this episode, starting with this one: I really want to know if the Nanaime story is based on a real […] Read more
I’ve never seen an anime romance quite like this one – and I mean that entirely in a good way. As much as any show this year, Tonari no Kabutsu-kun is the one I’m disappointed to see ending when it is. If ever a show had so much more story […] Read more
Another beautiful display of raw theatricality from Zetsuen no Tempest. Completing the transition from “Hamlet” to “The Tempest” Yoshino casts himself in the role of Ariel this week – the spirit who acted as the agent of the wizard Prospero and helped carry out his grand plans. There are others […] Read more
Enter Nishizono Mio (formally, anyway), and she’s quite different than the other cast members we’ve met so far. You’ll have to forgive the brevity of this post. In addition to this being finals week at my language school (Kanji alone would take more study time than I spend awake on […] Read more
This week’s Hunter X Hunter had me wrestling with a dilemma of sorts. It’s fair to say that I was looking forward to this ep as much as any anime episode all year, but fate intervened and left me a twisted, wraith-like creature with a bout of food poisoning. So […] Read more