I admit it – I watched WUG. That’s what this season has done to me. Yes, I blogged an idol show – get your potshots in now. They couldn’t make me feel any more soiled than I already do… This was one I really hadn’t planned to subject myself to, […] Read more
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Take a mediocre WSJ manga, add potentially the most annoying director in anime and what do you get? It’s become the mantra for this nightmare of an anime season, but it’s not as bad as it sounds. Nisekoi isn’t going to change […] Read more
Turns out all series set in agricultural high schools are not created equal. The worst first week of any anime season since I’ve been a fan is winding down, and we can scratch another series off the list of possibilities to really impress. Truthfully I never expected Nourin to be […] Read more
Some things never change. And thank goodness for that. OP: “Life” by Fujifabric I’ll be honest, that premiere came just in the nick of time. There have been some good moments among the first episodes, but so far no new series has been as good as several of the carry-overs […] Read more
In the immortal words of Jerry Seinfeld, this is going to be a shame. Pupa – 01 I can’t imagine this is what Mochzuki Tomomi had in mind when he signed on to direct Pupa for DEEN. We’re talking about one of the most respected directors in anime, doing what […] Read more
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
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
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