I don’t think I can blame this one on Niconico. Because it was in the Spring Preview post, I’m doing a “First Impressions” on Date A Live. But it’s going to be a short one – my first impression is that it sucks. I can’t discount the possibility that the […] Read more
The calendar says it’s winter for another 4 days, but as far as anime is concerned this is the first day of spring. OP: “Small worldrop (スモルワールドロップ)” by Annabel The new season kicks off with a special preview of one of the more hotly anticipated shows of Spring, Red Data […] Read more
Well, we have no doubt who one of the corporate sponsors of GJ-bu is… GJ-bu – 01 GJ-bu comes across as a pretty generic but pleasant 4-koma comedy, with the wrinkle that it’s adapted from a “4-koma light novel” – whatever the heck that is. It plays an awful lot […] Read more
Please see Roger Ebert review of “North”, 7/22/94, paragraph 8. Thank you. Although I’m loathe to talk about this series any longer than I have to, I’ll again refer to that review and paraphrase it here: “I hold it as an item of faith that Akiyuki Shinbou is a gifted […] Read more
It didn’t take long for Haganai to remind me of everything I like about it, and everything I don’t. OP: “Be My Friend” by Marina Inoue, Kanae Ito, Nozomi Yamamoto, Misato Fukuen, Kana Hanazawa and Yuka Iguchi This is an odd, odd show. There are very few comedies about which […] Read more
It’s ironic that only two premières this season have been exceptional, and Ohta Masahiko is directly connected to both of them. OP: “Sonna Koto Ura no Mata Urabanashi Desho? (そんなこと裏のまた裏話でしょ？)” by Megumi Nakajima I’m getting a bit tired of saying “That wasn’t what I expected” about seemingly every premiere this […] Read more
That wasn’t quite what I expected. And thank goodness for that. OP: オープニングテーマ「ドラマチックマーケットライド」(Dramatic Market Ride) by Suzaki Aya I’ll be completely honest here – I went into this premiere more or less expecting to dislike it. While there’s always a ton of crossover with staff at Kyoto Animation and everybody […] Read more
So far Winter 2013 is generating a lot of premières that leave me feeling genuinely undecided, and you can add Amnesia to the list. OP: “Zoetrope” by Nagi Yanagi Generally speaking my track record liking anime adaptation of otome games hasn’t been a very good one. But this is Brains […] Read more
At last, the pace of premières really kicks into high gear. Zettai Karen Children: The Unlimited – 01 I must confess the original Zettai Karen Children didn’t make too much of an impression on me. To the point, in fact, where I don’t remember a whole lot about it except […] Read more
My God, it’s like being in 2007 again. Pinch me. Does this mean Seirei no Moribito will be back in the Spring and Ghost Hound in the Fall? OP: 「Shiawase☆High Tension↑↑ 」 (Happiness High Tension) by (Rina Satou, Marina Inoue, and Minori Chihara) A word of qualification before I begin: […] Read more