There’s an economy to Ping Pong that I find truly admirable, but that sure isn’t all I like about it. It strikes me that for someone who went into this series with no preconceptions whatsoever – about the sport of table tennis, about anime, about Yuasa Masaaki – Ping Pong […] Read more
This show really is a close call for me. Fittingly, this week’s episode of Hitsugi no Chaika was a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, I would say that on the whole it was my favorite so far – certainly it was an improvement over last week’s. But […] Read more
Spring 2014 has behaved pretty predictably thus far, and that’s mostly a good thing. After the disappointment that was Winter 2014, anime really needed a good season both artistically and commercially. And while it will obviously be a while before we know how it fared on the latter score, this […] Read more
Not more damn analogies, Enzo! When literalism fails you, a writer must look elsewhere for means to get their point across. Togashi-sensei, Koujina and Madhouse keep pushing me, forcing the linguistic equivalent of Chimera-paced evolution in the effort to communicate how mind-bogglingly good this series is. And since Togashi himself […] Read more
Bumping into someone on a bike at high speed is dangerous, you know… I had a feeling about how this “stage” of the inter-highs would turn out, indeed it turned out to be right. With Sohoku winning the sprint and Makishima having exerted an awful lot of energy making up […] Read more
Yokoi wins! Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara – 04 Well now – thinks got pretty serious there for a bit. This is a bit of a funny show, Gaworare is (funny-unusual, though it is pretty funny-“ha ha” as well). It’s uncommon to see a series where the canon plot and […] Read more
“Oathkeeper” Butterflies – butterflies, everywhere… At this point, I would say everyone watching Game of Thrones (apart from Benioff and Weiss and George R.R. Martin – and I’m not even 100% sure about him) – is pretty much in the same boat. In short, I have no idea what’s going […] Read more
Don’t worry, Saori – I’m sure it’s just a cold. Sometimes you just have to accept that what entertains you entertains you, and that’s where I am with Gokukoku no Brynhildr. I could spend all day theorizing on just how straight it’s trying to play it and what its intentions […] Read more
Baby Steps really is a series of paradoxes, and I’m not sure that will serve it well (no pun intended) in reaching its audience. There’s definitely a Yin and Yang quality to the two Sunday supper sports anime this season, and it’s one reason that I worry about Baby Steps. […] Read more
This series is definitely the express to the right side of the brain. I’m noticing an interesting effect with Isshuukan Friends, which is that invariably I find myself much more wrapped up in the second half of an episode than the first. Though this is by no means universal to […] Read more