Both of these series have something to offer, but they share some of the same problems. Boku Wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT – 02 Both Haganai and Oreshura are going on blogging hold for now, and there’s definitely overlap in the reasons why. And no, I’m not just talking about […] Read more
Zetsuen no Tempest may have undergone a pretty significant style change, but there’s still nothing else quite like it. There was an awful lot going on in this episode – so much so, in fact, that it makes the fact that most of episode 13 was recap somewhat more galling […] Read more
Watching Shin Sekai Yori is a sweet, beautiful sadness. OP1/Insert Song: “Yuki ni Saku Hana (雪に咲く花)” by Maria Akizuki (Kana Hanazawa) It’s not like SSY is an especially uplifting show to begin with, but there’s undeniably something sort of depressing in watching yet another brilliant, thoughtful, beautiful and dark anime […] Read more
Advice to young girls not so interested in Karuta – don’t ask Harada-sensei “What’s so fun about Karuta?” I’ve found the experience of watching Chihayafuru 2 a slightly odd one – much more so this week than the premiere. It’s been such a rare occurrence for a series I love […] Read more
This series is the epitome of “under the radar”, but it just keeps delivering – and while the pacing may not be priority overnight, service is as reliable as it gets. It looks as if Robotics;Notes is on schedule to be a full-fledged bust on BD/DVD, which I’m sure will […] Read more
“The horror! The horror!” – Mr. Kurtz, Heart of Darkness As always, Urobuchi-sensei reveals his hand quite by bit in the choices of literature he chooses to reference – both as to the kind of writer he is, and to the specifics of the story he’s telling. Heart of Darkness […] Read more
While I might be able to nit-pick a flaw or two, episode 2 proves that the premiere was no fluke – Kotoura-san is the real deal. What an excellent start this series is off to. It’s definitely quite different than what I was expecting, but that’s perfectly fine. It appears […] Read more
It should be obvious but it really hits home this week – Panda-mama is a very hard woman… It almost goes without saying that there’s no other anime quite like Shirokuma Café, but the fact is I can’t imagine another one trying to pull off the first chapter this week. […] Read more
KyoAni, to thine own self be true. It’s interesting that the trend in the early reaction to Tamako Market seems to be that two camps have emerged – “I like the series because I love the bird” or “I hate the bird but everything else was cute”. Well, you can […] Read more
Update: Phantom Rouge opens with ¥457 million ($5 million) on 257 screens. That’s an outstanding opening – well below One Piece, of course, but trouncing the likes of Bleach and Naruto theatrical releases. It definitely beats projections, and provides a real boost for the H x H franchise. Not that we’ll […] Read more