I guess when you’re a panda, losing your kawaii is the worst possible outcome. I wonder if I’m the only one disappointed not to hear the rest of Mandrill-san’s ghost story? With a face like that, you’d have to figure he’s seen some scary stuff (and maybe starred in a […] Read more
It may be old-fashioned and not too pretty to look at, but Kingdom keeps building momentum – even if hardly anyone’s around to notice. As is the standard for war epics, there’s a sense of watching pieces being moved about on a big chess board. The interesting question here for […] Read more
We went into this week’s AGE with two characters sporting more flags than the roof at the U.N., but surprisingly, neither one died. Honestly, when I called Girard Spriggan “a woman with a man’s name” I never intended it to be taken so literally. But that’s exactly what she is, […] Read more
Even more than the last episode, this week’s Utakoi was about the art of poetry and those who love it. Fittingly there were four poems explored in this episode – though only two were actually part of the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu itself. Continuing last week’s tale of Yoshiko – by […] Read more
After four episodes, Tari Tari finally decided to add real drama to the mix this week. A scary moment for any fan of the series, but based on the results it shouldn’t be. Hyouka added plot back into the mix this week, but while it’s been absent for a while […] Read more
I knew it had to happen sooner or later – Hyouka dropped a plot bomb on us. It was fun while it lasted – the most fun culture festival I’ve ever seen in anime, in fact. But all of that was always headed somewhere, and that somewhere is here – […] Read more
Well now, even by Jinrui’s whacked-out standards I’m not at all sure what to make of that one. First things first – was there a timeskip somewhere I didn’t catch, or a reference to this episode being a flashback? I can’t think of obvious reason why Watashi seemed to meeting […] Read more
There’s an internal logic to this confinement arc that, like much everything else in Space Brothers, is elegant in its simplicity. Sometimes a lack of surprise in anime (or any narrative fiction) can be irritating or disappointment. For me, though, while almost every development here has been more or less […] Read more
After two episodes that were just a step down in quality for the first time in… well, a very long time, H x H kicks off the York Shin Arc proper with an episode that cranks the awesome back up to 11. For an H x H fan – or […] Read more
There were a few surprises for me in this week’s SAO. That was another pretty solid ep of Sword Art Online, though it had an odd sort of stand-alone quality. I also find it interesting that the series so far doesn’t have an especially linear feel to it. Maybe this is a […] Read more