As much as I enjoy the comfortable familiarity of Tari Tari, there are times I wish it would surprise me a little more. But then, “to thine own self be true”… I was really hoping TT wasn’t going to go in the direction it always seemed most likely to go […] Read more
Even if it had never done or will do anything else of consequence, Hyouka would go down as a worthwhile series based on the strength of the Kanya Festa arc alone. Hyouka is a good show, and pretty much has been from the beginning apart from a couple of hiccups. […] Read more
This series is one of the most exquisite mind-benders in recent anime history. We’ve certainly seen time loops, cloning, temporal paradoxes and such used as themes in anime before. But somehow Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita has a way of making the pieces fit together that manages to be intellectually dense without […] Read more
Manly tears dammit, manly I say… That was another great episode for Space Brothers, but it’s hardly surprising. This show is the one I take for granted, the one that simply delivers in quiet but brilliant fashion week after week. This entire arc has been a striking example of the […] Read more
If the Whale Island mini-arc was the Yin of Hunter X Hunter, this episode definitely marks the beginning of the Yang. This may about as straightforward a H x H writeup as I’ve done so far, because that episode pretty much spoke for itself. No Gon, no Killua, no Leorio […] Read more
There were definitely a couple of head-scratchers in that episode for this viewer… Kawahara Reki is revealing himself to bit a bit of a frustrating writer for me. There are definite strengths there – a certain likeable sincerity, a deft touch in creating interesting alternative settings and a keen attention […] Read more
Not since Level E have we seen an anime which so gleefully celebrates the fine art of the troll. I’ve often – probably too often – analyzed Kokoro Connect in context of how it compares with Hyouka and Tari Tari. These shows naturally seem to group themselves together as a […] Read more
If any anime episode ever screamed “side story”, this was the one. While I like Accel World well enough and SAO more, I confess I do see some basis for the complaint that Kawahara-san’s works are a sort of male wish fulfillment. A hyper-realistic VRMMO where most of the players […] Read more
Considering how different they are, it’s surprising how well the contrasting styles of Binbougami Ga! fit together. This is another one of those Summer series that’s easier to enjoy watching than it is to blog, but it’s nonetheless quite an interesting little shows. Binbougami is really two shows in one, […] Read more
Natsuyuki Rendezvous seems determined not to make things very easy for the viewers. If there’s one word that springs to mind for me in connection with this series, it’s empathy. It seems to be a critical component of everything that’s happening in the story – and an equally critical factor […] Read more