Is it Spring yet? Mushishi, Baby Steps, Isshukan Friends, maybe Hi Score Girl… Spring hovers at the edge of the horizon like a mirage, promising an oasis of cool, clear water to soothe our throats, parched from the sand that is the Winter 2014 season. But this post isn’t about […] Read more
There’s just no stopping moepigs. I actually thought Space Dandy might come out on top in this poll, but Gin no Saji sniped the lead from it on the second day and never looked back. Despite a relatively weak season on paper, this poll broke the record for most votes […] Read more
The Winter 2014 season promises some very good second cours of Fall 2013 shows – and thank goodness for that. Winter isn’t normally one of the highlights of the anime year – it and summer are pretty much a crapshoot. You get fewer series to begin with, which cuts down […] Read more
There’s a decidedly retro look to Fall 2013 – if you ignore the avalanche of bad CGI, anyway. More so than in most seasons, Fall 2013 has played out largely as I expected – so far anyway. There are a lot of shows that fall into the broad “good” category, […] Read more
Kyoto Animation carries the day. There are a couple of milestones in this poll – first, it was the closest preview poll in LiA history. And second, it received the most votes ever. Thanks very much to all who voted. I can’t say I’m surprised that Kyoukai no Kanata and […] Read more
I wish anime seasons synched up with the Tokyo weather. Summer in Japan rolls on, unbearably hot and humid, but it’s time to turn our attention to the Fall anime season. It’s been a pretty odd year for anime – Summer has proved to be a better season than Spring […] Read more
It’s a bit tough on me as a blogger, but by Summer’s usually low standards this season looks quite good so far. After what can only be called a fairly disappointing Spring, Summer 2013 has a chance to make up some of the lost ground. Spring tends to be anime’s […] Read more
It’s a good day for Silver Spoon. The results are in, and it’s Gin no Saji (which was just announced as a split-cour series, with a second cour coming in Janurary) coming out on top. Not a huge surprise given the readership here. If anything did surprise me it’s how […] Read more
Summer is already here in Tokyo, even if anime still thinks it’s Spring. It’s pretty much a given that Summer is going to be a step-down from Spring for anime. In fact, in any given year it’s most likely to be the weakest season, with a relatively smaller number of […] Read more
Three weeks in, Spring 2013 looks pretty good. My take going into this season was that it looked solid – much better than Winter, but not as loaded with intriguing series as Spring of 2012* (the best season in five years, probably). At this point that’s still where I stand, […] Read more