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Grand Blue Dreaming Season Two Anime Series Review
Grand Blue Dreaming is back with a fiery, if not incredibly idiotic, vengeance. And I’m all for it.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A Game Review
It’s a very differentPokémon experience, for better or for worse.
In the Clear Moonlit Dusk Volumes 2-8 Manga Review
In the Clear Moonlit Dusk feels like the sort of series I ought to be enjoying more than I am, which is an awkward position to be in.
Detective Conan: Rivals Of The Great Detective Anime Series Review
I'm not sure if this was always the intention or if these episodes were a direct response to the first batch of episodes that TMS put out, but it looks like more episodes ofDetective Conan have been adapted that now add some much-needed context.
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Touring After the Apocalypse Volume 2-3 Manga Review
Even after destruction, Japan’s tourist destinations are worth visiting.― Upon readingTouring After The Apocalypse manga, I was immediately struck with a sense of familiarity. We've probably all read a few manga in which two girls scavenge for food and shelter after the end of the world, so my initial thought was that it felt likeGirls Last Tour, with the same melancholy inevitability. More than t...
The Red Spectacles Film Review
Mamoru Oshii’s first live action film, opening at NYC’s Metrograph theater on November 21, takes place in the same universe withJin-Roh but couldn’t be more different.― The Red Spectacles flopped in its original 1987 Japanese release, but the merchandisable design of the Kerberos armor somehow led to the creation of a whole franchise. The best-known film in said franchise is the animated installmen...
Painting The Worlds Of Studio Ghibli Book Review
This is a book for people who love Studio Ghibli's movies, and who also love huge books as physical artifacts in their own right.― This is a book for people who love Studio Ghibli's movies, and who also love huge books as physical artifacts in their own right. There is, of course, no shortage of Ghibli art books already. You can find individual ones in English for all of the Ghibli films directed by...
Angel's Egg Anime Film Review
Surreal and beautiful, Mamoru Oshii and Yoshitaka Amano'sAngel's Egg anime film remains an enigmatic entry in both creators' careers.― Mamoru Oshii and Yoshitaka Amano's Angel's Egg remains an enigmatic entry in both creators' careers. Years out from his iconic directorial turn with Ghost in the Shell, Oshii wrote the film's story with Amano before the artist touchedFinal Fantasy. Just a hair's br...
Radio Storm Volumes 1-2 K-Comic Review
It’s hard to truly fight zombies, after all, when you aren’t sure that the people in charge are any less bloodthirsty.― How do you know you're living through an apocalypse? Zombies are a pretty good clue, as well as pervasive humanitarian crises and endless war. But one major indicator is rarely explicitly discussed, possibly because it feels too alarmingly real: the constant use of misinformation o...
Edge of Time Anime Film Review
WhileEdge of Time fails as a cohesive anthology film, that doesn't mean the short films within aren't without promise—well, some of them anyway.―Edge of Time's greatest flaw becomes more obvious with each minute that passes while watching it. Despite the film's claims to the contrary, this is not a cohesive anthology. Rather, the connections between the four short films are superficial at best—and...
Tougen Anki Episodes 1-12 Anime Series Review
The problem withTougen Anki is that it presents tropes without showing why they work or why I should care about them.― There unfortunately comes a certain point where you watch enough media in a specific genre, where it becomes hard to get invested in a show that isn't doing anything more than what is expected. A show could be doing everything “right," like having high production values, great voic...
Wandance Volume 2-3 Manga Review
Wandance is a high-energy, competitive activity manga utilizing the world of dance in an effective and mesmerizing way.― If everyone is always questioning themselves, then why do they feel bad for doing it? Crippling anxiety is totally relatable for pretty much everyone I know. Which is why it is both so common as a manga plot driver and weird that it's a real thing that we feel bad about in life. I...
Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint 1-2 Novel Review
When I reviewed the webtoon adaptation of SingNSong’s novel seriesOmniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, I said that it was for the smug readers. Having now read the first two books of the source material, I stand by that assessment.― When I reviewed the webtoon adaptation of SingNSong's novel seriesOmniscient Reader's Viewpoint, I said that it was for the smug readers. Having now read the first two books...
Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy Deluxe Pack Game Review
Longtime fans can look forward to all of the improvements expanding the little island of Kurken like never before, while newcomers get to experience one of the sweetest coming-of-age stories you'll ever find.― TheAtelier series has long been beloved for its charming characters, down-to-earth tone, and engaging systems. While the other games and casts are beloved in their own right, it was the adve...
Cultural Exchange With a Game Centre Girl Anime Series Review
Very few times have I seen an anime where the cuteness felt this forced and contrived.― By all means, this should have really been my thing. Cute girls doing arcade things? A chillaxed environment where not a thing goes wrong? A lead whose design has shades of Sakura and Tomoyo from Cardcaptor Sakura, albeit color-swapped? All of these screamed “yes” to me. It took me just several episodes in to rea...
Kamitsubaki City Under Construction Anime Series Review
KAMITSUBAKI wears its ambition on its sleeve, and with a clearer vision of what it wanted to accomplish and how it would do that, it could’ve been something really special.―Kamitsubaki City Under Construction (henceforthKamitsubaki) is one of the worst types of disappointing anime: the type that gets your hopes up because it actually started out being pretty cool.Kamitsubaki opens up in a city, v...
The Moon on a Rainy Night Volume 1-7 Manga Review
This fun slice of life manga offers us a blueprint for a more inclusive world.― In Volume 1 ofThe Moon On A Rainy Night, Saki meets Kanon. She's instantly intrigued by this apparently aloof beauty in what appears to be a pretty standard Yuri romance story. Saki is the traditional cheerful girl whose energy will change the intense loneliness of the traditional Japanese beauty, in what is still one o...
Killed Again, Mr. Detective? Volume 1 Manga Review
Killed Again, Mr. Detective? isn’t quite as good as it ought to be.― As they say in the musicalGypsy, you've gotta have a gimmick. That feels particularly true for the mystery genre, where authors have been trying to outdo each other with quirky detectives since Hercule Poirot and his magnificent moustaches entered the scene in 1920'sThe Mysterious Affair at Styles. Over the years, fiction (manga ...
100 Meters Anime Film Review
There’s a profound sense of weight, of sheer muscle-shredding, teeth-grinding effort during the running scenes.― “Wow, the main character sure looks like Rafal fromOrb: On the Movement of the Earth,” I thought during100 Meters' opening few minutes, where young protagonist Togashi tutors his classmate Komiya in sprinting. Turns out that the movie, directed byOn-Gaku: Our Sound's Kenji Iwaisawa, is...
Once Upon a Katamari Game Review
The beloved series’ grand return is a raucous roll-er coaster!― Roughly twenty-one years ago, I was simultaneously bamboozled and bemused by a strange little game I'd plopped into my PlayStation 2. A fifth grader at the time, I'd been tasked with putting all the stars back in the sky alongside a tiny fellow simply known as the Prince...and we were going to do it with something called a “Katamari.” ...
Dealing with Mikadono Sisters Is a Breeze Anime Series Review
This isn't just a love story, it's also one about family, insecurity, imposter syndrome, and the overall pressures of living up to the expectations forced on you by others.― Are you looking for an anime about sisterhood to fill the empty hole in your heart thatThe Quintessential Quintuplets left? Then I might have an anime for you! I'm kidding…mostly, but the idea of a harem show specifically revol...
Labyrinth Anime Film Review
At the end of the screening of Macross' Shoji Kawamori's latest film, with my head in my hands, I sighed to myself, “How in hell’s name am I supposed to review this?"― Within the first few minutes of director Shoji Kawamori'sLabyrinth, protagonist Shiori laments that “without smartphones, humanity would be doomed”. From the events that later transpire, I suspect Kawamori's opinion is quite the oppo...
Gunsmith Cats Omnibus Volumes 1 and 2 Manga Review
There are multiple reasons why Sonoda’sGunsmith Cats keeps getting re-published, and why it remains one of my very favorite manga of all time.― Kenichi Sonoda's unmistakable art style helped fuel my initial intoxication with anime and manga. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, along withAppleseed's Masamune Shirow andAkira's Katsuhiro Otomo, Sonoda's perky girls with enormous eyes and gravity-defy...
I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince Season 2 Anime Review
I doubt this season of7th Prince is going to convert people who didn’t care for the first.― On paper, I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince So I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability (henceforth 7th Prince) doesn't seem like the type of show that would benefit from having any given season focused on one singular story arc, as opposed to a small handful of shorter ones that last 1–4 episodes...
What It Means to Be You Volume 1 K-Comic Review
Not many manhwa of this sort bear comparing to Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s classic storyThe Yellow Wallpaper, but this one does.― Princess Violet's life is no fairy tale, or at least not the cleaned-up Disney version of one. After a happy childhood as the only daughter of the royal family, she's essentially sold in marriage to an illegitimate scion of Duke Blooming's family, who will gain a legitima...
Isekai Quartet The Movie: Another World Anime Film Review
Isekai Quartet The Movie: Another World is clearly made by a group of people who have an insanely in-depth knowledge of all the series they're combining.― When it comes down to it, the main selling point ofIsekai Quartet as a whole is watching characters from across entirely different series interact—and often in comical ways. Does this film do this as well as the TV series? The answer is a simple ...
Baki The Grappler Volume 2-4 Manga Review
The art is both better and more violent with each volume. Expect punches that carve up the body like knife-edged cannonballs.― After Baki's initial appearance and victory in his first “official” match, this story settles into an ever more hyperbolic tale of unregulated fighting. In each subsequent volume, Baki will be matched with an opponent whose skills are unreasonable, whose strength is demonic,...
The Obsessed Anime Film Review
While not without its issues,The Obsessed is a film well worth watching. It's full of fun, silly, moments and yet manages to delve into true human tragedy as well.― Giuseppe is a man existing in his own little world where his current obsession overrides everything else. However, that doesn't mean he is selfish or cruel—it's more like a sickness he has no control over. Moreover, his obsessions often...
You and Idol Precure♪ Episodes 25 - 36 Anime Review
You and Idol Precure♪ is struggling to make its two halves merge in what feels like a relevant way. It's like all of the pieces are there, but they've been assembled incorrectly.―You and Idol Precure♪ is not what I was hoping for, and it pains me to admit this. It is, as has been mentioned, absolutely possible to merge idols and magical girls – it's really a subgenre in its own right. Likewise, the...
The Drops of God Season 1 Live-Action Series Review
I would recommend this series with caution if you enjoyed the manga.― Camille Léger (Fleur Geffrier) is an awkward person. Because of her father's training in her childhood, Camille cannot stand the smell or taste of alcohol, reacting violently to it. Nor can she tolerate too many foods. She has not spoken to her father in years, since her mother cut off all contact when she was young. She does have...
DRAGON QUEST I & II HD-2D Remake Game Review
DRAGON QUEST I & II HD-2D Remake strikes the difficult balance of providing a truly astounding amount of new quests and story details without ever betraying the simple and earnest heart that is core to the franchise's identity.― If you have ever taken the time to play the originalDragon Quest andDragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line, you know that these are the bone-simple ancestors of...
Werewolves Going Crazy Over Me Volume 1 K-Comic Review
Werewolves Going Crazy Over Me is unhinged and takes itself way too seriously, and there’s a lot of fun to be had with that combination.― How many times has this happened to you? You're coming home from your job at a diner only to bump into a buff, handsome man with a serious gunshot injury. Instead of calling 911, you bring him up to your apartment, where you're overwhelmed by the urge to make out ...
Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 Game Review
If you have been hankering to spend some time cruising the intergalactic highways and byways with Mario and Pals, these two games are essential experiences.― I missed out on theSuper Mario Galaxy duology back when they originally dropped because the Wii was the console that my younger siblings claimed as their own, and if I'm being honest, high-school James considered Nintendo platforms to be littl...
Miru: Paths To My Future Anime Series Review
Mostly,MIRU is a fairly disposable anthology, yet it is far better than I expected a corporate advertisement to be.― Although initially released in Japan in April 2025, this five-episode sci-fi anthology oddity didn't show up to stream worldwide until late September. It allegedly appeared slightly earlier on Samsung's proprietary streaming platform in the US, but as probably only five people watche...
Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & The White Guardian Game Review
I wouldn’t recommend it as your firstAtelier game, but franchise fans should have a good time.― How manyAtelier games have you played? I don't ask to establish credibility or as a form of gatekeeping, but rather because the designers ofAtelier Resleriana: the Red Alchemist and the White Guardian are counting on you having more than a passing familiarity with previous entries in the franchise. Alt...
Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table Volume 1 Light Novel Review
It’s easy to see why this won the Excellence Award at the 18th MF Bunko J Light Novel Newcomer Awards in 2022, and why it’s getting an anime in 2026.―Playing Death Games to put Food on the Table (henceforthDG) is far from the first time there's been a story about death games as a perverse form of entertainment for a shadowy group of elites who bankroll them. In fact, that's a major element ofSqui...
Pokémon Concierge Season 2 Anime Series Review
There's no shame, there's no overly depressing conflict, just a nice story at a resort that I really hope I'll be able to return to one day.― Despite its incredibly short length, the first season ofPokémon Concierge was an absolutely charming delight that I could recommend to almost anybody. The relaxing atmosphere, the soothing music, and the simple yet incredibly relatable premise were something ...
Full Metal Schoolgirl Game Review
I can summarize Full Metal Schoolgirls thusly: it feels like a PlayStation 2 game, in the best of ways.― I can summarizeFull Metal Schoolgirls thusly: it feels like a PlayStation 2 game, in the best of ways. It's a simple concept, but one that manages to be plenty of fun, despite its workman-like execution. The concept is also charmingly high-concept: a schoolgirl rebels against an all-powerful cor...
DISGAEA 7 COMPLETE Game Review
What I want is a ridiculously big and endlessly customizable time-sink of a strategy/RPG that lets you fight for hours on end and build an absurdly powerful army. And on that front,Disgaea 7 Complete delivers in spades.― Oh, hello,Disgaea. It's been a while. So sometime afterDisgaea D2, I just… kind of decided I'd had enough ofDisgaea for a while. The games didn't get notably bad or anything—I h...
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc Anime Film Review
Emotionally resonant and visually stunning, this is simply one of the must-watch anime films of the year—and you can see it in US theaters today!― A large part of this story is made to highlight just how inhuman Denji is. He grew up socially isolated and lacking the vast majority of creature comforts that even the most meager of us tend to have. He sold an eye and a kidney to survive--and three meal...
Conan vs. The Black Organization Anime Series Review
I never thought I would see the day thatDetective Conan would get this kind of treatment.― I never thought I would see the day thatDetective Conan would get this kind of treatment.Detective Conan is probably one of the most beloved franchises in Japan, going on for over three decades and being one of the few shows that has more episodes thanOne Piece. Numerous attempts have been made to bring th...
Betrothed to My Sister's Ex Anime Series Review
Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex is a mix of modern views ofCinderella with the other reading about a girl who pulls herself out of a bad situation.― ATU510A, better known asCinderella, is one of the most widely distributed fairy tales in the world. It exists on every continent among a majority of disparate cultures, from the ancient world to modern retellings. (Its lesser-known counterpart,Donkeyskin...
Pokémon Horizons: Season 2—The Search for Laqua Part 4 Anime Series Review
The path to get to this point was definitely not a clean one, and the pacing of these final couple of episodes definitely feels more rushed than I would like it to be.― This is it, the end of the first major saga ofPokémon Horizons. This is where everything comes ahead with payoffs to major setups in a true confrontation with the main villain, Gibeon. The path to get to this point was definitely no...
New Saga Anime Series Review
Time travel is a cool angle to approach a power fantasy anime, but poor writing prevents it from ever feeling like it’s living up to its full potential.― I'm not going to sit here and legitimately argue that it's either a point for or against this anime that its esteemed hero of a protagonist—the legendary warrior who's transcended time itself to save everyone—is namedKyle. Friggin…Kyle. But there...
Shindou-kun's Tight Squeeze Volume 1 Manga Review
Shindou-kun's Tight Squeeze may not be the most creative romance manga out there, explicit or otherwise, but if you're looking for a spicy good time, it more than fits the bill.― I've read most of Seven Seas' releases under its Steamship imprint, in no small part because I've crusaded for years on the concept that those of us who were little girls readingSailor Moon andCardcaptor Sakura are now ad...
Let's Go Karaoke! Anime Series Review
I’m just amazed by how much you could squeeze out of this bizarre premise.―Let's Go Karaoke! is a series that succeeds in making the unbelievable believable. It's a comedy at heart, yet the bond between its two unlikely leads makes for melodrama that's both kitschy and effective. Who'd'a thunk that the best way to overcome your musical failures and teen angst was by teaching a yakuza member how to ...
Drops of God: Mariage Volume 2-3 Manga Review
Who will find the blue-eyed white sauvignon blanc?― We last left Shizuku and Issei facing a challenge from a secret cabal of wine experts whose self-appointed role is to preserve Yutaka Kanzaki's true goal – the perfection of the “mariage” of wine and food. In Volume two, to be seen as worthy of the challenge of finding “The Drops of God,” Issei and Shizuku must first pass a preliminary test, consis...
Silent Hill f Game Review
This game will cling to the darkest corners of my nightmares for a very long time to come.― I have been aSilent Hill fan all of my life, and I have just recently completed my project of replaying and recording every single game in the franchise (well, except forSilent Hill: Book of Memories, since my PlayStation Vita broke years ago). That said, for as much as I absolutely adore Bloober Team's re...
A Couple of Cuckoos Season 2 Anime Series Review
It’s a colorful, comforting anime that requires minimal brain power to consume.― For me,A Couple of Cuckoos Season 2 is like “Sunk Cost Fallacy: The Anime.” I enjoyed the far-fetched and dumb, but sweet, twenty-four-episode first season, and found myself sleepwalking into the second out of a misplaced sense of duty. Like many long-running anime romcoms, the “plot progression,” if one could even des...
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Game Review
Sonic Racing CrossWorlds is hands-down the best racing game in the entire franchise.― Sonic's racing game history has been very mixed over the years, and that's being generous. You would think that for a franchise that focuses on a character that's faster than the average mascot platform, we would have better and more beloved racing games throughout the past couple of decades. I have not played ever...
Alice in Borderland (Live-Action) Season 3 Series Review
This continuation of Netflix's live-action version of Haro Aso's death game manga stretches the patience more than the previous seasons, but it's still ultimately worthwhile.― The third live-action season ofAlice in Borderland, based on the death game manga by Haro Aso, drops onto Netflix with big disadvantages. One is that it's released almost three years after the second season, which seemed to e...
Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 Anime Series Review
Like the longest (but enjoyable) roller coaster you've ever been on, the eight episodes based on the creator of Chainsaw Man's early works are a wild ride from start to finish.― Tatsuki Fujimoto's early-career standalone stories show the subtle ways he's developed as a manga author. From trying his hand at a straightforward romantic story to the early foundations of the enigmatic world of Chainsaw M...
Nyaight of the Living Cat Anime Series Review
Nyaight of the Living Cat likely would have achieved more success as tightly-edited, punchier shorts.―Nyaight of the Living Cat is a deeply silly show where most of the humor derives from the viewer recognising plentiful references to mainly US-produced horror and action movies. Even the individual episode titles are cat and movie-related puns, like “Commeowndo” and “Meow Am Legend.” Non-movie buff...
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Naruto Comic Review
Color me pleasantly surprised then that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Naruto is actually an earnest and enjoyable attempt at a crossover story.―Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Naruto is a mashup that has plenty of energy and fun for the time you'll spend with it. I was very skeptical of this book going in, I have to admit. Sure, sure, it had a lot going for it on the front-end. I know that I'm theo...
The Village Beyond the Mist Novel Review
The Village Beyond the Mist is a beautiful example of late twentieth-century children’s fantasy, pulling readers into a strange but familiar world alongside its heroine.― If you weren't told that Sachiko Kashiwaba's 1975 middle-grade novel was the inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki'sSpirited Away, you wouldn't know. It's an even less obvious connection thanHow Do You Live?'s link toThe Boy and the He...
Thunderbolt Fantasy Sword Seekers -The Finale- Movie Review
Thunderbolt Fantasy is more so going out with some sparks than a full-blown BANG.― It took nearly a decade, but at long, bittersweet last,Thunderbolt Fantasy has finally reached its conclusion in this, its finale movie. The movie picks up immediately where season 4 leaves off—which makes sense with the way season 4 ended. So, right off the bat, hopefully that answers your question if you were wonde...
Reincarnated in a Mafia Dating Sim Volumes 1-2 Manga Review
While I wouldn't call this a villainess story, Francesca does seem to view it as such by the end of the second volume.― Touko Amekawa is no stranger to writing strong heroines who set out to get what they want. You may recognize her as the author of7th Time Loop, a story about a young woman named Rishe determined to use her memories of her previous six lives to make her seventh one end the cycle of...
Welcome to the Outcast's Restaurant! Anime Series Review
For a series that’s supposed to be about cooking, almost everything here feels half-baked.― On paper,Welcome to the Outcast's Restaurant has everything I should like: a cozy restaurant, a fantasy environment, some cute character designs, and a few dashes of slice of life. It's a recipe that could have worked, had someone in the kitchen not made the grave error of adding a spoonful of “banished from...
The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter Volumes 1-3 Novel Review
Otherworlds, beware. Not only might you lose your most eligible bachelor to a stressed-out Japanese salaryman, but your entire foundation might be called into question.― I have, in the past, referred to this series as being “isekai for grownups.” It's not a power fantasy. The protagonist isn't down on his luck, bullied, or otherwise deeply unhappy. He's a working adult, and not one particularly enra...
Thunderbolt Fantasy: Tōriken Yūki 4 Series Review
There’s an ever-present campiness toThunderbolt Fantasy that really brings it over the top and keeps it super fun to watch.― It's taken four seasons and a handful of movies, butThunderbolt Fantasy finally approaches its conclusion in its fourth and final season. Our main players of the season are divided into three main groups: Shāng Bù Huàn, Juǎn Cán Yún, and Dān Fěi, who are exploring the Wastel...
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc Anime Film Review
Emotionally resonant and visually stunning, this is simply one of the must-watch anime films of the year.― A large part of this story is made to highlight just how inhuman Denji is. He grew up socially isolated and lacking the vast majority of creature comforts that even the most meager of us tend to have. He sold an eye and a kidney to survive--and three meals a day of tasty food is all it takes fo...
Digimon Story: Time Stranger Game Review
What evenis a Digimon, anyway? You're sure to learn as you play Time Stranger - and you'll have fun doing it!―Digimon fans have waited a long time for a video game adaptation that truly succeeds at doing justice toDigimon's expansive world. TheDigimon games have always struggled on that front, with even games within the same sub-series having wildly different mechanics and settings. The good new...
Baki The Grappler Volume 1 Manga Review
The fighting is utterly ridiculous, but so much fun, it is hard not to be entertained by this modern-day Lancelot whose strength is as ten because his heart is pure.― This year at the American Manga Awards,Ashita no Joe: Fighting For Tomorrow won a very well-deserved Classic Manga Award. This post-war bildungsroman of a young man discovering himself through boxing is a moving tale. Now, we also hav...
Thunderbolt Fantasy: Tōriken Yūki 3 Series Review
If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve seen so far of Urobuchi’s puppet perfection, I have no doubt you’ll enjoy the third season as well.― There's nothing out there doing it quite likeThunderbolt Fantasy, full stop. Gorgeous, ambitious, and oozing with theater kid energy, it's by far one of the more creative shows out there. Less self-contained than previous seasons, this particular season of Gen Urobuchi'...
Grave of the Fireflies Novel Review
Reading the book through the film, there are many startling “omissions."― For decades, literature lovers have fretted that some classics have been obscured by their animated film adaptations, which youngsters might see as definitive. How many people, for instance, now think ofAlice's Adventures in Wonderland,Bambi andThe Jungle Book as being films by Disney, rather than books by Lewis Carroll, Fe...
Eiga Odekake Kozame Tokai no Otomodachi Anime Film Review
Eiga Odekake Kozame Tokai no Otomodachi a wonderful watch on a lazy afternoon or a film to watch with children.― There is no better way to say it, I loveEiga Odekake Kozame Tokai no Otomodachi. It shares the same charm of the manga and ONA series, with a series of delightful short stories following the titular character Kozame-chan on a big adventure in a city (presumably Tokyo). Layered on top of ...
May I Ask for One Final Thing? Volume 1 Manga Review
Sometimes you just want to see a perfectly prim Victorian-style lady haul back and beat someone's face in, all safely within the realm of fiction.― By this point in pop culture history, we've probably all sat through as many villainess denunciation scenes as we can stomach. The story beats are as familiar as the back of your hand – the prim and proper, highly-ranked fiancée of a prince or similarly ...
Mansect Manga Review
Mansect is way too gross out for me to feel comfortable freely recommending it to any horror-lovers out there.― Have you ever read a manga and thought, “Oh, this one's for the sickos (complimentary)”? Because those were exactly the words that immediately appeared in my head upon finishing Mansect. Originally published in 1975, this classic horror manga isn't for the faint of heart when it comes to i...
Tiny Witch from the Deep Woods Volume 1 Novel Review
I certainly didn’t dislike the story, but it left me wishing there was something more substantive within its passages.―The Tiny Witch from the Woods whizzes its way through its narrative in a manner that leaves no real impact on the reader. All of its attempts at establishing settings and characters are told so matter-of-factly that the story is robbed of any major intrigue or drama. I certainly di...
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles Game Review
This game is a true labor of love fromFinal Fantasy Tactics' original creators, and it delivers a superlative refinement of one of the franchise's best entries.―Final Fantasy Tactics holds that rare honor of being a relatively niche spinoff to a blockbuster gaming franchise that many fans would argue outdoes some of the series' most beloved main entries. Even 30 years ago, RPG fans knew that there...
COMPASS2.0 ANIMATION PROJECT Anime Series Review
#COMPASS2.0 is a plate of saltines and unseasoned chicken that's cosplaying as an anime.― If you're trying to review an anime, saying, "This just sucks," is the quick quip you might casually tell your friends if they ask your opinion, but that's probably the limit of its potential use. It gets your point across on a basic level, sure, but it's reductive, vague, and in the absence of further explanat...
Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster Game Review
The greatest JRPG ever made, now in HD.― I first realized thatBravely Default was a game that would forever change the JRPG genre during a battle with the Jabberwock, which is a dragon whose name is a direct reference to Lewis Carroll'sJabberwocky poem. Though this boss fight was optional, it was part of a side quest to gain entry into the foreboding Vampire Castle, and getting into a place called...
Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World Season 2 Anime Series Review
It’s not difficult to literally see why the series was delayed at all, let alone why it was delayed for so long.― It's not every day that you see an anime experience significant delays between episodes that aren't divided into separate specials, seasons, or series. Sure, it happens sometimes—it happened toOne Piece earlier this year, for example—but for the most part, the anime industry has embrace...
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun: IruMafia Edition Volume 1 Manga Review
To hear Hiroja and original series creator Osamu Nishi talk about it, it seems that at least half of the entire point was Hiroja’s desire to draw everyone in natty suits.― Alternate universes aren't just the stuff of fanfiction anymore. Or rather, they never have been; it's just that a lot of early fanfiction is rarely referred to as such. But how else would you describe 19th-century American humori...
Blade Girl Volumes 1-2 Manga Review
Blade Girl boldly sprints off of e-readers and onto the page, but can this print-on-demand release keep up?― Back in April, I reviewed the first volume of Moare Ohta'sTeppu—one of three initial offerings from the newly established Kodansha Print Club program. While I was thrilled to hold a copy of Ohta's underground classic in my hands, the quality of that print-on-demand release left me wanting. A...
Varlet Game Review
It's above-average dialogue in a below-average, uh, everything else.―Varlet is a game that is more than the sum of its parts, but it still feels undercooked and overpriced. The core pitch is going to seem familiar if you've played any RPGs of the last few years. It's a school-based RPG with a split between the battle/events and structured downtime. The battles are turn-based, largely traditional co...
Senpai is an Otokonoko: Sunshine After the Rain Anime Film Review
This is a hopeful epilogue to the television show.― None of us is ever as put together as we seem. For that matter, few people are precisely who we perceive them to be, and these hard truths are at the core of theSenpai is an Otokonoko film,Sunshine After the Rain. Arguably, those have always been themes of the series, particularly as regards two of the three leads, Makoto and Saki. Makoto, althou...
Spider-Man: Shadow Warrior Manga Review
What the book lacks in story, it certainly makes up for with its creative artistic direction― The world of common book superheroes is extremely malleable. For the most part, you can take a lot of traditional superheroes and put them into any unconventional setting. While you might need to jump through some logical leaps of why a character is in a completely different land or dealing with completely ...
Romeo's Blue Skies Blu-ray Anime Series Review
There’s a reason whyRomeo’s Blue Skies is such a well-loved entry into the storied World Masterpiece Theater catalogue. Despite having plenty of anime-only content, it understands the message of the original novel and retells it in a way best suited forits time.― In 1933, a couple, Lisa Tetzner and her Jewish husband Kurt Held, left Germany for Switzerland, for reasons that should be obvious to an...
Bâan -The Boundaries of Adulthood- Anime Short Film Review
Bâan is Garnt “Gigguk” Maneetapho’s attempt to turn his own personal expat experience into an isekai anime designed to convey those feelings—and it succeeds beautifully.― As the title suggests, Bâan -The Boundaries of Adulthood- is the story of two people on the cusp of adulthood looking for a place to call home. (“Bâan” [บ้าน] is the Thai word for “home” if you were unaware.) Each feels they don't ...
Scarlet Anime Film Review
Mamoru Hosoda’s isekai riff onHamlet is one of this year’s biggest anime disappointments.― Once upon a time, Mamoru Hosoda was supposed to direct Howl's Moving Castle before Hayao Miyazaki took it over. On a certain level, Scarlet could now be called Hosoda'sHowl, inasmuch as it's an attempt to work his righteous anger at a war in the Middle East into an unrelated piece of English literature and e...
Clevatess -Majū no Ō to Akago to Shikabane no Yūsha- Manga Review
Even thoughClevatess isn't covering new ground in these first handful of chapters, I was surprised at how invested I was by the time I reached my chapter quota.― The presence of dark fantasy stories is vast. It feels like I have read stories that have tackled your typical fantasy setting from every angle. I've seen it tackled from the perspective of kings, children, the hero, and, in this case, the...
Exit 8 Live-Action Movie Review
Playing at the Toronto International Film Festival,Exit 8 turns the indie game into a stylish-but-not-very-substantial movie.― If that plot summary looks minimal, that's because there's minimal plot to summarize here. In the 95 minutes it takes to watch theExit 8 movie, you could complete two average-length play-throughs of its video game source material. If you're really good at the “spot-the-dif...
The Villainess is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbor Kingdom Game Review
The Villainess is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbor Kingdom is the sort of game you buy on sale.― It used to be that anime series would be licensed without a whiff of possibility of our ever getting the source manga or light novels to read, to say nothing of the visual novels. But now we've come to the point where we're likely to get at least one version in English.The Villainess is Adored by th...
Li'l Miss Vampire Can't Suck Right Manga Volume 1 Review
Everything is focused on Luna and her day-to-day school life with her willing blood-bag Ootori.― Vampires and anime, eh? An eclectic selection of anime shows feature vampiric protagonists, from the classic (Vampire Hunter D,Hellsing) to the more recent, but superb (Call of the Night), and the appallingly dreadful, best left forgotten (Vlad Love). Worryingly, the mangaLi'l Miss Vampire Can't Suck R...
Dragon Ball Genkishin Squadra Game Review
I wish the character selection didn't feel so random or that the rewards were actually worth the grind. It makes me wonder exactly how long this game's shelf life is going to be.― There have been a lot more of these real-time strategy action games popping up in the past couple of years. Honestly, it's a little shocking that it tookDragon Ball this long to jump on the trend. Having a simple team-bas...
Villains are Destined to Die Volume 1 Novel Review
Oh, no, I’m sure some of you are thinking.Not another villainess isekai set in the world of an otome game.―Oh, no, I'm sure some of you are thinking.Not another villainess isekai set in the world of an otome game. I can't blame you. Villainess isekai has become nearly as oversaturated as isekai power fantasies, as ubiquitous as pink-haired heroines and mysterious transfer students. But please, be...
See You Tomorrow at the Food Court Anime Series Review
In many ways, the show accomplishes everything it wants to, but I don't think there's much to this compared to other slice-of-life shows.― Some shows try to replicate a very specific experience. When I was in high school, whenever my friends and I would finish up with classes, we would always go to the local deli or a card shop one or two train stops away from our school. After a long day of dealing...
Shuten Order Game Review
Two-thirds of it range from good to excellent… but in a 60-hour game, that still means around 20 hours of mediocre-to-bad gameplay.― Update: Following a Nintendo Switch patch released on September 19 to rectify translation issues, reviewer Caitlin Moore would like to update her review ofShuten Order. The rest of the review in its original format begins after the line break. Spike Chunsoft announced...
SANDA Volume 1 Manga Review
This is a series about how the innocence of children has become so coveted to the point of becoming perverse, so what better person to set things on the right path then Santa Claus himself.― From the creator of BEASTARS comes a series about the mythological creature known as Santa Claus. I didn't know what to expect when I read that out loud, but it's about as wacky and zany as you would expect from...
Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon Novel Review
Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon is a magic realism exploration of grief and the intersection of life and death.― What do the living owe the dead? What do the dead do for the living? There's no answer to these questions here. Still, Mizuki Tsujimura, author ofLonely Castle in the Mirror andA School Frozen in Time, encourages readers to think about them in this bittersweet, beautiful story about a...
Yandere Dark Elf: She Chased Me All the Way From Another World! Anime Series Review
Are Dark Elves your fetish? Are yandere girls? Well, if so, congratulations. If not… well, it’s best to simply move on and forget you saw anything at all.― Are Dark Elves your fetish? Are yandere girls? Well, if so, congratulations. This show is for you. If not… well, it's best to simply move on and forget you saw anything at all. Yandere Dark Elf is one of those shows that knows what it is and who ...
Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion Game Review
The sheer variety on display is catnip for people who love tinkering with robots, and you'll have plenty to chew throw once you have your perfect mechanical soldier.― The originalDaemon X Machina was a fun mech battle game, but it unfortunately passed by most audiences without much notice. Developer First Studio took stock of the situation and did everything in their power to ensure that their sequ...
Mechanical Marie Volume 1 Manga Review
Only one volume in, I’m already rooting for Marie and Arthur’s future happiness together.― With an absurd premise that requires suspension of disbelief on several levels,Mechanical Marie is nevertheless a delightfully sweet and funny high society romcom that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish, leaving me eagerly anticipating not only the remaining five volumes in this short series, but also ...
The Brilliant Healer's New Life in the Shadows Anime Series Review
This is one of those shows that is more than the sum of its parts. While it uses clichés left and right, it almost always goes beyond them to add an extra layer or two.― Much ofThe Brilliant Healer's New Life in the Shadows is cliché to say the least. We have a standard Western fantasy world, an overpowered hero who doesn't realize he isn't normal, and a harem of demi-human girls all vying for his ...
Brain Damage Manga Review
If you like Junji Ito, it’s a good time to discover Shintaro Kago as well.― All short story collections are mixed bags. That's not a pejorative statement about short stories by any means; it's simply the nature of the beast.Brain Damage, a collection of four horror tales by manga creator Shintaro Kago, defines this tendency. When it's good, it'svery good, playing with horror and comedy in equal me...
Hunter x Hunter: Nen Impact Game Review
If you're getting intoHunter x Hunter: Nen Impact, then you have to know you're doing it purely for the love of the game.―Hunter x Hunter: Nen Impact is a frenetic and often fun fighting game experience, but the mix of modern and classical fighting game sensibilities makes it such an acquired taste that it is likely too unique a brew for most people to enjoy. While this review experienced a slight...
Kill Blue Volumes 1-2 Manga Review
By its second volume,Kill Blue isn’t quite as good as it started.― There are a lot of stories about second chances spanning all demographics of manga, anime, and light novels. In most of those cases, the protagonist of the story desperately wants a chance to go back and fix a mistake or rectify a problem, and many others wallow in the nostalgic notion that life was somehow better in high school. Bu...
mono Anime Series Review
mono is an anime where the slice of life is done right, and makes for a worthy successor of its sibling seriesYuru Camp.― When I shipped up to Anime Boston this year, I distinctly remember a big banner advertisingmono on display for any ongoers mozying their way up the escalator. Its display almost seemed boastful, as if it wanted to swallow people going further and further up the escalator withm...
To Sir, Without Love: I'm Divorcing You Novel Review
If you’re looking for true love, it’s in short supply in this series – in a healthy way, at least.― Last year, I reviewed the first volume of the manga adaptation ofTo Sir, Without Love: I'm Divorcing You. I said at the time that the story was somewhat uncomfortable, and that, paradoxically, it would have benefited from being slightly more explicit, and that I was curious to read the original light...
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