I lie to myself all the time. “The check’s in the mail.” “Yes, I took out the trash.” “I know I told you that.” After getting treated badly by the last JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, “Egypt Hen”, I swore I would never see it again. Well, guess what happened? Yup, yup and more yup. I found myself watching Installment Series Five or Six, “Diamond is Unbreakable”. (more…)

This is an odd series on a variety of levels. I feel that they could have done fuller episodes of this and really explored the unusual relationship between these two people. Or perhaps they wanted it that episodic, as their encounters are that episodic. In any case, “Tawawa on Monday” (“Getsuyōbi no Tawawa”) explores a caliber of casual meetings and greetings in the same vein as “Same Time, Next Year”. (more…)

I remarked that the Japanese will do an anime on anything. Although this is a caliber of romance, it is a more mature effort. This is no high school rom-com, but something more serious. However, it is packaged around the struggles to create a new dictionary. So, you are immediately thinking ‘How dull can that be?’ And, in a broad sense of thing, yes, it is rather dull. I mean, you are just doing research work to make this project fly, as you track down the real meaning of words. It’s the old Connotation vs. Denotation battle that my Freshman English teacher used to hammer into us as we dissected poetry…..but I have digressed again. It’s tough being an old man. (more…)

I once made the comment that it appears that anime companies will do a show on anything. Or so it seems. What initially appears to be an anime on shogi (Japanese chess) turns out to be far more than expected, but that is what you learn with “3 gatsu no Lion” (“March Comes in Like a Lion”). I was worried initially, as it authored by the same person who did “Honey and Clover” and I found that a truly turgid drama. Plus, the art style and approach is like “Your Lie in April”, but I decided to stick with it. It has a lot going for it; it has a lot working against it. But, let’s get down to the board, as it were. (more…)