One of the freedoms you get with doing an Alternate History/Universe series is that you are untethered by anything concrete in the real world to tell your tale. One drawback is that you may have to rely on pseudo geography and country names to help with your story. Thus is the conflict generated by “Shoukoku no Altair” (“Altair: A Record of Battles”). (more…)

Another trend that I am seeing is what I call the Cutely Brutal show. The artwork is more along a cartoony, slightly exaggerated approach, but the story itself is mean and cruel and vicious and horrific, so you have a difficult time reconciling the two. Such is the case of “Made in Abyss”. (more…)

This is one of those stories that drops you in the middle of things and tries to explain some aspects of this odd and strange life that you have encountered, but not explain too much, kind of like the lives that these people are leading. This is “Kujira no Kora wa Sajō ni Utau”(“Whale Calves Sing on the Sand” or “Children of the Whales”.)
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OK, if you did not know that there was going to be a second season of “Attack on Titan”, you go stand in the corner with the other two people in the world who got confused on this. The dramatic conclusion of the first season and the veritable ton of unanswered questions DEMANDED that there be a second go-around. Now, this felt more like an experimental season, complete with a huge amount of blind-side attacks and plot contortions that could have doomed other series. It doesn’t mean that this came out unscathed and the 12-episode run just added to the experimental nature of what is already a difficult show to follow. It is certainly more than the mere destruction of the titans, and, although the fight sequences do not disappoint, they can get a bit much. Now, let’s get down to brass tacks….. (more…)