Now, unless you got a hotel room at the J W Marriott or the Ritz-Carlton (so close to the venue, you could spit on the people down below. Note: Please don’t do that, OK?), you’re going to have to avail yourself of the shuttle buses. Now, this, in and of itself, is not all that bad. They come at regular-ish intervals, so you need not wait too long, especially in front of your hotel, early in the morning. A lot of the street people will stare at you, because you look like Sailor Moon (still a very popular cosplay option) or Sephiroth and his ten-mile sword. It’s just that you ARE dealing with humanity and things can go south faster than you realize, both outside and inside. (more…)

There is always a problem when you try to put together a show about the human body. For the most part, the body is seen as some kind of community or village or great megalopolis (think like “Osmosis Jones”) and how everyone gets along together, but the analogies don’t always work well, especially when to have to show how things function. But we make a real attempt with “Cells at Work.” (“Hataraku Saibō”). (more…)

We use the term ‘Frankenstein’ to indicate a soulless monster, cobbled together from the parts of other corpses. It’s even used in reality TV, to indicate that things have been cut and pasted together to give a different impression than what happened originally. But for this show, “Frankenstein Family”, (also known as “Creatures Family Days”, “Shiyan Pin Jiating, Jikken-hin Kazoku”), it’s more to indicate they are a caliber of monster or mutant, but I guess “Mutant Family” might have a bigger connotation problem than merely being called ‘Frankenstein’. (more…)

Now, with AX being at the Staples Center crypto.com Arena, it is somewhat easy to get to. There is a subway line that runs close to it (provided you are near a stop. The Biltmore is.) and the shuttle buses are, for the most part, reliable and safe (but more on that later). Driving your car to the venue gets pricey, at $20 a day. But one mode of transportation that was as ubiquitous about the area as discarded Starbucks cups were eScooters. (more…)

So, it is common knowledge that the Japanese will make an anime series on practically ANYTHING. I mean, there’s one that delves into the fascinating world of….being a public servant! And I saw another one about the struggles to create….a new dictionary!!!! (Be still my beating heart. It is hot in here or what?) So when I ran into this one, “Chio’s School Road” (“Chio-chan no Tsūgakuro”, or “Chio’s Commute to School”), I was ready for the caliber of boredom usually reserved for things like being trapped at the Cleveland Airport for a week. Boy, was I wrong. I mean, about the show, not the Cleveland Airport. (more…)

This is a real mixed-bag of a show for me. I like the general concept of it but detest the animation decisions, as it serves no purpose to make it 3D-ish, unless they were trying to tie things in with the video games they were playing. Anyway, this is the world of “Hi-Score Girl” , (‘Hai Sukoa Gāru’). (more…)

In years past, one of the harder panels to get into were all those 18+, FAKKU, hentai fun shows. Even if they put them in ever larger and larger venues, there never seemed to be enough seats for all the perverted people who wanted to show up and ogle and stare and hoot and holler and stomp and enojoy the ‘adult’ activities so presented. And since the Fire Marshal did not allow standing for these things, it got tough, When I got the preliminary schedule for AX, there was one panel that I really, really felt that I had to get into. (more…)

I guess if you are going to be a demon, it really helps to be a cute one. Or have big boobs. I guess that’s nice as well. At least that is one of the theories on display in this rather charming and obscenely violent series “Dropkick on My Devil!” (, “Jashin-chan Doroppukikku”). (more…)

OK, so we are genuinely building to a series of climaxes, as each season is upping the stakes in “My Hero Academia”, to the point that it is a genuine wonder that none of them have dropped out. I mean, I suppose it’s nice to have a quirk, but some people have a quirk that’s not much better than being able to raise or lower the temperature of a room by 17 degrees. Still, it appears the villains are ‘shoving all the chips in’ to see what goes down. (more…)

I have been coming to the Expo for 13 years (although I’ve only been four times), but I am only vaguely aware of the costs. I decided to see how much it would actually cost a person to come to this shindig. I will be basing a lot on what it costs me, but your mileage may vary. Also, I am pro-rating things, as I do this for three people, which is a better way to go, as the costs are spread further around. Doing this as a solo is a costly proposition. Let’s do the math. Grasp your calculator. (more…)