What is it about con men and great heist epics that enthrall us? Is it the intricacies of the plot in order to make this succeed? Is it the panic of potential discovery? It is that the person who is the mark is far and well deserving of them being taken to the cleaners? Is it a battle of one set of amoralistic forces against another set of amoralistic forces? Well, it’s all of that and a bag of chips. Now, if you or I get taken, it’s a travesty. But to those high rollers, that’s a different story. And that different story is “Great Pretender” (not to be confused with the Platters hit, which is called “THE Great Pretender”). (more…)

It’s hard enough to tell an anime story. You may have a manga to act as a guide, but then comes the hard decisions as to what stays and what goes. I mean, I can take as many pages as I want to tell my story, but 24 minutes is 24 minutes and that CAN’T be argued with. It gets even harder when you try to tell two anime stories at the same time, but that is what you get with “Plunderer” (“Purandara”). (more…)

Another magic show. I know that I really shouldn’t be sniping too hard about them, but it’s just that it runs in cycles and everyone seems to be cranking out a magic show. At least this one puts a rather odd take on things, to the point that it might be a bigger fantasy than that there are people can do magic. This is “The Wise Man’s Grandchild.” (“Kenja no Mago”). (more…)

At least this anime lets you know that it is taking place in another world, although about 20 seconds into the first episode, you would have been made well aware of this. It starts out telling the story, and then jumps into a massive flashback, so you learn how we came to be here in “Isekai Cheat Magician” (“Isekai Chīto Majutsushi”, “Fantasy World Cheat Magician”). (more…)

The first season of this show was fraught with peril and genuine danger. I mean, you could really lose an eye (as evidenced by our maiden up there) or even your life. For the second season, not only are the stakes even higher and more challenging, the rewards are equally advantageous. This is “Kakegurui xx” (“Compulsive Gambler”). (more…)

Now that I know and understand isekai animes (well, kind of understand), I am seeing them everywhere and they take all shapes and sizes and rather bizarre methods to get from where they are to where they are going to be. At least no one had to be murdered for this one (see “Slime”), but that was a reincarnation, not merely a time-and-place transfer. And so we are at the doorstep of another monstrapatiously titled show, “High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even In Another World” (“Chōjin-Kokoseitachi wa Isekai demo Yoyu de Ikinuku Yōdesu!”) Yeah, try putting THAT on a t-shirt. (more…)

So, how DO you like your perversions? I mean, this caliber of conversation does not come up at the dinner table and it would be difficult to try and explain things as we are ladling out the mashed potatoes and gravy, or perhaps a plate of curry, but you have to have a conversation of some ilk, and since politics is off the menu, well, here we are. It just that this show, “Nobunaga Teacher’s Young Bride” (“Nobunaga Sensei no Osanazuma”) serves up a lot of actions, as we realize social mores and morals have changed over the years to where what was OK then is explicitly illegal now. (more…)

There is certainly something appealing about airplanes, especially those that came just before and during World War II. There is a grace in their design, a sharpness in their form, a kind of satisfaction as they soar through the skies. However, there is something about 3D animation that doesn’t always work and it always feels like it is boxy and clunky and inelegant. Thus, we have this confluence of approach with “The Magnificent Kotobuki” (“Kōya no Kotobuki Hikōtai,” or “Kotobuki Squadron in the Wilderness”) all the way around. (more…)