I have a problem with long-format shows and that is: when do I give the review? When I reviewed “Toriko”, I ended up giving the reviews after 52 episodes had been dispensed. I was going to do it with this show, but it closed up shop at 50, so no “Year-End Review” approach for this one. But long-format shows have another, more pressing, issue and that is being interesting throughout the run. Some shows can pull it off; others limp to the finish line and a couple I’ve seen just end without concluding and leave you hanging for either a real end or just fade into the distance. And so we are at this particular one, “Sousei no Onmyouji” (“Twin Star Exorcists”) . (more…)

I have mixed opinions on music shows. Sometimes, they hone in too much on the music portion of it and let the rest of it fall away. Other times, there is too much inner turmoil and that saps whatever interesting parts of the show that were working. So, for me, it’s a mixed bag. And in a lot of instances, I really can’t get behind the music. It just sits there for me. This offering, “Fuuka”, is a double music show. (more…)

Considering the sheer amount of manga out there for this franchise, as well as one season of anime and a movie (two movies?), plus that this tale isn’t told out, it was no real surprise that “Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga” (“Ao no Exorcist: Kyoto Fujouou-hen”) came out. It had to be. (more…)

This was a show that started off with a lot of promise, but dissolved into standard tropes and traps of a girl-heavy anime. This is ”Gabriel DropOut” (“Gavurīru Doroppuauto”). We are in Heaven (but I can’t seem to find the gift shop!), attending a graduation ceremony. (more…)

This is a very slow-moving anime, in that most (if not all) of the pieces have to be in place before the ultimate plotting show up. This means really hanging tough until the meat of the deal gets to arrive. This makes for a very odd anime, called “ACCA: 13” (“ACCA 13-ku Kansatsu-ka”, “ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept.”). And, yes, we need that capacious cast to tell this capacious tale that initially looks like a capacious travelogue. (more…)

Yes, this is a brand of magical girl show, done a lot better than the ‘mow-‘em-all-down’ approach we currently have, but not as mindlessly frothy as previous versions. For this go-around, we have “Urara Meirocho” (“Urara Labyrinth City”). You see, Meirocho is a town filled with fortune tellers known as Uraras, who each specialize in different forms of fortune telling (Ooh! Ooh! Can I do tyromancy?) (more…)

Wow, I’ll be honest, I did not think I was going to like and/or enjoy this series, and there were some fits and starts to it, but once it got on track, it became rather compelling. We are talking about “Saga of Tanya the Evil”, (known in Japan as “Yōujo Senki”, “The Military Chronicles of a Little Girl”) and it is not as straight-forward as you might think. (more…)

Second seasons of any show are scary. They are scary as you are not certain if whatever you saw in the first season can be maintained in the second. True, a lot of this is based on however the original manga unfolded itself, but you can take liberties with things. The problem for me with “The Numbers 2” (“Nanbaka 2”) is that it became the Dragonball Z Syndrome: endless fighting amid endless fighting, when we are not endlessly fighting. This is what you get in the second go-around. (more…)

I always have a concern when you see a good anime and then someone at Corporate decides that they need to make the most of things, you know, strike while the iron is hot, and so start cranking out questionable product. “Attack on Titan” did it twice. First, for “Monster Theater”, which worked, as it was a bit of comic relief from a show that offered none and with “Attack on Titan: Junior High” which didn’t work, as it seriously undermined all of their efforts. (more…)

I knew that there was going to be a second season of this series. We had accomplished NOTHING in the main goals that we had set out for the first run, and so we have to continue the fight….as it were. So, the second season of “KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World!” (“Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o! ) picks up where it left off, but with a caliber of false crisis. (more…)