There is a scene from the movie “A Fish Called Wanda”, where Kevin Kline cracks open a safe, hoping to find a ton of pelf within, but is greeted instead with silent emptiness. Screwing his face up with disgust, he loudly proclaims, “OK… OK… DISAPPOINTED! Son of a bitch.” I know how he feels, when I got the letter from Anime Expo, letting me know that there will be NO AX for 2021. *sigh* OK… OK… DISAPPOINTED! Son of a bitch. (more…)

Slapstick is a harder genre to master than one thinks, as you have to balance the mayhem with the results. It doesn’t succeed as well as it should, and so “Aho-Girl “(“Aho gāru”, or “Stupid-girl”) kind of dissolves into sit-com madness. I say ‘kind of’, as it doesn’t grasp the elements correctly and comes off as more vicious than it needs to be. Let me explain….. (more…)

Untethered OVAs, for me, are a bother, in that I end up getting plunked into the middle of something and since there is not going to be anything to come home to or go on from, it is merely a way to spend a half-hour, looking at the problems of others. Such is the case with “Rescue Me”. (more…)

As with any movie that comes from a successful series, I am leery that it might be just might be a recap of the series, put in movie form, for those folks who are too lazy to plunk themselves down and watch the whole thing, from a company that wants to make some quick money for fans who are too gullible to take a second look at things. And I will be saying this plaint again and again until I am proven demonstrably wrong. I have gotten close, but not with any consistency. Yet, “Kantai Collection: The Movie” (and couldn’t you come up with a slightly better title than that?) does try to move events along, basing it off of that which we have already seen in the series and that which we already know, to tell a different tale. Of sorts. (more…)

“Sword Art Online” has been one of the more interesting series (and now franchises) of the past half-dozen years. As with any movie that comes from a successful series, I am leery that it might be just might be a recap of the series, put in movie form, for those folks who are too lazy to plunk themselves down and watch the whole thing, from a company that wants to make some quick money. Yes, they did do that in 2013, calling it the “Extra Edition”, so I was a little more assured that this one would be a real movie and not just a Season Two Recap. This brings us to “Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale”. Now, it would help to understand what an ‘ordinal scale’ is. (more…)

Well, well, lookie here. Another “Girls Who Save the World” show. I. Did. Not. See. That. Coming.

Although one can compare it to the “Symphogear” series or even “Yuuni Yuki”, it is still a bunch of high school girls taking on implacable foes.

It is the year 2045 (Still no hoverboards. Are those things ever going to show up?) The world has been contaminated by Irōsu, a strange and mysterious group of invaders who suddenly appeared. Well, they do the usual junk: lay waste to the population, kill everyone they can and leave the seat up on the toilet. Really nasty types. Humans find themselves restricted and contained, unable to do much of anything. However, standing boldly against these invaders are ordinary girls everywhere, girls who can give the what-for to these who-dats. The Shinjugamine Girls Academy is a school for these “Hoshimori” (Star Guardians), destined to fight the Irōsu. Welcome one and all to “Battle Girl High School “(“Batorugāru Haisukūru”). Cue the jets flying overhead with the colored contrails. (more…)

More Japanese weirdness. OK, sure, this is another “Girls Who Save the World” tale, but what they are doing is saving their city from neglect. Huh? Wha? Eh? This is more of a way to promote the virtues of your particular city, and this is done via ‘action heroines’, some superhero girl who battles the baddies, while extolling some aspect of the city she represents. Well, everyone wants to get in on the act and Hinano City is no different. Thus we have “Action Heroines Cheer Fruits” (“Akushon Hiroin Chia Furūtsu”). (more…)

In one sense, this reminded me of “Daily Lives of High School Boys”, in that it is a series of events and actions where, at the end of the day, nothing really happens. That is not a bad thing, as we see the blush of youth, trying to understand love and getting it all bass-ackwards. Welcome to “Tsurezure Children” (“Tsurezure Chirudoren”). (more…)

This was heavily promoted at AX 17, but I could never find any episodes scheduled for viewing while I was there, so I had to wait for the Fall Release to grab it. It is, at its heart, a school rom-com, but the situation and circumstances puts the spin on it. Welcome to “Sentōru no Nayami” (“A Centaur’s Life”, also known as “A Centaur’s Worries”). (more…)

I have often stated that they will do an anime on practically anything, so I was surprised to see a College Bowl caliber of show, where brains and strategy wins out over beefy brawn. It is time for “Nana Maru San Batsu!” (“Fastest Finger First!” or “7 Right, 3 Wrong” or “ 7O3X”). And here’s the funny thing: this is deemed a sports anime! (more…)