The biggest problem with any show that deals in magic is that it is all going to be referred back to ‘Harry Potter’ and how they did it. It can put a damper on things, as you want to let all of these institutions and locales teach magic and all its complexities in their own manner. It’s just that “Little Witch Academia” started out practically like a Harry Potter rip-off. (more…)

A harem comedy. Wow, I haven’t seen one of those in about 20….minutes. Still, this one brings along a great deal of charm and heart…despite the rather capacious title of “Isekai wa Sumātofon to Tomo ni” (“In Another World with My Smartphone”). (more…)

As much as I like “Food Wars!”, it can get too much for its own good, with those foodgasms and the overweening prats that infest the school. So when another dining series cropped up, I wanted to check it out. This is the bailiwick of “Isekai Shokudō” (“Restaurant to Another World”). (more…)

Since I have really committed to anime, I notice trend after trend. This one is the “Envelope Push”. How far can we take ecchi and not have it fall into hentai? This particular offering, “Seven Mortal Sins”, or “Sin: The 7 Deadly Sins” (or “Shin: Nanatsu no Taizai”) put a real challenge to ‘Ikki Tousen’ for over-the-top, out-in-the-open perversity and right from the get-go. (more…)

This was a second season approach that I did not see coming, but it was fully welcomed, as it is something that is rarely put out there and that is what I call ‘The Other Story’. If you remember the first season of the capaciously-titled “Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?” (“Danjon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darō ka”), the second season is subtitled “Sword Oratoria” and it looks at the simultaneous events revolving around Aiz Wallenstein (that missy in the center with that sword a-pointing at your giblets) and the adventures she goes on with Familia Loki. (more…)

Do you remember when you first fell in love? Awash in all those giddy, uncertain emotions that were swirling about you in a kaleidoscope of feelings and sensations? Yeah, well, when I first fell in love, mankind had just discovered the wheel, OK? It’s been a long time. Still, with what you get from “Tsuki ga Kirei” (“as the moon, so beautiful”), it is a reminder of those days.
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I must be the dumbest sack of doorknobs out there. Why do I torture myself? I have potentially been chasing this franchise down longer than “Code Geass: Akito”, yet I am not half as whiny about it as I should be. This popped up at AX 17, so I grabbed a showing of “Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo”. What a pile of noise! (more…)

It’s an anime movie. I am at least finding them a bit more often than in the past, but they still come out in a dribble, compared to other offerings. This is an odd one, more so for the apparent CG than the plot, which smells rather “Matrix”-y. This is “Blame!” (“Buramu!”). (more…)

I am starting to notice another trend cropping up and that is the throwback style in anime. I have seen a few shows that are trying to mimic what I call the First Wave of Anime (1962-1969 or thereabouts), like when “Astro Boy” first made it to the shores of America. This is an apt description, as “Atom: The Beginning” (“Atomu za Biginingu”) tells the story of things before “Astro Boy” became Astro Boy. (more…)

Japan has a rich tradition of ghosts and hauntings and possession. It is almost part and parcel of their culture, right up to the present days. It’s that I am seeing a lot of shows recently regarding yokai and demonic possessions and haunted (or cursed? I’m not certain) objects that intrude on a ‘normal’ society that acknowledges that they existed, but don’t exist in this current age of sobriety and science. Thus, this convoluted introduction to “Tsugumomo”, where the past meets the modern. (more…)