I am really going to ignore all the suggestions and intimations that this is a yuri show. Yes, it is very heavily tilted towards the troubles and tribulations of the female portions of this high school orchestra. Yes, the tales are about friendship and betrayal and wants and needs and desires. Yes, the ladies do wear a caliber of flirty outfits that tends to emphasize things, but since I feel it lacks a key ingredient to have it go over to the yuri side, “Hibiki Euphonium 2” is just showing us more of the problems that we saw in the first season, now made manifest in the second season. (more…)

OK, it takes a little while to wrap your head around this series, but once you do, wow, this is a fascinating series. Welcome to “Drifters” (“Dorifutazu”). (more…)

Now, this is a sports anime and I was in the middle of two other sports anime and I was really REALLY thinking of passing this one by, but the title arrested me (but I avoided a frisk-and-search), and that is “Yuri!!! On Ice” (and, yes, we need all those exclamation points as well. What is it now with exclamation points?) Now, I got pulled in, as I know what yuri means, but I had a hard time thinking is was a show about yuri types on ice. Well, they are a type of yuri type and….crap, send out the Zamboni and I’ll explain. (more…)

I am always concerned about the second season of any show. Sometimes, there is a tendency to stay the course. Maybe good, maybe not. Other times, you want to strike out in another direction and try to accomplish more than you did in the first season. Always daring, but not without its pitfalls. Sometimes you abandon that which you had and made it appear like it was two different shows. That is what happened with “Active Raid 2^nd”  (“Akutivu Reido Sekando”). Whatever happened in the first show, it got turned into a political drama (of sorts) in the second show, which is a shame, as I felt a lot of good characters were misused or underused. (more…)

Now, I was watching this show at the same time I was seeing “Kono Subarashii”, which made for a stark contrast, as everything “Kono” is, “Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash” (“Hai to Gensō no Gurimugaru”) isn’t, so things are played out far differently. (more…)

I sometimes like to tell the story about my 40-year flirtation with anime and how I felt the genre turned on me numerous times, which forced me to leave it numerous times. I want you to know that I was thiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to bailing again and all because of the frustration generated by this series, “Code Geass: Akito the Exiled” (“Kōdo Giasu Bōkoku no Akito”). As far as I was concerned, this anime was a deal-breaker and would have closed out my Seventh Attempt at Anime, but I’m now made of sterner stuff and toughed it through, although I did take a ‘vacation’ from anime, as I was so angry. I will explain the show and then I will explain the betrayal. (more…)

I wonder if it is due to the sheer amount of anime I see, not only throughout the course of the year, but at any given time. It’s just because I see shows that I have seen. Well, more to the point, I see shows that have a similar idea to one that I have seen recently, so I end up comparing how they tell their tale to each other, rather than allowing it to stand alone. But why would you want to watch something that you have already seen? Thus, the concern regarding “Bungo Stray Dogs” (“Bungō Sutorei Doggusu^”, “Literary Stray Dogs”). (Note #1: I also have seen in as “Bungou”, so you may want to check both spellings if you wish to track down this series). It’s just that a lot of it smells like “Blood Blockade Battlefront”. Now, to the story: (more…)

For many, a trip is a chance to get away from who you are and discover what you might be. It is also an opportunity to rid yourself of your ‘old clothes’ and try to be someone new or better or improved. Initially, that is the concept behind “The Lost Village” (“Mayoiga”), but the execution is rather complicated, as we have two competing storylines. (more…)

There is a sense of satisfaction when you know that a second season will be coming. There is nothing worse than seeing a show, getting to the ‘coupler point’ and then it fades away, so you never get that complete closure. However, the way things were set up for “Gakusen Toshi Asutarisuku” (“The Asterisk War: The Academy City on the Water”), you knew there had to be one, to at least bring the main thrust of the show to a conclusion. (more…)

With all the genres that are afforded to anime, the spy thriller is one that is badly underplayed. Perhaps someone feels that they can’t compete with a James Bond or a Jason Bourne, but it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, the only other spy series I saw, “Night Raid 1931” was more of a fantasy/supernatural, as those people had special powers and abilities. What if we take a special caliber of person, one with a clear idea as to what is expected of them, and mold them into a strong agency? Thus, the idea behind “Joker Game” (“Jōkā Gēmu”). (more…)