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Big Robots on the Big Screen
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Read More →: Big Robots on the Big ScreenThe first time I watched Evangelion I I hated everything about it. Most of all I hated the characters and how slowly the series seemed to move. The disconnect I felt with Shinji and his eternal state of depression did not help either. When I heard that the creators’ were rereleasing the show in a…
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Winter '11 Impressions
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Read More →: Winter '11 ImpressionsI don’t have Bateszi’s gift for intros, so let’s jump right into the Winter Preview. This season does not have any wildly anticipated shows, nor have I seen something of Star Driver’s caliber. Still, even if the shows don’t blow you away, anime is definitely still well and kicking.
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The sunset of Astro Fighter Sunred
Read More →: The sunset of Astro Fighter SunredEven whilst it was airing, Astro Fighter Sunred seemed like a pretty obscure series. Indeed, I often felt like I was one of the few people watching it. It’s a hard sell, I guess, because it’s not only a visibly low budget production, but also a parody of Japan’s sentai genre. Apparently people don’t watch…
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Black Lagoon II: Judgment Day
Read More →: Black Lagoon II: Judgment DayBlack Lagoon’s original run impressed me. The show was beautifully animated, included an interesting cast, and had enough violent gun battles to give a child nightmares. I also think it had the best crew of any recent show. What it lacked was length. Its 24 original episodes, stretched over two seasons, were fun to watch…
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A Tatami Galaxy kind of year
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/ AnimeRead More →: A Tatami Galaxy kind of yearOf all the anime I’ve seen this year, probably the one that deserves blogging the most is The Tatami Galaxy. Life imitates art; and looking back on the past year, or the part of my life which, in many ways has abruptly stumbled to an end of sorts I can qualify the title. For me,…
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After Life, Angel Beats! and anime blogging
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Read More →: After Life, Angel Beats! and anime bloggingIf the anime blogosphere is a living purgatory, then the bloggers are the helpers, themselves stuck, but willing to point others in the right direction. As we see our friends come and go, sometimes it feels like there’s only a few of us left, but seeing people change is fulfilling in itself, and there’s always…
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A fatal Attraction
Read More →: A fatal AttractionIn what ended up being one of the cooler mornings I’ve had recently, I stumbled upon Koji Morimoto’s Attraction via twitter. Not knowing what to expect, but hearing it paired with the words “interactive anime”, I clicked. What followed was one of Studio 4C’s latest experiments with the anime medium. Their involvement with the upcoming…
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Watching people destroy their happiness in NANA
Read More →: Watching people destroy their happiness in NANAOne of the saddest things about NANA is that its creator Ai Yazawa (who has been fighting against an unspecified illness since 2009) hasn’t been able to finish it. NANA is a story of dreams and ambition, and the characters have struggled too hard and for too long to be left hanging. I hope Yazawa…
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Feel like being scared?
Read More →: Feel like being scared?I’ve been going through a lull in blogging lately. Although I’ve been trying hard (and succeeding, surprisingly!) to keep up with a certain trio of currently airing series, I’ve also been feeling quite passive, too. Even still, the desire to trudge on with this whole writing thing has never left me, so, thank you if…
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Girls with guns but not much else
Read More →: Girls with guns but not much elseI started out intending to write a review of the show Noir, but while researching (okay, I’ll admit using Wikipedia) I discovered Noir’s spirital successors, Madlax and El Cazador de la Bruja. Each show was animated by the studio Bee Train. I thought, great, I can do one big “girls with guns” trilogy review, but…
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Because the dawn is beautiful; Future Boy Conan
Read More →: Because the dawn is beautiful; Future Boy ConanWeird as it may sound, I judge an anime by how many screencaps it nets me. I screencap things on my first run-through an episode or movie, and obsessive-compulsively: if something flashes by my eyes and I miss grabbing the screencap, I will jump backwards in the movie as many times as needed to grab…
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I need a job so I wanna be a mangaka writer
Read More →: I need a job so I wanna be a mangaka writerDragon Ball Z, Slam Dunk, Bleach, Hajime no Ippo. Most shonen series are based on physical activities like sports or fighting. Surprisingly, the general shonen formula can also work well with a non-physical activity. In Bakuman, J.C. Staff and NHK successfully tell a shonen-style story about two aspiring manga creators. The result is an interesting show…
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Panty & Stocking with my broken heart
Read More →: Panty & Stocking with my broken heartThe above image is from Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, but one would forgive you if you had to double take; the second half of episode 5 feels like it’s from a completely different series. Not only has the art style completely shifted, so, indeed, has the tone. Gone, for the most part, is the…
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Let's keep what I'm about to sing between the two of us, okay?
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Read More →: Let's keep what I'm about to sing between the two of us, okay?Think of this as a Diary of An Anime Lived post if that tickles your fancy. As much as I love Kuragehime, and as much as I have to say about it, I find it a little bit hard to write about. It hits a little close to home for me, and sweet as it…
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Can anime do horror?
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Read More →: Can anime do horror?Truly good horror anime is hard to find. Anime tends to use many elements of horror, but it rarely adds up to something that’s scary.
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Is it more painful to wait? Or to keep someone waiting?
Read More →: Is it more painful to wait? Or to keep someone waiting?Writing, even anime blogging, can be hard. We all have ideas about what makes good writing and that’s why, sometimes, I have trouble doing it for this blog. I want to write posts that are, in their own ways, perfect. I know that’s an unrealistic goal, but I try anyway, and this whole process gradually…
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No DVD drive on your Macbook air? No problem.
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Read More →: No DVD drive on your Macbook air? No problem.Free. Legal. And released within a week of the show’s Japan air date. Streaming video is something that I have craved ever since I started watching anime. I always feel guilty about not doing enough to support the industry, even if I do buy more anime than a normal person should. Watching streaming anime gives…
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Good morning, angels.
Read More →: Good morning, angels.In honor of Aniplex’s recent announcement of a new Read or Die (“ROD”) Blu-Ray box set I thought it was high time to review the television series. The box set itself deserves a mention, all 26 episodes of the Read or Die TV, the 3 part OVA and a booklet, all supposedly identical to the…
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Autumn ’10 impressions
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Read More →: Autumn ’10 impressionsWelcome to yet another autumn run-down! Everything is loosely ranked into a makeshift top 10 and we’ve tried to keep our impressions short and to the point, but if there’s anything you want clarified, feel free to question us (and our opinions) in the comments. We’ve missed out certain series because they are sequels to…
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Am I looking at the sky, or the sea?
Read More →: Am I looking at the sky, or the sea?Though it borrows from the mythos of the (very real) city of Venice, there’s something pleasantly unreal about Aria. Rather, not unreal so much as there is a disregard for the idea and constraints of reality. Perhaps Aria seeks not to undermine reality as we know it, but in its ‘New Venice’, create its own…
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The heavens are angered
Read More →: The heavens are angeredThe Twelve Kingdoms feels very much like a shoujo anime, but it’s more akin to Utena and Toward the Terra than Escaflowne, and by that what I mean to say is, while there are no melodramatic love triangles here, The Twelve Kingdoms is all about exploring and externalising the feelings of its characters; that’s girly…
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I was made to hit in America
Read More →: I was made to hit in AmericaBeck: Mongolian Chop Squad. Talk about a mouthful. The name may be a tribute to the author’s favorite band, Red Hot Chili Peppers, which also has four words in its name. In any case don’t be scared away by the name, this series about a rising rock band is a treat even for non-music fans.
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Beauty prevails
Read More →: Beauty prevailsAmidst such despair, beauty prevails. Be it in the soft, ever falling of snow, the golden lanterns casting shadows against the concrete walls, or the way the moonlight defies the night. There is a sense of life to be felt; a real, honest human touch, that’s warming to the heart.
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The art of fading into the scenery; introducing Megane
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Read More →: The art of fading into the scenery; introducing MeganeThe only way I can think to describe Megane is “a movie for B-type personalities”. It ambles along at a pace that – to the outside observer – seems foreign, but somehow fascinating. Other than that, it’s hard to pin down. The film builds its own internal language of keywords and signs, yet offers the…
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Childhood's end: Naruto and Pain
Read More →: Childhood's end: Naruto and PainTo compare Naruto now to the naive kid he was when this series began tells us of how much he’s grown since. He’s now the person he always dreamed of becoming, and it’s a joy to behold.
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Cherry picking in autumn 2010
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Read More →: Cherry picking in autumn 2010It’s autumn again, and with it comes dozens of new anime series to get excited about. From these, we’ve picked a few that we’re particularly interested in. Marvel at our impeccable taste and insightful opinions! I was thinking you’d come up with something better than that for the introduction. Evidently my expectations were too high.…
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Farewell Satoshi Kon
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Read More →: Farewell Satoshi KonIt’s difficult to express the disappointment I felt when I learnt of Satoshi Kon‘s passing last week. Since then, many heart-felt tributes have been published and half-way through writing this, I started wondering whether it was worth posting at all. Alas, what is blogging if not personal? I liked his films and, at the risk…
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Can you make a giant killing happen inside of you?
Read More →: Can you make a giant killing happen inside of you?This is a show about football (out of respect to Bateszi I’ll avoid using the word soccer…). The featured team, East Tokyo United (ETU), is dysfunctional. ETU’s fans are running away, the team keeps losing managers and players and worst of all, they just can’t win. At this point in the summary, anyone who has…
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The town where nothing ever happens: FLCL & I
Read More →: The town where nothing ever happens: FLCL & IFrankly, I lack the words to talk about Satoshi Kon’s passing; there are others who have said and will say things more eloquently. Instead, I offer you a diversion: FLCL. I meant to write this post a while back, but never go around to it. Somehow, it’s been a very long, and a little bit…
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This is the Naruto I remember
Read More →: This is the Naruto I rememberThere were times when I considered dropping Naruto.
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One Piece, or when the anime is better than the manga
Read More →: One Piece, or when the anime is better than the mangaBefore I start, a preamble: One Piece is a great anime. Ever since our little agreement a month back I’ve been tackling the series, from 229 onwards at a pace of about 3 or so episodes a day. Unlike the other One Piece addict around here, however, I must admit the plot and characters aren’t…
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Opinions on current anime
Read More →: Opinions on current animeAlthough the vast majority of my recent scribblings concern mostly older series, I am (and have been) keeping up with some newer anime, too. Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu is a name that suggests parody, but this new fantasy series is surprisingly serious, with magic, monsters and adventure. 4 episodes in, it’s difficult to see…
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How the Cowboy Bebop ending explains the meaning of “You’re gonna carry that weight”
Read More →: How the Cowboy Bebop ending explains the meaning of “You’re gonna carry that weight”What is the Cowboy Bebop ending trying to say? It feels like such a waste! Spike doesn’t have to face Vicious, he could just stay with Faye and Jet, leave Mars and fly away, but he doesn’t. No matter how many times it’s replayed, there will always be that choice hanging over Spike in the…
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The candy-colored afterlife
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/ AnimeRead More →: The candy-colored afterlifeOccult Academy, you’ve made a fan out of me.
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The future of "anime" is bright
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Read More →: The future of "anime" is brightLet’s take this Dai Sato discussion for another spin, shall we? The above image is from the film My Beautiful Girl Mari. It was released in 2001, and is being distributed in the US by ADV films. Moreover, you can stream it for free courtesy of the Anime News Network. It centers around a dream…
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The future of anime (is bleak?)
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Read More →: The future of anime (is bleak?)Will the people inspired to create the anime of tomorrow want to create another K-ON? Or another Cowboy Bebop?
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Naruto & child soldiers / The thrilling tragedy of Kakashi Gaiden
Read More →: Naruto & child soldiers / The thrilling tragedy of Kakashi GaidenDoes Masashi Kishimoto think about how children are depicted in Naruto? Ninja are tools of war, after all, and Konoha trains its children to become ninja; isn’t that wrong? On a base, moral level? Of course, Naruto is intended as entertainment and, as such, there’s a certain amount of distance one feels between it and…
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Low-brow good times [Occult Academy first impressions]
Read More →: Low-brow good times [Occult Academy first impressions]If there’s one thing I’ve learned about anime over the past year, it’s that these Anime no Chikara projects start out strong, only to have me lose interest after four episodes. When faced with the latest offering in the project, Occult Academy, I was determined not to be sucked in. I would watch it, but…
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Get back to watching One Piece
Read More →: Get back to watching One PieceOne Piece. Oh, man. Where do I start.
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Play it safe. Stay inside. Watch anime.
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Read More →: Play it safe. Stay inside. Watch anime.After tackling time travel in The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Mamoru Hosoda returns in Summer Wars to the more provincial and realistic world of the Internet. Luckily the Internet here is not the boring, text heavy internet of our time, but a more garish and interesting Internet of a not-too-distant future. Pastel colored avatars, corporate headquarters…
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Seeing the forest through the trees with Sailor Moon
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Read More →: Seeing the forest through the trees with Sailor MoonIf you haven’t done yourself the favour of reading the original Sailor Moon manga, I suggest you drop whatever stigmas or preconceptions you have of the series and find yourself a copy. Naturally, it suffers from the cliches it helped to establish: baddies-of-the-moment, elaborately named attacks, and a penchant for all the bad parts of…
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In which I contemplate One Piece (and nothing less than the meaning of life)
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Read More →: In which I contemplate One Piece (and nothing less than the meaning of life)One Piece begins with the execution of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger. His death was intended to symbolize the power of the World Government, but had the opposite effect instead, conceiving the Golden Age of Pirates! One Piece is full of mythology. What happened in the Void Century, anyway? What about the meaning behind…
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The curious case of Kannagi
Read More →: The curious case of KannagiWatching anime for a long time (I’m talking years, really,) one can fall into certain patterns of viewing. I’ve grown accustomed to knowing what I like, and what I don’t, and picking the anime I watch according to my own tastes. There’s nothing wrong with this, it fundamentally makes sense, but it also leads one…
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Why didn’t you shoot? I meant to. – Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
Read More →: Why didn’t you shoot? I meant to. – Jin-Roh: The Wolf BrigadeThe thing is like a wolf. The thing is a wolf. Thus, it is a thing to be banished. I’ve been an anime fan for a long time. At 22, the portion of my life in which I’ve been a fan is already half of that; and the period of time in which I’d been…
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Horrible fun / Exhuming Ga-Rei -Zero-
Read More →: Horrible fun / Exhuming Ga-Rei -Zero-If just because there’s something exciting about proving yourself wrong every now and then, I’m trying to watch a bunch of recent series that I’ve snubbed or otherwise ignored in past. This all started when, on a whim, I began watching the kendo anime Bamboo Blade and felt stupid for ignoring it for so long.…
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Shoujo fantasy Gurren Lagann: Sense of Wonder by Akemi Hayashi
Read More →: Shoujo fantasy Gurren Lagann: Sense of Wonder by Akemi HayashiReality is rarely as poetic, but then, a dream is not supposed to be real.
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Japanese apology? Maybe next year…
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/ AnimeRead More →: Japanese apology? Maybe next year…Senkou no Night Raid is at a glance a show with great potential, beginning with its unique setting: Shanghai, 1931. Japanese occupied China showcases the height of Japan’s imperialist power and ambition. However, the show cries out for an in-depth commentary on Japan as an imperialist power. Such a narrative would provide a window into…
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Anime directors, please don't change your depressing endings. I love them.
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Read More →: Anime directors, please don't change your depressing endings. I love them.Quite frankly, good intentions or not, I’m sick of being lied to. That’s why I loved the original conclusion to Zeta Gundam. It felt like someone had finally snapped and decided to tell the truth, and at first, I was shocked, but, also, inspired to consider what it was trying to say, which brings me…
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The secret life of the otaku
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Read More →: The secret life of the otakuAs I grow up, I don’t want to lose the things that were important to me as a kid. But I also want to address my shortcomings, have relationships, get a job, and (eventually) be an adult. I may not accomplish everything I want, but I won’t let the fear of failure deter me from…