Winter 2010 Anime Season–First Impressions
The recession has hit the anime industry pretty hard. There are only about 20 new shows, so according to Sturgeon’s Law we only have the right to hope for 2… Read more »
Category: Anime
2009: The Anime Year in Review
The usual caveats apply: I haven’t sampled everything and my tastes are not yours. Series that are continuing into the Spring are not generally eligible, though I am making an… Read more »
Millennium Actress–Anime Review
Millennium Actress is something of an overlooked gem. The movie won all sorts of awards in Japan and was widely praised by critics, but its American release sank without a… Read more »
Princess Tutu–Anime Review
This is a bit unusual–an anime based on ballet. The story draws heavily from Swan Lake and the The Nutcracker, with individual episodes inspired by various other ballets, operas and… Read more »
Planetes vs Cringely
“Robert X Cringely” (Mark Stephens) offers his own design for a “space garbage scow” to clean up all the space junk. It sounds a bit more practical than the approach… Read more »
Fall 2009 Anime Season–Second Thoughts
By now I’ve had time to sample everything that looks interesting, and to write individual posts about some of them. Here’s a rundown of my current impressions. Possibly worthwhile (depending… Read more »
Aoi Bungaku–First Impressions
This is an interesting and unusual anime series: an anthology of six stories by highly-regarded modern Japanese writers. Each story has a different director, which may lead to an uneven… Read more »
Anime Top 5 Lists
The latest fad among anime bloggers seems to be to list your top 5 anime, then try to draw conclusions from the list. I’m willing to play along, but I’m… Read more »
Kimi ni Todoke–First Impressions
Angsty shoujo romance is usually something I tune out very quickly (unless it’s played for laughs as in Itazura na Kiss.) Kimi ni Todoke (Reaching You) plays it totally straight,… Read more »
Shakugan no Shana S OVA 1
The OVA turns out to be better than I had feared. It’s a lightweight filler story (which is true of just about every OVA released for a television series, except… Read more »