Planetes–Anime Review
This show has a special meaning for me because it reminds me of the science fiction stories that I loved as a boy, stories by people like Heinlein and Clarke… Read more »
Smart People–Movie Review
Did you ever have a college professor who was a complete, total insufferable jerk? I suppose in my time I may have had a run-in or two with a professor,… Read more »
Delayed Realization
Jeff Lawson reports that two years after watching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumia he finally figured out that Kyon is a jerk. Which of course is true, but necessary. Haruhi… Read more »
5 Centimeters Per Second–Anime Review
What would you get if you gave Makoto Shinkai, who created Voices of a Distant Star on his personal computer, enough money to hire a professional staff and make a… Read more »
xxxHolic Season 1–Anime Review
This anime is best thought of as a series of clever, spooky short stories with some continuing characters. Viewed that way it is quite entertaining. There’s another way to look… Read more »
Wertham’s Crusade
Jeet Heer in Slate revisits the story of Fredric Wertham, an American psychiatrist who started a campaign against comic books in the 1940’s and 50’s, arguing that they promote juvenile… Read more »
Voices of a Distant Star
This is mostly interesting as a proof of concept: a demonstration that if you were sufficiently talented and fanatically dedicated you could create a professional-quality anime all by yourself, or… Read more »
Simoun–Anime Review
This story is a bit too melancholy for my taste, but it is interesting and original and has a small but devoted following. One thing to keep in mind is… Read more »
Stylesheet Changes
After testing the site with Safari for the first time I ended up making some massive, long-overdue changes to the stylesheet, which hopefully will allow things to display better in… Read more »
Shakugan no Shana II: Guess the Ending
I’m going to risk making a fool of myself and try to guess the ending of the second season. (If you have read the books and know the right answer,… Read more »