There are precious few familiar faces, but some are rather precious.
This may be the briefest sequel/carryover post I’ve ever written thanks to a shortage of sequels, some odd licensing issues, and personal viewing preferences. Still, the few there are have a lot of fond memories attached to them, so that should be a good sign going forward. Hit the jump for fairy tales, thieves, and urban legends.
Don’t change that dial! Or maybe do…?
I held off posting this ’cause I was waiting on stragglers, but Reikenzan still isn’t licensed and the rest of this batch has been sitting in my queue for too long, so I figured we’d go with what we have. If Reikenzan gets licensed and makes the watch list, I’ll talk about it in a Rule of Three Review. I’ll also toss out the world’s shortest Sequels & Carryovers post tomorrow, as is custom, but consider this the last Panning post for new series.
We’ve got comedy and fantasy, with varying success. Hit the jump to knock ’em out. Continue reading
New season. New challenges. Same beautiful show.
After a busy premiere weekend characterized more by mediocrity than anything else, Snow White with the Red Hair returns to brighten a cloudy Monday and the winter as a whole. The art is gorgeous, the music vibrant, the interactions natural and charming, and the story handled with steady-handed grace. It’s quintessential Snow White, and it’s a delight to have it back.
Winter may not be bright, but things are looking up a little.
The weekend premiere deluge is at last at an end, so Panning posts should come a little slower and less frantically for the next couple days. It was a matter of quantity over quality, that’s for darn sure, but out of the muddy stream comes, if not a pile of gold nuggets, then at least an edible fish or two. Hit the jump for a trio whose caliber varies as wildly as their settings.
The long weekend continues.
I’ve been buried under premieres for the last two days and am still not fully caught up (I do have to sleep and socialize and run errands sometimes, y’know!), but I wanted to give you something today, so lo, a trio of new shows. This season has been marked by middling premieres with sparks of potential, and so we see that again a little here. It’s also been marked by just plain old lackluster premieres, and so we see that again here, too. Hit the jump for flickers and, er…not so much.
The many dimensions of animation.
I’m still playing catch-up thanks to a busy work week, so you’ll pardon me if these are on the short side. Nothing in this batch to make me quite as over-the-moon excited as Erased or Shouwa Genroku, but I had more fun than I expected from a pair of them, despite how ugly the animation looked at times. Hit the jump for CG and DG and all the rest.
Excuse me while I flail a bit.
I said during my Erased meet ‘n’ greet that there were two new shows that pinged on my radar this season, and we just found the second one, and it did not disappoint. There’s other stuff, too, and some of it was pretty okay and some of it was pretty bland, but really, I’m mostly here to talk about historical fiction and performance art. Hit the jump for words so glowing you could warm your hands on them.
Do you wanna build a redemption arc?
Villains come and villains go. And sometimes villains come and friends go. And sometimes villains come and friends go and more villains come and maybe some new friends come, too, but we’re not really sure yet because it’s early in the arc?
What I’m trying to say is, it’s a week of endings and beginnings on Sailor Moon, some more surprising than others. Hit the jump to say goodbye, how-do-you-do, and the occasional “WHOA WAIT WUT.” Yep. That sounds like a new SM arc, all right.
On your mark, get set, stream!
As a reminder, I watch every licensed premiere and do at least a brief writeup about them. I’ll do full meet ‘n’ greets for shows that caught my interest enough to warrant it. Everything else gets a blurb explaining what I liked, didn’t like, and why the show might not or didn’t make the cut.
And into the new season we go! While it’s not what I’d call a dazzling start by any stretch, there’s still one standout and some solid middle-ground potential, too. Oh, and KyoAni animating a lot of bouncing boobs. Mustn’t forget that.
Hit the jump for sleuthing, striding, and servicing. More or less in that order.
Fairy tale retellings sure can lead to some thorny situations.
Apologies for the delay—I had a whole mess of season- and year-end posts to tackle this week, so I took some time off to keep my brain from blowing a fuse. I’ll be back to posting on Fridays again this week, and as always, if there are delays or schedule changes, I’ll be sure to let you know on Twitter.
Our season-opening arc keeps blazing forward, building to a(nother) showdown against our Big Bad, but that doesn’t mean Stars has no time for character growth. This week turns the focus to our Moon Defense Squad, integrating the outer guardians more thoroughly into the group and pushing the inner guardians into their roles as confident warriors with their own unique strengths. It’s good stuff. Er, except when it isn’t. But we’ll talk particulars below the jump.
The Josei Next Door 