anime

Rule of Three Review, Bubble Digest: Laughing Under the Clouds, In Search of the Lost Future – Episodes 2-3

The moment of truth.

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These two shows have a surprising amount in common for me, despite their wildly different settings, casts, and overall tones. Both struggled to get me invested in the characters and the story during the first episode, both had what I saw as some pacing issues where I kept waiting for them to get to the point, and both kept me watching thanks to some late-episode reveals and ongoing mysteries that held enough promise for a three-episode rule. So did they live up to that potential, or did they lose their futures on my watchlist? Hit the jump to see how they look a couple episodes later.

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Panning the Stream: Mushi-shi: The Next Passage (Part 2), Yuki Yuna wa Yusha de Aru, Girlfriend BETA

The stream may have slowed to a trickle, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still find some gold.

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It always feels strange to do a premiere post after doing a Rule of Three Review, but due to licensing issues and delayed release schedules, sometimes it happens. This time we’ve got girls both magical and vanilla (in every since of the word), plus an old friend returns (again!) and I’m very happy to see him. Hit the jump to read what may very well be the last premiere post of the fall season.

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Rule of Three Review, Caps Lock Digest: TERRAFORMARS, DENKI-GAI – Episodes 2-3

Trimming the watchlist, one censored mess at a time.

The first pair in our Fall Rule of Three Reviews were both shows that were on my radar going into the season, but which proved less noteworthy than I’d originally hoped. One is more of a tastes thing, while the other is pretty much just awful. Which is which, and how do they affect the watchlist for the rest of the season? Hit the jump to find out.

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Sailor Moon Newbie Reviews: Episodes 45-46 (Season 1 Finale)

Please keep your arms and legs inside the emotional roller coaster at all times.

It’s hard to feel tension when you know a show isn’t actually about to end, but I’ll give Sailor Moon full credit for giving its best-known side characters some truly memorable send-offs this week. From Ami’s brilliance to Rei’s toughness and even over to Mamoru’s surprisingly sweet “You are not alone” moment with Usagi, these characters died the way they lived – and died satisfactorily, too, true to themselves and their ideals to the very end.

Except, you know, that they didn’t.

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Blog Carnival: “The Impact They Had On Us”

In which the Josei waxes nostalgic about the five anime that impacted her the most.

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Fellow blogger Foxy Lady Ayame invited me to take part in my first ever “blog carnival,” and I thought it would be a fun way to get involved with the anime blogging community and give everyone a little glimpse into my personal anime history.

The goal of this list isn’t to discuss favorites or “best” series, but to talk about the anime or manga that had the biggest impact on us. I opted to just do anime since I’m notoriously long-winded and these got a little wordy. What surprised me was how varied the impact of these shows was – some of them I listed because of how they affected my involvement with the anime community (both IRL and online), some because of how they affected my own writing, and others because they changed the way I viewed art and fiction in general.

And oh, look, I’m being long-winded again. I’ll stop preamblin’ and get to the list. Hit the jump for the shows that (in roughly chronological order) made me the nerdy, over analyzing lady writer I am today.

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Panning the Stream, Sequel Edition: Chaika the Coffin Princess, Yowamushi Pedal, Psycho-Pass

Reunited – and it feels so good.

I was going to knock out all my sequels in one fell swoop, but since the new Mushishi doesn’t air for another week, it made more sense to go ahead and get these (re)Meet ‘n’ Greets out now. I’ve changed up the formatting to include a little information about the first season for the sake of any newcomers. I’m also keeping my overall opinions fairly short to avoid spoilers (and because I’m guessing that most of you already know what to expect). Hit the jump to reacquaint yourself with some old friends and to see if the spark is still there.

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Panning the Stream: SHIROBAKO, Your Lie in April, Gonna Be the Twin-Tail

I knew you wouldn’t let me down.

No high fantasy this time (gasp!), but it doesn’t matter, because we’ve got one very good and one positively lovely premiere from two of my favorite studios today, and they’re both getting nice, long Meet ‘n’ Greets. Oh, and then I watched something ridiculous about pigtails. But let’s focus on the first two instead. Hit the jump for stories about animation, music, and the messy artistic process.

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Sailor Moon Newbie Reviews: Episodes 43-44

It’s a hectic time in and out of the Moon Kingdom this week.

This would be the week you drop a barrage of plot bombs on me, wouldn’t it, Sailor Moon? It’s not enough that I’ve got Fall anime premiere week, the return of The Legend of Korra, and a mess of family engagements—oh, no, you had to go and add “Moon Kingdom Backstory Episode” to my to-do list, didn’t’cha?

In the interest of getting this sucker out on time (I’ve been trying to make Thursdays my scheduled SM Review day), we’ll be skipping the retrospective and jumping straight into the recaps. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of commentary along the way. Also flashbacks. Sooo many flashbacks.

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Panning the Stream: Parasyte, Garo the Animation, Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai, Trinity Seven

No, it’s cool, you guys. I didn’t really want to sleep tonight anyway.

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I crammed four shows onto this list because only Parasyte is getting a full review, but boy howdy, is it a doozy. I’m still on the fence about whether or not it will make my watchlist, although this has nothing to do with the show’s quality and everything to do with me being creeped the hell out. Screw your courage to the sticking place and hit the jump for this skin-crawling Meet ‘n’ Greet.

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Panning the Stream: Gugure! Kokkuri-san, Laughing Under the Clouds, JOKER

Good things come in small (and unexpected) packages.

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After writing yesterday’s somewhat discouraging premiere digest, I sat down to watch my final Sunday series, feeling like Fall was doing exactly what its name implied. Which, of course, was the moment when I turned on Gugure! Kokkuri-san (“Google it, Kokkuri-san!”) and found my first potential gold nugget of the season. There’s nothing like that giddy feeling of discovery to rejuvenate you for the long premiere week ahead.

Outside of that pleasant surprise, we have a series with a lot of (currently unrealized) potential and a standard but enjoyable kids’ show. Can Fall rise? Maybe so. Two Meet ‘n’ Greets and a quickie review below the jump.

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