reviews

My Love Story!! – Episode 3: “My Blue Ogre”

Best Dude Forever Status: Achieved.

My Love Story continues to gleefully ignore rom-com genre conventions, and I couldn’t be happier. A “Beauty and the Beast” style tale about a girl gradually coming to love someone for their “inner beauty”? Nah, screw that—Yamato thought Takeo was awesome from the start! A messy love triangle among friends? Been there, done that, and this show ain’t sellin’ those T-shirts. A long, drawn-out “will they won’t they” dance between Oblivious-san and Shy-kun? No, thank you, ma’am, we’ll just approach this relationship head-on, if you don’t mind.

Well, okay. OreMono does adhere to conventions in one way: It is ridiculously, unreasonably, and overwhelmingly adorable.

Continue reading →

Rule of Three Review, Doga Kobo Digest: Plastic Memories, Mikagura School Suite – Episodes 2-3

Sometimes execution just isn’t enough.

Studio Doga Kobo is trying their damnedest with both of these shows, filling them with expressive faces, lots of motion both in terms of animation and shot selection, and energetic vocal performances. And that would probably be enough to sell me on both these series—if only the writing were even a little bit better. One of these series fritters its fascinating premise away on cliche interactions, while the other juggles a large, likable cast but struggles with a generic premise and shallow conflicts. And man, are they both trying real hard to be funny and doing a realmediocre job at it.

So yeah, this digest post ain’t the most positive thing I’ve written, but you’re welcome to hit the jump for specifics on what worked, what didn’t, and whether either of these shows will get a chance to prove themselves next week.

Continue reading →

Rule of Three Review: Show by Rock!! – Episodes 2-3

The ending theme was right: I am indeed having a nice MUSIC!!

I described Show by Rock!! as “utter nonsense” in my premiere review, and remarked on Twitter that it was “so dumb and I loved it,” but after a couple extra episodes, I’m reevaluating my opinion somewhat. SbR isn’t dumb. It’s silly. “Dumb” implies a lack of intent; it suggests that something is amusing without that being the creators’ goal. “Silly,” on the other hand, means that the creators know exactly what they’re doing and are enjoying the heck out of themselves. And I’d say SbR firmly falls into the second category.

Continue reading →

Rule of Three Review, Fantasy Digest: Seraph of the End, The Heroic Legend of Arslan – Episodes 2-3

Sometimes it’s not just what you say, but how you say it.

Both of these shows are firmly on my bubble, and no one is more surprised than me. I’d expectedArslan to be a season lock and Seraph to lose my interest, but neither’s been the case. More surprising still, if you asked me to rank one ahead of the other, I’d have to admit that thanks to solid some direction, animation, and acting, Seraph is doing a better job of winning me over thanArslan.

I know, you guys. It’s weird. This season is weird.

Continue reading →

Rule of Three Review: Blood Blockade Battlefront – Episodes 2-3

Big, Bombastic, Beautiful.

BBB is a first-class example of how a talented director, composer, and animation studio can take solid source material and crank it up to about 11. We likely would have had this frenetic world along with its enigmatic supernatural beings, its underground organization that oozes cool, and its affable but troubled protagonist regardless of the creative team, and it probably would have been fun in any competent director’s hands. But what BONES, Matsumoto, and her team have created here is more than just fun: It’s a visual and aural feast, taking Nightow’s often blank canvas and splashing it with color, depth, and imagery.

Continue reading →

Sailor Moon Newbie Reviews: Episodes 96-97

If only all growing pains could be as entertaining as these.

image

No one will be surprised to learn that I loved these two episodes, and not just because they featured my favorite characters (although that’s a huge plus, too). Sailor Moon is just really coming together as a full ensemble show again, using its new characters to help create new dynamics, explore new relationships, and develop new and old characters alike—and I ain’t just talkin’ about Sailor Duo, either. Yes, it may have taken them 90-odd episodes, but Sailor Moon has finally, finallyfigured out how to integrate Mamoru into the story as a natural (and likeable!) member of the group. I never thought I’d say it, but he’s winning me over, you guys. I may just ‘ship him and Usagi yet.

Continue reading →

My Love Story!! – Episode 2: “My Romance”

You know, Takeo, if you’re gonna be in a love triangle, you should probably make sure the other two people know they’re in it, too.

As expected, this is the week rom-com shenanigans and misunderstandings take center stage, as Takeo (almost willfully) misinterprets Yamato’s oh-so-obvious advances at every turn and does his ample best to give her a happy ending with Suna. As a result, Suna ends up taking more of a center stage this week, as Takeo tries to learn Suna’s “type” but doesn’t come up with much. Suna claims to be interested in girls, but says he finds the idea of a relationship tiring (I hear ya, buddy).

Oh, and just in case you forgot this was also a goofball comedy, all of this happens under Tina Belcher’s favorite tree.

Continue reading →

Sailor Moon Newbie Reviews: Episodes 94-95

Moonlight and love shrimp, never out of date…

Love is in the air again this week on Sailor Moon, as our gals consider what makes a kiss “special” and one young couple tries to clumsily convey how they feel about each other. These episodes do a nice job of portraying many elements of early relationships, such as the amount of importance placed on a first kiss, the feeling that you need to PROVE your love (not just to your partner, but to the general public as well), and the insecurities and anxieties you feel when you reeeeally like someone and worry that they might not feel the same (or worse, that you might not be “good enough” for them). Sailor Moon captures the worries, the awkwardness, and the excitement of first love, and it’s good fun watching it play out (though you sure couldn’t pay to relive it).

Continue reading →

My Love Story!! – Episode 1: “My Story”

A romantic comedy so adorable its title needed TWO exclamation points!!

I’m guest blogging this series over at Anime Evo this season. I’ll go ahead and include the full posts here too eventually, just so I have my own copies, but for the first several weeks I’ll only be providing a quick blurb and a link to the AE page. But yes, I am planning to do episodic posts on this one, so you’ll get to hear all my reactions and analysis as they come.

…Oh, and just so you know, these will have anime (but not manga) spoilers since I’ll be discussing plot points and character beats in the episodes themselves. I’ll have a spoiler-free meet ‘n’ greet up tomorrow for anyone who just wants to get the basic stats and find out if it’s any good (hint: it is). The rest of you can hit that jump and get ready for one delightful little shoujo.

Continue reading →

Sailor Moon Newbie Reviews: Episodes 92-93

I spy with my little eye… two new recurring characters!

image

Four episodes in and it’s already Sailor Moon Shaping up to be a more fun season than the last one. With the plot little more than a vague outline at this point, it’s important that SM be able to let its characters wander around and goof off and just be entertaining together. And boy, did they manage to do that this week.

Continue reading →