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Mar 9, 2024
Mixed Feelings
For a long time I'd thought the importance of the original Gundam anime Mobile Suit Gundam was mainly due to its founding of the Real Robot genre as well the huge, sprawling Gundam franchise that's still going strong today. Having actually sat down and watched the show though, I realised that I seriously underestimated the influence of this seminal series: not only did it make its mark in anime history, many of its ideas remain relevant to this day.

It always seemed a little strange to me how Gundam series often recycle the same elements over and over. What became obvious once I started Mobile Suit ...
Mar 26, 2023
Mixed Feelings
The original 1998 anime adaptation of Trigun is one of those rare beasts that grew big in North America after flopping in Japan. In fact, it became so successful in America that it spawned a side story movie more than a decade later. Even more surprisingly, after another decade, we're getting this reboot, with the source material having sat finished on the shelf for over 15 years already.

One quick glance at any of the pictures related to Trigun Stampede is enough to tell you that the makers have struck out in a completely new direction in terms of aesthetic. I can't say I was too ...
Dec 28, 2022
Chainsaw Man (Anime) add
Watching Chainsaw Man feels like engaging with the work of some pervy, twisted genius who spends all his downtime trolling in the dark depth of the sweaty armpits of online forums like 4chan.

Set in a world inhabited by devils which appear to be the manifestation of people's fear of things that includes everything from everyday objects like guns and katanas to supernatural beings such as ghosts and fox spirits, the main character Denji is a 16 year old downtrodden bum whose life gets turned around after he befriends and fuses with a chainsaw devil, allowing him to transform into a devil himself with the head ...
Sep 19, 2022
Although I'm aware of Rwby's origins as a popular anime-inspired web series, I know very little else about it and approached this anime version with a clean slate. Though Rwby: Ice Queendom feels rather uneven, it's turned out to be a pleasant surprise overall.

The premise of Rwby feels incredibly generic: the world Remnant is constantly under threat by evil creatures called the Grimm and there are people with superpowers who can fight them. A prestigious school called Beacon Academy trains talented fighters into hunters that go after the Grimm. There also exists magical dirt that everyone seems to want. Be warned that the show is ...
Sep 7, 2022

"Memories Falling Like Tears" - this is a more literal translation of the title of Studio Ghibli's classic anime "Omoide Poro Poro", better known as "Only Yesterday" in English. Having finally got around to watching it, I was left with a couple of burning questions: "why the heck did I take so long to get to this" and "how did they manage to pick such a lacklustre English title?"

While the Japanese title comes off as a tad overdramatic, there are obvious cues that could have been taken from its encapsulation of the narrative structure of the film as well its potential to ...
Jun 18, 2022
Mixed Feelings
Aharen-san wa Hakarenai is quite a strange anime that's hard to place in a genre. Drama? It's not very dramatic. In fact it's about as far from dramatic as can be. Slice-of-life? Perhaps, but most of what's happening on screen is so stupid it bears little resemblance to anything that can conceivably happen in everyday life. I see some sources have it down as "comedy" but I think that must be some sort of mistake as there's hardly any jokes in the show. Most of the time it just lumbers along lethargically while the main character Raido provides monotonous, droning commentary about what's going on ...
Jun 2, 2022
Island (Anime) add
Mixed Feelings
Island is curious specimen of anime. It's one of those shows where the overall score does little to inform you of what the show is like. Despite the middle-of-the-road score I'm dishing out, very little of Island is middle-of-the-road: most of the time it's either bad or good.

Island is about a guy who wakes up naked on the beach of Urushima Island with vague memories of being a time traveller who's supposed to save and kill some people. For generation after generation, the same three powerful families shared control over the island, and our amnesiac soon gets himself tangled up with the current heirs of ...
Apr 3, 2022
The second season of Attack On Titan goes up and down like a rollercoaster; not just in terms of story but also quality.

The story of the original season began with titans breaching Wall Maria, and the second season opens with a mirroring storyline about titans appearing within the confines of Wall Rose, and the Survey Corps are forced to investigate the breach.

And that's far from the only similarity between the seasons. While Studio Wit bizarrely waited four years before attempting to follow up on their incredible success with the first season, the second season turns out to follow quite closely in its predecessor's footsteps. ...
Mar 26, 2022
Mixed Feelings
Cute-Girls-Doing-Cute-Things slice-of-life anime usually comes in two flavours. The first one focuses on the Cute-Girls-Doing-Cute-Things bit, smothering the viewer in moe candy floss that offers little nutritional value beyond the saccharine. I call these the K-On Klones. The second type actually gets what the slice-of-life genre is all about. These anime use the Cute-Girls-Doing-Cute-Things merely as a premise as they go about bringing into focus the sublime facets of life through the lens of the mundane.

The question is, which category does Akebi's Sailor Uniform fall into?

The show follows Akebi Komichi as she enters the all-girls middle school Roubai Academy. Growing up in the countryside, Akebi ...
Mar 19, 2022
Humans have reigned at the top of the food chain for a long time now. Other predators like sharks and bears might rip us apart if we have to engage them in a fist fight, but in reality we kill far more of them than they do us. But! What if that's no longer the case? What if something replaces us at the top and start preying on us? This is the conceit that "Attack On Titan" builds upon, and does it so compellingly that it became one of the few shows to break through the walls of anime fandom into mainstream consciousness.
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