Forward, GO! The year is 2035. A declining birth rate has forced the closure of many schools, simply because there are not enough students. Seioh High School remains open, but morale is low. Manami “Manabi” Amamiya is an energetic, cheerful girl who tries to do her best at everything. On the day she transferred to […]
Now with twice as many exclamation points!! K-On!!is, quite obviously, the sequel to K-ON! I knew by the end of the first season that there would be a sequel. It just didn’t feel complete yet. Naturally, I was right. The first season was about the girls’ first two years of high school, and the second […]
By Xboltz I wasn’t going to watch the remake of NGE, since the original wasn’t exactly my thing. But I ended up watching it anyway… Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone is the first in a series of four films that retell the story told in NGE. This first film is […]
An Anime Review, by Xbolt I watched the movie Inceptionand thought it was a nice piece of work. The premise alone was very interesting. A few weeks later, I watched Paranoia Agent. That was cool. Then, I looked at what else the director had done. Paprika came up, and after reading the premise, I said: […]
Touhou Project Side Story is a Touhou anime that was released in 2007, predating A Summer Day’s Dream by a year. Unlike A Summer Day’s Dream, which was exceptionally good for a doujin product, Touhou Project Side Story should have had the subtitle “How Not To Make An Anime.” It featured bad character designs, worse […]
Anime Review, by Xbolt Paranoia Agent starts out like your typical detective story: A series of attacks by a mysterious assailant, known only as “Shounen Bat.” As Bat-Boy beats up more people with his golden bat, then rollerblades away from the scene, two detectives are on the case. And then, the story takes a turn […]
Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem is a feature-length visual representation of Daft Punk’s album, Discovery. The animated musical film was produced by Daft Punk along with Toei Animation, under the supervision of Leiji Matsumoto – creator of several anime and manga series, space operas in particular. If you don’t know about […]
An Anime Review by Xbolt Record of Lodoss War came out in 1990, thus taking the crown of the oldest anime I have watched thus far. It was introduced to me as “basically Dungeons & Dragons: The Anime.” And that’s quite true. The complicated story line of Lodoss War borrows heavily from The Lord of […]
Cromartie High is just about he best darn comedic show I’ve ever seen. Everything in this show seems geared specifically towards me. Rampant randomness, deadpan humor, general awesomeness. The over-the-top dramatic art style only serves to increase its power level. Takashi Kamiyama has just enrolled in high school. Not just any high school, Cromartie High […]
At long last. After four years, episode 2 has come upon us. It’s a little light on the plot-sauce, (especially given how long we waited for it,) but the jokes were fun, and made me chuckle. The art and animation is much improved as well. In addition to the cast of the first episode, we […]
Valkyria Chronicles is based on a video game of the same name. As I have never played it, I cannot say how closely the anime follows the game’s plot. But no matter. Valkyria Chronicles is set in the year 1935, on the continent of Europa. (The technology is also equivalent to our real world technology […]
The name “Bakemonogatari” comes from two root words. Bakemono, meaning monster, and monogatari, meaning story. The story centers on Koyomi Araragi, a high school student who is 90% human again after briefly becoming a vampire as a result of an attack. One day, Hitagi Senjogahara, a classmate who never talks to anyone, falls down a […]
(Anime Review by Teri O.) Honey and Clover is a comedic drama that combines heartfelt storytelling with a unique visual style. The voice acting, pacing, and soundtrack are all excellent. Like its name, the anime is down-to-earth and super sweet. It also has deeper themes geared towards high school and college aged youth. Honey and […]
Anime Review by Xbolt Angel Beats! (what is it with exclamation points in titles?) was written by guys from Key Visual Arts, who made Air, Kanon, and Clannad. It fits somewhere between Air and Kanon in regards to how much I enjoyed it. Angel Beats! was good, but it could have been better. The visuals and soundtrack […]
WOOHOOO!! Singerrrrs…Innn….SPAAACE!!! The year is 2059. Mankind is out wandering the galaxy, looking for hospitable planets to colonize. In the beginning of the show, a reconnaissance unit sent to an unexplored asteroid belt is destroyed by a swarm of alien biomechanical insects, called the Vajra. The Vajra then start attacking the rest of the fleet. […]
When I started watching Serial Experiments Lain, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I only barely glimpsed at the overview before starting. (I actually picked this one up because the name just sounds cool, and so is the cover art.) From the cover art, I thought this might be a horror anime. “Boo […]
And finally, the third and final piece of the FMP! trilogy. After Fumoffu, TSR goes back to the tension and drama of the original. More so, even. If Fumoffu represented just the hilarity of the original, TSR represents mostly the military action. Some hilarious scenes, but not nearly as many as the original. So it […]
Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu is a companion series to the anime series Full Metal Panic! Recall how I said that FMP! was funny because Sousuke was so totally socially inept, and found a terrorist threat in everything? Fumoffu turns that up to 11. Whether it’s blowing up a suspicious love letter in a shoe locker, […]
This full length anime film based on the Haruhi Suzumiya franchise is one of my top ten favorite animes. December 16th. Christmas is one week away, and Haruhi decides to throw a Christmas party. She’s going to bring home-cooked food. December 18th. Haruhi has apparently vanished from the face of the Earth. Kyon is the […]
Full Metal Panic! follows Sergeant Sousuke Sagara, a military specialist working for Mithril, a secret anti-terrorist organization. He is tasked with guarding Kaname Chidori, an ordinary high school girl who may not actually be totally ordinary. Oh, and it has big mech fights. I like FMP! for the fact that it doesn’t take itself too […]
“Blood: The Last Vampire” is horror movie. Normally I don’t watch horror movies, but I watched this one because I read one of the light novel adaptations several months ago. My Dad got it out of the college library for some reason unknown to me, and then I read it after him. And I liked […]
Toradora! (don’t forget that exclamation mark) is your standard anime about normal people, who do normal things. No metaphysics to see here! But I thought it was a fun anime. It’s a comedy show, but it has a story to it that can get dramatic at times too. Which is a good thing. Ryuji Takasu […]