An American Writer's Thoughts on Japanese Animation

Takeru Shirogane’s Wild Ride, Anime Edition – Muv Luv Alternative Season 2 Spoiler Review

Another year, another season of the troubled Muv Luv Alternative anime has come and gone. For those just joining us, I looked at the first two visual novels, the Alternative Visual Novel, and the first season of this show last year. I will try my best to keep this newbie-friendly, but we are talking about season two of an adaption of part 3 of a saga, so into this review some references must fall.

Read More…Read More…

In the Name of the (Blood) Moon – Lunar Legend Tsukihime Anime Spoiler Review

Last week I ended up wishing for a better vampire. Well, no matter what else I can say about Lunar Legend Tsukihime, I will get at least that – not difficult given the bar that was set. Was my search vindicated, or did I wish on a horrifying monkey paw with predictable results? Let’s find out.

Before really digging in, I feel the need to mention that I have not actually read/played the Tsukihime visual novel. I say this because, despite not being a player, I’m all too aware that fans of the VN absolutely despise this adaptation. Unlike Muv Luv Alternative where I could talk intelligently about what was or wasn’t done in taking the original medium and bringing it to the screen, I’m approaching this as an anime-only viewer, someone who went in knowing only the vaguest of snippets from the broader Nasuverse.

Read More…Read More…

Prophecy of a Failed Vampire – A Dark Rabbit Has Seven Lives Spoiler Review

Let’s talk about Vampires. Few mythical creatures seem to have captured quite as much worldwide attention as the blood-sucking undead. Perhaps it’s because they’re a resonant idea when used for horror – a monster that is active when most humans are vulnerable and that acts as a predator on humanity. Perhaps it’s because there’s a lot of baked-in sexuality to the modern vampire (as well as many mythical predecessors), evoking some pretty deep fantasies.

Or perhaps it’s because they’re versatile – as might be guessed from those first two points, there’s a huge range of possibilities with vampires, from the zombie-like infected of I am Legend (the original book, mind you), to the charming but deadly children of the night that come to us from Bram Stoker, Anne Rice, and Vampire: the Masquerade; from neighborhood nobodies as with Call of the Night’s Nazuna Nanakusa to terrifying powerhouses like Kizumonogatari’s Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade. There are a lot of ways to do Vampires. So it’s kind of frustrating when we get a vampire show where you could call the vampire just about any supernatural name and have it stick just as well.

Read More…Read More…

Equivalent Exchange – Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Spoiler Review

In history, the “Magnum Opus” or “Great Work” was a term for the alchemical pursuit of the protoscience’s greatest goals, particularly the Philosopher’s Stone and the process it would make capable, turning base metal into gold. It was thought to be a process of iterative refinement, not just for the raw materials that would be worked into higher forms, but spiritually for the alchemist himself, becoming a purer being closer to the divine with each step, the creation of the stone and the betterment of the self inexorably intertwined with the causal link unclear.

Take what you will from that factoid, it’s time to look at Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Read More…Read More…

Seasonal Selection – Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte Episode 1

Comedy is subjective. Well, there are some parts that do have objective qualities, but not everyone is going to react to the same comedy in the same way. What one person finds laugh-out-loud funny another person can find absolutely torturous or downright offensive. For instance, I absolutely loathed “Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro” to the point where I had to bail after just a single episode, making it to-date the only show that I absolutely could not get through even to review it.

I mention because this season’s show, Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte is very much a comedy. One that in its first episode I have found to be darn funny, even as it promises, somewhat, to have a little more of a plot.

Read More…Read More…

Dante’s Gate – Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) Spoiler Review

“Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy’s first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days we really believed that to be the world’s one and only truth.”

That one little speech is, for many Anime fans of my age, one of the most emblematic of their early experience with the medium. The 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist anime isn’t just a classic; it’s notable as a pioneer and gateway for tons of fans. And so, it was inevitable that I would have to delve into it on this blog some time.

Read More…Read More…