An American Writer's Thoughts on Japanese Animation

Deus est Machina – Kamisama Dolls Spoiler Review

“Hidden Gems” are an interesting topic. On one side, it’s always exciting to find – or think you’ve found – something really great and entertaining that not a lot of people have noticed. On the other hand, the breadth of media consumers are often pretty good at picking up on works that are top notch in all regards, meaning that if there really was little to no buzz, rather than the “finder” just happening to miss the circles that got excited, the material is usually a diamond in the rough at best. Sure, it’s possible that meta problems like a lack of marketing or troubled release could hide something really grand, but more often there’s this impetus to call “hidden gem!” on something that’s either not as hidden as you think it is or only a gem compared to having zero expectations.

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Foxy Lady – Kanokon Spoiler Review

Well, here’s a little show you probably won’t find unless you’re looking for it. Kanokon is a very ecchi romance featuring, at its core, first-year high school student (who looks like he’s ten. Awkward.) Kota, who is pursued by his beautiful upperclasswoman Chizuru… who is actually a kitsune. The perils of interspecies dating and the hesitance of a lead drawn and written younger than he canonically is are made all the more complicated by the arrival of other more or less horny Yokai into the situation.

Maybe you got here looking for the “Also ran” to Rosario + Vampire or Actually, I Am. Maybe you were seeking Omamori Himari without that bothersome Urban Fantasy Action plot. Me? I’m a reviewer, I have to go dredging through lesser known titles of ill repute now and again. Well, let’s not waste any more time and dig into this one.

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Radioactive Rescue – Coppelion Spoiler Review

Coppelion is the story of a trio of genetically engineered schoolgirls performing search and rescue in the post-apocalyptic wreckage of Tokyo.  That should already be at least a little intriguing, but Haruhi knows there are countless ways it could go and only a finite number of those are good.

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Here we go time looping again… and again… and again – Summertime Render Spoiler Review

If you’re interested in Summertime Render and haven’t read or watched it yet, you should probably go before the cut. I know you probably won’t, because you’re here on a spoiler review site to read a spoiler review, but consider this a starting endorsement of the material: I think it’s worthwhile to experience. I think it will still be worthwhile to experience if you do go ahead and spoil yourself here, but I know some people are of different opinions when it comes to how much damage this sort of thing does or doesn’t do to their enjoyment.

For the uninitiated, who are wondering what the hell I’m even talking about, the basic pitch is this: a boy, Shinpei, returns to the island where he grew up to attend the funeral of his adoptive sister/big-time crush, Ushio. As tragic as that may be, once back home Shinpei discovers a much darker plot, and ends up going through several time loop iterations while attempting to solve the crisis, as told in either twenty-five episodes of anime or six big thick volumes of manga.

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How we got to more card games – Z/X Ignition Spoiler Review

Here I go with the Card Game anime again. Don’t worry, though: unlike last week’s entry, this isn’t one that’s about playing card games, but rather an entry that takes the same route as Luck & Logic and tries to present what I guess is the story behind the card game.

To that… I know basically nothing about Z/X. I know it’s a game, and that its branded merch like sleeves and deck boxes have often been on clearance, but I don’t know the first thing about how it plays or what its cards are like. Instead, I’m going into this anime basically sight unseen.

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