An American Writer's Thoughts on Japanese Animation

Cry Me a River – True Tears Spoiler Review

We’ve had a lot of craziness in this Back to School month, haven’t we? Insane clubs, ninjas, time travel, and giant warships aside, it’s time for something relatable in the school experience, curses! I’m sure everyone either cast or endured a curse or two back in… um… just me then?

Anyway, True Tears. Technically, this is another School Love Polygon Visual Novel based anime, except if literally any source on the matter is correct, True Tears the anime has absolutely nothing to do with True Tears the VN beyond licensing the name, so there are no excuses. Does it manage to soar with the freedom of being an original property masquerading as a tie-in, or does it fall into one of those two pits you’re supposed to dig when messing with black magic? Let’s find out!

Read More…Read More…

Hello, Sailor – High School Fleet Spoiler Review

The Sailor Uniform is easily one of the most recognizable variants of Japanese schoolgirl uniform. Though it has many variants and of course only superficially resembles actual naval dress, it certainly is iconic. There are entire anime shows dedicated to the relative prop, and its appearance easily marks a character as what she is supposed to be. I guess it was only a matter of time until somebody decided the schoolgirls should earn their outfits.

Enter High School Fleet, a show that takes cute girls in sailor uniforms and has them… actually sail.

Read More…Read More…

Back to School, and Back Again – Sakurada Reset Spoiler Review

Time Travel anime. Much like Video Game Anime (aside from the Visual Novel set) have a bad habit of coming out mediocre at best, Time Travel shows have an odd habit of turning out really well. That isn’t to say there aren’t exceptions: RErideD was a notable flop, and not everything else is uniformly great, so despite the topic garnering at least a little interest on its own, the piece does still have to deliver.

This is especially true when you start to get into the genre soup category. Time travel show? Sounds fun, let’s see if that’s right. Schoolkids, mysteries, superpowers for everyone and time regression is involved? It sounds like Sakurada Reset.

Read More…Read More…

Yer a Ninja, Ittoki – Shinobi no Ittoki Spoiler Review

Ninjas are cool. School settings are cool. Therefore, school ninjas should be perfectly doable! Sure, Senran Kagura made a poor anime, but the game was fine. Surely this concept can be used elsewhere.

Enter Shinobi no Ittoki, the story of a normal overworked schoolboy who finds out he’s a ninja about as abruptly as Harry Potter learns he’s a wizard. And like Potter, he’s got to go to school to live up to that powerful proclamation.

Read More…Read More…