An American Writer's Thoughts on Japanese Animation

Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 18 (S2E7)

86 is a show that knows how to move deliberately. This episode was essentially entirely dedicated to buildup and setting the stage, with the actual attack on the “Morpho” rail cannon being saved for next week. Along the way, of course, we get loads of character building and some neat looks into the machinery of government and the military.

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Cyberpunk Road Trip with a Double Dose of What The Hell – Ergo Proxy Spoiler Review

Ergo Proxy is a show that goes through metamorphosis as you watch, sliding from one plot to another without ever really losing the core line of what made it interesting and unique. It’s a strange dive with a philosophical bent, the likes of which typically makes for great cyberpunk. Rather than talking more in abstract about the show, though, it seems prudent to jump right in.

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Seasonal Selection – Shikizakura Episode 6

All things considered, this show can be kind of charming. True, just about anybody who’s engaged with any sort of media has seen this plot a million times before, but for that one person who is experiencing the time-worn “plucky young outsider gets superpowers and steps up to save the day” storyline for the first time? They could have gotten far worse introductions to said tired outline that try less and achieve less than Shikizakura does. For the rest of us it remains the kind of thing where you can probably turn your brain off, but it’s acceptably entertaining in that regard.

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Tales from the Memory Hole – Pandora Hearts Spoiler Review

So, apparently there exists a show called Pandora Hearts. I put it that way because, despite having seen it and engaged with it, I often struggle to remember that this show exists, much less what its content was like. With effort I can summon recollections regarding Pandora Hearts, but honestly and for a different reason as is usual this is a hard one to review.

And the funny thing is, this doesn’t at all seem like it should be a forgettable show in any way. It features its main boy get banished to a strange and esoteric hell, only to team up with that dimension’s top dog, an entity known both as Alice (and styled as a palette-swapped Alice in Wonderland in her human form) and the Blood-Stained Black Rabbit (or B.Rabbit). Add in battles against gribbly monsters, time abnormalities, changed identities, delves into lost memory, and grand conspiracies and you would think you’d have a recipe for a show that would at least be memorable.

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Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 17 (S2E6)

In the Republic, the fighting has become fierce, with Lena managing a forward command post as the Alba citizens scatter in terror. But more than that, we’re concerned with that attack that hit the Federacy, and what it might mean for the eighty-six and their new homeland.

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I Did Not Sign Up For This Feels Trip – Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai Spoiler Review

“Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai”… The very title conjures a certain set of expectations, doesn’t it? Something seems very goofy about this. The perspective deepens when you hear the pitch, the show being about a more-or-less ordinary High School boy, Sakuta, helping a series of girls deal with strange phenomena caused by something called “Puberty Syndrome”. You can even start to watch the first episode, and it looks and feels a good deal like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, especially when you have the main character being fairly deadpan.

That sounds really plausible. All together, you’re being told, more or less, that you’re in for a Haruhi-esque Harem/Comedy with a “zany supernatural elements in the real world” vibe. If that’s what you’re being told, though, you are being lied to.

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