Category Archives: Review

Kizumonogatari – Review

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So now I’ve finally read some Monogatari in its “original” form. I was actually pretty worried I wouldn’t like this, and that the stuff I didn’t care for in the anime would be overwhelming in prose – but as it turns out, the opposite was true. Kizumonogatari is almost entirely the unfiltered good stuff, with its occasional dumb jokes eased by character voice and not slowed down by anime timing. I do like the visual world the Monogatari anime creates, but Kizu still “feels Monogatari” in almost all the ways that matter. I really enjoyed this read, and am eagerly looking forward to complaining about how the source material is better.

That was a joke, I’m not gonna do that. Don’t worry.

ANYWAY. You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my chapter notes below!

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A Silent Voice, Volume 4 – Review

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Dear lord is this manga painful sometimes. A Silent Voice is just way, way too good at capturing the exact truth of anxiety both as a personal issue and as it expresses itself in social situations. Shoya’s overthinking and self-doubt is something I can way too vividly relate to, and single moments like the way his chance meeting with an old “friend” completely steals his prior confidence make old scars tickle in a way I probably wouldn’t have been okay with a few years ago. But these characters are also deeply endearing for their own sake and really do care about each other, and so the pain is mitigated by all the lovely moments of connection. It’s a great damn story, and I am really trying my hardest not to freak out about Yamada’s adaptation.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my chapter notes below.

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Uncomedy and The Room

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So yep, I’m reviewing The Room. Famously terrible movie, known to be one of the most enjoyably poorly constructed productions of all time, now canonized through rifftracks performances and Rocky Horror-style midnight showings and all manner of other cult classic silliness. It’s honestly difficult to say much that hasn’t been said about The Room at this point – as far as truly horrible things go, this one has been pretty much analyzed and mocked as a movie and a phenomenon to the point of saturation. So what’s a poor, contractually bound media critic to do?

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Dragonar Academy – Review

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Yeah yeah, laugh it up. Clearly I had so much fun reviewing Strike Witches’ first episode that I needed a full series dose of High Quality Anime. Dragonar Academy was roughly as terrible as you’d imagine it to be, possessing essentially no redeeming factors whatsoever. It earns the distinct honor of being the worst full series I’ve ever reviewed for ANN, beating out such luminaries as the Bayonetta movie, Looking Up at the Half-Moon, and .hack//Legend of the Twilight. Congratulations, Dragonar Academy. You are basically as bad as a show can be.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my despairing notes below.

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Rokka, Episodes 1-4 – Review

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I finally got my hands on one of those wacky Ponycan releases! Their packaging is indeed very strange, and it looks like I’m going to have to store it sideways above my shelf or something, but unfortunately the show itself wasn’t quite as interesting. Rokka has a great first episode, but man does it ever tumble after that. I wouldn’t even be against it shifting from action-adventure to slow-burning getting-to-know-you episodes in the abstract – that annoyed me the first time I watched it, but this time I knew what to expect. The real problem is that the actual dialogue is just so very, very bad. If you’re gonna make a character-focused fantasy piece, you really gotta sell those characters!

Anyway. You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my episode notes below!

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My Hero Academia, Volume 2 – Review

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And we’re back to Shounen Jump, picking up the latest volume of My Hero Academia. The manga really kicked into high gear in this volume – nearly every chapter was studded with exciting fights and new power debuts, and even the quiet moments demonstrated a welcome grasp of pacing and understated character writing. My Hero Academia isn’t a story I’d point to as a great character piece (cough Silent Voice cough), but I really appreciate how its characters are given the right to be reasonable. These are talented kids who’ve worked hard, and they express that in every scene of congratulating their classmates for putting out a strong effort or recognizing the importance of a positive attitude over straightforward power. Couple that with the bulletproof visual execution, and My Hero Academia presents an immensely satisfying experience.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my chapter notes below!

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Forgiveness For When Marnie Was There

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It’s hard to forgive. As self-focused creatures, we want to believe in a just world, one that will repay our pain with some equal kindness or justice. When we are wronged by others, when we are abandoned or let down, we don’t want to simply accept that pain as the cost of engagement. We want others to understand how much they’ve hurt us, and to give us back the hurt they’ve caused. Forgiveness means acknowledging that things aren’t fair, and that sometimes we must give more than we take, and that embracing others in spite of pain is a constant wager of sacrifice, a road on which the friction of disappointment may one day wear down the strength of our love.

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Black Lagoon – Review

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Yep, I reviewed Black Lagoon. The whole damn thing, too – the first season, the Second Barrage, and even Roberta’s Blood Trail. No half measures here, I watched twenty-nine goddamn episodes of gunslinging and explosions. And how was it?

Eh, it was pretty okay. My initial feelings on the show weren’t substantially shifted by finishing it – the show’s attempts at seriousness were still both overwrought and deeply undercut by its absurd villains, and ultraviolence for its own sake remains Not My Thing. But the storytelling actually improved a fair bit in the show’s final third, which was a nice reward for my time. It certainly doesn’t mean I’d recommend the show, but I always appreciate how having to watch something I wouldn’t normally watch for review ends up establishing these interesting, unexpected media relationships.

Anyway. You can check out my megasized review over at ANN, or my many, many notes below!

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A Bride’s Story – Volume 6

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And we’re back on the manga train, with the second-to-newest installment of one of the many excellent series I’ve been covering. This volume of Bride’s Story applied all the manga’s usual strengths to exactly the kind of dramatic peaks I’d been hoping for, and the results were absolutely spectacular. The hardest part of reviewing this volume was trying to think of something bad to say, and in the end I just couldn’t. This volume was basically perfect, and certainly one of the single most beautiful volumes of manga I’ve ever read. Great work, Kaoru Mori.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!

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K-On! The Movie – Review

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And to the surprise of no-one, my return visit to K-On! ends with the girls’ trip to London. This film wasn’t as strong as the show’s second season, but it was still relatively enjoyable; there was some retreading of material and some kinda awkwardly stretched-out sequences, but also a bunch of great jokes and some legitimately moving moments as well. Some of the London gags were great, like the very silly room-switch joke with Azusa and Yui. And the last two performances, along with the girls’ run across their school’s rooftop in between them, were extremely strong. I particularly liked Yui leaping off the stage into her classmates and then turning to play right back to the band – that reprise of the first season finale felt like a pretty beautiful capstone to their journey. K-On! is good, and this movie was pretty good too.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my movie notes below!

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