Category Archives: Review

Symphogear GX – Review

Posted on by

And we’re back! After a brief detour to watch every friggin’ episode of K-On!, I’ve returned to finally catch up on the summer’s most symphogear of attractions. I had fun with this one, but honestly didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the last two, and for pretty predictable reasons. The most structurally understandable reason is that this season went for something Symphogear has historically not been terribly good at – more investment in its actual narrative and character journeys. But even that would have worked well enough if the show had stuck the landing, and personally I felt the last few episodes of this season were some of the weakest of the show so far. It particularly hurt that the show knocked off all the Autoscorers before the finale – they were always more fun to battle with than Carol herself, who basically just battled with DBZ beams. But still, Symphogear is Symphogear. I enjoyed this season well enough, and I’ll probably enjoy the next one too.

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

Continue reading →

Wolf Children and the Wilderness

Posted on by

I wish I had more interesting things to say about Wolf Children. I wish I could dedicate a spiraling essay to unpacking its secrets… but that’s not really the kind of movie it is. The film doesn’t hide anything – it’s a movie about mothers and their children, about struggling and making it through, about time and patience and joy and grief. None of these themes truly dominate the film, because the film is about the lives of a few people, and life has a lot of themes. But they work beautifully in concert, garnishing the sturdy core of a quietly perfect story.

Continue reading →

A Silent Voice, Volume 3 – Review

Posted on by

And I’m back to reviewing Silent Voice, with a volume that did a great deal with very little. These chapters felt more constrained in focus than the previous ones, but that actually worked for this story – because of that, we were able to get an incredibly close read on Shoya’s feelings, complete with expressive sequences of physical awkwardness and fully realized internal monologues. This is the sort of stuff I love when it’s done well, and Silent Voice is doing it very, very well. We’re not currently getting the equal glimpse into Shoko’s feelings that I’m eventually hoping for, but if the story stays this good, I’m fine with it sticking close to Shoya and presenting the people around him as figures we have to pull together out of his limited emotional reads. Good stories told well are always alright by me.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes after the cut!

Continue reading →

Blood Blockade Battlefront – Review

Posted on by

Aw dang I reviewed the Nightow-Matsumoto monster mash. My ultimate feelings on the show are kinda negative, but that’s mainly the result of potentially overly high expectations. Matsumoto’s a genius, basically, and so I expect her works to be masterpieces. Instead we got a very aesthetically compelling series of adventure vignettes with some crappy humor that somewhat falls apart in its second half. Certainly not a bad thing, better than most shows you see, but basically nothing I’d place next to Kyousogiga. But it’s unfair to judge every show next to its creator’s first masterpiece, and so I’m hoping that going forward, I’ll be able to temper my expectations a bit and just accept that even the best directors don’t always make the best works.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, which is definitely more positive than this little blurb. Or you can check out my brief notes for the finale below!

Continue reading →

K-On!! – Review

Posted on by

I have returned back from the land of moe moe kyun, replete with riches and wonders from that distant place. Though most of these treasures come in the form of silly gifs.

Yep, I watched K-On!!, the double-length sequel to the original KyoAni blockbuster. And as many people hinted, the show definitely did improve in its second season – both the atmosphere and jokes were leaned into more completely and effectively, and the show’s final peaks had some startling emotional weight. The show is light viewing through most of its run, but very consistently funny, and its articulation of the melancholy of graduation beats out basically any other show I’ve seen. It feels like I experienced life at the pace these characters did, which was clearly the intent, and definitely not an easy feat to pull off. K-On!! feels effortless, but its craft is remarkable. Easy to enjoy, and also easy to appreciate as a high-quality production.

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

Continue reading →

Anthem of the Heart – Review

Posted on by

So yep, I went to see the new Okada movie. It was good! There were a couple loose dramatic choices here and there, but overall it was a very satisfying adolescent drama with some strong emotional peaks and a great soundtrack. The cast was likable and each got some nicely understated character moments, the animation did a great job of characterizing a protagonist who couldn’t actually speak, and the story landed well without slipping into any too-easy solutions. It wasn’t groundbreaking or heartrending or anything, but it was a solid story told well. I don’t want to dip into spoilers, but it also made for a weirdly appropriate accompaniment to last week’s Owarimonogatari – some of the lines from either could easily have been transposed from the other. And I also absolutely love this character designer’s style, so that was nice too.

You can check out my full review over ANN-a-way!

Anthem of the Heart

Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, Volume 7-8 – Review

Posted on by

I’m back for more Biscuit Hammer, and this volume… unfortunately couldn’t live up to the standards set by the last couple. It’s not that surprising, really – Biscuit Hammer has always been a compelling but wildly inconsistent production, and its victories come down to personality triumphing over craft more often than not. Biscuit Hammer is one of those weird stories that succeeds largely by ignoring storytelling fundamentals – when it works, it’s because some vague semblance of craft manages to attach itself to the story’s clear and ever-present talents for character writing and quirky execution, not because it’s a fully realized story executed with a confident understanding of how to actually tell one. I really, really like Biscuit Hammer, but I get the feeling that whatever this artist is working on three stories from now is going to be the real masterpiece. But I’m fine with this wacky-ass, aesthetically ridiculous, utterly heartfelt shounen drama until then.

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

Continue reading →

Inari Kon Kon – Review

Posted on by

Time for another show review! This time we’ve got Inari Kon Kon, which was… a show, I guess? It was watchable, but not much more – this one felt very overtly and almost awkwardly like a direct advertisement for the original manga, given its adaptation made zero use of anime as a medium and basically all the conflicts resolved in “go read the manga, available at a location near you.” That said, it was pretty much a harmless experience all around, and there were some cute moments between the central characters. It flopped as a romance or drama, but did reasonably well in depicting some friendships.

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

Continue reading →

The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Volume 2 – Review

Posted on by

I’m back on the manga train with more Ancient Magus’ Bride, as I review a second volume just as magical as the first. This is one of those manga where it’s hard to think of bad things to say about it – Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer is kind of scrappy, and even Bride’s Story can sometimes dither, but Ancient Magus’ Bride is just a beautiful production through and through. Hopefully that comes across in my review – I was going for a pretty specific tone in this one, and I think I hit it.

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

Continue reading →

K-On! – Review

Posted on by

Stepping back even further than Symphogear and Idolmaster, this week I reviewed the nameless moe beast itself, K-On! I was a firey young jerkoff the first time I watched K-On!, and dropped it a handful of episodes in, but this time I had a pretty good time with it. It wasn’t astonishingly good or anything, but it was a very enjoyable time, full of strong character animation and nice character-based gags. There were even a couple really heartfelt moments – most of these came from simple gestures of friendship between the characters, but the last, when Yui had to run to make it to their last performance, was a genuinely gripping sequence. K-On! probably won’t change your life, but it certainly works as a fuzzy temporary vacation from it.

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

Continue reading →