Category Archives: Review

Love Live! – Review

Posted on by

YOU CAN’T STOP THESE IDOLS. Yep, I reviewed Love Live! for ANN, and it turns out Love Live! is totally great. I’d watched this series back over the spring/summer as well, but I actually enjoyed it even more watching it this second time. I think even just that recently, I was kind of holding stuff that didn’t fall within my usual genre wheelhouse at arm’s length – “yeah, it’s pretty good, but it’s still a silly idol show.” Nah, that’s dumb. Love Live! has really sharp storytelling and production, and is just a relentlessly enjoyable show in general. It’s funny and endearing and crazy polished, and I’m looking forward to hopefully reviewing the second season too.

My full review is available over at ANN. My clearly indispensable episodic notes are all below!

Continue reading →

Log Horizon S1 – Review

Posted on by

Preview week’s done, so we’re back on the review train! I actually watched most of this back over winter break, in a rigorous three-day marathon of Smooth Nyanta and friends. The show remains as compelling in its worldbuilding and lukewarm in its aesthetics as it did the first time around, and is actually about as marathon-able as a show can probably be. This second viewing didn’t really illuminate any themes I missed the first time around, but goddamnit if that was going to keep me from taking a bunch of notes anyway.

Here’s my full ANN review, covering about halfway through the People of the Land conference. Full notes are below!

Continue reading →

Sword Art Online Extra Edition – Review

Posted on by

Pretty happy with this one. Not the show itself – Extra Edition’s a hot sack of garbage, there’s no reason to watch it. But I think the review itself gave me a pretty cathartic opportunity to give one last goodbye to SAO… at least until season three comes out. Or until I have to review season two’s blurays. Or until…

Alright, maybe SAO isn’t actually done with me at all. Still, I had fun with this review, and I have to say I’ve really developed a fondness for the show in spite of it all. Until we meet again, Sword Art Online.

My full ANN review is available here. My copious fanservice special notes are below!

Continue reading →

Chaika the Coffin Princess: Avenging Battle – Review

Posted on by

Another review is out! This time I hit Chaika’s second half, which entertained me plenty in spite of its problems. Chaika definitely remained reliably entertaining this season, but it’s a shame it didn’t get the extra couple episodes it needed to really nail the dismount. Maybe a little rejiggering of the Gaz’s Island arc could have also made space for a proper conclusion… but who knows. Either way, at least we’ll always have all those wonderful Chaika gifs.

You can check out the full ANN review here!

Chaika

Genshiken Second Season Vol. 1 – Review

Posted on by

Aw shit what’s all this I’m reviewing manga now too. Genshiken is one of my favorites, which makes it a kinda funny thing to review – it’s weird to be giving something you consider one of your favorite works a bunch of A-minuses and B-pluses and whatnot. But yeah, Genshiken’s great, the sequel starts strong, and reviewing manga is a lot of fun.

My full ANN review is available here. I also took a bunch of notes, which you can check out below!

Continue reading →

Aldnoah.Zero – Review

Posted on by

And the hits keep coming! Well… the reviews do, at least. “Hit” might be a stretch.

Poor Aldnoah – you started with such promise, and yet every new episode felt like another brick removed from your Jenga-tower of potential. At least the final toppling was entertaining – like with Kyoukai no Kanata, it was actually pretty cathartic seeing the finale of a show I’d entered with such expectations explode into such absurd, self-immolating nonsense. In the end, a show I’d hoped would be Urobuchi’s triumphant return ended up being just one more strong reminder that most people are not very good at building off his work. Ah well, at least there’s still Expelled from Paradise to look forward to…

You can check out the full ANN review here.

Aldnoah.Zero

The Flowers of Evil – Review

Posted on by

Oh man, this was something. This was actually the first work I was assigned to review on ANN, but it took me a while to get around to it and a while to get through it. Flowers of Evil is a heavy, oppressive thing, but it’s so, sooo good. I did my best to capture what makes it such a rich experience in my review, and would recommend anyone who’s heard mixed things to at least give it a shot. It’s a pretty tremendous show.

Here’s my full ANN review. My copious episodic notes are below!

Continue reading →

Dragonball Z: Battle of the Gods – Review

Posted on by

Yep, another extremely random movie review from me. Hey, they can’t all be winners. This one actually wasn’t so bad – it’s basically a bunch of Dragonball-style jokes followed by some Z-but-with-actual-animation fights, so if you have any lingering fondness for Dragonball, it’s not the worst way to spend an afternoon. The film doesn’t take itself particularly seriously, which makes the whole experience actually pretty enjoyable. And the new villain is a lazy cat, and cats are great, so, uh, there’s your recommendation.

Dragonball Z

Bayonetta: Bloody Fate – Review

Posted on by

Yeah yeah yeah. This movie’s about as crap as you’d expect, but a job’s a job. If anyone who reads my site is somehow legitimately curious about how good the friggin’ Bayonetta movie is, I go about as in-depth as anyone could reasonably be expected to on this artless tie-in. It’s honestly not the worst thing – it’s certainly tacky and dumb, but it at least has an actual personality. If that personality were backed up by solid animation, you’d have a decent schlock action movie – as is, it looks a whole lot more like a cynical cash grab. Good times!

Bayonetta

Nadeko Medusa – Review

Posted on by

THAT’S RIGHT. I’m now ANN’s resident Monogatari specialist. I was really excited to write this one, and am really happy with how it came out – I feel like I finally got to stretch a bit in my writing at ANN, and am looking forward to doing big damn riffs on the rest of the season. I already covered Nadeko to a degree in both my season two episodic posts and final essay on the series, but it’s nice to have a full piece to dedicate to both her character and the really compelling ways this arc portrays and develops it. Fun times with our favorite crazy snake girl!

Monogatari