Another week has come and gone, and once again, I have a loose pile of assorted media experiences to share with you. While my anime season continues to largely consist of Eizouken and Chihayafuru, I also churned through several movies this week, and have been replaying one of my favorite games of the past several years. I’m hoping to get back to the theaters as the winter doldrums eventually lets up, but for now, we continue our charge through the Netflix collection, supplemented by a unique horror anthology. Let’s get to it!
Category Archives: Week in Review
Winter 2020 – Week 4 in Review
Alright folks, settle in for the Week in Review! Once again, the fact that I’m already writing about all the anime I’m watching elsewhere means we’ll be diving into non-animated attractions this week, as I run through David Lynch films, wuxia dramas, and a novel new war epic. I’ve got a whole film canon to catch up on, and though my journey may be rambling, I’m committed to marching through it all. Without further ado, let’s explore some new movies in the Week in Review!
Winter 2020 – Week 3 in Review
Well folks, it’s Wednesday again. Normally, this is when I offer some scattered thoughts on the previous week in streaming anime, but for this season, that process seems kind of superfluous. I’m currently watching My Hero Academia, Chihayafuru, and Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, and among the three of them, I’m already writing episodic articles about each new Chihayafuru and Eizouken article. I doubt anyone’s particularly excited about hearing me dutifully report on My Hero Academia’s extremely loyal and generally unremarkable adaptation each week, so instead I’d like to expand my focus a bit, and talk about some of the non-anime media I’ve gotten to recently. I’ve been making a concerted effort to watch more acclaimed films and whatnot, and if I can’t turn all that personal fulfillment into Content, then what the heck am I doing?
Winter 2020 – Virtually Every First Episode Retrospective
Well, 2020 has arrived, and we’re somehow all still here. Along with our own continued existence, it seems the anime industry has also persisted into the new decade, and has already blessed us with an unceasing spray of mostly mediocre productions. Fortunately for all of you, I have found a way to convert my increasing disillusionment regarding this art form into cold hard cash, a process that, as a byproduct, results in a staggering number of premiere reviews. Seriously, I’ve been doing this for over half a decade now, so that’s like… well into the hundreds… hmmm…
Alright, don’t really want to think about that. Instead, let’s get on to the day’s critical business – breaking down the 2020 winter anime season! Having reviewed nearly every single new premiere for ANN’s preview guide, I’m at last prepared to sort the season’s attractions from best to worst, grouping them into handy-dandy categories along the way. I’ll be including brief breakdowns of my thoughts here, and you can also click on any of the titles to be linked to the full ANN review page, where you can find my thoughts under Nick Creamer (which is my name). Without further ado, let’s run down the new anime season!
Winter 2020 First Impressions, Part One
Preview week has begun, and 2020 is starting off strong! I’m currently still riding the high of Masaaki Yuasa’s Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, a premiere I watched twice yesterday and will likely watch again today. But even beyond Yuasa returning to dazzle us once more, the season’s been quite impressive so far on all fronts – Somali and the Forest Spirit turned out to be just as charming and beautiful as I’d hoped, and Ei Aoki’s ID: Invaded had an impressively inventive premiere. As usual, you can check out the full list of reviews so far right here, or look below for my own scores and links to individual reviews. Let’s bring in the new year with some great new cartoons!
Fall 2019 – Week 10 in Review
Well folks, it’s just about that time again. Wednesday has arrived once more, and though I’m currently buried under a variety of end-of-year lists and other assorted projects, the ongoing anime season still demands a moment of reflection. The anime was quite good this week, on the whole – My Hero Academia seems to finally be realizing the dramatic potential of the Overhaul arc, while Stars Align and Vinland Saga remained as reliably excellent as ever. There’s plenty to discuss and never enough time, so let’s jump right into another Week in Review!
Fall 2019 – Week 9 in Review
Hello all, and welcome back for another Week in Review! The year’s winding down at this point, meaning I’m grappling with a variety of year-end summaries and lists and whatnot, and am happy to report it’s been a pretty solid year in anime. I believe Mob Psycho 100, Carole & Tuesday, and Stars Align are currently wrestling for the top of my annual listings, but there’s a fair number of other fine contenders as well, and I still need to find the time to finish off overlooked shows like O Maidens. Meanwhile, this season’s own airing anime continued in its reliable fashion, as My Hero Academia at last entered the punchy part of its new arc, as Vinland Saga put the breaks on its own relative punchiness. There’s plenty to discuss and never enough time to do it, so let’s dive into another Week in Anime!
Fall 2019 – Week 8 in Review
Alright folks, it’s time for one more Week in Review. We’re actually reaching the late stages of the season now, though it doesn’t really feel like that. Stars Align is the only show I’m watching that’s formally concluding at the end of this season, and yet Stars Align also feels like it could go on forever – its team has only participated in one actual match so far, and all of its characters still have stories to tell. Meanwhile, My Hero Academia’s third season has only just finished clearing its throat, while Vinland Saga and Legend of the Galactic Heroes continue with the stately confidence of adaptations that know they’ll be sticking around for a while. I actually fell behind on LoGH this week, but I’ll hopefully be making up for that blurb’s absence with the sheer volume of writing I’ve assembled for this week’s other episodes. Let’s get to it!
Fall 2019 – Week 7 in Review
I really don’t know how this happened, but somehow we have arrived at Wednesday once again. With the overall year drifting into its final stages, I find myself once more buried under a variety of seasonal projects, as I start to hack away at top tens and bottom fives and whatever else the ceaseless content mill demands of me. Additionally, this happens to be a uniquely consequential year, as it signals the end of a full decade in… well, reality I guess, but more specifically anime. While I try to marshal my thoughts regarding the inherently panic-inducing last ten years of my life, I hope you all enjoy reading my latest thoughts on the week’s new cartoons. Let’s get to it!
Fall 2019 – Week 6 in Review
Pack it on in folks, it’s time for the Week in Review! We’ve somehow arrived at the season’s halfway point, and though this year’s increasingly rapid succession of days is a source of constant terror for me, it’s also a source of NEW CARTOONS! Today I’ve got plenty of new episodes to talk about, having finally caught up on Vinland Saga, and I’m eager to share all my hip-fired opinions with you fine people. From My Hero Academia at last starting its engine to Stars Align demonstrating some remarkable sports drama finess, we’ve got plenty to discuss regarding this week’s episodes. Let’s get to work!