Tag Archives: Manga

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 →

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 →

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 →

A Silent Voice, Volume Two – Review

Posted on by

Back to Silent Voice, which mercifully got a lot less consistently depressing in this second volume! Fortunately the character work stayed just as strong, making this easily one of the most engaging dramas I’ve checked out recently. Strong art, very strong writing, lots of nice background details… just a whole lot to enjoy in Silent Voice. It’s gonna be tough waiting for each volume to get released now.

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

Continue reading →

A Bride’s Story, Vol. 5 – Review

Posted on by

Yep, reviewing more Bride’s Story. It’s nice to have more good manga to return to, so I’m trying to build up a bit of a stable of properties – Genshiken, Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer, etc. This volume was classic Bride’s Story, returning from the high drama of volume three and comedy of volume four to the mellow slice of life that’s the story’s bread and butter. It’s where the manga feels most comfortable, but I honestly wouldn’t mind a bit more direction in the storytelling – but either way, Bride’s Story is an excellent manga with plentiful strengths, and they’re fully on display in this volume.

You can check out my full review over at ANN!

A Bride's Story

My Hero Academia, Volume 1 – Review

Posted on by

Back to the manga pile, this time for something a little outside of my usual fare. My Hero Academia is textbook Shonen Jump, but I can dig that if it’s executed well, and this one’s very polished. It’s extremely readable, the premise offers lots of fun character-design potential, and the art is excellent. I’m guessing/hoping it’ll gain a bit more personality as it goes along, but it’s also just nice to have a more diverse selection of manga to be keeping an active eye on. I’ll be sticking with this one.

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

Continue reading →

Summer 2015 – Week 9 in Review

Posted on by

Wednesday has come again! It’s time to talk about cartoons and other very serious things.

Uniquely serious things at the moment, it turns out. “Anime is serious business” has lost some of its humor in light of last week being my final week with a day job. Right now, as of this week, anime is my business. My only business.

This is kind of terrifying! I can’t exactly say I’ve reached the point where I can go comfortably full-time on criticism and writing in general, but I can at least fake it for a while. Between my ANN work, my advertising money, and my Patreon support, I’m gonna try to make a go of this. Things are gonna be kinda tight for a while, but this also means I’ll have a whole lot more time to work on writing projects for all you guys, so hopefully this is one big step towards a pretty delightful future. If you’d like to support me in this grand experiment, please feel free to chip in a couple whatevers, though I also accept worried, half-disbelieving “good lucks”, or even confident ones.

A few people have asked if I’d be willing to proofread, edit, or review things on commission, and the answer is definitely yes. I’m going full freelance here, meaning I’m a mercenary with nothing to lose and everything to prove, meaning yes I will take your projects that sounds awesome. I’ll hopefully integrate ways to inquire about such things on the site in a more formal way shortly, but you can message me here, on twitter, on ask.fm, or on patreon if you’ve got anything you’d like to discuss. The one formal project I’m most concerned with getting off the ground is setting up communal support funds for specific shows – like, if ten people want me to start reviewing Eva episodes one by one, they actually have a convenient way to make that happen. I’ve got a whole big to-do list to run down there.

Speaking of formal projects, I’ve got one more surprise! People keep asking me when I’m going to play some videogames again, and that can finally be answered: a couple friends and I have just created 10 Royal Games, a channel where we’ll be playing through all manner of games and shooting the shit on whatever strikes our fancy. We’re starting off with some very classic Zelda and some very fresh Metal Gear (first videos should hopefully be up tonight, and I’ll link them both here and on twitter), but feel free to suggest other stuff we could dive into, or topics you’d like us to bring up. It should be fun!

WELP, THAT COVERS ALL THE WORK STUFF. Now that I’ve sobered everyone up with serious discussion of my financial future, let’s soothe those weary brains with some ramblings about anime. And manga! And maybe some western cartoons! Hell, let’s just randomize the whole damn thing. RUNNING ‘EM DOWN.

Continue reading →

A Silent Voice, Volume 1 – Review

Posted on by

And the manga reviews continue, this time with Oh God This Is So Uncomfortable Why Am I Reading This Why Do I Like Drama What Is Wrong With Me. A Silent Voice was one of the most teeth-clenchingly painful reads I’ve encountered lately, but that was only true because the story was told so damn well. The very strong dialogue paints characters in immediately humanizing strokes, making it all the more painful when awful stuff happens to them. Piercing character drama, why can’t I quit you.

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

Continue reading →

Summer 2015 – Week 8 in Review

Posted on by

Ah crap it’s Wednesday. Things were actually looking pretty dire for the week in review this time, considering Gatchaman Crowds took the week off. That’s basically the only show I’m watching weekly that lends itself to more than a shrugging gladiatorial up-or-down thumb, so with that out of the picture, what could I even talk about? Could I really spin Prison School and Monster Musume into four paragraphs of discussion? Maybe I could… maybe I could just talk about my favorite lunches of the week? Actually that’s not the worst idea, but either way, my worries ended up being unfounded, because this week I watched the entire first season of SYMPHOGEAAAAAAR.

Continue reading →

Summer 2015 – Week 7 in Review

Posted on by

Wednesday has come again, and with it one more entry in my increasingly less timely week in reviews. At this point, I’m watching an even four airing shows, which is probably the least since I started this tradition – but on the other hand, I’ve had School-Live, Gangsta, Snow White with the Red Hair, and Rokka all recommended to me with varying levels of enthusiasm, so clearly other people have found a bit more to love in this season. This week, I’ve largely been making up the difference with manga, which has made for a nice change of pace. But let’s hold off on that for now, and start by running down what episodic stuff I actually have seen!

Continue reading →