comedy
Spice and Wolf, Season 1
Spice and Wolf is a curious show. At a quick glance through some of the art, it seemed designed for the viewer to fawn over a wolf-girl who doesn’t mind being naked. Anime character designs are usually a decent barometer of what a show aims to do. However, Spice and Wolf proves the rule that [...]
Usagi Drop, A Fantasy
Daikichi is a single, never married, thirty-something male who takes the responsibility of raising Rin, a five year old girl who was in the care of his grandfather who passed away. Nobody in the family wanted her, so Daikichi took responsibility. The setup of Usagi Drop sounds close to a Hallmark Hall of Fame type [...]
Finding the Action, Soul Eater
One of the things that I like about the niche anime we tend to get on dvd is most of these shows weren’t expected to run very long (12-26 half hour episodes), so they would end in a reasonable amount of time. This preference meant I passed on the action/fighting-type shows like Naruto, Bleach, and [...]
Chu-Bra!! Fun With Parody
Here is my favorite example so far of how I see the absurd premise of Chu-Bra!! creating parody with overused paint-by-numbers scenes in anime. In a flashback during episode 5, Nayu’s grandmother comforts the crying five year old Nayu, and gives the silliest take on the “I will protect you” scene that I’ve viewed:
Battle Athletes Victory Revisited
Whenever I start feeling a little blah towards anime, I rewatch a favorite from years past instead of trying to find something new. Being in the mood for something fluffy and ridiculous, it felt like a good time to revisit Battle Athletes Victory. It probably would sit next to all of the shows from over [...]
Mahjong No Go
So far, I’m enjoying Saki, but I’m a sucker for tournament stories. Angelic Layer, Princess Nine, and Fighting Spirit have all been on my Top 10 list. What can I say, I like the bittersweet. I don’t know if Saki is on that level and I’m still neutral on the possibility — fan service and [...]
Lucky Star, Moe for What?
Having finished Lucky Star recently, I get that it relies a bit on moe to carry it, but moe for what? Lucky Star offers a lot of things to go moe on, cute girls for one, that’s pretty standard, otakuisms for another (are those not cute and inept too?). For me in particular, Lucky Star [...]
