Gonzo
Shangri-La Opener
Shangri-La seems like it could be an interesting show, but after one episode it’s way too early to tell. There are quite a few things thrown in there that are a little hard to make out what is what, but so far the star of the show is the setting. Ruins covered in vegetation make [...]
Welcome to the NHK, Finished
In between the crazy moments of Sato’s imagination, Welcome to the NHK lives in the sober moments of reality, when the soundtrack of lazy drums nudges the guitar along behind Sato’s wallowing, the unwarm sunlight through the window of the half desolate Tokyo train, a full ashtray, and a computer monitor as the light of [...]
Welcome To The NHK, Part One
Welcome to the NHK is a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. The main character, Sato, is a 22-year old unemployed college drop-out and a hikikimori, a shut-in. From there it looked as if this might be something like Genshiken, an otaku comedy with a loving backhand. It does kind of start [...]
Dead Flowers, Red Garden
One volume in and I begin to wonder which Gonzo made Red Garden. Is it the one that made Last Exile and Gankutsuou or the one that made SpeedGrapher and Real Bout High School? Cheap-shot mentioning RBHS, I know. I guess either way, Red Garden promises to be horrific, though obviously I pray for the [...]
Finished Up SpeedGrapher
I wanted SpeedGrapher to be one of those well executed anime that had something to say about the broken side of modern life. It showed promise as an anti-cute, grim look at greed, but instead presents a far too idealized dystopia complete with a monolithic corrupt upper class, that I had a hard time taking [...]
