This tragedy-tinged romance clocks in at just five episodes. Is there enough meat on its bones to serve as a full story? ― Vampire in the Garden is a fascinating production that almost feels like an anime from another time, even as it simultaneously exists as a project that could only exist in the age of streaming. It's an original property that is being produced by the famous Studio Wit and helmed b...

watch

31 comments

Air - How Does It Hold Up?

May 27, 12:00

31 comments

anime

Key has produced many popular games since their formation in the late 1990s, with their sophomore outing Air considered one of their most iconic. Some declare it an emotional masterpiece, others call it melodramatic fluff, Matthew Roe looks back at Kyoto Animation's 2005 adaptation of the romance visual novel. ― Air is many things: a slice-of-life detailing a girl's summer vacation, a coming-of-age ...

review

4 comments

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End GN 3-4

May 27, 12:00

4 comments

manga

Honestly, the mixture of tragedy and hopeful beauty in this volume overall is enough to get me choked up even writing this. ― Volume 3: The first half of this volume of Frieren is the continuation of the big, interconnected story arc started in the previous volume with the forces of Aura the Guillotine attacking the gateway city to the human territories of the south. It's basically the big action cli...

column

7 comments

This Week in Games - Gee, it's Gundam

May 27, 09:00

7 comments

games

The world might not be in a good shape right now, but Gundam and Persona have some neat new announcements. Heidi dives in for a look. ― Ah yes, once again I am tasked with writing about videogames in the shadow of unimaginably awful bullshit happening in the world around us. It's pretty tough, not only because the shadow of terrible things is weighing heavily in your mind, but it also feels extremely...

game review

4 comments

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA MegaMix+

May 26, 12:00

4 comments

games

Hatsune Miku is back, with over 170 songs and customizable outfits. Does the Vocaloid gang still bring the charm in this PC game release? ― With how much a certain blue hedgehog and a would-be reformed Japanese gangster dominate Sega's limelight, you'd be forgiven for forgetting that Sega also plays host to the video game exploits of Hatsune Miku, the famed digital singing platform musicians have use...

review

9 comments

Darkstalkers Blu-ray

May 26, 12:00

9 comments

anime

The Darkstalkers OVA series gets a new Blu-Ray treatment, but beneath the polished look it’s much the same as it was in the 1990s: nicely animated but too darned serious for its own good. ― Adapting the Darkstalkers games into an animated series is harder than it seems. True, the games are largely plot-free cavalcades of marvelously animated monsters sparring with each other, but therein lies the cha...

column

10 comments

This Week in Anime - Is In the Heart of Kunoichi Tsubaki as Good as Takagi-san?

May 26, 10:39

10 comments

anime

A female-only village of ninja may have met its match when its young kunoichi in training become aware of a terrifying yet titillating concept: men. ― A female-only village of ninja may have met its match when its young kunoichi in training become aware of a terrifying yet titillating concept: men. This series is streaming on Crunchyroll Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participan...

review

3 comments

Thermae Romae Novae Streaming

May 25, 12:00

3 comments

anime

Part of the joy of this series is the realization that people are people no matter where and when they live. How does this second adaptation of Mari Yamazaki's manga bring Roman and Japanese bathing culture together? ― Japanese bathing culture, writes Garrett G. Fagan in his exhaustive 1999 text Bathing in Public in the Roman World, “bear[s] resemblance…to documented Ancient Roman practice.” Since th...

interview

1 comment

Interview: SPY×FAMILY Manga Editor Shihei Lin

May 25, 09:00

1 comment

manga

We spoke to the manga's editor Shihei Lin about his collaboration with manga creator Tatsuya Endō, and how they worked together to bring this manga to the world. ― SPY×FAMILY's goofy and heartwarming tale of found family has captured hearts the world over. We spoke to the manga's editor Shihei Lin about his collaboration with manga creator Tatsuya Endo, and how they worked together to bring this mang...