Review
— Archives —
Filters
All
•
Anime
Manga
Novels
Games
Music
Merch
Events
Industry
People
Live-Action
Korean
Text-only Compact View
Text-only List View
Text-only Grid View
List View with Images
Grid View with Images
Dead Account Manga Review
After reading Dead Account, I think this work is going to be my new go-to example of “shonen slop,” but that being said, this is pretty good slop.
― I think a person's enjoyment of Shizumu Watanabe's Dead Account will mostly boil down to their ability to tolerate characters talking like Redditors nonstop. On its surface, Dead Account promises a deeper examination of the growing intersection between s...
The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife Volumes 1-6 Manga Review
Soft, slow, and sweet, The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be-Wife is mostly a nice bit of reassurance that, despite what the news may tell us, the world isn't completely horrible after all.
― It can sometimes feel like not a lot of romances start at the very beginning or go beyond the couple getting together. Either we meet them when they're already fully involved with each other or leave them at that...
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment Game Review
While you will still be slaying hundreds of enemies and using massive attacks to slay enemy leaders, you do have to pause and take your time to avoid being caught flat-footed.
― Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is another strong Warriors title that provides plenty of enjoyment for Zelda fans and musou die-hards alike. As I like to do in my reviews, allow me to lay out my background before I get i...
Ren Arisugawa Is Actually a Girl Manga Review
If you’ve been reading manga for a while, chances are you’re familiar with the basic set up of Ren Arisugawa Is Actually a Girl.
― Norito Asaduki's Ren Arisugawa Is Actually a Girl is an interesting work. Not so much for anything it does within its text, but because of its place within fiction broadly today. It's a digitally published manga in a vertical format, which would suggest that it's a work p...
Kirby Air Riders Game Review
Kirby at his zooming-est.
― Mario Kart World—as in, not the millionth expansion for Mario Kart 8, but an actual, brand new Mario Kart game—and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds were already enough to cement 2025's status as a fantastic year for racing games. To get Kirby Air Riders (KAR)—the long-awaited sequel to the widely beloved Kirby Air Ride on GameCube—during the same year is just icing on the cartoon...
Jujutsu Kaisen Manga Series Review
The story becomes impenetrably incoherent to anyone without a PhD in Akutami’s fictional curse mechanics.
― What is it about recent big shonen hits that involve their protagonists engaging in cannibalism? My Hero Academia was bad enough, with Izuku Midoriya inheriting All Might's quirk by ingesting his hair. Then comes Jujutsu Kaisen's Yuji Itadori gobbling down Ryomen Sukuna's mummified finger to ga...
A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation Volumes 1-10 Manga Review
While I wouldn’t quite classify A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation as iyashikei isekai, there are definitely enough elements of that peaceful genre to make a decent case for it.
― Most isekai fiction in recent years relies upon one of a few set formulas, with nearly all of them taking a person from our world and depositing them in another, typically game-based fantasy realm. (The presence of RP...
Romancing Saga: Minstrel Song Remastered International Game Review
If Romancing Saga: Minstrel Song gets its hooks into you, you'll likely find that there are few other titles out there that scratch the RPG itch in quite the same way.
― There are three facts that you probably need to know before reading much further into this review of Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song - Remastered International: 1. Aside from the newly localized scripts, this is the same game that Squa...
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Manga Series Review
Vigilantes breaks the spin-off mold by shattering expectations, at times rivaling or even exceeding its progenitor manga.
― Spin-offs often come with the expectation that they're mere money-grabs, cynical exercises in milking popular franchises. Plenty of popular shonen manga receive short-lived spin-offs, most often comedic or episodic in nature, and they're rarely essential reads, even for die-hard...
You And I Are Polar Opposites Volumes 2-7 Manga Review
The story does a lot with setting up expectations, flipping them on their heads, but then making the reason for why they were flipped on its head different than what you would originally expect.
― One thing that caught me off guard about You and I are Polar Opposites was just how quickly our main couple got together. It's very rare nowadays to have a slice of life comedy romance where the two main le...
Dark Moon: The Blood Altar Volumes 1-7 K-Comic Review
Dark Moon: The Blood Altar knows precisely what it wants to be and who it wants to be for. It's a fun, occasionally intense fantasy hung on a familiar framework and filled with small delights.
― Every so often, you encounter a series that is more fun than sensical, that wears its influences on its sleeve and gleefully indulges in narrative conventions designed not so much to tell an engaging and cohe...
Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution Anime Film Review
If you're expecting a coherent re-telling of this arc or a chance to rewatch your favorite action cuts uninterrupted, prepare to be disappointed.
― If you've seen the trailers, you're probably aware this comes packaged with a recap of the entire Shibuya Incident. On paper, this seems like a way to catch up viewers who haven't seen this arc in preparation for the new episodes. Here's the thing: the mo...
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End - Part 1 SE & Part 2 LE Blu-ray + DVD Review
At the end of the day, it’s all about the people we meet along the way...
― Looking back at the brisk autumn nights of 2023, I can't help but remember the visceral initial reaction I had to the first few episodes of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. Despite not being much for fantasy, my heart dropped when the titular character realized she'd lost someone dear to her and never once told him how much he ...
Tease Me Harder: A Sweet and Kinky Romance Volume 1 Manga Review
I never thought that I would use the word "wholesome" to describe an adult BDSM story, but here we are!
― I never thought that I would use the word "wholesome" to describe an adult BDSM story, but here we are! As a person who practices BDSM, I've always been quite unsatisfied with how it is portrayed in the media. It always seems to come from the perspective of people who genuinely don't understand t...
Milano's Odd Job Collection Game Review
This is a game that feels like it's doing everything that it wanted to do, but on the surface, it's very nature does make it hard to recommend to people.
― Boy, kids were definitely built differently in Japan during 1999. Back then I was an annoying seven-year-old who could barely tie his shoes. But here? Milano is doing everything from making pastries to milking flying cows at the ripe old age of el...
The 13th Footprint Volume 2 Manga Review
If I could just figure out the message behind all of the fires, I feel like I’d be a step closer to solving the mystery, and that’s either a brilliant use of a red (hot) herring or a carefully seeded clue.
― How do the puzzle pieces fit together? Like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, unraveling a mystery story involves finding the ways the nubs and gaps line up, and in many cases, we find ourselves ...
Persona 3 Reload Game Review
Persona 3 Reload's bones are nearly 20 years old, but it easily competes with or beats many modern titles for sheer depth, beauty, and fun.
― I have agonized over the review of Persona 3 Reload like almost no other video game piece I have written, and as such, this review comes quite a ways after its release on the Switch 2. And why is that, you might ask? It's simple, really - what the heck do you s...
HOOL!GAN'S Volume 1 Manga Review
Alchemy may not turn lead into gold, but in Hool!gans it turns a lot of people into dust.
― Well, that sure was a lot of things exploding. Sometimes it even had a reason. But “reason” and “plot” take a second place here to “all hell breaking loose.” Lee Heartrib is an orphan. Saved on the street by the alchemist head of the Antilia
Family mafia, Lee is irresponsible, lazy and dedicated to the goal of...
Be Forever Yamato: Star Blazers: Rebel 3199 Episodes 11-14 Anime Review
This season of Space Battleship Yamato is one of the timeliest sci-fi anime I’ve ever seen.
― With the fourth REBEL 3199 “movie”, titled “The Aqua Sasha,” we reach the midpoint of this glossy modern retelling of 1980's Space Battleship Yamato movie Be Forever Yamato and TV show The Bolar Wars. Comprising episodes 11-14, these recently appeared on Crunchyroll at some point soon after their October the...
Fuuto PI: The Portrait of Kamen Rider Skull Anime Film Review
This movie just might be the best distillation, the most coherent adaptation of this material, whether it's for the established fans or the anime-only audience learning about it for the first time.
― A series defined by duality, the FUUTO PI anime managed to balance the double tasks of being a sequel story for fans of the original Kamen Rider W tokusatsu series, as well as a series that allowed new v...
Octopath Traveler 0 Game Review
Octopath Traveler 0 has proven to be one of the best gaming surprises of the year.
― I will admit that I was incredibly wary when I learned that this newest entry of the Octopath Traveler franchise was born from a free-to-play mobile game fueled by micro-transactions and gacha mechanics. I am perfectly aware that plenty of great and ludicrously popular titles have been forged in the merciless fires ...
The Twelve Kingdoms: Shadow of the Moon, Shadow of the Sea Part Two Novel Review
Youko may have been thrown in the deep end, but no matter how deep the water, she was always going to have to learn to swim on her own.
― One of the most familiar fantasies in children's literature is that the protagonist is secretly royalty from another world. But what if that's more of a nightmare than a fantasy? That's the position Youko finds herself in in the second volume of Fuyumi Ono's classi...
Tales of the Hundred Monsters Next Door Volume 1 Manga Review
This is how you write a book about yokai.
― This is how you write a book about yokai. Yokai are, of course, the supernatural given form. Monsters of our own imaginations, mysteries of daily life, the strange, the unusual, the scary, who are assumed to have their own whims, and their own rules. Throw in a little non-linear storytelling that breaks all its own internal structure, then wind it up and le...
Fermat no Ryōri Anime Series Review Season 1 Part 2
Not only does this show address my issue with the lack of mathematics, but it even uses that as a plot point, tying into the larger narrative.
― After watching the first five episodes of this season, my biggest complaint was that Fermat set up a very interesting premise that it wasn't fully utilizing. The show sold itself under the idea of a protagonist who utilized mathematics in the world of cookin...
JUNK WORLD Stop-Motion Movie Review
Certifiably bonkers stop-motion work of cinematic madness.
― Director Takehide Hori is an auteur in every sense of the word – his singular, obsessive vision saw him single-handedly produce the thirty-minute stop-motion short Junk Head 1 back in 2013. So rapturously received was his debut work that he spent seven years expanding it to feature-length format, with the full Junk Head movie seeing interna...
Under the Oak Tree Volume 2 Novel Review
Under the Oak Tree’s second hardcover release is just as beautiful as the first, and the story makes real progress, both in terms of Maxi’s relationship with her husband and with herself.
― Are you the sort of reader who gets irritated when characters are just one good conversation away from understanding each other? Then Suji Kim's Under the Oak Tree may not be the novel series for you. As anyone wh...
Drops of God: Mariage Volume 4-5 Manga Review
When you’re a baseball player, wine tasting is just like a baseball game
― Let's get the most important thing over with first. After reviewing Volume two and three, I did get my Comté cheese. I paired it with an affordable Côtes du Rhône red wine, fig crackers, and greens. It was delicious. Thank you for asking. Issei would have sneered. Or not. In these volumes, Shizuku enters the Tokyo Food and Win...
Cat's Eye Episode 1-6 Anime Series Review
While this seems like a relatively functional introduction to Cat's Eye, it's hard not to feel like you might be better served with the 80s anime instead.
― While Shonen Jump is mostly associated here in the west with big action titles like Naruto or Jujutsu Kaisen, the magazine has always had a bit more variety beneath the surface than it's usually given credit for. All sorts of unique series have m...
Grand Blue Dreaming Season Two Anime Series Review
Grand Blue Dreaming is back with a fiery, if not incredibly idiotic, vengeance. And I’m all for it.
― After seven years of being in limbo, Grand Blue Dreaming is back with a vengeance. Its second season is still as dude bro as ever, with its “beer and tits” style of slapstick littering practically every frame. You can almost imagine being in the frat house as you're watching it, with the room reeking...
Pokémon Legends: Z-A Game Review
It’s a very different Pokémon experience, for better or for worse.
― Kalos is, by far, the Pokémon region most deserving of a Legends game. When X/Y came out in 2013, it was the first new generation of Pokémon not to get a third (or in the case of generation 5, third and fourth) game. This would later become the new normal for Pokémon of course, but that didn't even happen immediately following X/Y, ...
In the Clear Moonlit Dusk Volumes 2-8 Manga Review
In the Clear Moonlit Dusk feels like the sort of series I ought to be enjoying more than I am, which is an awkward position to be in.
― Mika Yamamori has proven over the course of her English-released series that you can't predict where her romances are going to go. Write off purportedly no-chance rivals at your peril and make assumptions about the trajectory of the story at your own risk; Yamamori i...
Detective Conan: Rivals Of The Great Detective Anime Series Review
I'm not sure if this was always the intention or if these episodes were a direct response to the first batch of episodes that TMS put out, but it looks like more episodes of Detective Conan have been adapted that now add some much-needed context.
― Those mad lads did it! I'm not sure if this was always the intention or if these episodes were a direct response to the first batch of episodes that TMS p...
Touring After the Apocalypse Volume 2-3 Manga Review
Even after destruction, Japan’s tourist destinations are worth visiting.
― Upon reading Touring After The Apocalypse manga, I was immediately struck with a sense of familiarity. We've probably all read a few manga in which two girls scavenge for food and shelter after the end of the world, so my initial thought was that it felt like Girls Last Tour, with the same melancholy inevitability. More than t...
The Red Spectacles Film Review
Mamoru Oshii’s first live action film, opening at NYC’s Metrograph theater on November 21, takes place in the same universe with Jin-Roh but couldn’t be more different.
― The Red Spectacles flopped in its original 1987 Japanese release, but the merchandisable design of the Kerberos armor somehow led to the creation of a whole franchise. The best-known film in said franchise is the animated installmen...
Painting The Worlds Of Studio Ghibli Book Review
This is a book for people who love Studio Ghibli's movies, and who also love huge books as physical artifacts in their own right.
― This is a book for people who love Studio Ghibli's movies, and who also love huge books as physical artifacts in their own right. There is, of course, no shortage of Ghibli art books already. You can find individual ones in English for all of the Ghibli films directed by...
Angel's Egg Anime Film Review
Surreal and beautiful, Mamoru Oshii and Yoshitaka Amano's Angel's Egg anime film remains an enigmatic entry in both creators' careers.
― Mamoru Oshii and Yoshitaka Amano's Angel's Egg remains an enigmatic entry in both creators' careers. Years out from his iconic directorial turn with Ghost in the Shell, Oshii wrote the film's story with Amano before the artist touched Final Fantasy. Just a hair's br...
Radio Storm Volumes 1-2 K-Comic Review
It’s hard to truly fight zombies, after all, when you aren’t sure that the people in charge are any less bloodthirsty.
― How do you know you're living through an apocalypse? Zombies are a pretty good clue, as well as pervasive humanitarian crises and endless war. But one major indicator is rarely explicitly discussed, possibly because it feels too alarmingly real: the constant use of misinformation o...
Edge of Time Anime Film Review
While Edge of Time fails as a cohesive anthology film, that doesn't mean the short films within aren't without promise—well, some of them anyway.
― Edge of Time's greatest flaw becomes more obvious with each minute that passes while watching it. Despite the film's claims to the contrary, this is not a cohesive anthology. Rather, the connections between the four short films are superficial at best—and...
Tougen Anki Episodes 1-12 Anime Series Review
The problem with Tougen Anki is that it presents tropes without showing why they work or why I should care about them.
― There unfortunately comes a certain point where you watch enough media in a specific genre, where it becomes hard to get invested in a show that isn't doing anything more than what is expected. A show could be doing everything “right," like having high production values, great voic...
Wandance Volume 2-3 Manga Review
Wandance is a high-energy, competitive activity manga utilizing the world of dance in an effective and mesmerizing way.
― If everyone is always questioning themselves, then why do they feel bad for doing it? Crippling anxiety is totally relatable for pretty much everyone I know. Which is why it is both so common as a manga plot driver and weird that it's a real thing that we feel bad about in life. I...
Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint 1-2 Novel Review
When I reviewed the webtoon adaptation of SingNSong’s novel series Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, I said that it was for the smug readers. Having now read the first two books of the source material, I stand by that assessment.
― When I reviewed the webtoon adaptation of SingNSong's novel series Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, I said that it was for the smug readers. Having now read the first two books...
Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy Deluxe Pack Game Review
Longtime fans can look forward to all of the improvements expanding the little island of Kurken like never before, while newcomers get to experience one of the sweetest coming-of-age stories you'll ever find.
― The Atelier series has long been beloved for its charming characters, down-to-earth tone, and engaging systems. While the other games and casts are beloved in their own right, it was the adve...
Cultural Exchange With a Game Centre Girl Anime Series Review
Very few times have I seen an anime where the cuteness felt this forced and contrived.
― By all means, this should have really been my thing. Cute girls doing arcade things? A chillaxed environment where not a thing goes wrong? A lead whose design has shades of Sakura and Tomoyo from Cardcaptor Sakura, albeit color-swapped? All of these screamed “yes” to me. It took me just several episodes in to rea...
Kamitsubaki City Under Construction Anime Series Review
KAMITSUBAKI wears its ambition on its sleeve, and with a clearer vision of what it wanted to accomplish and how it would do that, it could’ve been something really special.
― Kamitsubaki City Under Construction (henceforth Kamitsubaki) is one of the worst types of disappointing anime: the type that gets your hopes up because it actually started out being pretty cool. Kamitsubaki opens up in a city, v...
The Moon on a Rainy Night Volume 1-7 Manga Review
This fun slice of life manga offers us a blueprint for a more inclusive world.
― In Volume 1 of The Moon On A Rainy Night, Saki meets Kanon. She's instantly intrigued by this apparently aloof beauty in what appears to be a pretty standard Yuri romance story. Saki is the traditional cheerful girl whose energy will change the intense loneliness of the traditional Japanese beauty, in what is still one o...
Killed Again, Mr. Detective? Volume 1 Manga Review
Killed Again, Mr. Detective? isn’t quite as good as it ought to be.
― As they say in the musical Gypsy, you've gotta have a gimmick. That feels particularly true for the mystery genre, where authors have been trying to outdo each other with quirky detectives since Hercule Poirot and his magnificent moustaches entered the scene in 1920's The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Over the years, fiction (manga ...
100 Meters Anime Film Review
There’s a profound sense of weight, of sheer muscle-shredding, teeth-grinding effort during the running scenes.
― “Wow, the main character sure looks like Rafal from Orb: On the Movement of the Earth,” I thought during 100 Meters' opening few minutes, where young protagonist Togashi tutors his classmate Komiya in sprinting. Turns out that the movie, directed by On-Gaku: Our Sound's Kenji Iwaisawa, is...
Once Upon a Katamari Game Review
The beloved series’ grand return is a raucous roll-er coaster!
― Roughly twenty-one years ago, I was simultaneously bamboozled and bemused by a strange little game I'd plopped into my PlayStation 2. A fifth grader at the time, I'd been tasked with putting all the stars back in the sky alongside a tiny fellow simply known as the Prince...and we were going to do it with something called a “Katamari.” ...
Dealing with Mikadono Sisters Is a Breeze Anime Series Review
This isn't just a love story, it's also one about family, insecurity, imposter syndrome, and the overall pressures of living up to the expectations forced on you by others.
― Are you looking for an anime about sisterhood to fill the empty hole in your heart that The Quintessential Quintuplets left? Then I might have an anime for you! I'm kidding…mostly, but the idea of a harem show specifically revol...
Labyrinth Anime Film Review
At the end of the screening of Macross' Shoji Kawamori's latest film, with my head in my hands, I sighed to myself, “How in hell’s name am I supposed to review this?"
― Within the first few minutes of director Shoji Kawamori's Labyrinth, protagonist Shiori laments that “without smartphones, humanity would be doomed”. From the events that later transpire, I suspect Kawamori's opinion is quite the oppo...
Gunsmith Cats Omnibus Volumes 1 and 2 Manga Review
There are multiple reasons why Sonoda’s Gunsmith Cats keeps getting re-published, and why it remains one of my very favorite manga of all time.
― Kenichi Sonoda's unmistakable art style helped fuel my initial intoxication with anime and manga. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, along with Appleseed's Masamune Shirow and Akira's Katsuhiro Otomo, Sonoda's perky girls with enormous eyes and gravity-defy...
I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince Season 2 Anime Review
I doubt this season of 7th Prince is going to convert people who didn’t care for the first.
― On paper, I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince So I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability (henceforth 7th Prince) doesn't seem like the type of show that would benefit from having any given season focused on one singular story arc, as opposed to a small handful of shorter ones that last 1–4 episodes...
What It Means to Be You Volume 1 K-Comic Review
Not many manhwa of this sort bear comparing to Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s classic story The Yellow Wallpaper, but this one does.
― Princess Violet's life is no fairy tale, or at least not the cleaned-up Disney version of one. After a happy childhood as the only daughter of the royal family, she's essentially sold in marriage to an illegitimate scion of Duke Blooming's family, who will gain a legitima...
Isekai Quartet The Movie: Another World Anime Film Review
Isekai Quartet The Movie: Another World is clearly made by a group of people who have an insanely in-depth knowledge of all the series they're combining.
― When it comes down to it, the main selling point of Isekai Quartet as a whole is watching characters from across entirely different series interact—and often in comical ways. Does this film do this as well as the TV series? The answer is a simple ...
Baki The Grappler Volume 2-4 Manga Review
The art is both better and more violent with each volume. Expect punches that carve up the body like knife-edged cannonballs.
― After Baki's initial appearance and victory in his first “official” match, this story settles into an ever more hyperbolic tale of unregulated fighting. In each subsequent volume, Baki will be matched with an opponent whose skills are unreasonable, whose strength is demonic,...
The Obsessed Anime Film Review
While not without its issues, The Obsessed is a film well worth watching. It's full of fun, silly, moments and yet manages to delve into true human tragedy as well.
― Giuseppe is a man existing in his own little world where his current obsession overrides everything else. However, that doesn't mean he is selfish or cruel—it's more like a sickness he has no control over. Moreover, his obsessions often...
You and Idol Precure♪ Episodes 25 - 36 Anime Review
You and Idol Precure♪ is struggling to make its two halves merge in what feels like a relevant way. It's like all of the pieces are there, but they've been assembled incorrectly.
― You and Idol Precure♪ is not what I was hoping for, and it pains me to admit this. It is, as has been mentioned, absolutely possible to merge idols and magical girls – it's really a subgenre in its own right. Likewise, the...
The Drops of God Season 1 Live-Action Series Review
I would recommend this series with caution if you enjoyed the manga.
― Camille Léger (Fleur Geffrier) is an awkward person. Because of her father's training in her childhood, Camille cannot stand the smell or taste of alcohol, reacting violently to it. Nor can she tolerate too many foods. She has not spoken to her father in years, since her mother cut off all contact when she was young. She does have...
DRAGON QUEST I & II HD-2D Remake Game Review
DRAGON QUEST I & II HD-2D Remake strikes the difficult balance of providing a truly astounding amount of new quests and story details without ever betraying the simple and earnest heart that is core to the franchise's identity.
― If you have ever taken the time to play the original Dragon Quest and Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line, you know that these are the bone-simple ancestors of...
Werewolves Going Crazy Over Me Volume 1 K-Comic Review
Werewolves Going Crazy Over Me is unhinged and takes itself way too seriously, and there’s a lot of fun to be had with that combination.
― How many times has this happened to you? You're coming home from your job at a diner only to bump into a buff, handsome man with a serious gunshot injury. Instead of calling 911, you bring him up to your apartment, where you're overwhelmed by the urge to make out ...
Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 Game Review
If you have been hankering to spend some time cruising the intergalactic highways and byways with Mario and Pals, these two games are essential experiences.
― I missed out on the Super Mario Galaxy duology back when they originally dropped because the Wii was the console that my younger siblings claimed as their own, and if I'm being honest, high-school James considered Nintendo platforms to be littl...
Miru: Paths To My Future Anime Series Review
Mostly, MIRU is a fairly disposable anthology, yet it is far better than I expected a corporate advertisement to be.
― Although initially released in Japan in April 2025, this five-episode sci-fi anthology oddity didn't show up to stream worldwide until late September. It allegedly appeared slightly earlier on Samsung's proprietary streaming platform in the US, but as probably only five people watche...
Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & The White Guardian Game Review
I wouldn’t recommend it as your first Atelier game, but franchise fans should have a good time.
― How many Atelier games have you played? I don't ask to establish credibility or as a form of gatekeeping, but rather because the designers of Atelier Resleriana: the Red Alchemist and the White Guardian are counting on you having more than a passing familiarity with previous entries in the franchise. Alt...
Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table Volume 1 Light Novel Review
It’s easy to see why this won the Excellence Award at the 18th MF Bunko J Light Novel Newcomer Awards in 2022, and why it’s getting an anime in 2026.
― Playing Death Games to put Food on the Table (henceforth DG) is far from the first time there's been a story about death games as a perverse form of entertainment for a shadowy group of elites who bankroll them. In fact, that's a major element of Squi...
Pokémon Concierge Season 2 Anime Series Review
There's no shame, there's no overly depressing conflict, just a nice story at a resort that I really hope I'll be able to return to one day.
― Despite its incredibly short length, the first season of Pokémon Concierge was an absolutely charming delight that I could recommend to almost anybody. The relaxing atmosphere, the soothing music, and the simple yet incredibly relatable premise were something ...
Full Metal Schoolgirl Game Review
I can summarize Full Metal Schoolgirls thusly: it feels like a PlayStation 2 game, in the best of ways.
― I can summarize Full Metal Schoolgirls thusly: it feels like a PlayStation 2 game, in the best of ways. It's a simple concept, but one that manages to be plenty of fun, despite its workman-like execution. The concept is also charmingly high-concept: a schoolgirl rebels against an all-powerful cor...
DISGAEA 7 COMPLETE Game Review
What I want is a ridiculously big and endlessly customizable time-sink of a strategy/RPG that lets you fight for hours on end and build an absurdly powerful army. And on that front, Disgaea 7 Complete delivers in spades.
― Oh, hello, Disgaea. It's been a while. So sometime after Disgaea D2, I just… kind of decided I'd had enough of Disgaea for a while. The games didn't get notably bad or anything—I h...
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc Anime Film Review
Emotionally resonant and visually stunning, this is simply one of the must-watch anime films of the year—and you can see it in US theaters today!
― A large part of this story is made to highlight just how inhuman Denji is. He grew up socially isolated and lacking the vast majority of creature comforts that even the most meager of us tend to have. He sold an eye and a kidney to survive--and three meal...
Conan vs. The Black Organization Anime Series Review
I never thought I would see the day that Detective Conan would get this kind of treatment.
― I never thought I would see the day that Detective Conan would get this kind of treatment. Detective Conan is probably one of the most beloved franchises in Japan, going on for over three decades and being one of the few shows that has more episodes than One Piece. Numerous attempts have been made to bring th...
Betrothed to My Sister's Ex Anime Series Review
Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex is a mix of modern views of Cinderella with the other reading about a girl who pulls herself out of a bad situation.
― ATU510A, better known as Cinderella, is one of the most widely distributed fairy tales in the world. It exists on every continent among a majority of disparate cultures, from the ancient world to modern retellings. (Its lesser-known counterpart, Donkeyskin...
Pokémon Horizons: Season 2—The Search for Laqua Part 4 Anime Series Review
The path to get to this point was definitely not a clean one, and the pacing of these final couple of episodes definitely feels more rushed than I would like it to be.
― This is it, the end of the first major saga of Pokémon Horizons. This is where everything comes ahead with payoffs to major setups in a true confrontation with the main villain, Gibeon. The path to get to this point was definitely no...
New Saga Anime Series Review
Time travel is a cool angle to approach a power fantasy anime, but poor writing prevents it from ever feeling like it’s living up to its full potential.
― I'm not going to sit here and legitimately argue that it's either a point for or against this anime that its esteemed hero of a protagonist—the legendary warrior who's transcended time itself to save everyone—is named Kyle. Friggin… Kyle. But there...
Shindou-kun's Tight Squeeze Volume 1 Manga Review
Shindou-kun's Tight Squeeze may not be the most creative romance manga out there, explicit or otherwise, but if you're looking for a spicy good time, it more than fits the bill.
― I've read most of Seven Seas' releases under its Steamship imprint, in no small part because I've crusaded for years on the concept that those of us who were little girls reading Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura are now ad...
Let's Go Karaoke! Anime Series Review
I’m just amazed by how much you could squeeze out of this bizarre premise.
― Let's Go Karaoke! is a series that succeeds in making the unbelievable believable. It's a comedy at heart, yet the bond between its two unlikely leads makes for melodrama that's both kitschy and effective. Who'd'a thunk that the best way to overcome your musical failures and teen angst was by teaching a yakuza member how to ...
Drops of God: Mariage Volume 2-3 Manga Review
Who will find the blue-eyed white sauvignon blanc?
― We last left Shizuku and Issei facing a challenge from a secret cabal of wine experts whose self-appointed role is to preserve Yutaka Kanzaki's true goal – the perfection of the “mariage” of wine and food. In Volume two, to be seen as worthy of the challenge of finding “The Drops of God,” Issei and Shizuku must first pass a preliminary test, consis...
Silent Hill f Game Review
This game will cling to the darkest corners of my nightmares for a very long time to come.
― I have been a Silent Hill fan all of my life, and I have just recently completed my project of replaying and recording every single game in the franchise (well, except for Silent Hill: Book of Memories, since my PlayStation Vita broke years ago). That said, for as much as I absolutely adore Bloober Team's re...
A Couple of Cuckoos Season 2 Anime Series Review
It’s a colorful, comforting anime that requires minimal brain power to consume.
― For me, A Couple of Cuckoos Season 2 is like “Sunk Cost Fallacy: The Anime.” I enjoyed the far-fetched and dumb, but sweet, twenty-four-episode first season, and found myself sleepwalking into the second out of a misplaced sense of duty. Like many long-running anime romcoms, the “plot progression,” if one could even des...
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Game Review
Sonic Racing CrossWorlds is hands-down the best racing game in the entire franchise.
― Sonic's racing game history has been very mixed over the years, and that's being generous. You would think that for a franchise that focuses on a character that's faster than the average mascot platform, we would have better and more beloved racing games throughout the past couple of decades. I have not played ever...
Alice in Borderland (Live-Action) Season 3 Series Review
This continuation of Netflix's live-action version of Haro Aso's death game manga stretches the patience more than the previous seasons, but it's still ultimately worthwhile.
― The third live-action season of Alice in Borderland, based on the death game manga by Haro Aso, drops onto Netflix with big disadvantages. One is that it's released almost three years after the second season, which seemed to e...
Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 Anime Series Review
Like the longest (but enjoyable) roller coaster you've ever been on, the eight episodes based on the creator of Chainsaw Man's early works are a wild ride from start to finish.
― Tatsuki Fujimoto's early-career standalone stories show the subtle ways he's developed as a manga author. From trying his hand at a straightforward romantic story to the early foundations of the enigmatic world of Chainsaw M...
Nyaight of the Living Cat Anime Series Review
Nyaight of the Living Cat likely would have achieved more success as tightly-edited, punchier shorts.
― Nyaight of the Living Cat is a deeply silly show where most of the humor derives from the viewer recognising plentiful references to mainly US-produced horror and action movies. Even the individual episode titles are cat and movie-related puns, like “Commeowndo” and “Meow Am Legend.” Non-movie buff...
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Naruto Comic Review
Color me pleasantly surprised then that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Naruto is actually an earnest and enjoyable attempt at a crossover story.
― Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Naruto is a mashup that has plenty of energy and fun for the time you'll spend with it. I was very skeptical of this book going in, I have to admit. Sure, sure, it had a lot going for it on the front-end. I know that I'm theo...
The Village Beyond the Mist Novel Review
The Village Beyond the Mist is a beautiful example of late twentieth-century children’s fantasy, pulling readers into a strange but familiar world alongside its heroine.
― If you weren't told that Sachiko Kashiwaba's 1975 middle-grade novel was the inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away, you wouldn't know. It's an even less obvious connection than How Do You Live?'s link to The Boy and the He...
Thunderbolt Fantasy Sword Seekers -The Finale- Movie Review
Thunderbolt Fantasy is more so going out with some sparks than a full-blown BANG.
― It took nearly a decade, but at long, bittersweet last, Thunderbolt Fantasy has finally reached its conclusion in this, its finale movie. The movie picks up immediately where season 4 leaves off—which makes sense with the way season 4 ended. So, right off the bat, hopefully that answers your question if you were wonde...
Reincarnated in a Mafia Dating Sim Volumes 1-2 Manga Review
While I wouldn't call this a villainess story, Francesca does seem to view it as such by the end of the second volume.
― Touko Amekawa is no stranger to writing strong heroines who set out to get what they want. You may recognize her as the author of 7th Time Loop, a story about a young woman named Rishe determined to use her memories of her previous six lives to make her seventh one end the cycle of...
Welcome to the Outcast's Restaurant! Anime Series Review
For a series that’s supposed to be about cooking, almost everything here feels half-baked.
― On paper, Welcome to the Outcast's Restaurant has everything I should like: a cozy restaurant, a fantasy environment, some cute character designs, and a few dashes of slice of life. It's a recipe that could have worked, had someone in the kitchen not made the grave error of adding a spoonful of “banished from...
The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter Volumes 1-3 Novel Review
Otherworlds, beware. Not only might you lose your most eligible bachelor to a stressed-out Japanese salaryman, but your entire foundation might be called into question.
― I have, in the past, referred to this series as being “isekai for grownups.” It's not a power fantasy. The protagonist isn't down on his luck, bullied, or otherwise deeply unhappy. He's a working adult, and not one particularly enra...
Thunderbolt Fantasy: Tōriken Yūki 4 Series Review
There’s an ever-present campiness to Thunderbolt Fantasy that really brings it over the top and keeps it super fun to watch.
― It's taken four seasons and a handful of movies, but Thunderbolt Fantasy finally approaches its conclusion in its fourth and final season. Our main players of the season are divided into three main groups: Shāng Bù Huàn, Juǎn Cán Yún, and Dān Fěi, who are exploring the Wastel...
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc Anime Film Review
Emotionally resonant and visually stunning, this is simply one of the must-watch anime films of the year.
― A large part of this story is made to highlight just how inhuman Denji is. He grew up socially isolated and lacking the vast majority of creature comforts that even the most meager of us tend to have. He sold an eye and a kidney to survive--and three meals a day of tasty food is all it takes fo...
Digimon Story: Time Stranger Game Review
What even is a Digimon, anyway? You're sure to learn as you play Time Stranger - and you'll have fun doing it!
― Digimon fans have waited a long time for a video game adaptation that truly succeeds at doing justice to Digimon's expansive world. The Digimon games have always struggled on that front, with even games within the same sub-series having wildly different mechanics and settings. The good new...
Baki The Grappler Volume 1 Manga Review
The fighting is utterly ridiculous, but so much fun, it is hard not to be entertained by this modern-day Lancelot whose strength is as ten because his heart is pure.
― This year at the American Manga Awards, Ashita no Joe: Fighting For Tomorrow won a very well-deserved Classic Manga Award. This post-war bildungsroman of a young man discovering himself through boxing is a moving tale. Now, we also hav...
Thunderbolt Fantasy: Tōriken Yūki 3 Series Review
If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve seen so far of Urobuchi’s puppet perfection, I have no doubt you’ll enjoy the third season as well.
― There's nothing out there doing it quite like Thunderbolt Fantasy, full stop. Gorgeous, ambitious, and oozing with theater kid energy, it's by far one of the more creative shows out there. Less self-contained than previous seasons, this particular season of Gen Urobuchi'...
Grave of the Fireflies Novel Review
Reading the book through the film, there are many startling “omissions."
― For decades, literature lovers have fretted that some classics have been obscured by their animated film adaptations, which youngsters might see as definitive. How many people, for instance, now think of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Bambi and The Jungle Book as being films by Disney, rather than books by Lewis Carroll, Fe...
Eiga Odekake Kozame Tokai no Otomodachi Anime Film Review
Eiga Odekake Kozame Tokai no Otomodachi a wonderful watch on a lazy afternoon or a film to watch with children.
― There is no better way to say it, I love Eiga Odekake Kozame Tokai no Otomodachi. It shares the same charm of the manga and ONA series, with a series of delightful short stories following the titular character Kozame-chan on a big adventure in a city (presumably Tokyo). Layered on top of ...
May I Ask for One Final Thing? Volume 1 Manga Review
Sometimes you just want to see a perfectly prim Victorian-style lady haul back and beat someone's face in, all safely within the realm of fiction.
― By this point in pop culture history, we've probably all sat through as many villainess denunciation scenes as we can stomach. The story beats are as familiar as the back of your hand – the prim and proper, highly-ranked fiancée of a prince or similarly ...
Mansect Manga Review
Mansect is way too gross out for me to feel comfortable freely recommending it to any horror-lovers out there.
― Have you ever read a manga and thought, “Oh, this one's for the sickos (complimentary)”? Because those were exactly the words that immediately appeared in my head upon finishing Mansect. Originally published in 1975, this classic horror manga isn't for the faint of heart when it comes to i...
For all articles, see the archives