Notice me.
Acknowledge me.
Hear me, know me, see me.
So cries out Haruhi Suzumiya, through all her rampaging across the world and through all her brash confidence.
Reviews & Reflections
Art & Sport: Reflections on Chihayafuru (Part 2)
NOTE: This is the second part of my review on Chihayafuru. If you have not already, please read Part 1 first.
Art & Sport: Reflections on Chihayafuru (Part 1)
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The spring has passed
And the summer come again
For the silk-white robes
So they say, are spread to dry
On the Mount of Heaven’s perfume~attributed to Empress Jitō
The World is Still Beautiful Review
So, my first venture into the realm of shoujo content…I liked it. Are you listening, rest of the anime world? This, right here…
This is how you do romance.
Mekaku City Actors Review
Sometimes it’s really easy to point to a specific part of a show and say, “This is where it went wrong.” Sometimes, a show is just bad from top to bottom, making it even easier to categorize a show’s flaws. Mekaku City Actors [SHAFT, 2014], appropriately for the studio from whence it hails, is not such an easy case to deal with. Straight up confusing at times, genuinely emotional at others, and just plain weird frequently, it feels like a classic case of misused potential. Even after twelve episodes of generally feeling ambivalent about the show as a whole, I still think Mekaku City Actors was trying desperately to tell an important story, and to be different enough that people would listen. Good intentions aren’t always enough, but for what Mekaku City Actors tried to be and for what it was, I’m giving the show a 6/10 (Ranking).
Do you like SHAFT? SHAFT likes SHAFT, too.
Ping Pong the Animation Review
There are some shows that I consider “moments” shows. They’re shows you watch for the few seconds or few shots of brilliant beauty interspersed between a lot of reasonably good, but not great material. Ping Pong the Animation [Tatsunoko Productions, 2014] is what happens when you take a “moments” show and bring all the in between moments up to the level of the moments. It’s an unreservedly ambitious, glowingly creative and masterfully executed show worthy of the rating I’m about to give it. For all of the above, and everything I haven’t said yet, I’m giving Ping Pong the Animation a 9/10. (Ranking)
Rain Town
If you haven’t seen Rain Town before, take a quick ten minutes out of your day to watch this little gem. Continue reading
Monogatari & the Extinction of the Harem (Part 2)
If you have not read Part One of this Monogatari Series: Second Season review, please read it first.
Monogatari & the Extinction of the Harem (Part 1)
With my completion of Monogatari Series: Second Season (Monogatari), I have watched over 50 episodes of Nisio Isin’s Monogatari franchise. That’s a lot of time to spend with the same group of characters, and yet my experience of watching Monogatari Series: Second Season (SHAFT, 2013) was utterly unlike my previous encounters with Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari, and Nekomonogatari: Kuro. Part of the tag for Monogatari Series: Second Season was as follows:
“Their soliloquies, confessions—and goodbyes.”
If the previous entries into the franchise were beginnings, Monogatari Series: Second Season was most certainly a story of seperations, of departures, and of change.
Nisekoi Review: Bright Colors and Shiny Eyes
I’ve said it before: I’m quite susceptible to pretty colors, cute things and fun. Niskeoi (SHAFT, 2014), based on the Weekly Shounen Jump manga by Naoshi Komi, has all of those things. Now, having all those things in your show does not a good anime make, and at times Nisekoi kind of teeters on the edge between being a good show and a not very good one. But, fortunately, Chitoge and company land on the good side more frequently than they do the other. And so, for looking pretty, being pretty and for having Nao Toyama as Chitoge, Nisekoi garners a fluffy 6/10 from me (Ranking).
Mage in a Barrel 