 |
 |
 |
Kids on the Slope
Anime Review by Ben Huber
 Jazz is lively, it's energetic and emotional, but also intimate and thoughtful. Most of all, it's genuine - and Kids on the Slope is exactly that. Shinichiro Watanabe, director of anime mainstay Cowboy Bebop, has rejoined with legendary composer Yoko Kanno to create one of the best recent series we have had the pleasure of watching... and it's not even finished yet.
Kaoru Nishimi is the average "new kid" in school. He's the unsure transfer student we see so often in anime, but how quickly he makes friends is where he differs. Sentaro Kawabuchi and Ritsuko Mukae, two childhood friends, welcome Kaoru into their group and discover their shared interest in jazz. Soon Ritsuko's family record-shop is turned into a regular location of impromptu jam sessions and fills the building with colorful music. Read More...
Tiger & Bunny
Anime Review by Ben Huber
 Superheroes have been done to death. America in particular has had a long and storied love affair with the idea of costumed crusaders defending the public. Occasionally we see some new takes on this genre, but very few from Japan. But here, one arrives clad in metal outfits and brightly colored suits: Tiger & Bunny.
Kotetsu Kaburagi is the aging, old-school costumed hero Wild Tiger. He's barely doing his job on the incredibly popular HERO TV, a reality show that follows and ranks the various heroes as they compete to save people. Each hero is sponsored by companies and proudly display their logos on their outfits (all real companies, too, such as UStream and Pepsi). Wild Tiger, however, is performing poorly and barely saving any citizens, which leaves his sponsors displeased and eager to drop him in another sponsor's lap. Read More...
Okami-san and her Seven Companions
Anime Review by Brian Cirulnick
 When you were younger, remember how your parents or grandma would tuck you into bed and tell you a bedtime story? And if your parents/relatives were *creative types*, they might even make something up instead of relying on old fables like Little Red Riding Hood. Sometimes, however, they'd fall back on the old favorites, but maybe they'd mix it up a bit, combining several fables into one, and embellishing it with a bit of modern glitz.
That's sort of how you'll feel watching Okami-san and her Seven Companions. It's a pastiche of several old fairy tales, set in a modern Japanese High School, with a sarcastic narrator and a bizarre, almost twisted view of competitive schools that you *hope* only exists in a fairy tale, because if this is what goes on in a real Japanese High School, there would never be a single moment for actual studying..... Read More...
Gintama
Anime Review by Linda Yau
 In history Japan is the sole nation that contested Western powers, turning from victims to being imperialists. How does this relate to Gintama? Take out the Western part, replace it with aliens known as the Amanto, and you get a what-if-this-happened scenario. This how the show begins, but as the show advances, what viewers get is an ever changing brilliant work that guarantees to be a either a jaw dropper or serious side splitter. (The alien aspect gets shuffled into the background as the series progresses.)
Gintama follows the life of Gintoki Sakata, a resistant fighter against the Amanto. But whatever happened during that war stays in the past, as he moves on with searching for ways to earn money. He lives in Kabucho, works as the head of 'odd jobs' group alongside immigrant Kagura, and straight man/idol otaku Shinpachi. Add in a colorful recurring cast filled with police, cabaret girls, hosts, gorilla, old timers, robots, politicians, and delve into the brilliance of this series.Read More...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
Madoka Magica
Manga Review
by Linda Yau
 Choices are decisions that your mind and body can make. No one technically can change an individual choice once they are made. What is the one wish your body or mind wants to make? Do you choose to be a magical girl? Are there going to be repercussions? Is it all glitz or glamour? Do you want to make a contract with a cute bunny-squirrel-cat-esque creature? These are questions that Madoka faces when she gets the choice to be a magical girl. Read More...
Bunny Drop
Manga Review
by Linda Yau
 At no matter what age a person can be, losing a family member is rough and even more so when it is a parent. For six year old Rin, the man known as Gramps is not going to wake up anymore. She is the illegitimate daughter of Gramps and an unknown younger woman. This is a revelation to 30 year old bachelor grandson Daikichi, who ends up taking responsibility of his young "aunt" after no one in his family wants to be responsible. Read More...
Gon
Manga Review
by Linda Yau
 Dinosaurs once roamed the planet until their ultimate demise; nowadays the only time people get to see dinosaurs is by visiting and viewing bone remains at museums. What happens though if one dinosaur survives and lives? How would other animals react to this reality? Masashi Tanaka's Gon explores this. Read More...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
