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 The Rolling Girlsローリング☆ガールズ Anime First Impressions by Ben Huber What does an anime studio do when you have a bunch of money from a successful licensed anime? They go and make an original series! Rolling Girls is a brand new anime from Wit Studio, the folks behind everyone's favorite, Attack on Titan. Is Rolling Girls actually bankrolled by the muscular behemoth anime? We don't know, but we'd love to think so, because Rolling Girls is a animated, cacophanous joy to watch. Japan is in chaos. Set 10 years after a war that split up the country into the 10 original prefectures, we're thrown head-first into absolute zaniness. Each city-state battles against the other, represented by mercenaries and vigilantes from the war with special abilities. These unique individuals are called "Bests" and everyone else? Well, would it surprise you that they're often called the "Rest?" Yup, Rolling Girls is pretty on-the-nose. Read More...   Gourmet Girl Graffiti幸腹グラフィティ Anime First Impressions by Michael Pinto Did you love Iron Chef back in the day? And are you really really into Japanese cuisine? Then this is your show! Gourmet Girl Graffiti is the tale of two junior high students and food. And as you may have guessed from the title, the food is pretty much the most important character in the show. In fact each episode has a tempting title like “Crispy, Dripping” or “Fluffy, Sizzling” which describes the various dishes featured in that episode. And of course each episode features several dishes, with no repeats on the menu. In fact half the fun of this show is running to wikipedia after you’re done watching to look up every dish featured in the show. And so next you may ask, who is the gourmet girl in Gourmet Girl Graffiti? That would be young Ryō Machiko who lives on her own in Tokyo because her parents work overseas, although don’t worry too much as she does have a workaholic aunt who looks in on her from time to time. Read More...   Death Paradeデス・ビリヤード Anime First Impressions by Ben Huber Imagine the most difficult decision possible: do you send someone to heaven or hell? Now imagine if that decision was left up to a random game, like bowling or billiards? This is the world of Death Parade, in which visitors get stuck in the crevices between life and death and must game their way to heaven or hell... at the expense of their competitor. Let the Death Game begin! When two people die at the exact same moment, they're transported to Quindecim, a bar located in the afterlife and attended by the pale and white-haired bartender Decim. He initiates a game between these two dead people, with the winner being sent through the mysterious "Heaven" elevator doors and the loser taking the less-desired ride downward. If this sounds morbid and silly, let us clarify: it's both. Read More...   Durarara!!x2デュラララ!! Anime First Impressions by Ben Huber Welcome back to Ikebukuro, friends! Take a stroll through a bustling city filled with incredible sights to see, like gangsters, violent bartenders, otaku, serial killers, or a headless horsewoman! If that doesn't sound exciting, you might as well bail out now, because the second season of Durarara is here, and it's only going to get more crazy. Durarara is a tough show to describe: it features gang warfare (primarily), but also stars some supernatural characters along with internet message boards. It also can be quite wacky and goofy at times, but quickly swing the pendulum the other direction and into more grim territory. Read More...   Why My Ordinary Life is an Extraordinary Comedy日常 Anime Article by Ben Huber Don't be ordinary! One of KyoAni's best shows in recent memory was their slice of life and comedy show titled My Ordinary Life (Nichijou). It follow three students, Yuko, Mio, and Mai as they go about their absurd daily life, along with Nano (a robot) and the Professor (an 8-year-old genius). Oh, and their cat, Sakamoto-san. It's part gag show, part slice-of-life, and 100% silly. Here's a few reasons why My Ordinary Life is anything but. Read More...
 Why The Castle of Cagliostro is a Classic ルパン三世 カリオストロの城 Anime Article by Ben Huber Recently, the legendary Hayao Miyazaki accepted an honorary Oscar at the Governor's Awards for his incredible body of work. Introducing him was John Lasseter, the head of Pixar and close friend of Miyazaki. Lasseter's done a lot of work bringing Studio Ghilbi's films to America, but he never got to bring over his favorite pre-Ghibli work by Miyazaki: Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro. In his presentation, he spoke of how he thinks it's one of the best films ever made. Here's a few reasons why he's right! Read More...
 ShirobakoAnime Review by Ben Huber  Have you ever wondered what it'd be like to actually work on creating an anime? All of the jobs, art, music, sound effects, and promotional work? It'd be tough! Now, what if you had to create an anime about making anime? How do you keep it interesting and exciting without devolving into the minute detail of day-to-day tedium? If you're P.A. Works, you make Shirobako.We're first introduced to five young women in high school. All have strong artistic drives and have worked together in their animation club to create their own short anime. It's not perfect, but it's theirs! It leads them into their future careers, as they all prepare to jump into the rough and breakneck animation industry. Read More...   Amagi Brilliant Park甘城ブリリアントパーク Anime Review by Ben Huber Managing a theme park sounds exciting, right? Sure, it'd be tough, but it could be the opportunity of a lifetime! Seiya Kanie meets Isuzu Sento, a girl who invites him to take over the management of failing theme park Amagi Brilliant Park, in a last-ditch attempt to rejuvenate it. However, Kanie quickly discovers something: the park mascots are real, and this place is more than a little bit magic. Actually, we may have said "invite" up there, but in actuality Sento is quite forceful, using her magic rifle to coerce Kanie into taking up the management job. It's not easy though, as Kanie, while an intelligent and sharp fellow, is also exceedingly narcissistic and prideful. He regards many people as beneath him, resulting in him not being very popular despite his good looks. Frankly, he's a bit of a jerk, but it makes him much more interesting than your typical protagonist. Read More...   Celestial Method天体のメソッド Anime Review by Ben Huber A flying saucer hovers above a city ominously. It never moves, never changes — it just sits there, sparkling and glowing. That sounds like the start of a sci-fi action or horror film, right? What if we told you instead it was the opening of a slice-of-life show featuring middle-school girls and their daily lives? Yup: that's Celestial Method. Let's jump into this unique little show! Celestial Method is based off of a premise by Naoki Hisaya (who also came up with Kanon), so it has the privilege of being one of the few original shows this season. It's produced by a new studio called Studio 3Hz. All of that combined could mean a lot of things (and greatly increases the risk of failure), but they've done a solid job on the first few episodes. Read More...  |
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is now avilable on both DVD and video on demand (both Amazon and iTunes carry it):
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