This series is made possible by a commission from Frank Hecker. You can find out more about commissions here. In the city of Sternbild, heroes are a part of everyday life. In fact, the superpowered beings called NEXT are reality TV superstars, wearing sponsor logos and competing for […]
Back again! Here’s the second half of what I reviewed this season. Some unexpected gems and also the worst the season has to offer. As always, one line summaries are also linked to my longer reviews.
It’s that time again! The time of year when I don’t sleep and my schedule is completely wrecked by the need to have opinions about anime. I love it, I really do. The season’s about half over, and there’s been a surprisingly good crop of potential. As always, […]
I recently rediscovered the joys of interlibrary loan, giving me access to a new quantity of manga I wasn’t able to afford otherwise. So, once in a while I’ll be putting out these multi-title posts with short-form reviews of what I’ve been reading.
Kino’s Journey (2003) is one of the great classics of anime: directed by the late Ryutaro Nakamura (Serial Experiments Lain) with his characteristic eye for negative space and eerie, melancholy sound design, the series is a quiet but purposeful sequence of short stories ranging from the fantastical to the […]
This essay was commissioned by Shawn. You can find out more about commissions here. Horror anime is rare and rarely affecting. Series often have difficulty conveying or maintaining unsettling atmospheres and slow burns, and turn instead to gore and body horror—subgenres that can be quite effective but can […]
The vampire craze of the late 2000s has come and gone, the Twilights and True Bloods and Vampire Diaireses leaving a bad case of publisher burnout in their wake. The only ones left behind are people like me, whose specific fondness for queer vampires wasn’t exactly served by […]
