Crest of the Stars (TV)

San Diego Comic-Con 2011
San Diego Comic-Con 2011 has begun! Check back every day for panel reports, photos and more!
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Stan Lee, Todd McFarlane and Yoshiki
2011-07-21

Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga - Appleseed
Jason takes on Masamune Shirow's deeply political sci-fi thriller, Appleseed. 2011-07-21

Anime News Nina! - 2011-07-20
They're really scraping the barrel these days. 2011-07-21

The X Button - Fall of Legends
Galaga, Half-Minute Hero, and a good bath round out the downloads this week! Plus Brave Company, Steel Chronicle, and some bad news about Mega Man Legends 3. 2011-07-20

The Anime and Manga Fan's Guide to Comic-Con 2011
Whether you're heading to San Diego for Comic-Con International or planning to check ANN for coverage, our guide lets you know when and where the anime- and manga-related programming will be. 2011-07-19

RIGHT TURN ONLY!! - Because You Kan Kan Kannagi
RTO!! is all over the place this week with reviews of Kannagi, Monster Hunter Orage, and Ōoku. Don't ever say this column doesn't have variety! 2011-07-19

ANNCast - Viewers Like You: Emergency Edition
San Diego Comic-con eats up nearly the entire week! There's no time to produce a podcast! Or is there? Two solid hours of Viewers Like You to the rescue! This week: Canadian convention crowds, price complaining, out-of-print appreciation and 30 minutes of Harry Potter chat. Get in here!! 2011-07-18

Shelf Life - Chocolate Bund Cake
Erin explores deep space through the eyes of Matsumoto, and talks about vampire high schools.
- Dance in the Vampire Bund BD
- Galaxy Express 999
- K-On! v.2
2011-07-18

The Mike Toole Show - Super Robot Island: Dork of the Moon
Mike heads back to Super Robot Island with his excavation gear in tow and uncovers God Sigma, Machine Robo and more! 2011-07-17

Transformers: The Headmasters DVD
All but requires your being familiar with the ins and outs of the Autobots and Decepticons of the 1980s to get the most from the show, but any fan of vintage mecha with some time on their hands will surely get plenty of kicks out of this set.

Arakawa Under the Bridge DVD/Blu-Ray
You can't really resent a show for calculatedly bizarre behavior when you keep falling in love with the people who are doing it. Or when they keep cracking you up.

Kamisama Kiss GN 3
Nanami proves to be a much stronger heroine than Sakurakoji's Misao, never giving in to her distress and actively attempting to come to her own rescue. It is unlikely that this similarity is deliberate, but shoujo readers who are fed up with Black Bird may find solace here.

Angel Beats! Complete Collection
Dead teens seek to defy God in a Purgatory-like school setting in this newest offering from one of the creative minds behind Kanon and Clannad. Its excellent balance of music, humor, action, drama, and emotion make it one of the best and most complete series so far this year.

Trigun: Badlands Rumble
Well over half the movie's runtime is unnecessary or blatantly stretched out, which makes for absolutely atrocious writing, but thanks to the stellar production it doesn't dampen the movie's entertainment value. It's a middling TV episode wrapped in loads of hijinks, but that's probably what most fans were expecting.

Buddha: The Great Departure
As an adaptation of its source material, this film is poor: Tezuka fans can safely avoid it. As a stand-alone entertainment, it's merely forgettable, a little overstuffed and confusing.

Dance in the Vampire Bund DVD/Blu-Ray
This story about the Queen of Monsters and the boy (er, werewolf) who devoted himself to her features a fascinating female lead, good visuals, and lots of action and fan service, but it also decidedly hedges into lolicon territory. It is a flawed but still enjoyable series.

Monster Episodes 31-45 Streaming
Frankfurt is Johan's arc, the one where we get closest to the monster and delve furthest into its ambitions and inner workings. And what we see there is terrifying.

Astarotte's Toy episodes 7-12
Lotte and crew go on a mundane romp through anime clichés, and up the lolicon content, as this too-short series wraps up. It can be entertaining and endearing, and also has regular fan service, but it is ultimately not as special as it could have been.

Gosick
A pint-sized tsundere solves mysteries and befriends a foreign student in 1924 Europe in this attractive mystery/romance series. While it may start weak, the series really rolls once the plot and relationship developments pick up steam.

Appleseed
...every ten minutes or so there is an action scene. An elaborate, memorable, breath-taking action scene. The action scenes alone are well worth the price of admission or the DVD.