ANNCast - How's That Visual Novel Coming? Our much-delayed interview with John Pickett from mangagamer.com about all things niche anime gaming is here! Plus: updates about the status of the spring anime season and a whole lotta jawin' about other stuff.
2011-03-25
"We Heart Japan" Earthquake Relief Gallery LA's famous Meltdown Comics was the site of a gallery show, screening, autographs signings and voice actor appearances, all to benefit victims of the Tohoku earthquake. We have a gallery of the night's highlights.
2011-03-24
The X Button - The Third Dimension This week: looking forward to the Nintendo 3DS, welcoming a Rocket Slime sequel, seeing Wizardry again, and dissecting another canceled game.
2011-03-23
Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo 2011: Full Report We sent Bamboo to check out Chicago's C2E2! Her full report of all 3 days, including the Evangelion 2.0 screening, voice actor Spike Spencer's panels, mountains of Hi-Chew and even a thrilling brush with Chicago crime!
2011-03-22
Cross Game Episodes 39-50 Streaming A beautiful, heartfelt end to a beautiful, heartfelt series, and wholly satisfying. Really, you couldn't ask more from a final arc.
Guin Saga Collection 1 This tale of a leopard-headed warrior who must defend endangered royal twins is pure old-school, Western-styled, epic high fantasy, the kind which evokes the spirit of Conan the Barbarian stories. Though the writing could be crisper, it looks and sounds terrific.
Hero Tales DVD Part 1 The problem with this series' first 13 episodes is that it borrows heavily from heroic sagas of old—and adds nothing new to the concept.
Disgaea - Complete Series DVD Funimation's intact rerelease of this former Geneon property has occasional scenes where it gets its act together enough to generate some real fun, but on the balance it is a wholly forgettable effort.
Dogs: Bullets & Carnage GN 5 Shirow Miwa has all but thrown away any remaining pretenses of "plot." Instead, Volume 5 gives in to the series' true essence: shooting, killing, slicing, exploding, and any combination thereof.
Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee GN 4 While Tegami Bachi has gained a sense of purpose, it also loses a little something by dropping the episodic tales of human nature and self-discovery. Is the trade-off worth it?
One Piece DVD Season 3 Part 4 The groundwork has been laid. Now it's pummeling time. Or it would be, if the show would just stop interrupting the fight.
Chrome Shelled Regios DVD Parts 1 and 2 Mobile cities battle each other for resources, and bug-like creatures for survival, in this sci fi/fantasy action-adventure series. Although it has some interesting ideas and action, the series does an inadequate job of explaining itself and resolves little in the end.
From Impressionism to Anime To an anime fan, not much of what she finds is going to be particularly novel, although it may certainly be interesting to realize that just as you the fan wonder about the reasons fandom exists as it does, scholars at universities around the U.S. are asking the same exact question.