News

Japanese Comic Ranking, September 9–15

Anime Spotlight - Genshiken Second Season
It's a new Genshiken with a new cast, and a much more female point of view. 2013-07-01

The Mike Toole Show - Tatsumi's Testament
Mike takes a look at the work of one of Japan's manga geniuses that remains obscure in the west. 2013-06-30

The List - 6 Humanity Hating A.I.
Characters in fiction have treated artificial intelligence with a sense of wary respect ever since HAL refused to open the hatch for Dave in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, and rightfully so. 2013-06-29

Visual Novel Giveaway Contest: If My Heart Had Wings
We're giving away 5 copies of MoeNovel's flagship game, If My Heart Had Wings, and all you need to do is answer one question! 2013-06-28

Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga - Twin Spica
Jason boldly goes where very few people have gone before and reads Vertical's release of Twin Spica. 2013-06-27

Alice in the Country of Hearts: My Fanatic Rabbit GN 2
If you are a completeist or would have played every single storyline out in the original game, My Fanatic Rabbit is likely already on your to-read list. Otherwise your enjoyment of this will depend on how much you like Elliot as a character.

Arata: The Legend GN 14
Volume fourteen could reasonably be called a turning point book in the series. While it doesn't cement what Hinohara's future course of action will be, it does give us more information about past, present, and future, and seems to have galvanized the characters to make more direct moves.

Neon Genesis Evangelion [Omnibus] GN 3
In this volume, Evangelion plunges further into darkness (in a good way), proving why it remains one of the most talked-about series of all time.

Red Data Girl
A timid, sheltered girl discovers that she's the host for a powerful supernatural entity in a dark, moody drama laden with Eastern mysticism. Though still good, the series falls short of its great potential due to some late missteps.

Space Brothers Episodes 39-51 Streaming
The first of these arcs is a mission-gone-wrong adventure that distinguishes itself with winding tension, solid psychology, and fine attention to detail; the second, however, falls right back into the show's stolidly entertaining astronauts-in-training rut.

Majestic Prince Episodes 1 - 6 Streaming
Overall it is easy to see that Majestic Prince is trying. At this point whether or not it succeeds is up to the tastes of the individual viewer, but with the vague but troubling sensation that things could go wrong at any moment, there is enough to keep us watching.

Valvrave the Liberator episodes 1-6
While this original effort by Sunrise does borrow heavily from other mecha and general sci fi series, it is at times spectacularly unpredictable and enthusiastically ridiculous. Even veteran mecha fans should find at least a few weird, new twists here.

Tobikage episodes 1 - 7 Streaming
Tobikage isn't the best show out there in terms of animation, plot, or overall coherency, but it is absolutely a ton of fun.

Sengoku Basara: The Last Party BD+DVD
One of those blustery, everyone-fights-everyone-else action movies that turns out way more enjoyable than it deserves to be.

HENNEKO Episodes 1-7 Streaming
A kind of modern moe fairy tale where characters are built from prefab personality traits that can be swapped in and out like customizable car parts. Surprisingly fun, actually.

Kaze No Stigma DVD
The first half of this series about a cool and cocky wind magic-user and his temperamental fire magic-user cousin is hardly awful but definitely does not stand amongst the better recent efforts of its type. Weak writing and overripe characterizations eventually cause what little early promise it has to wither.