Akihide MURAOKA

ANN 15th Anniversary - Win A Trip to Japan!
ANN is celebrating its 15th anniversary, and we want to give someone the chance to win a trip to Japan! 2013-07-03

ANNCast - Risky Viz-ness
The fine folks at Viz Anime, Charlene Ingram and Brian Ige, drop by to talk about the manga publisher's plans for the anime side of their business, Neon Alley, Ranma 1/2 and more! 2013-07-17

The Summer 2013 Anime Preview Guide
The Summer 2013 Anime Preview Guide is wrapped for the season, but you can catch up with us through the dog days.
Available Now: Hyperdimension Neptunia - Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Ilya - Danganronpa - Gatchaman Crowds - Rozen Maiden ep 2 - Silver Spoon - Free 2 - Sunday Without God - Gifu Dodo 2 - Stella Women's Academy - WATAMOTE! - World God Only Knows: Goddesses - And Much More! 2013-07-16

The Stream - Flower Power
The Stream wraps up the Spring 2013 season of simulcasts. 2013-07-15

Interview: Mamoru Hosoda, Director of Wolf Children
A few questions for Mamoru Hosoda during a press tour for his new film, Wolf Children, in Taiwan. 2013-07-15

The Mike Toole Show - TAC-tical Withdrawal
Mike explores the rise and fall of an anime studio willing to take serious creative risks, and the force behind Night on the Galactic Railroad. 2013-07-14

Time and Eternity
Time and Eternity's attempt at playing anime falls to ruin at every point. Hoping to fuse games and animation into a revolutionary RPG, it instead picks terrible ingredients from both worlds.

Another DVD
Another may have its faults, such as some of the imagery and some clues being almost too obscure, as well as one or two clearly contrived plot points, but on the whole it is a well done mystery/horror hybrid.

Project X Zone
Project X Zone is a bit too comfortable in its fantasy fulfillment. A hectic battle system builds up, but the energy fades well before the game's over. All that stays are the geek pleasures of seeing dozens of previously unacquainted characters bounce off one another.

Shin Megami Tensei IV
Shin Megami Tensei IV's incrementally improved (and substantially kinder) mechanics may make it worth playing for lapsed fans who are burned out on the series, but anyone looking for the next Persona will come away disappointed.

Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet
Ultimately this “stranger in a strange land” scenario from the Spring 2013 season is more an example of a series which fails to be spectacular than one which fails to be good.

Blade of the Immortal GN 25-26
Less satisfying and less artful than the Prison Arc, but when this new arc tightens its focus for a gore-soaked climax, it's still potent, frightening stuff.

Zero's Familiar [Omnibus] GN 1-3
The story struggles between catering to harem fans and not sticking to the genre's conventions, creating a charming love story and overemphasizing Louise's tsundere qualities, and building a believable world and throwing magic jargon at the reader. The result is a book that is fun to read in small doses and kind of annoying at the same time.

Majestic Prince Episodes 7 - 12 Streaming
“Heart” may be an overused term, but Majestic Prince has it in spades as it continues to probe the problems of its world and to develop its protagonists, and that alone is really worth watching.

Uta no Prince-sama - Maji Love 2000% Streaming
On the whole, UtaPri 2 is the proverbial spoonful of sugar to offset the medicine of your day. The plot is lacking, the color scheme is insane, and there's enough cheese here to make nachos for a hundred, but despite all of that it is still an awful lot of fun.

A Certain Scientific Railgun S eps 1-12
When is it acceptable for a series to deviate from an established, successful formula? When the franchise's most compelling storyline and some of the franchise's most high-powered esper-on-esper battles to date are involved.

Darker than BLACK DVD 1
Despite a shaky foundation and suspect structure, this Bones series about super-powered agents called Contractors finds enough substance in its initial story arcs, and enough support from its musical score, to weather its first storms.