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Sakura Wars Episode 1: Sakura and the Imperial Flower Combat Troop
Sakura Wars is an adaptation of a game franchise that encompasses six releases; the first, simply titled Sakura Wars, was released for the Sega Saturn in 1996, and…
Aria the Animation Episode 2: Acqua Alta
I examined the first episode of Aria the Animation seven years ago; today, I will look at the second episode. This episode introduces the phenomenon known as acqua…
Amanchu! Episode 1: Fun is Infinite
Amanchu! is an adaptation of a manga by Kozue Amano; Amano created Aria, which also received an anime adaptation. The first episode of this series introduces the two…
Gokinjo Monogatari Episode 1: Mikako and Tsutomu
Gokinjo Monogatari is an adaptation of a manga by Ai Yazawa (who also created Nana) – it presents the story of high school students Kōda Mikako and Yamaguchi…
Animation of the 1980s: Selected Shorts
This post will examine various animated works produced in the 1980s; before I get into individual works, I’ll provide a bit of historical context. The 1970s and 1980s…
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna Episode 3: Battle of Nagara-gawa
Episode three shows the Battle of Nagara-gawa, a conflict between Saitō Dōsan and his firstborn son, Yoshitatsu; in real life, Dōsan perished during this battle, but in this…
Quick Update
It’s been nearly four months since I’ve last posted on my blog; I’m simply updating to let everyone know I’m still around, and I plan to post soon.…
GeGeGe no Kitaro (2018) Episode 4: The Wrath of Yama-Jijii
Episode four of the 2018 GeGeGe no Kitaro series features the young boy Yuta, who discovers GeGeGe Forest after traveling through a small tunnel; a human stumbling upon…
Animation in the 1970s: Selected Shorts
American animation’s “golden age” was effectively over by 1970 – Warner Bros. closed its animation department in 1969 (it had closed in 1963, and the studio contracted DePat…
Lupin the Third Part 1 Episode 1: The Legendary Thief Lupin
The 1970s was a pretty eventful decade for Japanese animation – with regards to animated features, Cleopatra (an X-rated production directed by Osamu Tezuka and Eiichi Yamamoto) debuted…
Yu Yu Hakusho Episode 3: Kuwabara Helps His Friends
This episode focuses on Kazuma Kuwabara, a delinquent like Yusuke; Kuwabara has a few friends that he hangs out with, as illustrated in a scene where he and…
Mobile Fighter G Gundam Episode 2: Fight Against Chibodee Crockett
At the start of episode two, a man describes the Gundam Fight that practically replaces warfare in the universe of G Gundam – every four years, colonies sent…
Droopy Shorts, 1943-1949
MGM’s animation department, founded in 1937, produced animated works until its closure in 1958 – the popular characters Tom and Jerry debuted through MGM in 1940, and three…
Assorted Animation from the 1960s
The 1960s featured two landmark anime both released in 1963, Astro Boy and Gigantor – the latter is particularly notable for being the first televised mecha series, with…
GeGeGe no Kitaro (2018) Episode 3: The Mysterious Yokai Castle
Episode three of the 2018 GeGeGe no Kitaro involves the reappearance of a yōkai castle previously sealed away by humans; it also features three antagonists, motivated by their…
Zombie Land Saga 2: Impromptu Rap Battle
As the girls adjust to life as a zombie, Kōtarō provides more idol work for them in this episode; the venue this time around is the Shachi-no-Mon Public…
Galaxy Express 999 Episode 5: Melancholy on Pluto
As Tetsuro and Maetal continue their journey, they reach the final destination of their home solar system, the frigid dwarf planet Pluto; Maetal provides some key information by…
GeGeGe no Kitaro (2018) Episode 2: Attack of the Miage-Nyudo
As mentioned in my commentary for episode one, GeGeGe no Kitaro happens to be a fairly old work, with its origins stemming from the kamishibai tradition of storytelling;…
Mobile Suit Gundam Episode 1: Attack on Side 7
During the 1970s, Super Robot productions such as Mazinger Z and Getter Robo proved popular on television – this subgenre of mecha focused primarily on stories of alien…
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna Episode 2: Loyalty During a Time of War
The first episode established the general tone of The Ambition of Oda Nobuna, introducing the two key figures of Oda Nobuna (based upon the historical Nobunaga) and Sagara…
Yu Yu Hakusho Episode 2: A Bureaucratic Underworld
Episode one of Yu Yu Hakusho introduced the protagonist Yusuke Urameshi, who unexpectedly dies after being struck by a car while saving a child; now a spirit, Yusuke…
Mobile Fighter G Gundam Episode 1: Let the Gundam Fights Begin
During the 1990s, three Gundam programs with their own unique non-Universal Century timelines debuted – G Gundam, Gundam Wing and Gundam X. The first of these, G Gundam,…
UPA Shorts, 1944-1950
In 1941, an animators’ strike at Disney emerged from discontent with Walt Disney’s business practices; although the company enjoyed the best pay and benefits in the American animation…
Slayers Episode 1: High Fantasy Shenanigans
Slayers is an iconic ’90s high fantasy anime, based on a light novel series by Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi, which began serialization in Dragon Magazine in…
Mushi-shi Episode 1: A World of Mushi
Japanese folklore abounds with encounters with the unusual – numerous tales of humans meeting yōkai, specters and other beings can be found throughout literature from Japan, from the…
GeGeGe no Kitaro (2018) Episode 1: Yokai in Modern Times
GeGeGe no Kitaro happens to be an older manga, with its origins in the kamishibai tradition – between 1933 and 1935, the kamishibai storyteller Masami Itō traveled…