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John’s Picks for 2025’s Best TV Anime
For more than twenty years running I’ve been trying to sample every new anime broadcast in Japan each year. In my perspective, 2016 to 2018 was a three-year…
Unpacking Jujutsu Kaisen Movie 2 & Other Stuff
I recorded a new video expressing my initial thoughts on the Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution/Culling Game movie and some of my latest anime purchases.
John’s 2025 Tokyo Trip Day 9
On our final morning in Tokyo, Phil & I woke early and packed. After Phil came downstairs, I went up and showered. When we fully cleared the dining…
John’s 2025 Tokyo Trip Day 8
Our final full day in Tokyo began with Phil & I taking the Keisei Line train to the Oshieage (Sky Tree Mae) train station. At our local Aoto…
John’s 2025 Tokyo Trip Day 7
Our next to last full day in Tokyo began in earnest when Phil & I took the Keisei line train to Shiodome where we transferred onto the Yurikamome…
John’s 2025 Tokyo Trip Day 6
Phil & I began our day’s adventure by traveling to Asakusa. We exited the train station’s Senso-ji exit, turned left, then headed toward the crowd of people. The…
John’s 2025 Tokyo Trip Day 5
While trying to ignore the loud noises of the house next door being demolished, I slept in until 10:30. Eventually Phil & I left the house, headed for…
John’s 2025 Tokyo Trip Day 4
I woke around 7am to the loud noise of workmen demolishing the abandoned house next to ours. Phil came downstairs at ten. So I went upstairs and took…
John’s 2025 Tokyo Trip Day 3
Once again, I had difficulty sleeping. So I left the house at 8:30, taking the Keisei line to Asakusabashi, where I switched to the Chuo local JR train…
John’s 2025 Tokyo Trip Day 2
On the early morning of our first full day in Tokyo, local time ten to six AM on Monday, September 22, I decided that I’d dress and take…
John’s 2025 Tokyo Trip Day 1
For my ninth, I think, trip to Tokyo I was going with former AnimeNation web-monkey Phil, who was visiting Japan for the first time. On the morning of…
B-Grade for The B-Rank Adventurer
The history of manga includes no shortage of stories revolving around the unfortunate plights of characters who are so ugly that they’re ostracized, or characters who naturally look…
Ask John: Do Commercial Anime Lack Artistic Credibility?
Ask John: Question: Does an anime lose its artistic value given its commercial nature in comparison to originally produced works such as Princess Kaguya or Angel’s Egg? Answer:…
May 2025 Anime Items Show & Tell
I uploaded a new video recording of me sharing my latest collection purchases from Mandarake & Suruga-ya.
Detectives These Days Are Good & Crazy!
Since the 1990s manga has been well populated by skillful teen detectives. Brilliant young investigators appear in Detective Conan, Puppet Master Sakon, The Case Files of Young Kindaichi,…
CLAMP School Detectives, Detective Opera Milky Holmes, Pretty Boy Detective Club
April 2025 Anime Items Show & Tell
John unboxes over a half-dozen orders from Mandarake & Suruga-ya, including doujinshi, zasshi, tapestries, figures, and more anime oddities.
A Little Talk About “You Talk Too Much, So Just Shut It Already!”
Although numerous manga stories revolving around disabled characters exist, such stories make up only a small minority of the total number of published manga. So manga about disabled…
Ask John: Should Anime Burn Out or Fade Away?
Question: Do you believe an anime should fade into obscurity, or live on as a joke? Answer: To reference the oft quoted line, “It’s better to burn out…
A Revenge You Can Root For
Every living person invariably lives by moving forward in time while looking back at the past. Every person faces uncertainty and regrets, plagued by the constant question, “What…
John’s Picks for 2024’s Best TV Anime
Since at least 2001 I’ve deliberately tried to sample as many of the new anime TV and web titles released in Japan each year as I could access.…
John’s End of 2024 Imports Unboxing
I show & tell five recent small orders received from Mandarake & Suruga-ya.
A Lost Dirty Pair Discovered
The Lovely Angels, a pair of “trouble consultants” employed by the WWWA (World Welfare Works Association) are Kei & Yuri. They’re experts at their job, yet accidents, collateral…
The Value of the “Sold Dirt Cheap” Manga
The secret of the success of the “isekai” fantasy genre in Japanese comics and animation is the flexibility of the concept. Being teleported to or reincarnated into an…
Welcome Home Nukozuke!
Since the earliest days of civilization, humans have adored the cuteness and inscrutability of cats. Humans have welcomed cats into their homes as furry, four-legged members of the…
Classless Yet Not Hopeless
The sword & sorcery tale has achieved prolific and prolonged popularity in Japan thanks to the genre constantly redefining itself with minor alterations. The protagonist’s nature and motivations…
Suruga-ya’s “Non-Genre” Grab Bag
I discover what kind of stuff comes in one of Suruga-ya’s “non-genre” mystery boxes.
Suruga-ya’s Doujinshi Grab Bags
Japanese second-hand goods retailer Suruga-ya is currently offering “lucky bags” (random lots) of 100+ Japanese doujinshi for about $20, often with free international shipping. I have no affiliation…
June 2024 Mandarake & Surugaya Order Unboxing
John’s show and tell of his latest purchases from Mandarake & Suruga-ya.
Ask John: Which Anime Have Opinions Reversed On?
Question: With the passage of time and changing circumstances, do you believe certain disliked anime have been vindicated? Answer: Less than two generations ago anime was such an…
May 2024 Suruga-ya Order Unboxing
Until Wednesday, May 22nd at 6pm Japan time, second-hand retailer Suruga-ya is offering free international shipping. That’s a discount that could save American collectors anywhere from $30 to…
Glad Tidings from the Tendo Family
Historical shoujo romantic drama is a relatively common subgenre of manga, and one that’s well-done more often than not. Veteran shoujo manga creator Ken Saito’s Tales of the…
February 2024 Mandarake Order Unboxing
John’s show and tell of his latest purchases from Mandarake.
Ask John: Who Will Influence the Future of Anime Development?
Question: In light of the recent losses of influential manga artists such as Kentaro Miura, Kazuki Takahashi, Buichi Terasawa, Takao Saito, Kazuhiko Kato, and Kazuo Koike, which current…
John’s Picks for 2023’s Best TV Anime
The number of new anime series made for Japanese television broadcast has steadily increased year over year since the dawn of modern television anime sixty years ago. However,…
Yutaka Minowa YouTube Interview
The Cartoonist Kayfabe YouTube channel has published an hour-long face-to-face interview with animator Yutaka Minowa, veteran key animator, character designer of “Ninja Scroll” (1993), and animation director behind…
November Mandarake Order Unboxing
Check out the handful of new items I purchased from Mandarake of Japan.
Unboxing a Manga Grail
I placed a new order with Amazon Japan and also another order with Mandarake because Mandarake offered an exceptionally scarce manga key issue that I couldn’t resist purchasing.
October 2023 Mandarake Order Unboxing
I’m back again to share another selection of unique and novel anime items delivered from Japan. Highlights in this batch including the cameo first appearance of Piccolo and…
September 2023 Mandarake Order Unboxing
For the curious, I share what items I most recently acquired from Mandarake of Japan. Apologies for me looking a bit trashy. I’m a lazy, aging hermit. It’s…
Manga Worth a Take Two
Among the many appealing aspects of Japanese manga is the diversity of its genres and styles. Countless fans globally adore shonen adventure manga stories targeted at adolescent boys.…
Latest Manga 1st Appearance Acquisitions
On my adjunct professor salary, I don’t get to buy anime collectables as often as I’d like to. So these days I have to prioritize interesting and unusual…
Level 99 Villainess Recommendation
The “isekai” sub-genre of Japanese fantasy literature is defined by stories in which a character is migrated from Earth to a fantasy or futuristic sci-fi world. In recent…
Ask John: How Much Will AI Impact Anime?
Ask John: With the upcoming Black Jack manga being “co-produced” by Artificial Intelligence, what role do you believe Artificial Intelligence will have in anime production? Especially considering that…
Parallel World Pharmacy Mini-Review Contest
One Peace Books is running a mini-review contest for the new title Parallel World Pharmacy. Readers have until June 26 11:59 EST to post a short review sharing…
May 2023 Mandarake Order Unboxing
Curious collectors and hardy anime historians may be interested to see what oddities I acquired in my latest purchase from Mandarake of Japan. This video is a relatively…
Ask John: Why is Sailor Moon Such an Iconic Success?
Question: What makes Sailor Moon such an iconic global franchise among anime fans, despite other magical girl anime sharing similar traits such as action-oriented plots, drama, in-depth world-building…
Prescription for Manga: Parallel World Pharmacy
Although Japanese “isekai” stories of characters spirited away to or reincarnated in alternate worlds have been prominent since at least the 1980s, the fantasy sub-genre began an unprecedented…
Ask John: Can Anime Be As Empathetic As Live-Action?
Ask John: One of the reasons anime is popular is how relatable the characters and narratives are. We are empathetic and sympathetic due to them drawing upon real-world…
John’s Picks for 2022’s Best TV Anime
Having watched a lot of anime, I prefer to define any given year’s best works by recognizing the most creative, interesting, unique, and new titles. So I particularly…