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Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: Can DEMON LORD 2099 Bring Isekai into The Future?Background image for Seasonal First Impressions: Can DEMON LORD 2099 Bring Isekai into The Future?

Seasonal First Impressions: Can DEMON LORD 2099 Bring Isekai into The Future?

Demon Lord 2099 is brave enough to ask, can a man in a tracksuit save us from technocapitalism?

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Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: Maid in Abyss – Is YOU ARE MS. SERVANT Strange Enough To Stand Out?Background image for Seasonal First Impressions: Maid in Abyss – Is YOU ARE MS. SERVANT Strange Enough To Stand Out?

Seasonal First Impressions: Maid in Abyss – Is YOU ARE MS. SERVANT Strange Enough To Stand Out?

The master/servant age gap romcom mixes comedic stylings and denpa imagery, but is that enough to stand out in 2024’s crowded landscape?

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Featured image for New Manga First Impressions: Shot Through The Heart – Love, Loss, and the Ephemeral Beauty of a Grassroots Fandom: The Story of LOVE BULLETBackground image for New Manga First Impressions: Shot Through The Heart – Love, Loss, and the Ephemeral Beauty of a Grassroots Fandom: The Story of LOVE BULLET

New Manga First Impressions: Shot Through The Heart – Love, Loss, and the Ephemeral Beauty of a Grassroots Fandom: The Story of LOVE BULLET

Mangaka inee’s sparkling, spellbinding debut is an instantly-classic work of drama, action, and of course, romance. Find out why you should #ReadLoveBullet

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Featured image for (REVIEW) The Black Thread of Fate: Death, Past and Present, in NOIRBackground image for (REVIEW) The Black Thread of Fate: Death, Past and Present, in NOIR
Featured image for Big Feelings in Small Moments – A Short (REVIEW) of the Short & Sweet HONOBONO LOGBackground image for Big Feelings in Small Moments – A Short (REVIEW) of the Short & Sweet HONOBONO LOG

Big Feelings in Small Moments – A Short (REVIEW) of the Short & Sweet HONOBONO LOG

Totaling just barely 20 minutes, Honobono Log is a catalogue of short, simple moments from lives any one of us could lead.

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Featured image for (REVIEW) Today, Tomorrow, and Every Day Onward – Beginnings and Endings in FRIEREN: BEYOND JOURNEY’S ENDBackground image for (REVIEW) Today, Tomorrow, and Every Day Onward – Beginnings and Endings in FRIEREN: BEYOND JOURNEY’S END
Featured image for The Weekly Orbit [8/11/24]Background image for The Weekly Orbit [8/11/24]

The Weekly Orbit [8/11/24]

This week: band girls, giant robots, theater kids, and demonic samurai.

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The Weekly Orbit [8/5/24]

This week, emotions run high with vampire tragedies, theater kids at each other’s throats, and shot-down love confessions.

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Featured image for The Weekly Orbit [7/29/24]Background image for The Weekly Orbit [7/29/24]
Featured image for The Weekly Orbit [7/22/24]Background image for The Weekly Orbit [7/22/24]

The Weekly Orbit [7/22/24]

The Weekly Orbit is a weekly column collecting and refining my more casual anime- and manga-related thoughts from the previous week. Mostly, these are taken from my tumblr blog, and…

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Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: Out of Luck, Out of Love in MAKEINE: TOO MANY LOSING HEROINES!Background image for Seasonal First Impressions: Out of Luck, Out of Love in MAKEINE: TOO MANY LOSING HEROINES!

Seasonal First Impressions: Out of Luck, Out of Love in MAKEINE: TOO MANY LOSING HEROINES!

Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! isn’t reinventing the wheel with its take on romance anime. Instead, the extremely promising premiere sets itself apart with wit, charm, and passion.

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The Weekly Orbit [7/15/24]

This week on a late-night edition of the Weekly Orbit; isekai new and old, rejected scripts, and a cameo that threw me for a complete loop.

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Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: Summer 2024 Stragglers, Part IIBackground image for Seasonal First Impressions: Summer 2024 Stragglers, Part II

Seasonal First Impressions: Summer 2024 Stragglers, Part II

Seasonal First Impressions is a column where I detail my thoughts, however brief or long, about a currently-airing anime’s first episode or so. The Magical Girl and the Evil…

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Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: Succumb To The Power of MY DEER FRIEND NOKOTANBackground image for Seasonal First Impressions: Succumb To The Power of MY DEER FRIEND NOKOTAN

Seasonal First Impressions: Succumb To The Power of MY DEER FRIEND NOKOTAN

On subtitles, surrealism, and seeing how far we can go in dissecting stupid jokes: My Deer Friend Nokotan is a hit in every sense of the word.

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Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: MAYONAKA PUNCH is a Total KnockoutBackground image for Seasonal First Impressions: MAYONAKA PUNCH is a Total Knockout

Seasonal First Impressions: MAYONAKA PUNCH is a Total Knockout

Local toxic Youtube influencer gets cancelled and meets a vampire. You won’t believe what happens next!

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Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: Summer 2024 StragglersBackground image for Seasonal First Impressions: Summer 2024 Stragglers

Seasonal First Impressions: Summer 2024 Stragglers

Seasonal First Impressions is a column where I detail my thoughts, however brief or long, about a currently-airing anime’s first episode or so. I’ve done one of these once…

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Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: Back to the Bottom in TOWER OF GOD SEASON 2Background image for Seasonal First Impressions: Back to the Bottom in TOWER OF GOD SEASON 2

Seasonal First Impressions: Back to the Bottom in TOWER OF GOD SEASON 2

In which I write a short article that is as much about myself as it is about Tower of God.

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Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: Dead or Alive 1333 – In Search of THE ELUSIVE SAMURAIBackground image for Seasonal First Impressions: Dead or Alive 1333 – In Search of THE ELUSIVE SAMURAI

Seasonal First Impressions: Dead or Alive 1333 – In Search of THE ELUSIVE SAMURAI

The highly-anticipated shonen adaptation is a fireworks show of explosive, splintering potential. But is the story it’s telling with all of this worthwhile?

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Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: Fierce Invaders From Beyond Your Stars in GRENDIZER UBackground image for Seasonal First Impressions: Fierce Invaders From Beyond Your Stars in GRENDIZER U

Seasonal First Impressions: Fierce Invaders From Beyond Your Stars in GRENDIZER U

Grendizer U reboots the 70s suber robot show for the modern day. Should you tune in? Well, that depends on how you feel about an anime with all…

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Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: 404 Blog Post Title Not Found – What The Hell is Going On in QUALITY ASSURANCE IN ANOTHER WORLD?Background image for Seasonal First Impressions: 404 Blog Post Title Not Found – What The Hell is Going On in QUALITY ASSURANCE IN ANOTHER WORLD?

Seasonal First Impressions: 404 Blog Post Title Not Found – What The Hell is Going On in QUALITY ASSURANCE IN ANOTHER WORLD?

A title like ‘Quality Assurance in Another World’ might make one assume that this is a breezy fantasy comedy. KonoFuka here is a lot of things, but it’s…

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Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: Otaku Hot Girl Summer in 2.5 DIMENSIONAL SEDUCTIONBackground image for Seasonal First Impressions: Otaku Hot Girl Summer in 2.5 DIMENSIONAL SEDUCTION

Seasonal First Impressions: Otaku Hot Girl Summer in 2.5 DIMENSIONAL SEDUCTION

I stayed up until 6am to write 12 paragraphs about a romcom anime again, and YOU all have to live with it.

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Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: Being There For Roshidere in ALYA SOMETIMES HIDES HER FEELINGS IN RUSSIANBackground image for Seasonal First Impressions: Being There For Roshidere in ALYA SOMETIMES HIDES HER FEELINGS IN RUSSIAN

Seasonal First Impressions: Being There For Roshidere in ALYA SOMETIMES HIDES HER FEELINGS IN RUSSIAN

Is this season’s requisite girl-with-a-gimmick romcom any good? To be honest, I’m not sure if I’m the person to ask.

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Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: The Plastic Love of MY WIFE HAS NO EMOTIONBackground image for Seasonal First Impressions: The Plastic Love of MY WIFE HAS NO EMOTION

Seasonal First Impressions: The Plastic Love of MY WIFE HAS NO EMOTION

Beneath a setup familiar to generations of sci-fi romcoms, something sinister and offputting lurks under the surface. Does My Wife Has No Emotion itself know that?

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The Weekly Orbit [7/1/24]

This week, in the inter-season doldrums, we take a look at the second Rozé of the Recapture episode and a particularly great Pokémon Horizons episode. Plus, Mysterious Disappearances,…

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Featured image for (REVIEW) Rock Will Never Die, But You Will –  Youth, Guitars, Emptiness, and Catharsis in GIRLS BAND CRYBackground image for (REVIEW) Rock Will Never Die, But You Will –  Youth, Guitars, Emptiness, and Catharsis in GIRLS BAND CRY

(REVIEW) Rock Will Never Die, But You Will – Youth, Guitars, Emptiness, and Catharsis in GIRLS BAND CRY

An instantly iconic addition to the classic rock anime canon. Electric, passionate, and essential, Girls Band Cry is easily the best anime of the year so far, and…

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Featured image for (REVIEW) Pop Music is an Ocean: JELLYFISH CAN’T SWIM IN THE NIGHT and the Rough Waters of The Girl Band GenreBackground image for (REVIEW) Pop Music is an Ocean: JELLYFISH CAN’T SWIM IN THE NIGHT and the Rough Waters of The Girl Band Genre

(REVIEW) Pop Music is an Ocean: JELLYFISH CAN’T SWIM IN THE NIGHT and the Rough Waters of The Girl Band Genre

Stylish, expressive, and deeply frustrating, the girls-do-music original escapes a simple, straightforward summation.

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Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: The Revolution Never Ended for CODE GEASS: ROZÉ OF THE RECAPTUREBackground image for Seasonal First Impressions: The Revolution Never Ended for CODE GEASS: ROZÉ OF THE RECAPTURE

Seasonal First Impressions: The Revolution Never Ended for CODE GEASS: ROZÉ OF THE RECAPTURE

In the season’s first premiere, the mid-’00s camp mecha juggernaut returns like no time has passed at all. This new series, with a new cast of characters, expertly…

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The Weekly Orbit [6/24/24]

Three anime end as the season starts winding down. Which had the best finale between Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night, A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics, and Shuumatsu…

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Featured image for The Weekly Orbit [6/17/24]Background image for The Weekly Orbit [6/17/24]

The Weekly Orbit [6/17/24]

This week is all about the gay girl band arms race. Girls Band Cry delivers the single best episode of the season, and Jellyfish Can’t Swim in The…

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Weekly Orbit Archive

Here you’ll find an archive of every series I’ve written about in the Weekly Orbit. These are listed alphabetically—by the English title if available, by the most common…

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Featured image for The Weekly Orbit [6/10/24]Background image for The Weekly Orbit [6/10/24]

The Weekly Orbit [6/10/24]

The Weekly Orbit is a weekly column collecting and refining my more casual anime- and manga-related thoughts from the previous week. Mostly, these are taken from my tumblr blog, and…

The Magic Planet

Featured image for The Weekly Orbit [6/3/24]Background image for The Weekly Orbit [6/3/24]

The Weekly Orbit [6/3/24]

In this week’s Weekly Orbit, the anime girl band wars heat back up, and Train to The End of The World gets back on track. Plus, retrospective coverage…

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The Weekly Orbit [5/27/24]

It’s the week of no regrets here on the Weekly Orbit, with gripping, emotionally intense episodes from Girls Band Cry and….Wonderful Precure? Plus, Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the…

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Featured image for The Weekly Orbit [5/20/24]Background image for The Weekly Orbit [5/20/24]

The Weekly Orbit [5/20/24]

In this probably too-long edition of The Weekly Orbit; what the hell is going on in Train to The End of The World? Plus, seasonal highlights, coverage of…

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Featured image for New Manga First Impressions: The Iron Eyes and Human Heart of DEEP RAPUTABackground image for New Manga First Impressions: The Iron Eyes and Human Heart of DEEP RAPUTA

New Manga First Impressions: The Iron Eyes and Human Heart of DEEP RAPUTA

The new MangaPlus serial bills itself as a “state-of-the-art bildungsroman” for the present day, but is this just a romcom with a sci-fi twist, or is there more…

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The Weekly Orbit [5/13/24]

This week on a light Weekly Orbit: Dungeon Meshi, the Girl Band Wars rage on with a new dark horse candidate. Plus; what the hell is the Mysterious…

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The Weekly Orbit [5/6/24]

This week on the Weekly Orbit; surprising developments in Jellyfish Can’t Swim in The Night, a disappointing turn from Salad Bowl, and some great Pretty Cure episodes.

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Featured image for (REVIEW) A Strange Dream About the Sky – The Weight of AIRBackground image for (REVIEW) A Strange Dream About the Sky – The Weight of AIR
Featured image for The Weekly Orbit [4/29/24]Background image for The Weekly Orbit [4/29/24]

The Weekly Orbit [4/29/24]

Despite a solid week of anime featuring standout episodes from the likes of Dungeon Meshi, this week’s column is largely about an anime that aired nearly 20 years…

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Featured image for The Weekly Orbit [4/22/24]Background image for The Weekly Orbit [4/22/24]

The Weekly Orbit [4/22/24]

This week; strange developments in Shuumatsu Train, a surprising and moody Precure episode, plus the premieres of The Grimm Variations and Unnamed Memory

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Featured image for The Manga Shelf: Your Planet is Doomed – The End of Romance and the Alienation of Humanity in UCHUUJIN NO KAKUSHIGOTOBackground image for The Manga Shelf: Your Planet is Doomed – The End of Romance and the Alienation of Humanity in UCHUUJIN NO KAKUSHIGOTO

The Manga Shelf: Your Planet is Doomed – The End of Romance and the Alienation of Humanity in UCHUUJIN NO KAKUSHIGOTO

Filled with a profound anti-romance and alienation, Uchuujin no Kakushigoto uses the extraterrestrial to explore the holes in the human condition.

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Featured image for The Weekly Orbit [4/15/24]Background image for The Weekly Orbit [4/15/24]
Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: Flipping The Haters Off in GIRLS BAND CRYBackground image for Seasonal First Impressions: Flipping The Haters Off in GIRLS BAND CRY

Seasonal First Impressions: Flipping The Haters Off in GIRLS BAND CRY

The season’s second big girls-make-music swing is as much of a hit as its first. Full of an earnest, rebellious spirit. The future of rocker girl anime starts…

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Featured image for The Weekly Orbit [4/7/24]Background image for The Weekly Orbit [4/7/24]

The Weekly Orbit [4/7/24]

This week, in The Weekly Orbit, one season ends and another begins. Finale writeups for Bang Bravern, The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic, and Metallic Rouge. Dungeon…

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Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: JELLYFISH CAN’T SWIM IN THE NIGHT, But With The Moon on Them, They Can ShineBackground image for Seasonal First Impressions: JELLYFISH CAN’T SWIM IN THE NIGHT, But With The Moon on Them, They Can Shine

Seasonal First Impressions: JELLYFISH CAN’T SWIM IN THE NIGHT, But With The Moon on Them, They Can Shine

The year’s strongest premiere to date is an anime about the gaps between who we are and who we want to be, the clash between self-doubt and passion.…

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Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: ASTRO NOTE Isn’t Quite Out of This WorldBackground image for Seasonal First Impressions: ASTRO NOTE Isn’t Quite Out of This World

Seasonal First Impressions: ASTRO NOTE Isn’t Quite Out of This World

Astro Note promises a wacky housemate comedy that’s also a romcom with sci-fi elements. It may deliver later on, but its first episode is a mixed bag.

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Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: 30 Stops to Ikebukuro – What Even is TRAIN TO THE END OF THE WORLD?Background image for Seasonal First Impressions: 30 Stops to Ikebukuro – What Even is TRAIN TO THE END OF THE WORLD?

Seasonal First Impressions: 30 Stops to Ikebukuro – What Even is TRAIN TO THE END OF THE WORLD?

The season’s first major premiere is a bizarre, surreal adventure dramedy where four ordinary girls set out against a backdrop of a world gone to hell to rescue…

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Remembering Akira Toriyama

What can be said about one of the greatest and most influential figures in anime and manga?

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Featured image for The Manga Shelf: Year of the Dragon – RURIDRAGON’s Triumphant ReturnBackground image for The Manga Shelf: Year of the Dragon – RURIDRAGON’s Triumphant Return
Featured image for Seasonal First Impressions: Under Cover of Darkness, Enters NINJA KAMUIBackground image for Seasonal First Impressions: Under Cover of Darkness, Enters NINJA KAMUI

Seasonal First Impressions: Under Cover of Darkness, Enters NINJA KAMUI

Seasonal First Impressions is a column where I detail my thoughts, however brief or long, about a currently-airing anime’s first episode or so. There are a handful of interesting…

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