Hitting that weird storytelling midground between “on paper, this should technically be interesting” and “why oh why did the creators make these choices.”
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First Impression: Tadaima, Okaeri
To say that Masaki and Hiromu Fujiyoshi have an unusual relationship would be an insult to the word “unusual”…and it’s not because they’re both males. In this world,…
Tadaima, Okaeri – Episode 1
I would love to be able to recommend this show as a fantasy of domestic life for queer people, but it doesn’t even really function as that.
Anime Taste Testing: Ooku and Horimiya
The summer 2023 anime season might not stand out in terms of quantity (yes, I realize that’s a pretty big understatement given the line-up), but it does dish…
Anime Taste Testing: Given and Bem
Last but not least, two shows that immediately popped up on my radar for very different reasons. Given My expectations going into this were decidedly low – not…
Spring 2024 Update: Adding “Tadaima, Okaeri”
I have a quick correction to make concerning my watch list for Spring 2024. I picked ten series to watch, and one of them was going to be…
Anime Taste Testing: Listeners
So Liverpool and Manchester finally united, and then the apocalypse happened. Sounds about right. I’ll get this out of the way right off the bat: I’m an unapologetic…
Anime Taste Testing: Overtake!
Let’s all ganbaru together.
Anime Taste Testing: Kakushigoto
Yes, I genuinely like the pun. Given the synopsis, I was fully ready to experience something… well, pervy, for lack of a better term. What I wasn’t ready…
Anime Taste Testing: Horimiya
Aside from the creepy teacher, this series is actually pretty okay.
Anime Taste Testing: ID:Invaded
Finally, the detective anime we didn’t know we needed (but that we definitely deserved). You’d be forgiven for wanting to give up on the anime detective/mystery genre entirely…
Anime Taste Testing: Gibiate
This one’s gonna be quick and dirty, because to be honest, I didn’t even make it through the whole first episode.
Anime Taste Testing: Dorohedoro
Strap yourself in, this is one wild trip. And a trip Dorehedoro most certainly is. Whether it’s one you can stomach or not largely depends on your tolerance…
Anime Taste Testing: Gibiate
This one’s gonna be quick and dirty, because to be honest, I didn’t even make it through the whole first episode.
Anime Taste Testing: SK∞
Fast and Furious: Okinawa Drift.
Anime Taste Testing: Pet
An adult anime for teenage edgelords. It seems that nearly every time I see a psychological genre anime marketed explicitly towards the seinen crowd, it feels exactly like…
Anime Taste Testing: Noblesse
I just realized I still don’t know if these guys are meant to be vampires. However, they do seem to drink plenty of tea – maybe there’s blood…
Anime Taste Testing: Noblesse
I just realized I still don’t know if these guys are meant to be vampires. However, they do seem to drink plenty of tea – maybe there’s blood…
Anime Taste Testing: Arte
I’d say I love period pieces, but that would be a lie. I love accurate period pieces. I wish to god this title had just been set in…
Tadaima, Okaeri Episode 2 Review – Yukku and Hi-kun
Hikari gets his first friend.
Anime Taste Testing: Deaimon and Tomodachi Game
For me at least, this anime season is continuing its weirdly rocky start.
First Look: Vampire Dormitory
Orphaned as a young child and shuttled between indifferent relatives, Mito Yamamoto, a girl disguising herself as a boy for Reasons (?), is now a teenager with no…
First Impression: Vampire Dormitory
Mito Yamamoto has had a really hard-knock life. Orphaned at a young age and then abandoned on the streets after middle school, he now finds himself a victim…
Vampire Dormitory – Episode 1
Its leads are good kids, but your interest will depend on your feelings about het crossdressing stories and tolerance for limited animation.
Anime Taste Testing: Great Pretender
With the new anime season now starting up (however scant the offerings this time around to due COVID-related scheduling issues), I would be completely remiss if I didn’t…
Anime Taste Testing: Kemono Jihen
While quite possibly the series I was least looking forward to giving a watch, this ended up being surprisingly alright.
Anime Taste Testing: Kitsutsuki Tanteidokoro
The lesser of the two mystery shows airing the season, but probably still the best period piece. I imagine the setting is what will first strike viewers about…
Anime Taste Testing: Taisou Zamurai
Being a sports anime, a dad anime, and a surrealist comedy all in one is a tough sell, that’s for sure.
Anime Taste Testing: Appare-Ranman!
I mean… where do I even start? Well, at the very beginning, I guess, because the opening scene (set one year after the events of the first episode…
Anime Taste Testing: Akudama Drive
I don’t know what I just watched, but I know I want more of it.
Anime Taste Testing: Deca-Dence
The show Shingeki no Kyojin might have been if the titans were mostly giant bug-dinosaur-like creatures, if the tone was happily far less self-serious, and if the characters…
Anime Taste Testing: Blue Period
This is one of those shows that I quite want to like, but am still in the process of working out if I actually do.
Anime Taste Testing: Chainsaw Man
Probably the perfect anime series for Tarantino fans.
Anime Taste Testing: Back Arrow
So it’s mecha but with backwater villagers dressed as old-west cowboys and the more tech-advanced folk looking like something out of a Chinese-inspired historical-fantasy. Cool cool.
Anime Taste Testing: Bibliophile Princess
The only way to explain this is if people literally went out of their way to create something generic.
Anime Taste Testing: Taisou Zamurai
Being a sports anime, a dad anime, and a surrealist comedy all in one is a tough sell, that’s for sure.
Anime Taste Testing: Platinum End
If Madoka Magica was a (bad) battle royale instead of magical-girl.
Anime Taste Testing: Jujutsu Kaisen
And the new anime season finally kicks off with… a less-than-stellar shounen work populated by characters that seem like they’re built less around their personalities and more around…
Anime Taste Testing: Kaizoku Oujo
Swash swash buckle buckle.
Anime Taste Testing: Hortensia Saga
This would have felt lackluster and cliché had it been released 20 years ago – and what’s more, nothing would have changed between then and now aside from…
Anime Taste Testing: Darwin’s Game
Too generic to stand out, too trashy even by trash standards to be funny. At first glance, this seemed to be one of those shows that are so…
Anime Taste Testing: Urasekai Picnic
I think I would have enjoyed this one a lot more had I not felt like it was trying so hard to be purposefully enigmatic – with the…
Anime Taste Testing: Urusei Yatsura
Some anime do genuinely deserve a reboot. Others should probably never again see the light of day, no matter how historically important.
Anime Taste Testing: Akudama Drive
I don’t know what I just watched, but I know I want more of it.
Anime Taste Testing: Great Pretender
With the new anime season now starting up (however scant the offerings this time around to due COVID-related scheduling issues), I would be completely remiss if I didn’t…
Anime Taste Testing: Deca-Dence
The show Shingeki no Kyojin might have been if the titans were mostly giant bug-dinosaur-like creatures, if the tone was happily far less self-serious, and if the characters…
Anime Taste Testing: Uramichi Oniisan
There always seems to be one show every season that I want to like more than I actually do. This time around, that’s Uramichi Oniisan.
Anime Taste Testing: Kyokou Suiri
What do you get when you combine an anime from the same guy responsible for the creation of Zetsuen no Tempest with the man behind the writing for…
Anime Taste Testing: Jujutsu Kaisen
And the new anime season finally kicks off with… a less-than-stellar shounen work populated by characters that seem like they’re built less around their personalities and more around…