A Light Never Goes Out 灯火阑珊 Hong Kong, 2022, colour, 1.85:1, 101 mins. Director: Zeng Xianning 曾宪宁. Rating: 6/10. An interesting take on Hong Kong’s past and present identity never quite fulfils its potential as human drama. STORY Hong Kong, 2019. Following the death of her husband, neon-sign designer Yang Canbiao (Ren Dahua), Jiang Meixiang … Continue reading Review: A Light Never Goes Out (2022) →
May 22, 2023 • Subscribe
More like this
A Light Never Goes Out (燈火闌珊, Anastasia Tsang, 2022)
A mother and a daughter take very different paths in trying to come to terms with grief in Anastasia Tsang’s poignant drama.
A Light Never Goes Out 灯火阑珊 (2022) Director: Anastasia Tsang [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]
A Light Never Goes Out 灯火阑珊 (2022), by director Anastasia Tsang, is a solid drama about the art of making neon signage and what it means to Hong…
Review: Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out (Light Novel)
It’s finally time for new content in the Rascal Does Not Dream franchise! The latest volume of the light novel series dropped last week, and with this release,…
The Light Of The Spring (2022) review [OAFF 2022]
“An experimental ‘dramamentary’ that succeeds to charm and touch the spectator with its rich mundane and genuine interactions.”
Review: Never Say Never (2023)
Never Say Never 八角笼中 China, 2023, colour, 2.35:1, 117 mins. Director: Wang Baoqiang 王宝强. Rating: 6/10. In his second outing as a director, popular goofy comedian Wang Baoqiang…
Studio Ghibli goes Balls-Out with Pom Poko
Pom Poko is an incredible Studio Ghibli masterpiece released in the mid-90s. The movie pits the tanukis against the invasion of urban sprawl.
Light Novel Club goes public! Plus, our next title, Re:Zero!
That’s right, the Light Novel Club IPO is now available for trading, at a value of 5 other-world currency coins per share! …okay, that’s obviously not what I…
Never Underestimate a “Bookworm”
This is another show that had a bad capsule description and that description made it a bit of a coin flip to want to watch. And since it…
I'm going to be honest with you all, I've never read a light novel before. (Anime Light Novel Title Tag)
Welcome to the Anime Light Novel Title Tag Challenge Award. It’s the tag where we take an anime, and then we proceed to spoil the plot in a…
Review: Never Stop (2021)
Never Stop 超越 China, 2021, colour, 2.35:1, 96 mins. Director: Han Bowen 韩博文. Rating: 6/10. Mainland actor Zheng Kai is impressive as a onetime sports star, though the…
Summer 2022 – Week 5 – Clever title goes here.
It will happen eventually… an episode of Abyss will end I won’t have a stunned look on my face as Riko did at the end of this week’s episode. …
The Manga Review: Out Like a Lamb
The final week of March may not have brought warm weather or flowers to your neck of the woods, but it did yield a few licensing announcements from…
A review of Blue Reflection: Second Light (PS4)
This review took long enough to come, months after talk about the game died down, or what talk there was at least. But of course, my schedule being…
A Seasonal Review — Spring 2022
Season Impressions Didn’t Watch: AMAIM S2, Aosahi, Black Rock Shooter Dawn Fall, Build-Divide, Cue!, Dance Dance Danseur, Don’t Hurt Me Healer, Fanfare of Adolescence, Heroines Run the …
Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club, Dance Dance Danseur, Fanfare of Adolescence, Heroines Run the Show, Love All Play
A Seasonal Review — Fall 2022
Seasonal Impressions Didn’t Watch: Arknights Prelude to Dawn, Beast Tamer, Berserk, Bleach, Blue Lock, Encouragement of Climb: Next Summit, Housing Complex C, Human Crazy University, Idolish…
Berserk, BLUE LOCK, Encouragement of Climb, Encouragement of Climb: Next Summit, The Little Lies We All Tell
A Seasonal Review — Summer 2022
Seasonal Impressions Didn’t Watch: 5-Oku-nen Button, Aoashi, Cardfight!! Vanguard will+Dress, Chimimo, Dropkick on My Devil!!! X, Duel Masters King Max, Duel Masters Win, Extreme Hearts, King…
500000000 years button, Dropkick on My Devil!!! X, Duel Masters, Duel Masters King, Duel Masters King MAX
Review: A Sealed Book (2022)
A Sealed Book 天之书 China, 2022, colour, 2.35:1, 93 mins. Chief director: Wang Yingjiao 王应蛟. Director: Wang Xiaogang 王筱刚. Late-stage director: Sun Xiaohan 孙晓寒. Rating: 4/10. Period fantasy…
A Far Shore (2022) review
A highly engaging story that explores the destructive effects of a societal field that fails to reach out to subjects-in-need.
A Seasonal Review — Winter 2022
Season Impressions Didn’t Watch: Bakugan Evolutions, Bang Dream, The Case Study of Vanitas, Cue!, Delicious Party Precure, Demon Slayer, Fantasia Sango, Futsal Boys, Girls’ Frontline, L…
Rusted Armors, Saiyuki, Saiyuki Reload, The Case Study of Vanitas, Girl from Phantasia
Galaxycon Columbus 2022 Review: Turns Out All Galaxycons are Fun
Galaxycon is an event I am familiar with; however, this is the first time I went to one of these events in Columbus, which I later found out…
One Day, A woman (2022) review [JFFH 2022]
“Mihiro Kaneko’s incredibly rich performance does not only engages the spectator from start to finish, but allows Yuko’s subjective turmoil, her flight from the societal Other, and her…
A Light Novel Taxonomy
About a year ago, our own stardf29 ranked the light novels he’d read. I thought that sounded fun, but felt it would be for kind of lame to…
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles, Sword Art Online
Review: Love Never Ends (2023)
Love Never Ends 我爱你! China, 2023, colour, 2.35:1, 114 mins. Director: Han Yan 韩延. Rating: 5/10. Initially offbeat oldies rom-com becomes more and more generic as it progresses,…
July 2022 Manga / Light Novel / Book Releases
The July 2022 manga, light novels, and book releases from 10+ publishers, such as Yen Press, Seven Seas Entertainment, VIZ Media, Kodansha, & more!
June 2022 Manga / Light Novel / Book Releases
The June 2022 manga, light novels, and book releases from 10+ publishers, such as Yen Press, Seven Seas Entertainment, VIZ Media, Kodansha, & more!
September 2022 Manga / Light Novel / Book Releases
The September 2022 manga, light novels, and book releases from 10+ publishers, such as Yen Press, Seven Seas Entertainment, VIZ Media, Kodansha, & more!
January 2022 Manga / Light Novel / Book Releases
Here are the January 2022 manga, light novel, and book releases.
November 2022 Manga / Light Novel / Book Releases
The November 2022 manga, light novels, and book releases from 10+ publishers, such as Yen Press, Seven Seas Entertainment, VIZ Media, Kodansha, & more!
August 2022 Manga / Light Novel / Book Releases
The August 2022 manga, light novels, and book releases from 10+ publishers, such as Yen Press, Seven Seas Entertainment, VIZ Media, Kodansha, & more!
May 2022 Manga / Light Novel / Book Releases
The May 2022 manga, light novels, and book releases from 10+ publishers, such as Yen Press, Seven Seas Entertainment, VIZ Media, Kodansha, & more!
March 2022 Manga / Light Novel / Book Releases
Check out the March 2022 manga, light novel, and book releases!
April 2022 Manga / Light Novel / Book Releases
The April 2022 manga, light novels, and book releases from 10+ publishers, such as Yen Press, Seven Seas Entertainment, VIZ Media, Kodansha, & more!
February 2022 Manga / Light Novel / Book Releases
Here are the February 2022 manga, light novel, and book releases.
December 2022 Manga / Light Novel / Book Releases
The December 2022 manga, light novels, & book releases from 10+ publishers, such as Yen Press, Seven Seas, VIZ Media, Kodansha, Azuki, & Irodori Comics!
October 2022 Manga / Light Novel / Book Releases
The October 2022 manga, light novels, and book releases from 10+ publishers, such as Yen Press, Seven Seas Entertainment, VIZ Media, Kodansha, & more!
Time For a Listicle! Top 5 New English Light Novels of 2022
The last few years have been great for English light novels. We have now reached the point where there are dozens of new releases per year. There’s also…
Review: Love Life Light
Love Life Light 照明商店 China, 2023, colour, 2.35:1, 98 mins. Director: Cai Erduo 蔡耳朵 [Cai Jing 蔡婧]. Rating: 8/10. Classy directing debut by former a.d. Cai Erduo, aka…
Farewell My Dear Cramer – I Never Found Out Who Cramer Was
Farewell My Dear Cramer is a female lead sports anime from the author of Your Lie in April. It's getting some mixed reviews. Here's mine!
BaronJ has never played a Persona
I quite literally have never seen it coming
Spiraken Motion Picture Review: James Bond 007- Never Say Never Again
In this fourteenth installment of Spiraken Review Podcast's "Bond Marathon/Bond-o-Thon", Xan & Gretta review one of the two unofficial Bond movie not produced by Albert Broccoli but starring…
I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History – Episode 5 Review
I’m enjoying the humor in this series – in particular, the irony. It’s richly ironic that a good, wise girl like Alicia thinks of herself as a villainess.
I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History – Episode 1 Review
Alicia Williams is a seven-year-old girl in a noble family of dark magic users in a fantasy world. She was a normal girl who reportedly lazed around and…
I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History Episode 3 Review
In this episode, we learn that Alicia is “a Divergent,” a rare existence with increased magic abilities from a young age.
More light on Turn A
I have more things I want to do here, but for now work has me very busy. In the meantime, though, let me point out that my friend…
Dragon Goes House-Hunting Volume 1 Review
The silly premise of Dragon Goes House-Hunting proves that for a manga to be entertaining, you really need more than a funny set-up or punchline.
[Review] Parallel World Pharmacy – A Drawn-out What If
It wasn’t too long ago that I wrote about Parallel World Pharmacy’s use of cosmetics and skincare, so I’ll refrain from speaking too long on the series now…
TONIKAWA: Over the Moon For You – S2 11 – The Light That Never Fades
Tsukasa, Nasa, and their assembled friends are treated to a sumptuous BBQ that spares no expense. But Tokiko confesses there’s something she wants the happy couple to indulge…
TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You, TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You Season 2
Review: Under the Light (2023)
Under the Light 坚如磐石 China, 2023, colour, 2.35:1, 127 mins. Director: Zhang Yimou 张艺谋. Rating: 7/10. Stygian drama of municipal corruption and deadly powerplay has a terrific first…
Box of Light Manga review
Box of Light is the type of manga you have to read for yourself. And since it's a short two volumes, there's no reason not to.
BLUE REFLECTION: Second Light Review
After the good man Macho Chikorita (Chikorita157) helped out by reviewing the first Blue Reflection game I promised I would eventually do the sequel. The time has come.…