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September 24 2012, 6:07 AM

High Fantasy and Low Fantasy...

So yeah, Nick sends his apologies for being drowned in college-related work and therefor not being able to do reviews as frequently as he has up until this point. (I'm sure quite a few of you out there can sympathize with that.) Anyway, that leaves us with two new reviews for today. As you can probably surmise from our title, the common element this time -- holy crap, we actually have one this time -- is fantasy.

Aiden brings us the "high" part with a continuation -- well, a prequel, to be more specific -- with Fate/Zero, which sets out to answer any questions you might have after watching the original Fate/Stay Night. The question is: does Fate/Zero do that well?

And then it's up to me to bring the "low" part of the fantasy, and this I do with Garzey's Wing. Yes, THE Garzey's Wing. And it's... hoo boy, it's quite the show, not at all helped by one of the worse dubs out there. Even now, I can only sit here, doing this update while shaking my head and wondering what the hell that show was all about. That's the legacy of Garzey's Wing.

So... yeah. See you guys next week.

-Stig Høgset.

 
September 17 2012, 10:01 AM

Best of the best, and the best of the rest.

Well, not that we do updates with a common theme that often, but I get the feeling the guy who loves connecting the dots might just have run screaming for the hills.

As for Carlos, I have a sneaking suspicion that he wants to impart the expression "best of the series" with one of the most ironic twists ever, as he rounds off the Hinako series with Training with Hinako, the first entry in the series, and the point where the most fervently optimistic might be able to convince themselves that the series was made for the greater good.

And then Dallas drops by with an impending whiplash in the quality department with Revolutionary Girl Utena, and a gushing recommendation if there ever was one. Third time's the charm, right?

Next on the list is me, bringing in a decent movie adaptation of a game series I've been playing these last years; Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva. Oddly enough, I'm not quite sure whether this feels like a game adaptation or not, but I guess that doesn't matter. The movie was interesting enough.

And Nick... Nick's running a little late again. I guess that's what student life does to you. He'll drop by with his next entry soon enough, so stay tuned. And if not, then join us next week, where I'll be bringing more reviews to the table.

- Stig Høgset.

 
September 10 2012, 8:46 PM

You gotta take the good with the bad

Such as is the way of life, after all.

I like to get bad news out of the way, which is why we'll start with Carlos continuing his reviews for the Trilogy of Pointless Japanese Cartoons, aka the Isshoni Training series. He continues the (for now) trilogy with Bathtime with Hinako & Hiyoko, and the series doesn't seem to be getting any better. Meanwhile, Stig and I go back and finish up To Love-Ru, and we wish we didn't.

Fortunately Allen fares better with high school romance comedy Hatsukoi Limited, and Diane gives a high (but not perfect) 4-star rating to recent Mamoru Hisoda film Wolf Children.

We'll be back next Monday.

- Tim Jones

 
September 3 2012, 6:24 PM

The Giants, The Shrimp, and The Squid

Once again, we don't have much of a theme: we've got two decent titles and two obscenely awful titles. Our good fortune has run out, it seems.

On the positive side of things, Carlos reviews the Osamu Tezuka-penned Muramasa, which according to him doesn't quite use its 8 Minutes as effectively as it could but nonetheless makes for an interesting narrative. Meanwhile, Tim returns to finish his review of Squid Girl; his opinion is largely unchanged and he still regards it as a charming if frustrating series.

On the other hand, I've little good to say about Sumomomo Momomo, whose stupid title is only the beginning of its various idiocies. And Stig finds that a good artist's name can easily be tacked onto a bad anime, finding the ostensibly Leiji Matsumoto-designed Ozma to be unbearably stupid and virtually unwatchable.

Well, I've seen better. Here's hoping that next week pays its dues. 'till then,

-Nick Browne

 
 
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