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Aldnoah.Zero [Re+] Anime Film Review
This film is worth watching for the new episode alone. As for the compilation film attached to it...
― When it comes to many mecha anime, the protagonist is the pilot of some special or powerful mobile suit and uses it to turn the tide in a war (often one between Earth and space). Aldoah.Zero is the reverse of this. Rather than the heroes, it is the villains who have Gundam-like mobile suits powered ...
Macross 7 the Movie: The Galaxy is Calling Me and Macross Dynamite 7 OVAs 1-4 Anime Streaming Review
Macross Dynamite 7’s aesthetic is of its time, and it looks great.
― In terms of sheer volume of content, Macross 7 easily beats any of its franchise stablemates. At 49 TV episodes, the three-part Encore OVAs (bundled with the TV show on Hulu/Disney+), a short 1995 theatrical movie – The Galaxy is Calling Me, and the four-part Dynamite 7 OVA, that's a lot of one particular Macross flavor. If you didn...
Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger Anime Series Review
I am so happy that they made a sequel to one of my favorite anime of all time…seven years later.
― I am so happy that they made a sequel to one of my favorite anime of all time…seven years later. OK, that's not technically true, considering that between the airing of the first season of Hajime no Ippo and New Challenger there was a movie, as well as a fairly popular OVA, that was released. While the ...
The Brilliant Healer's New Life in the Shadows Volumes 1-5 Novel Review
The Brilliant Healer’s New Life in the Shadows is, on the whole, a surprisingly good series.
― You could be forgiven for assuming that you've read or watched this story a thousand times before in the year 2025. The Brilliant Healer's New Life in the Shadows draws from some very dry wells if you look on the surface; it appears to be both a demihuman harem and a story about a powerful guy who gets kick...
Death Note Tripp Pant Review
Simply put, this is the apex pant.
― TRIPP pants have always been the final form of pants, but this factoid poses the question: what, then, is the final form of TRIPP pants? Enter: the physical manifestation of what it means to dress to impress, Death Note TRIPP pants. Let's back up a bit: for those unfamiliar, TRIPP NYC is a fashion brand that's particularly well known for its bondage pants. If you ...
Macross Zero Anime Series Review
Zero relies heavily on CGI, not just for its mech battles, but also for some backgrounds and scene transitions. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it looks horribly dated.
― A five-episode OVA released over the space of almost two years (2002-2004), in
release order, Macross Zero sits between 1997's Macross Dynamite 7 and 2008's Macross
Frontier. Chronologically, its events occur before every other ...
Lazarus Anime Episodes 1-5 Review
These first five episodes are more than compelling in their own right and set the rest of Lazarus up to be the exact mirror that our global society needs at this moment.
― First and foremost, you should know that this ain't Cowboy Bebop, partner! While Lazarus is the most stylistically and tonally similar to Bebop out of all of director Shinichirō Watanabe's subsequent works, it's not trying to be Co...
Arifureta - From Commonplace to World's Strongest Season 3 Anime Series Review
It all means that for an extra-special, extra-long helping of Arifureta, this season feels mostly obligatory. Perfunctory.
― Given the unenviable circumstances of its rocky start, it will always be generally impressive how far Arifureta has come. The anime has soldiered on for multiple seasons and extra ONAs, and even carved out a solid story identity for itself beyond the "dark vengeful power fantas...
Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection Game Review
Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection shows that it can be fun to revisit the past, but we also have to acknowledge that sometimes the past can be awkward.
― I love Yu-Gi-Oh!. Whether it's the anime or the card game, I always find myself coming back to this franchise and its incredibly overpriced cardboard. It still exuded a charm I couldn't find anywhere else since my childhood. The franchise has gone thr...
The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? 4K Remaster UHD & Blu-ray Review
The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? is one of the most important films in anime history, but this new 4K restoration might not be the release it deserves.
― If you're around anime old heads for long enough, there's a good chance you'll eventually hear about the mythical year of 1984—a year that wowed audiences with now-timeless classics like Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind ...
Demon Lord 2099 Anime Review
Hung around the skeleton of established genre tropes is an engaging cyberpunk mystery.
― The greatest praise I can come up with for Demon Lord 2099 is that it's solid. Every aspect of it is competently executed, without any one part that really stands out from the others for better or for worse. The peaks are more like gently sloping knolls, and the valleys are slight dips. It is, to be honest, like ...
With You, Our Love Will Make it Through Volume 1 Manga Review
With You, Our Love Will Make It Through isn’t for everyone, but if it’s in your area of interest, I think it does a good enough job.
― Yes, this is a furry romance manga, and yes, it fits the criteria for young adult fiction. But those two things don't need to be either mutually exclusive or a terrible warning, and to be perfectly honest, any reservations I have about this story don't arise from the ...
I'm the Strongest in This Zombie World, But I Can't Beat This Girl! Volume 1 Novel Review
If you’re in the mood for an equal parts horny and canned romcom light novel with a zombie flavor, you might have fun with this one. But as for me, I’m not exactly dying to read more of it.
― On paper, the idea at the center of I'm the Strongest in This Zombie World, But I Can't Beat This Girl! sounds like it might have something fresh to offer: a zombie apocalypse has broken out and our ordinary hig...
Hereditary Triangle Manga Review
Despite a middle act that flirts with melodrama, there’s a thoughtful maturity to much of this short series as its cast explores complex emotions and questions about grief, change, and regret.
― Hereditary Triangle is technically a two-volume series, but the Yen Press edition politely collects them into a single volume, allowing readers to sink fully into the world of this quiet but compelling drama....
The First Berserker: Khazan Game Review
There's a new soulslike on the block. But does its lore-filled world and fluid combat system offset the crazy difficulty spikes?
― In recent years, the long-running Dungeon & Fighter franchise has been breaking into new genres—first with the fighting game DnF Duel and now with The First Berserker: Khazan. The First Berserker is an action-heavy soulslike. Expect labyrinthine dungeons, massive castles...
Be My Worst Nightmare! Volume 1 Manga Review
This wouldn’t be my first recommendation for high school-set, moderately explicit BL, but I also wouldn’t universally tell you to steer clear.
― Don't you just hate it when your dreams might be telling you something you don't want to hear? That's what Sayo Hoshikawa is afraid is happening to him. Despite his surface-level anger at his classmate Mashiba for things like “being tall” and “girls confessi...
Hikaru in the Light! Manga Review
Even if you can see where Hikaru's plot is going five miles away, none feels hackneyed.
― At times, Hikaru in the Light felt like a season of American Idol to me. We feel the intensity of the competition through its characters' hopes and aspirations, the glow of the stage, and the harsh rules laid down by the competition's judges and producers. It requires the winning idols an extraordinary cut above...
Under the Oak Tree Volume 1 Novel Review
Under the Oak Tree is the sort of series that can consume you, and this hardcover edition allows that to be on full display.
― First things first: this book is gorgeous. There has been a recent surge in decorative volumes, typically bestselling romantic fantasies. While they can't quite compare to the lavishly illustrated decorative books of the early 20th century, they're still a book collector's dr...
Bubblegum Crisis Perfect Collection Anime Review
It's always the right time to discover, or rediscover Bubblegum Crisis, and this Perfect Collection from AnimEigo provides the ideal way to do so.
― A flagship title not just for AnimEigo, but for the anime medium itself, it's easy to see how Bubblegum Crisis caught on all those decades ago. It's arresting before you even know what it's about: a moody intro pans over grimy cyberpunk backdrops ripped ...
Him, the Smile, & Bloom Game Review
Although Him, the Smile, & Bloom wouldn't be the first otome game I'd recommend, it's still a good time.
― Although it's not unheard of (Norn9, anyone?), Him, the Smile, & Bloom isn't an otome game where you're forced to choose between romantic interests. Instead, when you pick which route you want to follow, you also pick which heroine you're playing – each love story unfolds between a specific coup...
A Misanthrope Teaches a Class for Demi-Humans Novels 1-2 Review
A Misanthrope Teaches a Class for Demi-Humans gets more right than you might expect.
― Light novels and their adjacent media forms don't have a great track record when it comes to stories about teachers and students. You're much more likely to find works that play out the teacher/student romance fantasy or the hot school nurse daydream than anything more realistic. Even works focused on just the teac...
Corpse Blade Volume 1 Manga Review
I desperately wanted to make a pun somewhere about how this volume just isn’t as fleshed out as it needs to be, but its problems run deeper than that.
― Do zombie apocalypse stories ever really go out of style? It's like a pendulum—usually spurred by one super-successful title, they'll go in full force for a while. Then maybe there's a brief lull when audiences start feeling sick of what's become an ...
Men of the Harem Volume 1 K-Comic Review
Men of the Harem explores a female power fantasy that we don’t often see.
― You know what they say – what's good for the goose is good for the gander, although in the case of Men of the Harem (from the same writing-and-adaptation team as The Remarried Empress) we ought to reverse those genders. Latrasil, better known as Latil, never expected to ascend the throne of her nation, but after her father's ...
Mononoke The Movie: The Ashes of Rage Anime Film Review
All in all, Mononoke The Movie: The Ashes of Rage delivers another philosophical and emotional look into the lives of feudal Japanese women in the imperial harem.
― The first Mononoke film was focused on the lower rank of concubines in the imperial harem. Thematically, it was about giving up one's individuality to serve a role—and how doing so brought misery to the human soul. However, this was a fat...
Welcome to Ghost Mansion Manga Volume 1 Review
Welcome to Ghost Mansion has a promisingly spooky premise that could develop later on, but its first steps don’t have it hit the ground running like it should.
― There exists an interesting premise within the initial volume of Nebukuro's debut manga. As a story about a landlord who rents an apartment out to the undead, there is potential in making this an enveloping, spooky story about the things th...
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land Game Review
I can wholly vouch for The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land as a fun, breezy title perfect for ringing in the springtime.
― Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is a competent RPG with fun characterization and mechanics that falters slightly in a few areas, but nevertheless makes up for its shortcomings with its charm--not unlike the many ditzy alchemists that sta...
The Obsessed Mage and His Beloved Statue Bride Novel Review
Dear readers, I have found it: the Unholy Grail of Bad Sex Scene Writing.
― Dear readers, I have found it: the Unholy Grail of Bad Sex Scene Writing. Sadly, The Literary Review doesn't appear to have given out a Bad Sex in Fiction Award since 2020, but if they still did, I would immediately nominate The Obsessed Mage and His Beloved Statue Bride She Cannot Resist His Seductive Voice. This is not beca...
The Revenge of My Youth Manga Review
This manga knows how to use its tried-and-true premise about redoing the past to its advantage, giving us a start of a story that makes for a leisurely read even if it comes off as cliche at times.
― There's no going through life without regret. And there's certainly no avoiding those moments where every mistake, error, goof, and flub comes rushing back through your cerebral cortex like a never-endin...
I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day Manga Review
This story is hard to recommend based on the first volume, but it really gets better after this point.
― I Want to Love You Till You're Dying Day feels like a small story with grand ambitions. It's very humble and almost quiet in its approach to storytelling. Not a lot happens throughout this first volume, but every few pages you'll see an image or a character make a comment alluding to something muc...
Fall in Love, You False Angels Volume 1 Manga Review
If there’s a theme to be traced in this volume, it’s the idea of when it’s okay to be two-faced.
― When is it safe to be yourself? That's maybe a more intense question than you'd expect from Fall in Love, You False Angels, which is unquestionably a romantic comedy. But that doesn't mean that it lacks any heavier subtext, and the story of Otogi and Toki can be read in such a way to facilitate discussi...
The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold To Another Kingdom Volume 1 Novel Review
With a very readable translation and art that’s pretty enough, this is an easy read.
― Light novels certainly don't lack for terrible families. Beleaguered protagonists often suffer at the hands of callous stepmothers, dreadful siblings, and neglectful fathers, no matter what the genre. The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold to Another Kingdom is no exception. Although it plays wit...
Helena and Mr. Big Bad Wolf Volume 1 Manga Review
Despite its title, this series has less in common with fairy tales and more with classic children’s literature, complete with plucky orphans, gruff-but-kind adults, and alarmingly tragic backstories.
― Despite its title, this Taiwanese manhua has less in common with fairy tales and more with classic English children's literature, where spunky kids befriend gruff-but-kind adults over a shared hobby or...
PreCure Splash Star Episodes 24 - 49 Anime Review
Futari wa Pretty Cure may be where the franchise started, but this is where it starts to hit its stride.
― Each season of the greater Pretty Cure franchise typically brings something new to the table. That all begins with Pretty Cure Splash Star. The second team of Cures may have looked awfully similar to the first, but this latter half of their story cements them as not only very much their own team...
The Brilliant Healer's New Life in the Shadows - World Premiere Review
It won't be topping any “best of the season” lists but it should be enjoyable to anyone who likes the non-revenge-focused “kicked out of the heroes' party” stories.
― The Brilliant Healer's New Life in the Shadows is an upcoming spring 2025 anime series. It had a special premiere showing at a movie theater in Tokyo recently. However, unlike the many other premieres I have attended, this time we were ...
Loner Life in Another World Anime Series Review
Even a thrown-in novelty like a harem of moeblobs can’t save Loner Life from having all of the hang-ups you’d expect out of a generic isekai.
― Just one look at the trailer and the key visual and you can already tell that Loner Life is
going to be another run-of-the-mill isekai. I'd be willing to bet you can even tell where its
strengths and weaknesses lie as well. To be fair, the music isn't bad,...
Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2199 and Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2202 Anime Streaming Review
Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2199 and 2202 show how to handle a reboot with masterful precision.
― Certain series will always hold a special place in your heart because of the time when you watched them. Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2199 will always be one such work for me. Once upon a time, this was the show that brought me back from a decade-long hiatus from anime fandom. I had no...
Wonderful Precure! Episodes 37 - 50 Anime Review
At the end of the day, Wonderful Precure! is all about hope.
― It's an inevitability of children's media that deals with animals that, sooner or later, the topic of death comes up. Most animals people love as pets don't live as long as humans, and the loss of a pet is often one of the first encounters with death a child has. I was four when my cat Oliver passed, and the conversation my parents had wi...
Sound! Euphonium Season 1 Blu-ray Review
Nearly ten years after it first aired, Sound Euphonium’s first season comes back to us on Blu-Ray, and it’s as dazzling as ever.
― The release of this Blu-ray comes at a very timely moment. Its December release marked the six-month anniversary of Sound Euphonium's triumphant final act, and this upcoming April will mark an entire decade since the anime first aired on Japanese airwaves. To watch this B...
Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse Season Two Part One Anime Series Review
This may not be the best shounen fantasy series out there, but it's still good enough to get its hooks into you and keep them there.
― What is Camelot? Most lore will tell you that King Arthur's fabled court is a Medieval utopia, a land where equality rules and everything is just as it should be. Far be it from The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse to throw that out entirely; original...
Psycho-Pass Providence Limited Edition Blu-Ray Review
I guess you could sort of call this movie an action-packed political thriller. But while it’s definitely action-packed, there’s nothing thrilling about it.
― There's plenty of anime out there that are widely regarded as having gotten worse the longer they went on. But I struggle to think of an anime that's had a bigger and faster glow-down than Psycho-Pass. What began as a fascinating exploration int...
Never 7 - The End of Infinity and Ever 17 - Out of the Infinity Game Review
The times, they are a-changing: visual novels have a niche but robust international following, and Uchikoshi is a recognized name within that.
― It's a good time to be an English-speaking fan of esteemed game writer Kotaro Uchikoshi. While he may be best known internationally for the Zero Escape and AI: The Somnium Files series internationally, he first made a name for himself with his work on Infini...
Pokémon Horizons: Season 2: The Search For Laqua Anime Series Review Episodes 1-11
As probably the strongest batch of Pokémon episodes in a very long time, these eleven episodes will make a modern-day Pokémon fan happy.
― These eleven episodes made me happy to be a modern-day Pokémon fan. I will not mince words here, this is the strongest batch of Pokémon episodes that I have watched in a very long time. I was worried about the initial setup, considering they seemed to be stepping ...
The Apothecary Diaries Season 1 Part 1 BD Anime Review
With a good story, great characters, and spectacular animation, The Apothecary Diaries is one of those series that begs to be owned on disc and rewatched frequently.
― The recipe for The Apothecary Diaries is deceptively simple: take one acerbic young apothecary with a very sharp tongue, add a gorgeous young eunuch, put them both in the rear palace of a Chinese-adjacent emperor's court, and season wi...
Tokyo Ghoul - Complete Series - 10th Anniversary Box Set Anime Series Review
Like Kaneki, the Tokyo Ghoul anime is a messy hybrid, with one-half of its adaptation feeling like the product of unfulfilled ambition, while the other feels hollow.
― It's been over 10 years since Tokyo Ghoul first came onto the anime scene, and in that time, it has managed to leave a strong impression. Sui Ishida's original manga has been a critical and commercial success domestically and abroad. W...
Macross -Shooting Insight- Game Review
While the storied franchise has finally taken flight around the world, this shoot ’em up seems to be drifting out of formation.
― During Otakon back in 2023, I narrowly missed my opportunity to play an early build of Macross -Shooting Insight-. However, impressions were generally positive (if not a touch mixed) from those who did get a little hands-on time with the game. After a handful of delays, th...
GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE- Nintendo Switch Port Game Review
GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE- is the gold standard of combining style and substance.
― Suppose you're not super into fighting games. In that case, you'd be forgiven for guessing that fighting game players would probably love the Nintendo Switch—after all, what community is known more for feeling passionate about finding a way to make a tournament work anywhere at any time than the fighting game community? The...
Monster Hunter Wilds Game Review
Wilds is a solid evolution of the franchise, and while its innovations don’t change too much of the core experience, sometimes it's fine to just get a bigger version of what’s come before.
― For a long time, Monster Hunter was one of those franchises that looked cool, but felt a bit too intimidating for me to actually get into. I dipped my toes into Monster Hunter Tri on the Wii back in the day, but ...
Blue Miburo Episodes 1-12 Anime Series Review
The plot hasn’t developed in any particularly interesting ways, to the point it’s hard to write anything positive about the show.
― The Bakumatsu period, the final years of the Edo period, was an era of great social change and should be a fertile choice to set a historical drama. The mid-1800s brought an end to the Tokugawa Shogunate, a mode of government that had persisted over 250 years, while also...
Kinnikuman: Perfect Origin Arc Season 1 Anime Series Review
I think there are a lot of anime fans—a lot of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure fans, in particular—who would love Kinnikuman if they only gave it a try.
― A few months ago, when FLOW was on their world tour, I went to one of the shows. At one point, after having played several familiar hits, the band asked excitedly, “WHO HERE LIKES KINNIKUMAN!!” For the uninitiated, FLOW did the opening song to this first ...
Sengoku Youko: Thousandfold Chaos Arc Episodes 1-10 Anime Streaming Review
It’s a narratively and thematically rich show that rewards close attention to character development and dialogue in-between moments of larger-than-life characters beating seven kinds of hell out of one another.
― After the bitter disappointment that was The Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer's abysmal anime, Satoshi Mizukami fans were understandably wary about studio White Fox's subsequent adaptation of ...
Vagabond Definitive Edition Volume 1 Manga Review
Inoue’s art is startlingly good. His keen eye for composition and posing, already put to amazing use in Slam Dunk, almost makes the characters leap from the pages.
― At its core, this initial three-volume collection of Takehiko Inoue's (Slam Dunk) adaptation of Eiji Yoshikawa's fictionalized biographical novel Musashi is about the terrible life decisions made by two seventeen-year-old boys. Full of h...
Ron Kamonohashi's Forbidden Deductions Season 2 Anime Series Review
This anime doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but what it does, it does well.
― By now, Sherlock Holmes has been reimagined through the anime filter more times than I can count and to mixed levels of success. Usually, it's done more through the lens of inspiration—which is to say, having a character who's Sherlock Holmes-inspired but isn't supposed to be Sherlock Holmes. As I sit here typing this, we have t...
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Game Review
This is the most fun I've ever had playing Like a Dragon, and that is saying something given the series' pedigree.
― God bless Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. It has been an incredibly wild ride this past decade to watch the mad lads from RGG take their cult franchise of weird little crime adventure games to the upper echelons of gaming's most respected institutions. I remember when I first discovered these ga...
Macross 7 Episodes 27-52 Anime Streaming Review
Say what you like about Macross 7, it sticks to its guns from beginning to end with a consistency of tone and intention that’s admirable.
― Compared to watching modern anime's shorter single-season lengths, completing a watch-through of Macross 7's fifty-two episodes feels like a real achievement. Forty-nine of those were broadcast on TV weekly, without a break, from October 2004 until September 2005...
Your Forma Volumes 1-3 Novel Review
Your Forma’s first three volumes are, on the whole, excellent. A perfect blend of science fiction and mystery, the stories deal with strong plots and characters that are constantly growing.
― Mystery as a genre doesn't always intersect well with speculative areas of fiction like fantasy or sci-fi. Most people will tell you that's because mystery is rooted in logic and fact-finding, things that can be...
Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms Manga Review
Everything in Mecha-Ude Volume 1 is so close to the anime that, at times, it almost feels like reading through storyboards.
― During Fall 2024, here on ANN, I reviewed studio TriF's debut anime series Mecha-Ude as it aired weekly. Overall it was a great 12-episode show, densely packed with enough plot to fuel a series twice its length, elevated by wonderfully kinetic action animation heavily influenc...
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The Super Live Stage Performance Review
Coming to North America next month, reporter Asha Bardon calls the Sailor Moon The Super Live performance a "brilliant" mix of light show, dialogue, interpretive dance, and circus skills.
― How do you condense the first arc of a best-selling, beloved magical girl manga into ninety minutes with less than twenty performers and time left for a musical encore? Surprisingly well, actually. English Sailor ...
SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada Game Review
This model of repeated actions on similar environments can work if the quality is there – I’ve certainly enjoyed such games in my time – but usually for some combination of meaningful extrinsic and intrinsic rewards.
― SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada is a game which makes a strong first impression before almost immediately nose-diving into humdrum monotony. The bones of the setup are strong enough to support ...
Failure Frame: How I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells Anime Series Review
It shouldn’t set Failure Frame apart that Touka doesn’t take any of these characters as his slave, but it does. Does that make Failure Frame a good show? Heck no!
― It may be tempting to dismiss Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything with Low-Level Spells. The wordy title alone promises a series that offers little originality, considering how many isekai and non-isekai LitRP...
Tokyo Alien Bros. Volume 1 Manga Review
By the end of the first book (of three), my initial interest had turned to boredom, and I couldn't see much of a point to what I'd read so far.
― Having read the first book of the Tokyo Alien Bros. manga, I confess I'm baffled, and not for the obvious reasons. The scenario isn't outlandishly way-out. Instead, it's very simple: two alien brothers living in modern Tokyo, posing as humans. Nor is the st...
AI2U: With You 'Til The End Game Review
A computer can never create, therefore computers must never make creative decision.
― To paraphrase IBM's slide from a 1979 panel: a computer can never create, therefore computers must never make creative decisions. AI2U: With You 'Til The End prides itself upon using generative AI as a focal point in its game, powering the basic intelligence of its three protagonists as you interact with them. In ch...
One Piece Film Red 4K SteelBook Blu-ray Review
One Piece Film Red is a feast for the eyes and ears, but is more spectacle than substance.
― Disc 1 – The Movie One Piece movies can be understood to come in two distinct types: Arcs summaries, such as The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventures in Alabasta, or a single new adventure, complete with a new character to be rescued and a new bad guy to be defeated. One Piece: Red is an example of the...
Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos Game Review
I had a decent amount of fun riding around power-sliding through goofy dog slimes and the game never takes itself too seriously to get upset about the shallow plot or simple visuals.
― Neptunia Riders vs Dogoos is one of the stranger games that I've reviewed here for ANN. As far as Neptunia goes, it's something of an institution at this point. Starting back in 2010 on the Playstation 3, the series fo...
Kawaii Cafe Ramen Cookbook Review
The number one thing this book taught me was that making homemade ramen isn’t nearly as difficult as I always assumed it would be.
― Has any singular food been made to look more great more often in anime than ramen? Naruto, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Ponyo, Ramen Akaneko, Food Wars—the list of anime that are notable for having excellent looking ramen can go on, and on, and on. And even ...
Days With My Stepsister Anime Series Review
Despite its run-of-the-mill storyline, there is a surprisingly cinematic style to it that makes it stand out among other romance stories of its ilk.
― With a title like Days With My Stepsister, you might already expect how this story
will unfold. But this is just at first glance. Despite the tale dipping its feet into the taboo waters of
NBR relationships, the anime does what it can to subvert its g...
Genso Manège Game Review
All of the routes are very enjoyable, bittersweet in good ways, and even the ones I didn't expect to like, such as tsundere Serge, I ended up enjoying.
― You have to speak two languages to understand the title of Genso Manège, but there's no denying that it suits the game well. “Genso” in Japanese roughly means “dreamlike,” while “manège” is French for carousel, so the title can be translated as “Dre...
COLORFUL STAGE! The Movie: A Miku Who Can't Sing Anime Film Review
COLORFUL STAGE! The Movie: A Miku Who Can't Sing is a movie made for one group of people and one group only: Players of the smartphone game Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage.
― While far from the biggest Hatsune Miku fan, I'd dare to claim I am “familiar” with the franchise. I have played several Project Diva games, listened to more than a few Vocaloid songs, seen her “live” at various events, and even pl...
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Game Review
Donkey Kong has finally returned…again!
― Donkey Kong has finally returned…again! Come to think of it, he's returned a few times hasn't he? While Donkey Kong hasn't exactly had a new mainline game in quite some time, it's nice that Nintendo is doing their best to make sure that some of his best games are available on current generation hardware. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze was one of the fir...
Love and the Highly Sensitive Person Manga Review
This is a sincere but not-too-sappy tale of love and acceptance, both for oneself and others.
― It's always refreshing to see romances that explore uncommon perspectives and relationships, telling love stories that don't often get told. It's even more refreshing when they do it with as much kindness and empathy as Love and the Highly Sensitive Person does. This one-shot, PG-rated BL follows the hairs...
PreCure Splash Star Episodes 1-23 Anime Series Review
Despite its clear borrowing from its mother series, Splash Star is able to establish itself as its own story, creating sympathetic heroines and villains, and reminding us that everything makes a difference.
― After the disappointment that was Pretty Cure Max Heart, it's a relief and a delight to see that the third series, comprising the second team of Cures, in the franchise is a step in the right di...
Love is Indivisible by Twins Anime Series Review
Without a doubt, Love Is Indivisible by Twins is one of the most realistic and relatable depiction of twin relationships I've ever encountered. However, it's mired up in an uninteresting plot and an unbelievable love triangle.
― The way twins are represented in the media is frustrating. They're treated as creepy at worst, a single unit at best, and more often than not, a gimmicky curiosity. Although ...
Re-Living My Life with a Boyfriend Who Doesn't Remember Me Volumes 1-2 Manga Review
Even questionable execution can’t rob the plot of its key point: Oriana’s desperation to save Vincent’s life.
― Time loops are fickle things. As any reader of the isekai subgenre can tell you, most of them only grant memories to the person doing the looping – as far as everyone else knows, they're living their lives for the first time. For Oriana, the heroine of Re-Living My Life with a Boyfriend Who...
Hello Kitty Island Adventure Game Review
Even if you’re not a Sanrio fan, it’s easy to get pulled into the gentle world of the game, and if you enjoy the cozy exploration experience, this is a good choice, no matter what your age.
― Traveling to a tropical island resort is the dream of the winter months for many people living in colder climates, and Hello Kitty Island Adventure is very well aware of that. The story invites players to join H...
Tower of God: Workshop Battle Anime Series Review
It doesn't look as bad as Return of the Prince—however, that is an incredibly low bar to set and damning with faint praise more than anything else.
― Workshop Battle is a major step up from Return of the Prince. It is a far more focused story with an understandable core conflict. Bam is trying to keep everyone he cares about safe at his own expense. At the same time, his new friends and Khun are putt...
Living With Him Manga Review
If you want something a little less spicy and a little bit more wholesome, there’s plenty here to make your heart flutter as a smile creeps across your face.
― I've never been to Japan, so I can't comment on how its society at large views same-sex relationships. But there seems to be a consistent theme in these stories where people never seem to entertain the notion that two guys could be romanticall...
The Rose of Versailles Anime Film Review
How do you adapt a seminal classic that took 14 volumes of manga and 40 episodes of TV to tell into a feature film? You make it a musical.
― The Rose of Versailles is one of the seminal works of early shōjo manga. With over 23 million copies sold worldwide, it's no surprise that it still holds a place in popular culture over 50 years since its original release. This brings us to this new MAPPA-animat...
Demon Lord, Retry! R Anime Series Review
This is a bad sequel in almost every way. Barely a thing has improved over last season, and many of its flaws have been carried over to here.
― Demon Lord Retry! R is a bad sequel in almost every way. Barely a thing has improved over last season, and a lot of its flaws have been carried over here. The action is as flat as ever. The animation barely moves an inch. The battles are unengaging and anti-...
As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I'll Use My Appraisal Skill Season 2 Anime Series Review
This is the story of a young man who will do what must be done but nonetheless strives for an unobtainable ideal—not just for his people but also the enemies he comes across.
― The first season of As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I'll Use My Appraisal Skill was centered around putting the band together. With Ritsu, Ars gains the ultimate warrior, and with Charlotte the ultimate mage. He gains the ultima...
Hell is Dark with No Flowers Volume 1 Manga Review
Somewhere between xxxHoLiC and Hell Girl lies Hell is Dark with No Flowers.
― Somewhere between xxxHoLiC and Hell Girl lies Hell is Dark with No Flowers. If you think I've made that comparison before, you're right – Matsuri's Phantom Tales of the Night can also be described that way. But Hell is Dark with No Flowers, based on the novel of the same name by Yoru Michio, is the better use of the descrip...
Most Notorious "Talker" Runs the World's Greatest Clan Anime Series Review
There is a lot to The Most Notorious "Talker" Runs the World's Greatest Clan that feels one note, but it’s quite the note if you’re in the mood for some anti-hero cheese.
― There is a lot to The Most Notorious "Talker" Runs the World's Greatest Clan that feels one note, but it's quite the note if you're in the mood for some anti-hero cheese. This is a light novel adaptation that really, really lives ...
Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero Game Review
If any of you are outsiders sitting on the fence, take it from me: This game is pretty neat!
― I've always wanted to dig into the beloved-but-niche JRPGs from Nippon Ichi Software (a.k.a. “NIS”), especially the Disgaea games, but I've always been intimidated by their reputations for containing complex and finicky systems that require a real commitment to number crunching and min-maxing. When the oppo...
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete Game Review
Pocket Camp Complete is perfectly designed to be playable in bite-sized chunks, a relaxing experience when you just need a brief moment of escape.
― I am not, by and large, a mobile gamer. I'll play games on my clunky old Galaxy A03 every so often, but it's rarely my first choice of platform. That's important to mention because Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete was a game I found myself coming ba...
Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2 Anime Streaming Review
It may have taken a few tries, but with this second season of Nocturne, the animated Castlevania franchise has finally produced a true masterpiece.
― Castlevania is one of the series that I have been privileged to cover since the original Netflix animated project premiered back in 2017. It has certainly been a wild ride seeing one of gaming's most venerated (and most neglected) bloodlines get the big...
Firefly Wedding Volume 1 Manga Review
It isn’t a perfect way to phrase it, but Firefly Wedding’s first volume feels like it lands somewhere in between Yakuza Fiancé and Yakuza Lover.
― It isn't a perfect way to phrase it, but Firefly Wedding's first volume feels like it lands somewhere between Yakuza Fiancé and Yakuza Lover. That's not because there's a yakuza element to the story, at least not in those terms; set during what appears to ...
RuriDragon Volume 1 Manga Review
In spite, or perhaps because of how laid-back it is about Ruri’s seemingly bizarre circumstances, RuriDragon really feels like something special.
― Honestly, the fact that I'm even here reviewing RuriDragon at all is something of a minor miracle. While the manga debuted in Shonen Jump to pretty much immediate success, it quickly ran into trouble when its author, Masaoki Shindo, started suffering from...
Blue Exorcist: Beyond the Snow Saga Anime Series Review
This season works fine, as long as you're still invested in Blue Exorcist's world and characters enough to follow them through an action-light season with a sprawling plot.
― This review covers the dozen Blue Exorcist episodes streamed from October to December 2024. For anyone new to Blue Exorcist, this is not where you start. This far into the series, the season's a case of what TV Tropes calls Cont...
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- Anime Film Review
This film is a fantastic addition to the Gundam franchise—and one you can't even begin to talk about without getting into massive spoilers.
― Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- is a compilation film containing the first four episodes of the upcoming TV anime, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX. The trailers made it look to be something similar to G-Gundam (much like how Gundam 00 shares many elements...
Galette Manga Magazine Volume 1 Review
This is not a one-for-one version of the original Japanese volume; it is an adapted edition for the English-reading audience.
― In the mid-2010s, the runs of two of the three existing quarterly yuri manga magazines, Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari published by Shinsokan and Tsubomi published by Hobunsha came to an end, leaving some yuri artists with unfinished series and no place to serialize them. Some o...
MF Ghost Season 2 Anime Series Review
While it would’ve been nice to see this series pick up some much-needed speed, all it did was put the brakes on.
― Suffice it to say that season 1 of MF Ghost, the newest series by Initial D creator Shuichi Shigeno, didn't exactly drive me wild. In a word, it was underwhelming. So, going into MF Ghost season 2, I was expecting another middle-of-the-road racing anime. And my expectations, as it turns ...
The Healer Who Was Banished From His Party, Is, in Fact, the Strongest Anime Series Review
While I didn't expect much from this anime, there were still enough shortcomings that left me high and dry.
― There are about four or five settings The Healer Who Was Banished From His Party, Is, in Fact, the Strongest has at its disposal: a labyrinth, a guild hall, the city streets surrounding said guild hall, and the fields between said city and labyrinth. The world doesn't feel like a sprawling fa...
Digimon: The Movies - Movies 1-3 - Anime Blu-ray Review
In an era when digital media is getting lost, destroyed, or put on a shelf to collect dust forever, having this collection is nothing short of a miracle
― I never thought we would see the day we would get something like this. In the 2000s, I was a kid taken to see a film called Digimon: The Movie, an original film based on one of my favorite franchises, Digimon. At the time, I thought the film was fu...
Macross Plus Blu-ray Movie + OVA [Ultimate Edition] Review
This isn't just a collection centerpiece for hardcore Macross Plus fans, but an incredible archival release for animation scholars.
― At Anime Expo 2022, Macross license holder BIG WEST announced that they would be partnering with multiple distributors to bring almost every post-1987 entry in the beloved franchise to North American home video for the very first time. One of these distributors is Anim...
How I Attended an All-Guy's Mixer Anime Series Review
How I Attended an All-Guy's Mixer isn't bad, but it hardly feels like it's taking advantage of any of its potential.
― How I Attended an All-Guy's Mixer is not a complex show. The story's premise of its ostensibly straight male leads winding up dating a trio of hot drag kings certainly lends itself to the potential of exploring gender presentation, roles, and sexuality in relationships. But while tho...
Be Forever Yamato: Star Blazers: REBEL 3199 Episodes 1-6 Anime Review
I'm happy to report that Star Blazers REBEL 3199 blasts out of spacedock, immediately firing on all cylinders.
― Space Battleship Yamato is back with a bang in this latest continuation of the
remake series that began in 2012 with Yamato 2199, and continued with Yamato 2202 and
Yamato 2205 over the subsequent decade. While 2199 was top-tier space opera, 2202 wasn't as universally loved, with a muddled...
Let This Grieving Soul Retire! Anime Series Review
There are no deeper themes to be explored or musings of human nature break down. However, there is a cast of silly characters and fun fantasy mysteries.
― Let This Grieving Soul Retire! is far from the first anime about a dummy of a protagonist who lucks their way into victory while still managing to lose on a personal level time and again. The issue with stories like this is that all too often, the ...
KamiErabi GOD.app Season 2 Anime Series Review
This feels like a show that wants so badly to be deep.
― Let me be up front about something: I didn't enjoy the first season of KamiErabi. Its three cardinal sins were poor writing, characters who made no sense, and rigid CGI. So the prospect of a second season—which was confirmed pretty early on into the first season's airing—wasn't exactly something I was thrilled about. A sentiment among viewers w...
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