Episode Review
Archives

Filters
All Anime Manga Novels Games Music Merch Events Industry People Live-Action Korean
Text-only Compact View
Text-only List View
Text-only Grid View
List View with Images
Grid View with Images
ep. review

Chained Soldier Season 2 ‒ Episode 11

Maybe it would be more appropriate if I said this is “an episode that shoots for the stars…except, in this universe, all of the constellations have been replaced with crudely drawn doodles of big butts and bouncing boobs."
ep. review

Tamon's B-Side ‒ Episode 12

I just want to stand on a roof and yell about what a great episode we got this week.
ep. review

Champignon Witch ‒ SEASON FINALE

Life goes on, whether you’re a white witch, a black one, or something else entirely. The important thing is to keep trying and keep moving forward.
ep. review

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3: The Culling Game Part 1 ‒ Episode 58

This is probably the most frustrating episode of JJK so far this season, and I can’t wait to wash the taste of it out of my mouth next week with one of my favorite bouts from the manga.
ep. review

SHIBOYUGI: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table ‒ SEASON FINALE

SHIBOYUGI is an indulgent tonic of equal parts empathy and anger that invites us to luxuriate in an elegy for a world gone insane.
ep. review

In the Clear Moonlit Dusk ‒ Episode 10

To be treated as a girl is to be considered beautiful. To be considered dateable by boys and not dateable by other girls.
ep. review

The Holy Grail of Eris ‒ Episode 11

Will the goddess of discord’s grail be filled to the brim with blood? Or will someone spill it and finally put the past to rest?
ep. review

Hell Teacher: Jigoku Sensei Nube ‒ Episode 24

With traditional exorcism methods out of the question, Nube saves the day with something he’s particularly skilled at: empathy and heartfelt tears.
ep. review

The Darwin Incident ‒ Episode 11

It's only fair that this follow-up episode is a bit more mechanically minded in getting all its gene-spliced ducks back in a row.
ep. review

Hana-Kimi ‒ SEASON FINALE

Slice-of-life sitcoms like Hana-Kimi don't need to be a tightly-woven tapestry, but this is closer to a moth-eaten mesh.
ep. review

Yoroi-Shinden Samurai Troopers ‒ Episode 11

It's not that the show is devoid of ideas, it's just that it lacks the time, space, and structure to articulate them effectively.
ep. review

Oshi no Ko Season 3 ‒ Episode 10

The way Aqua is making an enemy out of me, he should think twice before standing on a cliff.
ep. review

Journal with Witch ‒ Episode 11

Journal with Witch paints an entire tableau with a few lines of dialogue. It casts light onto indeterminate shapes lurking within my soul.
ep. review

Trigun Stargaze ‒ Episode 10

Perhaps this is yet another layer of narrative fakery, and episode eleven or twelve will culminate in a heartbreakingly nihilistic orgy of bloody ultra-violence where no-one survives.
ep. review

Wash It All Away ‒ Episode 11

This episode comes across as a bag of the most mixed, divided of sorts: a second half that is as “what you see is what you get” as it comes, and a first half that’s just...there.
ep. review

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Season 2 ‒ Episode 24

This episode is finally hitting a lot of notes that I’ve been begging for all season!
ep. review

Isekai Office Worker: The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter ‒ Episode 11

Seiichiro and Aresh’s relationship is so delightfully mutual now – they can call each other out on little things, yearn to be closer in ways they culturally understand, and are just so damn cute.
ep. review

Golden Kamuy Final Season ‒ Episode 60

Animation issues aside, there’s a lot to love in this episode, and I hope future installments manage to look as good as this caliber of writing deserves.
ep. review

Hell's Paradise Season 2 ‒ Episode 10

This episode of Hell's Paradise does something that I didn't realize the series could do.
ep. review

Rooster Fighter ‒ SERIES PREMIERE

It's what makes Keiji such an on-target protagonist. He embodies all the heroic traits, from his rippling chicken thighs to his relentless womanizing, but he's also… well, he's a chicken.
ep. review

Fate/strange Fake ‒ Episode 11

Ayaka inspires Richard to dream again—to not be tied down by the grim reality he often lived.
ep. review

You and I Are Polar Opposites ‒ Episode 10

While we're gonna have to wait a bit to see how each of these romantic escapades play out, the fact these pairs all have something going on is a testament to how well this show is handling its balancing act.
ep. review

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Season 2 ‒ Episode 8

It's not what a person believes that makes them good or evil, but rather the actions they choose to take. And Stark and Genau constantly make choices that firmly place them on the side of the angels.
ep. review

Roll Over and Die ‒ Episode 10

Unfortunately, the content of this episode is only slightly more interesting than the murky fog rolling throughout the city.
ep. review

Sentenced to Be a Hero ‒ Episode 10

We can see the scales of battle tipping back and forth in a constant 60/40 to 40/60 and back again.
ep. review

The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife ‒ Episode 10

Meeting your partner's family is always complicated to a certain degree
ep. review

Gnosia ‒ SERIES FINALE

It could have been worse, but it could have been so much better, too.
ep. review

Dead Account ‒ Episode 10

Just when you thought this fight couldn’t be padded anymore, it does with the usual fanfare of unnecessary flashbacks and still animation.
ep. review

Fire Force Season 3 ‒ Episode 22

Unfortunately, while the episode is just fine, it doesn't do nearly enough to capitalize on its opportunities.
ep. review

Medalist Season 2 ‒ Episode 4

While this episode would have still been fine if all we got out of it was Inori's performance, it's what happens off the ice that makes this one shine
ep. review

Champignon Witch ‒ Episode 11

If there are black witches and white witches, could there also be grey witches? Because right now, that’s what the Bird Magician is looking like to me.
ep. review

Chained Soldier Season 2 ‒ Episode 10

For once, the show truly has no time to waste on the smut that it can't save for gratuitous after-credits stingers. Even the one in-universe of fanservice that we get from Kuusetsu is meant to be an ominous spank-bank deposit.
ep. review

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3: The Culling Game Part 1 ‒ Episode 57

Someone get Takaba’s agent on the line! I don’t know what “it” is, but he’s got it!
ep. review

SHIBOYUGI: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table ‒ Episode 10

Yuki can still recognize the awful waste of this violence for what it is, even as she participates in the system that set it all in motion. Even as she profits from it. Even as she Survives within it.
ep. review

In the Clear Moonlit Dusk ‒ Episode 9

After some light sightseeing, the group makes their way to the Ichimura family vacation home and… I’m sorry, but are they in a concrete bunker?
ep. review

The Holy Grail of Eris ‒ Episode 10

It’s not just about Scarlett anymore: it’s about Randolph, whose marriage to Lily Orlamunde made him feel unlovable and lonely.
ep. review

Tamon's B-Side ‒ Episode 11

I can’t bear to think that we only have two episodes of Tamon left now.
ep. review

Hell Teacher: Jigoku Sensei Nube ‒ Episode 23

Sometimes, for a daft comedy-horror show, Hell Teacher: Jigoku Sensei Nube can be surprisingly poignant.
ep. review

Oshi no Ko Season 3 ‒ Episode 9

When Oshi No Ko claims to be generalizing about the industry, what it’s really doing is talking about itself.
ep. review

Journal with Witch ‒ Episode 10

I'm happy and impressed that Journal with Witch allows Emiri space to vent her darkest and most resentful thoughts.
ep. review

The Darwin Incident ‒ Episode 10

The Darwin Incident is raising bizarre questions about how the audience is supposed to regard the humanzee hero, as he's regularly framed as a nightmarishly powerful inhuman with scary glowing eyes.
ep. review

Hell's Paradise Season 2 ‒ Episode 9

After spending a lifetime trying to perfect something that makes them live forever, the greatest release from all of their suffering was death.
ep. review

Yoroi-Shinden Samurai Troopers ‒ Episode 10

Even an awareness of its messiness and pacing issues can't fully save Yoroi-Shinden from the effects of its messiness and pacing issues.
ep. review

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Season 2 ‒ Episode 23

My real investment in this arc depends on how well the show sells me on Captain Celebrity.
ep. review

Isekai Office Worker: The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter ‒ Episode 10

It’s a good thing that Seiichirou has finally admitted to himself that he loves Aresh, because some serious healing is going to need to happen very soon.
ep. review

Golden Kamuy Final Season ‒ Episode 59

After this episode, I’m rooting for these beautiful, broken people harder than ever and hope to celebrate their triumph in the episodes to come.
ep. review

You and I Are Polar Opposites ‒ Episode 9

This episode reaffirms to me that as cute as Miyu and Tani are as a couple, they can't quite carry this whole show on their own.
ep. review

Wash It All Away ‒ Episode 10

Best Girl being back is enough of a reason to celebrate.
ep. review

Fate/strange Fake ‒ Episodes 9-10

n a way, this battle is a fight largely unlike those we've seen in Fate anime as the impetus behind the conflict is a purely altruistic one rather than a selfish one.
ep. review

Roll Over and Die ‒ Episode 9

Roll Over and Die sometimes surprises me with its emotional intelligence. I just wish it could balance that better with its dark fantasy preoccupations.
ep. review

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Season 2 ‒ Episodes 6-7

Genau and Stark are under the impression that they are not good people—that they can’t possibly become good people.
ep. review

Sentenced to Be a Hero ‒ Episode 9

This is the week where Sentenced to be a Hero finally played its hand.
ep. review

Dead Account ‒ Episode 9

As things become dumber and dumber with each passing episode, I'm left with so many new ways to marvel at Dead Account's ineptitude.
ep. review

Trigun Stargaze ‒ Episode 9

It’s surely only a downhill journey into darkness and struggle for Vash from now on.
ep. review

Fire Force Season 3 ‒ Episode 21

The Knight King, Arthur Boyle, has one last Dragon to slay, and their battle will surely become the stuff of legends
ep. review

The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife ‒ Episode 9

Just because I can understand why he can be scary doesn't mean that I think that Tounome deserved any of this trauma.
ep. review

Gnosia ‒ Episode 20

With only one episode left to go, I wonder if there are any tricks Gnosia could pull out of its hat that would finally capitalize on all of this unrealized potential.
ep. review

Medalist Season 2 ‒ Episode 3

Yuna's story here does feel like a bit of a retread, but even a slightly weaker episode of Medalist still knows how to hit where it needs to.
ep. review

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3: The Culling Game Part 1 ‒ Episode 56

While it helps that this episode looks sick as hell, the timely message of good people enduring in bad situations is what ultimately makes this a great episode of anime.
ep. review

Tamon's B-Side ‒ Episode 10

In some ways, Natsuki feels more like a burnt-out, middle-aged man than he does a young pop idol.
ep. review

Champignon Witch ‒ Episode 10

Who is brainwashing the populace into believing that practitioners of black magic are bad?
ep. review

Chained Soldier Season 2 ‒ Episode 9

For as much as Kuusetsu represents Yuki and Co.'s worst nightmare, I don't think I've ever been so excited to see where Chained Soldier goes next.
ep. review

SHIBOYUGI: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table ‒ Episode 9

Only a truly deranged world would allow such madness to run rampant and unchecked. Thank goodness such a place could only exist in the far-out realm of science-fiction anime.
ep. review

The Holy Grail of Eris ‒ Episode 9

If there’s a “true” tragedy in this story, it’s that Scarlett died for nothing.
ep. review

In the Clear Moonlit Dusk ‒ Episode 8

Why is it that being treated like a girl is preferable to simply being treated as Yoi?
ep. review

Oshi no Ko Season 3 ‒ Episode 8

The suggestion that the cheerful Ai we saw interacting with her own children might not have been the true Ai is irresistible.
ep. review

Isekai Office Worker: The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter ‒ Episode 9

The man in charge of the church resents the palace’s “interference” with his institution in the first place; imagine what he’ll do when he realizes that Seiichirou and Yua also want to deprive him of a system that’s netted him a lot of free labor.
ep. review

Hell Teacher: Jigoku Sensei Nube ‒ Episode 22

It’s the first time in a while I’ve watched someone so explicitly blunder into eternal damnation.
ep. review

The Darwin Incident ‒ Episode 9

This is still The Darwin Incident I'm talking about here, so it's going to make its efforts in the bluntest ways possible.
ep. review

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Season 2 ‒ Episode 22

I'm actually starting to get annoyed at where this show's priorities are.
ep. review

Yoroi-Shinden Samurai Troopers ‒ Episode 9

It's solid enough as a plot twist, but the way Yoroi-Shinden Samurai Troopers brings itself back into flavor country is how it threads that twist through subsequent subplots.
ep. review

Journal with Witch ‒ Episode 9

As a viewer and a writer, I can appreciate Makio's phrasing, and “write with the intent to kill” sent a bolt of lightning up my spine.
ep. review

Hana-Kimi ‒ Episode 10

Hana-Kimi really is at its best as a kind of hangout show, spending time with the characters without worrying too much about any stakes other than the slow burn of the romance.
ep. review

Wash It All Away ‒ Episode 9

It’s raining, it’s pouring, but no, this episode isn’t boring.
ep. review

Golden Kamuy Final Season ‒ Episode 58

For every valid criticism I have of this episode, whenever I think of Ogata pouting when he learns that the flailing, naked Sugimoto is not his brother, my fondness for this episode returns and grows.
ep. review

Medalist Season 2 ‒ Episode 2

For a series that largely centers itself around character drama, this episode feels a lot more like watching a real competition, but considering the exact level of spectacle involved, it's hard to argue with the results.
ep. review

Hell's Paradise Season 2 ‒ Episode 8

This felt like half an episode's worth of content stretched into 25 minutes.
ep. review

You and I Are Polar Opposites ‒ Episode 8

Azuma's situation here is pretty rough, which just makes it all the more shocking when the heavens split, as for the briefest of moments, Taira manages to actually talk some sense.
ep. review

Gnosia ‒ Episode 19

As we all predicted, the previous 'ending' of Gnosia was not the true conclusion of Yuri and Setu's adventures through time and space.
ep. review

Dead Account ‒ Episode 8

Some boring fights that are coupled with a bunch of flashbacks that add nothing? Yep, this is what we in the field call “a nothingburger."
ep. review

The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife ‒ Episode 8

Yakou sleeping over had some funny jokes that leaned into more adult territory.
ep. review

Trigun Stargaze ‒ Episode 8

Well played, you magnificent bastards, well played.
ep. review

Roll Over and Die ‒ Episode 8

As much as I enjoy Roll Over and Die for how it feels like a respite from its genre, the series sadly remains beholden to some of the Narou scene's ickiest impulses.
ep. review

Fire Force Season 3 ‒ Episode 20

The fact that Fire Force has tried to thematically justify Tamaki's ridiculous fanservice with its cuckoo world-building is legitimately so insane that I can't help but have a little respect for the gumption of it all.
ep. review

Sentenced to Be a Hero ‒ Episode 8

The trope of “we have to pretend to be married for the mission” is well-beloved for a reason.
ep. review

Chained Soldier Season 2 ‒ Episode 8

We've got action, some story development, fun new characters, boobs, a couple of good jokes, and even more boobs. What more could you ask for?
ep. review

Champignon Witch ‒ Episode 9

It’s adorable when Lize pretends not to know what kissing is, but that’s the brief moment of light in the darkness.
ep. review

Tamon's B-Side ‒ Episode 9

This episode made me realize that Ouri is kind of a tragic character.
ep. review

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3: The Culling Game Part 1 ‒ Episode 55

Put simply, this episode is everything I want from Jujutsu Kaisen and it would be my favorite anime of all time if every episode were this good.
ep. review

The Holy Grail of Eris ‒ Episode 8

When have men in power ever cared about seventeen-year-old girls' wellbeing?
ep. review

SHIBOYUGI: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table ‒ Episode 8

The tragedy of SHIBOYUGI comes from the girls knowing full well that they are little more than dolls to be played with until they are too worn out and must be tossed aside.
ep. review

Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin ‒ Episodes 14-15

This two-part special doesn't offer much beyond an extra 40 minutes of the show's usual vibes, but it's nice to see that those vibes are still pretty charming.
ep. review

Oshi no Ko Season 3 ‒ Episode 7

Hey Sis, would you support me in delivering the secret we’ve guarded for the last 14 years to the scummiest paparazzo I can find?
ep. review

The Darwin Incident ‒ Episode 8

That's a lot of grousing I can do about these details in this episode, since so much of this week's entry is that sort of setup before the Lucy Kidnapping Arc presumably sees Lucy get kidnapped.
ep. review

Hell Teacher: Jigoku Sensei Nube ‒ Episode 21

The unknown and mysterious is often far more frightening than any number of daft-looking monsters.
ep. review

Yoroi-Shinden Samurai Troopers ‒ Episode 8

Having this Lucky Charms box of a cast shotgunned at the screen with wildly varying tones and paces across the board causes whiplash

For all articles, see the archives