Azure Flame Reloaded

Wherever anime studios are spoken of, fans can be found singing the praises of Madhouse, claiming how this one studio can turn everything they touch into gold. Naturally, when I hear such things, I have to question them, and so it was that they had to be the subject of one of my pointless studio [...]

Remember the old days? Times were bloodier, women were meeker, and MANLY men strode across the lands, showing off their toned muscles to one and all. Yes, this was the era of Fist of the North Star, a tale of a post-apocalyptic era where ugly villains seized power over innocent villagers, and where one man [...]

They may not be the most prolific of studios, but Gainax has been the subject of much debate and discussion over the years, surrounding both their seeming inability to end a series properly, but over the various elements of their apparent masterwork Evangelion. In all this time, perhaps everything that can be said has already [...]

Yes, that Spring Preview (so important it has to be capitalised) wasn’t a one-off, because now I’m doing another one for summer, so that you can all read what you’ve read a hundred times before on other blogs. As we all know, during the summer we are expected to be outside enjoying the sunshine and [...]

NATIONS OF THE WORLD Wind Bloom Once a significant world power, Wind Bloom has lost status over the generations thanks to a number of ineffectual rulers, but nonetheless retains much of its influence on the world stage thanks the existence of Garderobe within its borders. The previous king and queen were considered capable rulers with [...]

Foreword This is not Mai-Otome as you saw it onscreen (and for that you must be thankful); this is Mai-Otome as it should have been, and hence much has been liberally changed whilst retaining the essence of the original. OTOME An Otome is classified as any woman injected with self-replicating internal nanomachines that enable her [...]

I’ve looked at past and present subsidiaries Bee Train and Xebec, but what has Production I.G. themselves brought to the anime scene? The number of series they have brought us may be relatively limited, but from the technological future of Ghost in the Shell to the historical fantasy of Otogi Zoshi and Chevalier, both content [...]

I have to admit that I have been terribly wrong about Mai-Otome. How could I, holder of a degree in physics, possibly understand its depth and complexity as well as the random grammatically challenged flamers who came to my blog to comment? Indeed, I totally failed to grasp the deeper implications and cutting social commentary [...]

Although I will invoke the wrath of a million fanboys, the first two seasons of Nanoha were not particularly good. Oh, they were enjoyable enough in their own way, and I certainly do not regret watching them, but let’s face it- outside the boundaries of that deadly category known as light entertainment, they could hardly [...]

As a newbie anime fan, one of the earliest series I ever watched was Ceres, Celestial Legend. Fuelled by a desire to expand my experience with Yuu Watase beyond Fushigi Yuugi, I watched all 24 episodes of the anime in the course of about three evenings, and at the time, it seemed a worthy endeavour. [...]