Azure Flame Reloaded

Hello and welcome to another edition of Sunday News Bites! We know you all felt our absence rather keenly last weekend, and so to make up for it we have invited some brand new special guests into the studio to comment on the week’s news- the girls from Ichigo Mashimaro!

Doujin Work to hit the US?
Alongside the second season of flagship franchise Genshiken and its spin-off Kujibiki Unbalance, Media Blasters has claimed that it will be dubbing “Doujin Works”, although they refuse to confirm or deny whether this means they have the license to the 2007 Doujin Work anime. That being said, it seems hard to imagine what else they could be referring to, and so it seems that this series may well be hitting the US at some point in the future. Continue Reading »

Once you’ve watched a certain amount of anime (aka, more than is probably good for you), there comes a point when top ten lists don’t really do the job of encapsulating your favourites anymore. When such a time comes, the only thing you can do to showcase your favourites is make a highly ambitious and incredibly lengthy post about not just ten, but fifty-plus anime that you feel you absolutely must recommend to everyone. Such was the origin of this post, and so it was that after much thought, a hefty list of no fewer than sixty series were collected together. Some of them could never make it onto an overall top ten list, but they are nonetheless so good at what they do that they still require a mention in some capacity.

On a side note, don’t expect the likes of Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop and Evangelion to appear on here. Whilst the first two at least are certainly solid enough, they appear on recommendation lists throughout the land, and it’s time they stood aside to let worthier series get some of the spotlight. Continue Reading »

Interested in yuri manga and other obscure titles? Since I don’t have much to say about the vast majority of the Comic-Con licenses, just make your way over to ANN instead.

This week, we are joined in the newsroom by El Cazador’s LA, who takes time out from talking Ellis to offer his unstable and often quite disturbing opinion on the events of the week. Continue Reading »

I can now exclusively reveal that the reason my blog is so HARD GAY is because I have Lui chained up in my basement.

As the days became depressingly short and winter tightened its grip upon the land, I had the great idea of summarising all the 2006 series I watched in one great ‘Annual Round-Up’; hardly an original idea since everyone likes to do it, but nonetheless a course I became determined to take. Little did I realise that such an innocent decision would lead to a massive fifteen page document that took over a month to compile; in fact, if I had any sense, I would take the lazy route of posting this over several days in order to avoid having to write anything else for a week or so. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, depending on your perspective), I’d rather just include it all in one guide so that I can get on with writing newer and more interesting things to spice up the inevitably dull and grey January.

I shall also take this opportunity to thank necromancer, whose screencaps made many parody posts and Tuesday Rumble sections possible, as well as my blogging ‘sempai’, who can identify himself if he wishes.

For once, red is not for generally poor series, just for the ones I dropped before the end of their run (mostly because they were generally poor). Series in blue are my top picks for the year. Links lead to earlier reviews, rants and parodies of the series in question.

Continue Reading »

Regular readers of this blog will be aware that I have a habit of unfavourably comparing anime series to the original manga- it’s not something I do to be provocative or controversial, merely a statement of my opinion. As my manga experience has increased, I have continually found that the majority of manga-based anime series simply do not live up to the original, regardless of which version I was exposed to first.

From some viewpoints, this may seem a little strange- surely black and white pictures squeezed onto an A5 page cannot compared to something that has colour, movement and sound? Admittedly, this is often case for action series; trying to follow a battle via static images is often a futile cause, but most other genres seem to lose something in the transition from page to screen. Continue Reading »

There’s going to be a bit of a parody break for the next few days; not just because of the Jyu-oh-sei HDTV incident, but because I’ve been spending a lot of time on the Mai-HiME RPG (despite a tendency for the victory music to play in unwanted places, episode three is generally going well). If you’re a parody fan, however, don’t worry, because they will be returning soon.

Due to a general apathy towards the series, I have yet to watch Keroro Gunso 62 and will be leaving that to next week. Also, there are some pretty big spoilers for the Tsubasa manga towards the end, so don’t read if you’re not up to date and want to maintain the element of surprise.

Reviewed this week: Aria the Natural 15-16, Asatte no Houkou 1-3, Ayakashi Ayashi 1, Bakumatsu 1, Busou Renkin 3, Chevalier 7, Code Geass 2, Death Note 3, Gargoyle of the Yoshinagas 3, Kanon 3, Keroro 61, Negima!? 3, ROTK 26-7, YoakeNa 3

…and in manga: Emma Bangaihen 1-3, Higurashi Onikakushi-hen 1, H&C 12, Otome 32, MariMite 20, Tsubasa 133, NHK 31, xxxHOLiC 9.7, YoakeNa 1, Haruhi Suzumiya novel 4.3 Continue Reading »

Last night, I suddenly thought it would be a great idea to create a secondary blog for non anime and manga-related material, completely ignoring the fact that a) I may not even have the time or stamina to maintain it and b) anything posted to this blog will probably be pointless ramblings devoid of anything resembling quality. Nonetheless, it exists now, and will probably continue to do so for as long as I want to ramble about Lost and Stargate.

Meanwhile, on the anime side of things, I have decided to adopt a new, harsher policy for tackling the autumn season. Instead of subjecting myself to the usual three episodes of pain for a substandard series, I will aim to drop it after 1-2 episodes.

Reviewed this week: Chevalier, D.Gray-man, Higurashi, H&C II, Love GetChu!, Otogi-jushi Akazukin, Ouran, Pumpkin Scissors, ROTK, SaiMono

…and in manga: Kanon/Air, Mai-Otome, Mushishi, Natsu no Arashi, REC, SaiMono, Suzumiya Haruhi novel Continue Reading »

If you like something, it seems only natural to want more of it- anime included. After all, if it comes down to a choice between more episodes about your favourite characters and settings, or watching something new and unproven, the former may well sound infinitely preferable. Unfortunately, the saying “too much of a good thing” exists for a reason; not every franchise can weather the demands of supplying additional content, resulting in worn out, recycled scenarios, tiresome, unimaginative filler, or an attempt to be different that destroys the very heart of what made it good in the first place. Continue Reading »

The loss of a hard drive filled with data would be a serious blow to anyone, and it seemed to be one I was set to experience after my 250 GB external drive started acting up. Thankfully, for once I had the foresight to order another one (thus rendering it out of stock) before the first one died completely, and for once it actually arrived at my house reasonably promptly. Admittedly it lacks an on/off button and is not as aesthetically pleasing as the first, but more importantly, it actually works.

Meanwhile, I’ve had to change some regional settings to Japanese in order to play the Fate/Stay Night demo version (ironically, the translated demo), and now Japanese is taking over my computer. Even the backslash in filenames has turned into a yen sign.

Mini-Bites

How to write an anime movie

Spurred on by my recent viewing of both the Keroro Gunso and Ah! My Goddess movies, I have decided that the time has come to produce my own guide to writing anime movies: Continue Reading »

Last year, it was almost inevitable that I would become one of the many people to fall under the spell of Honey and Clover. Having just graduated from university myself, the tale of a group of people undergoing the same experiences (well, roughly the same) was one I could easily relate to. And so it was that from start to finish, the anime captivated me with its emotion, humour, and a personal touch of bittersweet nostalgia. Continue Reading »