Azure Flame Reloaded

Hello and welcome to another edition of Sunday News Bites! This week we are joined in the newsroom by Phantom Thief Dark, who decided to make a grand entrance by flying in the window instead of using the door like everyone else.

D.N.Angel finally continuing
After over two years of hiatus, D.N.Angel is finally set to return in the next issue of Asuka magazine. The original run of the manga started in 1997, but after eleven volumes were released, it went on hiatus in 2005 whilst the mangaka concentrated on her other series Lagoon Engine and Lagoon Engine Einsatz. Finally, however, fans of the series can prepare to see what happens next. Continue Reading »

Reviewed this week: Aria the Origination 3, Clannad 14, Gunslinger Girl- Il Teatrino 2, Kaiji 15, KgNE Next Season 1, Minami-ke Okawari 1, Mokke 8-10, Moyashimon 7-11, Persona 1-3, Shigofumi 1-2, Sketchbook 7-10, Spice and Wolf 3, Aquarion OVA 2, Tokyo Marble Chocolate, Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations 2, Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 2

…and in manga: Bokurano 43-7, Mushishi 12, Spice and Wolf 1-4, Tenshi Nanka Janai 30-1, Tsubasa 180, Yotsuba& 51-2

Continue Reading »

Welcome back to the lengthiest and most pointless project undertaken by this blog, now in its second and final part. First, a couple of disclaimers- I understand that Twelve Kingdoms is very good, but until my DVD boxsets arrive, I can’t comment. Also, Oh! Edo Rocket must be left out until it finishes airing.

Mahou Shoujotai

What’s it about?: Alice has always believed in magic, so when she is transported to a world of witches and wizards, it should be like a dream come true. Unfortunately, contrary to her idealistic vision, the people of this world do not use magic only to bring happiness, and so Alice feels compelled to make everyone listen to her optimistic views- and, naïve as they may seem, they may be the only hope of finding a way to save a dying world and ward off a plan to use powerful black 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 »

If there’s one thing I’m not too keen on when watching fansubs, it’s mkv format. According to its proponents, mkv is new and ‘1337’ whilst avi is old and outdated, but the fact remains that mkv is a pain to play. The picture gets stuck, it uses up more CPU resources than I’m willing to give it (I like to run a lot of programs simultaneously), the softsubs can be problematic, and VLC media player doesn’t like them. I may get comments here telling me that mkv is good or to use a different media player, but that’s not going to stop me ranting about how annoying it can be.

Aria, Death Note, Emma Bangaihen and possibly Ayakashi Ayashi will be covered next week.

Reviewed this week: Bartender, Busou Renkin, Chevalier, Code Geass, Corda d’Oro, D.Gray-man, Ghost Hunt, Hataraki Man, Kanon, Mushishi, Negima, Otogi-jushi Akazukin, Red Garden, Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro Na

…and in manga: Mai-Otome, NHK, REC, Tsubasa, xxxHOLiC Continue Reading »

They are known as Mushi- a range of primitive life forms close to the ‘source’ of all living things. Most people cannot see them, but they exist all around us, and their effects are often labelled as supernatural or simply inexplicable phenomena. There are, however, a select few- known as Mushishi- who devote their lives to studying Mushi and dealing with the problems they cause. Ginko is one such Mushishi, and as he travels from place to place, he not only encounters many differents kinds of Mushi, but all the people whose lives have been affected by them. 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 »

The new season is almost upon us, and yet here I am, having failed to put together any kind of autumn (or, if you prefer, fall) preview whatsoever- and nor am I intending to. Aside from the fact that many people have already done a better job of it than myself, and that I’m simply too lazy to be bothered, past experience has shown that the series I look forward to the most often turn out to be utterly disappointing. After all, in previous seasons, I was foolish enough to expect something of worth from Black Cat, Jigoku Shoujo, Mai-Otome, Fate, xxxHOLiC, Tsubasa, .hack//Roots, Kamisama Kazoku, Binbou…well, the list goes on. Clearly the only way forward is to ignore the most anticipated shows, and only watch the more obscure or unappealing sounding series (does this mean that Bartender will end up being a good choice?).

Reviewed this week: Black Blood Brothers, Chevalier, Higurashi, Keroro, Ouran, ROTK, School Rumble, Tenchi Special, Utawarerumono, NHK, xxxHOLiC

…and in manga: Furuba, Mai-Otome, Melty Blood, Mushishi, Natsu no Arashi, Tsubasa, Uta, xxxHOLiC, Yotsuba, Zero no Tsukaima novel

Continue Reading »

Another week, another round-up, another persistent feeling that I really am following more series than the handful I seem to be covering. This week seems to be an oddly unbalanced one, featuring a select handful of gems amongst a desert of tiresome, forgettable dross- some of it from series I highly praised mere months or even weeks ago. Apologies if the words ‘tedious’ and ‘dull’ have been overused.

Reviewed this week: Black Blood Brothers, Chevalier, Hanoka, Higurashi, Keroro, Mai-Otome DVD Special, Ouran, ROTK, SaiMono, School Rumble, Utawarerumono, NHK, xxxHOLiC

…and in manga: Chokotto Sister, Mai-Otome, Mushishi, REC

Continue Reading »