Review: Dragon Ball Super E. 118

December 6, 2017

By Erika Suarez

In case you forgot, Goku has obtained a power far beyond Super Saiyan God Blue, and it’s called Ultra Instinct! It’s incredible and something unimaginable to my eyes. I was doubtful to how they can top a power much more than a God, but the show definitely achieved this challenge. Dragon Ball Super has gone a long way starting very slow in its beginning season, but it’s made its way to delivering us with that intense and accelerating battles we enjoyed watching from Dragon Ball Z. In this week’s episode universe 2 and 6 faced defeat in the Tournament of Power and ended with sad farewells.

Review: Drifters - Season 1

November 29, 2017

By Erika Suarez

When you take a look at the first episodes introduction you’ll most likely familiarize its sinister art style and merciless battles from Hellsing Ultimate as both animes are in fact created by Kouta Hirano. If you enjoyed watching Hellsing Ultimate as much as I did you will certainly love the mixture between war and fantasy once again and this time we are given Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, dragons and a whole lot of blood.

Review: Your Name.

November 21, 2017

By Erika Suarez

Director Makoto Shinkai (Garden of Words, 5 Centimeters per Second) presents you with beautiful scenery along with a love story between two strangers from separate worlds (Tokyo and Itomori) who experience hilariously unexplained body swapping and begin to search for one another once the strange phenomenon stops. This unique love story provides us with a gratifying ending, but it seems this love story ended too soon, which raises a few questions and leaves you hoping for a glimpse of the future for these two characters.

Travesty and The Anime Adaptation of Black Clover

November 14, 2017

By Dustin Cabeal

At first, it was just the terrible voice selection and direction of the voice actors that made me dislike what I was watching. In all the pages of Black Clover that I’ve read in my head, never once did I imagine the main character constantly yelling like some idiot man-child that had watched a lot of DBZ growing up and suddenly thought yelling like Goku was “cool” to do. Maybe that’s what studio Pierrot wanted though, an instant comparison to one of the longest-running and popular franchises of all time. What could possibly go wrong copying something to such a degree?

Review: Tsuredure Children – Season 1

November 10, 2017

By Dustin Cabeal

At first glance, Tsuredure Children seems like a redundant rom-com with the same lovey-dovey theme running through every tale. Tsuredure Children is quite brilliant in that it takes what anime does extremely well, shallow relationships and makes them hilarious and quite deep.

That’s right, Tsuredure Children is a total swerve.

Review: A Centaur’s Life – Season 1

November 10, 2017

By Dustin Cabeal

I have meant to write this review for what feels like months. Hell, I’ve meant to review more anime seasons for half a year now. Excuses aside, we’re here now to talk about A Centaur’s Life… which is about the life of a Centaur… in case that didn’t come across in the title or something.

Review: Inuyashiki E.01

October 16, 2017

By Shanel Kamara

Admittedly, at first, I was hesitant to view this series for two primary reasons; the first reason is a little presumptuous but I always tend to think that any series with strong elements of science fiction, psychology, or dystopia are the most disquieting and disturbing. These emotionally and mentally draining shows often leave me feeling exhausted. The second reason is in many ways an extension of the first. Honestly, I just find shows that feature or focus on characters that have mechanical bodies but outwardly have the appearance of regular humans, off-putting. Seeing the mesh between man and machine, two polar opposites intertwining to become something else, and watching flesh torn away, replaced by some weapon of mass destruction, is simply unappealing. You can imagine what I thought when I first saw the trailer for this series. If not, I can tell you now that it definitely wasn’t “I can’t wait to see this” or “this series is definitely on the list of my top anime shows to watch this autumn.”

Review: Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul E.023

September 24, 2017

By Shanel Kamara

I cannot believe what I've just seen; I'm gobsmacked. How is it possible that so many shocking events can happen in an episode merely lasting twenty-three minutes? I literally found myself, on more than one occasion, staring at the screen with my mouth gaped. I love a series with a good amount of twists (as I've mentioned several times in previous reviews), but I've never been left quite as stunned as I am right now, and I absolutely love it. Wow! What a way to set the scene for the final episode.

Review: My First Girlfriend Is a Gal

September 15, 2017

By Dustin Cabeal

What a strange little show this turned out to be. Full of highs and lows, none of them emotional, just quality wise, highs and lows. It ended up only being ten episodes long, which is strange in that I know this is one of the most popular new anime at the moment. At least with the English language market. They probably hit a section of the story in which they didn’t have enough time to get into the rest of the story and so they ended it where it made the most sense… at least that’s what I imagine happened.

Review: Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul E.021

September 11, 2017

By Shanel Kamara

As a child, I was sensitive; it wouldn't take much to make me cry. However, I initially thought that with age I would change. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot more mental resilience than I ever thought I could have (thank God) and I can confidently say that I have matured and that I am no longer the weak, easily offended cry-baby who can't take constructive criticism without tearing up (to God be the glory). Therefore, maybe the reason for my constant tears, throughout this episode, is due to my hormones or maybe it's just this show. I don't know, but what I do know is that this episode was just so sad. Honestly, I was shocked at first; I didn't expect the death of such an influential character. Except for Jojo's Bizarre Adventures, I can't actually think of a series where the opening features a character that eventually dies.

Review: Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul E.019

August 29, 2017

By Shanel Kamara

Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul is probably the first anime I’ve ever watched where I could afford to miss several episodes and still get the general gist of the plot. Admittedly, I’m not particularly fond of skipping episodes so in all likelihood, at some point, I will endeavor to watch the series from the beginning; until then I will resume watching the rest of the series to the end. The plot alone is simple hence why I was able to get away with watching three of the most recent episodes as well as excerpts from previous episodes.

Review: Classroom of the Elite E.01

August 5, 2017

By Shanel Kamara

I honestly cannot believe I even wasted my time actually watching this; I know that may seem a tad harsh but that’s genuinely how I felt after watching the first episode of the anime series, Classroom of the Elite.

Review: The Reflection E.01

July 31, 2017

By Shanel Kamara

Okay, I’ll be very frank here; I’m drawing a blank about what to think about this anime series. The Reflection is very distinct to any other anime series to air; in terms of the style, the plot, and the setting, The Reflection resembles an American comic. I am fully aware that the anime series is a project that Studio DEEN and the illustrious Stan Lee have worked on, but I still can’t get my head around the notion of an anime series that looks as if it’s come straight from the pages of a comic book. It’s literally as if I’m watching a comic book series brought life.

Review: Altair: A Record of Battles E.01

July 17, 2017

By Shanel Kamara

I was ecstatic to discover that Shoukoku no Altair (English title: Altair: A Record of Battles) – a unique manga series, notable for its setting and beautiful illustrations, which I began reading almost a decade ago - would receive an anime series. It’s ironic (or maybe not) how much I love Shoukoku no Altair considering the fact that it’s historical; history was my weakest subject at school, but that fact alone has done nothing to deter me from cherishing this manga and now anime. Honestly, I can’t identify one particular reason for my fondness for this work. I don’t know whether it’s the characters, setting, plot or all these aspects combined that fascinates me but what I do know is that regarding my top ten manga and anime series, Shoukoku no Altair is definitely way up there on my list.

Review: Welcome to the Ballroom E.01

July 11, 2017

By Dustin Cabeal

I took one look at Welcome to the Ballroom and knew that it was the same team that handled Haikyu!! I wasn’t wrong as this was highlighted more when the actual dancing kicked in, and the movement was fluid and beautiful. This is quite possibly the anime of the season, and while it doesn’t have the love story of Yuri on Ice, it may just resonate with audiences in the same way.

Review: Dive!! E.01

July 9, 2017

By Shanel Kamara

I've probably mentioned this before in previous reviews, but I'm an avid viewer of sport themed anime shows, particularly those specializing in less popular sports. Some of my favorites include Ookiku Furikabutte, Cheer Danshi!!, Haikyuu, and the newest series, Ballroom e Youkoso. There are two new sport themed anime shows: Dive!! and Ballroom e Youkoso this summer; I caught both of this series this week but opted to review the swim show, Dive!!, first.

Review: Enmusubi no Youko-chan E.01

July 3, 2017

By Shanel Kamara

Okay so with the start of the release of the summer line-up shows, I decided this week to opt for one of the new series as opposed to my usual. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of a selection to choose from (as I usually watch the show on a Saturday afternoon and write the review on a Sunday morning) so I ended up watching the Japanese adaption of the popular Chinese work Huyao Xiao Hongniang (in English known as Fox Spirit Matchmaker and in Japanese Enmusubi no Youko-chan). Frankly, I didn’t intend on watching and reviewing this show; originally, my plan was to review the fourteenth episode of the second season of Boku no Hero Academia but for some inexplicable reason, or maybe not so inexplicable, no episode aired this week due to the fact that the first arc of the season has ended.

Review: In This Corner of the World

June 30, 2017

By Dustin Cabeal

Animated movies from Japan tend to be amazing from a story and film perspective. Not because I’m biased, while I do love animated films in general, I will always prefer 2-D animation. No, the real reason is that it is 2-D animation and the bulk of the world has moved on from caring about the art form. It’s a shame, but because of that stories like In This Corner of the World aren’t held to the same storytelling restraints that most films are nor are they pigeonholed into tropes like anime. Simply put, Is This Corner of the World only works in this format because it’s allowed to create a new storytelling narrative that doesn’t rely on the three-act structure or any other structure that you’d associate with Japan.

Review: Interviews with Monster Girls – Season 1

June 29, 2017

By Dustin Cabeal

Interviews with Monster Girls is part interesting, part average harem style comedy taking place in high school. It teeters this fine line throughout the series in which it never overly commits one way or the other which is unfortunate.

Review: Fuuka – Season 1

June 27, 2017

By Dustin Cabeal

There is a reason I don’t read manga and then watch the anime adaptation, and it’s because of series like Fuuka. I have had a hate-hate relationship with this series if you refer to my single episode reviews. The music was bad and yet the entire premise centered around music. The love-triangle was being forced heavily even though readers of the manga know it was pointless.