News

Yashahime Second Season: Anime Review

Yashahime was a sequel series to Inuyasha that was somewhat unique by the fact that it was a completely anime-original story, with a new generation of characters, that Rumiko Takahashi was not actively involved in. The first season felt somewhat aimless, though, and going in I had concerns that the second season would be similarly directionless. Thankfully, this is not the case.

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News

AMAIM: Warrior at the Borderline (Season 1): Anime Review

AMAIM: Warrior on the Borderline was an anime series from Sunrise Beyond (formerly XEBEC), which touted itself as being a mecha series that continued with having fully hand-drawn mecha, instead of ones created using CG. Unfortunately, it ended up trying to surf into some politically awkward waters, in terms of its plot, and while it may have navigated them successfully, it didn’t try to do anything interesting either.

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News

The Heike Story: Anime Review

We’ve had a moderate array of various historical anime coming out – from Demon Slayer being set in the Taish? period, to the Yashahime series, much as with its source material in Inuyasha, being set at an ambiguous point in the Warring States period. What we haven’t gotten in a while is anything set in the Heian period – enter The Heike Story, an anime series that, basically, tells of the end of the Heian period, adapting the Heike Monogatari, and telling the tragic fall of the Heike through both their own hubris, and the machinations of others.

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Manga, News

My Hero Academia Manga – Caught Up!

I’ve finally gotten caught up on the My Hero Academia Manga in the Shonen Jump app, and want to give my thoughts on where the manga is now. As a warning – this post will contain spoilers for content after the conclusion of season 5, up to where the manga is now and will include speculation on what will be covered in Season 6. Spoilers will begin below the cut.

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Kumoricon 2021 Con Report

After being an online convention for 2020, Kumoricon 2021 returned to being an in-person convention. Certainly, part of this is undoubtedly related to not having an order from the City of Portland or the Governor that would prevent the convention from being held in person, and in the process setting off the Force Majure clause of their contract. That said, Otakon 2021 was also held in person and managed to be held without a significant COVID-19 outbreak, which was a positive sign. Further, the Oregon Convention Center had its air filtration system upgraded part due to the outbreak (both because of being a vaccination site and possible field hospital last year) and also because of being an evacuation site due to the wildfires last year, I felt safe enough to attend the convention in person, so it’s time for some thoughts.

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Anime, News

My Hero Academia Season 5: Anime Review

From the discussions I’ve seen online as the season went on, My Hero Academia Season 5 is probably the most divisive season of the show thus far, between those who have been reading the manga, and those who have been watching the show, and a lot of that comes down to the decisions made around the final arc of the season, the My Villain Academia arc. It’s not that the season is bad, it’s that the narrative decisions that were made about where they would include that arc in the season was very controversial.

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News

Editorial: Pokemon Card Bubble

Note – This video was originally done as an intended test to see how well my recording and editing software on my computer handled upscaling to 4K, as a lead-in for subsequent video game reviews and capture. After the render times for this video at 4K ended up taking too long, I decided to go forward with the video anyway at a 1080p render.

I give my thoughts on the really stupid Pokemon Card Bubble, and how this garbage is serving as a barrier for younger, casual players who could be serious participants in the hobby.

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