Book Review: The JRPG Book

Picture of "The JRPG Book"

A while back I reviewed The CRPG Book, a book from Bitmap Books covering the history of Computer RPGs through various eras of titles in the medium, with write-ups from various authors. The book has since received a follow-up, The JRPG Book, written by Kurt Kalata with contributions by other authors. I’ve finished reading that, so it’s time to give my thoughts on the book.

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Spy Classroom: Anime Review

I’m not entirely sure if Spy Classroom knows what it wants to be. On the one hand, it’s an anime series about a bunch of (cute) teen girl spies going on missions in an alternate-history Europe – in this case, one inspired by Europe in between the World Wars, and before the rise of Fascism. On the other hand, so much of this series is just comedic hijinks, which makes it miss the gravity of something like Princess Principal.

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Ippon! Again: Anime Review

I’m a fan of Naoki Urasawa, and one of his manga that got him on peoples’ radar (and the anime adaptation that came with it) was Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl. That series was a more conventional sports anime – closer to something like Hajime No Ippo/Fighting Spirit. This year, we got what I believe is our first dedicated girls Judo anime in quite some time – Ippon! Again – a series which follows in the wake of the Cute Girls Doing Cute Things sport anime series of the past (like Pride of Orange), so I was interested to see how this new show bears out.

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