Posted on by Alexander Case

Anime Review: Rock Is A Lady’s Modesty

It’s been a minute since the last music anime I’ve watched. There have been idol anime that have aired, but while I’ve enjoyed some idol music, I’ve never really been grabbed by series like the Idolmaster franchise. However, after watching Bocchi The Rock, I found myself looking for more rock band anime, so when Rock Is A Lady’s Modesty came up in the schedule, I decided to give it a watch. I found myself getting more than I bargained for, in a good way.

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Posted on by Alexander Case

Book Review: Fight. Magic. Items

It’s important to say from the jump what Fight. Magic. Items is not. It’s not The JRPG Book. It’s not trying to be a comprehensive overview of the history of JRPGs. It’s not even really a general overview of the global history of the JRPG. Instead, it provides a sort of overview of the evolution of the genre, with a general focus on three companies – Square, Enix, and Sega – and a particular focus on the Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Phantasy Star series, as viewed through the author’s experiences with the genre.

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Posted on by Alexander Case

Anime Explorations Episode 34: Ghost in the Shell (1995)

This month, we take a look at Mamoru Oshii’s Cyberpunk masterpiece, Ghost in the Shell (from 1995), along with giving some thoughts on the live-action adaptation from 2017, joined by Blaine Dowler.

Episode 34: Ghost in the Shell (1995)

This month, we take a look at Mamoru Oshii’s Cyberpunk masterpiece, Ghost in the Shell (from 1995), along with giving some thoughts on the live action adaptation from 2017, joined by Blaine Dowler. Next month, we take a look at Macross II.

Next month, we take a look at Macross II.

Blaine can be found on the Babylon 5 30 Years Later Podcast (https://shows.acast.com/babylon-5-30-years-later), and the 99 Years 100 Films Podcast (https://shows.acast.com/99-years-100-films)

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Posted on by Alexander Case

Film Review: War of the Gargantuas

When faced with the film War of the Gargantuas, you might find yourself facing two questions. The first being “What’s a Gargantua?” and the second being “Is there a movie I need to watch before this?” The answers are “It’s a giant hairy man, which is technically called a ‘Frankenstein’” and “Technically this is a sequel to ‘Frankenstein Versus Barugon’ but nothing from that really matters”.

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Posted on by Alexander Case

Anime Review: Your Forma

In the past few years of anime streaming, we have had escalating forms of “Streaming Jail”. First, there was Netflix Jail, where a show would sit on TV in Japan but was licensed for streaming in English on Netflix, so you had to wait until the show was done. Then there was Disney+ Jail, where the show was licensed on Disney+ internationally, and you had to wait and see if it went on that service in your region. Now, with Your Forma, we have Smart-device Specific Jail, where a series is only licensed for streaming to a service that’s locked to a specific company’s smart devices. Good news for me – I have a Samsung smartphone and tablet. Bad news for Your Forma – it can’t make it to viewers who don’t.

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Posted on by Alexander Case

Anime Review: Mobile Suit Gundam Quuuux

Gundam Quuuux is a bit of a tricky series to recommend. First, it has the continuation of a problem that appears to have started with Witch From Mercury of series that just didn’t have enough time for their plot and characters to breathe, and not (as was the case with First Gundam) because it was cut short due to poor ratings or sponsors bailing. Second, it’s an alternative universe take on the Universal Century that doesn’t provide a lot of hooks for people who are new to that timeline. I enjoyed it, but I wonder how much of that is due to my own familiarity with the events and characters it’s playing with.

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