Posted on by Alexander Case

Princess Principal: Anime Review

It felt, for a bit, like Steampunk was getting out of vogue. However, with this year’s Video Game Awards, along with a few other places, we started getting hints of Steampunk coming back to the market. However, even before this, there was a sense that much of what was marketed as steampunk was stuff that was less “punk” and more just Victorian-inspired Pulp Sci-Fi, or as the Foglios refer to their webcomic Girl Genius – “Gaslamp Fantasy”. Works that circumvented the social and political ills of the Victorian Period – not necessarily pretending they didn’t exist, but creating worlds where they could have adventures inspired by Wells, Verne, and Haggard, but without the racism, classism, and imperialism. Princess Principal, on the other hand, feels like a Steampunk Ghost in the Shell – a series that engages with the trappings of its setting and does not paint over the cracks and warts, but instead calls attention to them and works with them.

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Posted on by Alexander Case

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Manga Review

I started going to anime conventions during peak Haruhi-ism. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime had first aired – fans were debating in which viewing order was the “right” one to watch it in, conventions had panels about how to do the Hare Hare Yukai, it was a wonderful time. As the years have gone, and in the wake of Endless Eight, and a general lack of Haruhi content, the visibility of the series has kind of faded to the background. However, the novels and the manga were still out there, so I came to the decision that if I wasn’t able to see the whole story animated, I’d read it in manga form and see how it all played out.

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Posted on by Alexander Case

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Anime Review

I am aware that all my previous reviews of the Legend of the Galactic Heroes novels were videos first, but here I am. At long last, after spending over a decade slowly but surely making my way through the anime, with multiple false starts, at long last I have finished Legend of the Galactic Heroes, all 110 episodes of it – after having completed the novels. So, now it’s time to give my thoughts, with the context of having read the novels as well.

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Posted on by Alexander Case

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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