Lord El-Melloi II is a mystery series that breaks from the conventions of the genre. Specifically, the convention of using the question of “Howdunit” to determine “Whodunit”. When urban fantasy normally sets into this territory, you see writers structure out their magic system to fit within this magical structure. Lord El-Melloi II, on the other hand, tosses convention out on its head and decides to play Calvinball instead.
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Hensuki: Anime Review
A while back I reviewed the anime We Never Learn: Bokuben – and I described it as a fanservice anime with Enthusiastic Consent. Hensuki is, unfortunately, less so.
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Lupin the Third Part IV: Anime Review
Lupin the Third is a character who refuses to be tied down. Like Tom Servo, he’s like the wind, baby. His various earlier anime series and films have set him up as a consummate flirt and womanizer, and his adventures have spanned the globe. Lupin the Third Part IV upends that status quo immediately in both respects. In the second, Lupin’s adventures in this series are generally limited to Italy. In the first case, the series opens with Lupin getting married, and not to Fujiko Mine.
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O Maidens in Your Savage Season – Anime Review
Occasionally, I watch an anime series that I feel utterly unqualified to review. Sometimes it’s something like Angel’s Egg, where I can clearly feel the concepts flying over my head and ruffling my hair – where I can tell what I’m seeing is art, but I lack the vocabulary to properly expand on the concept. In the case of O Maidens in Your Savage Season, it’s life experiences.
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Fruits Basket Season 1 (2019): Anime Review
When I was in High School, Fruits Basket came out in the US and it was a phenomenon. the manga was the flagship of Tokyopop’s unflipped manga (or “100% Authentic Manga”) initiative, and its success led to the majority of manga in the US being published unflipped, and also cemented a longstanding partnership between Tokyopop and Borders which lasted until both went bankrupt – all of that fueled as well by the success of the anime. Now, about 18 years later, long enough for the high school kids who grew up on FuruBa to have kids of their own, there is a new anime adaptation of Fruits Basket, with the first season airing this year.
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Promare: Anime Review
This past week I saw the theatrical release of the first film from Studio Trigger – Promare. Here are my thoughts.
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Laid Back Camp: Anime Video Review
This week I’m starting my September Anime block with a very chill anime about camping in the off season – Laid Back Camp.
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RobiHachi: Anime Review
RobiHachi is a very different show than most of the anime series I’ve seen – particularly those about travel. Most anime series that are about travel and tourism that I’ve seen tend to be chill slice of life comedies, like Laid Back Camp. RobiHachi, on the other hand, is a very silly, wacky, over-the-top comedy – though one with some thematic elements in common with those other series.
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Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory – Anime Review
I first watched Mobile Suit Gundam: Stardust Memory when I was in High School, a little after 9/11. The story worked for me at that time, when all the Gundam I’d seen had been the Gundam compilation films and Char’s Counterattack. Since then I’ve seen considerably more Gundam (including Zeta Gundam) since then.
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We Never Learn: Anime Review
A lot of fanservice anime tends to be gross. Maybe it’s because the fanservice comes through sexual slapstick of the “Whoops I fell and groped you or looked up your skirt” variety. Or it comes through battle damage of the “Female character gets their top shredded in combat and now their boobs are hanging out” variety. Or it’s of the “Male lead openly sexually harasses female characters variety.” Perhaps that’s why the fanservice that comes up in We Never Learn feels like a breath of fresh air.
Continue readingWell, you’ve just finished watching Evangelion on Netflix, and you’re wondering what to watch after this. I have a few recommendations here for you. The video is fairly spoiler-light so if you’re making your way through the show now, you should be fine.
Lists of all the works I recommend below the cut/further down, with affiliate links for Amazon and the Crunchyroll Store, and streaming links, where available. Buying anything through affiliate links helps to support the show.

Dororo: Anime Review
There are works of anime and manga which view feudal Japan with a less than critical eye. Dororo is not one of those works. The original manga by Osamu Tezuka was a work that, while more than a little cartoonish (as this was ’60s Tezuka), looked on the realities of Japan leading into the Warring States period with a critical eye. The 2019 anime adaptation of the work keeps a similar appraisal of the period.
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Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 281 – Epilogue
We see how the various members of Earth Fleet Tenku have fared after their world are restored.
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Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 280 – The Gulf Between Past & Future VIII
We finally bring down Nevanlinna.
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Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 279 – The Gulf Between Past & Future VII
Just put Huey Lewis on repeat for this episode.
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Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 278 – The Gulf Between Past & Future VI
Nevanlinna presses her attack.
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Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 277 – The Gulf Between Past & Future V
System Nevanlinna prepares to remake the three Earths, and we only have 5 turns to stop it!
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Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 276 – The Gulf Between Past & Future IV
Dessler finally goes down, leaving only the Gardim.
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Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 275 – The Gulf Between Past & Future III
We continue our attack against Dessler directly.
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Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 274 – The Gulf Between Past & Future II
Earth Fleet Tenku presses the attack against the Gamillans.
Continue reading![Crux Dogatie goes to attack the 00 QAN[T]](https://i0.wp.com/countzeroor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Part-273.jpg?fit=1272%2C716&ssl=1)
Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 273 – The Gulf Between Past & Future I
We begin our battle with Dessler, before being interrupted.
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Anime Video Review: Today’s Menu for Emiya Family
This week I’m taking a look at a cooking anime series from last year – Today’s Menu for Emiya Family.
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Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 272 – Only Mostly Dead
Good news! Lieutenant Yuki Mori is alive! Bad news, Dessler is back!
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Let’s Play Super Robot Wars V: Part 271 – Darker Than the Darkest Black V
Only Black Noir remains.
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