Posted on by Alexander Case

Anime Review: My Dress-Up Darling Season 2

My Dress-Up Darling was one of the first shows we did for Anime Explorations, and it was a show we generally really enjoyed. Yes, it was a somewhat horny-on-main romantic comedy anime, but it was tonally light, and didn’t feel leering in the way that other fanservicey series did, combined with a romance between Gojo and Marin that was very sweet, so I’ve been looking forward to a second season, and was quite pleased when we finally got one this year. I already had some high expectations, but this season blew those right out of the water.

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Posted on by Alexander Case

Anime Explorations Episode 36: Gankutsuou

This month we’re watching the anime adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo.

Episode 36: Gankutsuou

This month we’re watching the anime adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo. Matt Alt’s article on the connections between protest and anime: https://substack.com/home/post/p-174206122 Next month, we’re covering Miruko-Chan, which is available for streaming on Crunchyroll.

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Posted on by Alexander Case

Anime Explorations Episode 35: Macross II

This month, we’re covering the anime OVA that came out for the 10th anniversary of Macross, and was the first non-Robotech version of the Macross universe to reach the US, along with the Macross II tabletop RPG from Palladium Games. Before that, we get into the current situation ongoing with Visa & MasterCard blocking transactions for NSFW content due to pressure from a Far-Right-Wing Australian group.

Note: I’m trying a new recording platform with this episode, and I ran into some technical difficulties that carried over to my backup recording. Consequently, my audio is impacted, but not necessarily the audio from my guest and cohosts.

Episode 35: Macross II

This month, we’re covering the anime OVA that came out for the 10th anniversary of Macross, and was the first non-Robotech version of the Macross universe to reach the US, along with the Macross II tabletop RPG from Palladium Games.

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Posted on by Alexander Case

Anime Review: My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

I’ll admit, to my shame, that I’d dismissed My Hero Academia: Vigilantes as a manga originally as something of a nothingburger side story that wasn’t worth paying attention to. This was a mistake. Instead, MHA: Vigilantes serves as a well executed prologue to the core story, giving us a chance once again to see characters we haven’t seen for a while, plus meeting a new cast.

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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

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

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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Posted on by Alexander Case

Anime Review: Wind Breaker Season 2

Wind Breaker’s second season, at first glance, seems like it’s characterization is weaker than the series first season, with protagonist Haruka Sakura taking a backseat to some of the supporting cast. Instead I’d say the characterization of Sakura moves in a different direction, though we do get more development for one of the members of Bofurin’s Four Kings.

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Posted on by Alexander Case

Anime Review: Please Put Them On, Takamine-San!

Ghu Bless the Reiwa-era rom-com! We have, with Please Put Them On, Takamine-San!,  which I’m just going to call Takamine-san going forward, a fanservice comedy that generally nails the character dynamics. This includes sexual slapstick that has consent (except one bit in the first episode)! This isn’t a bar that you’d think would need to be cleared, but it is, and it has, though its head did strike the bar.

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Posted on by Alexander Case

Anime Explorations Episode 31: The Helpful Fox Senko-San

Before getting into The Helpful Fox Senko-San, we discuss the nominees for the Crunchyroll Anime Awards.

Episode 31: The Helpful Fox Senko-San

We discuss the nominees for the Crunchyroll Anime Awards, before getting into The Helpful Fox Senko-San. Next Month, we’ll cover the first 19 episodes of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, which is available for streaming on Crunchyroll, Hulu/Disney+, and Netflix.

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Posted on by Alexander Case

Aquarion Myth of Emotions: Anime Review

I watched some of the original Aquarion series back when it first aired before streaming services were a thing, and if you were watching anime as it came out you were watching it fan-subbed. It was semi-infamous among fandom circles as the show where the pilots’ orgasm when the mechs combine. Having fallen off on most of the subsequent series, the new installment, Aquarion: Myth of Emotions had enough of a gap from the last that this felt like a decent place to jump on.

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Posted on by Alexander Case

I Have A Crush At Work: Anime Review

So, in the interest of full disclosure – this is me reviewing a show that isn’t actually officially licensed for a US release yet, so I’m not going to make any comments about the quality of the translation on here (not just due to my lack of fluency). In this case, I’m taking a look at one of the more comedic the romantic comedies of this season – I Have A Crush At Work.

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Posted on by Alexander Case

Zenshu: Anime Review

Zenshu, as an anime series, very easily could have been the most self-indulgent of the isekai anime to come out in a while – an anime series about an animator who dies and is sent to another world where their cheat skill is related to animation. However, the show manages to stick the landing, serving as something of a love-letter to classic anime films.

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Posted on by Alexander Case

Sakamoto Days: Anime Review

There’s something of a genre of anime and manga that’s started in the wake of Spy X Family – the Domestic Action Series – a series about characters who are balancing a relaxing domestic life with also working (or having worked) in fields that require them to be spectacularly good at carrying out violence. In the case of this year’s Sakamoto Days, it’s a case of an assassin who had gotten out of the game and settled down for domestic life – but unlike (say) John Wick his family is still very much alive.

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