Theron

Fall ’23 Wrap-Up

Most of the non-continuing series from the Fall season are now in the books, so let’s look at how they wrapped up. As with this article’s predecessor (the Fall ’23 Mid-Season Round-Up), titles that I covered in episode reviews or full reviews will not be found here, so no Pluto, The Apothecary Diaries, or TheContinue reading “Fall ’23 Wrap-Up”

The Apothecary Diaries episode 12

Rating: B+ The situation at the heart of this episode is one quite familiar to any fan of romances with class-based complications. The higher-ranked man wants to be respectful of the lower-ranked woman’s wishes by not forcing her into a situation she may not want (and which he has reasonable evidence to that end, basedContinue reading “The Apothecary Diaries episode 12”

The Eminence in Shadow episode 32 (season finale)

Rating: B+ Ragnarok is upon us! Well, sort of. Really, it’s just an opportunity for Shadow to fight a boss monster-type foe while his Shadow Garden minions do all of the lesser work. The minor problem for the series is that Ragnarok just isn’t that interesting a foe on its own. Sure, it wrecks partContinue reading “The Eminence in Shadow episode 32 (season finale)”

Review: Pluto

This ONA series, which debuted on Netflix in late October, has a very interesting pedigree. It adapts a lauded manga by Naoki Urasawa (the manga-ka behind titles like Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl, Master Keaton, 21st Century Boys, and of course Monster), but that was itself a re-imagining of a singular story arc from OsamuContinue reading “Review: Pluto”

The Apothecary Diaries episode 11

Rating: A+ Barring a stunning collapse in the next couple of weeks, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is not going to be beat for best series of the season (and maybe the year), but with this episode The Apothecary Diaries makes its strongest bid for the #2 spot. In culminating multiple recent plot threads, it deliversContinue reading “The Apothecary Diaries episode 11”

The Eminence in Shadow episode 31

Rating: B+ During the last couple of reviews, I wondered why the succession of the Oriana Kingdom bypassed the former queen and went straight to Rose. This episode gives us the answer: the former king, in one of his few moments of lucidity towards the end of his life, forced the succession onto Rose byContinue reading “The Eminence in Shadow episode 31”

The Apothecary Diaries episode 10

Rating: B+ Last episode began a narrative shift away from individual mysteries and more towards how certain mysteries may be connected into a bigger picture. This episode continues down that path as Maomao interacts with two of the other four high-ranking concubines: Lishu and Ah-Duo. In the process, we learn a bit more about eachContinue reading “The Apothecary Diaries episode 10”

Review: The Boy and the Heron

Despite some flaws, this is still a movie well worth seeing.

The Eminence in Shadow, episode 30

Rating: B+ As I watched this week’s episode, I was struck by the thought that I have been overlooking one big inherent irony: Shadow Garden’s behavior is itself very cult-like, especially in the way it idolizes and even (in some cases) outright worships Shadow. That comes through clearly in the different reactions of 559 andContinue reading “The Eminence in Shadow, episode 30”

The Apothecary Diaries, episode 9

Rating: A- One of the major factors which makes this series a top-tier title for both the season and year is its effortless ability to mix its comedic and serious components and still excel at both. Episode 9 is a great example of that. Many other series could stand to use it as a model.Continue reading “The Apothecary Diaries, episode 9”