Streams: Crunchyroll on (normal day uncertain) Rating: 2 (of 5) Technically this is a Spring 2022 season title, but its first two episodes debuted more than a week early, so let’s take a first look. Though he has directed a number of other notable anime titles (Infinite Ryvius, s-CRY-ed, Planetes, Maria the Virgin Witch), GoroContinue reading “ESTAB LIFE: Great Escape Preview”
Author Archives: Theron
Winter ’22 in Review part 1: In the Land of Leadale
The past three seasons I have done season-ending summaries for titles that I watched out. This season I am doing that in two (possibly three) parts between now and the start of the Spring ’22 Preview Guide on 4/1, as there are a few titles I want to talk about in at least a littleContinue reading “Winter ’22 in Review part 1: In the Land of Leadale”
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom episode 24
Rating: 3 (of 5) So the Native Americans long shown in the opener have finally appeared. Only it turns out that they are not associated with the dragons after all, but rather are refugees. In many respects, patterning refugees after a generic Native American motif is loaded with an irony that may or may notContinue reading “How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom episode 24”
86 episode 23 (finale)
Rating: 5 With episode 21 having provided the action climax and episode 22 providing the dramatic climax, all that’s left for episode 23 to do is provide the epilogue. But as with any grand story, a proper epilogue is an absolutely essential element. It may not have the drama or intensity of earlier content, butContinue reading “86 episode 23 (finale)”
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom episode 23
Rating: 2.5 (of 5) To a certain extent, oversimplifying how characters deal with certain problems is a practical issue necessary for anime series (especially fantasy series which work on an epic scale) to function. They simply do not have time to deal with all the minutiae of how grand processes and big story movements workContinue reading “How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom episode 23”
86 episode 22
Rating: 5 (of 5) 86 is finally back for its final two episodes, after its nearly three-month hiatus. Perhaps partly as an apology for the wait, the series delivers the finest and most emotionally potent episode of its second half. And a lot of that has to do with Lena finally being back in theContinue reading “86 episode 22”
86 special: Episode 21.5
After more than two months off, 86 is finally returning this Saturday (March 12th) and next Saturday (March 19th) for its two-episode finale. So, naturally, that means yet another recap episode precedes it. This time, though, I will begrudge the production team this recap. It does not provide any new content beyond somewhat in-character narrationContinue reading “86 special: Episode 21.5”
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom episode 22
This series has always been deliberate and thorough at examining economic issues for its fantasy setting, so I suppose that it eventually getting around to dealing with a thornier issue like slavery shouldn’t be a surprise. What I did not expect was that the series would take a mostly bottom-up angle on the matter. ToContinue reading “How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom episode 22”
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom episode 21
Rating: 3.5 Last week I made a number of suppositions about why Roroa appeared before Kazuya and offered to become his wife and why he would probably accept the offer. This episode proved virtually all of those suppositions to be correct, even the ones about how Roroa still planned to continue her mercantile practices asContinue reading “How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom episode 21”
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom episode 20
Rating: 3.5 Last episode, I surmised that bringing up the pilfered dragon bones was going to set up an arc where the dragon shown in the opener comes into play. The issuance of a diplomatic message to the Star Dragon Mountain Range about the bones (apparently originally unearthed during a construction project) still suggests thatContinue reading “How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom episode 20”
USA Anime 