Welcome to 2022! Let’s get the years started off right by cleaning up the last remaining anime-related business from 2021. Prior to Anime News Network starting its current “Best of Year” format in 2016, I spent several years teaming up with one of two fellow reviewers to make a “Best of Year” format that wasContinue reading “Theron’s Best of 2021”
Author Archives: Theron
Fall 2021 Wrap-Up
Let’s take a look at final thoughts on Fall 2021 Series that I was not episode reviewing and have not already reviewed in full. Surprise of the Season: Taisho Otome Fairy Tale This one isn’t just my surprise for the season; it ranks as my biggest Hidden Gem for 2021, even over the equally-little-heralded IdolyContinue reading “Fall 2021 Wrap-Up”
Special Review: Selection Project
Overall Rating: 3.5 (of 5) A contest is held to determine new/top idol performer. However, the contest’s brightest star dies suddenly. Three years later, a new round of the contest is being held. This time around it includes the dark-haired, serious-minded younger sister of the dead idol, who is getting into performing herself to seeContinue reading “Special Review: Selection Project”
The Faraway Paladin eps 10-11
Rating: 3.5 These two episodes are getting reviewed together entirely because of an oversight on my part: I somehow forgot that I had not finished and posted episode 10’s review and did not realize my error until Thursday this past week. With only a couple of days left until the next episode aired, I justContinue reading “The Faraway Paladin eps 10-11”
86 episode 21
Rating: 5 (of 5) Episodes 22 and 23 may be delayed until March, but that still leaves one more episode to deliver within the confines of the Fall 2021 season, and it’s one hell of an episode to watch play out. By the cliffhanger ending, nearly every major character’s fate is in question, leaving anContinue reading “86 episode 21”
Special Review: The Heike Story
Rating: 4.5 (of 5) The Tale of the Heiki is a 12-chapter epic assembled no later than the early 14th century from a collection of oral traditions. It chronicles the rise and fall of the Taira (aka Heiki) warrior clan in 12th century Japan, events which brought the Heian Period to an end and directlyContinue reading “Special Review: The Heike Story”
86 episode 20
Rating: 4.5 (of 5) After yet another week off, 86 is back to remind us once again why it is, at worst, one of the year’s best series. And it does so despite dodging the one opportunity it had for an action scene by only showing the aftermath. Avoiding animating the skirmish was not aContinue reading “86 episode 20”
A Few Thoughts About Live-Action Cowboy Bebop
Rating: 3 (of 5) NOTE: I was going to just let this pass without full comment, but on request of a reader, I have decided to go ahead and post this, late to the game as it is. While I always liked and respected the quality of the original Cowboy Bebop series – and, inContinue reading “A Few Thoughts About Live-Action Cowboy Bebop”
The Faraway Paladin episode 9
Rating: 3.5 (of 5) Apparently, I have been doing it wrong all these years in fantasy RPGs. The correct way to bring down a wyvern is not to use arrows or a sword or attack spells; it’s to wrestle it to the ground and break its neck bare-handed. Granted, that’s not a feat that aContinue reading “The Faraway Paladin episode 9”
Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night
Rating: 4.5 In 2012, the anime series Sword Art Online debuted. Despite nitpicking about its shaky logical foundations, the compelling dual gimmicks of its premise – players trapped in a VR MMO game, actions taken there have real-life life-or-death consequences – won out and turned the series into an immediate smash hit. That began oneContinue reading “Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night”
USA Anime 