Rating: A- This episode has a bit of everything that makes this series great: expanded world-building, exploration of rich detail, hints of bigger mysteries, behaviors just suspicious enough to warrant investigation, regular cast members being themselves, lots of pretty venues and character designs, and a fun new regular being formally introduced by name. It mayContinue reading “The Apothecary Diaries episode 26”
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The Apothecary Diaries, episode 25
Rating: B+ The Apothecary Diaries is back in animation, and all is right with the world! The latter part of the first season was rife with all manner of dramatic events and revelations, but with the franchise’s bona fides now firmly established, it can afford to start off its second run of episodes with aContinue reading “The Apothecary Diaries, episode 25”
2024 in Review: The Best and Strangest of the Year
As we say good-bye to 2024, it’s time to take a look at the highlights of the year as a whole, rather than just individual seasons. 2024 may have set a new record for anime debuts, with roughly 200 full or half-length non-kiddie titles debuting over the course of the year. Included amongst those wereContinue reading “2024 in Review: The Best and Strangest of the Year”
Fall 2024 Wrap-Up
With the last handful of titles for the Fall 2024 season having now aired, let’s take a summative look at what did and didn’t work well this season. In addition, I will have some wrap-up commentary at the end about a certain Spring season series which finally got around to finishing. . . Because ofContinue reading “Fall 2024 Wrap-Up”
Winter 2025 Preview Guide
Final Update: 3:37 p.m. EST 1/12/25 Welcome to my seasonal Guide! (The debut schedule can be found here.) One series – Solo Leveling s2 – previously debuted in a theatrical release. A write-up on that one can be seen here, so it will not be revisited in this Guide. Season 2 of The Apothecary DiariesContinue reading “Winter 2025 Preview Guide”
Review: Oshi no Ko (live-action)
Note: This review assumes the reader is familiar with the anime version and/or its equivalent content in the source manga. There will be spoilers for those who haven’t seen through the final episode of the anime’s season 2! The live-action version of Aka Akasaka and Mengo Yokoyari’s Oshi no Ko manga is an ambitious projectContinue reading “Review: Oshi no Ko (live-action)”
Review: The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
Though written, produced, and given a musical score by non-Japanese individuals (including Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson from the live-action The Lord of the Rings movies as Executive Producers), this wide theatrical release is officially an anime because it was animated by Japanese studio Sola Entertainment (Rick and Morty: The Anime, Tower of God), supportedContinue reading “Review: The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim”
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick up Girls in a Dungeon? V episode 10
Rating: B+ As announced at the end of last episode, the trouble with Freya is going to be resolved the classic Orario way: with a War Game. Yes, we’ve seen this before in the DanMachi universe – when a god became obsessed enough with Bell to go after him aggressively – and I can’t faultContinue reading “Is It Wrong to Try to Pick up Girls in a Dungeon? V episode 10”
Fall ’24 Mid-Season Report, part 2
See here for part 1. This half of the report covers Orb (which I somehow overlooked in my first half) and all fall season series I have been following which are first hitting episode 6 or 7 between 11/16 and 11/20 inclusive. Mostly these are the series that were later starters, though in one caseContinue reading “Fall ’24 Mid-Season Report, part 2”
Fall 2024 Mid-Season Report, part 1
Week 7 of the Fall ’24 season marks the season’s official midway point, so let’s take a look at how some of the series airing this season are doing. Like with the past three seasons, I am keeping up with a massive number of series this season (23 to be exact), so I am onceContinue reading “Fall 2024 Mid-Season Report, part 1”
USA Anime 