Episode Rating: A- The whole plot of the Shi family may be over but the consequences of it aren’t, a fact which hangs over the story as it progresses into its post-Inner Palace era with the beginning of season 3. Little reminders of it are everywhere in this episode even as it starts to setContinue reading “The Apothecary Diaries episode 49”
Tag Archives: Review
Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 12 (season finale)
Episode Rating: A Overall Series Rating: A- Compared to its first season, OVA, and movie, this season of Saga of Tanya the Evil has had a remarkably low military action quotient. Granted, it hasn’t really needed it since it’s (capably) leaned much more heavy into its philosophical and military drama angles, but that is partContinue reading “Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 12 (season finale)”
Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 11
Episode Rating: A With its penultimate episode for this season, Saga of Tanya the Evil continues to blend in more elements from World War 2, and it uses those to help steer the story towards the painful inevitability it’s been facing towards for several episodes now: extreme measures are going to have to be takenContinue reading “Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 11”
Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 10
Episode Rating: A Episode 10 is aptly named “A Way to Survive,” as that statement perfectly encapsulates the goal here: both the military and apparently now even the politicians are looking for a way for the Empire to come out of this war intact. Key figures in the military have long recognized that the warContinue reading “Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 10”
Review: cocoon – One Summer of Girlhood
The movie version of Machiko Kyo’s incredibly harsh source manga opens with a disclaimer that this is a fictionalized account, though it is based on true events. In the documentary which follows the movie (which is only a bit over an hour long) in its theatrical run, director Toko Ina mentions that the intent ofContinue reading “Review: cocoon – One Summer of Girlhood”
Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 9
Rating: A- Few anime series can pull off drastic tonal shifts as smoothly as this one can, and the episode “Sightseeing Tour” is just the latest proof on that. Even while engaging in elements of a light, playful foodie experience, the sense of the much more serious undertones is never far away, and the endContinue reading “Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 9”
Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 8
Rating: B+ Throughout the anime adaptation, Tanya has appeared on nearly every front that Germany directed engaged in during World War I or World War II. (The sole front that has not been represented is the battles in the eastern and southern German colonies in Africa during WW1.) The one she’s spent the least amountContinue reading “Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 8”
Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 7
Episode Rating: A Even if you discount Tanya’s size, age, gender, association with Being X, and status as a cross-gender reincarnation, she’s still an aberration on other fronts. Some of that is a dramatic lack of empathy that she carried over from her previous life, which only reinforces her very studious pragmatism, but it’s alsoContinue reading “Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 7”
Summer 2026 Mid-Season Report, part 1
We’re at the midpoint of the Summer season, with earlier-starting series hitting episode 7 (or in a couple of cases, even episode 8!) this week, so it’s time to get the ball rolling on what a wide swath of series have been doing so far this season. With the return of Re:Zero to action thisContinue reading “Summer 2026 Mid-Season Report, part 1”
Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 6
Episode Rating: A The last few episodes have had a more tactical “big picture” focus, leaving this season so far much lighter than the previous one on direct battle sequences. That changes with this episode as both Tanya and even Zettour get into the thick of things. The result is arguably the season’s best episodeContinue reading “Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 6”
