Category: Review

Reviews on completed shows

Community

Secret Santa Review: Kamichu, a God at Heart

[naruko hanaharu]

What does it mean to be a God?

For most people, this is a question that is rarely seriously pondered – and if it is, it’s probably through the lens of theology rather than Japanese cartoons.

Of course, Koji Masunari‘s Kamichu is no more about theology than Fate/stay night is about mythology. The background setting of religion is an interesting means of portraying a fairly simplistic and heartwarming coming-of-age tale, not unlike the works of a familiar studio. It follows the old magic-as-a-metaphor trope perfectly, using fantasy elements to illuminate the development of a very down-to-earth protagonist.

That said, I don’t believe the story contains any concrete themes or specific metaphors. Instead, it’s more of a general feeling, a vague message everyone understands but no one can describe. At the very least, despite its abstract plot and childish imagery, Kamichu will get you thinking.

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Review

Subtlety in Romance, Sweet Blue Flowers

Aoi Hana

I often ponder the appeal of yuri. Is it the forbidden, exotic allure of a pair of pining maidens, begging to be fetishized and capitalized upon by the industry? On some level, yes – but making that claim would be akin to claiming that all romanticized love stories with attractive females exist solely for the lonely fan.

Yuri, like all settings and devices and what have you, is simply a premise. It’s something that can enhance a story if used effectively, something that can potentially add that extra push to cross the line between good and great. Recently, one such series stirs warmly in my memory as I recall it: Aoi Hana, a warm love story about crying lesbians.

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Community

Nodame Cantabile Rewatch and my introduction to Japanese Live Action

Nodame Cantabile live action

A few months ago on Twitter, Moritheil of Anime Diet proposed one of those ever popular communal rewatches that always seem to make the experience more fun. A couple posts have already been done to get the ball rolling , but I was busy drowning in my backlog toward the end of the summer and so I’m more than a little late to the party.

At any rate, there’s one aspect of modern Japanese media that I’ve always been illiterate in: live-action dramas. Admittedly, I’m not even well-versed in Western live-action films, favouring video games as a child, and I’ve only seen a couple anime-irrelevant Japanese live action movies (although one was directed by Hideaki Anno and the other was scored by Joe Hisaishi.) Most of my knowledge of the medium comes from little clips I’ve seen on my classmates’ computers and Hinano‘s screencaps. Needless to say, it’s about time I took a look at the medium for myself and figure out what I’ve been missing.

Besides, there’s promise of GYABO in here. How can it go wrong?

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Review

War is better when it’s Moé – Gadget Trial

Gadget Trials (11)

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume you haven’t heard of Gadget Trial. If you follow visual novel translation news then you can skip the next few lines, but in essence, it’s a surprisingly lengthy VN by the apparently well-known Kogado studio. Like most SRPG VNs, Gadget Trial mixes strategic gameplay with visual novel-style dialogue, but unlike most of them, it seems heavier on the gameplay. That’s what makes it feel long, regardless of the actual hour count.

All things considered, though, that doesn’t matter very much. Really, what matters more is the Tomokazu Sugita-voiced military commander and the loli artillery units.

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Review

Enter Gakuensuki! CCY-senpai wa 17sai Hits the Blogosphere, almost

CCY-senpai wa 17-sai (17)

You heard about it. Read about it. Anticipated it. You remembered Ren’ai Blogger, thinking of the possibility that it was not the first and last, but instead, the beginning of a revolution.

Or maybe you have no clue what I’m talking about. That’s fine too. What matters right now is that aniblogger lolikitsune has released a demo of his upcoming blogosphere-based visual novel, complete with art by Sixten and Choux, contributions from the rest of the community, and side-splitting parody dialogue that I haven’t seen in a doujin VN since The Best Eroge Ever. If this isn’t enough to pique your curiosity, read on.

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