Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Rescue Wings – episode 1

“First Job”

Before I begin, I have to digress. Am I the only one who, just looking at the title, is forced to sing “Take/ these Rescue Wings/ and learn to fly again”?
Rescue Wings is the not-very-pretty new series from J.C. Staff. It’s early days yet, and that TV Tokyo watermark really annoys me, but things are looking okay.
Continue reading Rescue Wings – episode 1…

Binchou-tan: Looking in the sky for something I forgot

A song about Binchou-tan, set to footage of Binchou-tan living through a day. Cute.

Mushishi – episode 13

“The One Night Bridge”

The music is used to excellent effect in this, one of several episodes of Mushishi in which no one wins. Not depressing, but certainly unhappy.
Continue reading Mushishi – episode 13…

Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora – episode 2

“The inheritance of Tada’s collection”

Stupid and dangerous; that’s the turn the events in HanTsuki take after Rika’s doctor is introduced.
Continue reading Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora – episode 2…

Kokoro Toshokan

There are certain anime that there is simply no way to divine the purpose of. 2001’s Kokoro Toshokan, from Kuroda Yosuke and frequent partner Masunari Koji, is one such anime. What appears to be the tale of three sisters who work in a mountain library rapidly and inexplicably introduces robots, an international master of disguise and the coup de grace: a tragic war from decades past.

Miracles indeed; nice but weird, Kokoro Toshokan is thoroughly unmarketable. This goes some way to explaining its failure to garner a licence in the five years since its creation.
Continue reading Kokoro Toshokan…

Suzuka – advance review (episodes 1-5)

For the life of me I can’t find time to sit down at my computer and watch anime and cap it at the moment. I’ve been watching Suzuka on the train, though, so I’ll say a few words about it.

Suzuka is one of the most horribly derivative anime ever made, if you go by a general series overview; it’s about a teenaged boy who moves to his aunt’s house for school. His aunt’s house happens to be a female only dormitory with its own bath house built in. Plus he has a crush on a high jumping girl who turns out to be his neighbour and upon whom he makes a bad impression.

Yet, despite that, there’s an air of charm to Suzuka: it doesn’t play to the violent stereotypes of this genre, nor does it emphasise fanservice. In addition to this, it is on some level a sporting anime and is presented in a distinctly unpretentious fashion.
Continue reading Suzuka – advance review (episodes 1-5)…

The wilderness of reality

I’ve been living the nightmare for the last week: my main computer broken, no internet access on the other.

Prepare for vague promises of catch-up!

Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora (Gazing up at the half moon) – episode 1

“Akiko-san, the girl and Akutagawa Ryuunosuke”

Blandly designed and disturbingly blurry, HanTsuki is still a quite compelling title about two seventeen year olds who meet while they’re both hospitalised.
Continue reading Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora (Gazing up at the half moon) – episode 1…

Bleach – episode 68-69

“It’s okay to live.”
Plainly the best Bleach in a long while, as it wraps up the intensely lame “game” plot, justifies it, and then introduces a genuinely interesting looking story.

Spoilers: the conclusion of the Ririn arc and the set-up for the Bound arc
Continue reading Bleach – episode 68-69…

Yakitate!! Japan – episode 54

“The bread battle in special localities! In the end, he’s a pop idol!”

The unwelcome return of put-upon Kawachi mingles with overwrought music and bad designs to make an okay episode of Yakitate!! Japan.
Continue reading Yakitate!! Japan – episode 54…