Racing, timing, healing, growing.

Creative Staff:
Story: Reki Kawahara
Art: Hima

What They Say:
Seiji Nomi’s scheming from his position atop the school social hierarchy has ceased. Sky Raker has returned to the Accelerated World, and upon joining Nega Nebulus, she and Kuroyukihime have become a force to be reckoned with. But one day, Haruyuki hears the news that the social camera network has been expanded to include the Hermes’ Cord space elevator, and he realizes what the next stage of the game will be: space. Upon arriving, he is aided by a mysterious operator in taking on the biggest mission in the history of Brain Burst! Plus, Kuroyukihime and Haruyuki have a chance to experience their first overnight event–except they have gatecrashers!

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Things are going back to as normal as Haruyuki can say that they ever will be. He has his powers of flight back as Silver Crow. He’s training up Chiyuri and he’s finally having a group of friends to depend on. But, there seems to be something peculiar with the social cameras. Upon inspection, he noticed that the social cameras link to Hermes’ Cord, a space elevator, is now active. With an active camera connection comes an active, comes a new area for the Accelerated World and Brain Burst. Meanwhile, coming back into the Nega Nebula fold, Sky Raker adjusts to the dealings of the group, but one scar remains with her, the loss of her legs. Can Haru help to resolve the loss of Sky Rakers legs as well as the mystery surrounding Hermes’ Cord? Reki Kawahara does deal with these issues by creating two focuses of the book. The first focus is on Haru’s development as a person.

Kawahara displays Haru’s growth as a person in this volume of Accel World. Self-reflecting on the recent changes in his life, he realizes that he has reliable friends who he cares about. It contrasts towards him being alone but he questions if he deserves these companions and more importantly if what he has achieved truly is real. Interestingly, Kawahara creates a physical metaphor for his insecurities which incorporates aspects of previous volumes into this current one. Haru, of course, has to confront them but not without the help of his friends, which also drives home the point being made: Haru has friends he can rely on and he is not alone. This type of metaphor will come with the most important dynamic between Kuroyukihime and Fuko Kurasaki.

The more present dynamic in Accel World Volume 5 comes from Kuroyukihime and Fuko Kurasaki. Once friends, this volume works to amend the past sins of the characters. Fuko’s avatar, Sky Raker, can only use a wheelchair to move around as she destroyed them during her fight with Kuroyukihime. A suggestion comes to heal her back with Lime Bell’s ability. Initially, it does not work, but the reason seems interesting: what’s holding back the healing is not physical, but mental. Fuko still has negative feelings towards the fallout between her and Kuroyukihime and that is holding back her ability to gain back her legs. To truly heal, Fuko has to work through her feelings of doubt, anger, and sadness over her apparent loss of Kuroyukihime’s friendship. Meanwhile, Kuroyukihime must do the same. Feeling responsible for the pushback, she works to find her errors in handling Fuko and let her know that she takes responsibility for the collapse as well. While the metaphor for the friendship is laid thick, it’s good to know that Kawahara is willing to integrate a more in-depth look into the series. Moreover, it shows that Kawahara commits to improving his writing and development of writing by experimenting with some of these techniques if a bit on the nose.

Speaking on his writing, Kawahara seems to go the extra mile to make this volume entertaining. We do get the usual hijinks of Haru dealing with girls who want to get extra close with him. Chiyuri with her wanting to workout gets mistaken for something a bit more, or Kuroyukihime having a bit of a sleepover, these events normally happen within Accel World. It’s towards the end where the twist kicks in. The build up feels justified and the payoff even more so, with a thrilling conclusion that will keep you page turning. It’s this type of writing which attracts people to his work and makes reading Accel world interesting for those vested in the series. It’s too bad that this volume’s overall plot is above standard.

This volume follows the same standard format of find a new world, fight, level up, Haru saves the day. Except this time, there’s a special event where the characters go racing. This special event triggers the above reflection for Haru as well as culminates the resolution of Fuko and Kuroyukihime. The only issue is that it’s above standard for a plot point as there could be multiple ways of getting to said conclusions without having to force a big event to resolve them.

Hima’s art once again is well done. Soft tones with visually pleasing characters, the overall art is nice to look at their designated pages. It does help to know that again, we see a bit of fanservice artwork in Accel World albeit slightly toned down from previous volumes. With that said, one artwork I appreciate is Professor Kuroyukihime explaining the height of Hermes’ Cord. The artwork helps put into context how high the new area in the Accelerated World is, and how much of a task it could be to connect to it.

In Summary:
Volume 5 of Accel World proves a lot. Friendships are healable. Progress can be made, risks can be rewarded. All of these statements sum up this volume with a “friendship conquers all” attitude that somehow works. It is nice to know that Fuko and Kuroyukihime can make up, Haru can rest assured that his friends truly like them, and everyone can hold their own. Mix in with great action and you have a volume that clearly sees the direction it’s going and wants to commit to it. Let’s see what the next volume has in store.

Grade: B

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: November 17th, 2015
MSRP: $13.00

Not sure how many people reading this are wrestling fans – but to quote Daniel Bryan; ‘YES! YES! YES!’ or a general crowd during a good match ‘THIS IS AWESOME…’

What They Say:
Two years have passed since the fated battle between Naruto and Sasuke in the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

A comfortable peace has fallen over the village and the winter festival approaches with a bit more excitement than usual. Seasons of war have transformed Naruto and his friends into elite young warriors, but now they grow into the adults they were meant to be, forming bonds beyond friendship.

Naruto and Hinata approach this next stage with trepidation and find their progress stalled when a mysterious and dangerous man appears with a disturbing message; the end of the world is upon them. Once again Naruto and his friends are sent to investigate and stop the impossible: a falling moon! What is the tragic fate that connects this disaster with Hinata’s Hyuga Clan? And to what lengths will Naruto go to speak the words that will change his life?

The Review:
Audio:
With this being the last movie of the original Naruto cast (before the Boruto chapters of the new generation), all out has been gone with a 5.1 English and Japanese release – to say this has been done justice is an understatement – the Japanese in particular is one of these rare ones I had to nearly halve my audio volume because of how clear and concise it way on my default settings – every inch of echoing, foley, music, voice work – it has been given the star treatment. The English dub also is no slouch as also a Dolby Surround setting with no missteps in timing between audio and visual, as well as with the subtitles in the Japanese audio. Whether the later generation movies get UK releases or not, if this is Naruto’s bow, then it is a good one.

Video:
Video is set in full-screen format with a 16:9 – 1.78:1 aspect ratio for this review – standard ratio settings, no issues with syncing in with the sound or with the video quality – there was no shading with pausing for example, and the combination of hand-drawn and computer generated animation does project flawlessly onto the screen. There were no issues of slowdown, and the switching from water based discovery to almost mechanical based war – combined with epic colours from jutsus, explosions, technique – it almost middles with the quieter moments that whilst not as much going on, still blend really well. There are strong rumours that this movie was made because the high end animators/artists were big fans of one particular character, so when the manga was made and the conclusion was done, they created a movie to tell the story how a particular pair came to be. From this, it feels like a labour of love to create a rare canon movie and fans will be very happy with how it has come out.

Packaging:
There was no packaging for this test release.

Menu:
A very standard screen for this release – the main image is Naruto with hand outstretched to the screen. On the left are the options sitting on a scroll with a symbol, the choices are Play Movie, Scenes, Set Up and Extras. As always with a movie release, the scene selection I always feel better compared to series releases for cut off spots, but otherwise, it is very basic and standard. Nothing problematic, all selections are easy to access from the main screen and returning to it via your remote when watching the movie so it does its job, but nothing exciting either.

Extras:
Extras we have for the movie are some trailers and promos (which are quite similar) some commercials, and some images via an art gallery which have several promotional images, stills from the movie and character designs for pretty much most of the main cast. Also extremely rare, we get trailers that aren’t related to Naruto for this release (a pet peeve of mine that all the Naruto movies seem to have a trailer for a previous movie or the series) – trailers are for Dragonball Z: Battle of Gods, Haikyu and One Piece Film Z.

This movie is also a MASSIVE spoiler to the end of the manga series – whilst not completely released yet in the UK it spoils part of the end of the war, and one of the biggest questions out there – who if anybody, will Naruto get with? For over 15 years, Naruto, like most popular shounen jump series, has a lot of pairing debates because of the amount of characters and the shows’ popularity. Kishimoto himself apparently made a decision nearing the end of the manga, but couldn’t write it properly because he said himself he wasn’t good in writing romance series.

The animator studios, however, are big fans of one particular character – this character also is perhaps one of the perfect examples of a side character being more popular than some of the mains – or in this, it’s lead female. This lead to an increase in airtime in filler episodes and expanded role in the Naruto universe – and outside of yaoi pairings, was the most popular choice of Naruto both East and West in the latter half of the manga. So for some fans, it has been 15 years of ship tease and a pair they wanted.

And it delivers. So much. From here on in, I will spoil who it involves so if you have read this far, stop now as massive spoilers for the end of the war and who Naruto ends with. So, here we go.

So 2 years after the end of the World War, we see the moon that the Ten-Tails was sealed in is now descending to Earth – caused by a villain named Toneri, a descendant of Hamura Otsutsuki, whose family had dictated that chakra being used as weapons is unholy. He is now determined to destroy the world but protect the moon and his own castle, but he needs the power to fuse his abilities. That comes in the form of a descendant energy – the Byakugan. Hiashi Hyuuga is the first to notice this but is defeated by Toneri who now begins to search for someone in particular…

…cue our lead female, Hinata. Yes, I said Hinata – not Sakura, which should give away the big reveal immediately. Ironically, Sakura is actually much better in her role as a support character compared to previously as she is very pro-Naruto/Hinata and acts as a big sister to Hinata through and is also the catalyst in helping Naruto later in the movie. However, times have changed as Naruto, previously the series outcast, is now quite the hero and very popular with the girls, much to his surprise. Hinata, being quite shy, wants to give him a scarf for a festival, but he keeps getting gifts, one a scarf of his own which apparently is quite important to him. However, whilst she is antagonising, her little sister Hanabi seems to have gone missing…

Hinata is found by Toneri who takes a rather keen interest in her. However, before he can take her away, Naruto on a hunch has followed her after leaving a potential ramen date, saves her before she is kidnapped. Because of this, the new Hokage, Kakashi sends Naruto, Sai, Sakura, Shikamaru and Hinata to rescue Hanabi, with a time limit to the destruction of the Earth via the moon falling. They journey to the abandoned village of the Otsutsuki Clan, but during their search the gang bar Sakura are caught in a genjitsu which puts the ninjas in a sleep state, dreaming about people they care about – from this, we witness a flashback to Naruto younger (in link with a flashback right at the beginning of the movie where Naruto and Hinata met as kids) where Naruto discovers that Hinata may like him – it is here when the actual concept for love strikes Naruto (Sakura makes a point later on that he didn’t seem to differentiate love from loving food is the same as loving people) and makes sense as he begins to remember. (Again, Sakura makes a point that his ‘love’ for Sakura was more because of his rivalry with Sasuke – crush vs. love…it slowly begins to sink in for Naruto)

There, Naruto being around Hinata is utterly hilarious if you have followed the series as long as I have – it is Naruto now being shy and awkward around her as the two spend time as a team, especially with Toneri’s clones and shadows also approaching them – one of them does talk with Hinata for a bit as she realises what his goal is, so it is both smart and heartbreaking when the moment finally happens. It is in fact Naruto who confesses to Hinata, but before she can respond, the real Toneri now advances – he wants to marry Hinata, sealing Hanabi’s eyes into himself to complete the Tenseigan, a powerful eye to completely create his destruction. Hinata apparently rejects Naruto to go with Toneri (which you all know is complete BS considering this girl has been in love with him for like ever so you know it is just a plan) which after being beaten by Toneri, sends him into a coma without any chakra…and also depression.

Badass action scenes come when a lot of your favourite characters come together to try and destroy the moon and the subsequent meteorites – characters like Rock Lee, Ino, Choji and surprisingly, even Sasuke are involved, albeit sadly briefly – a slight weak point is that Sasuke in particular was heavily advertised but is barely in the movie, and a number of the ninjas don’t even get lines (Tenten and Shino maybe understandable as quite minor, but Gai and Rock Lee barely get involved, even Tsunade and Kakashi are barely factors) – though this could be because, in heart, this is a love story more than your typical Naruto action movie.

However, the action is also superb, the image of Rock Lee punching a meteor, Naruto using Rasen Shuriken over a multiple amount of clones, the idea of Killer Bee using a giant chakra cannon (and refusing to use it a second time because Naruto is still on the moon), the Kyuubei in action against Toneri’s giant clone, Shikamaru handling several of them with his shadow stitching, Sai’s animal creations in flight – all of it adds up to some great battle scenes even in a movie that where it isn’t the major focus. The one scene everyone will remember is the kiss in the moonlight which is simple, but gorgeously coloured (and for some fans, a huge cheer would be out loud after waiting 15 years for this!) and during the credits, stills of the wedding in the future, along with the bonus scene at the very end (setting up the new generation for Naruto fans)

This is such an obvious work of love – the studio wanted an actual story told on how Naruto and Hinata fell in love with the manga basically just showcasing it in the final chapters, and with their best animators at work and Kishimoto supervising, not only do we have a rare canon movie, but also one of the best out there. Fans of the traditional Naruto movies or Naruto in general may find it a bit off putting or different because it is a love story for the most part, but on the other hand, this is also a good thing, as the weakness of pretty much all the previous Naruto movies bar maybe Road To Ninja, is that the character(s) of the day/movie are very one-dimensional and very forgettable, and are just introduced for such and such plot which then Naruto has to deal with, with various members of the team, or none in some cases. Here, you have the lead, an established fan favourite character as the secondary lead, use some of the cast involved as good support characters (again, have to say that Sakura compared to how she was in Road To Ninja is vastly more enjoyable and likeable here, Shikamaru and Sai also add their moments to the team – Shikamaru practically slapping Naruto around to snap him out of his funk when Hinata ‘rejects’ him), an actual memorable villain, and they don’t forget the action – it is just the core is the relationship upgrade between Naruto and Hinata, and how they get to that – it is told really well via the genjitsu side track and Sakura herself explaining quite well in how Sakura was a crush, but more so as a part of rivalry with Sasuke, whilst Hinata who has always liked him, Naruto didn’t notice because he didn’t understand the difference of like and love. Here, it hits him and fans of the pairing couldn’t be happier.

There are definitely some niggles – am a bit disappointed Sasuke was only involved in one major moment (he wasn’t even visible at Naruto’s wedding – though it was hinted he may have been the one holding the camera) considering the end of the manga, and most of the cast are relegated to just a few lines – even Kakashi who is the Hokage at this point, is pretty much a non-factor. And as mentioned, it is more of a relationship plotline than a battle style. But to a lot of people, that is a good thing. Plot and storyline haven’t been huge priorities in Naruto movies (and some would argue to the series in general) so for under 2 hours, it does well in establishing what the movie is about (Hinata wanting to confess to Naruto, someone else takes an interest in her, Naruto realises what he has missed and now needs to confess to her) – but also adding some story to the villain outside of being a bride stealer. The Renseigan plot and the Byagukan Princess side stories have had back-story in the Naruto saga before, so it does actually tie in that these things could happen. Toneri is also a much more upfront villain and by the time things are revealed, even he is redeemed a little by the group, though what he does beforehand not so much, because of this he will definitely be more remembered than…well, any other movie villain that wasn’t an Akatsuki member.

I think overall, from a movie perspective it is definitely a good spectacle, nothing major in terms of groundbreaking – a good action movie with drama and romance involved. From a Naruto fans perspective, though, it is the end of an era, and for a good chunk of them, it is an ending that many of them have wanted for over a decade. And boy, it delivered.

In Summary:
Whilst not the last Naruto movie that will have Naruto in it, it definitely feels like an end of an era with this. Closing in a story to go with the end of the manga, this is a love story in more ways than one – not just with Naruto being paired with a fan favourite (Hinata) rather than what deemed the obvious choice (Sakura) but also with the crew telling this love story, gorgeous animation, not forgetting some great fighting moments, and whilst there are a few problems, a good story is told, a credible villain and actual demonstration of how the two fell in love equals a cheesy but still great villain. Unless you aren’t a fan of this pairing, this is a near perfect finale for Naruto.

Features:
Japanese Language, English Language, English Subtitles, Trialers, Promos, Commercials, Art Gallery

Content Grade: A-
Audio Grade: A
Video Grade: A
Packaging Grade: N/A
Menu Grade: B-
Extras Grade: B-

Released By: Manga Entertainment UK
Release Date: January 11th, 2016
MSRP: £14.99
Running Time: 111 minutes
Video Encoding: PAL
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen

Review Equipment:
Playstation 4, Sony Bravia 32 Inc EX4 Television, Aiwa 2 Way Twin Duct Bass Reflex Speaker System.

What They Say:
Long ago the human world Terrastia, merged together creating people with abilities called Adapters. With their abilities, the Adapters have the power to open the Divine Gate which has the power to make any wish come true but most believe that to just be a myth. In the present, a boy named Aoto is recruited to join an academy of Adapters called the World Council but he must first overcome his past and the murder of his parents.

The Review:
Content (warning as portions of this review may contain spoilers):
It seems that with each passing week, Divine Gate keeps finding new ways to subvert my expectations. By “subverting expectations” though, I mean it keeps finding new ways to be completely nonsensical or irritating. Going off last week, this episode seemed like this week’s episode would be moving along whatever story the show is trying to tell and it kinda does, but not without more of the usual writing hiccups and over-complicating things. On the bright side, though, I can at least say it’s helped me to reach an epiphany regarding this show’s overall aesthetic.

The mysteries concerning Aoto take center stage as someone starts spying on him while Akane and Midori try to ask him directly about his past. He declines of course along with turning down an invitation to join an SNS site that the others use. Soon after, Midori and Akane receive a mysterious message from someone offering intel on Aoto as they quickly discover the truth: That he’s the prime suspect behind an incident called “Blue Christmas” where 666 people (this should give you an idea of what level of writing this show’s operating on) were brutally slaughtered.

Akane and Midori are soon discovered by one of Arthur’s knights named Brunor who seemingly have them the intel in hopes that he could take revenge on Aoto for the incident. In truth, though, it came from another one of Arthur’s agents named Schrodinger who witnessed it all first hand. However rather than being horrified he was enamored by the massacre and became obsessed with Aoto. The others find Aoto and Schrodinger thanks to the SNS site (which given we saw him not registering earlier, means the show can’t even be bothered to keep consistent with something it established literally 10 minutes earlier in the episode) and unsurprisingly we find out that Aoto’s brother was the one who was really behind it all. Schrodinger doesn’t take this well and tries to sick one of Arthur’s new Drivers on them (because there wasn’t enough going on here already) but Aoto and co. manage to defeat it. Schrodinger escapes but Brunor seems to be convinced that Aoto’s not the one he’s been looking for and with the Driver being left behind, the gang decides to add it to their ranks.

Well…in a sense, this was probably the most interesting episode the show’s had to offer so far. However interesting doesn’t mean good and it’s certainly got it’s share of problems. The usual pretentious over-monologuing is still there along with the show trying to juggle a bunch of stuff at once. The real kicker though is when we’re given a peek at Blue Christmas incident and it’s framed in the most over the top hacky way possible, complete with B-level villain prose as Aoto’s brother even refers to one of his victims as a “little kitten”. Even the fight is scene towards the end is kinda sub-par as the 2D shots are kinda limited and the 3dCG effects aren’t directed as well as they were in ep 2, making them feel a bit clunkier.

Watching this one, though, it occurred to me that this show feels very similar to Guilty Crown from a couple years back. Both were heavily stylized action shows that framed themselves as being smart despite the level of their writing being pretty mediocre. Though to GC’s credit, it at least looked amazing and by comparison not only is this a more middling production, but it does a much worse job of masking how bad the scripting is. Given that I wasn’t big on Guilty Crown either, making that comparison bodes ill for this show, and given that GC was at least entertaining enough to laugh at, makes me wonder how much more of this I can put up with.

In Summary:
This week’s Divine Gate is the most interesting one yet, but that’s not enough to save it from mediocrity. The outcome of the whole situation is obvious from the get go, and the Blue Christmas scene is so hacky that it would border on being comical if it weren’t for the how amazed the show seems to be with itself. As it stands, Divine Gate doesn’t even have enough entertainment value for me to laugh at how ridiculous it is and if this keeps up, I’m out.

Grade: C-

Streamed By: Funimation, Hulu

Dagashi Kashi Episode 4

It’s important to keep your most sensitive possessions in your sight at all times, especially around violent girls with complexes.

What They Say:
Episode 4: “Fugashi, Fugashi, and… / Glico, Glico, and…”

Hotaru challenges Kokonotsu to compete in a blind fugashi taste test. She also helps him to run back to Café Endo when he realizes that he forgot something very important to him at the café.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The first half was entirely educational…at least to the degree that you find learning about different kinds of sweet snacks interesting and informative. Frankly, I found it a bit boring, all of this discussion of the different kinds of fugashi that are available. Sure, the point of the segment was cheap sexual thrills with the suggestive dialogue and poses coming from Hotaru. But it was not particularly titillating nor funny, not even when Yo Shikada walks in at the end and immediately takes things the wrong way.

Is blind testing sweets really all that interesting? Probably not…but then that was never the point of this segment

The second half managed a slightly better mixture of information and humor, largely because the running race was played for laughs as a life or death struggle. The setup, however, was quite cliched, as To (established as an irredeemable pervert) sets up trouble for Kokonostsu when he “adjusts” and annotates the sketches Kokonotsu made of Hotaru and Saya in his sketching notebook (we have to remind the audience that he still has dreams of becoming a manga author). The information about Glico’s caramels and the relationship to the running figure mascot was quite interesting, especially for those of us overseas who likely only know of the company and its branding from anime and manga.

What was not as interesting was the denouement, which was fairly obvious to figure out because we already know all that we need to know about the character and personality of Saya and how she would react to the annotations and adjustments that To added to Kokonotsu’s notebook. And, of course, that she would interpret them to be Kokonotsu’s thoughts on the matter (the density in both of these characters could possibly out-gravity-draw a black hole).

There just wasn’t as much of the funny in this episode and my fears of the formula getting a little tiresome may well be slowly being realized.

In Summary:
Kokonotsu and Hotaru have a blind-tasting competition over fugashi. It’s followed up by a madcap run from Shikada Dagashi to the Endo Cafe when Kokonotsu leaves behind a very important notebook there and needs to get to it before Saya catches a glimpse of what’s inside. The laughs come more from the running segment than anything else.

Grade: B+

Streamed By: FUNimation

Review Equipment:
Apple iMac with 12GB RAM, Mac OS 10.10 Yosemite

A mediocre intro into a world of monsters

Creative Staff
Story/Art: Noriyuki Konishi
Translation: Tetsuichiro Miyaki

What They Say
Yo-kai, inspired by the yokai of Japanese folklore, are not ghosts or monsters or creatures. They can’t be seen by the human eye, but they’re everywhere, and whether they’re phantoms or everyday objects discovering their higher purpose, Yo-kai personalities are distinctly humanlike! While playing deep in the mountains, a yokai butler named Whisper gives Nathan the Yokai Watch, which Nathan uses to help his spooky new friends with their problems!

Technical:
The front cover here is a nice enough image that manages to show off the core elements of the series, with the main character holding up the titular watch along with a yo-kai medal in his other hand, and Whisper standing off behind him. It does look a bit bland, especially with the plain white background, but it’s certainly not an especially bad cover either. The back cover goes with the usual synopsis, while also showing off the various yo-kai from throughout the volume. A few bonus comics are included as extras, paper quality feels solid, sound effects are translated in stylized text, and honorifics are not used. The text reads smoothly enough, though it’s worth noting that characters are indeed given “localized” names here (though obviously this manga is tied to the translations for the game and anime, and those are more the point where decisions like that would’ve been made, so it’s hard to fault the book itself for such concerns).

As for the artwork of the book, it’s what I’d call more serviceable than exceptional. It does a solid job of capturing the look of the game, but the overall feel of the art is a tad on the simplistic side. On the other hand, though, the characters are actually quite expressive, and there certainly are some nicely done visual gags. In the end, it’s not a book that really possesses much style or anything too exciting visually, but it’s also fortunately never especially ugly, either.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Nate Adams is just your average elementary school student, until one day while walking along, he finds a weird capsule machine next to a tree. It’s all rather abrupt and doesn’t feel like a very properly put together setup, but whatever. Anyway, he gives it a try, and a rock pops out, with the “Yo-kai butler” Whisper popping out of that in turn. And unfortunately for the children who are the target audience, the book never actually explains properly what a “Yo-kai” is, not even by shoving in a little extra bit at the beginning or end(for those not in the know, yokai is a term for creatures from Japanese folklore). Still, I suppose the book bombards you with the term enough that you can probably manage to deal with that awkward cultural divide.

Anyway, Whisper furthermore just kind of nonchalantly gives Nate a “Yo-kai Watch,” and also explains that yo-kai are all around, just usually invisible to humans. However, with the light from the Yo-kai Watch, Nate is able to see them. And for his first proper run-in with one, Nate is introduced to the cat mascot of the series, Jibanyan. He has a bit of an odd habit of trying to fight cars, apparently trying to strengthen himself due to what his owner said when he died after being hit by one. Regardless, Nate sympathizes with the catty fellow, and they become friends. And as a result of this friendship a medal is created, allowing Nate to summon Jibanyan with the watch whenever he needs help.

The rest of the volume then goes super heavy on the whole “monster of the week” format, with each chapter focusing on a new yo-kai. There are some solid gags included through this, so it’s not all bad, and Jibanyan’s recurring gag is actually pretty fun. Interestingly enough, though the original games are monster battlers, everything here is more about using the Yo-kai’s abilities and just generally being nice in order to solve problems, rather than fighting anything. Will Nate be able to round up all the rowdy Yo-kai with the power of friendship, or will they prove too much for our generic protagonist?

In Summary
With this kick off volume, it seems very clear that this is absolutely more a series for fans than anything else. It’s definitely accessible enough that you can use it as an entry point to the franchise, but ultimately I can’t imagine people who aren’t already sucked into the Yo-kai craze getting too excited about it. Ultimately, what you get here is a rather generic “monster of the week” series built around some silly gags and simple problems. It certainly does its job well enough, but ultimately it doesn’t have much of a hook to it. There’s pretty much no overarching plot to speak of, as it’s just a collection of brief little snippets about each Yo-kai that appears, and little else to keep interest up. That’s certainly not to say it’s bad, as everything about the book feels decently put together, but it just doesn’t really ever amount to much beyond that. Ultimately, if you’re really craving some Yo-kai Watch in manga form then this may well do the trick for you. Otherwise, I’d say this just isn’t the sort of book that’s worth most reader’s time, even if it’s not a terrible little volume in and of itself.

Content Grade: B-
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+

Age Rating: All ages
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: November 3rd, 2015
MSRP: $9.99

Forebodings in a dark ravine on the moon…

What They Say:
In the unforgiving vacuum of space, the difference between life and death can boil down to a single bad decision or a millisecond of delay. And when the nearest help is as far away as another planet, the only one you can trust to save you is yourself. This lesson is driven home in the most brutal fashion possible as a series of accidents strand Mutta’s brother Hibito and another astronaut on the lunar surface. As Hibito fights to keep his injured companion alive, Mutta must join a team of scientists and fellow astronauts as they struggle to find a way to locate and save their friends before their critical oxygen reserves run out. And if that wasn’t enough of a test, Mutta’s entry into JAXA training becomes its own ordeal when he and his fellow trainees are dropped into the survival test course on an accelerated schedule. Foraging for food and facing wild animals on one planet, and fighting for one’s last breath on its satellite, two brothers worlds apart find common ground in the fight to stay alive in SPACE BROTHERS Collection 4!

The Review:
Audio:
The Japanese 2.0 audio is encoded at 48 kHz at 224 Kbps. The show mostly focuses on dialog and characters’ nonverbal sounds, and the soundtrack does a very good job of keeping the voices at the forefront. Some scenes in this set had more need for soundtrack and effects than most of the previous episodes, and the sound remained balanced in a way that the infrequent action never suffers from a lack of audio support.

Video:
As originally released in 1.78:1, the video is encoded for anamorphic playback. Playback is variable bitrate. Artifacts are at a minimum and do not distract from a normal viewing distance. The colors look very good for a DVD encoding, and because many of the episodes in this set depend on colors to shape the action and characters, the quality directly affects the viewers’ enjoyment.

Packaging:
The standard size keepcase holds three disks with one hinged leaf. Each disk is printed with a moonscape and the repeated words “Space” and “Brothers” shadowed over in shades of blue. The cover maintains the collector theme. Now, when sets 1 through 4 sit together, the spines are displaying an image of Hibito standing in an orange space suit, holding the helmet in his right arm with the earth in the lower left background and half the moon in the upper right background. The front cover displays Hibito and Mutta standing with helmets held over their heads, Hibito in a spacesuit and Mutta in a pinstripe suit with a tie. Apo, Hibito’s pug, sits in a space suit on Mutta’s shoulders. The background is split into thirds with earth, sky, and clouds in the lower section, darkness in the middle, and the lunar surface in the upper third. The rear cover has small images framing the top and bottom of collection summary, and two rocket shapes of the lunar surface frame the sides. In the bottom third, the special features are clearly listed and credits fill in the space above the technical grid. Below the grid, the copyright information appears in small white on black print.

Menu:
The menu screen for all three discs are the same. In the top left corner, there is a small view of the moon, with space and light effects in the mid ground. The foreground is a large section of the earth on the right side of the screen. The chapters are listed in a vertical column. The special features are on the first disc menu. The selector is a rocket shape that goes through the chapter title.

Extras:
The only extras are a clean opening and ending.

There are two main story arcs. First, Hibito and Damian, another astronaut, go out in a moon buggy to find a missing rover. Their vehicle dives off a ravine, and Damian’s suit is compromised. As Hibito tries to save him, he discovers the rover has also found its way down. In an effort to rescue Damian, he tries to get him to the rover in order to carry him out of the ravine. In the process, Hibito falls, puncturing his main air supply. He is left with too little oxygen to survive while waiting for a rescue party.

These episodes focus on Hibito as he confronts death and decides how to face both his situation and the probability of dying alone. He remembers the fallen astronaut Brian who mentored him during training, and we continually move from Hibito’s memory to his rescue effort. During these episodes, the environment takes on a supporting role: the cold darkness of the ravine, the silence of no atmosphere, and the loneliness of a landscape devoid of life. Hibito remarks at the beauty of the stars as he looks up from the ravine at the jewels, and he contemplates the sublime as he prepares to die.

Back on earth, JAXA calls in Mutta and informs him of Hibito’s situation, but Mutta refuses to believe Hibito will die and his internal monologue states since he is not worried, he will not pray. Mutta predicts Hibito will choose the path he does to get out of the ravine, but since NASA regulations tell astronauts to stay where they get into trouble, NASA sends the rescue party to the scene of the accident instead of where Hibito carried his partner. Only another JAXA astronaut advising NASA, Azuma, seems to have concerns with the all or nothing plan. I will not spoil whether Hibito lives or dies because the suspense and dread make this arc worth watching.

Mutta and the trainee Japanese astronauts go to the U.S. to continue their journey to get to space. Led by a seemingly reckless military man, Mutta and his companions find themselves on a survival hike through the Texas desert. Groups are split into nationalities and they are ranked by daily performance since their military leader sees this as a way to reenact the nationalist space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Because the last place team has to be punished every day by having a member stand at attention for an hour, the Japanese contingent struggles to progress.

The set ends with a side story about Nitta’s younger brother, a hikikomori. Nitta and Hibito bond over their inferiority issues when Nitta opens up about his role in his brother’s condition. The set ends with both optimistic feelings of goodwill and community, but a fortuneteller’s hesitation foreshadows that Mutta will face something harsh…or he is just neurotic.

In Summary:
Few series can sustain both high-quality story and artwork for more than 12 episodes, but Space Brothers has improved in both. While early episodes focused on character interactions and almost touristy elements of the U.S. space program, these episodes have lifted to a cinematic level. The artwork, the colors, and the settings drive the characters internal monologues and the emotions of viewers. Environments dictate suspense and danger for the viewer, but these visuals also represent the epic scope of the natural universe. Death seems real, and the outcome never seems certain until the moment of revelation.

Highly recommended.

Features:
Japanese 2.0 language with forced English subtitles, Clean Opening and Ending.

Content Grade: A
Audio Grade: A-
Video Grade: A
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: B+
Extras Grade: C

Released By: Sentai Filmworks
Release Date: August 4th, 2015
MSRP: $49.98
Running Time: 325 minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic

Review Equipment:
Samsung 40” LCD 1080P HDTV, Sony BDP-S3500 Blu-ray player connected via HDMI, Onkyo TX-SR444 Receiver with NHT SuperOne front channels and NHT SuperZero 2.1 rear channel speakers.

And a wonderful little series draws to a close.

What They Say:
“Clover”

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Tabi Machi Late Show draws to a close with this episode and even before I got to watching it I already felt sad. The series hasn’t been anything extremely fantastic or something you rave about, but damn if it didn’t deliver some really solid storytelling that even if a touch familiar stood out because it wasn’t like everything else. Each episode stood on its own and told a tale all while challenging your initial preconceptions about it and twisting it along the way, making you care more than you expected and leaving you wanting more.

With Clover, we’re introduced to an elementary school teacher that has been doing this for several decades and we see various stages of it as she talks about the kids as flowers that have blossomed over time. Delving into Sakurada’s life is one that’s definitely interesting because of the nature of being a teacher with so much change yet so much familiarity to it combined with being a woman who never ended up in a relationship herself. It’s a familiar story point to be sure, the single older teacher who views her students as her children, but it’s one that still has its resonance because of the love and joy that comes from people like Sakurada. The time with the other teacher is one that works well to complement it as they both get to talk about the way life moves on and yet they don’t, at least until retirement. It’s a gentle episode and one that truly soothes you into its space.

In Summary:
Tabi Machi Late Show closes just as wonderfully as it opens and it’s a series that I find myself really hoping we get more like it in this block in the seasons to come. This is the kind of material I craved from a short block that could find its own way and do something unique amid all the familiar. Sadly, shows like this never get picked up for licensing and certainly not dubbed, which I’d love to see, so I definitely encourage folks to check this out in ist streaming form because it’s something that helps to remind that there’s so much that animation can do in a short amount of time.

Grade: B

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

There are so many things girls have(?) to worry about.

What They Say:
Galko, Otako and Ojou are a trio of unlikely friends in high school with three very different perspectives. Each episode embarks on a day in the life of a trendy girl, an otaku, and a lady, as they discuss their “girl problems.”

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Galko-chan has been an amusing ride so far, though one that works its multiple stories per episode in ways that can frustrate a little. The first couple of episodes broke things up well but the previous episode was an extended story and that showed the weakness in doing that. I expect more of that type as we go on and that they’ll work better, but Galko-chan feels like a show that works a lot better when it goes for quick hit fun and just digs into the silliness, weirdness, and the crude level that it wants to play in – lovingly so, in fact.

A lot of what drives the narrative here are the silly things Galko ends up saying out loud, such as saying theer’s a public hair on her shoulder and then trying to save the moment by saying it’s really armpit hair. You really expect nobody to pay her any attention at this point but she’s just so loud that it has to attract attention. Such is the case when Ojou starts working on Galko’s back in class with a massage and stretch which has her moaning quite loudly. It’s brief but effective enough in the obvious ways, making for easy but solid laughs. Even more so when Otako ends up going under Ojou’s hands and really cuts loose when she doesn’t expect it. The massage piece dominates the episode and it manages to work fairly well since it does shift things up a few times.

In Summary:
Galko-chan has another cute episode that runs in some fairly expected ways while also going for the crude and fun side in the final couple of minutes with Otako asking Galko for a rubber since she’s going to have sex after school and Galko claims to have everything anyone would need. It’s a silly moment that goes even further when you get Ojou coming in to talk about rubbers in a different way that confuses everyone else and just leads to some silly embarrassment. The show is one that has some good jokes in it and definitely knows how to execute them, but I keep thinking that at half the length this would be a sharper and better show, even if it ended up running two cour instead.

Grade: B-

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

It’s a disasster!

What They Say:
“St. Giorgius, Disposer of Dragons”

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Sekko Boys didn’t click all that well for me last time around as it focused more on one of the boys and the rivalry that exists when one of them gets some time doing some solo material. While the boys are the title characters here and I expect them to dominate overall, the first two episodes worked so well for me because of Miki. Her enthusiasm and attempts to deal with what’s thrown at her made her the real star of it for me, particularly since I’m not exactly enamored with idols these days, even quirky as hell ones like these guys are. It’s a good hook but one that for me feels like it needs to be used sparingly.

With this episode, the guys have managed to get a gig that fills a 200-seat venue thanks to Mira’s blogging about them. This has a bit of member material where the guys have to get on point and avoid some of their quirks that could be problematic, which isn’t exactly something that puts them in high spirits. Thankfully, the meet and greet with the fans goes pretty well in terms of building their energy, though even that just goes badly with their personalities taking over and coming across poorly. The way they’re viewed on social media is even worse though and you have to laugh at how poor Miki reacts to this. And googling for Giorgio’s dad jokes? Okay, that bit got me.

Giorgio at least tries to do better by heading out into the world and doing some positive things with people, but it just leads to more problems and what looks like a drunken binge in the dark of the night in his room later on. What helps though is that while the initial bit of negativity dominated at first, the fan club side hit later on and we get to see a rebound for the guys. This is fun to watch as they get back in their groove but it’s also good to see Miki get a win of some sort here instead of just putting out fires constantly or feeling worn down by it all. She’s still stuck with the guys of course, but she’s handling it a bit better.

In Summary:
Sekko Boys improves a bit here but it’s still mostly an episode about the boys themselves with a heavy focus on Giorgio. It works better than the previous episode did but I’ll admit it’s not a huge leap back to the first few that won me over so handily. I like what they’re doing but I’m not grinning from ear to ear like I was as Miki’s role is a fair bit reduced here. She’s what keeps me coming back for more.

Grade: C+

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

A certain VERY unlikely hero!

Creative Staff
Story: Kazuma Kamachi
Art: Kiyotaka Haimura
Translation: Andrew Prowse and Yoshito Hinton

What They Say
August 31. The day Accelerator meets a strange girl in a back alley and he’s sure he’s seen her somewhere before. The day Mikoto Misaka finds herself asked on a date by a very pleasant young man. That same day, Touma Kamijou awakes with an especially unlucky feeling. The reason: he’s just realized he has completely forgotten to do any of his summer homework. Three characters, three stories, and one last day of summer vacation!

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
To start us off, it should be mentioned that this volume actually has a pretty interesting structure. After a brief and relatively goofy intro with Kamijou, we jump to the point of view of Accelerator, and then back to Kamijou, then finish up Accelerator’s tale, and finally get one more short story with Kamijou before the epilogue. The result is a rather interesting feel to the book, as it’s more a mixture of interlinking brief stories. And of course, it’s worth noting that the whole book is crammed into the events on August 31 (well, for the most part), the final day of summer break in Academy City, with “time” playing an important factor and coming up frequently.

As for Accelerator’s opening tale that forms the core of the volume, it truly kicks off when the young man meets a small girl. It turns out that this girl wearing nothing but a blanket is called Last Order, and was the final of the Sisters, but has been under-grown and is thus only about 10 years old physically. Though Accelerator of course tries to shrug her off, she sticks to him closely and asks for his help. And though he remains gruff as we get a look at his messed up life, Accelerator eventually decides to help her by going back to the lab she was created at, though of course he does so by storming off and leaving her behind.

After this, we get a fairly standalone chapter in which Mikoto ends up forcing Kamijou on a “date” with her in order to fend off the advances of a boy named Mitsuki Unabara. And though the chapter seems to be a quirky little one in which our hero must deal with this while also trying to complete his homework, things turn dark when it turns out there’s a second Mitsuki. We soon find out that one was actually an imposter who kidnapped the original and was wearing his skin (in a somewhat literal fashion) in order to get close to Kamijou, leading to a fight. What results is a decent though unexceptional battle, and in the aftermath we learn the rather intriguing tidbit that our hero is being targeted because of the power he’s amassed. It actually makes sense considering the ridiculous enemies he has taken down, and the powerful allies he’s gained, so it makes for a pretty neat little development that seems decently aware of the situation the series has created.

Following this, Accelerator’s story progresses as we learn that Last Order is a control unit for the other Sisters. And of course, one of the other researchers has put a virus in her that will lead to an apocalypse situation as they’re all driven into a murderous rampage. Will Accelerator be able to turn his life around and use his powers for good in order to rescue the girl? And when we return to Kamijou, can he both rescue Index from the strange intruder who kidnapped her, as well as finishing his homework in time?!

In Summary
Though this volume may be the most fragmented yet due to its short story style set-up, it ironically comes together quite a bit better than the last book. Ultimately Kamijou’s stories here don’t matter to a huge degree, though they’re still plenty enjoyable and fit well into the overall narrative. The real core of the volume, though, is Accelerator’s story, which is absolutely fascinating. It’s really neat to see a character who was so reprehensible in the past take on the role of lead, and he gains a LOT of depth by doing so. And of course, it doesn’t hurt that taking a closer look at his powers is fascinating in its own right, and the author definitely comes up with some interesting applications. Really, the only big downside (outside of Last Order’s slightly annoying verbal ticks, I suppose) would be that there’s a good bit of overlap between the stories of Kamijou in the first volume and Accelerator here. But ultimately even that feels more like intentional parallels then a blatant rip-off, and the result is still a great story that absolutely manages to develop its own beats as well. By taking a step away and choosing to flesh out the extended cast, this book gives the series the shot in the arm that it needed so desperately after the last entry. Even if the last volume turned you off, be sure to give this one a chance, as it really does manage to turn things around.

Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: N/A
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: November 17th, 2015
MSRP: $14.00

Almost there…

What They Say:
Fourth Gear gives Luffy the power he needs to head off Doflamingo at every strike! But the energy required to keep Fourth Gear going starts to take a toll on Luffy. Will he have enough left to finish the job?

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
For better or worse, One Piece always likes to remind us of the stakes with what’s going on as each arc moves towards its climax. We got a good run of the fight between Doflamingo and Luffy the last time around but it was built on top of time seeing the way that the various people on Dressrosa are coping with the Birdcage effect while seeing what the fight is like. That helps to make it far more than just two guys slugging it out as there’s a greater emotional and human level to it all to drive the narrative forward with more meaning. As much as I enjoy watching Luffy when he’s pretty intense, and he is that here with his Fourth Gear, it works even better because we see how everyone else is reacting by doing more than just standing around waiting for something to happen. They help each other, they rally to survive, and we see leadership reemerging once again. Something that’s definitely necessary of Dressrosa is going to exist if they survive and displace Doflamingo after all of this.

Amid the rallying cry that goes out, something that works well, we continue to get a pretty solid fight between Doffy and Luffy as we see him using his strings to really try and take Luffy down. It’s still unclear if he’s still just playing with Luffy to some degree, if he’s really taking it seriously, but Luffy is all in and Doffy is certainly enjoying himself as he uses his abilities in some big ways to try and crush him. When Luffy does, once again, start turning things around as he knows he’s running out of time, the show handles this very well with the swell of the music and a sense of hope and promise coming out of those elements. It’s a strong piece as Luffy takes on an almost god-like sense of power and importance here and it makes an impact not just on Doffy but in how everyone watching takes in the situation. It’s moments like these where true legends are born in how the story will be told.

As it moves past that into the quieter moment, all while waiting for the other shoe to drop, there’s definitely some welcome humor as everyone tries to find out if Luffy is really Luffy since the legends about him are pretty crazy already anyway and he doesn’t look like he usually does. Plus there’s the whole bouncing thing that’s going on too. What we get, however, is the truth of the matter in that Doflamingo wasn’t taken out but just down for the moment since the Birdcage is still there. It was too easy for things to go as they are of course so seeing Luffy having to take it a step further – just as he hits his limit – is pretty much pure One Piece material. The scale of exhaustion that his body has gone through is impressive and a crash was coming sooner than later. But what does this set up? What I really want out of the show, and that’s for everyone else to rally up and deal the final blow to reclaim Dressrosa and their lives.

In Summary:
One Piece does pretty much go as I expected here, though I wasn’t sure if it would be this episode. The progress of the fight has been on a solid track and it’s worked well here to get us to this point while not truly feeling as drawn out as it could be since the subplots have fallen away nicely recently and this fight wasn’t mixed into most of it. Luffy and Doflamingo definitely provide a strong and excellent fight, one that’s likely in the top five for me, and seeing the power levels at play and the toll they take hits a sweet spot for what I want out of the show. There’s a lot to like here and the episode doesn’t skimp in its quality with what it needs to do. I’m definitely excited to see what comes next from it all.

Grade: A-

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

Enter the Frisbee!

What They Say:
Lovely Muuuuuuuco! tells the story of the Akita dog Muco, and its glassblower owner Komatsu-san.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Lovely Muco continues to be one of the more enjoyable shows I delve into each week that focuses on simple comedy while expanding on its character. The show has been doing a bit more recently with how Muco keeps thinking that one day Komatsu will turn into a dog and that makes for some hilarious dream sequences to have. Particularly since it really is fun to see Komatsu in this form and the kind of fun that she imagines the two of them will have together. The bond between these two has definitely been the best thing about the show and seeing the way they get closer – even as Komatsu tests her in so many ways – is just priceless.

Case in point the whole treat on the snout trick which we get to hear just how difficult it is through her dialogue, which plays well when after she gets the treat she utterly forgets it all and just enjoys the moment. Such is life with Muco, which gets to have a bit more fun this time around as Ushico has shown up with Rena. Muco and Rena get together well now and play together in cute ways, but you have to feel for Ushicou who continues to try and win over Muco’s affection and seems to keep feeling. This time he’s brought some great new toys for her but she’s utterly disinterested in them. So much so that she’s just super excited instead for the bag that it came in. It’s pure Muco and I totally get it, but I also really do feel for Ushicou at this point as he really is trying his best. What gives him an advantage this time around is that he’s brought a Frisbee with him, which is completely up Muco’s alley once she figures it out.

The Frisbee time is fun and Rena really gets into it, though she has zero skill and it really does a number on her mindset. Naturally, Komatsu is just plain good at it and Muco really takes to the whole catch and return aspect, again showing just how smart she is. Which gets her plenty of praise which in turn makes her even happier. Amusingly, when Ushicou does it she has zero interest in it at all. Oh, poor Ushicou. My heart huts for you and your simple desire to be friends with Muco. Which is why it’s not a surprise that he goes over the top with it all a bit to good comical and visual effect.

Tricks become the name of the game as it goes on and we see Rena getting to do the snack on the snout bit too, which again you feel for Muco with the amount of drool coming out of her! Muco’s expressive nature and endurance is above and beyond with how much fun it is and seeing Ushicou frustrated by the fact that Muco still gets along with her afterward just gets him even more riled up. Amusingly, Ushicou’s last ditch effort to try and win her over involves showing her a small shiba inu toy that he found at the general store that looks just like her. He’s thinking of how to merchandise it since Muco is definitely a draw and there’s cuteness in how Muco views everything related to it, which again puts Ushicou on the outs when you get down to it.

In Summary:
Lovely Muco puts her through the paces once again this week and it’s fun that we’re out of the winter season and into a bit better weather so there’s more outdoor time unrelated to snow. Muco gets some good stuff here with the Frisbee and playing with Rena, but I just love the way the dynamic between her and Ushicou plays out because I’ve seen it myself with friends over the years. The show has its usual run of very fun bits throughout it that delight and it leaves me smiling with its quick and sharp ways of executing what it is it wants to do within the time period while never feeling rushed. This is one of my weekly delights to be sure.

Grade: B

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

The life of a student photographer is harder than one might image.

What They Say:
During Kazuya Maeda’s first year of high school he felt like a nobody, just another forgotten face shuffling through the crowded hallways. Even his best friend from childhood, Nimi, seemed somehow more difficult to approach, since she had matured a little quicker in the unsettling way that girls have a habit of doing.

This year, however, things will be different for Kazuya, and part of that change may just be because of the big new chick magnet hanging in front of him: the used digital SLR he just received from his dad! But will just having a camera be enough to make talking to girls a snap? Well, if he stays focused and proves to be good enough at making them look good, it might just be! And since it’s digital, there are no negatives or having to wait for things to develop!

Contains episodes 1-13.

The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release brings us just the original Japanese language track in stereo encoded using the DTS-HD MA lossless codec. Just like the DVD release, this series is pretty much a dialogue driven piece so there’s not a lot in the way of really a strong sound design, leaving a lot of it to be about the music and some of the sound effects. What we do get is something that certainly comes across better the better your equipment is since it’s not going to be so compressed, particularly when it comes to the incidental music and the opening and closing sequences. The dialogue side is handled well as it’s mostly through the center channel with a couple of decent moments here and there, but mostly it’s a decent if standard and kind of expected mix for a work like this. The music, both in the show and the opening and closing sequences, comes across with a bit more warmth and overall feeling to it but even there it’s still kind of standard in a way. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout and we didn’t have any problems with dropouts or distortions during regular playback.

Video:
Originally airing in 2013, the transfer for this TV series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. The thirteen episodes here are spread across two discs with nine on the first and four on the second. Animated by Madhouse, the show has a very good design to it overall with some good color layout, plenty of detail throughout all of it and some very fluid animation in the key scenes. I had liked how the show looked on DVD previously but the HD presentation bumps up the color level nicely where things look a good bit richer and more appealing, a bit more solid in general and overall something that just pops off the screen more. There’s some very appealing scenes and they hold up well when they get really fluid. Some of the three dimensional camera scenes are a little awkward, but it’s working off of its game origins here so it’s not a surprise. It may not be the most stand out show out there, but it does what it can to stand out a bit while working with familiar designs.

Packaging:
The packaging for this release comes in a standard sized Blu-ray case with both discs held against the interior walls. The front cover goes with the expected design that uses what we had for the DVD cover as we get a lot of blue and white photos along the background while four full color ones are laid over it along with the logo, which has a fair bit of sparkle and pink to it. The main idea here is to play off the photography aspect as well as the cute girl aspect, which it does pretty well so you know what you’re getting into. The back cover works more of the photos here across it with full color pieces all over as well as a cute tagline amid the camera lens that’s here too. It definitely works far more fanservice here with the shots used in order to entice you. The premise is covered well and it breaks down the episode and disc count clearly, which is always a plus. The bottom fills things out normally with the production credits and the technical grid and information which is accurate and easy to read. No show related inserts are included.

Menu:
The menu design for this release is pretty nice and it definitely has a nice pop of color and it uses the materials it has well. The layout uses the filtered film negative style along the backgrounds where it’s done with pinks and blues to good effect. The left side uses the lens as navigation point which has the episodes by number and title as well as submenus for special features where appropriate. Since it’s a monolingual release, there’s no submenu for languages, though you can turn subtitles off on the fly. The right side provides the character artwork, which changes from volume to volume. The first one works nicely as it takes the four main photos from the front cover and brings them all much closer together in a way that works very well while the second one goes for just two of the girls in their gym uniforms with something far more fanservice oriented. Both menus look great with a lot of pop as they set the tone and work easily both as main menus and as pop-up menus during playback.

Extras:
The only extras included in this release are the clean versions of the opening and closing sequences.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Based on the dating sim game of the same name, Photo Kano is a thirteen episode series animated by Madhouse. A number of short manga spinoffs have been done for this property as well, which isn’t a surprise since it’s fairly easily done and open ended and open to plenty of interpretation. While I’ve heard some folks really hate this show because of its camera/photography issues, there’s nothing along those lines that will bother your average fan who has no strong knowledge beyond point and click. The show really doesn’t play to the camera itself in a way but the visual of it all and more so just in the hands of the photographer. What we’re really getting here though is a series of love stories, connections and interactions that will either delight or annoy. Sometimes both, depending on the characters involved.

The series revolves around Kazuya Maeda, a second year high school student who fits the definition of your bland, standard male lead character. With the new school year starting and his being given a camera by his father who has bought a new one himself, Maeda is hoping for things to change a bit in his life since there’s not a lot going on. If you remove the camera from the character, there’s nothing else about him that we learn here as there’s no hobbies or interests or parents for the most part, though we get a sister that has some involvement. For better or worse, this is done to make it so that the male viewers can get into the show easier by inserting themselves into the lead character. I suppose it works since most shows do it, but it really gets annoying when you want to see the cast really forge better connections.

When he ends up at school, walking with his childhood friend Haruka Niimi, the interest in the camera starts sparking things more since she wants him to take pictures of her. And his time at school introduces him to the Photography Club as they scout him, seeing that he’s seemingly able to talk to lots of cute girls. There’s two competing clubs of similar nature, but one deals with pictures of people while the other does pictures of landscapes. Well, let’s be fair, the club that Maeda is drawn into focuses on pictures of cute girls. And they basically stalk them throughout the halls from depths and heights in order to get all sorts of pictures of them that will bring their beauty out all the more. They’re obviously some social misfits in their own way, and while there’s a creepy factor, we don’t get to look below the surface here because the characters are never explored. They’re certainly superficial overall.

The main thrust of the first five or so episodes is that once drawn into the club, he ends up staying because he learns that Niimi has been designated as their school beauty that they’re going to stalk. So he intends to protect her from them by making sure they don’t get lurid pictures of her while he gets them for their club show. This works out about as well as you’d expect, and you do see that Maeda ends up coming up with some beautiful shots of her, but we also get introduced to a number of other girls. A high school boy can’t have just one fixation. To be fair, across the first five episodes, they’re introduced as other people that he knows, photographs and spends some basic time with in order to get an idea of who they are. They all have their quirks, interests and archetypes so you pretty much see every base covered here to some degree.

The opening five episodes are fairly fun as we see all of this unfold and then as it focuses more on Niimi making it clear that she’s interested in Maeda and they get closer and closer together. I love simple romance stories like this because they are just that, simple, heartwarming in a light way and enjoyable because it’s largely a positive thing in a sea of negative material out there. And you can see what Maeda and Niimi get along so well as their childhood together is explored a bit and we get more of what allows them to function well together in the present. Neither may have a lot of depth (cue the jokes usually made about what high school kid has a lot of depth, which I hate) but there’s a simplicity about it that makes it fun to watch them realize what their real feelings are and to actually act on them rather than leaving it as a will they or won’t they situation.

What the show did after that surprised me though, as it basically turned each episode from there on out into a standalone episode. It goes back to some of the events in the first five and then works a new reality from a particular event so that instead of Niimi, he ends up helping someone else, tormenting someone else and falling in love with someone else. This puts it a bit more in the Amagami SS territory, which I like because I want to see how each of these girls interacts with him when their feelings progress into something more meaningful and intimate. Each of them has something to offer and in a way there’s more depth to them than to Maeda since they have actual interests and goals, whereas his goal via the game and translated into this is to take the series of perfect pictures and end with a slew of them for the club presentation. By giving each of them their own time, it works rather well, though it is of course kept basic due to the run time.

I do dislike that the last episode ends up going with the whole sister thing on some level and toying with the viewers by revealing along the way there that they aren’t actually blood related. It’s a cheap bit in far too many shows, especially when they introduce that late into it so that the viewers don’t realize it, and it doesn’t work here. Even worse is that it’s the last episode and even though it goes only so far, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. It’d be nice if we could have a series where siblings just love each other in a familial way, related or not, and avoid the whole big crush or deep love aspect. Please?

Photo Kano has a lot of the photography side to it, but mostly it focuses on Maeda taking the pictures and giving us, the viewer, lots of good fanservice oriented shots of the girls. It’s not a bad way to make your fanservice overt, though some of it is definitely on the creepy side because of the club. And admittedly, I would have preferred the series if each of the guys got explored as the misfits that they are and allowed them to grow and change and find something with the girls in their school instead. But the animation works well for the whole photography side since we get a variety of clubs and lives that the girls lead and while there are the expected swimsuit bits here and there, it is fairly restrained overall even when it goes to the snapshot stills, which surprised me. It’s kind of damning it with faint praise in a way, but it could have been a lot worse in a way with how the photography and visuals of it all played out. But I like that it went with something a little tamer.

In Summary:
It’s been a couple of years since I saw the DVD release of Photo Kano and I’ll admit that I enjoyed revisiting it. The show is one that is a pretty straightforward series with what it wants to do in providing a look at young love and to do it across multiple relationships with a single male protagonist. It’s not the most in-depth show out there to be sure but it does things fairly well overall. It was definitely worth revisiting it for the Blu-ray aspect as I think it does a solid job of upping the quality of the show a bit more as it just looks a bit richer and more engaging visually. For fans of this genre, we don’t get a lot of completed romances so there’s a lot to like there. But I would have preferred a little more of an engaging lead character and a bit more to work with when it comes to the relationships themselves since they’re mostly given an episode each. I liked it for what it was, but it’s not a game changing show by any stretch. Fans of stories that involve actually saying I love you and expressing emotions will enjoy it though.

Features:
Japanese 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, Clean Opening, Clean Closing

Content Grade: B-
Audio Grade: B
Video Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B-

Released By: Sentai Filmworks
Release Date: February 23rd, 2016
MSRP: $59.98
Running Time: 325 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

Dimension W Episode #4

Oh, a locked room mystery? No…. Things are far stranger than they first appeared.

What They Say:
Episode #4: “The Mystery Hidden in Lake Yasogami”
Kyoma and Mira end up at a village with a dark past after Albert asks them to investigate the mysterious death of novelist Shijuro Sakaki.

The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
My least favorite mysteries are locked room puzzles. This episode of Dimension W starts out with one, in a haunted hotel on an island in a man-made lake. The pieces of a traditional murder mystery are in place. There are three suspects, an old owner, a manager, a rival detective, the dead author and of course, a secret past where many people lost their lives in accidents. Kyoma plays the skeptic and Mira the innocent believer who ends up being attacked wearing nothing but a towel. (I’ll forgive the focus on her backside this time because this is a horror mystery, you need the woman in the towel for maximum horror effect.)

This episode takes some time to bring in some side characters. We do get confirmation that the reason Al survived the explosion in episode one because he is a former super-soldier. Kyoma casually kicks him out a third story window and Al sticks the landing. He’s also on a far more casual relationship with Kyoma than first appeared, and he’s still a hard one to pin down. He’s not the obvious bad guy that the first episode made him look to be. The new gothic-lolita style girl with the English name that shows up is also a collector, there for the same reasons as the other two. She is currently just a strangely dressed anomaly who doesn’t match the style of the others, but we know she’ll be important going forward because she’s in the opening credits.

This episode lulls you into a typical rhythm. At first, it appears a robot might have been the culprit. We get some information on what governs the rules of robots in their world. You begin to expect that things will play out in the typical fashion. Al and Kyoma’s exposition filled conversation causes your mind to drift until you actually take in what the two are saying to each other. There is a number coil involved. That accident in the past may relate to the still in development technology at the time.

By the halfway mark this episode takes a hard turn into the weird. This show wasn’t going to just do a locked room puzzle. The supernatural goings on might not be ghosts in the traditional sense, but when magical science is at work all bets are off. We’ve already seen some of the strangeness that illegal coils can cause, and that dimensional instability can wreak havoc on reality in strange and grotesque ways. Mira discovers the overlapping past and present in the worst possible way while taking part in a horror movie trope at the same time. The suspects launch an attack, people are in two places at once, reality seems to be overlapping. What you thought was going to happen is thrown out the window.

In Summary:
Dimension W was about to lure me into a false sense of security. This episode opens like any other stock, locked room mystery that I would expect of almost any series. This whole setup is one clever bait and switch. By halfway through the show suddenly reminds you that we’re dealing with alternate dimensions and all of the weirdness and horror that comes with it. Suddenly the stakes are raised and stuff gets really strange and interesting. Even the visuals kick it up a notch. The cliffhanger leaves some very strange questions to be answered next week.

Episode Grade: B +

Streamed by: Funimation

Review Equipment:  27” iMac running OS Yosemite, via Safari 9, FIOS connection.  Your mileage may vary.

What they say:
“Right Hand and Gun”

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
This week we finally get the answer to last week’s question (yes, Matobai does find Kogane cute in psycho mode), Souya gets some screen time in the episode and Kinoa screams: “WHYYYY?” in actual English. Still not convinced? I can definitely understand how the recaps of BBK/BRNK episodes could come off as crazy, ridiculous or even ridiculously crazy, but it never feels this way as you are watching this. It just feels like one hell of an awesome ride and I am always a bit sad when the episode is over and I have to wait a whole week to find out what happens next. If you still need some proof the staff is having fun as well, jus take a look at Kogane’s uber cute backpack depicting “not Donyatsu”. I kind of want one know.

We pick up right where we left off last week, with Matobai fighting the very angry, very vengeful, Kogane. The others try to intervene, but to no avail since Matobai has brought with him Entei’s heart which somehow prevents the other Bubuki from even activating. And because no episode of BBK/BRNK is complete without new information, we now find out about Bubuki battles, an ancient custom in which Bubuki users fight it out, limb to limb. That is, the one controlling the right hand of a Buranki will fight another right hand user. Whoever wins gets to keep the loser’s Bubuki, but it can´t be used again until after the Bubuki battle is over, all limbs defeated. This is how Reoko’s four gods have been fighting, since Entei’s limbs got destroyed twenty years ago. During a Bubuki battle, the rest of the team cannot interfere, as the two fighters are linked together. This being the case, Horino convinces the others to leave right away via an underground train capable of taking them to Treasure Island (the Buranki nest in the sky where Migiwa is supposed to be, still keeping the sleeping Buranki in place. My suspicion is this is not Migiwa’s doing actually, but Kaoruko, Azuma’s also missing sister).

The only really weird choice in this episode was during the flashback depicting Kogane’s father’s fate and how did she come to inherit Righty-chan. It begins with a scene of father and daughter playing in the snow. Well, I assume they were playing, since we don’t get to see it. We only hear their voices, so while they’re going: “Look at what I can do, daddy” “Oh, I can do it too”, you’re sitting there staring at the snow and wondering if the budget for the CG fight was so high, they could not afford two seconds of characters running around. It’s nothing major, just a bit strange. I did feel pretty bad for her father though, I don’t know if I’m over sensitive or if this series just has extremely likable side characters. I’m just going to go with the second explanation.

At one point the fight gets interrupted by Azuma, using Oubu’s heart. He can only stall, though, unable to replace Kogane . But I mention this because then Matobai chooses to drop a little more information, this time regarding rinzu, the energy inside Bubuki users. This is what the Bubuki uses to protect its user and to fight, so they’re actually running on their owner’s energy and yes, it can get depleted. Now, Matobai here is exhibiting a James Bond’s villain logic. I know he is taunting Azuma, but I’m not sure it’s very wise to explain to your opponent what his shortcomings are, especially since Azuma has no idea at all, and thus give him a chance to figure out a solution. Not very wise at all, I would say. It’s also a strange time to start explaining things in the middle of a battle, but this comes with action anime territory anyway. Also, this is just how Matobai is, and he is definitely enjoying the fight. In the end, none of this mater because here it comes: victory by train. Why do you think Azuma was stalling so much? Yes, they actually drive the train against him until he gives up. Not even Matobai can stop a whole train. I’m still impressed though, I seriously thought he had been run over.

And so, Matobai gives up, his Bubuki deactivates and he passes the baton over to his kouhai, as he calls him: Souya. Next episode: Souya and Kinoa battle it out. Anyone afraid this is going to turn into a battle of the week series, just remember there are 26 episodes to go, only four gods and Reoko, and one has already been defeated.

No extra scenes this time.

In summary:
I’m still enjoying this series quite a lot. No, it’s not perfect, but I never expected it to be and I absolutely respect anime that is not afraid to take risks and try new things. To quote an actual line: “Keep going straight and don´t be afraid of losing”. As for the CG, it was a little more noticeable this week but it still looks better than most I’ve seen before. There has also been a little bit of fanservice in the last episodes, mostly visual although Souya commented on Kinoa’s boobs. While it’s not something I was necessarily expecting to find in BBK/BRNK, I’m fine with it as long as it doesn´t overtake the series, and I don’t think we have to worry about this happening at all. In any case, Souya seems like the wild, devil may care type, and with Kinoa’s sharp tongue and witty attitude, I’m expecting lots of fun from next week’s episode.

Grade: A

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Episode #17

An escalating situation, Gundams are everywhere.

What They Say:
Episode #17: “Kudelia’s Decision”
Kudelia and Tekkadan witness Gjallarhorn’s brutal suppression of the workers. Seeing the true situation of the colonies, Kudelia makes a fateful decision.

The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After Kudelia’s mental breakdown after the death of Fumitan in the previous episode I expected that she would need some time to get her act together. When this episode starts she tells the others that she is fine. She’s angry, and rightfully so. When the news crew approaches her after being told off by their Gjallarhorn corporate overlords, Kudelia offers them an exclusive from the one and only Kudelia. It’s now clear that the media is tightly controlled, which might explain why so few know what Kudelia looks like.

The news crew also provides the stranded Tekkadan group a way back to their ship. (I guess that travel restrictions under states of emergency still don’t apply to the press in Gundam future.) Kudelia calls out Nobliss in what appears to be a big FU to the man. Using all the connections available she hijacks the news feeds to tell the people what went down on the Dorts.

While Kudelia stepping up was a nice character moment for her, I have to say the rest of the political maneuverings are a total mess. The workers rebellion is a complete farce. The workers prepare to fight in their working class mobile suits only to find out the hard way that the Gjallarhorn forces have rigged all their stuff not to work. It’s a complete slaughter. No one told these guys that violent revolution rarely works as intended. This whole thing only started as a union fight for better living and working conditions! At Kudelia’s urging Tekkadan steps in to stop the massacre.

Those watching this series solely for the mech action will be pleased to see a couple of new gundam enter the fray. Bauduin finally gets his chance to head out and fight Mika again, Ein in tow, in his antique family gundam the Kimaris. Akihiro takes out the newly refurbed Gusion for a test run of the most violent sort. Norba also gets to head out for the first time in his also refurbed Graze, which pisses Ein off as he recognizes it as his mentor’s old machine with a garish paint job. (Norba had it painted… pinkish.) As for the battles themselves they are competent, but lack extra polish and some visual punch. We do get some nice long distance mech ballet with trailing energy lines, good old fashioned stuff.

While Bauduin didn’t stand much of a chance against Mika the first time around he fares better the second until the numbers go against him. Mika has lost none of his cold confidence, but it rings slightly more hollow now compared to Bauduin’s cocky attitude and skills to match. I was certain Ein was going to finally bite it, but no, no yet. It’s interesting to note that Bauduin shares his friend’s opinion on the corrupt nature of Gjallarhorn. He openly states it to the ship he serves on. The coup is going to come, it might have larger support, and it’s going to further complicate things.

The entire battle comes to a halt when Gjallarhorn’s big guns arrived. A massive fleet looms on the horizon, and it’s probably a good time for Tekkadan to cut and run. I have to imagine that McGillis is waiting to make his move, I just wonder when it will be.

In Summary:
Back to the action. Kudelia wastes no time deciding to fight back. She’s done being used as a tool as starts to write her own narrative. The boys get a chance to get back in the saddle and to try out their repaired mechs. It’s a good thing the action is back because the political mess that the group is in is just that, a mess. The gundams are shining though, and the situation continues to heat up. Where this all goes from here is anyone’s guess.

Episode Grade: B +

Streamed by: Hulu, Daisuki, Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Youtube in select regions. Phew!

Review Equipment:  27” iMac running OS Yosemite, via Safari 9, FIOS connection.  Your mileage may vary.

An anime about anime. That’s so anime!

What They Say:
After making an animated film together in high school, Aoi and her friends Shizuka, Ema, Misa, and Midori made a promise to each other: to all get jobs in the anime industry and someday work together again.
Two years later, Aoi is learning that working as a production assistant at a small animation studio is far more demanding than she ever imagined, and Shizuka’s aspiring career as a voice actor involves more time waiting tables than recording.

Meanwhile, Ema’s slowly making a name for herself as a key animator, Misa’s moved from 2D to 3D and now works in computer graphics, and screenwriting hopeful Midori is lagging furthest behind, still looking for her first big break. But are they ready to give up on their dreams just yet? No way! Because while anime may come from inspiration, in the end it’s the ones who’re willing to put in the perspiration that make their dreams real in Shirobako!

The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this series brings us the original Japanese language track in stereo as its only mix, which is encoded using the DTS-HD MA lossless codec. I really wish this show had a dub simply because the range of actors and characters involved combined with such different than normal story material would have been fun to have had. The show is one that has its moments of good action in a sense, mostly coming from the driving sequences, but the bulk of it is very much dialogue driven. It’s not a mix that will stand out, even when we get the Exodus animation scenes shown off, but it works the soundstage well for the dialogue in general. While not a rich mix we do get one that’s well put together and enjoyable, especially when there are multiple characters on screen at a time and the conversation moves about them in a very good way.

Video:
Originally airing in 2014 and 2015, the transfer for this TV series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. The twelve episodes of the first half of it are in this collection and are kept to one disc due to it being a monolingual release. Animated by PA Works, the quality is definitely here from start to finish in something that’s richly detailed, beautifully colored, and has some great blending of CG when needed. There’s a labor of love element to this series to be sure and it really does shine through with the look of it. The backgrounds are fantastic, the changes in character costuming is a big plus for me, and the detail and variety in the designs is just as strong. All of this comes through beautifully in the transfer with great colors and wonderful representation of detail, making it a fully engaging experience. With the fully realized world that we get here, it’s important to have a strong transfer and this one pays it off.

Packaging:
The packaging for this release brings us a standard sized Blu-ray cast the holds the single Blu-ray disc. The front cover goes for the familiar promotional image that features the sizable cast that works at the studio all together with a range of emotions and a few little cute bits mixed in to make it very active and busy without feeling like it’s too much. Doing it against the light blue and white graph paper just adds a nice touch to it. The only thing I don’t care for and haven’t since the show first came out is the logo as it’s something that just doesn’t feel like it fits well. The back cover works some decent angles to bring in a good range of images and a look at the studio itself so it’s busy but not excessively show while showing off a lot of what’s inside. The tagline works well, going more for a serious and earnest approach, while the summary of the premise captures the show pretty well while not giving away too much of it. The bottom uses the blue graph paper design, a bit darker, to break down the production credits and the technical grid, both of which look good and covers everything in a clean and easy to read fashio. No show related inserts are included nor is there a reversible cover.

Menu:
The menu design for this release is about as I expected as the main static image that dominate gies us a look at the main production staff side of the studio with all that’s associated with it, giving it a detailed and busy feeling while also letting the characters come across well with their personalities for the few that we get here. The navigation along the left is decent with a big yellow block that has the episodes by number and title with blues, greens, and reds used for it. It doesn’t feel like it has a strong thematic approach to it like we get with a lot of other Sentai menus and that leaves it feeling a bit weaker in the design department. It’s solidly functional though which is what really counts.

Extras:
The only extras included with this set are the clean versions of the opening and closing sequences.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
When the folks at PA Works dig into an original series it’s usually worth paying attention to. While not everything works, there’s a passion behind their projects that will connect with a lot of people that enjoy them and that’s definitely important. Original projects in a sense show the soul of a studio with what they want to do much in the same way the projects they buy into for adaptations do. Shirobako is one that goes a step further in that it’s all about the anime industry itself, or at least the production of anime in this first half of it while also delving into how hard of an industry it is to survive in if you have dreams. We don’t get shows like this often, though one-off episodes in other series sometimes delves into it, and the biggest one in a sense for me over the years is still Otaku no Video.

The show revolves around five friends from high school several years after finishing that and college as well. In high school they put together a pretty good anime project for their final festival, each of them with their strengths that built a whole. But their lives afterwards went in different yet similar directions as they ended up in different areas of the industry where some are struggling and others are closer but still nowhere near where they need to be. Primarily, the focus is on Aoi Miyamori as she ended up going to college for economics but found herself trying to pursue her dream of being in the industry afterward. She works as a production assistant at studio Musashino, a mid-range studio that’s bringing out their new original work Exodus. Aoi is certainly in that learning phase of her job to be sure, but she’s been doing it for a while and has some skills that make her fairly well suited to it. A lot of it is just the kind of growth that comes from experience and connections.

Through Aoi’s eyes we get to see the work going on with the production at the start of the series just as the first episode airs and the comments and reviews come in. It’s a rough schedule to produce anime with so many moving parts and through Aoi we get to see a wide range of these stories as they move through the various stages. Since there are the overall producers and directors while also having various members focusing on specific episodes for production as the assistants, we get to see this range of characters interact with each other while working towards this larger goal. That it digs into the various aspects of it all across this set works very well and it’s definitely engaging to watch if you want to see how the sausage is made that is anime. It’s not one that focuses heavily on areas such as voice acting for instance, or in the extensive pre-production side for the show in the first half here with Exodus, but going through it and exploring the cast within their work environment is spot on.

Having been familiar with anime production for a good number of years, I definitely found Shirobako to be a lot of fun to watch as it gets to really take the time to dig into a lot of aspects of it. The cast is pretty much realistic when you get down to it, though the director, Kinoshita, is perhaps a bit exaggerated in some ways but with that kind of kernel of truth about it that allows it to work. The director is the only character that really bothered me in the show since he stood out from the rest as the more childish member of the group, but there are some decent explanations to why he is like he is based on past history. That said, what we get here with him, the storyboards for the final episode, and the big changes made to it, that all kind of drove me nuts with what it did. Part of it is that the Exodus show material itself never really connected for me so the changes just felt more ridiculous and that the whole thing went on as it did for as long as it did and put the project in such dire straits made me want someone with real authority stepping in. But such is how things operate sometimes.

The series does work another angle much better across it in that Aoi keeps up with her friends in a good irregular way that comes from the way life changes because of work. With each of them going in different directions but mostly within the industry, the catching up they do is fun since they’re all adults and are able to drink and hang out a bit when time allows. There’s some nice nostalgie towards their high school project and it is a motivator for them to want to be something more with their career goals, but it’s not made into some kind of golden object that’s held above all else. It’s allowed to exist without being the sum of all things while also being a binding piece that exists between them. It’s a cherished memory but one that doesn’t completely control them.

The course of this half of the show works us through the Exodus series and it’s definitely a positive that we essentially get a three month journey to follow these characters on through ups and downs. It’s mostly kept to professional side stories and very little into the personal and it also does one huge thing that’s a plus for me in that it avoids doing anything with interoffice relationships. There’s no relationship material at all here when you get down to it and that’s wholly refreshing since it could be a huge distraction and diversion from what the show wants to be about. This also helps to keep Aoi and her friends from spending their time talking about significant others or people they’re interested in and instead has them talking about their jobs, their career choices, and where they want to go with it all. That’s a huge plus considering how badly the show could be derailed by delving into such things in a high pressure job like this.

In Summary:
Shirobako earned a lot of raves when it aired and rightly so as there’s a lot to love about it as it shows how anime is made. With a lot of names changed to “protect the innocent”, there’s a level of fun in connecting what’s in the show with the real world companies and personalities. This half of the season does a whole lot of good things and very little that’s problematic, making for a thoroughly engaging experience throughout. For those new to animation and how production goes you’ll find yourself learning a lot. For those that are far more familiar with it, you’ll definitely enjoy seeing it all brought to life so well and, for the most part, so honestly. The end result is an engaging show that has some rich characters and situations that should essentially be required viewing for every anime fan to understand what goes into all of this.

Features:
Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, Clean Opening, Clean Closing

Content Grade: A
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: A
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B-

Released By: Sentai Filmworks
Release Date: February 9th, 2016
MSRP: $59.98
Running Time: 300 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

Tuesday’s continue to be an interesting release day with the mix of titles available and this week is no different. Dark Horse gives us a few new trades this week worth checking out, such as Midnight Society: The Black Lake, while DC Comics adds the third Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga. There’s also new Supergirl and Batman books and the next Swamp Thing volume.  Marvel fleshes out its back catalog a bit with a lot of great Amazing Spider-Man books from the Todd McFarlane era as well as short runs of Defenders, Hawkeye and Fantastic Four.

On the manga side, Kodansha Comics has a light week this week with new Space Brothers and more Coppelion arriving as well as the third volumes of Kiss Him, Not Me and Unlimited Fafnir. Viz Media has a lot more on tap including the first volumes of School Judgment and Behind the Scenes!! as well as more One Piece and My Hero Academia among others.

A show that can politely be called shovelware.

What They Say:
Join this band of femme fatales as they sacrifice their dignity to save the galaxy from unsavory space pirates. To solve their cases, they battle the bad guys, rescue stolen treasure, and wrestle space aliens. No job is too big, no humiliation is too great, and no alien has too many tentacles to keep them from the big score.

On their latest mission, the Battle Can-Can girls are out to retrieve a stolen artifact known as the Cosmic Firefly, a gorgeous but fragile jewel worth many billions of dollars, much more than what they make in a year! In order to return it to the rightful owners, they must subdue the most vicious space pirates, have sex with aliens, and confront a traitor from within!

The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release is done up in its original Japanese language only in stereo encoded at 192kbps. Japanese is the only language available on here, as it’s never been dubbed. The show has a very mono feel due to its age with the bulk of the dialogue and action effects being center channel oriented. It’s mostly clear though there’s a touch if hiss and scratchiness in a few places, but again that’s more attributable to age than anything else.

Video:
Originally released to video back in 1987, the transfer for this show is presented in its original full frame aspect ratio. Battle Can Can’s transfer is fairly decent but nothing exceptional considering its age, which you have to take into context. There’s a fair amount of grain throughout it that gives some scenes a bit of a fuzzier look than normal. Cross coloration is minimal and there’s some aliasing during some of the busier action scenes. Colors look decent if fairly flat. Well, except for the glowing penis’. Overall it’s a serviceable transfer but feels like little more than a port of the VHS version.

Packaging:
Generally, you get good cover designs out of the Media Blasters group of titles, but this Kitty one just doesn’t have much to work with. There’s a shot of the trio of girls along the top set with an overdose of sunlight draped across them while the logo takes up the middle third of the cover. Just so you know there’s some science fiction involved, the bottom portion shows off a planet and a satellite over it. Looking at the cover, you get the feel that this is a release that time forgot. The back cover is more traditionally styled with a decent summary of the shows premise, a few shots from the show and the usual array of production and technical information. The insert has the chapter stops on one side and the other side is advertisements for other shows.

Menu:
None.

Extras:
Nope.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Insert tape master into player, hook up to recording equipment and encode is the name of the game here. Battle Can Can is a dump of what the VHS is – so much so that I believe the ten minutes of trailers at the start of the show are all what was new when this was originally released by Kitty. Thankfully you can skip past those trailers though and go right into the show since there’s no menu to be found.

And make sure you enjoy hard subtitles since it’s the same print the VHS run used.

Battle Can Can is a story that after watching I don’t want to spend much time talking about. It takes place in the far future where there’s a lot of piracy in the space lanes so some organization forms a group that will deal with these trouble makers. Enter the group of ‘femme fatales’ that are the best of the best of the galaxy. These women take on the various missions that are required to take down the bad guys and save the space lanes from the evils of the pirates and their thieving plans. The group has just gotten a new assignment, to retrieve the priceless artifact known as the Cosmic Firefly. They figure out who has it pretty quickly, so our 80′s glam girls just have to hit the ship up where it is and try to spirit it out of there before most of them are found out.

It goes terribly wrong along the way. Harkening back to a day when bad hentai meant you’d bloody up the girls through mindless violence, only a few members of the team survive (best of the best my ass. And how come out of an entire galaxy they could only find five?). The pirates figure out who they are pretty fast once they’re on board so they take the women down one by one. One woman is treated to a glowing vibrator that will explode once it senses that the person it’s in has climaxed. She freaks out about it but can’t stop her thrilling, much to the gents pleasure. So what does she do? She trips him up and then straddles him with the vibrator still in her and makes sure it’s on top of his dick. “You’re going to die with me!” she screams as she really gets into the motion. Her eventual collapse from climaxing is quickly followed up by said vibrator exploding and killing them.

Another woman finds herself getting the pleasure of a strange alien who uses his head as a giant dick and just keeps thrusting himself into her. She’s loving it since he’s obviously pretty sizeable but she’s still able to take him in. When they find out that she’s a distraction and the others are stealing the Cosmic Firefly, the alien gets pissed and subsequently jams himself head first into her again, literally ripping her lower half in half. And just to get their point across, they dangle her from a rope in the middle of the room upside down after she’s died just to show what mean guys they are.

Battle Can Can features some sex scene throughout it but it either ends with the women stopping and beating the crap out of the unknowing men they’re screwing with or it ends with the women being tortured, exploded or generally eviscerated. Show’s like this make the schoolroom torture shows look like masterpieces.

In Summary:
With a retail price of 9.95, you’re basically getting a DVD version of a VHS tape with no real difference between the two. If you can’t find the VHS version being given away for free out there these days and you’re itching to complete your collection of bad hentai, then you should be able to get this for around 7 bucks. Otherwise, Battle Can Can is only for those who really revel in watching not just bad anime, but bad hentai. This is the kind of pain most people can do without, myself included. Some things were simply not meant to be seen on a 70″ screen.

Features:
Japanese Language, English Subtitles

Content Grade: D-
Audio Grade: B-
Video Grade: C
Packaging Grade: C-
Menu Grade: N/A
Extras Grade: N/A

Released By: Kitty Media
Release Date: April 13th, 2004
MSRP: $9.95
Running Time: 30 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

Back in Black

Creative Staff
Story/Art: Osamu Tezuka

What They Say
Marilyn Swanson, the top female actor of the 40s, is suddenly seeing a revival among the cinema inteligentia. Her films are being broadcast on TV through almost every channel in prime time and every major film festival is devoting screenings to her performances. She was a rare beauty that captivated a generation on and off the screen. But age has caught up to her. Because of her pride she cannot make any appearances at these events, and worst of all she cannot perform again without regret. So she asks a medic with god-like skills to reverse time, if only briefly, so she can dazzle audiences one last time.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Black Jack’s 13th volume is a strong and eclectic collection that ranges from topics like the indomitable human spirit and the paranormal. As always, the whole of humanity is on display in these 14 stories, and while there is almost always a cure, there isn’t always a solution. These stories are raw, revealing, desperate, and uplifting, but above all, they are entertaining. After 13 volumes and over 100 stories, any fan should know what to expect this time around: Black Jack is put in a variety of scenarios and it is only his skill and compassion, or lack thereof, that can ultimately resolve the issue. If that seems like a tiresome formula, rest assured that nothing could be farther from the truth. Even after all this time it’s amazing how effortlessly these stories are told and how engrossing they can be. Tezuka is fearless; he injects so much life and passion into each of these stories that it’s hard to imagine a more sure-fire bet.

Some of the notable chapters this time around are “The Pirate’s Arm,” where a promising young gymnast loses his arm to gangrene; “A Night in a Cottage,” where Black Jack helps a woman who is bent on suicide; and “A Lucky Man,” when an Iranian man gets plastic surgery to steal the identity of a wealthy Japanese engineer. Each chapter focuses on some facet of human nature that is exaggerated to show us who we are in no uncertain terms. The same is true for almost any Black Jack story, but these three really seem to stick out.

In Summary
Tezuka can do more with 20 pages than most writers can do with whole novels. It’s a rare breed of artist who can make stories about suicide with humor in them or stories of aliens with genuine human compassion and who isn’t afraid to make his characters test their boundaries. With each passing volume of Black Jack we see more examples of Tezuka’s willingness to do whatever it takes to tell a great story, and with every rule he breaks, every precedent he creates, we peer ever further into his genius.

Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Vertical
Release Date: January 25th, 2011
MSRP: $16.95