Awkward yet hella sensual.

Creative Staff
Story/Art: Piro

What They Say
Gently lick the wound…?

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Secret Girlfriend in a Secret Place marks the second work from Piro in COMIC Kairakuten as the unrelated chapter they did before was back in August of last year. Piro’s artwork certainly plays to a certain style in a good way with the high school age set as there’s definitely a strong sense of innocence about it that combined with the whole school athletic side takes it up a few notches. Thankfully, the characters here don’t feel too young and what we really get is a kind of sweet/sexy/sensual first true encounter between characters that hits on how teenage interactions can get in a “normal” sense.

The chapter revolves around Hinata, a young woman who has snuck off from her track meeting as she ended up hurting herself by falling face down. With only a few scrapes she’s okay, but her secret boyfriend Musashi has slipped away to check up on her. He’s mostly kept their relationship a secret from everyone since he just wants their time together to be special and not to have the spotlight on them, particularly as he’s a kind of rather awkward introvert that has difficulty really expressing himself clearly. She’s clearly in love with him but has those early first-touch kind of jitters, such as when he helps her with her wound and then goes to feel her ankle to make sure it’s not sprained. It’s an honest check from him, but she’s so sensitive to his touch – and his potential – that it just sends it right off the register for her.

While she certainly doesn’t have any intention of things going further in the storage room, the situation progresses quickly because he’s so blunt about wanting to touch her boobs after that. Again, owing to his nature and the pervy best friend he has (who plays voyeur here in a bit), he doesn’t know how to ask “right” when you get down to it. And while she agrees he ends up just taking it further than she expected, leading to a far more engaging encounter. What really worked is that it doesn’t go for some of the usual beats. While he gropes her with permission at first, he gets into it pretty well and before long he’s just got her doggy-style and is grinding against her, both of them fully clothed. It’s such an erotic moment of realism that it works really well, and makes the segue into full penetration a lot more believable as she can go from being put further into the mood by the grinding as opposed to him just yanking down her shorts.

In Summary
Naturally, things go a lot further and Piro does a solid job of presenting it, though I continue to not be a fan of the whole side slice or interior view thing that’s going on. That’s minimal overall but it always takes me out of the moment. Musashi’s design is straightforward if just slightly on the creepy side while Hinata will definitely play very well for fans who like like the athletic and short-haired type. While the layouts are good,there are some smaller panels lack enough strength of detail and inking along with lighter than legible text make it difficult. Overall, it’s a fun little story that makes for some cute reading and has added Piro to my to-watch list should they have more works coming up.

Content Grade: B+

Age Rating: 18+
Released By: COMIC Kairakuten via FAKKU Subscription
Release Date: January 31st, 2016

Oh, those poor, innocent, boys.

Creative Staff
Story/Art: Naganoro

What They Say
How do you attack a boy with an impregnable, pure mind…?

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Originally appearing in Comic X-Eros #39, Nishiyama-san & Kurihara-kun is part of a large and growing collection (I hope!) from Naganoro. The prologue piece is on the FAKKU subscription side of things and I just jumped into this one without realizing it first. After taking a bit of a break from hentai manga, I wanted to dig back into things and this story and Naganoro’s artwork is probably one of the best ways to do it as it hits so many great notes throughout it. Sometimes it just takes the right story to reignite one’s interest.

The twenty-four page story focuses on the high school characters of Nishiyama, an attractive young woman, and Kurihara, an introvert otaku who generally looks average. She’s invited herself over to his place and is spending time in his room wondering why he’s not just getting it that she’s into him. She’s been doing all kinds of things like flashing her panties, standing provocatively in front of him, and just being flirtatious. For Kurihara, he just views this as if she and her friends are teasing him and laughing at him, mocking him because he won’t do anything and they can get away with it because he’s safe. He’s completely unaware that she’s actually quite in love with him and she thinks he has no interest in her when he really does.

Suffice to say, once she pushes him too far in this situation he calls her out on each bluff and they just get further and further along. He does start to pull back from time to time as there are what he reads as mixed signals, but part of it is just her surprise that he is actually acting on it and her own hesitancy about this being her first time. There are awkward, fumbling, moments throughout this that gives it a bit more authenticity, but you can also kind of cringe at certain parts of it. At the same time, my god does Naganoro illustrate this beautifully. Nishiyama’s character design is just spot on and the way the shading works, the shape of the body, and the camera angles where it’s not hiding anything but not going into creepy mode just lets it work beautifully. Within just a few pages I was sold on this creator as it has an almost lush feeling about it, which is hard as hell to produce in a black and white form.

In Summary
Nishiyama-san & Kurihara-kun was a random choice from the quick list of what I saw was updated recently on FAKU and it just clicked absolutely perfectly. The story itself is straightforward and there’s some minor but understandable character flaw pieces that could be off-putting at first, but Naganoro sells it with an honesty of character and some beautiful illustration work. This pairing of characters is one that I want to see a lot more of and hope that we get to see where their relationship goes after this awkward but hot as hell encounter. Very good stuff.

Content Grade: A-

Age Rating: 18+
Released By: Comic X-Eros #39 via FAKKU Subscription
Release Date: January 31st, 2016

Jojo’s Bizarre Training Adventure

Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Hirohiko Araki
Translation: Evan Galloway
Touch-Up Art & Lettering: Mark McMurray
Design: Fawn Lau
Editor: Urian Brown

What They Say:
The battle against evil takes a diabolical twist as more Pillar Men awaken! Now it is up to Joseph Joestar and his new ally Caesar Zeppeli to try and stop their nefarious plan! But these are creatures of unimaginable power, and JoJo and Caesar will have to get a lot stronger to even stand a chance in volume 2 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency!

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Jojo has gotten himself into a bit of a predicament, first with Zeppeli’s grandson Caesar and then with more Pillar Men, Wamuu, Kars, and Esidisi (named after the bands Wham!, The Cars, and AC/DC). The personalities of Jojo and Caesar simply don’t meld together. Jojo is a joker whose seriousness comes out in retrospect, but hardly ever at the moment. Caesar prefers to keep a serious profile and waves Jojo off as a joker before they even fought against each other. But when a pigeon flew into Caesar’s mouth, he realized that Jojo was more than he ever let on.

This really sets up for the rest of the character relation in what is largely a montage training arc that follows. Both men are trying to get better to defeat Wamuu, Kars, and Esidisi and to protect the Red Stone of Aja, but neither have that on their minds during their three weeks of training. Both of them are trying to best the other because of how competitive they are and their contrasting personalities. With Caesar, Araki has created a great foil for Jojo and a quick friend in someone that neither would expect in different circumstances.

The beginning of what seems to be the main arc of Battle Tendency, and what was set up with Santviento, is the Pillar Men that come to life in Italy. They prove much stronger than either Caesar or Jojo when they awaken and make quick work of both before running off to find the Red Stone of Aja. But before they leave, they place rings with poison in them that will release in 33 days. Through Jojo’s own natural 20 charisma check, he convinced the three Pillar Men to give Caesar and Jojo a month to train and face off against the Pillar Men in a fair fight.

Herein lays the Pillar Men’s flaw (character flaw, not flaw in the content): They’re a little cocky. And after 2,000 years of dormancy, they (fighting beings) are likely itching for a good fight. They give Jojo the time EVEN THOUGH the book said he’s the main character. It’s like they weren’t even paying attention to the fourth wall breaking. But in seriousness, they’re goaded into this by their own hubris. They would have left Jojo to die if not for his words and brain. Jojo fights with his fists, sure, but his real weapons aren’t physical.

But to defeat these Pillar Men, Jojo will need not just brains, but also Hamon. He and Caesar go to Caesar’s master, Lisa Lisa. Araki himself said Lisa Lisa was out of the mold of normal characters of the time (the late 80’s) there weren’t women characters that fought, or that had brawn at all, or were the master of anything except the stereotypical womanly things. Araki turned the formula and made Caesar’s master a girl to, in his words, even out the gender distribution in the manga.

Her “teaching” isn’t as much teaching as it is literally throwing them into a pit to climb out of using Hamon. The rest of the book is spent with her assistants, Meshina (named after Jim Messina) and Loggs (named after Kenny Loggins), and in montages, so her role as a character, at least thus far, is severely limited. Though I hear she’s really cool, so she’s bound to have more stuff coming.

The excitement comes in the final pages when, on the day of their last test, Loggs is killed by Esidisi, who has found the location of the Red Stone of Aja. Instead of testing Jojo’s strength by fighting Loggs, he has a real test against the Pillar Man who could have beaten him down and killed him just three weeks ago.

In Summary:
This Jojo’s is much different from Phantom Blood. Phantom Blood was driven by Jojo’s desire to defeat his adopted brother Dio. Battle Tendency is driven by a necessity to get stronger for the safety of the world. There’s also a sense of challenge to everything. Jojo doesn’t necessarily only want to save the world from the Pillar Men; he also wants to test his strength against these great beings. But there’s more at stake than the world or tests of strength. There’s also the poison Wamuu put into Jojo that’s not yet cured.

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

Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: February 2, 2016
MSRP: $19.99

Ace of the Diamond Second Season Episode 43

Todoroki on the mound for Yakushi, and he’s dominating Seidou.

What They Say:
“To This Side”

Raichi stands on the mound. Raichi’s fastballs get faster every pitch, and Maezono strikes out. Raichi’s strong performance as a pitcher brings life to the Yakushi batters in the bottom of the third. However, Kawakami does everything he can to keep them down.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The beginning of the episode features future players on both Seidou and Inashiro. An ace pitcher from a top junior high school going to Inashiro, Akamatsu Shinji, is the heir apparent to Narumiya Mei. And three players, two of which are tops in junior high and the third is the younger brother of former captain Yuki, have committed to Seidou. Even after the third years leave the school, Seidou looks only to get stronger with a fresh crop of first years.

It’s the top of the third with Seidou holding a razor thin lead of 2-0. With Todoroki on the mound, his semi-wild fastballs have put the Seidou batters off balance and it’s making it a lot harder for anyone to get any good hits in. Mishima isn’t nearly as good of a pitcher as Sanada, but he could mix pitches at all. Todoroki is early Sawamura-lite with Furuya’s power.

In the bottom of the third, the defensive momentum is in Yakushi’s favor. But with two outs and Mishima up to bat, and Todoroki on deck, Miyuki wants to end things before Todoroki comes up. They go full in against Mishima and overwhelm Mishima into a fly out.

The top of the fourth has Kawakami up to bat in the eight hole with one out, an interesting choice given that he’s a pitcher and not nearly as good at batting as Furuya. Joe Maddon’s take on it is your ninth batter will get you on base more likely than a pitcher would, which leads to the top of your lineup with a man on base in those situations. Whatever reason Kataoka went with, it means that it’s pitcher v. pitcher to begin the fourth inning. Kawakami grounds out to the pitcher and the next batter strikes out to end the inning. After a run each in the second and third innings from Seidou, neither side can get an advantage. It’s up to Seidou’s rotation to hold a strong Yakushi team down now.

There’s a bit of a flashback with Kawakami learning how to pitch, despite not really having the talent to. It’s a testament to his resilience that he was able to be in this strong Seidou rotation at all, in the fall because of his tenure over Furuya and Sawamura and in the spring because of his own merits.

The bottom of the fourth brings Todoroki up first against Kawakami, who’s been hot in the game. They’re going aggressive, with no men on base and no outs. The key here, just like when Todoroki faced off against Sawamura, is to not give up the long ball. Give up a single, double, even triple…just don’t give up the home run. That’ll open up the game for Yakushi’s lineup and could give them all the momentum they need to win the game. Miyuki wants to call the sinker to finish Todoroki off and, after getting the count up, he calls it to try for the out. Todoroki blasts the sinker to the decks and it’s a home run for Todoroki…on a bad pitch from Kawakami. No placement and too easy to hit for Todoroki. Truly, the darkest timeline has come for Seidou, at least in that situation. There’s still five innings to play, but Kawakami might not be able to hold his ground against a Yakushi team with some momentum. Sanada goes after the first pitch, but Tojo catches up with the ball and leaves the hit a single. Kawakami isn’t in the game anymore, or at least he doesn’t have the rhythm he had for the previous three innings.

In Summary:
One pitch is all it takes. The kicker is that it’s on a pitch that Kawakami wanted to bring back into his arsenal and not only did he throw a bad pitch, but it went for a home run. After Todoroki came onto the mound, it was essentially a deadheat between the two teams. Neither really had any momentum, but now it’s all on Yakushi. Kawakami, if he doesn’t come out of the game now, will soon unless he recovers. Furuya to close to get that precious S.

Grade: A-

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Equipment: PS3, LG 47LB5800 47” 1080p LED TV, LG NB3530A Sound Bar

Snow White with the Red Hair Episode #16

Getting to know you…. getting to know… okay, I’ll stop.

What They Say:
Episode #16: “The Name of that Step is Change”
As Shirayuki and Raj continue to explore their relationship, new developments unfold in the hunt for Kazuki in Tanbarun.

The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Shirayuki is counting down the hours until she returns back to Clarines, but is enjoying her time at the Tanbarun palace. Raj calms down from a high-strung nervous wreck to a more composed host. There are long walks through the gardens and time spent reading in the massive library. It’s like the world’s most awkward contractually obligated date, and we haven’t even gotten to the dancing yet! We do get a surprise in that Raj can play the violin rather well, and is considerate enough to ask Shirayuki what sort of music she’d like to dance to at the ball. It’s huge growth for his character, putting someone else’s needs before his own desires. Obi is terribly bored. Heck, even I’m getting bored of the make-good vacation Shirayuki’s on.

Obi should be careful what he wishes for. This appears to be the calm before the storm.

While the first season of this series progressed swiftly and rarely carried any single conflict through multiple episodes we’ve now spent the entirety of this season on one story arc. It’s starting to drag, but the storm is coming.

Mihaya I had pegged for a conniving ne’er-do-well who would do whatever it takes to get some cash, sort of guy. At the end of the previous episode it looked like he was about to join Kazuki, take the young blond kidnapper up on his offer. Instead, we find the fallen aristocrat soaked and miserable and meeting up with Zen to tell him Kazuki got away and he knows Shirayuki is in Tanbarun.

What causes Kazuki to track our red-headed protagonist across countries to pursue her?Where did this deranged stalker come from? How does he even know her? We still don’t know. We do know that there is also a drunken pirate lady involved in this somehow. Zen though, he’s panicking. He packs it up, pleads with his brother to head to Tanbarun to save her, and takes off. He sends a message as fast as he can to her and it arrives just as Shirayuki is getting ready for the ball.

And only moments before the kidnapper finds her. Raj’s palace has terrible security! The preview for the next episode looks amazingly violent for this show, but since this series tends to save the animation budget for those episodes I’m hopefully it’ll look amazing. This episode lacked in the ‘staying on model’ department.

In Summary:
Shirayuki must have been born under a bad sign for all of these people to constantly want to kidnap her. Driving force of conflict aside, this episode was almost sleepy in nature, as the twins (well, really just Rona and the rest of the castle staff) attempt to get their prince to admit he’s in love with Shirayuki. He’s not, but Obi is still being tortured by his position and presence in Shirayuki’s life. What place does a heartsick servant have in the life of the woman he protects? Hopefully not that of the sacrificial, unrequited love interest. I worry for his safety come next episode.

Episode Grade: B

Streamed by: Funimation

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

If there was a show designed to be in HD….

What They Say:
Albert is a young man of privilege in Paris, but the trappings of his aristocratic birth leave him bored and unsatisfied. Seeking adventure, Albert’s restless spirit leads him to a festival on the moon – and to the Count of Monte Cristo. An enigmatic man of charm and wealth, the Count of Monte Cristo’s charisma and sophistication captivate Albert. The fascinated youth invites the nobleman to mingle within the upper echelons of Parisian society, and the Count is soon courting the favor of France’s most powerful families. Little does Albert know, as his new friend walks the ornate halls of the highest class, the Count of Monte Cristo wants only to bring them crashing down through vengeance.

The Review:
Audio:
In a strange sense, with the English dub in a 5.1 format and the Japanese in a 2.0 stereo format, with a French dub as well also in 2.0, it was the Japanese release I felt was the best of the tracks – adoring the series, I watched it both in English and Japanese and felt it odd that I actually had to slightly raise my volume statistics with the English release and yet not so with the Japanese one – the quality is still good, but the Japanese dub (and briefly did go to the French one, which doesn’t have the English subtitles obviously) is superb – and every time in the Japanese you hear the narrator speak in good French beginning with ‘madames, monsieurs, bonsoir’ I get chills. All three tracks are more than acceptable, but for once, going to give the nod to the Japanese audio as a preference – the dub itself is still a great quality though (this was pre before shows like Hetalia wanted to go overboard with the accents…)

Video:
The video is set in full-screen format with a 16:9 – 1.78:1 aspect ratio for this review in a full-screen format and…wow. This is a show over 10 years old yet had a very unique animation style by combining CG and traditional animation, but went the one step further with the designs and how the animation literally shines at you (using Photoshop textures into digital animation) – the jackets are reflective and mingling with the background, almost like they are a show of their own. To say it is very psychedelic at times is an understatement but you don’t get a headache from it – it somehow flows very naturally and the way it is transferred into HD, it is the way to watch this show. It is definitely unique and may not be to everyone’s cup of tea, but it is stunning to look at, the transfers are perfect (no slowdown, pausing it just makes you appreciate it even more, synching with the subtitles) and it is just a joy to behold.

Packaging:
There was no packaging for this test release.

Menu:
The menu screen in all 4 discs are of clips of the show melting from a sequence which I think is from the ending song into clips with it done in traditional French as ‘The Comte De Monte Cristo’ – with the selections on the bottom on a horizontal bar, of Play All, Episodes, Set Up and Credits (with Extras on one of the discs) – it is just a gorgeous showcase of the show whilst being easily accessible like most Blu-Ray releases, such as having the pop-up menu in show (very useful when wanting to listen to all three tracks) and easily selectable – quick, simple and stunning to welcome you to the world of the Count.

Extras:
The only extras on the Blu-Ray discs themselves are the cleaning opening and ending, however if you order the special edition you will get a steel casing and art book.

The first episode should immediately set you in for some madness. The introduction of two best friends, the Viscount Albert de Morcef and Baron Franz d’Epinay are attending an event on a space area called Luna – however during the viewing, they encounter a mysterious aristocrat that goes by the name of The Count of Monte Cristo (and off the record, when this scene happened, I actually cried just to how gorgeous it looks combined with the operatic music in the background). During this supposed chance meeting, the Count, seemingly wanting to meet friends of the nobility, invites the two to dinner and watch the final event of the show, where there are three murderers about to die. The Count gives Albert the choice to pardon one of the murderers, but he chooses the nastiest one – upset, he goes and actually gets into a sexual encounter with a maid…who turns out to be a) a boy and b) working for a gang leader and kidnaps Albert for ransom.

So yeah, not much happens.

So after that mind screw, Franz is looking for Albert, and the murderer who was pardoned is also part of the same gang and holds him for ransom for 50 million francs. Franz tries everywhere to help, but no one can. Desperate, and unlike Albert is suspicious of the Count with his rather vampiric look, goes to ask the Count for help. This is where you realise there is something peculiar about the Count as something emerges named ‘Gankutsuou’ but for quite a while in the series, this doesn’t crop up again. However, it is always there which adds to Franz’ suspicions…yet the Count does save him and as a favour wishes for Albert to introduce him to Parisian society…

And thus, the story truly begins.

At first, it is hard to see what kind of story it is – there is something definitely off about the Count with his pale blue skin, vampire-esque fangs, and this strange look but he is very charming, kind and generous – all he seems to want is to get more involved in aristocratic society. And for a lot of the time, it is – the story changes between the Count and Albert, as we are introduced to his friends and his fiancé (an arranged marriage but are childhood friends – the two seem to bicker a lot but there is definitely some care there with Albert and Eugenie), a man named Maximilien who saves them when they drive a car in a ditch, and Franz’ fiancé Valentine who Maximilien seems enamoured with. They all are introduced to the Count (and again, some issues are raised like when their photographer friend Robert’s pictures of the Count are not shown and any dialogue with him seems deleted) and Albert, almost with a schoolboy crush like atmosphere, introduces the Count to his parents…which at first seems just polite manners, but you can tell there is something between the Count and both Albert’s mother and father, especially his mother…

The early episodes of the show definitely indicate something bigger. This doesn’t come into play immediately but gradually does that the Count definitely is interested in Albert’s wellbeing (the next episode Albert and Maximillian have a duel over values and Albert is nearly killed in the Count’s abode – which has a sea of space sharks in it…yeah, this is definitely the future) – the Count gets involved with many aspects of Albert’s family, including visiting Eugenie’s father who is a businessman, and is able to open an account with unlimited credit (which again, seems like a small plot point but comes full circle when the true story is revealed) and the Count’s apparent lady friend Haydee seems to recognise Albert’s father, but his first real showcase that he has more sinister motives is when he gives Eugenie’s mother a present, a rubied ring…which actually has a poison spike inside it. So when the Count holds an event for all the families (including a prosecutor/officer who seems to add another piece of the puzzle overall) and reveals his apparent disease which makes his body practically see through to Albert alone, you can tell he is either genuinely concerned for Albert or using him as some sort of pawn. Albert himself is poisoned yet is saved by the count, but others aren’t so lucky…

This is where the story begins to take shape. With all the parties assembled, Albert’s father, Eugenies’ father, the prosecutor Villefort and another man outside the aristocracy are involved to a funeral signed ‘Edmond Dantes’. A man they all thought was dead…but they find no body in the coffin. At this point, most people can see who it is but why he is linked with all these people is very cleverly told as this Dantes’ man has links with all of them, and was presumed dead…yet you know who he really is. And thus, the Count slowly puts his pawns around the chess board – Franz is very distrusted of the Count whilst Albert believes he is innocent, whilst Eugenie’s engagement is broken and instead looks set to wed a man named Cavalcanti – an apparent aristocrat…but also yet another one of the Counts’ pawns. Villefort tries to arrest the Count whilst Eugenie’s father wants to cut all ties with Albert’s father, and then the connection that Haydee has with Alberts’ father and what Albert’s mother has to do with this Edmond Dantes….it is all very cleverly put together as the story is eventually shown as one of revenge via this Edmond Dontes…or should I say The Count of Monte Cristo.

The Count’s motives of the three men in question of betraying him, losing his love and framed for crimes that they committed, he was taken in by the demon Gankutsou whilst imprisoned – using Dantes’ body as a vessel for power after rotting away in prison. His befriending of Albert was the first step in his way for revenge, but you can also tell by the conclusion of the series that he genuinely cared for Albert. Albert’s naivety was his main flaw, though, and when he finally realises the game Albert was playing, it costs him his best friend and nearly costs him the love of his life. However despite all this, the final episodes are genuinely sad – whether you agreed with the Count or not, his ultimate being taken over by Gankutsou and his wanting to reject it to save Albert is nothing short of touching.

There is so much going on here – I haven’t even explained the roles of so many characters. Haydee for example, is a real piece of the puzzle that gradually is showcased when you learn of whom she is and what her past is and why she is so devoted to the Count – her conflicts of her own revenge vs. wanting to make sure the man she loves isn’t consumed by his own revenge. Eugenie has to deal with not wanting her arranged marriage to realising she has always loved Albert, and the fact she is seen as a pawn in her father’s ways to retrain his wealth when things go south is pretty upsetting (which comes full circle when he tries to scarper, but the Count finds him and his unlimited credit loophole really bites him in the rear). Alberts’ father, the General, his own past is unravelled and you see the jealousy he had for Dantes and also Albert’s mother Mercedes, when she reveals her past to Albert and is one of the first to realise the Counts’ true identity, everything slow sinks in of this rather well told mystery.

The true star of course though is the Count. A sophisticated gentleman with an unusual complexion (more than once they could be another Count with those vampiric like fangs), his presence as the Count of one who is pulling so many strings that you get the feeling even he doesn’t know everyone he has managed to control. His relationship with Albert gets very borderline obsessive – whether it was just pure manipulation, genuine care for the boy, or both, his desire for revenge and the times he has to fight Gankutsuou taking total control are painful to watch (Gankutsou isn’t actually on screen much but you know from the 2nd episode he is there, and the slow manipulation and more anger shown from the Count showcases his succumbing to the beast within) – but despite being a villain protagonist, he is so charismatic that for a lot of the show you are rooting for him to win (and he does have genuine reasons for revenge which helps that the three people he is getting vengeance for with the exception of Alberts’ father seem to have no real regrets or morals) even when he does things that you don’t approve of…the duel against Franz being the key one (Franz is another very likeable character as well – his care for both his fiancé despite her liking someone else as it was arranged, and Albert – it certainly hits you in the feels come the duel…though the duels of giant mech like knights fighting were definitely somehow too weird even for this show…)

If I had to nitpick and say something that was bad about the series (assuming you are fine with the very unique style and animation it uses), aside from the above mentioned strange moments involving the duels (and considering the show is set in the 5000s, it isn’t that surprising) it is a combination of how sci-fi and aristocracy works together can feel a little out of place. One moment you have Eugenie and Albert driving down an old country road, the next you are walking around an intergalactic spaceship of the Counts. It can be a bit strange but it does actually work, though you have to get used to it. The other thing I will mention is that the other main lead Albert, can be a bit grating. Not like he is an annoying character, but more like his naivety is so blinding that it literally takes the entire series and seeing the Count pretty much screw over his father to see that the Count was using him, and even then it takes him a hard time to believe it.

That said, it is one of those series you either love or go ‘WTF’ about. I am definitely the former – it is definitely not your typical anime, even for an action piece or romantic piece or even a sci-fi piece, it is a medium of its own. Deriving from a classic piece and going full LSD mode on it, it tells a unique story despite being based on one, with an incredible visual style that you will immediately be amazed by or put off it in the first 5 minutes. I really hope most people give it a shot who haven’t come across this series before – it is gripping, mysterious, the Count is one of the greatest examples of a cool ‘evil’ villain, the big sub cast all get their moments in the sun, some tragic back-story and tragic endings, and some gorgeous music which I haven’t touched upon (the opening and ending are in English, but whilst the opening is calm and melancholy, the ending is fast paced and manic, both drawn differently as well) – it is such a breakthrough series of mixing sci-fi, history, mystery and revenge (and even a bit of romance – Albert seems to get 4 admirers throughout – and three of them are male) that I’m amazed how well the story is told throughout considering how much is going on. It leads you into believing it is a tale about a nobleman in society…and it turns out to be a huge complex story of revenge with supernatural elements.

In other words, 4 discs of awesome.

In Summary:
Gankutsou: The Count of Monte Cristo is a series that will have either massive fans or huge detractors because of its very unique animation. Beneath the drugged up style though is a fascinating story about an aristocrat in a futuristic setting, yet all is not what he seems. Dragging up the past of some of our main character’s parents combined with a lot of twists and tales, this story takes the classic novel and changes it into something that still makes sense and captivates the viewer. The Count is one of the greatest villains ever because, for the most of it, he doesn’t even seem like one and when he does, you still wish for him to succeed, and the way his story is told is remarkable. A true anime masterpiece.

Features:
Japanese Language, English Language, Clean Opening and Endings, Special Edition Steel Book Casing and Artbook

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

Released By: Anime Limited
Release Date: February 8th, 2016
MSRP: £44.99
Running Time: 600 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen

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

The b-team truly steps up.

Creative Staff:
Story: Cullen Bunn
Art: Blacky Shepherd
Colors: Adriano Augusto

What They Say:
An all new Voltron Force has risen from the ashes to pilot the mighty robot in defense of Planet Arus and the Universe. They have undergone rigorous trials, but they have never faced the fury of even one – let alone three – of Haggar’s RoBeasts. Should they survive this challenge, an even more terrible threat awaits!

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The fifth issue of Voltron: From the Ashes gives us the final part of the baptism by fire aspect of this team. We’ve seen just how dysfunctional this group has been and what they need to accomplish and how difficult it was and we’ve seen the way that they ended up “lucking” into the job after the main team got killed before even making it to Voltron. It’s a familiar origin story design that Bunn and Shepherd executed well enough but it also fell into an area where half the miniseries focused on the getting there part while drawing in a good bit of material from the past team from two centuries ago, which threw off the energy of it all. But now, in the present continuity, this team has found their mojo.

And it is pretty fun to see them go at it with the Robeasts, discovering what they’re capable of and how far they can go with it. As Gr’rawr notes along the way, they’re able to combine and separate with such ease and smoothness that it belies their virgin run in the machine and just how attuned they are. Thankfully, that’s addressed to some degree in the opening pages as we see them talking about how connected they feel to it and each other as the fight moves further in and it’s reinforced by their desire to save others. There is some of that shown with people being saved in the city but also the understanding of the losses that have been going on as some of them really feel quite badly about it. But the nature of the team dynamic means that some are just enjoying the win that they get by the halfway point here in this issue, believing the job done and having saved the day.

Of course, we know this is just a quiet moment before the big new design shows up for the finale, because this is not a series that’s going to give us an issue and a half of epilogue material. While we get that tease at the end, it is interesting to see that we get some time with the post-fight celebration and praise that the team gets which in turn has them feeling very humble. It’s an area to explore some good character material but instead they opt to do a couple of pages of flashback showing the holy site of Voltron over the past two hundred years with how it’s grown from a simple fire of survival to the shining beacon that it is. Again, good stuff in a general sense, but so poorly placed within the context of the series so as to drive me nuts.

In Summary:
Voltron continues to feel like a weird mess of series in what it’s doing that it comes across as though it’s going to run a dozen issue and then found out it was half, resulting in some weird compression but a desire to not remove favorite scenes. Bunn captures the characters in their basic personalities well and I like some of what Shepherd is going here, but there’s a lot of odd layouts and designs that are just overlapping too much and with too many similar colors that leaves it a blended mess, particularly in the early part of the fight here. While Voltron has never been a huge favorite, I’m still trying to get a handle on what the real point of all this is as it’s one hell of an awkward relaunch into new and original territory.

Grade: C

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: February 3rd, 2016
MSRP: $3.99

A new path forward in a far flung future.

Creative Staff
Story/Art: Kentaro Miura
Translation/Adaptation: Not Listed

What They Say
From Berserk creator Kentaro Miura comes Giganto Maxia, a science-fiction/fantasy manga of titanic proportions! One hundred million years in the future, the Empire of Olympus uses colossal mutant beasts to crush its adversaries. Only the gladiator Delos, the mystic Prome, and the titan Gohra can hope to prevent genocide!

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Kentaro Miura has certainly delighted me across the years with his work on Berserk, though I’ll easily admit I fell out of the ongoing releases years ago due to the irregular schedule for it and the drawn out nature. But the man can produce some visually stirring work on an epic scale that few creators are able to – mostly because the ones that gain fame are those that work the weekly churn. Miura took some time off from Berserk to stretch his skills with this series back in late 2013 to early 2014, a seven chapter/single volume book that tells one particular tale. It’s the kind of exercise that’s good for a storyteller, particularly one mired deep within an expansive and decades-long work, as it lets them flex and break free from it for a bit.

The tale is the very loose kind where the less you ask about the details the better off you are. Taking place a hundred million years in the future, we’re introduced to a world where everything has been altered in a dark and post-apocalyptic way that’s reminiscent of Nausicaa to a degree. When a mass from space collided with the Earth it brought about the end times for man, resulting in small and unusual scatterings across the globe. It also gave rise eventually to the Giganto, massive creatures that are like sea creatures given to be hundreds of feet tall and massive in their power. Some of these giganto are controlled by the Empire that runs a hard and cruel nation that destroys so much that’s out in the wastelands, particularly as they try to gain control over more giganto that exist out there.

Where we follow the tale is with a warrior of the wasteland, a wrestler of sorts named Delos. Delos works with a little girl named Prome who is essentially his contractor, using him to achieve her goals. The pair are part of what she’s trying to bring about into the world with a new form of symbiosis as they’re able to become a giganto themselves. So what it wants to work through is showing the nature of their relationship as they end up at the sprawling and intriguing scarab beetle village where humans, the strain known as Myu, exist with the beetles. The outlying villages related to this have been hunted and destroyed for some time and the empire is closing in on them, which has Prome wanting to come there to try and see how they operate and if they’re part of how the world is changing.

That’s all a very loose look at the overarching storyline because there really isn’t a whole lot deeper than that, though you can easily read a lot more into it. Where it wants to spend its time, and wisely so, is with the expansive fight sequences. Early on we get several chapters showing the fight between Delos and the best warrior of the village and it’s just a sprawling wrestling match between two highly skilled and powerful people. There are some striking sequences in how it unfolds and Miura’s detail and flow of it with the layouts and movements just make it captivating to go through, a true master of his craft. Just as engaging but in a different way are the giganto fights move as we get a lot of incredible two-page and one-page spreads that just defy visually. There’s so much detail to it, so rich in layers and nuance with how it all works and the musculature of it, that you could easily spend hours poring over it as a lesson in how to create something incredibly dynamic.

In Summary
I was curious about this short run series back when it was first announced in Japan and I was thrilled when Dark Horse picked it up. Considering their strong support of Miura over the years with Berserk you could consider it a given, but you never know. What we get with this book is like a sliver of a far larger story, a snapshot of events that tease the larger concept but focus on what’s essentially a brawling book, and it works surprisingly well if you stick to that angle. The story is simplistic but it’s designed to be easily accessible. What makes it a thrilling ride to take is just the visual design and detail of the artwork as it feels incredibly rare to see this kind of work out there these days, even more so with what gets licensed in the US. This may not be a mainstream book but it’s the kind of book that really should be looked at for the greater appreciation of what the medium can produce from such a talent as Miura.

Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: B+

Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: February 3rd, 2016
MSRP: $13.99

What’s meant to be a “positive” volume takes an on an unintentionally dark tone

Creative Staff
Story/Art: Haruko Kurumatani
Translation: Christine Dashiell

What They Say
Quite by accident, Youta and Hikaru have finally returned to their original bodies. It should be a happy event, but just because they’ve reverted back to normal doesn’t mean their brother-sister relationship can so easily return to the way it once was. Hikaru is adamant not to lose the momentum she’s gained over the past few weeks, but Koizumi is equally resolved to see Hikaru as only his sister. Now that she’s back in her own body and not his, though, it’s impossible for him not to notice how attractive the whole Hikaru really is…

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Though their bodies may be back to normal, Youta finds that things are not back to how they used to be, as Hikaru continues to be ridiculously aggressive. Rather than trying to do something interesting with the siblings having changed back, the author instead introduces Youta and the to the new school nurse, Ichika Saotome. In part because she reminds him of Hikaru before all this started, Youta becomes somewhat interested in her, which of course upsets Hikaru. As a result Hikaru pushes even stronger (with the rather awkward angle of her essentially blackmailing him into doing what she wants), and Youta falls even further down the path towards incestuous love. And due to the internal conflict of all this, Youta ends up driving himself to the point of collapsing from exhaustion, and wakes up in the nurse’s office. And in a real surprise twist, both him and the nurse are naked in bed, and she says that they got busy! Obviously Youta panics and starts talking about taking responsibility, which in turn pisses off Hikaru enough to lead to the one great moment of the volume, as she just straight up goes for a hard enough head-butt to trigger another switch!

And with this, Hikaru takes up the reigns and continues where Youta left off, blatantly trying to bait her brother into being jealous. Which of course works, forcing him to get more and more desperate, until he finally admits to Ichijou that he’s in love with Hikaru. And to wrap up the other plot, it turns out that Ichijou knows Ichika, and outs that she made up everything regarding what happened with Youta, which it least brings with it some amusing reactions.

After this, we finally get to the obvious point of the romance becoming official when it turns out Ichijou sent Hikaru a recording of Youta’s confession. Which is a silly way to finally burst that barrier, but there’s been so much pointless dancing around what was blatantly going to happen that it’s honestly appreciated. And in an especially awkward bit… Youta just kind of accepts it, and all of his inner turmoil about Hikaru being family is set aside and the book is like “nope, they’re a couple now.” It really does feel like something important and potentially interesting was just swept under the rug, which is definitely unfortunate. To add to that, they tell their parents pretty much right away, to which the response is essentially “go for it, just don’t bone each other in front of your little brother and sister.” And continuing on the “let’s just rush through this as quickly as possible” train, they go straight to a love hotel. Of course this does lead to yet another scene which is kind of rape-y, as Youta realizes he can’t deal with having sex when Hikaru’s in his body, but apparently Hikaru finishes the act anyway. From the art and the writing it’s obviously aiming for humor, but the result honestly feels like non-consensual sex again, making for an absolutely lovely way to end the book.

In Summary
With this volume, the series really does seem to have hit a bit of a nadir in terms of quality. Most of the book goes to pushing through with the incestuous relationship, which is to be expected I suppose. And yet, the author seems kind of unwilling to deal with any of the complexity or more difficult parts of the matter, and they’re literally swept under the rug and bulldozed over. Despite the fact that the book has used Youta to discuss these issues, even in this very volume, it just hits a “this is happening” moment and the book just rushes forward and weirdly forgets all that. And on the matter of disturbing points that have always hung around the book, it’s with this volume that it becomes really abundantly clear that Youta has been pushed into practically developing Stockholm Syndrome, even if that’s not the author’s intent.

His voice is disturbingly pretty much silenced throughout, and there’s all sorts of cases both here and previously where he’s forced into sexual acts either through blackmail or literal physical force. And sure, the author occasionally inserts a bit here or there of “but he’s so in love with her and just repressing it”, but the critical step of him coming to grips with the relationship being awkwardly absent is just the final bit that makes it clear how messed up their relationship truly is. Hopefully the author holds at least some recognition of this issue and plans on tackling it in whatever’s left of the series, as it is a rather serious one that seems like it’s just going to up and disappear. Either way, for now we get yet another volume fraught with serious issues with the way it approaches “love”, and also one that’s otherwise bland enough that even one or two funny moments aren’t enough to salvage it.

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

Age Rating: Older Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: November 17th, 2015
MSRP: $12.99

Meat makes me happy!

What They Say:
The Kunahama Institute is one of the first in the world to give out new anti-gravity footwear to its students. Not only does this invention change the way the basic world functions, with students now being able to shoot across the sky, but it also gives birth to a new sport — The Flying Circus. Asuka Kurashina is a new transfer student at Kunahama who has never wanted anything more than the ability to fly. Suddenly mixed in with students who have already mastered the art of flight, Asuka must overcome physical and mental barriers as she adapts to a new environment filled with new people, all while trying to master a new way of life.

The Review:
Content: (Please note that the content portion of the review may contain spoilers)
As the flying circus training season progresses for the Kunahama Institute’s new team, the skills and abilities of almost every member begin to skyrocket as well. Asuka and Misaki are both improving at an incredibly impressive pace, while Mashiro, on the other hand, is starting to feel like she’s being left in the dust. After watching the two other girls compete in a practice match, she starts to feel like she can’t even keep up with Asuka — which is a total red flag in her book considering how terrible she was just weeks ago. Needless to say, Mashiro starts falling into a relatively depressing slump and spends most of her time laying in bed talking to her stuffed animal friends about her desire to get better. To her good fortune, however, she winds up bumping into Rika from Takafuji High who is on her way home one night. Being basically desperate at this point, Mashiro requests that Rika play an impromptu match against her. This ultimately results in Rika taking the petite and fiery white-haired girl under her wing as an apprentice.

Mashiro, who is trying incredibly hard to improve and catch up to Asuka, has some trouble with Rika’s training at first. Considering that Mashiro has been as a fighter since the formation of the Kunahama flying circus team, she has a hard time grasping the basics of speeding. But once Rika coerces her into tossing aside everything she knows and just going back to the starting line, things begin to look up. After just one week of nightly training sessions, Mashiro has heightened her skills to an all-time personal peak. The most interesting part of this, however, is how quickly the relationship between these two girls grows. Just a week ago, they were strangers who only knew each other from the short-lived Kunahama/Takafuji training camp. Now, Rika and Mashiro are getting together nearly every night and eating noodles and doing other things that girls do when they hang out. It’s actually quite adorable.

After the training ends and the two begin to wrap up their nightly sessions with each other, Mashiro makes a sort of confession to Rika as she is leaving. Using her stuffed animal as a medium for communication with the Takafuji starter, Mashiro claims that she wants to take their relationship to the next level. Unfortunately, it can be assumed that she means this in a totally platonic, non-yuri way (Damn). Being a delightful and cheery spirit, Rika agrees and the two laugh the night away as things go from tough to jubilant in the blink of an eye.

The next day, Mashiro takes on Asuka in a practice match. This time around, she is no longer the empty shell of a flying circus player she was just a week ago. In fact, she even has a special move up her sleeve tailored in a way that is sure to completely counter Asuka. As the match goes on, Mashiro unveils that secret technique and ultimately goes on to win the match, showing that sometimes practice really does make perfection. In the end, all of the girls wind up right back at Mashiro’s house to once again eat noodles and do more girl things before the episode comes to an end.

In Summary:
This installment of AOKANA is a delightful glimpse into Mashiro’s character and really helps viewers create a bond with her. Prior to this episode, Mashiro was just the rambunctious girl that was tied to Misaki’s hip. However, now that the series has shone some light on her, she’s seen as this hilarious and innocent, yet passionate and determined individual with a desire to improve herself as not only a flying circus player but as a person. The relationship quickly crafted between her and Rika features some of the best character chemistry in the series so far and there wasn’t really any point in the episode where it didn’t seem that way. I’m actually really impressed with how this episode played out in comparison to the previous three. And just as I wanted it to, AOKANA tossed aside the flying circus background information and utilized its time for character progression, which is extremely hopeful in terms of how this series should play out.

Grade: B+

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

What if you put out a series where the main character is barely a bit player?

What They Say:
When he set off for the Capital, all Tatsumi wanted was a way to make money. Instead, he finds himself rescued from a fate worse than death by a group of assassins known as Night Raid, and thrust into the middle of a bloody revolution. On the one side: Prime Minister Honest, his secret police, elite squad of assassins, and the armies of the Empire. On the other: Night Raid and a handful of rebels desperate to overthrow the brutal regime of Honest’s puppet emperor. Leveling the playing field: the Imperial Arms, a legendary set of unstoppable weapons created in the distant past. But to use an Imperial Arm is practically a death sentence, for only a select few can even survive using them… and when two Arms go against each other, only the user of one is likely to survive in Akame ga Kill!

The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release gets a nice bump up overall as we get the original Japanese language track in stereo while the English language mix is done in 5.1, both of which are encoded using the DTS-HD MA lossless codec. The show works a good balance of action and dialogue so that each is well presented, but the action side naturally comes across stronger simply because of how it operates. It also works better here since the sequences are fun to watch and there’s a decent bit of movement across the forward soundstage. This has a bit more impact – and bass – through the 5.1 mix that English-language fans get, but the stereo mix for Japanese fans is quite solid as well. Both mixes hit a good balance with the dialogue in general as it moves about, but it doesn’t work deep with placement of depth as it’s a bit more straightforward. Both tracks come across clean and clear from what we heard, doing mostly spot-checking on the English language track and listening to it in full while writing this review.

Video:
Originally airing in 2014, 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 for this set are spread across two discs with nine on the first and three on the second. Animated by White Fox, the show has a pretty good look about it with some very good color pop and vibrancy to let it stand out. It’s not a garish show by any means but it works a lot of different colors through the character costuming in order to be easily identifiable and it works well to give it some life. The show works a solid visual design when it comes to detail and overall character animation though it’s a little more towards the middle of the road than high end. That said, the transfer captures it quite well and there’s a good smoothness to how it all looks and a very solid look to the colors. Backgrounds look great with a solid feeling to them and little in the way of noise to be had in larger solid color fields. The end result is a pretty pleasing looking transfer overall.

Packaging:
The packaging for this collector’s edition is, as you’d expect, pretty damn great. The heavy chipboard box gives us a dark looking piece that’s quite appropriate where the main panel is a near full-length shot of Akame against the moon from early on in the series. The back cover provides her and her sister together with something a little more bloody that’s accented by the blood-splattered dark background to it. Both of them set the mood well and with the red wrap, in general, it definitely gives it some additional weight. Amusingly, my favorite part was actually the spine as it provides a look at the other characters set against the setting sun and part of the city, feeling very “fantasy” oriented in a way.

Within the box, we get two clear DVD keepcases with each format getting their own case. The Blu-ray case gives us a really moody piece with Akame up close while the DVD case lets Tatsumi take center stage in a similar way, both of which work very well. The back covers are well laid out and not like the usual releases as it breaks out the discs by episodes and titles with images for each of them, allowing the visuals to draw you in. With no summary of the premise pieces here, since they assume if you’re buying a CE you know what you’re getting into, the packaging real estate is well utilized. The bottom runs to the normal design with the production credits and accurate and easy to read technical grids for both formats. Each case has artwork on the reverse side as well that works the Night Raid logo as well as more character artwork of the women of the organization.

The big extra for me here is the included hardcover book called The Red Book. With a wrap around it that says it’s full of spoilers, I’ll admit I didn’t read deep as I have the other set to go and haven’t seen it yet. But this full-color book runs just under a hundred pages and is chock full of great character material, visuals, background information, and interviews with the staff that it’s a wonderfully rich resource that will delight any fan of the show. It’s definitely a strong selling point for the collector’s edition with something unique.

The set also comes with a small spacer box that has some wonderful fanservice bathing suit images of a few of the women of Night Raid and holds more material inside. It’s in here that we get the cute temporary tattoos, the die-cut sticker, and the mini poster. They’re fun little bonus items to up the collectability of the set, but it’s the hardcover book that really does it.

Menu:
Sentai changes up their menu design for this release a bit from the norm as we actually get an animated menu. They don’t do these often, but when they do they mostly work pretty well in choice. With a bit of music playing to it, we get a look at some of the Imperial Arms through the camera movements as well as most of the main cast as it plays through, resulting in a good looking menu that sets the tone well for what you’re about to watch. The navigation is also a bit different as it’s all small boxes along the bottom for the individual episodes by number and titles and separate boxes for languages and extras where applicable. They’re all easy to read and look good with the blood splattered aspect used similar to the cover design, tying it in well. Everything is quick to access and navigation is a breeze both as the main menu and as a pop-up menu.

Extras:
The extras for this release are kept to the second disc and we get some pretty fun stuff. The familiar are here in the always welcome clean opening and closing sequences as well as a selection of the original Japanese promos prior to its broadcast there. The big extra here are the ONA bonus shorts that run just a hair over a minute each. Animated by C-Station, they’re quirky and silly humor pieces that play to the cast well, especially when it wants to poke fun at the expected fanservice and instead serves up other things. Instinct takes you to the hot spring episode but it was the Girl’s Bar episode that made me laugh the most. With twelve of them here, they’re definitely fun and I’m glad that once you start playing them it auto plays them all.

The premise of the series is one that works well enough as we get a kind of fantasy series that involves a world that’s based on a feudal design. We’re introduced to a young man named Tatsumi who has come to the Imperial Capital initially to find work along with his friends to send back to their village and help out. Unfortunately, the friends are killed along the way and now Tatsumi is just looking to get back at those that did this. His only reason for being alive is that he ended up rescued by Night Raid, a group of assassins that view themselves as the people’s heroes and are trying to save the country from itself. The big picture here is that the Emperor, a young boy, is mostly being taken advantage of by a cruel and deceitful minister that has him under his thumb. He runs the empire by proxy in this way in a very intense way with lots of people ending up dead and a really downbeat aspect to those that live in the sprawling and impressive capital itself.

The group that Tatsumi falls into are pretty varied in a few different but expected ways as there are those with military backgrounds that shifted sides, regular folks that discovered some strong fighting abilities, and those that just gravitate towards such enterprises in order to do the right thing. One of those is the title character of the series, Akame, who is one of the more intense fighters there as she was an assassin for the empire previously. She’s not hugely cold, but she has a dark and threatening side to her that comes out all the time. Amusingly, while she’s the title character she comes across more as a third level character here because the show is actually about Tatsumi. At least in this first half of it. Since we’re introduced to this group through Tatsumi’s eyes that makes a bit of sense at first. But as it progresses he ends up spending time with almost everyone else but Akame and it feels like there are episodes where we don’t even see her at all. She may be a bit bigger of a player in the second half for all I know, but it’s a weird and amusing way to title and run a series.

As you can expect from a show of this length and with the small but decent sized cast that exists within Night Raid, the first half of the run mostly revolves around introducing Tatsumi to the characters, providing most of them with an episode of their own to explore their quirks while nudging Tatsumi’s training alongside them, and digging into more of the makeup of the world. There are plenty of familiar aspects here, but what I like is that the series changes things up in a way that does feel old school. As we get to know the cast we get into some difficult fight situations that result in the loss of a couple of characters. Not wounded and out of commission for a while, but rather killed in service of the cause of trying to stop the Empire from being totally evil. They may come back for all I know, cause dead is never dead in most series, but by taking them out of the equation in these episodes, we end up with a regularly changing dynamic amid the Night Raid members. And even more so for Tatsumi as it just shocks him that this is happening, even though he knows what he signed up for.

Part of what he gets to learn alongside all of this is an interesting part to the history of the nation. Going back a thousand years to the founder of the Empire, this ruler knew he would not live to see it through properly so he created a hundred Imperial Arms, specialty devices that can do amazing things and haven’t been able to be replicated since this golden age ended. They were used to promote and protect the empire, but a hundred years ago they were scattered to the winds. So the Night Raid group, working as part of the Revolutionary Army, seeks to bring them back and put them in proper hands for the future of a better empire. This ends up giving various members some special weapons to work with and some unique abilities, include Tatsumi as he eventually goes through the training. The welcome part is that this isn’t an instant thing and it’s closer to the end of this set that he even gets anything. It’s not even a big part of the story in the first half of this set though they’re present. It’s another area where the show really does ease us into things as it wants to tell its larger story and explore the characters and setting with all of its connections.

Every series needs a good villain and this one provides for several though they’re a bit layered in a way. The Prime Minister is the main bad guy but is mostly off screen or just manipulating things to prove his evilness. There are a range of more physically oriented folks that take up the mantle to interact with Night Raid, such as Zanku the Executioner and a few others, but the big one that comes into play later in this half is Esdeath. Esdeath is a harsh but beautiful looking young woman who has a brutal reputation with a lot of blood on her hands. She simply exists to do the dirty work of the empire. So when she’s brought back to the capital to deal with Night Raid after they begin making bigger players, it’s certainly a worrying time. Unfortunately for the Empire – and for Tatsumi, she’s growing up a bit herself and is looking for a mate. Which means we know that she settles on Tatsumi after an encounter. It’s a bit awkward and leads to some weird sequences overall, but it also adds the right kind of humor into the mix to add a surreal element that fits surprisingly well. You can see how it’ll be used in general, but in these initial stages, it provides something more tangible for viewers when it comes to the Empire’s side.

In Summary:
I had no idea what to really expect going into this series since I didn’t follow the simulcast nor the manga. A little time and distance from all of its big push certainly help. The show feels like a really fun throwback to 90’s anime in a lot of ways with it doing some big things, playing with a good range of characters, and slicing some away as needed to refocus and sharpen itself. I’m still amused at how little the title character makes an impact as it’s almost all about Tatsumi. But would anyone watch Tatsumi ga KILL!? Probably not. The show ended up clicking and working far better for me than I expected and I really love the collector’s edition aspect here, particularly with the hardcover book. It’s a well put together release overall that does pretty much everything right with a solid cast and a clean and crisp presentation.

Features:
Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Language, English Subtitles, Twelve Bonus Shorts, Clean Opening, Clean Closing, Japanese Promos

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

Released By: Sentai Filmworks
Release Date: February 9th, 2016
MSRP: $129.99
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.

It’s not easy growing up.

Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Naoshi Komi

What They Say:
It’s hate at first sight… rather a knee-to-the-head at first sight when Raku meets Chitoge! Unfortunately, his gangster father arranges a false love match with their rival gang leader’s daughter, Chitoge! However, Raku’s searching for his childhood sweetheart, with a pendant around his neck as a memento, and is surprised to discover three candidates with keyes: Chitoge, Onodera (his current crush), and Tachibana (the police chief’s daughter)!

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Nisekoi has worked some really good chapters since they brought Marika’s arc to a close and each piece of it feels like they’re working to draw the story to a close. There’s a sense of putting away the toys and childish things and moving towards the reality that’s to come. It’s a weird thing because, like most series of this nature, you kind of expect it to maintain the status quo as best as it can while expanding upon it. Yet each piece that it’s worked with recently has been about different types of closure or moments of understanding that result in growing up some. That makes the book a whole lot more interesting because it feels like we’re getting characters that are actually changing and not just static caricatures.

Haru’s arc in particular has been poignant as it really does bring a lot of people back to that time in their life and the kinds of things that they have to go through. While the confectionary competition is a throwaway piece, one that’s barely used here and results in an amusing gag with Nanako towards the end that’s almost worth it for just that one panel, it offers up a chance for Haru to really come to grips with her feelings towards Raku and the understanding of her older sister’s actual relationship. With her already viewing the season as a chance to change since it’s the start of a new year and she’s being told to focus on the path of her future more, the realizations just wash over her in a wave. So when she makes that huge confession to Raku, one that starts one way but reveals itself to be her telling him that she was never truly interested in him, you get what she’s doing instantly.

And she does manage to pull it off, though it becomes more complicated for Raku since Haru says she knows his relationship with Kirisaki is fake. But this is not Raku’s story. it’s Haru’s. So we see how she handles herself with the competition and you have to admire it. But at the same time, you have to really love her all the more for her confession with Fu where she bawls it all out about her true feelings. It’s a painful moment, one that many people never have someone to actually confess and confide in beyond their own pillow, and it makes Haru even more of an engaging person because she’s casting off what she knows cannot be and taking control of her life from there. It’s in these final pages here that she truly becomes her own person and it’s a fantastic sequence, even if Komi has to go for the low hanging fruit gag of a panty joke.

In Summary:
While I started reading the Nisekoi manga in Shonen Jump halfway on a lark to see if I could get into it having only seen the first season of the anime, I’ve been coming away hugely impressed. The end of the Marika arc for me felt like a throwback to good Rumiko Takahashi material while the chapters after that feels like the book wants to graduate to something more and to be more meaningful and engaging. Haru’s arc kind of caught me out of the blue as it seemed like it was going to do one thing but instead gave us a character whose own arc I want to see play out in a stronger form on its own. Good stuff all around and a great looking chapter once again with the layouts and backgrounds that really does give it a lived in and detailed feeling in many plays. And what a great splash page towards the end!

Grade: B+

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media via Weekly Shonen Jump from ComiXology
Release Date: February 2nd, 2016
MSRP: $0.99

The gang’s almost all here!

Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Tite Kubo

What They Say:
Ichigo Kurosaki never asked for the ability to see ghost – he was born with the gift. When his family is attacked by a Hollow- a malevolent lost soul – Ichigo becomes a Soul Reaper, dedicating his life to protecting the innocent and helping tortured spirits themselves find peace.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Bleach gave us that bit of classic Kubo whiplash the last time around with most of the chapter focused on Ishida only to throw Ichigo in at the very end. Giving us some time with Ishida’s backstory and understanding where he’s been coming from connected the dots for me a bit, again having only been reading the last dozen or so chapters, and that made working through this part of this sprawling arc a little easier to digest. Sometimes a little background once in a while helps. But I get the frustrating side of it as well with a series whose chapters feel like they’re over blazingly fast and with seemingly little progress. How much time do you really want to spend on recap, especially when there are so many other story arcs running at the moment.

Bringing these two characters back together again is something that goes about as expected since they’ve never really felt like great friends and have only thrown in from time to time because of various world of the living bonds. So when Ichigo does show up, Ishida has to go all in to keep his cover and plan going. The plan to destroy everything that an all-seeing god has put into motion and spends plenty of time with Ishida. Suffice to say, Haschwalth isn’t stupid and Ishida is just not thinking things through, something that belies the smart image that he tries to present. His betrayal is figured out easily enough – and not just by Haschwalth but by Ichigo as well, but it’s still an area that has Ichigo giving him grief for because of what such a plan truly calls for.

As is often the case when you have your big hero character, only he can make the ultimate sacrifices. He can’t let anyone else do it because the burden is supposed to be his alone. What we get are some decent action bits between Ichigo and Ishida as Ishida tries to lure him and the others away to explain himself, and he does explain himself well enough while presenting them with a way to escape. But the core personality traits of both of them are fully in play and that means no matter what Ishida does, Ichigo’s going to try and beat the snot out of him. Ichigo at least understands why Ishida is doing what he’s doing, but he also knows it’s a stupid plan. Frankly, if even Ichigo understands that, well, it’s time for a new plan. It all culminates in the expected mess that’s going to realign Ishida back to where he needs to be and pretty much without any character growth. Yay, Kubo.

In Summary:
While there’s some fun layouts to be had in this due to camera angles and just the fun of Ishida and Ichigo going at it for a bit, a lot of what we get here is just material that feels both compressed and pointless. It’s hard to get behind Ishida and his plan when you know Haschwalth already has it figured out and basically called him out on it the last time around. I do like having several of the core characters together for a bit but naturally both Chad and Orihime are just tossed around with little regard overall. I continue to find interesting moments in most of the chapters and the storyline as a whole and am really curious to see how it’s all going to unfold, but a big part of me really wishes that a serious editor would step in and do some course correction on this book and its pacing.

Grade: C

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media via Weekly Shonen Jump’s ComiXology Release
Release Date: February 2nd, 2016
MSRP: $0.99

Magical medieval mediocrity

Creative Staff
Story: Magica Quartet
Art: Masugitsune/Kawazu-ku
Translation: William Flanagan

What They Say
Tart presses onward in her quest to reach the Dauphin, the disinherited heir of France, and help restore him to the throne and thus her country to a state of peace. Her reputation as a fearless warrior and bringer of light has drawn loyal supporters who would stand and fight against England and the Duke of Burgundy. Tart’s power grows, both as a beacon of hope and as a magical girl, but a country girl cannot hope to wield such power without facing opposition and consequences…

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The volume actually launches itself off to a strong start by showing the three villainous magical girl sisters absolutely obliterating the troops of Orleans. It’s a nice show of power, though the key characters of the commander Jean de Dunois and the mercenary La Hire manage to slip away from the field of battle. Unfortunately, though, that ends the excitement for quite a while, and we instead get a ton of history and slooooow progression as Tart heads to meet the Dauphin. At the very least we do get a little bit of a witch fight inserted, but the book definitely does drag at this point.

When she does reach the Dauphin, Charles, he tries to play a trick on her by trading places with another in order to fool her. And it admittedly is kind of neat to see Cube’s whispering to her revealing the plot, and in turn convincing everyone that she is indeed a messenger of God with an angel at her side. We also get a character introduction in the form of Melissa, La Hire’s daughter and a servant who’s assigned to Tart, and also someone Cube says has magical girl potential.

As the volume continues on, Melissa becomes more of a part of the group, Tart gets a special sword to better use her powers, and some little silly bits also occur. And admittedly, when one of the sisters, Corbeau, joins the battle, we do actually get a decent little fight (though it unfortunately is only at the absolute tail end of the book). Will the addition of a powered up Melissa be enough to take down this powerful foe, our are our heroines doomed?

In Summary
While the first volume had a good bit to play with, with this second entry it feels like we’ve hit a sort of dull middle point of the series. Certainly some things do happen, but there really isn’t much of note here, and a lot of the volume is spent on dull history lessons, travel, and minor skirmishes. In fact, it’s only really the absolute beginning and end of the book that have much of note. The volume does start with a nice bit of brutality to show off the villains, and the ending has a legitimately interesting fight. Unfortunately, though, the middle just kind of dips completely, and is content trotting out historical figures and explaining factoids, making it largely quite dull. Still, there’s plenty of potential left in the future of the series, so with any luck this will just be a lull before things pick up once more. For now, though, readers are left with an unfortunately dull book, and one that’s hard to recommend for anyone who isn’t really interested in the subject matter at hand.

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

Age Rating: Older Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: November 17th, 2015
MSRP: $12.99

Hosoda once again delivers a great movie.

What They Say:
“The Boy and The Beast” (“Bakemono no Ko” in Japanese) tells the story of Kyuta, a young orphan living on the streets of Shibuya, who stumbles into a fantastic world of beasts. He’s taken in by Kumatetsu, a gruff, rough-around-the-edges warrior beast who’s been searching for the perfect apprentice. Despite their constant bickering, Kyuta and Kumatetsu begin training together and slowly form a bond as surrogate father and son. But when a deep darkness threatens to throw the human and beast worlds into chaos, the strong bond between this unlikely family will be put to the ultimate test—a final showdown that will only be won if the two can finally work together using all of their combined strength and courage.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
At this stage of his career, Mamoru Hosoda should feel confident in his role as a director. He produced multiple movies which have all have had success in their own way. Some have been seeing interesting concept play out (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) others have been emotional treads (Summer Wars). Having this resume, Hosoda delivering a good movie with easy. With The Boy and the Beast, it seems to confirm that feeling, proving Hosoda is right at home in director’s chair.

Losing his mother, Ren wants nothing to do with humanity. Losing his temper Kumatetsu doesn’t want to lose to his rival Iôzen. Meeting each other in Shibuya, Kumatetsu offers Ren a chance to become his apprentice. Dragged in by the offer, Ren reluctantly becomes Kumatetsu’s apprentice. Now, as apprentice and master, Ren and Kumatetsu must learn from each other and develop their relationship as well as their skills for the upcoming battles that face them.

The main narrative drive is Ren’s development. Coming as a rash kid, Ren loathes humans after losing his mom, his dad nowhere to be found, and his mother’s family taking over. He runs away From his extended family trying to avoid the problems. In the process of avoiding his problems he starts to close up his heart towards others. This creates negative spirits that split away from self and represents all of the negative feelings he has towards humans. Entering into the beast world, he’s faced with a similar isolation because he’s human. However, he starts to train under Kumatetsu and learns to adapt to his conditions. This adaptation

This dualism shows that Ren has to reconcile with both his human past as well as his beast present. By reconciling the two and learning to keep the harmony between both sides, he can become not only a great warrior but also a great human being.  One intelligent enough to be educated while at the exact same time has the combat tenacity of a beast.  These things accomplishable without him realizing that he could not gain these aspects alone, but with the help of others.  Knowing that he has others to help him out and surround him, Don’t let  in the darkness that made consuming him based on his previous experiences from both sides.

These lesson plays out when he has to go save Ichirôhiko.   Ichirôhiko instead of Ren gets consumed by the darkness as we discover his true identity as a human.  Ren knowing the same feeling decides to go and rescues him.  Ren applies his knowledge of acceptance and togetherness with the help of a reincarnated Kumatetsu defeating the darkness of Ichirôhiko’s heart. This type of learning method makes Hosoda’s work shine, in that it proves the character growth of Ren to the character as well as the audience.

The pacing at times for The Boy and the Beast can feel slow. Hosoda loves to take his time in delivering, in fact too much time. There are parts in The Boy and the Beast that seem to drag longer than expected, which stem from multiple builds up scenes. While these parts are fine, they tend to slow down the overall tempo of the film and make it feel like it drags. This pacing may play a part as to why some of the plot points tend to get exposed.

Some of the minor plot details of the movie seem to contrive to the story. We don’t get an answer for if Ren’s extended family ever tried looking for him. We don’t get a full appreciation for the divorce which would then cause the events to happen. All of these issues tend to ask the audience to suspend belief a little more than necessary. While the movie doesn’t ask for much, pushing for flashbacks, Hosoda could deliver a better experience and speed up the tempo in the process.

In Summary:
Creating a story about a boy maturing and learning to deal with his negativity often can become preachy. In a way, Hosoda teeters on preachy but mainly keeps it within a positive experience showing Ren’s development.   Seeing Ren learning to let go of the hatred of people and instead fill it with the emotions of his loved ones feels like a great journey.   Seeing that journey then take him to rescue others demonstrates why his journey is integral to the audience while driving a lesson across.  It is with this movie that Hosoda once again proves why one of the best directors yet.  Truly, seeing the Boy and the Beast will be a treat for everyone.

Grade: A-

Distributor: Funimaiton Entertainment

Am I allowed to weep with each new episode?

What They Say:
Sasuke has left with Orochimaru, but Naruto is not about to give up. Determined to bring Sasuke back, he returns to the village with Shikamaru and the others. Meanwhile, Yahiko appears in the village, calling himself “Pain” and seeking revenge for the Hidden Leaf’s betrayal.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As much as I do rag on the current and extensive run of filler episodes for this series, I do have to give it credit for actually keeping its title character in it. We’ve had some impressive stretches before where Naruto didn’t appear for the longest time or he was treated to some really asinine stories while on a boat. Oh man, were those awful episodes. By contrast, these episodes work better in a sense since it’s providing something different yet the same. I continue to be quite frustrated by the arc but I also have the context of some really, really, really, bad material that has come before – especially the seemingly 100+ episode run of anime original stories back in the original series. That helps make this a little more bearable, but the frustration really comes down to that this all landed at the wrong time and is done in a way that undercuts the potential of strong original storytelling.

With Sasuke having thrown in with Orochimaru now, Naruto is still very much in his he’ll do anything to save him phase. But the show shifts to some other events going on with the arrival of Yahiko under the name of Pain to get revenge.

Wait, wait.

Didn’t we spend a couple dozen episodes plus filler on this arc already?

Damnit, Naruto, you had one job!

In Summary:
Seriously, they should have just done a long series of recaps and put all this time and money into something else until they were ready to anime the ending of the manga. While there are some potentially interesting differences here, they’re hitting so many familiar beats overall without radically realigning things that it becomes just a mess of material that I find harder and harder to even try to connect with.

Grade: D

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.

As despair grows, so does the weight of any tiny glimmer of hope within it.

What They Say:
It turns out that Kayo, absent from school, has disappeared after all. Satoru is tormenting himself with the thought that he should have been able to do something more. On top of that, Aya Nakanishi from the nearby elementary school has vanished too!

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After an entirely too pleasant to be true stretch of time, Satoru has the harshness of his reality thrust back into his life. All is not right. Has he completely failed? The worst thing is the wait to find out, and the hopelessness is amplified by his current state as an eleven-year-old who has used everything at his disposal to get some power over the situation but is ultimately still at the mercy of the adults around him and the cruelty of the world in which he lives, no matter the age.

With only the ambiguous cliffhanger to go off of last time, I wondered what the possibilities were if the worst had happened. But what does great writing of this kind do? It makes you think about those kinds of things in great depth and manages to blow away your expectations without seeming remotely contrived. That’s an almost impossible feat, but this series has been the shining star of that kind of great writing for quite some time, and it’s constantly proving that to be the case more and more. Any relative lull in the progress of the plot is only to build suspense and pierce with emotional resonance, and it does so expertly. When it reaches a boiling point, Kajiura’s powerful score swelling to match its intensity, that’s when we get thrust into the next big development. We’re right alongside Satoru for nearly all of this, rarely knowing any more or less than him about what has or will happen. So when we’re shocked, we can imagine how he feels, and that feeds back into the initial reaction to ensure that we’re fully captivated at every wild turn.

This latest development not only brings the other side of the cast back into the story, it opens up worlds of new possibilities to the Revival power as well as the laws of causality as affected by Satoru’s uncontrollable time-hopping. Every time something major changes, Satoru’s already urgent situation becomes exceedingly more urgent, and this episode accomplishes that at least twice. Even if Satoru had any desire to, he has less than no opportunity to relax, especially his psyche, and with the thought of being able to reset once more and fully change the future as he had hoped to, he makes the most of his time, researching through time to implement the right solutions at the right points. However, the stakes aren’t quite as high as they could be and so, as the opening alludes to, the last person that Satoru holds dear has to be dragged into this mess.

The best part about all this is the recent news that the manga from which this anime is adapted has announced to be ending soon, with the director immediately confirming that the adaptation will indeed cover the full story to its end. Any worry that the status of the manga and the length of the anime would result in an incomplete story are blown away just like that, coinciding with yet another incredible episode to leave room for nothing but pure enthusiasm for the remainder.

In Summary:
The complexities of the plot suddenly become all the more exhilarating and gripping, Satoru finding himself in yet another shocking situation beyond anything that could’ve been anticipated. All the elements of the first episode come back into play, tying into the past with greater importance and giving Satoru an even greater drive to work everything out than he’s had all along. Once again the series becomes more amazing than ever, as impossible as that seems.

Grade: A

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Roku 3, Sceptre X425BV-FHD 42″ Class LCD HDTV.

Sometimes our own worst enemy is ourself.

What They Say:
With great powers come great responsibilities, and that includes cleaning up the aftermath of your previous adventures. Which means that, instead of getting a break after saving the world, newly changed magical girls Illya and Miyu have to help deal with the side-effects caused by the sealing of the Ley Cards.

Still, that shouldn’t be too hard, right? Wrong! Not only are the ley lines failing, but to make matters worse, Illya somehow ends up with a magical clone… and that sinister clone has plans of her own! Worse yet, since the “dark” version of herself is drawing its power from the same source as our heroine, Illya’s own powers are being reduced proportionately. These are definitely not the kind of problems that the average girl should have to deal with. It’s double the trouble as Illya’s split personalities face off and the personal conflicts get physical in Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2Wei!

The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release is pretty solid as we get the original Japanese language in stereo as well as the new English language adaptation, both of which are encoded using the DTS-HD MA lossless codec. The series is one that works the forward soundstage well as there’s a good mix of dialogue, music and action to keep it lively in most episodes. There’s a good design to it overall as we get the characters interacting in both action and general school conversation to allow it to flow well as it moves about. The action steps things up nicely as there’s a lot of impact to many scenes with the way the action unfolds and that has some nice bass in a few sequences to ramp it up more. It’s similar to other shows in this particular franchise as there’s a good mix of what it wants to do and they don’t skimp with it. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout and we didn’t have any problems with dropouts or distortions during regular playback.

Video:
Originally airing in 2014, the transfer for this TV series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. The ten-episode TV series is spread across two discs with nine on the first and one on the second plus the three short OVAs. Animated by Silver Link, the series has a really strong look here throughout with some excellent use of colors and shading in many designs to give it more pop and there’s some wonderful detail to all of it in both character and background. It doesn’t go for the photorealistic backgrounds but it gives them a good bit of life that comes across well. The animation has some really good fluidity to it in the action scenes but generally looks great across the board. The colors are rich and solid throughout and the numerous night action sequences across the darkened cloudy skies stand out well against the brightly colored magical girls and what they’re fighting against.

Packaging:
The packaging for this release is presented in a standard sized Blu-ray case where the two discs are held against the interior walls. The front cover artwork goes appropriately darker here as it works the four main women of the arc, though Bazett doesn’t show up to the final couple of episodes, and it has the right kind of seriousness to it while still providing some upbeat expressions where appropriate. The back cover goes for a brighter and lighter angle with bright blue skies for part of it, some nice pink aspects and a good bit of runes softly in the background to tie it together. There are some nice shots from the show and a good illustration image of Miyu and Illya together as well, though again it pushes the limits with costuming design. The episodes and extras are clearly listed and the premise covers things well with what the series is about. The remainder is given over to the usual production credits and technical grid that breaks everything down cleanly and clearly.

Menu:
The menu design for this release definitely works well to show off the character artwork as the layout has a full static image with the first disc showing off Illya and Miyu in different states but close together with some great color and detail to it that really sets the tone well. The second disc changes things up away from the blues and pinks to more yellows and a more upbeat feeling that certainly works nicely. The logo is kept to the upper right while the navigation is kept to the lower right corner. Unlike the first season set where episode selection had us going into a submenu to see them, this one works in a more traditional manner. Submenus load quickly and everything is quick and easy to get around on.

Extras:
While the last time around the only extras included were the clean versions of the opening and closing sequences, we get those plus a little more here. The TV spots are a nice addition to show off a bit more of the promotion for the show, but the big extra are the three OVAs, which total about twenty-one minutes. These are fun pieces that play to the sillier and sadly sexier side of the series as we get to see the usual bra gags going awry and some decidedly pervy ways to help Kuro get healthy when she’s sick. The last episode kind of redeems it with some plain old silly fun, but by then I was just wary of more ten-year-old boob jokes.

With this season, things are a little more problematic in the story department simply because so much of the foundations have been set up already. We know Illya, we know her family situation with Emiya and all that, and we know her best friend with Miyu. There are a lot of familiar paths it can go but at the same time it’s a series where it feels like they’re padding it out. And that’s at ten episodes. The choice that’s made here is to introduce a new primary character into the mix for Miyu and illya to deal with. And what better kind than a dark clone of Illya herself? When the pair go to deal with sealing a problem with a ley line related to their recovering of the Cards, it goes badly and suddenly Kuro Illya pops into existence. And her sole goal for the first half is to defeat the Illya that has had a right and proper happy life all these years.

There is a richer meaning brought into Kuro’s existence later on, notably because of their mother and what she reveals about the past with the Grail War and the girls place in it, but that’s all presented mostly as things settle down into a routine sense between them. Prior to that, Kuro spends her time looking for ways to eliminate Illya while Illya does her best to be compassionate and understanding as she wants to find a way to help Kuro. It’s very much a part of who they both are and we get that whole different sides of the same coin, but with stronger foundational issues that they share. Kuro’s not evil, she’s just intent on ensuring her own survival in a sense because half the time Illya talks wishfully about wanting things to be normal and like how they were. That’s totally understandable for Illya, but for Kuro it’s a reminder of her own lack of existence and place in the world. There are some deeper ties that exist between the two that makes the relationship a bit more interesting, but it really is just some additional trappings on the core concept.

What this show wants to be about for the bulk of it is just the fun and enjoyment of these girls hanging out and doing things. This means a lot of simple things that go awry easily enough thanks to Kuro for the first half, but it’s stuff like going to school, hanging out at home, dealing with the pressures. Some of it is from Miyu having to deal with Illya’s ways, including her obvious crush on her older brother, and there’s also plenty of bath scenes that crop up as well. The fanservice towards these younger characters is fairly regular and it does get fairly creepy at times since the camera treats them like they’re definitely older and more provocative. The simple stuff does have its moments, such as the dodgeball match in the fourth episode and the time they all end up at Luvia’s for a while. Often, the moments that seem to work the best for me are the ones that involve Luvia and Rin as they give each other grief for different reasons.

But really, the subtext here is all about Kuro wanting to be felt like she’s part of a family, that people would miss her when she’s gone, and that she has a place to call home. It’s honest if simple storytelling that fits for the age of a ten year old (with the mind of one much older) and we do get some heartwarming moments about it that’s right in the wheelhouse for this show. I knew what to expect going into the season in a basic way based on the first and you can tell that they’re not quite sure how to pad it out to ten episodes based on what they wanted to do. I like the core trio of this arc with Kuro, Illya, and Miyu, but it needed a bit more meat on its bones in order to really connect.

As is often the case in shows like this, things do get serious towards the end in order to reaffirm that bonds that now exist after the growth of the first seven or so episodes. This comes in the form of Bazett, a young woman who has come to claim the Cards and is going to do so by force since she was the previous holder for Ruby and totally knows what Illya is capable of. Similar to the first season where they go all out on design and animation, it’s a visually appealing piece with some good fight sequences that, while never feeling like it had true risk, made for some good tension along the way. What draws the most is that it does go back to the original source material to a degree with the abilities, magics, and costume design, and that gives it a richer feeling. The show knows how to execute what it’s doing when it comes to these kinds of sequences with the style and quality, so it was no surprise that it ends on a bigger and more serious note while backing it up entirely.

In Summary:
Though not quite as engaging as the first season, there’s a lot to like here in continuing the journey with these characters. The supporting cast doesn’t get a richer life here but they still have some great fun and add some welcome color and humor where needed. The core story of Kuro and her place in the world that Illya has to learn to accept and embrace is a good one and both of them have their strong moments throughout it. Kuro has the harder road to work since she has to go from angry to familial whereas Illya just has to learn to be accepting. Miyu may have it the hardest as she sees someone else vying for her best friend’s attentions and getting them. Though I may not be as enthusiastic with this season as the first, I definitely had fun with it. Sentai put together a solid release here and the inclusion of the OVAs definitely helps to up the value of it.

Features:
Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, 2wei! Shorts, TV Spots, Clean Opening & Closing Animations

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

Released By: Sentai Filmworks
Release Date: February 16th, 2016
MSRP: $69.98
Running Time: 250 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.

It’s not bad to have a landlady at home.

What They Say:
Ooya-san wa Shishunki! follows the antics of Chie Satonaka, a middle schooler who is a landlord. Though she appears a little girl, at times, she behaves more like a grandmother, doing all the cleaning, cooking and housework around the apartment. Despite her responsibilities, she still enjoys a normal middle school life with her friends.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Life in the apartment is definitely challenging in its own ways and Maeda gets a little extra of that. While most of us would hate intrusive landladies, Chie’s regularly presence gives him something fun since she’s mostly taking care of him on some level. It’s standard fare reaction material but it’s something that she takes further than usual and even Reiko gives them frief about it. The pair have become fairly friendly and there’s a good bit of cuteness in how she handles talking about all of this and even Reiko makes it clear that they’re basically acting like roommates. Not surprisingly, Maeda has the solution of her joining in and that’s just hilarious since she wants to be upset but she wants to be involved as well.

In Summary:
The quasi-family dynamic that exists here is certainly familiar and works well because it’s the kind of thing that happens in these kinds of situations. And by these we mean the mostly never to be seen middle school landlady thing. There’s that pervasive creepy level to it that Reiko calls out but she’s drawn to Chie in her own way, not quite as creepy, and it’s fun to watch it all unfold even if it is running faster than it should in terms of dialogue speed. The end result is a quick hit of silliness that continues to delight even if it makes you a little uncomfortable.

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.

Days filled with potential.

What They Say:
Natsuki joins the same club as Anna in hopes of getting closer to her. Meanwhile, Keiichi begins to feel left out after his friends become too busy with girls.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Rainbow Days has hit a sweet spot in its first couple of episodes with what it wants to do with a simple high school romantic comedy series. Though I wasn’t too keen on introducing a larger cast so quickly, they’ve found a decent balance at this stage and have made the new additions enjoyable. The important part for me was that they kept going back to Natsuki and Anna as their story is the one that I want to see. Friends will certainly color it and that’s no exception here, but the return to the core story in my eyes works for me. But I’m also enjoying the other stories and their touches, particularly when you have something like Tsuyoshi already having a girlfriend as opposed to Natsuki’s attempts being the first within the group.

This episode gives us a nod towards Keiichi and his involvement with others as he’s feeling a bit on the outside by not having anyone. Amusingly, he actually did have someone in the form of a private tutor who’s twenty-five, making him quite the player in the eyes of Natsuki. Keiichi’s amusing in general with his mixture of being laid back and evil at the same time so there’s a lot to like in watching how he messes with Natsuki and talks about his life. We get a pretty decent run through with several of the relationship configurations in play beyond that as well after we finish out some of the fun with the guys hanging out together and that’s definitely enjoyable since it reminds us that these friends do get together by themselves and have fun and it’s not just all about hanging out with the girls.

For Natsuki, he ends up joining the same club that Anna is in so he can be closer to it, something that just infuriates Mari when she finds out since she doesn’t like the way Anna is being stolen away from her. Natsuki does use this as an opportunity after the club meeting to try and ask her out and it’s charmingly cute in how he does so, especially since she’s easily agreeable overall and even offers up a suggestion of going to get something sweet. It’s better than obliviousness or playing at being hard to get since she’s actually interested in him as well. It’s a simple and mostly realistic approach in a sense and that allows it to connect in a really nice way.

In Summary:
With a bit more focus overall on Keiichi this time around as a bit of potential enters his field of vision, made all the more real since he’s the only one not dating, Rainbow Days does a solid job of keeping everyone involved while expanding the cast in an organic and engaging way. There’s a lightness to it here that isn’t bereft of meaning as we see these young men enjoying their high school days and the potential of it all. It’s a familiar looking show in a lot of ways with its visuals, but it’s drawn together well by the characters and the actors that give it some decent weight. While I’m still enjoying the Natsuki and Anna story the most, I’m enjoying the others and the arcs that they’re slowly but surely working through.

Grade: B-

Streamed By: Funimation

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.