Review: Samurai Executioner

Originally posted at myanimelist.net.

From the author and artist of the classic Lone Wolf & Cub is this samurai genre manga which began two years after their most renowned work, in 1972, but ended the same year in 1976. Samurai Executioner stands equally with Lone Wolf & Cub for being a powerful and heavily researched depiction of the lives of the Japanese hundreds of years ago.

Read it here.

Review: Welcome to the NHK

Originally posted at myanimelist.net.

I was expecting a dark Satoshi Kon style satire on hikikomorism; the dehabilitating affects of media as represented by the NHK broadcasting company and post millennium conspiracy theories, but instead this anime merely uses hikkomorism as a backdrop for melodramatic relationship angst and blues.

Read it here.

Review: Kekkaishi

Originally posted at myanimelist.net.

Kekkaishi is basically one epic siege story. The very fact that its based around protecting one piece of land (conveniently the main protagonists’ school) only at night time, is the show’s main hook, and it fulfils its interesting potential throughout.

Read it here.

Review: Vexille

Originally posted at myanimelist.net.

The story is intriguing and has moments of awe, but is overall generic and subpar. The premise of having the main protagonist from America and treating Japan like current-day hermit North Korea is very cool but not expanded upon creatively.

Read it here.

Review: sola

originally posted at myanimelist.net.

Don’t downgrade this review because it’s negative. Downgrade it because you’ve yet to grow out of this genre and realise that this anime is the equivalent of a McDonalds happy meal: planned by a committee, packaged prettily but ultimately tacky, cynically driven and bad for you.

Read it here.