I mostly checked out English Teacher because I watched The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo forever ago and enjoyed it a lot, so I was down to check out a new Brian Jordan Alvarez and Stephanie Koenig project. The show has a good balance of earnestness and bite, which feels appropriate for the moment. It’s incredibly funny, incisive, and a bit bonkers. Its political observations of teaching in a conservative state is well done but not exhaustingly so. Evan is confident and his existence as a gay teacher is a political act, but he’s also a teacher trying to get his students to read The Red Badge of Courage.

I was surprised how much I ended up enjoying Markie because he seemed like the meathead teacher who was disliked by everyone, but he’s not as one dimensional as I feared he’d be. I hate when there’s just that one character who exists as the punching bag. The dynamic of Markie and Evan as coworkers who are friends, but also who get on each other’s nerves felt well observed to me. They have differing opinions that lead them to butting heads, but Markie is a good friend to Evan and vice versa.

Misc notes

• I almost screamed with joy when Enrico Colatoni showed up, he’s incredible as the beleaguered principal who simply wants to be left alone
• I like a show set in a high school that has minimal teens in it
• The Austin setting could’ve been used more tbh, it didn’t feel particularly Austin

More than just being my favorite anime, FMAB is one of my favorite series. Heartbreak and joy, despair and hope, it is a true triumph of people working together and overcoming an evil government and saving humanity. I cannot fit all my thoughts into this little review so please know they are vast. I have reread and rewatched FMA multiple times now and it only gets better each time. It’s a story that grows with you and there’s so many complexities about the story that resonate more as you get older. A government that serves interests other than its citizens? Characters making massive mistakes because they believed the lies their government espoused? That’s not Amestris, that’s the the United States government!

There really isn’t a character who doesn’t get a good character arc in the series. My personal favorite is Roy and Riza’s struggle to atone for their war crimes, even believing atonement is not possible for them. It’s a framing that isn’t really common (especially in American media) where the aggressors are less looking for forgiveness and instead accepting that their actions were brutal and cannot be undone, but that they can change their actions going forward. There are others, but exploring all of them would make this entry take up 90% of the page, so please just watch it yourselves and experience Peak.

Misc notes

• This whole review could’ve been a beat by beat analysis of Roy and Riza’s relationship, but I will save that for another day…(threat)
• I watched the sub for the first time and WOW Edward is so much more enjoyable when he’s not voiced by Vic Mignogna
• My most nitpicky thing is that I think other Ishvalan perspectives besides Scar would’ve been good to explore
• Actually, my nitpicky thing about Brotherhood specifically is that the Youswell arc was important! It’s Ed’s first character growth moment!

Satoshi Kon is such a visionary, Millennium Actress was a beautifully crafted masterpiece. It’s a unique film about a beloved actress, Chiyoko Fujiwara, who suddenly retired and two documentarians are trying to find out why. We revisit Chikoyo’s life and filmography and unravel the secret she’s kept for decades by unraveling her filmography that I just loved. It really is a beautifully crafted work of art.

The jumping scenes and timelines took some time adjusting to as it could be hard to locate in what moment of time and place we were in, but I love a director and writer that trusts that I’m smart enough to catch up. The blend of memories and commentary from the documentarians with the movie footage was so fantastic, I was blown away. The movie plots and locations are informed by Chiyoko’s personal life, even reflecting this bleeding effect that is also the narrative structure of Millennium Actress itself. It’s the kind of movie that makes you think and as someone who honestly doesn’t like watching movies that much, this film did a great of keeping my attention and getting me to use my brain to understand thematically what they were trying to capture. ART!

Misc notes

• Obviously don’t want to spoil the moment this whole film builds up to, but the revelation had me laying on my couch just sitting with it for a good 5 minutes
• On a new quest to consume everything Satoshi Kon made, RIP a legend taken too soon

Ren Faire isn’t not a documentary — it is observing events in the management of the largest Renaissance Festival in the US — but it reminded me more of reality tv. Not staged to that level, but there are a number of scenes that feel like the team pitched an idea and the subjects rolled with it. It’s more a look of the power dynamics when you blend an egotistical old man with a profitable business with those around him vying for the power he’s trying to cede for retirement.

Unfortunately, we’ve all dealt with mercurial bosses who were a total pain in the ass, but seeing all these people grin and bear it and in some cases, come back to it all after getting fired, was really illuminating. I felt like I was learning so much more about these strangers than they ever meant to willingly show us. It is demeaning, sure, but I think there’s also this inescapable pull of a job where you tie so much of your life into that makes all this feel normal and not deeply warped. The camera direction did a great job of silently commenting on all of this and it made it so compelling.

My favorite person featured was Jeff, who I think was the only person that really understood George. Darla and Louie wanted something from George and falsely believed they could convince him to do what they wanted, but Jeff knew that isn’t how this place worked. That George probably is incapable of retiring and that to survive, you have to learn to tolerate him. Fantastic psychological look at how the gears fit together in a small business tyrant’s company.

Misc notes

• The “George has mommy issues” reveal was so illuminating, truly everything clicked into place here
• As a fellow Astros fan, I adored the 2022 World Series cameos
• I cackled every time Darla said “George wants to retire” now we all know that’s not true…

A sci-fi survival story exploring a beautiful, yet hostile world after a ship and its crew crash land on it. It’s a bit of a biological horror, a bit emotional exploration, it’s a story of survival through connection and community. The world building was so impressive! So many fascinating creatures and stunning animation, way more than I was expecting. It kinda reminded me of Spore, the creatures were sort of round and colorful and odd in much the way those little pals in Spore looked to me.

The suspense, the joy, the anger, the love, Scavengers Reign is a charcuterie board of extreme emotions. It reminded me a bit of one of my favorite watches of 2023, Station Eleven, where we see the full spectrum of kindness and cruelty of humans in times of crisis. I would’ve loved to see what else this team had in mind for the future with this story but thanks to the assholes at HBO MAX, we will probably never know.

Misc notes

• Joining the small but mighty chorus “pick up Scavengers Reign season 2” someone, please
• I don’t typically hate characters, but the way I hate Kamen…evil worm
• Ursula was so lovely! Happy to have a curious scientist character

This was a friend spooky movie night pick so I went into it pretty blind. So much to enjoy here: gorgeous 90s anime scenery, fun fights, interesting characters. I’m not a horror fan so maybe this is uncommon but still well known vampire additional lore, but D being a half-vampire was so cool. Of course it sort of parallels the main story, but D’s daddy issues manifesting so severely that he becomes a vampire hunter was the perfect wrinkle for a pretty mysterious fellow.

This movie also had great pacing. The story unfolded right on time for the acts and I never felt a distracting lull. I would recommend this as a spooky movie watch (I still do), but it is now November, so maybe put it on the list next year. Also, I need to watch more 90s anime because its style is one of a kind and I adore it! If this plot sucked, I still would’ve enjoyed seeing the scenery.

Misc notes

• This is a sequel, but it was easy to follow without seeing the previous one
• I was fully bracing for a bad woman character in Leila, but she’s actually the best of the human vampire hunters.
• The dark, brooding D would’ve done numbers on Tumblr if this came out in 2014

I played Aggro Crab’s previous game, Going Under, which I enjoyed and loved the writing for, so I was down to play Another Crab’s Treasure even though it is a soulslike and I’m bad at video games. While I do enjoy “getting good” as they say, I have my limits (typically 5 tries before anger sets in) so I played with some of the helpful assist settings on. I really loved this game! One of my favorite games is Pikmin and this world has the same “alien species describes human objects and finds uses for them” charm with the underwater crab cities laid out with CVS receipt paper streets and the shells scattered around for me to use. These poor creatures are getting our trash dump onto them and they’re making the most of it.

The world and gameplay is engaging and fun and deserves a ton of love, but I think what touched me the most is the story of an ecosystem being so warped by pollution that they’ve become unfazed by it. The pollution corrupts the crabs and makes them sick, but the microplastics remain the currency in crabitalism. It’s a political narrative that doesn’t become overly didactic and it zigged on me when I thought I had it figured out. I was so sure that defeating the crabitalist would be the story’s conclusion, but of course this whole problem doesn’t start and end with him! A fantastic little game <3

Misc notes

• This was the first game I’ve ever got all achievements in Steam on! I’m proud of that.
• I struggle with Chitan’s advice to not let the anger consume you, but I heard the advice and I will try.
• I particularly enjoyed the old tech and styrofoam that made it to the old ocean. A nice visual storytelling and a reminder how much we’ve damaged this earth.

The Diplomat is a lot of fun! I do not think this is essential tv, it’s a solid B show, but man is it so fun. I love the disaster couple that Hal and Kate are, I love the absurd plots they somehow get enmeshed in while trying to be ambassador in the UK, I just love how over the top this show is. It does a great job of keeping the tone serious and the plotting intriguing without making it feel super self-serious and bogged down like shows that think they’re Important Prestige tv tend to do.

The Diplomat brings me Keri Russell looking disheveled and gorgeous, Rufus Sewell charming and reckless, and the always lovely to see Allison Janney! I wouldn’t say that I find the questions this show, and political shows in general, likes to bring up as interesting and important societal questions because they always turn into the trolley problem and deciding which lives you’re willing to sacrifice, but to be fair, I’m not totally sure if this show feels like it’s interesting either. It seems like arguments certain characters were making as a justification that we weren’t supposed to agree with. I cannot wait for the show to come back again so I can see where this wacky cliffhanger takes us.

Misc notes

• This is my favorite genre of tv, “Keri Russell yelling at men”
• I am still cackling about the ending of this season, just cannot believe that just happened…Hal always fucks this up.
• I so rarely say this but 6 episodes is not enough for a season!

After reading Ping Pong earlier this year, I was excited to check out some more Taiyo Matsumoto work and coincidentally, his new work Tokyo These Days was translated this year. This series was a nice treat for me where I would read a chapter or two every few days, it was cozy. It revolves around a manga editor who retired out of embarrassment of his magazine going out of business, but he decides he needs to get some of his favorite mangaka to write for a new magazine he wants to start up.

It’s an interesting peek behind the curtain of the manga industry, which is a tough grind of a profession. We get glimpses into the lives of current and retired mangaka, the sort of things that push them away and how capitalism mixing with a joyous pursuit of art can sap their joy. Matsumoto is so brilliant at storytelling and art that I became captivated in the story as I wandered around the Tokyo city streets with Shiozawa, meeting old friends.

Misc notes

• I adored the final page of the chapters! Such beautiful art of city scenes
• I really feel like I just tagged along on some errands more than I read a story!

It’s really easy to convince me to check out a manga series if it’s less than 5 volumes, which with the 2-in-1s that got published in English, King in Limbo is only 3 volumes. The story was well paced, so the 3 volumes were a great length. There’s a sleeping disease that can only be cured by jumping into the affected’s unconscious and the genius, Rune Winter, must be lured out for one last job. Solid premise and with great characters, I really enjoyed this series.

My one critique here is that the villain felt like a dart throw to decide who would be behind the virus. The story tries to zag from the person who seems selfish and shady to someone we didn’t have any reason to suspect. It really didn’t make a lot of narrative or emotional sense based on what we saw of them. I wouldn’t say it changed my opinion of the story that much as I felt the plot and world building was interesting otherwise, but it definitely felt “meh” to me.

Misc notes

• if I can briefly be nitpicky…it gave me a chuckle that this was set in the US but two British mannerisms leaked through. Americans don’t count on their hands with thumb first and we don’t do Christmas crackers. Thank you for letting me point that out annoyingly.
• “Rune Winter” is SUCH an anime American name, I loved it
• The shock of my life finding out Rune’s wife knew him when he was a child…um, well I don’t care much for this woman now

This review is for the manga mostly because I haven’t finished the anime yet. I read this forever ago, but after reading 20th Century Boys and being blown away, I decided to reread Monster. I was really surprised that it did not grab me like 20th Century Boys did. I am gonna chalk this up to personal taste, though, because the story is good. Really evil guys in like a true crime way, which is what Johan feels like to me, are just not really something I gravitate towards. Frankly, I didn’t find Johan that fascinating, which is largely why I didn’t love Monster. There were parts I liked for sure, Kenzo Tenma is a great protagonist and his struggles were compelling, Grimmer is a sweetie pie, and I love my messy drunk legend Eva.

Also, I think I just got really hung up trying to read too much into it to the point where I struggled to engage with what the story was. I couldn’t get the idea that the twins were supposed to metaphorically be East and West Germany and thinking this was some meditation on Communism vs Capitalism out of my head, because why else would Urasawa set the series in a recently reunited Germany? This was probably more of a nature vs nuture sociological musing more than anything else. Every father in this series is emotionally unavailable and neglectful to their wives and children and that sort of fractured family structure is a big theme of the story.

Misc notes

• The only thing I remembered from my first go around was Lunge, which is so funny that his hand tick was so memorable to me, lol
• I don’t even need to read anything to know Eva is hated as a messy woman who frequently gets in the male characters’ way, but I loved her. What a fantastic, messy, broken woman.
• I’m not sure what the consensus is on the ending, but I did love it.

Norco is a point and click game set in a futuristic southern Louisiana that doesn’t feel that different from current southern Louisiana. The game has a fantastic southern gothic vibe to it that perfectly explores the forces of decay and desctruction that dominate so much of the gulf region. The large oil company dominating not only the visual landscape of the region, but touches the personal lives of practically everyone you meet, the environmental degradation brought on by development and timber harvesting, and the looming shadow of slavery.

This is a great narrative game that captures the spirit of southern Louisiana fantastically and presents the draw of this area to people who are unfamiliar with it. For some, like Kay’s mom, the corrupt and dangerous swamps are all they know, but for others, like Kay, fleeing is only a temporary measure. Your hometown always stays with you even if it’s a curse you’d rather be rid of. I found the story lines with Catherine particularly emotional. There was such an evocative spiritual center to the story that felt heavy, with occasional flashes of lightness.

Misc notes

• The writing was spectacular, the prose captured such a lovely and haunting image of a region. of people, of fractures
• This game isn’t too long, it was a nice weekend playthrough
• Honestly I don’t play many narrative games, but this game made me reconsider that.

Doughnuts Under a Crescent was a short, sweet yuri series that I really enjoyed. I appreciate a short read (this is only 4 volumes and took me about a week to finish), but I do feel like there was more to explore here and the series ended a bit too soon. It ends right as they get together, which I guess is a logical ending spot, but I would’ve loved to see how their relationship grew and developed after the love confession.

The characters here occupy a perfect zone where they do not annoy me with pointless miscommunication, but also aren’t so perfect and frictionless that there’s nothing interesting going on. They are adults with jobs who have fears and anxiety to work through, but they can talk to each other about them. I realized a little too late that I should’ve been paying attention to the lunar cycle (it’s even in the damn title!), but I think this happens in the span of a month with the titular crescent moon making a return at the end. I liked that and the extended donut metaphor, it was lovely.

Misc notes

• Subaru was probably my favorite character
• I love how everyone has flaws but isn’t super awful or anything, it was nice

I actually started this before Lost Lad London (it’s the same mangaka) and Glitch is the reason I checked out Lost Lad London, but this series just finished publishing in English. Glitch reminds me partially of the offbeat but unphased tone of Welcome to Night Vale where the glitches in the town are not noticed or shrugged off by the local residents. This series is a mix of scifi and a bit of a conspiracy unwinding type of plot, which are two of my favorite things. It’s only 4 volumes, so not a long read and I found it enjoyable.

The characters were all great and interesting. It was nice how strongly the kids felt about justice and doing what’s right to help those who ended up stuck in their world and it was nice to see them supported by kind adults in their orbit. The community had some faults, but they mostly worked together to help and protect themselves from the danger, as opposed to the developers and government choosing not to concern themselves with the odd going ons. There is a clear understanding of political power that is mentioned even if this isn’t an overtly political story in that “everything is political” way.

Misc notes

• it had an understated humor to it!
• Something very soothing about the panel layout, simple but effective
• I feel like there were some unanswered questions in the series that I would’ve preferred an answer for

Nana had been on my to read list, but what pushed me over was this Nana “Good Luck, Babe” AMV. I really didn’t know what to expect going into the series, but it’s a lot darker than I was expecting it to be. Not a problem for me, and angst enjoyer, except that I was praying for Takumi’s death the entire time. I was so drawn in by the rest of the cast of complex disaster characters otherwise.

All of the characters are so flawed and human and encapsulate all of that anxiety and foolishness that drives so much of your early adulthood. People that have convinced themselves that they don’t need to rely on anyone and that they have everything figured out when they’re lost and confused children. Nana really captures that messiness of early adulthood well, but also shows the closeness and importance of these friendships. The Nanas meeting by chance on the train and then at the apartment viewing and that turning into a deep friendship is really what living is all about! Even when things fall apart, neither is far from the other’s mind. It’s called Nana for a reason and it’s because that friendship is what’s most important!

Misc notes

• MULTIPLE TIMES when reading this I thought “I am so glad to not be 20 anymore”, it’s exhausting!!!
• 15 years is too long for a hiatus, maybe we should just say ended now
• Yasu is kinda the perfect man

FIRST OF ALL: we did not need to make ANOTHER “season 1” of Doctor Who! We should’ve just gone up to season (or series for the Brits) 14, it would’ve been fun.

Doctor Who is a series I pop in and out of fairly regularly, but I had caught up in time to watch “The Power of the Doctor” in 2022. I was excited for the return of RTD and was interested in seeing how Ncuti works as the Doctor (I am more partial to older Doctors but coming into it with an open mind). After watching the season, I think those two thoughts flipped. Ncuti blew me away as the Doctor, he carried the role so well. Fifteen brought a lot of joy to the series, which has gotten a bit bogged down in Tortured Alien Yelling territory lately (circa 2005 IF we’re all being honest…I do love angst though but we need some new recipes). He brings so much life to the role. Some of the writing felt a bit muddled to me, but I think there’s always some growing pains with a new Doctor and companion. The finale was a bit “meh”, but some of the earlier episodes hit the right note of daring for me personally.

Misc notes

• Standouts for me were “The Devil’s Chord” and “Rogue”
• A shout out to “73 Yards” which I found kinda confusing BUT I did love the horror/folk genre getting some love
• Fifteen reminded me of Nine and I loved that! Idk how intentional that was

Please reference my Frieren review about my penchant about the big anime of the season. Anyway, I had quite the journey with Dungeon Meshi. I went it knowing it was about eating in a dungeon, which is mostly true. Of course, the first couple of episodes feel like that is the entire show, so I thought that it was just a slice of life series about that, which is not my bag at all. And when you think that is what the series is, it gives off a weird vibe that they start out trying to save Falin and then they all get distracted by cooking. Like, aren’t y’all worried about y’all’s friend? Who is in the guts of a dragon??? It takes a few episodes, but they finally make headway and there is a sense of expected urgency to the quest. I’m not sure if “tone problem” is the best way to describe this, but there is some incongruency there.

Once the show got going, it vibed with me more. It’s funny, has great characters, and has enough gruesome moments to keep me on my toes. Between this and Frieren, medieval fantasy is back in a big way. The characters feel surprisingly modern! Feel like I could’ve been in a geometry class with Laios or talked shit about Marcille (sorry girl but I just know you were insufferable in high school).

Misc notes

• I cannot find the original tweet, but the “Gainax bounce after killing six people” tweet is always my first thought when thinking of the show, a true visionary posted that
• Idk if it’s mostly the absence, but only really learning about Falin from the people who love her is interesting because, much like some of the other characters, I do feel like “…y’all’re doing all this, for her?” she’s fine I guess.
• That one meal Senshi has to eat to learn some life altering lore was so funny and also so fucked up like!!! exactly the tone I want from my anime

Based on the ending of season 2 putting Deborah and Ava on different paths, I was curious how the two of them would reconnect in season 3. The show works best when the two of them are working together, so it wasn’t a matter of “if” but “how” they would reuinte after the tough breakup. There is a delicate balance to maintaining the edge to a comedy show over time and I wasn’t sure if the sharp edges of Deborah or Ava would be dulled. I’m glad they are still the messy, complicated, and occasionally cruel people they were in season 1 because as much as they’ve changed and improved each other, they find it hard to commit to the change completely.

I don’t mean this as faint praise, but I was surprised that Hacks found interesting plot lines to explore for so many of its characters. It feels more common that a streaming show begins to spin its wheels around this point, but the writers pushed characters that had been static characters like Marcus or Kathy, into the spotlight more and made them more than just moons around Deborah’s planet. I’m excited to see where this show goes.

Misc notes

• The ENDING got my ass, like jaw on floor
• I was a bit surprised how much I liked the Kayla and Jimmy sutff this season as they’re usually the boring B-plots, but there was some good character dynamics with them
• FANTASTIC acting from Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder

It was a long wait between seasons 1 and 2 and I had honestly started to give up hope of ever seeing s2, but then one day…it finally arrived. Much is said (rightfully!) about the premise of a punk band of Muslim women, but I think its style and humor really stands out to me. There’s whimsy to Amina’s inner thoughts that feels familiar and unique to me. A comedic style that’s recognizable, but as a Mulsim woman, a character who too frequently isn’t given the depth to be funny and playful. We haven’t even delved into the fun and genre hopping of the original songs for the band! Much to be said about the crowded and overwhelming TV landscape of the past 10 years, but this show might not have gotten a chance at other points in TV history and that’s a shame.

The episode focusing on Saira’s struggle to square her radical ideals with being on a label was great TV. There’s no easy answer to that dilemma, but it had the added weight of desperately wanting to say something important about Palestine. It felt like meta-commentary from the show’s creative team as self-censorship and the regular censorship is common with the Palestinian genocide. It was done well and that lose-lose feeling felt so real. There really wasn’t a story line I didn’t like, other than I wish we had more time with all the women.

Misc notes

• Amina is SUCH a fun character! Fully support her on her war against her boss.
• “Villain Era” should be charting if we lived in a just society
• This is the kind of show where I miss longer series because all these women deserve more time to develop their stories

I was excited for the dumpster battle to be animated and I think they did a great job with it. The series was always headed towards a rematch between Nekoma and Karasuno and getting to see that game on a movie screen gave it the elevated importance it deserved. The story was well paced and the flashbacks provided a nice refresher to the closeness of these two teams and the competitive spirit on display here. This match was about two teams with a healthy amount of competitive spirit with each other, but also a lot of love and camaraderie. Haikyu always excels in capturing that part of team sports, especially high school sports. It stresses me out so much when Kenma uses his big beautiful brain to trap Hinata, but man, it’s so good.

I loved the POV animation moments! It added such a dynamic perspective to the game and really immersed you into it in a way the manga didn’t (and couldn’t). It’s a shame that some of the manga material will end up left out of the series by switching to a movie format, but I think it will be a big help to the story pacing as the manga gets translated to anime.

Misc notes

• It brought me so much joy to see my boy Kageyama again <3
• I like making two movies with the rest of the material, but I’m very curious what they do with the other manga material
• Other than the POV moments, nothing about the direction popped out at me? Idk maybe I’m dense lol

Hiromu Arakawa, I was familiar with your game AND YET I still slept on this series. I’m a huge fan of Fullmetal Alchemist, but I always assumed that a romcom at an agricultural high school is something that would not vibe with. I’ve been reading every series by my favorite mangakas, so I decided to at least give it a try. Arakawa’s passion and deep knowledge of the farming industry completely shines through, which gives it an authenticity that not everyone could pull off. Sure it’s a coming of age romcom, but it has thoughtful conversation on the intertwined fates of farm animals and their keepers. There can be a lot of noise and emotions in discussions on this issue, so it was refreshing to see it discussed with the weight it deserved without some of the sensationalized talking points that get in. We owe animals care and kindness, but animals need us to survive just as much as we use them.

Hachiken’s journey to finding a passion after being burned out by the cutthroat academic achievement was so lovely <3. I really don’t know why I doubted Arakawa, truly, she’s always been fantastic at creating interesting characters with complicated backgrounds going through an emotional journey. Hachiken growing so much from what was supposed to be his plan to flee his stubborn and cold father and the academic rat race, I loved to see it.

Misc notes

• I love when artists have such a distinctive style that you see a character in another series and it looks so much like one of their other characters
• Dang, there’s a lot about rural living that’s very universal, I loved that
• Komaba’s story arc made me cry <3 I can have some serious and sadness in my high school comedy

I don’t think there’s an easy way to explain why I enjoyed Shōgun so much. Sure the story was compelling, the sets were beautiful, and the acting was phenomenal, but it felt like it had more to do with an aura. Everything about the show was just so well done that it felt like watching a beautifully pitched baseball game almost. I think my thoughts on it are still being processed by my brain, to be honest. I do think I would’ve enjoyed it if I watched after it finished airing, but having the ritual of tuning in weekly and having to wait a week to see what would happen made the experience that much more special to me.

Shōgun seems to be getting a lot of praise and comparison to game of Thrones due to the plotting and scheming in the show, both of which are fair, but I think the more interesting parts for me was the cultural exchange going on between Blackthorne and the Japanese. There is a certain “fish out of water” nature to it, but it feels more similar to how The Americans worked really hard to show an ideology unlike the primary audiences’ own to force them to consider their ideals more closely. Blackthorne left his family in London to seek personal glory while Mariko was the only member of her family left alive to serve a greater purpose. It’s the disagreement at the heart of the show, for the two characters and for the (Western) audience to me: that in Japan at this time, life is cheap and that in death you achieve something greater than yourself. It really isn’t even that Westerners don’t think life is cheap, since historically we haven’t been inclinced to help those being oppressed (but that’s a longer, offtopic conversation), but our sentiments on being part of a greater whole and the “sanctity of life (for privileged people historically)” are different and the show made we really ruminate on these ideals a lot.

Misc notes

• I loved everything they did with Mariko-sama! Incredible acting, incredible story arc, 10 out of 10
• That Scene in episode 8 quite literally had me on the edge of my seat, man that was fantastic acting
• I found out it was a miniseries before the penultimate episode and I pre-mourned my loss…sorry but I needed more

Promare is beautiful visually, with vibrant colors and a very geometric animation look that I really enjoyed. The fights were fun and visually loud, maybe overwhelmingly loud by the end, and the characters were fun and charismatic (minus Forsight who was undercooked imo).

All that being said, this story was so cliche and muddled in the final act that it started to really irritate me. It didn’t have much else to say about oppression that I haven’t seen explored somewhere else at a deeper level. It felt like it was all flash and little substance. The conflict between Forsight and Lio just gets papered over by Big Himbo Firefighter’s singular moral clarity that anyone dying is Bad and you don’t get the sense anyone will be held accountable for the pain caused by the oppression of the Burnish.

Misc notes

• When I visit family I end up passively consuming Paw Patrol and I could not stop seeing the similarities
• I would’ve liked them to dig into Heris’s storyline a bit more
• All the character names were so top tier, great job folks

I’ve started to lean towards short running manga since it’s cheaper and less space intensive to collect, which is a big reason why I got Shima Shinya’s two series, Lost Lad London and Glitch. Lost Lad London is an exploration of racism in a murder mystery as Al, a South Asian Londoner, is getting pinned for a murder he didn’t commit. Shinya-sensei’s art style is kind of deceptively simple: the paneling is contained within a few boxes for each page and isn’t too detailed, but that simplicity is also its strength. The space is mostly taken over by dialogue and the emotional response of characters and it serves the narrative well. I also just really love the art style, it’s so gorgeous.

Of course, I am very happy to have space for progressive manga with interesting stories and perspectives that have not always found space in the medium before. Al and Ellis connect almost immediately because they both know what it’s like to be immediately judged based on skin color in a society like modern day London and there are other characters with similar experiences that the series highlights. I’m a bit conflicted about the length of the series only being 3 volumes because it does seem to be enough for the story, but I also do think there were other characters that could’ve been explored more.

Misc notes

• That person being the killer is a bit brilliant because the arrogance fits so very well
• I know I already said this but GORGEOUS art!!!
• I’m waiting for Glitch to finish getting published in English, but I cannot wait to check out more of Shinya-sensei’s work, their work feels so fresh

I get really excited when a medium pushes against the limitations of itself. Sports manga can be a great example of this, considering how much sports involve movement and action which can be a challenge to properly illustrate. Ping Pong showed me how much value can be added within the pages to make a sports story dynamic in the confines of a manga panel. I’ve only read Haikyuu before this and that series does a good job of not completely confusing the reader, but Ping Pong was such a step up action wise compared to Haikyuu (no hate!). So much was conveyed by sound effects and paneling that added this dynamism that blew me away.

And again, I’m comparing the two as Haikyuu (and the Initial D anime) are my only touchstones for sports anime and manga, but Ping Pong decidedly not being the kind of “hard work pays off!” cheeriness of more typical sports series was so fun. Sports can really be anything at any given moment, it can hold high highs and low lows, and this series has these ping pong players in the damn trenches a lot of the time and I loved it. Talent only gets you so far in sports and the rest is achieved by torturing yourself day in and day out until your body can’t take it anymore, and that’s a grim way to live!

This manga went in a lot of directions I wasn’t really expecting, but I loved every nuance and detail Matsumoto-sensei added. I’m really excited to read more of his works because even though the art is (thinking of a polite euphemism) stylized very much like an early Adult Swim animated show, I think it captures emotion in ways you don’t initially expect it will and his storytelling is top notch.

Misc notes

• I’ll be a bit vague to avoid spoilers, but it speaks to the skill of the story that I wasn’t expecting a certain early story beat to come back, that made me so happy
• I truly love all my temperamental ping pong high schoolers, but Wenge won me over with the “worst shock since I emerged from the womb” line
• “being good at a sport you loathe” has really gotta be one of the more mundane and miserable afflictions possible and I love that this series explored that a bit

I try to check out the big anime of the season when it appeals to me because I really enjoy the community that sprouts up and having a little weekly ritual, so I checked out Frieren and it is the perfect shonen series for me. Thematically interesting with its exploration of death and legacy, fun characters and funny moments, and battles that get me excited. It has a wistful, melancholic tone as it focuses on loss and aging as the semi-immortal elf Frieren reminisces on the hero’s journey she took with a group of friends to defeat the demon king as she embarks on a new journey with a new group. The anime does a fantastic job handling the nostalgia and reflecting on past times without overwhelming the plot too much and I really enjoyed it. It made me cry, not really out of sadness, but more of a longing, as these are memories and experiences Frieren can’t have again since some of her original team have passed. In that sense, it captures the sort of ache that grief leaves behind. But Frieren also has new memories to form with new people and that time she spent with Himmel and the others has taught her what a treasure these moments are.

And the battles are FUN! I wasn’t that into the second half with the standard exam style arc that is a shonen cliche, but by the end I really loved getting an expanded view of the mage world. Just enough to add flavor without overwhelming the plot of the series. The characters are fascinating and a lot of fun to spend time with and don’t feel like a distraction from the main characters. I think youtuber On the Rise A&V did a great job of explaining what makes Frieren appeal to so many types of anime fans in this video that I recommend if you want to hear someone explain it better than me. But your takeaway here is that you should watch Frieren!!!

Misc notes

• I miss my Frieren Fridays already!
• People talk a lot about Himmel and Frieren’s relationship, but we need more discussions on how delightfully weird Fern and Frieren’s mentor/mentee relationship is! It’s like anime Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy TO ME
• Everybody pisses Fern off…she’s so relatable

Lodge 49 heard my pleas for fewer TV dramas about rich people and more stories about people living on the edge of a broken economic system who are close to tipping over. Lodge 49 is not just about economic precarity and the dying of the American middle class, but about loss and death generally. The focus of the story is on Liz and Dud, who lost their father a year ago and have been struggling a lot with it. They both have bizarre ways to cope with the grief, but Dud joins an esoteric Lodge order and becomes interested in alchemy.

This show is so unique when you think about other shows that aired alongside it during the prestige tv era boom, for the content matter sure, but also it’s such a beautiful exploration of the multifaceted experience of loss and grief. There’s the loss of the person, but there’s a loss of you and the person you were when they were around as if your life is so clearly segmented into a before and after. Almost every character in the show is experiencing some type of loss, a person, their health, or their job, and the show has such a focus and dedication to exploring this experience. Pair this with the show’s bizarre, almost anachronistic secret society, the Lynx, and you get a show with a fresh perspective and something fascinating to say instead of Prestige TV HBO Drama Number 58 about how gross rich people are but also how much we kind of want to be them? There are few things I appreciate more than a show that tries something new, even when it’s not completely nailing it (which Lodge 49 does have a way better handle on what about it works by s2).

Misc notes

• I found s1 a bit uneven, but s2 was really incredible stuff
• It’s such a shame it was canceled so early when it had so much more to say! I will accept some responsibility for not tuning in while it was airing; I watched the pilot but it didn’t grab me.
• I definitely recommend this show, but I get there’s just so much out there :( but check it out if any of that spoke to you!!!

Basara was both “a mangaka I like” with Yumi Tamura and “a big name shojo series” so it was pretty high up on my to read list. Basara captivated me immediately and held my attention to the end (minus the post-series stuff which isn’t really my speed anyway). One noticeable difference between shojo and shonen manga is how much more work goes into conveying emotion and moments as opposed to big speeches or plot points. Basara has plenty of big plot moments that got me excited or pushed the story forward effectively and skillfully, but it’s also a series that takes the time to give us a whole page of Sarasa or Shuri processing an emotional moment or revelation and is just as interested in the emotional story for the characters. I love long form storytelling precisely because I love seeing characters grow and change and this series did a great job of managing a large ensemble of Tatara’s army, the royalty, and Shuri’s orbit and their growth throughout the manga.

Basara features a world that is ruled by a monarchy that imposes cruelty and violence that has people trapped and devalued in a hierarchical society that is on the precipice of a revolution, as one woman is destined to change the tide of history. But even more importantly, Basara wants to explore what’s beyond the hate and the revenge that fuels a revolutionary movement. Do we have space for rage and hate against those who’ve wronged us or do we stay trapped in a cycle of violence? Is there a way out that gives us justice and peace? It’s a hard question to ask when rage and violence feeds a very visceral feeling in us and peace and forgiveness (not in the annoying “turn the other cheek” way but in the thoughtful “the peace within yourself demands it” way) do not. It still is hard to let that desire for revenge go so I’m not sure if the story completely got me there opinion wise, but it gave me a lot to ruminate on and I enjoy that very much. It felt like the ending the series deserved even if I think that line of thinking re: forgiveness doesn’t give the people who suffered the justice they deserve.

Misc notes

• slight spoiler, but I truly can’t believe Nachi and Hijiri didn’t get married at the end…fujoshis in the 90s I mourned with you
• Viz when will you reprint this series, I NEED IT
• Shuri never really won me over (partially out of stubbornness on my part), but his character arc never felt forced or unearned and I really appreciated it
• I adored all of the tiny Tam Tam times, it’s so fun to get insights into Yumi Tamura’s life in the 90s and it really added a layer to the story to see these brief inner moments of her life as she wrote this amazing series

Girls5eva feels like the little show that could and it feels a bit miraculous that it made it to season 3. It’s switched networks since it first aired in 2021 and has short seasons, even for streaming comedies, that get dropped in one go, and yet it survives and is as fun as ever. It’s a bit more reflective of the Girls5eva group as women reinventing themselves and forcefully carving their own way through an industry that left them on the metaphorical side of the road a long time ago. This season was funny and sweet like it always is and the finale always makes me smile. If you love fun and laughing and silly songs written by Sara Bareilles, you must watch Girls5eva.

On a small side rant…I hate the “season all at once” model and I can’t believe it still persists! I watched this season all in one day (look I GET that I am complaining about habits I myself am doing but I don’t have good self-control, it’s not on me) and I had completely forgotten I even watched this until I was scrolling through my Serializd reviews. TV isn’t meant to be like this!!!

Misc notes

• I’m not good at reviewing comedies because I usually like them or I don’t and I don’t put a ton of thought into them structurally or comedy wise, but yes! a fun show
• Wickie fills the Jenna Maroney sized hole in my heart
• the theme song is so incredible and fully jams itself into my brain for days after I finish it

I’m whatever the opposite of a movie buff is, but this trippy and fucked up hour and a half is the kind of movie I enjoy. It’s grim as hell and made me reconsider my relationship to the entertainment industry, reminding me of the bleakest and most exploitative parts of the industry. Mima is a young woman miserably trapped in an industry that views her both as an object of chaste purity that young men can project their feelings and ideas of femininity onto as a pop idol and an aspiring actress that is expected to be an object of lust. She’s neither, she’s simply a woman pursuing a career, but the film does an incredible job of depicting this contradictory expectation of women under patriarchal society. The movie expresses the confusion and stress this puts Mima through in an incredible way that’s disorienting to the viewer but never too much. Well, maybe a bit “too much” but in a very story appropriate way. I kept wondering what was real but then considered that “what’s real” is a boring question to have for this movie. What does it matter what’s real when the scripted feels indistinguishable from real actions or genuine feelings brought on by them?

I’ll be vague but I think I’m still not fond of the ending. It feels like a “twist” to get the audience on their heels more than a conclusion to the outcome of this sort of misogynistic violence. I’ll sit with it to see if that changes, but it felt like a flat way to end a fantastic movie.

Misc notes

• I have a pretty high tolerance for violence in media (I’m American after all), but woof this is truly tough
• I’m gonna have to break my “no movies” rule to check more Satoshi Kon because this film was incredible
• no but like, why was the ending like that

Planetes is undoubtedly a great manga. It has space exploration ennui and celebrates the pursuit of scientific journey into space while discussing the pitfalls of that endeavor. It’s a real hard science sci-fi series but doesn’t skimp on character development or the emotional interior of the characters. But, to me this series was one where I can recognize all of this and still not enjoy it a lot.

I think my two biggest stumbling blocks is that, despite liking sci-fi, I get easily bored with hard science approaches to it. I like the lofty ideas, but being asked to remember some of the scientific facts provided feels too much like school. The other is that this series came out in 1999 and had big dreams for our future with space exploration and that just does not feel as resonant in our world today. The dreams of a humanity that made it out to space and continues to make incredible leaps forward in space development feels like a bygone era. It’s not Planetes’ fault that we live now in an incredibly anti-intellectual world now, but it did make getting invested in a series about a near distant space based future difficult. But I’m a cynic who struggles to see a path where space exploration doesn’t pollute the stars beyond recognition, so if this sounds like you would like it, please check it out, it is good.

Misc notes

• too busy complaining about space travel losing its novelty to me that I didn’t mention the human focused stories in Planetes, but that was my favorite part I just didn’t have much to say
• I liked the ending! I think some thought it as abrupt but I disagree

This was only two volumes and seemed interesting so I picked it up on a whim. Anti-Romance was a mixed bag for me. The couple are childhood friends and roommates (vine voice and they were roommates) struggling to come to terms with the romantic feelings harbored between them. In the process, they hurt each other as these feelings have festered in a lot of unhealthy ways in the past 6 year. But truthfully, I didn’t feel too invested in the main couple’s story. Both Suou and Ryou have people they talk to about this relationship and those not-couples were once in a similar boat to them and offer advice about their own moments that came and went. I found those stories of failures in communication and missing a window and having the rest of your life to regret it interesting and bittersweet. These secondary relationships did a great job contextualizing what Suou and Ryou had to lose if this moment passed them by, and I found them more interesting than the main characters.

I do feel like this is maybe on me trying to find romances despite me being incredibly picky. There was just too much about the story I found frustrating, but generally the themes of Anti-Romance did move me even if the execution didn’t. I do wonder if I should stop trying so hard to find romance manga that I’d like, but when it’s good I love it and I’m still chasing that high.

Misc notes

• I am still rooting for the two hair stylists…where’s their series
• If this wasn’t just 2 volumes, I don’t think I would’ve finished it

Home Office Romance is a combination of two of the trickiest genres for me to enjoy: slice of life and romance. However, I adored this short read! I found Nokoru endearing in the way that straightforward nerds can be and it helps that I share a lot of his personality traits myself. He’s hard working and constantly exasperated by everyone else, extremely relatable. I loved seeing all of Natsu and Nokoru’s little interactions and seeing their relationship develop.

Usually, COVID-19 era media stresses me out for obvious reasons, but using the global pandemic and the ways it completely changed how we live and work to show a positive outcome of two neighbors falling in love brought me joy to see. This is one of those mangas where you’re bummed that it’s so short.

Misc notes

• hold your shock but I related to the tech worker who’s straightforward and logical
• I need this series in english and in print!