Anime Reviews

Most of what I’ve written over the last 15 years or so have been anime reviews, so here’s a ready reference. Enjoy, and if you can’t find a show that you’re interested in you can always Request a Review.

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009 Re: Cyborg (Meh)
The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me? (2020): First Episode(s) Impressions
22/7 (2020): First Episode Impressions

A:

Active Raid (I liked it better when it was Patlabor)
After School Dice Club (2019)
Ah! My Goddess: The Movie
Akagami no Shirayuki-hime (aka Snow White with the Red Hair): First Thoughts, Final Thoughts
Akatsuki no Yona: First Thoughts, Second Thoughts and Final Thoughts
AKB0048: AKB0048 and AKB0048: Next Stage, the disappointing Sentai Filmworks Blu-Rays, and a cultural connection to Rakugo.
Alien 9
Amanchu! (2016, recommended) and Amanchu! Advance (2018, oh dear)
The Ancient Magus’ Bride: First Thoughts
Angel Beats!
Anime de Training! EX! is a bit of a worry.
Anohana (Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai) RECOMMENDED
Another
The Anthem of the Heart
Appleseed Ex Machina
Argevollen: First Thoughts, Second Thoughts, Final Thoughts
ARIA the ANIMATION and ARIA the NATURAL, Sometimes you don’t need dialogue, ARIA the AVVENIRE
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: First Thoughts and Final Thoughts
Asteroid in Love (2020) and light pollution
Azur Lane (2019): On not keeping it focused.

B:

Bakemonogatari
Barakamon
Batman: Gotham Knight
Battle Angel
Beyond the Boundary: First Thoughts and Final Thoughts (TBA)
Black Magic M-66
Bodacious Space Pirates (tag): See separate entry below for list of posts
BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt so I’ll Max Out My Defence (2020): First Episode Impressions
Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi (aka ERASED): First Impressions
Boy and the Beast, The
BTOOOM!

S:

Sakura Wars
Sakura Quest
Say “I Love You” (tag): See below for list of posts
Scrapped Princess
Shin Sekai Yori tag (aka From the New World): See below for list of posts
Shirobako (tag): See below for list of posts.
Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinju: First impressions, As it connects to AKB0048, others TBA
Silent Mobius Tag: See below for list of posts.
Solty Rei
Someday’s Dreamers
Sora no Woto (aka The Sound of the Sky)
Sore ga Seiyuu: First Thoughts
Sound! Euphonium (tag for alternate title, see Hibike! Euphonium posts below)
Space Battleship Yamato 2199
Space Firebird 2772
Space Pirate Captain Harlock
Spirit of Wonder, The
Steamboy
Strange Dawn
Strike the Blood: First Thoughts, Second Thoughts, and Final Thoughts (TBA)
Summer Wars (in brief) and Summer Wars (Twenty Days)
Sword Art Online (aka Harem Art Online)

T:

Taisho Baseball Girls
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya has a cultural link to Sailor Moon?
Tales from Earthsea
Tari Tari tag: See below for list of posts.
Time of Eve
Toji no Miko: First Thoughts, Final Thoughts
Tonari no Seki-Kun: The Master of Killing Time: First and probably only thoughts
Toradora: First Thoughts, Final Thoughts, and the complete series from Hanabee
Toward the Terra
Tsuki ga Kirei (aka As the Moon, So Beautiful): First Thoughts
Tsuritama

U:

Umamusume: Pretty Derby: First and Probably Only Thoughts, I was bored so have some final thoughts as well
Umi Ga Kikoeru (1993)
Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer
Ushio and Tora: Looks Like Fun (Episode 1 impression)
Usagi Drop (story), Usagi Drop DVD Release, and the Usagi Drop live action.

V:

Valvrave the Liberator: First Thoughts and Final Thoughts (TBA)
Vexille
The Vision of Escaflowne: Thirty Days Tag. See below for context

W:

Waiting in the Summer
Walkure Romanze: An anime to flee screaming from, and I was totally right.
Wave, Listen to Me: First Episode Impressions
When Marnie Was There: A quick note
When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace
Whisper of the Heart
Wolf Children
World is Still Beautiful, and Revisiting The World is Still Beautiful

X:

Xam’d: Lost Memories: Initial Thoughts and Final Review

Y:

Yorimoi. RECOMMENDED.
Your Lie in April: First Thoughts
Your Name (aka Kimi no Na wa)
Yuki Yuna wa Yusha de Aru (aka Yuna Yuki is a Hero): Tag, see below for list of posts.

Bodacious Space Pirates:

First Thoughts
Second Thoughts
(hopefully not) Final Thoughts
the Hanabee Blu-Ray Release Part 1 and Part 2, and
a guest review by Peter Wilkie
Movie trailer and character designs
First Impressions: Abyss of Hyperspace Movie

Encouragement of Climg (aka Yama no Susume)

The Fate/Stay Night Franchise

Fate/Stay Night: The Franchise (2006 – 2015)
Fate/Stay Night (2006) (aka Deen/Stay Night)
Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (2014/15)
Fate/Zero (2011-2012)
Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya (2013)
Fate/Grand Order: First Order (2016)
Fate/Apocrypha (2017)
- Part One
- Part Two, First Thoughts
- Final Thoughts (TBA)
Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel
- I. presage flower (2017)
- II. lost butterfly (2018)
- III. ???
Today’s Menu For the Emiya Family (2018-19)
Fate/Grand Order – Absolute Demonic Front Babylonia (2019/20)
- On keeping it focused
- Series Review

GATE: Thus the JSDF Fought There

The Self-Defense Force Goes to Another World (ep 1)
First Thoughts
Second Thoughts
The New OP Sucks
Third Thoughts (what a muddled mess)
Japanese perspectives on the politics (links to other bloggers that you should read)
Final Thoughts

Girls Und Panzer:

First Thoughts,
Second Thoughts,
Final Thoughts
A Movie in 2014?
The Volleyball Club are Awesome
The Hanabee Blu-Ray Release
The OAV Collection
There is a board game: Panzer Vor!
Girls Und Panzer Der Film!
Meet the Cast (photos of the actual tanks where I could find them)

Hibike! Euphonium

Season 1: First Thoughts,
Season 1: Final Thoughts,
Season 2: Episode 11 is “only” good,
Season 2: Final Thoughts

Kantai Collection

Log Horizon

Season 1 First Thoughts (Recommended)
my mental disconnect over the music video for the ED,
Season 1 Final Thoughts (Still Recommended)
Season 2 First Thoughts
Season 2 Speculations about Where It’s Heading
Season 2 Second Thoughts. Oh dear.
Season 2 An alternative view: the Babylon 5 of anime?
Season 2 Final Thoughts (Better than I expected but…)

Magic Knight Rayearth

Magic Knight Rayearth Season 1 (non-spoiler),
Discussing the Ending to Season 1
A fairly wild speculation about Hikaru.
Magic Knight Rayearth Season 2 (spoilers for season 1)

Nadia: Secret of Blue Water

Nagi no Asukara

A quick note
Part One (Recommended)
The new opening
A Deus Ex Machina and a Chekhov’s Gun and
Part Two (Still recommended)

Patlabor:

The original OAVs,
Patlabor: The Movie,
Patlabor 2: The Movie, and
Why Patlabor is my favourite mecha series.

Revolutionary Girl Utena:

The 5.1 remix,
The Black Rose Saga,
The Apocalypse Saga Part 1 and
The Apocalypse Saga Part 2
The Nozomi Extras Part 1
The Nozomi Extras Part 2
Adolescence of Utena (the movie)

Say “I Love You”

Shin Sekai Yori (From the New World)

Dvořák’s 9th and Shin Sekai Yori
First Thoughts,
From the New World Part One
From the New World Part Two (watch once recommendation)

Shirobako

First Thoughts
Episode 6 disappears
Episode 6 reappears (Update: looks like Waiting For Godot was the culprit after all)
Second Thoughts
Third Thoughts. STILL Awesome.
Achieves irony through non delivery
Final Thoughts, or WHY HAVEN’T YOU WATCHED SHIROBAKO YET?

Silent Möbius

Slient Mobius: The Motion Picture 1 and 2
As a Five Team
The soundtrack to the movies (especially the second movie)
First thoughts on the TV Series
Second thoughts on the TV Series
Final thoughts on the TV Series

Tari Tari

Looks at body image part one,
Body image part two (not really resolved),
Looks at architecture and design, and
The actual series review.

Yuki Yuna wa Yusha de Aru

First Thoughts
Wild Mass Guessing (some of which were accurate)
Final Thoughts (which which were possibly a touch harsh)
Revisited

Episodic Reviews

I have occasionally done full episodic reviews of selected series, plus additional themed posts to round out to sets of 20 or 30 posts.

In this vein I’ve completed:

Thirty Days of Anime (a fairly wide ranging set of posts. I had a lot of fun doing these).
Twenty Days of Lodoss War
Thirty Days of The Vision of Escaflowne
Twenty Days of Haibane Renmei
Twenty Days of Key the Metal Idol
Twenty Days of Anime Movies (see individual links above)
Dirty Pair TV Series
Dirty Pair OAV Series

Thirty Days of Planetes is in progress but interrupted by Real Life TM.

Panel Notes

I usually attend SwanCon in Perth, Continuum in Melbourne, and will start making a habit of GammaCon in Canberra. Occasionally I contribute to these conventions as a panellist, so here’s some my note from those panels.

Talking about tropes (hardly a surprise since I link to TV Tropes so often in my reviews):

Anime Archetypes at SwanCon 2010, and
Anime Tropes: The Sequel at SwanCon 2011.
The Revenge of the Tropes was featured at Continuum in 2014.

Whilst I’ve done Anime 101 / Best Of panels before I’ve found Better Than They Have Any Right To Be to be a topic that allows for more critical discussion of “midrange” titles:

I initially did a version of this at ConFlux but don’t seem to have any notes for it. 😦
Better Than They Have Any Right To Be was a big hit at Continuum 9, and the panel notes (a downloadable slideshow) have some surprises.
I also did this one as more of a presentation at GammaCon and it seemed to go over fairly well.

Regrettably my 2015 GammaCon panel on Names to Know In Anime wasn’t as successful as I’d hoped it would be. I plan to be back with a co-panelist in 2016 though.

Other Bits and Pieces

I’ve also written a general piece on anime story telling and editing (or the lack thereof): Sometimes Less is More. I have since clarified this with a comment about overediting of light novel adaptations: sometimes more is more.

I did a Three Fandoms challenge that included Lejji Matsumoto and Card Captor Sakura. There was also a bit of a rant about the Top 20 Madman Anime of 2012. In a similar vein I took part in an Anime Blogger Interrogation Game.

The latest addition to this set is a surprisingly popular piece on comfort, or zone out, anime.

I’ve also spent a little time musing on why CrunchyRoll is cool, and wondering what shows made people subscribers to CrunchyRoll.

I also had fun playing on twitter with the Explain an Anime Plot badly hashtag.

I may have issued a bit of a rant on moe character designs. Bring Back The Noses!

You may not like dubs (I’m not usually a fan), but show some (commercial) respect at least.

My attitudes towards fanservice.

May their art be their memorial: a trip down memory lane with Kyoto Animation.

Comments are always welcome on any of these reviews either here or in the individual reviews (but see the Site Disclaimer for the moderation policies).

6 thoughts on “Anime Reviews”

Scott B said:

28 February 2013 at 4:43 am

Glad I found your site. FYI, the link to Twenty Days of Haibane Renmei has “http//” in front without the colon.
John Samuel said:

28 February 2013 at 5:44 am

I’m glad you enjoyed it, and I’ll fix that link on the weekend. Thanks for reporting the glitch.
Adam said:

13 February 2018 at 12:43 pm

I really like the fact that you list them all out here. Wish more bloggers maintained a list like this.
John Samuel said:

13 February 2018 at 12:44 pm

Thanks. It’s partly for my benefit as well, as I often go back to reviews of one show to help clarify my thinking for another.
Adam said:

13 February 2018 at 12:53 pm

Mmm. I can relate to that. Sometimes I’ll use index to organize past posts for my own purpose, most often if I’m trying to think of good examples of a writing technique, so I dig into the reviews.
But it’s also really nice for a new audience who wants to really peruse without scrolling down indefinitely to see what’s in the archives :-). I see a lot of titles I’ll be adding to my “to read list”
John Samuel said:

13 February 2018 at 12:57 pm

Cool, I hope you enjoy them!

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