Hideaki Anno’s Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995), which ranks among the most popular, influential and controversial series in anime history, is finally appearing on Blu-ray in two multi-disc sets from GKIDS and Shout Factory! featuring a new dub and script. A complex, compelling saga that juxtaposes mecha battles with apocalyptic Christian symbolism, Jewish mysticism and teenage […]
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
MANGA REVIEW: “Blue Flag” Books 1-8
June 14th, 2021 
Charles Solomon Although many graphic novels and manga focus on LGBTQ kids, the complex characters and exceptional draftsmanship set Kaito’s “Blue Flag” above the tepid Western fantasies and run-of-the-mill BL (“Boy’s Love”) manga. (It was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize for Graphic Novel.) Sadly, the publication of Volume #8 marks the end of Blue […]
ANIME REVIEW: “On-Gaku: Our Sound”
May 19th, 2021 Charles Solomon Kenji Iwaisawa’s offbeat On-Gaku: Our Sound (2019) has attracted a loyal following in the US; it even earned an Annie nomination for Independent feature. Although it’s based on a self-published manga by Hiroyuki Ohashi, Iwaisawa wrote the screenplay, directed the film and animated it almost single-handedly. He simply couldn’t afford professional animators; the film’s shoestring […]
REVIEW: When Harry Potter’s Wizarding World Meets the X-Men: “The Legend of Hei” Begins
May 13th, 2021 W.R. Miller Those bad bad humans. Chopping down forests. How dare they displace Hei from his home! Hei, a magical spirit in the form of a wide-eyed cat, finds himself transported to the Big City. There, he’s attacked by a trio of human thugs, but rescued by a fellow shape-changer named Stormend. Hei joins Stormend’s unnamed faction […]
REVIEW: “The Prince’s Voyage”: A Film About Civilized Apes—Or Are They?
May 12th, 2021 W.R. Miller This is the story of a leader of an expedition, its sole survivor, who washes ashore on an unknown land and discovers a civilization of talking apes. He is nursed back to health by a pair of compassionate scientists. They wish to show him as an example that there is intelligent life outside their country. […]
REVIEW: “The Mitchells vs. The Machines”
May 10th, 2021 Martin Goodman Hot dog, especially if it’s a pug! Sony Animation’s The Mitchells vs. The Machines is finally out by way of Netflix, and it’s one of the best animated family films to hit the screens in quite some time. The producing team of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) are proving to be […]
ANIME REVIEWS: “One Punch Man” and “Mob Psycho 100”
May 10th, 2021 Charles Solomon Many recent anime TV programs reflect Japan’s daunting socio-economic problems in the post-Bubble economy: An aging, shrinking population; a bleak financial future that makes many young people undesirable as potential marriage partners; growing economic inequality; the persistent trauma from the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident Westerners call Fukushima—and the government’s ineffectual response to it.
MANGA REVIEW: “My Hero Academia: Team-Up Missions” Volume #1
March 23rd, 2021 Charles Solomon One of the big hits of the last decade, Kohei Horikoshi’s “My Hero Academia” (2014) has sold more than 30 million books worldwide. The TV series is in its fifth season, and the eagerly awaited third feature will debut this summer. Horikoshi set “Academia” in an alternate world where many children are born with “Quirks:” […]
REVIEW: “Raya and the Last Dragon”
March 8th, 2021 Martin Goodman Raya and the Last Dragon, in production since 2017, is Disney’s 59th film, or should I say, films, because there is more than one movie at work here. By the time I sat down to write this review, I found myself feeling like the shattered dragon orb (the McGuffin of the movie, trying to reunite […]
REVIEW: “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on The Run”
March 4th, 2021 Martin Goodman As of 2021, SpongeBob SquarePants had hit the skids. New episodes of the wildly popular Nickelodeon series (now in its 21st year) had dribbled down to a sporadic trickle, and with creator Steve Hillenburg gone, the fire seemed to have died. Several veterans of John Kricfalusi’s old Spumco outfit (aided by other veteran writers and […]
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REVIEW: “Tom & Jerry”
March 1st, 2021 Martin Goodman When MGM decided to revive their iconic animated stars Tom and Jerry in 1961, they entrusted Rembrandt Studios, located in Prague, Czechoslovakia, with the job. Director Gene Deitch reportedly showed his animation team six T&J cartoons and then put them to work. This weekend, in 2021, when this brand new hybrid feature film Tom & […]
REVIEW: “The Puppetoon Movie 2” Blu-ray/DVD Set
February 3rd, 2021 Greg Ehrbar Sometimes true treasures come along to remind us that we haven’t seen everything. The latest are a stunning cache of George Pal’s Puppetoon shorts that have just been unearthed. Acclaimed by critics, the public and some of the biggest stars over 70 years ago, many of them vanished, as if forever. Even the ones with […]
REVIEW: “Croods 2: A New Age”
January 4th, 2021 Martin Goodman Seven years following the 2013 DreamWorks movie The Croods, the sequel finally found its way to theaters and home streaming. The good news: not only is C2 a better movie than its predecessor, but it’s also a damn sight funnier, warmer, and fun to watch. While superior in its visual effects, the original film was […]
REVIEW: Pixar’s “Soul”
December 28th, 2020 Martin Goodman I had my arms and heart open. I wanted to unashamedly love this film, smother it in chocolate valentine hearts, and set my keyboard aflame in effusive praise until I wore out my supply of similes. I wanted to compare it to some of the most outstanding achievements produced under Disney/Pixar’s aegis. What I saw […]
ANIME REVIEW: “Dr. Stone”
September 23rd, 2020 Charles Solomon In 2017, Writer Riichiro Inagaki and illustrator Boichi scored a hit with their adventure-comedy manga Dr. Stone in “Weekly Shonen Jump.” Both a popular and critical success, Dr. Stone went on to win a Shogakukan Manga Award in 2019. (Viz has published 15 volumes of Dr. Stone in English.) For the 2019 animated adaptation, director […]
