ANIME REVIEW: “The Tibetan Dog”

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Based on a best-selling Chinese children’s book, Tibetan Dog (2011) was produced at Japan’s Madhouse studio in a rare Chinese-Japanese deal. Since his parents separated, Tenzin (Tatsuomi Hamada) has grown up in the city of Xi’an in Shaanxi province with his mother. He learned to play the flute from her and had an unremarkable urban […]

ANIME REVIEW: “Tsuki-Ga Kire: The Complete Series”

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In the first episode of the 2017 broadcast series Tsuki-ga kirei (in Japanese Tsuki-ga kirei means “As the moon, so beautiful”), Kotaro Azumi (Stephen Sanders), a 9th grader at Kawagoe City Daisan Junior High, quotes Osamu Dazai: “How excruciating, arduous and unbearable it is to live.” Kotaro adds, “He must have been talking about middle […]

ANIME TRAILER: “Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle”

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Humanity’s desperate battle to reclaim the Earth from Godzilla continues. The key to defeating the King of the Monsters may be Mechagodzilla, a robotic weapon thought to have been lost nearly 20,000 years ago. Part 2 of the new anime Godzilla trilogy from Toho (and destined for Netflix here in the US). Godzilla: City on […]

ANIME REVIEW: “Kiss Him, Not Me: The Complete Series”

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Like Ouran High School Host Club (2006), the teen romcom Kiss Him, Not Me (2016), plays off the distaff equivalent of the harem comedy. Based on the award-winning 2013 manga by Junko, the Japanese title Watashi ga Motete Dōsunda literally means “What’s the Point of Me Getting Popular?” High school junior Kae Serinuma (voice by […]

ANIME REVIEW: “Yamada-kun and the 7 Witches”

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A featherweight supernatural romantic farce, Yamada-kun and the 7 Witches (2015) turns the conventions of the popular anime genre of the harem comedy topsy-turvy. The original manga by Miki Yoshikawa, which sold almost four million copies, has been made into a live action series, as well as an animated one. Students at Suzaku High dismiss […]

ANIME REVIEW: “Yamada-kun and the 7 Witches”

A featherweight supernatural romantic farce, Yamada-kun and the 7 Witches (2015) turns the conventions of the popular anime genre of the harem comedy topsy-turvy. The original manga by Miki Yoshikawa, which sold almost four million copies, has been made into a live action series, as well as an animated one. Students at Suzaku High dismiss […]