Article Archives: 2014

This caustic satire of the meat-market beauty industry works as both a manga and a live-action production, although it is more concise and less distractingly glamorous on paper than it is on a screen

Even if the story's little more than a placeholder, 'REDLINE' seethes with visuals so propulsive and uninhibited, they alone guarantee it a place in anime history

Under 'Cowboy Bebop's rollicking humor and sassy action lives a question borne from the long dark night of the soul: are you living, or just existing?

Otaro Maijo's genre- and criticism-defying novel ignores conventions of style, genre, narrative, and logic; would that it added up to more than a stunt

Hayao Miyazaki's final bow as a director is a down note -- an aimless, shallow, and all-too-fictive biopic that never engages with the moral questions at the heart of its own story

The live-action remake of the infamous 1998 anime OVA is nowhere nearly as repellent as its source material, but don't take that as a recommendation

From a simple premise can be spun any number of stories, and 'A-Jin' unfolds its premise with savage cleverness and whiplash speed

Let's not shy away from calling this not only Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki's greatest achievement, but one of the finest of all films, animated or not

Magical hijinks in high school are the jumping-off point for this enjoyable story with no small amount of potential, but also unnecessarily confusing visuals

How the near-disappearance of physical stores has transformed one of the classic pleasures of anime fandom: stumbling across hidden treasure

At the heart of Hayao Miyazaki's most effortlessly charming film is a character of equal charm, learning her magic alone isn't what is most important about her

Looking back over this legendary and now-concluded OVA series, it's striking to realize how it all amounted to a great deal less than it might have seemed

Its story may be straight out of the tattered young-adult dystopia playbook, but 'Patema Inverted' boasts a central visual metaphor so dazzling it begs for IMAX

When five kids get whisked away on an interplanetary adventure, the splashy and spectacular results walk a line between a movie about kids, a movie for kids, and perhaps even a movie by kids

Hiroshi Sakurazaka's novel 'All You Need Is Kill' has been revisited no less than three times in other media, each version its own meditation on war, death, rebirth, and timelessness

An endearing cast, a creatively elaborated setting, and a strongly character-driven story combine to make 'Chaika' many cuts above the run of the mill

On the first anniversary of Ganriki.org's launch, a look back at our initial year -- and anime's past thirty years

The horror at the heart of this horror story lies in how it toys so adeptly with our understanding of 'human' and 'monster'

It amounts to a glorified interstitial episode from the TV show, but one that fills in a vital part of Hana's past, and presents it with the charm and sentiments this franchise delivered so capably

Despite some pacing problems and a few fumbled story elements, the first film from Hiroyuki Okiura since 'Jin-roh' is a good-hearted treat

The first of the 'Attack on Titan' prequel novels dives back into the history of the 'Titan' setting, although without the same compelling characterizations that made the original series so worthwhile

It's as ridiculous, preposterous, and outlandish as the source material demanded, but there are side effects to being slavish to the very attributes that made 'Bayonetta' enjoyable as a game

How people see anime, as genre or medium, says as much about how we label cultural experiences generally as it does about the beholders

Rare these days is the series with an all-female cast where character, story, and drama are the goals, not titillation or eye candy

Limited and fragmented as it is, this brutal fantasy still achieves wonders, thanks to the sheer strength of its storytelling and the force of its vision

The real monster in Satoshi Kon's genre-defying black comedy of horrors is human nature itself

Why deluxe packaging and other such marketing stunts may make it harder for fans to express their devotion, not easier -- and not just because of the pricetags

Twenty-five years on, one of anime's seminal groundbreakers remains as alluring, intriguing, confounding, and problematic as ever

What's needed in anime criticism -- and in most any good criticism of art or entertainment -- is to lay our prejudices on the table first

Part three of 'ARISE' is an improvement on the first two installments, but the ineffable alchemy we saw before in the franchise still hasn't quite manifested itself

Does introducing people to anime make them into fans, or does anime fandom arise more spontaneously than that?

Unfairly overlooked by audiences, this engrossing and intelligent adventure fantasy deserves cherishing -- doubly so now thanks to its welcome re-release

A good live-action version of 'Ghost in the Shell' may well be possible, but can Hollywood do it without draining all the blood (and electricity) from its veins?

Even while this love story between a human and a robot is sincere and affecting, it's up to the audience to tell if it has one too many twists for its own good

This jet-black comedy about a social misfit is either one you laugh with -- or a test of an audience's limits of tolerance for truly mean-spirited humor

After a wave of successors and deconstructions, the sweetness and directness of one of anime's most-beloved magical-girl shows still holds up

It isn't just the Tim Burton-esque atmosphere that makes 'Soul Eater' ripe for a live-action version, but a lively and colorful cast of characters worthy of our attention

Under the clichéd surface of this lively romantic farce run undercurrents of something smarter and deeper

What sense does it make to turn Leiji Matsumoto's stirring, Gothic space opera into a shrink-wrapped CGI product?

In the wake of 'Short Peace' and with 'Interstellar' in the offing, Katsuhiro Otomo's reach-for-the-stars project uses the graphics of the former to deliver the message of the latter

The legacy of the bomb in Japanese history has been confronted endlessly in entertainment, but that shouldn't be the only way we confront it

When the creator of 'Lupin III' decided to revisit a feisty Japanese literary masterwork, the results were as uproarious as they needed to be

A well-intentioned program in Japan to curb piracy right now amounts to little more than spitting on a fire to put it out

... then at least let the industry learn the right things from its passing

Katsuhiro Otomo's involvement in this dazzling short-film anthology is reason enough to seek it out, but there's plenty more on top of that

Long unavailable in anything but fansubs, this psychedelic horror-fantasy anthology is bewitching and intoxicating

An overwhelming experience, and a finely crafted one, but also harrowing and unpleasant from beginning to end -- even if that's supposed to be the idea

The first anime to be distributed exclusively on Netflix is dazzling and enjoyable enough to feel new, but plays it safe enough to go mainstream

A gem of a show that confronts what it means for Japan and the West to be curious about each other -- and also how 'moé' can be an actual theme and not just a fetish

We've not only been promised the moon with the new 'Sailor Moon'; there's a good chance we'll actually get it

A show this dismal is best seen as a symptom of anime's growing insularity

How is it that a live-action 'Black Lagoon' -- itself a loving homage to John Woo and Jerry Bruckheimer alike -- hasn't yet been put on the slate?

Despite a meandering plotline, this mini-fantasia about one girl's spiritual powers is still worth the time

A show this allegedly outlandish on the outside shouldn't try to play it so safe under the skin

When will we see older characters in anime as things other than supporting cast members, comic relief, or objects of repugnance?

Nominally a giant-mecha fantasy, 'Eureka Seven' also explores the awkward pain of young love -- and the even greater pain of trading childhood for adulthood

How the practice of shifting anime from TV broadcast or video to theatrical release first has delivered a new form factor -- and a new aesthetic

A gorgeously-designed surface isn't all that's beautiful in this compelling reworking of elements from the classic tale of 'Hakkenden'

Plenty of laughs ooze forth from this 'cute Cthulhu mythos' comedy, but it's most intriguing for how something so dark is made fodder for something so silly

Our love for things and our critical distance from them don't have to be in contradiction with each other

The third of the 'Berserk' films brings us to the long-awaited end of the beginning, and reminds us the TV series still did some things totally right

Next to its cousin 'Steins;Gate' this sunny robo-fantasy bulks small, but it still supplies an entertaining ride

If Hollywood is allegedly plundering anime for ideas and inspirations, that only shows it has good taste -- but it's an awkward thesis at best

Somewhere between 'Blade Runner' and 'SE7EN' lies this show, which sees its dangerous ideas all the way through to the bitter and brilliant end

Should adapting something also mean attempting to improve it, even when its flaws are a big part of how it is what it is?

After twenty-five years, this seminal anime comedy is still both funny and a reminder of how shows like this are harder to make than it might seem

Under the glossy, inviting surface of this overplotted and underwritten story is a far better one waiting to get out

As money becomes increasingly abstract, from Bitcoin to bubble-bursting financial derivatives, this series becomes all the more prophetic and fascinating

The second installment in the 'Ghost in the Shell: ARISE' series eschews insight and thematic complexity for straight-up action

Even if 'ARISE' falls short of the heights of 'Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex', it's still a model of ambition and vision for anime

A massive budget wouldn't be needed to realize this most emotionally-powered of dark fantasies -- just proper attention to its story and characters

A creative industry shouldn't be led by its own least common denominator of taste

This poor man's 'Black Lagoon' embodies many of the problems inherent in a show about antiheroes and gray areas

It's dismaying when a show like this can barely even deliver the action and titillation it promises

One of 2013's best shows, which manages to both shoot itself in the foot and not be limited by that

It's always fascinating how Japan does mutant fantasy versions of its own history, even if the results aren't always worth the effort