Article Archives: 2015

Where we're coming from, and where we're going in the new year

The modest scale and gentle touch of this fantasy about androids with a human side are what make it work so well

Before there was 'Gravity', there was 'Planetes', as significant for its psychological insight as for its vision of garbage haulers in a spaceborne future

Netflix's next venture into anime territory is satisfyingly entertaining and sports a gamboling cast, but don't look for any envelope-pushing here

When the first film in this live-action trilogy is among the very best adaptations yet of an manga/anime property, we can forgive any weaknesses in the whole

Lightweight and frivolous as 'Oh My Goddess!' may be, those qualities might well also be what guarantee it can be reissued across the years and find an audience

A much better expansion of the 'Attack on Titan' universe than the 'Before the Fall' light novel, but it's still not without its own issues

How all the ways you change between re-watchings of a favorite show give you new perspective on old things

Placed side by side with its anime and manga brother incarnations, 'Fullmetal Alchemist' deserves more to be seen for where it rethinks and reinterprets, and less for how it deviates from the playbook

Is it possible, or wise, to critique anime adaptations of video games as if they had come from from any other source?

The last Studio Ghibli film, at least for now, aims for the good-hearted timelessness of all the studio's best films, and by and large achieves it

At last, a Hollywood adaptation of an anime property that makes sense -- but it's at least as much about the current comic-book craze than anything anime-related

It's tough sledding at first due to its focus on a hapless protagonist, but the way 'Tokyo Ghoul' picks up steam to redeem itself is impressive

Studio Trigger's rip-roaring follow-up to 'Gurren Lagann' embodied its intentions, by wearing a suit of style as gaudy and theatrical as the ideas it entertains

4K video is soon to be a consumer medium, but there's multiple reasons anime won't get much of a boost from it

Fans shouldn't be peeved when material made to satisfy them first and foremost isn't welcomed by audiences with no obligation to meet that material halfway

Adapted from the third novel in the 'D' series, 'Bloodlust' tops its source material, the earlier animated 'D' film, and a good deal of the competition that's come along since

Are we doing others a disservice when we recommend to them a series they might not be able to afford or complete?

There's little question 'D' helped open anime to the West, but its status as an artifact of its moment in time has only become more stark over the years

A splendidly curated art collection from across the career of an anime and manga luminary reminds us of what we had, and what we lost

A manga self-survey: what's on my shelves, and which ones of them matter most to me

On the face of it, a techno-thriller in the Michael Crichton vein; underneath that, a meditation on the way society is shamed into doing the right thing

In which we ponder a live-action adaptation (in Japan, that is) of Hiroaki Samura's long-running classic manga -- a project that could be both cheap and relatively feasible

Back in print at last, this anthology of robot-themed shorts is a delight, and also serves as a time capsule of anime's state of the art in the mid-'80s

What could have been a dreary slog through a predictable plotline is instead made sweet, sincere, and unexpectedly thoughtful

Of all the anime/manga projects to film as a Western live-action production, you could scarcely find a harder sell or a worse fit than 'Naruto'

The latest attempt to revamp a classic anime/manga property along modern-day sensibilities is a fizzle, no thanks to a mismatch of material and director

For the first time in years, I attended Otakon as a fan and not press, and felt none the poorer for it

Having gods tussle with each other in the middle of the modern world isn't a new idea, but 'Noragami' finds ways to be enjoyable rather than shopworn

Do the impossibly high standards some fans set for anime come from the material itself, or from the way they're introduced to it?

The best parts of 'Sidonia' remain its visuals and its gut-wrenching combat sequences; it's a shame its human elements aren't quite as strong

A side-quel that only makes the audience long all the more for the original, instead of cutting its own path

Calling this a 'sports story' falls so far short of describing how its seething visuals tell a story that'll hit home with most anyone, ping-pong players or not

With 'Legend of the Galactic Heroes' finally licensed for English release, it's all the more important to examine it critically, not reverentially

When does it make sense to have others continue work left unfinished by the creator's death, and when is it best to just leave well enough alone?

With pieces borrowed smartly from across other entertainments, the 'X-Men meets X-Files' 'Darker Than Black' holds up well after nearly ten years

Is there any way to get around the prejudices of a modern audience that looks at a classic show and just sees something 'old'?

Yet another attempt at a live-action 'AKIRA' has geared up, but the main problem remains: who would bother seeing it?

Direct financing of anime, both original works and the distribution of reissues, has just begun to show both its limits and its promise

Trippy visuals and a throw-it-all-in-the-pot narrative style fall victim to incurious storytelling in this oddity

Sleek, stylish, violent, and sleazy, the visual flair of this '90s gateway title remains unmatched -- but it's a child of its time in ways that aren't all positive

Before Mamoru Oshii bent our minds with the likes of 'Ghost in the Shell', he tickled our ribs with this lively entry in the action-comedy mecha series

What constitutes a 'classic' in anime, and what does it mean to define that?

One of the few original animated productions in recent years from South Korea demonstrates just how much nascent raw emotional energy there is waiting to be unleashed from that country's animation scene

Binge-watching has its pleasures, but so does pacing yourself -- especially when honing a critical mentality

After five years, volume 10 of 'Black Lagoon' -- but was all that made this series great only an artifact of its moment in time?

A critical mind, once engaged, is hard to disengage -- but needs to be counterbalanced by the will to be entertained

A wild grab bag of genres, influences, storylines, and ideas, 'Shangri-la' somehow manages to still work as entertainment even when it ought not to

More on how the hype cycle creates problems for fans and critics alike

The deliberate pacing of this fantasy thriller is both its most important attribute -- and the one thing about it most likely to give pause to today's viewers

How hyperbole for 'Steins;Gate' led to thoughts about how hyperbole can be counterproductive

Of all the anime-adaptation projects contemplated by Hollywood lately, 'Robotech' stands a better chance than most of surviving the transition

Anime needs a canon, for fans both new and old-- but one that manifests as a process, rather than as a list

On learning from one's errors in the wake of the 'Robotech/Macross' article

Sony should use its live-action 'Robotech' remake as a way to free 'Macross' from the smothering legal quagmire that's kept the franchise in limbo for too long

Shouldn't a show that entertains the idea that Japan's mystical past is an integral part of its present-day world not be so ... well, mundane?

Seven of the questions I ask myself about any anime, and the questions they in turn provoke

Usamaru Furuya's Grand Guignol horrorshow weeds out all but the sternest stomachs with its transgressive story and gory art -- but is the true test of a piece of work how quickly it empties the room?

One of the very few shows that gets it all right: funny, dazzling, charming, thoughtful, and sporting a cast of characters that never fail to enlist our sympathy and fascination

Just how much of a chance should you give a show before you bail?

This colorful slice of cosmic slapstick only looks dumb from the outside; it's one of the slyest fusions of comedy and science fiction anime has produced

So much more than just a lavish Classics Illustrated story, Isao Takahata's brush-painted picture scroll of a movie asks where the real meaning of any of our lives lies

An interview with the screenwriter for the Western remake of 'AKIRA' only underscores all the more why such a project makes no sense

An unfinished but tantalizing collaboration between two of anime (and manga's) most idiosyncratic creative personalities, Satoshi Kon and Mamoru Oshii, this book inspires a close reading -- and no end of wonder about where one man's imagination began and the other one's ended

What if the real meaning of 'Kaguya's Oscar loss is that we should stop waiting for validation from all the wrong places?

With this pre-WWII adventure, Hayao Miyazaki gave audiences young and old both a rollicking romp and a thoughtful drama, both in complement and not conflict

After the slam-bang cosmic comedy of 'Guardians of the Galaxy', why not a live-action adaptation of the misadventures of those two interstellar troubleshooters?

It's easy to overlook how many layers of meaning there are in Studio Ghibli's bawdy, raucous tale of shapeshifting raccoons holding out against human encroachment -- especially when you're laughing this hard

The best Mamoru Oshii film that Oshii never directed remains affecting and relevant fifteen years later

Far more than just a 'romance' or a 'love story', this is a story about becoming worthy of being loved -- and a sprightly, funny story at that

Osamu Dazai's despairing novel galvanized postwar Japan; Usamaru Furuya's modernized manga adaptation does justice to all its hearts of darkness

Yumeno Kyusaku's masterpiece of surreal horror has been filmed, and even adapted to manga, but its dreamy evil makes it perfectly suited to an anime version

There should be no shying away from how the influences left by our favorite works are not always good ones

Somewhere between thriller, noir, mystery, erotica, and tragedy lies this absorbing, if convoluted, story of the thefts of both ideas and lives

Is our enjoyment of anime enhanced by having an intimate knowledge of Japan, or is that something only those who call themselves critics should worry about?

Second verse of this fantasy-comedy, a bit less interesting than the first, as coincidence and contrivance take precedence over invention and storytelling

How well has this vintage 1980s homage to action-oriented SF held up? Better, perhaps, for its use of female main characters than for its technology or plotting

Centering criticism of media around available, in-print titles is useful in the short run, but deprives both audiences and critics of real food for thought in the long run

Casting Scarlet Johannson as Motoko Kusanagi is proof the live-action 'Ghost in the Shell' is as misguided a production as any previous Western attempt to adapt anime

With all four installments of 'ARISE' in place, the whole of it adds up to a breathless but superficial ride, lacking the soul and personality that dignified its predecessors

Never finished and lost to time, Satoshi Kon's mini-epic about a manga artist caught in the interpenetration of reality and his imagination works both on its own terms as an adventure -- and as an unintentional metaphor for its creator's own career