19 May 24
If you like comedic takes on princesses in captivity, you'll like our first item on the menu this week, 'Tis Time for "Torture," Princess. I then ake the tenuous connection between princesses and noblewomen for a couple "villainess" stories: 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! and Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I'm Not the Demon Lord. Because I finished it just after last round of reviews were posted, here's one from last year, Ningen Fushin: Adventurers Who Don't Believe in Humanity Will Save the World. That almost makes a full set for anime, but we're not done yet. For movie reviews, we follow Alphaville from last week with another French film that didn't do it for me, 1956's ...And God Created Woman. Next is the 1945 version of And Then There Were None, the 1951 suspense film Another Man's Poison, and then TV's Sophie Turner in Another Me. I've got some romancin' planned for next week, so look forward to that. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 16:32:45
18 May 24
The mascot is getting a little outdoor time to wallow on the concrete out front. There won't be any wallowing on concrete, but we do get some outdoor time in Chapter 24 of EM3. Just three more chapters to go and we'll be bringing our Everyday Magic adventure to a close. Tomorrow, look for the trials and travails of princesses and other young women of means in the reviews. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 17:28:42
12 May 24
It's Mother's Day and today's reviews aren't exactly mother-themed, though I suppose a number of moms out there would appreciate the Cary Grant film An Affair to Remember. Before we continue with movie entries, let's look at our two pieces from the Winter 2024 anime season, two examples of the whole "expelled from the party" subgenre: Banished from the Hero's Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside 2nd and The Strongest Tank's Labyrinth Raids. There was a third series in keeping with the theme from last year that I just finished watching, but I want to go to bed, so I'm not going to go to all the trouble of adding it in right now. We'll just tuck that one away for later. As we continue through the alphabet in my backlog of movie reviews, we have the pretentious French film Alphaville and then America is on the menu with American Sniper, American Yakuza, and American Ninja 2: The Confrontation. I don't quite know if the series I have to catch up on can be bundled into anything thematic at this point, but I'll see what I can do. Hopefully I get that chapter of EM3 out this time as well. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 16:22:54
05 May 24
For this week's feature, we have a pair of series that start with the main character dying (or near enough to it). Both dungeoncrawlers, too, albeit in rather different settings. First is one that's been hyped up for a long time and put in motion by the fine folks at A-1 Pictures, Solo Leveling. The other is a more conventional fantasy story, The Unwanted Undead Adventurer. It probably would've made sense to add Undead Unluck to this list, but rather than get caught up on that, I went down a different rabbit hole (one that still just happens to involve death and resurrection shenanigans) with Season 1 and Season 2 of the 2000s mecha series Godannar. Because I had recently purchased the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Edition, I decided to revisit that 90s classic, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. And for our extra movie reviews, we have the 1949 version of All the King's Men and 2015's Aloha... because I thought about going to a Hawaiian hamburger place two weeks ago? (It's just coincidence that I was able to come up with something. As you may recall, I'm going alphabetically through my backlog of reviews.) I don't currently have a theme idea for next week. I can't even promise that I'll get caught up on anything before then, especially since I've picked up the still ongoing Dungeon Meshi (which is really good and I can't believe I nearly slept on it). Anyway, I'll see what I can do there while getting together the next chapter of EM3 amid the flood of work I've got waiting for me once I get back to the office. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 18:47:56
04 May 24
In the States, a lot of things get dyed green for St. Paddy's Day, but I've never heard of doing anything similar for Greenery Day here in Japan. As such, the mascot is white as ever (not that I'd dye her green on any occasion). This might be relevant if I was going to revive the running gag of Ally from the Tico series turning green, but instead this intro is going absolutely nowhere. While the intro may have been a waste of your time, hopefully you'll find Chapter 20 of TWH to be anything but a waste of your time. Look for reviews tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 13:55:30
01 May 24
It's that special time of year once more, International Ayame Jellybean Day. The lady of the hour thought that the more tangible reward of being cradled for a bit was more important than this little digital tribute. Anyway, I won't say I'm going to work on the mascot's gallery this time, so if it actually ends up happening, it'll be a pleasant surprise. Look for the story update this weekend. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 13:17:43
29 Apr 24
We have yet another TWH delay, and with me being behind on my viewing for review purposes, we might have been without a review post as well, but thanks to His Majesty the Showa Emperor (with apologies to the aggrieved former members of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere), I have Monday off and so have been able to put this post together only a day late rather than a week late. We kick things off with some mecha action in the form of Brave Bang Bravern! and Synduality: Noir. There was a third series I wanted to add to this pile but didn't have time for it, so instead we'll turn our attention to movies. First is the 1935 version of A Tale of Two Cities. Next we have the legendary screen couple Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn engage in the battle of the sexes in Adam's Rib. We then have some fun with the birth of Anglicanism in A Man for All Seasons. Next, surely you can't be serious, but it's Airplane!. (I am serious, by the way, and don't call me Shirley.) Last, and probably least, is a Western from the director of Action Jackson, Aces n' Eights. That being the dead man's hand and all, we can cover a couple of series that start with death next week (and possibly some more if I manage it). Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 13:55:46
21 Apr 24
Magic is in the air for this week's reviews. First off is Season 2 of The Ancient Magus' Bride from last year, which leads us to two series from this year, Season 2 of Mashle and The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic. Next up is movies. Last week we had one about WWII, one filmed during it, and now one set after it in the form of Billy Wilder's A Foreign Affair. We then have A Fistful of Dollars, the first entry in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy, the musical comedy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and the deliberately (and amusingly) anachronistic A Knight's Tale. For next week, I'm thinking we'll have some mecha. Look for more TWH as well. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 15:51:33
20 Apr 24
The time I've spent putting the site back together has delayed this release, but now it's time to get to it. I'm rolling the dice a bit with this one, but I'm going to trust the reader will grant me enough rope to hang myself. What am I talking about? Well, first off, go ahead and read Chapter 2 of RttW and if you're not liking what you're seeing, head over to the blog so you can hear what I've got to say for myself. We'll see how things go from here. Tomorrow's reviews are less likely to spark any contraversy, so look forward to that. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 13:52:25
14 Apr 24
A minor housekeeping note, but I've decided to delete the site's Gab account. The place had always been a bit of a cesspit, but that's social media for you. Will I replace it with anything else? At this point, I doubt it. If I was that committed to social media engagement, I would've stuck with Twitter and Facebook, but as I ditched them as a matter of principle, it wasn't all that tenable for me to stick with Gab as long as I have. Well, so it goes. Not much is lost. The Cats Group was nice. Anyway, that takes care of that. Now back to work for me.
Posted by: James
UTC 14:02:20
My original viewing goal for this week proved too ambitious for the time I had available, so I opted to take an alternate route that I could put together quicker. We're looking at The Dangers in My Heart, last year's Season 1, the recently completed Season 2 and the ONA short Bonus Dangers (TwiYaba). For movie reviews, we kick things off with a big ensemble war film A Bridge Too Far and then a movie made when WWII was still ongoing, 1942's A Date with the Falcon. Next is crime time with kidnapping in A Cry in the Night and murder in A Bucket of Blood, and singing in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. I'll pick up a few more Winter 2024 series for next week, so look forward to that. We'll also have more RttW. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 12:17:10
13 Apr 24
It's time for Chapter 23 of EM3. It's not all that long, but we're getting set up for the final stretch of the story. You excited? Speaking of things to be excited for, my plan for the reviews this week has changed. I didn't have time for the catching up that needed to be done, so we've got something light and fluffy instead. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 13:16:24