Anime Diet

So, like all otaku, I did my duty.  I climbed Mount Kunlun to pay homage to Haruhi and vote in the International Saimoe League 2009 Aquamarine Period — Round 5 elections. I am a blogger of Anime Diet, moritheil, making an obvious reference. While this isn’t the original Saimoe we all love to gripe about, [...]

As evidenced in this wonderful (though still incomplete) video: That it really, really fits proves my point. Though I still think Kare Kano is ultimately the more insightful show. This is making me want to go back and watch Kare Kano again. Or imagine what Toradora! would have been like in the hands of Hideaki [...]

This work relies on stereotypes, but it uses them with a deft touch.  The villains and heroes are easily identifiable as such, magic is obvious, and there is an alternate dimension locked in desperate struggle, in stark opposition to the daily lives of the teenaged protagonists.

Animation: 85% Acting: 90% Music/Sound: 80% Story: 88% Overall: 85% See explanation of scores. Toradora is the standard-setter anime about high school shounen romance. It does for high school love what Kare Kano does for adolescence in general and Honey and Clover did for post-adolescence–and that well-defined scope is both its strength and its ultimate [...]

Yes, moritheil has become a discussion partner in this revival of our Face Off feature! Please enjoy this rather meta-level discussion about whether anime can be treated like art or not.

Alteil is a web-based CCG whose claim to fame is that many famous mangaka were commissioned to draw the images.  It bills itself as “Japan’s #1 online card game” and is designed for the grown-up gamer who has a life and doesn’t want to spend more than 10 minutes per game on average.

Anime Diet Radio Episode 33 (AAC) [ 51:22 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1423) Anime Diet Radio Episode 33 (MP3) [ 51:22 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2920) Episode 33 Xtra: Maid Cafes (MP3) [ 2:05 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (967) EDIT: [...]

Anime Diet Radio Episode 33 (AAC) [ 51:22 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1423)

Anime Diet Radio Episode 33 (MP3) [ 51:22 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2920)

Episode 33 Xtra: Maid Cafes (MP3) [ 2:05 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (967)

Blue Dragon Plus, a strategy RPG in the vein of Final Fantasy Tactics for the Nintendo DS, turns out to be a pretty easy-to-learn and engaging game so far. It avoids some of the pitfalls I encountered with FF Tactics and proves to be a good way to pass the time.

O Pocky! My Pocky! our shopping trip is done; The pack has weather’d every press, the space we sought is won; The chair is near, the squeals I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the slender line, the package red and daring: But O mouth! mouth! mouth! O the tell-tale drops of phlegm, [...]

From ANN – Sky Crawlers’ Oshii PLans 1 Anime, 2 Live-Action Films …the writer and director known for the…revealed his upcoming film plans at a Friday event to mark the DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases of…in Tokyo…one of the projects will be aimed at film connoisseurs and will have a penny-pinching budget… Ray’s take: Wow, [...]

To steal a line from Spike Spiegel, there are three things I hate: crying kids, incompetence, and strange, unidentifiable fluids. So tell me, why has Alien Nine gathered them all in one place? The show begins well. The character designs are cute. The utter mismatch between the main character and the job she is selected [...]

Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei makes the argument that the hikikomori complex is an elaborate form of aversion. In fact, all the people portrayed in the show are slightly dysfunctional and avoid facing reality in certain ways, and it is this backdrop which forms an excellent basis for equating the two. The title character continually reacts to [...]