Author Archive

That Summer, I Waited.

That Summer, I Waited.

Or, a Diary of an Anime (Sort Of) Lived: the unforgettable spring and summer in which I made an 8mm film and girls (kind of) liked me. Inspired by the nostalgic haze induced by Ano Natsu de Matteru and my ability to recontextualize screenshots.

Winter 2012 Roundup, Part 1: The Most Promising Shows

Winter 2012 Roundup, Part 1: The Most Promising Shows

The first of Mike’s thoughts on nearly every new show this Winter 2012 season.

Classic Anime Review: Porco Rosso

Classic Anime Review: Porco Rosso

The IFC Studio Ghibli retrospective give me the chance to revisit an old Miyazaki classic after many years. Its uniqueness in his catalog, and in anime in general, is undeniable.

Half a Decade of Dieting on Anime

Half a Decade of Dieting on Anime

Anime Diet turns 5 years old today. A few brief thoughts.

Blu-ray Review: Onigamiden (Legend of the Millennium Dragon)

Blu-ray Review: Onigamiden (Legend of the Millennium Dragon)

Onigamiden (Legend of the Millennium Dragon) is a pretty, mediocre anime film, whose lovely background art and battle animation cannot quite make up for a lack of character depth and emotional connection.

Chihayafuru: The Rules of the Shoujo Game

Chihayafuru: The Rules of the Shoujo Game

I’m now caught up on Chihayafuru, which is an interesting experiment in how much an anime can be fixated on a single subject without losing its human focus. Is karuta really a metaphor for everything?

Future Diary: Careful With That Axe, Yuno

Future Diary: Careful With That Axe, Yuno

Why is “Future Diary’s” Yuno (and yanderes in general) so appealing?

Dusty Disc Review: Kino no Tabi (Kino’s Journey)

Dusty Disc Review: Kino no Tabi (Kino’s Journey)

In the first entry in the Dusty Disc Review series, Mike watches his DVDs of Kino no Tabi (Kino’s Journey), a memorable, if slightly uneven, example of symbolic and allegorical storytelling in anime.

Conventional Wisdom: The Year of Our Con 2011 (Part 4: I ♥ ABTS)

Conventional Wisdom: The Year of Our Con 2011 (Part 4: I ♥ ABTS)

Meeting, eating, and joking with our friends from the ABTS: the Ani-Blogo-Twito-Sphere.

Conventional Wisdom: The Year of Our Con 2011 (Part 3: Lost in the VIP Room)

Conventional Wisdom: The Year of Our Con 2011 (Part 3: Lost in the VIP Room)

Or, how we totally rocked those connections at Comic Con! Sort of.

Conventional Wisdom: The Year of Our Con 2011 (Part 2: The Miku War)

Conventional Wisdom: The Year of Our Con 2011 (Part 2: The Miku War)

You might have heard about the various troubles we’ve encountered with the Mikunopolis concert videos we shot. This is the inside story of what happened.

Conventional Wisdom: The Year of Our Con 2011 (Part 1)

Conventional Wisdom: The Year of Our Con 2011 (Part 1)

What it was like working in the trenches—and in the aftermath—of this summer’s big conventions.