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Sorairo Utility ep12 [end] A quiet, dignified sort of conclusion to the series, I suppose. It certainly looks as if the desire to continue it is there, although I don't think there's been any definite mention of another season. It's been a very pleasant little show overall, but I think the...

Possession (1981) Intelligence agent Sam Neill quits his job and returns to his home in West Berlin to try and save his collapsing marriage to dance teacher Isabelle Adjani, but is unable to fathom her self-destructive behaviour. At first he blames her new-age lover, but the further he digs...

I really only watched Sorairo Utility, but I was entirely satisfied with it. I think it being a show about golfing (and not even a show about Xtreme Golfing) was a hard sell for some folk, but while it didn’t quite come up to the level of Laid Back Camp as ‘cosy outdoor activity’ shows go, I...

From Beijing With Love (1994) Stuck in the rural backwoods of mainland China, drunken reserve secret agent and expert butcher Ling-Ling-Chat (Stephen Chow) is over the moon when he's suddenly dispatched to Hong Kong in search of a valuable tyrannosaurus skull stolen from the Chinese government...

Shikabane Hime (Corpse Princess: Aka / Kuro) Ep10-15 Honestly, I expected to watch a few episodes of this, think ‘oh yeah, this is where I dropped it’ and give up on it again, yet here we are. Considering that it doesn’t have any of the Gainax ‘big names’ attached to it, it’s proven stylish...

Shikabane Hime (Corpse Princess: Aka) Ep6-9 This has genuinely picked up a bit, especially now that personality placeholder Ouri actually has some character development, having formed a pleasingly natural and unforced relationship with a girl other than Makina, for whom he seems more like a...

Gundam GQuuuuuuX: Beginning A great start to something, but there is little suggestion that this is anything more than an extended cut of two (three?) episodes from a longer series sandwiched together. Really, it just stopped when I was getting into it. As other folk have mentioned, the first...

Shikabane Hime (Corpse Princess: Aka) ep2-5 Continues to be broadly fine in that way that’s frustratingly just below the point you’d call it good. The production is still the best part of it; what strikes me most is that it’s nicely lit, there’s good use of colour filters and deep shadows to...

Sorairo Utility ep6-8 Away from the magical girl simulwatch, this is really all I’ve been watching lately, but I find that it’s not one I have much to say about on an episode-to-episode basis. It continues to be a very charming little series; a few hints of conflict are seeping in around...

I had intended to watch Full Bloom, but reading you guys’ comments, eh, I dunno. The idea intrigued me, but it doesn’t sound like the execution made much of it, which is a shame - much as it is clearly a nostalgia grab, I think there is potential in revisiting these kind of narratives with a...

Prisma Illya ep2 Not much else to add on this one; I would agree that it’s a marked improvement on the first one, but overall this is still sitting around the level of something I’d watch if it was on, but wouldn’t otherwise go out of my way for. Rider making an appearance as the enemy...

Fate Casual / Nudity ep1 With only a modest knowledge of the Fate franchise, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one and, honestly, after one episode I don’t feel much the wiser. I don’t remember Illya being a particularly well developed character and it surprised me that they would pick...

Rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated, I’ve just been a bit braindead away from work lately. Princess Tutu ep1-3: Duck Duck Go This one is slightly tinged with bad nostalgia for me as the first person I remember telling me it was good was a friend who is now long absent. But...

Fancy Lala ep3 - Powder In ‘Char’ is not a career path, Miho. A few discomforting moments notwithstanding (putting your mentally 9 year old protagonist into a swimwear photoshoot is a lot to unpack) I’d be interested to see a bit more of this one. Given that this is ostensibly a show aimed...

Fancy Lala ep1-2 Does it confirm me as an adult that I find something slightly sad in all these stories about kids being given the ability to instantly grow up? Just waiting for the episode with Lala being fined for late completion of a self-assessment tax return… Bad nostalgia...

Cardcaptor Sakura ep1 - Fire Walk With Me well, someone had to. Poor Sakura. Even compared to Usagi being marked out as the ‘chosen one’, I think of all the main characters we’ve seen so far, Sakura seems the most Shanghaied into this magical girl lark, having done nothing more to Meddle...

Sailor Moon ep3 Roses are red, Violets are blue, In the name of the moon, Imma punish you Yeah, that one was quite fun, I thought it was nice to see Haruna get in on the joke at the end rather than chastising everyone, Handled differently, I think the mysterious radio show could be quite...

Sailor Moon ep2 - Pretty Soldier of Fortune Based on these episodes, I think the way they’ve handled Umino as a character feels a bit indicative of when the show was made. Tastes in protagonists have changed over time and I feel a contemporary series would treat him more sympathetically...

Sailor Moon ep1 I still can’t believe it’s taken me this long to actually see an episode of Sailor Moon. Going into it afresh now, I was a little apprehensive of how I might get on with the actual show behind the cultural phenomenon, but mercifully, it was utterly charming. Usagi is much more...

Minky Momo ep3 - Electra Glide in Pink Welp, I didn’t expect them to bring the tanks in. That does feel very like a gag you’d find in Oshii’s Urusei Yatsura (along with copious notes on how the JSDF came to have them). But yeah, I think Dai covered everything I’d have mentioned on this one -...