Anime Review: Sasaki and Peeps

Sasaki is a skilled negotiator.

Anime Review: Sasaki and Peeps We first meet Sasaki at his day job, a salaryman at a small trading company in Tokyo. He’s good at his job, and well liked by his coworkers. But it’s clear that his career stalled out years ago, and his salary can be generously described as modest. By frugal living,… Continue reading Anime Review: Sasaki and Peeps

Manga Review: Tezucomi Vol. 1 & 2

Manga Review: Tezucomi Vol. 1 & 2 by Various Creators 2023 would have been Osamu Tezuka’s 95th birthday year, and in commemoration of the great manga and anime creator, this series was commissioned to show other artists’ take on his famous (and not so famous) works. For reasons, most of these were French and Spanish… Continue reading Manga Review: Tezucomi Vol. 1 & 2

Manga Review: Oshi no Ko #1

Manga Review: Oshi no Ko #1 by Aka Akasaka and Mengo Yokoyari Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a nepo baby? Born to a celebrity with looks and connections from the very beginning, maybe money too? Sarina did, before she died of brain cancer. But she could only dream in… Continue reading Manga Review: Oshi no Ko #1

Comic Book Review: Black Magic Vol. 1

Comic Book Review: Black Magic Vol. 1 Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby The creative team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby tried many different ideas for comic books over the years. Some were successful, others flops. In 1950, they cashed in on the then hot horror genre with Black Magic, created for Prize… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Black Magic Vol. 1

Manga Review: Deserter

Manga Review: Deserter by Junji Ito This volume says that the contents are mostly from the early horror work of noted manga creator Junji Ito. There’s no initial publication dates in the indicia, but his debut was in 1987, so I’m guessing late Eighties to early Nineties. Let’s see what his stuff was like before… Continue reading Manga Review: Deserter

Anime Review: Bastard!! Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy (2022)

Dark Schneider before his death.

Anime Review: Bastard!! Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy (2022) Centuries ago on a planet named Earth, there was a great scientific civilization. But Man grew proud, and created its own new god, Anthrasax, Goddess of Destruction. Naturally, they could not control it, and the old world ended. Now, science is virtually unknown, magic and wizards are… Continue reading Anime Review: Bastard!! Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy (2022)

Movie Review: Pan’s Labyrinth

Ofelia descends into the heart of the labyrinth.

Movie Review: Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) directed by Guillermo del Toro (aka “El Labarinto del Fauno”} It is 1944, and elsewhere in Europe, the Allied troops recently landed in France on D-Day. But here in a remote mountainous region of Spain, Captain Vidal (Sergi López) and his men are hunting down the remnants of the Republicans who… Continue reading Movie Review: Pan’s Labyrinth

Manga Review: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Naoko Takeuchi Collection 1

Manga Review: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Naoko Takeuchi Collection 1 by Naoko Takeuchi Usagi Tsukino is a more or less typical fourteen-year-old girl. She likes food, video games, and sleeping, and dislikes homework and tests. She’s clumsy and a bit of a crybaby, but has a good heart and a kind streak. Also, she has… Continue reading Manga Review: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Naoko Takeuchi Collection 1

Book Review: Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women Volume 2 (1953-1957)

Cover by Frank Kelly Freas--not illustrating any of the stories in this volume.

Book Review: Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women Volume 2 (1953-1957) edited by Gideon Marcus As the introduction by Janice L. Newman points out, women have written science fiction all along. The percentage of them getting published at any given time in the magazines and books waxed and waned, but they were always there. In the… Continue reading Book Review: Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women Volume 2 (1953-1957)

Manga Review: Tuxedo Gin Vol. 11

Manga Review: Tuxedo Gin Vol. 11 by Tokihiko Matsuura Things were looking up for Ginji Kusanagi. He’d just won his first professional boxing match at age seventeen and was finally going to have a date with his crush Minako Sasebo. Unfortunately, he’d also angered a gang, and was run over by a car. Dying, Ginji… Continue reading Manga Review: Tuxedo Gin Vol. 11