Sword Art Online has without a doubt become a huge series outside of Japan thanks to A-1 Pictures producing an anime last summer. Thanks to the massive interest in the series Yen Press have licensed the original light novels for release outside of Japan. I’ve picked up the first volume to review and see how much the source differs from the anime!
In the past few year’s we’ve had a bit of a boom in titles that are set around gamers being transported to a video game world or trapped within a video game (See Sword Art Online as the best recent example), but No Game, No Life takes this to a different level in an attempt to stand out from the crowd.
The story sets out by introducing us to brother and sister Sora and Shiro, who make up an ultimate team known as ‘Blank’. The two can complete any video game that crosses their path with amazing scores and are known as the best gamer in Japan, if not the world. One day a chess challenge is posed to them via email and upon completion the two are transported to a brand new world known as Disboard. In this world everything is decided by games, something which the two take great joy in partaking in.
When Wakanim announced they were going to stream Shinichiro Watanabe’s Terror in Resonance I was excited to say the least. I’m a moderate fan of Cowboy Bebop and Space Dandy but I utterly adored Kids on the Slope and have gained confidence in Watanabe’s anime as he goes on. So, a series which brings together Watanabe at his finest and Cowboy Bebop and Kids on the Slope composer back together can only be a good thing, right? Right.
The Wind Rises marks the first time I’ve seen a Studio Ghibli movie on the big screen. Considering that it’s the last film from the studio to be directed by Hayao Miyazaki it seems fitting that this be the title I see on the big screen. The film is currently being released in UK cinemas, so I went along to Leeds screening to see what the film was all about.
The studio has a rich history of turning out visually striking films that capturing the audience with heart warming tales. From more simple slice of life tales like My Neighbour Totoro to more somber affairs like Princess Mononoke, whatever Miyaskai puts his hand too generally turns out a masterpiece in its own right. So, with such a rich history behind it and an director taking his last stand, just how does The Wind Rises measure up?
Last season saw Studio BONES take to the stage with two brand new shows, one of which was the somewhat amazing Space Dandy, while the other was an adaptation of the Noragami manga. To put it lightly the show was an underdog, with so many top quality shows to compete against in the winter season Noragami had it pretty rough. It didn’t sound like the most amazing show, and even with the BONES name behind it, many opted to ignore it in favour of better or longer running shows. However, Noragami ended up being quite a strong title in its own right.
With shows like Sword Art Online, Log Horizon, and No Game, No Life, recent years have certainly seen a fair few anime set around the idea of humans becoming trapped within a video game for one reason or another. Recently I decided to take a look at one of the smaller hits of last year, BTOOOM!, which plays with a similar idea to those mentioned above, but shakes things up enough to keep them interesting. Read on to see what I thought!
Kill la Kill. Where do you even begin a review on a series like this one? Sure, when it was first revealed and in the weeks leading up to its release it was clear Studio Trigger were creating something different, something exciting, but never once could anyone have predicted that the show would end up being such a big hit. Of course, Kill la Kill being as crazy as it is, it’s extremely difficult to try and put down in words, but I’m going to give it a go anyway!
Recently Crunchyroll updated their manga offerings with three brand new titles. One of the titles in question is Koe no Katachi which Crunchyroll translate as A Silent Voice. The series is on-going and Crunchyroll have added the first 29 chapters of the series with further chapters to be added as they’re released in Japan from the 8th of April. I sped through the current chapters and fell in love with the story very quickly, so I decided to throw a review together.
It’s hard to talk about anime this season without mentioning one of Studio BONES offerings, Space Dandy. With Shinichiro Watanbe behind it and BONES with their sights firmly set on giving the series a worldwide release as it airs, the show has certainly been a note of interest in the industry.
It’s no secret to anyone who knows anything about the anime business that Sunrise are a huge name when it comes to Mecha series and their latest offering, Valvrave the Liberator, was another big hit for the studio. With a distinct Code Geass feel to the relationship between our two lead characters, and a more than intriguing story and feel to the series, Valvrave was the type of series we’d been waiting to see since Code Geass ended.