Summer 2022 First Impressions: Tokyo Mew Mew New

I had my reservations about this series, but since it's a reboot and not a sequel (...so far...), it should be safe...right...? If I could make this post incoherent screaming of something to the effect of "Magical girls rule!", then I would. However, you want more words from me than that...so if you've seen the...

Summer 2022 First Impressions: Phantom of the Idol

This anime kicks off the summer 2022 season, so check over there for some more notes on this series. Look, HiDive - if you're going to advertise me your newest anime on your front page, at least link to it properly somewhere? I mean, I had to figure out what the link slug for Phantom...

Hyping Up Summer 2022

Here we go again! To be honest, there's a bit to be nervous about...first of all, real life caught up to me, so I'm a few episodes behind with Spy x Family. Secondly, I'm going to cut myself off from Funimation come early October, so summer is my last (legal) chance to watch stuff that...

Anime and Manga Budget Buys – eBay Style

Now that I've wandered eBay and started trying to offload books and unwanted anime discs there, I have some eBay-specific updates to this ol' OWLS post. On eBay, as with other content on a budget, remember to keep your eyes out for signs the content is pirated, such as "rainbow stripes" where the photocopier failed...

Reviewing What to Do With Reviews

Inspired by Lyn. https://twitter.com/Lyn_Journal/status/1517399662394675202 Why are reviews so common? Reviews have their own built-in audience: people who are on the fence about the contentpeople who want to know things like content warnings for themselves or otherspeople who've already consumed the content and want to know others' opinions on it 2. tends to get the least...

What Makes Ya Boy Kongming Tick?

I didn't think I'd like Paripi Koumei for this long, to be honest... In some ways, Paripi Koumei is not a series I'd particularly like. Ancient Chinese history bores me, to be honest - all that stuff about war strategy and tradition is more my dad's domain. Despite that, I love it - which is...

The Weirdness of Merchandise

Inspired by Irina's post on anime perfumes. Merch is weird. https://twitter.com/zetsubouzhainu/status/1514775605417439241 (Note the "couches" are actually tissue box covers that oddly happen to look like couches, but otherwise this is legit.) So why do franchises do weird things like have collabs with companies you really wouldn't expect? Or produce merch you don't expect? The most...

The Eximius Blog Award

I don't think I've seen this award before Terrance Crow tagged me... Meta note: I started this post, mostly finished it...and then left it for a while to finish other stuff, including putting out a 1st impressions post on Paripi Koumei which makes this post seem out-of-sync in retrospect. (Source: Crow's post, linked above) Rules...

Spring 2022 1st Episode Impressions: Paripi Koumei (Ya Boy Kongming!)

Let's get into it! Oof...when I heard Crunchyroll was almost about to lock everything behind a paywall, I thanked my lucky stars I was now able to pay for it, after many years relying on free legal streaming. As of me starting this post, I haven't shelled out for Crunchyroll yet, but if I clean...

Manga March (5): Toritan

Last manga for this month! How did I do? Toritan's a BL but it's rather harmless...at least, from the one volume I have of it. "So what's it about?" Inusaki, a detective in name but a bit of a bum in occupation terms, can talk with birds.He saves a bird from a crow one time.Soon...