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Somehow, it hadn’t crossed my radar that Nodame Cantabile had returned to the airwaves with a new season, probably because I’ve been paying less and less attention to ongoing anime.  Of course, I’ve picked it up again, though I’ve only had the time for one episode so far.  At first glance, it appears to carry on [...]

Before reading further, I will point out that my actual review is found here, while this post will contain spoilers as well as my general impressions of the film’s plot and ending.  I should also mention that my “top ten anime list” has been modified to include Millenium Actress.  I thought long and hard about what [...]

I’ve always heard the name Satoshi Kon pop up in serious anime discussions, but my familiarity with his works has been fairly restricted.  There is, of course, Tokyo Godfathers, which was an enjoyable film that earned quite a positive review from me, but I’ve been told that it is the least indicative of his general style.  After watching Millenium Actress, I think I might have a better idea of what that “style” may be, and it is indeed a very interesting one….

Figure 17 aired back in 2001 under a fairly uncommon format – it consists of 13 episodes, but each episode is about double the length of a typical anime episode.  So in terms of actual length, it is more or less the equivalent of a common 26-episode series.  The story revolves around Tsubasa, a girl from Tokyo who has moved to rural Hokkaido and finds herself having trouble fitting in (not helped by her reserved demeanor).  One day, she stumbles upon a crashed alien ship and discovers a man fighting for his life against a giant, violent creature.  …..

I’ll take a brief break from anime-related discussions to discuss my latest musical endeavors. If you follow my youtube channel, you’ll have seen my latest uploads of a few Studio Ghibli piano pieces – if not, Porco Rosso fans especially should check it out.  However, this post will be centered around a more major project, [...]

The new season’s anime previews has been posted up at CF’s website – you can take a look here.  I’m going to take a page out of psgels’ book and write a commentary on each of the offerings.  However, I’m not as familiar with the backgrounds of various non-Ghibli studios and directors, so my impressions [...]

I took my first Japanese class a few years ago, and found that while it was a fun experience, it wasn’t exactly great use of time.  The entirety of what was taught in the weekly 3 hour classes (throughout the year) could have been covered in a month with efficient self-studying.  So I eventually left [...]