Anime Archives - Tech-Gaming

Blue Thermal review

Robert Allen — Mon, 10 Apr 2023 15:53:10 +0000

Serialized in Monthly Comic Bunch, Blue Thermal told the story of a college freshman joining the aviation club. Protagonist Tsuru Tamaki’s journey was substantial, detailing the progress toward becoming a pilot as well as the relational intricacies with fellow club members and even rivals. Undoubtedly, there was enough material in the five-volume anthology to fill ...

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Giovanni’s Island review

Robert Allen — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:10:04 +0000

Production I.G’s 2014 film depicts the atrocities that accompany conflict and the aversion of people to succumb to abhorrence. An exceedingly fortunate few won’t have to witness atrocity. But the rest of us will be forced to watch our country either endure or commit acts of barbarism. Occasionally, we might even have to see both. ...

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A Conversation with Inu-Oh’s Masaaki Yuasa

Robert Allen — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 17:48:55 +0000

Often employing an idiosyncratic visual style and a distinctive directorial vision, Masaaki Yuasa has already earned a multitude of industry awards as well as an abundance of critical acclaim. His body of work is as wonderfully eclectic as its multi-faceted characters, with highlights that range from The Tatami Galaxy, The Night Is Short, Walk on ...

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Dusk Diver 2 review

Robert Allen — Sat, 03 Sep 2022 00:43:30 +0000

The obvious appeal of Dusk Diver 2 is the combo-heavy, brawling punctuated by flashy special moves. But it’s the setting and characters that separate the game from its pugilistic peers. Plucky, pony-tailed Yang Yumo was the protagonist of 2019’s Dusk Diver. With an aversion for trouble, a fighting style gleaning from years of watching martial ...

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Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko review

Robert Allen — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 03:00:56 +0000

Conventional roles are muddied in director Ayumu Watanabe’s (Children of the Sea, Space Brothers #0) Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko. Nikuko has lived a capricious life. Impulsively fallen for different men, she’s moved in with them, before inevitably ending up supporting them financially. She’s also a confidently corpulent woman with a voracious appetite. Nikuko doesn’t just ...

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The Deer King review

Robert Allen — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 19:58:51 +0000

A directorial debut can be a difficult undertaking. Often, experience is indispensable when it comes to artistic expression. But Masashi Ando and Masayuki Miyaji aren’t amateurs in the animation field. The former served as animation director and character designer for Princess Mononoke, Paprika, and Your Name. The latter also was admitted to Studio Ghibli’s famed ...

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Panda! Go, Panda! Blu-ray+DVD review

Robert Allen — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 04:20:09 +0000

In October 1972, the Ueno Zoo received a pair of pandas, commemorating diplomatic ties between China and Japan. This wasn’t the first time this kind of gesture of goodwill had been offered. According to historical records, the court of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) once sent two of the black-and-white bears to Japan as a ...

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Ryoma! Prince of Tennis review

Robert Allen — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 22:25:52 +0000

The Prince of Tennis has enjoyed a whimsical 23-year history. The original manga debuted in 1999 and followed Ryoma Echizen, a student enrolled at Tokyo’s prestigious Seishun Academy, a private school with a prominent top-tier tennis team. Twelve-year-old Ryoma immediately revealed extraordinary athleticism. After defeating several upperclassmen, he earned a spot on the school’s team, ...

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Children Who Chase Lost Voices review

Robert Allen — Sun, 19 Jun 2022 00:12:53 +0000

Ideally, art provides contemplation of life’s inevitable hardships. But far too often, many modern movies deliver little more than sugar-coated platitudes. But that’s not the case with Makoto Shinkai 2011’s film, Children Who Chase Lost Voices. The recent Blu-ray/DVD release offers a fulfilling exploration of the different ways people learn to cope with loss. But ...

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Gintama The Very Final review

Robert Allen — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 20:25:51 +0000

Too often, media like manga, television, and film aren’t on a predetermined trajectory. Instead, storylines are drawn out as long as there’s money to made, with writers striving to offset the inevitability of stagnation. Anyone who has endured a succession of formulaic sequels, filler episodes, or lackluster story arcs knows that being strung along isn’t ...

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Belle review

Robert Allen — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 00:29:07 +0000

Much like his 2009 film, Summer Wars, director Mamoru Hosoda’s latest effort offers an intriguing contrast between the real and virtual worlds. Seventeen-year-old protagonist Suzu Naito and her father live in the verdant spaces of the Kōchi prefecture. Here, pastoral beauty is ubiquitous, from verdant topographies intersected by streams to the welcoming, wood-filled interiors of ...

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Shirobako: The Movie review

Robert Allen — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 22:11:28 +0000

Not only does Shirobako: The Movie depict the tensions of anime production, but several of the film’s creative choices reflect the customary victors of these divergences. Anime isn’t just entertaining, it’s often a surprisingly insightful and informative. Although Haikyuu!! occasionally embellished elements, like Hinata’s jumping ability, it offered a remarkably accurate representation of volleyball. Similarly, ...

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On-Gaku: Our Sound review

Robert Allen — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 02:45:08 +0000

On-Gaku has long embodied the underdog spirit. After rejections from most of the major manga houses, Hiroyuki Ôhashi self-published Ongaku and Manga in 2005. A dramatized retelling of his experiences of playing at a musical festival, Ôhashi wrote much of it while at work. Unsurprisingly, the monotony of daily routine and the sense of liberation ...

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Promare review

Robert Allen — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 19:20:04 +0000

For devoted animation fans, Studio Trigger is undoubtedly one of medium’s dominant powerhouses. Founded by director Hiroyuki Imaishi, who broke off from Gainax, Trigger has delivered a succession of prodigious works. Efforts like Kill la Kill, Little Witch Academia, and Space Patrol Luluco haven’t just delivered solid storylines helmed by a cast of wonderfully eccentric ...

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Millennium Actress review

Robert Allen — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 18:15:59 +0000

2001’s Millennium Actress opens with shots of a determined female astronaut breaking free of Earth’s gravitational possession. Reminiscent of several popular science fiction films, she’s the resolute hero, determined on exploring the cosmos alone, on her own terms. Pulling back, director and writer Satoshi Kon soon reveals that it’s actually a scene from a film ...

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Sound! Euphonium: The Movie – Our Promise: A Brand New Day review

Robert Allen — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 00:06:14 +0000

On the surface, Sound! Euphonium explores the myriad of tribulations faces during teenage life. The novel, manga, and anime center around members of the Kitauji High School Concert Band Club. Once a prestigious competitor for the national championships, the club failed to quality for several years. But their resigned attitude pivoted when Noboru Taki became ...

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Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?: Arrow of the Orion review

Robert Allen — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 23:52:22 +0000

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (affectionately known as DanMachi in Japan) success stems from several remarkable traits. Fujino Ōmori’s light novel, as well as the property’s adaptations in manga and anime form, blend Greek mythology with a surprisingly insightful exploration of the human condition. The storyline sees gods ...

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Made in Abyss: Journey’s Dawn review

Robert Allen — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 02:38:38 +0000

When works are adapted for other media, there’s always the risk that something will be lost in the process. Certainly, that’s a possibility with Made in Abyss: Journey’s Dawn, which is twice removed from its source material. Akihito Tsukushi’s ongoing manga debuted in 2012, subsequently spurring an animated series directed by Masayuki Kojima five years ...

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Sailor Moon S: The Movie review

Robert Allen — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 21:10:29 +0000

When Pioneer Entertainment Sailor Moon S: The Movie arrived stateside in 1999, it trailed the original theatrical Japanese release by a half decade. While the film showcased the irrefutable charm of the animated television series, it seemed just a bit dated upon arrival. Contrasted against other animated features, production and plot didn’t exhibit the same ...

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The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl review

Robert Allen — Sat, 18 Aug 2018 20:07:27 +0000

For many, there’s a salient period between the twilight of youth and the dawn of adulthood. Before we allow marriage and mortgage to administer our lives, nights of bacchian revelry offer a spirited eulogy to a lapsing adolescence. Often, its one of the last times we are able to ‘live in the moment’, unburdened by ...

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