Anime– category –

(Neo, Uncooked Media) Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions is an excellent teen comedy-drama – a label that fits a show that’s broad comedy for the first half and urgent drama for the second. It’s by the studio (Kyoto Animation) and director...

(Neo, Uncooked Media) Thanks to his friend, Ryo, the sensitive, weepy Akira is merged with a demon in a blood-drenched orgy. Now he transforms into the berserk hero Devilman, created to save humanity. Or was he? Now on Netflix, Devilman ...

(Sight & Sound, BFI) Towards the climax of the Chinese cartoon Big Fish and Begonia, there’s a watery apocalypse. Huge tubular waterfalls break through clouds and hammer down on the green fantasy realm where most of the film takes pl...

(My review of the 1998 Berserk TV series, published in Neo magazine, is below; my reviews of the film versions are underneath.) In a medieval-style world, as brutal as Game of Thrones, the ragtag Band of the Hawk wins acclaim on the batt...

My review of Kiki's Delivery Service was posted on Anime News Network.

I reviewed both halves of the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime series for (Neo, Uncooked Media). My review of the first half is on the Neo website, while my review of the second half is below. In Neo 143, we heaped praise on the first h...

(Neo Magazine, Uncooked Media) French director Jean-Luc Goddard declared, “All you need for a movie is a girl and a gun.” In the 1980s a gang of Japanese geeks declared, All you need for an anime is a girl and a mecha... Okay, make that ...

(Neo, Uncooked Media - There are also further observations on the film in an article I wrote for the AllTheAnime blog.) Ever since she made a terrible mistake in her childhood, schoolgirl Jun has been afraid of speaking. But then she’s p...

(Neo, Uncooked Media) 2196: the Earth is under attack from the mysterious “Jovian Lizards”. A new ship is launched against the enemy, the Nadesico, with the most eccentric crew imaginable. But they’ll learn that everything they think abo...

My article on the Japanese live-action film Pieta in the Toilet is available on the AllTheAnime blog. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUJxihgOK4Y

My article on 'Hayao Miyazaki Vs. Alan Moore' is on the ManagaUK website.

(I reviewed the first Mardock Scramble film in Neo magazine, Uncooked Media, below. My reviews of the second and third films are linked underneath.) In a future New York where cars drive on air and technology resembles magic, a wretched ...

My review of the original 26-part Durarara! series is available on the Neo magazine website, along with my review of the first sequel series, Durarara!! x2 Shou. My Neo review of the second sequel series, Durarara!! x2 Sho, is below. Fol...

(Neo Magazine, Uncooked Media) Kumiko, a euphonium (brass instrument) player, wants a fresh start at her new high school. With a couple of classmates, she joins the school’s apparently hopeless orchestra. But both Kumiko and the orchestr...

I wrote an article comparing the anime and manga versions of A Silent Voice for the AllTheAnime blog, while the following review was published in the BFI's Sight & Sound. Even more than last year’s blockbuster Your Name, the Japan-an...

(Sight & Sound Magazine, BFI) In recent years, the Japanese animated films which have reached British cinemas have tended to be Studio Ghibli products or films like them, such as The Wolf Children (2013) and Giovanni’s Island (2014)....

(Neo, Uncooked Media - I also made further observations in an article on the film on the AllTheAnime website) Have you seen the series The Tatami Galaxy? If you have, then this film is Tatami Galaxy: The Movie, from the same maverick dir...

I wrote an article for the AllTheAnime blog reflecting on Perfect Blue as a horror film, while my Neo, Uncooked Media review of the 2013 Blu-ray release follows. Following Cowboy Bebop, the fledgling label Anime Limited’s new release is ...

(Neo, Uncooked Media) You may have heard of Shimoneta’s reputation as a smutfest, and we’re here to tell you that… the reputation is deserved. The title means “dirty joke” and the show tries furiously to find enough jokes about sex, sex ...

(SFX Magazine, Future Publishing) Like law-enforcers who go up against Death Note's killer with a notepad, this Netflix remake is brave but futile. Transposing the franchise from Japan to Seattle, the film tries new twists and takes on t...

(SFX Magazine, Future Publishing - there are also further reflections on the series in an article I wrote for the MangaUK blog.) Oh, you’re awake. Lie there on the ground for a moment, and listen to me. Welcome to the Afterlife Battlefro...

(Neo, Uncooked Media) (Volume 1 review) Heavy Object rings several changes on the usual mecha show. One of the most obvious is that the fighting machines aren’t giant Gundam humanoids, but come in a variety of shapes. There are giant met...

Like many animation fans, I was delighted by the victory of Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse in the Best Animated Feature category in 2019 - but also by the nomination of Mamoru Hosoda's Mirai, the first Oscar-nominated feature that was...

(Neo, Uncooked Media) Ajin is Tokyo Ghoul meets 24. That’s not a subtle analysis, but then this horror-action-thriller isn’t in it for the subtlety. It’s about grabbing the viewer early and propelling you through chases, story rug-pulls,...