Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya Extra Route 2 – Time to Collect the Clo-, I mean Class Cards!

Better Than Expected, Still Not Great

For this huge undertaking that has been the Fate franchise retrospective, I’ll admit that Illya was added to the review roster mostly for myself. I don’t actually expect anyone to rush out and see this, regardless of what I have to say, but there was some fun to be had in this Cardcaptor Sakura clone spun Fate. That’s actually a bit reductive. Illya manages to settle into its own thing by the end of the first 10 episodes, but if you aren’t already a Fate fan, there’s not much here for you that other (better) shows of the magical girl genre can offer. Even still, I’m hopeful for what’s yet to come with this one. Want to know more? You’ll just have to read on to find out!

Jon’s Bizarre Adventure – Disappointed in Stone Ocean

My JoJo adventure continues…

To understand why I’m so disappointed with Stone Ocean you have to go back to the beginning. This isn’t my first look at the JoJo franchise, in fact I’ve done a deep dive you should read before this one as it should help to explain why I just didn’t enjoy this latest installment. One of the reasons I caught up on the entire franchise was in preparation for Stone Ocean, which has had considerable hype from the community well before it ever existed in anime form. Now that it has come to an end, I’m sorry to report that it may not be worth your time.

Project Raildex – Worth a Watch for Modern Fans?

Mostly, I Just Wanted to Watch it

When it comes to what I choose to cover here on this website it’s easy to see that there are a few patterns for what I’m partial for. Among these are big retrospective pieces on large franchises, making today’s topic of conversation in the Index, Railgun and Accelerator series long overdue. In fact, I’ve wanted to cover this franchise for several years but always found excuses in watching other programs. Since my Funimation subscription was about to end, this made for an ideal last hurrah for that platform as Crunchyroll didn’t have the full series dubbed (for some reason). With this all out of the way, let’s get on with the main event:  is this franchise worth watching?

Love Live! Sunshine!! – Chasing the Past

Decidedly Fine

If you read my previous article on Love Live! School Idol Project, then you may be expecting another overly long love letter to its follow up series, Love Live! Sunshine!! If you were, unfortunately, I must disappoint. While Sunshine is fine in a vacuum, unfortunately I have something to compare it to, and as a result, there’s not much to say. Ironically, Sunshine is a cautionary tale about the importance of being yourself. Just too bad it didn’t seem to learn that lesson itself nearly fast enough. A shadow of greatness is still just that, a shadow.

Big Finale! – Saying Goodbye to #AnitTwitWatches (Featuring Big Order)

It’s Time to Say Goodbye

Over the past three years I’ve run a group watch called AniTwitWatches over on Twitter. In that time we watched 20 different shows, had wonderful discussions, and had a pretty good time (well, mostly) along the way too! Today’s article, however, marks the end of this program after season 20, Big Order. I’d like to take this time to explain why we stopped, how Big Order represented the spirit of the program (even if it might seem like a strange note to end on), and whatever related thoughts I may have along the way. This isn’t a typical review, but I will talk about my thoughts on Big Order here so if you want that I’ll section it in a way so you can easily find it. With that, let’s get right to it.

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Bladeworks (2014) Route 1 Alternative – Should You Start Here?

The Age Old Question

As with any larger franchise, this question always seems to come up:  where should I start? It’s a seemingly simple question without an equally straightforward answer. If you have been following my Fate journey thus far you’d notice that each has a “route” in the article’s title and wondered why I bothered putting it there. In part this is to help you, the reader, navigate the articles in a sensible way as to have my thoughts presented more cohesively, but even more so it acts as a general watch order suggestion. That brings us back to this article which you may have noticed is labeled “route 1 alternative” much like the review of the 2006 and 2010 Deen adaptations, so what gives?

9 μ’sings about Love Live! School Idol Project

Finally, I Watched Love Live!

I’ve actually been quite interested in watching Love Live! School Idol Project for some time now. Unfortunately, the series only had the second season of the first series available for several years. That is, until recently when Funimation (now Crunchyroll) got the streaming rights to the first season. While it’s true I could have started with future entries, I wanted to start from the beginning and make my way slowly through the franchise as I’ve been doing with Fate and others. Today I’ll be sharing 9 thoughts, or “μ’sings” if you will, about my experience with Love Live! so far.

Fate/Stay Night (2006) & UBW Route 1 – My Fate Journey Begins…

A Great Place to Start?

For the past few years I’ve slowly been collecting all of the mainline Fate entries along with a few other editions in order to finally dive into the franchise in full. With both season 15 and 16 of #AniTwitWatches my chance to start finally came. During this period we watched both of Deen’s adaptations of Fate/Stay Night (2006) and the Unlimited Blade Works film. Rather than do a typical review, I’m electing to instead discuss my expectations with each and my general thoughts on the franchise moving forward as I prepare to continue this journey deeper into the fandom.

Anime Fans & Children’s Media – A Look at Muteking the Dancing Hero

Uso’s Getting his Money’s Worth!

Well, in a figurative sense at least. Before we begin, today’s article is sponsored by Uso, or as you may know him on Twitter as @obamasnowToo. Having won the New Year’s AMQ special event, I awarded him my $15 Patreon tier where you can suggest just about anything for me to take a look at and cover in some capacity. In keeping with the New Year spirit, he gave me a few suggestions from the 2021 anime lineup to choose from and I ended up selecting Muteking the Dancing Hero. He knows that I’m a fan of Tribe Cool Crew and Brave Beats, so this was something I had some interest in anyway, but thanks to him I had a nice excuse to watch the whole show. With all this preamble out of the way, today I want to talk about anime fans and children’s media, why so many fans seem drawn to it, and what exactly it can bring to the table while looking at this Muteking reboot along the way.

Fruits Basket – Old or New?

Did Fruits Basket get the FMA Treatment?

Awhile back I watched the original 2001 version of Fruits Basket which is a slightly dated, partial adaptation of the source material of the same name. I enjoyed it, but didn’t have enough to say to write a full piece. Now I’ve had the chance to watch through the first season of the 2019 version, and it begs the question:  Did this receive the Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood treatment? By which I mean, is the old one worth watching, and by extension, do you need to watch the first season of the new one afterwards? Today I aim to answer these questions and walk you through exactly what’s been improved upon, and what hasn’t.