Lost Song – Straight Forward Children’s Fare?

Critically Panned

Continuing my journey with anime on Netflix, I decided to watch Lost Song after the disaster that was Hero Mask. The description got me interested in this because it said there would be singing and a quick cursory look at the staff revealed that Yukari Tamura (you may recognize her vocal performances in shows such as Island or Higurashi) would be a prominent character. While not every roll of hers involves singing, this one seemed like it obviously would, and that was enough to get me to watch. Unfortunately, the show had a lot of bad reviews, but I was convinced there might be something to this one.

My Anime Music Playlist – A Response to Apprentice Mages Lounge (Nearly a Year Later)

Ok, I Know This is Late…

Way back in December 2017, Derek posted on his site, Apprentice Mages Lounge, a post titled, “My Anime Music Playlist…” in which he shared his anime playlist at the time. He then went and requested others share their lists with him. I had intentions to do so, but I wanted to wait until I had a respectable list. Well, nearly a year later, I believe today is finally that day with my current 80+ song list which I updated weekly since the day Derek originally posted!

Freaky Friday 4 of 4 – Happy Sugar Life

The Best Anime of the Summer 2018 Season

I’ve held off on reviewing Happy Sugar Life for some time now and some of you may have been wondering why I hadn’t reviewed it yet, especially since I reviewed everything else I watched during the summer already. That’s right, I knew it was a good fit for Halloween reviewing so I saved the best for last. Hitting the number two spot of my favorite anime so far, here’s why you should give Happy Sugar Life a watch.

Kiznaiver – Mini Review

Definitely a Trigger Show

Last week I discussed how I finally found a Trigger show that I really enjoyed in Space Patrol Luluco. When I originally watched that series as it was airing I hadn’t gotten around to Kiznaiver yet and was pretty excited. Unfortunately, this was yet another Trigger show that didn’t do much for me.

The plot of this anime is about creating an ideal world where humanity perfectly understands each other and blah, blah, blah. How this is to be achieved is by doing this experiment with a group of 7 (technically) kids who are originally code named as the seven deadly sins. All of these kids are linked together so that they share each other’s pain. This eventually even includes emotional pain too.

Have I sold you on this one? Well that initial concept is pretty interesting but ultimately this ends up being a pretty boring melodrama. For those of you who are familiar with a show called Kokoro Connect, then you’ll know that Kiznaiver shares some similarities with some aspects of this prior title. I would just recommend Kokoro Connect over this, even without the final four OVA’s that would still be a better experience over this.

Furthermore, Kiznaiver feels like a bit of a rehash of older Gainax works but not in a good way. The ending is especially dull and derivative. I don’t want you guys to get the impression that I hated this show but I definitely didn’t love it. Parts of the show were fun and, as I mention, the initial concept is interesting. By the end, that just kind of gets abandoned and like many Trigger shows it just becomes so unfocused. I would say this isn’t as bad as Little Witch Academia but no where near the quality of say Kill la Kill.

The thing I probably liked the most about Kiznaiver is its opening theme, “LAY YOUR HANDS ON ME” by BOOM BOOM SATELLITES. You can actually listen to that song on Spotify but I’ll also link the video for that below here.

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What did you think of Kiznaiver? Let me know in the comments bellow and if you agree with my alternate viewing recommendations. If you like the work I’m doing here than hit the button below to give me a couple bucks to keep at this. As always, thanks for reading and I hope to see you back here at Jon Spencer Reviews again soon!

Music Review: Thy Art is Murder – This Hole is not Deep Enough for the Twelve of You/Infinite Death (Demo and EP review)

Brutality, controversy and the beginnings of a genre 

It’s the early 2000’s and for many years the metal world has been gradually growing into more genres than you can count! One of the genres to grow from the Extreme Death Metal family was Deathcore, a blend of Death Metal and Grindcore; which is fast, heavy and abrasive. Today we’ll be taking a look into the beginnings of arguably one of the most popular early Deathcore bands still around; Thy Art is Murder.

Warning: The contents of this article contain song titles, and themes that are not suitable for everybody. They contain, violent, anti-religious and misogynistic themes. 

I do not support the views present in these songs I just enjoy the music.

Music Review: Witchgrinder – Haunted (2015) (Random Music review)

The time that too many cooks made the dish better

Today take a look at an album that is slightly obscure but amazingly good. A small band from Melbourne, Victoria in Australia, they are extremely underated so lets shed some light on Witchgrinder’s second album; Haunted

Music Review: Alice In Chains – The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (2013)

The Devil Shuffled His Feet a Lot

After the first album with new singer William DuVall was a moderate success, Alice In Chains was now set on producing another album in the hopes of shifting their sound further away from the classic Alice In Chains we have all grown used to. Unfortunately, experimentation does not always end well as we find out here.

Music Review: Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way to Blue (2009)

The times have changed

The 90’s are over and grunge is literally a dead genre by this point. Seriously, not a single original grunge album has been released since 1999. It’s now 2006 and of the big 4 of grunge; Alice In Chains, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, only Pearl Jam is still together. In this review we cover the reformation of Alice In Chains and peer into the new style of sound that they would become known for.

Music Review: Alice In Chains – Alice In Chains (self titled 1995 release)

The End of an Era

In the last review, we went slightly off the chronological track and peered into the 2 Acoustic releases. It’s now 1995, and Alice In Chains is at its peak, with Grunge all but dead by this point. With Nirvana having disbanded only a year earlier, Alice In Chains isn’t facing too much competition. Today we delve into the Self Titled album and take a look at the amazing piece of work that brought a tragic end to an era of music, the likes of which the world will never see again.

Music Review: Alice In Chains – Sap (1992)+ Jar of Flies (1994) (Double EP review)

Sap

Jar of Flies

The Botched and the Beautiful

Last time it was 1992 and Alice in Chains had just released their overwhelmingly successful album Dirt. We saw them stray away from the Grunge label into new musical territory. In this review we look at their 2 Acoustic EP’s, released between Facelift and Dirt