Anime Review: Dragon Ball Super, Episodes 120 to 131

Details: The series just ended and is going on hiatus after episode 131, which aired in 2018.

Dragon Ball Super is unadulterated fan service. I know that and yet I don’t care. I love Dragon Ball. For those who are not as biased as me, I know that Dragon Ball looks really fucking stupid. I will admit, the story is pretty crap. I just don’t care. Dragon Ball Super gave me exactly what I wanted. It gave me fight scenes that were incredibly well animated and it gave me shiny new super saiyan forms embodied in different hair colors. For me, that is enough.

TV Show Review: Jessica Jones, Season 2

Details: Aired on Netflix in 2018. Thirteen episodes with each at about fifty minutes long.

You know that feeling you get when you watch a horror movie and the characters keep doing stupid ass shit that is so stupid it kind of yanks you out of the experience. There’s a lot of that in season two of Jessica Jones. Jessica Jones is mostly entertaining. It’s just that the climactic moments can seem kind of ridiculous at times.

Comedy Show Review: Chris Rock: Tamborine

Details: Released in 2018 on Netflix. About an hour long.

The biggest problem with this show is that I’ve seen this show before. A comedy show from the perspective of a rich, black comedian about race, politics, and relationships. The biggest problem with Tamborine is that Dave Chappelle has already done this show and he did it better.

TV Show Review: Star Trek: Discovery, Season 1

 

Details: First aired in 2017 on CBS All Access, CBS’s streaming service. There are fifteen episodes in this first season with each episode at around forty-five minutes to an hour-long.

When I first heard that they were making another Star Trek show for television, my first response was one of dread. After reading through some comments on a few online forums, I found that I was not alone. My fear as well as the fear of many others was that they would try to make this “dark.” How many times has it happened already where some show business executives take an existing franchise and try to make it “gritty,” or more violent, or more “real?” Too many times by my count, and many of those times resulted in shows that mostly sucked. Surprisingly, Star Trek: Discovery is not one of those shows. It is actually surprisingly good and remains surprisingly loyal to the tone of prior shows in the franchise.

Very few spoilers ahead. Just a brief description of the premise.

Anime Review: Akagi

 

Details: Also known as Tōhai Densetsu Akagi: Yami ni Maiorita Tensai. First aired in 2005. Twenty-six episodes with each episode at a little under twenty-five minutes.

I was looking for an anime about gambling the other day and came across an article about a manga that had been notoriously in the same continuous story arc since around 1999. This manga was called Akagi and had just ended recently. After a quick search, I found an anime for it on crunchyroll.com and started watching through it.

It’s been a while since I’ve been so immersed and addicted to a series. I binged watch the whole thing in one sitting and, though mostly enjoyable, found myself extremely sad at the unfinished ending. As mentioned above, this series only recently finished the same story arc that had been going on for the last twenty years. The anime simply didn’t have an ending with which to end on. Even still, I can easily recommend this series to most anime fans.

Anime Review: Nobunaga Concerto

Details: Aired in 2014. Ten episode with each episode a little under twenty-five minutes long. There’s also a live action drama and movie that I didn’t watch.

This is a mostly incomplete anime series. For that reason, you might want to watch the live action drama instead and the movie to get the full story. However, if you’re intrigued by the anime, it’s still worth a watch and there is an ending to this first season, even if it felt like the show got canceled after the first season aired. I still enjoyed the show for its style and the color it gives to Japanese history.

Anime Review: Restaurant to Another World

Details: Also known as Isekai Shokudō. Aired in 2017. Twelve episode with each episode at a little under twenty-five minutes.

Two of the most popular genres of anime right now are fantasy anime (Sword Art Online, Konosuba, Overlord, too many others to count) and gourmet/food anime (Shoukugeki no Soma being the most popular I think). Restaurant to Another World combines these two genres to create a lighthearted anime that was relaxing and fun watch.

Anime Review: Juni Taisen: Zodiac War

Details: Aired in 2017. Twelve episodes with each episode a little under twenty-five minutes long.

Juni Taisen is an action, battle royale oriented anime. I mostly enjoyed it for what it was.

Anime Review: Kino’s Journey -the Beautiful World- the Animated Series

Details: Also known as Kino no Tabi -the Beautiful World-. Aired in 2017. Twelve episodes with each episode a little over twenty minutes long.

Kino’s Journey can be considered a second season or a remake of the similarly named anime that was released in 2003. A few of the episodes are remakes/upgrades to episodes in the prior anime series. Personally, this never bothered me because I’ve mostly forgotten everything from the prior anime series since I watched it so long ago. For me, this newly released series of Kino’s Journey is an interesting, tense adventure that often times dips into the horror, fantasy, and science fiction genres.

Anime Review: Recovery of an MMO Junkie

Details: Also known as Netojū no Susume — Recommendation of the Wonderful Virtual Life. First aired in 2017. Ten episodes and an OVA that are each a little under twenty-five minutes long.

I came into this expecting another cookie cutter anime with the setting of a fantasy role-playing video game, except with a thirty year old female protagonist. I was expecting some action and some comedy. Instead, this is a fairly standard romantic comedy that could easily be made into a live action drama, maybe a Korean drama. Don’t expect any action. Do expect some cute, perhaps cringe worthy romance.