Fuminori SHISHIDO

Chicks On Anime - International Fan Culture
Our guest this week is Roland Kelts, author of Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture has Invaded the US, and lecturer at the University of Tokyo, and the University of the Sacred Heart Tokyo. 2009-03-03

Ramen Fighter Miki #10 - Watch it free on ANN!
Kankuro can't beat Miki by fighting her... ever. But can he beat her at the job she's so terrible at? Ms. Onimaru intends to find out! (USA/CAN only, TV-PG) 2009-03-03

RIGHT TURN ONLY!! - Konnichiwa, Zetsubou-sensei
This column is in despair! Despair over the American debut of Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei. Maybe that's why we're also doing a couple of big-name favorites like Naruto and Pluto. 2009-03-03

Shelf Life - Straining Your I"s
If there's one thing that fans have learned about Masakazu Katsura over the years, it's that he really knows his panties.
- Darker than Black v.2
- From I"s / I"s Pure boxset
- Love Hina boxset
- Str.A.In boxset
2009-03-02

Astro Toy with Rob Bricken: "Portrait of Pirates" "Luffy"
Rob reviews something that on the surface definitely resembles a Megahouse Portrait of Pirates Luffy figure. 2009-03-01

Xenosaga: The Animation DVD Complete Collection
Those unfamiliar with the franchise will find Xenosaga: The Animation largely unintelligible. Fortunately, it is just entertaining enough that intelligibility is not strictly necessary.

Tokyo Majin DVD Season 1
This action/horror series about magically empowered teenagers fighting off magical threats to Tokyo may provide some temporary excitement but ultimately is a forgettable production that falls well short of what it could have been due to writing flaws.

Dororo GN 1-3
According to Vertical, Osamu Tezuka's Dororo is “a subtle allegory of the individual and society's struggle for wholeness in a world ruled by chaos.” Sounds promising, doesn't it? Too bad that it's the same as calling Naruto “a gripping narrative of man's struggle construct and maintain a complex civilization in the face of his entropic, bestial nature.”

Vampire's Portrait GN 1
Vampire's Portrait is not the best BL to be published in English, not by a long shot. Those seeking a virtuoso sequential art vision should probably just look elsewhere.

Oh My Goddess! GN 31
... one of the less profound offerings in the series, but for some, that's exactly what makes it so enjoyable, harkening back to the series' early days with well-timed slapstick and just a pinch of magic.

Doujin Work DVD 1
Sure it's as substantial as a bucket of helium, but that doesn't prevent the first fifty minutes of this disc from being a fine diversion.

Kamichama Karin Chu GN 3
It continues to settle for "good enough" ... which really isn't good enough in a genre where everything's already been done.

Toward the Terra Part 3
Jomy leads the Mu on the final push to Terra, overcoming great sacrifices along the way, while Keith rises in power to oppose them in this dramatic conclusion to the remake of the 1980 movie. For all its predictability, the series executes its dramatic components supremely well.

Red Blinds the Foolish GN
In Red Blinds the Foolish, est em appears to have found her voice, both literally and metaphorically. The work as a whole is artistically coherent, thematically unified—and, every once in awhile, heartrendingly beautiful.

Higurashi: When They Cry GN 2
The second volume of the Higurashi: When They Cry manga series to be released by Yen Press is the conclusion of the “Abducted by Demons Arc.” One of the “Question Arcs,” and it certainly raises many perplexing questions left deliciously unanswered by the end of a book that only begins to scratch the surface of Ryukishi07's complexly realized world.

Now and Then, Here and There DVD
Every once in a while an anime title comes out which truly stands out from the crowd, one which genuinely merits the distinction of being a “classic.” This 1998 release is such a title. One of the best-written and most powerfully emotional anime series ever made, it is now available in a bargain-priced re-release.