Sawako TAKAGI

New York Anime Festival 2009

Coverage available now:

Aniplex
Vertical Industry Panel
Tokyopop Industry Panel
Funimation Industry Panel
Opening Ceremonies
2009-09-25

ANN Needs New Hardware
Help ANN set-up another goddess 2009-09-25

Kannagi Fan-Art Contest Entries Page 4
At last, the fourth and final page of entries. 2009-09-25

Hey, Answerman!
This week, the dried-up corpse of Brian answers a duo of questions regarding anime dubs and why Adult Swim hates anime with a fiery passion. There's also a new Flake of the Week and Hey, Answerfans aplenty! 2009-09-25

ANNCast - Toole Runnings
It's an all-new ANNCast with Anime Jump founder and overlord of the land of obscure dubs, Mike Toole! Also on this show: Cencoroll, bargain manga, and the hilarious Sony Pictures Samurai X dub. 2009-09-24

The X Button - Diabolical Machinations
This week: the Soul Eater games we just might see over here, plus the next Kingdom Hearts, Valkyria Chronicles 2, a new English trailer for Sakura Wars, and this week's Disgaea-related announcements. 2009-09-23

Anime News Nina! - 09-23-09
The mysterious world of Paola is revealed. 2009-09-23

Eureka Seven - good night, sleep tight, young lovers -
The basic concepts of the Eureka 7 TV series get a radical reinterpretation in a self-contained, highly accessible movie version full of bold actions and bolder emotions. Despite a darker edge, it still delivers spectacular action sequences and a convincing central couple.

Darkside Blues DVD
Ah, Darkside Blues…that 80 minute refugee from the good old days of violent, post-apocalyptic late twentieth century anime that make absolutely no sense because they are actually bolt-on bonuses to otherwise more comprehensible manga series.

Big Windup! Part 2 DVD
The problems with this second half are not enough to derail the show, but the experience is way less satisfying than it should be. Such is the power of its characters that I still can't help but love the whole package.

.hack//G.U. Trilogy Sub.DVD
A big sloppy mess with some snazzy imagery, a few cutting shards of romance, and some excellent acting by a top-flight cast.

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo GN 3
The manga version puts the focus back on the most interesting character: the Count himself. As a result, the plot reaches full steam in a very powerful way—but sadly gets derailed in the later chapters.

Cencoroll
It's a film that defies any and all expectations of both medium and genre, that makes us marvel and has really little time to do much else.

Blade of the Immortal GN 20-21
Is everything one could ask for in a climax: violent, smart and brimming with gory schadenfruede.

Berserk GN 28
The clues it contains about the future direction of Guts' journey—and the relentless monster action—ultimately save it, but unless the series regains its bearings soon this will begin to qualify as a genuine slump.

Darker Than Black DVDs 4-6
The appearance of a new antagonist organization on the scene give the series its long-absent overarching story arc and introduces a great new character as the series races towards an ultimately rushed climax. A brilliantly off-the-cuff bonus episode rounds out one of the year's better series.

Tsubasa, RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE GN 22
It's a beauty to look at, but a pain to follow. But we continue following anyway, because the path of destiny still holds many more surprises.

Air Gear GN 2
Air Gear is one giant, unadulterated shounen fighting cliché, but the story is slowly adding some incremental depth to its characters, and the art is so expert, so delicious that the book is a culinary delight for the eyes from start to finish.