Brian DONOVAN

The Gallery - Noa Ikeda
We welcome aspiring character designer Noa Ikeda for a discussion of traditional-meets-digital art, design styles, and another look at gender equality in the gaming industry. 2009-08-15

ANNCast - 2009-08-14 - Ponyo Off a Cliff
The inaugural episode of the new ANN podcast is here! Topics this week: Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Ponyo's chances at the box office, with special guest Bamboo Dong. 2009-08-14

Hey, Answerman!
This week in Hey Answerman, some questions are answered. Questions about local conventions, inside jokes, and racism. Yes, racism. Brian fears nothing.. Plus! A new Flake of the Week and Hey Answerfans! 2009-08-14

Buried Treasure - Boys over Flowers (Hana Yori Dango)
For all of its escapist fantasy and girly surrealism, Hana Yori Dango is a reminder of the pull of tradition, and a reminder of how hard it is to stand up and truly change things. Warning: spoilers within. 2009-08-13

xxxHolic DVD Box Set (Hyb) DVD
There may be moments of genuine supernatural wonder in this show, but they're too often drowned out by moments of genuine mediocrity.

Jyu-Oh-Sei GN 1-3
Jyu-Oh-Sei, now fully available in well-adapted (if questionably edited) English, is one of the best manga series to see publication this year. The story, developed over the course of a decade from start to finish, is an operatic example of social science fiction, set in a far future where humanity has taken to the stars and colonized other solar systems.

Ōoku: The Inner Chamber GN 1
This mixture of period drama and alternate universe science fiction is easily the single most highly anticipated new series of 2009, at least among the Western fujoshi contingent, and Viz does it justice. But this isn't just for the fangirls.

Daphne in the Brilliant Blue DVD Collection 1
For all its posturing as a gun-toting flesh-fest, Daphne is more interested in lighthearted fun than sex or violence. Which is to say that it's pretty good at the former, and miserable at the latter two.

Romeo x Juliet DVD: Juliet Collection
This version of the classic tale of love and woe may not end with quite the intensity of woe that the original does, but the love is certainly evident and the tragedy still present. It tells a rousing and heartfelt story, backed by an exceptional musical score, which may play better as a stand-alone effort.

Baccano! DVD 4
The closure it brings to the stories of the Flying Pussyfoot passengers makes this volume a must for their fans. And the clever, action-packed insanity of it all makes the whole shebang a must for any fan, period.

Sand Chronicles GN 6
Were you just to ruffle through the pages of a random volume, you would think that this is just another stereotyped schooldays shoujo manga romance. You would not suspect, from the typical, airy shoujo artwork, that the treatment of such themes as out-of-wedlock pregnancy and parental suicide would be placed center stage.

Kaze No Stigma DVD
The first half of this series about a cool and cocky wind magic-user and his temperamental fire magic-user cousin is hardly awful but definitely does not stand amongst the better recent efforts of its type. Weak writing and overripe characterizations eventually cause what little early promise it has to wither.

Phantom Episodes 1-13 Streaming
A beautiful, slowly engrossing and occasionally surprising anti-action action anime. Perhaps Bee Train's best series of this stripe since Noir.

Baby & Me GN 14
This isn't Baby & Me's best volume—that honor goes to the wringing thirteenth volume—but it is in many ways the most representative one.

Akihabara@DEEP GN 2
Much of volume two of Akihabara@DEEP takes place in the world of a fictionalized MMORPG world, but if you think you are merely in for a hackneyed version of .hack, you are in for the surprise of your life: One of the top manga series first published in English in 2008 is getting even better.