Aiko SUZUKI

The X Button - Brush with Greatness
Okamiden's producer talks about wolf pups and painting! Plus: the new Atlus RPG, the next Naruto wave, Cave's latest shooter plans, and what Ace Combat has to do with magazine history. 2010-08-25

Shelf Life - Galaxy Quest
Erin chases down stray noodles, and talks about her recent intellectually stimulating anime finds.
- Ghost Hound collection 2
- The Sky Crawlers
- The Tatami Galaxy ep. 1-11
2010-08-23

Astro Toy - Revoltech Vash the Stampede and Wolfwood
David spends some time with a pair of iconic Revoltechs that won't set you back 60 billion double-dollars. 2010-08-22

Asobi ni Ikuyo: Bombshells from the Sky ep 1-6
Though this catgirls-from-space series gives every outward indication of being just another Magical Girlfriend/Harem series, its cleverness, subversion of genre conventions, and willingness to push its genre's envelope help make it one of 2010's biggest and most pleasant surprises.

The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya (Novel)
It hops, skips and jumps through a number of familiar genres ... Yet each tale comes with its own physics-defying twist, the kind only Nagaru Tanigawa can dream up. In short, Haruhi's boredom is anything but.

Initial D: Stage 4 DVD Part 2
In case you missed it somehow during the first half, part two of Initial D's Fourth Stage broadcasts its message loud and clear: If you aren't here for the racing, then you may as well not be here at all.

Negima! GN 27
Yes, it takes almost a full nine chapters for two fighting wizards to beat the daylights out of each other—and it's nine chapters very well spent.

Bakuman GN 1
Clings to the traditional shônen ideals of friendship, challenge, and victory, only with our hero wielding a pen instead of a sword. Literally.

Tytania collection 1 DVD
A laid-back hero butts heads against a quartet of powerful Dukes in this space opera laden with classical European styling. The series definitely gets better after a weak start and should be of particular interest to those who favor sci fi anime with a broad scope which features action but is not a slave to it.

Wolf God GN 1
Unfortunately this first volume still falls short of being much past mildly-entertaining, especially when things start looking too familiar – Koyuki is kidnapped and Kyounosuke is now enrolled in her school, you say? In combination the story and art may be enough to give Wolf God a fighting chance but it's not likely to leave many howling for volume two.

Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime (Novel)
The book tries almost too hard to be everything at once: a mystery wrapped up in an enigma wrapped up in a slice-of-life slightly-magically-realistic school story.

Junjō Romantica DVD 1-3
The main couple of the story is actually the least worth wasting words on, and this is a serious problem for the show. There are good ideas with above-average execution, but they're lost in the noise of something not really worthy of attention outside its own world.

Crimson Cross GN
Does the world really need another vampire story right now? Digital Manga seems to think so. Perhaps it's the success of their Vampire Hunter D releases, a manga cult-classic, or maybe it's just certain outside influences. Either way, Crimson Cross is about as ‘vampire’ as you can get… unfortunately.

Ghost Hound Sub.DVD 2
After taking a familiar premise and making something alien of it, the series unfortunately lapses back into conventionality at its end, defeating by a razor margin its aspirations of greatness.