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video Releases

The X Button - Burn After Playing
Todd takes on the first pieces of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, followed by looks at Sin and Punishment 2, Monado, Let's Tap, and a Suda51 game about briefcases. 2009-06-10

Anime News Nina! - 2009-06-10
Nina and Paola ponder intervention. 2009-06-10

RIGHT TURN ONLY!! - Detroit Gravitation City
Musicians take the stage in titles like Detroit Metal City, Gravitation, and even Clover. Meanwhile, Svetlana Chmakova rides again with the World Manga of the Month! 2009-06-09

Shelf Life - Vandread By the River
Summoning monsters has never been so easy! You can do it too, in three easy steps.
- DBZ: Fusion Reborn / Wrath of the Dragon
- Kiba sets 1 & 2
- Ristorante Paradiso
- Vandread boxset
2009-06-08

Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei GN 1
Manga fans familiar with Japanese culture and society might be excused for thinking that they have committed ritual double suicide with Zetsubou-sensei himself and gone to a darkly yet deliciously funny heaven.

Death Note DVD
The second half of the series, spanning episodes 21-37, comes complete with a bonus disk of Extras. The story it tells, from the midst of the Yotsuba arc to the series' final confrontations, may be full of overblown melodrama but can still drag a viewer along for the ride.

Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino- Episodes 1-13 Streaming
That many of Gunslinger Girl's considerable charms escape the deadening influence of its new animators is certainly reason to celebrate. That that they have to is a shame.

Honey Hunt GN 2
With noticeable acceleration of the story, coupled with the Miki Aihara's consistent draftsmanship skill, Honey Hunt is fast becoming the sort of shoujo manga that fans will want to hunt down for themselves.

Bleach DVD 16
As far as filler goes, the Bount arc—which begins this volume—isn't half bad. It isn't half good either: More like three-eighths good, a quarter bad, and a quarter indifferent with one-eighth held in reserve. But who's counting?

Princess Resurrection Sub.DVD Part 2
You know how they say that there's always room for dessert? Well, the same goes for brainless fun. And to the end Princess Resurrection is as brainless—and almost as fun—as anyone could want.

Sand Chronicles GN 3-5
The delicate balance between sentimentality and bathetic ridiculousness is one that Hinako Ashihara walks quite well, and the intimate exploration of the characters' rather unremarkable—let's be honest with ourselves here—exploits are utterly riveting.

Big Windup! Episodes 1-7 Streaming
Tells a simple story (a group of guys, a baseball diamond, and a game they really want to win) with sly suspense and unexpected complexity.

Ouran High School Host Club DVD - Season 1 Part 2
More antics of the cross-dressing Haruhi and the bishonen Host Club guys continue as the series delves into backstories. While these episodes do show some depth, for the most part they stick to the series' strength: shallow, silly fun. In that sense, they work just fine.

Claymore DVD 5
The massed Claymore battles in snowy Pieta heat up, but the character development is as much the key in what is arguably the series' second-best run of episodes. Most who watch this volume will find themselves impatiently awaiting the next one.

Appleseed DVD
Beneath the lustrous exterior is just another save-the-world blockbuster action movie. The animation of Appleseed is an ambitious experiment with technology, but artistically, it's not all that clever.