Toshihiro ŌSUMI

Now Expiring: Mongolian Chop Squad (s)
You've got only one week to finish watching the Series Formerly Known As Beck streaming on ANN! It goes away on 5/20. 2011-05-14

Brain Diving - Rocket Roll High School
Brian straps in and pops open one of those freeze-dried Astronaut ice cream things for a look at Housuke Nojiri's light novel tale of the first teenage girl in space, Rocket Girls. 2011-05-17

Shelf Life - Settlers of Canaan
Erin hits the tables this week with Rio, and starts the blockbuster season early.
- Canaan complete
- Junjo Romantica s2
- Rio - Rainbow Gate! ep. 1-12
2011-05-16

Astro Toy - Figma Love Machine
This is no ordinary Figma: it's Love Machine, the destructive AI from Summer Wars! 2011-05-15

Hey, Answerman! - All About Writin'
This week, Brian tackles a trio of questions about something he knows a little bit about: writing! Specifically, light novels, how to steal his job as Answerman, and how, exactly, does one going about "writing" an anime? And your Answerfans responses and summer movie opinions! 2011-05-13

Mobile Suit Gundam UC BLURAY 2
Don't miss Gundam Unicorn, especially since this episode dials down the cliffhanger factor to tolerable levels.

Durarara!! Part 3
The Gang War arc plays out to a satisfactory resolution in a run of episodes that delivers enough of the series' potential, and stays true enough to the series' core style points, to remain entertaining to the end. Also present is a DVD-only bonus episode.

Black Butler GN 5
This installment of Black Butler is closer to competitive cooking manga like Yakitate!! Japan than any Victorian period thriller ... but surely more entertaining than the standard "find a bad guy and beat him up" storyline.

Pokemon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life Dub.DVD
An essentially good-natured slice of thoroughly disposable entertainment built around an impeccable message of cooperation, peace and acceptance. In short, a Pokémon film.

Kurozakuro GN 4
While some chapters build up the plot ... others are simply action-packed firecrackers that generate a lot of noise. The quality of Kurozakuro fluctuates along with these changing moods.

Chibi Vampire: Bites
The universe of Karin from all three of its release formats (manga, anime, and novels) gets examined in great detail in this collection of supplementary material. While packed with information, it is a more worthwhile purchase for peripheral fans than diehards.

Vampire Knight Guilty DVD 1
Perhaps the best disc of the series to date. Makes its mistakes but nonetheless shows the series to its best advantage: as a ridiculous, ridiculously unwholesome, and ridiculously affecting melodrama...with a brain.

Bleach DVD Box Set 8
Best taken as a necessary stepping stone on the way to the good stuff, or as dressing for the single superb episode at its center, not as straight entertainment.

Allison & Lillia Sub.DVD 1
While it has some writing and artistic flaws, this collection of 1930s-flavored sequential adventure stories has charming enough central characters and a good enough mix of humor, action, grand plot developments, and general fun factor to provide solid entertainment value.

Ga-Rei Zero DVD/Blu-Ray
Ga-Rei Zero's true strength isn't stomach-turning violence or edge-of-your-seat thrills; it's the emotional power it invests them with.

The Samurai DVD
The character designs are vintage, the music is vintage, even the animation is picture-perfect late 1980's. Yeah, it's shallow and fairly vapid, but if you have an eye for this particular aesthetic, you'll probably find something to dig.