Manga Discoveries: Bokura wa Itsumo

So I do like the occasional shoujo manga, but lately I feel like drama shoujo titles have become more like soap operas rather than romantic dramas.  Lately there’s been too much of a reliance on melodrama to get readers.  Even the insanely popular and praised, Kimi ni Todoke has it’s own share of melodrama.  While the addition of melodrama might make for nice “oh snap” moments in the manga, it takes a toll on the human factor.  Bokura wa Itsumo is a exception to the current trend in shoujo manga, and is an immensely satisfying read Read more »

Major Overhaul in the Works

So this is the 3rd time that we’ve gone on unintentional hiatus due to school.  Considering the increasing frequency of these hiatuses, I think it’s clear that college engineers + episodic blogs don’t mix.  Fact of the matter about episodics is this: it’s hard to have something to say about every episode of a 26 episode series.  This happens more often  than you’d think.  Add bloggers who haven’t taken a writing class in 2+ years  and you have a recipe for writer’s block.  With the intense engineering curriculum that we have, maintaining the blog becomes less and less of a priority Read more »

Darker than Black 2 – Episodes 01-03

Nope, we’re not dead… we just had a little thing known as COLLEGE start up again.  I’m in a slight break in my schedule after my first set of midterms, and I finally had time to make a post.  So I decided to get started w/ Darker than Black 2.

So 3 episodes in to DtB2 and the only real word I can come up w/ summing up my thoughts is: disappointment.  Don’t get me wrong… I really like the series so far, as an anime… but not so much as a sequel to DtB.  It just seems to be missing what made the first season really good.  I’ll just run through what I feel is lacking w/ this season thus far.

Read more »

2009 Fall Anime Season Preview

After missing out on the summer preview, PSJ is back with a full fall season preview.  Same format as before, same style, not including kids show (so no Battle Spirits or Stitch commentary here.) As always summaries and production infos are found on MyAnimeList, AnimeNewsNetwork, and AnimeDB.  Only major difference is that I’m also including a “long-term expectations” tier.  As it sounds, if we feel a show will be good for the long run, then we’ll give it a 1 or 2 tier.  If not, we’ll give it a lower tier.  (Interest Tiers will be labeled “Interest” and Long-term Tier will be labeled “Long-Term”) Read more »

Manabiya – Chapters 1-5

Gonna try something new, and attempt an ongoing manga review.  Manabiya is a new manga written by Kojima Akira, and serialized in Gangan Joker.  Kojima Akira previously worked on Mahoraba (Not to be confused with Maburaho).  Mahoraba is my favorite slice-of-life manga so far.  All the characters were such a treat to watch (or read in this case), and I couldn’t help but smile while reading each chapter.  If the first few chapters of Manabiya is any indication, than Kojima-sensei has done it again. Read more »

Anime Reviews: Darker than Black – Kuro no Keiyaksha

The process of me watching Darker than Black is an interesting one.  I attempted to watch the series a year ago; however, for some reason, I just wasn’t really liking it.  After about 6 episode, I dropped it, thinking that I’d eventually come back to it.  Last week, I picked up the series from where I left off, and finished it. Read more »

New Poll: I need YOUR help.

So as most of you know, there is a Shakugan no Shana OVA coming out this october, and aftewards a new TV anime.  I plan on watching both of these anyways, so don’t try to sway me on that.  However, I’m not sure if I should blog those shows.  Blogging Shakugan no Shana S (the OVA) won’t be a problem since there’ll only be one episode out every few week, I’d still be able to do at least 3 regular shows.  However, if I do blog Shakugan no Shana S then I’m gonna commit to blogging the Shana III.  Therefore that’ll eat up one of my blog “spots” in a later season.  So my question is simple: Do you want me to cover theses two Shana series, or should I not waste my time on it?

Poll is on the right panel at the bottom.

Anime Reviews: Kenran Butousai – The Mars Daybreak

I do like this promo image, for what it's worth

I realize I’ve been giving out a lot of high ratings as of late, and some people could be having the misconception that I like everything I watch.  I wanna clarify that I really only watch shows that interest me or have potential and I don’t waste time on shows I don’t like.  More often than not, I’m satisfied with the series I watch; but occasionaly, a show can leave me incredibly dissapointed.  Mars Daybreak makes a great example. Read more »

Umineko no Naku Koro ni – Episode 07 (II-II)

This review will probably be unusually short, cause I don’t really have anything to say about this episode that I haven’t said before.  Really, this episode nothing more than setup for the rest of the arc, the real fun doesn’t begin until next week. Read more »

CANAAN – Episode 06

So I was starting to consider CANAAN the dissapointment of the season, considering how long it was taking for the story to kick start.  I find it ironic that I was getting that sensation hours BEFORE watchingt his ep.  Sorta like Bakemonogatari episode 5, this episode restored my faith in this series. Read more »