Over eight years ago, the idol music series, Love Live! Sunshine!!, often with slice-of-life scenes, began airing on Tokyo MX, and simulcast on Funimation and Crunchyroll. It’s the second part of the Love Live multimedia franchise created by Sunrise animation studio and novelist Sakurako Kimino, and co-produced by Kadokawa’s ASCII Media Works and Bandai Namco’s […]
TV
Severance – The After Hours Review
I’ll be honest. I’ve watched this episode twice and I’m still not quite sure what I think about it. On one hand, there was some swift (perhaps too swift) plot movement in all sections of the narrative. On the other, there were some truly earned and gorgeous moments between characters – okay, between Burt and […]
Yellowjackets – Thanksgiving (Canada) Review
Well, I, for one, think that episode should have been titled “What the fuck?!?”, because, much like the mystery bespeckled man at the end of the episode, I screamed that at the screen upon seeing that there were real live people coming upon the camp. Who are they? Where did they come from? Why are […]
Dope Thief Review
As someone who never read Dennis Tafoya’s 2009 novel “Dope Thief,” which is something I find myself saying a whole heck of a lot when it comes to AppleTV+ series of late, I wasn’t all that sure what to expect when I dove into the eight-episode miniseries. And, you know what? Despite some strange tonal […]
The Best Show You Aren’t Watching: The Pitt
I’m a bit late to the game on The Pitt, the new HBOMax medical drama that combines the storytelling structure of 24 with the complex, fast-paced world of the emergency department – the first of many connections the series has to the long-running NBC medical drama ER. We join the medical professionals of the Pitt […]
Severance – Sweet Vitriol Review
Let’s be honest: No matter what Severance cooked up this week, it was never going to stand up to the exceptional episode it offered us last week. But you know what? This deep-dive into the past of Harmony Cobel – who has been absent since episode three – was enough of a change of pace […]
Yellowjackets – Did Tai Do That? Review
After the last two episodes, wherein we got a ton of forward movement in both halves of our story, we were due for what I like to call a “board reset” episode. These episodes aren’t bad episodes, but they are necessary, especially in a mystery-based series like Yellowjackets, where so much of the story rides […]
Yellowjackets – 12 Angry Girls and 1 Drunk Travis Review
In the pantheon of episode endings, this one was a doozie. From Teen Shauna finally stepping into the role of, well, leader, to threaten the other Yellowjackets into voting to convict Coach Ben to the revelation that Adult Lottie is dead, that’s a pretty visceral one-two punch to close out the episode. This was also […]
Severance – Chikhai Bardo Review
If anyone was harboring any illusions about just how utterly fucked up Lumon is, I’m hoping this episode was enough to disavow you of them. Because Jesus Christ, that was horrific to watch. Seeing Lumon torturing Gemma – and that’s what it is, torture – over the course of years? That’s horrific. It’s fun to […]
“The King is the crime!”: Commoners, royalty, and animated depictions of monarchy
Over forty-four years ago, on September 3, 1980, the series finale of the now-classic Rose of Versailles, entitled “Adieu, My Beloved Oscar,” aired on Japanese television. It depicted revolutionary leader Louis Saint-Just telling an assembly of Frenchmen, in 1792, that “the King’s own existence is itself an unforgivable crime” and “The King is the crime!” […]