Gundam Wing served as many Americans' first exposure to the Gundam franchise, but it was the original 1979 series and its Universal Century (UC) timeline that started it all in Japan. With Right Stuf now releasing a string of Gundam series on home video, it's …Read more »
For a solid recent example of sakuga, Trigger's Little Witch Academia (now a TV anime!) short is truly exceptional. Since the days of Astro Boy , the Japanese animation industry has by and large followed a conservative production model, relying on cost-saving limited animation tricks. …Read more »
©Tomo Takeuchi/Kodansha, Ltd. All rights reserved. In my mostly male engineering college I knew "those guys" who joined Ballroom Dance Club in a transparent attempt to meet ladies. Of course, this plan can only last so long, so eventually they either gave up or, in …Read more »
Shojo manga has had a fascination with cross-dressing heroines since the days of Princess Knight and The Rose of Versailles , inspired in part by the real-world all-female Takarazuka theater troupe. But in modern fandom, the most common reference point is Ouran High School Host …Read more »
Florence Nightingale, now famous as the founder of modern nursing, grew up in a time when disease and hygiene were barely understood. She made a name for herself reforming the medical conditions of soldiers during the Crimean War, transforming horrific hospitals by instituting simple policies …Read more »
By my count, it’s been almost 15 years since we got any English-translated manga from sci-fi master Leiji Matsumoto (that being Galaxy Express 999 in 2002). This despite his mentor, Osamu Tezuka, getting attention in the US manga industry for over a decade now and …Read more »
In Japan, they don’t have the “man on the moon”—in its place is the “moon rabbit” or tsuki no usagi, best known by anime fans for inspiring the punny name of Usagi Tsukino in Sailor Moon . In Battle Rabbits , a manga by story/artist duo …Read more »
As I write this, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress is the most popular anime of the spring 2016 season, and it’s easy to see why—it combines the apocalyptic melodrama of Attack on Titan with the old-school design style and attention to detail of 1980s direct-to-video …Read more »
I’m not a big fan of love stories, but love is one of the most useful frames for a character study. Through examining the way characters navigate their love life, we gain an understanding of who they are and what they value in life. Forget …Read more »
The last time I talked about Only Yesterday in this magazine, I was lamenting the fact that it was one of only two Studio Ghibli films to have never received an English-language release (the other being Ocean Waves ). Now I’m back in the pages …Read more »
People have been telling me to watch Nichijou for years. Somehow I’ve never managed to see it, despite my friends’ insistence that the 2011 anime series is “the next Azumanga Daioh .” However, seeing as THAT show came out nearly 15 years ago, I suppose …Read more »
Anime for young children has seen its better days. Ever since the rise of Pokémon in the late 1990s carried a new wave of fans into the Internet age, the anime industry has largely set its sights on teenagers and young adults by catering to …Read more »
Eden of the East has had a pretty turbulent trajectory in fan consciousness. Created by Kenji Kamiyama, director of the critically acclaimed Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex and Moribito , and sporting some strong introductory episodes, it got a lot of attention when it …Read more »
I reviewed the first season of Noragami (literally “stray god”) last issue and praised the series for its likable cast, fresh designs, and quirky comedy. Now Noragami is back with a new series, subtitled Aragoto (referring, I believe, to a style of kabuki). The main …Read more »
In the West, our exposure to highly exaggerated Japanese historical figures is mostly limited to some ninja, samurai, and the occasional Oda Nobunaga, but there’s another fairly big one: the onmyoji. These mystics, active between the 7th and 19th centuries, practiced “onmyodo” (which includes divination …Read more »
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Evan Minto
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![[Review] Welcome to the Ballroom](https://otakuusamagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/w-ballroom1.jpg)
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