The Empire of Corpses:

Pick out a handful of celebrated literary characters, throw in some zombie horror, add a dash of steampunk for aesthetics, and you get The Empire of Corpses, the first in a series of animated films adapting the works of sci-fi author Project Itoh. Produced by the same studio responsible for Attack on Titan, the Empire of Corpses richly illustrated big-screen adaptation is juxtaposed by a bloated and overlong narrative that attempts to delve into the nature of the soul without offering anything substantive from either end.

A little background before we begin: Project Itoh was the pen name of Satoshi Ito, a celebrated Japanese author and essayist. Genocidal Organ was his first major achievement in the field and the work he is most fondly remembered for. Ito regrettably passed away at the tender age of...Read the entire review

Yurikuma Arashi is an animeseries from studio Silver Link (DuskMaiden of Amnesia). Acclaimed anime director Kunihiko Ikuhara (Sailor Moon, Revolutionary Girl Utena) is aco-writer and director. The production is based on a manga series(written by director Ikuhara) and illustrated by Akiko Morishima.

The story for the anime series is a bizarre one. In the future, a wallwas built which separates human beings from tiny bears. The bears wereviewed as a threat because they wanted to eat human beings. A dividebegan between the humans and the bears. Two bears named Ginko Yurishiroand Lulu Yurigasaki (unde...Read the entire review

Background of OnePiece:

One Piecefirst began as a serialized manga series in 1997. It debuted in WeeklyShonen Jump in August 1997.  TheJapanese pop-culture phenomenon was created by the author andillustratorEiichiro Oda. The manga has sold more copies than any other mangaseries ever with over 250 million copieshaving beensold since initial publication. The manga has yet to end and hasreceived over60 published volumes. It has continued to receive critic...Read the entire review

Guilty Crown is ascience-fiction action anime producedby acclaimed animation powerhouse Production I.G. (Ghost inthe Shell: Stand Alone Complex). The series was made forFuji TV during 2011. The series popularity resulted in a manga, novel,andvideo game version also becoming produced.

The story takesplace in a post-apocalyptic world following a terrible event: ameteoritecrash-lands on earth and causes a virus outbreak that takes out membersof thepopulation. Indeed, much of the human population has been affected bythevirus. Who can save humanity? The series turns to high-school studentShu, who becomesa player in the battle for earth between a re...Read the entire review

The Boy and the Beast is the latest film from acclaimed filmmaker MamoruHosoda (Wolf Children, The Girl Who LeaptThrough Time). Thefilm is a fantasy-sci-fi-drama that explores the human world and afantastical world called the Beast Kingdom. The film is produced byYuichiroSaito, Takuya Ito, Atsushi Chiba, and Genki Kawamura.

The central protagonist of the story is Ren. Atthe start ofthe story Ren is a 9 year old orphan child living on the streets ofTokyo. Hesoon meets "the beast" Kumatetsu and finds himself entering into theBeast Kingdom: a magical otherworld which is home to a wide variety offantasticcreatures. &nbs...Read the entire review

The Girl Who LeaptThrough Time is an exciting sci-fidrama from acclaimed anime director Mamoru Hosoda (SummerWars). The film focuses upon high school girl Makoto Konno,who can leap through time (and into the past). The story revolvesaround herexperiences jumping through time and upon the effects of her timetravel jumps onherself and others. The film is based upon the novel written byYasutakaTsutsui and is from executive producer Takeshi Yasuda.

The story is adelicate blend between science-fiction and drama. As the story startstounfold, it's initially a sweet-natured slice of life anime productionwhichjust happens to have tim...Read the entire review

Content:
Noragami, otherwise known as Stray God when translated, was one of the most talked about anime of 2014, and for good reason. The show was such a success in it's debut that a sequel series, Noragami: Aragato, was quickly green-lit in Japan, and ended up in one of FUNimation's recent broadcast dubs lineups. Featuring the directorial debut of Kotaro Tamura, who has worked on Mamoru Hosada's brilliant film Wolf Children, and other acclaimed works such as Baccano! and Michiko & Hatchin, Noragami is a 12 episode series about a god of war from ages ago who has lost his way, and is determined to scratch and claw his way back into prominence and fame by taking on odd jobs around Tokyo.

Noragami follows the story of Yato (voiced by Jason Liebrecht), a minor god who is down on his luck that dreams of having his own temple so that a...Read the entire review

It's been nearly five years since US fans of Hideaki Anno's "Rebuild of Evangelion" series have had an entry in the tetralogy. Produced in 2012, in Japan, "Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo" answers the long awaited question of "what next" that was so aptly stated at the end of "Evangelion 2.22" with the chilling closing line, "this is the end of the world." For reasons I don't know, nor can discern, US audiences have been awaiting answer to this question for four years longer than their Japanese counterparts, which honestly had me as a fan coming to terms with the second entry possibly being the last for English language audiences. Fortunately after much delay, "Evangelion 3.33" rockets onto Blu-Ray and DVD and waylays fans with the answers they were looking for and a host of new questions.

I won't lie, ev...Read the entire review

Background of OnePiece:

One Piece firstbegan as a serialized manga series in 1997. It debuted in WeeklyShonen Jump in August 1997. The Japanese pop-culture phenomenon was created by the author andillustratorEiichiro Oda. The manga has sold more copies than any other mangaseries ever with over 250 million copieshaving beensold since initial publication. The manga has yet to end and hasreceived over60 published volumes. It has continued to receive cr...Read the entire review

Dragonar Academy is an anime series based on a novelseries written by Shiki Mizuchi. The series takes place in an age ofdragons.The series is produced by Ryoji Maru.

The series primarily revolves around a studentnamed AshBlake who is enrolled in Dragonar Academy. At the school, Ash learnshow toride, tame, and work with dragons. However, the other students think ofAsh asa bad student as he has trouble learning how to work with the dragons.Can Ashsomeday become a dragon expert at the Dragonar Academy?

The Dragonar Academy school is aimed atworkingentirely with dragons and with learning how to fly dragons and otherdragon-training skills. Then one day, out of the sky, Ash encounterst...Read the entire review

The Series:

Fairy Tail is a popular action-adventure-comedy serieswhich follows a group of wizards who are all a part of the renownedFairy Tailguild. These wizards work on various missions for the non-magic folk oftheworld. Additionally, these talented wizards work together to face enemyguilds(the type who use their magic without a positive approach), and preparenewskills as they train to become S classwizards (the top ranking of guild members across the world).From saving the day to being hilarious, these wizards are a famil...Read the entire review

The highwater mark on a personal level for me when it comes to anime series' is "Cowboy Bebop" an essentially universally loved tale of bounty hunters in a not so distant future world. Sometime around 2006 though, a series launched, based off a manga of the same name and it took nearly a decade for it to make it into my hands. "Black Lagoon" presented here as a complete series (a possible misnomer I'll touch on later) is very likely a series a "Cowboy Bebop" fan would be wise to check into; more than that, it's an anime series that serves as a gateway to newcomers, provided that audience is a mature one. Spanning 24 episodes over two seasons and an OVA (presented here as an additional five episodes), "Black Lagoon" hits the ground running as Rock, the series' conduit to the normal world and in turn the viewer, is kidnapped by Lagoon Company, a band of modern day pirates consisting of Dutch, Benny...Read the entire review

The Series:

Fairy Tail is a popular action-adventure-comedy serieswhich follows a group of wizards who are all a part of the renownedFairy Tailguild. These wizards work on various missions for the non-magic folk oftheworld. Additionally, these talented wizards work together to face enemyguilds(the type who use their magic without a positive approach), and preparenewskills as they train to become S classwizards (the top ranking of guild members across the world).From saving the day to being hilarious, these wizards are a familialbunc...Read the entire review

Inari Kon Kon is a Japanese anime seriesbased uponthe manga which was written and illustrated by Morohe Yoshida. Theseriesrevolves around a girl who is given the gift of transformation from aspiritgod after she helps to rescue the life of a young fox spirit who almostdrownedin a river.

The girl's name is Inari Fushimi. She is grantedone wishfrom the god after saving the fox spirit. She wishes to become anothergirl inher class named Sumizome (a girl who she thinks is more popular withthe boys,including her school crush Kōji). Inari quickly realizes that shedoesn't wantto appear as the girl and wants to just be herself.

However, the spirit god Uka-no-Mitama-no-Kami(called"Uka" for short) ca...Read the entire review

Buddy Complex is a 2014 anime seriesproduced bystudio Sunrise (Cowboy Bebop, Gundam Wing). The series is amecha animedone in a similar style to that of the popular Gundam franchise.Theshow is based on an original manga by Hiroki Ohara.

The Buddy Complex series starts off withaverage 16year old Aoba Watase, who is attending high school, and livinganordinary life. Then one day a gigantic robot attacks from the sky andhis worldbecomes turned upside down. A female classmate named Hina Yumiharainforms him thatshe's come from the future to save Aoba's life. Aoba quickly becomes apilot ofa giant robot and must face another giant robot being led by abloodthirsty pilotout to take down Aoba. In j...Read the entire review

The Series:

Fairy Tail is a popular action-adventure-comedy serieswhich follows a group of wizards who are all a part of the renownedFairy Tailguild. These wizards work on various missions for the non-magic folk oftheworld. Additionally, these talented wizards work together to face enemyguilds(the type who use their magic without a positive approach), and preparenewskills as they train to become S classwizards (the top ranking of guild members across the world).From saving the day to being hilarious, these wizards are a familialbunc...Read the entire review

Fullmetal Alchemist (2003-2004) is thefirst animeadaptation based upon the popular manga series created, written, andillustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. The anime series is produced by MasahikoMinami(Cowboy Bebop, Wolf's Rain, Escaflowne), HiroMaruyama (AngelBeats!, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood), and Ryo Oyama (Darkerthan Black, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood).  The story of the series is centered upon theElric brothers Edward and Alphonse, who are alchemist brotherssearching forthe philosopher's stone.

Edward and Alphonse (Al) Elric are two brotherswho becomealchemists. Alchemists are able to use alchemy, an ad...Read the entire review