Category: Guides

S.W.A.T. Reviews: Winter 2012 Pt. 1

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The premise of these reviews is simple: watch the first episode of a series and then immediately sit down to record a review mini-podcast. The reviews are five- to ten-minutes long and entirely off the cuff. As always we only review new shows (so no sequels or continuations) and try to avoid anything that just looks outright awful. These are the first four of the new season:

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Listen – Episode 1 of Bodacious Space Pirates from Satelight with the opening ”Extreme Space Symphony’s Movement VII ‘Infinite Love‘” by Momoiro Clover Z and is streaming on Crunchyroll.

Listen – Episode 1 of Recorder and Randsell from Seven with the opening “Glitter” by Aoi Tada feat. Sister 773 and is streaming on Crunchyroll.

Listen – Episode 1 of Knight in the Area from Shin-Ei with the opening “Higher Ground” by SRS and is streaming on Crunchyroll.

Listen – Episode 1 of Senki Zessho Symphogear from Satelight with the opening “Synchrogazer” by Nana Mizuki.

Otaku NYC: Yoshinoya

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UPDATE: NOW CLOSED :(

When you start watching anime you are often exposed to a world of food you may have never seen before. I remember watching Urusei Yatsura and learning about the world of Japanese fast food outside of WacDonalds as Ataru in the gang would cut classes to pig out at various junk food shops in Tomobiki. I found out that ramen was more than those Maruchan instant noodle packs and that there was a dish called gyudon, otherwise knows as beef bowl. When I found out there was a Japanese beef bowl restaurant chain in Manhattan I had to check it out. Yoshinoya is in the heart of tourist central at 253 W 42nd St between 7th Ave & 8th Ave so it is usually quite busy. As I understand it is even a bit of destination spot for Japanese tourists. In 2001 the mad cow scare hurt Beef Bowl sales and in 2003 Japan banned the import American beef. Since then the ban has been lifted but various politics have made American beef nowhere near as plentiful. So many Japanese tourists will stop into the New York Yoshinoya for a familiar brand with the guarantee of American beef in their gyudon.

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No Case Too Small: Urusei Yatsura

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The case in question is episode 75 of Urusei Yatsura: “And Then There Were None“

hisuiconNo Case too Small is the ongoing feature of the blog where we look at a mystery based episode of a non-detective related show. Since today is Halloween we decided to do a very thematically appropriate episode of Urusei Yatsura. Usually Urusei Yatsura is a madcap screwball comedy where the most lecherousness young man in Japan is engaged to a beautiful but jealous alien princess with electrical powers. Around this time in the production of the show you can sense that the crew was getting bored with straight adaption of the manga and were pushing the boundaries of what they could get away with in the series. Episode 71 was “Shinobu’s Cinderella Story”  which was a mostly a humorless noir story involving a Shinobu getting involved in a murder over the inheritance of a vast fortune. This episode also takes the crew of the normally goofy series and places them in a terrifying murder mystery with the cast dying one by one in various gruesome ways. While the mood might be in strong contrast to the shows’ normal vibe it is perfect macabre story for today.

Lum is the type of show where you never know what the next episode will be about, it is a rather odd and varied assortment of short comedies running the gamut of success. But you always expect comedy, and maybe the occasional tender moment, so this episode comes off as particularly creepy. And even the few attempts at silly just cement how bizarre the tale is.

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