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Books: Perfect Blue
By Andrew Osmond. It’s said that bad books make good films (and vice versa). Perfect Blue makes that case forcibly. Satoshi Kon’s film version is a landmark in animated horror, subjecting a vividly sympathetic protagonist to fiendish mind-games. But the source book is plain bad, descending into infantile guignol that’s less perverted than pre-potty trained. […]
Twin Star Exorcists
By Andrew Osmond. As anime fans have probably guessed, the “real” world is a thin veneer over a realm of horrid demon monsters ready to gobble us up. Our only protectors are exorcists who go into daily battle on our behalf, wielding spells and charms as their armour. Twin Star Exorcists focuses on a young […]
Disenchantment
By Andrew Osmond. The first thing to stress is that Disenchantment, now streaming on Netflix, gets better. This is a terrible advert for a TV series, of course, though anime fans may be readier than most viewers to give animated shows time to improve. After a first part that feels naff and derivative – and […]
Kiznaiver
By Andrew Osmond. In the same way that Your Name will have viewers delving into the earlier films of Makoto Shinkai, and A Silent Voice draws attention to the work of Naoko Yamada and Kyoto Animation, so the release of Maquia will increase interest in the two-decade career of writer-director Mari Okada. We’ve posted an […]
Attack on Titan: Garrison Girl
By Andrew Osmond. Nine years after Attack on Titan began, it’s become a paradigm of franchise management. As of writing, the original story by Hajime Isayama continues as a manga and anime, with fans speculating “How will it end?” as eagerly as Harry Potter or Breaking Bad fans did in their time. But Titan has […]