December 11, 2023 · 0 comments

By Hugh David. Tatsumi is a self-acknowledged country bumpkin who is nonetheless a well-trained fighter. He and two companions leave their remote village to head to the Imperial City to find a way to relieve their friends and family from ruinous taxation imposed by the authorities. Yet the Imperial City is filled with unimaginable amounts […]

December 9, 2023 · 0 comments

By Andrew Osmond. Kids on the Slope was the first collaboration between director Shinichiro Watanabe and composer Yoko Kanno following the iconic Cowboy Bebop. The new anime proved to be an enormously entertaining teen love-triangle drama, with a great central trio and some of the best music set-pieces ever created in anime. Dec 9, 2023Jonathan […]

December 7, 2023 · 0 comments

By Andrew Osmond. Anime is often compared to live-action cinema. If so, Flowers of Evil is the cultish indy film, whose moody images sing with the torments of alienated schoolkids. It has dollops of black comedy, moments of painful lyricism, and a real human sympathy under the cruelty. Few other anime feel so likea live-action […]

December 6, 2023 · 0 comments

By Andrew Osmond. Shirobako is an animated series about making animation. You might think it’s something only Japan could do, as anime can go so boldly into real life. Could you imagine someone going to a Hollywood studio like Disney or Pixar and pitching an animation about animators? Actually, though, Shiraboko has precedents in some […]

December 4, 2023 · 0 comments

By Hugh David. Soma Yukihira’s old man runs a small family restaurant in the less savoury end of town. Aiming to one day surpass his father’s culinary prowess, Soma hones his skills until, out of the blue, his father decides to enrol him in a classy culinary school! Can Soma really cut it in a […]

December 1, 2023 · 0 comments

by Helen McCarthy. Classical pianist, hard rock drummer, guitarist, composer, songwriter, producer, visual kei pioneer, founder of two record labels, fashion designer, collaborator with brands from Baccarat to Hello Kitty and beyond, keynote speaker at a Stanford University conference on the future of social tech – all this, plus a 13-year partnership with a Napa […]