Tag: Andrew Osmond

November 24, 2021 · 0 comments

By Andrew Osmond. In Penguindrum, a dorky penguin hat – that’s a hat that looks like a penguin, not one made out of penguins – brings a beautiful girl back to life. This miracle starts an adventure that’s insanely odd even by the standards of anime. The girl is Himari Takakura, the angelic sister of […]

November 15, 2021 · 0 comments

By Andrew Osmond. Fans of Perfect Blue are recommended to catch a new animated psycho-drama feature, Climbing, that is screening on 18th November as part of the London Korean Film Festival. Like Perfect Blue, Climbing is about a young woman for whom reality starts to skew. Se-hyeon is a dedicated sports climber, intent on glory… […]

November 11, 2021 · 1 comment

By Andrew Osmond. Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon spends its first moments fooling you into thinking that it’ll be a gritty military drama. There’s a flashforward to a terrible battle. There are ruined city buildings, a wounded youth in a school uniform facing death, and a little witch-girl intoning “Congratulations” with flat menace. And […]

October 3, 2021 · 0 comments

By Andrew Osmond. On-Gaku: Our Sound has been rightly hailed a landmark in indie anime. It’s a comedy film, deadpan enough to impress Bill Murray. It devises its own style without any of the cutesy panderings or manga-style tics in so much anime. Actually, the film is based on a manga, but a self-published one. […]

September 21, 2021 · 0 comments

By Andrew Osmond. Choose life. Choose a Japanese office job. Choose a neat tie, a pressed white shirt. Choose a daily oblivion of getting on the train, getting to the desk, writing mind-numbing spirit-crushing meaningless reports between brown-nosing your boss. Only in Black Lagoon, anonymous salaryman Rokuro Okajima chooses not to choose life, as we […]