Monthly Archives: March 2009

The Unsatisfactory Ending of Toradora

By | March 31, 2009 at 7:08 pm | 30 comments

I thought about adding this into my review for Toradora or adding it to my podcast review, but I thought this would be better written out in it’s own post, as it basically is an editorial.

I’ll say it right front:  I was a Ryuji/Minori shipper in Toradora until the very, bitter end of the show.  Of course, it became increasingly obvious as the show drew closer to the end that this would not come out to be, and I knew it was a longshot from the start.  However, I had hoped that the show may dare to not follow the predicted path, but alas, the ending was once again predictable from the time the first episode aired.

However, this editorial isn’t going to be about my complaining about a lack of Minori ending, per se.  Instead, I think the main problem with the ending of Toradora is that Taiga and Ryuji’s transformations from liking Kitamura and Minori to liking each other is sudden and largely without any obvious foretelling other than, simply put, that it was their destiny, as the two leads in an anime, to do so.

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Anime DVD and Manga Releases for March 24 – April 6

By | March 31, 2009 at 12:29 pm | No Comments
Chrono Crusade DVD Box Set
07-Ghost Manga Volume 2

Anime DVDs and Blu-Rays

March 24, 2009
Aria The Natural – Set #2 (sub)
Baccano! – Volume 2
Chrono Crusade – Box Set
Claymore – Volume 4
I”s & I”s Pure – Box Set
Maria Watches Over Us – Season 3 Box Set (sub)
Solty Rei – Box Set
Tokyo Majin – Season 1 Part 2
Trinity Blood – Box Set

March 31, 2009
D.Gray-man – Season 1 Part 1
Dragon Ball Z: Broly Triple Feature (movies 8, 10, 11) [DVD & Blu-Ray]
Gravion – Box Set
One Piece – Season 1 Box 4
Shigurui: Death Frenzy – Box Set [DVD & Blu-Ray]
Shuffle! – Box Set
Wallflower, The – Set #2

Manga

March 24, 2009
Gacha Gacha: The Next Revolution – Volume 9
Gakuen Prince – Volume 1
Gankutsuou – Volume 2
Kitchen Princess – Volume 9
Mao-Chan – Volume 2
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya – Volume 2
Negima! Magister Negi Magi – Volume 21
Negima! Neo – Volume 1
Samurai 7 – Volume 1
Tears of a Lamb – Volume 5
xxxHOLiC – Volume 13

March 25, 2009
Berserk – Volume 28
Utahime

March 31, 2009
07-Ghost – Volume 2
Barefoot Gen – Volume 7
Barefoot Gen – Volume 8
Ultimate Venus – Volume 4
With the Light – Volume 4

Spring 2009 Blog and Watch List

By | March 30, 2009 at 9:19 am | 1 comment

Sorry for not posting in the last week.  That was a combination of the basketball tournament (which took up a good deal of my weekend) and getting into the homestretch of my class (which I usually do on the weekend, but got pushed to my weekday evenings…when I usually do my blogging, thus limited to no blogging for the past little while).

I was initially planning on blogging 2 series for the Spring 09 season, but I think given that I’m probably going to be somewhat slammed with my class for the next month (the final month + oral exit exam for classes I haven’t taken in 3 years), so I think I’m only going to pick up one show to blog.  In my preview, I had 3 shows on my “May blog” list: Eden of the East, Phantom, and Shangri-La.

Now, I’m one who sometimes likes venturing out onto paths that other bloggers sometimes don’t tread on (see: Shion no Ou, Nijuu-Mensou).  Two of the seemingly most highly expected series this season appear to be Eden of the East and Shangri-La which, I presume, will have bloggers falling over themselves to blog it.  As a result, I think I’m going to blog Phantom myself.  My only worry with this show is largely that the only two fansub groups listed as doing it I haven’t really downloaded anything from before, so I don’t know whether they’re of good quality or whether they get things out quickly or not.  So there you have it for my blogging list.

As for shows that I’ll watch, Eden of the East, Shangri-La, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Pandora Hearts were already on my “will watch” list, so I’ll probably grab about 3 shows from the “may watch” list to add to this list.  Out of that list, I guess the most appealing is K-ON, since it was really the only show that didn’t raise some question marks with me, and I guess when I get down to my “may” list, I go from picking shows that look good to picking shows that don’t look bad.  Next on my list is Asura Cryin’.  The preview I saw looked more serious than the “semi-serious” description of the show, and the arrival of what looked like a mecha-like thing put this show into question, but I think overall it looks good.  Finally on my list is Valkyria Chronicles.  This is somewhat iffy to me, but just not as iffy as Summer Storm (highly questionable animation to me) and Tears to Tiara (looks like a fantasy show that is taking itself way too seriously).

So, to roundup, this is what my blogging and watching slate for the Spring season will look like:

Blogging

  • Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom

Watching

  • Asura Cryin’
  • Eden of the East
  • Fullmetal Alchemist
  • K-ON!
  • Pandora Hearts
  • Shangri-La
  • Valkyria Chronicles
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