meta: High School


2020


'Birdy The Mighty: Decode': Gimme Back My Skin! 
A raucous fusion of two genres (SF and comedy), and just like its two main characters, it's a symbiosis, not a collision
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'Beastars': Animal House 
That very rarest of breeds: a truly adult show
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2018


'A Silent Voice': Children Of Lesser Gods 
A gorgeous adaptation of the acclaimed manga, and a story with a hard moral question: Who gets to be redeemed?
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2017


'Ocean Waves': There's Something About Muto 
A trifle of a film, but it doesn't overstate its importance or overstay its welcome, and it shows how Studio Ghibli gave as much care to stories like this as they did for any of Miyazaki's fantasias
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2015


'Ping Pong The Animation': Tennis, Anyone? 
Calling this a 'sports story' falls so far short of describing how its seething visuals tell a story that'll hit home with most anyone, ping-pong players or not
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'Tokyo Ravens': Of Magic And The Mundane 
Shouldn't a show that entertains the idea that Japan's mystical past is an integral part of its present-day world not be so ... well, mundane?
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Short Takes: 'Witchcraft Works Vol. 2' 
Second verse of this fantasy-comedy, a bit less interesting than the first, as coincidence and contrivance take precedence over invention and storytelling
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2014


Short Takes: 'Witchcraft Works Vol. 1' 
Magical hijinks in high school are the jumping-off point for this enjoyable story with no small amount of potential, but also unnecessarily confusing visuals
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'Toradora!': No Paper Tiger 
Under the clichéd surface of this lively romantic farce run undercurrents of something smarter and deeper
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'Robotics;Notes': Hey, Gang! Let's Put Together A Giant Mecha! 
Next to its cousin 'Steins;Gate' this sunny robo-fantasy bulks small, but it still supplies an entertaining ride
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See more High School posts from 2014