Tag: romance

Anime Review: ‘Prétear’

Prétear, written by Kenichi Kanemaki and directed by Junichi Sato. Hal Film Maker (). 13 episodes of 24 minutes (approx. 312 minutes). Rated TV-14.

Available on Funimation.

Funny story: Although it looks like a much earlier series, the information on Prétear from the Funimation site claims that the show comes from 2010. Since that’s the year before Puella Magi Madoka Magica made its appearance, I was all set to interpret this show as the end of an era, the last of the primarily Sailor Moon-influenced magical-girl anime before Madoka took over the genre. But Funimation’s metadata is wrong (which is good because that means I wasn’t crazy when I thought there was no way this was from 2010); Prétear is actually from 2001.

That, however, suggests perhaps equally interesting connections: It bears some apparent influence from Revolutionary Girl Utena, and it also predates Princess Tutu by just a few years. It comes from the same studio as Tutu and resembles it in some respects; so while this isn’t a bridge between Sailor Moon and Madoka, it might be a link between Utena and Tutu.

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Anime Review: ‘Darling in the FRANXX’

Where “riding a giant robot” takes on a new meaning.

Darling in the FRANXX, written by Naotaki Hayashi, et al. Directed by Atsushi Nishigori. Starring Yûto Uemura, Kana Ichinose, and Nanami Yamashita. A-1 Pictures / Trigger, . 24 episodes of 24 minutes (approx. ). Not rated.

Available on Crunchyroll.

Darling in the FRANXX made a stir when it appeared in , though most of the buzz that reached my ears had little to do with the quality of the show itself. On the one hand, I saw people praising it because they regarded its heroine, a girl called Zero Two, as good waifu material—humorous, of course, but not serious criticism. On the other hand, and much more bizarre, I saw people attacking it because the show’s ultimate message is (gasp) that marrying and having children might be worthwhile things to do.

It is a strange world where such a message is controversial, yet here we are.
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The League of Extraordinary Grade-Schoolers, Part 6

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Chapter 6: Into the Fire

Because of the security system, the teleporter couldn’t carry Ivy and Bean all the way to Pink’s base in the space elevator’s counterweight. Instead, it deposited them in her secondary headquarters at geostationary orbit. There, in the midst of the central control room, with the Earth filling the vast window before them, they floated, weightless. The elevator’s black nanocarbon ribbon stretched away to the globe and disappeared into the swirling white foam of the thunderstorm raging below. Occasionally, flashes of lightning were visible in the clouds.

Bean held Ivy in her arms while Ivy sobbed.

They were both soaked from the rain. Water danced around them in the air, round and clear like marbles. Bean always thought weightless liquids looked like Jell-O.

Nestled against Bean’s chest, Ivy’s frizzy red hair bounced and waved, occasionally casting off more of the round globs of water. In one hand, Ivy clutched half of the ruined leather case of her grimoire. Its rescued parchment pages, most of them smeared and unreadable, swirled around in the air, blown hither and thither by the stations’ ventilation system.

“I’ll never be a real witch now,” Ivy cried. Tears poured from her eyes and floated away. “That Fancy Nancy is awful!” Continue reading “The League of Extraordinary Grade-Schoolers, Part 6”