Last week I raved about the best film of 2019, Penguin Highway. Initially, I wanted to get a head start on a new multi-part series of reviews but things take time. January tends to be a time to reflect on the previous year anyhow so why not keep the ball rolling. I watched more shows this year than I have in a while and there are still more which I missed, but for now, here are my top five TV anime of 2019.
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“To The Stray Dogs” – A Bungo Stray Dogs Retrospective
[2025 Update: This has consistently been one of the most-read blog posts on this site. So I decided to take a trip back in time, do a little grammar check, update the formatting slightly, but for the most part, leave my past opinions as is. However, if you’d like to check out my more current opinions on this wonderful series, check out my Season 4 and Season 5 reviews over on GameRant. Plus, like 90% of the Bungo Stray Dogs coverage on that site was probably written by me, so just search Bungo and go nuts.]
Recently, I enthusiastically wrote about Bungo Stray Dogs as it was in the middle of its third season. In the middle of writing it, I remembered that somehow I had avoided reviewing any of the series prior. In that same post, I also realized I have a lot of positive things to say, as it turns out. Three seasons and a movie may seem like a tall order for one review, but I’m nothing if not a man of (too) many words.
For a series that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to my friends, the first season of Bungo has a few more problems upon second glance. This happens a lot with good shows, I feel. There is a first season that catches your attention with some elusive quality you can’t quite put your finger on. Next up, the sequels build on the formula, turning the show into something even grander than you first envisioned.
The real tricky part is getting people into it without over-hyping it purely on the grounds of how good it gets later on. Like, I’m sure if I kept watching Breaking Bad season four, I would love it, but I didn’t wanna watch Skylar try to buy a god damn car wash for half a season. Where was I? Oh yeah, allow me to start by giving you an honest look at this show’s humble beginnings.
Continue readingA Review of Mob Psycho 100 II
In my review of season one, I praised how ONE manages to make overpowered characters likable and their stories tense through sheer emotion. This story about self-betterment and the discussion permeating the spectacle made battles ones of ideology in addition to super-powered flair. With a sequel, how does one continue this discussion without becoming repetitive?
Sequels can often succumb to a temptation to be like their predecessors, but bigger and better. Doing something different, even radically so, can be remembered better, but it is far more risky. That being said, you don’t have to be radical in order to make the sequel interesting in new ways. Sometimes it simply requires a change in focus.
Mob Psycho 100 II does exactly that.
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Sakura Sunrise 