It is a special kind of devastation when a series has such a catastrophic ending that previous, beloved parts of the work become difficult to return to. Much to my dismay, we can now add the Bayonetta games to this list. Developed by Platinum Games with series creator Kamiya Hideki acting as a supervising director, Bayonetta 3 fundamentally misunderstands the themes of the previous games and gives its beloved lead a soul-crushing send off.

The surprise spring 2022 hit anime is...not about golf. Directed by and produced by , the anime is instead about making the most of bad situations, finding ways to profit from the things you're passionate about while still engaging with them on your own terms, and, most prominently, lesbian camp romance. Golf is the means through which Birdie Wing explores these ideas, though, so it's only fair to examine what the anime original series gets right and wrong about its namesake sport. As someone w

Hailed at the time as a gothic detective thriller with themes that cut to the bone of modern society’s hypocrisies, many young anime fans thought that this would be the serious, daring work that would earn anime the respect and appreciation the medium deserved. As I rewatched the series in 2022, though, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that we were wrong. Oh boy, were we wrong. Death Note is camp.

December of 2021 saw the release of two JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure spin-off manga, Fujiko’s Bizarre Worldly Wisdom -Whitesnake’s Miscalculation- and Crazy Diamond’s Demonic Heartbreak. These couldn’t have released at a more opportune time, with the premiere of the Stone Ocean anime driving interest in the franchise to an all time high, and JoJolion’s conclusion in August leaving manga readers desperate for more material.

There’s a lot of media that glorifies cops. In fact, there’s so much pro-police propaganda that it’s reached ubiquity, meaning it is largely unnoticed by viewers and accepted as a part of the entertainment landscape. This kind of law enforcement propaganda is dubbed copaganda...

About once every three or four months I find myself asking, “Do I even like anime?” While anime and manga make up some of my formative media experiences and tie into the personal and professional achievements that I’m most proud of, I just can’t deal with them sometimes. I think this is why 'No More Heroes', a 2007 game for the Nintendo Wii, resonates so deeply with me. Developed by Suda 51’s Grasshopper Manufacture, this game’s protagonist, Travis Touchdown, is a parody of undeservedly boisterous cishet fanboys who wrongly think that they are the only real anime and manga fans.

Chainsaw Man, a Shonen Jump series by Fujimoto Tatsuki, has its main character, Denji, realize the value in having a strictly platonic relationship with the leading female protagonist, Power. How Denji reaches this conclusion is incredibly messy and more than a little frustrating in places; which is to say that it epitomizes the uncomfortable struggle of navigating platonic relationships with someone you have the potential to be attracted to, a common aspect of growing up for many, and it’s both heartwarming and validating to see a character experience this part of life in a shounen manga.

I’ve thought about Jackie Daytona from What We Do In The Shadows about once a week since his episode aired in May of 2020. Formally titled, ‘On The Run,’ this is the sixth episode of the show’s second season. I’ve only watched it once prior to working on this essay, but it’s forever ingrained in my memory and I think I finally figured out why that is.

The Netflix original anime Devilman Crybaby is unlike any other anime in recent memory. Based on Go Nagai’s 1972 manga Devilman, Devilman Crybaby follows the same general plot of the manga, but adds a collection of new characters, plot points, and story beats. While these additions help improve the series’ pacing, characters, and dramatic tension, it also casts a critical eye on the tropes that the original manga helped popularize.