Short Takes: 'Witchcraft Works Vol. 2' January 15, 2015
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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Short Takes: 'Witchcraft Works Vol. 1' December 3, 2014
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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Ryo Fukui: 'Scenery' June 1, 2020
All but unknown outside of Japan, this prodigy jazzman is enjoying a renaissance thanks to reissues of his few albums, including this, his striking first
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'Deep Red': It Takes A Victim To Know A Killer May 25, 2020
The first of screenwriter Hisashi Nozawa's novels to find its way into English spellbinds, at least until its cop-out climax
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'Ghost In The Shell: SAC_2045': A Withered Husk May 18, 2020
Easily the weakest 'Ghost In The Shell' project thus far, but with a tease of hope at the end of its first half
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'Lament In The Night': The Voice Of The Issei May 11, 2020
Unknown to English-speaking audiences until now, Shōson Nagahara wrote for fellow Japanese-Americans of their own displaced world and their own broken hearts
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'Beastars': Animal House May 2, 2020
That very rarest of breeds: a truly adult show
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'Giant Robo': The Mecha Opera January 10, 2020
This grand and glorious epic returns to home video for English speaking audiences in a spectacular new Blu-ray Disc edition; it is as essential as it gets
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Junji Ito's 'No Longer Human': No Longer Dazai December 23, 2019
A manga horror icon takes on a classic of modern Japanese literature, and makes it his own in ways both fascinating and baleful
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'Penguin Highway': Whiz Kid Vs. Cosmic Weirdness December 20, 2019
The author of the surreally absurd 'The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl' and 'The Tatami Galaxy' now turns to a story aimed at younger readers, but with the reality-warping and surrealism of his other work
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Gō Tanabe's 'At The Mountains Of Madness': Horror's Human And Inhuman Faces December 16, 2019
Gō Tanabe's two-volume adaptation of Lovecraft's classic novella shouldn't be missed by fans of that writer, by lovers of comic adaptations, or by those who want to see manga at its best
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'Millennium Actress': She Lost It At The Movies December 13, 2019
Satoshi Kon's mini-epic of one woman's journey in film across Japan's turbulent century starts with narrative games, but delves into the ultimate meaning of a person's life
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