Cuticle Detective Inaba Episodes 1 & 2 – Director Susumu Nitsukawa had worked on Squid Girl and Azazel-san, and has described Tsutomu Mizushima as his teacher. It definitely shows in this story of a werewolf detective vs a villainous mafia goat. Spliting each episode into two stories, once it gets past a bumpy first story it hits its stride of machine gun joke telling. I’m wondering if Squid Girl is going to prove to be a show we’re going to look back on in the future as a breeding ground for a lot of comedic talent.
Mangirl Episodes 1 & 2 – Hadn’t realised this was a series of shorts when we talked about it on the podcast. As it’s only 3 and a half minutes and on Crunchyroll, I checked it out. It’s not a scathing satire of the manga business, but has some funny jokes and drawings. Instead it’s actually somewhat educational about the process of launching a new manga magazine. The biggest thing going for it is that it gets the right sort of pacing for a short. It hits beats and jokes in the right rhythm that you’ll never mistake if for a full length show sliced up into small chunks.
Senyu Episode 1 – Something I did know was a short, but missed seeing it go up on Crunchyroll, this was exactly as I excpected. Namely a silly RPG parody with plenty of jokes. I wasn’t expecting a Wooser cameo though, and I am mad at myself for never thinking of one of its jokes in 20+ years of playing RPGs. It’s a pretty great joke at the expense of a hoary fantasy cliche.
Inferno Cop Episodes 1-3 – It is not the best anime. It is not the worst anime. It is the purest anime.
Ayacon – If you’ve ever been to a previous Ayacon, but have fallen out of the con-going habit, you should consider coming to this year’s. It’s the final one, so it’d be great to see loads of familiar faces for a real end of an era for UK anime fandom. I don’t think there’s ever been a UK anime con where they’ve consciously said – this is it, this is all you’re going get. They either fizzle out or keep plodding on. This is the best UK anime con with the best events at the best UK con venue SO DO IT.You won’t get another chance.