My path: Shiver first, a short-story collection with Ito's own notes on each story. Then Uzumaki. Then Tomie, if you're brave. Gyo is the wild card: fish with legs. The bonus story at the back, The Enigma of Amigara Faul…
Planning Erza Scarlet's Heart Kreuz armor from Fairy Tail for a spring con. EVA foam is cheap, light and forgiving. Worbla is a thermoplastic you heat and mold; it gives crisp edges but costs more. What do you build with…
It won Best Animated Feature in 2024, Studio Ghibli's second win after Spirited Away. Spirited Away is the obvious pick for best. Hot take: Porco Rosso is his most personal film, and Heron is his most personal confession…
Bandai launched the One Piece Card Game in Japan in July 2022 and in English that December. Every deck is built around one Leader card, and the Leader's color shapes how you play. I'm on red Zoro from the very first set.…
My top three: Gon and Killua learning Nen from Wing (Hunter x Hunter), the Room of Spirit and Time (Dragon Ball Z), and Tanjiro cutting the boulder for Urokodaki (Demon Slayer). A good training arc teaches the audience t…
Kentaro Miura passed away in May 2021. The series continues with Studio Gaga and his longtime friend Kouji Mori, working from what Miura told him about the story. Some readers stop at volume 41. Some keep going. Both see…
Pick any side character from any series and pitch their solo show in three sentences: tone, setting, hook. Main characters not allowed.
Your Name (2016) is the one everyone knows. Weathering With You (2019) is the messiest and the bravest. Suzume (2022) is the most grown-up: a road trip about loss and doors. My ranking: Your Name, Suzume, Weathering. RAD…
Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon (LOB) was the first English Yu-Gi-Oh! booster set, released in North America in 2002. Konami launched the card game in Japan back in 1999. A 1st Edition LOB Blue-Eyes is still one of the…
A friend wants battle anime but bounces off 1,000-episode commitments. My picks so far: Mob Psycho 100 (37 episodes across 3 seasons, by ONE, animated by Bones) and Chainsaw Man season 1 (12 episodes, MAPPA). What else f…
Both are Naoki Urasawa at his best. Monster is 18 volumes: a surgeon hunts the patient he saved, who grew up to be a killer. Pluto is 8 volumes, a retelling of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy arc "The Greatest Robot on Earth".…
From Part 4 on, most JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Stands are named after music: Crazy Diamond, Killer Queen, Gold Experience. Design yours: Name (a song, album or band) Power (one ability with a clear rule) Weakness Look (on…
Watch the transitions in Millennium Actress (2001): a scene ends inside a film and the next shot is real life, with no cut you can feel. Paprika (2006) does the same with dreams. Kon directed only four feature films and…
It was awarded in 1998 to winners of a CoroCoro Comic illustration contest, so very few exist. A PSA 10 copy sold in 2022 for $5,275,000, a Guinness World Record for a Pokémon card at the time. The art is by Atsuko Nishi…
Scoring on three things: rules you can actually learn, room for surprises, and what it costs the user. My order: 1. Nen (Hunter x Hunter) 2. Cursed Energy (Jujutsu Kaisen) 3. Breathing Styles (Demon Slayer) Breathing loo…