Angel's Anime Rating Guide

Over the weekend, Sabagebu came home with me... Momoko's family moves a lot, so she's always that new girl and the schools she's attended have all blurred together. Until her first day at Aogiri High, that is, where she's rescued by an armed vigilante, assaulted by a platypus, and coerced into joining a secret organization of gun-toting female commandos. Okay, maybe that last one is really just the school's survival club, but the platypus is real and so are the extremes that club president Miou is willing to execute to recruit Momoko. Can uber-jaded Momoko's body armor-clad heart resist the charms of a girl who's all too ready to whip out her twin Desert Eagles in defense of another girl's virtue? Especially when it turns out that Momoko has her own talent for air pistols and senseless violence? Sabagebu seemed like something I might like, so, when it whispered "buy me", I did. I've seen the entire series and I'm quite pleased. I

Another off-topic post. After my recent adventures with Microsoft Solitaire , I decided to try my hand at resurrecting some of my DOS era games. Of particular interest was an early first-person shooter called Doom . After a quick peek into the depths of the internet, I came across a project called the Doomsday Engine . The Doomsday Engine is a port of the original Doom rendering engine using updated technologies to breath new life into the old Doom maps. Once I had the Doomsday version of Doom up and running, it wasn't long before I stumbled across a similar effort for Wolfenstien 3D called ECWolf . ECWolf is similar to the Doomsday Engine in that it is a port of the original rendering engine that can read the old map data for Wolfenstien 3D . After ECWolf , I came across an impressive MOD for Doomsday that simulates Corridor 7 . After my success with the these two applications, I came across another project called DOSBox . DOSBox differs from the previous applicat

I picked up  Non Non Biyori ... Season 1 When Hotaru Ichijo transfers from a school in bustling Tokyo to a tiny school in a quiet countryside village, she should be experiencing major culture shock. After all, there are only three other girls in the school, and none of them are even in the same grade as her. But adjusting isn't too hard for Hotaru thanks to first grader Renge and the Koshigaya sisters, Natsumi and Komari, who are in the seventh and eighth grade respectively. Even though it takes 20 minutes by bicycle to get to the only place that sells comics and the video store is 10 train stations away, there's something about the laid-back lifestyle that makes her feel right at ease. It's a big change from the big city, but there are still plenty of new adventures to look forward to as Hotaru learns that home really is where the heart is. Season 2 Even though there are still only five students who attend the remote Asahigaoka Branch School, each one of the girls

This subject is very off-topic, but, after trawling the depths of the internet for a couple of days, I thought I would share my experience. Your mileage may vary. Recently, I picked up a Windows 8.1-based PC. The PC came bundled with new XBox-ified versions of Microsoft Solitaire . I'm reasonably OK with the new Solitaire, but, it does complain mildly when I refuse to provide an XBox account log in. It also complains when it can't share scores. And, more recently, it is apparently pissed that I added the Microsoft Store Broker to the list of blocked applications in my firewall. And now, with Windows 10 looming, there's word that the next version of Solitaire will complain bitterly with nag boxes to play Solitaire for free. In light of these disturbing developments, I decided to take some decisive action in advance of a planned upgrade to Windows 10. The internet is wise, but, sadly, it took quite a while longer than I expected to find the wisdom I was looking for. The

Recently, I picked up  Knights Of Sidonia ... A thousand years after the alien Gauna destroyed the Earth, a small remnant of humanity still fights on to survive, fleeing on the gargantuan asteroid-based spaceship Sidonia. But centuries of flight and warfare have changed mankind in incredible ways: genetic engineering has allowed humans to photosynthesize like plants, reproduction occurs through cloning, and a third gender has been created to balance the population. Even though it's been a century since the last encounter with the Gauna, military service is mandatory, with all those able enough enlisted to pilot the Garde robots that stand as Sidonia's front line of defense. For Nagate Tanikaze, whose grandfather secretly hid him in the forgotten bowels of the asteroid, it's a strange new world as he's forced to come to the surface and join the ranks of defenders. Yet his recruitment comes just in time, for the Gauna have suddenly reappeared, and what could be ma

Recently, I picked up Noragami ... Minor god Yato is down on his luck. Fed up with his slacker lifestyle, his partner abruptly quits. He has no money, no worshipers, and no shrine to call home. But just when things are starting to seem hopeless, a bus accident forces him to cross paths with Hiyori Iki, a sweet and perky high school girl. After the accident, Hiyori's soul has a bad habit of slipping out of her body, and after enlisting Yato's help to get her back to normal, she begins to fall into the world of spirits and gods. But Hiyori's not the only one who's keeping tabs on Yato. A god from Yato's past is back, and he's not interested in a friendly reunion. Noragami looked like something I might like. After watching a few episodes, the relationship between Yota and his shinki -- a disembodied soul that can transform into a weapon as needed -- is bit strange. Yota's shinki is bound to the will of Yota, but, doesn't always obey or even respect To

Over the weekend, I picked up  Expelled from Paradise ... With Earth now left in ruins following the "Nano Hazard," most of humanity has abandoned the planet they once called home along with their physical bodies and rebuilt their digitalized minds into a society within the cyber universe of "DEVA." A.D. 2400, DEVA's central council detects an incident of unauthorized access into their mainframe. Someone on Earth was trying to hack into the system. The only information DEVA was able to retrieve was that the hacker referred to himself as "Frontier Setter." To investigate the mysterious hacker's motives, the high officials of DEVA dispatch System Security Third Officer Angela Balzak to the Earth's surface. Equipped with a prosthetic "material body," Angela attempts to make contact with a local agent Dingo, but what awaited her instead was a swarm of Sandworms now infesting the Earth's surface. Angela intercepts the gruesome pe

Over the weekend, I saw Inside Out ... Emotions run wild in the mind of a little girl who is uprooted from her peaceful life in the Midwest and forced to move to San Francisco in this Pixar adventure from director Pete Docter (Up, Monsters Inc.). Young Riley was perfectly content with her life when her father landed a new job in San Francisco, and the family moved across the country. Now, as Riley prepares to navigate a new city and attend a new school, her emotional headquarters becomes a hot bed of activity. As Joy (voice of Amy Poehler) attempts to keep Riley feeling happy and positive about the move, other emotions like Fear (voice of Bill Hader), Anger (voice of Lewis Black), Disgust (voice of Mindy Kaling) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith) make the transition a bit more complicated. I've been looking forward to seeing Inside Out for a while, so, this weekend, Mom and I went to see it in the theater. We left over an hour early, but, there was a lot of traffic on Columbus Bouleva

I picked up Strange Magic ... STRANGE MAGIC is a music-filled fairy tale about finding true love in the unlikeliest of places. This magical adventure features a host of colorful characters, including a princess who has sworn off love, a dubious villain, a slightly nutty Sugar Plum Fairy, a tenacious elf, a mischievous imp, and a knight who is no Prince Charming. Bring home the enchanting tale the whole family can enjoy today! I had seen previews for Strange Magic when it was in its theatrical run, but, I hadn't really followed the movie in the media. It seemed like something I might want to watch, but, didn't strike me as something that I needed to see during its theatrical release. Then, one day, I happened to come across the Strange Magic DVD in my local video store, so, of course, it had to come home with me. According to Wikipedia ... George Lucas had long wanted to make a film for his three daughters. He described the film as Star Wars for a female audience statin

This weekend, I went to the Wizard World Comic Con in Philadelphia. I decided to order tickets in advance online. It still amazes me how quickly the order went through. In no time at all I had a couple of PDF files to print. This year, I would be bringing my nephew, Anthony with me. Highlights of this year's Comic Con in Philadelphia include: David Tennant And Billie Piper, DOCTOR WHO, M. Night Shyamalan and Burt Reynolds Roman Reigns, Dolph Ziggler, Randy Orton and Sting, WWE, Summer Glau, River Tam - "Firefly"/SERENITY, Danny Trejo, MACHETE, FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, Kevin Conroy, Batman - "Batman: The Animated Series", Lou Ferrigno, "The Incredible Hulk" There were, of course, many, many other people of note in attendance and a whole list of panels and other events included in the cost of admission and a great many paid events that we could go to if that was the sort of thing we wanted to do. By the way, Burt's arrival did make it into

Currently, I have around 4300 DVDs [1] . Recently, in the aftermath of the Attack Of The Mushroom People , a subsequent roof leak and in the tradition of the first annual Otaku Spring Cleanup , I had to reorganize my DVDs yet again. An entire bank of shelves had to be dismantled [2] and the contents of those shelves shifted into the other banks of shelves. In case you were wondering, the black areas [2] are a rubberized membrane that was sprayed on before joint compound and paint were applied to the patches. Before The Roof Leak [1] Area Patched -- After [2] The left-most banks of shelves were narrow 8-inch shelves and the shelves in the center section were 12-inch shelves. Because the center section was recessed, the wider shelves were almost even with the narrower shelves. I had DVDs stacked two-deep on the wider shelves. In the aftermath of the roof leak, I swapped the narrow shelves on the left for the wider shelves and moved some of the excess DVDs to the newly wi

Years ago, I saw a fascinating horror movie about people trapped on an island surrounded by flesh eating creatures in the water. I vaguely recall a scene in which one unfortunate victim appeared to have been eaten alive, but, in fact, this victim was already dead and a recording of the victim's screams was being played. I couldn't remember what the title of the movie was, but, after some poking around on the web, I came up with: The Flesh Eaters ... A hard-bitten, down-on-his-luck charter pilot (Byron Sanders) is hired by an alcoholic movie actress (Rita Morley) and her nubile personal assistant (Barbara Wilkin) to fly them to Provincetown. But mechanical problems and an impending storm force them to land on a deserted island habited by a German scientist (Martin Kosleck) harboring secret experiments and an even darker past. Featuring taut direction by Jack Curtis and punctuated by snappy dialogue from screenwriter Arnold brake. The Flesh Eaters has cemented its cult classic

Years ago, I happened to see a movie about rocks that killed people attempting to settle on an alien world, but, I couldn't remember the title. After a thorough search of the web, I came across an article describing exactly what I was looking for: The Killings At Outpost Zeta ... Outpost Zeta is a barren planet on the edge of the Milky Way, but it has strategic importance to the military establishment on Earth. Earth Base has sent several space ships to Zeta, but none have returned. So a top-flight team of six earth soldiers and scientists is dispatched to investigate the fate of the earlier expeditions. What they find are the corpses of the earlier crews, corpses with their insides sucked out. The killers reveal themselves as volcanic-rock monsters who exhale oxygen, and the Earthlings discover that a whiff of fresh air can mean sudden and horrible death. Will the Earth soldiers outwit the space monsters and survive? Slowly the action builds to a pulse-racing climax which will

Recently, I picked up Gingitsune ... In Japan, it is said that if you pray to a deity with sincerity, you will surely feel the divine presence. However, as the successor of the Saeki Inari Shrine, Makoto Saeki can do more than that. She's been seeing and speaking with spirits, kami and other messengers of the Gods since her mother's funeral. It can be difficult, especially when her classmates can't know about her latest "issues" with Gintarou, the irritable fox-like Herald who's protected the Saeki shrine for hundreds of years. But at least Makoto's father, who runs the shrine, knows that Gintarou is more than an imaginary friend. Between them, the shrine maid and mystical Herald can usually manage to cooperate long enough to help those who need it. However, when a young man with a similar "gift" to Makoto's arrives with his own shrine and Herald issues, it's going to take more than just prayers to sort things out. After all, if there

I picked up Hozuki's Coolheadedness ... There are hard jobs and there are jobs that seem outright impossible, but in the end, the most difficult job in all creation probably belongs to Hozuki, Hell's hardest working bureaucrat. That's because Hozuki is Deputy Chief to Enma, the King of Hell. Enma spends all his time sitting in judgment of the recently deceased, so it's up to Hozuki to keep the dark half of the afterlife running smoothly. And that would be hellishly complicated even if Hell wasn't constantly short on good help. Fortunately, Hozuki's not the typical bureaucratic hothead you'd expect to find heading a department of infernal affairs. Fiendishly clever and determined enough to dedicate multiple lifetimes to a task (though not necessarily his own lifetimes), he'll get the job done even if it means breaking a few unbreakable rules and running circles around Hell's normal operating procedures. As for patience... well, Hell hasn't f

Recently, I picked up Engaged To The Unidentified ... Not every girl gets what she wants on her 16th birthday, but Kobeni's gift is something she never saw coming: an arranged marriage! Thanks to her late grandfather, Kobeni's been engaged to a total stranger since childhood, and even though she's supposedly met him she doesn't remember a single thing about him. Even weirder is that both her Mom and creepily over-doting sister, Benio, seem completely unsurprised when the groom-to-be, Hakuya, and his younger sister, Mashiro, show up on the family's doorstep to move in with them! But it's not until they start attending Kobeni's school that things take an even stranger turn after she starts to pick up some very... unusual vibes from her potential future family. From Mashiro's obsession with aliens and UMAs (Unidentified Mysterious Animals) to Hakuya's disconcerting lack of emotion, there's something very off about them that Kobeni can't quit

I got a box with a smile on it and Minushi was inside... In search of a missing brother, two orphans set off across a war zone filled with trigger-happy soldiers, merciless bandits and giant robots. Written, drawn and animated solely by filmmaker Tyler Gibb, Minushi is a feature film like none other both on and off the screen. One day, I was researching Canadian animation and happened to stumble across Minushi . Apparently, I somehow managed to miss the initial DVD release by a few years.The cover art is a bit different from what I've chosen to show -- it's an extra wide cover with the two main characters on the front and the title of the feature on the back. Minushi is a feature-length flash animation. Given that one person did nearly everything, the feature is actually reasonably entertaining. Although the animation style is somewhat limited, the story is fast-paced and characters are well-rounded. There are even a few twists and turns to keep the audience guessing. Th