Book Review: Wounded Tiger

Book Review: Wounded Tiger by T. Martin Bennett Disclosure:  I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. Mitsuo Fuchida was the flight leader in the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Jacob DeShazer was a bombardier who participated in the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo.  The Covell family were missionaries.  This… Continue reading Book Review: Wounded Tiger

Manga Review: Rin-ne

Manga Review: Rin-ne by Rumiko Takahashi Sakura Mamiya is not quite your normal high school girl.  Due to a near-death experience as a child, Sakura can see spirits.  One day, she meets the new boy in her class, Rinne Rokudo.  She mistakes him for a spirit at first, but the truth is a bit more… Continue reading Manga Review: Rin-ne

Anime Review: Tonari no Seki-kun

Anime Review: Tonari no Seki-kun (The Master of Killing Time) Rumi Yokoi is a high school student who wants to study hard and get good grades.  But she’s constantly distracted by the boy sitting next to her, Toshinari Seki, and not for the reasons you might at first expect.  You see, Seki is easily bored… Continue reading Anime Review: Tonari no Seki-kun

Anime Review: Elfen Lied

Anime Review: Elfen Lied There is a secret laboratory off the coast of Kamakura, Japan.  There a naked woman wearing an eyeless helmet, codenamed “Lucy”, is undergoing experimentation.   When the helmet is damaged, allowing Lucy to see, she sets about freeing herself, slaughtering many of the lab’s personnel in the process.  Yes, even the… Continue reading Anime Review: Elfen Lied

Book Review: The 36 Ancient Chinese Strategies for Modern Business

Book Review: The 36 Ancient Chinese Strategies for Modern Business by Lan Bercu Disclaimer:  I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. Beginning some time in the late 1970s, when it became obvious that Japan had become an economic powerhouse, American businesses began taking an interest in… Continue reading Book Review: The 36 Ancient Chinese Strategies for Modern Business

Book Review: The Idea-Driven Organization

Book Review: The Idea-Driven Organization by Alan G. Robinson & Dean M. Schroeder Disclaimer:  I received a copy of this book through the Goodreads giveaway program on the premise that I would review it. This is a follow-up to the authors’ 2004 book Ideas Are Free, in which they made a case that innovation can be… Continue reading Book Review: The Idea-Driven Organization

Open Thread: She’s Back!

Back in the early 1990s, Naoko Takeuchi  created a character named “Sailor V.”   While mahou shoujo (magical girls) had been around for decades in manga and anime, ever since Bewitched was imported from America, Sailor V was a unique blend of stereotypical girly interests and action heroine.   This attracted the notice of Toei Animation, who… Continue reading Open Thread: She’s Back!

Anime Review: Urusei Yatsura

Anime Review: Urusei Yatsura Ataru Moroboshi is not precisely your average teenaged boy.  For one thing, he’s an incurable skirt-chaser, constantly hitting on any pretty lady who happens by.  Also, he’s incredibly unlucky.  So unlucky, that when alien invaders declare that a random person from Earth must compete against their champion in a game of… Continue reading Anime Review: Urusei Yatsura

Anime Review: Tsuritama

Anime Review: Tsuritama Yuki Sanada is a high school student who has no friends and limited social skills.  Whenever he’s in an uncomfortable social situation, Yuki  freezes up with anxiety, depicted as him drowning.  From the outside, his anxiety face makes him look wrathful and unapproachable.  It doesn’t help that his grandmother’s job requires them… Continue reading Anime Review: Tsuritama

Anime for Speculative Fiction Fans

Wolf Children

This last weekend at Minicon 49, I moderated a panel on “Anime for Speculative Fiction Fans.”   As is common at this sort of thing, a lot of series and films were mentioned very briefly, and not everyone had the opportunity to write them all down.  Therefore, I promised to put up a list.  I… Continue reading Anime for Speculative Fiction Fans