The bells of St. Mark’s Square summon the multitude to witness a bloody public execution. Scarlett Castiel, a fiery woman in chains, faces the roaring crowd and curses it. But she changes her expression when Constance Grail, a young kid who has stumbled upon the scene, starts crying in compassion. The dead woman walking tells… Read More First Impression: The Holy Grail of Eris
Once, Van was two years old. His father told him to study day and night, or he’d be useless. Once, he was two years old…Wait, what? You see, every day, our protagonist would take a train to his computer job, and every night, he would barely catch the last train back home. It is probably… Read More First Impression: Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord
According to our narrator, in this world (a steampunk-flavored one), there are two kinds of people: Those who read comic books and perhaps even believe in nonhuman monsters, and those who do not. Enter young Louis Hartmann, who runs upstairs with this week’s installment of Wolf-Man Comics. A series of photographs tells us a story… Read More First Impression: The Case Book of Arne
A blurry circle of lights turns into a chandelier as an eye opens. A white-haired young lady smiles from above. Our viewpoint character, a newborn baby with crazy video game stats and differently colored eyes, starts wondering if this regal figure may be his own mother. Suddenly, a new face appears: that of an elderly,… Read More First Impression: Noble Reincarnation: Born Blessed, So I’ll Obtain Ultimate Power
Episode 101 of My Hero Academia, “Have a Merry Christmas!,” is quite the busy one. Entire cities (spoilers!) are engulfed by dust, the hero society crumbles under siege, the search for the enemy within ensues, the young superheroes receive media exposure training, and the casualties from the last war loom large as the new, accelerated internships are… Read More 12 Days of Christmas Anime, Day 11: My Hero Academia and the Joy of the Feast
This May, a week after the election of Leo XIV, I visited Japan for the first time. I have many wonderful memories of that one-week trip with my wife and her family, but my favorite was a boat tour on the Sumida River. As the sun set over the riverside and lights turned on in the streets,… Read More 12 Days of Christmas Anime, Day 7: Astro Boy and the Consolation of the World
What are heroes? Why do we need them? Let me tell you a story. It is December 12, 627 AD, and the Eastern Roman Empire is fighting the Persian army. The year before, those same Persian troops had conquered the Roman Empire’s provinces, besieged its capital city, and threatened everything it held dear. After a… Read More To Be Hero X: Of Exaltation and Sorrows
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