burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Checking out Midnight Diner, after seeing it recommended on here. Can see myself getting really into this show. 010
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 18/09/2026In retrospect, there’s a specific scene where a lot of pretty intriguing plots are unceremoniously dropped and the series starts focusing on different characters and storylines. But that scene works beautifully. 100
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 18/09/20263-gatsu no Lion is kind of interesting, as a story that was initially setting up a pretty dark plot that brushed on some fairly taboo subject matter, and then ’chickened out’ and veered hard in another direction without being any the worse for the change of focus. 110
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Watching Tora-san Goes North. The guy playing the grumpy veterinarian here is pretty good. Wonder if he ever did anything else? 110
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 04/09/2026More than halfway through the Tora-san films, now. Amazing how long this series ran, and how well it’s done at maintaining consistent quality. A bit past its prime, at this point, maybe, in the sense that the characters have been pretty well-sketched and a lot of the richer veins mined. 100
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 11/08/2026I feel like data centers will always be unpopular because they give the same vibe as the factory in FLCL. 000
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 11/08/2026Tried out the first episode of Wolf’s Rain. Really love this in terms of tone, but one of those shows that start out introducing so many characters and concepts that you don’t really have a handle on anything by the time the credits roll. 110
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 11/08/2026Decided to look up some stuff from Corto Maltese in Siberia on Wikipedia. As might be expected from Pratt, a surprising amount of concepts in the story are drawn from history. Though a lot of them were more interesting in real life than they are in the comic, and quite different. 221
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Getting back to my anime watching, now that summer’s drawing to a close and the boys are back in town. Man, I’m just so happy to have another Hiromu Arakawa show to follow! 100
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 04/07/2026And so it was. Not sure whether I’d say it’s the best of these, but definitely up there. Really gets to the heart of the character. Tora-san might dream of finding love, but he doesn’t want any of what comes with a serious relationship and isn’t built for a settled life. One sympathizes. 100
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 03/07/2026Latest Tora-san brings in an American sitcom actor to play a yank counterpart to the titular character. Far from the best of the series, but Herb Edelman does a good job of matching the charm of the regulars. 100
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Watching the 70’s version of R.L. Stevenson’s Kidnapped. A very nice film to look at, with a pitch perfect performance from Michael Caine as Alan Breck, the stand-out character of the novel. Always fun to see how adaptations rework source material that isn’t all that cinematic in structure. 100
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 24/06/2026He brought a lot to that role, as well. The character could easily have ended up a benevolent authority figure, but thanks to Tanaka’s shifty yet amiable performance, you get a sense of him as a kindhearted man who’s doing the best he can. 100
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 16/06/2026I can’t help but think there’s something Chaplin-esque about Katsu’s performance as Ichi. A lot of the charm of the character comes from what complete a physical creation he is. He’s very distinctive, in terms of body language, recognizable in silhouette by posture alone. 100
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 16/06/2026The Zatoichi films came to me at exactly the right time. I love my adventure stories, but had grown tired of grandiose heroes and tales dealing with the world on a cosmic or societal level. I wanted something humbler and more human, and there are few heroes humbler and more human than Ichi. 100
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 16/06/2026It’s nice that they made four seasons of Zatoichi for TV. I really sped through those films, a few months ago, but am taking the show at a slower pace. It’s good to be able to jump in for the odd dose of Ichi, now and then. 100
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 14/06/2026Somehow, Lily returned, and it’s not hard to see why. She’s pretty great, that Ruriko Asaoka. 000
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 14/06/2026It’s fascinating how much of pop culture over the last twenty years has been reboots trying to bring you an exciting new version of ’thing’, only for it to turn out that the new approach just didn’t have legs, at all. 100
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 13/06/2026I’m very much enjoying the iterative approach of the Tora-san films. They’re constantly adding new elements, while refining what came before, so that each film has a broader palate of established tricks to draw on, turning each into a richer experience than the one that came before. 000
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 30/05/2026However, on the level of pure plot mechanics, it’s mainly concerned with the whereabouts of Clarice’s family ring, which the Count wishes to use in order to unlock the seal of the hidden treasure of the Castle of Cagliostro. 100
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 30/05/2026Thinking about The Castle of Cagliostro, plot holes, and how much they actually matter. Cagliostro is probably one of my favorite comfort watches. It’s as fun and well-structured an adventure story as you’ll find, yet it has a glaring plot hole at the heart of it. 100
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 28/05/2026A keen eyed-viewer of City Hunter will notice that, throughout the series, Ryo Saeba, the titular City Hunter, never hunts a single city. They loom over him in the promotional art, like Darth Vader in a Star Wars poster. Yet the confrontation promised by the title never comes. 010
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 28/05/2026Once Kaori comes along, City Hunter is pretty much perfectly tuned as an episodic series. 100
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 16/05/2026Very happy to be following Daemons of the Shadow Realm, this season. Shoot that Arakawa goodness straight into my veins! 000
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 22/12/2025I know, right! Damn, but I wish we’d gotten to see that. It was supposed to be a Chinese co-production, but apparently the producer died and the whole thing got put on hold. Tom Hughes had been cast as Corto and Rasputin was to be played by James Thiérrée. 100
burblebrook.bsky.social @burblebrook.bsky.social · 22/12/2025It’s a shame the Cristophe Gans film never got off the ground. No idea how it would’ve turned out, but the concept art was on-point. Between Tom Hughes, Michelle Yeoh, Milla Jovovic, Mark Dacascos and James Thiérrée, the acrobat grandchild of Charlie Chaplin, they’d gathered a great cast. 120
