Anime
-
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Tears of the Azure Sea review – hectic anime lives again
There is less daffy humour in this sequel than in the 2023 original, but some sublime animationBy the demented…
-
The Last Blossom review – a yakuza faces his final reckoning in affecting anime
A talking balsam flower asks an elderley yakuza to weigh up a life of violence and kindness in Baku Kinoshita’…
-
Scarlet review – Mamoru Hosoda turns Hamlet into tale of prowling knights and deep ‘nothingness’
The normally great director misses the mark with a wonderfully animated but narratively clunky retelling of th…
-
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: A Lonely Dragon Wants to Be Loved review – sword, sorcery and smartphones
Those not up to speed on the Miss Kobayashi manga may struggle with the full nuance of this dimension hopping …
-
All You Need is Kill review – time loop anime offers giant alien flower for Groundhog Day with mechs
New version of the sci-fi day-on-repeat sees a perplexed duo repeatedly battle monstrous plants but leaves you…
-
Lupin the IIIrd the Movie: The Immortal Bloodline review – eye-popping fan-service in latest in anime franchise
Takeshi Koike’s latest take on Monkey Punch’s vintage manga thief is beautifully animated, but the gossamer-th…
-
Cosmic Princess Kaguya! review – trippy anime adapted from Japanese folk dives into virtual reality popworld
Emojis explode all over the screen in this hyperactive adaptation of a Japanese folk tale about a princess who…
-
Demon Slayer economics: how the anime juggernaut became a saviour
Once underground art form now props up slumped box office sales and is used by governments to build soft power…
-
Labubus, TikTok and KPop Demon Hunters: how childhood went east Asian – podcast
Has east Asia replaced the US as the world’s cultural centre? With Jeff YangFrom matcha and bubble tea to mang…
-
Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution review – spectacular if baffling anime is out to thrill and bewilder
Remix of old and new material from TV series includes tremendous battle sequences but there’s an awful lot of …
-
100 Meters review – mesmerising anime of young athletes in search of physical and spiritual high
Dazzling rotoscoped running sequences make up for a lack of narrative subtlety in Kenji Iwaisawa’s filmMuch ha…
-
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc review – gore-soaked demonic anime squats in the manopshere
Tatsuki Fujimoto’s coming-of-age saga continues with a surreal encounter with a chainsaw-wielding demon living…
-
Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback review – anime sleuth wades through a bamboozling bureaucratic maze
A labyrinthine but lively 28th instalment of the hit manga series juggles byzantine intrigue, spies and cop ri…
-
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle review – battle anime brings the visual flair
In the first of a film trilogy, teenage Tanjiro seeks vengeance for his murdered family in what is a great tas…
-
Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing review – candy-haired popsters put on a show
A garbled story of metaverse musicians based on a mobile game leaves its audience little to grasp hold ofEven …
-
Wolf Children review – Mamoru Hosoda’s tender werewolf fable is a minor masterpiece
Childhood, single motherhood and the call of the wild converge in Hosoda’s most emotionally resonant film – a …
-
Summer Wars review – Mamoru Hosoda’s birthday party anime puts the world at risk from AI baddie
This thriller-cum-family drama is a cut above genre anime with narrative complexity, bravura imagery and a met…
-
Vampire Hunter D review – head-popping visuals offset very pre-MeToo erotic anime
Regarded as pioneering on its release in 1985, this sleazy tale’s sexual politics are long past-it, but the vi…
-
Kaiju No 8: Mission Recon review – the fury and rawness of battle as monsters keep coming
A high school-style training academy is the setting for Tomomi Kamiya and Shigeyuki Miya’s punky anime tale of…
-
Monaka wears her cyclops mask to work: Niccolò Rastrelli’s best photograph
‘Japan is the mecca of cosplay. Monaka runs a cafe in Tokyo called Monster Party, where people go dressed as c…