If there’s one thing Love All Play unquestionably has going for it, it’s the facial expressions. That perhaps sounds like an odd thing to praise in a sports show, but it truly is one of the standout features of both art and animation; Each fleeting emotion that the characters feel can be seen on their … Read more
There wasn’t really any conflict or drama leading into this season finale. Hell, we wrapped up all the stuff with the new characters back in episode nine, so there certainly wasn’t going to be any big surprises or twists in here. Much like season one, Nijigasaki chooses instead to go out with an episode-length concert, … Read more
I have to admit, it was pretty hard picking a screenshot to use for this review and I’m not just saying that because I have twice as much footage to choose from as usual. This show never lost its sense of visual quality right up until the very end. If anything, it felt at times … Read more
There’s a chill in the air at Nijigasaki High. Winter is creeping in, and upon its winds rides change. Anyone who’s watched an anime set in high school knows that winter is the harbinger of many things: cute scarves and other cold weather accessories for the cast, Christmas/New Years episodes, and most of all it … Read more
Welcome to The Beat’s latest Comics Crowdfunding Round-Up! This week’s column has many great projects, ranging from the first Latina superhero team, A LA BRAVA, to abortion herstories written by people who’ve had an abortion to a futuristic odyssey adventure story with a bunch of sexy gays. Check out this week’s noteworthy comics crowdfunding projects … Read more
What You Need to Know: Aniplex of America returns to Anime Expo 2022 with an amazing line-up of special events and guests at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The four-day event happening July 1 – 4, 2022 will feature Aniplex of America events including the Kaguya-sama: Love Is War -Ultra Romantic- Festival and the Sword … Read more
Welcome to this installment of The Beat‘s Comics Crowdfunding Round-Up! We’ve got five diverse Kickstarter projects, from an all-women and nonbinary anti-patriarchy anthology about purity to a children’s picture book that combats the negativity of the messaging of anti-gay legislation. Check it out! The Dark Side of Purity Creators: Heather Vaughan (cover artist), Rio Burton, … Read more
Signe Baumane As was the case with Rocks in My Pockets, My Love Affair with Marriage is a deeply personal story, based heavily on Baumane’s own life experiences. Whereas the earlier film was about battling depression, this time she focuses on love and relationships. “By wrapping my personal story around scientific findings, I was hoping … Read more
Hibiki: How to Become a Novelist is one of my favorite manga of the past few years. Sure, it doesn’t have the mind-blowing thrills or soul-reverberating energy of other works. The art is also decidedly mediocre. But what Hibiki does have is ridiculous humor, unpredictability, and a protagonist I would describe as “spiritually akin to … Read more
Welcome to this week’s installment of The Beat‘s Comics Crowdfunding Round-Up! It’s June (Happy Pride!), so the focus of this week’s crowdfunding round-up is “Be an Ally, Support Queer Comics.” With that in mind, this week we’ve got five projects featuring LGBTQIA+ creators and characters, from NSFW poly romance comics to an LGBTQ adaptation of … Read more
