The Mike Toole Show

The Summer 2012 Anime Preview Guide
The Summer 2012 Anime Preview Guide is here! Check back every day for previews of all the new shows premiering. Available now: Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse - Tari Tari - Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita - La storia della Arcana Famiglia 2012-07-01

Anime Expo 2012
We're live from Anime Expo 2012 in Los Angeles! Panel reports will be posted all weekend long.
Available Now: The Future of AX Panel - Madoka Magica Dub Panel - Funimation Panel - Tokyopop Panel - Tiger & Bunny Dub Panel - Madhouse Chihayafuru Panel - Production I.G. Panel - Rikiya Koyama Focus Panel - Viz Media Panel - NIS Games - Steve Blum Focus Panel And much much more! 2012-06-29

The Mike Toole Show - Unfinished Business
Mike takes a look back at the long history of anime where the ending soiled the bed. 2012-07-01

Natsume's Book of Friends Ask It & Win It Contest
Come up with a great interview question for director Takahiro Omori, and you could win a copy of the Natsume's Book of Friends season 1 & 2 premium edition from NIS America! 2012-06-30

Gia's List: The 7 Most Inconvenient Phobias in Anime
Reason #693 not to be an anime character: whatever you're phobic of is common in your world or situation. 2012-06-30

ANNCast Live at Anime Expo 2012
Zac and Justin take questions and hand out prizes of dubious quality at Anime Expo 2012! 2012-06-29

A Certain Magical Index Episodes 1-14 Streaming
Index doesn't work because it's new or unique; it works because it's, well, good.

tsuritama Episodes 1-6 Streaming
If you took an old-fashioned youth drama, hitched it to a campy 50s sci-fi romp and filtered it through the hipster sensibilities of an indie comedy it might come out looking something like this.

Kuroko's Basketball Episodes 1-7 Streaming
Gets some help from an interesting core concept, but the main reason it works well is simply because it knows its basics: good characters, exciting action, and the occasional good chuckle.

Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike Blu-Ray + DVD
While Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike seems slow while you're watching it, reflection shows it to be a worthwhile viewing. With its slow pace and long runtime, attention deficit viewers may prefer to watch it in two sittings, but overall the gorgeous animation, well-acted characters, and suitably heroic soundtrack all work together to make it palatable.

Hunter × Hunter Episodes 14-26 Streaming
Like the thirteen before them, these are thirteen very easy episodes to watch. They pass in a highly pleasant rush of mildly atypical, lightly character-based adventure. If you don't count the tournament in the middle.

Modern Magic Made Simple Sub.DVD
No matter how fluidly the code flies it cannot disguise the fact that the story isn't making a whole lot of sense. Perhaps the novels do a better job. The anime, however, leaves much to be desired.

Kurenai Sub.DVD
In an environment of trite interpretations of common plots, this story about a young man trying to protect a precocious young girl is a breath of fresh air. It impresses with its distinctive artistic touches and the quality of its writing and animation.

Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor
A Steel Battalion developed by From Software (whose sterling mech pedigree includes Armored Core and Chromehounds) should be an unqualified success. Instead, here's a game that could only live up to the lowest possible expectations, a game that only works very rarely, and even when it does it isn't very fun.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica GN 1
On its own, the manga of Puella Magi Madoka Magica isn't going to dupe most readers into thinking that it is a story of sweetness and light. Whether it is because we are predisposed to look for the dark underbelly by now or simply because Hanokage doesn't try to hide it, the true nature of the tale is very much in evidence.

Honey Darling GN
Given a more concise pace or more books to tell the story in, this could have been Only Serious About You with a cat instead of a little girl. As it is, we have a nice story about two guys who happen to live together with a cat and an author who suddenly remembered that she needed them to end up as a couple.

This Ugly Yet Beautiful World DVD 1
Although it may seem at first to be a fairly typical fan service-laced romantic comedy-drama, this is a GAINAX series, which means that things aren't as simple as they look. It's got a respectable fun factor but is also deeper, more subtle, and more serious than the norm for its type.