Solid character-driven work that is not cringe. Visually superb.

Comedy tries too hard, mostly failing. Autopilot plotting. Characters are too simply written initially but are fuller in the second half.

A tight narrative about an ugly woman’s desire for attention. Tragedy follows her decisions. Some plot conveniences but beautifully shot.

Shoujo romance about twins Chiki and Mami with their different mentalities towards relationships. Short, simple and relatively lighthearted.

A solid romance slice-of-life drama about living with regrets. Can use more dramatic tension but mostly avoids being too cheesy.

Bravo Station – A woman has been blown out of the airlock by her boyfriend after asking him for “some space”. “I just wanted to ask her...

Intriguing coming-of-age supernatural-fantasy mystery involving humans with telekinesis set in an idyllic village. Highly recommended.

Good but not great. Decent writing and performances. Nicely shot. Worth watching if one is interested in the genre.

My Verdict: An amusing supernatural-fantasy drama. Excellent cast. Beautifully lit and shot. But female lead’s past is not well handled.

Remake of the 2008 Taiwanese series. Tries to be quirky as well as tragic. Drags on for too long. Annoying male lead. Avoidable.

Sachiko (女の一生<２部>: サチ子の場合, lit. A woman’s life part 2: Sachiko’s case) is a novel by Endo Shusaku (遠藤 周作) that was first published in...

A fantasy-adventure that follows elementary school student Asuna and widower Mr Morisaki as they deal with death and loss.

Set in 1860s Nagasaki, the story follows 16-year-old Kiku, a strong-willed girl, who falls in love with Seikichi, a young Catholic man.

In case one isn’t convinced that the Roman church has been infiltrated for the past half a century or so, here’s another reason…

Interesting premise with potential. It’s a show that I want to like, but some of the characters are difficult to sympathize...

Voices of a Distant Star is an OVA and one of Shinkai’s earlier works. Like most of his later works, it explores love and friendship.

Mostly enjoyable romantic dramady and very funny at times, but the plotting and pacing plateau in the second half of the series.

Attempts to be melodramatic emotion porn and fails. It’s not quite Uncontrollably Farcical but there are moments it’s so bad...

Attempts to be the got-a-bit-of-everything romantic dramady. It somewhat achieves that, but the pacing is unnecessarily slow...

Anime, Manga and Light Novel review of Shinkai's 5 Centimeters per Second.

The Girl I Left Behind (私が棄てた女), first published in 1964, is one of the earlier novels of Endo Shusaku (遠藤 周作).