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Ai no Seikatsu is about an interconnected web of characters who want desperately to love and feel loved, yet are unable to. It is filled with the same melodramatic themes as much of Okazaki's work (post-bubble unhappy teens that have been forsaken by the system, teenage pregnancy, incest, violent outbursts, etc) but doesn't pull them off as well or as intensely as her best works

Story: The plot is made of vignettes of interconnected characters' troubled love lives that mostly rejoin during the manga's climax, ranging from the comedic to the beautifully melancholic. However, it doesn't hit the same peaks as Okazaki's other works, both in ... term of greatness and in term of intensity, leading to the plot feeling a bit run of the mill

Art: I've always been a big fan of Okazaki's simplistic and expressive style, but I'll admit it's not for everyone AT ALL.

Characters: The cast is way too big for the length of the manga. The two brother and sister easily get the most development and are the most compelling characters. In comparison, the protagonist is a bit too dull to my liking. A bunch of secondary characters get a massive chunk of screentime, but the manga isnt long enough for them to individually have that lot going on

Overall, this is a b-grade, slightly generic Kyoko Okazaki manga. Which is not to say it was bad, she's my favorite mangaka and I had a great time reading it. Just, don't expect River's Edge or Helter Skelter going into this

Dream Fossil is easily the most inconsistent manga collection I've read: in terms of quality, of tone, of subject matters, etc... And I think that's what makes this collection so good. You're witnessing first-hand an artist trying to discover his style, going from genre to genre, messing up a bit at the beginning, getting better and finally truly finding his voice. Even though some of the stories' quality vary wildly, it's captivating to read the origins of such an iconic artist.

The first few stories are, let's be honest, pretty bad. They're either cliche, underdevelopped or just all-around dull, with the two baseball stories being my ... least favorite. However, I'd still suggest still reading the bad stories as they show Kon's rapid evolution. The rest of the collection is however mostly great. "Toriko" is a fun little dystopian story that, without spoiling anything, smartly explores one of Kon's most recurring themes. "Kidnappers" and "Beyond the Sun" are hilarious short stories that rely on increasingly far-fetched coincidences, not too dissimilar to Kon's Tokyo Godfathers. Talking of that movie, Joyful Bell was a clear inspiration for Tokyo Godfathers, being a heartwarming christmas story. But my personal highlight has got to be Waira, a gorgeously atmospheric tale about warring samurai clans getting picked off one by one by a mysterious force. If Millennium Actress somehow didn't convince you Satoshi Kon was a Kurosawa fan, this one will!

As for the art, aside from "Guests" and the aforementioned drop-dead gorgeous "Waira", the art is mostly nothing special: it's nice to look at and expressive, not bad at all, but it doesn't really do anything special to distinguish itself from its contemporaries. The stories can also be somewhat hard to follow, with character designs that are too similar or panels that feel somewhat disconnected (a problem I've had with Kon's other manga)

Despite these flaws and some of the bad stories, this is a captivating must-read for anybody interested in Satoshi Kon's works.

A pretty unremarkable horror anthology, but one I ended really liking it because it's so charming. The three stories focus on three unrelated teenagers as they get haunted by a dress. All three stories also tackle problems teenage girls might face, especially relating to parental authority.

The OVA mostly has a very pastel, very soft, very shojo color palette, but it's not scared to go darker and harsher for its scarier scenes, which makes for an interesting contrast that is rarely seen in horror. The character animation is expressive and full of personality

The whole OVA is very SFW, so don't go expecting any blood and gore. ... The first and third stories are pretty good, they feel like unnerving urban legends. But the second story's plot twist is flat out kinda terrifying, it was easily the anime's highlight

The stories are a bit too short (the longest only clocks in at 8 minutes), the characters are all very shallow and it's by no means a masterpiece, but you should give this a try if you like comfy, mostly generic horror stories told in a comfy, somewhat unique way

Any horror fan knows that sometimes, you just want to wrap yourself in a blanket and watch a 6/10, low-budget, cliche horror. This is the epitome of the "6/10 cliche horror movie"

This is not terrifying, but definitely unnerving enough, especially the second story, and is no doubt help by the VHS compression. As for the visuals, the artstyle does a good job at copying Umezu's style and, while the animation is stilted, its jankiness suits well Umezu's work

Also, kinda sad that this is the only horror anime by Umezu and this is FAR from his best work, but I still highly recommend watching this one ... as a cheap thrill if you're bored one evening

Could have become a good enough manga if it wasn't cancelled so abruptly

The beginning really sucks. We get two back-to-back rape scenes used as shock value, and sadly all women's only purpose throughout is to be sympathetic and get tortured, or be evil and get tortured. The second act is somewhat better but not great, and the third act is still generic, but could have had to potential to become a decent series

Art-wise, I'm not a big fan of the artstyle, it often has awkward poses and characters are often off-model, but some panels have neat staging that's very reminescent of theatre

Overall, the manga feels ... like an extremely awkward introduction to a long-running series with the actual series missing