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It's weird to see that no one has written a review for this considering that the film adaptation of Hikoutei Jidai has almost 200 thousand members on MAL. So I'll try my best to give this a proper review.

The story follows Porco Rosso on three different advewntures which are loosely connected to eachother. These three stories would become key plot points in the anime film adaptation and they would work as the basis of the film. As the story is just three chapters long, it isn't that good. While the actual story of Porco Rosso is phenomenal, as a stand alone story these three chapters ... just don't hold up.

All of the panels are fully coloured in with watercolour and have art that somewhat resembles the art that would be in the film, but it just isn't that good. Don't get me wrong, it isn't hideous or anything but nothing to get praised for. The art looks quite western and the panels are in a western format (left to right) which I find kind of odd.

The characters get close to no development, but they have great and distinguishable desings, especially Porco Rosso.

As for enjoyment, it doesn't come from Hikoutei Jidai being a good manga, but from it being a piece of history. You can see Miyazaki's pashion for planes in it, and also it shows the early workings of the film to be.

If you're a fan of Miyazaki or Porco Rosso, you should give this a try. It's neat but nothing mindblowing.

Afro-Ken is a 30 minute OVA and it utilises that 30 minutes to it's fullest potential.

Afro-Ken includes short "stories" that are from 10 seconds to a couple of minutes long. Each "story" has a different vibe to it and almost none of them are related to each other.

The animation is done with CG (computer graphics) and because of that doesn't look that appealing. The OVA was made in 2001 so the technology wasn't that advanced so no big suprise there. For the time it was decent.

The soundtrack has one banger song and the others are forgetable. The voice actor they hired for the narrator ... was perfect for the role.

There really aren't many characters in the OVA. There's Afro-Ken and other Kens, the narrator, some random stick figures and then there's an interview with the crator of Afro-Ken, Aimi Tetsurou. The characters get no time to devolope and don't have much motives in the OVA. They just exist. The only redeeming quality is their cute design.

As for enjoying the OVA, I'd say it's pretty enjoyable. There's no hidden meaning in almost any of the gags so you just watch them and get to have a good time.

If I would put Afro-Ken in a sentence it would be "a comfort anime". There's nothing to worry about when watching Afro-Ken.

*Minor spoilers for the first half of the season*

I feel the setting of tokyo revengers story is much more compelling than the actual plot. Our main character going back in time to save people doesn't interest me as much as the biker gang aspect. The larger conflicts that come with being in a biker gang are so fun to watch and get you compelled, but when the MC comes back to the "present day", all of that interest comes crashing down.

The animation is just acceptable. I hate how the caracters look at times, and how their ears are just huge. The MC is the worst ... offender in this. Although the backgrounds and other things such as bikes aren't as badly drawn.

I haven't really noticed anything regarding to music or the voice acting, which is kind of a good thing since you really can make a good show shit with failing those. Although a high point in the sound section would be the opening which is really good.

Most of the characters that the show focuses on are well fleshed out and act with motives, some not so important characters are a bit boring looking, and some of the "original five" we see at the start are just plain out ugly looking, but they get overshadowed by the much cooler looking and more interesting characters like draken and mikey.

Overall I can say I enjoy the anime, but hope that the studio behind TR could get better at animating for the second season, so the anime could reach it's full potential.

Most readers who know Kei Sanbe know him for Boku dake ga Inai Machi and how great it was. So after liking that the next logical step was to start reading his latest ongoing manga.

The beginning of Mizutamari ni Ukabu Shima feels a bit samey compared to Boku dake ga Inai Machi with having themes of broken families and crime solving, but after a few chapters it differs enough for it to be a whole different story. Some elements still feel the same though atleast at the time of writing.

The art is what you would expect from Sanbe. You either love it or hate it. ... Although the artsltyle often makes characters look similar to each other.

The characters are suprisingly fleshed out even so early in the story, and somehow I don't hate the "villain"/main antagonist in the story. I actually like him and find myself rooting for him at some points.

Overall I would say that everyone who liked Boku dake ga Inai Machi should give this manga a shot and see how it turns out. I don't think it's going to top the performance of Boku dake ga Inai Machi, but I have high hopes for this one.

Hamster Club tells a story of adopting and raising three dwarf hamsters through a 4 panel comic strip style. The main element of Hamster Club is it’s cuteness. One volume of the book is usually around 130 pages and it has 6 volumes so it’s not a long read.

The story is quite limited with the 4 panel format. There is no coherent story to follow most of the time. It’s just small individual stories. But the point of Hamster Club isn’t to tell a grandiose story, but instead a cute one. And it does deliver on that. Hamster Club made me smile more times than ... I would like to admit.

Alongside the story, the artstyle brings a cuteness factor. There are artists who make better panels and such, but Hamster Club has to be one of the cutest manga I have seen. The designs of the three hamsters and their expressions just melt my heart. They could be a little more realistic ofcourse, but I feel as if realism wasn’t a priority.

Speaking of the hamsters, there are three of them. Their names are: Shigecchi, Endoo and Pooh. They all have a great personality. Shigecchi is stubborn, Endoo is hysterical and Pooh is lazy. The design enforces these characteristics. Also there is the writer’s self insert as the main human character who owns the three hamsters. I like how every character is executed. There of course could be more depth, but as I already mentioned that isn’t the point.

I enjoyed reading this wholeheartedly. The story isn’t anything special but that’s what makes Hamster Club special. It’s a comfort manga for me. Something I can read and turn myself off.

The Wind Rises adapts the true story of a japanese plane engineer Jiro Horikoshi, who designed the Mitsubishi A5M aeroplane. The movie follows Horikoshi's life, from his childhood to his engineering career. The movie focuses mostly on the aeroplanes, but it does have a romantic subplot.

The animation is what is to be expected from a Ghibli movie. As an adjective it would be: breathtaking. Every scene could be its own masterpiece. And the scenes get reinforced with the amazing soundtrack that Joe Hisaishi made for the movie.

The soundtrack feels so fitting for a “Ghibli movie”, since Hisaishi has been a part of most movies ... made by Miyazaki. Hisaishi combined the best bits of other movies soundtracks into 49 minutes of bliss.

The sound design in general was amazing in the movie. The sound director Eriko Kimura took risks when listening to Miyazaki's view on the movie. Miyazaki wanted to make each sound effect with his vocals. Kimura took note of this and used human made sounds for each noise in the movie. Aeroplane propellers and such are made with mouth sounds. At first it’s a bit disturbing, but I feel it adds to the feel of the movie and at times adds to the story.

In the story there is no traditional conflict per se, but instead the story focuses on the personal suspense of Jiro Horikoshi. His aviational dreams and his love life are the main points of conflict. There is no bad guy, but instead there are obstacles to overcome. This makes the pacing of the story alright, but does take away from the tension of the movie.

As for being Miyazaki's last movie, The Wind Rises combines everything Miyazaki is known for. The Wind Rises feels like a celebration of Miyazaki in a way. The movie takes you on a visual and sonic journey, and leaves you thinking about life. And even though mr. Miyazaki has retired. He left us an important message with this movie: “The wind is rising! We must try to live.”