And not in a good way.

See, Nick decided to give an old THEM harangue -- MAPS -- a second look, because you never know... you might stumble upon a hidden classic. His reaction to that was more like HA HA HA HA HA HA HA no.

Meanwhile, I gave The Testament of Sister New Devil BURST a look, hoping it had chosen to grow the hell up since its prequel season. Instead, it chose to thumb its nose at me (and everyone else who founds its sexual aspect questionable to say the least) by making said aspect even more demeaning, sexist and childish.

So yeah, that was unpleasant. Let's have something more pleasant for next Monday, shall we? Bye bye for now.

-Stig Høgset.

And so, we meet again, here on Christmas Eve. Sadly, real life seems to have swallowed my fellow reviewers this Christmas, so I ended up being the only one who had the time to spare.

And on the top of my list this year was Rideback, a contemplating action piece about why we might want to avoid becoming a police state, wherever we live. Political, yes, but still damn good.

Well, that was a charged topic, wasn't it? Something to put to mind... later, when you've had a good holiday full of rest and relaxation. We wish all of you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday and all those other kinds you care for. See you all again.

-Stig Høgset.

...isn't really very clear, at least when you look at our two shows for... uh, technically yesterday. Sorry again, but yeesh... Christmas and all.

Allen's contribution is Space Adventure Cobra, an older male fantasy franchise if there ever was one. Apparently, it's a fun show, but suffers from a serious case of murderous sexism.

Nick kind of fares better, but also not really. He takes a look at A Certain Scientific Railgun, and his assessment of the show's problems can probably be summed up with "if only A Certain Magical Index didn't exist", because he finds everything about the show that doesn't reference... well, THAT show... quite tolerable, maybe even fun.

And that's it for today/shoulda been yesterday. As you all know, Christmas is coming up, and while we'll have our next Monday update as usual (I hope), I also got something for you come Christmas Eve. (Sadly, I was the only one who had time for it this year, but it's coming.) See you then.

-Stig Høgset.

So... yeah, this is the review that should have gone up last week, but what can you do... outside of rectifying that oversight now?

And so, Allen brings us No Game, No Life, a show he's not all that impressed with. Mostly because it seems to want to make its own set of rules, and he ain't havin' any of that, let me tell ya.

Next week, Allen will be with you again, revisiting an old classic TV series that also had a movie which I only remembered because it contained a whole lot of Yello. See you then.

-Stig Høgset.

Also, recycling update title jokes. I should be ashamed.

Anyway, I promised you another gem this week, and I'd like to think that Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb certainly delivers in that area. It's also already been available streaming for three years (except not for me), but it wasn't until recently that the DVD was made available for the general public, and to say I threw myself over that like a starving wolf would be a bit of an understatement.

Next week... is a bit up in the air. Christmas is catching up to all of us, never mind that Nick was sent to the Antarctic, so... we'll see what we can do.

-Stig Høgset.

Late again, though at least with one day this time.

Nick once again provides us with this week's review, and unlike last week, he found himself a real gem for us this time. About a collection of poems featured in the Japanese card game Karuta, Utakoi brings them to the big screen and let them tell their stories. It's a real cultural treat in Nick's eyes.

Next week we'll have another gem for you, and, humorously enough, one we should've had a review for three years go. This time, though, it isn't entirely our fault. To give y'all a hint: the show wasn't released on DVD until three years after its initial run, and while the official stream might've been available a lot sooner, it wasn't available outside the US. So there you go.

-Stig Høgset.