The Professional Gamer - February 9, 2019

/

Well, this has been a fun end to a week. I had a quick day trip out to Albuquerque (via plane) to have a look at a project site. I'll be posting this on Saturday afternoon, but as of late on Friday, I'm on a train heading from the Denver Airport back to my house. In other news, I caught back up on the seasonal anime. Well, for the most part. I have one more episode of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime to watch. Come to think of it, I guess I'm not actually watching a whole lot of anime this season. I'd change that, but it might mean watching some of the shows that, at least on first appearance, seem a little trashy. This intro has gone on long enough, let's get to the meat. Spoilers abound for Mob Psycho 100 and Slime; you have been warned.

Read More

Flash Review - Rock Mary Rock

/

A short review for you all today.  Rock Mary Rock is a four part mini-series comic by Nicky Soh.  Soh had the first issue available for sale at Denver Comic Con, and will be selling the comic on his Etsy shop.  The comic centers on Mary, a young girl who find a magnificent vintage guitar in the basement of an old theater.  The catch?  The guitar is haunted by the ghost of 70's era rock star who died before he hit his prime.

Issue 1 introduces the main characters well.  Soh is very good with acting and expressing his character's emotions.  The character designs are very easy to read and I look forward to seeing how Soh makes them perform in the future issues.  The main characters including Mary, her grandmother, and Rock (the Ghost), all seem well thought out and fun.  The colors by Jeremy Lawson add to Soh's line work to form a cohesive style and feel.

Overall, I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of this series and more of Soh's work in the future.

The Professional Gamer - March 14, 2016

/

Hello friends! This weekend I've been at StarFest Denver (in general, ComicFest in particular).  I've spent most of my free time this week watching anime.  With a fair amount of time dedicated to running this week,  and trying to get ready for the convention this weekend, the anime was about all that I had time for.  Let's talk about the couple of shows that I've been watching.

Read More

In Review - Gekkan Shoujo: Nozaki-kun

/

So, I started this article several months ago, and I managed to forget to post it all.  Anyways, here's my review of my favorite anime of the last year.

What do you do when your high school crush is clueless, and treats all human interaction as a chance to research for his monthly shoujo manga?  If you are Chiyo Sakura, you go over to his house and start helping him draw his manga.  This is what happens in the first episode of Monthly Girls': Nozaki-kun, when Chiyo attempts to confess her love to her classmate Umetaro Nozaki, but instead tells him that she is "his biggest fan".  Nozaki gives Chiyo an autograph, and invites her to come to . During the rest of the series, we see the development of Chiyo and Nozaki's friendship, as well as an exaggerated look at the life of a manga artist.

The animation quality in the series is great, and the character designs are intuitive and believable.  So far the series is only available subtitled; the Japanese cast is great, so don't let that turn you off.  The soundtrack is generally unremarkable, playing a supporting role, while not being terribly notable.  The series is great fun, and probably the best recent entry to the high school comedy genre.  Overall, I give this series a 4.5 / 5.