Pachi's Anime Review - Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God

You push your way through the dusty tomb, coming to a clearing where a formation of leveraged blocks protrude from a nearby wall. Compressing the button to your right reveals on several of the blocks these letters arranged as follows:

                 P  I              IS                OIN                  

                                               TO                OT  ON

On your left is a keypad of numbers. Thinking analytically, you surely realize these numbers can correspond to letters of the alphabet. Quickly noting several of the numbers can be rearranged such that all rows amount to the same summation, you find the dim light entering from a minuscule rift in the ceiling illuminates one row of five numbers. Converting the revealed digits to their place in the alphabet, you are able to place your findings and decipher the message on the wall to reveal:

                     PACHI        IS              GOING                  

                                               TO                OTAKON

YES, I am going to Otakon, and NO, I don't know if that puzzle I just lazily transcribed works! :D Tonight, you guys get a review. I wanted to get one more in quick because in just a couple days I will be heading up north to Baltimore for my third time attending annual Otakon. If you happen to be there yourself, dear reader, and wish to say hi, nothing would please me more! An easy way to spot me is that I always carry my Penguindrum #2 Penguin with me even when not cosplaying. On Saturday and Saturday only, I will be cosplaying as Shouma Takakura from Penguindrum all day. If there are multiple Shoumas, just look for the husky one - that's me.

Anyway, if you know anything about recent anime you MIGHT have guessed what tonight's review is about. Yes, it's the puzzle-solving adventure Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God! I hope you enjoy, and I hope to see you at Otakon! ^_^

Something's not quite right in my art for this review: Nonoha is solving all the puzzles while Kaito's leering for the camera. How peculiar. This was a drawing that I didn't really feel came together until I started coloring it. The intricate folds of Gammon's leather suit, the musty, grime-y wall, the glow of the puzzle pieces as they are inserted into place, the dimly lit phi symbols above; this one's got a lot of neat, atmospheric parts I couldn't realize until I started coloring. I like it a lot.

Pachi's Anime Review - Kill la Kill

A very late, late evening to all of you! I seem to have lost my way and unfortunately haven't provided any updates in awhile; well I'm fixing that tonight. Sit back and pop yourself some popcorn, 'cuz tonight's review is a long one. Follow the jump below to read my thoughts on the recently completed Studio Trigger action extravaganza Kill la Kill, one of my favorite series of the past year! Hope you enjoy!

P.S. I realize my Review page has been an organizational mess forever, so I tweaked it a bit so it's a little neater. Still not anywhere close to how I want it to appear, but at least I'm not ignoring the blog's cleanliness!

I don't mention this in the review, but one of my favorite aspects of Kill la Kill was how several characters exhibited their own unique visual motifs, such as lighting and backdrop. For this drawing I decided to take my three favorite characters from the show (Satsuki, Mako, and Mikisugi) and make their unique lighting clash. Making the lighting work around each character but also blend into the remainder of the drawing in after-effects was really hard yet enriching experience. It's a lot harder to draw Mako's "HAAAA-LLE-LU-JAH~" arm pose than you might think. Also I apologize if you take offense to radiating penguin nipples. 

Pachi's Anime Review - Space Brothers

Eat your vegetables, and don't forget to share them with your friends! You'll be healthier AND happier! All this and more on a special educational edition of Pachi's Portrait! Brought to you by the letter C.

But seriously, welcome back! I haven't seen you since April. Don't worry - there are at least two more reviews for shows that wrapped up during the Winter '14 season on the way following tonight's release. I decided to postpone this review to this week because it's the week of my birthday, and the show I am presenting you with tonight is one very close to my heart. Imagine if I got the gumption to review a beast like Fullmetal Alchemist - that's basically what tonight's review is like for me. So no pressure!

Quick announcement! On the weekend of the 23rd (the weekend after this one), I will be attending my local convention in Raleigh, NC, Animazement! I won't be wearing any particular cosplay, but a surefire way to spot me is by my tote bag in which my Penguindrum #2 penguin (aka my avatar) hitches a ride all about. If you spot us, feel free to say hi! I'm looking forward to another fun convention year!

Without further ado, take the jump below the linear notes to check out my newest anime review, covering the 99-episode Space Brothers! This is the longest series I've covered yet and took my quite awhile to formulate my thoughts on it just the way I wanted. Hope you enjoy!

This drawing pays tribute to the after-episode segment that began airing late during Space Brothers' run: Mr. Hibbit. Mr. Hibbit is a light-hearted series of children's anime shorts chronicling the adventures of anthropomorphized woodland creatures on a quest to become astronauts. I felt my penguin avatar would mesh perfectly into this world of astronautical critters, so I donned him in the suit and sent him to town. Often in my drawings I find myself spending a considerable amount of time on shading and after-effects; it was nice to work on one that purposefully avoided such intricacies for a change. Bright, colorful, and positive, it warms my heart just as much as Space Brothers and Mr. Hibbit does. So I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I think my favorite is Freddie Dog. He always looks so cool.

Pachi's Anime Review - Beyond the Boundary

At last, we've reached the finale of the 2013 Anime Retrospective......at the end of March. ^^; That took me WAY too long to finish, and I apologize. Thankfully the timing is perfect, as many new shows have just wrapped up along with the Winter '14 season, so I've got plenty of content to cover down the road. For now, I'm concluding the Retrospective with a look at one of my least favorite shows from last year, Beyond the Boundary. Read on and enjoy my displeasure! :D

*Note: This particular review contains some spoilers, as I have alluded to occasionally including in the past. Consider this your warning. (The tell is that I'm much more likely to include spoilers in a review if it's of a show I dislike)

Pachi's Anime Review - Watamote

Welcome to another Retrospective Review day! Just one more and then we'll jump back into the regular review format for the continuing 2014 anime season. Read on for my look at Watamote!

Pachi's Anime Review - Meganebu

It's a double review Sunday! Next up is the colorful escapades of the most eccentric school club, Meganebu!  Again, as per the new design, please expand this post to see the full review.

Originally there were going to be three more reviews for the 2013 Retrospective, but in light of the Winter '14 season about to come to a close and to lessen my load, I'm only going to do two more. The remaining Retrospective reviews will be of Watamote and Beyond the Boundary, both of which I hope to have up in a week's time. No promises, but I'm going to do my best!

Pachi's Anime Review - Mushibugyo!

Good day, everyone! New reviews are coming today, but the format of reviews from now on will be a little bit different. In my infinite wisdom, I did not realize a standard Blogger account has a limit of Static Pages. Welp, I've hit that limit! So from now on, reviews will have to be embedded into posts, denoted by "Read More" expandable sections so the blog isn't overrun constantly by long review posts. Total derp on me, but without further ado, here is the next review of my 2013 Anime Retrospective, Mushibugyo! Enjoy! ^_^

Also! I didn't make a main page post about it, but I put up my Retrospective review for Valvrave the Liberator some time ago. Check that one out, too~!