Anime News Nina!

Song of the Hanging Sky GN 1
Heads up everybody: We have an instant classic on our hands. Song of the Hanging Sky is one of the best new titles to be published in English for 2008.

Baccano! + Artbox DVD 1
Sometimes humorous, occasionally brutal, and nearly always fun, the complex plotting and voluminous casting, combined with strong dubbing, animation, and musical score, make this a must-see series for fans of American mobster stories. It is meant to be an entertaining romp, and that is precisely what it delivers.

Pumpkin Scissors DVD Box Set Part 2
While the series does succeed in casting Alice as a strong heroine, it leaves major plot threads unresolved at the end and wastes some good technical merits and a few worthy scenes with trite, laconic writing stretched annoyingly thin. Funimation's mishandling of the final few episodes doesn't help.

Vampire Hunter D Novel 11
Although the main gimmick in the plot – that D is working for a Noble this time, rather than hunting him – marks a dramatic departure from previous novels in the series, the story content, execution, and style remain typical of what has been seen in previous novels.

Afro Samurai: Resurrection Director's Cut DVD
To those seasoned on what to expect from a big Hollywood blockbuster, just like those noisy, expensive cinematic confections we flock to every summer, it's a whole lot of time, money and talent dumped into a pretty terrible script.

Bleach DVD 14
New powers are flaunted, old techniques dusted off, and pent-up tensions explode in a catharsis of violence. In other words: it's climax time.

Vampire Knight GN 5
Volume five dials down what little humor Hino had left in her nearly to zero…while dialing up the aesthetic distress of the series' signature love triangle.

The Story of Saiunkoku Season 1 Part 2 DVD
Intricate scheming, politicking, power plays, and prospective romance are the norm as this rescued Geneon title delivers twelve more episodes of delightful entertainment. Despite its heavy shojo trappings, this series deserves a broader audience than it will probably ever get.

Ral Ω Grad GN 3
Ral pretty much has a full RPG party now—but if this is how the series is transitioning into the main storyline, it doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence.

Negima!? DVD Season 2 Part 1
There is more separating Negima!? and Negima! than just a question mark. Though billed as Season 2, Negima!? isn't a sequel so much as it is a complete re-imagining.

Excel Saga DVD 5