Category: Ask John

Question: Do you think that anime movies have a greater chance of success here in the U.S. than anime shows? Ponyo was a pretty successful movie, granted it

Question: Are there any more anime that have protagonists similar to Yagami Light (Death Note) or Lelouch Britannia (Code Geass)? Addition to that, I find your analysis of

Question: Why is the Gin Tama manga a harder sell in the U.S. than Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei? You would think it’d be the opposite, since you literally have

Question: Why is it that fan-named “yuri shows” don’t really have any yuri in them? Ask any yuri fan what the staples of the genre are, and you

Question: It seems like the vast majority of anime on major digital distribution platforms like iTunes and Netflix is dub-only. After years of seeing dual language anime releases

The Shaft Network is now streaming an audio interview with “Ask John” Oppliger, although the “interview” is really more of a conversation about anime between me and Shaft

Question: Do you know if there are any plans to make a sequel to Steamboy (2004)? It was a great movie with lots of potential for more story-building

Question: How could a sugary-sweet and family-friendly show like Happiness have been made out of such a raunchy, disgusting and filthy hentai videogame series? It’d be like if

Question: Now that the last two episodes of Madoka have aired, what are your initial impressions of the ending and the series as a whole? Do you think

Question: What happened to the movie “King of Thorn” getting a U.S. release on DVD? I’ve read that it was shown in select theaters throughout the U.S. in

Question: Five more April premieres have aired, so I’ll share my take on them for readers interested in my reactions.

Question: Is there or will there be any more series like Madlax and Noir?

Question: Since I’ve been fortunate enough to watch all of this month’s new TV anime that have aired so far except for Shiawase Haitatsu Taneko and the Yuruani?

Question: In order to satisfy my own curiosity, I make a habit of trying to sample as many of each new season’s anime as I possibly can. For

Question: I may be giving too much credit, but my perception is that roughly every ten years Japan’s anime industry takes a subtle but significant step forward in