Category: Ask John

Question: Why can’t I get more “artsy” stuff in America? Examples: Mind Game, Kaiba, Genius Party, pretty much all Studio 4°C’s output.

Question: What is netorare (NTR), and what is its appeal? Are there any examples of anime NTR?

Question: Casual observation suggests that among a portion of what may be called the “anime blogging” community, the initial opinion towards “Ladies Versus Butlers,” which was for the

Question: Is an OAV a good sign for a second season? I’m specifically talking about Kure-nai. In 2008 it had a TV season and in 2010 it had

Question: For me animation has created some very memorable moments inside comedy, year after year companies keep outdoing themselves. But lately I end up missing comedies with over

Question: Naruto’s kind of gotten stale for me. I want a new ninja anime, something with action and humor (but not overly-goofy like Ninja Nonsense). Could you recommend

Question: I just watched Minky Momo episodes 8-9. I noticed the animators inserted a sexy bikini model poster in Momo’s room (so Momo is a 10-year-old lesbian?) and

Question: Can moé be big in China? Since China has a huge disproportion population of males versus females, I think that moé can be easily marketed to males

Question: Plot twists are not uncommon in anime, but sometimes they are underdeveloped or tacked on and feel more like a bait-and-switch than a truly well-planned idea. What

Question: Yu Yu Hakusho was a big hit in America, doing well on Cartoon Network and selling a ton of DVDs and merchandise. Yet, for some reason, the

Question: Anime set in ancient Japan, the European middle ages, or fantasy worlds based on either (or a combination of the two) are pretty common, but what about

Question: So it’s recently been announced that Funimation is teaming up with Bioware to help produce a Dragon Age anime film. I’m a little worried though because the

Question: Anime about kids collecting something seem to be everywhere. Where did these type of shows come from and exactly how many of them are there?

Question: Is Shugo Chara Doki Dokki done for good?

Question: Akiyuki Shinbo is an anime director with a fair sized body of work. Do you think he qualifies as an auteur – someone with his own recognizable