Real Anime & Movie Reviews from Japan

Watch Attack on Titan in broadcast order, starting with Season 1. Every season, the two-part finale, the movies you can skip, how long all 94 episodes take, and where to stream everything in the US.

Attack on Titan’s ending exists in three versions that all land in the same place. Crunchyroll is the only US service carrying both the Final Chapters specials and the film THE LAST ATTACK; Hulu has the specials but not the film. Which version to pick, what the Japan-only seven-episode cut actually adds, and why this finale is the one part of the series I would push on anyone.

Demon Slayer season 1 is slow until episode 15. A Japanese viewer on why that was the plan, and where to stream all 26 episodes in the US right now.

Bakuman Season 1 streams on Hulu in the US and free with ads on Tubi, not Crunchyroll or Netflix. All 25 episodes from the Death Note authors, where the sport is drawing manga and the scoreboard is a weekly reader survey. Plus the one character I never warmed to.

Attack on Titan: The Final Season streams on Crunchyroll and Hulu in the US, not Netflix. All 28 episodes, split into 16 for Part 1 and 12 for Part 2, and the opening one drops you into somebody else’s war with none of the cast you know. Here is what the season is doing, and why its first stretch loses people.

Attack on Titan Season 3 streams on Crunchyroll and Hulu in the US, not Netflix. All 22 episodes, and for the first 12 the Survey Corps barely fights a Titan. Here is what the Uprising arc is actually doing, and why I called this season a perfect story right up until I read what came after it.

In the US, Sing streams on Netflix and nowhere else. A view from Japan, the one territory that re-sang the whole catalog: why a playlist of 60-plus songs carries the film, and the practice montage it never shows.

In Japan this film is called Hiccup and the Dragon, and that title is the more accurate one. Where to stream the 2010 DreamWorks original in the US, and why the boy never gets stronger.

Watch Attack on Titan in broadcast order, starting with Season 1. Every season, the two-part finale, the movies you can skip, how long all 94 episodes take, and where to stream everything in the US.

Attack on Titan’s ending exists in three versions that all land in the same place. Crunchyroll is the only US service carrying both the Final Chapters specials and the film THE LAST ATTACK; Hulu has the specials but not the film. Which version to pick, what the Japan-only seven-episode cut actually adds, and why this finale is the one part of the series I would push on anyone.

Demon Slayer season 1 is slow until episode 15. A Japanese viewer on why that was the plan, and where to stream all 26 episodes in the US right now.

Bakuman Season 1 streams on Hulu in the US and free with ads on Tubi, not Crunchyroll or Netflix. All 25 episodes from the Death Note authors, where the sport is drawing manga and the scoreboard is a weekly reader survey. Plus the one character I never warmed to.

Attack on Titan: The Final Season streams on Crunchyroll and Hulu in the US, not Netflix. All 28 episodes, split into 16 for Part 1 and 12 for Part 2, and the opening one drops you into somebody else’s war with none of the cast you know. Here is what the season is doing, and why its first stretch loses people.

Attack on Titan Season 3 streams on Crunchyroll and Hulu in the US, not Netflix. All 22 episodes, and for the first 12 the Survey Corps barely fights a Titan. Here is what the Uprising arc is actually doing, and why I called this season a perfect story right up until I read what came after it.

The Summer Hikaru Died streams only on Netflix. A rural Japanese summer turned into a horror device, a village that says nothing, and 12 episodes that end with the questions still open.

Dr. Stone: Stone Wars streams on Crunchyroll, Netflix and Hulu. A review of the season where the Kingdom of Science wins with a phone line, and the enemy keeps his argument intact.

Attack on Titan’s ending exists in three versions that all land in the same place. Crunchyroll is the only US service carrying both the Final Chapters specials and the film THE LAST ATTACK; Hulu has the specials but not the film. Which version to pick, what the Japan-only seven-episode cut actually adds, and why this finale is the one part of the series I would push on anyone.

In the US, Sing streams on Netflix and nowhere else. A view from Japan, the one territory that re-sang the whole catalog: why a playlist of 60-plus songs carries the film, and the practice montage it never shows.

In Japan this film is called Hiccup and the Dragon, and that title is the more accurate one. Where to stream the 2010 DreamWorks original in the US, and why the boy never gets stronger.

In Japan, Woody has had the same voice for 30 years. A look back at the first fully computer-animated feature: where it streams now, and what holds up at 81 minutes.

Included with HBO Max in the US, and unavailable on every service in Japan. The uncut 116-minute film, the butchered 95-minute Warriors of the Wind, and the five manga volumes no movie has ever adapted.

Streaming on HBO Max in the US, but on zero services in Japan. Why Totoro’s plot barely exists yet every frame stays with you, and the truth behind the death god rumor.

I watched this for the first time in a Tokyo theater in 1995. I was a teenager, the internet was barely a thing, and the word "cyberspace" still

I almost skipped this one. The poster looked too cute, the premise sounded too sweet, and I'd just come off a streak of heavy psychological thrillers.

A kid joins professional sumo purely for the money and ends up falling for the sport itself. Sanctuary streams only on Netflix. A review of all eight episodes, and why episode 7 is worth the run-up.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cure (1997) streams on the Criterion Channel. A Japanese writer on why the title is not ironic, and why every killer in it is an ordinary working adult.

Released in 1986. Nearly 40 years later, Japanese social media still explodes with "Balse!" every time it airs on Friday Roadshow.

"Reality (Japan) vs. Fiction (Godzilla)"—this tagline says it all.

※ This page contains promotional content.

"Destruction takes an instant. Healing takes nearly forever." — This film inscribes that truth into your very being over 3 hours and 37 minutes.

The ten Japanese titles I have rewatched most, ranked, by a fan living in Japan. Princess Mononoke, Jin-Roh, Mind Game and seven more, each with an honest reason for its place and where to stream it in the US.

Ten Japanese work stories picked by a fan in Japan: an astronaut selection exam, a toilet cleaner in Shibuya, an undertaker, a film editor and a body run like a logistics company. Honest reasons and US streaming info for each.

Comedy travels badly across languages, so here are ten anime that actually land — picked by a fan in Japan, with current US streaming info for each.

Ten Japanese war films and anime picked by a fan in Japan: Hiroshima five years on, a private starving in the Philippines, a home front held together by one mother, and a galactic war about political philosophy. Honest reasons and US streaming info.

Ten violent Japanese films and anime picked by a fan in Japan: Kitano's flat, sudden cruelty, Miike at his most confrontational, a class ordered to kill each other, and a boy who can see what he is inheriting. Honest reasons and US streaming info.

Ten Japanese stories built to flatten you, picked by a fan in Japan, from Grave of the Fireflies to Takopi's Original Sin. Content warnings included, plus current US streaming info.

Nine Japanese true-story films and series picked by a fan in Japan: Kore-eda's Nobody Knows, Miyazaki's only biopic, a guide dog's working life, and the radical left eating itself. Honest reasons and US streaming info for each.

Ten Japanese stories that refuse to settle, picked by a fan in Japan: Death Note, Monster, PLUTO, Tokyo Story, Rashomon and more, with current US streaming info for each.