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Mafia, Yakuza, No-Good-Nicks – They all mean one thing, gangs. Everyone loves a good gang story. It has the camaraderie and the good times of a group of people that follow no man’s rules but there own, but you also know the inevitable stabbing betrayal is coming at some point. Typically gang anime stories are an excellent mix of fast-paced gun or fist-fighting action all wrapped up in a blanket of noir-style darkness. So while you tip on the Al Capone fedora and threaten to cut off your subordinate’s finger tip off with your old tanto blade, here are a few gang-related anime recommendations to set the mood. Gungrave The first part of Gungrave is more of a classic mafia story. Two young orphans rise up the street rat ranks on the mean streets of the city, but eventually they fall on the radar of the major syndicate in town. As they both rise up through the ranks of organized crime, an eventual betrayal  shatters their friendship. However, after that, things start to

If you are an anime fan and a fan of romance anime in particular, then there is little that is more relatable than a romance series about otaku. Let’s face it, even if we aren’t obsessive about anime to a true otaku level, we all want to be loved for who we are and what we like. Of course, being obsessive about something – games, anime, books, or whatever – leads to a number of funny situations, which in its own way can make otaku romantic comedies highly amusing even if you aren’t in it for the romance. And You Thought There Was Never a Girl Online? Who hasn’t looked for love in their online MMOs at one point or another and got burned by it? This is the starting premise for this series about a boy who thought he found love in his MMO and the character turned out to be a man playing or girl character, or at least that’s what they said. After giving up on it, he soon finds out that the girl that is overly attached to him in t

If there is one tried and true recipe for making a likable main character, it is to make them as lazy as many of the fans watching the series, but also make them a secret badass. Sure, they can’t be assed to go save the world when their favorite show is on, but during the commercial break, they can take care of it with their super OP natural abilities. While there isn’t much room for physical character growth, on occasion this can be a good vehicle for some emotional growth OR they could just throw character growth out the window and add some flashy lights instead. Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop Although Spike spends the majority of his time actively hunting down bounties, it’s not like he wants to or anything. If it were up to him, he’d do one really pricey bounty, then feast on meat and coast through the galaxy. Unfortunately, every time the Bebop crew gets a large bounty, something goes horribly array when it comes to collecting the reward so, like the rest of u

Okay, so the general idea of anime is to definitely not put their viewers to sleep, but sometimes you just want to watch something to unwind for the day and fall asleep to nice dreams afterwards. When it comes to anime to fall asleep to, we’re not talking boring, but rather relaxing. Whether it is the music, the animation, or even the candor of the characters, it has a bit of a soothing effect to it so that afterwards (or even during) you can finally fall asleep without any fuss. Of course, you need to be careful not to get sucked into the plot either. Mushishi Each episode of Mushishi is like a bedtime story in and of itself. It is an episodic anime series that doesn’t really have any overall story, but rather is about a man that studies mushi, or small spirits, that affect humanity in various ways. Basically he travels and observes these mushi or solves the problems that they are causing. There’s no fast action, it is extremely atmospheric, and highly soothing. It

The anime fandom has many sayings, but one of the longest-lasting is that the childhood friend never wins. While it may seem like that, it is not completely true. Whether you need yourself a harem slanted towards the childhood friend or just want to see their affections at least acknowledged instead of pent up or straight up ignored harder than Eren ignores Mikasa’s desperate thirst, then why not try some of these anime recommendations where the childhood friend finally wins out over all that other girl-shaped riff-raff. It should be obvious since victory usually means the end of a series, but there are very likely spoilers down below, but we’ll try to avoid major ones. Typically you can see a romantic victory coming from a mile away anyway. Kimikiss Pure Rouge We are no strangers to people leaving town for awhile then coming back to their childhood friends, but usually it is the boy that leaves, not the girl as is the case with Kimikiss. When she returns, she

Members of the Weeaboo Army know that anime is life and anime is love, but we like other things too. The best part of anime is that there is so much out there, that we can easily relate it to other fandoms. This just also happens to be a great tool for converting normies if you are a little short on anime-liking friends as well. So whether it is recent phenomenon like Game of Thrones or an enduring fandom like Doctor Who, I bet there is an anime series out there like it. Anime Recommendations Like Game of Thrones Captivating us with its incredibly detailed world, diverse cast of characters, and just devastating brutality, it is no surprise that Game of Thrones easily rose to be many people’s favorite show. No matter what you liked about Game of Thrones, whether it was the swords and chivalry or the heart-breaking betrayals, there are tons of anime series that can match that. Berserk – Berserk is the anime fan’s Game of Thrones. It follows a lone mercenary as he get

Ah, the countryside. So peaceful, so simple, so fucking green. If you are stuck in a cityscape, then yearning for an escape, even just for a short while, to a simpler place is only natural. Although, it may just be a case of the grass is greener on the other side. As a person that grew up in the country, I know there are some nice things about it, but I also know there are terrible things like being the last area to get internet faster than dial up, having no restaurant that will deliver food to you, or having to drive 30 minutes in any direction just to get anywhere. If you can, by all means take a short vacation to the country, but even better, get your fix of your small town life with these anime recommendations that feature small town livin’. Barakamon Sometimes a trip to the country is just what your need to get some perspective on your life. That is the essence of Barakamon. After having an explosive blow up at an art critic, a calligraphy artist is sent

Sept. 1 marks the anniversary of legendary comic book letterer Gaspar Saladino’s birth, and in tribute the day has been christened as “Letterer Appreciation Day.” Lettering is one of the great unsung aspects of comics production, and a hugely important part of storytelling. Even the best-scripted, most carefully drawn page will fall apart without smart lettering — letterers work at the last minute, under huge pressure, and are the glue which hold comics together (or staples, to be more comics-appropriate). So in order to celebrate Letterer Appreciation Day properly, CBR arranged a letterers roundtable with Todd Klein (Doom Patrol), Marie Enger (Dept H), Aditya Bidikar (Motor Crush), Taylor Esposito (Red Hood and the Outlaws) and Saida Temofonte (Wonder Woman). We spoke about the process, the working day, and the recognition that letterers receive — and should hopefully see more of in future. What do you feel are the keys to good lettering in a comic — when reading a comic, wh

In “When We First Met”, we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore, like the first time someone said, “Avengers Assemble!” or the first appearance of Batman’s giant penny or the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth or the first time Spider-Man’s face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter. Stuff like that. Reader Mark G. wrote in to ask a bit of a strange question, in that it is more of a regular question than a When We First Met specific suggestion, but it was close enough that I figured I’d count it. He wanted to know if they ever explained how no one ever recognized Peter Parker’s voice coming from Spider-Man’s mask, even when people were really close to him, like J. Jonah Jameson has been around Spider-Man a lot over the years and is always trying to expose his secret identity, and yet he never seems to notice that Spider-Man sounds just like his loyal photogra

Last year, Sony picked up the film rights to Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire’s Image Comics series A.D.: After Death. Now, Deadline reports that Christopher MacBride, who wrote and directed the 2012 found-footage psychological thriller The Conspiracy, will adapt the three-issue miniseries for the big screen. MacBride is already working to bring two other comics-based films to theatres: Dwayne Harris’s Amnesia, which is also for Sony, and Timothy Truman’s Scout for Studio 8. MacBride is also set to write and direct a film called Echo for Fox. RELATED: INTERVIEW: Scott Snyder Gets Existential With A.D. After Death A.D.: After Death follows a man who exists in a world that has found the genetic cure for death. According to the series’ official description, our protagonist “starts to question everything, leading him on a mind-bending journey that will bring him face-to-face with his past and his own mortality.&r