Squid girl is back, with a whole new season of adventures! Broadcast at the tail end of 2011, this 12 episode second season continues the story of Ika Musume (aka Squid Girl in English), a tentacle haired girl who vows to conquer the surface world as revenge for human polluting the ocean. Only her invasion hasn't gone quite according to plan, and she's found herself working in a beach restaurant in order to pay for damaging a wall upon her arrival. With her friends Eiko, Chizuru, Takeru, Kiyomi and more, Squid Girl continues to fend off the advances of the oh-so-slightly-obsessed Sanae, learns new things about the world she's come to conquer and forms her own 'Invasion club'. While I did enjoy the first season, all in all it was a pretty average show at best. So going into the second season I was happy to discover that the show had really upped its game, and the stories were a lot more enjoyable. The format remains the same (2 or 3 short stories in one 22 minut...

Truth be told, my interest in Character Option's Doctor Who figure range has been waning of late. Besides their high price point (which seems to only be getting higher), there's been an increasing focus on one off monsters paired with releases or remoulds of existing figures. But among the god-knows-how-many sets they announced over the Christmas period (seriously, there were LOADS) was a set themed on the 1965 first Doctor/Dalek story 'The Chase', including a figure I've wanted to be made since I was five. Alongside two Daleks, the set also included a Mechanoid - the spherical robots that not only battled the Daleks in the final episode of the story, but was also one of their main adversaries in the TV21 Dalek comic strips. Given its size, I was expecting the Mechanoid to be hollow. But nope, its a solid figure and therefore as you can imagine quite heavy. The sculpt is perfect (although the arm did suffer some bending in the packaging) and the colours, while ...

The third in the Gokaiger figuart collection is one of my particular favourites - the comic relief but at the same time awesome Don Dogoier, aka Doc and Gokai Green! Since I've covered the figure mould somewhat extensively here and here this will be a somewhat shorter review (the Yellow and Pink ones will be longer again, given its a different figure shape). The photo shoot also suffered from a lack of Red and Blue to pose him with (they're back at my university accommodation), which unfortunately meant no dual-pistol wielding action for poor old Doc either. Just like Red and Blue, the sculpt is excellent and the shade of green is effective despite not have that gleam that the spandex suits in the show have. While I found hand swapping a little more difficult here than I did with the other two, its still by no means frustrating. Green has all the accessories included with the Gokaiger figures thus far (the extra hands, Gokai saber and gun, mobirates, minuscule flippe...

Fate/Stay Night is a 24 episode anime series from 2006, based on a Japanese visual novel by Type-Moon. While the visual novel had three divulging scenarios, the anime series follows only one of them (the 'Fate' scenario) while showing glimpses of the others. The second scenario, titled 'Unlimited Blade Works', was made into a theatrical film of the same name. Orphaned in a catastrophe ten years again, Emiya Shirou lives inspired by the man who took him in following the event, wishing one day to be a hero of justice. Soon, he becomes tied up in the sixth ‘Holy Grail War’, in which seven masters with seven servants battle to the death to obtain an ultimate power with the ability to grant wishes. Despite having limited magic skills, Shirou experiences a twist of fate when he summons the most powerful servant, Saber. Along his battles he learns that each servant contains the spirit of a fallen hero, and that the event that orphaned him is not only linked the las...

Power Rangers Ninja Storm is the 11th season of the Power Rangers franchise, the second to be made under Disney copyright and the first to be filmed in New Zealand. While Ninja Storm is considered by many to be a parody of sorts, lovingly poking fun at both Power Rangers and ninja tropes alike, its also a series that meets mixed response. Shane, Tori and Dustin are students at the Wind Ninja Academy. One day, the academy was attacked by Lothor, a banished ninja master who has returned to take over. Shane, Tori and Dustin are the only three remaining students, and along with Sensei and his son Cam, retreat into the underground Ninja Ops. There, the three are given morphers, which allow them to transform into Wind Rangers to protect the city of Blue Bay Harbor from Lothor's forces. Lothor soon raises the stakes by sending his new allies to battle the Wind Rangers - the Thunder Rangers Blake and Hunter, who are on a mission to destroy the Wind Rangers' Sensei, who they believe...