Author: psgels

Kill La Kill – 04

by psgels, posted in Kill La Kill

Okay, so this was the ultimately pointless side story that receives none of the best animators and is just there for the creators to have some fun and goof off, resulting in a completely crazy episode that makes no sense whatsoever but was heaps of fun to watch. Yeah.

But yeah, the creators sure know how to keep this series varied with such a weird episode, even for this series’ standards. You could definitely see that near the end, the creators ran out of budget, but I suspect that the budget for this episode wasn’t that big to begin with. Hiroyuki Imaishi actually wrote the storyboard of this episode himself, which I think was to try and distract from this as much as possible.

First of all he definitely succeeded, because I had a lot of fun to watch this episode. And second of all, I really like this practice of using your best talents in order to make up for the flaws in your production team. Studio Trigger is new, so they still lack the staff to make a full fledged 2-cour series perfectly, but with this mentality they actually manage to keep things interesting, rather than using this episode as a way to stall time by just wasting their worst resources on this episode due to its lack of significance.

Oh and yeah, this episode brought on the guns. I suddenly got loads of flashbacks from Dead Leaves for some reason.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Samurai Flamenco – 03

by psgels, posted in Samurai Flamenco

Okay. That was awesome.

I already considered this series among the best of this season, and with this episode it surpassed itself, and this only is the third episode of 22. But just… this episode introduces this new character and he brings a totally new dynamic to the series that completely takes the piss out of both the mass media and the superhero business.

The characters here were brilliantly used. Turning the idol that Samurai Flamenco was based off into this semi-impersonator awakened so many different feelings in Masayoshi, and afterwards this spiralled into this bizarre publicity stunt in which Samurai Flamenco became Red Axe’s assistant, followed by some very unexpected character-development from Hidenori. Heck, this episode couldn’t have made better use of the trope of superheroes having to conceal their identity.

And yet, the characters in this series feel real. Of course there are nutters like Masayoshi walking around and all, but he too has common sense. When people fight here, they don’t use supernatural powers. Even Joji Kaname is just this really muscular guy; he doesn’t punch with superhuman strength, and yet the creators manage to portray him as this crazy stuntman. This is something that very few anime get right: juggling the balance between realism and entertainment.

But seriously, the chemistry between the characters just keeps getting better and better.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Galilei Donna – 03

by psgels, posted in Galilei Donna

A building up episode with a bit of action, neither the best nor the worst of its kind, but it did flesh out the characters, and it did so well and quite believably. What struck me here is that this show has very clearly defined the talents of the three main characters, up to the point where two of them were just completely useless now that nothing’s happening aside from some mecha battles, one of them in particular.

Hozuki basically deals with the science and mumbo jumbo in this series: her innocence combined with exploring the supernatural, and she handles the mecha battles. Hazuki meanwhile as the law student handles all of the diplomacy and is the most sensible in that area, keeping everyone together as well. Kazuki meanwhile just seems to excel at hand to hand combat, which there wasn’t anything of in this episode. So she had plenty of time to worry about the unneccessary stuff. It’s quite believably done, don’t get me wrong, but she also needs to get her time to shine after this, in the same way that the creators need to give Hozuki some flaws. Or at least something that doesn’t make her a god-moded teenager here who can do anything.

That’s the one thing that has me rather puzzled: this series went so out of its way to create a diverse cast, and here it has put one in a coma, one doesn’t want to go on an adventure, and one is missing in action for who knows how many episodes. There are two possible reasons for this: building up for later when all hell breaks loose, cleverly holding its cards back, or just making the girls as special as possible.

So yeah, the key is variety. But really: what are they going to do after this? That will be the key. Make things interesting!
Rating: 4,5/8 (Good)

Kyousogiga – 03

by psgels, posted in Kyousogiga

I remember how a few years ago, the Munto OVAs also got a full fledged TV-series in order to flesh out their setting. Well that turned out to be the cheapest way out: they just recapped the OVas 1 on 1 and slapped some flimsy conclusion at the end with some sequel bait, which was removed at the movie of the thing… Kyousogiga however is the complete opposite: with this series, newcomers to the franchise aren’t left out at all, and know right away that they need to go for the TV-series that has everything in it, and they managed to stuff everything in really well.

Also, unlike the previous episodes, this episode tells three stories at once: one third of the episode is about monk guy, one third about the scientist girl (also including episode 2 of the OVA) and the third part is about the present, which also ties the abovementioned two together perfectly so that this episode becomes more than just three mini-episodes packed together.

My favourite part was about the monk, though. I did not expect a character like him, who always was in the background, to gain so much depth. It’s quite astounding to see how much the creators did in so little time with this guy, but I love how this series is really trying to give depth to its entire cast. It really makes the setting also come alive.

Also, here’s another thing: am I the only one who noticed that most anime are quite lazy when it comes to aging characters? I mean, make characters a bit bigger, their hair a bit longer or shorter, and voila. Here, it took me a while to link the two monks to their younger versions: they really grew up and changed significantly, but parts of their childhood remained. A small but very clever detail.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Yozakura Quartet – Hana no Uta – 03

by psgels, posted in Yozakura Quartet

Having superpowered characters who are really hard to kill does take away a bit of the tension, but it fits strangely wellin the light-hearted tone of these past episodes. This episode was about the background of some of the characters here, and the nature of the setting of this series. The villain only made an appareance like, once or something?

But yeah, this was solid build-up, because we now have a good grasp on who the main character is like, having bascially the responsibilit of sending demons to this unknown dimension that might not even exist, basically potentially killing them: that’s great conflict, and this episode cleverly showed us how he chose to deal with this by holding out on this until the last moment, and first showing all of the different sides to the issue.

Also, there was that scene with the car that came out of bloody nowhere. That really grabbed my attention for a bit due to how raw the action was. This show is really light, with these sudden dark spots inbetween, and it mixes really well. However, the creators do need to be building up for something: this light hearted stuff is fine and all, but only for build-up. Stuff needs to actually get darker after a while. If only because that will show more opportunities for the animators to work their magic.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Nagi no Asukara – 03

by psgels, posted in Nagi no Asukara

Holy crap, that main character! This episode really was great! I really liked how this episode elaborated on the cultural differences between the fish people and regular humans, and all of the trouble that comes with trying to hook up with someone of the other side. The star crossed lovers here are done really well because of how this episode explored all of the implications it had, and how it involved the perspectives of a lot of different people here: elder, teenagers, adults, students. They showed many sides of the same coin.

But dear god, this kid acts like this angry bear in the way he constantly lashes out at everyone. I mean on paper he’s not a bad character and the point of his character makes sense, but his aggression is just waay overdone. He constantly screams, he constantly acts like he owns everyone, he constantly thrusts his nose into other people’s business. This guy really tries his hardest to be unlikable.

Character-development. The creators are definitely going for that, and I know from experience that Mari Okada can turn annoying characters around. But even then this guy is currently just stomping all over a perfectly fine show and his flaws are just caricatures. On top of that they just hurt the show by turning everyone off of it.

So yeah, unfortunately the creators here have done better. Mari Okada’s script for Ano Hana was much better, because it actually balanced the characters together. The same goes for the first three episodes of Hana-Saku Iroha (despite its really weird third episode), True Tears, The director, Toshiya Shinohara, is a guy guy who seems to need plot twists: that’s where he really knows how to deliver, as shown with Bantorra and Kuroshitsuji II. Nagi no Asukara unfortunately is at the moment too much of a standard series, and while you can see that the creators really try to throw in some good plot twists, the way in which the kids stand in this spotlight only ends up hurting this series.
Rating: 4,5/8 (Good)

Autumn 2013 Kaleidoscope – October 20th

by psgels, posted in Autumn 2013 Kaleidoscope

Phi Brain 03 – 02: Kaito, Rook: if you were in a giant room that was turning and moving around… you should have noticed that. I see that this series starts off well by pushing your suspense of disbelief to its limits. Everyone’s taking puzzles even more seriously here. The villains are basically “must… destroy… all puzzlers in the world!! All Puzzlers must die, so let’s beat them by using puzzles!” – I’m not kidding! But yeah, for the things that really mattered, this episode delivered. The characters were as fun as ever.

Ore no Nounai Blahblah – 02: Unfortunately a lot worse due to some bad direction and animation issues, but there still were plenty of good jokes in this episode.

White Album 2 – 02: Okay with this it’s definitely not like the first two White Albums. The whole belt thing was a bit weird, but you can see clearly what the creators are doing right now: setting up the love triangle. The attention to build-up is admirable, now the question is whether this show can make use of it, or whether it’ll just play the ‘boring’-card.

Little Busters – Refrain – 02: Okay, Little Busters, I have to hand it to you: this episode was amazing. I would not have minded at all if this were the ending of the series. This is wonderful as a conclusion. You can still ruin this by throwing in some harem-nonsense, but standalone this episode was the single best episode we’ve seen from Little Busters, BY FAR. Well, done!

Hajime no Ippo – Rising – 03: Awesome: Aoki has always been an incredibly likable side-character, so I’m trhilled to see that he got an actual arc dedicated to him here. That’s how I believe that the sequels are better than the original Hajime no Ippo series: it’s not just about Ippo. But yeah, tons of hilarity this episode on top of Aoki being really charming, and getting to fight the perfect opponent for him.

Kill La Kill – 03

by psgels, posted in Kill La Kill

So in a move to keep the pacing fast, this episode already broke the monster of the week formula, only to get back to it again next week. That’s good. Monster of the week can be awesome when done right, and having a fight with the main bad guy this early keeps things fresh. Aside from that, there are two other keys that are necessary for this format to work:
– ‘Interesting’ individual episodes (interesting can be anything, as long as it’s good)
– Building up to something, and using this at the end.

So far kill la Kill is on the right path. The fast-paced battles so far are enough to keep my attention from start to finish, and it’s too early to tell whether or not this is going to succeed in the long run, there still is potential for it either way, but it’s definitely not a bad attempt thanks to this episode spicing things up.

The acting also is pretty damn good: the villains all have presence and really are threatening, the main is engaging, and even that annoying side-kick for once is so weird that she’s somewhat endearing. You can really see that the creators here are big fans of old school anime, and they aim to put their own twists to them. Gurren Lagann was a homage to the mecha genre, Panty and Stocking were all about american cartoons a la Invader Zim and the Power Puff Girls, and now this show is about the school genre, taking the genre completely over the top using the exact tropes that were already abused so often and taking it over 9000.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Samurai Flamenco – 02

by psgels, posted in Samurai Flamenco

Samurai Flamenco is perfect for Noitamina: aimed at adults, creative, great characters, and really well written. I mean, Silver Spoon and Galilei Donna were nice and all, but this is going to be the next really big hit from the timeslot again after Psycho Pass.

There are two reasons why this show stands out. First of all is the characters: they are amazing. Pretty much the best of the season along with Kyousogiga. I can’t really say which are better at this point because both series have completely different ways in which they use their characters, but the chemistry between them is just amazing. Every character works well together.

Also, more than any other series, I have to say that this series is clever. Really clever. It may have an idiot as a main character, but everything is done very deliberately. Episode two played around with him brilliantly. It first portrayed his ideals as childish, immature, stupid. And then it completely turned things around, exactly by making this guy be the stubborn idiot that he is. That was actually amazing! You see, by far the majority of all stupid characters in any medium make the classic mistake of not knowing the difference between being “dumb”, and acting like you had your head lobotomized.

Our Samurai Flamenco clearly has issues, but he actually behaves like a character. He’s just simple minded and cannot see the results of his actions, and he lives in his own world.

And then there were these small details, like how this show also sheds some light on how much crap idol managers have to endure for their living, having nagging models on one hand, and the corporate drama on the other. She too is a great character.

I finally want to talk a bit about the guy who wrote all of this: Hideyuki Kurata. Why? Because this is a guy who has frustrated me for the past couple of years. Take a look at the shows that he adapted recently: The World God Only Knows, Asa no Yoichi, Dragon Crisis, Kannagi, all series with a terrible series composition. Oh, and he also did that Ore no Imouto show. That’s a pretty bad resume, right?

Well, the source of my frustration came from the shows he wrote before those: he’s the mind behind Read or Die, Now and Then, Here and There, Brigadoon, Kamichu, all brilliant and really creative series. What happened, really? Like with Manglobe, I at this point had given up a bit of hope on this guy, but right now it seems that he’s just really bad at adapting stuff. I dunno, but to me he just seems bored when he has to work on other people’s stuff, because his adaptations scream laziness all over. His original stories sparkle with personality, though. It makes me really wonder what happened. Couldn’t he land better jobs? Was he stuck in a rut?

Also, Manglobe. Really, the mentality they had when they created Samurai Champloo, Ergo Proxy, Michiko to Hatchin and House of Five Leaves: they need to get that back, even though it wasn’t commercially successful. Because those four series are an array of incredible series with a ton of creativity and heart. There really was a time at which Manglobe belonged among my favourite production companies, but yeah, we all know where that went. But at the very least they managed to stay alive despite their financial mishaps, so let’s hope that Samurai Flamenco will usher them to a strategy of a combination between cheap commercial driven series, and quality projects like this one.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Galilei Donna – 02

by psgels, posted in Galilei Donna

In order to be able to watch Galilei Donna, you need to be able to accept the fact that a middle schooler spent three years, cramped up in a basement, constructing a big goldfish airship and mecha including artillery, fancy interface and weapons. This stands out. A lot. Beyond that it’s an excellent thriller though.

Heck, we need more shows with a varied cast like this with lots of different ages together. What I really like is that the family has an entire history behind them already. They’ve basically fallen apart over the years, due to the divorce, the pushy mother and the diverging interests of the three daughters. That’s actually a pretty cool backdrop to start the series with, especially with so much going on here.

The end of this episode really did stress though that this series is about the girls, and not their parents, however I do hope that father and mother are going to be more than just damsels in distress. It’s been so long since we’ve had a series that had divorced parents, but it works so well. Just look at what Noein and Bounen no Xamdou managed to do with them. Here too, they deserve to be actual characters, rather than plot devices who are only important in the beginning.

So far though, I’m excited. There are plenty of series with action this season, but this series clearly stands out with its scope and ambition. It really aims to be a fast-paced and varied thriller, it goes for the epic, and in a good way. I feel that epic is way often abused, just to create some fake tension. It’s easy to give someone enough power to destroy the world. Blah, boring. This show fast-pacedly introduced a story that dates back centuries, it puts the protagonists against an organization that controls the police. The villains feel like a real threat, and the destruction that happens feels real, thanks to the talk about suing these buggers for destruction charges. Galilei Donna understood that, which is a great sign for the future.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)