What a surprise: a Deadman Wonderland episode that actually takes its time.
This was actually a very good premise of how an OVA should be done: this neither was pointless fanservice or random gags, but it also wasn’t just “another episode”. Instead we get to see the background of one of the side-characters: Senji. On top of that, this episode did not have the rushed pacing of the TV-series, and it actually gave ample time for Senji to show who he was before he ended up in the Deadman Wonderland prison.
What’s even stranger though is that the creators didn’t decide to show how he ended up in the prison, but instead focused this episode around the time when the prison got built (it was definitely a nice touch to see the setting of the TV-series still in its building stages by the way; that’s a neat way to flesh it out), focusing on how some of his friends got killed by some asshole who also happened to have those special blood powers.
This episode may not have been as interesting as the episodes of the TV-series, but it’s nevertheless a good source of background. The bad guys here were very stereotypical, but Senji got out of it as a better character. We also learn that there are more ways for people to get their special powers, compared to how Ganta got them in the first episode.
Here is the thing, though: Deadman Wonderland has completely bombed in terms of manga sales. Seriously, I couldn’t find sales numbers about this one at all, and that indicates that they were abysmally low. I’m much less bitter about this compared to Michiko to Hatchin not selling well, but the problem is Manglobe overall: they once were among the best animation studios out there, but they have really gone downhill since. Deadman Wonderland was their last chance, with the adaptation of a popular manga, but that too completely failed. With moe shows like Seiken no Blacksmith and TWGOK selling moderately well… the result is Mashiro-Iro Symphony. What a bloody shame.
Rating: * (Good)]]>
Author: psgels
Hyouge Mono – 26
And so ends the second third of this series. Yes, we still have 13 episodes to wrap everything up in what still is the must unique show of the year. The past ten or so episodes in particular, as they have completely forsaken warfare, in favor of diplomacy and esthetics. In this episode, Sennou Soueki stood out.
I’m still watching this thing raw, and this show still has unforgivingly difficult dialogue, so I didn’t get this perfectly, but my impression of this episode was that Sennou Soueki went a bit too far in promoting his ideals. Because he’s so revered, there are countless of cheap attempts in showing beauty through poverty and simplicity that completely miss the point. People like Sasuke who completely miss the point of art, just for the sake of being ironic. Again, this seems ver much like a satire on postmodernism. Also, I didn’t expect the creators to show his younger version with actual hair.
Beauty in the eye of the beholder was a theme that went throughout this episode as well, when it showed that weird frog painting and the weird expression statue, which elicited very different reactions from everyone.
And then the second half of this episode came with that very vivid nightmare of Hashiba Hideyoshi, in which he was the one cut in half. I swear, something is going to happen to him, but this show just keeps stalling that fact. It’s not necessarily dragging on, because it has enough to do in the meantime, but seriously, seeing this smug guy actually cut up would lead to some really interesting situations.
It’s also great to see that after 26 episodes, this show still is as detailed as it ever was. In particular that fire scene: the props were drawn with a ton of details within them, and you could really see how they were made. In fact, there have been many historical series before, but I can’t recall any that has this part nailed as well as this series.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>
Mawaru Penguin Drum – 14
Holy crap. Is there any limit to how high this show is willing to aim? This episode once again was completely amazing and heck, I can’t remember the last time in which this series didn’t deliver an awesome episode.
The twists in this episode were very surprising, and yet they fit so well. And heck, why didn’t I ask this myself sooner: what happened to the lesbians in a Kunihiko Ikura series? Well, this episode gave the answer when it suddenly revealed Yuri’s background from out of nowhere. I should have known: she was a bit too composed for this series. She was just very good at hiding her own issues, but her quirks fit in perfectly with this series. It’s a neat little twist for her to have been best friends with Ringo’s sister, and it actually gives a pretty plausible excuse for Tabuki to know her.
The rest of the cast was also excellent. The creators put a ton of emotions in the characters, and it really was a great example of angst done right: emotional, yet avoiding the story or characters to stagnate just because of that angst. Himari in particular was adorable (and seriously: something tells me that somewhere in the near future, her two friends are going to make a return, and I’m really looking forward to that). Kanba meanwhile was put into a bit of a strange situation: Natsume basically offered to cover the expenses for Himari, and he refused. He didn’t really strike me as a proud person before, so what could it have been that he’d even prefer cooperating with these shady men in suits?
I’m not sure if I’ve said this before, but one thing I also love about this show is how brilliantly it uses its music. Instead of just staying in the background, it is really well timed, and forces the atmosphere of each scene to really stand out. The best example of that in this episode was the car scene at the beginning, but also the ending did this really well.
This episode really didn’t attempt to hide the fact that this came from Utena’s director when it introduced cars and lesbians like this. The thing is however that he’s putting in so much new stuff in this series that it doesn’t really matter that he’s using ideas that he used before.
Rating: *** (Awesome)
ED: New song. Not as good as last week, but still some nice ideas and especially the second half is quite catchy.]]>
Persona 4 The Animation – 02
As for the shows I’m not going to blog:
– Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai is trying too hard. Both in being moe, and with the main character being a straight man.
– Maken-Ki is just stupid fanservice
– Mashiro-Iro Symphony… poor Manglobe. How deep you have fallen.
As for Persona, it won the contest, so I was guaranteed to blog this one. The worst case scenario has happened, however: it didn’t really have the best staff imaginable.
Now, for the record: I liked the first Persona anime, even though it had huge flaws. It was a good mystery story, with the big flaw that it kept using anti-climaxes over and over: every time you thought that an interesting cliff-hanger would finally spice things up, the next episode just continued like nothing happened. Now, this show will definitely not have this problem.
Seiji Kishi as a director lacks one major thing: subtlety. He likes to deliver things with bombast, which clashes rather with Persona, which apparently depends a lot on quiet moments. He’s more suited for fast-paced stories as Angel Beats and Kamisama Dolls, and his direction can really make those exciting and interesting. As for Yuuko Kakihara… well, let me just say that I never finished any of the series she wrote the series composition of: Sora no Otoshimono got repetitive really fast, Kamichama Karin was also a very uninspired mahou shoujo, and Jewel Pet Sunshine and Stitch were just dull kiddie shows. Her lack of experience on an actual well paced show really shows here, because the script is more busy with trying to cram the exciting bits into 24 episodes, rather than make the writing and pacing actually work. This is opposed to for example a series as Deadman Wonderland, which did cut a lot of exciting stuff, though the stuff that it didn’t cut was given the time and pacing to actually deliver.
And yeah, there’s the matter of the animators getting bullied by the animation directors. It’s just a rumour that originates from 4chan, so I’m not sure whether it is actually true or not, but if it is: AIC, you should be ashamed.
Now, it will be interesting to see whether this series is actually going to work or not, and I mean this in the overall build-up. This episode was a bit awkward, but it wasn’t bad. It rushed through the story of the pee guy, and left a lot of things for the viewers to assume (which isn’t always a problem, by the way) and it left way too little time for scenes to actually play out, but I got the gist of what it wanted to tell. Also a clever idea is the way the creators are using the main character and his personality charts in the eye catch. Both changed subtly compared to the opening episode.
However, please someone put that squeaky bear thing on a bus or something.
Rating: (Enjoyable)
OP: New visuals, and they look great.
ED: I have no idea why the ED is new, but this one too is pretty good. Addictive beat and simple but effective graphics.]]>
Chihayafuru – 02
As for the shows I’m not going to blog:
– Tamayura is great, but I’d rather cover a more eventful series. Let me get back to it when Bento or Last Exile turn out disappointing, though.
– Same for Kimi to Boku.
Chihayafuru though would be a no-brainer.So far it delivered the best opening of the new season so far (with Fate/Zero on second place, by the way). It sets itself apart through its characters: this and Tamayura are the only shows where they already come alive. And Tamayura cheated by already having four OVA episodes that preceded it. It’s a combination of a lot of factors. The animation is for example excellent, especially during the Karuta matches, but also the best still frames feel like the characters could just walk out of it.
The character designs here are wonderfully subtle, and Madhouse actually got itself a budget to make them shine. In fact, this season they are in no way plagued by their acting problem that has been bugging them for years now. Hunter X Hunter and Chiyahafuru have the perfect combination between good character-designs, while not being to complex, making them hard to animate.
The writing and acting also shine here, depicting the cast as gifted characters, but at the same time they’re still kids. The least interesting part is the reasons behind the drama and the cheap tricks that were pulled in this episode like hiding glasses (hey, they’re kids), but the way in which this show portrays emotions was really outstanding.
My question is: what can you do with Karuta to make this last for 26 episodes (and possibly even longer in manga-form)? Compared to Go and Shougi, it doesn’t seem as deep. I mean, as soon as you’ve reached the point where you remember every card in the game, doesn’t it just become like a contest of who can recite the digits of pi the fastest?
This is where the first episode comes into play though, because there that red-haired guy had the exact same worries that I’m having right now. This really started as a kid’s hobby and the three main characters will probably have a lot of fun playing Karuta in the future. However, the red-haired boy eventually grows to like other things, while the lead female wants to go further with it. I’m looking forward to see these kids change and grow apart, and Chihaya’s reasons for continuing to play on.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>
Some Quick First Impressions: Chibi Devi, Mirai Nikki and Mobile Suit Gundam AGE
Chibi Devi!
Short Synopsis: Our lead character receives a baby from out of nowhere.
Just… what the hell was that supposed to be? This was… so bad that it became hilarious again. This episode was five minutes long, and it featured some of the worst animation and most wooden characterization of the entire season. The plot where a bullied girl takes care of a devil baby who is literally dropped into her bed (I really do mean literally: there are two hands visible who really drop that thing from out of this random hole in the air) is just ridiculously stupid and the acting may be so stiff and wooden that it becomes hilarious, it’s the kind of hilarious that’s probably going to be fun one episode. Of five minutes.
OP: Those vocals! Make them stop!
Potential: 0%
Mirai Nikki
Short Synopsis: Our lead character has a stalker.
Ooh, I like this one. This one turned out to be an excellent suspense series, with a very creative premise of using diaries that can predict the future. This episode was especially good at portraying the main character, and especially relating in how he slowly realized how badly he has been screwed over; his reactions were just priceless, and it gives this show a whiff of psychological horror that I can really appreciate. This episode was well animated, which is also a plus and for once an episode was fast-paced, without rushing though everything. There was one part where this episode fell down, though: the bad guy of this episode. He was just… there and we really don’t know anything about him. The creators had better try harder for the next characters to run into our main character, because this has potential to become a really fun series. Oh, and finally a series has the balls to have school that doesn’t feature school uniforms. That gives the character designers much more freedom, and it shows: this show really has this unique look without having a particularly different art style.
ED: Clever
Potential: 80%
Mobile Suit Gunam AGE
Short Synopsis: Our lead character pilots a giant robot.
Oh you’ve got to be kidding me. The big selling point of Gundam AGE was that it would show a completely different version of the regular Gundam series. In the end though, all that that amounted to was a new coat. It actually did nothing to remove the most obnoxious parts of the franchise. The male lead still is a teenager who for very convenient reasons ends up piloting a giant robot stronger than all others, he instantly knows how to pilot it, the female lead is completely useless, and there is a lot of angst about how bad war is. Sunrise, for the love of god try something new for a change. Probably the most insulting part is how pathetic the military is: even though they have never been attacked, they’ve only got one capable pilot. On top of that, they allow a twelve year old boy to design new mobile suits for God knows how much money. Really guys: designing and coordinating such a large-scale project isn’t so easy that you can just take off to school at the same time. Oh, and another cliche: everyone is an idiot in order to make the male lead look smart. Throughout the entire episode he is the only one who worries about the incoming invasion. Please Sunrise: you’re mecha series rocked because of how creative they were. This is not the way to do it.
OP: You can see that a lot of budget was put behind this, but it’s just too mainstream to really work. The flying scenes are good, though.
ED: This is pretty decent, though.
Potential: 30%]]>
Phi Brain – 02
Well, so unfortunately the only part that didn’t turn out worse than the previous episode was the female lead. She’s likable, plus she knows her role as a support character. Apart from that, this episode had some annoying parts with the introduction of a new, rather obnoxious character.
Overall, this series is interesting, but flawed so far. The biggest flaw is that I have no idea how it’s going to be able to answer the why of everything: what is that bracelet that the main character found last episode and why is there an evil organization dedicated to making puzzles?
Also, you’d think that this series would focus on solving puzzles. Things turned out quite a bit different, though. The creators don’t even show the solutions to some of the puzzles, especially the smaller ones. Instead, this show is all about trying to come up with the most creative puzzles. When I first read about this series I thought it would feature a number of riddles in the same vein as Professor Layton and Spiral, but surprisingly every single puzzle in this show is an actual puzzle that is based on numbers and figures.
And granted, the puzzles that the creators came up with so far are very creative.
Rating: (Enjoyable)]]>
Fate/Zero – 02
I didn’t continue with the Fate/Stay Night anime after its fourth episode or so, and the most annoying parts of these past two episodes were definitely the younger versions of the harem members of that show (with the possible exception of Saber), but apart from that Fate/Zero really is a step above it. This second episode was even better than the first.
I like how much dialogue there is in this show, and yet this episode brought in the first action of the series, and the animation really scaled up a notch there. Especially the Assassin part looked really good, but even the quiet scenes were interesting to watch thanks to good acting. Berserker in particular is fun to watch, but I also really like that this series doesn’t really seem to have a main character. There are several villains, but nobody really seems to have enough screen-time to be really called the central character.
One complaint I do have is that the gore felt rather unsubstantial. It was a bit… too much here, and not really well built up, especially with the Caster slaughter. I mean, the thing that makes gore effective is not just showing a bunch of people getting murdered in the most brutal ways imaginable. It’s about giving it a solid context in the series and building it up well. This episode also established that for the servants, death is something like a temporary annoyance, rather than actually a big deal (there is no way for Assassin to be really dead at this point), which does take away a bit of the sense of urgency.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>
Hunter X Hunter – 02
As for the series I’m not going to blog:
– Let me get back to Bakuman when Mirai Nikki airs. It really seems to be better paced than last season, but I’m not entirely convinced yet.
– Squid Girl is funny, but much of the same.
– C3’s second episode indeed was better than the first, and the artistic direction at least was interesting. But the acting and direction still are terrible. Even during the “good” parts.
– Majikoi has no confidence in its own direction. If you’ve got an original concept, go for it. Don’t half-heartedly insert fanservice, harems and a horny dog in the second episode.
– Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon’s source material is way too big to fit in 26 episodes, and the second episode didn’t really seem in a hurry to get to the good parts.
As for Hunter X Hunter, here’s my issue: the animated version of the Yorkshin arc was perfect. What can this new version hope to add to it, and how long does it take to find this out? The guy behind the series composition has a rather questionable resume, so I’m really not convinced that he can really do justice to that arc. I’m not worried about dumbing down the gore or violence, but rather that the subject material and dialogue are dumbed down.
But ah well, it’s not like the first season was flawless. Its slow pacing in its first half worked at times (the running exam for example), but at others it took a bit too long (like with Killua’s home). If this show can solve these pacing issues, it’ll definitely be interesting to see where it’ll go. The animation is also quite good so far: the characters move quite a bit around, and interestingly there is none of the usual CG that Madhouse likes to overuse.
And yeah: I’m not going to pass up what pretty much is the cream of the crop in terms of shounen series. This show is miles above the likes of Naruto, Bleach, Fairy Tail and all of the other cliched shows that have loud-mouthed brats fight in over the top fights that take on for bloody ever, nor does it have cheesy romance. It’s full of creativity and imagination and what also makes it unique: every major arc is significantly different from the other. There is not one moment like the other. Now THAT takes some real skill. In the end, this is just too good to pass up, even though I’ve already watched this story.
This episode also was no disappointment and what I’m especially glad to see: it wasn’t dumbed down. Instead of just brainlessly fighting, the creators still required the characters to think, and they did. Kurapica in particular seems very intelligent, and he is definitely the best portrayed so far. Leorio’s voice actor is a bit of a mis-cast, but it probably won’t be hard to get used to him. Gon’s voice actress though… that really was a bad decision. She lacks experience, and yells too much.
Rating: * (Good)]]>
Some Quick First Impressions: Ben-To, Shakugan no Shana III and Sekai-Ichi Hatsukoi 2
Ben-To
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is hungry.
So, it’s finally time for my most anticipated harem show of the season, and this definitely is a step above all of the others. There is first of all the premise of this series, but on top of that it also had by far the best direction of the bunch. This first episode was well told, had some great ideas into it, and especially the way in which the creators used amnesia in this episode in order to introduce everyone worked well, but also the use of camera angles was quite inspired. David Production also delivers in the animation: they really have the talent to breathe life into characters who seem very generic at first. Also, here is the thing about the next-best harem shows this season: Horizon and Majikoi may be enjoyable, they’re also badly acted. This episode of Ben-To wasn’t. The acting was actually quite good. The male lead is one of the first to actually do impressions (including a bizarre Norio Wakamoto impression), the females are based on stereotypes, but their behavior tries to move away from that. and attempts to give them a more colourful personality. Oh, and the use of music also was very good: it was well timed, the soundtrack is creative and it helps building up the tension.
OP: It has energy, but still a bit dull.
ED: Not a bunch of images, but actually relates to the series, though it does seem rather cheesy. The song still is badly sung.
Potential: 80%
Shakugan no Shana III
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is gone.
Okay, so apparently things actually happened in the second season. I gave up on that one after its second episode so I wouldn’t know exactly how it happened, but what this episode seemed to hint at rather scared me a bit. Of course, it’s good to see that at this point Shana has predictably changed from tsun to dere, so there’ll be no more “urusai urusai urusai”, and this episode was admittedly better than Hidan no Aria’s opening(not that that says much, though), but seriously. Are the creators really building up to a cheese ball finale where Shana is forced to have to fight Yuuji? Is that what these 80 episodes are building up to? Such a soap opera twist?! Please tell me that I’m wrong. I mean, pulling such a thing for a novelty is one thing. but to make it the main focus of 80 whopping episodes!?
OP: Not bad, but nothing special either.
ED: This is dull J-pop, though, where the limitations of the singer are really shown.
Potential: 35%
Sekai-Ichi Hatsukoi 2
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is gay.
Here’s the thing with this series: cut it in half, remove the two non-main stories, and you’d have a very good story about a bunch of manga editors. The only reason why I dropped the original series is because it switched over to the second story, which put fanservice and blushing bishies before story and characters. This first episode of Sekai-Ichi Hatsukoi’s first episode reminded me again of why I originally liked the series: it’s good slice of life, it portrays the stress of being a manga editor quite well and it’s quite funny. There is progress: instead of dealing with manga authors, the main character now has to deal with colleagues and printers, which take a completely different set of skills. In terms of the romance though… I didn’t feel like I missed much actually. Only this episode developed the relationship between the two male leads further and really, they’re pretty interesting characters. The biggest thing that this series needs to worry about now is to avoid Junjo Romantica 2’s big pitfall of not going anywhere.
OP: Try to do something different for a change.
ED: Dull J-rock
Potential: 70%]]>