Author: psgels

Hana-Saku Iroha – 22

by psgels, posted in Hana-Saku Iroha



Um… people; I just realized something: 1.

That’s the number of currently airing series where both parents of the main characters are still alive. Usagi Drop is the freaking ONLY one who has confirmed that! With Hana Saku Iroha we could thus far still dream that Ohana’s father was some horrible bastard who left his girlfriend as soon as he got her pregnant. What happened to the days of Noein, where parents could simply get… divorced or something? The best thing we can hope for at this point is for Sket Dance’s Yusuke’s father to be a raging workaholic who is never at home or something.

Having said that though: I loved this episode, for a lot of different reasons. First of all: the creators did not wait until the last episode to resolve the Tohru subplot. Tohru now knows about Minko’s crush on him, he won’t be misinterpreting hints from her anymore, and with Ohana totally uninterested in him, it will be a matter of time before his crush on her fades.It’s nice to see all of this happen gradually, but more importantly: the creators had other plans for the climax. Plans that indeed involve dissolving the Kissuiso, allowing everyone to go their own way. It’s the best way for everyone to really shine, and to pack in a ton of character development for everyone. I applaud the creators for going that route!

The characterization for the wedding also was wonderful, making this a really heart-warming episode. Enishi and Takako really came together as a couple here, and the subtle details, like them holding hands were nicely animated as well. Ooh, and Ohana’s mother has finally returned! Next episode she seems to be making an even bigger appearance, which is going to make that finale even more awesome.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée – 09

by psgels, posted in Ikoku Meiro no Croisée



Now, don’t get me wrong, this episode was wonderful. However, it did feature the big one; the cliche of cliches: the childhood friends. Instead of having Claude and Camille dating at their fifteenth or sixteenth, the creators consciously chose to show a romance between young kids of around ten years old. Here it makes sense: the theme of this episode would not have worked with older characters, but this is really something that lazy anime just keep using over an dover again.

This is something that has always baffled me about Japanese culture: how serious they view the romance between children. Instead of just playing tag, with everyone going his own way afterwards, anime seem to place a huge value on the memories they made as a kid. Instead of looking back at those childhood romances as an adorable quirk, every anime seems to believe those memories will decide your fate for your entire life. With this episode I was originally planning to question the Japanese culture again, only we’re talking about French kids here. But then again, I’m not French either. Are the French obsessed over childhood romances as well?

Anyway, the reason why I consider it to be such a bad twist is because it’s forced and overused. The big problem being the former, and the latter is the thing that made it worse. Nine times out of ten, when a childhood friend becomes involved, this is just reduced to a flashback, and a cheap excuse to get the main couple dating. It’s like saying: “I’m too bland for you, but we used to play tag together!” – and anime just keeps using that as an excuse.

In this episode things are different, though. It definitely had its purpose; this is a series about cultural differences. Not just between the French and the Japanese, but also between generations and between social classes. The childhood romance wasn’t used as a cheap romance, but instead to give Claude and Camille even more character. It added a ton of things to both the cast and the setting, on top of being adorably executed. And seeing Claude’s father was a plus too.

Here’s the thing with this show: it’s forcing me to reconsider the stereotypes I have in my mind about anime cliches. It’s not like Ao no Exorcist, which just has a bunch of cliches and executes them well, no this is really thought-provoking and it’s forcing me to take a different look at things I took for granted. Now that’s great storytelling.

Also, the tea ceremonies immediately gave me flashbacks to Hyouge Mono. I can not watch those anymore without picturing these overly obsessive faces along with it. It was quite good though: again it was a neat way to show how different something simple like tea can be. Plus, the way in which the Japanese sit. Because the bodies of Asians are slightly different from Europeans, they can sit like that much more naturally. I find it particularly murderous for my legs when I’m forced to sit like that for more than ten minutes.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Ao no Exorcist – 20

by psgels, posted in Ao no Exorcist



The problem with the fillers is that they derail certain characters at times. This time the most obvious was once again Yukio, but Mephisto also acted weird and inconsequential. First this guy gets all serious, and after a really random intervention from the Vatican that he could have stopped easily, he just walks away, abandoning his students that are held hostage. Make up your mind, will ya?

But yeah, Yukio: I still am not buying his subplot. It’s annoying and just feels forced. Like the Konekomaru arc, he’s overreacting way too much and just keeps on angsting about having to protect his brother. That’s just not interesting and gets annoying really fast. It’s not the kind of subplot you’d hold secret for the viewer, especially since they’re being so un-subtle about it.

The rest of this episode had the right spirit, though. Rin’s classmates have been handled quite well in this original story, and this episode solved the biggest barrier between him and them: Rin’s flames. He may have learned to control them a bit too sudden (isn’t it more logical if you gain control of flames like that gradually over time?) and that teacher also was surprisingly interesting. Again pulling his wife in was a bit cliched, but there definitely is more potential in him now than Satan.

Also, why does Yukio shoot with tranquilizers? I mean, with Rin I can understand and all, but against monsters who threaten the lives of his friends. Dude, get a bazooka or something. Anything better than those “it may look like I’m carrying a lethal weapon, but THOU SHALT NOT KILL, KIDS!”-phony weapons.
Rating: (Enjoyable)

Kami-Sama no Memo-Chou – 08

by psgels, posted in Kami-Sama no Memo-Chou



Yup, now that this arc has officially finished, I can say that it’s the best arc of Kami-Sama no Memo-Chou so far. The two extra episodes really did it, and allowed this series to really create a surprisingly interesting story with some very creative twists. Oh, and Narumi… he actually popped up as a very good leader; that’s not something that many of his counterparts can boast here.

So I have been rather busy lately, so I don’t have as much time as I’d like to really speculate what’s going on. Because of that the truth behind the mystery really came out of left field for me, and that made it all the more satisfying. I love how nearly all makes sense with the build-up that these past four episodes have put into it.

the only thing that I’m a bit iffy about is the Fourth’s reasons for keeping silent. I mean, I understand them, but Renji was willing to destroy everything he built up, which basically involved him putting the lives of everyone loyal to him on the line. Was that really worth it for a simple pride issue? The only thing I can think of is that he didn’t expect Renji to go as far as he did.

I really wonder: can the final four episodes top this? It al depends on what kind of material they’re gonna adapt. The thing is: I do not think that this will get a second season. The thing with JC Staff is that they in general are very loyal with their series… and yet Aoi Hana did not get a sequel (this has been confirmed: disappointing sales were the reasons). Based on recent years this was about the only series of theirs that really left with an open end and that did not get a sequel along the way… but then Uragiri and Yumekui Merry came around, both with disappointing sales. In the same way, I really can’t see Kami-Sama no Memo-Chou’s sales to turn out good. It does have the typical JC staff tropes, but it executes them in a completely different way from usual, to the point where there’s hardly any cliched moe left at this point. Even Alice’s antics are nothing like her counterparts (we can thank her excellent voice acting for that; I shiver at the thought of them putting Rie Kugimiya on the job again…). The problem is that this is just all speculation, of course. It’s gonna take years before we fully know whether this is true.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Tiger & Bunny – 22

by psgels, posted in Tiger & Bunny



Um yeah. That’s possible too. I really kept wondering on how the creators would end up solving the memory alterations of Maverick. The previous episode built up an epic plan to do that, and it really looked like Tiger was going to have to try his best to both convince everyone, while not being too cheesy at the same time. Or just wait for Kaede to show up and zap everyone back.

It’s a bit weird at first, but as the episode went on I really appreciated what a great anti-climax this was. After all, this episode did avoid exactly what I was afraid of: cheesy monologues for every single one of the side characters. Instead, Tiger’s attempts were shown to have some subtle influences, but they just weren’t enough for the team mentality of the heroes who worked together. In the meantime, Sky High’s brilliant action of touching Kaede on the shoulder still leaves the perfect opportunity for Kotetsu to really scrape the barrel in trying to get the memories of his friend back: for a lot of different characters, this indeed would have been rather weird.

Added to that was that the characters were just incredibly enjoyable throughout the entire episode. Just about everyone shined and was fun to watch. The cast of Tiger & Bunny really has what I’d like to call the X-Factor for me: it’s hard to describe, but beyond well developed and acted, they put in this extra bit to make them even more interesting, and make them consistently enjoyable, even when they’re not doing anything. For me, this is one of the greatest heights a cast can reach. This series has had episodes that hinted to that very much in the past, but this episode sealed the deal.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Hyouge Mono – 19

by psgels, posted in Hyouge Mono



Finally, after two weeks we’ve got more Hyouge Mono again. While the wait was terribly long, it did make me realize again how special this series is, and how this series just does not care about how many conventions it screws.

The details in the animation once again were sublime. This series may not have a big budget or anything, but the animation when Hideyoshi performed that dance was just amazingly smooth and powerful. On top of that, the amount of detail this series puts in its characters’ facial expressions still is completely un-rivaled. This makes it able to bring its characters alive in such a unique manner.

Even though this was a lot of building up, it’s still a ton of fun to watch Sasuke build up his own… um… “empire”, while at the same time, the focus is really starting to shift towards Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who after Oda Nobunaga rose up to try and unite Japan. I really wonder how this series is planning to use its length. It seems the most logical point to end would be where Tokugawa Ieyasu manages to unite japan successfully. It’s just… how will Hideyoshi and Sasuke play their parts in this? I mean, according to History the hostilities between the Hashiba and Tokugawa clans will end with Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s influence. At this point, I can still so many barriers before that’s gonna happen.
Rating: ** (Excellenty)

Blood-C – 07

by psgels, posted in Blood-C



At first sight it may seem that Clamp are just reusing the same things, though they’ve actually succeeded quite well by now in building their own universe. The wish in this episode was the best example of that so far for this series: it’s of the same type of wish as with xxxHolic, Tsubasa Chronicle and Kobato, but instead of just being the same, they strengthen each other and are all different ways to look at the same concept. This episode is all about the nature of wishes: is this one going to be a good or a bad one?

This again was a very powerful episode, as it revealed that Saya’s father had pretty much been deceiving her. It’s also where the build-up of the earlier episodes comes into play again, and nothing really turn out what they seemed to be. If the earlier episodes would have immediately stated this, this revelation would not have been as powerful.

On the animation front, it is a bit of a shame that the creators couldn’t hold on to the amazingly fluent animation of the first few episodes; probably due to budget issues, but I’m glad to see that they’re still trying. Especially when that giant swordsman attacked: you could actually see him put his weight into his blows (Saya really needed her supernatural strength in order to be able to defend from forces like that!), and he really felt like he made an impact on the scenery whenever he went, destroying just about everything he stepped on, rather than just leaving giant foot-prints like a lot of other shows like to do. The attention to detail still is abundant.

Also, and this is something I just realized while up this entry… we have a dog who is the owner of a shop who sells wishes… voiced by Jun Fukuyama. Could it be? I’m getting some serious Kobato flashbacks here.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Mawaru Penguin Drum – 07

by psgels, posted in Mawaru Penguin Drum



WTF, Penguin Drum. Just… wtf…

The first half of this episode was predictable enough. Heck, it was even so predictable that I was ready to label it as the least interesting episode of Penguin Drum so far. That actress is shrewd, and this episode pretty much was dedicated to showing the announcement of her engagement with Tabuki for its first half, with the most worthwhile parts being the references to classic shoujo. Ringo still didn’t really do anything worthwhile to stop it and was about to give up, so probably she shouldn’t have any more need for the diary, which would pretty much allow Shouma to take it. Or at least, that’s what I thought would happen.

Then came the toad scene. What the hell were the creators smoking when they came up with that one?

Ringo in this episode…. got completely deranged. I knew she was a bit weird, but this episode just made her outright crazy. And I don’t mean in the way that anime usually portrays crazy people, with lots of yelling and over the top laughing and stuff. Instead her plans to outright rape her teacher completely took me out of left field. I knew that this series had balls, but I did not expect them to be this big. This looks like it’s full of romantic cliches, and then it just keeps subverting the hell out of them.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Summer 2011 Kaleidoscope – Week 34

by psgels, posted in Summer 2011 Kaleidoscope



Just a note here: I’m going to be really busy for the upcoming weekend again, so expect some delays. This Saturday I’ll be at Abunai Con, one of the biggest anime conventions in the Netherlands. If you happen to go as well, let me know. 😉

Sket Dance – 21
What a surprise: I was getting tired of this series at this point, and here it comes with one of its best episodes so far. The creators pretty much removed one of the stereotypes from this series. Giving the goth emo girl a make over isn’t anything new, but even before that makeover, this episode treated her as a character who could just hold a normal conversation, instead of overplaying her own stereotype. On top of that, it was rather fun to just see the main cast hanging out. And to have a boy and a girl go out without turning it into a romance. It even toys with that very effectively. The drama during the previous episodes of Sket Dance was rather cheesy, but this worked really well. Just… what was that shiritori thing at the end of it?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Usagi Drop – 08
I have one criticism for the episodes of Usagi Drop so far: Compared to other slice of life series my emotional investment is not as big as it could have been. This show is undeniably well executed, but the emotional connection with the characters could have been done better for me. Cue this episode, which was packed with tons of subtle emotions. Rin’s mother was great when she finally saw her daughter again, Rin was great when she learned about grandpa’s flowers, and Daikichi was gtreat standing in the middle of it. This episode was very good at portraying the feelings of the different characters.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Kamisama Dolls – 08
Interestingly enough this episode included some nice jabs at the usual fanservice cliches. Beach episode? Haha! Typhoon! Is the restaurant owner going to let his daughter and a young girl dress up in weird outfits? Of course not! There unfortunately was some fanservice that was used straight, but none of it was solely for the sake of fanservice. The second half of this episode once again was excellent, and I especially love the way in which this series is turning the female lead into more than a pair of boobs who stand on the side-lines or get kid-napped. The best part though is that I can still see this one closing off well! The episode ended with everyone back in Tokyo. Five episodes should be enough to give all of them a good climax and to wrap up all of the main plot lines. The thing I’m anticipating the most is Kyouhei’s background. The thing is: the previous episode was excellent, but I really feel like Kyouhei only told part of the truth: it in no way explained why Aki hates him so badly, nor does it explain the very first scene of the first episode.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Sacred Seven – 08
What the hell, man? What the hell? Sacred Seven, you had an awesome OP. Why did you switch it out for something cheesy like that? Beyond that, this series did so many things wrong. It could have been so much, and yet it’s completely boring. As much as the trolls would like to convince you, the reason for that isn’t Arama. He’s pretty good, he just plays his part. He has a decent backstory and he’s interesting to watch as this tall awkward guy. The big problem is that every single other character is completely boring. I actually can’t think of any sort of exception unless you start looking at the characters who just appear for one minute. This episode was without a doubt the worst. Why did the creators find it a good idea to turn this into a dating sim? Ruri completely degraded what character she had left.
Rating: – (Disappointing)

No.6 – 08

by psgels, posted in No.6



Well, so I did not expect No.6 to be this… young. True, everything looks futuristic and there aren’t any real old buildings aside from the slums and all (which probably were built on top of some scrap and ruins), but for this series to be around twenty years old at most They really put in effort to mind-screw everyone within that amount of time. I don’t understand one thing about the background exposition of this episode though: it was mentioned that the six numbers were the only six spots of fertile lands left. So what about Nezumi’s birthplace? That had all kinds of trees growing there and didn’t seem to be a number.

What’s also quite strange: Nezumi wore girls’ clothes even in his flashback. I guess it makes sense for him to pursue his acting career after that and all, but I still find it intriguing that this series acts like it’s the most normal thing in the world. This really is the age where his parents really had to consciously dress him up like that.

In any case, this episode was a great one for the plot. When the show will close off in three weeks with a ton of loose threads, we’ll at least know how No.6 originated and how it so rapidly grew to be such a totalitarian distopia. This really answered the biggest lingering questions, which is good for now. At this point it’s also obvious what the creators are going to intend to end this thing with: Safu’s rescue. That’s the problem with kidnapping, really: the character in question is rendered useless through the entire process. It’s aggravating when said character is such a good one and you don’t have many episodes to really show her off otherwise.
Rating: ** (Excellent)