Author: psgels

Showa Monogatari – 10

by psgels, posted in Showa Monogatari



And with this we’re finally done with the preview episodes, and it’s finally time for this series to wrap itself up. The big focus on this episode was Yuuko. My memory may be a bit fuzzy on this point, but I’m surprised that she still stuck with that guy after he failed to take her to that love hotel. It’s a major episode that shows her getting in trouble by stealing something from a store.

Seriously though: the drama in this series is really down to earth. First of all the big drama of this episode didn’t revolve around the world getting destroyed or somebody dying, but instead on someone stealing a record from the Beatles. This show actually succeeds in creating good drama from that, but what’s even better is that this episode also succeeded in delivering some good drama on something even more mundane: Kouhei’s father having a terrible day at work. Whereas the foreshadowing of Yuuko’s adventures could have been a bit more subtle, her father’s bad temper has been around the entire series and this episode showed really nicely the troubles he has controlling this, alongside raising a teenaged daughter at a difficult age and a son as he hit the bratty age.

Speaking of which: Kouhei was in the background again with his tasks mainly reduced as a narrator, foreshadowing for other characters and trying to draw his father for homework. This is where he fits best. The drama around him has by far been the least interesting of the entire series, so it’s always good to see the focus on the rest of the cast.

Also, it’s been five months since this show debuted, with only one episode subbed. With Hyouge Mono I can understand the delay: it is really complex to understand. But seriously: the dialogue in Showa Monogatari is not difficult and quite easy to understand.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Gintama – 212

by psgels, posted in Spring 2011 Kaleidoscope



Ideally, we’d want a list of exactly what kind of episodes of Gintama’s sequel are worth watching and which ones aren’t. It’s going to make this series much more accessible to the ones who can’t be bothered to sit through the bad episodes at this point. I myself am nudging more and more to that group. In any case, let me at least start for the first eleven episodes of the second season:

Skippable: Episodes 1-7
Worth watching: Episodes 8-11

The first eight episodes were random stories, where episodes 9 to 12 consist out of the Otose arc. This Otose arc is really recommended, more on that below. As for the random episodes, the only one that I can really recommend is the eighth one, in which the characters start toying with recap episodes again. Out of all of the running gags, that’s the one that still works at this point. I also wouldn’t really recommend the Catherine episode: that one was basically the creators screaming “Find this sad!” It didn’t even prepare for the Otose arc either.

In any case, I remember clearly that the first episode focusing on Otose (I believe it was episode eleven, so this goes way back) was the point where I first realized that the original series would be something special, and not just a focus on good laughs. Finally, 200 episodes later we see this story continued, and at the very least I’m glad to have stuck with this series at this point, because the added background to Otose was just excellent.

Oh, and Otose’s younger form was awesome. It usually works great when a younger version of a character is shown to illustrate how much he/she changed, but for an old lady this works even better. The story created around this was just great: it’s both tragic, yet unlike the Catherine episode it’s not just there for cheap cries. It adds a lot of new stuff to Otose’s character and it feels genuine for nearly all of the involved characters.

Now, I hardly ever edit posts aside from fixing typos, but with this one I’ll continue updating the above list for as long as I keep watching this series. I’ll probably drop this series some time around the beginning of the Summer season, due to how incredibly busy it’s looking out to be, so let me know when any new awesome episodes pop up from this series.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Hana-Saku Iroha – 11

by psgels, posted in Hana-Saku Iroha



And with this, Hana-Saku Iroha stepped out of the shadow of its first two episodes. This episode once again was great, and full of emotions.

It was a bit random, but nevertheless a great way for Ohana to get back to her mother. Ending up writing a scathing review of the inn where both her daughter and mother work. The tension between her and Ohana in this episode was just amazing, and after that this series managed to make things even better by also involving Ko in the equation.

It was indeed a bit early for me to call her part of the love triangle, but at least I was right about her having a crush on Ko: the signs about her introduction were all there. What I didn’t expect however was for Ko to turn her down. That scene between him and Ohana at the Wac Donalds was some excellent romance: it played with the distance between the two and Ohana’s shyness, without making it a simple “will they won’t they?” This episode also rocked because the creators stuffed in a ton of those small details, like Ohana crumbling that piece of straw wrapper.

Overall, I know that I’ve been a bit harsh on this series while it still was building up. In the past I would have had the patience to indeed wait until it get the chance to show its true colours. However, 2010 unfortunately made me very sceptical of those kinds of series that promise to get better later on. It felt like half of the long shows failed to do that despite the huge luxury in episodes they received: Heroman, Nurarihyon, Arakawa Under the Bridge and Index II all failed to live up to their promise to get better. Then there are the series like Kaichou wa Maid Sama which despite the fact that I dropped them early on, I really doubt that they were able to redeem themselves. On top of that there were Durarara and Letter Bee Reverse, which both decreased in quality during their second halves and Star Driver, which promised to get better, only to remain pretty much consistent throughout its entire run. There was only a relatively small fraction of 22-26-episoded that started in 2010 that actually made good use of all of its build-up (Giant Killing, Rainbow, Denyuuden, Uragiri and Shiki).

That’s why I’m really glad that so many long series this season seem to head into the right direction, but as long as they don’t I unfortunately have to remain a bit (okay, very) sceptical.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Deadman Wonderland – 09

by psgels, posted in Deadman Wonderland



So this wasn’t meant to be the most surprising episode: right from the start it was clear that everything would go to hell in this episode, with a traitor right in the middle of everything, just about every part of the plan was set to be sabotaged and brutally murdered, which is exactly what happened.

And yeah, I guess that the way in which Ganta survived was pretty plausible. On top of being lucky enough to have the single most powerful character in the series as his ally, he also was the only child in this operation: it makes sense for the others to want to protect him, and at least make him end up outside. The whole explosion also made sure that the priest didn’t just go and murder him on the spot. Really, as long as things remain this way I have no problems with it. This show just needs to avoid pulling another Olympic medallist.

Also, the death scenes: they also were well done. The fact remains that Ganta went together with just a bunch of unnamed characters, but this episode made sure to at least give them a character as a group, and highlight some of their personalities even though we don’t know anything about them. I was actually surprised that some of them actually survived (but then again the question will be for how long? I really hope that this show won’t see them as just cannon fodder after this point).

Also, the gore. This episode did not have any particularly well animated scenes, but it’s here where the script and scenarios were enough for the disturbance factor.

In any case, Manglobe: in terms of the biggest flaw of anime (ending in the middle of the storyline), this season has been really generous: out of all of the series that are about to end, only Deadman Wonderland really need a continuation, since TWGOK at the very least just got an OVA announced. Incidentally, both are Manglobe series. The manga at the very least still seems to sell surprisingly well, but I stopped uselessly anticipating these unannounced sequels a long time ago. I’ve just seen too many awesome series that didn’t get their continuation.

At the very least though: Deadman Wonderland will not be a pointless series. This past season has had enough points that made it worth watching. That’s quite rare for the series of this length.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Ao no Exorcist – 09

by psgels, posted in Ao no Exorcist



And here Ao no Exorcist proves that it too can write a great climax. It’s a bit late compared to the other shows this season, but heck: this episode rocked. It showed that the formula of this series definitely works.

This episode was rock-solid: The previous episodes just made it seem that Satan started to send his minions to fetch Rin. This episode however revealed that there was much more to it than just that, and evolved into an exam that got out of hand. This too is a staple of shounen series, but rarely do we see it executed so short but sweet.

And here’s the thing with this series: it was annoying to get through, but I’m really enjoying the characters right now.In fact, the dynamics between Rin, Yukio and the others really culminated together in this episode, above how this episode flowed really nicely from one twist to the other. Heck, even the two characters who had been silent up till now finally spoke and added some charms to this episode. Now that’s a great sign!

It’s also here where this series shows that the motivations for the main character to get stronger are much better than usual. Becoming the best or getting power to protect someone, they all have this been there done that mentality, not to mention that just that can become really one-sided. Rin doesn’t exactly want to protect: he wants his enemies to stop involving innocent people. That’s a lot more interesting to watch. And of course I’m not asking for every show to have a deep background for its character (heck, the lead of the Law of Ueki, one of my favourite shounen series ever has the simple motivation of wanting to win a contest), I’m asking for it to be interesting: toy with it; show other characters who can relate to that, use it to get into interesting situations. This episode was a major step into the right direction for Ao no Exorcist. Now keep this up!
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Tiger & Bunny – 11

by psgels, posted in Tiger & Bunny



Haha, the creators actually found a use for Origami’s powers! Usually when a character has weak or unusual powers, the creators hardly ever make full use of them. And this episode did exactly what I hoped with Origami by turning him into a spy.

My only complaint is that he’s a bit of a bad actor. Apart from that this episode was all about the parts about Superheroes that don’t involve fighting: hostages, public relationships, politics and infiltration. It was a nerve wrecking episode because of how easily the villains would be able to kill off half the city if they run into something they don’t like. The part after the ED shows that Origami indeed had been found out, so who knows what could happen to him? This arc so far has looked really eager to subvert some superhero tropes.

Also, I love how at first, this series appeared to have all sorts of convenient plotholes… that actually make perfect sense. Now that’s some good writing here. If Ouroboros is indeed in control of some of the most powerful figures in the city, then these people as opposed to Origami Cyclone, are some great actors.

Oh and this episode also revealed something major about the backstory of this series: the original hero guy? He’s dead right now. This gives a very interesting twist to his whole backstory: was he aware about the corruption in the city when he was still working? Or did he die fighting that exact corruption?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

X-Men – 10

by psgels, posted in X-Men




Seriously, now this is what I’m expecting out f a great action series. This episode filled in what this show had been missing so far: an engaging storyline. It finally revealed why everyone had been doing the things they did, and it worked wonderfully. It was a bit of a wait (heck, the series will be over in just two episodes), but this episode was exactly what this show needed to really put that sense of urgency to the whole conflict. I admit, Sasaki Yui turned out to be a great villain.

Now, this episode did have a few problems, but those are just minor bugs. It’s a bit strange why everyone just stood around casually chatting while the big bad guy was already getting his hands o the ultimate super weapon. They were lucky that he was waiting for his subordinate to arrive or he could have just left without any of them noticing.

a subordinate who looks downright creepy by the way. What I also liked about this episode was that despite the fact that it was an exposition episode, it still had plenty of action that just kept moving forward. In fact, that’s always been the strength of this show: the way it balances its action. There’s neither too little nor too much, and what’s there delivers. This episode only reinforced my beliefs that this show has the best animation of the season.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Gosick – 21

by psgels, posted in Gosick



Interestingly this was the kind of episode that started off rather dodgy, only to redeem itself as it went on. It’s strange, but as the episode went on I caught myself getting irked at quite a few things, and yet when the episode ended it justified all but one of them.

So let’s just get the one wonky part about this episode out of the way first: I usually really like it when a series tells its story through a play, but this was a rather silly example of this trope. The entire play was silent, only to be narrated by the audience. That… didn’t mesh in the slightest.

Also, as Victorique explained the mystery of the Coco Rose, something really felt missing. The whole story just didn’t match up to the previous arcs. So of course she only told part of the truth as a refusal to cooperate with the ones who tried to use her. It really begs the question as to why her father put so much faith into her, but this was actually a pretty good strategy of her to just break this faith and getting him to lose interest in her. Right now she has found an ally in Kujou, which allowed her to do the thing she previously couldn’t do out of fear of being alone.

The way in which Victorique suddenly announced that Leviathan was the daughter of the queen was completely random, made no sense and only made the Leviathan story less interesting, so I’m glad too that that was a lie. My guess is that somewhere, she read that the queen had a servant who looked just like her, and with that she was able to piece everything together as soon as she found out about the baby she had. The way in which they just “bumped” into the real queen at the end was… convenient to say the least, but it was a great way to close off this arc and fill up the gaps.

The Coco Rose still isn’t the most interesting arc of Gosick, but it still turned out to be much better than expected. With three episodes left, the finale will probably start next episode. I originally thought that the final arc would just flow out of the Coco Rose arc, but instead this episode left us with a really bored main villain and the main characters returning home.

Instead we’ll be getting a short final arc of only three episodes. It’s here where the creators of the anime need to show what they’re worth: short finals are either awesome or really rushed.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Hyouge Mono – 10

by psgels, posted in Hyouge Mono



I will be talking about major spoilers right here, so people who are still following the subs (really, do give it a chance despite their slowness! This show is much, much harder to translate than any other series this season) might want to look away. I warned you. This sentence is meant to prevent spoilers from showing up in aggregator sites.

That was one of the most badass deaths I’ve ever seen. I mean, holy crap. I never expected the creators to kill off Oda Nobunaga this early in this series despite being the second most important character in the series, but the way in which he went was just completely mind-blowing. His final words were just the epitome of manliness. I couldn’t pick up whether that pot he obtained had anything to do with it, but either way: the beginning of this episode was just incredible.

And besides that, this completely changes everything about this series. Sasuke now finds himself without the master he’s been loyal to for sixteen years now (that was the right number, right?), and if I’m not mistaken, he has gotten dangerously close to accessing one of those three so-called legendary ceramics. What the hell is the rest of this series going to be about!?

The pacing also was just amazing. The slow way in which every scene played out was an amazing build-up, plus the graphics also were better than ever. I can’t believe how smooth the animation got at certain points here: that was like, completely fluid. The creators really did a wonderful job in order to bring this story to life, and the direction also was just fantastic, creating an impeccable atmosphere. I’ll stop now before I run out of adjective. Bottom-like: one of the riskiest and most unique shows of the season showed here once again that it’s one of my favourite shows of the season.
Rating: **** (Fantastic)

[C] The Money of Soul and Possibility Control – 09

by psgels, posted in The Money of Soul and Possibility Control



Yeah, this was rushed, but then again, it already was clear that C was too ambitious for Noitamina. At the very least though, it hasn’t followed the same path as Eden of the East: this series has not slowed down, and instead of skipping things, it’s trying to do as much as possible in the time it has remaining.

But heck, this show is rushed, but at the very least it’s still able to get its messages across. That for me puts it ahead of shows like Eden of the East which too was ambitious but just got its entire pacing wrong when trying to fit its story in its limited time, and Kuragehime which just gave up at the final episode.

But I have to praise everything around Mikuni in this episode: this episode showed him sacrificing the country’s future (read: children) in order to catch the shock-wave that was caused from the south east Asia market. It was both wonderfully directed and it continues to flesh out the whole setting here. And heck, loaning out your future sounds very abstract, but what most people are doing here is actually loaning out their children for money. There still are many questions here, for example it keeps getting hinted that Mashu is Kimimaro’s daughter, but then it makes no sense that his father walked around with one as well.

The weak point of this episode was the drama around Kimimaru, or at least that’s what I thought when watching this episode. Thinking back, it’s just poorly acted. The reason the kiss felt weird was because the animation was very wonky and the dialogue clunky. In terms of character development they did exactly what they needed to and strengthened the plot by showing what Mikuni did to the people of Japan. The acting is still bad, but I’m really surprised that this show hasn’t fallen apart under the weight of its own plot yet. And that’s the thing it needs to remember: yeah it’s flawed, but as long as it doesn’t run into a wall it can still end up as a really worthwhile series. The big pitfall for this one right now is leaving a bad aftertaste: the final episode will be crucial for this one.
Rating: ** (Excellent)