Author: psgels

Some Quick First Impressions: 30Sai ni Hoken Taiku, Sket Dance and Dororon Enma-kun Meera Meera

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

30Sai ni Hoken Taiku

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has never had sex despite being 30.
So yeah, this pretty much was set out to be the worst show of the season. Not only did it have a terrible premise, it was also produced by the creators of Tono to Issho, an abysmal comedy. Thankfully though, at least this show has a point: it takes censorship to the absurd, showing that censorship has nowadays been so bad that even sexual education gets pointlessly censored. Apart from that though… this was \just painful to watch. This still is a show about a 30 year old virgin who gets visited by a sex god. The animation is terrible, and the few good jokes that it has are ruined by a poor delivery. This pretty much is an endless slew of corny sex jokes and the lead character getting embarrassed. Stay away from this one, if it wasn’t obvious enough already.
OP: Cheesy J-pop.
ED: Well, at least the song isn’t bad…
Potential: 0%

Sket Dance

Short Synopsis: Our lead character run a club that takes care of random jobs.
This was a decent opening, both with flaws and strengths. The major flaw is that it’s trying to be funny, yet fails at this consistently. During the build-up parts of this episode, I was mostly bored, as nothing really interesting was going on. On the other hand though, it did deliver the twist at the end quite well, and the animation in the fights is actually very good. This is the kind of show that has potential for later. The thing is, however, that this is a shounen jump adaptation. How many more episodes will it take for this show to actually make use of this potential? Will the series be over before that happens? Shounen Jump adaptations are notorious for dragging on, so I first want some confirmation that Sket Dance will not do that. Unlike for example Bakuman, neither its premise nor its characters are strong enough for that.
ED: Cheese
Potential: 65%

Dororon Enma-kun Meera Meera

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a demon who kills other demons. And a total brat.
This… was weird. Overall it disappointed a bit, but Enma remains quite well animated, courtesy of Brains Base. This allows the creators to come up with all kinds of interesting monster and background designs. The soundtrack also is excellent and varied and overall this definitely was a fun episode to watch. The biggest problem here however was that the dialogue was trying too hard. It was too busy trying for random punchlines to get some laughs, and the actors were overreacting way too much. This is like that obnoxious brat who keeps yelling for some attention. To me, it seems like the creators did not spend enough time on thinking about how to make the dialogue work best. If this wants to work, it will have to find this balance between extremely fast pacing (yes this episode moved really fast), and the fun charms of the cast. Oh, and I’d like to thank this show for the most disgusting image I’ve seen in a long while. We really needed that.
OP: Surprisingly well animated.< Typical Go Nagai-esque OP./em>
ED: Not bad.
Potential: 50%

Some Quick First Impressions: Hyouge Mono, Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Hakairoku Hen and Sengoku Otome

by psgels, posted in Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji, Hyouge Mono, Some Quick First Impressions

Hyouge Mono

Short Synopsis: Our lead character really likes tea.
I really have no doubt that this will be the most underrated show of the season. It’s just completely void of just about any trope that you usually see in the popular anime: there is no moe whatsoever, nor any bishies. Instead the lead characters are all in their thirties; there is no youth in this show whatsoever. Meanwhile, takes place during the samurai age, yet there are hardly any battles, with this instead being a dialogue-centred series. On top of that, this is Bee-Train, so there is a lot of focus on talking heads. The soundtrack is completely weird and unconventional and the characters all tend to make silly faces. And I absolutely loved this first episode. It’s completely unlike any other series set in the Samurai Age, especially the main character is unique, with his really weird combination of silly facial expressions and down to earth dialogue. Steins;Gate’s lead looks just ordinary compared to this guy. Still, his characterization is excellent, and with Bee-Train, the build-up also was just terrific. Most of this episode was quiet, but the climax of this episode was already amazing. And you know what the best part is? This will go on for 39 episodes. When was the last time that a series of this caliber got more than 13 episodes? Let alone 26!
OP: Quiet and laid-back, with interesting visuals.
ED: I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Bee-Train OP or ED like this. Again really relaxed.
Potential: 90%

Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Hakairoku Hen

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has money problems.
Kaiji is a show about Gambling, but this first episode of the sequel didn’t have any of that. It was just meant to build up, and introduce the next arc, and it was actually very good in doing so. For Kaiji standards in particular, a lot happened here. The creators really wanted to show how deep one could fall if you get on the wrong side of the mafia. They lure you in with the promise that one day your debt will be over, but use very dirty tricks to just push that deadline back and back. This episode did a great job of breaking apart Kaiji’s spirit with basic psychology. That’s the big difference between Akagi and One outs: those are shows to see how well a superhuman can pwn just about everyone around him and their lead characters are more than aware of their own abilities.. Kaiji is at the complete opposite: he’s completely flawed, makes the most stupid decisions, only standing out because he can struggle like no other. Of course, at this point I can’t yet comment on whether this second season has improved the pacing issues of the first season. The only criticism I have at this point is that the narrator is a bit too enthusiastic. Even describing the most mundane activities are announced with that over the top voice of his. But then again, why am I expecting subtlety from this series?
ED: WTF. Just… wtf…
Potential: 80%

Sengoku Otome

Short Synopsis: Our lead character lands is just an average schoolgirl who winds up amongst famous people from the Sengoku Era.
Sengoku Otome’s biggest sin is its blandness. I wouldn’t call this bad.. it just fails to stand out in any kind of way. Just about everything about this show screams “been there, done that”. It has nothing that really sets itself apart of that is actually remotely good. The creators to me just didn’t seem to care here. The premise of a random teenager ending up in a fantasy world has been done a ton of times before, so you really need to set yourself apart in this genre. So what do the creators do? They choose a complete airhead as their main character. They turn it into self-insert fan-fiction amongst famous historical figures. They gender-swap said figures into females. They put no effort whatsoever into the character designs. And okay, the character-designs aren’t as bad as with Dog Days, but they still are pretty bad here. This entire episode just followed one cliche after the other, with nothing really to make up for it. If the characters were likable then this could be forgiven, but even there this show doesn’t do anything. The lead character is beyond annoying, and the rest of the cast is just completely one-sided and uninteresting.
OP: Like the show, bland, both in terms of visuals and music.
ED: Fanservice!
Potential: 10%

Black Jack OVA Review – 90/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Osamu Tezuka is an utter genius. With that I don’t just mean that he single-handedly fired off an entire new medium; he’s also a masterful storyteller. Especially his stories that aren’t aimed at children rock. But what’s more, due to his legacy his stories also have been adapted by some of the best directors imaginable. Ryouruke Takahashi, for example: I may be a huge fan of Votoms, I still consider his masterpiece to be his adaptation of Hi no Tori. Rintarou meanwhile delivered brilliant renditions of Metropolis and again Hi no Tori. The Black Jack OVA meanwhile is Osamu Dezaki’s chance to shine. And again: this was undoubtedly the best thing I’ve ever seen from him.

There have been more adaptations of the Black Jack franchise, but all of them just seemed to be missing something. This however is a perfect adaptation. It’s an epic that took eight years to be fully created. It has only ten unrelated episodes, but each episode is fifty minutes long, and that turned out to be the perfect length: long enough to include some deep storylines, yet short enough not to drag on.

This show… completely took me by surprise. Every single episode has a deeply imaginative story that tests the boundaries of medical science. Every episode is somehow combined with either political, military, corporate or some sort of other intrigue. Seriously, the stories here put in a lot of effort to set themselves apart. Stories are often multi-layered and just keep building up with all kinds of plot twists, in the true fashion of Osamu Tezuka’s best works.

But beyond that, when you look at this show with a more technical view, it’s amazing to see what the creators did here. The attention to detail in all of the medial procedures is stunning. They even got a number of medical advisers in order to make sure that everything is accurate (or as accurate as possible when dealing with made up diseases). It’s well known that Osamu Tezuka used to be a doctor and that he wrote Black Jack with a ton of medical knowledge in mind, but it’s also the way in which this series is animated that is just stunning. It’s all completely uncensored: this show doesn’t shy away in the slightest to show Black Jack’s operations in full detail, whether this is ranging from a simple medical check-up to a brain surgery.

The result is a show that seriously gave me a new interest in medical science, even though this usually doesn’t interest me in the slightest. This show did justice to both inexperienced doctors, and geniuses. It shows that there are many different kinds of doctors, and how even the best surgeon in the world is powerless in some cases. And furthermore it also is brilliant in portraying the actual victims: the people who contracted these bizarre diseases and the people close to them. This show shines like no other portraying the agony that these people go through, and it does so with strength and conviction, (courtesy of Osamu Dezaki’s unique style), instead of cheese.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Just brilliant. Always knows when to deliver its next plot twist. Its stories sparkle with creativity.
Characters: 9/10 – Terrific voice acting, amazing characterization, both for the doctors and the patients in this series. Even Pinoko was adorable this time.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Gorgeous artwork, but granted: Akio Sugino‘s style is completely different from usual anime.
Setting: 10/10 – An amazing medical background, even compared to the other Black Jack installments.

Suggestions:
– Black Jack Special (Don’t get me wrong: the Black Jack Special is crap compared to this OVA; it completely got Pinoko’s character wrong. But it does contain the very important episode on Black Jack’s backstory. This OVA assumes that you’ve seen that, even though it aired at a later date…).
– Hi no Tori
– Metropolis

Level E Review – 90/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Level E




My favourite comedies are the ones that don’t just make me laugh a lot. They also truly excel in another area, whether this is its cast of characters (Kodocha), storytelling (Law of Ueki, Gintama) or subject material (Excel Saga). It’s been a long while, but with Level E I can finally add another series to my top 10 of favourite comedies. This show is an absolute delight to watch.

Adapted from a manga from the same writer as Hunter X Hunter and Yu Yu Hakusho, written in 1997, Level E is a brilliant comedy. For one, it is hilarious to watch. It’s got a fantastic comedic timing that plays together brilliantly with the chemistry between the different characters. This show really has a knack for getting under the skin of its different characters, with hilarious results.

Beyond that, though… this series is also just a fantastic storyteller. It basically consists out of a number of unrelated arcs, ranging between one and three episodes, all of which focus on alien life on earth in their own way. Some arcs share similar characters, but apart from that they just all have their own focus and story. This creates a ton of variety: every episode is different. And on top of that, they’re all really well told. They make excellent use of their momentum in order to both be hilarious, and actually tell some serious and interesting stories here, with a ton of well built up plot twists. It all comes together wonderfully in the end. While the stories have nothing to do with each other, they do all build up to the same atmosphere and universe, leaving an excellently fleshed out series behind, especially considering how there are only 13 episodes.

Beyond that, this show also has an amazing sense of characterization. Every character here is likable and original, miles away from the usual stereotypes. Both the males and females set themselves apart, with especially Yukitaka, Kraft and Miho. Due to the nature of this series they have relatively little airtime aside from perhaps the blonde prince, but they still stand out as amazing and down to earth characters who refuse to act like idiots just for plot convenience. the second biggest flaw of this show is really that we don’t get to see more of its awesome characterization.

The biggest flaw meanwhile is that it’s one big tease. The thing is, that it has an absolutely fantastic first arc. If the rest of the arcs would have followed in its example we would have had one of the best comedies ever made here. Instead, the rest of the arcs of this show do take a step back, but even then there is more than enough to like here. The amount of cliches in this series is really the bare minimum of what you can get and due to its rock-solid characters and storytelling it’s even enjoyable when it’s not funny, something quite rare for comedies.

Storytelling: 10/10 – Extremely witty and an amazing comedic timing. It’s a show that is constantly changing, even within its own arcs and that makes for a really diverse 13 episode series that leaves no moment wasted.
Characters: 9/10 – Amazing characterization for a 13 episoded series that focuses on different characters in each arc. It’s not that these characters are well developed. Instead, they’re the type of characters that are full of life, yet are down to earth and compelling to watch throughout the entire series. They’re the perfect example of how you can also get an amazing cast without a ton of drama.
Production-Values: 8/10 – The animation is average, but even this is made excellent in a few episodes with some excellent camera angles and visual ideas. The CG can be a bit obtrusive, though the soundtrack is excellent.
Setting: 9/10 – An excellent look at the concept of aliens on earth. The stories all feel fresh and a lot of imagination has gotten into creating a simple, yet over the top, yet consistent setting here.

Suggestions:
– Ooedo Rocket
– Sexy Commando Gaiden
– The Law of Ueki

Level E – 13

by psgels, posted in Level E



That was an awesome end to an awesome series. The twist had it coming, but it was perfect to close off this show.

This episode did a great job of making the princess more than just about any other romantic interest. I mean, the basis premise for this episode may have been an arranged marriage, but that’s about the only stock plot device that appeared in this past arc. It’s a great idea to have the princess be as cunning as the prince himself, and still make her innocent at the same time. Somewhat.

I also love how in the end, the prince was fooled by bland acting from the two thieves who pretended to be the very helpless-looking brother and princess. That’s the point where he really got caught off-guard.

Overall, If I wasn’t one already, I’m now a really big fan of David Production. Only Dogs was bad, but apart from that, Ristorante Paradiso, Armed Librarians and Level E were all wonderfully creative and enjoyable series. I really like the ambition that these people have to time and time again come with something interesting. Combined with Studio Pierrot they really made for one heck of an interesting comedy.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

OVA Impressions: Tansuwarashi

by psgels, posted in OVA Impressions, Young Animator Training Project



Tansuwarashi is Production IG’s entry in the Young Animator Training Project, and it it absolutely adorable. It’s the only one of the for that I can really see work as an actual series: Ojii-san no Lamp was perfect with just 20 minutes, while Kizuna Ichigeki and Bannou Yasai Ninninman would have gotten really annoying if they were any longer.

A slice of life series about an office lady who finds a group of spirits in her closet though, I’d love to watch that. All of the characters just have this natural charm to them, even though there are many characters who are all pretty one sided. This OVA shined at making an entire happy family from them. And besides: when was the last time where we got to see an anime that featured an actual female lead who was neither a teenager nor a student? Those characters are even rarer than male adult main characters.

As for the animation, it wasn’t as impressive as the others, and instead it was very down to earth. The in between animation did get quite good at times, though.

Overall, the Young Animator Training Project was at its best when it combined its childish charms with adult issues. Especially Ojii-san no Lamp and Tansuwarashi were good at this. Meanwhile, the animation was particularly impressive in Kizuna Ichigeki: we can expect some great things from them in the future, as soon as they manage to get themselves some good sponsors and scriptwriters. It’s definitely been an interesting experiment.
OVA Episode Rating: 8/10

Some Quick First Impressions: Suzy’s Zoo and Fireball Charming

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Fujilog

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is in his mid-life crisis.
Fujilog… is a sitcom. You know, the kind where we follow a middle aged guy and his family throughout random boring adventures while he nags constantly at everything. (In case you’re wondering: no, I do not like sitcoms, with only very few exceptions). In this episode he whines about how good the prefecture is in which he lives and ends up running for governor, and losing. To be honest, I didn’t like it, but this admittedly IS deeply rooted in Japanese culture. Perhaps if you live in Japan, you might get a bit of a better appreciation of what this show is trying to do. There is plenty of animation here, but it’s entirely in ugly CG.
Potential: 10%

Suzy’s Zoo

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a stuffed animal.
At the start of each season, I also always review the kiddie shows that pop up. But seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one where so little happens as in this one. All this episode was about was a moving duck toy taking a stuffed bear outside, the duck gets distracted by a grass-hopper, the bear moves, they hug, and the episode ends. I know that this episode was only two minutes long, but still I’m not really sure what I just watched. Thee animation is good for a kiddie show, though. It’s obviously in CG, but the creators actually put in effort to make it blend in with the backgrounds. Really young kids (read: of age 2 and 3) will probably love this one. Apart from that though… well, I guess that if you were really desperate for a big hug then this show suffices as well.
Potential: 10%

Fireball Charming

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a robot princess who lives in a giant fortress in the middle of a big war between robots and humans.
Fireball Charming: the show without introductions! Seriously, this episode just… starts. Without ever giving the viewer a chance to sit back. This episode was only 2 minutes long, but it really made use of its time. It’s actually improved a bit here and there, but the formula is still the same: two robots just talk about all sorts of stuff while making silly poses. And again, it works surprisingly well. What they’re talking about is consistently interesting and its deadpan humour makes this even better. In the meantime, the characters are moving around even more compared to the first season, which forces you to pay even more attention during these two minutes. Very recommended if you’re looking for a quick comedy.
Potential: 75%

Some Quick First Impressions: Gintama’, Steins;Gate and Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions, Steins;Gate

Gintama’

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a samurai.
I originally dropped the first Gintama season around episode 120. In short, the reason was the change of direction: it was less funny, the focus changed from dialogue to bloody action and some arcs got dragged out needlessly. It wasn’t bad by a long shot, but nowhere up to the standard of the first 100 episodes. With that in mind though, I really have to say that this episode felt much more like the first 100 episodes than the second. It was a really hilarious episode that completely broke the fourth wall in usual Gintama fashion. This is really the Gintama that I’ve been waiting for. The dialogue is again sharp and witty and I loved this episode. However, I do have one major criticism here: After watching more than 120 episodes of this show, it is getting predictable nonetheless. I could see quite a few of the anti-climaxes in this episode coming from afar. While those punchlines were utterly hilarious, it’s this predictability that will be the biggest problem for this sequel. Also (but this is just nitpicking), another thing that bothered me in this episode was that the facial expressions tried too hard. I think that a little more deadpan would have been a better choice, especially because of how characters hardly ever seemed to change their facial expressions.
OP: Best OP song of the season so far. Awesome guitar riffs.
ED: Nice idea, bu the cheesy vocals don’t fit in well.
Potential: 80%

Steins;Gate

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets involved in a time travel conspiracy.
Steins;Gate… again is an excellent addition to this already excellent season. This one stands out in the best atmosphere: it’s really good at using its quiet pacing to build up tension and to retain that tension with some excellent climaxes. It’s got a deliberately overacting lead character (another adult, by the way), who against my expectations contrasted sharply with the dark atmosphere of this series, which worked really well. He’s exceptionally good at keeping the balls into the air and making things consistently interesting. This is a series that depends a lot on its dialogue, and it passes here with flying colors thanks to this guy, who just keeps changing the setting and topic in order to remain fresh and interesting. And yet there is some order to his chaos, which pays off during the climaxes in this episode. The females also were really great to watch, and knew that they shouldn’t try to look like moe stereotypes, but just play themselves. This was a quiet yet very interesting episode and I’m really looking forward to seeing more.
Potential: 85%

Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is surrounded by a bunch of girls.
Keeping up in the tradition of this season in which series are either really really good, or not interesting at all, Oretsuba is utter crap. Of course, I pretty much expected it to be bad when I first learned of it, but this show is so bizarrely horrible in a way that I never saw coming. The best way to compare this show with is with Shukufuku no Campanella on weed. The production values here are utterly terrible, with especially the voice actors laughably bad, but what really striked me here is that the scenario writers had no idea what they were doing. This entire episode was just a string of random sketches with no point or purpose that were nothing more than endless unfunny and terrible dialogues between random characters. Most of the time in this episode is actually not focused on the lead characters, but some random dialogue between three random guys that just refuses to end. The lead character only appears twice. Once to be hugged by all of the main females (who also don’t appear for most of this episode in favour of a random waitress and young girl) and one that simply out of nowhere had him claim to come from a parallel dimension. It just… made no sense whatsoever. Oh, and the fanservice. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a TV-series with fanservice that was THIS lazy… to the point where it just gets bizarre.
ED: Um, random.
Potential: 0%

Star Driver Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Star Driver




Out of all the series that premiered during the past Autumn 2010 season, Star Driver stood above the others, promising an epic mecha story; completely original, not based on anything and animated by Bones. It really looked to be the classic of the season. In the end though, that did not happen, but it still has enough to like.

It’s a series that combines school life with over the top mecha battles. It has quite a large cast of characters, all of which it tries to flesh out. And to be honest, it does a pretty good job there. Star Driver’s cast is fresh and dynamic, and the characters that do get the chance to show their stories are well fleshed out and interesting to watch. The school life moments make this a fun and cheerful show to watch, with a good balance between drama and light-hearted stuff.

Where Star Driver falls down is in its ambition. It both tried to have a huge story and cast, and tried to take its time and make this an enjoyable slow paced storyline. It just didn’t manage to do both and instead of focusing on one, both ended up a bit too unfinished. The story knows how to build up to to its final climax. In fact the final episode is excellent in how it brings a lot of build up from the entire series together. But at the same time there are a ton of plot devices that it never uses, the story is full of plotholes, and half the cast never gets its time in the spotlight, leaving them kindof wasted and especially making the scenes that focus on them rather pointless.

The nasty thing here is that tar Driver could have become an utter classic if it had more episodes. It’s good, but it has left a ton of potential lying around by not being able to focus on everything, and focusing on too many characters (even though it created a good reason for trying to do so). The mecha battles also get less and less interesting as time goes on. Both because in the end they serve no real purpose to the storylines, but also because of how they just get more and more repetitive.

So does that make this series worth watching in the end? I’d say that it does. It definitely has a great storyline and characters; it’s just not as good as what it could have been. The creators did succeed into creating a fun and original series to watch and keep you busy, interested and excited. Just don’t expect anything amazing.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Tries to do too much in too little time and ends up unbalanced because of it, but it still is able to write good scenarios and climaxes.
Characters: 9/10 – Takuto never really established himself as an excellent lead character, but there are quite a few excellent side-characters here. And the cast is very versatile just consistently interesting to watch.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Amazing looking mecha battles and soundtracks, with the animation outside of the mecha battles being quite good as well.
Setting: 8/10 – A bit incomplete, but it’s definitely inspired and original, and requires a lot of reading inbetween the lines.

Suggestions:
– Revolutionary Girl Utena
– Macross Frontier
– Baccano

Star Driver – 25

by psgels, posted in Star Driver



Ah, thank god this didn’t end with a downer ending. In fact, I really liked this ending and how over the top it was, and how it at the same time brought this entire show together. It’s not perfect, it had some flaws, but I still really liked this ending, and how this episode really showed how this series has been planning up to this episode

A lot of things became clear with this episode. First of all, if you leave his intentions aside, then Head is an excellent villain. He knew exactly what he wanted, and the entire series is pretty much just him, waiting for the right opportunity, along with the guy whose cybody allowed one to take over other cybodies having to wake up. All of his actions were carefully calculated to getting at this point, using everyone around him, only to drop them when the time is right.

Also, at the start of this series I remember that I really liked the way in which Cybodies only could fight once. Of course this went away as soon as the cybody recovery system was introduced, but the concept remained the same: every character only could get one chance to fight Takuto, unless they took the big risk of regenerating their cybody. That’s the entire reason why so many new characters were introduced over the series: fightig Takuto for a second time was very hard to do in this series.

In fact, hardly any cybody was ever regenerated. At least, up till this episode, where the libido was so high that it became much safer to regenerate. Interesting, if the creators actually failed to make this episode exciting, that entire plot twist would have failed. That’s definitely an interesting link between a self-fulfilling storyline here. And really: the action in this episode was excellent. You can really see that Bones were saving up for this episode.

At the same time, with this episode also Sugata’s actions make perfect sense. I really wondered what the heck was up with him in this episode, especially with how he seemed to have been built up as the major villain. Instead, he was the tragic character of this show: the character who needed to be saved. He too only acted when he needed to act, and therefore had no purpose in most of the storyline. His Cybody had a very specific part here, and because of his absence in any action he became a very weird character. Instead, he too was just waiting for the moment where he could activate Samekh again, in order to deactivate it, so that he could deactivate it again.

This waiting game was essential to this series. Remember how the creators intended this to be a show that combined mecha battles with school life? Having the main parties waiting, while having the people around them just goof off and stall for time is what allowed the school life to return throughout the entire series. It’s this that fleshed out the characters in this series so well, despite being a double harem in a setting that has already been horribly abused by anime.

Now, for the parts that definitely could have been done better: Head’s motives could have been less stereotypically evil. Oh, and the main star of this show, Takuto: he never really developed, did he? He’s actually one of the characters with the least amount of depth. He’s enjoyable, but all he ever does is kick ass. He too could have been more varied. That would have also made the battles in the second half a lot more interesting. In fact, most of the plotholes that this episode left open surround him: who is he? Why is he the only one who can transform? Why is he the only one to enter Level 3 at the start. I can understand how he breaks into Zero Time, because of how he came from outside of the island (another major theme of this show), but everything about his appearance seems just too convenient.

My big constructive criticism for this series is that it should have tried harder during the school life bits. It should have shown more characters, it should have shown even more sides to them. It should have put in some real effort to constantly flesh out all of the 22 drivers would get their purpose in the series. Right now it just feels like too many of them were just thrown in to get to that magic number of 22 (the number of characters in the alphabet that all of the Cybodies are based on).
Rating: ** (Excellent)