Author: psgels

Hourou Musuko – 10

by psgels, posted in Hourou Musuko



I am confused here. Basically, this link explains how this week showed a compilation of episodes 10 and 11, with the real episodes 10 and 11 being released when their DVDs get released. that’s nice and all, but what the heck is next week’s episode going to be about? The preview says that it’ll be episode 11 again. If I had to guess, then that will probably be a compilation of episodes 11 and 12. AIC probably ran into some delays in the same way that Madoka Magica has been delayed.

Setting that aside though, this episode was brilliant. It was just an amazing aftermath to last week’s episode and made even better by a time skip along the way that showed Nitori actually growing up. The condensed nature of this episode left out quite a bit, but the added a whole bunch of new stuff to this series. Never did this series address Nitori’s anxieties and the people who make fun of him so directly. This episode rocked because it did a truckload of new things for this series, and yet nothing felt out of place. Or apart from those guys who confessed to Takatsuki, perhaps.

Overall though, this has been an excellent season, and it has set the bar for the rest of 2011 very high in terms of romance, comedy and mahou shoujos. Hourou Musuko, Madoka Magica and Level E: all have just been brilliant. Hourou Musuko took a while to get going, but it can really call itself equal to Aoi Hana: they’re both amazing series, but both are in their own distinctive ways.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

The Hakkenden Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




The Hakkenden is an OVA that I decided to check out because it’s something like an animation fan’s wet dream. Seriously, it was a series that just kept returning on the resumes of famous, well known and very talented animators. To just name the most notable people who worked on this thing: Masaaki Yuasa (Mind Game, Kaiba, Yojou-han), Takashi Nakamura (Fantastic Children), Shinji Hashimoto (Kid’s Story, Black Heaven’s OP), Satoru Utsunomiya (Animation director of Gosenzosama Banbanzai), Shinya Ohira (Wanwa the Doggy). And if that wasn’t enough already: among the key animators were Mitsuo Iso and Takeshi Honda (Dennou Coil) and Kenji Kamiyama (Seirei no Mobirito, Ghost in the Shell SAC) was one of the art directors.

Seriously, outside of anthologies like Genius Party, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a large amount of ridiculously talented animators and animation directors come together on one project. The producers really took both up and coming talent with the intention to make an incredible visual masterpiece.

And indeed: the animation in The Hakkenden is exquisite. It’s got thirteen episodes in total, and just about every scene looks gorgeous. The amount of still frames is kept to an absolute minimum, but what makes this show really stand out is its truly excellent inbetween animation. Let me tell you: this OVA has been one of the first, if not THE first, that managed to successfully and consistently animate small armies, never giving up any kind of detail on even the most insignificant soldier.

Beyond that, the animation also manages to bring its characters to life. The amount of detail that is in their movements is just completely amazing throughout nearly every episode, but the ones that really stand out are episodes 4 (Masaaki Yuasa and Takashi Nakamura actually worked together on that one), 9 (Satoru Utsunomiya has a unique style that focuses on many subtle movement and incredibly fluid framerates and gets total freedom to use it here) and 10 (Shinya Ohira and Shinji Hashimoto are both wild and vivid animators and show this off in an absolutely stunning episode) are absolute visual masterpieces.

As for the story and setting: the Hakkenden is a very authentic series: backgrounds are all excellent, the stories that it tells about its characters create a wonderful atmosphere of the darker days of Japan’s history.

This OVA basically has two major problems. The first is that it is a fervent supporter of a guy named Murphy. Seriously: whenever you find yourself thinking “this could go wrong really badly”, it does. This show really tries to drag its characters to hell over and over, and that does get a bit one-sided after a while. Especially considering how it paints the picture that anyone who held even the slightest amount of power in Japan was a total bastard over and over.

The second flaw is that sometimes, it really feels like complete scenes are missing. There are parts that this series refuses to explain, leaving huge holes in the story. The story jumps around way too much: at one time the eight titular dog warriors are together, then they’re split up again, then they magically are together again. The worst is how it just refuses to explain how they all meet each other: they just get introduced, they tell their story, and suddenly they’re all travelling together.

It’s definitely worth the watch, though. I’ve seldomly seen animation this consistent and this good at bringing its characters to life. The Hakkenden was an incredibly ambitious project, especially when you consider what some of the people involved all ended up accomplishing after they finished their work on this series.

Storytelling: 7/10 – Great atmosphere, but a bit disjointed and one-sided in terms of the big picture.
Characters: 8/10 – Solid characterization (also really helped by the animation).
Production-Values: 10/10 – Absolutely fantastic. Amazing and life-like animation.
Setting: 9/10 – Very authentic picture of the old days of Japan, with roots deep inside folklore.

Suggestions:
– Genius Party
– Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto
– Robot Carnival

Supernatural The Animation – 09

by psgels, posted in Supernatural The Animation



… and now, for something completely different.

Supernatural’s episodes so far have all pretty much followed the same format: something supernatural is going on, the two brothers run into it, they research, and at the end is a serious conclusion that gives more depth to the supernatural thing in question than what it seemed at first sight. Not any more, though. This episode opts for the silly route.

This episode was obviously out of place, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing: it’s good to break up the pace like this. As long as there aren’t too many episodes like this, it’ll work pretty nicely to bring in some variety in this series. In any case this episode did its job of fleshing out Sam and Dean.

The problem with this episode was that it may have picked a bit of a dead horse to fool around with. Bad luck charms, oh dear. When was the last time we saw one of these? They were already overused ten years ago. The worst part of this episode however was that it just didn’t make any sense whatsoever: before, this series tried to be realistic and believable, but some of the things it pulls here are just downright impossible. At times it tried to get away a bit too easily by blaming everything on a god… The worst part was probably how, near the end of the episode, they just “happened” to end up this narrow ledge, right above the casino’s safe, just as people were trying to break into it. Where did that come from?

Nevertheless, it’s another good example of how an original scenario can make up for a cliched premise: something may be overdone, but if you bring it in the right way it can still be fresh. Dean was really funny in this episode, but what really saved this episode was the ending. That really made up for a lot by just how completely out of left field it was, breaking quite a few tropes around the “sexy dealer” in the process.
Rating: * (Good)

OVA Impressions: Black Lagoon – Roberta’s Blood Trail – 04

by psgels, posted in Black Lagoon, OVA Impressions




I expected this episode to be full of action. It wasn’t. The action scenes were small and instead this episode was full of dialogue and build-up. And strangely enough it was just as good as I hoped.

Roberta’s Blood Trail shows the strength of OVAs. I mean, it really feels like Black Lagoon has matured even more since the I last watched it. In any case the pacing of this OVA allowed the creators to really take their time: the slow pacing is used quite effectively to give just about everything extra detail. Seriously, this episode was full of people talking about themselves and each other. This really feels like one of those arcs that would not have worked at all as a TV-series, and therefore it fits the OVA format perfectly.

What’s also very typical here is that the creators pretty much put Revy out of the picture for the climax here: with both of her arms shot she won’t be part of the big climax of this OVA. At first I really thought that Roberta’s Blood Trail would be much in the same alley as the first Roberta arc, which was very much hinted by the first episode. Instead the ending seems to be turning out much deeper than expected, with everything depending on whether or not Rock’s huge gamble turns out well. It goes without saying that if the creators play it right they can reach an amazing conclusion with that.
OVA Episode Rating: 8,5/10

Supernatural The Animation – 08

by psgels, posted in Supernatural The Animation



The acting in Supernatural isn’t the best, so in each episode it’s going to have to balance this out with its storytelling. This episode was an example of how to do this right. The build-up made what could have been a cheesy story a very haunting one.

This IS really one of those examples of how cliches can be done right if the execution is good enough (resurrecting your dead wife is a staple in science fiction), but the way in which this episode started slowly, but subtly built up everything it needed, it really paid off in the end when it put each of the pieces of the puzzle in its place. It also helped that this episode wasn’t just waiting on one major twist, but instead had the climax consist out of many small twists that together made the whole picture. The way in which this was done was much more subtle than usual, even though the acting was the same as it had always been.

So far, this series understands what makes a good episodic series: strong individual episodes, plus using its cases to build up its setting and main plotline. It does the latter by slipping in a bunch reference to either their father, mother or Jessica in at least every episode.In any case it’s a good start.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Supernatural The Animation – 07

by psgels, posted in Supernatural The Animation



There are a few flaws to Supernatural. The first is that recap that they always do at the start of each episode: it’s just pointless and fails to really create an atmosphere (by the way, for an example of this done well: Gankutsuou). The second is that the drama keeps nudging towards cheese at times. It’s never really cheesy, but it gets dangerously close at times.

This episode was a good example of that: it had moments that were really genuinely good: the woman who sold her soul to the devil made an excellent story with an especially tragic conclusion at the end. The creators made good use of her faith in Christianity. It all gave a nice twist to the “repenting to your sins”, though the acting tried a little too hard at times to be tragic, which wasn’t really helped by an angsty Sam (“Jessica! Jessica!”).

Also, you could see that this episode was rushed in the way that that woman conveniently lost her Rosary when she paid a visit to Bobby.

Overall though, I still give props up to this series; the good parts really outweighed the flaws here. For a show that has had to cut its episode length in half, it’s doing a pretty darn good job of still making each episode count by making each episode short and to the point. The way in which each episode turns out to be much deeper than you’d initially expect really works. Nevertheless, the stiff acting still remains a problem and the creators needs need to take advantage of their strong points and use those in the big picture.
Rating: * (Good)

OVA Impressions: Hen Zemi – 02

by psgels, posted in OVA Impressions



Hen Zemi does not have its mind in the gutter. Oh no. You’re going to have dig a tunnel ten meters deep down that gutter before you might actually get the chance to stumble upon it. I mean, it’s not like Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt: that series was just guns, sex and violence. This show really tries to get under your skin.

What makes Hen Zemi more than just another fanservice series? Its dialogue. Unlike just about every other fanservice series, this show has actually well written dialogue. Written by someone who has no sense of shame whatsoever. I mean, toilet jokes are one thing, but they usually are really simple one-liners. This show enjoys describing all of that in full detail. It’s this attention to detail that sets it apart from just about any other fanservice series.

Especially the middle part of this episode was hard to watch. These characters really could be your average romantic couple if you didn’t know about the context, but the two of them really spend 10 minutes just talking about breasts with a kind of sexual harassment that was just… disturbing given the way the girl totally freaked out.

In any case the two of them are the best characters in this series, because they play off each other the most. The way that the creators use the guy to completely destroy the innocence that the girl has. The third part of this episode was also quite good, but at times it felt like it was just perverted for the sake of being perverted.

Xebec is currently notorious for producing series with the IQ of a baboon’s backside. This is one major exception, but I do wonder how the heck the creators are planning to air this on TV anyway. I mean, this just doesn’t work when dumbed down; even the slightest censorship will just turn it into another toilet humour show with a lot of boobs, and the same goes when they unleash even guy from Xebec’s usual team of writers on the TV-series. We’ve got plenty of those already.
OVA Episode Rating: 8/10
EDIT: this is something I just discovered when looking up the staff list for the upcoming Spring Series. Like I said above: great care needs to be taken when adapting Hen Zemi into a TV-series. So of course Xebec puts the director of the OVA who did an excellent job of bringing the perversions and characters to life on the generic Sofuteni, and let’s the guy who is currently ruining Rio – Rainbow Gate be the director instead. Oh god, this show is doomed…

Level E – 11

by psgels, posted in Level E




So, after the slight disappointment of last week, this episode hits back in full force with just a completely bizarre premise. And even there, the episode plays out completely unlike I expected. This episode was just… surreal.

This episode toyed with mystery like no other. It was both an excellent mystery story, but it also brilliantly poked fun at the genre with the way in which it suddenly put the local baseball team into the middle of Koushien. The balance between the silly and serious parts was excellent and I loved the original twists it gave to the whole premise. The characters all just calmly analyzed what was going on, with a few goofballs being entertaining (most notably, the Prince and the Captain of the team).

It related back to an event in the past that was surprisingly intense, and created a really great mystery atmosphere. Because of that I also loved the way this episode played out, because in the end we never really were told who exactly caused things, and things were just solved by having fun and playing baseball. It fitted perfectly and yet subverted a ton of mystery cliches.

And really, this is what I have been missing so dearly in Gosick: none of the characters were idiots. They all shared their own take on things, but aside from the obviously moronic captain (who really had his own charms and purpose), they all looked around and used common sense. That’s how you write good mystery. Not by relying on artificial stupidity.

Overall I think that 13 episodes (yes this series will be 13 episodes long) is the perfect length for this series. It’s short, but really sweet in this way, making no scene wasted whatsoever. Even the previous episode served its purpose of breaking up the pacing, and I love how the creators managed to do that in just one episodes. Compare that to so many other 13-episode series that put in intermezzo after intermezzo after intermezzo. So far, every episode has stood out. This is really what these short series should strive for.

There is just one reason why it’s a shame that this isn’t a long series: the characters. With that, I don’t mean that they should be more developed; they already have a ton of charms. Instead though, it’s a shame to see so much potential go away. The characterization in this series is absolutely amazing: none of the characters feels like a stereotype, aside from perhaps Ouji. The people that this series shows feel so fresh and interesting: even though we only see most of them for a few episodes, they feel and act like real people. Their acting is just wonderfully down to earth. If anything, I just hope that future series will take them as their inspiration because characters this fresh really don’t appear often. The best example of this is of course the couple from the first arc.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Star Driver – 23

by psgels, posted in Star Driver



For the majority of this episode, I kept thinking whether this really was the right content when the series is going to end in two weeks. I mean, it was a good episode and that punch that Takuto gave to his father definitely was awesome, but right now a lot of pressure has been put on the finale: it’s all going to have to happen within two episodes. It’ll either be short but really, really sweet, or a rushed mess that leaves a bad taste.

I can see what this episode was trying to do: build up. They used the remaining Vanishing Age as quite an effective build-up for the finale, along with building Sugata up to e the king of the Crux brigade (continuing to build-up from where the first half left off, though that didn’t make his entrance any less weird). It was very focused, but perhaps a bit too focused at this stage. I’m not going to judge whether it was a wise move or not until I’ve seen that ending, though. Short finales can be just as awesome as long climaxes, if not even more, though they tend to be a very double-edged sword.

I do have another criticism, though: I’m not really interested in the fight scenes anymore. I tried to defend this early on, but in the end the big problem with the battles in this series is that they just all look like each other. They don’t stand apart, and the way that they always take place in the same setting with the same recycled frames, the creators really needed to make every battle stand out with some creative ideas, and in the end they didn’t. Utena faced the same problems, but there the creators managed to overcome this wonderfully.
Rating: * (Good)

OVA Impressions: Tales of Symphonia – 08

by psgels, posted in OVA Impressions, Tales of Symphonia




Okay, so episode 6 was all about Regal and Presea, episode 7 took Sheena under the loop and now episode 8 comes probably with the least interesting couple: Lloyd and Collet. And don’t get me wrong, this episode still was pretty amazing, but the two of them just are the least interesting and received the least interesting upgrade from the game.

What I mean by that: in the games Collet got kidnapped quite a few times, but it’s not as extreme as here in the OVA where she was pretty much out of the picture for more than two episodes (especially considering how they were both 40 minutes). Lloyd meanwhile had to become a less strong main character, in order for the side characters of the anime to shine. In the games, he always was the one who pushed the story forward and carry the rest of the cast along with him. Raine pretty much was the only other character who could also do that. Here though, it’s the other way around: every side character takes you along in order to tell his or her story. In exchange, Lloyd needs to angst once in a while. He’s still matured, but he’s definitely a weaker character than in the games. Even in this episode that was supposed to focus on his development, we had characters like Zelos, Yuan and Kratos stealing the show.

Also, the comedy around Sheena was surprisingly good. And no, I remember none of the jokes she used from the games. Again, this really is an excellent adaptation. This episode only loosely followed the plot of the games; even less than the other episodes. Especially the fight against Rodyle was done nicely. In the games he just transformed himself into a monster because the characters needed someone strong to fight. In the anime, he instead uses this trap that allows him to nicely tease the characters in front of him and it also gave Presea another crowning moment of awesome.

And thankfully, this isn’t the end either. There’s a final batch of OVAs coming to detail the finale of this story. At this point the only characters that haven’t been taken under the loop are Zelos, Genis and Raine, and I’m really glad to see how much this episode kept hinting at how their stories will not be ignored: this episode really established that Zelos is working for Cruxis, and the end of this episode introduced Mithos, who will have a major impact on Genis.

I really wonder how the creators will handle Mithos here, though. I always found him a bit flimsy in the game. The characters never really questioned the really strange things he ended up doing (and thankfully the creators indeed did cut away the scene in which he [SPOILER] from Rodyle’s Human Ranch) and it was so obvious who he was and yet the characters never even questioned it.

the one thing that I really hope for in that final OVA is for the characters to pay a visit to Exire. I know that it has absolutely nothing to do with the story and all, but it really would be a wonderful addition to a certain character. I mean, this character just won’t be complete without it.
OVA Episode Rating: 8,5/10