Author: psgels

Fireball Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




So with Firebal’s second season coming up in the Spring Season, I got curious about the first season, so I checked it out. The first season too is entirely done in CG, its episodes are also just two minutes long and it’s also a comedy. What kind of comedy? One with deapan humour. Lots and lots of deadpan humour.

This show is basically two expressionless robots talking to each other while making strange poses. The dialogue itself is really silly, but the voice actors deliver them like they were intended to be serious, and do so quite well without much overacting. And at the same time it’s not like the dialogue is completely stupid either: it’s creative and makes a ton of references to just about anything. Every episode feels different and I can see more than enough inspiration for a second season.

Overall this is a pretty good recommendation for those looking for a quick laugh. You really breeze through these episodes and especially the punchlines of each episode are quite funny and well delivered. The worst part of this show probably is the monkey that pops up in the llater episodes. The creators didn’t seem to really know what they wanted to do with him.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Good comedic timing, very consistently funny dialogue.
Characters: 8/10 – Good dialogue and excellent voice actors for such a short comedy.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Entirely in CG, but the character poses make up for it.
Setting: 8/10 – References everything from dolphins to jetpacks.

Suggestions:
– Usavich
– Omoshi Magical Theatre: Risky Safety
– Cromartie High School

Star Driver – 20

by psgels, posted in Star Driver



It’s the background episode, and it’s quite a creative one. This episode answered a ton of questions about the main storyline, and did so quite creatively. Head’s background is an interesting and untypical love triangle that completely fell apart thanks to his ambitions. We also get to see Takuto’s mother for the first time (albeit in a flash-back) and I’m surprised at how untypical she is as a mother.

Some of the other things that we see confirmed is that the reason he didn’t age was because his heart is trapped in Zero-time (though we still didn’t learn how exactly this happened), who exactly the old eyepatch guy was, how Takuto got his mark and the reason Head has been delaying the seal breaking (because he wants a friend who is going to give him another seal to wake up).

Seriously, especially that latter point just confirms how this entire series was just basically Head waiting for a guy to get out of a coma. That’s why none of the characters had this sense of urgency, and it’s also how the creators managed to keep the characters able to enjoy their school life. Most of the fights here were just random quarrels that in the end mostly were just red herrings for the real main story. Looking back, I expect the guts of this show to do that, and it all ties down to the decision of the creators to focus a lot on school life, but in the end this slice of life wasn’t solid and realistic enough for this show to really become a masterpiece.

Despite that though, I’m still enjoying this show a lot, because what is there in character analysis is still really good, as this episode showed. That guy clawing his eye out was perhaps a bit extreme, but that power does explain why Head knew just about everything he needed to do. But then again, how the hell do you defeat a guy who can look into the future?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Mitsudomoe – 07

by psgels, posted in Mitsudomoe



The Christmas sketch at the beginning of this episode may very well have been the best sketch of Mitsudomoe yet. It was just absolutely hilarious to see the different kids try and pretend to be Santa Claus in front of Miku’s younger brother. Every time when I thought that things couldn’t get any worse, they went even further. The punchline was in true Mitsudomoe fashion completely wrong, but the funniest part of the entire thing. If the creators are indeed saving the best for last, I’m really looking forward to the next episode. Just don’t ask me why we’re already back at Christmas again when we just had that episode a month ago. That makes three Christmases in 20 episodes…

Anyway, the second part was all about the interplay between Miyashita and Hitoha. Especially Hitoha’s deadpan humour was wonderful, but Miyashita also had her moments near the end when she got overly excited. The same excitement got taken too far in the next too sketches, though. The third had the typical Mitsudomoe problem of making characters artificially stupid for the sake of a joke that doesn’t fall. It was mostly about a teacher who was standing in for Yabecchi (who was sick), her chemistry between Futaba and her lack of speech was just too forced. At the same time though, her worries about her age made up for it: those were quite funny.

After that we got a sweaty Mitsuba getting worked up over how hot it is. This was the weakest of this week’s episode, because it’s just Mitsuba overacting and screaming the entire time. That one-sidedness is not what makes Mitsudomoe funny. It’s instead the interplay between the different characters and their constantly changing emotions. This was just forced and went on for too long.

Finally, the show gets quite creative when everyone ends up playing human curling while cleaning the pool. Okay. I have to give points for the idea there. It perhaps wasn’t the funniest skit, but the punchline still was a great one.

On a side-note, I’ve looked into the mysterious ninth episode for this series. It looks like it’s just going to be a compilation episode, so I’m just going to review Mitsudomoe’s second season next week. Heck, one of the reasons I decided to blog this series was because of its short length, which would make blogging Supernatural a bit easier, so it would have been quite inconvenient if this series went on for a few more weeks…
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Bakuman – 20

by psgels, posted in Bakuman



One thing I noticed is that in this second half, the creators (of the anime, I mean), have felt a bit freer with the drawings in this series. I don’t mean freer from the manga, but instead freer from the fact that this is aired on NHK. The drawings are messier, the camera angles are more creative, and especially this is a good example of it. Heck, there have been plenty of series that aired on the NHK Educational characters that were completely unconventional and kicked ass (Giant Killing for example).

This episode again was great.The characters in this series, safe from perhaps Miho, are starting to feel like genuine high school students. They’re genuine and at this point they’ve become pretty well fleshed out with believable characters. This episode also formed a major benchmark: if they didn’t make this episode’s goal, Moritaka would not have made his goal. On top of that, I also laughed harder at the jokes in this episode than with any other episode of this series so far. Great sign.

Also, this episode had this strange quirk of introducing timeskip with that random woman who was handing around fliers of some sort. Neat addition. On top of that, is it me or are the voice actors in this series also getting better?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Letter Bee – 45

by psgels, posted in Letter Bee



This could be me, but I have a strong feeling that this was one of the chapters of the manga again. And I can understand why the creators just had to include it, despite how they’re trying to wrap up the series while the manga is still on-going (that’s the only reason I can think of for why the previous episodes went into anime original territory anyway. It really is a shame that Pierrot couldn’t get a third season for this show in time). This chapter is fairly standalone, simple and away from the main plot, but it contained a ton of heart.

Connor obviously had been missing from the past episodes, and this episode explains what he had been doing. It turned out to be a wonderful piece of character development. This really was an excellent aftermath that made Connor into a much better character than he already was. It was overall a very quiet episode, even for Letter Bee standards, but that really gave Connor the time to show how Connor and Sunny changed.

the big question at this point is of course going to be: will the final episodes be able to do the story of this series justice? I’m hoping for a few more episodes like this, plus a very solid finale that tries to do more than just answering the major questions and wrap up the story.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Gankutsuou Review – 95/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews





So, I watch a lot of anime. With this, I’m only two reviews away from my 700th review on this site, and I really try to watch as much anime as possible. So with that in mind, I do not make the following statement lightly: Gankutsuou is my favourite series of all of the anime I’ve watched during the past year and a half, and perhaps even longer. It’s often referred to as one of Gonzo’s masterpieces, and I wholeheartedly agree. This is everything that I look for in an anime, and then some.

Good Gonzo has always stood out with how damn innovating they kept trying to be. Gankutsuou is a fantastic example of this, but that’s far from everything about this series. Aside from being consistently experimental, it’s also extremely well executed.

I have not read the story of the original Count of Monte Cristo, but regardless, the creators did a fantastic job of converting it into a story that fits perfectly into 24 episodes. They took the entire setting and turned it into a futuristic setting that at the same time retained the atmosphere of France of more than two hundred years and the aristocratic culture of the days before the french revolution. It’s completely fiction and even through the weird graphics style, it feels strangely authentic. The setting here is really solid, and yet it’s the part of this show that impressed me the least.

Instead, we have some fantastic acting from the cast of characters that really brings them to life. There is a ton of character development in this series, and the creators even managed to make an often whining teenaged lead into a compelling character (though granted, before his development he does not stand out as the strongest member of this cast). The characters in this series all have a ton of flaws, and this series uses those brilliantly. The entire plot weaves together all of the different characters and their backstories, and just about everyone gets his or her moment to really show off his or her character.

And the way in which this is done was a really emotionally resonating one. This series knows exactly when to be subtle, and when to release all brakes and go over the top. The delivery in this is just perfect, with creative poses and animation in which a lot his happening at the same time, yet the story remains focused on what it wants to show. It’s really well shown with a lot of detail in how the characters are reacting to each other.

And as for the graphics… they’re some of the best you can get if you don’t mind the intrusive CG. This series is full of excellent visual ideas. I mean, just about every shot is absolutely gorgeous and it’s ridiculous how creative the visuals can get. The creators really tried to stuff a ton of ideas into the visuals here, as long as they all fitted into the story. The result is a show that looks absolutely unlike anything else. The animation itself isn’t the most consistent, but when it delivers, it really delivers some amazing and hard hitting inbetween animation that combines perfectly with the storytelling. Gankutusou really was a show in which Gonzo could show off what it was able to do with its CG, and while this show is obviously heavy on the CG, it doesn’t feel out of place. Instead, the graphics create this gorgeous whole.

Overall, I found this series one heck of a ride, and Gankutsuou is very likely going to end up in my top 20 favourite anime, somewhere between #15 and #20. I absolutely adore these kinds of series that can get a huge emotional response out of me. It’s obviously not a show for everyone (and I did hear that this anime changed a ton of stuff from the original novel), but to me, Gankutusou took a while to build up, but as soon as it hit its stride just about everything fitted together perfectly.

Storytelling: 10/10 – Wonderfully paced and balanced, just about every episode significantly advances the plot and comes with new developments that are delivered strongly, knowing exactly when to be subtle and when to be over the top, all culimnating into an amazing ending.
Characters: 9/10 – Excellent dialogue and acting with really dynamic characters. There are a few stereotypes like the angsty male lead, but even he is portrayed and developed wonderfully.
Production-Values: 10/10 – Unique. Stuffed with tons of visual ideas, both in terms of art and animation.
Setting: 9/10 – Takes France of centuries ago, and successfully transforms it into something futuristic and unique while still remaining authentic.

Suggestions:
– Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette
– Mahou Shoujotai
– Casshern Sins

Wolverine – 07

by psgels, posted in Wolverine



The background episode for the side characters. And it’s as I hoped: it again is so much better than Iron Man’s. Iron Man had a former ally who suddenly turned into a villain, and used the corniest background story just so that it would be able to explain that ludicrous plot twist. There was nothing interesting behind it. Wolverine meanwhile uses this episode to tie some of the backgrounds of the side characters together, and it does so quite effectively.

It’s a shame that Yukio turned into a damsel in distress, but then again Logan had this coming to him, in the way in which he just kept leaving her in the most impossible situations that even he would not have gotten out of if it weren’t for his healing powers. Ah well, Yukio still deserves points for trying to drown that giant monster in some conveniently nearby concrete. That “convenient” isn’t meant as a criticism here, by the way. This series consistently makes use of its environment in its action scenes in a way that I’d wish more anime would do, and so this concrete thing is a nice touch here. Oh, and that teenaged girl nicely averted the “useless teenaged sidekick”-trope when she actually proved to be quite useful. I really thought that she would only get in Wolverine’s way, but she even injured herself in order to get rid of that giant monster.

On a completely different note: the X-Men promo aired. Like expected, it will be done by a complete different team, because even the character designs for Logan and Cyclops are different. I do have to say though that it has the best looking designs of the Marvel anime so far. For once, the characters actually looked cool. As for the acting though, they unfortunately didn’t show anything about that, but it does seem that the same voice actors of Logan and Cyclops of Wolverine will return. I really hope that their dialogue will be more than their exchange of one liners in the previous episode, though. It was passable for one episode, but not an entire series!
Rating: * (Good)

Gosick – 07

by psgels, posted in Gosick



This is why this series originally caught my attention: its creativity. This episode was full of it. It successfully created an entire small culture, with its own rituals, traits and habits. It created a wide variety of characters and a very imaginative back-story that for once actually kept me guessing, instead of just waiting for Victorique to grab the script again. Finally there’s some actual build-up in the way she comes to the answer!

It’s a shame that this series leaves so much to be desired in the character department. If it had compelling and deep characters it really would have been an interesting series here. Instead, the only interesting character in this series at this point is Victorique: the past two episodes gave a lot of depth to her with her background and her antics are also starting to get quite colorful. The rest of the cast though… they’re not portrayed well.

Most of the characters here suffered from bad acting and strange behaviors. Especially those three male guests suffered from this: they were stereotypical assholes. I know that this series is deliberately withholding their backgrounds, but in doing so it also forgets to flesh them out and give them decent personalities. We never even get to know who they are. The maid in this episode as well: I’m sure that she’s a nice girl and all, but this episode portrayed her as totally deranged. Oh, and we also have Kujou. I still can’t get over the fact that the lead character of a detective series has such a poor sense of observation. First there is a box with a piece of paper in it, and he says that nothing is in it. Then he promises to protect Victorique, only for her to run off while he’s dozing off. Or take the scene in which we get a surprisingly cheerful Victorique singing from out of nowhere… and he just remarks that she’s back to her usual self. When did we ever hear her sing so cheerfully like that!? (No offence to Victorique about that, by the way. It’s really good to see more sides of her).

And don’t get me wrong, though: this episode was wonderfully told. The atmosphere it built up was excellent and the dialogue blended in really well with the music. It was well paced and packed a number of great and hard hitting plot twists. It’s because of that that it’s such a shame that this show is a waste of this potential due to the really poor attention to detail. I’ve said this before: this show is great in the big picture, but not so great in the small picture.
Rating: * (Good)

Yumekui Merry – 07

by psgels, posted in Yumekui Merry



Aaaand we’ve got ourselves a beach episode here. I guess it was inevitable, with how the OP kept hinting at it, but it’s a good thing that this show is well written, otherwise it would have been a complete disaster, plus gg’s insert jokes are also getting on my nerves now (we know these fanservice moments are bad. You don’t need to make them worse!). This was very much a buildup episode, but at the very least the creators made sure that the random antics and the fanservice didn’t get in the way of the good parts of the episode: Merry and her sense of justice.

Merry and Yumeji… they’re a great lead couple. This episode again showed that even within an episode with such a badly overused premise of going to the beach with half the cast, the chemistry between them remains rock-solid. The past seven episodes have done wonders developing the trust between them, and seeing them play off of it really saved this episode for me. For a beach episode, it could have been much worse, and the creators also took their time to slightly develop the relationship between two of the side characters.

Plus, the characters kept talking about justice, so I was really expecting Merry to gather her composure just in time in order to save that young boy whose dream demon was about to be killed. And yet, Merry didn’t even notice it, and the boy just got his dreams destroyed. It’s definitely an interesting entrance for the new villain, but she really needs to get less stereotypically evil after this point. That will be fine if this episode was indeed hinting at what I think it was hinting.
Rating: (Enjoyable)

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica – 07

by psgels, posted in Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica



Ah, the wonderful character development! This episode added a ton of new things to the characters, especially Sayaka and Kyouko. This is really what these short 13 episoded series need to do: instead of wasting time like what Fractale is currently doing, they constantly need to focus and build up their characters and if character development fits in the story, then all the better.

Kyouko revealed her past and became a completely different character from who she was at her introduction. She’s still the experienced Mahou Shoujo, but the way she became a mahou shoujo is a really tragic one (which looked awesome, by the way). Sayaka meanwhile takes an entire episode to let the revelation of the previous episode sink in, to the point where she believes that she can’t even have a proper romance anymore. I wonder why, because even though she’s a bit of a zombie, she still can feel emotions like any other. Her fears here are entirely irrational, but this episode really hinted at her getting screwed over by those feelings at the end.

Overall, Shaft. I have to congratulate you. This has by far been my favourite Shaft series in years. For once, they did everything right again, and their decision to bring in Urobuchi Gen was an excellent one.
Rating: ** (Excellent)