Author: psgels

First Lustrum: Star Crossed Five Year Anniversary

by psgels, posted in Special Articles

Today, Star Crossed is celebrating its first lustrum: it’s already been five years ago since I made my first posts here (very fanboyishly crappy posts, if I may confess). Like all previous years, I always do these anniversary posts with some statistics and amusing search terms:

General Statistics:
Up till now, I’ve made 3822 posts and regularly blogged 139 different television series.
The site has been received 5147999 unique visitors, which consist out of 2912603 first time visitors and 2235716 returning ones. This year alone the site got 863064 first time visitors and 891717 returning ones, and this was the first time since the creation of the site that the amount of returning visitors was larger than the amount of first time ones, so I really want to thank everyone for coming back here.
27075 comments have been posted (again, many thanks to everyone who posted one).

Top-10 Most Accessed Series of the Past Year:
10. Aoi Bungaku
9. Baccano!
8. Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette
7. Darker than Black – Ryuusei no Gemini
6. Heartcatch Precure
5. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
4. Durarara
3. Ergo Proxy
2. Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra
1. Full Metal Alchemist – Broptherhood

Top-10 Most Accessed Posts:
10. Full Metal Alchemist – The Blind Alchemist OVA
9. Top 25 Favourite OPs
8. Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – 41
7. My Top 20 Favourite Anime
6. Autumn Season Preview
5. Summer Season Preview
4. Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – 52
3. Darker than Black Review – 87/100
2. 2000-2009 – Decade Summary Part 1
1. Top 10 Anime (The old one)

Top-20 Google Keywords: (aside from the obvious ones as “psgels”, “star crossed” and variations of “top 10 anime”) (aka. the internet is weird)
20. heroic age review
19. tono to issho
18. full metal alchemist brotherhood 51
17. pandora hearts review
16. full metal alchemist brotherhood 41
15. angel beats review
14. casshern sins review
13. towards the terra
12. mouryou no hako
11. hen zemi
10. school days review
9. darker than black ova
8. clannad review
7. eden of the east review
6. xxxholic rou
5. that anime blog
4. blassreiter review
3. hakuouki – (Why? I only blogged three measly episodes…)
2. aoi bungaku
1. darker than black review

Amusing Search Terms (people are actually searching for these things?)
hi you are under arrest for watching anime since all anime are child pornography acccording to us immigrations – One reason why I’m glad not to live in the US…

how much is star crossed anime blog worth – Eh, believe me: not much.

training with hinako psgels – You really want me to review that thing? O.o

bleach manga writer commit suicide – Is this just wishful thinking or something?

anime like junjo romantica heterosexual partners – Eh… doesn’t that defeat the entire purpose of that series?

identical twin boy and girl – How is that even possible?

anime jesus milk alchemy -fullmetal – I honestly have no idea what this guy was hoping to find…

does 16+74=100?
what is 82.5% out of a 100
85 reversed is 58 – Just a sample of the completely moronic math questions that people actually dare to ask Google… and who somehow end up redirected to this site.

i went to saw a sea – You would have needed a pretty big saw in order to be able to do that…

leo leo leo leo goddammit – dammit, leo leo leo

laaa la la laaa la la laaa la la laaa la la la la laaa summer hit – Did you seriously think that typing that into google would give you the title of that song?

famous girl with a p in frontname and h in lastname – Again, Google is no crystal ball or anything…

how to stop congratulation you won – Get a decent spam blocker!

how old should i be to wathch ginga denseta weed – That really is a hardcore series, you shouldn’t watch it when you’re young.

iai am told by a medium that she sees me as a medium with strong powers but i dont know it what should i do – Eh, run away from her as fast as possible. And stop being so damn gullible.

please i want a message,dere dis girl i might she has been refusing my friendship so i want a messege dat will blow her mind. – This is one of the weirdest ways to search for pick-up lines I’ve ever seen…

why do christians think anime is evil for? – Probably the satanic messages.

why is it that everytime i have confrontations with my husband i’m always the one to blame? – Because you keep asking Google for it.

how to have anime legs – Why would you want that?

is there any anime that has stories in the episodes
how would katanagatari look if it was drawn – Pointless questions are pointless

85 differents asses, 85 differents flavours
“high things” things-things sexy anime
i got a potato put in my pussy (anime)
gay anime hard yaoi blog
anime metal penis – You people have dirty minds. And these aren’t even the most disturbing results that I ended up finding. Cannot unsee!

when a guy send his bodyguard to watch me what does it mean – It means that you’re in trouble.

why am i darker than what im supposed to be – Uh, because you spend too much time sunbathing?

+i rather be woman than black – …

oh, good lord! it’s unbelievable. it’s horrible. i can’t understand the reason for such cruelty – Me neither!

can kids under 18 buy hetalia – Oh lord… talk about overreacting.

how to start a dollars gang?
how to make dollars site durarara – You know you’re too much of a Durarara fan when you actively start searching for these things on Google.

how do i entertain my hyper dog in the morning
this dog is definitely on some kind of drug
anime were dogs get hit – These results all appeared at different times, but it would be amusing if they were made by the same person…

do you need to wear makeup as sebastian from kuroshitsuji – When you’re Sebastian, you don’t need any makeup to look good.

anime with mass suicide superpowers – “I will now use my superpowers to kill myself in a completely overblown fashion!”

people are so realistic – Don’t you agree?

how are you doing? i’m just bored about to watch an anime… sora no otoshimono.. anyways i hope we can be friends and all. ^^ – Did this kid seriously confuse Google with some kind of instant messenger?

star crossed anime – psgels vegetarian – I am not a vegetarian. I like meat.

i see you keep a bee – Keeping a single bee takes up a lot of work.

if a gemini calls you crazy and goes cold for no reason – I seriously have no idea what that means.

how to write an email to yu aida – The author of Gunslinger Girl? Eh, find out his email address and send him a message?

is italy in hetalia gay – Take a guess…

fucking spoons! how do they work? – Yes, who are the bastards who designed these things?

i want to be a pretty cure – Good for you.

making money blog transmute alchemy – Do you seriously think that that’ll work?

if you are 5 or 82, there is something you can do…. – I don’t want to know that “something” you’re referring to…

is it wrong to watch yuri anime – Yes. Lesbians are evil and should be banned from television!

asdffgmj – How did you end up here?

9/11bombers still alive – Yes, they crashed two airplanes into the Twin Towers and walked away from the rubble without a scratch.

code geass is true story? – Whahahahahha! Good one.

Letter Bee – 33

by psgels, posted in Letter Bee




This episode just blew all of my expectations here. It was both gorgeous and really well told: it just kept revealing more and more about what happened to Nichi in her past. I loved how it used all these legends and stories, not to mention Gauche’s involvement which turned out to have nothing to do with all of those, to twist around this episode.

For once the villagers seemed genuinely helpful, yet their ancestors were so misguided that the stories of what happened became a totally misguided tale of what happened. The village chief seems to be the only one who knew the truth of how Nichi and her twin sister (the fact that Nichi has a twin sister also came as one hell of a surprise, by the way) were thrown into a frozen lake. This episode was already amazing, and we haven’t even seen the parts that really focus on Nichi yet: that’s left for next week (which really is going to be a very annoying wait here…).

Also, Gauche: what was he doing in that cave? And why didn’t he visit Maka? Was that Gaichu so important for his plans? What makes them so important and why don’t they exist anywhere else? And what the hell? Lag isn’t human? Talk about using Nichi as a red herring for that one: it was of course established that Lag is special because of the way he appeared in front of Gauche and all, but I never really took that much notice of it because of how strange Nichi was. Next thing you’ll tell me is that Steak is actually the long lost pet of the One who couldn’t become a Spirit or something…

It’s strange, but the more I write about this episode, the more I’m awed by all of its intricacies, and how much it deepens the plot of this series. It was a truly excellent example of how to do the reveal episodes in a mystery-series: answer a few key questions while creating a ton of intrigue around it, making the revelations creative and yet not too far-fetched.

The art in this episode was also absolutely gorgeous. It first started with that incredibly stylish background, but dear god: Maka’s designs were absolutely amazing. The entire color scheme of this episode formed such a wide contrast with the usual visuals of this series that it made them stand out even more.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Bakuman – 08

by psgels, posted in Bakuman



This was really looking out to be my favourite episode of Bakuman thus far, but I didn’t really like the ending. That annoying classmate was a bit too much here in a series that tries to be realistic. It was a bit of a cheap way to create drama, and this show doesn’t need him. I mean, there are assholes and all, but this guy is just a caricature.

The rest of this episode impressed me, though. It was all about the psychology of the two leads: they’ve passed their fist big hurdle, but how do they keep themselves professional enough to keep writing? This episode was entirely meant to flesh out the flaws of the two leads and it definitely made them more interesting to watch.

On top of that, in the end the story they came up with (which indeed was both visually and in terms of its concept more interesting) got rejected. In the end it remains a competition between other manga authors to compete for a spot inside a magazine, and apparently the producers found the other premises more interesting. I’m really interested in the manga story that the creators eventually do find interesting enough to publish.

This episode also was about Moritaka’s worries of his art being not good enough. Compared to the pilot, his art has also gotten quite detailed, but to me it seems like the thing he’s looking for is inspiration. At the same time, I think that he’s also unrightfully thinking that he’s miles behind Akito’s writing, after all it’s one thing to come up with a premise, but the real challenges for Akito are to weave an entire story around it.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

OVA Impressions: Armored Trooper Votoms – Phantom Arc – 05

by psgels, posted in Armored Trooper Votoms - Phantom Arc, OVA Impressions



That was just absolutely amazing. Both this franchise and this OVA keep just heading in new and different directions, and yet at the same time this OVA is also bringing together the different parts of the series. This episode really embodied the things that made the mystery-parts of the Votoms-franchise so awesome: it just keeps throwing you in new settings and situations that are completely original.

It was a building-up episode, but it did that extremely well with its atmosphere. This child of god gets even more intriguing than it already was now that it got abducted by those strange huge bugs, who seem to know exactly what to do with it, along with that girl who turned out to be a previous Child of God, who managed to survive for god knows how many places, suggesting that these children of god are some sort of immortal, which is pretty believable considering how Wiseman lived for 3000 years.

And yet that makes Chirico even more intriguing, as he’s supposed to be even above these deities. I also loved all of the religious subtext that this episode again brought to the table. Religion in Votoms was always something vague, yet very much real. It never really was explained what exactly Chirico’s powers are, and yet his destiny plays a key part here: wherever he goes, something really important happens and everyone wants to be a part of it. At first sight Chirico seems to be nothing more than yet another variation on the Gundam-esque Newtypes, but his nature lies far deeper than that.

Oh, and what I also really liked was that the creators finally showed a bit more depth to the scene in which Pailsen tried to burn Chirico. It’s now revealed that he burned the entire research institute in which he was gathering potential Abnormal Survivors, and I think that that’s the point in which Pailsen really found out about Chirico. I’m especially intrigued by that boy and girl who ran towards each other, and what their relationship with Chirico was. And again, I loved how mature Chirico reacted to it.

We really need more series like this in the future. Heck, the Gen-ei hen has pretty much become my favourite OVA of 2010, and to think that there still are one episode, one movie and two side-story movies left. the entire Votoms franchise really is something unique. The animation could have been better, but ah, who cares? It’s nowhere near bad enough to ruin the rest of this experience.
OVA Episode Rating: 8,75/10

Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu – 20

by psgels, posted in Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu



Again: a really good episode. I mean, it really took a while for this series to get going, but it’s quite excellent at this point with very few weaknesses left. Ryner’s angst ten episodes ago was still rather annoying. Right now though, with an entire episode dedicated to it, it really shined again: this was such a bittersweet episode for such a seemingly jolly fantasy series.

There is no real good and evil in this series, but the biggest asshole is without a doubt that short-haired Gastark guy. The things that he does in this episode were just… depressing beyond belief, especially after how often this series has reminded us how much the people with the Alpha Stigma have been suffering in the past.

The parts that really made this episode for me was when Ferris got in the picture, though. After 20 episodes, she finally got the chance to yell something other at Ryner than her usual random insults. It’s about time that the relationship between these two developed, and the past episode did a wonderful job there.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Shiki – 16

by psgels, posted in Shiki



This series… every time I think that the turning point is about to arrive, the Shiki prove me wrong by only nibbling away even more lives. I mean, how many characters at this point are still un-bitten by the vampires? I can only tihnk of Toshio, Toshio’s mother, the three remaining nurses, Seishin and his parents, the awesome beard guy and his wife and Kaori. That’s only eleven characters left, out of who knows how many this show started with.

This series makes excellent use of this hopelessness: this episode was mainly meant to give the Shiki some background, and yet at the same time it went back to the despair when Tatsumi trashed all hopes of Akira of being able to fight back. Just one shot of him was enough for that.

The background of course was very appreciated as well. It’s interesting that Sunako, and not the two vampires I thought to be her parents, turned out to be the mastermind behind everything. Up till now, the biggest potential pitfall for Shiki was shallow main villains, because of the relatively little time that has been spent on this threesome, so I’m glad that at least Sunako has gotten a bit more depth here.

This episode also provided a great view into what Shiki think like: they mostly retain their personality, but what changes them the most is their thirst for blood and attacking people. This leads them to attack their loved ones, in the hope of getting them to the other side. Now, the question remains: what makes special vampires? Why did Natsuno and Tatsumi rise up as vampires who have no problems with Sunlight? Is that random, or do certain conditions have to be met? And if that’s the latter, did the Shiki avoid meeting those conditions in order to have something to manipulate their subordinates with?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Kuragehime – 05

by psgels, posted in Kuragehime



This episode did exactly what I hoped to: instead of goofing off, it wasted no time in pushing the plot forward. Instead of waiting until the penultimate episode for the Sisterhood to actually stand up and do something, it brings in the news that Chieko’s mother is planning to sell the place. That was exactly what this series needed to prevent it from getting stale.

This episode itself was also a complete chaos with the amount of things that happened at the same time: Tsukimi was too busy being love-sick, the sisterhood made a failed attempt to speak up at a council meeting, a newly introduced woman starts hitting on Shuu and Kuranosuke starts his attempts on giving the entire sisterhood a huge make-over. Every part of this was just full of energy, and I especially liked the parts of the episode that tried to mix all of these together, which made this episode juggle all kinds of emotions. It’s one of the rare points at which you can really see that this is from the same director as Baccano and Durarara, as Takehiro may be one of the most versatile directors out there: it feels like his style changes with every series he’s working on.

Unlike the previous episode we didn’t get to see into Shuu’s mind this time, which probably was a build-up for the next number of episodes, because we don’t know exactly what kind of impact the previous episode made on him. This episode portrayed him as relatively normal, but at the same time we also don’t really know what kind of impact that woman made on him (who by the way is quite a character: the personalities she creates for the people she manipulates sound so fake when you consider her real character): was she meant as a character to develop him, Tsukimi or both?
Rating: *** (Awesome)

OVA Impressions: Licca-chan – Fushigi na Fushigi na Yunia Monogatari

by psgels, posted in OVA Impressions




Licca-chan was a franchise back in the nineties. I’m not sure how popular it was back then, but over the course of ten years, it got four OVAs (two of two episodes and two of one episodes), a 52-Episode TV-series and a movie, so it must have done something right. Don’t expect me to check all of them out, but the very first installment, a two-episode OVA called the Wondrous Yunia Story, piqued my interest because of Tomomi Mochizuki’s involvement with it. It also had a really famous character-designer of its time: Akemi Takada, who also designed the characters of iconic series as Maison Ikkoku, Kimagure Orange Road, Urusai Yatsura and Patlabor.

In the end, this turned out to be quite a charming Alice in Wonderland-esque story. It is about this regular girl who suddenly ends up in a fantasy world, but it’s surprisingly creative and well produced: the animation is smooth, and the different designs of the places she ends up in are really creative. There are fish and whales swimming in the air, a talking dodo plushie, stacked boxes of trees and floating castles. It makes no sense whatsoever, but all of the ideas that were put into just these 50 minutes make this one worth watching.

The parts at which Licca is still in her own world at home are also surprisingly realistic: Licca’s family just feels like a real family, perhaps with more children than usual (she has a twins and triplets as younger sisters), which really gives it an advantage over the usual shows that feature a kid transported to another world.

Now, as for the disadvantages… you really want to watch this one for its creativity, because the plot is just a vehicle for that. It’s childish, the main villain is stupid and it just makes no sense. In the end, this feels more like a field trip than that something serious is going on, because of how easy the creators make it for the heroine. The heroine also has her charms as a lead character, and it’s not like there are any annoying characters in this series, but that’s also all that can be said about the characters.

I liked it a lot, though. The whole fantasy atmosphere of the story worked well with me. This is an OVA that really set out to create a dream-like world that just runs on your imagination and did so quite well without dragging on (which is why I’m not going to check out the TV-series for Licca Chan) This is an OVA that mostly has been forgotten, but it did not deserve so. It’s especially great to show your kids if you have them.
OVA Episode Rating: 8/10

OVA Impressions: Hiyokoi – 01

by psgels, posted in OVA Impressions



If you’re wondering: I am NOT going to make a post about Koe de Oshigoto: that one was so bad and pointless that I couldn’t even finish the first ten minutes, and when I can’t get through a first episode, that has to say something. Instead though, I do want to say a few things about this really cheesy shoujo OVA named Hiyokoi.

So, the story is about this girl who is really shy. She is a really big outcast because she spent a year away from school due to an accident. There’s a lot of tension between her and her fellow students because she’s scared of them, but she’s actually really cute. She then comes to sit next to this really popular guy and they immediately fall in love as the girl tries to get over her own shyness and… wait? Isn’t this just Kimi ni Todoke?

So, yeah. Hiyokoi pretty much is a shallow version of Kimi ni Todoke: the main difference is that Hiyo actually gets admired by the whole class and that her love interest is an asshole with a heart of gold, rather than someone who is nice all the time. It really amounts to the same kind of plot, though with a ton of more cheese added. Especially near the end when Hiyo runs away out of embarrassment, the two have this really cheesy discussion in an attempt to cheer the female lead up. Apparently the love interest was unhappy because nobody ever sat next to him…. which just makes no sense.

I really wonder when the shoujo genre realizes that it’s just been regurgitating the same show over and over again. Hiyokoi is just a cheap cash-in on Kimi ni Todoke’s popularity, and it’s not even a good one. Stay away from this one.
OVA Episode Rating: 6,5/10

Marie & Gali – 63

by psgels, posted in Autumn 2010 Kaleidoscope



This week I want to rant a bit again, even though I’m probably still the only one left who still watches this series. Still, I do want to write a bit about the strange and horrible decisions that were made for this second season. I’ll try to explain my thoughts on this series so that they also become a bit understandable for people who have never seen anything from Marie&Gali.

The first season of Marie&Gali was awesome: it was a fantastic comedy that showed how fun science can be; every episode was full of hilarity and came with completely new material and jokes, never running old or repetitive. The characters started out as stereotypes, but they really grew on you as the over the top quirky personifications of famous scientists that they were. Everything was set to also close off perfectly after forty episodes.

And then, out of nowhere, a second season suddenly got announced.

Obviously I was delighted back then, but after watching more than 20 episodes of this second season, I get more and more the impression that the second season announcement was as much a surprise for me as it was for the creators. I’m betting my hat that they only learned of it, after fully planning out the entire first season. This meant that they had to create a completely new set of forty episodes from scratch, even though they already put their best material and inspiration in the first season.

There are many reasons why I believe this to be the case. The most notable are the following:
– They inserted a freaking Scrappy. Norika, a strange whiny princess-like little girl, just comes out of nowhere and completely takes over the show as the lead character.
– The first season never repeated itself. The second season does, devoting several episodes in a row on the same concept.
– The comedy in the first season felt natural. In the second season, it feels forced. And this didn’t happen gradually, it immediately turned from good to bad at the start of the second season. But more on that below.

I’m not really sure why Toei found it a good idea to give this of all series a continuation, because it really wasn’t their most successful series by far. Especially considering how they closed off their viewer ratings cannon of Kaidan Restaurant abruptly after only 23 episodes. This season just serves no purpose.

You can also see how the creators are having trouble to fill this season through the execution. The biggest problem is Norika: her whining gets old really fast, and because of her the entire nature of this series changed because the creators included the rule that Norika can’t leave the world she’s cast in until she gets to appreciate science. What followed were 23 episodes of Norika running and screaming around, refusing to accept science and blowing everyone away with her giant teddy bear.

The first season felt so fun because it basically was about a bunch of quirky scientists who loved to show off their accomplishments to Marika (the lead character of the first season). Nothing was forced, you just had the adventures of a bunch of eccentric people who really loved what they were doing. The scientific explanations really blended in well with the storytelling. The second season, however, just turned into a series that explains science for the sake of explaining science. By trying to force Norika to accept science, they also try to force the viewers to sit through it. It loses all spontaneity.

On top of that, a bunch of characters derailed as well: the first season featured some stereotypes, but the characters were more than that: Gali was this dirty old man, but at the same time you had those scenes that showed that he was quite the brilliant scientist. The second season however reduces these characters, back to their stereotypes. You can really blame that to the acting: balanced in the first season, but the second season contains way too much yelling, especially considering how everyone in every single episode, likes to introduce him or herself in this overenthusiastic way for some strange reason.

The show at this point is still mildly funny, but it’s nowhere near as good as the first season. It’s at its best when it at least tries to do something new, but even those episodes are rare. The current episode for example featured a contest between Gali and Leonardo Da Vinci: who can build the fastest flying machine.The show so far has had a ton of these kinds of episodes. Especially in the second season, whenever Leonardo comes into the picture the creators can only seem to focus on how he pwns everything about Gali.

Oh, and the “scientific” explanation on how airplanes fly in this episode… it was actually wrong. Read some xkcd dammit!
Rating: — (Lacking)