Author: psgels

Chihayafuru – 46 & 47

by psgels, posted in Chihayafuru

Oh man, these two episodes. They both were amazing in their own ways. These were possibly the two most important matches in the second season when it comes to character development. First of all the creators still wanted Chihaya to play Shinobu, but also: Nishida versus Arata. And the thing is that both matches had incredibly obvious outcomes. You see? Tension isn’t just making the results as close as possible!

When Arata first was matched up against Nishida, I didn’t think much behind it. But holy crap, that match was intense. I mean, this match really went back to the beginning of this show, where Nishida and Arata still had this rivalry. And it was so tragic: Nishida has actually more experience: his period of not playing was actually pretty short. And yet, Arata just blew him away. I love how Nishida’s frustrations didn’t just go away with winning the team finals. His struggles, they were awesome!

But seriously. The energy and the tension in the match between Chihaya and Shinobu was even better! The way in which Chihaya set the tone of the match right at the start. That was done amazingly! The match was not meant to give Chihaya a chance: there was no way she would win with that hand of her. It was meant for character development: Shinobu’s loneliness really got fleshed out some more here: she finally got to the age where she can just play people her age, and she finally met someone who didn’t mind it if she went all out. That showed so much promise for that third season. If it’ll ever come… yeah.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Hataraku Maou-Sama – 08 – 10

by psgels, posted in Hataraku Maou-Sama

Episodes 8 and 9: yes! I really liked those. The interplay between the characters was at its best, especially in episode eight when Emi and Suzuno got together. That was what I had been hoping for: clever comedy that spans multiple episodes in its build-up. Even the rivalry with the Kentucky Fried Chicken was quite enjoyable.

Episode 10 though… holy crap what was that? A pool episode? Really? And I know, cliches on their own aren’t instantly bad and all, but that’s the thing: the episode was just completely pointless fanservice. It just had two points: showing to Suzuno that Maou likes to save humans, and deliver some kind of random box from Amazon.com (screw those trademarks, we all know what they’re talking about). I mean heck, even for a pool episode this was bad. All of the build-up for a haunted house was completely ignored when they actually got there (and really: why were the girls still wearing swimsuits there?). Also, the big threat was a bunch of crocodiles escaping. Seriously? Really, there is comedy, and just plain laziness.

What’s most important right now, is the big picture, or more specifically how this show is going to wrap itself up. After this the climax for this series should start. My guess will be that this series will have 13 episodes (not confirmed yet, though) and so in four episodes, this series needs to wrap itself up, while not forgetting that it’s supposed to be a comedy series. That blue haired kid who just screams “villain” still needs to prove himself, but by far the biggest danger is for the romance to take over the ending.

My guess though will be that the central theme will be Maou willing to help the humans of the world he ended up in. Now, how do you make a good ending based on that?
Rating: 4/8 (Enjoyable)

Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet – 08 & 09

by psgels, posted in Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet

So in these two episodes Gargantia gets back on track. For starters, I really thought that that captain dying was just a minor plot point: something that had to happen, but would be glossed over pretty quickly. Instead the creators dedicate nearly an entire episode to it. And it was really good: it showed what an impact death can have for such a fleet. It showed how some people didn’t have confidence in the new captain, and therefore roke up. It had a much bigger impact than I thought it would, and not just for plot related reasons. I think that that episode was really well put together.

The episode after that showed the real identity of the hideazu. It’s a twist that reminded me a lot about a certain other show which I’m not going to mention here for the sake of spoilers. I mean, what’s important here is not the twist itself, but the context: what does it mean for the actual plot? Well, for that it’s a bit shoehorned. I’m not suddenly feeling sorry for Ledo that he killed what once were a bunch of humans, because really: that just looks down on actual wars, and I don’t really understand why he suddenly felt sorry: these ARE the creaturs who threatened his race to extinction.

However, for world building, it was great. Heck show me more about those Hideazu who were genetically engineered humans. They sound interesting! Their backstory as humanity’s last hope of surviving the ice age sounds definitely interesting. Okay, it’s a bit far-fetched, but I like the ideas.

Overall, you can see tha the individual episode directors of this series got some freedom: there is definitely some general pacing and continuous story, but every episode has a slightly different atmosphere and tone. I’m not sure whether this really is the right formula for this series, but at the very least things are looking better than the previous episodes again. Still, I think that the pacing here could have been a little smoother.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Shingeki no Kyojin – 09

by psgels, posted in Shingeki no Kyojin(Attack on Titan)

At this point I stopped reading the manga, so here too I’m just blank. And it seems that I quit at a really awesome point in the series, because this episode again was really tense as it showed some hints about why Eren managed to turn into a titan in the first place, as well as hints to how the titans could be defeated and why Eren is special: his father.

People behaving illogically. That’s difficult to do, and yet this series is full of people in panic. In the past it went a bit over the top with how it portrayed the rich guys as egotistical bastards, but in this episode it was really good: Eren indeed is the key to beating the titans. However when you just saw that giant thing turn into him, all you do is want to kill him, yeah. I’m only not sure how Eren knew that he could activate this by biting into his thumb…

And really, the artwork for Eren’s new titan form looked gorgeous. Heck, the atmosphere here was just awesome in how the second episode just kept building up the tension by showing Eren’s inner struggles, and the background music really helped with that.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

May Summary

by psgels, posted in Monthly Summaries

Sorry for the lateness of this entry. You can thank animecon for that. Anyway, the current season. I’m having trouble keeping up with it, and because of that I am rather glad that it’s such a small season. Nevertheless, this just pales in comparison to what we’re used to from Spring Seasons.

#12 (13) – Saint Seiya Omega – (7.75/10) – Saint Seiya Omega is currently in its boring character-reintroduction phase. At least, that’s what I thought until the creators pulled that really random episode in which Ryuuho suddenly became a rock star in order to let out the conflicted feelings that loom inside of him. Saint Seiya, you are treading a very dangerous line between character development, and someone just completely changing character. And don’t get me wrong, I like the idea, the execution was just… weird.
#11 (8) – Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge – (7.9/10) – I watched up to episode 6, and I think I’m going to drop this in favor of other series. I like how it celebrates really weird fetishes and all, but it does so formulaic, and the different powers all feel rather shallow. With the length of this series I don’t really think that this show can really make something memorable.
#10 (12) – Valvrave The Liberator – (8/10) – Valvrave is completely stupid. It however realizes this, and just rolls with it. This also means that I will drop it as soon as it starts taking itself too seriously (there is no way you can get anything remotely serious out of this), but as long as it keeps bringing in the cheese I’m hooked.
#9 (9) – Majestic Prince – (8/10) – I’ve seen up to six episodes now I believe, and this was a big surprise. The creators took cardboard cut-outs and slowly gave them character. I still dislike how these guys are able to somehow do the impossible by winning battles against huge odds, but it uses this well at least.
#8 (10) – Yahari Blahblah – (8.25/10)

I have seen up to episode six here. Yahari Blahblah took a while to get going, and it had a few boring parts. However, episode five gave the characters depth that I was looking for. Here, some of the characters became more than just random tropes and I didn’t expect that.

#7 (4) – Hataraku Maou-Sama – (8.25/10)

Hataraku Maou-sama’s sense of humour rocks. It still makes me laugh in every episode, but the clever plotting… it just isn’t as clever as what it was In the first few episodes, and that made this series a bit of a disappointment to follow. But who knows. It has the potential to pick back up again.

#6 (6) – Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet – (8.25/10)

Gargantia could have balanced itself a bit out a bit better, resulting in two strange slice of life episodes after each other. It still had thought put into it and it showed new and different things about the setting, but the writing just was not as solid as what it could have been. Also culture or no culture, having a bunch of teenaged girls dance half-naked into a bunch of grown men… they could have put some more thought on that.

#5 (15) – Uchuu Kyoudai – (8.5/10)

My biggest problem with Uchuu Kyoudai isn’t the slow pacing. That is brilliant, and it really allows the characters to slowly build themselves. Instead, I get more and more annoyed with the recaps at the start of each episode. I know it’s small, but this series is so good. It’s not worth it to have it brought down by such a single stupid thing that makes it much longer than what it needs to be. Because the effort it put into its character development this month was brilliant.

#4 (5) – Hunter X Hunter – (8.5/10)

Thank god we’re finally at the new material when it takes off, and thank god it actually delivers! They took a bit of time to get used to, but the villains are getting better with every episode as this show continues to explore their personalities.

#3 (3) – Shingeki no Kyojin – (8.75/10)

This really turned into an awesome action series, in a different way from the manga. It really tries to put the characters into as much despair as possible, without making it one-sided. The giant designs really work well in animation and how some of them are coloured, and most imporantly: the characters are also getting very engaging to watch.

#2 (1) – Aku no Hana – (8.9/10)

I don’t care. Aku no Hana is amazing. Heck, the past month had a few scenes that would have been impossible to do right if it was in regular animation. And heck: if you ignore the low budget then the creators pretty much did a perfect adaptation for this series with how god damn expressive it is.

#1 (2) – Chihayafuru – (9/10)

That finale was awesome. It just boggles my mind how much build-up the creators have been putting up throughout the entire second season (and also first season) in order to reach that point. Heck, everything is just coming together in such a ridiculously solid way. It’s amazing!

Aku no Hana – 09

by psgels, posted in Aku no Hana

Now this is how you escalate things. Holy crap, this was a mix of shock and obvious. Kasuga in particular: this episode really shined in how it showed how he decided to run away from home. I think what the creators really wanted to show here was how he puts so much importance and value on the perfect appearance of people. In this episode things got broken and changed completely from the ideas that he has in his mind: Saeki doesn’t mind that he took her gym clothes, and people found out what he secretly did.

I mean, this was awesome. After everyone kept hiding everything, this episode had everything exposed. And instead of returning to normal like nothing happened, things changed significantly. I really like how people are no idiots in this series: Saeki pretty much knew what happened. Kasuga’s mother isn’t just there to stand in the kitchen.

I only wonder: what on earth is going on in Saeki’s head? How did she fall for Kasuga? When did that happen? Did she like him before? What kind of person is she to not be bothered by having her gym clothes stolen like that?
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Spring 2013 Kaleidoscope: May 30th

by psgels, posted in Spring 2013 Kaleidoscope

#1: Hunter X Hunter – 80: Once in a while Hunter X Hunter comes with an episode that just stands out. This was one of them. The first half just oozed style and really was a big change from the usual atmosphere and I found it really well done with how it was just in black and white, and how it didn’t show the guy’s face at all. The second half of the episode… let’s just say that it’s the first time in 80 whopping episodes that this series managed to shock me.

#2: Yahari Blahblah – 05: The end of this episode. That’s where I understood the appeal of this series and where it really became better than its contemporaries, rather than just a series with potential. The first parts of the episode were a bit iffy, but at the end it really became apparent that the creators spent time on it: the male lead’s loneliness is actually well.

#3: Yondemasuyu, Azazel-San – 07: This was actually quite hilarious. Yondemasuyo Azazel-san is at it’s greatest when it’s just banter. The characters have a really good chemistry together, and I especially love the creative use of facial expressions as this show tries to parody the murder mystery genre. Of course, they then proceed to ruin it in episode 8 while trying too hard on being weird and gross again. Enough with the jokes about people’s nether regions already!

WTF of the past Weeks:

Saint Seiya Omega – 56: So. We have this ninja, who has been raised in an incredibly conservative ninja village. This ninja then hears rock music, it changes his soul and now he suddenly is performing J-rock in a band of power-ranger impersonators. Okay.

Chihayafuru – 44 & 45

by psgels, posted in Chihayafuru

And so the team tournaments finally ends, and seriously I am so impressed with all of the build-up that prepared just for this episode. Every single result for Chihaya, Taichi and Nishida in the previous matches was used in the big finale. It’s just amazing, and definitely worked as a climax.

Also, the individual tournaments. I didn’t realize this, but holy crap there is a complete busload of named and developed characters present at the tournament now. So much variety! I mean that recap was bad and all, but after that I really liked the build-up for the individual tournaments. Take all teams that made it to the semi finals: that’s already more than twenty different characters participating, with all of the bench people, Arata and the Queen and some other random characters. And all of them are great!

So yeah, Chihaya is not going to get far. This really wil be about the Queen and Arata. With the third year, Arata will be getting back to Tokyo, and I predict that that will really bring everything together for this series. If it will ever get made!
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Aku no Hana – 08

by psgels, posted in Aku no Hana

Aku no Hana, you have balls.

I’m probably going to get a lot of people making fun of my tastes again, but heck, it’s not like I suddenly started caring about that or anything. This episode was an amazing aftermath-episode. One of the best in recent years. I mean, it was just perfect for me, it hit all of the right notes.

Let’s start with by far the most controversial part of this episode: the start. Five minutes in which the characters just walked. Yeah, first of all I have not seen anything like that in anime ever. Yeah, I really admire the guts of the creators to actually do that. I loved it to bits, and not just because of its novelty value. What we saw there was an incredibly intimate moment. What we saw last episode was just all hell breaking loose. They completely wrecked the classroom. Instead of just cutting to the next morning and show the superficial reactions of Kasuga’s classmates for shock value, the creators showed the mood he and Nakamura were in on the journey back. Nothing was said, we just experienced it. I’ve never seen any other anime do this, even though it showed so many emotions nonverbally.

And then there was the rest of the episode. I mean, that was some fantastic build-up. Bit by bit, the creators moved closer to Kasuga’s fears of being found out. The responses by the students, the responses from Saeki, everything was just perfect. Seriously, no overacting whatsoever in htis episode! This was by far the episode with the most convincing acting I’ve seen the entire season.

At first I felt a bit let down by how Kasuga’s name was conveniently obscured everywhere, but Saeki more than made up for it by showing that she very well knew what was going on. I mean, that was one heck of a cliff-hanger, even for this series’ high standards.
Rating: 6,5/8 (Amazing)