Author: psgels

Some Quick First Impressions: Hakuouki Hekketsu-Roku, Shinrei Tantei Yakumo and Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii wake Nai

by psgels, posted in Hakuouki, Shinrei Tantei Yakumo, Some Quick First Impressions

Hakuouki Hekketsu-Roku

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is surrounded by the Shinsengumi.
I watch these first episodes of second seasons of series that I originally dropped, in order to check whether or not I missed something: did they actually improve through their course? How have things progressed so far? In the past, I have revisited a few series that I originally dismissed this way. So, what does Hakuouki do? A recap; perfect. I dropped Hakuouki after episode five, and after watching this recap, I have to admit that I probably dropped it at its weakest episode. This episode just kept the twists coming here, which were actually quite interesting. They were a bit cheesy, and I saw little change in the villains, but the story turned out better than I expected: this is not like Vampire Knight which devolved into nothing more than angst and bishies. This second season also promises to be a lot more varied here. I still have two problems, though. The first is that this recap episode nearly worked a little too well. It perfectly summarized twelve freaking episodes in just twenty minutes. These pacing issues also were part of my issues with the first episode: it was just so damn slow at times, with little to make up for it. The second problem is the female lead. I like her premise, but the creators forced her too much into the harem role: she has to be everywhere, she has to be involved with everyone, and her whining holds back scenes that she has no business in whatsoever. For me to actually finish the second season of this series, I demand two things: make every moment count, and develop Chizuru significantly.
ED: Decent.
Potential: 40%

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a detective who can see spirits.
Yeah, you don’t want to watch this series as a murder mystery. At that area, it’s nowhere near as good as series as Ayatsuri Sakon: the introduction moves too fast, the culprit is revealed way too soon and at no point does it try to make the viewer wondering what’s going on, or unravel clues. Instead, this show is more of a thriller and character study. When looking at it that way, the fast pacing is going to be interesting for the future of this series, it will be more able to concentrating on “why is everything happening”, rather than “what’s going on”, and with the right execution it will be a good way to spend its limited time of 13 episodes on its characters. Koichi Mashimo’s absence on this Bee-Train series hurts, though: I’m really missing his characterization here, and that’s what worries me the most about this series. Still, even though the characters could have been better portrayed, I’m not denying here that this wasn’t a good episode: it started off slow, but it steadily got better and better, resulting in a great climax for a first episode that really made me intrigued, especially when it got all artsy with the buildings and the random people. The soundtrack is not as good as usual Bee-Train series, but nevertheless it’s among the best of the season when it finally shows its real colours.
OP: Quite intense, and surprisingly varied in tone and atmosphere for an OP. Works well.
ED: Beautifully sung. I like the concept of combining pictures from the pasts of the characters.
Potential: 80%

Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii wake Nai

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has a weird sister.
There is a new male lead cliche that has been emerging during the past number of years to join the ranks of “your typical loser”. I’d like to call him the “Kyon-clone”: neither a loser nor too popular, he snarks himself through the series and tries to be the voice of reason amongst a cast of weird people with his voice acting having nowhere near the charms that Kyon had. It’s a cliche I see quite a while used in harems, and it’s starting to get annoying. Ore no Imouto has another one, and he does little to set himself apart. In any case, I was really fearing this series, though THANK GOD it’s not as abysmal as KissXSis was; there was little fanservice and the two siblings didn’t seem to be in love. Instead, it’s more like Nyan Koi: occasionally able to raise a chuckle, but most of all boring. For now, at least, because I have one HUGE problem with the way this episode portrayed the lead characters’ little sister: she’s a freaking tsundere! I appreciate this series for including a bit of wit in its dialogue and all, but they really weren’t subtle with those hints!
ED: It’s more like some insert song than an ED, but it’s generic J-pop anyway.
Potential: 10%

Heartcatch Precure – 34

by psgels, posted in Heartcatch Precure




Really… this show is unbelievable. This could very well be the best episode of Heartcatch Precure yet. It was completely awesome, from start to finish. I’m really starting to run out of praises for this series without sounding like some repetitive fanboy here.

I mean, Moonlight’s return gave a completely new dynamic to the action here, especially with Dark Precure present. The Dark Precure, who had consistently kicked Blossom and Erika’s ass throughout the series was much more of a match for Cure Moonlight, who also fights completely different from the other Precures so far: it’s far more calculated, wasting as little energy as possible with fancy movements or dodges like especially Tsubomi and Erika like to do. Also, this episode really reminded us of a whole subplot that somehow suggests that Dark Precure and Cure Moonlight are actually very similar (part of the same moon). It’s also great to see Sabaaku finally getting off his damn chair, in order to actually save Dark Precure.

This really was Cure Moonlight’s episode: everything was meant to show her pwn as many bad guys as possible, but at the same time I am very surprised that Tsubomi and Erika… didn’t actually get much stronger in terms of hand to hand combat. With the upgrade episode, they probably received some kind of ultimate weapon, but if things are like this episode, and the bad guys keep them busy and spread out, they actually can’t get the chance to use it. Now THAT’s a power-up: something more than just a Deus ex Machina that the creators cheaply use in order to balance out the power level differences.

The aftermath in this episode may have been even more awesome than the fight. I mean, how many mahou shoujo actually kill off their mascots? Seriously, Cologne… he was just some temporarily spirit made by the Heart Tree in order for Yuri to get her spirits back. I really did not expect the creators to have the guts to actually keep him dead, and actually erase that spirit as well, not to mention how well the creators did justice to that series. It was just two minutes long, but it showed so much within just those two minutes. I really have to applaud this series for that.

And if that wasn’t incredible enough, the creators just had to end that episode in such an adorable way, in which Yuri ends up joining the fashion club. It’s awesome to see how much she stands out there, being more than three years older than all of the other girls there. Being dragged around by a bunch of kids who have been dying for her support since episodes, I’m really looking forward to seeing more of the quiet moments in this series.
Rating: **** (Fantastic)

Some Quick First Impressions: Star Driver, Yumeiro Patissiere Professional and Letter Bee Reverse

by psgels, posted in Letter Bee, Some Quick First Impressions, Star Driver

Star Driver

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is the legendary pretty boy.
Hell yeah! This is the series I’ve been looking forward to the most this season, and it does not disappoint. It’s a bit silly and nonsensical, but it really turned those would-be flaws into a really charming series, full of neat ideas, homages and a diverse cast of characters. You can really see the influences of the guy who wrote Utena, and at the same time this series packs enough new stuff with a delightfully refreshing and upbeat mecha series. The direction is also excellent, and makes optimal use of its time, the characters and really manages to make their charms stand out as much as possible. And the animation! Without a doubt the best of the season so far. Characters move very smoothly, and the show is chock full of interesting poses, and especially the mecha fight in this episode looked absolutely gorgeous. This episode was stylish, adorable and while the story may not make the most amount of sense, that really doesn’t matter in the big picture here.
OP: Great to see an OP with some actual visual inspiration, rather than doing what every other OP is already doing.
ED: Neat animation, though that pop song is rather generic.
Potential: 90%

Yumeiro Patissiere

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a high school student of a pastry school.
I watched about five episodes of the first season of Yumeiro Patissiere, but ended up dropping it because it was getting repetitive and I saw no real future in it. I did not expect this second season. At all. I’m not sure whether I’ll end up watching the first season (50 episodes is really long), but this episode nevertheless was really good, showing just about every character significantly grown up, heading into the direction of their dreams. The cast surely looks a lot more diverse, interesting and colourful than what I watched of the first season. I’m really surprised here. There are some downsides, though. the most notable is the portrayal of Americans: what the heck was that?! I guess I’ve been spoiled a bit too much by Giant Killing and all, but the American in this episode had just about every stereotype you can get with the portrayal of Americans in anime. And he’s supposed to be a major love interest? On top of that, I also don’t quite get the premise of this new season. Despite what the title of the title may suggest, the lead character is only in high school, but she and three other students are asked to run a street full of pastry shops. Now, this has some interesting potential as you never see series about managing a large amount of shops and all, but I really wonder how the creators are going to solve this without introducing a a huge amount of shop employees (we saw absolutely no hints in the OP about it), and why they would leave such an important task to a bunch of high school students, despite their talents.
OP: Probably the biggest surprise in terms of OPs this year. It’s rather weird, yet surprisingly good and lively.
ED: Again, I expected something really generic and instead got a bunch of bicycles flying around in the air. Definitely better than your average ED.
Potential: 65%

Letter Bee Reverse

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is still an incredible crybaby.
I know that this series is cheating a bit and all, but I see no way in which Letter Bee Reverse is not going to have my favourite opening episode of this season. I mean, after such an incredible cliff-hanger, the creators made this episode into an aftermath that worked better than I could have expected. I seriously teared up at seeing Lag Seeing and Nichi, after what happened at the end of the first season, and this episode really gave both of them the time to really develop their feelings. I mean seriously, Letter Bee is a unique little shounen series that’s mostly plagued by the fact that the fillers are a bit annoying to get through. The plot, the setting, the characters: they’re all much more interesting than your average shounen series, and this episode could have been no better proof to that. I mean, I can only imagine how amazing this second season will be if the creators end up toning down the fillers here.
OP: I can only imagine what kind of spoilers this OP is trying to refer to.
ED: Screw Naruto, screw Bleach, I’m really glad to see that Studio Pierrot have finally found themselves another series to show off their creativity in art. This ED looks absolutely gorgeous.
Potential: 100%

Some Quick First Impressions: Bakuman, MM! and Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt

by psgels, posted in Bakuman, Some Quick First Impressions

Bakuman

Short Synopsis: Our lead character wants to be a manga-writer.
The season so far has really had its ups and downs. The biggest down however was the characters department: none of them tried to be anything deep, nearly all of them were just simple and one-dimensional, based on a gimmick or stereotype. Bakuman changes this, however: within its first episode it establishes its two main characters, it clearly shows what kind of past the lead character lived in and how this managed to shape who he is today, and it detailed what he likes how he looks at life. This is how first episodes should be done… aside from the romance, perhaps. That was pretty forced, cliched and unnatural.
OP: A very interesting emulation of the old kids shows.
OP: The refrain is pretty decent, but the rest of the song is a bit boring.
ED: Interesting art, upbeat, quite a good way to close off each episode.
Potential: 80%

MM!

Short Synopsis: Our lead character likes to get beaten up by cute girls.
Yesterday was quite a good start for this fall season, but I also fear that that marks the ending of all of the good fanservice shows. MM is just another in the line of uninspired Xebec shows with shallow attempts at comedy. Basically, this entire episode was mostly just cute girls, beating up the lead character, but if you ignore that, then all of the stereotypes of your generic harem are there. There is no creativity whatsoever in the set-up here and everything has been pretty much taken from other series. The only thing that really sets this series apart is its extreme focus on sadomasochism, but that is nowhere near enough to carry this series: no matter who beat up the lead character, it all looked the same, it wasn’t funny at all and the entire episode was a chore to sit through. At the end of this episode the creators also tried to insert a little drama, but that just felt incredibly forced and out of place. There is no creativity, there is nothing that stands out, I really see no potential whatsoever for this series.
OP: Is that supposed to be a song?
ED: Again, horribly sung and utterly generic.
Potential: 0%

Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt

Short Synopsis: Our lead character fights crime with her underwear.
Without a doubt the best action so far, the most interesting direction, the best art style, the best humour, the most entertaining episode, the worst taste, the most amount of fanservice, the biggest amount of toilet jokes, the most creative scenario and the most shameless first episode of the new season. And yes, considering how we already got Sora no Otoshimono, Iron Man and Super Robot Wars, who were also focused on most of these areas, that has to say something here. Panty and Stocking is a show of extremes: it’s really trying to push boundaries here, and you can really see that this was made by the same creators of Dead Leaves, rather than Gurren Lagann. Some of the jokes are completely disgusting and tasteless, but it is refreshing for once to see a show treat the matter of sex so nonchalantly seeing as how most supposed fanservice shows try to pretend it doesn’t exist. And when disregarding the fanservice, I really have to praise what the creators did with the action here, especially that chase scene was a lot of fun. There’s one HUGE problem, though: the characters. Panty and Stocking were pretty much both based on a gimmick each: Panty likes sex and Stocking likes eating. To stay funny and enjoyable they’re going to have to try harder than that!
OP: Short but sweet.
ED: It’s catchy and all… but who thought that this would be a good fit for this series?
Potential: 75%

Some Quick First Impressions: Sora no Otoshimono Forte, Super Robot Wars OG: The Inspector and Iron Man

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Sora no Otoshimono Forte

Short Synopsis: Our lead character lives together with a bunch of cute girls.
As much as I’d hate to admit it… this episode actually made me laugh, and it actually was pretty good at times. I mean, the direction, the ideas including this “new world” and “dream diving”, the huge production values, this episode was actually pretty good… despite the huge amounts of fanservice. This series has its mind completely in the gutter, but at least its fanservice jokes are actually inspired ones, compared to the same stuff you just get to see over and over again. Of course, this show does have its share of cliches, the male lead is beyond annoying at times and I doubt that I’ll be able to watch much of this series either way (last season I gave up as soon as the flying panties arrive), but still it’s good to see that at least there is a fanservice show that puts in some actual effort. This episode was a bit slow, and nowhere near as good as B Gata H Kei’s opening episode, but on the flip-side, I can easily see this one top shows as Asobi ni Iku Yo.
OP: Very clever start there. The song is badly sung, but at least it’s an improvement over the regular cheesy j-pop you usually here with these shows.
ED: Better than your average ED on a moe show, but still dull and pretty uninspired.
Potential: 50%

Super Robot Wars OG: The Inspector

Short Synopsis: Our lead character fights mechas.
This is a bit of a hard show to gauge for its story, based on just its first episode because it starts right in the middle of an action-scene without really much of a context: most of this episode consisted just out of a bunch of giant robots piloted by a bunch of kids and young adults, without much of an explanation of who they were beyond a bunch of one-liners that also still lacked their context. It’s all up to the rest of the series to make some sense out of this, because right now they’re just a bunch of one-dimensional cardboard cut-outs with rather bad character-designs. The action itself was pretty good, though. This episode was nicely paced and it kept my attention, which is what I can’t say of the first season of Super Robot Wars (which seems to be a completely different series, by the way: this episode showed no characters I recognized). Still, seeing as this series really didn’t make any attempt to make sense of what the hell was going on, I really fear that it’s just going to devolve into a random string of action scenes. And fanservice.
ED: Well yeah… it’s obvious what the creators were going for with this one, eh? Let’s just move on here…
Potential: 40%

Iron Man

Short Synopsis: Our lead character hits on women and flies around in an armoured suit.
The first thing that immediately stands out with this series are the visuals: no effort has been spent at all in making them look good. The amount of inconsistent and distorted faces leads to a number of embarrassing shots, especially with character-designs that are this detailed. At this episode, the animation itself was still good and detailed, but I fear what’s going to happen in the rest of the series, when the budget is going to force the creators to come up with a lot of still frames. As for the story: this series assumes you know Iron Man’s background: it is just another adventure in Iron Man’s life, focusing more on his future than his past. The acting was downright bad at times, and it also doesn’t look like the setting of the series will be important: Iron Man crashed randomly into concrete, blocking the road for countless of cars, and he just walks away with nobody finding it strange (“Screw the rules, I have money!”). The whole premise of a hijacked suit is standard comic book fodder, but with the right development it could be made into something interesting. The creators are really going to have to try, though. With the half a year of delay, the direction of this episode should not have felt as rushed as it did here.
OP: Pretty good music that fits Iron Man very nicely.
ED: Very good. There is little animation, but it actually has a good artistic direction compared to the actual series.
Potential: 50%

Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu – 14

by psgels, posted in Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu



Well, I hope you like your morals, because this episode was full of them: “thou shalt not kill”, “killing is necessary”, “pointless murders are pointless”, “people I don’t like are better off dead”. What was supposed to have been a climactic battle ended up in all of the characters throwing these morals back and forth at each other.

While I do have my issues with this episode, it wasn’t bad by far. Instead, it was average for this series’ standards: nowhere near its best, but also far from the tedious watch that some of its other episodes were. Still, this episode did go on and on with these morals, but considering their use, they accomplished very little. This episode was meant to close off the kid arc, so you’d expect some sort of conclusion, or new twist or anything, but we already knew pretty much all of the moral slogans that the characters said here. In the end, it was mere build-up.

The biggest changes in this episode involved that boy. His parents have been slaughtered, he wakes up, cries for a minute, and after that he’s fine again. Perhaps a bit of a fast development, but it works. I liked how he actually partially took part in taking out the pink-haired couple. He progressed a lot through this arc, and even though I wonder what his point was in the overall story, this episode did give his character adequate closure, and the upcoming arcs should prove to be quite interesting after all that build-up. If it’s used well, of course.

On a side-note: this is a pretty minor issue, but it did bother me in this episode: I’m a bit confused about the concepts of space in this series: how big are these countries? How many people live in these countries? How big are their armies? How long does it take to travel from one place to the other? These were some questions that sparked my mind when suddenly Miran appeared from out of nowhere at exactly the right moment. In fact, the way that this guy keeps sticking his nose in just about every part of Shion’s plans may be a bit much.
Rating: * (Good)

September Summary

by psgels, posted in Monthly Summaries

Of course, in the past number of years there have been quite a few small Winter and Summer Seasons. However, the big difference with previous years is that there always were plenty of interesting series that were carried over from previous seasons. That’s pretty much the biggest problem with the past summer season: too much of the spring season series stopped after just 11 to 13 episodes, leading to this seasons’ quantity problem.

Overall though, this was a very interesting month: some series really exceeded my expectations, while others failed to live up to them. There were fewer interesting series than usual, but the series that stood out really did stand out, and that’s why I see no reason to call it as dry as the past Winter season.

#19 (19) – Amagami SS – (4,25/10) – Just… make it stop. No more, I give up. The first two arcs still had their charms and all, but the shy girl arc has become downright unwatchable. I’ve been stuck at episode eleven because I couldn’t get myself to listen to her abysmal voice acting anymore, let alone the horrible scenario and character-development that the creators have given her. Dropped.
#18 (18) – Asobi ni Iku Yo – (7/10) – I went into this series, expecting entertainment. In the end, I didn’t really get a whole lot of this. The final twist to resolve the love triangle in this series was just completely stupid and out of left-field, especially how everyone just bought it. Way to negate all of the build-up you put into this, guys.
#17 (12) – Heroman – (7,25/10) – That one scene. The one in which Joey started glowing. It made no bloody sense at all, but it was damn cool to look at, and just about the only highlight of the finale of this series that I can remember. It tried to be way too epic for its own good, making the big bad guy way too strong, with all of the disastrous consequences. The whole finale never really used any of the build-up that the previous arcs tried to give it, and it really didn’t leave with a good aftertaste.
#16 (16) – Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi – (7,75/10) – It’s a bit of a weird choice for its final episodes, to have the climax at the semi-final episode, which ultimately didn’t really accomplish anything. It’s not been the strongest month for Ookami-san, but it still was pretty enjoyable, not to mention gorgeously animated.
#15 (11) – Mitsudomoe – (7,75/10) – I’m really worried about that second season. With the way that the creators have been repeating their jokes at this rate, that second season is bound to be not as good as the first season. Still, the repeated jokes still were within bounds this months, and I got a number of good laughs out of every episode.
#14 (15) – Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu – (7,75/10) – My main issue with this month for Denyuuden was that it spent a bit too much time trying to show how much the people with Alpha Stigma are suffering. We know that already, no need to shove it up our faces. Overall I’m still missing something with this series, though episode thirteen was a very interesting hint of more interesting things to come.
#13 (7) – Sengoku Basara – (7,75/10) – With the huge amounts of build-up that went into it, that final episode was not good enough to make up for it. It lacked the creativity of episode six, it skipped one fight completely and the creators overall should have tried harder. Nevertheless, it still was a short but sweet ending that was a lot of fun to watch. Just be sure to balance out your show next time, Production IG.
#12 (9) – Nurarihyon no Mago – (7,75/10) – Thirteen episodes in, and unfortunately this doesn’t seem to be able to compete with Studio Deen’s better works. It’s a nice adventure with a couple of pretty charming characters, but so far it’s nothing special, and it should really try in its second half to do something more.
#11 (17) – Sekirei – (8/10) – Overall, this series had quite a strong month, considering the main goal of the side-story that took most of its focus. There still needs to come some kind or third (or possibly even fourth) season to wrap everything up, though.
#10 (10) – Anyamaru Tantei Kiruminzoo – (8/10)

It’s a bit of a chaotic finale here, but that’s what made it a fun way to close off this series. The final bad guy was one incredible moron in the way that he went down, but with the stupidity of some of the characters through the series, I guess that that was meant to be his charms. The creators came with some neat twists and the characters could really show themselves off. Overall, I’m quite happy with how this series turned out.

#9 (14) – High School of the Dead – (8/10)

A surprisingly quiet end for what’s supposed to be a zombie bashing show, but I liked the charms that that had. It really allowed the characters to show a bit about themselves.This show just ends without any resolution, which did annoy me a bit, though.

#8 (3) – Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru – (8/10)

This series should have ended with an anime original ending. The build up to the final episode was perfect for that, and it would have been able to close off this series perfectly instead of the half-assed deus ex machina ending that we ended up getting here. The ending for this one was probably the most disappointing ones of the season, but before “it” happened, this series really was incredibly solid.

#7 (13) – Katanagatari – (8,25/10)

I think the part about Katanagatari that I like the most is how it’s basically an exploration of all kinds of martial arts and swordplay. The double-length episodes really allow the creators to delve into these mechanics, much more than you usually see in series like this. The latest episode was down to earth, but worked exactly because of that, along with the wit that it sometimes shows (Shichika trying to learn sword fighting stances for example was hilarious) and the increasingly interesting chemistry between Togame and Shichika.

#6 (6) – Rainbow – (8,5/10)

I really liked the arcs the creators chose to close this series off with, exactly because they were by far the least depressing and overly epic arcs of the entire series. Instead, what we got here was a heart-warming closure that was really focused on the hopeful future. Most of the major conflicts were resolved already, and instead the series’ finale was fully focused on the future of the characters.

#5 (8) – Kuroshitsuji – (8,75/10)

This series really impressed me. The plot in the final episodes just kept the interesting twists coming, making optimal use of not just Alois and Claude, but also Ciel and Sebastian shined. I have a hate/love relationship with the ending, but I still really liked it.

#4 (5) – Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin – (8,75/10)

A few Deus ex Machina, but apart from that the final three episodes left a strong impression behind, and especially episode eleven was just amazing. It’s a shame that this series had its balancing issues, because it really could have been one of the best series of the year if managed to fix its biggest issues.

#3 (4) – Shiki – (8,75/10)

“Natsuno did something stupid”. That pretty much describes all my problems with this series. The rest is just absolutely delightful with its art and atmosphere, especially in the way that the past few episodes have used the build-up of the earlier episodes. The idea around which this series is based is nothing new, but it throws in more than enough to make this series worth watching.

#2 (2) – Heartcatch Precure – (8,75/10)

A ton of plot and focus on Cure Moonlight this month, with some really adorable results. Like Cure Sunshine, she is completely different from Cure Blossom and Marin, and so the mood of this series this month also was bit more mature than usual and it’s great to see this series evolve like this.

#1 (1) – Giant Killing – (9,25/10)

A fantastic month for Giant Killing, the finale closed off the series perfectly, and yet it left enough room open for a second season. That final match was incredibly dynamic: it evolved with every single episode and it really used its teamwork to make it an awesome watch against the Osaka team, who were some worthy opponents.

OVA Impressions: Toriko

by psgels, posted in OVA Impressions



Toriko is a story about a guy who travels all around the world in order to murder all kinds of exotic animals. Yeah, that’s a premise you don’t get to see every day…

In any case, this series reminds me a bit of hte Legend of Koizumi, in the way that it also tries to push GAR to the limits of what can be possible. In this case it’s baed around gathering exclusive wild ingredients for restaurants. Especially all of the designs of the different monsters and animals is pretty creative.

Apart from that, though, I’m a bit disappointed. For what’s supposed to be a comedy, it just failed to make me laugh, and after five minutes of the ridiculously over the top cook Toriko, I was pretty much bored with him. The comedic timing missed the mark in just about all of the jokes for me. This series has a nice gimmick, but it’s just enough to carry an OVA of fifteen minutes, not half an hour. I really don’t know whether the upcoming Toriko movie will be worth it, because its premise was just too shallow and bland for much more material.

The most annoying however, was that tiny side-kick that accompanied Toriko. His constant screaming and whining was sure to sap any of the comedic potential left in this series away. This entire OVA felt like it was trying too hard, but that guy really took the cake.
OVA Episode Rating: 6/10

Rainbow Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Rainbow



Madhouse is at its best when it’s dealing with mature series, boasting a refined execution and storytelling. Rainbow is not that. It’s bloody intense to the point of melodrama, and it wants everyone to know about it as it tells about a group of youths as they spend time in prison.

And it’s indeed easy to look at Rainbow and get annoyed by its cheese and melodrama. Storytelling is a balance between trying to tug your emotions, and showing restraint. Rainbow instead just attempts to show the intense suffering in prisons with as much drama as possible by either being overly dramatic, overly sappy or overly cheesy. Having said that though, this show does pack an excellent plot and the characters are more than charming and developed enough to make up for it.

Because as overdramatic as they are, the heavy scenes in this series make one hell of an impact. This series shies away from nothing to prove its point, and this can be seen as early as episode two. As overblown as some of the scenes are, prisons in the years following the second world war were a pure hell, and the creators really succeeded in getting this effect. One guard in particular is just a complete and over the top nutcase that is both easy to hate and love, especially as this guy develops.

Speaking of development: the biggest reason why this series is so memorable is because of the huge amount of time it spends on showing the characters growing up. The entire second half takes place a year after the lead characters leave prison, and try to pick up their lives again. We get to see their troubles fitting into society, chasing after their dreams, and dealing with the pasts they grew up in. Whereas the first half of the series is dark, depressing and hopeless, the second half is bright, heart-warming and hopeful. Throughout both, the themes of friendship remain a red thread throughout the entire series, and together the two halves, as different as they may be, form an excellent whole, leaving behind a very well developed cast.

Whether or not you’ll be able to enjoy this series depends entirely on how you’ll be able to stomach the overly sappy and dramatic nature of this series. Especially psycho guard (as I’d like to call him anyway) will be… hard to swallow at times. It’s never going to be a masterpiece, and Madhouse has certainly done much better in the past. Nevertheless, for those who don’t mind there is a lovable and heart-warming cast, well thought out and planned plot and a great soundtrack.

Storytelling: 8/10 – The plot itself is really excellent: perfectly paced, makes optimal use of its 26 episodes, throws in plenty of twists and turns. It’s just the delivery that will tug your suspense of disbelief with how over the top it is.
Characters: 9/10 – Wonderfully developed, each character has his own strengths and flaws.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Average for Madhouse standards. Lots of still frames that do look quite pretty at times. The soundtrack is excellent, though.
Setting: 9/10 – A very interesting twist on “old versus young”, this series shines in portraying the lead characters’ attempts to fit into society, and the darker sides of the period after the second world war.

Suggestions:
– Death Note
– Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji
– Red Garden

Rainbow – 26

by psgels, posted in Rainbow



Aww. What a heart-warming way to close off this series and the past half year of anime. Really, the creators resisted the urge to force in some last-minute overly ambitious climax, and instead chose a wonderful little story that brings perfect closure to this series. In one way it’s a bit of a shame that Heitai didn’t get the time to show off his arc, but Mario undergoing surgery in order to go back to boxing, it fits exactly with the sappy nature of the series, and at the same time it was the perfect excuse to bring the focus back to An-chan. And we actually got to meet his mother, that was a very pleasant surprise!

The thirty percent success of the surgery of course did not matter in terms of plot: the surgery would be successful. The creators indeed wisely decided not to create any fake tension by dragging out the surgery scene. Mario just enters the surgery room, and then we cut to a boxing match. That’s not rushed, that’s perfectly paced, and I love the guts of the creators to actually do that. Instead, the thirty percent was mostly meant to show Mario’s resolve to continue with An-chan’s dreams: even if it would have been one percent, he would have gone with that chance if it meant a chance to continue An-chan’s dreams.

Overall, yes the second half of this series was sappy. But at the same time it was just incredibly heart-warming. It’s in the same way that the first half was melodramatic, yet incredibly intense. It’s the combination of the two that really made this series memorable, though. The direction for this series is flawed, but by god, the story is so well rounded that it perfectly makes up for this.

This show really got me thinking on how to evaluate first impressions, because I nearly didn’t blog this show… in favor of Kaichou wa Maid Sama (yeah). After the first episode, I remember not seeing any future in this series because of the hopeless overacting of this series. That overacting of this series was indeed the reason why this show never had the chance to become a masterpiece, but in the end it brought enough to the table to make up for this. That’s something I’ve got to remember when doing the upcoming first impressions of the new Autumn Season.

I can blog seven new series, and yet there are ten shows that I’m really interested in covering. There’s only one show that I’m guaranteed to blog (Letter Bee), plus the series that you’re going to force me to blog (only two days left on that one, by the way!), leaving me to choose five series out of eight potentially very interesting ones, which makes choosing the ones that will be the most fun to blog, rather than failing to see potential between flaws.
Rating: ** (Excellent)