Author: psgels

Maria-Sama Ga Miteru Fourth Season Review – 87,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



The previous seasons all sort-of picked a bunch of characters, who surrounded the two lead characters of Yumi and Sachiko, and developed them. This season however, is different. It leaves most of the characters for what they are, and instead just picks one: Touko. While she might not have the most airtime, the entire fourth season is so written to explore her character to the fullest. Considering that she already had quite a bit of depth thanks to the second and third season, it’s perhaps not much of a surprise that this fourth season of Maria-Sama ga Miteru is my favourite one yet.

You could see Maria-Sama ga Miteru as a slice-of-life series, and indeed there are a ton of scenes in which we see the regular lives of the characters. However, I prefer to see it much more as a character-study: it’s always thinking to show off new sides of characters. It’s always thinking of ways to evolve them or give them more depth. You can see this not just in the main ones, but also the side characters. And really: we’re four seasons in at this point. When you add everything, the total amount of character-development in this season reaches higher than ever.

But the real star of this season is Touko. Basically, the creators try to pull something similar as to the climax of the second season, but it’s much more well balanced, and the conclusion is much more satisfying. The interplay between Touko and Yumi is explored really well. It’s emotional, and yet it doesn’t try to be too melodramatic (especially not when compared to the standards of most other anime).

Unfortunately, the animation isn’t up to par with what we’re used to from this season. Granted, it did have to follow up the great standards of an OVA, but I guess that at the time of this series’ production, Studio Deen’s best artists were working on… Jigoku Shoujo, Higurashi Rei and 07-Ghost, I guess. Faces in the background are often distorted and ugly and lack a quality check. There’s enough movement, though, so at least the creators didn’t try go take the cheap way out. This show certainly can’t complain about its inbetweeners.

But yeah. This is pretty much what you get when you give series the opportunity to fully shine by not suddenly cutting them off after 26 episodes: they really get to show their full potential. With nearly 50 episodes at its disposal, its character-development really set itself apart from most other high-school series out there. Here’s to hoping that many more series get this chance.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Well balanced slice of life and drama. Makes really well use of its setting as an elite high school.
Characters: 10/10 – Continues building up to the huge amount of character-development that this series already had.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Great inbetweeners, key-frames often lack quality checks.
Setting: 8/10 – There are already tons and tons of high school series. This is one of the few that actually makes this setting stand apart from the others.

Kobato Review – 87,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Kobato




Kobato is one of those series that at first sight isn’t anything special. It starts with a premise, and repeats that for a bunch of episodes with a number of questionable results. In Kobato’s case, she has to heal a number of people’s hearts. I too wasn’t that much interested by this premise, having seen a few too many series with similar premises that never really went anywhere in the end. Kobato however, did.

The people that Kobato heals in the first half of this series range from nice enough to mediocre, so it’s understandable to get turned off at first. But oh, the character-development in the second half more than makes up for it. This is one of those series which is greater than the sum of its part. Through its entire airtime, it never forgets what it’s supposed to be, and what it’s supposed to build-up for. Every of the early episodes spends time to flesh out the characters, while the later episodes use this build-up to deliver with an excellent emotional impact, resulting in a heart-warming series.

Kobato truly stands out in how incredibly genuine she is. I found her an airhead at first, but her personality and innocence turned out to be so addictive that I couldn’t help but root for her. And true, the story in the second half can get pretty soppy at times, but this isn’t the show that tries to pull deus ex machina for extra drama, and instead carefully builds it up.

Madhouse has done the animation, and despite that you can easily see that this wasn’t the series that their best artists were working on, they still delivered great graphics, allowing Clamp’s character-designs to shine, along with a few episodes that look absolutely gorgeous.

Kobato’s story is very simple, but it has really proven that it’s in no way a disadvantage. Due to its simple plot it had all of the time it needed to properly tell the story that it wanted to do. the ending is wonderfully un-rushed, and provides an amazing conclusion to the series that made optimal use of the time it spent on building up. This isn’t a series for people who dislike overdramatic-ish series due to the soppy parts, but this series’ second half hit all of the right buttons for me.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Never forgets the meaning of build-up. Simple, but very effective.
Characters: 9/10 – Excellent character-development, though the drama can get a bit soppy at times.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Madhouse rocks, even in their less-budgetted series.
Setting: 8/10 – Good attention to detail to the series’ small surroundings, plus some Clamp references that don’t feel forced or rushed.

Kobato – 24

by psgels, posted in Kobato

This is going to be a really short entry because I also still need to write this series’ review and get up early tomorrow as usual so I’m sorry but there’ll also be no screenshots for this one because I watched it streamed. I had to watch too much awesome stuff today in too little time…

Hell yeah! Kobato! Best ending this season! That was so adorable!

Rating: *** (Awesome)

Marie & Gali Review – 87,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



One of the many things I love about writing this blog is being able to promote those unknown gems that most people haven’t heard of. Whether it’s because of a lack of subs, bad advertisement, a kiddish look or something else that caused only few people to give it a chance. Let me now sing praises over the series that I consider to be the best comedy-series out of all the series that I watched during the past four seasons: Marie and Gali.

From the outside, this looks like a cheesy kids’ show. And you know what? It is. However, it very quickly set itself apart as a one of a kind kids’ show. Episodes are only five minutes long, but every single episode delivers. Every single episode is hilarious. There are absolutely no weak moments. There are no jokes that fall flat. Heck, there are hardly any jokes that even get recycled! Every second of this show just sparkles with creativity.

Basically, this is a series that has been designed to make science fun for kids. And you know what? It more than succeeded. License this series, put a bunch of kids in front of it and they’ll love it. Throughout the series, great names as Galileo Galilei, Marie Curie, Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison, Archimedes, Charles Darwin and a bunch more explain the principles of physics. It parodies them, but it also celebrates the great achievements that these people made in their times. It never takes itself seriously; instead, every moment was dedicated to make the different topics it discusses fun.

But what really set this show above all other comedies for me was its seemingly endless pit of creativity. The examples that the creators use in order to illustrate their points are beyond imaginative. It always has something unexpected in store, and every episode has something original. The entire script just sparkles with tons of nice ideas that the creators stuffed into the scenario. Because of this, I just kept looking forward to this series week after week.

Granted, the characters themselves are nowhere near realistic. They all act incredibly over the top, and often act a bit too much to their character-traits. However, I couldn’t help but love to seeing Marika (the lead character) gradually getting caught up in the frantic pacing of the rest of the characters. This show is incredibly hyperactive, but I truly consider this to be amongst my top 10 of favourite comedy anime that I’ve ever seen.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Every single episode delivers. Consistently hilarious and over the top and always pulls something unexpected.
Characters: 8/10 – Wonderful characters, although a bit too one sided, perhaps.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Everything looks like a visual feast, courtesy of Toei.
Setting: 10/10 – Makes science even more awesome than it already was. Sparkles with creativity.

Kobato – 23

by psgels, posted in Kobato



Aww. What a wonderful episode. It was perhaps a bit too dramatic, but I love this kind of stuff. It’s awesome to see a series which has entirely been building up to its final episode, and having that final episode actually pay off. This series did not try to be too epic. Instead, it remained true to itself and based on its simple premise. And while it may have been simple, this episode proved that it ended up way more effective than I could have expected.

What made this such an awesome episode wasn’t exactly because it was a bad ending. Rather, I absolutely loved this episode because of what it meant to the characters: here Kobato was, with the decision to either try and raise more konpeito (which may have not been enough at that point), or spend the rest of her time with Fujimoto. While at first it seemed a bit weird for her to spend time with him for an entire month (and seriously: Fujimoto’s still injured. that’s something you hardly see in anime, especially with such small wounds), it all made sense once we found out her secret. She’s dead.

The first part of this episode was slice of life, and the reason Kobato shined so brightly in this episode was because she knew that she was spending her last time and wanted to make the best out of it. It’s not far-fetched, and actually an adorable premise. The fate of the world was never involved, and instead this episode really was all about its characters, allowing it to really get the best out of them. I have just found my contender for the best ending of the season right now.

As for that final episode, I really wonder what it’s about. I mean, the main character has just died and we still have one episode left (let me by the way praise the creators for doing such a thing. I don’t recall any other show in which the lead character dies before the final episode), but my guess is that it’s going to close off the story of Fujimoto and Ioryogi. I especially want to see the latter. By the way, wasn’t this week supposed to air a double episode? I’m not seeing episode 24 yet…
Rating: **** (Incredible)

Sora no Oto Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Sora no Oto



Sora no Oto is another one of those ‘don’t by fooled by its looks’-shows. Sure, it may have the same character-designer as K-On, but its content is completely different. Instead it takes place Switzerland, in some sort of mysterious post-apocalyptic world of a threatening war and child soldiers. It tells the story of a military outpost, which can sometimes be quiet and laid-back, but at others dark and powerful.

This series has really been one of the very few series that can boast an original storyline nowadays. In 12 episodes, it paints the picture of a mysterious setting in which a ton of stuff happened in the past, and it’s truly at its best when it can flesh out this setting. It’s amazing how well detailed it describes the village that everything in this series takes place in, and the story that lies behind it. It leaves a lot to your imagination: it doesn’t reveal everything, but instead relies on the viewers to piece together all of the clues.

The characters themselves also have imaginative backgrounds. Through the series I liked how they first start out as those seemingly annoying moe stereotypes, but ended up developing in sympathetic ones. My personal favourite was the Felicia episode, which was a true triumph in storytelling. The slice of life is also very imaginative and has an interesting presentation, rather than trying to rip off the ton of other slice of life series that exist out there.

With a series that’s completely original, you’d expect that the creators would have the perfect opportunity to create a story that fits that 12 episodes that it consists of perfectly. But, now. The creators took too much on their plate and tried to be way too epic for their own good. If the characters didn’t somehow end up standing at the centre of a huge war, then it would have been significantly better. Instead, this show is stuck with an utterly terrible ending that doesn’t just fail to answer some of the most important questions, it’s utterly cheesy, nonsensical and furthermore it destroys a ton of build-up that the previous episodes tried to create so pain-stakingly. It’s a huge step beyond a simple ‘disappointing ending’.

In the meantime however, A-1 are showing more and more what an excellent production company they can be. This series looks utterly gorgeous, and the animation is vivid and imaginative, with especially the backgrounds being really well drawn.

But yeah, in the end this remains a series that went too epic than what was good for it. It’s a shame, I really liked it in the beginning, but for me, it left a nasty bad taste behind in its final minutes. I’m still recommending this show for its first two thirds, but just be aware that this show can’t fulfill the things it promises.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Very solid writing in the first two thirds. Last third is too rushed. Bad ending.
Characters: 8/10 – Interesting development, but some get taken a bit too far.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Beautiful animation and background art; the best OP of the past season.
Setting: 8/10 – Incomplete, but fascinating and well detailed.

Sora no Oto – 12

by psgels, posted in Sora no Oto



No. No, they didn’t. This didn’t just happen. It can’t be. This show was heading in such a good direction. It was so on its way to be amongst my favourite series of the Winter season. And then it pulls this. I was fearing for this show to end with a cliched route, and it actually pulls off something worse than I ever could have expected.

This is just… unbelievable. The ending went well enough, I guess. It was a bit melodramatic, but okay. Then the action starts, and the spider somehow is totally fixed again. Despite that, it’s not something that was too bad, and I had seen far worse endings at that point. However, then Kanata started playing the trumpet. And every single soldier stopped and listened. What a headdesk moment!

To think that out of all series, this show would end up pulling a “let my song stop all fighting”-ending. What a disappointment. The creators tried to save it by having Rio show up from absolutely nowhere just seconds after that, but the damage already was done for me. It’s one of the first endings I’ve seen this season, but I have no doubt that it’s going to end up as the single worst one. Yes, even Ookami Kakushi’s finale felt more satisfying than this thing.

I’m really thinking of how I’m going to end up judging this series. Before this episode, I had no doubt that my top 3 of the Winter Season would consist out of Durarara, Heartcatch Precure and Sora no Oto. After this episode, I might actually consider to put Gag Manga Biyori + in its place. This wasn’t just a bad episode, but for me it actually destroyed all of the credibility and realism that it built up in the previous things. War should have been a horrible inevitable thing. And here the characters come and solve it like it’s nothing, exactly at the most convenient time for the writers. Blegh.
Rating: —- (Abysmal)

Cross Game – 49

by psgels, posted in Cross Game



Oh god, no. It’s going to continue into the next episode (which is also going to be the final one). This is exactly what I’ve been fearing for 20 episodes now: this show just isn’t good at baseball matches. and to drag them on like this. It’s a shame that this show had to be about baseball. I can understand that without it, the characters couldn’t have developed the way they did, but this also made this kind of finale inevitable.

Overall the creators tried to put in some nice twists and all, but writing a good baseball match is all about building up tension. Over the entire series. At this point Kou and Azuma have been so god-moded that I’m not exactly rooting for them to make it. Even though Kou slipped up, the bugger actually hit a home-run later to make up for it.

In any case, at this point I consider this to still be a wonderful series, but when compared to Touch, in the end I have to say that Touch was better. While its characterization may have been not as good as Cross Game, and it may have been a tad too long for its own good, it was more balanced, and every part about it was well written, even the lesser exciting arcs. It all amounted to some great character-development and excellent baseball matches. Even the final climax was wonderful to watch, despite the seemingly cliched set-up.

I don’t think that the problem with Cross Game would have been solved if the creators spent more effort into the baseball matches. The thing is that the slice of life was just that good. I seldomly have seen it this witty and consistently enjoyable. The biggest mistake that this series made in this that could have been fixed is the way in which they treated the opposing team: the development of these people sucks when compared to the main cast. These guys needed much more attention if they wanted to make impact in this match.
Rating: (Enjoyable)

Heartcatch Precure – 07

by psgels, posted in Heartcatch Precure



Agh, no. They’re going to animate the the Precure Allstars Movie in 3D. The promo that took this week’s episode’s OP’s place looked horrible because of it. I really hope that Toei isn’t planning to do that with the Kaidan Restaurant Movie. I’m actually looking forward to that one.

In any case, that student council president! Her story came way earlier than I expected, and it was also completely different from what I expected. She quite forcefully jumped out of her role as romantic interest when her gender was revealed (in a quite funny way, actually), breaking yet another shoujo stereotype in the process.

Her story also contains the opposite of a well used trope: the weak younger sister. Instead, the student council president has a weak older brother. Refreshing; I haven’t seen that since watching Otogizoshi. Her story was well told. It’s also nice how they managed to tie the fashion club into her story: at first I thought it was just going to be a pointless gimmick to keep the characters busy, but it actually contributed to her development a bit.

I also wonder: will the fact that that bishie got smashed have any effect on the rest of this story? Knowing the creators, they might actually include the consequences of having these desatorians turn against their creators.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Hanamaru Youchien – 11

by psgels, posted in Hanamaru Youchien



Another episode that was not so much about the kindergarten, but more about Tsuchida himself and his attempts at hitting on Yamamoto, who still remains incredibly dense. Still, I have to admit that this episode impressed me with an actual reason for it: how she wants to devote all of her time to her work, so that she believes that she wouldn’t have enough time to properly invest in a relationship. That just put her one step above all other generic clueless leads.

There also were a ton of Anzu-jokes in this episode, but it’s interesting that they weren’t so much random, but instead just an attempt of her to cheer up Tsuchida after the last episode. On top of that, we learned more about Sakura and her job. Consider that this was the penultimate episode. My expectations really were that this series would fall apart with cheesy drama for its finale, but surprisingly this show has never been better than the past number of episodes.

Still, in the end I do want to see more anime about a subject that most romance series try to avoid: ACTUAL RELATIONSHIPS. Romance series seem to be all about the tease: trying to get the two lead characters to be together. What I’d like to see is a couple actually getting together early. You know? The main character already being in a relationship at the start of a series.
Rating: * (Good)