Author: psgels

White Album – 26

by psgels, posted in White Album



You know what? I’m impressed. I’m fucking impressed by this ending. The way it wraps up so many plot threads, there’s a very good chance that it’s going to end up being the best ending of all the shows that end around these times. At the start of this series, I was expecting nothing other than a school days trainwreck ending. And yet here this show comes and does the exact opposite. Holy crap.

I love how the creators again did not try to end this show with a bang. There’s only one emotional climax in this entire episode: the point where Rina forces Touya to remember that what he forgot as a trauma, ten years ago. After that, Everything else follows naturally as he puts back the pieces of the puzzle that he once forgot. It’s basically a lot of exposition, but for Touya it makes perfect sense, now that he finally realized why he heck he turned into such a big player in the middle of this series. It’s a case where bullying went too far. Yuki actually tried to console him with a ribbon, but he threw it away. Haruka then picked up the ribbon, after Touya was scolded by his father and went back to search for it.

So as it turns out, the majority of White Album was just there, to get Touya to remember his past, and put aside his trauma. All of his actions don’t just stem from his loneliness created by how he was far away from Yuki, but instead out of escapism, created by that trauma. Influenced by both Yuki, Haruka and Menou at that time, he kept searching for his goddess, and never really found it. The way Touya healed in the final quarter of this series was also well built up. I think it started around the time that Mana left: it forced him to actually do something: get after Mana and instead stop running away. That time with Mana and after that Haruka really changed him.

Haruka breaking down in front of Touya’s door was of course a bit overdone, but with this revelation you can see that she’s not just another childhood friend who randomly falls in love with a harem lead (in the end, only Misaki took on that role), but rather, she too suffered from Touya’s trauma, and I can bet that she vividly remembered it: she had the ribbon to remind her of what happened. And with that, I can see why she fell for him in a moment of weakness. Menou in the end just turned out to be a girl who likes to fool around with guys. Touya was extra interesting for her because she met him when she was little. The reason she stayed with him was really because she liked him as a friend, rather than that she seriously had feelings for him. This rebellious way really comes from how she was raised: she resisted her strict mother, and because of that her mother became even stricter to Mana, who ended up listening to her mother and ended up studying really hard, to turn out about the opposite.

The iffy part of this episode was the performance, though. While the aftermath made sense and was interesting (Yuki and Rina finally got to work together as a duo, which takes care of the tensions between them of being competitions. And it’s not like everyone got a happy ending either: Rina’s brother still ended up in jail), but for a supposedly “perfect” idol, Rina’s English is pretty abysmal. And her showing up is also a bit hard to buy. Also, what happened with the animation in this episode? It’s back to the quality of the first season?

But really, it’s been a lot of fun to blog this series, even during the annoying times, there was tons to write about it. This ending also really showed that you don’t need to go over the top in order to create a great ending. White Album overall was a true breath of fresh air in both the harem and the hentai game adaptation genre. It for once took its time to give its male lead deep and memorable development, rather than just letting him be the same over and over again. Touya was a huge idiot throughout the majority of the series, but he could be one of the best developed harem leads out there. I would never have said this after finishing the first season, but I really hope that more series like this get made in the future.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – 13

by psgels, posted in Armed Librarians - The Book of Bantorra



The next arc: Mirepoc. On top of that, Cigal returns, plus we get background on the mysterious bearded guy, who seems to have created an entire legend around him. I love how this show is able to interweave so many of its storylines.

Okay, so basically, Mirepoc is searching for the book of an actress who died eight years ago, who searched for the bearded guy who turns out to be named Othello. In the meantime, Cigal’s former lover also is after the same book for some reason. On top of that, we learn that Othello is friends with the invisible guy from the Church.

There are still tons of mysteries though: what is Mirepoc after? What’s getting her so fired up? What’s up with that other woman? Who the heck is Othello, and what is he after? Why was Winkeny after Hiza’s book? In fact, why is the church after the books of the Armed Librarians? The way they’re after them seems a bit more obsessive than simply for tactical reasons, especially considering that they’re intent on collecting every single one of them.

Also, I love what Volken has turned into. He’s been gone for ages now, and yet it has become awesome to just see his name mentioned. 😛
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Kanashimi no Belladonna Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Merry Christmas everyone. Christmas really is a time of peace, love and friendship. So yeah, I found this a good time to finally watch Kanashimi no Belladonna. It sounded like a good idea when I started watching it!

But seriously though: wow. We’re talking about 1973 here. Anime at this time was just giant robots and silly action shows. The industry was only ten years old, at a time when animation really was only meant for kids. And here this movie comes, with its sex, suffering, extortion, love, betrayal, pain, seduction, sex and more sex. It must have made a huge impact on the animation industry at the time!

The storytelling is just surreal. Even Studio 4C’s stuff is tame, compared to the style of Kanashimi no Belladonna. It’s obviously not for everyone. You really have to like artsy stuff, and as you can imagine from the screenshots: there is no way that the creators could animate images of these details. There are lots of still frames, while the animation that’s there is simple and often resorts to repeated frames.

But seriously, who cares! The art in this movie is absolutely beautiful. Even now, more than 35 years later, there still hasn’t been an anime that could call itself equal to this. Every frame is drawn with so much inspiration. I’m really going as far as saying that this is the best-looking anime of the seventies. It’s gorgeous in every way, and the soundtrack itself consists out of a bunch of great songs and background tunes for its time.

Despite being artsy however, this movie also excels in its characterization. Jeanne’s progression throughout the movie really hit me. The way that her life is spiralling completely out of control as she gets lost within her own greed, somewhere in medieval France. She desperately tries to be meaningful, despite the sacrifices she has to make. There’s a ton of symbolism and tons more of different ways to interpret these.

So yeah, obviously this isn’t a movie that you want to show your little brother or sister, because the story is told with tons of sex scenes. The same sex scenes will also turn off those who aren’t into artsy stuff, because seriously, they can get really bizarre at times. I seriously have no idea what went through the minds of the creators as they came up with this. I personally really enjoyed the movie. It’s really surreal, but very haunting at the same time.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Very surreal, but surprisingly deep.
Characters: 8/10 – The movie doesn’t get lost in its own art: the characters are strong.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Utterly amazing. The most beautiful anime of the 1970s
Setting: 8/10 – Makes well use of its setting.

Kappa to Coo no Natsuyasumi Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Kappa no Coo to Natsuyasumi: ET the Anime. We have a boy who finds a alienkappa. The two live together along with the boy’s mother, father and annoying sister. Eventually however, the boy must protect his new friend from the evil scientistsmass media and help him find his own kind back. But don’t let my overly generalized synopsis fool you. It’s a very charming movie.

What we have here is a charming family movie with a pretty nice characterization, that also isn’t afraid to touch upon some more mature themes. Between the gentle slice of life, this movie (clocking in at over two hours) discusses bullying, friendship and having to live in a completely new environment, but it also criticizes the mass media (and in a way that makes them come across as wrong, but not stereotypically evil), the “bystander effect” and other aspects of modern society. The themes are a bit one-sided overall, but they work well enough.

But most of this movie’s focus really goes towards the characters, which are nicely enough developed for a movie. The lead boy suffers a bit from how he looks like so many other young lead characters in other movies like this, but Coo, the Kappa, is well portrayed, and you have to love the antics of his bratty little sister. His parents are also strong characters, and combined they make up for his genericness.

This really is a movie for the fans of slice of life who also like some dark parts once in a while. If you’re not into slice of life, then it will be a bit hard to enjoy, considering that for a movie, it’s over two hours long. Kappa to Coo no Natsuyasumi takes a well known premise, but executes it well.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Gives both the light and dark parts of the story plenty time to unfold.
Characters: 9/10 – Good development for a movie, Coo and the side-characters are likable.
Production-Values: 8/10 – No Big budget movie, however the messy animation during the action parts works well.
Setting: 7/10 – Lacks originality, it’s portrayed well.

Darker than Black – Ryuusei no Gemini Review – 87,5/100

by psgels, posted in Darker than Black - Ryuusei no Gemini



Darker than Black was an excellent example of a mature series when it first aired. The entire setting was very original and creative, and so it was awesome to see an actual second season eventually got announced. I do want to warn fans of this first season to not expect exactly the same, however: Ryuusei no Gemini has no intention whatsoever to rip off the first season and going for the tried-and-true formula. Instead, it comes with its own concept, story-lines and focuses. and it does this so well.

Ryuusei no Gemini is about people with powers (called Contractors in this franchise) versus those who don’t. It explores its own boundaries that it set for itself, in the way that these contractors behave and act. It’s got a great direction throughout the entire series; there’s hardly a weak moment and it feels like every second is either there for building up or as a climax. I also really like how this is one of the very few series with a truly “people die when they fight to the death”-mentality that seems to be missing in anime way too often: when characters fight, the chance is big that someone (even a major character!) is going to end up dead.

While the first season of Darker than Black was about adults, Ryuusei no Gemini strangely has a teenager as a lead character. But don’t worry: she really doesn’t ruin this show in the slighted. Suou has an engaging personality and is well developed throughout the series. While you can see that she’s a teenager, she’s for once in no way inferior to the adults in this series and her story (just as all of the other subplots in this show, by the way) is very compelling. This show really succeeds in weaving all those little side-stories into one, while making all of them count. There’s lots of variety in this series. The ending may be a bit rushed, but even that one is very thought-provoking.

The soundtrack itself is even better than the one from the first season. It’s also different, but in a good way, full of haunting synthesizers. The animation is also what you’d expect of Bones: detailed, consistent and imaginative.

As for which season is best, it’s really hard to tell because the first and second season are just so completely different. The first season is episodic, the second has a continuous story. My favourite episode of Darker than Black still sits in the first season (the conclusion to the Yin-arc), however the second season is much more consistent. However, the first season in its turn is longer: that second season is really over before you know it! The first season in its turn had more adult themes, but the character-development in the second season also rocks despite the inclusion of teenagers. It’s really impossible to point at one as better, because they both have their own points at which they stand out.

The biggest complaint for Ryuusei no Gemini is simply that it’s too short. There are a few subplots that could have needed a bit more time, and if it had 24 episodes to work with it would have been even better. The really big fans of the first season are also going to have to accept that some of the more prominent characters in the first seasons have really small roles in the second season, in order to allow the new characters to shine. Nevertheless, I liked it a lot. It’s intelligent, exciting, well written, well directed, there are lovable characters. My third-favourite show of the past Autumn season.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Well directed, albeit a bit rushed at times due to the short amount of episodes.
Characters: 9/10 – Well developed new cast plus original use of old cast.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Excellent soundtrack, excellent animation.
Setting: 9/10 – Continues to push Darker than Black’s very creative setting forward.

Darker than Black – Ryuusei no Gemini – 12

by psgels, posted in Darker than Black - Ryuusei no Gemini



Yeah, this episode was rushed. There’s no denying that this episode lacked the emotional impact that it could have produced if it took things easy. However, I don’t think that the creators really intended this episode as entertainment, but rather as brainfood. A lot of weird stuff happened here, and you know what? I’m actually still interested. For a Bones Ending, it’s actually not that bad. Plus, that soundtrack was just bloody awesome.

First of all, Shion. I thought that he was really a huge bastard, however his goal was pretty gentle. It turns out that he set out to Tokyo in order to get to the gate, and create a completely copied world in which Suou wouldn’t feel out of place. He hid it well, but I think that he felt really guilty about what he did to her.

The mystery-element here is of course Yin, but we have to wait for the OVAs to get some concrete answers on that. What we do know is that her powers helped Shion complete his plan: she helped him create a copy of the entire earth, and she brought July and Suou there: two children who indeed shouldn’t be involved with these adult struggles. In this episode, it’s also made clear that copies can’t retain their memories for long, so that’s why Suou was experimented with with her necklace. So apparently, Yin also made sure that Suou and the others would be able to survive without this pendant.

Then, the motives of the woman of the CIA: she for some reason was very interested in Shion’s ability to create copies (Hmm, what if one of the twins that’s with her is a copy as well?), and her actions seem to revolve around that. We now know that she helped Shion create his copies, and my guess is that when Shion came with the plan of creating an entire new planet because he didn’t want to involve Suou anymore, I guess she found it an interesting idea and cooperated with him. Her ulterior motives still are a mystery, though.

Then there’s Yin: why the hell are there two of them? The OVA is really going to have to answer that question. Also, the prophecy: Izanami and Izanagi, who we assumed to be Shion and Yin, met, and yet nothing bad happened. Again some OVA material, or perhaps the white Yin was Izanami, and so the disaster could be averted.

Then: Suou and July behaving uncontractor-like. My guess is that it’s got something to do with Hei. He’s always been a big question-mark: he has his sister who lives in him, who may or may not have disappeared completely when his powers were taken away. My guess is that he has some sort of effect on children and teenagers, that allows them to retain their their personality.

In the end, before I started to watch this episode I really think that I’ve been a bit too much spoiled by endings that just spoon-feed their information to the viewer. This episode was a nice wake-up call and it showed the power that these “rushed endings” can have. This episode didn’t treat its audience like idiots, and instead it’s just one of those episodes where if you don’t think about it, you’re going to dislike it.

Overall, I may have said this a bit too often by now, but THIRD SEASON WHERE?! Ryuusei no Gemini really was a really well done side-story, but there’s still so much potential left here in this series. It’s another one in the increasingly long list of shows that desperately need continuations. And yes, I’ve heard about the rumours but I’m not going to get my hopes up until I see official confirmation.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Swan Lake Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Back in the sixties and seventies, before the age of Ghibli, Toei still had the ambitions to become the “Disney of Japan”, and was enthusiastically competing with Nippon Animation for that title. It’s not much of a surprise of course that a movie of the Swan Lake once was made. And I’m pretty impressed, actually. It’s obviously a children’s movie, but if you like this sort of stuff then Swan Lake will have you entertained.

The music for starters is fantastic. But really, how can you go wrong when you have Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake as your soundtrack? With some of the best parts of this classical masterpiece, this movie truly is a feast for the ears and it creates a great atmosphere to work with.

Well then, the story itself is a bit unrealistic at times (romantic love story between a prince and princess who happen to meet each other and fall in love. Oh, and let’s not forget the two squirrels who somehow make themselves into important characters…), but it definitely has its charms. The story is well paced and makes well use of its airtime. Although there’s one particular Big Lipped Alligator Moment with ballet-dancing eggs. No, really.

In any case, what made me like this movie the most was the villain: Rothbart. His motives are just plain wrong, but he’s such a fun guy to watch. The characterization for him is just excellent and he’s the one who manages to carry this movie from the moment he first gets mentioned. Now here’s a movie that manages to create a really enjoyable character. The rest of the cast is also pretty enjoyable. Odette may be a bit useless, but it doesn’t stand out too much because of Odin, the Prince and the squirrels (yeah, these two oddballs really have their charms) have their own colourful personalities.

Let me take a bit of time to talk about the ending, though. The progress of this movie is fairly linear and modern fairy-tale-like, but solid. At the end, there’s this big battle between good and evil, which is actually pretty engaging… until the creators suddenly decide to pull a completely random twist that comes right out of nowhere, makes no sense whatsoever and isn’t explained in the slightest. Seriously, there are Deus ex Machina endings, and there’s this. You really have to try to be that bad.

Nevertheless, I like kids stuff once in a while, and this movie perfectly satiated my thirst for them. That ending was just… weird, but the rest of the movie was very enjoyable. This obviously isn’t the movie you want if you’re looking for maturity, but if you like innocent and likable characters, then this movie has them.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Well paced storyline, WTF-ending.
Characters: 9/10 – Great characterization. Villain rocks.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Fantastic soundtrack, pretty good animation.
Setting: 7/10 – A tad unrealistic, but what else did you expect from a fairytale?

Garzey’s Wing Review – 40/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



So I was told to check out Garzey’s Wing. I can see why. It’s hilarious.

For all of the wrong reasons, though. Especially with the English Dub on, it’s just one of those shows that are so bad that they become hilarious. There’s no way that I’m going to rate this high, but it is an hour and a half of solid entertainment.

It’s basically just another one of those stories in which a teenager somehow gets warped up to a different world and somehow turns out to be the holy warrior who is the only one who can save the day. There are really tons of shows with such a premise, but this is really a particularly badly executed one. The pacing is just so incredibly erratic that 50% of the cuts don’t make any sense whatsoever. This OVA leaves no time to catch a breath, and the amount of plotholes that come out of it is just huge (the good guys, for example, for a bunch of people who are mere slaves, they surely collected quite a bit of ammo and supplies).

The dialogue is… just abysmal. The English voice acting in particular just way too stiff and camp. Seriously, I have no idea who was behind them, but while watching this, I could almost imagine the voice actors yelling all of their lines in an over the top manner. I have no idea who wrote the English dialogue, but it makes no single attempt to come across naturally. There are hilarious parts in which characters stop mid-sentence because the original Japanese dialogue was much shorter. It also leads to some absolutely priceless one-liners.

I’m not one to usually enjoy bad shows, but what sets Garzey’s Wing apart from most of the other really bad series is one person: Yoshiyuki Tomino. While this was his biggest failure ever, he at least tried: the movie’s concept is at least creative, the animation is at least good (save for a bunch of really obvious shortcuts) and the pacing at least doesn’t drag or become boring.

I respect Tomino a lot: this series really shows how bad his depression was, and it must have been horrible for him to go through this for around ten years, and I have respect for this guy for pulling himself out of it. He very neatly produced the good version of Garzey’s Wing with the Wings of Rean, which was a genuinely good OVA.

But Garzey’s wing was just crap.

Storytelling: 3/10 – Stupid, way too fast and tons of plotholes.
Characters: 1/10 – Abysmal voice-actors, non-sensical characters, no depth whatsoever.
Production-Values: 7/10 – Nice animation and music, save from some horrible shortcuts.
Setting: 5/10 – Lots of nice ideas, none of which are used well.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Umineko no Naku Koro ni



When it aired, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni really blew my mind with its mystery horror combination, so obviously I was looking forward to its spiritual successor: Umineko no Naku Koro ni. It really managed to take the Higurashi formula, and take it into a new, fresh and original direction with a really mind-blowing mystery-story.

Umineko at heart is a murder mystery-story with so many layers, so many red herrings and so many times at which the viewer is forced to look beyond the box for new clues as to the identity of the real killer. Higurashi already had me forming wild theories about what was going on, but this effect is even more noticeable in Umineko. It’s a really thought-provoking story that makes you think you have a clue as to what’s going on, only to throw a plot twist that renders all of your speculation useless. This mystery really is why you want to watch this series, because it really does this like no other.

It’s just a shame that the story’s incomplete. There’s no second season announced at this point, so at the end of the series, you’re not going to know what the heck happened throughout the majority of the series. This really is the thing that I hate the most about modern anime: that the shows with weak sales don’t get their much-needed sequels. Umineko is at the verge of becoming yet another one of them. NOTE TO SELF: delete this paragraph in the unlikely event that a second season does get announced.

Okay, so how about the execution? Unfortunately, it’s a bit rushed. Apparently, the creators tried to stuff 50 hours of visual novels into just 26 episodes, so a lot had to be cut. While the cuts were made skillfully so that the entire storyline is still intact, the direction feels rushed at times, and not as captivating as it could have been. The animation is rushed as well, but thankfully neither are bad enough to get in the way of what’s really important.

Because of that, I can say that I really enjoyed this series. It’s a thought-provoking series that really brings mystery to a whole new level. But where the heck is that second season?

Storytelling: 8/10 – Direction could have been better, but well paced which keeps your attention.
Characters: 9/10 – Large and varied cast of characters where nobody feels redundant.
Production-Values: 7/10 – Good music, rushed animation.
Setting: 10/10 – Incredibly thought-provoking. Brings mystery to new levels.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni – 26

by psgels, posted in Umineko no Naku Koro ni



Okay, so apparently this episode was terrible for the visual novel readers. I however am just watching this anime, so I don’t care. This episode was pretty good, and the only thing I’m raging about is that bloody cliff-hanger, especially considering that that second season might not even come!

However, I do agree that Umineko was really, really rushed. How could this have happened, really? People keep saying “DEEN! DEEN! DEEN!”, but they’ve made plenty of great series and adaptations in the past, so that can’t be the only thing. In the end, my eye still falls back to Chiaki Kon, the director. I don’t like her. While she adapted the Higurashi novels really well, with nice balance and a strong direction, she was able to do so because she really didn’t have anything else to do at that time. It was her debut, so she really had to prove that she could direct something right.

But take a look what she’s up to from the past spring: 20 episodes of Hanasakeru Seishounen, 26 episodes of Umineko no Naku Koro ni, and when this is over she’s going to do Nodame Cantabile’s finale. That’s more than 52 episodes within one year! She really took way too much on her plate, and like Shinbo I’d wish that she’d just concentrate on one single series and make that one right, instead of trying to do everything at the same time. Now all of those shows are just going to be really rushed, and they’ll miss the strong direction that Higurashi had. Most directors manage to produce one series every two years, or perhaps even one series a year. Counting the upcoming winter-season, Chiaki Kon has directed six series in two years. Somebody stop her and hand those series over to some other directors. I mean, Studio Deen has enough other talents walking around.

At this point, I have a really hard time deciding how to judge this series. Rushed or not, Umineko has one hell of a backstory. It was always fun to formulate theories, trying to figure out what’s going on. This is why I’m not going to recommend this series to people who already played the visual novel. Not because it’s badly executed, but by far the best thing about Umineko is its mystery. When you already know what’s going to happen, then what’s left? What’s the fun in reading a detective novel if you already know exactly how everything is going to happen?

As for the people who haven’t played the game, it’s a bit trickier, though. It’s a great watch, but I sure as hell ain’t going to recommend this if a second season isn’t being produced. It’s like reading a detective novel, only to discover that someone ripped off the entire second half. This is probably the thing I like the least about anime: it’s “let’s just animate the first part so that we can only animate the conclusion when the sales are good”-mentality. Imagine if Monster or Legend of Galactic Heroes were animated this way.

EDIT: ah, forgot to talk about the episode. It’s interesting how Beatrice basically let Battler bombard her with theories that she could in fact just have blown all away, as if she wanted to lose. At first I thought that she was simply acting again, but for some reason I don’t think she really did that here. Kinzou’s death actually being confirmed was a major revelation, of course. The question really is: who the hell is this guy? If he is one of the seventeen people alive, the servants must be playing a really strange game.

At this point, it’s pretty clear that at least one of them is in on the game: there are only a few family members who knew about Kinzou’s death, while they were in on it all along since they lived inside his house, and otherwise the closed room murder in the third arc would be pretty impossible, but actually plausible: they knew that Kinzou was already dead, and made it seem that he was killed along with the other six to cover him up.

I also wonder, at the end we see Lambdadelta and Bernkastel talk about how Beatrice must never win. Again, big clue: the two are working together and somehow have interest in keeping the game going on forever. And how is Bernkastel’s magic going to play in, I wonder? I mean, her magic is to make anything happen as long as the possibility isn’t zero. If Beatrice is going to be able to win of her she’s going to have to be able to create such a lock-down that there’s no possibility for escape.

There. Happy now? 😉
Rating: * (Good)

And remember: even though the series is finished now, I still reserve the right to delete any comment that spoils beyond this point in the novel