Author: psgels

Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – 32

by psgels, posted in Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood



Ah, thankfully the inconsistent animation of the previous episode was just a one-of-a-kind thing. This episode made up for it with pretty nice animation and a number of very creative shots and camera-angles (you especially have to love the Armstrong-scene in this episode).

Anyway, there’s lots of interesting stuff going on in this episode that introduces even more side-plots. We finally get our fist glimpse of the strange blond-haired woman we’ve been seeing in the OP. She’s the head of the Armstrong family. One particular filler episode from the first season suddenly gets an entirely different dimension. ^^;

Kimbley also waste no time to go after Scar, although his subordinates desperately need a lesson in the art of ambushing (seriously, did they really think that it was a good idea to corner Scar, a man who is known to fight back, on a bridge, from two sides? It’s like saying; “go ahead; escape. We’ll just shoot ourselves.”). The creators are also hinting a bit too much that Scar is travelling with that moustached guy that’s been hanging around him. they’re trying way too hard to hide his face.

In the meantime, Ed and Al also meet Bradley’s son and Grumman has taken up cross-dressing. A very eventful episode overall, I’d say.
Rating: * (Good)

Cross Game – 33

by psgels, posted in Cross Game



Now that Akane has been introduced, Kou and Aoba have started their usual bickering again. nevertheless, the addition of Akane really gave an extra dimension to it, especially since they’re also starting to bicker around her. This really was the episode in which Akane got to know the two of them. Along with the fact that she looks just like Wakaba thanks to the blabbermouth of Senda.

This episode also ended with a baseball match, but unfortunately Akane didn’t manage to give that one an extra spark. As usual, everything around the match was awesome: Aoba getting angry, the way the creators made it seem at first that Aoba poisoned Azuma, it all rocked. But the match itself… it gave me deja vus. I’m not exactly sure where, but I could have sworn that the creators have ended a match in the EXACT SAME WAY once before.

In any case, with this Akane also demonstrates how she’s a very keen observer: she has a great eye for detail in her sketches, but she also critically looks at her environment (in the way she asked who the “Wakaba” on Aoba’s door was. This episode never showed how she reacted when she found out that she looked like Wakaba, but I suspect that there’s a whole lot going on inside her head that the creators haven’t shown us yet.
Rating: ** (Good)

Kemono no Souja Erin – 44

by psgels, posted in Kemono no Souja Erin



This episode really shows the power of long and slow-paced series. While Erin indeed lacks the excitement of series with an erratic pacing like the Armed Librarians, at the same time it’s got a story that’s so well built up that it can really take an in-depth look at it. The power of the story of Erin lies in the fact that Erin sees things that everyone else sees, and just keeps taking daring conclusions and actions that nobody else in the setting sees. Thanks to the slow pacing, we’re really given an insight into how this happens.

This series is full of things that are bound to happen: in this episode, Damya finally threatens Erin with the safety of the students and teachers at the academy. It’s something that was bound to happen, the moment Erin started to take care of Lilan. And yet this episode showed her as she comes with a solution that I never even thought of: what if the Grand Duke became king? That would mean that the Beast Kings would lose their function as war machines. We’ve seen people claim before that the country would fall apart when its two half get unbalanced, but I realize that we’re also supposed to take that with a grain of salt: I mean, with Damya at the head, the country is bound for destruction anyways.

The only thing that I dislike about this series is the great amount of flashbacks in this series. This series just keeps recycling the same frames under these flashbacks, when a character is talking, and it’s about to get a bit overused. Ah well, at least it’s not the worst way to save budget. The drawings still look as solid as ever.

I think that at this point, I still consider Seirei no Moribito as superior to Kemono no Souja Erin. While Erin has better developed characters and a longer length, it still beats Erin for me in terms of the awesome production-values and its huge attention to detail in just about everything. Still, I do have to say that Erin is getting closer and closer to the height of SnM.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Letter Bee – 07

by psgels, posted in Letter Bee



The thing I have with Letter Bee is that for every scene of cheese, it also has something nice to make up for it, like for example the Broccoli forest, a cute moment between the characters or a surprisingly genuine scene of Lag. That’s what’s keeping me going with this series.

And yeah, apart from that there’s not a lot of other stuff to say about this series at this point: you can see that it’s obviously building up and taking its time. While a bit boring, it’s a good thing. I’m seeing enough hints that this show knows what it’s doing, so the only thing we can do at the moment is wait.

This episode was nothing special, but I enjoyed it. I think the things I liked best were the stories of how all of the other bees managed to get past the giant centipede-ish Gaichuu. And after all, a Dingo like Nichi that can launch you into the air does make it a lot easier to attack that bugger. I also liked how Nichi kept acting in the background when Lag was busy with something.

Anyway, next episode should spice things up a bit. Gauche suddenly stopped being a Letter Bee? This could get interesting.
Rating: (Enjoyable)

White Album – 20

by psgels, posted in White Album



Wait, he does it again? Holy crap, that bastard actually did it again! As if the situation he’s in isn’t bad enough already he decided to give the devil yet another one of his limbs. How much further is this going to escalate?

But yeah: screw the flawed first season. The second season did carry out many improvements. Especially the scene with Eiji and the paintings was just superbly directed, both in terms of art and direction. It definitely was the highlight for this series for me so far, and it really went out of its way to portray the insanity that’s going on inside Eiji’s mind, without cutting any corners.

But yeah, Touya. I’m starting to see where this series is trying to go to. In this episode, he hooks up with YET ANOTHER girl. Not only that, but he also stands her up in the middle of a date for Yayoi. I really hate Touya right now, but for once it’s in a good way: the way he’s portrayed as such an incredible bastard who just keeps running away from Yuki, fooling with every woman he can find. THIS is what School Days should have been. There were so many problems with School Days, but my biggest problem with it was that it didn’t seem to understand its characters: characters just randomly fell in love with Makoto without any possible reason. They acted conveniently like what the script wanted them to do. With White Album however, everything is well built up, and fits within the whole story. Or at least, that’s the case for the second season.

Also, that piano piece that plays during Eiji’s scene when he’s alone. Absolutely beautiful.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – 07

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



During the last episode, I saw people commenting on how the series lacked focus. Now guess what? Everything in the past arc is really starting to come together wonderfully. This episode connected all of the seemingly random stories with each other, and it’s not even got to the meat of this arc! What an incredibly well written series!

You’ve also got to love the attention that this series puts in its concept of magic. This season is a true gem for well-developed magic systems, with this series, Full Metal Alchemist and Darker than Black II: all of them have their own concepts and don’t take anything for granted. And most importantly: people really do die when they’re hit by a fireball.

There are more similarities though: all of them have characters with very strong beliefs against killing, while not overdoing this theme at the same time by featuring enough characters who don’t think anything of deaths, which provide a great contrast. All three have gorgeous production-values and a truly excellent soundtrack.

And yet, while all of them belong around the top of the current season, I really like the Armed Librarians best, even though we’re only seven episodes in. The show just hardly has any moment of weakness, or in which it’s dull, compared to Full Metal Alchemist, which does need to take a step back once in a while for aftermaths and building up.

at this point, I’m really curious to see how the next episode is going to tie everything together. Why did Zatoh kill that meat, and why was this book so important? Volken will probably not be involved in this arc, but there is plenty of other stuff going on. Noloty’s wishes to refrain from killing were anything but cheesy, and rather they were detailed and contrasted well with the rest of this setting.

It’s at times hard to explain why I like this series so much, but for me this series has what I’d like to call the “X-Factor”. There’s one other series this season which has that one as well for me (Aoi Bungaku, of course). What’s also interesting is that the past Spring and Summer Season, while featuring a lot of truly excellent series, none of these series really had this “X-Factor”, not even my favourites, surprisingly enough. That really makes me look at those series in a different way, especially because I still have no idea why some shows do have the X-factor for me, while others don’t.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Kuchuu Buranko – 05

by psgels, posted in Kuchuu Buranko



Definitely the best episode of Kuchuu Buranko yet. It’s the kind of episode that for me made up for all of the annoying and depth-less parts of this series. It’s one of those episodes that’s awesome to watch in the way that it played around with its lead characters.

I’m not sure whether the rest of the series can do the same, because this episode did also give Irabu an actual life. I mean, that’s something I never saw coming: I thought that he was like the medicine seller. A guy without any past, background or identity, whose only purpose seemed to be solving mysteries. This episode however shows Irabu during a college reunion, and some of his earlier friends, who all went to become doctors or other medical staff. Pretty interesting to see what this guy’s friends were like.

Anyway, the patient in this episode is one of these former friends. He’s a doctor who also knows a thing or two about psychology. He’s got another form of OCD. When I found out about this, I feared that this would be much of the same again, but I was proven wrong: this guy keeps imagining how he’s going to cause trouble. What follows is a crazy episodes as he tries to give in to his urges by actually carrying them out. His stepfather (who seems to be the cause of his frustrations)’s wig was utterly hilarious.

Oh, and the Banto references also rocked. This is what I mean by connecting the characters of the different stories: the lead character is a huge baseball fan, and Banto is his favourite player. Nice touch.

Setting aside the depth, I also kind-of like the realistic portrayal of the characters in this series: all characters featured so far are adults just plucked from society: they’ve got lives, careers and a family. It’s strangely refreshing in anime in which 95% of all characters are either students or warriors (or involved in some other kind of job that involves fighting).
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Darker than Black – Ryuusei no Gemini – 06

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



It’s episodes like this that really show how good this series’ soundtrack is. The soundtrack of the first season was of course great, but this one is completely original and doesn’t try to rip it off in the slightest. This time we also have insert songs. Nice touch.

Anyway, this episode is probably going to be hard to buy for the people who were turned off by the new direction that the second season went in: a lot of emphasis is yet again put on whether or not it’s right to kill others. Don’t worry though: Suou doesn’t revert back to her old whiny self. Instead, the goofball’s mother gets killed in front of his eyes, and Suou nearly kills Yin (yeah).

Still, let’s take a look at the concept of death in this series in terms of storytelling. The problem with a lot of series that jump the shark is not the fact that they’re jumping the shark, but instead that they’re just jumping the shark for the sake of jumping the shark: they don’t put enough thought in how to make it work well and it’s indeed just seen as a cheap rip-off.

I believe however that Darker than Black avoided this. The pacing has been quick and varied: no episode looks like the other, and the action-scenes are imaginative, detailed and have a great sense of location, and the story has really been well-crafted so far. The themes of life and death are very new indeed. However, as long as they’re well explored, I’m not going to complain. At first they indeed seemed half-assed, but they’re getting quite a bit of depth at this point, and this episode really shows different sides and views.

Goofball isn’t a contractor, and therefore the loss of his mother forms a sharp contrast with this series habit of “one-hit kill”-attacks. Call this a series that kills off characters too fast, but I actually applaud this series for it: in so many fantasy-series, I keep wondering how the heck characters can stay alive and even survive without any sort of serious scratch after they’re hit by a wave of fire, struck by a very sharp sword, fall in the middle of an explosion, plummet hundreds of meters off a cliff, get hit by lightning, et cetera. I’ve gotten tired from those bad guys with their “well, I could kill you but I don’t feel like it today”-speeches.

In fact, while the themes of life and death are one point, I think that that’s just a part of one of the main themes of this series: contractors versus humans. In this episode, the only ones who acted with morals are the ones who aren’t contractors: goofball (yeah, I forgot his name) and Hei. Suou meanwhile remains a contractor, but you can see that she’s still very young. Contractors can make decisions regardless of their emotions, but Suou remains a typical teenager beyond that: still struggling with her identity.

And yeah, the fanservice returns again. It’s annoying, but in a way I can understand why it’s used. The first season aired in a time of economic prosperity. The second season was produced in the middle of a recession. Sex sells, and I guess that even Bones would run out of money, trying to keep up with these amazingly looking series they’ve been producing.

Of course, this also means that the conclusion is going to be very important for this series. I agree that when it’s simply going down to the message of “thou shalt not kill”, it will be really lame. But at this point, there’s no telling whether this is going to happen or not.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Rail of the Star Review – 77,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Okay, to close off this mini-marathon I’ve been having the past week is Rail of the Star, a movie about the Japanese in Korea during and after WWII. It’s not just a movie about the horrors of war, but nationality is also a very huge theme. It again focuses on a young child as the lead character, called Chitose Kobayashi. Like most of the WWII movies I’ve reviewed in the past couple of days, it’s an autobiographical story. it’s not the best, but nevertheless worth the watch if you’re interested in the Second World War.

This movie is also structured in the way that the first half deals with slice of life, while the second half chronicles the characters during what probably was the hardest moments of their lives. In this movie, the second half clearly stands out as superior: the slice of life itself is decent, but it lacks soul. That soul appears during the second half of the movie.

The movie feels too short, though. It feels like the creators took too little time for this movie, and it could easily have been more than half an hour longer. The story feels incomplete, and there sometimes are huge holes in characters’ backgrounds. It’s a shame, really.

With movies, based on literary works, cuts have to be made; it’s impossible to put every single line of a novel inside a movie that only takes up 90 minutes. Its the task of the people who adapt these works to capture their spirit, while cutting the story down to its necessary time frame. Movies like The Diary of Anne Frank, Grave of the Fireflies, Ushiro no Shoumen Daare and Chocchan’s Story did this really well. Rail of the Star however, drops some points here, and is clearly inferior as an adaptation.

Of course, this is from the perspective of someone who hasn’t read these novels.

Storytelling: 7/10
Characters: 8/10
Production-Values: 8/10
Setting: 8/10

Umineko no Naku Koro ni – 20

by psgels, posted in Umineko no Naku Koro ni



Whoa, the CG Shaders have found Umineko at last. I have to say, that now that the properly shaded characters actually look pretty good. That’s the thing with Studio Deen’s graphics: it either looks really good or really bad. There’s hardly any in between.

Anyway, this episode rounds off the second part of Ange’s background. We learn that she’s not only revived Maria, but also she attempted to train as a witch, which eventually went wrong. On top of that, Maria is also revealed to be not just a witch, but also as Beatrice’s ally. Which does at the moment make no sense because I have no idea on whose side Maria truly is. If it is true that magic even existed in the first arc, it would explain her strange behavior there: she indeed was on Beatrice’s side, and merely enjoyed Beatrice’s little game a bit too much.

The question of course remains: if this is true, then what was up with her in the subsequent arcs? And I think that that’s where the real killer comes in. My guess is that as a little kid, she knew Beatrice and she really believed that whoever was behind the murders was Beatrice. This worked in the first arc because she was one of the people that the killer apparently let live (or at least, killed the last), however in the subsequent arcs (especially the third) she wasn’t as lucky and realized that someone other than Beatrice was on a killing spree.

I really suspect that Maria is able to remember every single arc. That would explain her huge change in character, and more importantly why she was able to write down every single detail about all of the arcs so far. It’s a bit of a mystery how she ended up writing about her own death, but again: at this point we have no idea exactly how much influence magic has in the real world. The witches must have been able to use illusions: otherwise people would not have been able to see them, and if magic really was the culprit then it doesn’t make any sense that it completely disappears once the magic scenes are over.

Lambdadelta comes with an interesting twist at the end, although I don’t think I fully understand it. She mentions how, when Battler wins the game he gets sent back to 1986, not 1998. However, doesn’t that mean that Ange still gets to meet her brother, only his 30-year-old version? Or did she mean that Meta-Battler gets sent back to the dimension he came from, while the other Battler simply remains dead? After all, it actually seems that Battler survived in the second arc. I’m actually pretty interested to see what happened to the Ange of that world.
Rating: * (Good)