Author: psgels

Full Metal Alchemist – The Conqueror of Shamballa Review – 50/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



So even though it seems that the new FMA-series to air this April is going to be a remake rather than a continuation (do correct me if I’m wrong; I’d hate to spread false rumours like this), I might as well watch the movie that concluded the original series. And really, I do hope that the new series is going to be better than this… thing.

God, the amount of plot-holes in this movie is nearly unbelievable. The original series may have had its share of eye-brow raising plot twists, but it was never as bad as here. Characters just happen to meet each other for the sake of the new plot, there’s hardly any time spent on explaining what the heck is going on, the creators pull random powers out of thin air, characters start acting either incredibly stupid or out of character in order to push the plot in the “right” direction, and this happens throughout the entire movie!

The new characters aren’t fleshed out at all. The old ones all have changed a bit from their characters in the TV-series, but instead of becoming more dynamic they’ve all turned into useless stereotypes. Especially Colonel Mustang has turned bad. But nearly every time a character experiences heavy emotions the drama just becomes emo and laughable.

All of it is filled with the most improbable physics ever. Ed can leap up hundreds of meters from a flying plane and just crawl up without a scratch. In a world where people have invented guns, rockets and even atom bombs, people still walk around in medieval armors (strangely enough, all of them seem to become zombies when they do so).

And then the graphics. They are serviceable for your average TV-Series, but this is a MOVIE we’re talking about. It’s a continuation of one of the biggest commercial successes in anime outside of Ghibli. You’d expect the creators to receive a huge budget for it, but I can’t remember any place where I was really impressed by the animation of this thing. Heck, the CG in this movie is downright crap at times , of the level of your average Trans-Arts CG-Horse.

This really is typical of Bad Bones. They come with premises that are destined for greatness, but along the way shoddy execution just turns them into lackluster caricatures that could have been so much better. The second season in April has a lot to make up for after this mess.

Storytelling: 4/10
Characters: 4/10
Production-Values: 7/10
Setting: 5/10

Dai Guard Review – 77,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Dai Guard is another Evangelion-inspired series: throughout the series, a bunch of strange huge monsters starts wreaking havoc, and it’s up to some private corporation to get rid of it. An Evangelion (or whatever series was the first one to come with such a concept) rip-off however, this isn’t: you can see it more as a combination between satire and homage of the Giant Robot genre of the seventies. And it works pretty nicely.

This series tries to set itself apart through its large focus on the inner politics of influential corporations. The titular Dai Guard is owned by a huge company, and therefore restricted by all sorts of rules and regulations, which led to the priceless situation in which its launch was delayed because one of the business officials who was supposed to give his approval happened to be golfing on a business trip. There’s also a large focus on the company’s struggles with the military, who hold very different ideas from the overmoralistic lead characters of this series.

But even though they’re very moralistic at times, the lead cast of this show is a really lovable bunch of people. At first, they may seem a bit strange and clichéd, but they’re the type of people that’ll grow on you. There isn’t really one person who stands out in particular: every single member of the division that this series focuses on has his or her moments of greatness.

Overall, this is just a fun series for those who are looking for action that’s a bit more than simply handing out punches or throwing beams until the other party goes down. Strategies are a large part of the battles in this series, not to mention that the army also likes get in the lead characters’ way. It’s not without its flaws, though. In fact, it’s got a pretty big one, aside from how the premise gets formulaic after a while.

The big problem with this series is that the people from the army really are portrayed like a bunch of incompetent idiots. I can understand their own situation, but every time they get the chance to show themselves, they either behave like complete morons or the enemy robots do things that would have screwed the lead characters over completely as well if they had to deal with it. While the scriptwriters do provide them with enough chances to show themselves, they also subsequently write any battle in favour of the lead characters, even when the odds are completely against them.

The ending also feels forced as well. The creators created a monster there that may have been a bit too strong, so obviously the operation to get rid of it introduces quite a few plot-holes. So while this show has a lot do dislike, it’s also got a lot to like, and it especially captured the working environment of the lead characters quite nicely. It’s not going to make any top 10 lists, but it does what it intends to do: entertain. It’s a great series as long as you don’t think too much behind it. ^^;

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

Michiko e Hatchin – 17

by psgels, posted in Michiko e Hatchin



Short Synopsis: Michiko screws up while trying to get some passports and Hatchin meets a bunch of weirdos.
Episode Rating: 8,5/10 (Awesome)
Awesome to see that both installments of Michiko e Hatchin hit the mark exactly this week. This episode combines the dark parts of the Michiko-stories with the adorable parts of the Hatchin-story-lines. So what does that mean? A bunch of cross-dressers, of course!

Hatchin, while lost and searching for Michiko (who got herself into trouble yet again (nice restaurant, by the way: every table had a live canary on it) meets a guy who is willing to offer her a place to stay. He turns out to have a very kind daughter, and at first there seems nothing wrong with them… until it becomes clear that the guy is a stage cross-dresser performer, and his “daughter” is actually an ill-mannered boy. It was just adorable to see how much this boy looked up to his father: he behaved like an angel in front of him, and when he was alone with Hatchin he just kept bragging about how good and awesome his father was (which in a way was true: at the end of the episode he managed to get Michiko out of a tight spot while placing his life on the line for her).

I also like the subtlety in which some of the more negative sides of Brazil were highlighted, with the mother who simply used her baby as a beggar in order to get some money. I like how it got its point across without being overly preachy or moralistic about it.

We also see the guy with the weird hairdo back in this episode, and he’s shaping up to be not just a threat to Michiko, but Satoshi as well, making friends with the guys who caused Michiko problems in this episode. Since the creators didn’t use them at all in this episode, my guess would be that they’re going to play a major part in this episode. And in that aspect, I think that this series beats Samurai Champloo. while the action is less stylized, in SC the major antagonists really came from out of nowhere at the last possible moment, while here they appear every once in a while too do something.

Also, Michiko has a very strange sense of Rock Paper Scissors… And was it me, or was this episode obsessed with food? Seriously, the most detailed shots came from the various dishes that passed the screen…

Michiko e Hatchin – 16

by psgels, posted in Michiko e Hatchin



Short Synopsis: Michiko and Hatchin run into the woman who appeared with Hiroshi in the paper (Elis Michaela).
Episode Rating: 8,5/10 (Awesome)
This post is going to be short, since I’m hungry for that next episode, but I do want to say: Michiko Rocks! It’s always fun when her character clashes with that of another one. While this is usually Hatchin, this episode showed that the formula also works with others. The bitchfight between her and Elis was downright awesome (not to mention that kiss. ^^;).

And man, that Hiroshi is one bastard, who seems to be systematically on the run for either Michiko or Hatchin. He probably also faked his own death because of that, though it makes you wonder why he became stupid enough to be featured in a newspaper article. Did he do that because he fell in love with Elis?

Genji Monogatari Sennenki – 05

by psgels, posted in Genji Monogatari Sennenki



Short Synopsis: Genji has done it now: he’s gotten the princess pregnant.
Episode Rating: 8/10 (Excellent)
Now THIS is Noitamina! This show has really been consistently excellent so far, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get worse any time soon. The only part that’s still left for it to screw up is the ending, which has a lot of potential to end up rushed or unfinished. But until then, I’m really going to enjoy the rest of this series.

And so, it had to happen some time: Genji has gotten someone pregnant. To be precise, he has given birth to the future king, it seems. Because Lady Fujitsubo refused to make public that the two of them had sex, she decided to pretend that the baby came from Mikado, the king, even if Genji was the real father.

I still can’t quite get inside Genji’s head, though. On one hand, the guy seems so genuine, he seems to care so much about the women he sleeps with, and yet at the same time he seemed so upset when he learned that Fujitsubo had a baby from someone other than himself.

Tytania – 17

by psgels, posted in Tytania



Short Synopsis: Making use of the bad organization of the enemy, Fan lets himself get caught, in order to escape again.
Episode Rating: 8/10 (Excellent)
Here’s an interesting one: for February, this show is going to be on and off: in two weeks it’s having yet another hiatus, though in March, it’s going to have double episodes for four consecutive weeks! That’s really got to be the point where this series needs to deliver. It’s been building up so much, so it’d better have a damn good finale! And with a bit of luck Lydia will also actually start DOING something.

It’s a shame that this series is always going to remain in the shadows of Legend of Galactic Heroes. I bet that if the connections with that epic were gone, this series would have been generally better received so far. It’s still a very unique anime to me (I refuse to believe that LoGH was awesome in the same way that this series is).

Fan… the guy remains strange. At first sight he has no big reason whatsoever to go after any other Tytanian than Alsas. There is no “my people are oppressed so I’m just going to bust Tytania to free them”, and neither is he a great moral knight that’s so typical of most of his counterparts in other anime. Now that I think about it, he doesn’t have any huge ideals and this makes this series step away from the moralistic themes that may be a bit too present in anime. For him, it’s just a simple game: he doesn’t care whether he dies or not, he just wants to see how far he can go. It’s rare to find a main character in anime like him. And I think that that’s why I came to like this show so much: aside from perhaps Miranda, every single character here is flawed, and unlike your average perfect character. And in a way, I’d much rather see how far Fan can go with his gamble than the umpth teenager who’s fighting for the power of love.

This episode also showed some surprise background for Miranda, including yet another surprising death. This show really likes to kill of characters at the time you’d least expect it, doesn’t it? ^^; It’s a shame, because the guy was pretty smart, even though this episode showed that he lacks the experience in practical combat. He could have grown into a pretty formidable foe. Though I guess that Miranda realized this as well, so she killed him before he got the chance to prove a threat.

Kara no Kyoukai – The Garden of Sinners – Paradox Spiral Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Kara no Kyoukai



For those who were expecting much of the same for the fifth Kara no Kyoukai movie, you’re going to be pretty surprised, because it’s really nothing like any of the previous movies so far. The length has doubled, the animation style has changed, the story is no longer simple, and the dialogue is a lot more complex than it already was. Ever since the second movie, every consecutive movie has been better than its predecessor, and Paradox Spiral is continuing this tradition. Do note though, that it’s going to be a movie that you’ll either love or hate.

At this point, the installments have become chronological again: the story of the fifth movie takes place after all previous four movies, unlike the previous ones which were in a random order. Still, the progression of events throughout the movie is pretty much the exact opposite of linear: the first three quarters of the airtime are filled with flashbacks, foreshadowing, shots of future scenes, and all pretty appear without any prior warning or explanation what the heck is going on. This movie aims to confuse, and does a really well job at it.

Along with that comes a very smart sense of dialogue, probably the best of the five movies so far. You’re going to need to pay attention for this one, otherwise you might miss something important. As the movie goes on, the story starts to take shape, and at the end of the two hours, most of the important questions asked are answered. The best thing about this story was definitely the huge amount of layers that it’s built up from. It doesn’t assume its viewers to be idiots, and neither does it for its characters.

Where this movie falls short, especially when compared to the fourth movie, is that it all feels a bit impersonal. This movie is definitely about its story, so the characters don’t get as much development as they should have gotten, but that’s indeed a choice you have to make with such a movie: the airtime is limited, so you have to focus on something, and this movie decided to focus on its complex storyline, in order to get the best out of that, and at least Shiki, Touko and Mikiya were already fleshed out a bit in the previous movies.

The animation style is also pretty interesting, as instead of the solid production-values of the previous movies, the animation team for this one decided to go for a much more messy style. Ufo Table’s trademark computer-shaded hair is gone as well, but in exchange for that we get to see some of the best animated fight scenes of the series yet.

Overall, while not as complex as your average Mamoru Oshii-movie, Spiral Paradox still is a very good recommendation for those who want a movie to make them think about the plot. It’s perfect for any mystery-fan who doesn’t like his meal to be handed to him on a silver platter. Overall, I’m pretty impressed by the Kara no Kyoukai franchise so far. It leaves a bit to be desired on its characters, but the mystery so far has been excellent and varied.

Storytelling: 9/10
Characters: 7/10
Production-Values: 9/10
Setting: 9/10

Shikabane Hime – 20

by psgels, posted in Shikabane Hime



Short Synopsis: Ouri vs. Boob-sama and Makina vs. the balloon… thing.
Episode Rating: 8/10 (Excellent)
Seriously, this show keeps surprising me. I thought that the Boob-sama story would be plain annoying, and Ouri’s female classmate who appeared from out of nowhere and started acting completely different from her usual character only contributed to that fear, not to mention that she opened up her shirt for no good reason either. Still, this yet again was a really good episode.

Mostly, this was because of the balloon Shikabane. The shounen-roots of this series may have a few serious disadvantages, but this is one of the few shounen-series that so far has yet fallen into one of the pitfalls that killed most of the series of the genre. And this series also has the big strength of the good shounen series: they created some really interesting villains with very imaginative powers. The seven stars really are formidable opponents that are fun to watch, and the balloon thing is the best example of that when this episode reveals that it’s just a little girl with a bunch of balloons, who died together with her family on an amusement park. Nice! The theme-park fight-scene was quite awesome to watch.

It seems that the seven stars are indeed after the destruction of the Hougonshuu, and for some reason Hokuto’s big enemy is among them. Right now, I wonder what the creators have in store with these guys. My biggest fear right now is that Hokuto seems a bit too much like your overpowered evil overlord. The balloon shikabane was so much fun because she used mind games and all that stuff in order to win, though Hokuto seems much more like your typical power monster.

Also, the big question for the next episode: is Boob-sama going to return as a Shikabane Hime or not?

Sora wo Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai – 05

by psgels, posted in Sora wo Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai



Short Synopsis: Ichiko, Yumemi, Suzume and some other friends go to an amusement park.
Episode Rating: 8/10 (Excellent)
Ah, if everything goes right, then the glorified recap should only take one more episode. After that it’s finally time to see whether this series is a passionate attempt by the original creators to give this series the airtime it deserves, or a simple attempt by the Kyoani top-executives in order to squeeze some more money out of another one of their franchises. I so hope that it’s going to be the former.

In any case, this probably was my favourite episode of this series so far. Those Munto-episodes were nice and all, but we hardly know anything about the guy, or the world he lives in, and I’m also really hoping that once this series turns to its original episodes, its going to focus on all of these different elf countries that we saw in the previous episode. It’s interesting: when I first started this series, I simply thought that the series would end with the climax of the second OVA, while fleshing out the setting with new material in between the old scenes from the OVAs, but instead they’re just getting the story of the OVAs over with in the beginning, only to conclude the series with an original story. it’s good for those like me, who are new to the franchise (pretty graphics FTW!), though I imagine that it must be pretty dull for those who have seen the OVAs already, seeing the same thing nearly exactly all over again.

Oh, and Munto did get some background this episode, if only just a little bit. He seems to be your typical tragic hero right now: a prince who has lost his parents at a young age, and now is pretty much fighting for what his parents left him behind. I hope that the anime-original episodes will flesh the guy out a bit more, so that we actually get to see some different sides of him (i.e., when he’s not in fighting-mode).

Hetalia: Axis Powers – 03

by psgels, posted in Hetalia: Axis Powers



Short Synopsis: Okay, so this time Italy really allies itself with Germany.
Episode Rating: 7,5/10 (Good)
Ah, now things make sense: episode 1 was supposed to be the congress of Vienna (hence why France didn’t appear in that episode), episode 2 then fast-forwarded to the first World War, in which Italy was supposed to fight Germany but simply goofed off, and now we’ve come to the real meat of the story: the Second World War. This episode seems to be the prelude of it, where Germany is angry because France beat it in the first one. The end of the previous episode was just a preview for this one. I’m glad that at least something of this show makes sense. ^^;

The best thing in this episode was definitely the really weird song composed by Italy, which probably meant to highlight some of the cultural differences between the countries (German girls are bigger? They’re scary as tourists? lol). The karaoke may have been a bit too much, though. I never understood why fansubbers feel like they want to stuff the entire screen full of random text, saying the same in English, Romanji and Kanji. It clutters the screen and is hard to follow. And sure, for real songs I can understand… but such a silly song as that one?!

I’m interested whether this series is going to portray the Jews. It’s been a very touchy subject, and I can’t remember any anime about the world war that even bothered to mention it. But then again, Japan did a lot of nasty stuff in the second world war, but if my memory doesn’t deceive me they didn’t have a lot to do with the Holocaust. One ironic thing here is that Homosexuals were also among the ones who were systematically wiped out, and the Germany in this series has just “allied” himself with a guy whose preferences are… questionable to say the least. ^^;

(EDIT: oh wait, I now see that the song was already karaoked in Japanese already before the fansubbers touched it… what?)