Author: psgels

Tytania – 11

by psgels, posted in Tytania



Short Synopsis: Fan Hulic, Miranda and the others make preparations to safe Fan’s damsel in distress.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
Oh, don’t mind me. I’m just trying to catch up on as much as possible of what I missed the past week when I was away. ^^;

In any case, I’ve tried to ignore it, but after this episode I just have to speak up about the animation of this series. It’s just abysmal at times, and yet this series doesn’t belong in the categories of series with crappy art. What impresses me about this series is that even though this series has a very limited budget (most likely the result of Artland taking up two series this season, overcasting themselves with the addition to Count and Fairy), and yet it doesn’t try to cut corners: there are hardly any cut corners. There’s movement nearly everywhere, even though this is a series about people talking. I can spot hardly any still frames, and at times the chins of the characters actually move when they talk (rather than simply their lips moving up and down). It’s a common trait of the recent Artland series: they really aren’t the best, they don’t have the largest amounts of money in their pockets, but at least you can see that despite their shortcomings, they try to make up for it. It works pretty well, though unfortunately it does mean that a lot of faces are really distorted.

In any case, I really liked this episode, even though it was mostly building up. Perhaps it was the prospect that Fan Hulic is actually going to DO something. He may be a lazy bastard, but at least the guy knows what he needs to do when he really wants something. I also suspect that the Euria-traitor is simply going to be political bait again, once he gets defeated by Fan Hulic (I also suspect that that’s why Idris left catching Fan Hulic up to Alsas: he wants to be 100% certain that Hulic is going to lose, otherwise he’ll just lead the same fate as Ariabart and Zalish). I do wonder what the poor bastard was thinking when he volunteered himself to go and catch Hulic, although I guess that he figured that it was a worse disaster for him when he lost, compared to Idris.

I’m also curious: what’s up with Alsas and his “Hyuuren”? He really never seems to change this, despite hearing numerous times that it went wrong. It’s funny, in a strange way, especially since everyone and his dog has to correct him all the time.

Eve no Jikan – Koji & Rina

by psgels, posted in Eve no Jikan



Short Synopsis: This episode is about the couple that we’ve seen in Eve’s Cafe.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
Well, there go my fears of this show being too short in five episodes: the ending mentions the “second half of the first season”, hinting that a second season is going to appear some day. It’ll probably be around 2011 when it comes out at this pace, but it’s nevertheless a good thing to see that this concept has been given more airtime.

In any case, three episodes so far and each of them was increasingly better. Even though this episode was really different in terms of storytelling style, and Rikuo’s teenaged tendencies were rather annoying, it worked somehow. Rikuo is really turning into a Dori-kei, while his friend is getting even more interesting, looking at both worlds with a rather open mind.

The interesting part of this episode was of course that it’s dealing with not just Dori-keis, but instead about Androids who can fall in love with each other, proving that the concept of love is also familiar to them, and yet at the same time the two of them try to act as humans. What’s different in this series when compared to most other “smart android series”, is that usually these androids retaliate when they’ve gotten smart enough to go beyond their master’s choices (example: The Matrix). Here instead, they try to be like humans.

That makes it strange: why would there be people opposing this? This episode featured some subtle hints that there’s some serious business going on behind the scene, but I still fail to see the problem that they want to prevent. The beginning of this episode also convinced me that they try to use propaganda to prevent as many people as possible to become Dori-kei, with the whole movie about loving a robot and the robot falling apart.

Tytania – 10

by psgels, posted in Tytania



Short Synopsis: Euria runs into problems due to inner conflicts.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
At this point, I’m about to take back all the bad things I’ve said about this series. Tytania has really been getting better and better with every episode. Everything finally makes sense: the characters in this series are meant to be very flawed: they’re meant to stay far away from Mary Sues and Gary Stus, the only downfall of these flawed characters is that they take a while to warm up to, rather than the perfect characters who often appeal immediately.

And really, every character has some sort of major weakness in this series: Idris is a lying bastard, Zalish loses his temper too easily, Alsas is incompetent and a mother’s boy, Jouslan lacks ambition, Ariabart lets everyone walk over him, Ajman never does anything for himself, Fan Hulic hasn’t done anything after his victory and suffers from lovesickness, Lydia is an annoying brat. Really, name any character, and there’s some sort of obvious flaw, only Miranda seems to be an exception to this rule. As stereotypes, these guys suck, but they become interesting once you get to know them, and they become fleshed out beyond the mere stereotypes.

I’m also impressed: the creators found a valid reason to keep Lydia in the story that actually makes so much sense: she never chases after Fan Hulic in the end, she just becomes bait for him after one of her comrades sold her out. Meanwhile, Hulic’s love is more like an obsession than a genuine crush: he can’t stop thinking about her, but whether it’s actually love… I don’t know yet. This episode also showed very much that Fan Hulic isn’t the only one who can outsmart Tytania, when Miranda outruns Zalish. It’s just that Tytania hasn’t given many people the chance to stand in a position similar to him, and his victory also received quite an amount of publicity, making Tytania’s defeat even worse.

Telepathy Shoujo Ran – 25

by psgels, posted in Telepathy Shoujo Ran



Short Synopsis: All over town, people are turning into animals.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10 (Good)
Ah, of course. Finally we understand what was up with the dog and the lighter in the very first episode: it foreshadowed the very final arc. Hehe, nice touch.

In any case, in the final arc of the series, the themes suddenly become environmental. As it turns out the whole arc was about a fox deity who is fed up with humankind ruining the world. It really fits as a children’s series, since children of Ran’s age are often interested in protecting the environment (albeit a bit too moralistic). This arc really doesn’t try to be anything deep: the whole backstory really is as simple as a deity who has gotten angry at humans for screwing up earth so much, period. The interesting things, as usual, were the things that happened around it.

Right now, I’m really curious whether the creators are going to be able to end this series correctly, especially because the inclusion of the evil teacher felt really forced here. I mean, what the heck was her point of appearing, rather than just confirming what the fox said? How did she know about the animals-thing in the first place? (Telepathy, okay, but that doesn’t explain why she found it a good idea to enter the lion’s den…)

Right now, it’s pretty obvious that everything is going to have a happy end: the animals are going to be turned back into humans, the fox deity will see the errors of her ways and the teacher will also become one of the good guys; it’s even more predictable than your average ending. What the next episode needs to do is provide lots of banter. Avoid the straightforward, and make the episode fun to watch despite the predictability. I know that this series can do it, but it all depends whether or not the creators will write themselves into a corner, trying to achieve the “perfect ending”.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 – 36

by psgels, posted in Mobile Suit Gundam 00



Short Synopsis: Celestial Being’s home base gets discovered.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
Ah, I must say that this episode ranks among the best episodes of the second season so far. After the build-up it’s finally time for some serious developments, and I really wonder what the celestial beings are going to do now, now that they’ve lost their home base. All that’s left is to make the innovators move away from the evil overlords that they currently are, and I’ll be entirely happy.

And more references to the original Gundam this episode: multiple parts. While it’s not as extreme as splitting an entire mecha in three, the docking scene really reminded me of the “transformation sequences” of the original Gundam. I also liked how the rivalry between Sumeragi and Mannequin is starting to look more and more interesting.

Regarding Anew, it seems that there’s a more complex story behind her than simply being a traitor. When Revive sent his mind crush through the Ptolemy, her reaction wasn’t like someone who had successfully deceived everyone and felt that she accomplished her mission. It felt more like “crap, they found out!”, suggesting that she betrayed the Innovators instead. In the meantime, Nena demonstrates once again that something’s seriously wrong with her, as she plans to kill off Wan Liu Ming because she can’t touch Ali Al Sarshes.

And I must say that it was quite a strange way for the creators to make Saji and Louise find out about each other. Just let the whole transcendental plane that everyone was in become a central part of the story, and not as a cheap Deus ex Machina to bring these two people together. It’s good that Saji finally gained his sense of duty, and let’s hope that he’s not going back into emo-mode in the next episode.

Nodame Cantabile – Paris Hen Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews


Well, it’s not fun to be harsh against a series that I originally fell in love with, but I have to be honest: The Paris Chapters of Nodame Cantabile are not as good as the original Nodame Cantabile series. It’s still a fun and engaging series, but in the end it didn’t live up to the expectations that were created by the stellar first season.

The cause of this is definitely not due to the main characters: Nodame and Chiaki are still wonderful characters, and the best jokes about them are still downright hilarious, in the same fashion as the first season. In the Paris Chapter, we can explore both of them as they try to break through in the professional classical music business. It’s a tale about young adults, just like you’d expect from Noitamina and it works wonderful.

But in the end, it feels like something is missing. To start with, the side-characters just aren’t as interesting as the side-cast of the first season. It may be because the second season was only handed half of the airtime when compared to the first one, but even then they feel really bland and one-sided when compared to the colourful side-characters of the first season. These people managed to make an impact from the first moment they appeared on screen, which is what I missed here a bit.

And then there’s also the matter that the second season just covers a bit more boring part of the life of the main characters. It’s all pretty straightforward here: you know these guys are going to break through, when compared to the first season where they had much more and bigger problems to deal with.

The animation quality also seems to have decreased: the motion-capture is even more apparent, and the regular animation feels that it was blessed with a smaller budget. Still, don’t get me wrong: this series still is very good. A rating of 82,5/100 for me is still a really enjoyable series, and it’s still really fun to watch. It just doesn’t live up to season one, which was just too good for this series. Sure, the Paris Chapters serve as a good build-up, but as a standalone series you do not want to expect the same quality as the first season.

Storytelling: 8/10
Characters: 9/10
Production-Values: 8/10
Setting: 8/10

Hiatus

by psgels, posted in Special Articles

Well, it’s the time of the year again where I’m swamped with work, right before the Christmas Break. I’m having exams (or finals or whatever you call them in English) next week, and so I can’t use the distraction of blogging right now.

I’ll be back next week Friday.

Mouryou no Hako – 10

by psgels, posted in Mouryou no Hako



Short Synopsis: Akihiko goes to the box maker to confront him with the things he’s done.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10 (Awesome)
Wow… just wow. This episode was simply awesome, and it shows that the creators know exactly what they’re doing with this series. The two episodes of straight talking may have been a bit weird, but of course they were an excellent means of building up, and now that we’re finally getting to see the fruits of all this, I can safely say that this is one awesome series. I definitely can put this in my top three series that have aired in the past autumn season.

This time, I don’t even care to find out what exactly was said. The non-verbal communication, along with the few key scenes that I did understand were enough to make a huge impact, although I do suspect that I’m going to have to pay a lot of attention in the next number of episodes, when it’s explained why Kubo has done all the things he did.

So in the end, the role of the box maker and his cult was that they were involved in the whole case by Kubo Shunko: at one point, he a bloodstained box ended up on their doorstep, which turned out to contain the finger of one of Kubo’s victims. Later in the episode, the police actually finds out Kubo’s hideout, and Yoriko’s body, chopped up into pieces and stuffed into boxes. He manages to escape, though, but I’m glad that apart from our four main characters, there are lots more people searching for Yoriko and Kanako, trying to find Kubo Shunko.

The big question now still remains: what the heck happened to Kanako? Kubo Shunko’s box murders was a very good side-plot of the series, but the central matter of the series has yet to be touched on, and yet we know that the two mysteries are connected somehow, as it seems that Kubo knows about Kanako, and Kanako herself has many more mysteries than simply her death and disappearance.

In any case, it’s episodes like this one that really remind me why I’ve decided to go with raws, even though my Japanese is far from perfect. The entire episode was packed with emotion, but a lot of that emotion was found in the non-verbal communication between the characters. The phrase “a picture says more than a thousand words” really fits in with this series. Every single shot seemed to contain a very powerful emotion, and that’s exactly what sets this series apart from other series that involve lots of talking, and seen to get lost in their own exposition.

Kurozuka – 10

by psgels, posted in Kurozuka



Short Synopsis: This time on Kurozuka: exposition.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10
Well, I must say that, expecting nothing big out of the story for Kurozuka, this episode pleasantly surprised me. While not every mystery has yet been revealed, the complexity of the whole storyline seems to have tripled with this episode. The big bad guy works for Kuromitsu, Kuromitsu seems to be performing human experiments, with both Kuro and Kuon as her subjects. And who knows what she did with Sanniwa.

Kuon’s supposed twin brother also didn’t last long at all. He was there for like what? Five minutes? That’s probably one of the shortest amounts of airtime for a villain in like ever, but the guy did at least make an impact in providing back story for Kuon (who needed that one really badly).

Okay, so with this there are two episodes left. It would be great if this series were to finish with a great finale, but there are several things that are bound to get in the way. The next episode will focus on the fight with the big bad guy, but the guy is just a typical one-dimensional overlord. I really doubt that the creators can get an interesting fight out of him. Then next up is the big confrontation with Kuromitsu, but I fear that at that point, there will be too few characters alive to really make for an unpredictable ending. Ultraviolet for example had a final episode with lots of characters still alive, and therefore it finished with a pretty strong finale. Will Kurozuka be able to do the same?

Porfy no Nagai Tabi – 49

by psgels, posted in Porfy no Nagai Tabi



Short Synopsis: Rose takes Porfy on a date while Natalie goes out shopping with Mina.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Haha! It has begun! It has finally begun! But first: summary!

The episode starts as Porfy and Rose are sitting in a room, after Rose has just taken a shower and is drinking some wine. Porfy thinks that she shouldn’t drink so much alcohol, but Rose says that alcohol is necessary for an adult like her. When Porfy says that he’s also an adult, she notes that that’s what still makes him a child. He sneezes a bit, due to the rain of the previous episode (foreshadowing?!), and then asks again about the story between Rose and Tiffany.

When they first met, they both tried to be actresses. Tiffany first looked like a typical rich girl, but she had a surprising amount of will power. At one point, Rose successfully auditioned for a role for a certain movie, though behind the scenes, Tiffany seemed to have ordered a change at the last minute, making Rose lose her role. This had such a large impact on Rose that she quit acting, and never talked to Tiffany again.

In order to change the subject, Rose then suddenly proposes to go out on a date with Porfy. Porfy is a bit startled, but Rose assures him that she’ll explain him all about the basics of dating. Tiffany meanwhile proposes to Mina that she should go out once in a while, and she can buy whatever toy she’d like.

A bit later, we see Porfy waiting in front of a famous fountain whose name I forgot. He complements Rose on her beauty when she arrives (probably scripted by Rose beforehand), he wonders why they should go out on a date like this when they live together, but Rose convinces him that it’s a rare chance for the two of them to get together.

Porfy is obviously easily distracted by one of the cars that drives by, and Rose instructs him that during a date, your attention shouldn’t drift away from the person you’re dating. Mina meanwhile doesn’t really have anywhere to go, so they just sit on a random couch. A guy then arrives who tries to hit on Natalie, but she quickly sends him away (experience?). When the poor bugger has left, she asks Mina to simply call her by her name, instead of putting the “-san” behind everything.

Meanwhile in a cafe, Rose instructs Porfy to spoon feed her some of the treats. In a shop, she makes him buy one of the gifts, and she makes him pin on a brooch, which clearly makes Porfy uncomfortable a bit. Meanwhile, Mina doesn’t want to buy anything, although she does stop by a doll, just like the one Corrina used to have.

Later in a park, Rose reveals that she hates the winter, as it seems to reflect the coldness in her hands. They then see a young boy, being caught for stealing (but don’t do anything to help him). Rose then starts to envy him, and his eyes that always point straight forward. She herself grew up in a small village in Southern France, and left to Paris at her fifteenth, hoping to become an actress. Now that that failed, ten years later, she’s pretty much a nobody without dreams or friends.

Porfy then notes that he could have just become like that boy earlier, and then comforts Rose that she also was one of the reasons why he didn’t become like that: because he received support from various people. Natalie meanwhile tells Mina that she’s been with Tiffany for a year. Mina envies Natalie, because she’s got a certain future and knows what she wants, while she herself is without a brother and family, and doesn’t even know what’s going to happen next. Natalie then comforts her a bit, and Mina asks in her turn for Natalie to stop putting the “-sama” after Mina’s name.

Rose meanwhile runs into an old friend, who was probably an old boyfriend of her. When he enthusiastically recalls the time they spent, but she just brushes it off as something from the past. The guy then gets angry and starts insulting her, after which Porfy starts yelling at him, telling him to apologize, but he quickly gets pushed aside. Rose then urges Porfy to stop before he lashes out to the guy even more. Later Rose says that normally, she would have gotten angry at the guy as well, but she was surprisingly cal this time.

When they reach Rose’s home, Rose then says that all dates end with a kiss, so Porfy kisses her on the cheek. The two of them say goodbye, Rose closes her door, and the role play ends as Rose opens the door again.

The rest of the episode shows us what happens I guess a few days later. Tiffany actually drives into Rose while she’s without Porfy. She’s clearly never knew what she did to her, and she’s actually glad to see Rose again. She gives her her number, in an attempt to keep in touch again, though Rose throws it away, I guess.

Next up, Porfy plans to go out to buy dinner, but is surprised by Rose’s cat who decides to run off. It’s where he catches the animal when he finally notices: the poster for Tiffany’s upcoming movie.

Yes! It’s finally time. Like Anne of Green Gables, the climax of this series is really surprisingly small for a series that’s taken up 52 episodes: only three episodes left, and then everything’s freaking over! Right now, Porfy KNOWS that Mina is with Tiffany. It’s going to probably take one more episode for him to collect the actual facts of what the heck is going on, and then the question is going to be whether the creators want the final episode to be an aftermath (Alecia!!), or whether they really plan to save the big event for the final episode.

And I must say that I really like it how real Rose’s grudges to Tiffany feel. It’s probably just one huge misunderstanding, judging from Tiffany’s reactions, but yet she remains someone who puts a lot of value on her past experiences, and when these experiences are bad, they have an even bigger impact on her, up to the point where the memories of this cause her to have a very negative image of herself. But the big question is going to be whether the creators can keep it real when the two of them meet up, and realize that it was all one big misunderstanding. It would be bad for the two of them to just become best friends again, because you can’t simply forget a ten year old grudge, even with all logic against you. That’s one thing that I see in man anime: large grudges simply become forgotten a bit too quickly. What I want to see is for Porfy to heal Rose, not so that she suddenly starts making tons of friends, but instead starts trying to make new friends.