Author: psgels

Kurenai – 04

by psgels, posted in Kurenai


As much as I like the animation-style of the OP, the song does get annoying really fast! I’m hoping that if this series actually has more than 13 episodes, it’ll at least change the song for the OP.

In any case, this episode was chockfull of development and background. The big fight that takes place leads to Murasaki knocked out, and her guardian getting incredibly angry at Shikurou. What follows then is finally Shinkurou’s background, as both Murasaki and above mentioned guardian (forgot her name) learn more about the guy. It turns out that he not only lost his parents in that accident, but he also got picked up by what looks like child-smugglers. The interesting thing is that Ginko was with him at this time, and apparently he learned to fight because of Yuuno, who seemed to already posses a black belt in Judo when she was twelve.

There’s still no explanation of that strange body of Shinkrou, but now we at least know why he had trouble with his elbows: when he gets out of control, spikes not unlike those we see in Soul eater come out of his body, though for Shinkurou, this hurts like hell. Benika also tells about why she helped Murasaki escape, as it was basically a request by her late mother.

I’m also curious about the villains of this series, especially since Red Garden spent such an surprisingly large amount of time on Hervé, and yet we’ve seen hardly anything about the bad guys in Kurenai. I really hope that the director will give them the same treatment as Hervé, because this guy has really been one of the memorable villains I’ve watched.

xxxHolic – 28

by psgels, posted in xxxHolic


And this episode is exactly why I fell in love with the first season! This episode features Watanuki and Yuuko, exploring a certain concept again, just like many episodes in the first season did. Now that I’m watching this series raw, I have even more respect to the fansubbers of this series. Not only do they have to translate, they also have to find out the different jargon that’s used to denote all the different spirits. It took myself quite a while that “Zasshiki Warashi” basically means “Vestal Sprite”.

There aren’t many series that take an in-depth look at their own themes, but the ones that do nearly always turn into real gems. Jigoku Shoujo, Ghost Hound, Mushishi, just to name a few. At first sight, the episodic format of Jigoku Shoujo, Mushishi and xxxHolic might seem distracting, but it’s much easier this way to explore your theme from different angles, rather than through one continuous storyline. That’s also another reason why Ghost Hound deserves so much credit with its looks at psychology.

This episode is about dreams, and about transferring the dreams of others to yourself. In this way, the creators also manage to slip in a bit of foreshadowing about Himawari’s upcoming story-arc (I have no idea what’s up with her, but the manga-readers seem to love her background). There must be at least something wrong with her, if she’s dreaming of giant one-eyed spirits that swallow her. We also manage to see for the first time Domeki’s grandfather, who reveals something interesting about Domeki as a child: he used to dress in girly kimonos. I can’t wait for the next episode to see Domeki’s reaction when he finds out, and even more to Watanuki’s reaction to Domeki’s reaction.

Macross Frontier – 04

by psgels, posted in Macross Frontier


Okay, this episode was fair enough. It did a good job in pointing out the inexperience of the two main leads. I don’t like how easily Alto managed to learn to perfectly control his craft, but at least he still doesn’t understand tactics yet. What also surprised me was that Ranka didn’t end up winning the miss Macross Frontier-contest. At that point, things seemed so obvious that I thought that the creators were just trying to give her an important role in a quick way, but thank god I was wrong, and the creators turn out to be a bit more subtle than that. After all, it’s probably the first time she sang in front of such a huge audience, she felt out of place, she was full of nerves. It would have been a very glaring plot-hole if she did end up winning that contest.

This episode also introduces a bunch of new characters, among which a big-boobed giant with bright blue hair who can turn into a little girl whenever she’s not piloting. She offers another hint as to why Ranka’s special: her brother rescued her ten years ago from god knows where, so who knows what happened in her past? At the same time, this giant, when she’s in little-girl form also has bright hair that has a mind of its own and it’s just as brightly coloured. They could be of the same “race”.

We also learn that Saotome’s father is some kind of famous person, though they seem to hate each other. No sign of his mother yet, if I’m not mistaken. This episode also introduces a human factor in the enemies, as this time, a manned mecha comes to attack Macross Frontier. One thing I hope for this series is that it’ll provide enough attention to these “bad guys”, and doesn’t focus too much of its screen time on Ranka, Alto and Sheryl. I’ve seen many series that screwed up with their villains, simply because these people weren’t fleshed out enough. A damn shame.

In other news, the animation was different from usual. It seemed much messier than the previous three episodes. I like this kind of animation; it makes the characters feel alive, rather than a bunch of drawings in a series that just uses minimal animation.

Allison to Lillia – 04

by psgels, posted in Allison to Lillia


This was definitely the best episode of Allison to Lillia yet. I’m really surprised and impressed by it: I thought that the entire Allison-arc would revolve around the war and the search for the treasure, and yet both storylines get resolved in just one episode. It really makes me wonder what the rest of this series will be about.

I think it’s clear by now that the plot-twists in this series take a lot of liberty, as symbolized by Allison’s whimsical nature. In this episode, Benedict also changes sides really easily, and the war is over before you know it. There’s not even a scene where the important people see the treasure; it just ends and we can only guess the real reason behind it. But I think that that’s one of the charms of this series, and it manages to keep its combination between a light-hearted mood and serious themes this way. I’ve been a rather large advocate of realism lately, but this series shows that you can be good even without a huge focus at realism.

Also, that airplane-fight in the first half of the episode was very impressive. It’s been a while since I watched a fight in mid-air that didn’t involve mecha. The music also showed some of its best sides so far in this episode. Overall, if these four episodes gave away a small taste of what’s left to come in this series, then I’m in!

Baccano! – 15

by psgels, posted in Baccano!


Ah, like expected, things make a lot more sense now that the introduction-episode is over. This really was a Chane-episode; as she really gets a lot of development that built further on her encounter with Vino on top of the flying pussyfoot. Om top of that, Jacuzzi and Nice also get some really appreciated background. Now all that’s left to wonder is what the purpose was between Rachel and Czeslaw’s encounter…

Jacuzzi this time really shows that in Baccano! characters go much further than in regular anime, and it’s not just limited to Ladd Russo and Graham Spector. What other character would scar his face, just because a friend of his got scarred for life due to an accident? What other person would just turn himself in to collect money from a bounty to release another person from a ransom? I think that in his case, he’s able to do these extremely nice things because of his friends, who somehow manage to pull him out of any screwed-up situation he got himself involved in.

Chane is after Czeslaw the second person to undergo a drastic change, when both Jacuzzi and Rail Tracer treat her nicely, something that she only knew from Huey.

I think we’ve also got a first for a Baccano! episode: there was no Isaac nor Miria. They’ve been surprisingly distant from the DVD-only episodes so far, especially considering how they’re the two most central characters in this series. I do hope to see a bit more of their antics in the final DVD-only episode. It should be released on the 28th of May, and according to the title, we should see Carol again. Fair enough, that should provide a nice closure: to end where everything began.

Himitsu ~The Revelation~ – 03

by psgels, posted in Himitsu ~The Revelation~


I must say that Maki has a great personality as a leader. He’s scary, but not in the way that he loses his entire personality. This series has done really well to show that the guy’s got experience. I’m really glad that this season came with so many series with adult-characters. I mean, teenagers are nice and all, but seeing teenagers in every single series does go too far. The picture that these offer is just too one-sided.

In any case, this series really knows how to deliver its mystery well. The picture that the president shredded turned out to be the one of his daughter’s fiancée: Ross Macaulay, who turned out to be a terrorist. The president didn’t know any of this, until the guy delivered a note to the president, telling him to meet at the lighthouse. When the president got stabbed, he realized that his daughter was dating a wrong guy, and yet he tried to protect both her and her fiancée by shredding the picture of him that he carried right before he died, in order to lay as little connection as possible between him and Ross Macaulay.

Aoki realizes this, because he’s in the same situation with his sister. She too is dating the wrong guy, and yet he can’t get himself to separate the two, and he’s always watching from a distance. The great thing about this episode is how everything comes together, and yet it does force you to think about the case. And that’s EXACTLY why I like mystery so much.

Crystal Blaze – 03

by psgels, posted in Crystal Blaze


I’m still surprised at how solid this series has turned out. It keeps interesting things on the table, while not forgetting to provide background on its different characters. No character feels useless. This episode continues to create a good base for the second half of this series to work with. It’s the least eventful episode so far, but instead the characters get some extra attention. Even the bad guys get a surprisingly large amount of screen time. They’re still flat at this point, but there’s good potential for them to actually develop at the end.

My favourite character of this series so far surprisingly turned out to be Shu. He’s a strong character, he’s no idiot, and yet he doesn’t feel like an overpowered all-knowing action-hero. All the things he’s done up till now make sense. In this episode, he realizes he’s being observed by high-tech cameras at the scene where everything began. Due to the transvestite, he’s used to being observed, which sortof explains why he was able to notice them. Afterwards, he ends up being followed, and instead of going home and leading the enemy to Sara, he just fools around with as many women as possible.

Meanwhile, Manami and Ayaka are looking for an old classmate of Manami who now has turned into some kind of idol who happens to visit the town. They go past one of her other friends who became a guitarist who just made his debut. In the end, they find nothing about her. In the end, Akira finds her address because of how Ayaka wanted Manami to find her classmate. However, Manami refused the help of others earlier, saying how she wanted to find Yuuko (the classmate) on her own. She then gets angry at Ayaka, and then it turns out that Ayaka is indeed a person who gets hurt quite easily. Shu also rescued her from a bunch of punks once, which is probably why he took her in.

The doctor meanwhile gives Sara a strange potion that causes her arm to turn into glass at the end of the episode. Shows a lot of promise for the next episode! I’m also glad to see that Manami’s voice-actress is getting less and less annoying. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it’s something different and it does fit her naive and ambitious character quite well. She’s especially good in her quiet moments, when she isn’t screaming.

RD Sennou Chousashitsu – 03

by psgels, posted in RD Sennou Chousashitsu


I love the thing that this series is trying to prove: you can even have a great story if your main characters aren’t perfectly looking guys or girls. So many of them have lost their parents, so many of them have had a troubled childhood and they’ve had to endure the most horrible things in some cases, but nearly all of them have a perfect thyroid. Minamo may be annoying at times, but the only other female main character in anime that I can recall who doesn’t look perfect in every single way is Sunako from Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge. Heck, even among major side-characters you hardly see any non-perfect-looking girls or women. Gintama and Blue Drop are the only two that I can name out of the top of my head. In the same way, I can’t remember any other anime with a main character of above seventy years old apart from Millennium Actress.

Anyway, enough blabbering. It indeed turns out that the diver from the previous episode was Haru, and in this episode attempts are made to find out what made him change back to his 30-year old self inside Metal. A few tests are run, to see whether he’s an able cyber-diver, but after numerous tests, he keeps on failing in his original body. In the end, it turns out that Minamo, combined with a dire situation is able to trigger this change. When Minamo checks up on the guy, for a minute she sees the face of his younger self. I’m not sure whether that was just her imagination, or the influence of Metal is more than just on-line. This episode already showed that divers are screwed if they dive too far into Metal and lose consciousness, because you actually need to get your cyber-body back. Much like the Matrix, actually.

On a totally different side-note: the fansub-scene has changed quite a bit compared to two years ago. Really, at this point, roughly two weeks after the start of the season, RD and Kaiba have finally also gotten subbed and the only unsubbed series left is out of all series Toshokan Sensou. I remember that two years ago, I had to wait four weeks until the majority of new series had gotten its subs. The fansubbers are slowly changing from quality-based to speed-based. I remember how back then, people used to talk bad about speedsubbers, but right now everybody seems to have accepted them.

D.N.Angel Review – 82/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews


Series that promise to be better in their second half are always tricky. You never know whether they can actually live up to their claims or not; it went well for series as El Cazador, Chevalier, NHK ni Youkoso and Full Moon wo Sagashite, but on the other hand, things went disastrously wrong for series as Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, Utawarerumono, Mai Otome and Romeo x Juliet. Thankfully, D.N.Angel lies on the good side of this spectrum.

It starts out as a very strange series: a boy with a very bad haircut suddenly finds out that on his 14th birthday that he can change into a winged phantom-thief bishie called “Dark”. Not that promising, though thankfully this series turned out to have a similar story flow as El Cazador and Suteki Tantei Labyrinth: entertain your viewers with random cases (in this case random artworks that have to be stolen, or background on various main- and side-characters), and abandon these cases as soon as the second half hits, so that the characters can develop themselves.

Such a formula works surprisingly well, and indeed: once this series passes its halfway-mark the characters really start shining. Especially the teenagers turn into well-rounded characters that will make the journey through the first 13 episodes a rewarding one. Unfortunately, the other characters do feel a bit incomplete. Especially the major bad guys could have gotten more attention, there’s one particular side-character who feels out of place and doesn’t seem to serve any purpose whatsoever and Dark himself too feels like he could have been more if given more screen-time.

While I can’t say that D.N.Angel is a must-watch, I am at least glad that it managed to make use of its potential, and didn’t get itself caught in endless fillers. Even the random cases serve to flesh out and provide background for the different characters. If I recall correctly, then the creators completely rewrote the original manga for this anime, and I must say that they did a pretty decent job on it. Do note that the graphics can be a bit of a turn-off. Don’t get me wrong, they look great at times, but there are also quite a few lower-quality shots and the characters do take a bit of getting used to if you’re not a fan of bishies.

Soul Eater – 03

by psgels, posted in Soul Eater


So, this episode concludes the introduction of Soul Eater. We’ve no seen all the three couples, so it’s time for this series to start building up to its real potential, rather than the McGuffin involving the 100 souls to become a death scythe. My guess is that the next few episodes will show the different couples working together on one mission. Something tells me that the banter between these people will reach epic levels when they’re combined.

In any case, this episode is the proper introduction to Death the Kid (really interesting names some of these people have). He’s the son of shinigami himself, so of course you’d expect a perfect student here. When I first saw him, I thought that his weakness was that his weapons weren’t talented, or how he kept arguing with his weapons to the point where he stops caring about his targets, but it turned out to be something much funnier: the guy’s obsessed with symmetry. Now that’s really fitting of the “perfect” student.

If I had to mention a bad point about this series so far, then it’s the CG. Bones is talented in a lot of areas, but CG isn’t one of them, and they’re nowhere near Gonzo’s level at this point. Blassreiter, for example, has some really nice CG, but the shingami castle, the grinning moon and the laughing sun (among others; the different hallways also suffer from this) have lost their freshness by now, and with that the bland CG starts becoming a bit jarring.