Author: psgels

Amatsuki – 02

by psgels, posted in Amatsuki


As for the reasons why I won’t blog some other shows:
– If there weren’t already enough reasons not to watch To Love-Ru: it airs on freaking Thursday, which already features four, possibly five excellent shows, which already are too many shows on the same day!
– Itazura na Kiss is hands-down hilarious. Fans of traps might want to check out the second episode, because there appears one. However, I can’t see myself blogging this week after week.
– Druaga no Tou can really go both ways. Like anyone could have expected, this is no comedy at all. It’s got a lot to like, but for every good point there’s also a bad point. If you want to see Gonzo do RPG-parodies, then go check out Master of Epic. That’s one series that’s fully geared to parodies and doesn’t have an overall storyline.

Besides, Amatsuki is better than Druaga no Tou in every single aspect apart from two: sense of humour and background art. And it of course seems that Druaga played all of its trumps in the first episode, that just leaves the background art, which just isn’t enough. I think that the thing that Druaga no Tou can learn the most from Amatsuki lies in the storytelling. Amatsuki really packs a punch in its climaxes. It knows how to time its lines and optimally use its characters to keep me glued to the screen, and that’s something I really missed in Druaga.

Toki is also inexperienced, but he’s also really different from the male lead in Druaga (whose name I already forgot, even though I watched the second episode half an hour ago). He’s not the only one who’s special, it seems. There have been more people who have been through the same thing he has been, and even worse, with the other guy losing his arm and all. He’s also naive, yet he’s not a complete idiot. I also really like the female lead, but that may be because I often like strong female characters. She really stands miles above that ditzy healer from Druaga no Tou. That really was the worst part about the second episode of that series.

This is really going to be my main series to follow from Studio Deen. While they were my favourite production-company during the previous Autumn- and Winter-season, mostly due to their magnificent performance with Shion no Ou (with the addition of the really solid Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai) this season looks to give that title to Madhouse, who actually have the potential to surpass themselves with all the different series they picked out to animate. Production IG also looks forward to an excellent season.

Some quick first impressions: Toshokan Sensou, Junjo Romantica and Kaiba

by psgels, posted in Kaiba, Some Quick First Impressions

Toshokan Sensou

With Noitamina, I just knew that this series would be worthwhile. Toshokan Sensou has proven to have the best soundtrack this season, and with Production IG, the art looks terrific. This series also smartly spent its first episode fleshing out its main characters, instead of focusing on a story-heavy start. So instead the characters already feel dynamic for when the story starts kicking in. This series has a limited time to work with, and yet it’s got quite a large premise, so this will probably be one of the most fast-paced series to come out of the Noitamina-timeslot.

Junjo Romantica

Okay, so this was a really weird combination between hilarious and disturbing. This series does have a sense of humour, and there’s some good chemistry between the characters. The only problem is that the chemistry between them might be a bit too good, because the characters wasted no time to get it on with each other. What surprises me, by the way, is that this series has the best OP song this season, strangely enough. The song is standard J-rock, but it works surprisingly well. It’ll be interesting to keep watching this series, if only to laugh at the hot passion that will erupt from it.

Kaiba

Oh my god, I can’t believe how well this series turned out! Even with the fantastic line-up that this season already has, Kaiba has delivered the best first episode of them all! This is EXACTLY the reason why I love experimental anime. Anime should be used as a medium to showcase creative ideas, not to just copy everyone else. On top of that, the mystery in this series is downright excellent. Since 2007 was so disappointing in terms of mystery, my inner-fanboy is loving all the different mystery-series that this season has offered so far! I really urge everyone to check out this series, because it’s without a doubt the most unique anime to come out this year, even taking Hakaba Kitarou in consideration. Don’t be discouraged by the childish-looking character-designs. This series is exactly the reason why simple character-designs don’t mean that the series will be for children.

xxxHolic – 26

by psgels, posted in xxxHolic


I am so glad that this series is back, if only for the banter between Watanuki and the different members of the cast. And to make things even better, this arc promises to be among the best, if not the best arc of xxxHolic yet. It’s also the longest one yet, as the original one never went beyond two episodes per arc.

Also, here’s an interesting link, with some interesting news, for those who haven’t seen it yet: http://www.xxxholicanime.net/2008/04/xxxholic-kei-13-episodes-long.php – It’s a bit disappointing to see that this series just has thirteen episodes to work with, but at least in this was it’ll be short and sweet, and there’ll be no way for it to get boring, as there seems to be enough inspiration to fill these 13 episodes.

On a side-note, I never understood why people hated the long limbs of this series. It’s not like anime-faces are the most realistically drawn anyway, with their exaggerated eyes and all, so what’s wrong with exaggerating the limbs as well? In my opinion, it’s much better than just going with character-designs in the same style of every other series.

Kurenai – 02

by psgels, posted in Kurenai


After the first episode, I was pretty sure that I’d end up blogging this series. The second episode of Kurenai is less impressive then the first one, but that’s only natural. If you’re going to start with a bang, you obviously need to take things easy in the second episode so that the characters can be fleshed out a bit. Especially Murasaki and Shinkuro got a lot of attention in this episode.

What immediately stands out for this series, apart from the art-style, is that these two main characters don’t act their age at all. I can imagine how Murasaki was educated early on, as she already speaks Japanese at adult-level, though at the same time she’s just like a princess who has been pampered for all her life. And yet she’s more than your typical spoiled princess, because most of her arrogance comes from her ignorance, and not her need to feel superior to all lower life-forms.

Shinkuro on the other hand, doesn’t show any signs of puberty at all (something of which I’m REALLY glad). We still don’t know much about him, but he’s seen his dead mother right in front of his eyes, he probably lost his father as well, he’s turned into a killing-machine with purple blood and strange elbows.

Another thing about this series is the use of dialogue. When the tension increases, the characters hardly let the others finish speaking before they say something. Where you’d usually hear a one-second pause between one sentence and the next, Kurenai shortens this to a quarter of a second. I’m not sure whether this series is the first one to do this, but it is the first time I’ve noticed it.

One thing I’m quite curious about is the length of this series: will it be 13 or 26 episodes, and if there are 26 episodes, then how does this series plan to fill its time? Some series are quite sneaky about it. For Persona, for example, I realized really late that it was supposed to run for two seasons, instead of just one.

Allison to Lillia – 02

by psgels, posted in Allison to Lillia


Okay, this is going to be the first series that I’ll be blogging for the current spring-season. At first sight, this series looks rather underwhelming when compared to the rest of this season, but as I watched this episode, I suddenly realized that I’ve actually got lots of reasons to blog about this series.

First of all: the people who worked on it. The director of Mokke, adapting a story from the writer of Kino no Tabi. Of course it’d be interesting to check out to see such a combination. Add to that the art director of Hi no Tori and Madhouse who’ll be doing the animation. It’s pretty clear by now that the animation isn’t detailed at all, but I don’t care, as long as the series looks good. And that’s definitely the case for this series.

Then there are the themes, which lay an interesting parallel to the other series that appeared this season. During the Spring Season of 2007, a lot of series featured a veteran, travelling and taking care or protecting a relatively weak partner. In Seirei no Moribito, Balsa took care of Chaggumu, Wellber no Monogatari featured Tina that took care of Rita, in El Cazador Nadie watched over Ellis and in Claymore Claire had Raki around her, just to name some examples. The current season features a lot of spunky females that have to deal with a guy that’s on a level above them: Itazura na Kiss, S.A, Crystal Blaze, Toshokan Sensou (of which I’ll post my first impressions once Kaiba and Junjo Romantica air) and Vampire Knight.

In all of these series, the male character acts as a sort-of brake. These females do pretty stupid things at times, mostly due to their inexperience, but so far they’ve always been protected by their male companion, to hold them down so that they don’t lose complete control. Allison to Lillia, however, is different. Will is basically a wuss, and instead Lillia is the stronger one, even though she does make naive decisions, just like the other female leads of the series I just mentioned. Where does she end up with this? Well, crashed out of her plane and with Will unconscious for a part of the episode. In Allison to Lillia, there isn’t just one character that’s just “better”. Allison and Will both have their own strong points and their weak points, and so far they’ve complemented each other pretty well.

Then there are the influences by the writer of Kino no Tabi. This series is both subtle, and it makes you think. In this episode, Allison and Will stay the night at the house of a woman who lost both her sons in the war. At the time, Will was unconscious, so she just had to offer them a place to rest, even though she immediately recognized that they were involved in the war. Against two youngsters like that, she of course can’t do anything to stop them, so instead she just lets the two stay the night, while clearly voicing her own opinion about the war. As the episode progresses, her relationship with Allison and Will subtly changes.

Then there are the side-characters. I love it when a series puts time into even the insignificant ones, to make them more than just cardboard figures. I don’t think that this series has featured any character that at least didn’t have some kind of personality or story. So yes, I’ll be blogging this. It’s quite quiet at times, but I like series that are quiet, yet deal with serious topics as war and similar things. With 26 episodes, there’s plenty of potential for this series to work with. There were a few details that were wrong with these episodes (one of the woman’s son’s uniforms seemed to fit Allison a little too well), but this is just nitpicking.

Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji – 25

by psgels, posted in Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji


Yup, like expected: the entire success of this arc will depend on whether the final episode will deliver or not. Unfortunately, I’ve also been spoiled about it, so it’ll all depend on the execution. What I’m most curious about is the chairman himself. We know Kaiji by now and his fear is nothing new by now. But what I really want to see is the tricks up on the sleeve of this old master. He says that he’s a king and he can draw whatever he wants on a second turn, but it this just a bluff?

My guess is that he very well knew that Kaiji was cheating. I mean, what other idiot would just throw away his fingers? The guy checked out all possibilities, and probably found the second winning lot when he was checking every corner inside the box. He didn’t draw it, and instead mixed it with the other lots in order to make the gamble more “fun”, and make it last longer.

I admit that the choice to blog this series was a wrong one. During the past fall-season, I ended up blogging a lot of “wrong” shows. Shugo Chara, Suteki Tantei Labyrinth and Gundam 00 were also nice series and all, but I didn’t feel like blogging them was really interesting, especially with Shugo Chara. During the past Autumn-season, I really found out that I have the most fun in blogging a series that I can sing praises over and over about. Of course, making fun of bad series is fun as well once in a while, but you don’t want to do this for every episode. This is why the final episodes of Claymore and .Hack//Roots also felt such a chore for me to blog.

It’s the same as with Kaiji, although I don’t mean to say that this series isn’t good. This isn’t a show like Jigoku Shoujo that’s different with each single episode, so that I can have something to say for each single one of them. This is a series that is intended to be marathoned for entire arcs, just to beef you up with adrenaline for some kind of major sporting event or something.

Some quick first impressions: Crystal Blaze, RD Sennou Chousashitsu and Himitsu – Top Secret ~ The Revelation

by psgels, posted in Crystal Blaze, Himitsu ~The Revelation~, RD Sennou Chousashitsu, Some Quick First Impressions

Crystal Blaze

Tuesday evening was really my most anticipated day of the new season, so I’m really glad it’s finally arrived, and with such a start I had enough reasons to look forward to it. Crystal Blaze may be a bit rough around the edges, but it’s got definite potential. It’s already the first episode, and not once did I have any reason to look away from the screen. This episode kept me interested throughout its entire run. It’s been a long while since I’ve seen a good mystery-series, and this one might very well be it. It still needs to work a bit on its romanji, but so far, the characters have been interesting and the first episode has been among xxxHolic the best in terms of storyline this season.

RD Sennou Chousashitsu

Like expected, this episode was really solid, although there was some strangely placed fanservice here and there. In any case, the male main character probably has to be the oldest main character in an anime I’ve seen. He even spends some significant amount of screen-time in this episode as an old guy in a retirement home. It’s not the best way to attract the viewers who only like cute girls and hot buys, but I really like this idea, and this series is without a doubt the most imaginative series of the new season. In addition to that, it’s also the hardest to understand, though. Still, I’m expecting some great things from this series once it really gets on fire. One point of critique is that the main female lead feels rather out of place when you first meet her, though she quickly got less annoying as the episode progressed.

Himitsu – Top Secret ~ The Revelation

If you’re one of the people who gets sick of all the anime with teenage protagonists, then this series is a must-watch for this season. Not only is it all about adults and away from annoying teenagers, but it’s also got one of the best first episodes of this season, along with Kurenai and xxxHolic. I seriously couldn’t have expected a better start for this. The cast is so different from usual anime, and yet each member has an already engaging personality, not to mention that the main premise of this story provides so much potential. In addition, the soundtrack is among the best this season as well. Madhouse has really picked out some excellent series this season!

Demashitaa! Power Puff Girls Z Review – 88/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews


Yes, you’ve read that rating right. I didn’t expect this series to be this good when I started watching it, nearly two years ago now, but Power Puff Girls Z has been a large source of laughs for me whenever it appeared. There’s a good reason why the original length was increased from 39 to 52 episodes, because this series that basically awaited scepsis from nearly everyone turned out to be quite addictive.

If you’ve seen the original Power Puff Girls, then there are a few things you should know: Power Puff Girls Z completely went with its own style. This is a good thing, as in this way it fixed a lot of the mistakes that the original series made. On the bad side, because of these changes it’ll be really easy to see this as a series that only little kids can enjoy.

One of the biggest problems with this series is that it takes a really long time to get used to the bizarre sense of humour that this series has. If there’s any point in the series where you find yourself thinking: “oh god, they can’t go for something that stupid”, it will. This leads to an angry sushi-monster that assaults people who don’t eat the sushi he likes, and monsters in the form of a pen and an eraser who have trouble to understand each other’s feelings.

Fear not, though. Those were just some of the worst examples, and this series especially starts shining once it hits its second half. You just have to love the disco-fever-episode, or the manga-artist one. This series is so incredibly silly at times, but that’s what makes it so much fun. It really doesn’t care about being liked by everyone, and because of that it’s able to come up with these extreme cases.

That, however, isn’t the only reason why I’ve been looking forward for every new episode for the past year. In the original Power Puff Girls, we never really knew where the monsters that were terrorizing Townsville came from and why they wanted to destroy that particular town in the first place, or in what kind of trouble that town must have been before Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup arrived. But Power Puff Girls Z is different. Everything is really explained here. It may seem a bit far-fetched at times, especially at the beginning, but because the first episodes put so much effort into a conclusion, this series actually managed to close off with a pretty good finale, whereas most other comedies are just way too lazy to try and come up with a good ending.

This is also one series that knows how to deliver a good fight. The minor ones aren’t that special, but especially the fights against the big enemies are really fun to watch. You’d think that whenever you’d stand against a very strong enemy, the drama may take over a bit too much, but especially the fights against Him (the major bad guy of this series) are epic, yet hilarious to watch.

I used to watch the original Power Puff Girls a lot, but looking back, it made the mistake of taking itself way too seriously at times. An angry Buttercup or an angsty Blossom can only remain interesting for a very short while, and the original series went way too far in that. Power Puff Girls Z therefore was really refreshing in its light-hearted nature (do not miss the few times at which this series gets to poke fun at its predecessor). It may be a bit childish at times (okay, make that REALLY childish at times), but when it shines, this series really shines like no other comedy. Added to that comes what’s probably the best cheesy J-Pop soundtrack I’ve heard in an anime, the fact that this really is a series that didn’t play all its trumps in the beginning, and you’ve got a very enjoyable comedy-series.

Some quick first impressions: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s, Net Ghost Pipopa and Monochrome Factor

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s

Masochists of the world, unite! Seriously, this was without a doubt the worst show of the new season. And without a surprise either. It’s one of these shows that are so bad that it becomes good again. And really, it was a very smart decision from the creators to make all the duels take place on motorbikes now. Everyone’s now wearing helmets, so they won’t burn your eyes with their outrageous hair-styles! If only the same could be said for the monster-design and motorbike-designs. Still, the cream of the crop in terms of badness was without a doubt the fight. It’s so badly written that it’d even give Zaizen Jotaro a run for its money.

Net Ghost Pipopa

While I most definitely won’t watch another episode of this, I can imagine how kids would love it. It’s great to see another kiddie-series that intends to do more than just get kids to buy overpriced toys. Net Ghost Pipopa basically tries to get the young ones a bit familiarized with the internet, by portraying it as a brightly coloured world that some lucky kids can enter. It’s nowhere explained why our male main character is one of those lucky ones, but series of this particular genre could have been much worse (look above). I wouldn’t recommend anyone above 15 to watch it, but if you’ve got a little sibling (and this thing ever gets subbed), you might want to consider showing this to the.

Monochrome Factor

This series has genre-issues! One moment it features a spunky girl confessing over the girl of her love, and yet all the male characters are bishies and two of them even end up kissing each other. In any case, this series isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just boring. It failed to catch my attention at all, and it’s given me no real interest to keep watching it. The fights are dull (monsters just get slashed and that’s it). I also feel that the only female voice-actress was trying way too hard. It’s still better than Hirano Aya’s performance in Zettai Karen Children, but I can’t seem to remember any line in which she didn’t scream.

Some quick first impressions: Soul Eater, Special A and Vampire Knight

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions, Soul Eater

Soul Eater

What a fun series! Really, Bones did it again, creating a series with an absolutely terrific sense of style. Everything about this series clicks so far. It may not have the most realistic storyline, but it’s fun to watch without a doubt. It’s also got a great sense of humour, and I especially love that picture of the moon with a big smile. The banter between all the different characters is also hilarious, so I’ve got high hopes for this series. The question now remains: will this series have enough material for fifty-one episodes (at least, that’s what AniDB and ANN say, but these aren’t the most trusted sources)? I must say that it’s great to see another series that aims for such a length, but you do need to have enough inspiration to pull it off.

Special A

The elite are always portrayed in an exaggerated way in anime, and this series is no different. There are about eight very talented people at school, who are looked up to by everyone, they’ve got their own enormous greenhouse, drink tea all the time and they’re superior in every single way to those measly regular students. Still, at least this series gives a good reason for our main female lead to be in that club, unlike a certain Shugo Chara and dozens of other shoujo. Hikari was already quite talented because of an ambitious father, and then she met her male rival, who always stood above her. She basically spent her entire childhood chasing this guy, walking in his shadow. Also, this series knows very well when it needs to exaggerate and when it needs to be serious, so the ridiculous premise won’t get in the way of what’s really important for this series: the relationship between the female and male lead. And I must say that the creators have tackled it very nicely so far. Here’s Gonzo’s next potential classic.

Vampire Knight

This really is THE season for shoujo and science fiction. This season has really turned out better than I expected, and to think that my most anticipated day for this season (Tuesday) hasn’t even come yet! In any case, the thing that really striked me with Vampire Knight, especially after watching Special A, is that its jokes are rather obtrusive. Special A knew exactly when to deliver a joke, though a lot of jokes in Vampire Knight are misplaced, break flow of the drama and aren’t that funny anyway. That was the bad part of this series. The good parts are that the story has a lot of potential, the characters are interesting and the soundtrack is excellent. I’ve heard a lot of mixed reviews about the original manga: some people consider it their bible, while others say it downright sucks. Well, I’m interested to find out which is true.