Author: psgels

2012 Summary Part 1: Top OPs and EDs

by psgels, posted in Yearly Summaries

So, every year I start my summary with a list of my favorite OPs and EDs of the season. This year it’s a bit smaller than last year though, but that is simply because last year was simply amazing in terms of how many awesome OPs and EDs it had. This year instead stands out through its soundtracks, but there were much more generic openings and endings than usual. So therefore, I use this list to honour the ones that did go the extra mile for me and really resonated with me. Enjoy.

And in advanced I apologize for the people who read this half a year from now when half the videos are taken down…
Continue reading “2012 Summary Part 1: Top OPs and EDs” →

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure – 11

by psgels, posted in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

Normally I dislike using memes and all, but this is just one of those shows where OVER 9000! is entirely fitting. I mean, holy crap, this show just has gotten more crazy in just two episodes compared to the first arc. Joseph Joestar’s sense of fighting is just completely crazy. This show still has this habit of using tiny details and making an incredibly big deal out of them, but Joseph takes that, and adds tommy guns and hand grenades to the mix from out of nowhere.

And then there is the introduction of the villain for this arc. Now, there is being evil, and trying everything in your damn mind to try to be as evil as humanly possible. That’s that guy. He didn’t end up as a baby eater, but it really would have been close. I mean, Dio was evil and all, but he did not go through such lengths.

And is it also just me, or did the animation improve? I mean, I could be wrong, but there were even less still frames than usual in this episode. That makes it even more amazing by the way: the character designs in this show just are very complicated and hard to animate. And yet the creators did it. I could not have expected that.

Also, the new OP rocks.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Zetsuen no Tempest – 11

by psgels, posted in Zetsuen no Tempest

This show. Talk about a mindscrew. This episode once again was just brilliant. There was so little action in this episode: it was just people talking, trying to convince each other and trying out various kinds of diabolical schemes. This episode just kept pushing things further, and added things like defying logic and fate to the mix.

I can’t believe how well the build-up of the previous episodes got used. This episode finally revealed how people are able to talk through each other, and immediately this show uses that theory to make a plausible explanation for Hakaze to return. And as if that wasn’t already a twist enough, it turns out that one of the biggest reasons for the plot to actually start was wrong: nobody from the clan killed Aika.

There were two things that I realized here that got left unmentioned, but need to be answered. First of all, how does suicide work? Could it be that Aika wasn’t murdered, but instead orchestrated her death herself. In any case it is very heavily being hinted that Aika was the priestess of the tree of Exodus. Second of all… are they going to remember to remove those strings on Hakaze’s skeleton. I mean, I shiver at the thought that they’ll remain stuck out of her body if this goes on!
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Psycho Pass – 10

by psgels, posted in Psycho Pass

This really is an episode that I easily see Urobuchi Gen write. It may have lacked any gore or something, but it was nevertheless quite sadistic, using an innocent friend as a hostage for a simple game.

This episode worked in two ways, first fleshing out Akane and Shinya (having this girl tell about how Akane always solved problems is much more effective than just showing it), and then by pulling a very good cat and mouse game by the previously established android. Again a psychopath who was given the means in order to become a murderer, but this time it’s made very obvious that he also is being tested, and will just be disposed of when he fails.

One strange details is how Shinya suddenly got the idea of a radio antenna being hidden in a bra of all things. You have to have a specific mind to really realize that. I guess that that also was the point of that scene: the white-haired guy knew Shinya so well, that he’d know that he’d come up with such a far-fetched theory.

I also liked how this episode toyed with responsibility. I mean, Ginoza definitely went out of the line, but he’s right: Akane pretty much is responsible for human lives now, which is such a big change from her education. If Ginoza’s theory were true then she could have easily killed him off indirectly due to the system that they live in.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Robotics;Notes – 10

by psgels, posted in Robotics;Notes

It’s a bit of a strange twist: the previous episode left off with a disaster of a robot that refuses to move because it lacks power, and in this episode some kind of awesome light ending literally drops out of the sky in order to help the cast.

But I guess that that’s one of the charms of Robotics;Notes: on one hand it is deconstructing the giant robot genre by showing what it would really take to make such a thing even remotely usable, and examinig what a challenge it would be to even build one. On the other hand it has mysterious AI girls and sparkly things that fall from the sky. It’s definitely using the former to build up for the latter, and that build-up is LOOONG. This really needed to be a 2-cour series, otherwise this entire effect would have been lost.

Regarding build-up though: the key is also being able to use it. We’re now nearly at this series’ halfway point (after next week there will probably be a big hiatus), and the characters so far are down to earth, realistic and believable. That’s good, however the pay-off of all this is also something that the creators really need to pay attention to. If it works, then it will be awesome. If not… then I get the feeling that I’ve wasted my time a bit.

Still, the series continues to drop good hints. The end of this episode where Mizuka with her defunct leg asked Airi to go away made a good impact: finally this show starts to delve a bit into the links between all of the subplots it has been creating.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo – 10

by psgels, posted in Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo

And here Sakurasou comes with a pretty interesting climax here. I had this same sharpness that this show is known for, but was much more dramatic than usual. For the first time it really cut through the soft stuff and really started focusing on one of the characters, Rita.

At first her story was what you’d expect: she hates Shiina because of how talented she is, although then that hikkikomori came in and made things pretty interesting. Again, the sharpness of his words and how he saw right through her: in the way that she forgot about her original goals. That the biggest reason for her wanting Shiina to go back, was that she could feel a bit famous herself.

Although the thing with this talent is that there are probably a lot of artists who’d love to work together with someone as talented as Shiina. Her talent is something that can give so much inspiration when used well, and it can only make yourself better. It only gets bad when people want to stand in the spotlights, which is something that just won’t work.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Kamisama Hajimemashita – 11

by psgels, posted in Kamisama Hajimemashita

This just was SO pure. This episode reminded me once again why Kamisama Hajimemashita still is my favorite romance this season. It may be much simpler than the other romance shows, but in terms of delivery it just is top-notch. Although granted, the first half of this episode was nothing special for this series’ standards.

So yeah, the snake goes out. Surprisingly no Nanami or Tomoe, and instead we get a bit of a heart-warming story about the snake and his trip to the city. I liked the part where he accidentally drinks wine and get knocked unconscious. But what really made this episode shine was what followed after it. The part where Nanami and Tomoe went on a date.

Their feelings there were just amazing: the angst felt perfect, their chemistry was just wonderful, with the central theme was Tomoe living for today, rather than the past. It’s clever use of build-up from the previous episodes that focused so much on his past, and gave so many hints that he was still caught up in it. The small details, like the focus on the hair, or making Tomoe bump into someone to lose Nanami were also really good to flesh this half out more. And then there was the ending, which was a hilarious anti-climax and climax at the same time. I surely did not expect Tomoe to force himself into the ferris wheel like that, and Nanami’s reaction to that was just hilarious.
Rating: 5/8 (Excellent)

Uchuu Kyoudai – 36

by psgels, posted in Uchuu Kyoudai

Oh space brothers… what the hell are you doing to me? We’re waiting for the big moment to hear whether Mutta is going to become an astronaut, and yet again you’re going to stretch it with this bittersweet episode dedicated to Serika. After Kenji I guess it was obvious that they’d do this, but this episode made one heck of an impact.

First the creators showed Serika’s family (great way to flesh out a cast by the way), and then the creators finally tell the whole story of why her father died, and how she felt with it. The diary returns many times, but instead the central focus of this episode is how even though he knew so much about the subject, he couldn’t find a cure for himself, even though outer space could possibly find the answer.

How Serika’s father’s disease progressed was also beautifully done, and another example of what you can really do if you take your time, and actually use it by deteriorating his situation bit by bit, to the point where he eventually ends up in the hospital and his wife instead has to start working again. Three thumbs up for Space Brothers.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Hunter X Hunter – 58

by psgels, posted in Hunter X Hunter

And it’s over. My favorite arc of Hunter X Hunter has ended with this, and what a ride it’s been. I’m curious for the Greed Island arc, because it’s here where Nippon Animation started getting lazy, so there might have very well been many stuff it skimped over. However, I am a bit disappointed here.

I refuse to rewatch the 1999 series because it makes me focus too much on the stupid details. However, I will say this: as the episode concluded, I felt like “wait… it’s over already?” As a frame of reference: this arc was done in eight episodes in the 1999 series, whereas here it only took less than five. And no, there were no fillers in that part. As a result, I unfortunately do think that this version skimped over the details. The most noticeable for me was Pakunoda. Now that this is over, I can finally admidst that she was my favorite character, which made me all the more surprised how little attention she got in this episode. It’s like, before we got a really good feeling for her she was dead already.

If I gained any new insights the past half year, then it’s about pacing, and how much it can influence the quality of a series. The most important examples of this are Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and Space Brothers: they showed me that a series should adapt to its pacing. There is no universal formula in terms of pacing your series. It all depends on your mood, themes, and execution what the best pacing is, but you do need to pay attention to it. And it’s so important, yet so difficult with adaptations: being too fast or too slow can be so disastrous. If you make the wrong decision then you’ll lose so much emotional value.

And the way we all experience pacing is just completely different. I’ve seen many episodes, in which I blogged about how much I liked them, and then other people were too much bothered by that pacing. It’s a big trade-off that needs to be made: the faster your pacing, the more interesting things happen, yet the slower, the more the characters sink in. If your pacing is slow but you have nothing interesting happen/ A slow pacing can so easily become a drag that pointlessly wastes time, and a show that has a fast pacing can lose some of its emotional impact. And yet some series have to sacrifice this emotional impact in order to fit in their stories. It’s so complicated and that makes me all the more happy to see series as Jojo and Space Brothers that actually managed to nail their pacing in an incredibly effective way.

That’s not that this episode was not excellent or anything. Pakunoda still rocks, but here she is not my favorite character, that instead is Kurapika now. This still was an epic tale of revenge and it’s the kind of plan that would never happen in any other shounen series. I also did not expect that comedic bit when Hisoka found out that Chrollo had lost all of his powers.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Magi – 10

by psgels, posted in Magi

I think that if there is one thing where this show disappoints a bit, it’s is storyline. Compared to the rest of the series this season, I feel like it could have used itself better, and right now its main theme, fighting for freedom and against poverty, it has been done many times before unfortunately, and better.

What this show does have is interesting character. Perhaps they’re nowhere near the best of the series, but they have this charisma that makes them interesting to watch. That other magi in this episode made the fight that this episode was all about worth watching with how confident he was. The episode really worked in how far it actually went: it started off mundane, but got more and more serious as it went on, to the point where Ugo just went crazy.

Most peculiar detail here is that something else was giving the magical powers to do that, meaning that there is much more behind their bond than what Aladdin thought at first. It definitely gives a much needed different dimension to such an overpowered being in this series.
Rating: 4.5/8 (Good)