Author: psgels

Suteki Tantei Labyrinth – 14

by psgels, posted in Suteki Tantei Labyrinth


Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!

Don’t get me wrong. This episode was really good; probably the best of the entire series. The plot finally got pushed forward a lot and the production-values were just better than they’ve ever been. But at one point, a brainwashed Sanae carries away an unconscious Mayuki… you guessed it. She gets changed back by his love. Seriously, the romance is really going to ruin this series unless it gets developed very fast.

Thankfully, the rest of the episode made up for it. We finally know a bit more about Mayuki’s strange power. A number of years ago, a strange thing called “Hyugake Gentoushu” (yes, I have no idea what that means) struck down earth, and hit the young Mayuki, just after he was born. Because of this, he can see with his “mind’s eye”, in other words, he when he does into Hyugake Gentoushu-mode, he doesn’t see regular things, he sees truth, hence why he was so easily able to solve the different mysteries. This episode also showed that there’s more to this, though: a strange low-voice appeared from out of nowhere and somehow a dragon-like thing manifested for a second. We still don’t know what’s up with them, and Mayuki’s mother also has some kind of connection to everything…

One thing that I must praise this episode for, though, is the fight-scenes: they were really well-done, and kept me at the edge of my seat, and it seems like the budget went all out on them. Also, I had to find Seiran’s combat-outfit amusing. ^^;

Now that this series has entered its second half, it really needs to pay attention to properly develop the different characters. I want to be able to see a change with the first half in the second half, and I want to see the characters evolve, just like in El Cazador. The creators will really need put in effort and move this show into an interesting direction, in order to make up for all the humps and bumps we’ve seen up till now. This episode was good, but can they keep it up?

Some quick first impressions: Strait Jacket, Minami-ke Okawari and Gunslinger Girl – Il Teatrino

by psgels, posted in Gunslinger Girl - Il Teatrino, Some Quick First Impressions

Strait Jacket

Well, this OVA has been pretty dull so far. The biggest reason for this is a rather dull cast of characters. None of them really stands out, and they’re all rather stereotypical. On one hand, the creators want to be all serious and dramatic with gruesome deaths and killings, and on the other side the biggest priority of the cast of main characters is whether or not they look good. So far, the first episode did introduce the concept, but the overall storyline (which should be important for an OVA like this) is dangerously ignored. The premise is solid so far, but the creators do need to try harder in the next episodes if they want to make this work out.

Minami-ke Okawari

I dropped the original series after two episodes because it just wasn’t that funny, but I became interested in this series when I learned that this season of Minami-ke would be handled by an entirely different production-team. The three main characters still aren’t that interesting, though. They’re all a bunch of stereotypes. I do admit that the side-characters are quite funny, though, when they stand in the spotlights. The OP is quite interesting as well, though I don’t think that these factors will make up for the rather lacklustre lead-characters, so I doubt that I’m going to continue watching this series. If you were a fan of the original, though, you might want to check this one out.

Gunslinger Girl – Il Teatrino

One thing that should be noted first: yes, the character-designs changed. Is it me, or are animators getting lazier nowadays, with hardly any attempt to look different? In any case, the second season of Gunslinger Girl starts with an action-packed episode. While it was definitely exciting, it’s not what the original series great, and I hope that the new staff realizes this for the second season as well. But there’s no need to worry for now. The first season also started with the most action-packed fight of the entire series, and this episode gave enough hints to the deep characters and dialogue. Fans of the series will have to get used a bit to the new style, but apart from that this episode couldn’t have been a better introduction to the second season, and I’m glad to see more of the concept. The new soundtrack also is great. Along with Porfy’s Long Journey the best of the season.

Gundam 00 – 13

by psgels, posted in Mobile Suit Gundam 00


Oh great, another Setsuna-episode. Still, the guy has been getting better, and he’s not as annoying as he was at the beginning of the series. Still, he remains pretty stupid and seriously needs to talk more to people. Here he is, in a middle-eastern country, undercover and all, and he apologizes like a Japanese. No wonder that the guys from the Union saw right through him.

Also, I know that language-issues have always been tricky for international series like this one, but please, at least try to be a bit believable. What the heck happened to the Arabic language? It’s a shame, you can see that the creators did research for this series, and I appreciate that, but still small details like this continue to slip by.

Ah well, at least the episode built up well enough. The civil war in Azadistan is progressing along nicely, and indeed it’s not that easy to just change an entire nation, even though the leaders have no intention to fight. I do wonder how the creators are planning to solve this, though, but I guess there’s only one way to find out.

Now that the first quarter of the series is over, we should be seeing a bit more of the direction where the creators plan to go for with the rest of the series. It was at this point that Code Geass really began to decline, with its pointless emo-scenes, and I really hope that the creators for Gundam 00 don’t try to do the same and instead just continue with what they’re good at: politics.

Arete Hime Review – 89/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews


Before I start with the review, I have a small announcement to make. Anyone who’s looked at my blog for the past two weeks will probably have noticed the heap of movie and OVA-reviews. Well, with the review of Arete Hime, this special holiday-schedule has ended: every show should be getting out of their hiatus by now, the Winter-season has started as well, and tomorrow my studies will start again as well. I must say that it was a great way to spend the past two weeks, and this was probably the largest amount of activity you’ll see from me in like, ever (according to animeblogger, I managed to churn out more than fifty posts over the past two weeks ^^;). I also managed to greatly reduce my movie-watchlist, in fact, there are only nine titles left of movies and OVAs that I still want to see (three OVAs and six movies, to be exact), and I should be finished with that list in about two months, depending on how busy my studies will become.

Anyways, onto the review. For the past two weeks, I’ve seen a lot of good stuff, but the definite highlights for me were Tokyo Godfathers and this charming movie called Arete Hime, or Princess Arete. This movie really restored my faith in Studio 4C. Every thing has its bad points, and I guess that for Studio 4C this was Spriggan. Still, Arete Hime showed me that these guys remain a bunch of very talented storytellers.

Let me get one thing straight, though: boredom is a major theme of this movie, so yes: it’s slow. Don’t even dare to expect any action in this movie. Still, one flaw that I found in a lot of movies is that they tend to rush things along a lot, while forgetting to build up properly. Arete Hime delightfully avoids this flaw, and makes sure not to rush one minute of its storyline. Of course, the premise of a princess, locked up inside a tower has been done many times before, and yet the creators managed to create a setting with this that stands apart from the rest. The storyline and setting may be simple, but that makes sure that they’ve gotten sufficient development. It was definitely interesting to see the customs and habits of the people who live in a fantasy-influenced medieval setting, without any clichés or stereotypes.

The cast of characters is also well-developed, from the main characters to the side-ones: everything fits, and most of them are smarter than your average anime. You may not suspect it from first sight, but Arete is quite clever for her age, and the major villain too has one of the most interesting back-stories I’ve seen in a long while.

To be honest, if I were asked about the best movie-creating company, I’d answer Studio 4C instead of Ghibli. Sure, Hayao Miyazaki has made some great movies, but they all felt like they were missing something. That final spark to become truly interesting. The works from Studio 4C feel complete, varied and nearly all of them have a terrific sense of storytelling. Both studios try to be different and don’t care about popularity and mainstream. Princess Arete is yet another great example of this. Sure, I can imagine how it’ll put people to sleep, but the storytelling definitely makes up for all of the slow pacing.

Some quick first impressions: Shigofumi, They are our Noble Masters and Porfy no Nagai Tabi

by psgels, posted in Porfy no Nagai Tabi, Shigofumi ~ Stories of the Last Letter, Some Quick First Impressions

Shigofumi

Ever since the past spring-season, Saturday has by far been my busiest day in terms of blogging, and it doesn’t look like the Winter-Season is going to change this, with yet another excellent series. Even though we’re only halfway the season yet, I’m pretty sure that Shigofumi has the best episode of all the new shows that have aired. It’s only the first episode, and it kept my interest throughout the entire episode with some excellent storytelling (and a very nice twist at the end. ^^;). Shigofumi turned into an excellent combination of Shinigami no Ballad and Jigoku Shoujo, and grabbed the best elements of them. The main character for this episode would have been better if he was a bit smarter (what idiot fires off an amateur-rocket in the middle of a city anyway?), but overall, we’ve got ourselves an gem here.

They are our Noble Masters

Well… at least it doesn’t take itself seriously, unlike the abominations of Rosario to Vampire and H2O, though something makes me suspect that some kind of melodramatic element will appear in the semi-final episode or something. In any case, instead of bad, They are our Noble Masters is just boring. There are lots of stereotypes and fanservice, but at least the plot doesn’t seem to be written by a whiny twelve-year-old who’s just hit puberty. Nearly everything about this series is just mediocre, though at least there is chemistry between the characters that kept me from falling asleep. Overall, this series will never become memorable, though at least it’s not the worst this season’s had to offer.

Porfy no Nagai Tabi

Okay, I know that this is rather useless, but please, someone sub this series, and don’t let it get horribly ignored like what happened with Les Miserables. There’s a very good reason why this is a series that’s part of the World Masterpiece Theatre-series: there’s no moe, no forced climaxes, no stereotypes, and instead it’s got genuine and detailed storytelling. Like expected, the big earthquake that separates Porfy from his sister has yet to happen, and I can imagine how the creators decided to use the first few episodes to flesh out the two of them and their mother, and already it has been an excellent slice-of-life series. Sure, this is definitely going to be the slowest series of the entire season, but it’s going to be worth it when the drama kicks in. To add to that: this series also has the best background-art of the entire season. It looks absolutely gorgeous and life-like. The music also is excellent, just like what you’d expect after Les Miserables (the Greek influences really work). Unfortunately, a lot of people will probably not give this series a chance, but you can be sure that I’m going to be blogging it from beginning to end. This definitely is one of the most promising series of the season.

Card Captor Sakura – The Sealed Card Review – 84/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews


Card Captor Sakura, when it was aired on the Dutch TV, was basically along with Gundam Wing and Digimon the series to really make me interested in anime. Looking back, it was really the best amongst these three. It was like Jigoku Shoujo: repetitive, but a great premise with great execution. I also saw the first movie a few years ago, though I never got around watching the second one until now. Turns out that this is the conclusion of the series, even though I ended up only watching the first half of it (blame the Dutch broadcasting-companies who’d rather show Sailor Moon than this gem). Still, I figure that anyone who got to the first major climax of the series will have no problems following the second movie.

First up, I must congratulate this movie for reminding me what made the series so great. Especially the first half has an excellent combination between light-hearted quirky characters and serious scenes. The cast for Card Captor Sakura is a really memorable one, and I especially loved Tomoyo, one excellent supporting character.

Then the second half kicks in, and the comedy takes a step back for the story. Overall, it formed a very nice ending for the series, though unfortunately there were quite a few convenient plot-holes, including a deus-ex-machina-ending. Something also tells me that the creators overestimated the acting- and singing-abilities of mere grade-schoolers. ^^;

Still, despite this, The Sealed Card is a must-watch for any fan of the original series. While the first movie was basically a glorified filler, the second movie gives a nice conclusion, and it has enough elements of what made the original series great. Surely, this is along with xxxHolic the best of what I’ve seen from Clamp.

Some quick first impressions: Hatenkou Yuugi, Persona – Trinity Soul and True Tears

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions, True Tears

Hatenkou Yuugi

Haha! I knew that the winter-season was going to be awesome. Hatenkou Yuugi had an excellent episode with an excellent combination of comedy and drama, and it would be great if it could continue this for the rest of the series. Both the storytelling and dialogue are excellent and I really like the main female lead: she basically sees a guy holding a gun, and instead of running away she decides to travel along with him. I like strong female leads that don’t need to hide behind their boyfriends. There are few things that weren’t explained in this episode (like, how did the lead girl get magical powers, and how did she get acquainted with the third main character?), but that shouldn’t be a problem for the future episodes to answer. I’m definitely going to keep watching this!

Persona -Trinity Soul-

Well, the first episode was decent enough. It basically played out like your average superpower-series: a bit of introduction, after which our main character comes into contact with the strange power at the end of the episode. The strange power for this series is very much alike Mushiuta and Ayakashi: you control some kind of monster that ordinary people can’t see. Based on the title for this series, I’d guess that these are called “souls”. For men, they look like random mecha, while for women they take on the shape of random goddesses. So far, the main character is nothing to write home about, though he’s not bad either. He actually has two brothers, instead of the clichéd sisters that you usually see around these kinds of persons. There have been a few hints of a female love interest for the guy, but she didn’t appear in this episode yet. Let’s hope that she won’t ruin this series.

True Tears

Oh, a romance-show with a male lead that I actually enjoyed? Finally. True Tears has a nice sense of building-up, and so far none of the scenes have felt forced, unlike so many other shows of its kind. There is also not as much fanservice as I expected, which seems to show that the creators are going for the drama, instead of the moe, which is always good to see, though unfortunately the bathing-scene did found its way into the series (seriously… don’t these people ever lock their doors?) The male lead also isn’t annoying as many of his counterparts, and for once the stereotypical best friend didn’t feel annoying to me. Overall, there are a few clichés here and there, but some nice storytelling makes up for it.

Spring and Chaos Review – 73/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews


My favourite kind of cat-people is definitely those from Kenji Miyazawa’s stories. For as far as I can recall, they’re the only ones who don’t try to act cute and moe. I was looking forward to his adaptation of Spring and Chaos, because aside from the cat-people, the stories that I’ve seen from him all had something unique. And indeed, Spring and Chaos isn’t what you’d call your average anime-movie.

The movie basically follows a writer with the name of Kenji Miyazawa (autobiographical?), who is rather eccentric and has rather trouble to fit into society with is idealized views and ideas. This movie sees him trying out various things in order to relieve him from his frustration. The entire thing is quite thought-provoking at times, but I don’t know… it seems to be missing the spark that I saw in Night on the Galactic Railroad and Gauche the Cellist.

After I finished watching the movie I still didn’t quite know what this movie wanted to be, or what its point was, and it just didn’t hit me like some of Kenji Miyazawa’s other works. The creators hop from one thing to the other without much coherence or logic, and I think that that rather spoiled this movie. I think that this was another case of too much ambition on the creators’ side: they wanted to do Miyazawa justice, so they tried to stuff too much in just one hour. It’s a shame.

One thing that did turn out interesting for this movie is its graphics. They’re quite pretty to look at, both the “usual” scenes and the CG-scenes that basically all happen in the main character’s mind. Still, I think that Kenji Miyazawa’s stories are better off with a quiet, down-to-earth approach like with Night on the Galactic Railroad or Gauche the Cellist. They don’t need to be so spectacular and ambitious to work.

Area 88 Review – 87/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews


When I originally looked at the promo-art, I thought that Area 88 was another one of the works of Matsumoto Leiji. Turns out it wasn’t, though I can imagine how the creators did get their inspiration from him. Area 88 is a realistic war-story about war-mercenaries in a poor African country. Make no mistake; even though there are only three OVAs, the total amount of airtime for this anime is over three hours. Due to this relatively long size, this turned into one of the least rushed OVAs I’ve seen in a long while.

There are a lot of battles in the sky for this OVA, but the real purpose of the movie is to show the fighter-pilots themselves. What goes on in their mind when they fly? Why do they fight and kill? How does the war change them? All questions get sufficiently answered, and are nicely packaged around the story of one of these pilots, who basically gets blackmailed into joining the mercenaries. There are a few coincidences here and there, but overall Area 88 has turned into quite a memorable OVA for me. I can understand why fifteen years after the original production, a television-series-remake was made (seriously, more movies and OVAs should get that treatment. Battle Angel Alita, Akira, Please Save my Earth, etc)

While I haven’t seen anything of the original Gundam Universal Century-storyline, I can imagine how anyone who liked it will like Area 88. Both the main and side-characters have been sufficiently developed, considering the length of the OVA, and there are no overpowered teenagers who stand in the centre. I must say that after seeing more and more of the genre of realistic war-stories, I’m beginning to like it more and more. It’s OVAs like these that show that you can be manly, even if you don’t pilot a mecha that throws galaxies.

Saiunkoku Monogatari – 70

by psgels, posted in Saiunkoku Monogatari


With episodes like this one, I’m glad that people like Impz can churn out reliable summaries. A lot of stuff happened in this episode, but it was also incredibly hard to understand with my limited level of Japanese.

Basically, from what I understood, this episode shows the death of one of the guys who’s after Juusanhime’s life. He’s killed by Shun, in front of Seiga and a whole number of guards. What Seiga was doing there, or what is exact role was in this whole matter, I have no idea of, though. We also get introduced to two new characters: Shun’s assistant (who is quite a good fighter), and a rather young head of the guard. He’ll probably have some kind of small role in the next couple of episode. We never know his name, but there has to be a reason for him to get a unique character-design.

Ensei also returns, when Shuurei runs into him in prison. It seems that he ended up there after he saved Juusanhime from her attackers back then. What’s also interesting is how Juusanhime’s assailants have the same mark on their forehead as Shun. Are they all members of some kind of clan or family, which rivals with the Ran-family, perhaps?