Quite a straightforward episode, which is all about Allelujah, trying to take care of his past by destroying the research-faculty where he grew up. Sure, Hallelujah is still there, but I think that now, he’ll be a little less worried about his own kind. I’m suspecting that Setsuna and Lockon will also get episodes like this one in the future. And regarding Tieria, we still hardly know anything about him. This episode does show that he considers himself to be something different from a human being. His yellow eyes are also just like the Third Eye of The Third in The Third: they can log on to any computer.
It also seems that Allelujah and Hallelujah were two different persons at one time, though Hallelujah went on a killing rampage one time. When Allelujah (who apparently was close friends with Hallelujah) was forced to shoot him, Hallelujah’s consciousness was probably transferred through quantum-brainwaves to Allelujah, creating this strange schizophrenic being.
One thing I liked about the past few episodes is how Setsuna took a step back to allow Allelujah and Tieria to develop a bit. It’s a shame that I know that he’ll probably take up the role of main character again somewhere in the future, though. I really hope he’ll get better soon. And seriously, why are Louise and Saji even in this series? All I can think of is that they’re going to be important somewhere in the future, but I think that giving them a scene for every episode is a bit too much at this point.]]>
Author: psgels
Gundam 00 – 10
I must say, I’m impressed. This episode concludes the attack by the Human Reform League, and the battle between the regular mobile suits and the Gundams was really well orchestrated. I like how everything makes sense, and especially Tieria was excellent, when he too goes against Veda’s plan in a desperate attempt to avoid getting captured by the enemy.
Unfortunately, Alleluja ends up going berserk, but there actually seems to be a good explanation behind it as well. I now understand why episode five was so necessary, when the lieutenant suddenly went crazy. Both she and Allelujah are genetically modified humans, and especially Allelujah seems to be one of the prototypes for this technology. Of course there have been people who messed around with his mind, which apparently created his alter-ego Hallelujah, who is some kind of murderous psychopath.
Now the big question remains: what’s going to happen in the second half of this series? Gundam 00 has done really well to not fall into the footsteps of Code Geass, and I really appreciate this, but it isn’t there yet. For now, it has been building up really well, and it’s done all the necessary things for an introduction: the Gundams are introduced, they’re given a bit of time to carry out their mission according to plan, and they’ve now faced their first major setback. I could say that the challenges for the Celestial Beings will continue to become harder and harder, but there’s no way that the creators will be able to keep up with that, since this series is going to consist out of 50 episodes and all. My prediction is that around the middle of the series, the Celestial Beings will break up.]]>
Shugo Chara – 11
Yup, just like expected: a winter-resort-episode. I’ll eat my hat if next episode doesn’t turn out to be the Christmas-episode.
Still, this was definitely the best episode of Shugo Chara yet. It was hilarious, had lots of Chara-Changes, the characters had a lot of fun with each other and yet it provided a lot of development on the relationship between Hotori and Amu. There were no Batsu-Charas and neither of Ikuto, Utau or any of the other bad-guys showed up. This really was an episode for the characters, and it worked perfectly.
I’m glad that I can finally be completely positive again about this series. The previous episodes were nice, but they had enough dull moments; they all could have been more. Finally, this episode delivers, and as an extra bonus it seems that the animation-quality has gone way up.
And the irony: Hotori is in love not with Amu, but with Amu’s Ran-transformation. That scene seriously rocked. :)]]>
Shugo Chara – 10
So, this was basically a Su-episode: she gets lost thanks to Ikuto’s Shugo Chara causing trouble, and she spends the episode, trying to find her way back, along with the dog of Amu’s admirer, who seemed to have been lost as well. Overall, it wasn’t such a bad episode, and I like the development that Su has gotten now. The fact that the creators are already mentioning a Christmas-tree in episode ten seems to suggest that we’re in for one heck of a Christmas-special for this show.
Also, for the first time I liked Utau and Ikuto: for the first time, Utau actually came in action, instead of looking at Ikuto like she usually does. It now also becomes clear that she’s searching for Embryo for Ikuto. It does make sense. I’ve aways wondered why Ikuto had a Shugo Chara, while he’s much older than all the other characters of the series. It’s probably also got something to do with this.
This episode also finally shows us Amu’s Su-transformation, one which uses honey to change batsu-charas back. I still find everything going a bit too easy for Amu. I mean, all she has to do is transform and unleash her powers to save the day.
Shugo]]>
Suteki Tantei Labyrinth – 12
Oh for Christ’s sake!
Episode twelve is, for most 26-episode series, the designated time to work towards their first minor climax. So what does Suteki Tantei Labyrinth bring us? A freaking pool episode.
The most annoying thing is that I’m just unable to say anything bad about it. Heck, it was hilarious, and even Mayuki got himself a bit of development. There was a lot of foreshadowing in this episode and for once, Byakko did actually nothing. Really, the only bad thing was the excessive fanservice, but I would be lying if I didn’t laugh at the pool-pervert who dressed himself up as a Santa-Clause. Everything was just so silly and exaggerated that it gave a nice contrast with the rest of the series.
Really, I still have no idea where this series is getting at, but the second half of this series is about to start. Perhaps that will shed some light on this rather peculiar series.]]>
Suteki Tantei Labyrinth – 11
Okay, it’s time for me to catch up with all the series I’ve missed for the past two weeks. Obviously, my posts are going to be a bit shorter than usual until I manage to catch up with everything I missed. First up: Suteki Tantei Labyrinth.
Thankfully, this episode was much better than the last one. It was a surprisingly quiet one, and nothing much happened. If I had to guess, then the story of the manga was a tad too long for two episodes, so it had to be stretched. Still, the result turns out quite nicely. There were no annoying moments, no abuses of tea. And for once, Byakko’s interference didn’t make me want to punch a hole in the wall.
So, it seems that there was an accomplice: the chief of police, who assigned the two detectives to the case. He too is manipulated by Byakko and the bad guy, and at the end of the episode, he too gets silenced. Really, I’m getting quite curious as to why Byakko would go through such extreme lengths. It’s obvious now that she’s provoking Mayuki, with the violin-music and all, but who in her right mind would go around and kill people in the process, just for this?]]>
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth Review – 69/100
Ah, my exams are finally over and what better way to start the Christmas Holiday than with the conclusion of Neon Genesis Evangelion? ^^; Those who watched the original series probably already know that it went way over-budget, resulting in the two infamous final episodes, which caused a public outrage. In response, Gainax came with two movies: Death and Rebirth and the End of Evangelion. I myself saw the original Evangelion a few years ago, but I never had the chance to watch these movies until now.
It’s no news that Evangelion has turned into a cash-cow. Therefore, it isn’t such a big surprise to me that Death and Rebirth wasn’t really meant to be a movie. Its only role is to fix a few mistakes of the final episodes of the series, and put the chess-pieces in the right place for the End of Evangelion. A TV-special, like with Code Geass, would have been enough.
Because of this, the creators had to fill up time for the rest of the movie. The result? A giant recap-sequence that takes up around two-thirds of the entire airtime. While I admit that it was nice to see the characters back and all, I can’t really imagine how this is better than any recap-episode to someone who just saw the series, where the sequences are still fresh on his or her mind. The only new thing in this part is some added classical music, a very few new frames where characters are playing various instruments and a bit of angsty dialogue. The latter is the only positive thing I can say about the glorified-recap-episode part.
Luckily, there is enough new content once the recap is done, and it becomes clear that Gainax is going for the shock-value. Still, it works, and I can say that I’m eager to see what’s in store for the End of Evangelion, so at least the movie served its purpose. The massive slaughter that went on in the process may have been a bit too much, though, and I’m also a bit disappointed how we never saw any of the intentions of the bad guys, and why they chose such a bloody method to get their way. I hope that the End of Evangelion will clear this up, but this really should have been the purpose of Death and Rebirth.
Obviously, if you haven’t seen the series, then don’t even bother to try and watch this one. Even with the recap, it’s way too confusing, and you need the knowledge of the first 24 episodes. And obviously, making this one into a movie was a bit too much. Still, it does serve as a nice build-up, but on its own, it’s nothing special.]]>
Hiatus
Ghost Hound – 08
Most plot-based series have clearly defined episodes which either focus on building up or pushing the story forward with many climaxes. I like it when a series combines both into one, just like Ghost Hound is currently doing. The majority of the episode focused on fleshing out the characters a bit more, while the episode ended with quite an intriguing plot-twist.
A few months have passed since the previous episode. The hair of the different characters has grown back, Tarou is doing fine, and his mother is now taking therapy as well. It seems that the councillor is aware that there’s something strange with Tarou, though I’m not sure how much he knows. It’s also revealed that the fourth person on the photo with Makoto’s parents is Miyako’s father. This episode, Makoto goes to ask him a few questions about his parents, but he doesn’t get much farther. Tarou in ghost-form, meanwhile makes contact with Miyako again, and for the first time the two of them talk to each other. Miyako also mentions how she sometimes gets possessed by something strange, which probably happened back in episode four.
Tarou also runs into a strange dog-like spirit, and goes to the “other side” that we saw a few episodes ago for the first time. There, it’s really filled with spirits and similar creatures. We also see Miyako’s father at one point in the forest, discovering traces of a campfire (probably belonging to the old man of a few episodes ago), and didn’t look quite happy.
The episode ends with the councillor (I think he’s called Hirata), who waits for his taxi. A huge flash follows, and suddenly he’s thirty minutes further, and the taxi has arrived. In the sky, he can see a big glowing thingie. How did this happen? Did he himself have trouble with his childhood as well? It’s interesting, at the start of the season, I never imagined that his role in the series would be this big.]]>
Romeo x Juliet Review – 56/100
Gonzo… on one hand they search the borders of anime and storytelling, and work with greatly original premises…
… and on the other hand, we have this; generic premises that only stand out in their mediocrity. While others may have loved it, all I saw was a dull, predictable story and annoying characters. For this series, the people from Gonzo decided to bring their own version of the classic by Shakespeare, but this series might also just as well be called “Pete X Catherine”, because the only similarities are the names of the characters. Oh, and the Capulets and the Montagues are still mortal enemies.
This is another anime that suffers from the “bad main-character-syndrome”, as I’d like to call it. Both Romeo and Juliet are incredibly whiny teenagers who prevent the storyline from progressing smoothly, and instead they force the series to delve in cheesy and naive morals. Their relationship starts out nicely, but once they’re in love, their relationship starts behaving like that of a bad soap-opera, with excessive amounts of “I love you but I can’t stay with you”. Predictably, the ending for the series is a horrible one, where characters have convenient increases of powers for the sake of storytelling, complete with some screwed-up physics.
In terms of storytelling, this series also leaves much to be desired. It took me twenty-four freaking episodes to realize that the characters are supposed to be living on an island, floating in the sky. If that wasn’t bad enough, the characters themselves didn’t even know this. I mean, why was there nobody who would have thought at one point: “gee, I hate it here; why don’t I just travel to a very distant place and see what happens?” It doesn’t make any sense.
I’ve said this before; the best people from Gonzo were definitely working on Bokura no during the spring-season. The writers failed completely to make me care about the characters and setting, due to poor writing. These guys need to learn that lots of angst and drama don’t necessarily make a great anime; well fleshed-out characters are much more important.]]>