I’m quite interested to find out the direction in which Ghost Hound is heading. The episodes have been progressing quite naturally, and while I thought that the previous episode concluded the introduction for this series, this episode made me think that this series is still quite busy introducing its concepts. Reminds me of Ergo Proxy, that one also took ten episodes before it got to its “proxy-of-the-week”-plot.
This episode again was mostly building-up, but despite this it was an excellent one. I like anime that don’t just shine in their climaxes, but remain interesting throughout their entire airtime. The episode starts with the day after the last episode, and it’s interesting how Tarou, Masayuki and Makoto reacted differently to their hairs being cut off at the previous episode. Tarou didn’t care, Masayuki bought a really big hat, and Makoto found it a good time to go to a barber to just cut all of his hair short.
The three of them all get a bit more development as well. Makoto seems to hate his family, which consists out of his mother (or was that some kind of maid?) and grandmother, of which the latter is some kind of spiritual figure in the village. I don’t think that the three of them have really recovered from the murder of Makoto’s father, and they grew apart after it. This is quite similar to Tarou, especially his mother still can’t forget about her dead daughter, and that is causing quite some problems in his household. It’s not like how they keep fighting, like with Makoto, but Tarou and his parents keep hiding their worries. In this episode, we also see Tarou claim that he’s the most scared of upsetting his mother, because she already is so incredibly fragile.
Masayuki’s background is still one big mystery, but now we know too that his parents are about to divorce, and they had a fight this episode. He’s chosen to not worry about that too much, and it seems like he doesn’t want to have to do anything with it. It’s also still a mystery what Miyako’s powers are. Does she allow our threesome to experience out-of-body experiences? Did she have some kind of traumatic experience in the past too (notice how she lacks a mother).]]>
Author: psgels
Laputa: Castle in the Sky Review – 83/100
For as far as I know, I’ve seen all of the major Ghibli-movies now, apart from the ones directed by Hayao Miyazaki. First up is Laputa: Castle in the Sky, and finally I understand why Studio Ghibli because such a big name in anime. This is the anime that inspired movies such as Steamboy and Giniro no Kami no Agito, but most importantly, even Vision of Escaflowne (one of my favourite series) shows hints that the creators were avid fans of this movie.
The amount of creativity that Hayao put into the fantasy-setting is astonishingly original. From the mining town where the story starts to the castle of Laputa itself, it’s the setting of this movie that really draws you in. The cast of side-characters also never feels out of place, and they’re the ones who make this movie really come alive. Being produced in 1986 (before I was actually born), I can imagine that this movie must have been revolutionary.
Alas, I wish I could call this movie a masterpiece all the way, though unfortunately things aren’t that simple. For one thing, some parts of this movie didn’t quite age well. Twenty years ago, the idea of a young boy, meeting a mysterious girl who happens to be the queen of an ancient race may have sounded exciting, but I’ve seen this concept being abused a few too many times. Especially the main male character proves to be just unable to carry the weight of the movie as it goes on, and all he does is go from one nearly impossible heroic deed to the other. Much like Steamboy, actually.
I’m also surprised to say this about a Ghibli-movie, but there’s a bit too many action in this one. There’s especially an abundance of grand explosions and random destruction. What surprised me even more is how Hayao hardly used this. When a wooden bridge for mine-carts gets destroyed, it just disappears from the screen. You don’t see angry miners who complain about how they have to fix the damage that was done to their constructions, the movie just acts like nothing happened. When someone falls through a roof, nobody even bothers to fix it. I just can’t help but feel disappointed when this comes from a studio that’s so good at realism.
Overall, I wouldn’t call this the best movie of Studio Ghibli. Spirited Away and The Cat Returns were both just better than what I saw here, but that doesn’t mean that Laputa isn’t one big success, especially considering the time when it came out, and there’s no denying to the influence it had on modern-day anime. With visually stunning animation and a terrific soundtrack, but most importantly a huge amount of imagination, this really is a movie that needs to be seen, despite all of the flaws that it has.]]>
The Cat Returns Review – 86/100
To be honest, for the past few weeks, I’ve been watching the various Ghibli-movies and while I admit that I haven’t touched the rumoured best of the bunch yet, I’ve yet to understand why people consider them as legends. At the moment, I see them more as a bunch of movie-makers who excel at realism, just like how Shaft excels in strange art-styles. The Ghibli-movies I’ve seen thus far are great, but I’ve seen many other studios with equally good or even better productions, and I’ve also yet to see a bit of really addictive storytelling mixed with their movies. Luckily, The Cat Returns changed this opinion, and showed me that Ghibli is good at more than just realism.
I went in this movie, expecting something like Sprited Away. A girl gets taken to the cat world, and needs to get out. Well, up till here, the stories match, though that’s also exactly where the similarities end. Instead, this turned into a light-hearted shoujo-adventure, with several playful jabs at despotisms. The setting is smaller than you’d expect, and it’s refreshing to see a movie that doesn’t try to be as epic as possible.
Yet, despite this, The Cat Returns actually has the above-mentioned addictive storytelling for me. This is probably the shortest major Ghibli-movie out there, with the length of just over an hour, and because of that, the pacing is a tad faster than the others. Haru, the main character, is interesting and fun to watch, the major side-characters are delightful and creative and the chemistry between the characters is genuine and excellent.
The short length is also a bad point, though. Especially the antagonists could have been more fleshed out and they seem just a bit too silly. While I believe that the creators were well aware of this problem, and I suspect that it was their intention in the beginning, I think that the scenes would have turned out even better if the evil king and his minions would have gotten a bit more development. I do appreciate how this movie managed to give an identity to the different guards that accompany the king. You rarely see that in anime.
The director for this movie is Morita Hiroyuki, the director of Bokura no and who successfully rewrote the final half of the manga into a true masterpiece, and The Cat Returns really shows the same creativity in its story. While you won’t get any of the grand plot twists of the former, you will get an addictive pacing that never turns dull and is varied enough to keep you interested. The guy is really talented at this, and for this movie, he was actually supervised by Hayao Miyazaki. If this movie took itself a bit more seriously, it would have been an epic one, but for now I’ll call this a fun and innocent way to spend an hour.]]>
Suteki Tantei Labyrinth – 07
Really, I’m not sure what to think of this series… this episode kept hopping back and forth from interesting to “WTF!?”. In this episode, Mayuki’s favourite director gets influenced by Byakko so that he plants a terrorist attack in a tall building in which Mayuki happens to be. I liked that point, where he basically tried to use the explosions for inspirations for his final movie. He also put enough thoughts in his plan, so it was quite interesting to watch.
But really, the way Mayuki tried to convince him to stop with a cup of tea was just a bit too ridiculous. This wasn’t a good episode for him anyway, where all he did was whine over and over. What I liked was how this episode didn’t feature his classmates, but Seiga and the two maids. It’s good for a bit of variation, though I facepalmed when Sanae started frisbeeing with a random camera. You’re on top of a building about to collapse, so the last thing you’d want to do is fool around. Also… where the heck did that giant robot come from!
I think it’s safe to say that this is one of the strangest series of the season. It does have one of the more unique premises, despite being so far-fetched. The thing I’m interested in the most is what this series is going to do once it hits its halfway-mark (assuming it’s going to have 26 episodes). I wonder what’s going to happen when the characters are fleshed out enough. And Mayuki grows a spine or something similar.]]>
Gundam 00 – 06
Ah, I’m glad to see that Setsuna is finally about to get some development after this episode. He was just too annoying in this episode before he ran into the guy from his past. I know the guy is silent and all, but at least give him some actual dialogue, instead of “My Gundam…”, “GN Blade…” and “Exia…”.
I liked the majority of this episode, though. We learn a bit more about the other members of the cast, and we see Lockon’s father, who seems to be one of the main technicians for the Celestial Beings. Sumeragi also turns out to be older than I expected, and she seems to be in her thirties, despite what her character-design seems to suggest. Her two female workers (the brown-haired and the pink-haired one) also get fleshed out a bit. I can understand why the pink-haired one is with the Celestial Beings. She’s serious about her job and some kind of a perfectionist, though I’m not sure why the brown-haired one is with them. She seems a bit unrealistic, with her playful attitude, despite being one of the best hackers in the world.
The next target seems to be Moralia, a new nation in Southern France, which tured into one of the major military trading-companies, after they start taunting the Celestial Beings by having a massive military demonstration. Sumeragi gives as the reason why the nation wasn’t attacked earlier is because they would have gone out of business in the end, though on the other hand, if Moralia would be gone and destroyed, the other countries would have lost an important military trading-partner, which could benefit the CB’s in the long run.
Another interesting detail is how the long-haired guy who works for the scientist who works for the Union (at least, I think that’s what he worked for. It could also be the EAU, I’ve lost a bit of track of that) is an old acquaintance of Sumeragi. Something also seemed to have happened between the two of them, which could explained why she joined the CB’s after graduating.]]>
Whisper of the Heart Review – 84/100
After watching some various Takahata-movies, I’m glad to see a Ghibli-production that does know to keep a slow, yet addictive pacing. Whisper of the Heart, or Mimi wo Sumebasa tells the story of the twelve-year old daughter of a librarian, as she meets the boy she falls in love with. Just like how Ocean Waves was an example of a high-school romance with a male main character done right, Whisper of the Heart is how a romance-story with a female lead should be.
This also remains a Ghibli-movie, and the amount of detail that has been put in both the animation and the script is top-notch, and the degree of realism is excellent, as expected. The characters also speak with voices that match their ages, instead of a thirty-year old voice-actress trying to do it. When they start singing, they really sound like the singing-voices of average people, when compared to other anime where characters suddenly turn out to have the signing abilities of a J-Pop idol in similar situations.
The story is quite simple, and not as intriguing as Ocean Waves, though it’s enough to make you connect with the characters. The first half introduces them and their relationships, while in the second half the love story between the two main characters gets developed. Basically, if you liked Ocean Waves, you’ll like this one. It’s a nice movie to watch and relax, with still enough going on to keep you interested.
Regarding the flaws, at one point, there’s a side-story about two side-characters that just disappears from the screen without getting resolved at all. It’s strange, because I would have liked to see how it developed. Another thing that Ocean Waves did better than this movie is the character-development. Sure, the characters change, but it’s nowhere near as interesting as the time-skip we saw in Ocean Waves. Be also aware that the main character remains a twelve-year old girl, and she will feel annoying at times.
Still, Whisper of the Heart makes up for this by being more than just a romance-story, where a lot of time is also spent on a cat statue named Baron and some fantasy-sequences where Hayao Miyazaki worked on. Overall though, both are movies worth the watch for anyone who doesn’t need testosterones every fifteen seconds.]]>
Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – 45
And so we start with the aftermath of the revolution. I think that with this, we’ve passed the best part of the story, though that doesn’t mean that the current episode wasn’t excellent. We see Jean, escape from the sewers, Gavroche, waking up and finally getting to see Cosette again, and Cosette, who afterwards returns to the scene of the battlefield, discovering that everyone died. I do have a few points of critique for this episode, though.
Thenardier returns! Finally! It could have used a bit more foreshadowing, though. The guy almost literally appeared from out of nowhere, and we’ve got no clues as to what he’d be doing in a sewer in the first place, especially when he just happened to be where Jean found his exit, with none other than Javert waiting on the other side. Did the novel explain this better? I mean, the potential for the next episode is huge, but it’s a tad too coincidental. 😛
I’m also still hoping for Thenardiere and Azelma to get released from prison, but with seven episodes left, I think that they’ll get some more attention, as it seems that the creators are going to have to fill the remaining airtime with a few fillers here and there, because the book doesn’t seem to have enough material left to fill them. That’s also why I found Thenardier’s appearance so strange, for a series that was always so careful with building up.
Another thing that bugged me in this episode was the animation: it went everywhere! It’s not something that I’m used to of this series, which has always had very consistent graphics. Did something happen over at the producer’s side?]]>
Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji – 06
Hmm, I’m feeling myself to more and more inclined to agree with Kacpy… Sure, Kaiji is intriguing and exciting. This episode again showed some pretty interesting plot-twists and clever plans. But I’m noticing more and more about how slow this series actually is. I remember watching the first arc of Akagi, which took up just three episodes, which was perfect in length to delve into the character’s minds and not drag on, though Kaiji may be going a bit too far in this.
Episode five and six could have easily been combined into one episode, and it would have been quite an interesting roller-coaster ride to watch, though it perhaps would have been rushed a bit. One thing tat I can imagine that would have gone wrong is the transition from manga to anime. I haven’t read the manga myself, but I can imagine how the chapters don’t divide well into anime-episodes. Because of this, the creators of the anime end up repeating the same scenes about teamwork and the narrator’s reports over and over. It’s a common problem with manga-transition, unfortunately.
I’ve also finally looked up the name of the director of this series, and indeed, he did the storyboard for Death Note and Claymore. This really shows. Both series had some amazing moments, but were plagued with a few weaknesses, and it seems that Kaiji will be going down the same path: it’s a great series, but the slow pacing prevents it from becoming a classic. It’s strange… usually I don’t mind slow pacing, for example El Cazador. Still, El Cazador made sure that there was enough interesting stuff going on. Kaiji keeps repeating itself, which… isn’t really that interesting.
Anyway, regarding the episode, it seems that we’ve got two major antagonists left in the final fifteen minutes of the game: Funai and the guy who seduced the older man, in the beginning of the series. I knew that the latter was going to reappear at some point, because otherwise the creators wouldn’t have spent so much attention on the guy. If I had to guess, then this means that there are at least going to be two more episodes in this arc: one more to take care of Funai, and one (perhaps even two) to conclude the old man’s story.
One thing that Kaiji could have done in this episode was to start playing with Funai. The guy actually offered him a star for a bunch of cards. If Kaiji could have gotten the guy to offer another star, then they would have made it out of the ship. If Kaiji indeed has five or six million yet left, al they needed to do next is use this money to buy up another star, and they’d have nine. One thing that also fell to my attention was how Funai reacted when his stars fell off his chest. Well, it’s only natural of course, but something tells me that the creators are going to use that scene later on.]]>
Shion no Ou – 05
I’m not sure whether it is because all three series have an excellent soundtrack, but by now I’ve managed to pin down my three favourite series for this season: Kaiji, Ghost Hound and Shion no Ou. Especially the latter two have been getting more solid with every episode, and I’m always looking forward to when a new episode airs.
This episode of Shion no Ou showcases the final match of the tournament between Ayumi and Saori, and yet again I was captivated by the match, despite not understanding 50% of the moves that were made. Yet, I did notice how I’ve been getting better and better at following the matches as the series went on. Surprisingly, Ayumi loses, despite his determination to win the prize money for his mother. And finally we get to see his teacher again, who scolds the guy because he was starting to play shougi for the enjoyment, instead of the money, but does give him a decent sum of money.
Saori also gets quite a bit of development in this episode. I liked how she too was trying to adapt her own style. Something also tells me that Hanimeji knows fully well that Ayumi is actually male, due to a very obvious hint he gave away. I’m curious how this anime will develop further, now that the first major tournament is over. I didn’t quite get whether Ayumi received enough money from his teacher or not, and we’ve also yet to see the yellow-haired dude in action.]]>
Dennou Coil – 23 – II
This episode was absolutely amazing! Seriously, I was a bit pissed off at the sudden recap-episode, but the real 23rd episode was SO WORTH THE WAIT. I was already satisfied by the hilarious chase of Daiichi in the first half of the episode, but I still can’t believe the awesomeness of the second half of the episode.
I remember noting earlier how similar Haraken and Isako are, and this episode again confirms it, as Isako gets taken to the other side on her own will as well. The only difference here, though, is that she didn’t just do it to meet 4423, but it was also to piss off Nekome and protect Yasako and Densuke. With only three episodes left, how will Dennou Coil conclude? Will the final three episodes be just about finding Yasako’s grandfather and Nekome, or are there people who have been coiled away who are going to make some kind of appearance? The thing also is that Densuke is gone now too! He was “killed” by the humanoid illegals. How is Yasako going to get to her grandfather? I’m assuming that Nekome is going to play a role in this.
Also, this episode just rocked in terms of production-values, and it may be the most visually pleasing one of the entire series, while the rest of the episode was also among the best that this series has to offer. This really has been one amazing anime, but can the creators keep it up for the final three episodes? I definitely hope so!]]>