Interesting. The final part of Toward the Terra is going to be political. Instead of going in an all-out battle, this episode featured negotiations between the humans and the Myu. Because of this, it isn’t as emotional as the previous episode, but I’m quite interested in how the creators were planning to end this series. The episode ends with Grand Mother, finally showing herself, and I wonder what she’ll be adding to the ending.
The best moment of the episode was when Terra finally appeared, though. It’s become one huge desert, how’s that for a disappointment! It seems that it’s still habitable, but only a few humans can live there, and it was a brave decision of Jomie to keep advancing, even after having seen this. He’s really evolved into a great leader.
The negotiations happen in a huge tower, which probably provides one of the few habitable environments. Perhaps this was handled a bit too quickly, either that or it was me, not paying attention. Before the negotiations happen, Physis visits Keith, asking what Blue’s last words were. Overall, I couldn’t follow most of the talking due to my limited Japanese, unfortunately.
There’s only one episode left. All that’s left to hope now is that the creators haven’t shot themselves in the foot with their planning, and don’t end up rushing the final episode. I’m not expecting anything, and I’ll assume that the best episode of this series will be episode 22. Making a good anime is one thing, but ending it well is an entirely different story. I’ve seen magnificent series with just mediocre endings (Escaflowne and Mahou Shoujotai come to mind), and it really takes something extra to make it original, not predictable and still satisfying. If I had to make a quick guess, then I’d say that out of all the shows I’ve seen up till now, only half a dozen ended up with a great ending, and that isn’t much. Most series either turn mediocre or just good, but way below the overall quality of the series.]]>
Author: psgels
Dennou Coil – A Circle of Children – 16
Another building-up episode. It’s a bit disappointing, since most of the airtime was dedicated to a revelation that everyone probably already figured out: Isako’s brother is 4423. Yasako and Akira find this out as they find her, visiting her brother, conveniently located in room 4423 in the hospital.
I do woner what Isako’s been up to, by the way. She’s obviously waiting for something, but what exactly is it? Right now, it looks like all she’s been doing is visit her brother with regular intervals and nothing else, so it must be something really important. Anyway, the only new pieces of information is that we now know that 4423 is inside the library now, so Isako has been able to recover his cyber-body somehow, and Isako classifies Yasako with “all those other adults” after telling what happened to 4423. This explains a bit more about her reasons and personality.
Apart from that, we finally know the reporter’s name: Nekome. He seems to be an acquaintance of Tamako, and he apparently contacted her to help her. I’m feeling that he’s also after Isako (we see the pink cat again in Room 4423, and I’m getting more and more convinced that it’s owner is Nekome), and it seems that he’s now the superior of Tamako.
The interesting stuff about this episode came from Fumie and especially Haraken, though. They’re both in the library, researching the Illegals and Michiko-san after Fumie finds a few urban legends about her in a local tv-show. It’s also the hardest to understand part, so I hope I got this one right.
It seems that Haraken posted on an on-line forum, asking whether other people have heard of accidents with the navigation-equipment. I like this part; it shows that our main characters aren’t the only ones in the world with affinity to the cyberworld. It seems that there are more cases about people disappearing. One article also speaks of “cyber-clothing”. I’m not sure what this means yet.
Fumie then brings a few books about urban legends, and they show quite a few interesting things. It contains hastily drawn pictures of people and shrines, and a certain keyhole that we both saw in Yasako’s old diary and on the Illegals, as soon as Isako tried to open them. I’m not exactly sure what the book said apart from that, but if I had to guess, then it’s got something to do with people, disappearing into the cyber-world. We see them walk either towards said keyhole, or along a couple of train-tracks. The interesting thing is, of course: what was that keyhole doing in Yasako’s diary? Right now, it looks like she just fled once 4423 got eaten, but I’m beginning to think that more happened afterwards.
Still, I do wonder whether Yasako will be able to carry the second half of this series as a main character. She has been developing nicely for the past few episodes, but she never really turns into the highlight of an episode. It’s always another character that turns out more interesting than she does: Daiichi, Fumie, Haraken, Denpa, Kyoko and Takeru are all more interesting than she is, and I’m beginning to get worried about that. The only time where she really shined was in episode nine, where she was on her own and had to protect her teacher from Daiichi’s attacks. Ah well, only time will tell.]]>
Kaze no Shoujo Emily – 24
Seriously… despite the fact that this is supposed to be a slice-of-life-series, ever since episode nineteen this has been one non-stop roller-coaster ride of bittersweet awesomeness. I was wondering how the creators would spend the final three episodes of the series, now that she’s back in New Moon, and now that her dreams have failed to be accomplished, but this episode shows that they know exactly what they’re doing. This episode was utterly sensational!
I’m not going to say what happens during the main climax. That’s for you to find out, if it ever gets subbed. Let me say though, that it was so sad. It’s times like these when the fact that the fansubbers dislike shoujo-series really becomes a bad thing, because the English-speaking-only community is missing out on a masterpiece because of this.
About the other events of the episode, I still love the irony that surrounds Emily. Throughout the entire beginning of the series, we see her twelve-year old version be extremely enthusiastic about her dreams to become a poet. She keeps working hard, and her enthusiasm forms a great source of inspiration for her friends. I seriously doubt whether Teddy, Perry and Ilse could have gotten this far without Emily. Ilse probably would never have realized that she likes acting if it wasn’t for that play that Emily set up. If Perry didn’t have the hard-working Emily as an example, he probably would have taken longer to say something to his grandmother, and if I remember correctly, Teddy used to love to make drawings of Emily. And now all three of them are going to make it big, while Emily ended up back home.]]>
Saiunkoku Monogatari – 57
Ah, finally. After five weeks of absence and recaps, Saiunkoku Monogatari finally returns with episode 57. Oh, how I’ve waited for this series to return; but first: another recap!
So… yeah.
There’s nothing much to say. While it’s awesome to see Shuurei back, a recap remains a recap. Thank goodness there were a few minutes of new material, which featured hilarious banter between Ryuuki, Shuuei and Kouyuu, but that’s all. I was also too lazy to take new screenshots, so those who paid attention will notice that I recycled a few from previous episodes.]]>
Seirei no Moribito – 24
I’m nearly speechless. This episode was quite straightforward, but the incredible attention to detail in both the graphics as the storytelling made it an awesome watch. This episode was really good in portraying everyone’s involvement, even though I didn’t understand some of the dialogues. Still, this series has featured episodes that were a lot more difficult to understand. This either means that my Japanese is getting better, I’m getting more familiarized with the story, or the dialogue as simply been simplified. I think it’s one of the latter, though.
Anyway, the thing that Gakai found out in the previous episode was that the lake isn’t the place where the egg is going to hatch. Chaggumu is heading for the real place, and the majority of the episode is spent on finding him, when they suddenly run into Rarunga, who’s also searching for him. There’s a high emphasis on tracking in this episode as well, and because of that, you could actually see the subtle trails that Chaggumu left behind.
In any case, Tanda finds out a way to defeat Rarunga, who turns out invulnerable to physical attacks: drink the dew of the water lily-like flower that we saw Chaggumu grab. Apparently, that one forms the link between the real and the spirit world. And with this, I realize the significance of the episode where Saya was ill: that one was meant to explain this principle. With this, they manage to kill Raruga, but there seem to be two of them, or perhaps even more.
I know that this description didn’t do this episode justice. The thing I really liked was how almost every person in it felt so real. People are smart, and think like real human beings. At least, more real than in 95% of all other anime. Don’t expect the fight against Rarunga to top episode three, though. While it looks beautiful, it just lacks the adrenaline of that episode. I think it’s safe to assume that the best fight of the series was showed in that particular episode. But after all, fights aren’t everything. ;)]]>
Baccano! – 06
If you were wondering what happened to my entries for Baccano! for the past two weeks, there was some kind of hiatus in the broadcast schedule. Luckily, it’s now back and totally made up for the two-week absence when this turns out to be quite possibly the best episode of Baccano! yet. I love how well-written the story for this series turns out to be; especially the middle of this episode is excellent, which brings us twist after twist after twist.
We start the episode with the information-office. It seems that they received a threat from the Gustave-family, something about Eve. I didn’t quite understand that part, weren’t the Runorata-family the ones who were after the Genoards? We also “see” the director of the information-office for the first time. I put “see” between quotes, because we never realy see him. He’s always hidden behind a huge pile of books and paper. Afterwards, the blonde guy talks to some of his subordinates to keep an eye out for the Gustave and the Gandor-family in case they show signs of knowing where Dallas went.
Next up, the Flying Pussyfoot. Nathalie Williams is in a room with the guys in black, as they get a transmission from the ones we saw getting captured at the end of the previous episode. We then switch to the mysterious green-clothed girl, who is still under the train, climbing. Then, my theory of her being the Rail Tracer gets blown to pieces as she encounters it, seeing it brutally kill one of the guys in black. It then comes towards her, whispers something in her ear and this causes her to scream and flee. The interesting thing is, though: the Rail Tracer let her live, which means that it’s on the Flying Pussyfoot with a mission.
Back to 1930, Dallas tries to go to Luck to get some help in getting revenge on Firo, though Berga quickly takes care of him and his companions. The interesting thing is that they confiscate the two bottles that Dallas took from Barnes. This gives us more clues as to how Luck and Firo became immortals. But on the other hand, we haven’t seen any proof that Firo was friends with the Gandor-family up till now, have we?
The next scene is on the Flying Pussyfoot again, where Chezlaw hides Merry in a broom-closet so that he can move a bit more freely. We then switch to Nice, Jacuzzi and their companion (I love this guy, by the way. He’s so large that he keeps struggling though the small corridors and doors of the train; quite hilarious) find the door where Nick disappeared in. They find him back, and he tells them about Ladd Russo, and it seems that Lua and the one who went with her were the ones who launched the surprise attack on Nick.
When Nick is free, they notice another door, under which blood appears. But first we see how one of Ladd’s companions discovers Merry and gets stabbed by Chane! This can become very interesting. Remember how Chane only barely survived the trip, and Merry was nowhere to be seen amongst the survivors. Back to Jacuzzi, the bloody door opens and Ladd emerges from it. Jacuzzi indeed has a history with the Russo-family: the punks from the previous episode are from the Russo-family it seems.
A conflict between the two parties is avoided when Jacuzzi mentions the murdered conductor. Apparently, he was one of Russo’s allies, not Chane’s. Because this is rather unexpected for Ladd, he decides to check it out. It seems that he’s becoming aware of the Rail Tracer as well, as inside the room he came from, there were some more of its victims. This can turn out interesting, and I’m beginning to think that that missing arm of his was caused by this being. No human could do that anyway. And I’m also pretty sure that the guy in the first episode, of whom we only saw a silhouette, is this same Rail Tracer. Apparently, he’s searching for someone. But what could it be, and what does it have to do with the mysterious girl, the conductor and the guys in black?
Back to 1930: we now see Isaac and Miria, after they’ve just been hit by Ennis. They’re still angry at the driver who hit them, but they’ve unfortunately ran into Dallas, who has just been angered by one of his underlings when he started talking about Eve. It’s clear that the two of them are really close.
We then switch to the New-York part of the 1931-story, where the guys from the Runorata-family kidnap Eve. Could this start the explanation of why she was watching the digging-machines fish up things in the harbour in 1932? In any case, her maid gets locked up and she’s in trouble now.
Back to Jacuzzi and the others: they see inside the room where Ladd came from and witness the bloodbath. Nick then looks outside of the window and he spots Rail Tracer.
Back to Ennis, it seems that she wasn’t searching for Firo like I first though, but Dallas. It’s obvious, since they’re the ones who took the bottles from Barnes. Coincidentally, when she finds him, Dallas was just busy beating Isaac and Miria. She saves the two of them, explaining their friendship. I’m expecting her to get even closer to them in the next few episodes. I now also finally know why the Gandor-family is so important in this story: they’ve basically got the bottles, and I don’t think that Szilard will be getting them back easily.
We then switch to the information office, where the news has arrived that Eve has been captured. Out of all of the subplots, theirs is the hardest to understand at the moment, unfortunately.
We end the episode with Szilard and Ennis, along with their allies as they inject some strange liquid into Dallas. This could explain his disappearance, though I doubt that the injection will just kill them. Did Quates just turn them into guinea-pigs for his experiments?
So, obviously I liked this episode. This anime is almost one huge roller-coaster ride, and we’re only halfway through.]]>
Like the Clouds, Like the Wind Review – 82/100
Like the Clouds, Like the Wind is basically what you’d get when you cross Saiunkoku Monogatari with Shoujo Jang Geum no Yume and put the result into movie-format. It’s the umpth attempt to place a child at the centre of adult struggles, in this case an empire which just lost its emperor, but thankfully it’s also one of the better ones. I think we can thank the shoujo-roots of the story for that.
Basically, most similar premises forget to give their main characters a reason to become involved. They just become important because the story demands them to. Ginga, the main character in this particular movie, thankfully avoids this common pitfall: the emperor’s dead, his son needs a new wife, so all over the country girls are scouted to become his concubine. Ginga is one of them. There, it’s not that difficult, and it makes the movie so much better.
That’s not to say that this movie is flawless, though. It may have avoided all of the pitfalls that plague shounen-series; it does have the most common flaw of shoujo-anime: she basically coincidentally meets up with the characters who are important to the story. Ginga’s personality does explain a bit why she ends up standing out, but this remains an annoyance. Still, I’ve seen movies go far and far worse.
To continue, the setting also receives enough development as well. Through the course of the movie, it gets a fair bit of explanation of how the country ended up, what the main threats are, and the role of all of the different characters in this. Speaking of the characters, most of them aren’t much individually, but the chemistry between them is excellent. Keep an eye out for the old lady, she’s really hilarious.
And then comes the climax, which for once isn’t the highlight of a movie. This is basically because at that point, the creators decided to favour feminism over realism. The result is enjoyable to watch, but quite impossible when you start thinking about it. It also seems that at that point, the creators nearly forgot that this is supposed to be a children’s movie, and the attempts to hide blood from the screen become a bit too grating.
Luckily, the climax is redeemed by the ending. I totally expected this to boil down in a totally happy Disney-ending… and it doesn’t. Quite refreshing, if you ask me. Anyway, even though this movie is aimed at children, it’s also a nice watch for adults who like shoujo. It’s not the best, but definitely not the worst movie out there.]]>
Angel's Egg
Oh boy, this is going to be one difficult review. I seriously have no idea how to properly criticise this one like I do with other movies, hence the absence of a rating. The thing with this movie is: you’ll either be drawn into its atmosphere, or you’ll be bored to tears; that’s basically it.
Angel’s egg is more of a piece of art than a movie, with its biggest weapons being its eerie music and slow but subtle storytelling. Don’t expect to get any explanation about the questions that are asked through the course of seventy minutes. This movie provides a setting with lots and lots of mystery, and it leaves it to the viewer to add his or her own explanations to them.
On the other side, though: if you’re not interested in the setting, or aren’t affected by the atmosphere, this will be some of the most boring hours that could have been possible, simply because there’s nothing else in there. The plot moves slooooooow, and it really relies on connection with the viewer.
Personally, I liked this movie, though; especially the atmosphere and the subtle character-interactions. I especially liked trying to find out their reasons for acting, even though I still can’t bring the thoughts it provoked into words. Be sure to expect lots of biblical references, put into a different context, and a very lonesome and quiet setting. If you like artsy stuff: go for it. If you expect action: stay far and far away from this and go and watch something like Steamboy or anything similar.]]>
Ooedo Rocket – 24
Interesting, it’s quite possible that out of all the shows that will be ending in a few weeks, Ooedo Rocket will have the most unpredictable ending when it comes with a few nice twists this episode. While the final two episodes for both Bokura no, El Cazador and Toward the Terra are promising to be awesome, I do somehow know what to expect (and let’s not talk about Claymore, which will probably end in the most predictable way).
Some of the new twists were hard to follow, though, especially the ones at the end of the episode. Apparently, Mizuno-sama has ordered Torii to order Kagiya and his daughter to construct another rocket. This one, however, isn’t for going into space; it’s artillery. Torii explains a few things, but Norio Wakamoto’s voice is among the most difficult to understand amongst voice-actors, despite his manliness. I assume he wants to fire to the other side of the ocean, but why? Nice cliff-hanger by the way. ^^;
And Akai! Here I thought that he’s been busy with some cunning plan to get revenge on Seikichi, and all he did was sit in a tent and do nothing. I LOVE his new look as well, and it seems that he’s finally getting back into action with the next episode, as we saw him hiding behind Kagiya’s rocket at the end of the episode. That has to mean something!
The rocket also gets an interesting development: the blue monster from the sky comes, right before the official launch and blows the thing up! I loved how Tetsuju was near it, and the question remains: what happened to it? Tetsuju was found near the rubble, but there’s no sign of the Blue monster. Not even a shot of it escaping. What also surprised me: the thing now has the same eye as the guy it took it from. Could it really have merged with Tetsuju with that blast? By the way, does anyone know his voice-actor? I think I spotted another reference to a different anime when he suddenly put glasses on.
I’m really curious about the final two episodes, because they’re actually got so much potential. Heck, I’m not even sure if Sora is going to go into space or not. This episode showed that the rocket design remains buggy, so I wonder whether such a large construction will actually launch. Both Ginjiro and Akai have some kind of unexpected role to play as well. Overall, it’s going to be fun. :)]]>
Claymore – 24
Ugh… the next episode will be horribly boring: Claire vs Priscilla. I’m looking forward to episode 26, though. That’s the one where Priscila has been defeated and Claire needs to be saved. That one does hold potential, and I’m curious as to how the creators will be planning to end this series (because at this point, I am not expecting a second season for this series).
The current episode also wasn’t that bad: there was no fighting. It’s basically an aftermath, in which nearly every character gets an important bit of development. This aftermath would have been even better if the fights around it weren’t so dull, but I’m glad that at least this episode turned out good enough. Even Raki was enjoyable to watch.
Claire also was okay, when compared to the previous episode. It’s logical for her to suppress her awakening as soon as she saw Priscilla. Priscilla, however, was the only one I didn’t like. Her awakening may be explained, but it felt a bit forced if you ask me.]]>