Short Synopsis: In order to calm down the rampaging Jomie, Blue shows him memories of his own past.
Good: Omg @ those memories.
Bad: What was the meaning of that death-card, shown at the beginning of the episode?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
Holy god, that was good. This time it’s really Toward the Terra’s turn to shine, as this episode was amazing, with as height Blue’s history. I knew that the Myu had a sad past, but I never knew that their past was this extreme. It all started when Blue went rampant, just like Jomie. After that, he got locked up, alongside other Myu. At one point, he couldn’t take it anymore, and blew up the planet, trying to escape along with the other Myu. Physis also seems to be a childhood friend of his, as we see the two together in their younger years.
Jomie will no become quite interesting, now that he seems to understand why he’s needed to guide the other Myu to earth. I’m not yet sure whether he has fully accepted this, though I believe the next episode will solve this. I also do wonder, who was the one who couldn’t manage to hold on to that final person who fell off the ship, back in Blue’s memories? I don’t recall I’ve seen the guy, and he seems a bit too old to be the antagonist for this series.
The rest of the episode also was quite a treat to see, that battle between the human forces and the Myu ship was really intense, and add that to Blue, nearly collapsing to his death, and the ever-awesome music, and you’ve got yourself a great episode. If this can continue for the rest of the anime, we’re in for something really special. :)]]>
Author: psgels
Kaze no Shoujo Emily – 04
Short Synopsis: Teddy’s mother is very protective of her child, while Emily and Ilse keep trying to get her to let him play outside. Perry meanwhile, has never really learned to write
Good: Teddy and Perry.
Bad: Emily’s voice actress sounded a bit different in the beginning of the episode.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
This episode marks the end of the introduction of this anime, and it ends quite fitting with the positive part of the premise for the future episodes: Emily dreams of writing for her profession, Teddy wants to be an artist, Perry aims to become a politician and Ilse fancies to become an elocutionist (or a public speaker), and all four of them are already quite good at their desired professions.
I expected this episode to be about Teddy, but Perry gets fleshed out as well. During the first half of this episode, he gets his hands on one of Emily’s books, after making fun of her fantasizing. He came from a poor family, so his literate skills aren’t too good. He seems to be able to read, but he’s never learned to writ. That’s why he keeps practicing writing Emily’s name, which she wrote at the last page of the book. Because of this, he’s really getting respect for Emily, who already is able to write so well, and he apologizes to her, which already shows that the guy can take responsibility.
Still, the largest part of the episode was dedicated to Teddy, since it’s the first time we really see him. And I have to say that his case is another beauty. During the entire episode, we see no signs of his father, which suggests that he either disappeared, or died at a certain point of time. Because of that, Teddy is the only thing his mother has left, and she’s become overprotective of him over the years. She blatantly refuses to let him play along with Ilse and Emily, and Teddy catches her crying at night.
Obviously, Emily doesn’t just listen to her quietly, so she starts yelling at the woman for not letting Teddy do what he wants. I think it’s here where Ilse realizes that she wants to do the same thing. Unlike Perry, she decides that it’s better to just ignore Emily, and closes the door right in front of her face, running away from things. Luckily, Teddy isn’t stupid, and he manages to convince his mother to let him go (great scene, by the way).
Emily also got a small bit of airtime, when she attempts to read a book and Elizabeth takes it away from her. This’ll probably be quite a problem for the future, as Elisabeth can’t see why Emily would read for her own entertainment while she could study.
Overall, I love this anime so far. Each single character has his or her own problems, and so many people have different morals and views that they complement each other perfectly. It’s a shame that this series isn’t getting any attention (or heck, fansubs), as it’s definitely one of the best series to have aired this fall. :)]]>
Seirei no Moribito – 04
Short Synopsis: Inside Tanda’s house, Barsa recovers, while the old woman we saw in the OP makes her appearance.
Good: As detailed as ever.
Bad: Just doesn’t live up to the previous episode, but what did you expect? ^^;
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10
After the huge events of the previous episode, this one takes a step back in the pacing, to make sure for Barsa to recover properly, while it also takes its time to introduce a couple of new characters. We finally see the king himself (at least, I think that’s him), and the first prince of the country as well. They weren’t what I expected them to be, and they didn’t really look that evil. If I had to guess, then the major antagonist will be the long-bearded priest.
Another new character is Torogaishi (at least, I think that’s her name. Please correct me if I’m wrong). She seems to be some kind of witch or magic user, who somehow ended up on the bad side of Seidoushi, as the warriors who come to kill her at the beginning of the episode demonstrate. She’s quite skilled; notice how she started collecting sand to make some kind of fake body once she noticed their presence. The dialogue was as difficult as usual, but I did pick up that she’s involved herself into finding the egg of the water spirit, and knows quite a lot about it.
Chaggumu, meanwhile, finally has the time to relax a bit, and just like Rita, he has to get accustomed to the habits of the common people. I do wonder what’ll be happening next to him. If I had to guess, then the following episodes will try to remove the egg from his body and turn him into a normal boy. Like Rita, he’ll also end up cutting his hair (see the OP and ED).]]>
Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi Review – 88/100
Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi was supposed to take over from Blood+ on the Saturday 18:00 timeslot, the number-one prime-time spot for anime, which also housed series as Full Metal Alchemist and Gundam Seed Destiny. For this, it had to live up to some great expectations, and it came with a story about Youma-hunters, during the Tenpou era of Japan.
If I had to say so myself, then Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi definitely lived up to these expectations, but it’s so not suitable for the prime-time spot. Timeslots like these are meant for popular shows with lots of fanboy-pleasing action, not an intelligent show like this one. Because of this, the series’ original length of 52 episodes was cut in half, leaving only 26 episodes for this anime to work with. This, in fact, is the only really bad point of this series.
Like I suggested above, this series’ great strength is its storytelling. It consists out of small arcs, ranging from usually two or three episodes, which all centre on themes, deeply rooted in the history of Japan and its religions. I’ve almost never encountered an anime which did so much research for its stories. As a result, the individual tales just sparkle with creativity and originality, while they still hold a large amount of realism. To give a small indication, brothels have often appeared in historical anime (to name a few, Samurai Champloo, Peace Maker Kurogane, and quite some more), but never was this concept so fleshed out as in the three episodes Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi dedicated to the subject.
Because these stories have such a good base, the characters also can be really fleshed out. Every important character has at least one arc in which he or she stands in the spotlight, and even though the character-development is incomplete, because of the reduced anime-length, the development that we do see is truly fascinating. To add that, nearly each arc has one major climax, and perhaps with exception of the first arc, each of these climaxes turns out to be really captivating, and full of tension.
Even in the graphical and musical department this series delivers. The background music makes sure that the climaxes work even better, while the character-designs are really lifelike. I remember commenting about how these characters looked so standard when I first saw them, but the fact remains that every single character looks unique in this anime, instead of being a clone of character A with different hair and eye-colour (something which seems to plague other anime). Add in a couple of great special effects, and you’ve got yourself a visual treat.
Because of the reduced length, I can’t rate this 90% or higher, because I feel that this anime would have been even better if the remaining 26 episodes were added (and not to mention the rushed ending), but I definitely recommend giving Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi a try. It’s probably one of the few anime with a guy in his fourties as a main character, and this works perfectly. Just be aware that the dialogue can be quite intensive, so this isn’t an anime that you can just watch leisurely]]>
Paprika Review – 74/100
Satoshi Kon comes with another movie, called Paprika. This is the same person who directed Paranoia Agent, so I undoubtedly looked forward to it a lot. So, after having seen it, how did it turn out? Well, disappointing. It’s not bad or anything, but I expected something more.
Paprika comes with another psychological theme: dreams. About 50% in this movie happens in dreams, and they show what happens when humans start messing with them. Overall, it was quite interesting, but I’m surprised to say that the pacing was rather slow, compared to Paranoia Agent, which continuously kept the flow of events high. Paprika definitely is different, as it seems to more focus on its characters than paranoia itself. When you look at it this way, it turned out pretty good, with interesting choreography at times, and all accompanied by very unusual characters that you probably won’t see in any other anime.
Still, there are two rather bad points about this movie. It’s repetitive, and it doesn’t use its amazing soundtrack enough. Seriously, if you loved Paranoia Agent’s soundtrack, you’ll love the theme song. It’s a great song, but the rest of the anime is filled with rather mediocre background sounds or just plain silence. I kept longing to hear the opening track again, which unfortunately only happened when the ending credits rolled. Regarding the first point, it’s quite a few times that we see scenes that we’ve already seen before. I guess these scenes were meant to illustrate the changes in the anime, but when a strange parade passes the screen for the fifth time, its novelty has worn out.
Overall, if you’ve got some time to burn, you can check this out, as it’s quite a good watch, but there definitely are better movies out there.]]>
Ooedo Rocket – 04
Short Synopsis: Sora’s naivety is proven when she nearly kills herself, Sekichi and Ginjiro in her enthusiasm to go to the moon.
Good: Sora, the ending, as hilarious as usual.
Bad: This show definitely needs more attention.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
I can’t believe what a great combination of comedy and drama Ooedo Rocket has. It’s definitely the funniest series to debut in the spring-season so far, and to top that, it’s got a captivating story. Especially the climax of this episode was great to see, when Sora gets a bit too enthusiastic and starts helping Sekichi a bit. It seems that her spaceship still has a bit of gunpowder left, so she mixes some of it with Sekichi’s usual mix of gunpowder.
I laughed when Sekichi tested this out, and sent a ceramic bowl high up in the sky. Later, he tries this on a larger scale, trying to send a local shrine into orbit. Sora, however, already believes that this will be enough to send her to space, so she hijacks the shrine. Luckily, Ginjiro and Sekichi can get her out just in time, as the thing flies about ten meters into the air, before exploding.
This does make me wonder… how is he going to do it when even Sora’s super-gunpowder isn’t enough? It’s also strange, this anime has a huge number of side-characters, but for some reason, they don’t feel out of place. The people from Sekichi’s neighbourhood definitely liven up things, and they make me believe that we’re really the city of Edo right now. I also wonder what the black alien is. He seems to have something against Sora, but for some reason he can’t take the form of a human, unlike Sora can.
I really hope, by the way, that Ooedo Rocket is going to take 26 episodes. I’d like to see how this would turn out if the plot really takes its time to develop, instead of trying to cram its story into thirteen episodes.]]>
Death Note – 28
Short Synopsis: Melo carries out his plan, and what does Light do? Well, nothing.
Good: Not sure how to describe it. See below.
Bad: Please, someone, kill Misa.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
You know what, my opinion of Death Note wasn’t that high after the previous episode, and I expected it to fall apart any minute now during this episode. Still, this episode turned surprisingly good, but not in the way that we’ve come to know Death Note. This episode definitely was different from all other episodes yet, perhaps the Naomi-arc has been the closest. For so many episodes, the main reason why I liked Death Note was to see Light trump his opponents over and over. At only two times, Light was the one being trumped: by Naomi and in the second episode, when L first showed himself. Yes, it’s a bit strange, but apart from that, L never really was that big of a threat to him. Okay, his move at the university did make Light angry, but it didn’t really bring him closer to catching Light.
This episode was really meant to bash Light in the ground, over and over. Remember what L liked to say early in the series? Kira hates to lose. I expected this episode to be really annoying, and indeed, certain parts in this episode really got on my nerves. But for some reason, the episode itself left me with a really good feeling.
The thing is, Light shines when he can prepare. This time, he really had no chance of preparing. It’ll be interesting to see what Light can do when he’s got a proper plan prepared to get rid of Melo. Still, Melo know has a Death Note, and he’s not afraid to use it. I do wonder how he found out about Light’s father, being part of the investigation-team, or the different members of Near’s investigation-team.
Also, I demand to see some scenes of L’s childhood. The current amount of background on both Near and Melo is just way too little, I want to know what kind of influence L had on the two of them, how they met him, and why they don’t even know each other’s names. The shinigami are also going to play some kind of role in the coming episodes. They’re promising to be interesting, but will nine episodes be enough to develop them well?]]>
Wellber no Monogatari ~ Sisters of Wellber – 04
Short Synopsis: When assaulted by people after her head, Rita flees into a brothel-city.
Good: Great themes, serious undertones, some hilarious moments.
Bad: Could take itself a tad more seriously. Way too much fanservice.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10
Seriously, this episode reminded me a lot of Jigoku Shoujo 19: A good episode, but why so much fanservice? The fanservice definitely wasn’t useless, and it did make sense, unlike most other anime. But really, especially at the end, the creators may have been a little too enthusiastic.
I think what strikes me about Wellber no Monogatari is that it’s got a lot of things I like, and also a lot of things I don’t like. Still, the potential is definitely there. The individual cases may goof off a bit at times; there definitely are some serious undertones. The fact does remain that these prostitutes did join the brothel because they had no choice, and this anime effectively uses it. One person in particular got introduced to the business because the war destroyed her village.
Rita also has quite a few annoying moments, but on the other side, this anime is quite busy developing her from the ignorant little princess to someone who actually knows what she’s doing. She’s currently rash and impulsive, but after all, she grew up as a princess (which reminds me, I’d love to see some scenes of her when she was little). It’ll be interesting to see her at a later stage of this anime.
I also have to say that for the first time, this anime really cracked me up when Rita ran into Sherry.]]>
Claymore – 04
Short Synopsis: The Youma in the church is finally found. Now all that’s left is to defeat it.
Good: The final part of the episode was touching…
Bad: …but also cheesy and predictable.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10
The current arc of Claymore has definitely been interesting, but it’s been nothing special. This episode was mostly meant to bring Raki and Claire a bit more together, but they did this through a rather cheesy scene. Claire is about to permanently transform to a Youma when Raki comes to her and… well, I think you can guess what happens next. The fight itself also wasn’t really interesting. Okay, it did have a lot of blood, but I’d very rather much have the fights of Seirei no Moribito or Deltora Quest.
So, what was good about this episode? Well, the relationship between Claire and the two guards. At the end of the previous episode, I saw them as a bunch of idiots, but in fact, they’re just trying to protect their city, and don’t care whether they die or not. Claire was just as thoughtless as the two of them, by refusing to accept their help. I liked this. I also liked how the Youma turned out to be a corpse, instead of a monk. This just shows that they’re able to take any kind of form they please. Could they perhaps transform themselves to inanimate objects (like flowerpots, for example) as well? I doubt that, though.
Claymore definitely has potential, and I’m really looking forward to the arrival of Teresa, the rumoured turning-point for the manga. The current episode was nice, but when compared to the other episodes to have been showcased this season, it isn’t the best. I wonder if the rest of the series will change this.]]>
El Cazador de la Bruja – 04
Short Synopsis: This time, we find Ellis and Nadie in a local monastery, where the two cross-dressers from last time are out for revenge.
Good: Ellis was too cute.
Bad: The climax was a bit unbelievable.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Okay, so this episode was a bit silly, but it definitely was fun! The episode starts by throwing us right into the action, when the two cross-dressers from last episode have finally caught up with Ellis and Nadie. They don’t know about LA, so they blame the twosome for messing with their car. The three nuns who live in the monastery prove to be another very interesting case this time, solely because they take a step away from what you’d expect from a bunch of nuns. Ellis, armed with a pair of forks was also hilarious to see. ^^;
Obviously, there are many similarities between Noir and El Cazador, but there’s one fundamental difference: Noir started off mysteriously, and it took a very long while before the first mysteries started to get solved. El Cazador, on the other hand, has already answered a lot of questions in its first four episodes. This episode, for example, shows a lot of things about Blue-Eyes, while Rozenberg is also seen doing a few things here and there. Those scenes were a tad difficult to understand, though.
What is clear now is that Blue-Eyes and Rozenberg don’t have the same intentions or goals. It seems to me that Blue-Eyes is trying to find out what Ellis actually is, either that, or she already knows this, and tells this to the viewers. Ellis is some kind of witch, I’m not yet sure whether she was born one, or that she gained her abilities from the professor. What we also learned was that some strange experiments were performed on her, till she at one point begged the professor not to do them anymore. The professor promised he wouldn’t, which could suggest why Ellis killed the guy: he broke his promise, and she couldn’t take it anymore.
Blue-Eyes seems to be trying to figure out what Rozenberg is after, as she continues to spy on him. Lilio’s father, meanwhile, is seen to have made a phone call with Rozenberg, which suggests that they’re on his side. I kept wondering why LA didn’t appear in this episode, but it seems that he’s been trailing the other twosome. I suspect that the next episode will bring them a bit more in the spotlight.
Finally, what was up with that final sentence in this episode? Ellis isn’t god’s child? What could be the meaning after this?]]>