Short Synopsis: Raki experiences Claymore killing each other for the first time.
Good: Interesting climax.
Bad: Raki does have his annoying moments.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10
While El Cazador and Wellber no Monogatari advanced their plot in the second episode, Claymore used this to provide more explanation of the concept. It’s quite logical, as you can’t just explain everything about the Claymores in just one episode. It’s clear now why … was added in the story, because the viewer will be able to learn the same about the Claymores as he does. He also couldn’t have had another personality, otherwise he wouldn’t just have followed Clare, but the fact does remain that he’s annoying.
Okay, let’s sum things up a bit:
– Claymores have been infused with Youma flesh.
– They can go without eating for more than a week, though they do need to eat occasionally.
– Claymores get their powers by awakening their Youma blood.
– Eventually, Claymores turn into Youmas themselves. They will then be killed by other Claymores.
– When a Claymore has to kill another Claymore, she gets a black card, probably specifying the identity of that Claymore.
We also see the introduction of one new major character: Clare’s boss. He comes to her to deliver some new clothes for her, which got themselves a nasty hole in the previous episode. He uses that opportunity to give Clare a black card. The Claymore that has to be killed seems to be an old friend of Clare, which is why she’s shocked when she sees it. I’m not sure why the guy told Raki about all of this, though. What is he hoping to achieve by letting him see Clare killing a friend of hers? Sure, he’ll cry and stuff, though it won’t make him leave Clare or anything.
I quite liked the Climax, though. The clash between Raki’s and Clare’s morals was quite interesting, and still they both mourn afterwards.]]>
Author: psgels
Wellber no Monogatari ~ Sisters of Wellber – 02
Short Synopsis: A princess who has lived inside a castle for her entire life obviously has to get used to not living in luxury anymore.
Good: Rita’s got a surprisingly versatile character, the OP still is brilliant.
Bad: Rather unrealistic horse movement.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10
For Wednesday and Thursday, my shows to blog will be Wellber no Monogatari and Claymore. Even though they’re both Wednesday-shows, there just isn’t anything blogworthy on Thursday, while Wednesday has an excellent line-up. This will probably one of the more laid-back shows, when compared to a series like Claymore. One thing I liked in this episode was Rita. We’ve often seen people of high stature embarrass themselves when they try to live as normal people, though not often does this happen with the main characters of a series. At the beginning of the episode, Rita is obviously clueless, she keeps standing out too much, she has to act on her own morals, no matter what and she doesn’t quite care about anything other than herself.
Obviously, this had to be annoying to some extend, but I like how her cluelessness is just one part of her personality. She knows quite well what she has to do, and at the end of the episode, we also see her take appropriate methods of altering her appearance. Still, I wonder what she’s going to do once people realize that she’s travelling with a talking tank. ^^;
Tina has shown her different sides a bit more subtle, though. Right now, she’s still a rather one-sided character, though she never really had a moment to shine yet, unlike Rita. Regarding the talking tank, he reminds me of Bogie, though a bit more clueless, energetic and random. I like how he actually has a part in this story. And I’d love to see how Sherry and Tina met each other. I’ve yet to see another thing like Sherry, which means that it’s got to be quite a special story.
There’s one thing awkward about this anime, though. The animation is good, the background art is terrific, but some of the CG is rather bad. Especially the horses. They look like a one-minute job with random galloping sounds added which don’t match their movements at all.]]>
El Cazador de la Bruja – 02
Short Synopsis: The car breaks down, while Nadie and Ellis stop by a quiet restaurant.
Good: Every character seems to have different intentions and goals.
Bad: The daughter chose an awfully convenient time to return to her mother.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
And the second week of the spring-season has started, which means that I’m going to have to decide which shows to blog, and which ones to just watch or drop. It’s quite interesting now that I started to watch this entire season raw, as opposite to the previous fall-season (in which I watched about 50% of the shows subbed), as I’m now noticing that I can make an actual viewing schedule. Sunday will remain the day to blog Les Miserables, while Tuesday will feature El Cazador. Saturday is going to be very difficult, as it’s got no less than four shows worth blogging. ^^;
Anyway, the second instalment of El Cazador pleasantly surprised me. It starts out as a mere filler, but throughout the episode, so much new information is given. First of all, Ellis seems to have killed someone she referred to as “the professor”. Nadie, meanwhile, has a dark past of her own, as we see in a flashback. Not only that, she seems to be working for the secretary (Ms Heiward, code-named Blue-Eyes) of the rather evil guy we saw in the previous episode (called Rozenberg, apparently). Blue-Eyes, meanwhile, seems to have different ideas than this evil guy, so I’m not sure whether Nadie also works for him. Meanwhile, we’ve got ourselves a guy who keeps following Ellis undercover. He seems to be in love with her, though I think this is turning into an obsession. What was also up with that strange orgasm the two of them had? And let’s not forget the shady man and his daughter (Lilio). I still don’t quite get what they’re after, but the man definitely has something against Ellis.
It seems that this will be another one of these anime to feature random cases the protagonists run into. Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen anime with this concept for a long while, especially now Jigoku Shoujo finished. It’s quite strange, as I tend to love these kinds of random stories. This one is about a former bounty-hunter, who stopped her business and opened a restaurant after she killed a person. Her daughter, however, hasn’t wanted to see her for over ten years because of this. At the beginning of the episode, I wondered why Ellis was treated so nicely by this woman, but it seems that she bears close resemblances to her daughter. It’s only natural for a mother, I guess. A biker who frequently visits her shop told Nadie about all this. Quite interesting, if I say so myself, though I dislike how the daughter chose out of all moments this one to come back to her mother. Still, I’ll forgive it, as the results were quite interesting.
Oh, and I’m glad to see that the music still rocks as always. :)]]>
Some quick first impressions: Lovely Complex, Lucky Star and Bokura no
Lovely Complex
Short Synopsis: This anime follows two extremely energetic high-schoolkids: one very tall girl and one very short boy.
Good: Surprisingly funny.
Bad: Seems to be trying a bit too hard at times.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10
You know, I expected Lovely Complex to be another slice-of-life anime that would get boring soon. Still, it’s surprisingly funny. It’s probably one of the anime with the most different kinds of facial expressions I’ve seen in a while, and I have to say that most of the time, it works quite funny. It isn’t the funniest anime of the spring-season, though (that title goes to Ooedo Rocket), and some facial expressions may be trying too hard, but especially the female lead is quite charming when she is in normal-mode. The shy boy and girl also were quite cute. I’m somehow reminded of Ouran High School Host Club, which aired during the previous season. Now let’s hope it won’t keep milking on the same jokes like Ouran did.
Lucky Star
Short Synopsis: Lucky star follows the high-school life of four rather eccentric girls.
Good: KyoAni without a cheesy romance? This can become actually interesting.
Bad: It’s ironic that out of all companies KyoAni blew all its animation-budget on the OP.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10
You know, I think that KyoAni finally managed to come with an actually good show, after the disappointments of Haruhi and Kanon. It’s also quite interesting that most of the budget didn’t go in the animation, like you’d expect, but in the dialogue. This probably is the most dialogue-heavy anime of the new season, heck the only moment in which people didn’t seem to be talking with each other was the beginning of the episode, in which the main character ran for a short while. While the dialogues are about nothing at all (the ENTIRE first half is about what kinds of food the characters like), there’s some nice chemistry between the characters. The lack of a male character also makes sure that there won’t be any cheesy romance, which also is a nice plus. I’m glad to see that Kyoani finally hit the nail. Also, you have to love the ED. ^^;
Bokura no
Short Synopsis: a group of children are invited to play a game: piloting a mecha in real life.
Good: Probably too much to just list here.
Bad: None.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
oh god, the expression “save the best for last” really applies to this Spring-Season. I just love this, and to think that Dennou Coil hasn’t even aired yet. I just love how the character-designs are so generic. They really try to show you that this involves normal, everyday children, and not just the hottest girl in school, or the typical loser male. To top that, the cast is huge, and each child has a different personality and feels unique. I bet that they’ll all react to the horrible things that are about to happen in a different way, and I can’t wait to see the second episode to find out! The background music also gave a small taste of the same guy who did the music for Hi no Tori, I’m expecting it to really show up once the major climaxes start coming, as this episode was sortof one general introduction. One detail I absolutely loved is inside the control chamber of the mecha, there are a number of seats, and each of these seats is different.]]>
Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – 14
Short Synopsis: Jean finally tells Cosette about Fantine’s death.
Good: Can this anime truly get any better?
Bad: How are Jean and Cosette going to outrun the police for such a long time? Oh, wait… that’s not really a bad point, is it?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10
The Fall-season of last year broke a trend I was beginning to notice: the fact that each season had at least one truly memorable series, starting from Fall 2005, which had Noein and Mushishi. Winter 2006 had Bake Neko, Spring 2006 had Simoun and The Third, and Summer 2006 had Otogi Juushi Akazukin. While the fall-season did feature some really good shows as Asatte no Houkou, Bakumatsu, Jigoku Shoujo and Red Garden, they just weren’t good enough to compare with their predecessors. I feared that this would be the same for the Winter-2007-season, but Les Miserables has proved to be an absolute delight. And that already at this point.
This episode definitely convinced me of this, as it displays the huge strength of Cosette’s character. She’s only a little girl, she gets the news that her mother, her raison d’être, died, and she doesn’t even cry! All she does is sing a small song, and even though we didn’t see any tears, that was such an incredibly sad moment.
Javert also got some more screen-time this episode, as he can’t seem to find any trace of Jean anywhere. Then he learns of the Thenardiers, and they tell him about what Jean did when he visited them. Gavroche also learns of this, returns to his old home and throws a tantrum. I’m not sure if that was the smartest thing to do, but you can’t blame the boy who wants to protect the girl who took care of him ever since he was born. To make things worse, Javert figures that Jean would flee to Paris, so he heads there as well. I couldn’t understand exactly why, though.]]>
Ayatsuri Sakon – 20
Short Synopsis: The true culprit is revealed. Quite a clever bastard he is.
Good: Perhaps the most clever villain up till now. Great arc.
Bad: Wouldn’t the guy try to hide his wounds as well?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
You know what? I loved this. The previous arcs may have had their flaws, this arc was handled quite well. I have to admit, while I saw Naoto as the main suspect after the head of the school got killed, after more people started to die, Eimei started to become more suspicious. His speech also nearly convinced me of the fact that Eimei was behind everything. That is, until he died in front of Naoto. Quite nice, I haven’t been this surprised with this series since the second arc.
And that butler. I knew he was fishy, I knew he knew what the culprit was, but I never suspected him to be an actual accomplice. In the end it was he who made the most mistakes. After all, he spoke so easily, in order to put the blame on Eimei. It’s quite clear that Naoto was the mastermind behind all this, while the butler just wasn’t as good an actor as Naoto.
With this, there’ll probably be two arcs left. It’s interesting, as there won’t be any four-episode arcs anymore. That’s quite interesting, as in that way, they won’t be able to drag. I just hope that they’ll somehow go back to the brilliance of the first two arcs. It’s quite strange to see that an actual ending is in sight, and that with the series I’ve been blogging for the longest period of time. I wonder which series will finish sooner: Ayatsuri Sakon or Popolocrois.]]>
Saiunkoku Monogatari – 39
Short Synopsis: Tadaima.
Good: A perfect moment for nostalgia.
Bad: Bad? This episode? No way. ^^
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10
Those who’ve read my entries about the latest episodes might remember my small comments about how I disliked the old characters being written out of the main plot. After this episode, there is no way for me not to fanboy. Shuurei finally has the time to relax, after she accomplished all the tasks she set out to do, and finally has the time to socialize with everyone she met in the first arcs of this anime. That was SO cute. 🙂
I loved Shuurei’s expression when she finds out that she can see Kouyuu again, and their reunion was just as good. The dinner-party with everyone was really sweet (I loved it when the old guy got drunk and started throwing people into the water), but the definite highlight was the reunion of Shuurei and Ryuuki. I can’t believe it’s been around twenty episodes since they had a talk between the two of them. And it looked perfectly. You could already see the positive influence Sakujun has had on her, and Ryuuki’s reaction to this was so cute.
The episode also really was nostalgic. Especially the scenes which referenced back to the first episode. Boy, I almost forgot that Sho Taishi started everything. Apparently, Shuurei’s manju still stick in his mind. I also nearly forgot that Ryuuki´s first gift to Shuurei was a twig he plucked from a tree. Great stuff, really great stuff. I’m really rooting for Ryuuki, Ran, Kouyuu, Shouka, Sho Taishi, Reishin, Kijin and all the others of the first seasons to play a more active role in the second season, which just started yesterday. Quite a good timing of We Suck-fansubs. I can’t wait till the second season. :)]]>
Jigoku Shoujo Futakomori Review – 88/100
Jigoku Shoujo Futakomori, the second season of Jigoku Shoujo, which features a website. If you access it at midnight, you can enter the name of someone you want to send to hell. The only price: you’ll get sent to hell after you die yourself. For the second season, Hajime and Tsugumi have buggered off, while the series continues with its usual formula, though with a very different focus.
The second season has two major focuses. The first is Ai’s dolls, Ichimoku Ren, Hone Onna and Wanyuudo. In the first half, they start to get personally involved in some of the cases, while the episodes that follow reveal their background, and how they actually met Ai in the first place. The second focus is people, getting more and more lenient to send someone to hell. At the start of the season, I actually expected the cases in the second season to be even more extreme than the first season, but I was quite surprised when the opposite happened. Quite an amount of cases are way lighter than most of the latter half of the first season.
The cases in the second season were definitely more character-based. While the first season tried to create cases as extreme as possible, or to illustrate Hajime’s and Tsugumi’s differences of opinion, the second season tried to delve a bit more into the main characters of the different cases. In about 50% of these episodes, this didn’t work, but the other 50% were amazing. There are some beautiful stories among them, all accompanied by some of the most amazing plot twists.
There actually isn’t a main storyline like Hajime and Tsugumi, until very late in the anime. Still, even though this storyline has been getting less development than you would expect, nearly each of the final episodes is a beauty, giving the second season a definite better ending than the first season had.
If you got through the first season, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t check out the second season. Heck, it’s probably even possible to continue with the second season, without having finished the first one, all you miss is a bit of development. Still, I have to say that even though the second season has been excellent, the repetition did kick in at some moments. The usual formula did get annoying at some of the worse episodes, though that didn’t stop the good ones for really working out.
The graphics were of the same high quality as the first season, but a definite improvement has been made in the music-department. The first season already featured great music, but the second season takes another step further, and delivers a truly memorable soundtrack, with some amazingly catchy tunes. Overall, though, I had more enjoyment out of the first season, but that’s only because of the repetition. The final episodes definitely make for an interesting watch, and, unlike the first season, there’s actually a lot to discuss about with others.]]>
Jigoku Shoujo – 52
Short Synopsis: The end of Emna Ai as Jigoku Shoujo.
Good: Beautiful episode, an actually good ending.
Bad: Questions left unanswered.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10
It finally becomes clear where this episode was working towards: forcing Ai to let go of one of her victims. Because of this, the spider immediately abandoned her from her position, and made her body mortal again. This returning her to the real world, in a body that’s 400 years old! The climax itself was beautiful. I loved how she tried to calm down Takuma, who had also finally become tired of his own morals, and decided to burn the house of the ones who made his life miserable.
You know, as I’ve been writing this, I’ve been hoping more and more for an actual third season. The ending did suggest that we’ve yet to reach the ending of this show. Still, the fact does remain that Ai’s dead, and she won’t come back. But then again, this show is called “Jigoku Shoujo”, not “Enma Ai”. The Spider remained unharmed through all of this, and the final moment of the episode suggested that he’s just recruited another girl for his plans. It’s also a pity that Hell Boy didn’t come back.
And Kikuri. What the hell was her role in this series anyway? I kept thinking that she had some kind of strange contract with Hell boy, but in the end, it looks like she’s connected to the spider, of all possible characters. I still haven’t figured out her exact role, but if I had to guess, then she was employed by the spider, in order to keep an eye out on Ai. I think that at one point, she started caring about Ai, and tried to find a way to relieve her from her tasks. Because of that, she probably stirred with Takuma, in order to bring Ai even closer to the boy. I think that by episode 24, she knew that Takuma would end up in hell in some kind of way. This would be painful for Ai, though in the end, she could rest peacefully. That’s probably why she was so gentle to the cherry near the end of the episode. And regarding her brattiness. That’s just who she is. It’s just her character, nothing more. And we still don’t know much about Ai’s grandmother.
Overall, I feared for the first couple of episodes, but overall, Jigoku Shoujo Futakomori has been a real treat. Definitely one of the highlights of the rather mediocre fall-season. I’m really hoping for a third season right now, which will answer all the questions left behind. But for now, I’ll consider this show as finished.]]>
Some quick first impressions: Kaze no Shoujo Emily, Blue Dragon and Towards The Terra
Kaze no Shoujo Emily
Short Synopsis: Emily has a very strong bond with her father, but then he suddenly dies. She then moves in with her aunt: Elizabeth.
Good: It’s only the first episode, and Emily already is a very interesting character.
Bad: A few predictable moments, character-designs that take time getting used to.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
This has been one of the series I was looking forward to the most, and it doesn’t disappoint. Like expected, the first episode focuses solely on Emily, and she already is an interesting character, losing her parents early on. I loved her crying-scenes. The predictable moments were regarding Emily, living together with her aunt. A large part of the episode is about who Emily should live with, though the OP already reveals that it’s going to be Elizabeth. Still, this is just a minor detail, I can’t wait to see the other characters in the spotlight. Each of them sounds really interesting. Just take note, the art may take a while to get used to, as it’s not your usual style. I’ve already seen Danny comment on how ugly he found it, though once you get used to it, it’s not so bad.
Blue Dragon
Short Synopsis: A typical brat appears to have a huge power, called the “Blue Dragon”.
Good: Potentially interesting characters.
Bad: Akira Toriyama
Overall Enjoyment Value: 5/10
The second of three RPG-adaptations to come this season. I secretly hoped for this to turn out well, like other shows of its kind proved, though the Akira Toriyama-influences are just way too big. We first of all have that annoying male lead, the people powering up, the stereotypical characters, but most annoyingly a main character who wants to protect his friends and so gets to have an excuse to possess the strongest power ever. I’m going to go with Shining Tears instead, and in June Tales of Symphonia. Stay away from this one, in any case.
Towards The Terra
Short Synopsis: Long ago, humankind went to travel to distant planets, while the earth was left in ruins. Johnnie, our main character gets involved with some strange people.
Good: I don’t know why, but I loved it!
Bad: I want more dammit!!
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Towards The Terra, another one of my major series to look forward to, and with a very good reason. I mentioned before that I’m an absolute sucker for mystery, and a show like this couldn’t be more mysterious. Where does the main character live now? What happened to the earth? What did these people do to him when he was brainwashed? Who are these people who he keeps seeing in his dreams? Add a great mother-son relationship, an excellent soundtrack, and I’m hooked. According to the OP, the cast of this anime seems really big, and I can’t wait to meet all of these people. This episode was definitely a highlight of the beginning of the Spring-season.]]>