Bjorn’s Anime Blog
Yesterday, I took part in the jury of the Animeblogger.net awards. It was quite fun, basically we made our own choices for the categories of the animereactor-awards. It was great to see that we were with a nice selection of people with varying tastes, so there wasn’t an overly huge emphasis on the popular series.
Best Overall: Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu
Best Story: Noein – Mou Hitori no Kimi e
Best Character Development: Eureka 7
Best Animation / Visual Effects: Pale Cocoon
Best Soundtrack: Mai Otome
Best Opening / Ending: Shakugan no Shana
Best Action: The Third
Best Adventure / Fantasy: Mushishi
Best Drama: Honey and Clover 2
Best Romance / Love Story: Bokura ga Ita
Best Comedy: Ouran Koukou Host Club
Best Fanservice / Ecchi: Joshikousei
Best Sci-Fi / Mecha: Eureka 7
Best Thriller / Mystery / Horror Anime: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Best Quick Watch Anime: REC
Best Male Character: Atori (Noein – Mou Hitori no Kimi e)
Best Female Character: Honoka (The Third)
Best Villian: Sonozaki Shion (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni)
Best Newcomer: Kanon (2006)]]>
Author: psgels
Jigoku Shoujo – 49
Short Synopsis: Takuma returns yet again. This time, even more people in his surroundings die or disappear.
Good: And this is what happens when Jigoku Shoujo starts building upon a past case: awesomeness.
Bad: The spider needs more development!
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10
Haha, that was awesome! I knew that as Jigoku Shoujo drew to its ending, the greater cases would appear, and this one definitely is something to remember. It’s very interesting to see Takuma return yet again. And yet again he’s blamed for everything while he’s one of the few characters who actually never sent anyone to hell himself. He also continues his with his father’s ideals: if you do bad things to people, you’ll only be hurt back. And well, that happens quite a few times this episode. A guy insults another guy and gets sent to hell, that guy tries to put the blame on Takuma and he gets sent to hell as well.
And Yes! I finally have a small idea about Kikuri’s plans! What if she’s actually trying to get sent to hell herself? At this episode, I finally realized that she’s been trying to get hated all along. Takuma hates her probably the most of all people. Right now, she’s planning to do something with the detective’s sister, which will probably have an even more negative effect on him. Remember, Takuma has yet to send anyone to hell, and there is a certain hell-boy that has been sent to a certain place. What if he needs Kikuri in order to escape yet again? I really can’t wait for the next episode!
Overall, when you compare Kikuri and Takuma to Hajime and Tsugumi, I’d have to say that I like Hajime and Tsugumi better. At least, at this point. It’s probably because of the two got more attention than Takuma and Kikuri. But the latter two have yet to feature their ending. The ending for Hajime and Tsugumi was decent. Not bad, but not special either. The ending for Takuma and Kikuri, however, seems full of potential. I’m not trying to expect too much, but the unique character of Kikuri and her entire opposite Takuma are proving to become very interesting.]]>
Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – 11
Short Synopsis: The moment is finally there: Fantine dies. Jean, meanwhile, has been arrested by Javert.
Good: Gavroche; Jean.
Bad: Where did Gavroche find these puppets so fast? 😛
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Another Jean-centred episode. When I first read that Fantine would die, I assumed that her illness would gradually increase, until it took her life. What I didn’t expect was that Javert helped this illness a bit, by speaking bad things about Cosette. Cosette probably was her entire raison d’etre, in the most literal way you can imagine. At her state, hearing one bad thing about Cosette was too much for her. It’s ironic. When an ordinary guy steals twice, he gets condemned, but when an important official kills someone, it’s nothing.
The next episode will probably feature Jean, trying to get Cosette away from the Thenardiers. The thirteenth episode will quite possibly close off the first arc of this story. I’m interested in how it’ll continue. The first quarter of the anime has succeeded in my opinion. All that’s left is the rest.
Meanwhile, over at the Thenardier’s, Gavroche gets in trouble because of Cosette. (His puppet-play also was quite interesting ^^;) The thing also is, Cosette will leave in a few episodes. Because of this, Thenardier will lose the person whom she likes to abuse most. She will be looking for someone else for this role afterwards, which will quite probably be Gavroche. I hope that the Thenardiers will still remain important characters after Cosette leaves. I hate them, but they’re definitely interesting characters.]]>
Saiunkoku Monogatari – 35
Short Synopsis: Last episode left us with a dangerous game between Seiran and Sakujun, this episode continues this, and closes with a surprising, but tragic twist.
Good: Oh my god… that was one amazing plot twist!
Bad: Seiran has become rather useless, hasn’t he?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 9/10
Even though shows like Kanon have ended, the shows that I’m currently watching still have a few episodes to go. If these episodes are going to be as good as this one, then I’ll be in for a huge treat. The previous episodes were all good, but for some reason I felt that they all lacked something that the first three arcs did have. But with this, I totally take back my words. Sakujun was too amazing this episode.
So we start the episode with the little gamble between Seiran and Sakujun. As suspected, none of them are willing to just put their lives on a 50/50 scale. Seiran notices that Sakujun’s eyes got a strange colour, so in combination with the alcohol he got inside of him, he just destroys the table and attacks Sakujun. Sakujun, in his turn, used a very strong liquor that would bring any non-human-gorilla within minutes. Seiran feels this as he starts to move, so Sakujun escapes, saying that Seiran is not the person he’d lose a bet to.
But then Shuurei runs into him, and oh my god… the reason he kept asking her to brew Gan-Lu tea for her suddenly becomes clear! He actually put a slow-working deadly poison in the hot water Shuurei served him, while the Gan-Lu tea contained the antidote for it. Shuurei, however, refused to give him the Gan-Lu tea in the end, which means that he lost the bet he started on his own accord!
Talk about tragic deaths. And to make things even better, not all things have been resolved with Shuurei and Sakujun, unlike most deaths. Shuurei has never called Sakujun by her name, and she also never had the chance to brew Gan-Lu tea for him. She actually left him in order to get help, and he didn’t die in her arms, like you would expect. Also, Shuurei will never know this plan. All the dialogue we hear is in his head. Shuurei will never really know what really happened. Sakujun’s last words of “Shuurei” also were too cute. It’s true, I never really realized it, but he never mentioned Shuurei by her name as well. Almost never have I seen a story between two people in which a name was so important.
With this episode, I forgive this series for being a bit lacklustre at times. This episode definitely made up for so many things. The question remains, what will be featured in the final four episodes, and more importantly, can it be of the same quality of this one? I most definitely hope so!]]>
Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto – 23
Short Synopsis: An Englishmen episode. Under the lead of Kanna, they launch another surprise attack at Enomoto
Good: Whoa, I never expected that the creators would go that far; great fights as well.
Bad: Dammit, I was beginning to like the three Englishmen.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
At the end of the previous episode, we finally saw the Englishmen again, after having been absent for episodes. Surprisingly, they immediately launch their attack. I remember how I speculated how Queen would end up doing something stupid, but seeing all of them to get slaughtered like that was certainly something I didn’t expect at this point. The deaths could have been a bit more dramatic, but the fights definitely were impressive. Especially Hijikata vs Knight was interesting: English versus Japanese swordsmanship. The creators were brilliant in showing the differences.
And regarding Kakunojou, things are worse than I thought concerning her. When Soutetsu said that she had to “guide” Akizuki, I didn’t think too much behind it, but he actually meant for her to join their side, and convert Akizuki as well. The previous episode makes perfect sense now, but I can imagine that Kakunojou is in some heavy identity struggles. Because of her sword, it’s her destiny to protect the lord’s head from Akizuki, while she actually is in love with him. To make things even better, she even converted Kanna to cooperate with her. She’s becoming like a revolutionary icon in this new suit of hers.
This episode also revealed a bit more information about Soutetsu and the lord’s head’s goal. I obviously didn’t understand everything, but could it be that the lord’s head’s former subordinated went down in some war, and they’re trying to resurrect them? Apparently, they must hold some great values, as Soutetsu’s gestured that he’s planning to conquer the world with them. Well, that indeed is a goal worth of going through so much trouble.
Hijikata, meanwhile, makes an interesting move. With Kakunojou gone, Akizuki stands all alone at the moment, apart from his allies back in Yokohama. Hijikata actually doubted Enomoto this episode, and he returned to Akizuki. It’s no confirmation yet that he’ll definitely join him, but it does show potential. I also liked how Akizuki stayed in the shadows for this episode, by the way. Not only am I very curious to see him action again, it also made sure that the attention was where it belonged: the Englishmen and especially Kanna.
On a final note, Queen did show a potential weakness of the lord’s head before she died. Note where Kanna tries to shoot Enomoto, and discovers that all his bullets are reflected by some shield. Queen takes advantage of this by firing an arrow without Enomoto noticing, but she misses by about half a centimetre. The arrow, however, was not reflected. Does this mean that if you ambush Enomoto, you can get past that pesky barrier he keeps using?]]>
Sci-Fi Harry Review – 80/100
Don’t let the title fool you. It may be cheesy, but there’s a good reason for the show to be named like this. Sci-fi Harry is a mystery-drama, focusing at a psychic named Harry. He’s an incredible social outcast, unable to talk even normally in front of people, who discovers that he’s got huge psychic powers. Through pressure of one of his few friends, he ends up in his own tv-show, called “Sci-Fi Harry” because people are so enthusiastic about him. The thing is, however, that he doesn’t know how to control his powers, which causes quite an incident. Ever since then, different people try to obtain his powers.
First, let me say that this anime features some great moments. It isn’t afraid to show some disturbing scenes (like people with their necks all twisted around), and Harry works as a great main character, due to his constant worries and inabilities. To add to this, Sci-Fi Harry comes with a multi-layered plot, where nearly every episode reveals a bit about a huge complot which is going on. Lots of storylines happen at the same time, ranging from decent to excellent.
A huge theme in the anime is betrayal. Nearly everyone who runs into Harry tries to manipulate him. Because he’s such a weak character, this actually succeeds most of the times. In addition to that, the other members of the rich side-cast also all have one or more instances where they betray, and are betrayed themselves. Especially Mother and Chinori turned into awesome characters because of this.
I liked the fact how this anime follows so many different storylines, but there lies also the problem. Managing all these different storylines which split up and get combined frequently is extremely difficult, and in the end, the creators of Sci-Fi Harry didn’t manage to do this perfectly. Because of this, some of the storylines are more interesting than others, and it’s annoying to see the more interesting ones get interrupted by the less interesting ones. John, an interesting main character in the beginning also gets condemned to the role of a mere unimportant side-character after the first half of the anime, which was a pity, actually.
The fact also remains that this anime took a bit more on its plate than it could take. Especially the final two or three episodes lose a bit of steam when compared to their predecessors, and yet they continue to introduce more plot-elements which could have been easily omitted. Because of this, the ending left a bit too many questions unanswered, and some answers that were given weren’t really satisfying. The identity of “Accuser” just didn’t fit right, and we never know who keeps sending the text-messages through the computer. The final episode itself also was a bit disappointing. Not because it was rushed, but it lacked a decent aftermath. Something very interesting happens at the end of the episode, and I would so have loved to see how people reacted to this, but instead the anime ends and left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
Still, despite this, I really enjoyed this anime. If you like dark mystery-stories, then this is definitely an anime that you should check out. Just be aware that Harry’s art style may be a bit annoying at times, but I think that that was what the creators had in mind. He really looks like a worthless person. And Chinori looked too scary at times.]]>
Death Note – 22
Short Synopsis: Ah, of course. Misa didn’t reveal exactly how she convinced Higuchi that she was the second Kira. Because of this, L was able to come up with a plan to capture the guy and reveal his method of killing.
Good: Ah, Finally the Yotsuba-arc stops playing around and this series turns interesting again.
Bad: L’s obsession with sweets is turning more ridiculous with every episode; Good Light still remains annoying.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10
Ah, I’ve been waiting for this. Death Note has been getting worse with every episode progressing, I almost gave up on this. Luckily this episode fixes a lot of things when it stops with the out-of-place comedy and finally brings some kind of climax. The second half of the episode was awesome, due to the high stress it puts on Higuchi. Not only that, if the plan actually works, L will actually be able to figure out the secret behind the Death Note.
The first half was decent, though. It featured a bit out-of-place animation at times, and quite frankly I’m beginning to get a bit sick of L’s obsession with sweets. He isn’t Blossom, you know? The way Watari brought in sweets like a butler as if he’s got nothing else to do really was ridiculous. I liked when this was still rather subtle, like the first time the police officers met with L, and he put an unusually large amount of sugar lumps in his coffee.
Still, I’m glad to say that the other members of the Yotsuba-arc finally turned a bit interesting, when three of them showed that they’d actually wish to get rid of Kira as well. Misa had a small role, so her usual annoying blabbering also was pretty much absent from this episode. Overall, it’s a very good episode, and I’m really hoping that this episode marked the end of Death Note, trying to make fun of itself. Still, that climax was definitely worth watching.
One final note about Light: he made a mistake this time. This just shows how much the Death Note changed him. After all, when he made the call, his life wasn’t really in danger. The guy basically doesn’t have to fear for his life at this point. That very much was a different case when he still was Kira, when he came up with some crazy plans, in order not to get caught. It’s the basics of human nature, when something very important is at stake (especially your life), you start to unconsciously perform better. At least, if you manage to keep your head cool ;)]]>
Tempou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi – 01-15
Okay, I just finished Lunar’s wave of new Ayakashi Ayashi, and I know I’m not blogging it, but I just had to say something about this series. While I originally thought that this would be just another shounen-fighting series, it has pleasantly surprised me on so many levels. First of all, its characters. It comes with a wide variety of characters, some of them had some kind of problem, worry, which has something to do with their history and the way they grew up.
The great thing is that these problems and worries really are different from what you usually see in anime. Never have I seen an anime which put so many emphasis on longing for another place, or different faces of yourself. Not only that, but Ayakashi Ayashi combines this with some very complex storytelling. It’s based on arcs of two or three episodes, but somehow these small arcs end in great multi-layered conclusions.
Another thing which makes this anime stand out is its huge roots in Japanese history. Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto may have a lot of historical references, that series is nothing compared to Ayakashi Ayashi. While Bakumatsu looks at history from a higher-up’s perspective, Ayakashi takes this a step further when it shows the story from the perspective of people with a low to medium status, and it does this with great detail. For example, I’ve seen my share of anime which involved a brothel, but never did I see it this detailed as in Ayakashi Ayashi.
It’s too bad, though. This is an excellent series, it’s got great storytelling, but the fact remains that it’s hard to understand. Because of this, it’ll never be really popular. And still this series has been scheduled to air at the prime-time date of anime, the former place of popular series as Blood+, Gundam Seed Destiny and even Full Metal Alchemist. The result: it got cut down from 52 episodes to 26. -_-
I’m actually wondering how this will take out. There’s no doubt that there will be rushed parts, but it’ll be interesting to see if the creators actually managed to pull this off right. The results are noticeable even now, though. The past five episodes have had a sudden increase in comedy, and Saizou often turns into chibi-mode when she’s astounded. Often by Atl’s new found relationship. So far, especially the comedic note has done the series good, the creators actually knew when to use it, and when to keep serious.]]>
Ghost hunt – 22
Short Synopsis: The next, and probably final case revolves around a family which has been haunted by one or more spirits for a few generations.
Good: A smaller scale than the previous cases; I liked the back-story of the ghosts.
Bad: Will this final arc really save this series?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10
Ah, last time, I made a prediction that either Naru or Mai would end up in some kind of grave danger. In the end, this turned out to be Naru, when he let a rather malicious ghost possess him. This leaves him put in a forced sleep for the next couple of episodes, and out of the investigation of the case. With this, Mai can only cling to Bou-san, which gives the current arc quite a bit of potential for Mai to show what she’s really made of.
But then again, I’ve been saying that for each arc. And still, they turned out disappointing. Gain, the show isn’t bad, but I keep expecting this show to match the fifth episode, and I’m getting annoyed that this has yet to happen. For some reason, the past few arcs found it a good idea to lower the pacing and give Mai a damsel-in-distress role. And that while the pacing was so addictive in the fifth arc.
Still, one thing I genuinely liked about this series was the back-story of the ghosts. If the creators can continue this further through the next episodes, then things can become really interesting. It seems that we’re dealing with a series of ghosts, among which is a couple, who committed some kind of sin and had to get chased out of their village because of this. I’m assuming that they died. So far, we’ve got three ghosts which have been confirmed to posses people. The one who now has hold of Naru, and the two children called Katsuki and Wakako. I assume that the two of them are possessed by the couple. Apart from them, I suspect that one of the other sons also has a spirit inside of him, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the other girl also was possessed. I’d just wish that we’d see a bit more of her.
I’m also glad that this arc is a bit more down-to-earth. Both Ubusuna and Sakauchi tried to curse an entire school, while Urado had almost countless of victims. This makes it rather hard to sympathize with the original victims, but right now the case revolves around a family. Most people who died were members of the family. This arc reminds me a lot of Ayatsuri Sakon, especially the Byakko-arc. Heh, I’d wish that Mai would be as versatile as Sakon. 😛
We also got some very obvious signs that Matsuzaki is going to play a big part in this arc. While I don’t like the obviousness, it’s great to see Matsuzaki actually being useful. Before, you could have replaced her with a cardboard box and you still wouldn’t have noticed the difference.]]>
Deltora Quest – 05
Short Synopsis: Lief, Barda and Jasmine run into the trap of Nij and Doj, two of Tegan’s servants.
Good: Very refreshing, finally an adventure anime with the emphasis on using your head to get rid of the enemy.
Bad: I had a near-headdesk moment when Lief, Barda and Jasmine ran into the trap without noticing anything.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10
Ah, for the first time since the first episode I’ve been impressed again. The past few episodes were nice and all, but they were missing something. While this episode did have some annoying points, I still loved how both parties try to deceive their enemies. During the climax, Lief and Barda also didn’t just use their huge powers to slay the monsters. No, instead, they fled, and tried to eliminate them by disabling the path, which can be switched on and off.
I also loved the cross-references between the episode. I was wondering if the song of the last episode was some kind of introduction, and indeed it was. I’m suspecting that we’ll run into the eleven other children. Also, which raven has been swallowed by Tegan? I’m also curious about the frogs, the worms and the flees.
To make matters even better, the Tara-guy had a surprisingly heavy background. I assumed he couldn’t speak because he spoke a different language and didn’t even bother, but the voice of him and all his comrades has been sealed away by Tegan. Never knew that she would be this big. He also proved to be quite useful, instead of just acting like a random victim, or a person who gets to “see the light” because of our main characters.
Overall, I was right to chose to blog this series. It may have a few clichéd elements, but the rest of the anime more than makes up for it. It’s too bad that this series has been so incredibly neglected.
Still, I wish the fansubbers would proofread their releases a bit. At one point, they thought one of the monsters just talked gibberish at one point, they translated it as “bla bla bla”, with a note that he just “doesn’t say anything”, while it was in fact a sentence that even I could understand. Loosely translated, it’s something like “you’ll soon sleep forever”, which is why Lief suspected that they did something in the tea.]]>