Short Synopsis: A typical noob is bothering some players, while “the produces” launches another attack.
Good: Even though cheesy, the Waragecha fighting scene was great. ^^
Bad: While it was definitely enjoyable, there have been funnier episodes. The first sketch also was a bit too annoying, but I think that that was the creators’ intention.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10
I must be crazy for liking this show, but it’s got such a cute charm! This episode was no exception. It already starts out good with the introduction, when the Elmony and the Cognite start talking about parties, and the Elmony confuses this with birthday parties. XD Next up is another scene between Chuu and Bukotsu, demonstrating how NOT to behave in a party. ^_^;
The major part of the first half gets dedicated to another example of how to ruin a good party: include a noob. It features some new characters, recycled versions of ones we saw before. While they definitely looked great (the Pandemos, Elmony and Newtar, at least) I’d wish the creators would start to focus on some of the main characters (like the Main Character *cough*). This sketch definitely had some funny moments, but the Elmony (a blue-haired version of Chuu) was just too annoying at times.
The second half stars with a rather strange radio-show, in which the host tries to tell his guest some completely ridiculous story. ^^;
The Waragecha, meanwhile, still are being bothered by “the producer”. While I do enjoy a good continuous story, I’d rather that it was about more than just stolen uniforms. Ah well, the fight definitely was interesting (and what was up with the animation of the robot at the end? XD)]]>
Author: psgels
Jigoku Shoujo – 44
Short Synopsis: A woman who once divorced from her husband has no other choice than to live with him, after being unable to move most of her body. Their daughter gets negatively involved in this.
Good: Whoa, even though it was the usual formula, the antagonist this time totally made up for it! The father also was amazing. This also was one of the few episodes at which I didn’t need Memento in order to fully understand it. 🙂
Bad: The episode was amazing, but the usual formula did remain.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10
This definitely was one of the best episodes of Jigoku Shoujo Futakomori yet! I can’t believe how touching the antagonist became! We first get the illusion that she’s an incredibly old hag. The main character’s mother has never been enthusiastic about her, and she kept giving her the cold shoulder when she was young. Then at one point, her mother divorced of her husband, abandoning him and their daughter. Then, years later, she comes back. Most of her muscles are unable to move and the girl and her father now have to take care of her. The only problem is that her mother turned into an incredible bitch. She only yells and complains. Especially to her daughter. This was one of the few times where I actually wanted to see a person to go to hell.
But then the history of the mother became clear. Boy, did that change my view of her. The girl isn’t her own daughter. At one point, it seemed that she could never produce a baby, so her father looked for another woman to have a child with. This worked, and the mother only had to watch this happen. It’s no wonder that she’d hate her child this way! Not only that, but none other than her father was responsible for her ending up in that state.
By this point, her father also gets an even more amazing role, when he has to choose between his daughter and his wife. He clearly knows that his ex-wife bring great trouble to his daughter. She can’t even spend proper time with her boyfriend. I can SO imagine that it must have been a VERY difficult decision to send his ex-wife to hell, for the happiness of his daughter. That really was beautiful!
Seriously, I do hope that the last couple of episodes of Jigoku will be just as good as this one. It’s great to see that the creators managed to make a very interesting case out of a usual formula.]]>
Jigoku Shoujo – 43
Short Synopsis: Ichimoku Ren is the last of the dolls to show his past. The case, meanwhile, involves the daughter of someone who had already been in contact with Jigoku Shoujo before.
Good: Finally a great episode again! The changes that people make over 12 years were great to see.
Bad: Can we now finally have some kind of main plot?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Finally, I’ve been waiting for another episode to bring a twist to the episodes of Jigoku Shoujo. The past few episodes have been rather disappointing. Episode sixteen showed some good signs again, and with this episode, this show is back on track again. I really like when Jigoku Shoujo deals with past cases, as it really gives some insights about how the characters changed. I would have loved to have seen the case of the mother, earlier in the series, but I guess that 12 years is too early for the start of the anime.
It’s interesting to see how the woman has changed into a workaholic over the years. Because of this, her grandmother probably got enough chances to manipulate her to make her think that her mother is a bad person. It seems that she’s the real reason of tis story. She just couldn’t forget her son’s death, and she had to blame someone for it. I think she’s actually seeing her granddaughter as a substitution for her son.
The mother, meanwhile is too sad. First her husbands abuses her, then she has to send him to hell to protect herself and her daughter. Because of that, she has to work hard to sustain her family. Her mother-in-law meanwhile tries to take her daughter away from her. Her daughter meanwhile thinks of sending her own mother to hell because of this. In order to protect her daughter from going to hell, she decides to take the initiative.
We also see Ichimoku Ren’s history this time. His history also is the bloodiest of all. While Wanyuudo got in an accident, and Hone Onna got murdered as prostitute, he actually was a sword, which had been used by lots of people to kill, cheat, steal and other nasty stuff. That’s probably why he’s the most silent of the three dolls, even though he has the youngest body.]]>
Jigoku Shoujo – 42
Short Synopsis: The main character this time is very kind-hearted and trusting. Because of this, people start to use her. Hone Onna’s background gets revealed.
Good: Thankfully, a lot better than the previous few episodes. Hone Onna’s history and compassion was a great touch.
Bad: If it wasn’t for Memento, I wouldn’t have understood it.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10
Ah, finally we have an actually good episode again. The first half was decent, though I really liked the way the plot went in the second half. Hone Onna’s compassion with the main character, who was just too nice and ignorant helped a lot. She seemed to work in a brothel when she was still alive, killed by her boss and thrown into the river. This in comparison to Wanyuudo, who got into an accident, rather than having a rather dreadful life. You’d wonder about Ichimoku Ren. His clothes are more modern, so I assume that Ai actually recruited him only ten or twenty years ago.
Anyway, I also liked how the main character actually died. It doesn’t happen often, and when it does, things often go a bit predictable. It’s a nice twist, but I’m still waiting for some kind of thing that will send this series to its climax, like Hajime and Tsugumi did with the first season. It could be, of course, that this thing already appeared, but a bit more subtle this time, in the form of Kikuri. But what can she really add to this series that can trump Hajime and Tsugumi at this point?]]>
Saiunkoku Monogatari – 31
Short Synopsis: Sakujun comes to Shuurei to escort her personally to the main house of the Sa-family. When she’s gone, Sa Shunki arrives, and Sa Kokujun meanwhile gets a few dangerous ideas.
Good: Kokujun.
Bad: Too bad that Ryuuki, Kouyuu, Shuuei and Sho Taishi didn’t play a big role.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 6.5/10
One problem with Saiunkoku Monogatari that I noticed recently is that the first episodes of the arcs don’t impress me anymore. It probably has to do with Shuurei. I hate to say it, but she hasn’t been growing lately. Still, with a bit of luck, we’ll see some changes to this in the next episode.
I’m really liking Kokujun after this episode. In the beginning of this episode, Eiki mentioned how much he resembled his grandfather’s brother, but I never expected that she also included his more malicious side in this. It seems that he got locked up with his father, though apparently the guy never moved at all. At the end of the episode, he’s becoming crazy as well, convincing himself that he has to be the one to kill everyone. This definitely can be interesting, especially after his father woke up after hearing what he said.]]>
Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto – 19
Short Synopsis: The aftermath of the huge events of the previous episode. Surprisingly, no Akizuki or Kanna. Instead, the episode is focused at Kakunojou.
Good: The Troupe returns! Great atmosphere; the reunion-scenes were excellent.
Bad: As expected, Akizuki is alive.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
While Bakumatsu’s story is everything but predictable, the same can’t be said for it’s pacing. Most episodes have been very faithfully following the general pattern of introduction/aftermath – climax – introduction/aftermath – climax – introduction/aftermath – climax – et cetera. It therefore is unexpected that we’re dealing with another aftermath here. Kakunojou collapsed after the end of the previous episode, and she wakes up at the medical area in the ship. While she has been sleeping, Enomoto and his crew managed to reach the northern island of Japan. The winter arrived, which makes sure of a nice change in scenery. (If I’m not mistaken, everyone ended up in a city called Hakodate).
Inside Hakodate, Kakunojou gets moved to the local hospital, where she obviously is quite shocked. she was quite touching to see. This episode also featured a small sub-plot, though I couldn’t quite follow that. Still, the definite best part of the episode was seeing the troupe return. Shiranui has been coming on his own, searching for Taiyuu (what was she doing there, by the way?). The others came by request of Soutetsu. He really likes to manipulate people doesn’t he? Same with Kakunojou? She was about to throw her sword away, which is something he couldn’t have happening so he decided to do something about it. His plan still remains a mystery. He’s obviously using everyone around him, even Enomoto. What could he be after?
I’m not sure about Hijikata’s role in this episode. We see him go from one place to the other, investigating, but exactly what is unknown. We also saw the introduction of another character, who seems to work right next to him: Tetsunosuke. His exact role isn’t clear, but he seems like a young genius who likes to act impulsive. What can a new character such as his add to the anime at this point?]]>
Sentimental Journey Review – 84/100
I may have said it before, but for the past few months, I’ve been checking out several 13ish-episode series I’ve been wanting to check out for a long time. I went to AniDB and made a list of all anime that looked interesting to me. Right now, I’m working through this list, with the ones that look the least interesting to go first. Because of this, I saw many great things, such as Figure 17, while series such as Aquarian age turned out to be pure pain.
Right now, I’ve put my interest to three case-based series. Sentimental Journey is the first of them (let’s see if you can guess the others ^^). I’ve always been a fan of case-based series such as Mushishi and Kino no Tabi. About these three I had some doubts, though, as they’re all kindof slice-of-lifey. Especially Sentimental Journey had me worried, since the description said that it consisted out of 12 episodes, all dedicated to the relationship of a girl to a boy.
Thankfully, this anime turned out much more interesting than that. It’s true that each episode focuses on the relationship of a girl with a boy, but for starters, all these relations were past relationships. All couples got separated at one moment, mostly due to moving away. The boy never really is put in the spotlight. Heck, we never even get to see their faces. What this anime really focuses about is how this boy changed the girl. Each of these boys had some kind of influence, and the anime features these girls, years after they said goodbye, dealing with these experiences.
I must say that I’ve never been a really big fan of slice-of-life romances, but this anime felt like a very pleasant surprise. Each of the twelve tales are heart-warming stories, some better than the others. While I would normally find stories like these rather boring, the fact that each episode took a different focus was really refreshing. I therefore can say that I really enjoyed the calm and peaceful mood for this series.
The first episode serves as a nice introduction to the general premise of the story. It already shows that this anime can come up with some original twists to make each case unique, and it showcases the typical quiet mood. The second episode comes with a totally different girl, and it’s one of the few in which the girl actually managed to find a new boyfriend. The third episode was one of the lesser episodes. The premise was nice, though I felt that it lacked something. Episode 4 asked nice questions about life and memories, though I didn’t like how everything was based on one huge misunderstanding. With episode 5, however, this anime captured me for the first time when it features a greatly emotional tale about two best friends, about to be separated.
The definite highlight for me came with episode six, where the slice-of-life elements take a small step back, and the anime turns more into a crossing between a documentary and a case-study, where it features a fascinating discussion about earthly desires. Definitely recommendable. Episode 7 proposed some very interesting questions about lying, and how the girl has experienced this. Episode 8 showed nicely how influenceable a human could really be. Episode 9 was one of the more thought-provoking episodes, when it provides a very good twist to the arranged-marriage-plot. Episode 10 was another highlight for me, when it comes with an actual ghost story, or something similar. Episode 11 comes with a love-triangle, I expected it to be rather uninteresting, but somehow it managed to hold my interest throughout the entire episode. Episode 12, finally comes with a rather peculiar case. Even though the execution was nothing special when compared to the others, it remained very interesting to watch.
One of the things I like about case-based series is that the creators just can’t get away with cases in which nothing happens. They have to actually put some work into making each case unique. Furthermore, because all cases only take one episode, it’ll rarely drag. Sentimental Journey is a great example of this, even though it covered a genre I mostly find boring. Nearly each case has something unique. It’s also not always the girl’s viewpoint we see. One story gets told by an adult, one story doesn’t really have a main perspective, heck, one story even gets told by an empty soda-bottle. If I had to mention one down-point, it’s that some stories are too much focused on a misunderstanding. It made things a bit too repetitive for the stories-in-question.
In terms of graphics, you shouldn’t expect too much from this, though. The animation is nice, but the fact remains that this anime comes from 1998. Add that to the fact that it wanted to create a rather “old” feeling. The music, however, fits perfectly for the show. It really gave a feeling of the first years of the nineties. Especially because of the OP and ED.
If you happen to read this, and you also happed to see this anime as well, I’m interested in your favourite episodes. For me, it were episode 6, with episode 10 as a second place, though I feel that this an anime that can appeal in lots of different ways to lots of different people. I’m suspecting that everyone will probably have his or her own highlight of this series. I’m curious to see if that indeed is the case.]]>
Ayatsuri Sakon – 18
Short Synopsis: The setting for the new arc: a school for the puppet-style Noh. Kaoru has an arranged marriage with the oldest son of master of this school.
Good: Kaoru was surprisingly interesting. I finally realize the good thing about this series.
Bad: Again the usual formula. I hope I’m right with my statement above.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10
Interesting, I know that I’ve been ranting against Ayatsuri Sakon for the past few episodes. But after seeing this episode, I really can’t imagine why I’d do such a thing? Sure, it’s not as good as shows like Simoun or Noein, but it does have a certain charm. Sakon himself also is a unique character. I finally realize why I liked the first couple of episodes so much, while the later bunch of episodes started to get really boring. This really is a show that you need to see once a month. Not once a week, like I tried for a while. It’s a slow show, but it definitely has some really good points. The fact remains, however, that it’s too much of the same. When you put huge breaks between watching the episodes, this effect is weakened significantly, which results into quite an enjoyable episode.
After watching this episode, I also finally realized that this show is like the sister-anime of Ghost Hunt. They both involve Ghosts, they both involve mysteries that have to be solved. The huge amount of similarities is quite astounding. Still, there are a few significant differences. While Ayatsuri Sakon focuses on solving murders, Ghost Hunt focuses on getting rid of ghosts and spirits. Ayatsuri Sakon is deeply rooted in the ancient arts of japanese puppetry, while Ghost Hunt rather offers a modern look at psychic events.
Still, I now realize that Ayatsuri Sakon has one major disadvantage over Ghost Hunt: it doesn’t have an incompetent main character. Heck, Sakon is smart, he does things on his own, and he uses his puppet to talk for him. The first arc also had lots of shock values, and Ayatsuri Sakon actually gives the viewer the opportunity to solve the case himself with a bit of logical thinking. Instead of Ghost Hunt, which comes with rather random points that rather resembles storytelling than solving a mystery.
About this episode, I really liked Kaoru when she fell in love with the guy. I’m really hoping that the Ayatsuri Sakon project will continue releasing once a month, as I’m interested to see how this will turn out.]]>
Ghost Hunt – 18
Short Synopsis: The new case: some ghosts have been hunting a very strange old mansion.
Good: Lots of characters this time. Should provide a nice twist.
Bad: MAI! Stop wandering around and actually start doing things for yourself!
Overall Enjoyment Value: 6.5/10
The next arc, and finally it looks like we’ve got another major arc which happens outside of a school-building. Right now, it seems that we’re dealing with two ghosts: a man and a woman. From the looks of it, they were heavily tortured before they died. Because of this, their spirits remained, even though they died. Right now, they’ve been kidnapping random people who entered the house. It seems that the mansion is in the possession of the former prime-minister. If not, than he’s at least involved in quite an important way, seeing that he’s the client.
Yasuhara pretends to be Naru-chan this time, since there seem to have been more psychics invited for research, some of which he doesn’t want to get involved with. I wonder who they might bee, as he never mentions them directly. But if I had to guess, it’s the British professor Davis who came over to Japan especially for this, along with his two rather incompetent assistants. Davis is just too perfect, while his assistants are just too stupid.
Lots of character-background also appeared this episode, right out of the blue. Suddenly, we learn the identity of the person who taught Naru-chan all about ghost hunting, Lin appears to be Chinese and Mai doesn’t have any parents left, so she’s living on her own. You’d wonder how she sustained herself before she broke Naru-chan’s camera.
So far, I’m not really expecting anything from this arc. Sure, the huge amount of characters is interesting, but I’m getting really pissed off at Mai now. She really needs to act for herself, and take initiative. Like mentioned before, it’s what made the fifth episode great and the other episodes lacking.]]>
Death Note – 18
Short Synopsis: Kira’s deaths have been benificial to the Yotsuba-group, and L finally manages to find this out. Meanwhile, the police has had to give up chasing after Kira.
Good: Aizawa
Bad: What is the Yotsuba-group anyway?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10
Ah, yeah. After last week’s climax, we’ve again got a number of quiet episodes of building up, before the show can reach another climax. This episode was dedicated to introduce the suspicions about the Yotsuba-group, and to get rid of Aizawa. The former wasn’t really that exciting, but Aizawa was pretty interesting. I’m wondering whether it’s really goodbye for him now, or that we’ll see him again.
Next on the list to go is probably Matsuda. This episode gave a few very clear hints that he’s absolutely useless, except for getting some coffee. This is probably getting worse, until he breaks and leaves. Or gets involved in some kind of plot twist. ^_^
The fight between Light and L also was pretty amusing, but I’d wish that Light would turn back to his old self. He’s got a really dull character right now. More than that, I want to see Ryuk back, and I want to see how he’ll react to the Yotsuba-group.
Speaking of the devil, what is up with them? Heck, what kind of company are they anyway? What would they be doing so that deaths of criminals actually are beneficial to them. I mean, that shouldn’t be too hard to investigate? Why didn’t we hear any deductions about that? I’m also beginning to suspect that one person in the Yotsuba-group indeed has a death-note for himself. One of these eight has it, but he hasn’t told the others about it. That’s why they assumed one of them to be Kira, because they couldn’t tell the difference between the deaths by Kira and the deaths by the mysterious member.]]>