Ah, this episode reminded me again why I love this show. It’s different from most series. Sometimes, I’m in for the story, others have me drooling for the characters, and yet others capture me with its tension. But not Death Note. For me, Death Note is all about its plot twists. These plot twist are so brilliant, and unlike most other shows, you absolutely won’t see them coming. That’s what I love about this show. Good for me that this episode had a LOT of juicy plot twists. 😀
Twist one: Light can’t kill Misa, otherwise he’ll die. This is going to be quite a problem. ^^ We see him theorize about how he’ll use her and kill her afterwards, with a big smirk on his face, and then Rem comes and ruins his entire plan. This is going to be quite a bitch for him to solve, seeing as the only way to kill Rem is to endanger Misa. Unfortunately, Rem will only suspect Light when that happens, so he’ll get killed.
Twist two: “Light-kun is my first friend.” That was so brilliant and cheesy at the same time! And to make matters worse, I don’t even know whether L was serious or not. You would expect L to be tricky, sly and clever, though this confession was awfully genuine. Light’s response also was so incredibly cheesy, though. I wouldn’t suspect that if that really was an act of L, he’d start to suspect something after that. XD
Twist three: Light manages to get Rem to kill L. When I saw it for the first time, that was such a brilliant moment. Easily one of the best plot twist of the entire anime. But as I’ve been writing this entry, I started to think how L could get out of this one. After all, there wouldn’t be much of a challenge left to this anime if he didn’t, would it? And I think I finally realized how he’ll get out of Light’s plan. I’m suspecting that L doesn’t have a name to begin with. Seeing that he considers Light as his very first friend, he’s always been lonely. There’d be a good chance that something happened with his parents, and he never even got a name. It’s not likely, but apart from that, I can’t see how he’ll be able to stop a friggin shinigami who’s after his head.]]>
Author: psgels
Figure 17 – Tsubasa and Hikaru Review – 94/100
I think some people may have noticed by now, but for the past few months, I’ve been watching some 13-episode series I’ve always been wanting to see, but never got around to. I went to AniDB and made a list of all the interesting-looking series (right now, the list has 17 anime, this one not included). I watch them based on how interesting the concept sounds, with the least interesting to go first. If Figure 17 is any indication of the overall quality of the rest of the list, then I’m really looking forward to them, since this anime is awesome!
You see, the problem I have with slice-of-life series isn’t their slow pacing. It’s the fact that nothing happens. I want to sympathize with the characters, but for that, they need to be put in danger. I don’t really care about characters who spend their time eating cakes at a summer-festival, or something. Same with romances. I want to see the different characters face challenges, put their lives on the line, that’ll make me care about them, if done well.
This anime seems to have heard my calling, as it flawlessly combines slice-of-life with action scenes. You’ve seen those 26-anime who got crammed into 13 episodes? (Good Witch of the West, Narutaru, etc). Well, this anime shows that you can also can do it the opposite way when it increases its episode length with factor 2. Because of this, Figure 17 turned into the most un-rushed series I’ve seen in a while.
Like I said, this show could also have been done in half of its time, but because it took its time so much, it has some great opportunities for fleshing out its characters, and it gladly takes them. Through the course of the series, we get to know Tsubasa and Hikaru, our main characters, through and through. The fight scenes really put them in danger, and because of that, I found myself always rooting for the two of them to win. I’m also glad to say that this show has added itself to the very small list of shows that made me cry and weep. Yes, it’s that good.
The problem, of course might be that this show could drag on horribly, but surprisingly, I almost never felt bored while watching this. Perhaps only episodes 3 till 5 felt a bit tedious to get through, but these episodes did make sure for some amazing scenes, later in the series. I also must praise the battles in Figure 17, which were one of the reasons it turned so good. Even though the antagonists are a bunch of monsters, they can actually think for themselves. They’ve got some amazingly tricky battle tactics, and they don’t only get stronger each episode, they also get smarter each episode. This turns the battles more and more strategy- and skill-based, than power-based. Still, I do admit that some battles weren’t as good as others.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with such a solid piece of work. I thoroughly enjoyed it, not to mention that it actually has a great ending. Still, this isn’t an anime you’d want to marathon. I think it’d be very hard to concentrate after four episodes of the slice-of-life events. But, if you watch this one in a while (like I did), it’ll be an amazing watch. Definitely recommended. You also have to love the soundtrack that comes with it.]]>
Saiunkoku Monogatari – 25
This episode showed a flashback, in which Ryuuki told Shuurei and Eigetsu that he hid the seal of the Sa-clan at a very safe place. He didn’t say what that place was, but Shuurei would know immediately if she saw it. It made me wonder what Ryuuki might have meant. What could be safe enough, when the Satsujinzoku checks even checks all steamed buns? Then the next episode followed.
That most definitely was one of the most awesome scenes I’ve seen in a while! While it’s already at this extremely high quality, Saiunkoku Monogatari only keeps improving with each episode progressing! Of course Ryuuren would be the perfect person to trust the seal to. I should have known. ^^ But that’s not the only thing that made this episode great, seeing as Shuurei finally had the chance to display her strength again, being away from “Lin Senya”. Go Shuurei! ^^
Speaking of that bastard, I think I’ve got an idea who he might be. There’s one member of the Sa-clan who keeps getting mentioned, but never gets shown on the screen. It’s Sa Soujun’s younger brother, Sa Sakujun. There has to be a reason why he hasn’t been mentioned yet. Something’s telling me that both Sa Chuushou, as Sa Soujun as Sa Sakujun as Sa Kokujun have their own plans they want to get executed.
Also, Eigetsu and Kourin are into a bit of trouble now that they’ve been discovered. I wonder how they were discovered. I’m suspecting that Sa … had some kind of role in this. Eigetsu also revealed quite an interesting thing. He isn’t really a genius at all, just someone who studies. Still, he did find a number of creative ways to study. Just for that, the guy deserves credit.]]>
Red Garden – 13
Ooh, a new OP. At least, an enhanced op. The still frames from the original OP now have a bit of movement added to them. Makes for an interesting effect, I like it. Anyway, about the episode, I’m beginning to love this show more and more.
Especially Hervé. I love this guy. Especially when he he’s near Lise, he really is too mean against her. ^^ It may be a bit mean, but I loved how he told her that he was meeting Kate, in that extra-mean voice. It’s been quite an eventful episode for him. First the date with Kate and at the end of the episode, … collapsed. He’s quite pitiful, seeing as it now seems that the two girls aren’t really necessary anymore for the survival of his family, so doctor Bender starts ignoring the two of them more and more. It really gives Hervé a good reason to hate Lise.
Apart from Hervé, the episode focused mostly on Kate. Rose also made some interesting development, and we learn something interesting about Lula and her companion. It seems that they’ve got connections with the school’s headmistress. That might explain how they learned about Rachel and the others in the first place, and something tells me that a lot of their victims come from the same school.
Meanwhile, the inevitable happened: someone told Rose about how useless she is. She finally gets inside a situation in which she has no option of running away or hiding behind others, and she gets too scared. While Kate, Rachel and Claire grew while they fought, there actually was no real need to have Rose around. Because of that, she didn’t really have a reason to grow as well. Though things got a bit tougher with two monsters appearing at the same time. Still, I like Rose. Instead of sulking on what Rachel said, she actually immediately goes to train herself.
Kate, meanwhile, found out something interesting: how to use their special powers. Great scene, great scene. Still, her problems at school are becoming worse and worse, now that a note has been sent to her parents. I’m looking forward to the moment in which she finds out about Hervé, by the way. :)]]>
Deltora Quest – 02
Okay, with this post, I’ve made up my mind. Deltora Quest will be blogged, Himarari!! won’t. That makes three series I’ll be blogging this season. Will Venus Versus Virus make four?
In any case, I really like Jasmine and Barda. Jasmine got introduced in this episode, and she has quite an interesting character. Already she’s moving away from the usual female side-kick. She’s got a rather sad case. When she was 9 years old, her parents were abducted by some evil guards, and ever since, she spent her time alone in the forest. Because of that, she learned quite some interesting abilities, like the ability to talk to trees (What? You can’t do that? ^^;), and she trained a cute pet and crow quite well. She’s also probably one of the first female side-kicks who actually knows what she’s talking about.
Barda (I keep spelling his name as Baruda… damn katakana) on the other hand, is the skilled warrior with the subtle sense of humour. These first two episodes also showed that he isn’t perfect, especially when he fights and has to keep an eye out on Lief. He first collapsed because Lief was doing something stupid, making him get hit, and later he takes his eye off Lief in order to ambush the monster. He obviously starts yelling at him when he finds out that Lief also went to try and slay it. 😉
This anime also is moving surprisingly fast. I originally suspected that each country would get a large number of episodes dedicated to it, though with a bit of math, it seems that in order to give all seven countries some attention, each can only have three episodes for itself, with the ±5 final episodes dedicated to close the story. It’ll be interesting to see this, seeing as I’m currently watching Futago Hime as well, which is a show which spends a lot of episodes dedicated to one country.]]>
Master of Epic – 02
I love this show. In the past, before I became an anime-fan, I used to play my fair share of anime as well, and I love how this show parodies all kinds of clichés and aspects of your usual MMORPG. This show plays into some crossover world between a MMORPG and a cute fantasy-world, and I love how it combines the two. ^_^
Still, I’ve been wondering during this episode… who the heck is the main character? I originally thought that it was the pink-haired girl of the previous episode, but she didn’t appear during this episode at all. This makes me suspect that the real main character is still hiding somewhere, waiting to be introduced. In fact, I think we saw a small glimpse of her when she fell down the huge castle.
It also seems that every episode has a number of returning sketches, and a number of random ones. The first returning sketch is the introduction, in which the Elmony and the white haired Cognite introduce the episode, and explain something about the world of MMORPGs. In this case: dying. We see them bickering while on the background, a Pandemos gets slaughtered. (If you’re wondering what Elmony, Cognite and Pandemos is, that’s how the races are called. The human-like beings are called Newtar).
Another sketch which also seems to return every episode is the fishing sketch, in which random characters, quite often with Warage Pink included, randomly sit and wait for fish to bite. We also have the Warage Sentai Team, who does random MMORPG-things. During the last episode, they were PK-ing, right now, they try to enter a dungeon, but get too scared because of all the rumours floating around. ^^ The final returning sketch is the news broadcast, in which we have the same Elmony as before on the scene, this time with a newscaster being a yellow-haired Cognite. This time, the Elmony wants to interview someone but this guy seems to be asleep. ^^;
The rest of the episode is filled with random scenes of characters acting cute. Warage Pink is often seen in small scenes, often accompanied by the traveller-Pandemos. I think he’s trying to impress her, but either fails, or she does something incredibly scary, like eating a bat alive. This episode also introduced a girl who dislikes fighting, so she tries to find ways to live in this world, without having to fight monsters… and fails miserably. ^^
The male Cognite also returns this episode, but he isn’t quite as fortunate as he was during the previous episode. We first see him get beaten up by two sandworms, who appeared in front of him while he wasn’t expecting it, and later in the episode, he returns into a super-cute chibi-form, only to get slain by a bunch of axe-wielding swines, along with his companion who gets beaten up just as miserably.]]>
Otogi Juushi Akazukin – 28
Ah, the recap episode, I was wondering where it went. Still, I’m glad that this episode consisted out of 2 minutes recap, and 18 minutes of the usual goodness. This time, the dwarves are visited. Of course, when there are elves, dwarves can’t be missing, can they? 😉 Okay, so what if flowers bloom strangely underground. Heck, I’m not even sure why there even was light, but the episode was damn good. 🙂
This especially was because of the beginning. The episode has barely started, Souta has barely finished his first recap-block, or we immediately switch to a battle with Gretel, Randagio and two huge snails. I like it when they do that. Fights like these don’t necessary need building up, they also work good as a build-up for other, better scenes. Like the one in which Souta and Ringo ran, and fell into that hole. ^^ Randagio also was brilliant in this episode. 🙂
But OMG, what’s happening to Gretel?! First of all, how did she obtain so much power, and second of all, is she going to be alright? It seems that she has the power to enlarge her sword many times, though that seems to take a huge toll on her. To what extend is she willing to prove herself to her brother anyway!?]]>
Ghost Hunt – 09
Now this is getting more like it! It turns out that we’re dealing with a 4-or-even-more-episode-arc. This one also turned up the pacing and intensity quite a bit. The question now remains: is the final episode going to do the same?
I think one of my biggest problems with the previous episode was the predictability. During the first two arcs, you had no idea who was behind it, but with this one, it’s clear that the culprit is Ubusuna-sensei, seeing as she’s almost like the epitome of a red herring here. Luckily, this episode decided to focus more on Naru-chan and Mai than on her and Kasai. The only thing new about the two of them was the confirmation that all of the ones who opposed her in the beginning got into some kind of accident. Oh, and Ubusuna-sensei knows a lot about psychics, only confirming my theory about her being the culprit.
Naru-chan is just a psychic, not a diviner. That’s Lin’s job. He’s really trying to look as cool as possible, without appearing too full of himself. I’m still not sure whether he has an eye on Mai or not. He does show up around her a lot when he’s not supposed to, though. 😛 For example, when Mai’s near the well (great scene, by the way). I’m also wondering whether something’s wrong with him or not, seeing as he’s going to keep up with his appearance until he collapses. That’s what this episode showed. ;)]]>
Ghost Hunt – 08
Ah, so that’s why Masako couldn’t find any spirits: we’re dealing with a curse now, initiated by a person. This person has to have some connection to Kasai, but isn’t interested in individual targets. It also has to be one who knows a lot about spirits and how to call them. Ubusuna-Sensei?
Still, that doesn’t explain Kasai’s strange behaviour. Also, why was there a ghost who kept staring at Naru-chan, without doing anything, right after Mai told Kasai about how Naru-chan was more of an Onmyouji? Still, I actually was a bit disappointed with this episode. Okay, it was good, but it’s nowhere near the quality of episode 5. If this really is a 3-episode arc, then I’m hoping that the conclusion will prove to be worthwhile.
This episode had a lot of explanation as well, about Psychics and Curses. It’s quite interesting, though they were at the place where normally the climaxes would be. I’m really hoping the best of this season lies in its third and conclusive episode. Ah well, the scene where Matsuzaki smacked Bou-san for his comment about her age really made this episode worth watching. ^_^]]>
Ghost Hunt – 07
Ah, finally Ghost Hunt is back, and they did it again, with a very interesting and different case. While in the first case a rather significant amount of walls and glass were broken, and the second case featured a ghost who liked to abduct small children, we now have something which likes to cause a large amount of accidents, brainwashing and other small incidents. All of this is combined with the usual gang, bickering like usual. Ah, gotta love it. ^_^
The first half of the episode featured the basic introduction. We get a bit of background info from Bou-san, it seems that his main profession is a bass player, while he occasionally exorcises spirits and stuff. The setting is a school, in which a number of not-so-pleasant things have been happening:
– There is a desk, everyone who sat at that desk ended up in a train accident where the door closed with their arm still in-between it, causing them to get dragged away.
– One teacher kept getting bothered by a white hand which kept knocking on his window at night.
– One girl started acting strange when she randomly jumped on the desk, ate sand and jumped in an ice-cold pool with her normal clothes on.
– Something has been messing around in the gym storage.
– A strange shadow has appeared.
– One girl’s desk has been possessed by a strange white hand.
– I think you get the picture now.
Then, things start to get interesting when Matsuzaki, John and Masako arrive. First, we have the usual bickering between the characters, and for some reason, Naru avoids any snide remarks regarding Masako, yet again, and started reminding Matsuzaki of her past failures, and that she hasn’t been too useful over the past few episodes. You’d wonder why he’s so scared of her. ^^
Also, it does seem that both Naru-chan and Mai have powers. Mai just doesn’t know it, while Naru doesn’t show it. Naru-chan has already proved to be a good exorcist, and now he’s even a psychic, while Mai keeps having strange dreams which hold some clues to the case. The question remains: did Naru-chan hire her because he knew this, or did he hire her in order to give some random girl this power?
Central to this case seems to be Kasai, a psychic who kindof ruined herself by placing too much attention on herself. She caused quite a commotion between the ones who believed in her powers and the ones who didn’t, and her temper caused this to end up in a rather bad situation for her, in which the entire school with the exception of one teacher shuns her. She’s quite interesting as a character.
Overall, an excellent episode yet again. I like how each of the characters are polar opposites to each other. It makes for good chemistry between them. :D]]>