psgels, Author at Star Crossed Anime

Some quick first impressions: Bartender, Kekkaishi and La Corda d’Oro: Prima Passo

October 18, 2006 by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

It’s an interesting batch this time. Each of these series has the potential to become great, but each of them has one or more major flaws. It’s interesting to see how these three turn out. Also, with this, I think I’ve managed to cover the largest part of the autumn season. All that’s really left to get subbed is Jigoku Shoujo (seriously, I can hardly wait for it) and a Spirit of the Sun. Oban Star Racers seems to be aired at some kind of special location, as no raws have appeared at all. It was the same case with FLAG, I think we need to wait for the Japanese DVD’s to come out in order to see it. Same with Silk Road Boy Yuto. Master of Epic seems to have delayed its anime a bit, such a pity. And Bikkuruman Hikkariden will probably never really get enough attention to even get its own raws. Next up is waiting for shows like Souko no Strain, Tokyo Tribe, Freedom and Afro Samurai.

Bartender
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
I’m a big fan of the various episodic case-based anime (Mushishi, Jigoku Shoujo, xxxholic), so I was looking forward to this anime. It follows a bartender who can make the god’s glass, a way to people’s hearts. Unfortunately, the first episode has yet to display anything special. It follows a stressful bar designer, but the entire story lacked emotion. Still, I’m probably going to end up blogging this. Jigoku Shoujo and Mushishi showed that you have to warm up to stories like these a bit for them to become really effective.

Kekkaishi
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
I have to admit, when I read the premises, I feared the worst. It’s a nice surprise that this shounen series actually turned out above average. It’s still got the cliché of having a fourteen year old brat as main character, but he’s been given unusual character depth. Especially the part when he was just a nine-year old boy was pretty impressive. If this anime loses the fourteen-year-old brattiness, things actually could get pretty good. I just hope that the creators manage to actually bring the love relationship between the main male character and main female character in a good way. Right now, all signs point to the fact that the main female character will end up being a simple damsel in distress. If this anime can avoid this, we’re in for something worthwhile.

La Corda d’Oro: Prima Passo
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
There’s one thing that always annoys me with anime like this: the important characters are the only ones with obscure hair colours. Anyway, this anime is sortof like learn to play the violin, the lazy way. We’ve got our main character who seems to be the only one who can see a special fairy because of no reason. The fairy then grants her a special violin which can make anyone play beautiful. Yeah, sure. I think that this anime doesn’t want to be taken seriously. Both the main male character as the main female character are as standard as possible, though the side-characters can prove to be interesting. Of course, our main character ends up winning the music competition, but seeing how the side-characters will face of against each other will probably be worth it. At least, if the creators give them a chance for this. Overall, it’s not exactly a bad anime. It’s just got some hugely annoying flaws which sortof ruin the mood. At least let the main character be someone who’ll work hard to achieve her goals.

Popolocrois 2003 – 17 – Decent scenes which scream potential

October 18, 2006 by psgels, posted in Popolocrois 2003

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

It’s annoying! Each episode has one or two moments which just scream potential, surrounded by mediocre scenes. This episode was the same: Luna’s worries about her mother were very sincere, but Zephys’ complot seems very basic: “I turned the people of Popolocrois to stone because now I can blackmail you into delivering the Moon Drop to me”. The adventures in the lunar castle were rather boring.

But the fact does remain that the pacing is currently huge in comparison to the first half of the anime. Everyone got turned to stone in episode 14, which seemed like a major plot event. Still, the lunar castle was reached within three episodes, and Pinon and the others only remain for just half an episode inside the castle. Next episode, it seems like they’ll be back in Popolocrois again, to look for the Moon Drop.

Popolocrois 2003 – 16 – Test Of Courage

October 17, 2006 by psgels, posted in Popolocrois 2003

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

And Gamigami has returned. I still have to get used to the fact that his character has changed. He’s now eccentric in a totally different way. Previously, he was just a crazy genius who only cared about Narcia and later Hyuu, but now he’s more like a father. Having kids surely changed him. Still, I liked the old Gamigami better.

This episode was mostly meant for a bit of character development from Momba. The previous two episodes showed that he didn’t really like his new companions, and he still bears grudges against them. This episode, he takes Pinon to a ghost ship, for a test of courage. His arrogance made him suspect that Pinon would come running towards him after a few seconds, begging to take him back, but Pinon’s courage proves otherwise.

In the end, the ship actually appears haunted and a huge monster comes out. When Pinon defeats it, Momba acknowledges him. The fight actually was pretty interesting, mostly due to the character design of this monster. He looked scarier than anything we’ve seen so far in Popolocrois 2003. Still, most of this episode just remained average. But what was Zephys doing behind Luna’s mother?

Eureka 7 Review – 91/100

October 16, 2006 by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

When I saw the first episode of this series, I immediately dismissed it. Every direction pointed to a standard shounen series. Pubescent male, check. Female love interest, check. Sudden huge unexplained outburst of power coming from main character, check. At that time, I saw absolutely no reason to continue this show.

Boy, was I wrong. Thank god I got curious when I saw Maya‘s entries about the series, and managed to catch up with the series. I’m so glad I did that. Yes, it remains a shounen series. But one heck of an incredibly well developed shounen series. The romance between the main character (Renton) and main female character (Eureka), which I initially gave no chance of success, turned out to be so well developed and fleshed out. This really is a must see for anyone with a bit of patience.

Basically, the series consists out of four part. The first part is the most boring and misleading. It’s mostly meant to introduce the cast of characters, and covers about ten episodes. The second part suddenly starts introducing a huge lot of mentally disturbing scenes. Boy, that was a huge surprise. By the end of this part (episode 28) I really was hooked to this anime. The creators made perfect use of the fact that Renton was just an idiotic boy. He just keeps causing troubles to his surroundings, and Eureka as well, because of his naivety.

Then, starting from episode 29, the third part begins, and all of the disturbing scenes just stop, and the series enters a season-long intermezzo. It’s mostly meant in order to develop the different characters and flesh them out a bit, with the emphasis on Renton and Eureka, though it may be a pain to get through. Then, at episode 40 the series picks up pace again, and at episode 44, the fourth part of the anime begins, attempting to finish the anime. The fourth part turns amazing again. It fully utilizes the basis that the third part set, and delivers six episodes of pure awesomeness. These episodes were so incredibly sad at times. Unfortunately, the creators had set their mind on an epic ending, which threw this anime into the pit of predictability again, unfortunately.

The second and fourth part make this anime incredibly worthwhile, in their own way. The second part focuses on conflicts, while the fourth part focuses on trust and faith. Emotions skyrocket during the many climaxes and confrontations. Unfortunately, the fact remains that the first and third arc are rather essential for this anime, even though they remain boring. At times, Renton also acts like an annoying brat for comic relief, that wasn’t really exciting to see.

The story of this anime, indeed, is one huge adventure. But what else can you expect with a fifty-episode anime? The story focuses around an interesting world, created by the creators of this anime. The plot is very complex and multi-layered, and this anime does a fine job introducing the different elements. Still, there are a few unanswered plotholes left at the end of the episode. Our main character’s sudden outburst of power never really gets a decent explanation.

Overall, this anime has great characters. During the right parts, they really shine like no other. If you’ve got enough time for a 50-episode series, I’m definitely recommending this.

Tsubasa Chronicle – 46 – Insert Songs ^^

October 16, 2006 by psgels, posted in Tsubasa Chronicle

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Hehe, I had to laugh when I saw the fansubbers agitation about the insert songs. They’re a great addition, but I can imagine that it must be a hell to typeset each and single one of them. ^^

About the episode, it’s strange. The way it started suggested a very basic plot about a bad guy who took over a world. Still, even though that was the case, the way this arc was resolved was totally worth the watch. I think we have Chun Yang to thank for that, after her great performance in front of the residents of Kiishima’s world. The way this arc resolved was very light-hearted, but very inspirational as well.

Also, Fay used magic again. At least, I think he did. When Sakura walks on the water, about to transport to the other world. Fay walks on the water, right beside Sakura. That’s normally not possible unless you use magic, isn’t it? ^^

Night Head Genesis – 12 – Even More Mind Control

October 16, 2006 by psgels, posted in Night Head Genesis

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Hmm, the bad guys get more evil by the minute. I so do hope that the following episodes will show a bit of their background and history. I’m not really into those bad guys who are just evil because they’re evil. This time, the bad guys send Asano-kun after Naoto and Naoya. His powers look a lot like the ones we saw Sonezaki use on Kariya and Tadano. That means that they’ve either got similar powers, or it was actually Asano-kun who manipulated everything, while Sonezaki just took care of the talking and diplomatic matters. If that is the case, then you’d wonder about his powers.

Three cases get highlighted again this episode: the guy who attempted to kill Miki, Kariya again and the boy who caused a bunch of suicides. Asano-kun uses the latter to try and either take Naoto and Naoya out, or to awaken or study their mysterious powers. During this stage, strange characters appear, bearing the same tattoos like the guy who attempted to kill Miki. What appears to be the case? Naoto and Naoya created these people themselves. Their negative thoughts, hidden in the backs of their heads started their existence.

Naoya also received a memo from Mikuriya. It contains a prophecy Kamiya once had. Naoto’s power seems to be too strong. For a minute, I thought I read Naoya, but it really seems to be Naoto. It’s strange, as it did seem that he managed to control his powers. “Schism, two bodies, beasts seek out to eat his flesh, separation will lead to terror and death. I cannot see past the darkness, but this Upheaval will be white.” Seriously, I have no idea what this means, but the mystery-parts in this anime really are awesome. I think the beasts are Asano-kun, Sonezaki and their bosses, with the flesh being a metaphor for his powers. Separation leads to terror and death seems to suggest that the two brothers have to stay together. But I think that there’s more than just that.

The role of Mikuriya, the research centre and the barrier also gets questioned during this episode. Right now, it seemed that the centre was evil, though Mikuriya decided that it was impossible to chase the brothers, so they formed a truce. But during this episode, Naoto actually wonders whether the barrier wasn’t meant to protect the two of them. That’s why it was so bad that the elder died. Not because Naoto and Naoya could get to others, but because others could get to them.

And also, was the name “Purple Chain” just a random coincidence, or was more behind it?

Tsubasa Chronicle – 45 – Chun Yang’s Return

October 16, 2006 by psgels, posted in Tsubasa Chronicle

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Chung Yang… boy that’s a time ago. I like that this anime actually goes back to worlds it already visited. It’s interesting to see what happened afterwards. Okay, it would have been better if the time span was a bit bigger, but I’m already happy with this.

I don’t get what people have against the Tsubasa Chronicle fillers. Okay, it’s got nothing to do with the main story, but each of the fillers has been a very pleasant watch, with your occasional amazing ones.

This episode tells the story of what happened after Ryoshi disappeared. Remember Kiishimu? The woman that Ryoshi had captured? Well, it seems that she has her own country, and ever since Syaoran and the others left, her subordinates have been attacking the villagers in Chun Yang’s town. Still, there’s definitely more behind this. The villagers are all making plans to fight, though Chun Yang is against it. I’d love to see what exactly Kiishimu’s intentions are.

Otogi Juushi Akazukin – 16 – Ibara’s Background

October 16, 2006 by psgels, posted in Otogi Juushi Akazukin

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

First of all, Raikan isn’t a person, it’s a group of people led by “Eternal King Jedo-Sama”, the one who killed the monster from the wine cellar. Apparently, he has a certain history with Baru, and I think he’ll turn out to be a major bad guy in the later parts of the series. Something I missed while watching episode 12. ^^

Anyway, about the episode, it’s got a healthy dose of background of Ibara. After all, Shirayuki teleported the group to her home country. Ibara indeed is the princess of her country (you’d wonder about the country Shirayuki is the princess of), so Souta and the others are welcomed with lots of hospitality. Surprisingly, Souta also gets a bit of development himself and I’m still waiting for that Akazukin-episode. Oh, and Ibara actually smiled for the first time ever. ^^

Souta doesn’t really know what happened to his mother. He just has dreams in which she’s kidnapped or in danger. It seems that she just vanished into thin air at one moment. Even photographs didn’t show her anymore. Ibara tells a cute story about her own clover. When she was young, she often used to play and talk with it, though one time, she fell asleep and her powers went out of control and caused a ruckus, ripping one of the clover’s leaves off.

Next episode seems to be a normal one again, when Akazukin and the others reach a snow town. I’m not sure on who it’ll focus, probably Ringo. But it also seems that we finally get to see some signs of Erude again.

Some quick first impressions: Ghost Hunt, Hataraki Man and Code Geass – Lelouch of the Rebellion

October 15, 2006 by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

I tried watching the raws for Bartender, though after only seconds I knew that I’d be better off with the subs. Seriously, that narrator had one strange voice. It sounded like a butler who likes to speak as polite and soft as possible with way too much enthusiasm. I’m hoping for subs to arrive soon, as I’ve heard lots of good things about this anime. I’m also still waiting for Jigoku Shoujo.

Ghost Hunt
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
It’s strange. On the surface, this revolves around another one of those arrogant boys who teams up with some kind of high school girl. Most of the times, this is a recipe for failure, but in Ghost Hunt, this premises actually works out pretty fine. We’ve got this guy who works as a ghost hunter who blackmails an ordinary high school girl who likes telling ghost stories into becoming his assistant. Their first case is solving ghost rumours which revolve around an abandoned building right next to the school. The side characters also were a pretty nice additions to the cast. It seems that more people have been put on the same case, which makes sure for a large amount of theories coming from different persons. But won’t they just disappear again once this case is over?

Hataraki Man
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Okay, so this is a slice-of-life series about a rather enthusiastic workaholic. She works for a local magazine, and takes her work rather seriously, up to the point where she doesn’t really have an outside life. At times, she also changes into “Hataraki Man”, in which her work speed increases even more. Of course, this does lead to huge amounts of stress, and she indeed starts to hear things that don’t exist. Her co-workers are also interesting. Overall, it’s a nice series, though the fact remains that this is a slice-of-life. That isn’t really my genre, so I doubt that I’ll follow this to the end unless this turns out to be really good.

Code Geass – Lelouch of the Rebellion
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Okay, and here we have our big-budgetted action-mecha anime of the year. It’s promising to be epic, with a world empire as the enemy. The character designs are done by Clamp, which means that each of the characters looks very appealing. I’m not too sure yet of the main character. The way the creators depicted him as a chess champion was rather bad. We’ve got this impossible setting and he manages to win without any trouble at all. If you’re going to use chess, at least try to explain a bit more. Also, by looking at the OP, the cast of characters seems to be huge. This can be a good think, if they’re used well. I’m not saying anything yet. You need to see more than just one of two episodes for shows of this kind to really tell their quality. Still, my initial verdict is good. It’s got great music, the terrorists seem interesting, and the way the Britannia officials are treating their subordinates just screams potential.

Utawarerumono Review – 70/100

October 15, 2006 by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Utawarerumono is a fantasy war anime. It basically follows one man, who claims the throne of one country and uses his forces to defend his people, combined with your occasional cute characters and slice of life when the battles have stopped for a bit.

First of all, this show is based on a hentai game, so yes, it’s got a lot of cute girls: a couple of busty angels, some sexy warrior females and a couple of cute girls who don’t belong in a battlefield. Furthermore, most characters, with one or two exceptions, look like they’re either in their tens or twenties. The anime seems to have never heard of the concept of “war veterans”. Oh, and yes. The main character is your typical harem lead, apart from the fact that he wears a mask and seems to be an actual adult, instead of a 14-year-old brat.

Like expected, things just go too easy for our main character in the beginning. We do get to see some war tactics, but this anime does not attempt to move away from the basics. Also, especially near the beginning, characters join the main character’s army for no apparent reason. To simulate battles, the creators also decided to use CGI for animating the different soldiers fighting. Let’s just say that that doesn’t work.

Still, that doesn’t mean that this anime doesn’t have good point. Starting from episode 11, the battles actually get very exciting. The creators actually decide to try out a few more things, with very interesting results. The plot actually gets a bit of substance, and this anime really goes into the right direction. Aside from a few humps and bumps, these scenes were pretty interesting to watch.

But then suddenly, inside the pure fantasy world, this anime starts to introduce mechas and zombies. Something that so doesn’t fit in the atmosphere, and it’s indeed not surprising that this atmosphere gets ruined because of this. The anime then finishes with some interesting final episodes, but it never really managed to fix the damage done by the sudden introduction of science-fiction elements. That’s a real pity, as this anime really was heading in the right direction of a good fantasy anime.

Oh, and one final remark. The main focus of this anime is the good guys. Don’t expect the bad guys to have any substance at all. They’re either evil because they’re manipulated, or their reasons for being evil is simply never explained. The good guys, however, do get healthy doses of character development at times. I also liked the way that at a few times, this anime takes a break in the middle of one storyline in order to focus on yet another, totally different storyline. When that story is finished, the first story reappears, and also gets its conclusion. It’s a nice way to keep people interested.

Overall, if there ever was a series with its ups and downs, it’s Utawarerumono. It’s got so many good point, but for every good point, it seems to have a bad point.