Author: psgels

Popolocrois 2003 – 08 – ICE, not Water

by psgels, posted in Popolocrois 2003



I love the huge contrast between the serious scenes and the laid-back scenes in this anime. The Seirei of Darkness really works as a bad guy, which turns the scenes in which he is featured quite dark indeed. However, Pinon, Luna, Marco and all of the others are just little kids, having fun. The times at which they’re playing with each other really have a very light overall mood. When you combine these two opposites with each other, the result turns out quite interesting indeed. 🙂

This episode was quite interesting. The Seirei of Darkness comes into action again, he wonders how a little brat called Pinon could have defeated his minions. He therefore makes a plan in order to spy on him. Pinon, meanwhile, is playing with Ulala, Luna, Papuu, Hirarin and Bobo at the ocean. General Gon, who’s supposed to be guarding them looked quite sad in the huge heat in his uniform. The subject of conversation then gets brought to the school. In the end, Luna wants to go to school, and Pinon has to go with her. Something he doesn’t really like.

That evening, the Seirei of Darkness takes an innocent monster over, in order to do something. The next day, Pinon tries to stop Papu, Bobo and Hirarin from going along with them to school, as pets aren’t allowed. Then he and Luna head to school. It seems a small tournament is going to be hosted that afternoon. What follows is just an ordinary day at school, full of detentions as three certain “pets” have been following Pinon into school.

The three annoying classmates also became a bit less annoying during this episode, as they actually played a very major part in it. It starts when they end up cleaning for detention, along with Pinon and Luna. It seems that they indeed were just curious, though Pinon runs away every time they bother him with it. But yeah, I guess he doesn’t like the attention on him. After all, people begin to immediately compare him to Pietoro.

Then, the Seirei of Darkness carries out his plan: create a huge barrier around the school, infest that barrier with monsters and see how Pietoro reacts. Marco, who was supposed to be attending the tournament, also arrives, and meets up with Papu, Bobo and Hirarin. Inside the barrier, General Don managed to turn everything into a tournament: five monsters versus Pinon, Luna and the three annoying classmates, in one-on-one duels.

Meanwhile, it seems that I was wrong on assuming that the third and final Seirei was to be the Water-Seirei. In fact, it’s an Ice-Seirei, as suddenly, the entire ocean has frozen over. Marco, meanwhile, has found a way to go under the barrier through a corridor Pietoro often used to run away from school. Papu, Bobo and Hirarin join him.

In any case, the tournament was predictable, but fun. Luna starts first, after which the three classmates have to fight and Pinon will be last. his indeed meant that one of the classmates had to win against a monster, though the way the creators solved this actually was pretty creative. Thanks to Pinon, for giving them some advice on fighting. In any case:
– Luna has to fight against a Bird of Paradise. These mainly use sound waves which put people to sleep. A couple of earplugs and Luna’s magic were enough to overcome this.
– Second is the first of the classmates (I wish they’d give them some actual names) against a Pitcher, or a squirrel who throws with walnuts. In the end, it turns into a baseball game, in which the classmate attempts to hit the walnut right back at the pitcher, and overpowering it in the confusion. Good plan, though he misses, the walnut bounces back from a tree and knocks the poor guy out.
– The second classmate (Lorris, thank god this one does have a name) doesn’t do much better when he suddenly runs off for a bathroom visit. It seems quite random at first, though surprisingly, the sneak route Marco’s using actually leads to the bathroom. And so, the two of them end up making the school monster-free.
– The third classmate wins in a very amusing way, when the monster, a weak version of a humanoid bull, trips and lands out of the ring.
– Pinon then has to win against the last monster, who was overpowered by the Seirei of Darkness. Bobo, Hirarin and Papu attempt to help him, though Pinon thankfully declines, as everyone has been fighting on their own accord. In the end, Pinon doesn’t win because of his dragon powers, but making the enemy trip as well. This time, though, it wasn’t an accident. ^^;

Still, the Seirei of Darkness exits with the message that he’s found Pinon’s weakness. I wonder what it might be. And I wonder if it’s something Hirarin and Bobo aren’t able to fix. In any case, Luna’s quite upset when she finds out about the ocean being frozen over. Next episode, it’ll be time for the Ice Seirei!

The three classmates were very interesting. It’s clear that they aren’t skilled in fighting at all, though in the end, all of them ended up fighting. Okay, some weren’t as successful, but Lorris actually helped Marco, and saved him, and the other actually won because he wasn’t scared to run away.

Night Head Genesis – 03 – Space Gives Answers. Literally

by psgels, posted in Night Head Genesis



For the ones who haven’t seen this episode yet, I’ll just give a small warning: Night Head Genesis is one disturbing anime! You could say that it’s the Higurashi of the Summer-season. People really are driven mad during some of the scenes. Especially the fact that we’re only at episode three of 24/26 shows that there’ll most probably be a lot scenes to follow, which will be even more disturbing than the things we’re shown here.

Heh, I’m beginning to like this show more and more. Remember the vision Naoya had about the woman in red? Where she was strangling that woman? Well, it appears that she’s a serial killer. That totally explains her behaviour from the previous episode. She and her companion were hungry and looked for something to eat. A bar in the middle of nowhere was perfect for this, in order to keep the amount of suspicion as low as possible. This plan, however, backfired once Naota and Naoya dropped by. Once she heard about Naoya’s ability, she wanted to leave as soon as possible. She grabbed her chance after Naota went out of control, though she carelessly pushed him aside, which was enough to trigger Naoya’s visions.

The thing is, that both Naoya as the woman are still being haunted by these visions. The heavier the images are, the bigger the size of the impact is they make on Naoya. Naoya gets plagued by the visions of the woman violently struggling five different women with purple clothes, while the woman keeps seeing eyes everywhere, in combination with the fact that her mind became unstable once she touched Naoya. I think that that’s a nasty side-effect of his powers.

Naoya does realize, however, her motives: she’s crazy. For some reason, she considers every woman in a purple dress as her enemy. And enemies in her eyes have to be killed immediately. It’s not yet clear how she came to think of this. Bad youth? Dumped by a guy for a girl in a purple dress? Blackmail? Her male companion also is an interesting case. He’s in love with the woman, and even though he knows what she’s doing, he’s so blinded by his love that he’ll help her in anything. It’s strange if you realize what a person is willing to do for his loved one.

Naota investigates a bit, and notices that only four victims have been found. The fifth one has yet to be discovered. However, the woman never made any effort in hiding her victims. It’s as if she wanted the victims to be found. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be strange that this fifth body hasn’t been found by anybody? The preview for the next episode had the answer, surprisingly. *note to self: the previews of Night Head Genesis are not afraid to display spoilers. Skip them.* In any case, Naoya also has the ability to see in the future. The fifth woman he saw being killed has yet to be killed. That’s why her body hasn’t been found yet, as it it’s still alive at that time. Not aware of the things (ropes, in this case) to come in the future.

Meanwhile, we learn where Shouko has ran off to: space. It seems that from there, she’s able to see everything. I think that you can compare her power a lot with Naoya. Still, the differences remain. While Naoya needs to touch people in order to get information, she needs to be in space in order to make her powers work. Shouko also has the abilities to see events, while Naoya can see thoughts. It’s not yet clear whether Shouko can read people’s minds as well, but both of them have the ability of foresight. Shouko´s goals, however, aren’t clear yet. Also, does she work alone, or does she have superiors?

We also get a bit more info about Elder Misaki. It seems that Naota and Naoya never knew that he was the one who created the barrier. This explains why they haven’t tried to kill him. Though I wonder why Naoya wasn’t able to just… read his mind and find out that he created the barrier. Or the guy had some special skills which enabled him to forget any memory he has, including the fact that he was the one who created the barrier. We also see some shots of him at his death bed. It seems that the last thing he did was point at the sky (Shouko?).

This series’ art actually surprised me. During the first episode, even though the music was awesome, the art looked really low-budget. Though in the second episode, the art only showed flaws when Naota went out of control. And now with the third episode, the art looks even better. It’s strange. You would expect that the creators would try to make a good impression with the first episode, concerning the art style. They of course did, but the low-budgetty art-style could have turned some people off.

In any case, I liked this episode. So far, the first episode has definitely been the best one in Night Head Genesis, though it’s not very easy to make an episode better than that one. Still, I do love the themes of this anime. And for some reason, this anime reminds me of two other ones: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Jigoku Shoujo. Could that be some sort of sign?

Simoun – 19 – OMG Mamiina!

by psgels, posted in Simoun



This episode was so incredibly sneaky. Mamiina is screaming, along with the other priestesses, you hear gunfire and the screen freezes. It’s a typical cliff-hanger. The episode was nice, the developments were okay. Until it seems that that was everything BUT the cliff-hanger, and the scenes which followed totally blew me away! That was SO awesome!

In any case, the episode starts as a standard Simoun episode. It’s centred around one character this time: Mamiina. She’s grown so much, ever since she showed up for the first time. In any case, during the previous episode, both Aaeru and Yun were thinking the same thing, and they went after the others in their Simoun, despite all orders. It’s something you really expect them to do, especially from Aaeru. ^_^

This also places the problem with the government officials in the back, an focuses on what’s really important again: the characters. That really is the thing Simoun’s good at: it’s immensely huge cast of extremely well developed characters. That’s what makes this anime work.

Meanwhile, the others have reached the Messis, and it seems that the two remaining members of the Chor Riboru will be replacing Limone and Doninüra: Vyüra and an unnamed Sybilla. Vyüra is also someone who’s changed a whole lot. She gets surprised when she learns that Aaeru and Yun are gone. Wauf then gives the Chor Tempest a chance to rest. We then switch to the dormitories, in which Mamiina sits on her own. Rödoreamon then enters, wondering why she’s taking so long. As Mamiina’s braids are starting to get loose, Rödoreamon offers to redo them. This only shows how close the two of them have become, despite their incredibly different personalities.

We then switch to a meeting between Wauf and the Chor Tempest, in order to come up with a strategy. Vyüra and her unnamed companion will be guarding the rear of the Messis, and be in charge of the communication relays, while the Chor Tempest will handle the offensive part. Aruti then says something which upsets Furoe a bit (one of the few times she talks) Paraietta joins in and Mamiina needs to calm them a bit. They also mentions the fact that everyone ate from the same pot, something only she and Rödoreamon can understand, seeing that she put some mice on the menu. ^_^

Later, the mission has started. The Simoun will be divided into two teams: Neviriru, Mamiina, Furoe and Aruti and Paraietta, Kaimu, Morinasu and Rödoreamon. Both teams are searching the skies. Meanwhile, Vyüra wonders why the Chor Tempest was used for this mission. Wauf answers with something Dominüra used to say: because the headquarters understand nothing. Looking at the previous episode, I agree with her as well.

Furoe, meanwhile, gets a bit agitated when Neviriru wants to talk to Mamiina a bit alone. About the fact that she’s changed. I think that Furoe’s the only one whom Aruti actually talks to. It’s very interesting, maybe this gets used later on in the series. Then the two Simoun run into the airbase. Neviriru gives orders to examinate the thing very carefully, as patrols might be lurking.

Paraietta, meanwhile, continues to act spaced-out, and people have to ask her twice in order to get a reply. Yun and Aaeru have meanwhile caught up with the Messis, and they immediately advance to the front lines. Wauf also gives the Messis the order to go full speed. I guess he was waiting for the two of them before he wanted to take action. ^_^

Meanwhile, Neviriru and the others have been spotted, and waves of patrols emerge from the air platform, including the stolen Simoun from episode 17, the two which managed to escape. Aaeru and Yun meanwhile have passed Paraietta and the others and head for the other group. Neviriru, does her utter best in order to defeat the enemies, though the enemy Simoun prove to be tricky to defeat with just Ri Maajons. But then again, this is logical. The Simoun are the only crafts which have total freedom in the air. The other airplanes have to obey rules, which makes them predictable, which in turn makes them quite easy targets for Ri Maajons.

Neviriru then tells Furoe and Aruti to escape, while she distracts the enemies. In the end, they get hit by one of the flying planes, and they manage to crash on the air platform. Mamiina is okay, though Neviriru is unconscious. The enemy Simoun are the soonest to be near them, and they approach Mamiina, and point their guns at her.

A very nice plot twist follows when it appears that the priests are actually good guys! They do view the Sybilla as the persons highest to Tempus Patium. In the end, they do seem to have acknowledged that Tempus Patiem and their god remain the same. They also claim to be different from the people from the Archipelago, and that they wish to help Mamiina and Neviriru. The latter recognizes no lies in their words, so the former agrees. Sortof. 🙂

Mamiina then activates the Simoun again, along with one of the Priests, and they take off. The priests jump off, though Mamiina then realizes that the Priests will be executed if they remain. She then cuts off one of her breads, says farewell to Neviriru and jumps on the platform, along with the priests. Meanwhile, the forces of the Archipelago come rushing in. Mamiina then screams with all of the others the infamous word: “Aaeru”.

And when you think things are already amazing, just wait till the next scenes, in which the other Sybilla discover that Mamiina has been shut! Especially Aaeru and Rödoreamon have it hard. Wauf meanwhile arrives, and blasts the air platform down with the Messis. He works really well as a captain. He really earned that job. ^_^

Mamiina immediately gets taken to intensive care, while Rödoreamon and Aaeru can’t take it anymore. Neviriru, meanwhile, is nowhere to be found. Then the Messis retreats and the episode ends.

And what an episode it was! I’m SO glad that the focus on the characters didn’t disappeared along with Dominüra and Limone! I was a bit worried, as things seemed to have been settled down. But this episode proved that I had nothing to worry about. I can’t wait for even more awesomeness from Simoun.

I’m also wondering what’ll happen to the Priests from Plumbum. They obviously had their reasons to fight against the Simoun, and Angurasu showed that they aren’t afraid to blow down an airship from Simulacrum. Did Angurasu actually agree with their views?

Memorable Moment: Aaeru, after seeing Mamiina.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 18 – Don’t Look Behind, Or Else

by psgels, posted in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni



Okay, so I was wrong. Six arcs it is, then. This arc will contain a massive six episodes, while the sixth arc will close the series with the last five episodes. The seventh and the eighth arc will then very likely come in some sort of OVA, even though it hasn’t been officially announced yet.

I’m not too happy with the fact that this arc will consist out of six episodes. Shion does remain my least favourite character, and this episode once again proved this. While it did have some funny moments, Shion was just utterly boring. Too much time is spent on her, and her feelings to Satoshi. One episode, okay. But this is just getting too much.

In my opinion, there’ve been three moments at which Higurashi no Naku Koro ni really shone. The first was Rena during the second and the third episode, which was also what originally made me fall in love with this series. The creators really projected her as a unique, evil character. Then, ten episodes later, Keiichi gained my respect while he killed Satoshi’s uncle, only to learn that it never really happened. The third was the fourth arc. That arc really was amazing, focused on Rika and her prophetic abilities. Perhaps the anime should’ve focused at small arcs, instead of the big ones.

Ah well, at least the sixth arc will get better again, when Rena finally comes into the spotlight again. She’s been away for quite a while, it’ll be good to see her back, with all her schizophrenic glory.

Until then, we’ll have to do with Shion. The episode begins with Shion questioning Oishi about the psychopath who killed Satoshi’s aunt. By the time that the police arrived, he was already dead. He clearly was manipulated into this in order to cover up for the things Shion and Satoshi did. Oishi then mentions Oyashiro as the culprit again.

We then switch to the OP, after which we see Shion in the library, trying to figure out what happened to the victims of Oyashiro-sama. She did manage to realize that each of the victims was on bad terms with the Sonozaki-family, though Takano interrupts her. She then explains Shion about the rumours about Oyashiro-sama which have been floating around. About one person dying and one disappearing. This, of course, is total nonsense, as Rika revealed that also some people who were missing turned out to be dead. It’s no more than just coincidences which have been noticed and inflated by certain people.

Takano also reveals something interesting: she’s researching about Oyashiro-sama’s curse, and the ancient, forgotten history of Hinamizawa. Takano tells her the things she told Keiichi while in the temple in the second arc. That’s why she didn’t get scared just as Keiichi when she heard it.

That afternoon, Mion comes to visit Shion. At that moment, Mion isn’t affected by the disease, and she starts apologizing about what happened. Shion accepts, though she gets furious when Mion wonders where Satoshi went. Shion’s probably affected by the disease at this moment. Mion reveals that she knows nothing about what happened to Satoshi. Though I think that the disease made her do something, which she forgot afterwards. Mion still remains on the top of my list for the suspects who could have killed Satoshi.

Shion then discovers that Mion actually endured the same torture she did, in order to bring her and Satoshi together. Though he disappeared afterwards. I have no idea which parts of these were acted. In any case, a year passes, until we move to the beginning of the second arc, but now from Shion’s perspective.

I was a bit disappointed to see that the things which Keiichi already saw weren’t shown again, but actually just skipped. I would have loved to see such a thing, though apparently, something’s about to happen which requires three whole episodes, while the second arc just took two of them.

The good part, however, is that some actual funny scenes are shown. It starts with a deja vu from episode 16, in which Shion encounters those three punks yet again. I still love the way they talk. ^^ Then Keiichi comes to show off, and you can indeed see the difference from him to Satoshi. This also was a scene which wasn’t shown in the second arc.

In any case, the fact that Keiichi meets up with Shion at the restaurant isn’t shown. This means that Mion actually was the one who met him there, and she was the one who brought him the lunch. Ever since, Shion started trying to get between the two of them, in a funny way. ^^ Still, Keiichi keeps reminding Shion of Satoshi. The fact that she reacted so differently in the third arc was because Keiichi didn’t pat her on the head like that. That’s why she acted differently, and I have a strange feeling that that scene was supposed to come in the fifth episode as well, but it was cut out for some reason.

In any case, Mion indeed loves Keiichi. Because of this, we know for sure that she indeed was shocked when Keiichi yelled at her in the second arc. This also shows that the disease took over and she started yelling about Oishi, and it also shows that the fact that she hid needles in the ohagi could never have been true. Of course, most people already knew this, but it’s good to have some confirmation. It also must’ve been very hard for Mion to see Keiichi so extremely serious towards her during the third arc.

Mion then tells Shion about the doll Keiichi gave to Rena. Shion then comforts her and they have a very cute conversation. ^_^ Shion, however gets more and more reminded of Satoshi. We then switch to where Mion and Shion are both fighting over Keiichi. Mion has a very evil look on her face when Keiichi pats Shion on the head, in a good way. Shion, however, has other thoughts, concerning a certain yellow-haired boy.

When Shion’s alone, she whines a bit more about Satoshi and the usual. Shion then gets the feeling that she’s being followed. (Interesting fact: remember when Keiichi had the feeling he was being followed in the eleventh episode?) That night, the Watanagashi takes place. Shion then runs into Tomitake and Takano. Takano reveals then that she spends a lot of time in the library, and that the two of them are going to break in the shrine. It then gets confirmed that it was indeed Shion who went with Keiichi into the shrine, and the reason for why she did it.

It’s strange, in the second arc, Shion was very calm, but now, she looks everything but calm. She also hears strange footsteps coming from somewhere. Keiichi and Takano don’t seem to hear it. I’m suspecting that the disease is messing with Shion at that moment. That evening, a party is being held in the Sonozaki-house. Mion and Obaba play as host, while it seems that Shion drank too much. And that at that age.

That night, when everyone’s left, Shion overhears a conversation between Mion and Obaba. I’m not sure whether Mion has taken control over the Sonozaki-family yet, though Obaba’s way of talking suggests that she hasn’t. In any case, Mion’s talking in disease mode again, and they discuss a certain male who has angered Oyashiro-sama’s anger. For some reason, the police are looking into it, which seems to suggests that it’s more than just breaking into the shrine. Mion then suspects that Takano has something to do with it.

It’s very interesting that the male name doesn’t get mentioned. It could be either Tomitake or Keiichi, but sneaking into a shrine couldn’t be something you’d call the police over to investigate. Shion, however, seems to think otherwise and immediately concludes that Mion’s getting angry over the fact that she snuck into the festival shrine. Shion then has a flashback of the sixteenth episode, at which Rena explains why Satoshi felt that he’s being followed. It’s being a sign of Oyashiro-sama, that you’re being followed, that someone’s spying on you. At that moment, Shion looks behind her and sees Mion.

This actually explains the first phone call between Shion and Keiichi. Shion then informs Keiichi about Tomitake and Takano’s death. It seems that she gets terrified by Mion after the cliff-hanger, and then she hears about the fate of the twosome. As she highly believes in Oyashiro-sama’s curse, she immediately believes that there are two deaths this time, which has to mean that the two of them have to disappear. She then tells this to Keiichi, who also believes it.

It seems that the last three episodes will really be explaining what happened dring the second arc. Let’s recap a bit, shall we?
– Tomitake and Takano head to the river shore. Afterwards, something happens which probably involves Takano killing Tomitake and stuffing him inside a car, only to end up getting killed herself.
– The next evening, Shion invites Keiichi, in order to make him meet up with Oishi, so that he can tell him a bit about the Sonozaki-family. I think that Shion decided to trust Keiichi after what happened to her after this episode’s cliff-hanger. I think that she believes that Mion will do her no harm if she’s with Keiichi.
– Later that night, Shion makes her first phone call and tells him about the two deaths.
– The next day, Keiichi learns that the village chief has disappeared the day after the Watanagashi.
– Rika comes to Keiichi, letting him know that she’ll protect him from something that probably gets clear after this episode’s cliff-hanger.
– That evening, Shion calls Keiichi again, and she tells him that she was the reason for the disappearance of the village chief. We’ll probably see if that really is the case at the end of the next episode.
– Keiichi and Rena realize that Satoko and Rika are gone.
– Mion lets the disease inside of her take control, almost shaking Keiichi off a ladder in a badly animated way.
– Keiichi hears from Oishi that Shion’s been gone. What happens after the cliffhanger should give us some clues about why this happened.
– Either Shion or Mion phones Keiichi.

The fact remains that things didn’t happen as they seem, during the second arc. We have to take into account the beginning of the sixteenth episode, in which Shion has overpowered both Obaba and Mion. This gives us two options for the eighth episode:
– The Mion we saw was actually Shion, pretending to be Mion.
– Shion did try to overpower Mion, but in the end Mion proved to be too strong for Shion, and Mion severely punished Shion for this in disease-mode.

I think I’m going to go for the second option after all. If the Mion in the eighth episode indeed was Shion, she would have mentioned Satoshi, which she didn’t. Instead, she was tortured by Mion, because of the fact that Mion was the head of the house and Shion had committed a crime. While she was tortured, Shion began to compare Keiichi with Satoshi more and more, until she eventually started to believe that they were the same, hence her reaction when Keiichi saw her.

I have no idea whether this is true or not, but the fact remains that either Mion tortured Shion, or Shion tortured Mion. If that’s indeed the case, one of the next three episodes will most definitely be covering this subject, I’m guessing for either the fifth or the sixth. I’m urging everyone, including myself, to watch these three episodes on an empty stomach.

Another thing which I noticed is that ever since the third arc, there’s been less and less focus on the disease, which makes people get extremely angry. The third arc did feature Keiichi angry a couple of times, but it never was as bad as Mion in the second arc, or Rena and Keiichi in the first arc.

Overall, the episode did have some cute scenes, but the fact that it centred around Shion made this episode rather dull. The next episodes suggest that the series will be focusing more on the mystery-department, instead of Shion’s love whom I don’t care about anyway.

Memorable Moment: Mion, getting annoyed by Shion. In the non-disease-way.

xxxHolic – 17 – Give Someone Some Fake Glasses and They Can Overcome Anything

by psgels, posted in xxxHolic



Oh my… this surely was a unique episode. And I mean that in a good way. I’ve honestly never seen an episode in which so much emphasis was put in just characters talking. 85% of the episode contains just Yuuko and Watanuki, talking about the case of the episode. 10% of the time is spent showing the woman while during the last 5%, Watanuki has to buy a couple of fake glasses. No Doumeki, no Himawari. Heck even no Mokona, Maru and Moro. Is it also me, or did the 85%-part of the episode feature no background music at all?

I really am left utterly silent because of this episode. Clearly, this manga chapter was taken in order to save a little budget, but the results turned out pretty awesome because of it. The woman in this episode has tendency to deliberately do all kinds of things which aren’t in her best interest. Things like pressing fire alarms, deliberately failing her tests, throwing a cup of coffee at Yuuko and even getting hit by a moped.

It’s easy to think that the woman’s got a problem, though Yuuko explains that she actually was busy balancing her life. For every good thing which happened to her, she’d compensate with something which wouldn’t be so good for her. But she’d never do something which would ruin her life, and the aftereffects of her actions all were only bad in short terms. She would easily be able to recover from all of them. After all, pressing fire alarms would get her in detention and she’d get yelled at. If she fails her tests at one school, she can just try another. Yuuko can get pretty angry if someone threw a cup of coffee over her, though it’s just someone she’d never see again, and Yuuko would quite probably forgive her for it. And fractures, indeed, heal.

The interesting thing was that there was also no spirit involved at all. Everything was going on in her mind. The question, however, remains whether she liked her habit or not. After all, everyone of us has some kind of strange habit. Some of them we like, some of them we don’t mind, and some of them we hate. The woman clearly was unconciously in the middle-category, but she did ask Yuuko to cure her. I think that Watanuki made her see that the things she’s doing aren’t very healthy, and that she’d indeed better stop. You can compare this with smokers and drinkers.

Yuuko uses the good old placebo-effect in order to cure her. In case you don’t know what this means: give a sick person a worthless item, tell him it’ll cure him and 10 to 1 that he’ll feel better afterwards. It’s very strange, but interestingly enough, it does work somehow. It also does in this case. Because the woman thinks that the glasses help, she tries to lose her habit. We don’t see how it’ll turn out, though the does manage to surpress the need to get hit by a car.

Yuuko also definately was interesting during this episode. After all, there had to be a reason for her to know that the fake glasses would be useful. The fact that she ordered Watanuki to buy some must mean that she knew or anticipated that someone with a problem which could be cured with the placebo-effect would come to her. Or was there more to it? Was her reason to put this order all the way in a locker near a train station just to tease Watanuki (which worked perfectly, by the way) or was it some method of aquiring things you need before you even know you need them? Or maybe it’s just me, thinking too much.

Overall, now that I think back, this was an awesome episode of xxxHolic. Some may find it boring, though I loved the fact that the episode just consisted of people talking. xxxHolic sure does know how to bring a bit of variety in its episodes.

I’ve got just one problem with xxxHolic. It’s a great series, but why does every victim have to be a woman? Seriously, apart from Watanuki, Domeki, the foxes and the guys who dated the woman back in episode 9, every single one of the appearing characters has been female. Was this also the case in the manga? Or did the creators of this anime decide to leave out every manga arc dealing with a male as victim?

Memorable Moment: Watanuki, finding out about Yuuko’s order.

Night Head Genesis – 02 – Interesting New Show

by psgels, posted in Night Head Genesis



I decided to wait till the second episode before determining to blog this or not. I just saw the second, and I’m really enthusiastic about this show. The first episode will come as soon as two other anime get their first episode subbed. I’m looking at you, Angelique and Flag!

I do admit, though that the previous episode was better than this one. In just one episode, it made me feel huge sympathy for two young boys, which does not happen that often. The fact that fifteen years passed also added up to this, as I’m a major fan of time-leaps. At least, if they’re carried out well. *coughJyuuOhSeicough* The music also didn’t play through the entire episode. This is a shame, as it’s one of the most-fitting soundtracks I’ve heard in a while, except for Noein, perhaps.

Still, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t love this episode. It’s very different from the previous episode, and it focuses on a man, who hates people with supernatural powers with passion. And this guy just happens to frequent the pub in which Naota and Naoya have landed in.

This guy, or Jin, is an interesting case. He used to have a extremely cruel mother, who used to harass him, and eventually ran away with a guy who claimed to be supernatural. Whether this guy really was paranormally gifted remains unknown, but Jin never got over this. The fact that he’s violent and impulsive, combined with this lead to a growing hate towards people who claim to be supernatural, and he isn’t scared to let the world know whenever he’s got the chance. He’s a pitiful guy, though the short-tempered Naota really has trouble not to pay attention to his ramblings. In the end, Jin remained the one with the most unstable personality. After all, he just believed what he saw and heard from people who were “pretending” to be supernatural, and let his anger take control. I wonder how he will end up after this incident. After all, he can’t say that supernaturals don’t exist anymore. I think his hate will either get larger or he’ll just pretend that nothing happened, and stop talking about supernatural things in the first place.

Naota also really has grown during these fifteen years. But at the same time, you can see that he still remains the same Naota. His temper still remains, though he doesn’t just go out of control when he’s angry anymore. The times at which he does lose control is when Jin is beating someone up. Naoya also seems to have set himself a goal to prevent Naota from getting too angry. Though his own powers remain horrifying, especially when the only things he sees are horrible, malicious and depressing thoughts.

In the end, the main purpose of this episode was to show the fact that normal humans are unable to accept paranormal humans, and they instantly get labeled as monsters. Most humans indeed are afraid when they see things they don’t know about. To see things that aren’t right in their world.

Two visitors in the pub appear to be either main characters, or major side-characters. Apparently, they also decided to stop by and eat something, and never had any intention of getting involved in the mess which followed afterwards. At the end of the episode, they go away as fast as possible, though the woman does make the mistake of letting Naoya touch her. This shows a picture of a woman, trying to strangle the two of them. According to Naoya, they died afterwards, though I think they either lived afterwards, or they´ve got some paranormal powers which makes them revive after being killed.

Shoko, the paranormal girl from the previous episode, meanwhile indeed has disappeared, in order to do something concerning the two brothers. She seems to be a major character in the anime, though her role still remains unclear. I also wonder what Miki will be doing afterwards. Her role cerainly isn´t over yet, though what is it?

Overall, I’m a huge fan of character-studies, and Night Head Genesis really promises to be awesome. It isn’t without flaws, though. The storytelling’s a bit unconfortable at times, and things depend on coincidences a bit too much. Not to mention that Naota getting angry gave me Higurashi-flashbacks. Still, this anime definately stands among the three good shows of this season.

Otogi Juushi Akazukin – 06 – “Nyandatto?”

by psgels, posted in Otogi Juushi Akazukin



Okay, that was a surprisingly dark episode! Especially at this stage of the anime, you wouldn’t expect it. If the creators were to make this into a main storyline, things would turn really awesome, though it seems like this is just a two-episode arc. Still, I really loved this episode. And Randagio comes in action!

As the episode was so serious, the downfall was that I had extra trouble trying to figure out what was being said. Still, I did get the overall picture. We start the episode with Shirayuki, walking to a children’s playground. She then tries to fire a blizzard at a random direction. That, or she tries to establish a connection with Fandavere. This, however, fails. She wonders why.

Ringo, meanwhile, is extremely happy because Summer Holidays started. Summer Holidays mean camp, and it seems that Ringo likes camps very much. Souta will probably go as well, though he’s got some unusual plans to do there. After all, he’s isolated, he has hobbies nobody else has. He really likes doing so, but he’s the only one in that, and he isn’t able to see it.

Souta then gets the feeling he’s being followed, which appears to be Hansel’s servant from the previous episode, spying on him, trying to figure out the location of the barrier. This doesn’t work the first time, though and it loses sight of Souta. Akazukin and Baru, meanwhile, try to wake up a sleeping Ibara. They indeed know how scary she can be when she wakes up. ^^

Shirayuki then returns, and tells them what happened. Something could have happened to Fernando. Shirayuki wonders about Souta’s safety, though he then enters the room. He also tells them about the fact that summer holidays have started, which means that he doesn’t have to go to school. His mother and father will be away, so he either has enough time to spend at home, or he plans to go to the camp. One of these two, no idea which is the right one.

Then, a discussion follows in which Shirayuki and Akazukin explain that they have to go to Fandavere, in order to check up on Fernando. Akazukin then suggests to take Souta along with them. After all, she’ll protect him if something happens. Ringo, however, is not happy with this. After all, she wanted to have fun with Souta and her friends at camp, and now she hears that he’s going to another world. She also really worries about his safety. I guess we can now safely say that she’s in love with him. I have no idea whether this will turn out to be good or not, though this episode definitely turned out in the right way.

Souta, however, plans to go, no matter what Ringo says. The fact does remain, indeed, that Souta’s mother might be there. I nearly forgot about it, but she indeed also has to have some kind of part in the story. Ringo then starts to ignore him. Souta gets a bit worried, and heads home. This gives Hansel the chance to find out the location of the barrier, and he grabs it, with success. He then sends Randagio to get them. Strangely enough, he doesn’t decide to invade Souta’s home. I guess he has to find more about the barrier in order to be able to do that.

In any case, he doesn’t send Gretel, as she has failed too much. Gretel, however, wants to be acknowledged by her brother, so she makes plans of her own. Randagio, meanwhile tries to find some suitable Nightmarians which could do the trick. I like him as a villain. ^^

The next day is the day of graduation, and Souta overslept. Ringo didn’t wake him up, and she continues to ignore him through the ceremony. Afterwards, she stares evilly at him. That night, Souta’s packing his stuff, while he has a call with his father. Surprisingly, he’s lying about his plans for the holidays. That, after he claimed that he doesn’t like lying in the previous episode.

Then the serious part of the episode really begins, when Souta is in his room, along with Akazukin and Shirayuki, who seem to have taken his bed. Akazukin actually talks with a concerned voice for the first time ever. She wonders if it’s really okay with Ringo, though Souta believes that it is. She’ll understand him soon. Akazukin then goes to sleep, while Souta attempts to finish the homework he got for the holidays in one night, so that he can use his full holiday time to go to Fandavere.

In the end, he succeeds, though I doubt that he got any sleep. The next morning, Ringo is working at a festival, serving some kind of stew. Her friends then come by, and notice that her cooking isn’t as good as usual. I guess that it’s because she didn’t make it for Souta. Ringo then makes it again, with the plan of offering some to Souta, and it tastes good again. Souta, meanwhile makes a video for Ringo, in order to apologize, while Shirayuki, Akazukin and Baru try to wake up Ibara.

That night, Ringo finally has time to go to Souta’s house, though it’s already empty. She then sees the tape, and plays it. It was very funny to see Ibara trying to strangle Akazukin and Baru on the background, while Souta was sincerely apologizing. Ringo actually cries when she finds out. It seems that Souta and the others have just left before Ringo arrived, as they’re still in Erude. Ringo then calls Souta, yelling certain things I couldn’t understand at him. Then some nightmarians cut Souta off.

Randagio then comes in action, after insulting Baru for a dog. The catch with this week’s Nightmarians is the fact that they’re like mutated moles, so they soon hide in the ground, digging many holes. In the end, they still proved no match for Ibara and her vines. Randagio then escapes through one of these tunnels. While this was light-hearted, the thing that follows absolutely was not.

Ringo, worried about Souta, rushes over, when Gretel appears, knocking her out and taking her as hostage. The episode ends. The next episode might actually be a very important one, as it’ll show how far the creators are willing to go. We’ve got three options:
– The simplest is that Ringo will be saved in the next episode, and go along with Souta and the others to Fandavere. I’m actually not hoping for this option to be chosen. Not because I dislike Ringo as a character, but the other two options provide so many possibilities.
– The second option is that Ringo will be saved, though she won’t go along with Souta. This means that she’ll get worried about him during her entire time in camp, while Souta has to learn to rely on someone else than Ringo. Either Akazukin, Shirayuki or himself.
– I’m actually hoping for the creators to go with the third way: The Three Musketeers attempt to save Ringo, but they fail, making her a hostage for Hansel. So many awesome things are possible with this. I know, this option will probably not get chosen, but it would be awesome if it was.

Memorable Moment: Akazukin and Baru trying to wake up Ibara.

Tsubasa Chronicle – 38 – The Third Season Will End It All

by psgels, posted in Tsubasa Chronicle



Remember last time? Well, Mokona still holds the feather when he (she?) transports to yet another world. This time, it’s a technologically advanced one. They land on the middle of a desert road. Mokona’s about to give Sakura her feather, though a huge truck is keen on preventing Sakura and the feather from reuniting. What follows is our heroes, trying to catch up with the truck. In this, they get help from a convenient Rail Bus, who happens to be passing by.

At the end of the episode, they’ve missed some valuable chances in getting the feather, and night has fallen. The country has a law which prevents all cars from driving at night, so everyone’s stuck. The feather lies beyond walking distance. A motor gang then comes their way, with their intentions set on two eloping lovers who happen to be passengers of the same rail bus our heroes are on. The episode ends with Syaoran and Kuro-tan about to knock the brains out of these punks, in order to grab their motorbikes and drive to the feather.

Well then, there are a lot of flaws in this story:
– The convenient Rail Bus who happened to pass by conveniently passed by a bit too convenient.
– Same with the truck.
– Same with the truck which crashed.
– How come the rope Syaoran threw actually connected?
– In fact, why didn’t Syaoran just jump on the truck and climb to the feather? He was running right next to the truck, so he would easily have been able to do it.
– The reason for the girl to pay for our protagonists is a bit weak.
– How did Syaoran know where the truck was going to stop?
– A lot of budget was saved by not paying too much attention at the characters running.

Still, all these points don’t matter. I’ve had a very enjoyable time watching this episode, and that’s what counts. I especially liked the fact that each of the passengers of the bus had his or her own story, and they were actually more than just passengers on a bus. I also liked the fact that this is one of the first realistic chases, which just involves using two vehicles, at very long distances with differences of about an hour between them. I also loved it that this chase wasn’t about the tension. Its purpose instead was to keep the story going, and give enough time to explore the different actors.

The old man also was very entertaining. Especially in the beginning, when he wouldn’t say much. He really is hte perfect conversation partner for Kurogane, and it was so funny to see that at one point, Mokona was sitting next to him. ^_^

Oh, and I’ve also managed to discover something regarding the entire series: after the second season is over, a third season will be aired. This will probably be from april 2007 till september 2007. That also is the last season of Tsubasa Chronicle which will arrive. This means that there will be an ending. And the creators know it. I’m happy to know that the creators have set an ending for themselves. Now they really have enough time to plan out the main story well enough. Until then, I’m planning to enjoy the fillers of Tsubasa Chronicle.

Overall, Tsubasa Chronicle excels in its storytelling, which is exactly what this episode was about. While it’s nowhere near the utter brilliance of last time, this episode did remain very entertaining.

Good Witch of the West – Astraea Testament Review – 81/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Good Witch of the West - Astraea Testament



This series also came out, along with the huge wave of new series at the beginning of the spring-2006-season. It’s a fantasy-series, embedded with lots of politics, drama and romance. With its 13 episodes, it’s a short series. Maybe a bit too short.

This series has two point at which it excels with some incredible quality: the story and the graphics. The graphics really are some of the best to be ever seen in anime. The character art really moves away from the standard-designs, in order to create something really unique. Each of the characters looks really beautiful. The hair has some very interesting shapes, and the CG is very nicely integrated with the regular drawings. It also becomes clear that the creators liked to play with lighting effects, which gives a really good atmosphere to the whole package.

The story also is incredibly well thought out. We’ve got a lot of different characters, all playing their own, distinct roles. The story’s got a lot of facets and elements. Characters have good reasons, and the setting is very creative. The story basically is a battle between three people for the position of the queen. As the story progresses, more elements keep getting added to the story, in order to turn it into a masterpiece.

Unfortunately, this anime also has bad points: the pacing and the storytelling. The story may be great, these two factor mess it up a bit. The fact remains that thirteen episodes is too little for this series. It would so have benefitted from six more episodes. Because it had to squish such a story in only 13 episodes, some elements did get lost. The fact also remains that quite a few time is spent on developing a love-triangle, which, in my opinion, only worked annoying. The last few episodes of the anime, however, these problems disappear and the anime is able to conclude in a very nicely paced ending.

Another thing this anime is very good at is creating tension. The music really helps in this. The anime features a very good soundtrack, which really works at times like these. The action scene also remain in the category of the better ones.

Overall, if you’re looking for a fantasy anime with a very good story, I’m certainly recommending this anime. Though this is not an anime you can afford to miss or forget even one second. If you do, the story will immediately make no more sense. Things just aren’t explained that well, and it would also be better to marathon this series, instead of watching one episode at a time. The anime remains great, though prepare for its flaws.

Good Witch of the West – Astraea Testament – 13 – Ending

by psgels, posted in Good Witch of the West - Astraea Testament



I love fast-paced endings. They’re so much better than the anime which leave only one question to be solved in the final episode. I guess we can now see the fruits of the enormously fast pacing of Good Witch of the West. Okay, it did leave some questions behind, and the ending itself was rather anticlimactic, though overall, I’m satisfied.

First of all, I made a mistake during the previous episode. When Firiel got transported by the wall, she met up with the Bard. Then, when she came back, Cain appeared. What he was doing there forever remains a mystery. In any case, Cain decided to travel with them, and then, at the end of the previous episode, Bard appeared again.

And yes, there was indeed another person besides Lot to play as a traitor: the king himself. I was very surprised that the creators decided to add a couple of funny scenes during the fight of Firiel, Roux and Leandra. Who would’ve thought that a plastic frog would be the solution? It’s something I really appreciated. Leandra also really showed that she received a healthy dose of character development during the series.

The Dragon-problem and Brigeonte’s invasion get a very nice conclusion. Adale gets to be the one to come with the solution: send all of the dragons to Brigeonte’s camp. I liked such a tactic. In the end, Eusis has to defeat every single dragon one by one. Some very nice scenes indeed.

At the second half of the episode, things get more serious, and less creative, unfortunately. It seems that the queen decided to take full responsibility for the things that have happened. It doesn’t exactly make her like a good queen, and both Leandra as Adale as Firiel scold her for this, though it’s Firiel who manages to get through to her. Then, Bard prays to the sage, and the sage makes the Miharu-Star move away. just who is this sage anyway?

Overall, especially the first half of the episode was incredibly fun to watch. So many things get solved at once, and not even at the last possible moment. The fact that the graphics became a bit messier at certain scenes only made this even better. The second half of the episode was satisfying, if you ignore that we never get any information about the sage.

Memorable Moments: Quite a few, Leandra’s actions against the King, Firiel and Roux suddenly appearing from out of nowhere, Roux realizing that the teleportation went wrong, the king revealing his plans, Adale coming up with her plan, Adale’s new haircut, Rouxbow trying to dig himself in Roux’ bag, Leandra’s reaction to this and the king’s reaction to the frog. ^^