Author: psgels

Simoun – 09 – To what extend is a person willing to believe in god?

by psgels, posted in Simoun



Yup, it’s as predicted. The Chor Tempest will go on. This episode was nothing rather special in terms of action and drama, but it did provide a huge load of interesting material for future episodes.

The most important part of this episode was Neviriru, who traveled to the temple in which Onashia rules. (I think this is called “The Centre”, not sure though. And what kindof place is the “Grand Temple”?) In there, she demonstrates her leadership, as she’s able to give a very nice speech, in order to make Onashia not disband the Chor Tempest. She was quite the heretic in this. All the priests around Onashia shivered and outraged when Neviriru compared flying in the Simoun to faring war and doing Ri Maajons to killing people. When she mentions that she doesn’t care about God’s will, people really got ticked off. Onashia, however, has the total opposite opinion. It has yet to be explained why she has. She’s quite the excentric person, and I’d love to get a bit more info on her. So far, we only know that she’s the one who oversees the gender-changing ceremonies at the Shrine, she rules the country of Simulacrum, she has a different opinion when compared to most of the high priests and she has a rather good memory.

Still, this also shows us more insight about the highly placed people in Simulacrum. It reminds me a lot of the medieval christianity. They believe in their god, and because they believe in the god they do, they think themselves more highly than anyone else. It’s a surprise that they haven’t attempted to shove their beliefs down the throat of others, like the cristians liked to do during the colonization-era.

About Dominüra, I was wrong. She’s evil. At least, she works for evil people. But at the same time, she sympathizes with the members of the Chor Tempest. Though I think that she got scolded enough to not care about this anymore, and carry out the assignment of her superiors. The last scene in the episode suggests this, in any case. Her superiors seem to be highly places officials. Oh, and they also let the Plumbum Priests invade the Arcus Prima.

The third and last major point in this episode came from the enemy. It seems that they’ve also been enlisting for suicide pilots. And now, their crafts don’t just shoot back, but they also explode when they hit something. It’s a good thing that these things have no accuracy at all. But this does show that the enemy’s getting more technically advanced by the minute. And more desperate as well. But then again, if you know that all of the soldiers you’re going to send to the battlefield will end up dying, why not turn them into suicide pilot, huh?

Harukonfu also had an interesting role. He’s been extremely shocked about what happened, which made him lose his own determined personality. He still does what his previous ideals told him, though with far less enthusiasm. We can see this when he attempts to apologize to Neviriru. His struggles with his ideals and memory turned this into a really weak attempt.

Rödoreamon is getting more pityful by the minute. The thing is that she’s shy. And when she does say something, she says the wrong thing. I suspect that this will move her away more and more from the others, unless she can get some kind of help froma good friend.

I LOVED how Limone was holding Aaeru’s hand at the end of the episode (when the Chor Tempest was introduced to its new, temporary battleship: The Messis). She’s just so adorable. She acts like a cool and cold girl all the time, though she can do this without too much suffering because she knows that she can rely on Aaeru. I never imagined how great the impact of episode four could have been.

Morinasu again demonstrates that her laid-back personality can work quite strong when it needs to. She’s easily able to comfort Limone. She also has a sharp eye when she’s the first to notice the enemy’s motives.

Aruti wanted the funeral ceremony to be over as soon as possible. Why?

Furoe really doesn’t care about the little details. We can see that in the way she attempted to pack her suitcase. ^^;

Yun has a high sense of duty. She likes to act serious, and she also attempted to protect Mamiina from the others.

Vyüra looks up to Neviriru, that’s for sure. Though she hasn’t got any respect for the other members of the Chor Tempest. I’m not sure about her opinion on Aaeru, however…

Anubitufu is a strong captain. You could really hear the enthusiasm in his voice when he spoke.

I also liked the way that, in the seventh episode, Mamiina was willing to sit in the back of the Simoun and operate the weapons, so that Neviriru would be able to sit in the front and fly the Simoun. It now turns out that she doesn’t care about this at all, when she let Aaeru sit in the front.

xxxHolic – 13 – Pidgeons

by psgels, posted in xxxHolic



xxxHolic returns with a normal case again, this episode. This time, we have a fallen angel. It’s a strange creature who can attach itself to a person who wants to be stronger so badly, that he doesn’t care if he loses control of himself. The fallen angel then lives as a parasite on its host, while this host loses its mind’s ability of self-control. In exchange, the host is freed from any burdens it suffers from. When the fallen angel has done its work, it detaches from its host, leaving it behind as an empty shell, and just goes and searches for a new host to leech from. The previous host has lost all critical thinking at that time. Only through active nurturing, the host body can be able to recover.

This time, the host body belonged to a girl named Rie. Everyone sees her as a very nice and quiet girl. Though when the fallen angel chooses to reside in her body, it seems that she’s been acting that way. She probably felt incomplete, she probably wanted to be free (hence the pigeons who kept flying across the screen during the episode). I alos like the fact that we never know what happened to her in the end, or whether she got saved or not.

Apart from that, some further information about Maru and Moro is given. Watanuki tries to invite the two of them to a festival, but then their cheery self disappears, and they explain that they can’t ever leave Yuuko’s shop. They’re both soulless bodies, only able to live inside. When they go outside, they wouldn’t survive. I loved the way the pipe fox broke the tension in this. ^^

It could also have been me, but Watanuki and Himawari seemed much closer than before. The two of them talk much more to each other than at the beginning of the scene. Even with Domeki near. I think that this is supposed to be a subtle hint for the relationship between the two of them. Either that, or Watanuki’s mind’s playing tricks on him again.

Surprisingly, Domeki didn’t choose for art class, while Watanuki and Himawari did. Still, that doesn’t mean that Watanuki hasn’t got enough time to yell at him. The two of them have (Watanuki’s) lunch together (At this point, Watanuki’s given up on trying to stop him), and they walk homewards together as well. Another interesting fact is that Domeki got some nasty cuts in his hands while he tried to save Watanuki from being stabbed by a small knife. I also loved how Domeki and Watanuki ended up together at the fishing game during the festival. ^^

There wasn’t any tension in this episode. The climax was badly deus ex machina-ed away by the pipe fox. Yuuko also was a bit too serious for her own good. Normally, she’s much more playful. And why did she go out? I was also a bit disappointed when the creators decided not to show Watanuki’s and Himawari’s self portraits. I’d like to have seen what they managed to draw.

The art style also was extra messy this episode, and I loved it. I can really appreciate it when an anime differs from the standard art style.

(On a side-note: you would think that the creators would do something about the number thirteen in this episode, but then again, this is japanese animation, not european).

Simoun – 08 – Political and Religious Messages

by psgels, posted in Simoun



Simoun just continues to get better and better by the minute. These dramatic shots were greatly executed. Especially Aaeru was great. In fact, Simoun’s just awesome in its ability to portray heavy emotions suffered by the characters. Higurashi really can learn from this. I’d love to see a crossing between the two shows. 🙂

In any case, last episode, we left off with the priestesses and the important people from Plumbum arriving for the conference. We start the episode with Anubitufu, who finally introduces himself. He’s the captain of the Arcus Prima, indeed the biggest warship that Simulacrum posesses. This must mean that the Arcus Niger, from the previous episode, is something other than a warship, as these two ships looked like they were the same size. Three Chors are stationed in there, the Chor Tempest, the Chor Kaputo and the Chor Riboru (the current top-Chor, Vyüra’s in this one). Waporifu then reflects about what happened back in the previous episodes.

We then switch towards the pre-conference meeting. Harukonfu wonders why there are so many priestesses. He believes that they only serve as translators for the Plumbum officials, though the priestesses answer that they are needed to watch over the important conference. The Plumbum officials get a bit startled when they find out that the Tempus Patiem-priests (or the Simoun Sybylla) also will attend the conference.

Meanwhile, we switch to the Chor Tempest in their ballroom. The overall atmosphere is kindof gloomy. Rödoreamon tries to make Mamiina feel better, who immediately bites back at her. Yun also doesn’t understand Aaeru’s reason to be a Sybylla (not wanting to go to the spring). Then, the Chor Riboru decides to invade into the ballroom. This ballroom always belonged to the Chor Tempest because of their status, though now that that’s gone, the member from the Chor Riboru just do as they please.

Once they get sent out, Furoe comes running towards them with a message. It’s been decided that only two priestesses will attend the conference, so the third one will stay with the Chor Tempest for the moment. Both parties introduce themselves, Furoe introduces each of the members of the Chor Tempest, and Angurasu (the priestess) repeats the name of each of them. Except Aaeru, who gets a bit pissed about this. Angurasu then tells a bit about the country of Plumbum. It’s supposed to be very cold. Mamiina then reveals that she only became a Sybylla because of the war. When she was young, she wanted to be a Simoun pilot, though this seemed impossible due to the fact that she came from a poor family. Because of this, she kept wanting to pilot one of these more and more. When she finally got the chance to fly and it seemed that she had talent, there was no way back for her. She now hopes to be Neviriru’s pair, so that nobody would ever dare to look down on her ever again.

Later, we switch to the conference. In there, the priestesses give a very obvious hint about what is going on. I would have liked this scene to be a bit more subtle. In any case, we switch back to the main prayer room with Angurasu, Furoe, Aaeru and Kaimu. Angurasu suggests that there probably was another god or belief before Tempus Patiem and Animus (this should probably be handy information for later in the series). Angurasu then is startled by the fact that Aaeru doesn’t consider herself as a priestess. She just wants to stay away from the spring because she can’t choose. Neviriru, meanwhile, is watching all of this.

Then, we switch to Limone and Dominüra. Limone’s studying a bit of the Plumbum language, and she finds Dominüra quite bothersome. What follows is Angurasu taking Kaimu as hostage and heading for the Simoun-dock. Then the good stuff begins. Aruti’s getting angry when she sees that her sister’s a hostage. The characters then realize that this was entirely planned out by the Plumbum officials. Angurasu plans to use Kaimu into setting off together with one of the Simoun. At least, that’s what everyone thinks. The thing she really plans is even greater.

Events really get juicy when she plants a huge bomb near the Simoun. When she’s about to set it off, she mumbles that it isn’t wise not to make decisions. She then sets the bomb off, while yelling Aaeru’s name, as hard as she can. To make things even better, the other Plumbum priests and officials suddenly commit suicide. Then some unexplainable events happen, along with some awesome ones. Apparently, Angurasu planted her bomb very conveniently, so that only the Chor Tempest’s Simoun remain unharmed. In that case, why can’t these Simoun be used by the other Chors?

The good part, however, is that Aaeru heard Angurasu scream out her name. Limone explains that this means “the love for god”, the highest form of love in the Plumbum language. Aaeru’s reaction to this is great to see. It does make sense, though. When Angurasu didn’t want to speak out Aaeru’s name, it was because of the meaning of her name. When she found out that Aaeru doesn’t see herself as a priestess, she got startled, as she assumed that one who’d name herself Aaeru would surely love god more than anything.

Neviriru’s the one to bring Aaeru out of her shock, when she accepts Aaeru as her pair. The episode ends with six simoun heading out of the Arcus Prima.

This anime’s definately got a strong message against terrorism in the world. This is probably one of the first times in which we’ve seen enemies on true suicide missions, in which their only purpose was to fool the enemy, kill themselves and do as much damage in the process as possible. All because they loved their god more than anything. Aaeru, as she doesn’t believe in Tempus Patiem, really has troubles seeing this.

As usual, we had a huge number of different characters, each acting their own way. A small summary for each of them:
Limone: Acts very friendly towards Aaeru, the fourth episode really made Limone respect Aaeru, and she shows this. She’s cold towards Dominüra, though. Then again, she was smiling when she got introduced towards Angurasu.
Rödoreamon: Apparently, she had no idea how selfish she was when she was a kid. She feels sorry for Mamiina. I think she only became a Simoun Sibylla because her family status forced her to.
Aruti: Most of the anime, we’ve seen her as a serious girl, though she changes completely when she tries to talk to Kaimu, her older sister. She’s also enraged when she finds out Angurasu kidnapped Kaimu.
Morinasu: She likes not to worry too much, the previous episodes showed this. Though this does make her strong, in some way. We could see that when she tried to hold back Aruti from trying to rescue Kaimu.
Harukonfu: I wonder how he’ll react after this episode. After all, he firmly believed in the success of the conference, and seeing these people commit suicide can be quite a shock.
Paraietta: She acts like a decent leader. She does the things she needs to do to keep the team from slacking off or behaving badly, though she doesn’t have the charisma of a leader. I guess that that’s Furoe’s part, as she’s the one to introduce Angurasu to the members of the Chor Tempest. It’s also amusing that whenever there’s a scene that features both her as Neviriru, you can always find them close to each other.
Kaimu: When Aruti asked her to come along with her, she declined. Why?
Guraghief: He seemed quite happy to announce that the Chor Tempest would be flying.
Anubitufu: At the end of the episode, I don’t think he would’ve thought to see the Chor Tempest in action.
Yun: She believes in her own ideals. She knows she hates war, and she set to her mind that she would fly the Simoun just like her friends did. She keeps mentioning this whenever she has the chance.
Dominüra: When I first saw her, I really thought she’d be an evil character. But she actually ends up being a very sympathizing one. She just hangs out with the rest of the Chor Tempest, and she really is part of the team now. She still tries to familiarize with Limone, even though her attempts aren’t really working.
Furoe: She may be a whiny brat, but she’s very active in the Chor Tempest. She tries to find out things on her own, she likes to take the initiative and she’s very outspoken.
Mamiina: She’s devastated by the last episode, though this episode showed that she’s mostly an attention-seeking girl. She lived her whole childhood without being recognized, and now she wants to be acknowledged. Naruto tries this by pulling all kinds of pranks, Mamiina tries this by being the best and not being shy to tell everyone about her childhood.
Aaeru: She’s been extremely straightforward since the start of the episode, though during this episode, she breaks. She also was the first to notice that Angurasu was planting a bomb inside the Simoun dock.
Neviriru: I think the last episode got her out of her crisis. She’s been using this episode to check up on Aaeru, and the way she acts. She then realizes that the two of them were very different from each other, except for the fact that they both have trouble to choose.
Angurasu: a pitiful child. She’s been grown up, only living for her god, Animus. For that, she’s even willing to kill herself.

I love the way that each of the characters has her own reasons to be a Sibylla. Neviriru’s reasons are still unknown. Aaeru wants to fly the Simoun because she doesn’t want to go to the spring. Paraietta lives for Neviriru. Furoe’s reasons aren’t known yet. Rödoreamon was forced in because of her family. Rimone wants to make perfect Ri Maajons. Dominüra wants to be accepted in the Chor Tempest, though her reasons for starting in the first place are still unknown. Aruti’s in because of her sister. Kaimu’s reasons are still unknown, same with Morinasu. Mamiina wants to be acknowledged and Yun doesn’t want to betray her friends.

Overall, I don’t think the Chor Tempest will be disbanded. After all, the anime would kindof lose its purpose if this happens. The episode itself was awesome, except for the few convenient coincidences and the obvious hint that was shown at the middle of the episode.

Simoun – 07 – So Many Awesome Characters

by psgels, posted in Simoun



Thanks a lot for Hashihime to translate episodes 7-11. Still, .ass-files do have their disadvantages. It’s incedibly hard to find the raw files for these episodes. These aired more than a month ago, so any torrents containing these files is going awfully slow. Episode nine also proved to be interesting, as the only torrent to the only raw which seems to be available displayed an error when I tried it. >.< Anyway, about the episode, I can understand why people are raving about this show. Mamiina was just awesome during this episode. I like the twisted mind that she has. It should prove to be awesome for following episodes. We start with the members of the Chor Tempest running into the members of the Chor Ruboru (the Chor of Aaeru's roommate, Vyüra). It's night, the members of the Chor Tempest are about to start with a special training excercise while Chor Ruboru just came back from patrolling. Of course, both sides try to mock each other. While this was funny in the first place, I just loved Aaeru when she acted like nothing happened and shouted some things back to Vyüra. ^_^ The girls from Chor tempest then board the Shimire (the training crafts) in order to practice. It also seems that Aaeru asked Wapörifu to fix the Simoun that her grandfather flew in (I still have to get used to the fact that grandfathers once were girls as well). I don't exactly know what happened to it, though. I suspect the thing broke after he went to the spring, and he was allowed to take it with him. Though that doesn't make any sense. (On a side-note: chibi-Aaeru looks too cute). In any case, during the training, random conversations are going on. It seems that when Neviriru was still active, it was the Chor Riboru who looked up to them. They also talk about the spring and growing up. It seems that Limone doesn't want to hear about the latter, and someone wants to go to the spring, immediately when she turns nineteen, though I couldn't pick up who that might've been. During the actual training, Morinas is having trouble concentrating, and Rödoraemon's getting worried about this, though Morinas doesn't seem to care. Dominüra places Limone in the lead. Furoe annoys Aruti again and Kaimu gets happy to know that Paraiette didn't desert her (after all, during the previous episode, she put her trust into the pair of Neviriru and Aaeru). Then, another ship like the Arcus Prima (the big ship which forms the main ship, where the sybylla live) approaches them. (On a side-note, thanks a lot to Hashihime for giving a list of all the terms and names used in this anime. I don't think I would've been able to remember all of them if I didn't use this list.) In any case, this ship is called the Arcus Niger. It seems that Guraghief and Anubitufu arranged a meeting with them. Normally, it's stationed at the Western Great Temple area, wherever that might be. Though it seems that its commanders decided that there wasn't a lot of time, so they already met up with them halfway. Probably because of an emergency or some impatient VIPs. Then, a pink Shimire emerges from the Arcus Niger, flying badly on purpose in an attempt to make fun of them. It then appears that the two Sybylla on this Shimire are to be assigned to the Chor Tempest, in order to make it a complete Chor, consisting of six Simoun again. It seems that the Arcus Niger came to announce that the country called Plumbum Reikoku (what's lead got to do with this?) has offered a peace treaty with Simulacrum Kyuukoku (the country the main part of this anime plays in). Both of these countries seem to have similar customs, so they probably wouldn't offend each other. Both of these countries worship a different god. Simulacrum has Tempus Patiem, while Plumbum has Animus. It could be the same being, though neither party would acknowlegde that. Still, Anubitufu didn't look really happy when he hears about this peace treaty. We then switch to the Chor Tempest. Paraietta brings them the news about the peace treaty, while the other members are in some kind of gathering room, full of pillow-like things. Music is on, and some of the members are also dancing. It's reckoned that Plumbum only wants the peace treaty because they want the Helical Motores, found in the ancient ruins and used to fly the Simoun. I then seems that the first peace conversations will be happening in international territory, over the ocean. This means that the Arcus Prima will be heading for Plumbum, as it's somehow been decided that the conference will be helt on the Arcus Prima. Then the two Sybylla who were seen in the Shimire from before appear. You would expect that the new ones are totally incredible in every way, though that isn't the fact. While they may be good Simoun pilots, they're not as overconfident as you see with most rivals who appear. Furoe predicts that she'll say something along the lines as "so, the rumours about the Chor Tempest were true", which is exactly what Mamiina (one of the two) does. ^^; Mamiina then turns her attention to Rödoreamon. It seems that Rödoreamon comes from a very rich family, while Mamiina was the daughter of one of their servants. She then introduces herself, and so does the other girl (Yun). Then some girls come to warn the Chor Tempest that someone's moving in with Neviriru. It seems that her father's got some high rank, and he placed Mamiina as Neviriru's new partner and roommate, against her will. At this point, it seems that he's blinded by ambition, and wants his daughter to look good, no matter what. Neviriru, of course, refuses to let Mamiina be her pair. What follows is a bit of random discussion between some of the members of the Chor Tempest. That's another thing I love about these random conversations. The huge amount of characters, in combination with the fact that each of the characters is interesting in some way, makes each of these conversations unique and very enjoyable to watch. Furoe asks whether Aaeru'll be her new pair, though she still has her eye on Neviriru. Yun also is a strange one. She's willing to go with anyone, but she hates war. The only reason she flies as a Sybylla is that all of her friends went to war and died. She couldn't face herself if she avoided it. The next morning, Aaeru seems to be holding the same strange thing that we've seen her with a couple of times. It's never explained what it was. In any case, she looks down her window, and there she sees Neviriru's window. Neviriru, meanwhile, isn't too happy when Mamiina comes bothering her inside the shower. Mamiina shows that she's determined to become Neviriru's pair, though Neviriru shows that she's determined not to let Mamiina be her pair. Aaeru breaks the tension in this conversation when it appears that she used a rope to come down to Neviriru. For the first time ever, we see Neviriru amused again. Mamiina, however, gets angry. Very angry. We then switch to a conversation between Harukonfu (Neviriru's father) and Guraghief. The Chor Tempest is supposed to perform the Dandelion Ri Maajon during the peace conference, and it requires six Simoun to perform it (hence Mamiina and Yun's sudden arrival). Guraghief wonders whether the new members will be able to do it. Harukonfu exits with the phrase that he won't let his daughter get hurt anymore. It seems that the two of them have been separated for too long, as he has the wrong idea about what a "father" means. Then the good stuff finally begins, as we switch to Aaeru and Mamiina in the Maaju Pool. There, Mamiina turns berserk, while she tries to rip Aaeru's suit off. The two of them struggle for a while before others see them and break them apart. Harukonfu then decides to disband the Chor Tempest as soon as the conference is over. He also plans to send Neviriru to the spring as soon as possible. It was really great to see Mamiina break when she heard this. I wonder what happens during this conference. The episode ends as soon as the priests from Plumbum are brought aboard the Arcus Prima. I've read everywhere that episode eight seems to be totally incredible, so I'm really looking forward to that one. I also love the way that there are so many characters who break so many clichés so easily.

Ergo Proxy – 14 – Pino = God

by psgels, posted in Ergo Proxy



This episode was totally messed up. Not in terms of quality, but in terms of storytelling. We have this Proxy who can change his appearance at will, and he keeps bothering Real, Vincent and Pino with this ability. Pino probably featured her best performance up till now. ^_^

The episode begins with a teaser of what happens at the end of the episode. Real phylosophizes a bit. She believes that the world doesn’t end once she dies, though she used to believe this as a child. She’s a true realist, though I’m dying to see her as a child. Then it seems that Vincent seems to have done something stupid, though he seems to blame Real and Pino for this. Then they approach the dome, which probably will be Moscow, Vincent’s homeland.

We then switch to a lake, in which a dead Real is floating, with Vincent and Pino standing right next to her. At this time, I was beginning to scratch my head, and then to think that that only was the beginning.

The OP rolls, and we switch to Pino and Vincent doing some groceries. It seems that they ran into another abandoned city. This time, not even robots or autoraves are active. Real walks around a bit, and gets some visions of Iggy. The city has a strange shape. Much like a huge crater, entirely populated with houses and with a small lake and lots of trees in the middle. She walks around a bit, takes a look at the ship they traveled with and then she arrives at the lake. At that time, she could’ve sworn she saw something. That’s the first clue we get of the Proxy.

Real then goes back to the supermarket, at which Vincent and Pino just finished shopping. While Pino has fun with cans, Real’s as cold as usual. Vincent wants to stay for a while, though Real scolds him, for not being determined. Then, Pino gets cuter than ever when she tries to present her own assembled meal to her. It looks absolutely disgusting. Real immediately turns this down and leaves, with the excuse of keeping a lookout. Vincent, however, doesn’t. Seeing Pino smile like that was just absolutely hilarious. She’s an autorave, so she doesn’t have the slightest ideas about taste. I don’t think the Proxy was at this scene. Both characters acted natural and said things that an outsider wasn’t supposed to know. (Like Real who drinks a lot of Ginger Ale and Vincent’s goal to reach Moscow) Though it would have been too funny if he actually was pretending to be one of them. ^^

We then switch to Real, complaining about how Vincent and Pino bring her in a bad mood. Back to Vincent, he’s packing and runs into the Proxy, pretenting to be Real, eating the pea soup from before. When he tells her to hurry, she tells him that she’s eating at the moment. Vincent gives her some ginger ale and then goes to get some water, along with Pino (she looked too awesome carrying that big can like that ^^).

Back to Real, the fake proxy gives her a visit, pretending to be Vincent. He brings her the same ginger ale as he just got from the real Vincent. He then suggests to stay here for a while. When you see this, and don’t know about the Proxy, the scene turns hilarious: first, Real tells Vincent to pack things up and leave as soon as possible. Vincent packs, but then he sees Real, taking it easy. Then Vincent comes back to Real, and he is the one again to suggest to stay and Real is the one to suggest to leave fast. Still, when you know about the Proxy, this scene makes perfect sense. The Proxy is lonely, and he hopes for the two of them to stay.

In any case, when the face Vincent set up an incredibly fake speech, asking Real in a very sad tone whether she didn’t love him anymore, I began to suspect something. These feelings only got confirmed when the real Real pushed the fake Vincent off the roof of the supermarket, only to disappear into nothingness afterwards. The fact remains that the Proxy didn’t know about the two of them. He just thought that they were a couple with a child. He also thought they were still lovey-dovey, so that’s why he set up the act he did. He also let himself get pushed off, in order to try and test how Real would react to this.

Vincent, meanwhile managed to get enough water. Then he runs into the fake Real. She sets up an angry voice, and she asks for the autorave. Then she attempts to kill Pino and Vincent locks her in a storage room. When he hears her reasons, it appears that Pino wanted to kill her. Vincent doubts this, of course, though he still asks Pino in a very kind way. Out of her explanation, it seems that Vincent believes that this was because of the food that Pino made. He indeed reckons that Real overexaggerated a bit. What follows is the fake Real, falling off the roof of the supermarket, right in front of Vincent’s eyes. He then sees a figure on top of the roof, and heads there. While he does, he notices that the storage room from before is open again.

When he gets to the top of the roof, the fake Real is gone, only to appear behind him. She then asks him a few questions, which Vincent can’t answer and runs away. Pino, meanwhile, gets visited by the fake Vincent, carrying the real Real’s unconcious body. They head for the lake, and the fake Vincent drops the body of the real Real in the lake. It sinks, only to rise again. Pino then thinks that Real has died.

When the real Vincent, meanwhile checks up on the Centzon (the ship they came with) he notices that it’s gone. He then thinks that Real and Pino left without him. And that he’s alone again. He then notices that something’s happening at the lake. Back to Pino, she totally manages to pwn the Proxy when she unmasks him. She also mentions something very interesting: there are two real Reals. Does the other Real mean the Proxy, pretending to be Real, or does this mean that Real’s got another appearance? Then, the fake Vincent attempts to strangle Pino, but then he sees that she’s an autorave, who can’t be strangled. Still, when he acted as Real, he did mention the fact that Pino was an autorave. What’s up with that?

The real Vincent meanwhile arrives at the lake, and then he sees the fake Real, sinking into the lake. Vincent dives after her, and manages to save her. She then opens her eyes, and attempts to drown him. This looked pretty amusing. ^^

Pino meanwhile managed to save the real Real from drowning. The two of them realize that both of them aren’t the proxy, though Real realizes that something’s happening. What follows is Vincent and the Proxy, floating in the depths of the lake and finding out about the facts that they both are Proxy. The Proxy then tells Vincent about his loneliness. Everywhere he appeared, people fled. Nobody acknowledged him. He then killed everyone in the city, in the hope of disappearing, though it didn’t work. He hopes to eliminate himself, along with Vincent. He then tries to break Vincents mind, in tricking him to die along with him.

Vincent then surfaces, only to see the fake Real standing before him. She yells at him, and he realizes that she’s the fake one. This scene repeats for a while. During this, the fake Vincent also shows the bodies of all of the former citizens he killed, stored in the middle of the lake. I think this all happens in the head of the Proxy, as Vincent then sees the same scene of Real standing on the shore. He decides to go extreme by strangling her. Though then Pino comes to her. This makes Vincent think that he really killed the real Real, while in fact, they’re just standing on the other side of the lake, watching the two Vincents talk to each other. Real noted exceptionally well that the fake Vincent didn’t have a reflection in the water.

Then, both of the Vincents sink again. Then, Vincent surfaces yet again, as yet again the same scene happens. though this time, the fake real is the real real. We then switch to the ship again, where the episode started. Apparently, Vincent caught a cold after being in the lake for so long (you’d wonder why Real didn’t, as she also was dumped into the lake). The Proxy probably cut the ropes which were holding the Centzon at its place, so it drifed off. Vincent then managed to recover it. Vincent then relates himself to the Proxy. They were both lonely. Though Pino and Real managed to save him. They managed to give his life meaning. We also see Real smile for one of the first times in the series.

Each Proxy’s ability and way of thinking is entirely different from the others. Some of them have a human form, like Ergo and Kazkiz, while others don’t, like the one from episode 12 and Senekis. Some Proxy can really think for themselves, like Kazkiz, Ergo and the one from this episode, while others are just killing machines, like Senekis and others are just savage beasts like the one from episode 12. Some Proxy have two minds, like Ergo, while others have just one mind, like Kazkiz. Some use their hair as weapon, others like to change their appearance to confuse the enemy, others just use their hands in combat. And I can keep going on like that for a while.

Overall, I just love the mind games that this anime is playing. I wonder what’ll happen when the characters reach Moscow.

Simoun – 06 – Paraiette (These characters have difficult names…)

by psgels, posted in Simoun



A Paraietta episode. Aaeru also keeps trying to bug the hell out of Neviriru. Furthermore, we get some info on Guraghief and Anubitufu.

Though the main focus lies on Paraiette. She’s been with Neviriru ever since she was a child, and of course that creates a certain bond. Amuriya, however, was the one that took Neviriru away from her. Still, Paraietta remained loyal to Neviriru. Now that Neviriru is in crisis, she tries to help her, though it doesn’t really work. This episode mainly served to let her see that Neviriru also felt that she betrayed her. She then manages to convince Neviriru that this wasn’t the fact. The episode ends with Paraietta and Aaeru dueling in the Maaju Pool, Aaeru beating Paraietta and Paraietta acknowledging Aaeru as Neviriru’s partner. Kaimu also played an interesing role. She’s obviously in love with Paraiette, though she knows about her feelings towards Neviriru. She also helps Paraiette see the thing that troubles Neviriru.

So, what were the roles of each of the characters in this episode?
Neviriru: Still in her room, locking herself away.
Aaeru: Mostly trying to get Neviriru to come out of her room. I liked the things she painted on her door.
Paraietta: Realized that Neviriru also was worring about her. Came a bit closer to Kaimu.
Kaimu: Tries to get her feelings through to Paraiette. Works a bit.
Furoe: Keeps acting playful now that they haven’t got any meaningful missions.
Aruti: Stays a bit gloomy and spies on Paraietta and Kaimu. Why?
Rödoreamon and Morinasu: Worry about the state of the Chor Tempest.
Dominüra: Attempts to bring a bit of dicipline back into the Chor Tempest, but she isn’t really enthusiastic in it.
Limone: For some reason still does what she likes to, outside of the missions.
Guraghief and Anubitufu: Seemed to be a pair of Sybylla as well, in their early days.

The Third – 07 – Armoured Ants and their Habits

by psgels, posted in The Third



The Third continues to be awesome. Even though there wasn’t a lot of tension in this episode, it was a great one. It focuses on Honoka’s determination to protect something, even if this happens to be an armoured ant.

Honoka and Bogie are alone again. Millie’s been dropped off by her aunt and Ikus temporarily left her, in order to take care of certain things. It seems that it’s got something to do with his mission on earth, but not much is said on this.

We start with Bogie waking Honoka up. I just love the conversations between the two of them. They’ve grown up with each other, and they continue bickering to each other. Honoka also can believe in things with her heart, without having any proof to, while Bogie likes to think as rationally as possible. If you combine these two, you get some awesome results.

In any case, it then seems that an armoured ant (the ones we’ve seen in the first episode) has attached itself to the Sand Tank. The other two are waiting right next to the sand tank. It appears that the one who attached itself to the sand tank is the queen of this colony. Armoured ants always work in groups of three. One of them might sprout wings and becomes a queen. When it does, it flies off, and attempts to start a new colony somewhere else. It’s not known what happens to the other two ants after this. Thanks to the narrator for this info, once more. I really like this guy.

Shaking an ant like that off isn’t such a problem. After all, the sand tank is big and fast, Bogie can probably do it while activating the battle acceleration. The problem is, however, that Honoka’s taken a pity towards this ant. The queen is using the sand tank becuase she believes that it’s a safer place to sprout her wings (during which she’s extremely vulnerable). The other two ants are protecting her. Bogie uses the argument that they’ve got a job in Emporium, and they furthermore have to pay Millie a visit. If they don’t go, they might not have time to visit Millie. Still, Honoka wants the ant to fly, and she wants to protect it.

Things get bad when Honoka sees another group of armoured ants approaching. They probably see that this queen is a threat to their own colony in some way. Otherwise, they wouldn’t even dare to come near the territory of others, as armoured ants are highly territorial creatures. The other two ants, who serve as the bodyguards of the queen, then close in on them. What follows is a bloodbath between these two groups, from which we only get to hear the sound-effects. The awesome background tune turned this into a great scene. What follows is the death of all five of those ants.

Still, more ants seem to approach. It’s likely that whenever an attacking group of ants die, another group of ants charges. Honoka then decides to not stand by any longer, and hold off the ants herself. She has to stop three ants from reaching the queen, until dawn hits. Apparently, the ants aren’t active when the sun shines, so they’ll back off. The only problem is that dawn’s two hours away. Bogie advices her not to, though he gives in at the end. Travelling with Honoka for so long, he really learned a few things about her character.

Honoka then spends two whole hours using suspended animation (the same technique she used in the previous episode) to blow away the group of approaching ants. Yes, the timing was too convenient: right before dawn, suspended animation doesn’t work anymore and then the queen manages to lift off. But that’s not the point of this fight. This fight was meant to show the determination of Honoka, the things she’s willing to do when she sets her mind to something. And that she’s even able to continue fighting after two whole hours. You need a lot of patience and willpower in order to be able to do such a thing. I also liked the fact that she got incredibly calm at the moment when the ants closed in on her and the suspended animation stopped working. She was about to try out something though the queen flying off stopped her from doing this.

One of the things I absolutely loved about this episode is that this anime is one of the first to actually show the lifestyles and habits of the monsters who keep attacking people. You have to remember that they are also just creatures, trying to survive and get a meal. Though this anime even goes further, by explaining how the hierarchy works with the armoured ants, and how their territories work. Even what they’re thinking. This is turning them into living beings, and not just some random dolls who only can attack and have to be defeated.

Suspended animation. First, I thought that this was another part of Honoka’s power, but now. It’s actually Walken’s (the guy who took care of Honoka) speciality. Honoka learned this technique from him. It’s actually tricking the mind of the enemy, in order to make it think that it’s hit. This all was illustrated by a flashback of Honoka when she was young. Apparently, she had a little fight with Walken and Bogie kept bothering her. She then ran into a desert hare, who was about to walk into the trap of one of the carnivorous sand creatures. Even then, she wanted to save the hare. Walken eventually did this by using suspended animation. It’s so great to see that Honoka actually worked extremely hard in order to be so talented with fighting.

Finally: Millie. First of all, I’m wondering whether Honoka’ll have enough time to visit her, after wasting so much time with the armoured ants. Millie looked so enthusiastic the day before Honoka was supposed to come. Still, her aunt did not like this. At all. Every time Millie mentioned Honoka she began looking serious. There’s got to be something about Honoka that’s on her mind. I think that she knows about Honoka’s eye, and that she hasn’t accepted Honoka for what she is. This should prove for some great scenes in the future.

Overall, of all the series which aired in the spring, The Third does by far the best job of introducing itself to its characters and setting. I like this, I really do.

Popolocrois Story 1998 – 16 – Selfish Hyuu

by psgels, posted in Popolocrois Story 1998



This episode was another brilliant one. It’s major focus was around Gamigami Maou-sama. For one episode, he loses the effects of the love potion. The result was absolutely hilarious.

We start with Gamigami, Ston and Sanda in their eccentric zeppelin. Apparently, Hyuu has run off again, and they’re still searching for her. Gamigami’s getting all giddly over a badly-drawn picture, while Ston and Sanda are making some sarcatical comments. The flight comes to an abrupt halt when they fly above a field full pollen-producing plants, which make the zeppelin crash.

Pietoro meanwhile sets off to tht same area, leaving Narcia behind. Narcia then blames herself for not being able to ask to join him. She scolds herself for not having the courage to do the things she wants to do. Hyuu, meanwhile enjoys being alone, and flying free in the air. Until Pietoro’s memories hit her.

Meanwhile, Ston and Sanda suddenly realize that Gamigami’s love potion has worn off, as he suddenly seems to have no interest in Hyuu at all. He’s meanwhile planning his ideas for world conquest. ^^ When Ston and Sanda start to get annoying, Gamigami kicks them far away. He still hasn’t lost his “Man’s Romance”, though. ^^

He then managed to turn the zeppelin into a weird crossing between a car and a zeppelin, though it can’t fly yet. Meanwhile, his love for Narcia has fully returned. What follows is Gamigami getting his own theme-song (guess the title ^^), in which he goes berserk in a nearby village, destroying all kinds of homes in order to collect enough material to fix his vehicle. After this plan has been carried out succesfully, he keeps raving about how good and awesome he is. He’s even great enough to have the sun kneeling for him. I laughed so hard when it actually did. ^_^

Gamigami spends the rest of the evening fixing his vehicle. Meanwhile, he’s still sneezing. Then he runs into Hyuu. The combination of the pain in her heart with the pollen has made her very sick. And this is where Gamigami really gets awesome. He’s lost his love for Hyuu, so he just leaves her for dying. Hyuu also finds out that the love potion has worn off. Gamigami also mentions the difference between her and Narcia: Narcia is selfless, while Hyuu is selfish. Hyuu then finally realizes her problem. Gamigami really gets his doubts when he leaves her. You can tell that he’s getting embarrased. Especially when he has to explain Hyuu the meaning of “Love”. ^_^;

Gamigami really begins to get annoyed when Hyuu attempts to dring the dew of a poisonous plant. He spends a couple of more hours fixing his vehicle, and once it is finished, Hyuu’s health gets worse and worse. All that’s left is to put one of the jewels he stole in his rampage inside the generator, in order to deliver enough power to fly. Though, he can’t get Hyuu out of his head. He finally ends up bringing her to a nearby house, and trading this very jewel for the antidote of the poison. He uses the excuse that he forgot his wallet. He was so cute at that time. ^_^

Ston and Sanda, meanwhile, have a great idea: stop looking after Gamigami Maou. The love potion has worn off, so he’ll treat them like trash, instead of listening to him. They then realize that the two of them are free at last. I wonder how the two of them will end up.

Gamigami, meanwhile, runs into a strange situation when Pietoro runs into him and Hyuu. Gamigami now has to make Pietoro believe that he was the one who hurt Hyuu, as it wouldn’t be good for his reputation when it came out that he actually did something nice. What follows is a huge wave of pollen blown his way by an enthisiastic Ston, which causes the love potion to get active again.

Overall, this episode was great. It’s the standard “bad guy sees good guy in trouble and helps”, though Gamigami manages to turn this into something awesome.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 13 – Even More Questions

by psgels, posted in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni



Too bad. Keiichi’s voice-acting so did not match with his facial constortions. He looked so fake in this. On the other hand, Satoko was awesome when she started yelling. About the episode: I liked it. It wasn’t as good as the previous two, though it was very enjoyable indeed.

The game, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni consisted of eight arcs, if I’m not wrong. Four question-arcs and four answer-arcs. Right now, we’re being treated with the four question arcs. We’ve only got one of them left, in which Rika will stand in the attention. This’ll probably take till episode seventeen. What follows are the four answer-arcs. I’m wondering whether the creators will decide to show all of them, or just two.

Anyway, about the episode. We start with Keiichi, lyin in his bed. He’s obviously extremely confused, after what happened in the previous episode. He then grabs a hand axe, and heads for Satoko’s place. When he heads out, he thinks he sees something behind him, though there’s nobody there. He himself thinks that it’s Satoko’s work.

He heads for Satoko’s house, and then notices that Satoko’s uncle’s bike isn’t there. The door is left open, and the tv is left on. Keiichi then searches for Satoko, and he hears something in the shower. It then seems that she’s been in the shower since the entire night, counting till 10000. When Keiichi asks for the reason, she mentions something about her uncle. Then Keiichi goes berserk in a few very fake scenes. That’s the problem when you’re low-budget. Scenes like these don’t work. Still, I have to say that Satoko was just too sad.

Keiichi then attempts to bring Satoko to the clinic. She’s getting better and better, one thing I liked about this. When Keiichi goes to investigate, he sees that Irie’s killed himself. Oishi’s also vanished without a trace. When Satoko hears this, she’s terribly shocked. Though, she manages to recover after this. These scenes were greatly excecuted. Satoko then asks Keiichi to bring her to Rika’s house, in order to borrow some clothes. Keiichi manages to get more paranoid by the minute, by the way. The fact remains that both Takano as Oishi as Irie died, after Keiichi wished thim dead. This makes him think that he’s the reason behind these deaths. He then also confesses Satoko about what he did to her uncle. Satoko tells him not to mention it, though the disease has spread enough for Keiichi to not notice it. Satoko then leaves, in order to pick up her stuff.

What follows is Keiichi, who notices Rika’s dead body behind the shrine. It’s being eaten by crows, so he screams in a very fake way, and attempts to chase the crows away with the axe he’s wielding. This axe then gets covered in blood. When Satoko sees Keiichi wielding a bloody axe right next to Rika’s dead body, she breaks. She then runs away and Keiichi follows her. They end up at a bridge narrow drawbridge.

Satoko mentions that she used to see Keiichi as her new Nii-nii. Keiichi tries to convince Satoko, but this doesn’t really work, since the idiot forgot to throw his axe away. When he finally realizes this, Satoko calms down a bit. Though, she still thinks that he murdered Keiichi. She gives Oyashiro the blame, as she knows that Keiichi wouldn’t hurt anyone.

She then tells about something that happened when she was young. She used to play along with Rika, and then she ended up inside the shrine on accident. While trying to get out, she broke Oyashiro0s statue, though Rika was seen as the one who did it and punished severely. This has made a huge impact on Satoko, especially her parents disappearing, her aunt dying and her brother running away only strenghtened this. She now views those as a devine retribution for the things she did back in the shrine. This was a great moment, though I’m wondering something… what the heck was a chibified-Keiichi doing right next to Rika? And why the heck did they look of the same age? O_o

Satoko then tells Keiichi that she really was glad that Keiichi got transferred, and now she breaks when she finds out that the only hope she had left has als obeen posessed by Oyashiro. She then pushes him off the bridge, and he falls a loooong way down in the river which lies behind the bridge. What follows is the usual conclusion of the arc. In the first arc, this was Oishi who read the report about the things Keiichi had been doing. In the second arc, it was Keiichi who recovered along with Rena after what happened in Mion’s basement. The third arc shows a couple of unknown people, watching the local news about something that happened in Hinamizawa. Guess what? Poisonous vulcanic gass erupted from somewhere, killing off the entire Hinamizawa Population. Except for one person: Keiichi.

Did you see that one coming? Keiichi, ending up as the only survivor of Hinamizawa? It makes perfect sense, though. A fall from a bridge like that hurts a lot, though you don’t nessecarily die from it. Because Keiichi was unconcious at the time when the gas erupted, so he didn’t breathe in as much as the other residents of Hinamizawa. That’s why he stayed alive.

So, let’s take a look at the total death count:
Keiichi: 1,5 (We don’t know if he really died at the end of the second arc. It was probably the disease again, though he could have killed himself at that time. Only time will tell).
Rena: 2
Mion: 3
Shion: 2
Rika: 2
Satoko: 2

Isn’t this interesting? If it turns out that Keiichi didn’t die at the end of the second arc, he’s been the main character with the least number of deaths on his name. You might wonder whose body it was which appeared at the beginning of this arc. It’s simple. It’s Satoshi. It seems that Mion somehow ran into him after he killed his aunt, and gave him some treatmens he didn’t really like. It seems that Satoshi indeed had every intention to run away, though Mion had other plans.

The best thing about this episode is probably the huge amount of questions it managed to introduce. It seems that there’s so much more than just the disease which is claiming its victims. Poisonous gas roams around, people are killing each other, people are disappearing, and all these events have been influenced by the things that Keiichi did, with the only exception of Tomitake and Takano’s deaths.

For example, what caused Irie’s death? Was he so much in love with Satoko that he couldn’t bear it and committed suicide? Or does it have something to do with his part as a director? And how did Oishi disappear? Are their deaths linked in some way? Ddi they both have something to do with Satoko? Or could Oishi have been the one to set the vulcanic gas free? After all, this all happened two days after the Watanagashi. In the first arc, Keiichi was busy fleeing from Rena and Mion at that time, while in the second arc, Keiichi was having strange phone calls with Shion.

Another thing that remains a mystery is the following: what happened to Satoko’s uncle? There are two possiblilties: Keiichi did kill the guy, though Satoko’s disease imagines that he’s still with her, or Keiichi never killed the guy, and he suddenly went out on his scooter, leaving the tv on. Both of these theories have got their holes.

Also, what happened to Mion and Rena? Weren’t they supposed to go on a treasure hunt? What happened afterwards? What did they find? Or were they the ones who set off the vulcanic gas? And why did Mion kill Satoshi in the first place (I’m assuming now that she’s the only one who can perform the Watanagashi). And who was the one who killed Rika? And why? Why did the murderer put Rika in such an obvious place?

Rika was just too sad in this episode. She’s an incredibly strong character, as she manages to recover fastly after what happened to her in the shower. She also gets shocked when she hears that Irie’s dead, though she behaves normally afterwards. Though when she realizes that Keiichi has been posessed by Oyashiro, she breaks. It seems that when he transferred, she clinged to him, and she turned him into her raison d’être. When such a thing betrayed her, she broke.

Differences with previous arcs:
– The vulcanic gas never escaped in the previous episodes.
– In the first arc, Keiichi wanted to flee. In the second arc, Keiichi wanted to understand. In the third arc, Keiichi wanted to protect.
– Keiichi isn’t going to move.
– It’s the first time Oishi disappears.
– We see the drawbridge for the first time in the third arc.
– Mion and Rena didn’t attempt to cure Keiichi from his disease, like they did in the first arc. In fact, their part in this arc was very small.
– For the first time, Keiichi wields an axe, instead of a bat.
– The second arc is so far the only arc in which Keiichi actually got help. It seemed like Mion would be helping Keiichi during this arc, though she gets out of the picture after the second episode.
– Each arc also focuses around one side-character. In the first arc, this was Oishi. In the second, this was Shion, and the third had Irie.
– In the first arc, Rika stays alive. In the second arc, she commits suicide. In the third arc, she gets killed.

Another thing I’m curious about is Rena. And more importantly her behavior in the first episode of the third arc. At that time, it was clear that she was under the disease. Though it stopped there. The Watanagashi-murders were mentioned, and she went berserk. Though after this episode, these never were mentioned again. It’s like she got cured. Why and how did she get cured?

.Hack//Roots – 13 – What will be happening next?

by psgels, posted in .Hack//Roots



This surely was an interesting episode. But at the same time, I really wonder where this show is going. It’s going to run out of characters if this keeps continuing. Still, if the anime doesn’t fall during the next episode, we could be in for an extremely awesome second half of the show.

This episode featured a perfect buildup once more. It starts out really slow, only to whack the player down with some amazing scenes during the second half.

Ovan’s case keeps getting stranger. Last episode, we see the lock on his arm being broken, and something came out of it. This episode, it appears that he just disappeared into thin air after this, without leaving any trace. Naobi and Ender meanwhile continue to analyze the data he left behind. And their PC’s… I’m sure that I’ve seen those bodies somewhere before. I’m almost certain that they already appeared on the show, but when?

Shino also was just awesome. At the beginning of the episode, she keeps getting closer to Haseo. The two of them exchange phones. These were some very nice scenes. Later, the guy called Tri-Edge gives her a call, and tells her to come to the cathedral, after which she gets data-drained by him. Still, she looked awefully relieved when she got the mesage. Could it be that she thought that Tri-Edge was actually Ovan? But that can’t be, as Tri-Edge already was around before Ovan got captured. The look she also had on her face when she saw Haseo at that time was awesome. And not to mention the fact that we get to see our first scene of the outside world. It took awfully long, but it was worth it.

Also, after the previous episode, I think I knew about Tabby’s feeling a bit, though right now, I realize I was wrong. She actually wanted to be with Shino, though Haseo kept her away from her. She didn’t dare to interfere with the two of them, as she was too afraid to lose them both, so she decided to give them some subtle messages. Well, that plan backfired when Shino got data-drained. The then realized that Haseo went straight after Shino when he heard about where she was going. Something Tabby was not able to.

I’m also wondering what’s up with Tri-Edge. For the first time in the series, he actually does something, which involves travelling through the world, and fixing bugs at certain places. But why did he attack Shino?

So, what’s happened with each of the characters:
Goad: Left, because Ovan was his raison d’être. At least, in the game.
B-Set: Left, because Ovan was the person who made her keep playing.
Tawaraya: Left, account suspended.
Ender: Account suspended, returned in a new PC.
Naobi: Account suspended, returned in a new PC.
Shino: Data-drained.
Ovan: Vanished into thin air.
Tabby: About to leave, because Shino was her raison d’être.
Sakisaka: Left, because the game reminded him too much of the Twillight Brigade.
Phyllo: Stays.
Haseo: Stays.

Overall, .Hack//Roots keeps getting better and better. I’m really curious how the anime will continue after this. The second half will probably be totally awesome.