Author: psgels

xxxHolic – 07 – Getting saved by people you hate

by psgels, posted in xxxHolic



The element I like most about xxxHolic definately is the deepness of all the different messages featured in the episodes. This episode probably was the deepest yet. The show really is getting better and better. Today’s episode starts off pretty lenient, but it really gets more serious by the minute.

Rain is falling during the entire episode. We start off with Watanuki walking outside, carrying an umbrella and complaining about the rain. He then gets punished by a very talkative and easy ticked-off red haired girl, the same we saw in the OP. She appears to be a rain-sprite, and needs Watanuki’s help for something.

This girl is very amusing. Especially her look when, back at Yuuko’s, she gets to see a special performance by Maru, Moro and Mokona. Then Yuuko talks to her, immediately annoying Watanuki by defining him as her “property”. It appears that this girl wants someone saved. According to Yuuko, Domeki plays a key-role in solving this, so Watanuki goes to pick him up, against his will, of course.

The rain sprite then sees that the combination of Domeki and Watanuki could be the key to helping her special person. But first, they head to Himawari in order to borrow something that she’s wearing. Watanuki really freaks out during this scene. Anyway, the two of them manage to get Himawari’s ribbons.

The problem lies with an hydrangea-flower. It’s grown to be huge, its flowers have turned red, and Watanuki can clearly feel that there are evil spirits roaming inside this thing. We see a couple of minutes of Watanuki and Domeki investigating, until Watanuki gets caught inside the flower.

Inside the flower, everything’s pure black. Here, Watanuki meets up with a crying girl. She wants to go somewhere, but she’s afraid to do it alone. Then we meet the fatherly side of Watanuki, as he tries his best to cheer up the girl. She accompanies him through the darkness, until a they reach a point which looks like some kind of entrance to some dark and gloomy place. The girl wants to go in, but Watanuki gets his doubts.

Then we see a very interesting way of dialogue. Beams of light appear, and each of them represents one (japanese) letter. I really liked this, and it gives the overall atmosphere a really nice dark undertone. We then see a number of raindrops appear, along with Himawari’s ribbon. Watanuki then uses the ribbon he carried with him, and he gets out, after comforting the girl once more, in a really fatherly way.

He wakes up under the hydrangea from before, now with blue flowers. He holds hands with the girl, though she seemed to have been dead from the beginning, and then he sees a very pissed-off Domeki. And this is where the great part of the episode begins. It was really nice to see Watanuki this calm, though it was definately nothing special. Just another case which had been solved.

Though then it appears that Domeki had been standing in the rain for a massive TEN hours, waiting for him. Yuuko explains what happened afterwards, when both of them have taken a shower. His wound from the time with the Angel-san has also gotten a lot worse, though Domeki isn’t the one who’ll mention it. That means that Watanuki owes him big time for saving him. (after all, Domeki used Himawari’s ribbon in order to get Watanuki out). This brings up so many interesting issues. It’s definately clear that Watanuki hates Domeki. The two of them make a nice team, but that fact remains.

But what happens when Watanuki suddenly finds out that Domeki’s willing to go through such lengths, in order to save him? Would he have done the same thing? Especially if you consider the wound. And what if you also consider the fact that that little girl was actually heading for the netherworld for people who tortured and killed others and persons who commited suicide? This means that she was actually leading Watanuki to his own suicide if Domeki hadn’t shown up. And what about the precious item Domeki had to give Yuuko in order for her to give the information on how to save Watanuki?

The rain sprite also was interesting. It appears that she didn’t want to save the girl in the first place. She wanted to protect the hydrangea. She doesn’t care about humans at all, though the hydrangea seemed to be an elemental spirit, corrupted by the deeds of the little girl, whom it actually tried to save (the beams of light from before belonged to the hydrangea, it seems). She ends with an interesting statement: humans don’t save elemental spirits, then why should elemental spirits save humans?

I liked the use of umbrellas, this episode. Each of the characters had one fitting their style of clothing. The rain sprite had one to match her dress, Watanuki’s umbrella was an ordinary blue one, and Domeki had one in the style of feudal Japan. I also loved Domeki’s methods to ignore Watanuki whenever he got into one of his hyperactive moods (which happened a lot this episode).

PopoloCrois Story 1998 – 11 – Awesome Plot-Twists

by psgels, posted in Popolocrois Story 1998



I have to admit: when Ston and Sanda first got their hands on the Anemoritos, I really though that this would be solved within the first five minutes of the next episode. Boy, was I wrong! At that point, I never would have imagined that the storyline would turn so awesome from that point on. This episode definately was no exception.

The highlight of this episode was one of the best plot twists I’ve ever seen since Fantastic Children and Paranoia Agent. Remember last episode? Well, Gamigami decides to go extreme by switching Popolocrois Castle and his own tower from location. Now, Pietoro and his parents have to live in a barren wasteland. An interesting note: during the transportation, Gamigami managed to generate the same light pillar as in the first episode. This might be very useful for later.

Pietoro continues to blame himself for what happened. All because he let Gamigami take his dragon-powers. Though I think that the major fault lies with the love-potion. Without that, Gamigami’d never have Hyuu’s support, and he’d also never have the motivation of taking over the castle. Anyway, it takes a LOT to get Pietoro cheerful again. In fact, he’s so depressed that at one point, he even begins to stare at a piece of rope in a very “suggestive” way, if you know what I mean. I found this extremely well excecuted. Especially when he went out to sit on the roof of the castle as usual. When he looked down, and saw the unfamiliar scenery, he really was scared, and became afraid of the height.

Gamigami, meanwhile, is heavily celebrating his achievements, along with Hyuu. She, however, doesn’t share his happiness, and she keeps mentioning that something is missing. Ston and Sanda also aren’t too keen on Gamigami’s enthusiasm, with all kinds of sarcastical comments following.

Pietoro, by the way, is also the only resident of Popolocrois Castle who feels gloomy. The king and queen, the servants who got transported along with the castle, all of them are cheerful. Even the angsty advisor was happily playing cards with Paolo. Pietoro’s mother then tells him a tale of the time when Paolo was still young. He came from a very poor village at that time, and he had to do his utter best to gain a single bean in one certain winter. He then saw a hungry, nearly dying fox. Pietoro’s mother doesn’t finish this story, though, but lets Pietoro figure it out for himself.

Hyuu, meanwhile, is certain that something is missing. Though she doesn’t know what, exactly. Then Gamigami calls Hyuu, in order to show his newly created vehicle, in which he plans to ride through the castle town in order to pimp his new title. This is all accompanied by a very nice soundtrack. And we immediately find out that Gamigami can’t sing. AT ALL. Ston and Sanda definately agree with this.

Paolo, meanwhile, is ready to let his servants who got transported along with the castle know his next plans. Instead of doing what everyone thought he’d do, he puts on a farming-suit, and starts attempting to fertillize the barren plains around him. Pietoro’s mother joins him.

I am not paying attention at all, during an episode. That became clear with the scenes which were shown afterwards. Only when we switched back to Gamigami again, I finally understood what was happening. It was so brilliant. It’s so obvious, though I didn’t think of such a simple issue AT ALL, which makes it even more awesome. The following scenes are all accompanied by a great soundtrack, and Pietoro finally gets his enthusiasm back, and he sets off alone.

And just when you think we’ve got enough plot twists for one episode, Hyuu throws another one in our face. She makes another demand to Gamigami: bring Pietoro to her, and make him her servant. I couldn’t believe this when I saw. I’m really beginning to wonder what she wants to do with Pietoro in the first place. This show definately made me see that Hyuu is incredibly unpredictable in her behaviour and reasons. She wants to be with Pietoro, that’s obvious. But why does she want to use him to get home? Or does she even want to go home? Hmm….

Good Witch of the West – Astraea Testament – 04 – Hope, and Utena references!

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



Okay, I was wrong. Roux didn’t come to Toras in order to protect Firiel, he came to Toras because he wanted to get out of the castle, which backfired a bit, so he ended up dressed as a woman in the Secret Garden. The episode answered a number of small questions which came up in the previous episodes. They’re more like details, though they’re good to know.

Whenever the story turns to Roux, the overall mood remains horribly dark. There were no Princess Princess references at all. On a side-note, there were plenty of Utena-references, though. These really made me rejoice. The scenes weren’t as obvious, but the fencing, the stances and the elegance really reminded me of the style that Utena posessed.

Anyway, when the story turns to Firiel, however, the mood of the show suddenly turns light. She suddenly has friends, when compared to the previous episode, and people actually start to notice her. This episode was sortof like a room with a broken light: light-dark-light-dark-light-dark, et cetera.

Anyway, the episode starts with Firiel questioning Roux. Roux gives his explanation, and reminds Firiel that she’s easy to fall for traps. When he walks alone a couple of hours later, he gets cornered by the student council. Apparently, they run some kind of policy to check the underwear of each of the new transfer students coming in. (Hmm, why wasn’t Marie a victim?) Roux, however, reacts totally different than Firiel did, and he manages to get away.

Later, when Firiel, Marie and Roux have lunch (or breakfast, though it seems too late for breakfast), Roux tells what happened, and Firiel is glad that the student council didn’t discover Roux’ identity. Then, they notice that everyone suddenly stares at them. Not with anguish, but with awe. This is either because Roux looks cute in some strange way, or they found out that Firiel made friends with Adale. I’d put my money on the last one.

That night, Roux decides to pay Firiel a visit, and invites her for a play of chess. It really was a good idea of Eusis to introcude Roux to this game, as he’s quite fond of it already. During this game, however, Firiel discovers that not everything of the Ephemeris (Firiel’s father’s research) was burned in the first episode. This was probably the first time that Firiel managed to surprise Roux with her knowledge. Roux then teaches her a few things about the link between chess and the real world.

Another interesting fact is that the main sister of the school, Sister Lain, is often compared to the Astraea statue in Toras. This is why everyone calls her the affectionate spirit. (Roux again uses this moment to point at her slow thinking. Even though she’s one of the smarter main characters out there. But then again, Roux’ awareness is a very extreme example).

We then turn to the end of one of the classes. Roux is sleeping (after all, why would he want to follow courses in order to please men, except for giving Adale a huge source of inspiration?) and Vincent asks Firiel to come with her. She wants Firiel to challenge Ravenna (the leader of the apparently “Fake” student council. Makes you wonder what happened to the “Real” student council) to a sword duel. In sword duels, not the strongest ones win, but the most elegant ones win. I like this. It really reminded me of Utena.

Anyway, we turn to that night, Roux takes a bath, and suddenly he recieves a love-letter. He shows this to Firiel, and she really gets angry at the line at which the girl professed her love for him, though the viewer’s attention was more directed to the sentence above: “In my mind, your back looks just as graceful as stars.” This can’t be a coincidence, after what happened in episode two, and yes, our suspicions get confirmed the day after.

Firiel is determined to find out who the girl was, though she gets dragged off by the Uo and Hana-clones, bringing her to Vincent for her first training. Roux, meanwhile, gets visited by this girl who wrote the love-letter. It appears to be Sister Lain. She mentions Hermes Trismegistus, otherwise known as the leader of the bad guys. She then forces Roux to obey, otherwise she’ll hurt Firiel. I’m very interested to see what he’ll do in response to this. After all, he’s got brains for a reason.

Firiel, meanwhile, gets introduced to another character: Igraine. She’s a master-swordsman, and she’ll be the one to train Firiel’s swordsmanskills. Firiel’s a fast learner, and judging from the battle-choreography from the mock-fights shown in this episode, the swordfights in the next episode might become extremely worthwile. Ravenna then decides to pay the two a visit, after which becomes revealed that the late Roselite was very good friends with Igraine, though she eventually chose for Ravenna. Igraine hates Ravenna because of this, explaining her motivation to train Firiel. Another Utena reference: the more Firiel fights, the more people become to admire her, and watch her duel. Meanwhile, we see Lain staring from a window, with a big smirk on her face. This should promise something for the next episodes.

That night, Firiel discovers a chess-piece from Roux’ chess-game, which she knocked off a night earlier. When she comes to bring it back to him, she finds him in a nightmare, and she discovers all of his scars. What follows is a very nice emotional scene (very early as well, considering that this is only the fourth episode). It becomes even more clear that even though the two of them argue a lot, they will be protecting each other.

Bleach – 80 – Finally some quality again

by psgels, posted in Bleach



Haha, that’s more like it! Finally we have a really enjoyable episode again. This episode really shows that our modified souls work better as antagonists. Why? Because:
– They’re weak, so they have to use other measures to win than just pure fighting.
– They’ve got some awesome powers, with which you really can perform beautiful strategies.
– They aren’t shadowed by all of the other 40 protagonists that Bleach features, so you can actually see them in action a bit.
– They’ve got internal conflicts.
– They have extremely good personalities for antagonists.

What happens in this episode: basically, the Bounto’s have disappeared into oblivion after the previous episode, leaving no trail at all. The three modified souls are assigned to Ichigo’s house, as his family members posess a lot of spirit power. Kon, of course, doesn’t like this at all, and he starts a flame war with Ririn. When Ichigo has to remove them by force, his little sister enters his room. The scene afterwards was very amusing indeed.

Then, the alarm goes off. Yes, the alarm. Remember? It’s from a loooooong while ago, when Ichigo just met Rukia. I can’t believe the creators actually remembered this. I have no idea why, but I always really liked it when a hollow appeared back in those days. I just loved this scene, as it’s a bit realistic again. We just have two persons protecting a neighbourhood from hollows, just a routine-job. Nothing special at all. (This also was the shortest fight in Bleach ever. They’re learning! ;))

The modified souls then get a crazy idea: set up traps for the bounto’s. These, of course, don’t make any sense at all, so they’re quickly laughed at. They then decide to go extreme, by disguising themselves as a couple of dolls (Bounto-dolls, that is). They expect our group to chase them, miss them, and then catch them with help of the traps they set up. What happens in reality is that they get immediately attacked by a serious Rukia, without any chance to escape.

The modified souls then realize that they can’t get our of their suit, and they can’t communicate with anyone except themselves. Whey they are cornered by both Rukia, as Ichigo, as Renji, they decide to go even more extreme, by using their powers against our protagonists. What follows is an extremely enjoyable fight. Especially the illusion-powers of Ririn work very well, changing Renji’s Zabimaru into its equivalent: a broom.

I keep hoping that the creators realize that these kind of episodes are the things that make Bleach shine. Though I think they’ll never find out, and the next episode will be filled with guys showing off their spirit power to each other again. Sigh. Still, this episode was worth the viewing.

Saiunkoku Monogatari – 06

by psgels, posted in Saiunkoku Monogatari



I might’ve picked up a lot of the most nessecary things in order to be able to follow the story, there’s one thing I seemed to have missed: Seiran is indeed Ryuuki’s brother. This explains their relationship, and the fact that he was even able to be positioned this high in the military. Watching the second episode made me also see an unimportant, yet very amusing detail: Koyu has absolutely no sense of direction. This makes him even greater as a character.

Anyway, about the episode: the creators decided to let one scene involving two characters talking take up an entire half of an episode. This was just two characters talking, no more, which means a whole lot of trouble for me, trying to understand it. A lot of important facts were revealed, though I all missed them, unfortunately. This is what I managed to catch:

We start the episode with the initial goal of this anime being fulfilled: Ryuuki is finally taking up politics again, and the country has hope once more. We see the advisor smile, which is of course, logical, as his plan seemed to work. The other main characters discuss this, and they seem pretty happy about it. But then we see a character which has been neglected for a bit: Kourin. She looks at Shiurei, and you can almost put a sign on her saying: “Hello, I was ordered to do something bad to you, but I really don’t want to do it, what should I do?”. Or something in that direction. I like the fact that each character has some kind of deep role in this.

We turn to the evening, and Kourin’s caretaker (how the heck is that woman called again?) brings Shiurei some tea. She says that Kourin’s too sick at the moment in order to deliver her self-made tea, so she delivers it for her. The tea is actually poisoned, making our suspicions of Kourin indeed true. Still, it’s no deadly poison, Shiurei only faints, waiting to be kidnapped.

The events get discovered by Koyu, who happens to overhear Kourin getting cornered by someone, while he was getting lost himself. Kourin then gets to take a couple of punches, and the assaulter runs before Koyu manages to get to them. His yelling warns the other soldiers, and it is soon discovered that Shiurei is missing.

Ryuuki and Seiran both set off on their own, without any company. Seiran seems to know where the mastermind behind the kidnapping resides, while Ryuuki goes to rescue Shiurei. I have no idea how they know about the locations, and why they even dared to think to show up alone. Especially Ryuuki.

Anyway, for whatever reason, Seiran rushes to the culprit. The location seems to be inside Shiurei’s house. Why? I have no idea. It finally appears to be one of the old men who hang around at the castle. This is the one who hasn’t been active at all in the series. Then the horrible-half-episode-long dialogue begins. The old man then fully explains why he did it, how he did it, and why he thinks this is the best option. Still, I haven’t been able to pick up any of this.

Anyway, the old guy holds this behemoth of a conversation in order to let the air in the room be filled with some kind of strange smoke. Seiran’s getting a bit affected by it, though the old guy cleverly stands next to the window. Right when Seiran’s about to kill him, he shuts the window and puts on a gas mask. The fog in the room thickens heavily, giving Seiran a hard time to breathe.

He then calls a couple of cark-clothed henchmen, and orders them to attack Seiran. Seiran, however, still has some strength inside him left, and uses this by killing off the first bunch of henchmen. I have to say that I was very impressed with the battle-choreography. It looked really nice and smooth, even though it wasn’t much. The henchmen, however, are with too many, and they finally manage to overpower Seiran, but not before he throws a small knife inside the old guy’s shoulder. Then, Shiurei’s father appears. Apparently, he’s an excellent swordsman, as he kills off the henchmen in about two seconds. He lets go of the old guy, though.

Kourin, apparently, was taken in by this old guy. She was devastated when he found her, and he showed a lot of hospitality by allowing her to work under the castle. She has been, however, favouring Shiurei more and more, so she certainly got her doubts when she suddenly was ordered to poison her. A nice explanation of what happened. She also was too adorible when she apologized. There’s also some story about her caretaker, though I didn’t manage to pick that up.

Ryuuki, meanwhile, found the place Shiurei was taken. He gets attacked by another couple of henchmen (who are actually fairly surprised he was stupid enough to come on his own), though he manages to finish these guys off. Another bunch of henchmen then comes, and uses a fake Shiurei in order to trick Ryuuki to drop his sword. They succeed. Shiurei, meanwhile, has been viewing all this from a distance, and keeps hoping for Ryuuki to notice the trap. Cliffhanger.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 06 – Not as paranoid as before

by psgels, posted in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni



I’m beginning to love the concept of the show more and more. If only because the fact that the murderous Rena now acts as a side-character, and suddenly acts totally friendly with Keiichi again. This arc has yet to bring the craziness of the first arc, though. Especially this episode was more explaining than frightening. Still, it had some very good parts in it.

We start with the afternoon before the Watanagashi, with Keiichi helping to build it up. Shion brings him a cup of tea, after which Mion discovers them. Apparently, she also wanted to bring Keiichi some tea. Then it really becomes clear that Shion manages to keep control of her twin sister, and not vice-versa.

Then Tomitake and Takano run into the group, and then we get a quick explanation in one minute about the Watanagashi and Oyashiro’s curse, as wel as an introduction of Oishi-san. An interesting new fact that we get to know: Takano works at a hospital. This time, Shion’s, Takano and Tomitake fill Keiichi in about the murders. Shion apparently wants Keiichi to know for some reason, so that’s why this explanation comes sooner than in the previous arc.

Another interesting fact is that because Oishi isn’t the one who explains the link between each murder and disappearance, we get another perspective on that issue as well. In the previous episode, the perspective was “one person gets killed and one person goes missing”, though this episode featured the perspective of “one person gets killed, so one person gets missing”.

Anyway, that evening, Rika performs. Shion, however, takes Keiichi to a sacred temple in the woods. Only certain families can enter, and there they see Takano and Tomitake trying to open its doors. The two groups discover each other, and Takano, Shion and Keiichi enter the temple while Tomitake stands guard. Then we get to know a few more interesting fact. The residents of the village are half-demons. This would explain their behavior from the last arc. There’s also a large number of body-dissecting material present inside the temple, and the plough that Rika uses in her ritual, is meant to cut open stomachs.

The two parties say goodbye, Takano and Tomitake go to the rivershore, Shion leaves as well, and after a couple of seconds, the others manage to find him. Keiichi lied about what he was doing before, and he immediately gets cornered by Mion again (and a bit by Rika). How the heck to they always know what happened? Anyway, she doesn’t go as far as Rena went in the previous arc, though she does remind him again, and gives some very obvious hints that she knows he’s lying.

That evening, Shion invites Keiichi, though she uses it as an excuse for him to meet Oishi. She leaves once the two see each other. Oishi questions him again about the night before, but he doesn’t give any answers, like he did in the previous arc. He does reveal, though, that Mion and Shion’s family is sortof like the mafia. Mion’s supposed to inherit the entire family.

That night, Shion calls Keiichi, and she gets to be the one who informs him about the deaths of akano and Tomitake. Though something’s different: this time, two persons got killed. That must mean that two persons will go missing. Guess who that’ll be? Keiichi finally gets paranoid, and begins to yell to Shion, putting all the blame on her. She hangs up.

Shion is definately planning something, though what? And why did she go along to the temple while she knew what was coming? The same goes for Takano and Tomitake: why did they enter the temple in the first place? And the person who disappears? Shouldn’t this person be disappearing at the same night as the murder takes place? Why is it delayed this time? And why does entering the temple mean being killed?

Anyway, while the previous arc focused on Keiichi vs Rena with a bit of Mion, this arc focuses on Keiichi vs Shion with a bit of Mion. It’s a pity that Shion’s the only member of the cast I dislike. She just seems so boring, in contrast with the incredible Mion. She’s way too calm for this show, even when she’s serious. Actually, we still have yet to see any paranoid face, other than Keiichi’s, and last arc also had a surprise-element at this time of the episode (my favourite still remains Rena entering Keiichi’s house). This time, this wasn’t as evident.

Well now, let’s try to name as much changes with the previous arc as possible. It might help for future references:
– Keiichi didn’t help in the first arc.
– Shion was entirely oblivious in the first arc. People say that she might’ve been Shion in disguise, but the fact remains that their seijuu are different. If I recall correctly, Mion had the same voice all over the first arc.
– Mion didn’t show any signs that she fancied Keiichi in the first arc.
– Tomitake was introduced earlier in the first arc. This also means that the murder-story was only introduced in the second episode of the second arc, while the first arc already had the first episode talking about it.
– Keiichi meets Takano at the day before the festival in the second arc, while he only met her the evening of the festival in the first arc. She also speaks for a longer while, goes into more detail and both Mion and Shion are also there when he meets them. In the first arc, he met them on his own.
– Rika made a mistake in the second arc.
– Keiichi went to the storehouse/temple in the second arc, while he just watched Rika in the first arc. There’s been put a lot more emphasis on the night of Watanagashi in the second arc if you compare it to the first arc. In there, it was just a minor event, though this time, it seems central.
– Tomitake is never seen without Takano.
– Tomitake and Takano are last seen at the riverbank in the first arc. They’re last seen while going to the riverbank at the second arc.
– Rena never gets paranoid, or any reason to be suspicious in the second arc. I know I’ve said this lots of times before, but damn, it keeps bugging me.
– Actually, almost each of the characters has a small change in personality: Mion’s got more introvert and shy, Rika’s gotten a bit more friendly towards Keiichi, the yellow-haired girl calmed down a bit, Tomitake’s gotten less outspoken and Oishi’s gotten less serious.
– Tomitake, Shion and Takano fill Keiichi in about the past events concerning Oyashiro-sama in the second arc, while Tomitake, Takano and Oishi did this in the first arc.
– Mion started to get suspicious in the third episode of the first arc, while she started getting suspicios in the second episode of the second arc. She also gets to be the one to corner Keiichi for the first time in the second arc, while Rena did this in the first arc.
– Oishi first saw Keiichi a couple of days after the Watanagashi, during class in the first arc. He saw him right the day after the Watanagashi in the second arc. Oishi also didn’t see Keiichi as the critical link in the murder in the second arc, so he was fine with being interrupted by another police-officer.
– Takano got killed as well, instead of just missing.
– There is no word about one of the killers of the first murder still running free.

Some of the similarities were:
– Rena’s enthusiasm at the beginning of the Watanagashi.
– The scenes at which our group has fun during the festival, although played at a greater speed. (this has a nice effect, by the way).
– Rika cutting her plough in the Futon.
– Takano’s personality. It’s exactly the same as last time, even though she gets more airtime.
– The ease of Keiichi to get freaked out and yelling people he suspects.
– Tomitake cuts his throat with his nails. Seems to be a pretty popular way of suicide.

xxxHolic – 06 – Addictions, and how to lose them

by psgels, posted in xxxHolic



Okay, no in-depth for this entry, as I have to leave in a minute (mothers day, and all). For the first time, we see a case in which Yuuko is the one in the spotlights, and Watanuki acts as a viewer. There’s no Domeki or Himawari in this episode, thought the case makes totally up for this. We have a case that might appeal to a LOT of different people: a woman, who’s addicted to the internet wants to quit. It was really scary seeing her struggle with herself, Yuuko also helped in this.

I also love the open ending in this episode, not to mention the red baseball-bat which got turned into a sword by Yuuko. It was basically a pretty predictable episode, but the little details totally managed to save it. The warp-tunnel was great again, just as Yuuko’s ethical monologue.

.Hack//Roots – 06 – So many questions

by psgels, posted in .Hack//Roots



I really liked Haseo in this episode, as usual. He actually spends most of the episode on the bridge (he seems to be favouring that place), along with the little furry animal. Both of them don’t say too much, and especially Haseo’s thinking about what happened last episode. He tries to talk him out of things, by providing some examples .Hack//Sign also used. Then, we get our first sign of an event outside of the World: a meteor-shower’s supposed to pass by in the real world that evening. Haseo isn’t very interested in meteors, so he declines.

At around the end of the episode, we get to see a neat little technique, performed the creators. Sakisaka and Tabby are about to become toast. They keep sending e-mails to the other members of the Twillight Brigade, but nobody responds. We see a small shot of the bridge, without Haseo. This gives you the illusion that Haseo already logged off, while in fact, he was rushing towards them, managing to save them in time. Even though I absolutely dislike this concept (after seeing Star Ocean Ex, who wouldn’t?), it’s a good thing that the creators actually managed to pull off this trick. It’s definately an improvement. Anyway, we also get another hint about the supernatural events which are to happen in this series. Apparently, certain kinds of glowing thingies cause all of the data they touch to be completely messed up, resulting in them to lose all of their graphic form. Haseo, apparently has the power to undo these.

Tabby also was very interesting. Not in terms of her own character (I still don’t really like it), thought he effect she has on all of the other characters. As she’s still young, and naive, she’s the easiest to suspect people. After all, at the beginning of the episode, she was saying to Sakisaka how Haseo could’t be trusted anymore. That’s pretty blunt, isn’t it?

Sakisaka still had his doubts at the beginning of the episode, though I think that the conflict will have to be delayed for a while. I’m guessing that Tawaraya made a small mistake when stating his opinion about the meteor shower. The effect that this statement has on Sakisaka really was noticable, as he takes his distance away from him. He still has doubts, though, as he keeps clenching to his virus core. I think that this’ll be important for the rest of the episode.

I loved the conversation between Tawaraya and Ender this time, as it exactly had my kind of humor. The two of them are indeed viewing Sakisaka as the weakest link in the Twillight Brigade. I’m surprised that they didn’t select Tabby for this. But still, we have absolutely no information about his activities in the Twillight Brigade before Tabby joined. An interesting fact about Tawaraya is also that he doesn’t notice that Sakisaka’s beginning to lean more towards the Twillight Brigade. Or did this meeting have a deeper meaning?

Ender seems to know about the shiny thingies, as she gives a recognizing confirmation when she sees these. The then charges to Tabby and Sakisaka, cleverly avoiding them. I guess that these really have something to do with Ovan. Though she didn’t really count for Haseo to show up, and do the things he did. Also, why did she wait a while before attacking the both of them? In fact, why is she even bothering to PK them? The cliffhanger’s a very interesting one. She attacks both Haseo and Sakisaka, while they attack back, the screen pans up, we see a couple of flashes and Sakisaka screams. Tabby, however, doesn’t yell, but she sarcastically questions him. What’s up with that?

And where was Ovan during this episode? He just talked for a bit with Shino, said thanks, and never showed up for the rest of the episode. What has he been doing at that time? His conversation with Shino also triggers a lot of questions. For starters, Shino mentions hospitalized people. I might be mistaking, though could it be that these people are data-drained? But then, what did “it might be a long road ahead” mean?

Shino also mentioned Haseo being a bit too hard to please at the moment. I guess that she realizes that Haseo’s having trouble, though she doesn’t understand him perfectly. I’d like to see more of her brilliance of episode 3. Later this episode, she is the one who guides Sakisaka and Tabby to the place with the shiny thingies. This, however, is just a normal dungeon. How did she know that the shiny thingies were to be there? And even if she knew it, why did she even bother sending Sakisaka and Tabby there in the first place? And yes, she had to log out for some kind of reason. I also get the feeling that she didn’t want to tell Ovan what she was going to do afterwards, though Tabby’s questioning made me realize that there indeed was something that she was doing at that time. What could it be?

This certainly was an episode meant to trigger a lot of questions. Like, what are these shiny thingies anyway? And why do they appear where they appear? Why does Haseo, of all people have the ability to dispel them? I also loved the fact that some of the scenes in this episode were incredibly slow. Most people might not like it, though I think it’s brilliant. The music combines it really to a masterpiece.

Good Witch of the West – Astraea Testament – 03 – Very serious themes

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



When I first heard about the show, I never would have imagined that it would be dealing with such heavy themes. That certainly became clear with this episode, after the previous one had been hinting with Roux’ torture. Anyway, this episode plays inside the Toras Academy (also known as The Secret Garden and the Demon’s Hideout), in the Kingdom of Gulair, nicknamed The Good Witch of The West. Yes, it’s not a person, it’s a kingdom, this Good Witch of ours. Its pride is the Secret Garden, the most elite academy in the world, practically everyone’s looking up to it. Ah well, this expains why the series is called the Good Witch of the West: it’ll be centered around the Gulair Kingdom. An interesting fact is that during the entire episode, there were absolutely no suggestions that the Secret Garden might be a very important place in the anime. Though the fact remains that it IS the main reason why the Gulair Kingdom got its fancy little nickname. There still is something major which has to happen, which will put the academy in the spotlights. But then again, we’ve only hit episode three. There’s still lots to come.

Anyway, this episode’s main purpose was to introduce the Secret Garden, and although it’s such an incredibly famous academy, it’s actually a very nasty place. This mostly is because of the three student-council members, who are absolutely evil and really believe that the nobles are the only people worthy enough to exist. Such a concept may have been done before, though this anime carries it one step farther, and provides some subtle differences as well. For starters: this is the first anime which actually shows what is being taught at these elite-schools: proper etiquette, and how to get a guy in 10 steps. The council members actually order people to just search through Firiel’s properties, in order to investigate. She then gets declared as a spy, and the council members make sure everyone in the entire school knows about it. Even the friend Firiel managed to make ignores her, which is totally different from other anime which tried the same. Another interesting, yet subtle difference is that an actual expelling request is put on Firiel, but it’s refused by the school direction.

Though the biggest difference, and in fact, the thing I really liked about this episode, is that the council members actually go a step farther than just making the life of our main character horrible: they plan to kill her. Not just in person, but they order one of their servants to do it. The planned setting was during a school-play. The council-members selfishly took up all of the roles, and play one of the oldest stories imaginable. Though apparently, it has great value for the academy. Rosellite brings Firiel to a balcony, at which she’s supposed to commit the murder. Though then the two of them start talking, and Rosellite begins to doubt, especially if you realize that Firiel’s incredibly talkative and thinks on her own, instead of following crowds. Then, when you think the two of them made peace, an assaulter similar to the ones from episode one appears, and attempts to strangle Firiel. Rosellite gets worried now, though in the midst of Firiel’s struggle, the assaulter pushes her off the balcony, killing her. The lights were out at that moment, though the noise makes the council-members turn the light back on. There they see Rosellite’s body, and what do they do? They label her as a sacrificial offering. I know such a concept has been done before, but damn… there never was an anime so straight about this, not afraid to hide people doing horrible stuff, or saving this for the last moment.

I also loved Firiel after this. She doesn’t wait, and immediately decides to leave the Secret Garden. Then she finally manages to run into a couple of protagonists, who appear to be a huge fan of Adale. I only noticed this after taking a good look at them, but their character designs have so many similarities with Uo and Hana from Fruits Basket! Their personalities are totally different, though, but I wouldn’t be surprised whether this anime had something to do with Fruits Basket. Anyway, when the two of them try to join up with Firiel, they come to the unpleasant discovery that Firiel actually plans to leave the academy immediately. I’m also wondering why nobody blamed her for seemingly killing off Rosellite. After all, it would be a good chance to make her look bad.

It also was nice to see that the creators really planned to turn Adale into an old-fashioned fangirl. Ever since the previous episode, she’s been acting very enthusiastic towards Firiel, if I do recall because of her love for fairytales. It was very good to get my suspicions confirmed, when it became clear that she wrote a very passionate story about Roux and Eusis.

Speaking of the devil, Roux and Eusis, meanwhile, are spending the whole week that Firiel spends in the Secret garden playing chess. Roux never heard of the game before, so Eusis teaches him. It takes a week for Roux to be able to beat Eusis in a game, which is extremely good for a beginner. This also fits his personality well. Episode one really made clear that he’s a good thinker. Anyway, the reason he started playing chess in the first place was because Eusis promised him that if he won, he’d do whatever Roux asked him to. Roux actually uses this to dress up as a girl, and get a place in the Secret Garden. He takes Marie with him. I really was a bit startled at first when I saw Roux’ disguise. His glasses totally gave him away, though. XD

I like the couple of Firiel and Roux. Normally, we would have a boy, protecting the girl. At times, creators try to be a bit original, so what do they do? Right: we have a girl, protecting a boy. Talk about extra dimension. Anyway, this issue lies different with Firiel and Roux: they really protect each other. It’s not a one-way road at all. They both love each other, and they both want to protect each other at all costs.

I’m also getting curious about the coming episodes. Firiel planned to leave, though at the end of the episode, Roux shows up in his disguise, trying to enter the academy, which makes her biggest reason for leaving the Secret Garden suddenly gone. Will the two of them actually be remaining on this place, or will they move on? One thing’s certain, though. This will be one of the central places in the anime. I’m also wondering about the girl called Cisaria. She obviously has a secret. Though what could it be? I’m guessing that she’s somehow aligned with the assaulter from this episode. Also, what happened to Adale? Didn’t she say to Firiel that they’d be attending the same school together? And why does Adale think the school’s such a good place?

Overall, I like Good Witch of the West. The art is incredible, the story shows lots of potential for later, and I actually like the main character for once. In fact, all of the characters have something unique. The current episodes aren’t the best ever, though I’m fairly confident that this anime will get better and better as the episodes progress.

Jigoku Shoujo – 24 – Scary, scary, scary!

by psgels, posted in Jigoku Shoujo



No case this time. In fact, I think that the nurse from the last episode was the last person to be carried to hell. The last three episodes will probably solve Emna Ai’s problems, and this episode gives a really awesome start. And then to think that we’ve got two episodes left!

This episode basically consists out of two parts. In the first part, Ai invites Tsugumi to the place everything began. She and Hajime take about three quarters of the episode reaching that place, while at the same time they get to know what really went on in Ai’s past, and how exactly she became Jigoku Shoujo. Everything seems to be the fault of a boy named Sentaro, and a ritual named Sending Seven. Our two protagonists stop at a local inn. During the evening, when Tsugumi pays a visit to the local hot springs, Ai suddenly shows up. That really was a scary experience, especially if you combine this with the look Tsugumi had during this visit.

We also see the reason why Ai contacted Tsugumi in the first place: in order to discover what happened to Sentaro, and why she became Jigoku Shoujo. Apparently, she didn’t know this as well. She finds the answer, though. And it’s horrifying. The Sending Seven involved offering a girl at the age of seven, to the gods in order to please them. Ai was this girl. In order to be sacrificed, she needed to be burried alive. She got burried by Sentaro. When Ai finds this out, for the first time in the entire series, she loses her temper.

During the second part of the episode, Hajime and Tsugumi arrive at the place with the Sakura-tree, only to be confronted by an extremely scary-looking Emna Ai. Seriously, when she’s gloomy over the entire series, when she never smiles, or shows any kind of emotion, and then to see her angry like that, truly was SCARY. She didn’t even need to pull the Higurashi-emo-face in order to achieve this.

Her dolls manage to find out in just in time, and manage to temporarily save Hajime and Tsugumi from being sent to hell themselves. At that time, we also find out that Ai’ll be sent to hell herself if she uses her power for her own, personal gain. She then again comes with the statement that she doesn’t care about herself (*shudders*), and she finally manages to avoid her dolls and hit our duo. What happens afterwards? We need the next episode in order to know that.

This episode surely had some incredibly awesome parts. Especially seeing Ai angry for the first time was just absolutely terrific, not to mention if you combine it with her absolute opposite of egoistic type of character. My guess is that the two of Hajime and Tsugumi are the only descendants left of Sentaro, which makes me wonder about Hajime’s parents. Nothing is mentioned about them in the previous episodes, is there? And what is the role of the grandmother?

Ah well, two episodes left. The ending promises to be awesome. It’s just too bad of the irregular releases of the show. Then again, irregular releases have a good point and a bad point. The bad point is that you have to wait so damned long before another episode gets released. The good point is, however, that whenever it’s released, the episode suddenly becomes uttenly incredible. This episode certainly was no exception to this.