Author: psgels

Some quick first impressions: Witchblade, Glass no Kantai and Good Witch of the West

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

For the quick first impressions, I’m always trying to find a small similarity between the three. It doesn’t always work, though. Just as with these three. I think the closest resemblance would be that each of the first episodes focuses around a female, instead of a male, but that isn’t really something extraordinary… But who cares! Good Witch of the West is finally fansubbed!

Witchblade

My, my! I never would have thought an anime like this would have good points! Okay, the main character’s designs are hugely fanservice-oriented, there are a lot of fast action-scenes, but holy god, the mother-daughter story was just too sad to see. We have this mother and daughter, who are fleeing for the Child Support Agency, which plans to separate the two of them. Both of them really want to be with each other, so when they are eventually separated, both parties become desperate to see each other again. That part was beautiful, although I’ll probably hate the parts which have nothing to do with this relationship.

Glass no Kantai

Apparently, this started airing recently as well. It’s a science-fiction series, with huge 18th century influences. Space has been filled with air, for some strange and unknown reason, and large battles between lots of big space-ships. This anime will probably about the leaders behind large-scale wars, with some ethics involved. The graphics look great. The CG to coordinate all of the different battleships on the battlefield also has been done pretty impressively. The theme is also fairly nice, though the story and the characters have yet to impress me. I don’t know if I have enough motivation to keep watching this.

Good Witch of the West – Astraea Testament

Woohoo! It’s just as good as I imagined! For one, the art looks truly beautiful. It can even challenge Tales of Phantasia if this keeps going on, which is a very remarkable feat, especially if you realize that Tales of Phantasia was an OVA, while this is just a tv-series. Anyway, the characters, the story, the dialogue, the music, everything is full of potential. It’s also a very nice addition that our main character is a fan of fairytales. We’re still bothered by a couple of common clichés (the larges one being our main character being member of the royal family), though. But I’m happy that they are using them right now, instead of at the end of the series. Yes, I’m looking at you, Esther. I think that with this, my top three of the spring season consists of Good Witch of the West, .Hack//Roots and Higurashi No Naku Koro ni. I’m really dying to see the next episode of each of these three.

Saiunkoku Monogatari – 01

by psgels, posted in Saiunkoku Monogatari



I have no idea why I decided to pick up the raws for this anime. In fact, I have no friggin idea why I decided to pick up a raw in the first place. The only japanese I know is that which I unconciously picked up from two years of anime-watching. I think I’m just going to blame impatience. I’ve been waiting for this show for a while, and still no fansub group decided to pick it up.

Anyway, this is what I managed to understand: we have a girl, named Siurei (I think that’s how you spell it, please correct me if I’m wrong) who works as a grade-school teacher. She also plays a japanese violin-like instrument, I forgot its name for a bit, with which she tries to get a job. She plays horrible, so she isn’t much of a success. Afterwards, she complains to her boyfriend/friend/future boyfriend/servant/brother/whatever (whose name is apparently Seiran) about how she has to live in poverty all the time, that she hates being poor, et cetera.

When the two of them get home, they are visited by a strange old man, who has an offer for Siurei: she has to work for him, in excange for a fairly large amount of money. If I had to take a guess… it would either be five thousand, or five hundred Ryu, as the man holds up five fingers when he says the amount. Siurei is so stunned by this, that she accepts.

There are some catches to this, though. I still haven’t figured out which, but they aren’t pretty. Anyway, once appointed, it seems to me that she aquired quite an important function, as everyone seems to respect her and is in awe of her. A small girl, probably named Kourin, comes to bring her tea. She trips and falls, spilling tea all over her. Siurei comforts her. I guess that we will see this girl more often.

We then switch to two bishounen, one seriously annoying the other, to the point of yelling. Then Siurei comes across them, the three introduce themselves, and she brings them some lunch. Aparently, there’s only one thing that she can make, though she seems to be very good in this. She then takes some kind of book and leaves.

We then switch to Siurei in a small forest of sakura, awed by the beauty of them. She then meets up with another bishounen, and instantly begins to feel something for him. When she asks for his name, he gives a fake one, as it appears to be identical with one of the two bishounen featured earlier. She lets him have some of her lunch, and then she leaves. The screen zooms out, we see a couple of old men talking and the episode ends.

I think that Saiunkoku Monogatari has lots of potential. After all, its total amount of episodes consists of 39, and the first episode already features a lot of progress. I also like the art, it’s one of the cleanest I’ve yet to see, not to mention the great costumes. It doesn’t beat Tales of Phantasia, though. The music also is very fitting, it conists of ancient japanese musical instruments, which play about half of the episode. A bit too little, though, but it could have been done a lot worse.

Ergo Proxy – 07

by psgels, posted in Ergo Proxy



Where the previous episodes had a lot of Vincent and a bit of Lil, this episode has a lot of Lil and a bit of Vincent. The two are separated once more, and each have their own story in this episode. I’ll start with Lil.

She’s able to recover, and once she gains conciousness, she leaves her hospital-bed, looking for answers. She looks beautiful without her make-up, by the way. Anyway, she avoids a couple of doctors, while Dedars notices what she’s doing. The two meet each other in the nursery-room. In this room, all the people are born, and artificially raised to be perfect citizens. This was an interesting surprise for me. I knew that Romdeau was focused on total control, but I never realized that the control would be this total. People are truly raised to be perfect citizens, no more. Dedars is willing to tell Lil everything he knows, but before that, she’ll have to face her grandfather. When she does, he just doesn’t respond to her at all. I’m wondering whether this old guy really is the mastermind behind Romdeau, or that he’s just controlled by the statue-like things right next to him. Anyway, when she gets back to Dedars, he shows her a couple of things. First of all: Iggy. It seems he’s making a come-back, this time without being monitored by the police, as Dedars installed something nice in order to prevent it. Second, some info about Proxy, or more precisely: Monad Proxy. It seems that it’s not a bad thing after all. It served as some kind of power source for the humans, taken from Moskou. I’ll just wait a couple of episodes before declaring it along with the good guys, though. But just like Lil, I’m really interested. I want to know what it means. The creators did a fine job in this. Anyway, Lil says some things about her motivation, and then some infected auto-raves enter, trying to kill our two protagonists. The fun thing is: Raul sent them. He’s using the cogito-virus as a weapon to get rid of Lil. She manages to shoot all of the incoming autoraves, though one manages to slice her. Hard. We don’t see what happens to her afterwards. All we see is Dedars making up a death notice for Lil. This is fake, of course, but I do want to know what happened to her.

Vincent, meanwhile, spends the episode flying to his city of birth: Moskou. This was really interesting to see. His companions don’t survive the trip, and he gives them an honorful burial. Eventually, he ends up alone with Pino. This also means that the entire population of Outer-Romdeau is dead now. Nobody has survived. That’s not the first thing you’d expect after episode 4. Anyway, he spends most of the time monologueing about the harships of the journey and his loneliness. Pino’s an autorave, so she doesn’t count. She has a very small part in this episode, by the way. Though, the fulfills this part nicely.

It seems that the next couple of episodes will be revolving around Moskou. Lil will probably also be heading there, and she’ll probably arrive around episode nine. Episode eight will probably involve Vincent arriving in Moskou. About the episode: I really liked it. The dialogue between Lil and Dedars was just superb.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 03

by psgels, posted in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni



Not as good as the previous two episodes, though this one still managed to amaze me. We continue the morning after the last episode. Keiichi wakes up, and suddenly doesn’t feel like going to school, so he calls in sick. He goes to the hospital, and on the way back, he runs into Oishi who invites him to lunch.

During this lunch, Oishi reveals some more interesting things about Keiichi’s friends. They all have something to do with one of the victims. If it weren’t for me not being able to remember all of their names, I’d list who had a relationship with who. Furthermore, Rena apparently had a little ‘fun’ on her previous school, before she transferred, including a baseball bat and all of the windows in the school.

For some reason, Keiichi now is the one in most danger, even though the festival’s almost a year away. That night, Keiichi gets paid a visit by Rena and Mion, who bring him a couple of ohagi. Then, they turn into creepy-mode again. The impact just wasn’t as good as the previous episode in which Rena went berserk. In there, Keiichi was a bit pushy and wanted to know something of her, and got totally owned afterwards. Right now, they just changed spontaneously, it seemed only meant to deliver a message, or something. Still, the results are pretty awesome to watch, as Keiichi now totally loses it. Especially when he finds a little ‘souvenir’ left in the ohagi.

Keiichi makes up some kind of plan during the night, and goes to school extra early, at which he almost gets hit by a mini-van. He then notices that the driver intended to actually hit him. At school, he searches through random lockers, and suddenly finds a baseball bat. He finds this a nice weapon, and decides to practice with it. His friends all see this, and all get away from him as soon as possible.

After school, Keiichi just goes home, without joining the club. Rena follows him, and reveals some interesting information about Satoshi, in a quite emotional scene, again with her changing into freaky-mode. The same complaints as above. That night, Keiichi gets the jolly news that he’ll be spending 24 hours home alone, as his parents went away for work. Oishi then makes a call, and Keiichi tells him about what happened, and realizes that he would not make a good detective. Then, we see a strange figure walk to his house, and ringing the doorbel, after which the episode ended.

Like I said, I loved the previous two episodes more. They had just utter crazyness. This one was probably more meant in order to give a bit of explanation to what was happening. Ah well, we’ve got the basic outlines now, all that’s left are the details. And there are a LOT of details.

Ayakashi ~ Japanese Classic Horror – 09

by psgels, posted in Ayakashi ~Japanese Classic Horror~



Today, we start with the third and last part of Ayakashi: Bake Neko (I’m really forcing myself not to misread it as Baka Neko). And again, it feels like we’re in a total different anime. The funny thing is, that the impact is even bigger than with Ten Shu Mono Gatari. And again, Bake Neko has some unique features. Yotsuya Kaidan had the incredible murders, Ten Shu Mono Gatari had its great love story. Bake Neko, however, is just crazy. And that has to say something, especially when compared to Yotsuya Kaidan.

The first thing that comes to the eye is the once more changed character art. Yotsuya Kaidan had ugly characters. Ten Shu Mono Gatari had elegant-looking characters. Bake Neko has hilarious looking characters. Especially the minor characters just look like they had to suffer from the horrors of overbudgetting, ending up with a continuously idiotic look.

That’s not all. Also the dialogue just screams chaos. While Yotsuya Kaidan’s dialogue was based on history, Ten Shu Mono Gatari tried to be as romantic as possible, Bake Neko just uses fast-paced dialogue combined with characters being weird, and combines it to something that actually ends up pretty enjoyable.

Anyway, about the story of Bake Neko: I like it. I really like it. This might be the best of the three. We have this demon, who’s busy assaulting a rich family, consisting of a grandfather, a father, a mother, a daughter, an uncle, two or three bodyguards and a bunch of servants. He already killed the daughter and one of the servants, and if it weren’t for a medicine seller who happens to know exorcism, the entire house would have been demolished.

In order for the medicine seller to be able to kill the demon, three things must be known: Katachi, Makoto and Kotowari: the form the demon takes, what is really going on, and the events that made the demon act the way he did. Katachi is immediately clear: this is a case of Bake Neko (hence the title). The merchant needs the members of the house in order to be able to determine Makoto, after which the episode ends. My guess is that the rest of the episodes will deal with the merchant figuring out what happened, accompanied by a couple of nice deaths. I also like the way that especially the uncle seems to be hiding something, though my favourite character still is the assistant bodyguard. He’s just so ignorant.

Some quick first impressions: Yume Tsukai, Ar Tonelico and Jyu Oh Sei

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

We now turn to the series which were kindof ignored by the fansubbers. They’re all fantasy series, in one way or another. Again, some are good, some are bad. Some of them, though, really deserve more credit than they get.

Yume Tsukai

I liked the promo-art when I first saw this. It promises to be an interesting series, with kindof a weak start. If I guess this right, this will be just like series as Jigoku Shoujo and Mushishi: each episode, we get a different case, and each episode is a story on its own. Still, the former two captured me at this moment. Yume Tsukai, however, seems a bit mediocre. I do have confidence, though, that this will turn out to be a great series later in the show. Still, I don’t know whether I’ll be able to witness it, due to the enormous amount of other shows which currently air, and caught my attention more. I’ll try, though.

Ar Tonelico

I secretly hoped for this to be the next Tales of Phantasia. Note to self: NEVER do that again. The story is just generic. The main character is an impulsive, immature, pubescent male. That is so original. Especially when you try to consider that the creators try to make him look like some perfect being. That doesn’t work. The fact that he immediately ends up with a cute girl doesn’t really help, so does the fact that another cute girl happens to be the best engineer ever. Still, despite all this garbage, there’s one thing I really loved. The graphics look totally amazing. Especially the backgrounds were on Mushishi and Tales of Phantasia-level.

Jyu Oh Sei

I have absolutely no idea why this show is neglected this much. It’s brilliant! I urge everyone to check this out, you won’t be disappointed. It’s not the best to come in this season, but this will certainly be a good watch. Another thing: even though the concept is huge, the show only airs eleven episodes. This will either mean great pacing or a rushed ending. Judging from episode one, I’d say its the former. Let’s hope it’ll be able to keep up, because if it will, this will become awesome. Interesting fact: the first thing I thought of when I saw this anime was “Fantastic Children”, which is true, the main characters really look like some upgraded versions of the Children of Befort, which is a very good thing.

The Law of Ueki – 50

by psgels, posted in Law of Ueki



One episode left, and we’re in for a grande finale. It promises to be a great drama, after all, Ueki has only 18 chances to finish Anon off. The Ballow team also still has to give out its final trump card, Hideyoshi also didn’t get to stand in the spotlights. I’ll eat my hat if Sano, Rinko and Mori have played their parts in this show, Robert still has to have a few tricks up his sleave, and is Rihou really taken out forever?

Though, I’m wondering… how did Anon manage to beat Robert in the first place? Anon had nothing at that time, no sacred treasures, no power, no nothing. So, how did he do it? Anyway, it’s also glad to see that the creators still haven’t used up all of their creativity at the end of the series. Ueki’s Maoh, and Anon’s trick at the end totally deserve credit. The fact remains, though, the the fight wasn’t as glorious as we’re used to. Unfortunately.

Will the ending be as predicted, will the ending be horrible, or do we still have a few surprises left? The way it is now, this show can go every possible direction.

.Hack//Roots – 03

by psgels, posted in .Hack//Roots



The episode begins with the members of TaN discussing for a bit, then we switch back to Haseo, who’s busy levelling. These are also the only fights that happen in this episode. It makes me glad to see that this series didn’t focus on the fights after all. Anyway, after killing a bunch of monsters, he walks into three suspicious-looking PC’s, probably after an easy PK. Then we switch to the members of the Twillight Brigade. Shino and Ovan have a little talk with each other, with Ovan being as mysterious as ever.

Back to Haseo, it seems someone has been spreading rumours about him being the legendary Haseo, with superpowers and super-items. The three PC’s from before were begging him to join their party. Haseo tries to flee, but runs into some other guys who heard about him. These, however, are a bunch of PK-ers, only after his money and items. Haseo gets saved by Tawaraya, the big merchant from TaN. Tawaraya, interested in Haseo’s bond with Ovan, is stunned when he founds out that Haseo knows absolutely nothing. He goes back to TaN, and wonders why Ovan was so interested in this kid.

Haseo, meanwhile, gets bothered by Tabby. She’s the only character in the show I have problems with. In combination with other characters, she works pretty well, but her artwork SO does NOT fit with the others. It’s really another art style she’s drawn in. She also was the biggest reason why I feared that .Hack//Roots might be going into the wrong direction. Anyway, she gives Haseo a special card, which makes you able to join a certain guild, in this case, the Twillight Brigade. The two spend a bit of time together, Tabby keeps bothering him, and Haseo decides to lose her the quick and easy way: by logging out.

I’ve noticed before, but now I know for sure: the episodes of .Hack//Roots all start out a bit of mediocre, but as the episode progresses, the scenes become better and better by the minute, and the scenes at the beginning of the episode all get their meaning. The result is awesome, and this episode was no exception. We now get our first taste of supernatural events on the show, and finally it becomes clear why Ovan was so interested in Haseo. For some reason, the screen gets a weird tint, all PC’s and NPC’s disappear, and all Haseo’s able to see is Ovan, who’s walking a distance away from him. Haseo tries to follow him, but the screen turns normal again, and he bumps into Tawaraya. Tawaraya soon understands what happened to him, and finally understands why Ovan was so interested in Haseo. He gives him a special card as well. It also now becomes clear why TaN’s so interested in Ovan. A lot of pieces fall into place this way.

Shino, meanwhile sees where she went wrong, and goes back to Haseo. This time, not to convince him, but just to be with him. That’s what I really liked: two characters, just sitting next to each other, saying just nothing. A lot more anime should attempt this. Haseo leaves, but Shino made a big impression on him. The rest of the episode, we see Haseo thinking about which guild to choose. The result is predictable, but the way the decision is made totally makes up for it. After all, it took Haseo three episodes to make a good decision. Each side was explored, he knew the advantages and disadvantages, and he made a choice. You don’t usually see this in anime either.

Overall, this was another brilliant episode. Haseo’s in the guild now, but I like the way it happened. I wonder what he’ll be doing next.

Magikano Review – 73/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



What we have here, is an example of an anime containing great, but at the same time, horribly wrong comedy, often combined with huge amounts of fanservice. Although the fanservice is bad, the comedy totally makes up for it. Each episode, we get to see our characters do the most stupid things ever. The characters are brilliant when it comes to comedy. This is a typical harem-series, so there naturally is just one male member in the cast, with the rest filled with women. All of course, in love with our main chacrater. Each of these characters has her own different personality, and in combination with each other, they work absolutely great.

The graphics themselves look pretty decent. The character art can be debatable, but it’s good enough to not be bothered by it. The CG looks very nice. Maybe it’s a bit too much copied and pasted, but I’ve seen anime do this worse. The music itself isn’t really special, but it gives a nice mood to the series. The OP is way too cheesy, however. It fits the anime perfectly, though.

Like I said before: this anime really works, I had a great time watching this series. However. This anime only works when it doesn’t take itself seriously. Every time it attempts to introduce a serious scene, it turns into pure and utter garbage. I especially recommend everyone to stop watching after episode ten, as the last three episode were part of the most boring episodes in the history of anime.

Apart from that, though, I really recommend this anime for the people who are in for a few good laughs, and like some horribly wrong comedy.

Final rating: 73/100

xxxHolic – 03

by psgels, posted in xxxHolic



Ah, finally Himawari and Domeki play a big role in an episode. Especially Domeki works very well along with Watanuki and Yuuko. The three of them just form a perfect team. The character animation still is as buggy as ever, but the special effects look amazing. This gives a very unique feeling to the show.

The case in this episode involves the school where a friend of Himawari resides. A couple of students have been playing with Angel-San, which seemed to have induced some very strange incidents. I had a bit of trouble figuring out what Angel-San was in the first place, but it appears to be an instrument with which you can call ghosts and make them say a message.

Watanuki and Domeki both arrive at the school, accompanied by the greatest Chobits-pun ever, and indeed, the entire building is infested with spirits. Inside the building, there’s a very strong smell, which only Watanuki can feel. The smell increases as they both go higher, until they reach the roof of the building. There, they see a couple of schoolgirls with an Angel-San which has totally gone berserk, threatening to kill everyone. When Watanuki tries to break them apart, it appears that the schoolgirls were supernatural themselves, as they change into a giant evil spirit. Then a gigantic snake arrives, and eats everything. Especially this part I loved, the choreography was just awesome, not to mention the music included.

We then see a little aftermath, in which Yuuko explains what has happened. That only shows that the dialogue in this anime is top-notch. Everything gets perfectly explained, I like it.