Author: psgels

Jigoku Shoujo – 12

by psgels, posted in Jigoku Shoujo




I had already been spoiled about the way this episode would have ended, so I didn’t really expect much out of it. Still, this series delivered. There were a lot of philosophical issues in this episode, it furthermore had a great story, the characters were awesome and the way this episode ended was just beautiful. With other words: totally different from what I expected.

We have this girl, who’s staying away from school, only contacting a friend she met online, recieving a lot of support from her. Her teacher (friendly and ambitious) meanwhile tries to get her back to school, which doesn’t really go too well up to the point of that girl calling hell-hotline in order to dispose of him. Then we see some interesting facts revealed, leading to the girl and the teacher starting to like each other and suddenly the teacher begins to get suicidal tendencies. The ending made me just hate that old hag of a grandmother, but it did make me love Ai and Tsugumi even more.

Also, the Jigoku-threesome stays out of the picture in this episode. Interesting…

Bleach – 71

by psgels, posted in Bleach



How the heck do those snakes keep standing? Okay, the ability to change every material into snakes is believable, although it isn’t really something you’d jump up for, but for these snakes to stand, almost straight, while they only touch the surface with 1/10th of their body? I’m going to urge the creators to spend some more research into physics…

Anyway, this episode had a bit too much plot and a bit too little dialogue. Even though the first Bleach filler was awesome, the second is just meh. The new characters aren’t very interesting. We have a big bad guy, uberpowerful, who wants even more power. He has the common number of two-dimensional subordinates (or slaves, whatever you may call it), and one among them doesn’t like what he’s doing so retaliates. *yawn* The only potentially interesting stuff is that we may be getting some more background information about Ishida.

What I do like about Bleach is that they managed to include certain tics with a few of characters, like Ishida adjusting his glasses over and over. It has a very nice effect, but then again, that’s what most tics do. They add for a little bit more realism, and you can recognize the characters more by this behavior. I wonder why there aren’t a lot of characters in general anime with certain tics.

This episode wasn’t a total waste of time either. There were a few moments which totally made my day: Kon trying to brighten up the mood, the conflict between the two captains, Rukia’s drawing and the little girl’s weapon.

Noein – 17

by psgels, posted in Noein



A Kosagi episode. At least, something that looks like it. It’s hard to define Noein in terms of episodes, as everything moves just right through each other. But still every scene in this episode, except the wedding and the journalists, had something to do with her.

We see some interesting facts revealed. Apparently, Kosagi has somebody who loves her. We also get to see what happened to the future version of Ai after Haruka’s little visit to La’Cryma. I wonder what her part in the story will be, as she seemed pretty content with everything.

It also appears that the creators decided not to go into the histories of Atori and Tobi, other than saying that they come from a horrible world. I find this a bit disappointing, because I’d love to see how the two of them grew up.

Anyway, I loved the way each and every story just moved right through, over, under and between each other. So many things are displayed during one episode of Noein, it almost scares me. The ending of this episode was also very pleasing, as we get to see Kosagi from a total different side now. It also offers lots of possibilities for the La’Cryma side of the story, as there are just two important characters who still remain there.

So, no Noein this time. I bet he’s plotting something, with those strange sea-horses of his… And when do we have the phone-part explained?

Mushishi – 16

by psgels, posted in Mushishi



I am a total sucker with stories featuring people forgetting precious memories with a reason. Needless to say that I absolutely LOVED this episode of Mushishi.

The episode already starts out awesome when we get told about a potential Mushi-victim, who we later learn, just appears to be an ordinary loud-snoring and clumsy woman. Then, the real main character of this story introduces himself and the real goodness begins. At the first half, there were numerous of times when I found myself pleasantly enjoyed by all of the trivial subtle things that the lady seemed to forget, and the boy’s reactions to this.

I also loved the way that there was no real way to cure this, except for living your life to the fullest and making lots of memories. The reaction the woman had after this kinda reminded me of Ueki. Anyway, then we skip one year, and we learn what happened Ginko’s visit. It was just too sad, but it couldn’t have been a better ending for this episode.

There’s also a thing that I’m wondering about, concerning the OP. It describes a man, travelling and searching for his loved one. Would it possibly have something to do with the anime? Okay, it’s clear that Ginko’s not searching at the time of the anime, but what about his past? Did he ever love someone? (If that were true, that would make for an awesome episode, by the way).

Popolocrois Story 1998 – 07

by psgels, posted in Popolocrois Story 1998



I just don’t believe what happened at the end of this episode. Hyuu must have some kind of reason for doing what she did. After all, she was giving the I-am-plotting-something-but-I-cannot-let-my-allies-know-about-it-so-I-guess-I’ll-have-to-act-mysterious-face. I do like the way she gave it. Most characters in anime stare to the ground, become a bit spaced out, and make a very serious face. Hyuu, however, smiled. I could almost say that it had a lot of similarities with an evil-grin. This shows lots of potential for episode eight.

Popolocrois Story is probably among with Tales of Phantasia the only anime in which I like each and every one of the character cast. The main characters, Pietoro, Narcia and Hyuu posess some subtle, but still unique and awesome traits most main anime characters nowadays lack. The bad guys (if you can count them as bad guys, that is), Gamigami, Ston and Sanda are just too awesome at times. Especially Gamigami (I mean, what other bad guy has a four-and-a-half TATAMI ROOM as the highest room in his castle? Only he would be crazy enough to think of a brilliant thing like that). The side-characters great to watch as well. Not even one of them feels out of place, annoying or boring.

Anyway, this episode was the best Popolocrois episode yet. I like the way the creators take it easy, not try to rush the scenes and still manage to add some comedy. Pietoro was just too cute when he tried to go to Hyuu on his own. Narcia was awesome when she tried to convince her sister to let her go. Gamigami was better than ever when he tried to flirt with Hyuu, even though it was actually horribly wrong what he did. (>.<) Also, every bad guy who manages to turn a rubber boat into a hovercraft instantly deserves a spot in the bad-guy-hall of fame. I see now that I've been rambling on a bit too much. I guess I'll stop now, before it becomes worse.

Revolutionary Girl Utena – 34

by psgels, posted in Revolutionary Girl Utena



OMG. OMG. OMG!

Okay, let’s recap, what do we see in this episode: Utena’s history (OMG), the Shadow-Play girls (apparently their name is the Kashira-girls) actually PERFORMING a 10-minute-long play of goodness (OMG), Himemiya’s history (OMG), the Kashira-girls without the shadow-play (OMG), the largest amount of symbols and metaphors yet to be seen in any other Utena-episode (OMG), a horrible cliffhanger (OMG) and what the hell is wrong with Himemiya!?!!? (OMG)

When I look back at this, I’d have to say that this was an OMG-episode. So many things get revealed, so many things finally make sense. So many new misteries are introduced. This really was one of the best Utena-episodes yet.

Before this episode, I could rather precisely identify the good guys from the bad guys, and vice versa. Well, that also changed after this episode. I can’t possibly tell right now who the bad guy of this show might be, because so many hints are flying in all kinds of different directions.

Okay, five episodes left. I wonder when we’ll get to see the prince in his current form. And what will be the role of his mysterious companion, who only appeared at the recap episode after the first part? In fact, these are just two of so many things I’m wondering about this show.

Revolutionary Girl Utena – 33

by psgels, posted in Revolutionary Girl Utena



The third recap episode in this series. But not an ordinary one, as we’ll see a major event that’ll influence the plot. It’s not really a plot twist, as it had it coming for a long time, but still, it was perfectly executed, along with the numerous amounts of symbols as usual, all working together to make a great result.

But still, that doesn’t mean that that person is a total idiot. There were so many times that I wanted to hit him for the things he’s doing. But I think that the creators are aware of this, and try to make him look as evil as possible. Well, they succeeded.

That wasn’t the only thing revealed in this episode, by the way. We also learn the certain identity from a certain someone. At least, I think we did. The revealing of this information just goes against all of the laws of anime at once. Normally, a lot of time and emphasis is put on these kinds of things. But here, it just gets thrown at the table like it’s nothing. There has to be something more… but what?

Anyway, about the recap itself, I guess it was only meant to fill up the rest of the airtime for this big thing. The heavy battle-scenes certainly helped to strengthen the mood, although everything was seen before and Nanami was somehow left out of this.

As this was episode 33, we still have six episodes until the series ended. I may be totally mistaken, but this episode marked the beginning of the end of Revolutionary Girl Utena. Everything seems set for a grande finale. I’m really curious about how everything will develop.

(P.S. The “shadow-play” girls were awesome again)

Mushishi – 15

by psgels, posted in Mushishi



And the awesomeness continues. This time we have a little bloy doing something with some mushi out of his own free will, making his big sister extremely worried. This was also probably the fist time in which the main charater took a nap such a time, only to wake up as if nothing happened. That’s another awesome thing about Mushishi: every single story is unique, and some of the most subtle subjects that hardly gets talked about in anime get featured in almost every episode.

Mushishi – 14

by psgels, posted in Mushishi




The more I watch this, the more I begin to love Ginko’s subtle, but cynical side. It fits perfectly in a peaceful show like this. Anyway, this time we have another beauty of an episode. We see another half-woman-half-mushi, and her behavior towards other people, including another moral dilemma which Mushishi delivers as good as usual. I just love the way Mushishi encourages you to think about an episode, instead of just to enjoy it.

I’ve noticed this for a few episodes now, but Mushishi is virtually the only anime in which the transition from show to ED goes perfectly smooth. Other series cue the music just a couple of seconds before the ED starts, in order to try and create this effect. Other just don’t bother at all and see the show and the ED as two different entities. So far, Mushishi is the only anime I’ve seen that manages to combine these two as one, with the result of giving you the feeling that you’re still enjoying the episodes when the credit list rolls.

xxxHolic Review – 84/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



xxxHolic is the sister-anime of Tsubasa Chronicle. We get to see The Witch and her Butler as main characters this time, along with a black version of Mokona and a couple of new characters. I do have to say, though: they both got a total restyling. Every character somehow got more chaotic (yes, even Mokona) and Watanuki and Yuuko’s (the names of the butler and the witch) conversations somehow reminded me of Kurogane and Fye.

As this is a movie, the character art has to be of extremely good quality, everything has to look smooth and consistent and each character has to look beautiful? Guess again. The character art is really messy and inconsistent, the body of each of the characters is even longer than with Tsubasa Chronicle, accompanied by really big hands. I’m having a love/hate relationship with this. At some times it works really well, and contributes to the overall mood. At other times, they bothered me a bit too much.

Even though the character art looks messy, everything else at the graphical department looks top-notch. Everything except for the characters has been done in CG, with magnificent results. Every background looks amazing and the battle choreography makes a very good use out of the messy character art. Even at the music department this series delivers. Every musical piece perfectly fits in the atmosphere.

This anime was probably partially intended as a comedy, and partially as a mystery-show. I have to say, that both of these sides worked out really well. Watanuki is very funny, and Yuuko, Mokona and all the other characters only contribute to that fact. But this movie really shines in the mystery department. Every place in the mansion seems different and especially the plot by the bad guy is very interesting to see. And freaky as well.

The movie ended with a couple of certain cameo’s appearing, who also got a total make-over. For a minute, I was wondering about the sudden change in art-style, but after a bit of research it turned out to be referring to the movie, instead of the series. (Hmm, do I really have to be so mystically about this? Ah well).

Overall: an excellent atmospere, which contributes to an excellent anime. The story’s awesome, the characters are awesome. Watch it.

(PS. During the research part, I took a look at Anime News Network, which suddenly started talking about a third season of Tsubasa Chronicle. I’m very enthusiastic about this. Apparently, this will be another one of those long-running series. Now then, let’s hope it doesn’t drown itself. Although I’m pretty confident about that).