Category: Series which were Dropped

Lupin the Third – Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna – 08

by psgels, posted in Lupin III - Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna

I suspect that from now on we will get a closer look at Mine Fujiko’s past. This episode wasn’t exactly about that, but it did confirm that she was abused at a young age for who knows how many times. This episode was probably the catalyst that triggered her looking at her past again.

What stands out about this episode was how subdued it was, in a good way I mean. There was no nudity whatsoever, but the creators still captured Mine Fujiko in one of her most restrained performances so far. With Mari Okada behind the script (good lord, she’s writing three awesome scripts this season; all at the same time; again!), it’s bound to become interesting, especially with such an excellent director as Sayo Yamamoto. She really showed how well she can create an atmosphere and went into her own direction, while at the same time doing great justice to the Lupin Franchise.

What also made this episode interesting was how it was about predicting death days using this lithograph. The fortuneteller in this episode was great, both as a catalyst for Mine Fujiko, but also as a villain
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Uchuu Kyoudai – 08

by psgels, posted in Uchuu Kyoudai

Damn you, Uchuu Kyoudai and your cliff-hangers! Heck, not only are you one of the best series to come out more than a year, you’ve also got the most addictive cliff-hangers I’ve seen in a long while. I was ready to write up this entry and comment on how awesome Mutta was again, and then it pulled that bloody twist at the ending. We’re going to have to wait a week for those answers!

Seriously though, with this, I can say this for sure: for me, Space Brothers has the X-Factor: it’s that special feeling that is really hard to describe, but just grabs you as something special. The characters in this series have such an attraction that is really rare, and this is an effect I only experience with the best shows out there. Now, this is only the eight episode. I have no idea whether this show will be able to keep this up for all its airtime, however long that may be.

The television show was amazing. I especially loved how baffled Mutta was at the crazy behavior of everyone; like, the exact same reaction when we watch some of the strange Japanese TV-shows out there. The best thing however was how the creators used the element of luck in the point they tried to make with this episode. I mean, the twist they used is a standard one: a lucky break gives the protagonist the edge over his competition. However, it looked into this with much more thought than its counterparts: make use of the luck that’s handed to you. That really was a great find and I applaud you for that, Uchuu Kyoudai.

In any case, this episode also showed some very interesting new stuff about Hibito. First of all: he acted with the same smug as Mutta when looking at Mutta’s stiff performance on the TV-show. It’s details like that that really shows that the two of them are brothers, and didn’t just grew up together. And yes, there was that cliff-hanger. What on earth is in those letters!?
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Lupin III – Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna – 07

by psgels, posted in Lupin III - Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna

Unlike the previous episode this again was a fairly straight-forward episode centered around just one of the members of the side-cast. But it really made upfor that with the backdrop it chose: a very loose version of Cuba’s role in the cold war. I’ve said before that I love it when anime takes place in a place other than Japan, and even though this episode was full of Japanese references with taht samurai, it’s still very refreshing to see a country like Cuba pop up here.

This episode was this weird thriller about this over the top prevention of World War 3. It’s obviously heavily simplified with a lot of creative liberties taken, but the suspense for this episode was really well done Mine Fujiko again had some great interplay with the people around her, which overall again lead to a very enjoyable episode.

At this point of the series though, we should start seeing more things about the overarching plot, mostly about Mine Fujiko’s issues. The creators do have some sort of ending planned, but the only hints about that that we’ve seen so far are about her troubled past. We’ve entered the second half now, so it’s time for this show to evolve.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Uchuu Kyoudai – 07

by psgels, posted in Uchuu Kyoudai

Hey everyone, I’m back. Paris was awesome.

Speaking of awesome: what an episode. There have been series that combine comedy and drama. This episode however was one of the best attempts at that in a long while. It combined the two seamlessly, and there were many scenes in which I was laughing and feeling sorry for Mutta, at the same time. This episode continued to add even more to his character, and his ability to follow many things at the same time was a hilarious yet wonderful side of him that we finally get to see.

The fire extinguisher plot thread was ridiculous, band yet it fitted so well. You’d have to be fantastically lucky to be in Mutta’s position in this episode, but after all of the build-up with that silly article about the fire extinguisher burglar, you’d almost have to include it somehow. This could have been incredibly corny, but the build-up for it was just perfect.

And in this episode, we also got the first look into Hibito’s head. It’s because of this that we got to see new sides of Mutta: the way Hibito sees him is completely different from how Mutta sees himself, especially when Hibito evolved into this neutral character, compared to Mutta’s over the top personality. Once again the portrayal of these two is amazing, and you really feel like they’ve known each other for ages. Despite that though, I feel like this episode only cracked the surface of Hibito’s thoughts: we only got to see inside his mind for a small part at the start of this episode. After that this episode went back to Mutta again. Really, this series is masterful at keeping you hungry: it knows just how long it should stall for something, and when it should deliver.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Lupin III – Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna – 06

by psgels, posted in Lupin III - Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna

Yeah. This was awesome. Lupin III just got better again.

This looked like your average Lupin episode, this time paying a homage to the catholic school genre. I was really reminded of Oniisama he for some reason. In any case things looked to be a fairly standard heist episode that had Mine Fujiko pretend to be a female teacher, while we follow some students around her, in particular one girl with braids who I remember noting had a really out of place voice actress. And then he took his wig off.

What followed was a wonderful battle of wits between Mine Fujiko and that one cop assistant with a little assistance of Lupin, and it was really well done. The acting was awesome, the camera work really managed to capture the characters this time, and I also love how well this episode made use of the tiny details that the previous episodes built up on. I loved how Mine Fujiko completely pwned that cop assistant and the wit with which she did it. And the guy had some nice tricks up his sleeve as well. I did not expect the gun-wielding schoolgirls.

Those bits around Fujiko’s past are also pretty surreal and very artistic. This episode indeed revealed that she had to endure a lot of abuse when she was a kid, which pretty much shaped her to what she is now. I like how subtle the portrayal of how she remembers those times is: it’s obviously a trauma, but we never see heavy emotions from her around thsoe flashbacks, unlike how she usually behaves.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Uchuu Kyoudai – 06

by psgels, posted in Uchuu Kyoudai

Well, this episode finally revealed the reason why Mutta will pass the test. Heck, it was nearly entirely dedicated to that in some way or the other. And seriously, these writers are awesome. It yet again put more depth into the two lead characters, answered a whole bunch of questions and yet makes perfect sense.

I really wasn’t surprised with the revelation that Nanba and Mutta spent as much time as possible at JAXA. After seeing that UFO, it was the perfect motivation for the two of them, and it also perfectly explains why Nanba got the cards to become an astronaut. Mutta was the same, only he gave up on it while in high school, while Nanba continued.

I also love how we’re still not exactly sure what Nanba thinks: we never go inside his head. I think that we’ve had only three characters do that so far: Mutta, Serika, and with this episode Masa. Mutta meanwhile spent the entire episode moping, but he did that so well and it showed even more about His and Hibito’s relationship that it doesn’t really matter.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Lupin III – Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna – 05

by psgels, posted in Lupin III - Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna

This episode had more room for its animation compared to the previous weeks, and the result shows as Lupin heads into Indiana Jones. The direction in this episode in particular was excellent, making the dungeon crawling really fun and artistic to watch; the characters were also more expressive this time, both with the voice acting and facial expressions. Along with a nice script, this altogether was an excellent episode.

The first three episodes all showed Mine Fujiko with one major side character. The past two episodes however we see her along with two of them, which brings in a much different dynamic, especially with Lupin in the picture again. This episode made good use of that, and I liked the interplay between all three characters, especially how everyone was trying to wait for everyone because they couldn’t progress further.

One particularly interesting part of this episode was when the Egyptian afterworld came into play. you know, the myth of where everyone’s sins would have to be weighed. I liked how Lupin played with the definition of “sins” in order to get past the trap.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Uchuu Kyoudai – 05

by psgels, posted in Uchuu Kyoudai

So… much…. character-development.

I can’t believe how well the creators made use of this episode where Mutta pays a small visit to Hibiki. It just shows how much the two changed over the years. And it’s not a simple change either: the two of them evolved multiple times over the years and are by far the two most dynamic characters of the entire season. The bond between the two of them in this episode was also just amazing to watch. And that for an building up episode.

I loved how Mutta kept criticizing the tiny things that Hibiki did wrong throughout this episode in order to distract from his own inferiority complex. But really, it also showed that Mutta is a perfectionist, unlike his brother. This perfectionism probably lead to his car being a success. And really: it’s not like Mutta is your average Joe with no accomplishments either. Mutta continues to look over it, but pulling off such a thing is no small feat either. Hibiki in any case can’t boast to have created something like that.

I also loved the dialogue in this episode, and the way in which Mutta and Hibiki talk to each other: it really feels like these two knew each other for their entire lives. This episode also finally revealed the identity of that dog in the OP, and it turns out to be Hibiki’s. At first I really feared it to be this series’ annoying animal mascot. And yeah, it was annoying for a while, but the great thing about it: it knew when to quit.
Rating: **+ (Excellent+)

Lupin III – Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna – 04

by psgels, posted in Lupin III - Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna

This episode revolves around the Phantom of the Opera, with Lupin making a return as people run around a theater while a performance is going on in order to steal the mask of the lead actress who has been hiding her face ever since it got scarred. It was quite a strange episode, but I like how the creators got actual opera singers for this.

This episode also showed how hard it is to animate people singing. And I don’t mean the cheesy J-pop idols that you see everywhere, but actually well sung songs. But especially with Opera in which singers have to hold high notes: that must take a lot of effort, and actually portraying that in animation is something that I have no idea on how to actually do, making the singing in this episode look a bit weird.

I also like how pretty much everyone was trolled in this episode at the end. It was quite an elaborate plan set up by two lovebirds who didn’t seem to care about anything. It was a great anti-climax to a fun chase sequence, made even more interesting with everyone attempting to just make the show go on, even though a horse randomly walked off the stage and a light just fell. Imagine how Sengoku Basara would be when Date Masamune’s horse from out of nowhere dropped its owner and took off with that ninja woman.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Uchuu Kyoudai – 04

by psgels, posted in Uchuu Kyoudai

More about the romance in this series: there are actually other guys who try to hit on Serika. And it’s in a non-creepy way. After watching so many “will they won’t they”-romances, it’s so refreshing to see one that actually handles it well. Every part of the romance in this series feels natural instead of contrived.

In any case, I love how this show plays around with its narrative and keeps its viewers in the dark. There are certain scenes that this show blanked out on purpose, only to reveal them later when it fit in better. Or take the part in the interview when after it finished, everyone stopped by a certain alley, of which we later learned contained a series of portraits of Japanese astronauts. This series has a ton of small touches that tell so much about the characters like this.

Mutta also was as hilarious as usual. Again the details around his crush on Serika are hilarious (that photo!), but the interview question when one of the interviewers suddenly started talking in very bad Engrish. The cotnrast between Kenji’s answer couldn’t be bigger. I also love how insightful the discussions with him after each test are: the creators use his character well for that.

Furthermore, after this we’re in for something completely different.. This series doesn’t linger in endless exams, because the next few episodes show a small side-trip to Hibiki at NASA in order to show a different side of the astronaut business. And to keep us in the dark for a bit longer on whether or not Mutta made the exam…
Rating: ** (Excellent)