Ayakashi
I originally classified this series as a Mushiuta-ripoff. Humans can be possessed by Ayakashi, which they can fully control but they must watch out not to use their powers too much otherwise they’ll die. Just replace “Ayakashi” with “Mushi” and “die” with “lose your soul”, and viola. After watching the first episode of Ayakashi, I wholeheartedly encourage you that if you want to get a taste of the premise: go for Mushiuta. The cast of Ayakashi is horribly bland and full of stereotypes. I also feel like it’s trying way too much to be shocking and dramatic: it’s only been one episode and people have already been slaughtered by cute school-girls and one guy got his nose cut off and his eyes poked out, for very weak and shallow reasons. I honestly don’t see any potential in this one, and the ugly character-designs also don’t help much to increase my opinion. You won’t see me recommending this one.
Kimi ga Nozomu Eien – Next Season
I watched the original Kimi ga Nozomu Eien a few years back, before starting this blog. The concept was great, though I didn’t really like the final episodes. Therefore, I like how Next Season is going to attempt to show a different ending for this series, this time from the Haruka-route of the original game. So far, I like it. The romance is well-developed, and the episode builds up pretty well for the twist at the end. I do have some criticism, though. It feels like this OVA is really made for the fans of the game. I have no idea what events in the series happened and didn’t happen. What changed Takayuki and Mitsuki so that they broke up together? The facial expressions also feel inappropriate at times, which distracts from the ongoing storyline.
Macross Frontier
I do want to note that this is the first time I’ve seen anything of the Macross-universe. It’s the same as with Gundam, Patlabor and Matsumoto Leiji: these franchises are just so big, that it’s going to take a lot of effort to catch up with everything. In any case, this episode literally shined with all kinds of flashy graphics, but I’m not yet impressed by the plot. It still has enough potential to become interesting later on, but the first episode was very much like an the first episode of any other average anime, where our main character suddenly has to protect someone and picks up a special weapon that happened to be lying around. The main character is another high-school student, as well, which doesn’t really work in the series’ advantage. The graphics are impressive, though. Now let’s hope that the plot won’t be sacrificed for it.
Quite a straightforward episode, which is all about Allelujah, trying to take care of his past by destroying the research-faculty where he grew up. Sure, Hallelujah is still there, but I think that now, he’ll be a little less worried about his own kind. I’m suspecting that Setsuna and Lockon will also get episodes like this one in the future. And regarding Tieria, we still hardly know anything about him. This episode does show that he considers himself to be something different from a human being. His yellow eyes are also just like the Third Eye of The Third in The Third: they can log on to any computer.
It also seems that Allelujah and Hallelujah were two different persons at one time, though Hallelujah went on a killing rampage one time. When Allelujah (who apparently was close friends with Hallelujah) was forced to shoot him, Hallelujah’s consciousness was probably transferred through quantum-brainwaves to Allelujah, creating this strange schizophrenic being.
One thing I liked about the past few episodes is how Setsuna took a step back to allow Allelujah and Tieria to develop a bit. It’s a shame that I know that he’ll probably take up the role of main character again somewhere in the future, though. I really hope he’ll get better soon. And seriously, why are Louise and Saji even in this series? All I can think of is that they’re going to be important somewhere in the future, but I think that giving them a scene for every episode is a bit too much at this point.]]> 
I must say, I’m impressed. This episode concludes the attack by the Human Reform League, and the battle between the regular mobile suits and the Gundams was really well orchestrated. I like how everything makes sense, and especially Tieria was excellent, when he too goes against Veda’s plan in a desperate attempt to avoid getting captured by the enemy.
Unfortunately, Alleluja ends up going berserk, but there actually seems to be a good explanation behind it as well. I now understand why episode five was so necessary, when the lieutenant suddenly went crazy. Both she and Allelujah are genetically modified humans, and especially Allelujah seems to be one of the prototypes for this technology. Of course there have been people who messed around with his mind, which apparently created his alter-ego Hallelujah, who is some kind of murderous psychopath.
Now the big question remains: what’s going to happen in the second half of this series? Gundam 00 has done really well to not fall into the footsteps of Code Geass, and I really appreciate this, but it isn’t there yet. For now, it has been building up really well, and it’s done all the necessary things for an introduction: the Gundams are introduced, they’re given a bit of time to carry out their mission according to plan, and they’ve now faced their first major setback. I could say that the challenges for the Celestial Beings will continue to become harder and harder, but there’s no way that the creators will be able to keep up with that, since this series is going to consist out of 50 episodes and all. My prediction is that around the middle of the series, the Celestial Beings will break up.]]> 
One thing I like about Gundam 00 is how it’s finally a war-story that doesn’t give Japan special treatment. Heck, it doesn’t even seem to be a member of the Human Reform-Leage, and if I had to guess, then I’d say that it’s just a tiny neutral country. Sortof like Switzerland in the twentieth century. The only link with Japan that seemed to be in the series (Setsuna’s name) also turned out to have nothing to do with Japan in the end (seeing as how Setsuna is just a codename) Take that, Code Geass.
Anyway, about the episode: I liked it a lot, because there finally is a high emphasis on tactics for this battle, and for the first time, the Celestial Beings are in real trouble. I must admit that this happened sooner than I thought. The fight was quite solid so far. There was a bit of angst, but that’s only natural, as for many members of the crew, it was the first time their lives were in direct danger. I’ve heard from all sorts of sides that Gundam Seed Destiny was a scream-fest, and now that there’s no threat that Gundam 00 will follow in Code Geass’ footsteps, my biggest fear for this series is the same thing to happen as with Gundam Seed.
The first half of the episode was quite light-hearted, and the creators did a god job of portraying how the characters spend their free time on such a small spacecraft. There’s hardly any moment for privacy! Meanwhile, we learn that Lockon grew up in Ireland, and that he has an evil twin-brother. Ishmael has finally found a party that can help Azadistan: the United Nations. Louise meanwhile gets picked up by her mother, who finds it too dangerous for her daughter to be studying abroad. Saji still remains a whimp.
Oh, and we also have a first for this series: for the first time, Setsuna didn’t feel annoying whatsoever. In fact, he was rather cute when he had his meal, right next to Tieria. Felt also gets a bit of development in this episode. Her parents were apparently second-generation Gundam Meisters. They died, but the reason why remains a mystery.]]> 
I admit: the political roots of this series have been quite interesting, and they’re a good reason to watch this series, but the creators do need to put more effort into the characters. As usual, my main problem is with Setsuna again: he yet again surpassed his stupidity with this episode, when he runs into the queen of Azadistan and basically tells her that he’s the Meister of the Gundam Exia and working for the Celestial Beings, and only to confirm it, we see him hold a small demonstration of his piloting-skills right above the plane that said princess is boarding.
Why…. for god’s sake, why?!
One thing that would also make this series a bit better is if we were actually showed the intention behind the terrorists, like Bokura no and Simoun did. Right now, I’m not feeling any sympathy for the random victims that get killed by the Celestial beings. They just don’t feel like humans. One thing I’m glad for is that the terrorists actually tried out some tactics that show signs of complexity. If the creators can keep increasing this complexity, things can get quite interesting in the future.
One thing I did appreciate was the bit of development for Lockon. Apparently, his family was killed in terrorist attacks, leaving him as the sole survivor among tens of dead bodies. He was really meaner than usual this time. One thing I like about this series is how everyone reacts differently to the actions of the celestial beings. Some countries decide to use them, others hate them, and others have to deal with the victim of this hate.]]> 
Oh god… the episode was quite good, but unfortunately one of my fears has been confirmed with this episode: the Gundam-suits become more powerful as their pilots become more emo. That’s why Veda chose teenagers to be the pilots, as their chance of losing it is much higher than with an adult. While I can settle with such an explanation, my fears that this series will gradually turn into a scream-fest as it goes on have been greatly increased.
Well then, in this episode Setsuna gets to be the next one to disobey the orders by stepping out of his suit when he realizes that the guy he’s fighting against is the one who used him as a child-soldier in a Kurdish war. It also seems that the name Setsuna is just a code-name, and he originally is called Soran, with a Kurdish nationality. You wouldn’t say that, based on their character-designs. Anyway, after that, both parties retreat and the Celestial Beings continue to slaughter the Morallian Army. That part was really meant to show how powerful the Gundams are. It may have sounded a bit one-sided, but it can turn out pretty interesting if the creators use it well, because this will prompt the different countries to actually think of more difficult strategies until one manages to defeat them. Sort-of like Simoun, actually. The enemies start out pretty stupid, though their tactics drastically improve with every attack.
Setsuna himself, by the way, continues to have as much personality as a potato. He won’t even say anything in defence for what he has done, and only keeps whining about how his existence is somehow linked with Exia. Okay, I know he’s a child-soldier and all, but didn’t the other Celestial Beings find his personality strange and worrisome when he was first recruited?
One thing I also appreciate is how this anime shows that there are a lot of civilian casualties, but the protagonists don’t keep preaching over and over how it’s bad to kill a person like in most other anime, and instead different sides and opinions are shown. Incidentally, Tiera is turning into my favourite character. He’s realistic, and actually knows what being a Celesital Being means. The terrorists also were a nice addition, and I’m interested to find out what they’d gain if the Celestial Beings stopped their actions.]]> 
Ah, I’m glad to see that Setsuna is finally about to get some development after this episode. He was just too annoying in this episode before he ran into the guy from his past. I know the guy is silent and all, but at least give him some actual dialogue, instead of “My Gundam…”, “GN Blade…” and “Exia…”.
I liked the majority of this episode, though. We learn a bit more about the other members of the cast, and we see Lockon’s father, who seems to be one of the main technicians for the Celestial Beings. Sumeragi also turns out to be older than I expected, and she seems to be in her thirties, despite what her character-design seems to suggest. Her two female workers (the brown-haired and the pink-haired one) also get fleshed out a bit. I can understand why the pink-haired one is with the Celestial Beings. She’s serious about her job and some kind of a perfectionist, though I’m not sure why the brown-haired one is with them. She seems a bit unrealistic, with her playful attitude, despite being one of the best hackers in the world.
The next target seems to be Moralia, a new nation in Southern France, which tured into one of the major military trading-companies, after they start taunting the Celestial Beings by having a massive military demonstration. Sumeragi gives as the reason why the nation wasn’t attacked earlier is because they would have gone out of business in the end, though on the other hand, if Moralia would be gone and destroyed, the other countries would have lost an important military trading-partner, which could benefit the CB’s in the long run.
Another interesting detail is how the long-haired guy who works for the scientist who works for the Union (at least, I think that’s what he worked for. It could also be the EAU, I’ve lost a bit of track of that) is an old acquaintance of Sumeragi. Something also seemed to have happened between the two of them, which could explained why she joined the CB’s after graduating.]]> 
Wow… talk about a difference with the previous episodes. While the first four episodes of Gundam were about politics and clearly motivated purposes, this episode had one person going berserk and another one went off on his own. I guess the major characters in this series remain teenagers after all, which is in a way a pity. Especially the berserking young girl came from nowhere.
Another thing that was really bad about this episode was how Setsuna made a hole in the clouds, just by swinging the arms of his Gundam a bit. And here I thought that the creators put a lot of effort in creating their setting and physics. Blowing a hole in the clouds is just getting a tad too ridiculous. What I also didn’t like was the immense amount of time that was spent on the dull couple of Saji and Louise. WE DON’T NEED YET ANOTHER DATING-SIM THIS SEASON.
So, regarding the good parts… I guess that for this episode, it was Allelujah: the one who went out on his own with his Gundam, just because he wanted to protect a block of the orbital station that was blasted off. Not very professional, is it? Still, I like how the creators realize this as well, by the comments from whatshisname after the operation was finished.]]> 
Anyone who tries the first episode of Baccano! will immediately notice one thing: the immensely huge cast of characters. I could be wrong, but this can very well be the 13-episoded series with the biggest amount of characters ever. While it’s incredibly hard to make a story with so many characters that stretches over three different timelines come together, the creators of Baccano! actually pull this off. And how!
Basically, Baccano! combines immortal alchemists with the American Mafia in 1930. It works quite well, because there are so many different characters, they just have to go beyond the clichés in order to prevent characters who look too much like each other. This results in the quirky thieves of Isaac and Miria, the psychotic Ladd and the charming Luck. While it’s of course impossible for the character to reach the same level of depth as, say, Toward the Terra, but the creators did manage to give every important character (if I had to guess, there’s about thirty of them) an identity, a clearly defined role, a small piece of development and an actual personality.
And I haven’t even started talking about the story yet. Basically, it goes from a completely incomprehensible first episode to a captivating mystery-series, where all the threads of the huge amount of side-stories end up resolved at the end of the final episode. It furthermore tells the story of three, sometimes even four, related timelines right through each other. Because of this, the creators are able to plan the climaxes really well, and they turn into one huge success, with a near-perfect combination between comedy, drama and action. I really mean it when I say that Baccano! has some of the best writing of the entire year.
In terms of production-values, this series also shines. Especially the character-designs: not only do the creators manage to give every one of the about thirty important characters a unique look, they manage to actually do this for even the unimportant and side-characters (if I had to guess, there are about eighty of them). The animation may not look crisp, but it’s detailed, never giving off a feeling of still-frame abuse. The soundtrack consists out of a bunch of catchy Jazz-tunes, which makes me wonder why not more anime turn to this, as it works great to give action-scenes a bit of a quirky touch.
Regarding the bad points, there aren’t really any true flaws about this series, apart from the sacrifices that had to be made for the good points. The first episode is basically one huge puzzle, and only later in the series will things start to make sense. The characters individually aren’t very special either. It’s only when they are combined with others that they become special and interesting.
Overall, there need to be more anime like Baccano! It’s not often when you run into a series that’s as well-written as this one. It’s a definite recommendation from me, provided that you can take a few gory scenes that pop up once in a while.]]>