Category: Finished Series: Action

X-Men – 11

by psgels, posted in X-Men




Hostages are a very common trope, but then again it’s no big surprise because it’s often the most logical thing to do. You have a bunch of people who don’t want to listen to you? Just threaten to kill their best friend and they’ll squeak differently. With all tropes, there are a ton of ways to do this, whether good or bad. The first half of this episode of the X-Men showed a bit of a strange version though.

The guy with liquid powers could have killed Cyclops, Sasaki and the others that he caught easily if he wanted to. the result was that Storm and Cyclops just stood there while they easily could have zapped everyone, and the only one who did something was Hisako, being the only one stupid enough to not understand the implications of her actions.

This is where Wolverine (the TV-series) stands above the X-Men. Wolverine’s storyline was simple but effective, and was really just a bunch of powerful men duking it out for the sake of romance and stopping at nothing until they achieve their objectives. In the X-Men, the plot is dictated by teenaged emo. That’s just… less impressive.

Having said that though, this episode once again looked absolutely gorgeous, and the adults here were as good as ever. In terms of building up this series only manages to increase its tension and atmosphere, exactly as an action series should. Compare this to Sengoku Basara Two, which spent a ton of time building up to a final episode that ultimately was a let-down. Despite its plot issues, this show remains engaging and well told.

Oh, and this episode also showed a new trailer for Blade, and unfortunately it seems like the acting is going to be a problem again. That’s the thing with Madhouse: they always have great and unique visuals and character designs, but because of that they get really hard to animate consistently. The footage was only a few seconds long, but that was enough to show that the animators didn’t avoid this and the show will be full of stiff acting again. It’s a shame, because the X-Men avoided this really well.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Deadman Wonderland – 09

by psgels, posted in Deadman Wonderland



So this wasn’t meant to be the most surprising episode: right from the start it was clear that everything would go to hell in this episode, with a traitor right in the middle of everything, just about every part of the plan was set to be sabotaged and brutally murdered, which is exactly what happened.

And yeah, I guess that the way in which Ganta survived was pretty plausible. On top of being lucky enough to have the single most powerful character in the series as his ally, he also was the only child in this operation: it makes sense for the others to want to protect him, and at least make him end up outside. The whole explosion also made sure that the priest didn’t just go and murder him on the spot. Really, as long as things remain this way I have no problems with it. This show just needs to avoid pulling another Olympic medallist.

Also, the death scenes: they also were well done. The fact remains that Ganta went together with just a bunch of unnamed characters, but this episode made sure to at least give them a character as a group, and highlight some of their personalities even though we don’t know anything about them. I was actually surprised that some of them actually survived (but then again the question will be for how long? I really hope that this show won’t see them as just cannon fodder after this point).

Also, the gore. This episode did not have any particularly well animated scenes, but it’s here where the script and scenarios were enough for the disturbance factor.

In any case, Manglobe: in terms of the biggest flaw of anime (ending in the middle of the storyline), this season has been really generous: out of all of the series that are about to end, only Deadman Wonderland really need a continuation, since TWGOK at the very least just got an OVA announced. Incidentally, both are Manglobe series. The manga at the very least still seems to sell surprisingly well, but I stopped uselessly anticipating these unannounced sequels a long time ago. I’ve just seen too many awesome series that didn’t get their continuation.

At the very least though: Deadman Wonderland will not be a pointless series. This past season has had enough points that made it worth watching. That’s quite rare for the series of this length.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Ao no Exorcist – 09

by psgels, posted in Ao no Exorcist



And here Ao no Exorcist proves that it too can write a great climax. It’s a bit late compared to the other shows this season, but heck: this episode rocked. It showed that the formula of this series definitely works.

This episode was rock-solid: The previous episodes just made it seem that Satan started to send his minions to fetch Rin. This episode however revealed that there was much more to it than just that, and evolved into an exam that got out of hand. This too is a staple of shounen series, but rarely do we see it executed so short but sweet.

And here’s the thing with this series: it was annoying to get through, but I’m really enjoying the characters right now.In fact, the dynamics between Rin, Yukio and the others really culminated together in this episode, above how this episode flowed really nicely from one twist to the other. Heck, even the two characters who had been silent up till now finally spoke and added some charms to this episode. Now that’s a great sign!

It’s also here where this series shows that the motivations for the main character to get stronger are much better than usual. Becoming the best or getting power to protect someone, they all have this been there done that mentality, not to mention that just that can become really one-sided. Rin doesn’t exactly want to protect: he wants his enemies to stop involving innocent people. That’s a lot more interesting to watch. And of course I’m not asking for every show to have a deep background for its character (heck, the lead of the Law of Ueki, one of my favourite shounen series ever has the simple motivation of wanting to win a contest), I’m asking for it to be interesting: toy with it; show other characters who can relate to that, use it to get into interesting situations. This episode was a major step into the right direction for Ao no Exorcist. Now keep this up!
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Tiger & Bunny – 11

by psgels, posted in Tiger & Bunny



Haha, the creators actually found a use for Origami’s powers! Usually when a character has weak or unusual powers, the creators hardly ever make full use of them. And this episode did exactly what I hoped with Origami by turning him into a spy.

My only complaint is that he’s a bit of a bad actor. Apart from that this episode was all about the parts about Superheroes that don’t involve fighting: hostages, public relationships, politics and infiltration. It was a nerve wrecking episode because of how easily the villains would be able to kill off half the city if they run into something they don’t like. The part after the ED shows that Origami indeed had been found out, so who knows what could happen to him? This arc so far has looked really eager to subvert some superhero tropes.

Also, I love how at first, this series appeared to have all sorts of convenient plotholes… that actually make perfect sense. Now that’s some good writing here. If Ouroboros is indeed in control of some of the most powerful figures in the city, then these people as opposed to Origami Cyclone, are some great actors.

Oh and this episode also revealed something major about the backstory of this series: the original hero guy? He’s dead right now. This gives a very interesting twist to his whole backstory: was he aware about the corruption in the city when he was still working? Or did he die fighting that exact corruption?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

X-Men – 10

by psgels, posted in X-Men




Seriously, now this is what I’m expecting out f a great action series. This episode filled in what this show had been missing so far: an engaging storyline. It finally revealed why everyone had been doing the things they did, and it worked wonderfully. It was a bit of a wait (heck, the series will be over in just two episodes), but this episode was exactly what this show needed to really put that sense of urgency to the whole conflict. I admit, Sasaki Yui turned out to be a great villain.

Now, this episode did have a few problems, but those are just minor bugs. It’s a bit strange why everyone just stood around casually chatting while the big bad guy was already getting his hands o the ultimate super weapon. They were lucky that he was waiting for his subordinate to arrive or he could have just left without any of them noticing.

a subordinate who looks downright creepy by the way. What I also liked about this episode was that despite the fact that it was an exposition episode, it still had plenty of action that just kept moving forward. In fact, that’s always been the strength of this show: the way it balances its action. There’s neither too little nor too much, and what’s there delivers. This episode only reinforced my beliefs that this show has the best animation of the season.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Tiger & Bunny – 10

by psgels, posted in Tiger & Bunny



The good thing: Barnaby can finally remember the face of his parents’ killer after seeing a picture of him. The bad: this happened right before some of his comrades execute a city-wide plan to bust this guy out of jail. It ties in with the big flaw of this show: its coincidences; they just keep happening over and over.

In any case though, with this episode we seem to be heading into the meat of this series now that Ouroboros has finally showed itself. But even there I doubt that the entire second half of this show will be about Ouroboros: there is still Lunatic of course, but also tons of different side-plots that can work out really nicely if given an episode or two.

This episode was a step back from the previous episodes though. It lacked personality. It may have introduced new characters, but as for the older cast, it didn’t really show anything new about them aside from a short compilation of what they do in their time off. That part was very good, by the way. Compilations like that work especially well in action-packed series with large casts like this one.
Rating: * (Good)

Deadman Wonderland – 08

by psgels, posted in Deadman Wonderland



As much as I like this show, it does have its share of plotholes: Ganta hasn’t been eating any candy lately, has he? In fact, how do all these death row inmates rake up enough cash to buy these candies? Or are you immune to the poison they inject with the branches of sin? With these kinds of plotholes it’s always the context determines whether they’re an eyesore or a minor annoyance, and with Deadman Wonderland it has been the latter so far. There’s just so much else that makes up for it.

This episode was quiet for this series’ standards, but it did take advantage of that buy fleshing out the different characters. Shiro is back, she got some quality time together with Ganta, the priest got interesting, the resistance got some depth. And holy crap the ending of this episode contained some disturbing gore. This isn’t a matter of just showing a little blood: the way that the acid ate away that guy’s skin and muscles. Usually at those points, you see the camera pan away to not show the bloodiest parts. This show didn’t. The animation of this series can really be divided into two categories: really unimpressive, or really good.

This episode was laid back, but at the same time it didn’t destroy the mood that has been built up by the previous episode. Especially because it just kept dropping hints at all hell breaking loose in the next episode. They were surprisingly subtle for this series, but it just kept giving hints that many people are going to die horribly next week.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Ao no Exorcist – 08

by psgels, posted in Ao no Exorcist



So while the action in this series may not be the best of this season, it still was very good in this episode. It’s a simple show, it does suffer from the “let’s all talk casually while we’re in the middle of a fight”-syndrome, and the cast is full of hot headed characters, but they have really developed some charms at this point. That’s what made this episode work, although the animation did get quite good near the end of this episode. Especially that ghoul was well animated.

Also, it might actually help for the entire cast to be full of hotheads: this way Rin doesn’t have to be the only one there, and can actually show off a bit more of himself. This episode probably showed him at his most versatile we’ve seen him so far thanks to that girl having issues.

The evil teacher should probably be the first spice to get the story going again. I’m especially intrigued as why he found it a good idea to: 1) Showing his face to Rin and 2) Afterwards finding it a good idea to just casually pop up next to Yukio. One criticism would be that this show lacks variety: we pretty much have three characters with the exact same goals: kill a demon who slaughtered some family members. I mean, it’s much better than just wanting to be the best and all, but they could have at least done something to not make their back-stories exactly the same?

Also, what is up with that hood guy? Has he actually done… anything at this point? I mean, he’s just there. He sits, but never talks or even acts.Comparing him to an elephant in the room is a bit much of course, but it’s still really weird that after eight episodes, he has done absolutely nothing.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

X-Men – 09

by psgels, posted in X-Men



Now this is what I call great action. The X-Men set out to create an exciting series, and really: they delivered on that. Wolverine’s strength was that it had solid action that despite the bad animation kept changing and was dynamic. The X-Men may have less action, but it’s all better built-up, it’s better directed, it’s better animated. It’s once again a major step forward for the Marvel anime.

Also, for once the villains are actually a bit menacing. I also like how the main villain isn’t the type to just sit on his chair and let his minions handle everything: instead he’s been infiltrating a research facility while the X-Men were fighting the (still pointless though) U-Men. Now, this episode did take away all doubts of Emma ever turning into a morally ambiguous character, but on the other hand: it is a solid explanation of what went on in that first episode, and it was definitely worth the build-up.

Also, Blade: the trailer and staff list have been released. In the trailer it looks less artsy than the X-Men, but we will be getting our first black main character since Michiko e Hatchin. The director is a very interesting guy: he was the assistant director of Gungrave, Shigurui and Tokyo Tribe 2… and the director of Chi’s Sweet Home and Kobato. Those just don’t mesh: as an assistant director he’s only after mafia, blood and gore, whereas the shows he has directed are incredibly cute. It has potential though: he really is an excellent director and I especially loved his work on Kobato. Meanwhile, it will be written by a guy who has only done live action adaptations so far. Again a completely new writer in terms of writing entire anime plots. It has potential, but because it’s going to air in an awesome season, I don’t think that I’m going to end up blogging it.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Ao no Exorcist – 07

by psgels, posted in Ao no Exorcist



Oh, I’m SO glad that this show is going to be 24 episodes long. It really would not have worked at all with only 12 episodes. With this though, this show can actually build itself up well. This episode in particular would have been a waste of time for a short series (there is no way five episodes would be sufficient to wrap everything up right now!), but for a longer show it was a very good look at Shiemi and Izumo.

Also, in true shounen fashion, this episode introduced this series’ class and combat system. That’s not a bad thing, by the way. In fact, one of the things that I like about shounen series is their detailed looks into combat and superpowers. When done right it can make for a very interesting series. This episode for example: when the different powers were introduced they looked like a generic RPG system, and yet at the end of the episode the creators made me really interested in the summon class.

Oh, and this episode subverted the “useless female love interest”-trope. Yeah, she’s naive and all, but it’s good to see a token female who for once doesn’t want to be rescued all the time. I like the chemistry between her and Rin; despite their cliches they have this genuine charm to them.

So yeah, ideally you’d of course want every single episode of a series to kick ass, but as long as it pays off in the end I can understand the need for these school life episodes. I will bitch whenever they’re not interesting, though.
Rating: * (Good)