Category: Finished Series: Action

Durarara – 25

by psgels, posted in Durarara



Not as good as the first DVD-special, but still a nice little aftermath to the series. Like with the actual TV-series, the first special had all the events running through each other, and threw many flashbacks and -forwards at the viewer, only to have everything come together at the end, while this one had that a lot less, aside from one single scene at the beginning of the episode. The creators did succeed however, to put as much characters on the screen as possible.

Instead, whenever this episode had the chance it would show different characters, cleverly using Shizuo’s brother who was doing a live report and finally giving him the chance to show off his acting. This episode was full of these little details and subtle characterizations that ere also prevalent during the first half of the TV-series.

The least interesting parts of this episode were probably the subplots that were already dragged out in the TV-series: Mikado vs. Anri and Shizuo vs. Izaya. As dynamic as this show is, the relationships between these people somehow refused to really go anywhere throughout the series. After 26 episodes, Shizuo still is running after Izaya, and Mikado still is trying to tell Anri that he likes her. (Though granted, at least Anri behaved differently from what she would have done 20 episodes ago).

This episode also provided a few hints for an upcoming season in the form of some new characters. If that’s going to happen though, it’ll probably still take a while, because the director first is going to be busy with Natsume Yuujinchou.
Rating: * (Good)

Star Driver – 21

by psgels, posted in Star Driver



This just dawned on me while I watched this episode, but… am I the only one who gets the feeling that the creators are planning the kiss scene at the drama to happen around the climax of this series? I mean, especially after the cliffhanger of this episode suddenly showed Wako volunteering to be on the receiving end of Takuto’s kiss, this has to point at something that the creators are planning for that finale. It’s a nice twist, though: Wako finally accepted here that she’s into Takuto here. This episode was definitely a nice way to take care of one of the love triangles in this series.

And as for the rest of this episode, the creators did create a pretty good climax here for the characters who were introduced so relatively late in the series. The two new girls have been quite strange villains: they didn’t seem to care at all about being correct villains, and instead seemed like just adrenaline junkies who kept seeking for thrills. A way to go to phase 3,5 that combines you with your Cybody is an interesting way to say goodbye to them.

Takashi returning meanwhile had it coming, but I ‘m glad that the creators indeed went there. Again, it shows promise and brings the Adult Bank back into the picture, with someone who can actually apprivoise. This also explains the relatively large amount of time that the creators spent on building up this guy, even though at first he seemed like a very insignificant character.

And on a side-note: why didn’t Head sign the paintings of Takuto’s mother with his usual “R”?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Wolverine – 08

by psgels, posted in Wolverine



This episode again didn’t put any supernatural powered opponents against Wolverine, but instead it spent a lot of time again on buildup (which now seems t be finished, though) and a fight against two random goons in some impenetrable… box. It was quite entertaining, though. They went through so much length to set up the perfect trap for Wovlerine, painstakingly install cameras and even entire machine guns, and he takes them out like it’s nothing.

I often complain against stereotypically evil bad guys. For Wolverine though, I really don’t think that the bad guys here are a problem. Now, they 100% evil, but what this show does right is the fact that it spends time on them. It shows a bit of their personalities beyond what we usually see from random goons and mid-bosses. What’s what made this episode work. It was quite endearing when these guys were waiting anxiously for Logan to find a way to break through that impenetrable wall of theirs.

Also, the drama around Yukio was great. The creators knew exactly that it should be used as background for her character, not the entire plot like Iron Man did. Yukio simply accepts that that guy is her grandfather, even though she left him due to the way he treated her. Nothing more, nothing less. Oh, and she’s actually forgiven for being a damsel in distress for nearly successfully trying to escape for once. It’s a shame that Mariko has to be so passive, but then again, if she was able to escape we wouldn’t have a story for this show.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Star Driver – 20

by psgels, posted in Star Driver



It’s the background episode, and it’s quite a creative one. This episode answered a ton of questions about the main storyline, and did so quite creatively. Head’s background is an interesting and untypical love triangle that completely fell apart thanks to his ambitions. We also get to see Takuto’s mother for the first time (albeit in a flash-back) and I’m surprised at how untypical she is as a mother.

Some of the other things that we see confirmed is that the reason he didn’t age was because his heart is trapped in Zero-time (though we still didn’t learn how exactly this happened), who exactly the old eyepatch guy was, how Takuto got his mark and the reason Head has been delaying the seal breaking (because he wants a friend who is going to give him another seal to wake up).

Seriously, especially that latter point just confirms how this entire series was just basically Head waiting for a guy to get out of a coma. That’s why none of the characters had this sense of urgency, and it’s also how the creators managed to keep the characters able to enjoy their school life. Most of the fights here were just random quarrels that in the end mostly were just red herrings for the real main story. Looking back, I expect the guts of this show to do that, and it all ties down to the decision of the creators to focus a lot on school life, but in the end this slice of life wasn’t solid and realistic enough for this show to really become a masterpiece.

Despite that though, I’m still enjoying this show a lot, because what is there in character analysis is still really good, as this episode showed. That guy clawing his eye out was perhaps a bit extreme, but that power does explain why Head knew just about everything he needed to do. But then again, how the hell do you defeat a guy who can look into the future?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Wolverine – 07

by psgels, posted in Wolverine



The background episode for the side characters. And it’s as I hoped: it again is so much better than Iron Man’s. Iron Man had a former ally who suddenly turned into a villain, and used the corniest background story just so that it would be able to explain that ludicrous plot twist. There was nothing interesting behind it. Wolverine meanwhile uses this episode to tie some of the backgrounds of the side characters together, and it does so quite effectively.

It’s a shame that Yukio turned into a damsel in distress, but then again Logan had this coming to him, in the way in which he just kept leaving her in the most impossible situations that even he would not have gotten out of if it weren’t for his healing powers. Ah well, Yukio still deserves points for trying to drown that giant monster in some conveniently nearby concrete. That “convenient” isn’t meant as a criticism here, by the way. This series consistently makes use of its environment in its action scenes in a way that I’d wish more anime would do, and so this concrete thing is a nice touch here. Oh, and that teenaged girl nicely averted the “useless teenaged sidekick”-trope when she actually proved to be quite useful. I really thought that she would only get in Wolverine’s way, but she even injured herself in order to get rid of that giant monster.

On a completely different note: the X-Men promo aired. Like expected, it will be done by a complete different team, because even the character designs for Logan and Cyclops are different. I do have to say though that it has the best looking designs of the Marvel anime so far. For once, the characters actually looked cool. As for the acting though, they unfortunately didn’t show anything about that, but it does seem that the same voice actors of Logan and Cyclops of Wolverine will return. I really hope that their dialogue will be more than their exchange of one liners in the previous episode, though. It was passable for one episode, but not an entire series!
Rating: * (Good)

Star Driver – 19

by psgels, posted in Star Driver



Star Driver is full of random slice of life moments. This episode stood out at this point, though. A lot of this episode was the simple celebration of Wako’s birthday, and only showed Takuto, Sugata and Wako together. The creators put a lot of meaning behind it, thoough, and for a change it was pretty enjoyable to see them together for so long here, with the best parts being the birthday presents.

This episode also had an interesting subversion of the “I’m going to take over your body muaha”-trope. Most times when this gets used, it takes forever for someone to realize that something is wrong, and yet here everyone noticed the complete change in character of Sugata and Takuto. At the same time though, it could have been taken further. Instead, those two Crux members just gave up in the middle of it.

I keep expecting these series to get darker and more serious in their second halves, but there are more and more series like this that instead have these quiet kinds of episodes, right before they’re about to start building up to the finale. I’m not yet sure of whether or not this works, but at the end of this series we should know whether the past episodes knew exactly what they were doing… or were just randomly buying time.
Rating: * (Good)

Wolverine – 06

by psgels, posted in Wolverine



So, the only reason Cyclops appeared was to transport Wolverine from one place to another and sprout some one liners. Okay. Ah well, see you back in the X-Men. series.

Anyway, this episode introduced the new arc, which will take place on an island, privately owned by the bad guys. It was mostly building up, though. Wolverine only fought a bunch of random punks whose major threat was their numbers. I did like how he pretty much left Yukio behind to try and get rid of them, though. So much for superheroes being noble; Wolverine just cares for one thing in this series.

So yeah, nothing much to say otherwise, other than that the way in which Shingen demonstrated his skills was… a bit silly. I mean, I know that it was very good what he did to those candles and all but you can also take things too far to the realm of surrealism.
Rating: * (Good)

Star Driver – 18

by psgels, posted in Star Driver



Milestone time: this is going to be the 4000th post on this blog. Whoa, I’ve been writing a lot…

In any case: building up episode. I do hope that this was one of the last building up episodes that we’re getting in this series, because at this point it really should start delivering and using this build-up. It was an enjoyable episode nevertheless.

The fireworks and the random games weren’t anything special, but they were fun. I also like how Takuto’s apartment actually got burned out. That definitely was good for his character, even if at first it seems just like a cheap trick to get Sugata and Takuto in the same house. Keito’s twist meanwhile was a bit simple (still clinging to the things she was obsessed with in her early childhood instead of exploring new things), but nevertheless was a nice twist. As for what the hell she was doing at the end of the episode: that’s for the next episodees to answer.

In any case though, Star Driver is one of those series where a lot is going to depend on the ending. Because of that I’ll withhold judgement for now whether this is a really memorable series, or simply a really enjoyable one. I do want to say though that my initial hopes of this series becoming the spiritual successor of Utena are probably not going to be met. The entire series could have had more variation and creativity for that at this point in the story. Plus, it also turned into a bit too much of a harem. I mean, Utena had a ton of fangirls and all, but it did have a ton of other complex and deep character relationships and didn’t boil down to the entire cast only liking one or two characters (the recently introduced romance story of Ruri is a welcome addition because of that).

Also, the animation of this episode seemed surprisingly mediocre for Bones’ standards. This can point at one of two things: 1) the budget ran out or 2) the creators are saving the best budget and animator for last.
Rating: * (Good)

Wolverine – 05

by psgels, posted in Wolverine



Half a year ago, when I blogged Sengoku Basara 02, another action series, I remember noting how its biggest flaw was that it spent too much time building up and too little on actual action. That is one flaw that Wolverine really managed to avoid. Heck, it’s been a long while since I have seen an anime that had this much actual action. And the great thing is that it’s not like the usual shounen ish action of “2 minutes of fighting and 10 minutes of staring at each other”, this show continues to push itself forward with its action, preventing itself from dragging on by using its surroundings, new characters or different sets.

In other words: I’m really warming up to this series, and this episode was the best episode of Wolverine so far.It obviously lacks any animation budget here, but still: the action does not devolve into still frames, or the usual cheap shortcuts you see with action scenes. There really is a ton of movement in this show and I really like how the creators make use of this and make this not another action show with just a bunch of close-ups.

Meanwhile: the story. Still simple, but it’s a very neat twist that this episode was hinting that Yukio was the one who killed Tesshin. Simple, but neat twist for in the future. Omega Red’s double comeback also was a neat little twist, in the way that the creators promised another huge fight, and instead solved in a matter of minutes. Oh, and the ending! I didn’t expect that another one of the X-Men would make an appearance here.

Finally: is it just me, or was the music in this episode even better than usual? There were tons of interesting tracks here. Compare that to Iron Man: it just had one awesome theme song (really the height of any episode when that was played), but beyond that the rest of the songs were just forgettable. Even the composer (yes, the two series share composers) has tried much harder for Wolverine.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Star Driver – 17

by psgels, posted in Star Driver



A beach episode? Of course, things wouldn’t be so simple. This episode was about 40% beach, and the other 60 percent answered a ton of questions, along with changing the entire set-up of this show, yet again.

Interestingly, this episode revealed that all of the seals had to be broken in a particular order. Interestingly, that makes a lot of the battles early on in the series much more like long-term preparations by the crux brigade: they were basically killing time while they were trying to find out where the heck the fourth maiden went. Wako getting captured in the first episode was nothing more than one of the members of the brigade acting for herself.

The badges meanwhile turned out to be fake emblems. Head probably used those at first, while he was trying to gather the ones with the real emblems. What does this mean for the ones who always used the fake emblems? I mean, in terms of combat ability they have become completely pointless now, despite how the entire series has been carefully building up their characters, and here they suddenly get swapped out by this horde of characters where far less attention went into.

One big mystery at this point is Sugata: I really feel like the creators are saving a ton of stuff for the last third of this series, and this king cybody has to be one of the major ones: this episode revealed that he also is completely useless now that the third phase is is activated. Plus, there still is the mystery of what makes Takuto so special: in the previous episodes he always miraculously was one phase above the others, but the new power he finds here is kindof vague. It’s in any case not the fourth phase, because then he’d permanently be a Galactic Pretty-Boy.
Rating: ** (Excellent)