Category: Finished Series: Action

Wolverine – 04

by psgels, posted in Wolverine



Well, the Marvel Anime are definitely consistent: Iron Man was consistently bad, while Wolverine is consistent simple but effective action that doesn’t pretend to be anything more than what it is. I’m still enjoying this show, so I’m happy with how things turned out for this series.

This episode also showed that Wolverine is better at flashbacks. In Iron Man, they were ridiculously cheesy, so this show instead just came with a much more typical Superhero backstory: Wolverine beat this guy once and basically ruined his entire life with that, and now he’s out for revenge. Again, it’s simple, but it does make for a decent villain. Omega Red’s biggest flaw at this point is that killing Wolverine is pretty much the only thing on his mind, but granted: he is pretty effective at it.

I like how Wolverine really is forced to use his surroundings in order to get rid of this guy. It makes the action scenes a bit more interesting, and also allows for plenty of explosions. When watching this series, I really wonder how the X-Men anime will be: Wolverine standalone is simple, and that fits this show exactly. In the X-Men however, he’s just a part of something far bigger with a much bigger focus on a plot. Ah well, it’s all going to depend on the kinds of writers and directors that Madhouse is going to put on it.

NB: One major downside to this episode: Yukio was pretty useless this time. Granted, this villain was something she couldn’t really do anything against, but make sure that the next villains will also allow her to be involved in the fights as well.
Rating: * (Good)

Star Driver – 16

by psgels, posted in Star Driver




And that takes care of the second act of this series. And it really was an awesome way to do it! Mizuno had a great episode here and her character developed even more from what it did in the previous episode and we finally get to see Takuto’s past as well!

I’m really starting to suspect that Head somehow has the ability to stop time as his first phase. Or at least, that would fill in the plothole of why he said that his father was the painter R. In this episode, it becomes clear that the entire reason he swam over to the island was because he wanted to punch his father. And this is where Marino comes into play: on top of being a great character, her case also relates to that of Takuto.

Also, here is a question that has been bugging me for quite a while now: why are there only two seals broken at this point? I mean, it feels like the Crux Brigade has no intention of breaking Keito’s seal, even though this would have been quite convenient throughout… well… the entire series basically. The fact that they were only looking for the West Maiden shows that they knew about Keito and all, and yet they never even mentioned her as a maiden. What’s going on here?

In any case, the great thing here is that after this point, this show can pretty much go anywhere. We’re getting closer and closer to the point of this series that I’ve really been looking forward to. Furthermore, I HAVE SEEN Melody of Oblivion’s final four episodes. I know what a messed up sunovabitch Enokido can be when it comes to ending his series. My problem with Melody of Oblivion was that those final four episodes were just about the only thing about that series that caught my attention, but Star Driver has been much more solid and interesting at this point. It’s true that it could have been better during its first half, but it always was building up its characters, and fleshing them out. Now, if the creators really want to make this into a memorable series, the time has come to actually use this build-up. The past two episodes were a great start, but it’s definitely not there yet.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Wolverine – 03

by psgels, posted in Wolverine



It’s great to see that this series is actually getting slightly better again with this third episode. I mean, this show fixes so many of the problems that Iron Man had. Wolverine is quite unique as an anime protagonist, especially in this Winter Season, and thank god the creators actually make use of it. This is what I’m expecting of a superhero action series.

Both Iron Man and Wolverine had to find ways to balance their characters, and prevent them from being too god-moded, and it’s hilarious how badly Iron Man failed at this by turning into an ignorant wimp at times. There was really no tension to this character as you could completely predict when he would win and lose. Wolverine is different though: the past three episodes showed that he’s an unstoppable beast, and yet there are plenty of people who have more refined combat techniques. Everyone in this series actually has a different way of fighting. This episode also showed that with the help of his female side-kick, Wolverine can come up with quite some interesting ways to fight back, like with the Molotov cocktail bombing.

Above all though, I love how well this series makes use of its simple storyline in order to never really slow down. It always keeps the balls in the air. The action scenes are long, but not too long and make sure to provide new small twists in order to prevent it from getting stale. The soundtrack is even better than the one from Iron Man and really helps to complement the action. It’s a simple action series, and it definitely isn’t as well animated as some of the other action this season (Madoka Magica and Yumekui Merry in particular), but it’s definitely some good, clean fun that I dearly missed t Iron Man.
Rating: * (Good)

Star Driver – 15

by psgels, posted in Star Driver



The first episode in which no cybody appears whatsoever. And at the same time it’s also one of the best episodes so far. I mean, how many plot twists did this episode feature on one single character anyway?

This entire episode was dedicated to Mizuno, and only at the end do we get to see the part that the previous episode was building up to: the Crux Brigade making their move. The rest of this episode was all about character development when Mizuno finally realizes that Takuto is into someone else and also where her mother returns home, after abandoning her children years ago. By far the best part of this episode was when she tried to leave the island though: that’s where her character really came together.

And those weren’t even the only plot twists in this episode. First of all it’s finally revealed that Head is indeed the painter R. I mean, there was no way for him NOT to be, but after finally having this confirmed it does have some interesting implications: this episode again hinted at how this guy is supposed to have this huge history. On top of that, he’s actively trying to recruit Sugata again, but this time without using mind control. Sugata meanwhile finally decided to break off his engagement to Wako (if Takuto wins a duel from him, at least). This episode was really hinting at how something is going to happen to both him and Takuto. But yeah, this is Star Driver: whenever it’s trying to hint at something, it’s actually hinting at something completely different.

Oh. And who the hell were those sudden new members of Vanishing Age?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Wolverine – 02

by psgels, posted in Wolverine



As for the series I’m not going to blog:
– Infinite Stratos has a male lead who despite only piloting a mecha once, has 1337 piloting skillz. Yeah right, been there, done that. Moving on,

Anyway, now that the entire season aired, I can really say that it has one HUGE advantage, and one huge disadvantage:
– The great thing about this season is that just about every series has an awesome soundtrack. There really is a TON of ear candy here.
– The bad thing about this season: teenagers. Whether it is the series that continued on from previous seasons or the ones that debuted during the past two weeks: nearly every freaking show revolves around kids and teenagers.

The only exception is this one: Wolverine. So of course I couldn’t pass this up, especially how much better than Iron Man it has turned into. Wolverine pretty much had the worst possible publicity with the disaster that was Iron Man: poor in just about every way. Let me reassure you though: Wolverine was made by an entirely different production team. One of the few similarities is that they had their soundtracks composed by the same guy, and even there Wolverine is better.

Now, I am not really a fan of Wolverine, so I don’t really care whether or not he’s different from his American version. Still, I’m not going to complain that this series is going to adapt a number of the comic books that are integral to his backstory, especially after how Iron Man screwed up with its original story. Wolverine’s action also was much better than the incredibly dull fight scenes of Iron Man. It’s well directed and makes great use of its soundtrack in order to build up and create its atmosphere. The fights themselves aren’t particularly well animated, especially after watching Madoka Magica and Yumekui Merry, but they still work thanks to a good sense of timing and atmosphere.

The acting is very stiff, this episode showed that again, especially during the quiet parts. Still, the characterization is good enough to make up for it. The female character who was introduced in this episode actually kicks ass, compared to Iron Man’s love interests whose roles were completely shallow and corny. Yukio’s backstory meanwhile is simple, yet effective. It fits the whole superhero series much better.

Ironically, two and a half years ago Madhouse and Osamu Dezaki pretty much created the perfect example of how an anime superhero crossover should be done with Ultraviolet: it had interesting plot and characters and a unique style and creative vision. Wolverine ultimately is too simple to be as good, but this simplicity is more than enough to keep my attention here because beyond the stiff acting there’s nothing really wrong with this one. Still, this remains a great sign: all of the marvel anime are going to be completely different from each other, instead of the same. Who knows, perhaps X-Men and Blade are going to be even better?
Rating: * (Good)

OVA Impressions: Black Lagoon – Roberta’s Blood Trail – 03

by psgels, posted in Black Lagoon, OVA Impressions




The contrast with the previous episode couldn’t be bigger here. Where that one was mostly focused on building up and dialogue, this was was nearly entirely focused on the action part. The first half of the episode showed different skirmishes between all of the different fractions that happened to come together. The second half. Oh boy. Talk about nightmare fuel.

There are still two episodes left, so the combat in the first half was only just the tip of the iceberg of the things that are about to happen. They were quite well written, though: every fraction had its own way of combat and the different skirmishes were quite varied throughout the episode. At the same time, there were also a few great dialogues, like the one between Rock and Chang, and Revy and Fabiola.

In the second half meanwhile, Garcia runs into Roberta. This scene takes up around ten minutes in total, and it was relentless in the incredibly slow way in which it unfolded itself and where Roberta’s demented acts completely destroyed the image Garcia had of her. It was really disturbing, and just shows how completely drugged up Roberta must be at this point. That cliff-hanger especially is a really nasty one to have to wait for another two months.

On a side-note: this episode also featured foreign languages, but instead of voicing them over in that very confusing way like they did in the second season, this episode instead simply subtitles them. Works much better.

Also, I’m not sure if I’ve said this before, but I quite like the OP and ED of Roberta’s Blood Trail. Especially the ED: there is something wonderfully ironic to have such a semi-upbeat tune after all the depressing stuff and for once it doesn’t feel out of place unlike a ton of other dark shows that have bright EDs (I’m looking at you, Uragiri…). I just wonder why they showed so much of Balalaika, because she doesn’t really have that big of a part in this arc of the story.
OVA Episode Rating: 8,5/10

Star Driver – 14

by psgels, posted in Star Driver



Hmm, I’ve been noticing something here: this show really has the tendency to introduce plot twists as if they’re going to have a major impact on the story, only to use them as a means to flesh out the characters instead. The first example was Sugata’s slumber from which he just awakened the next episode. This episode again did this with Marino: the previous episodes built her up as some sort of guardian angel for her sister, and in this episode she pretty much gives her sister away due to a small detail she didn’t know.

This episode had this very well done scene in which Marino fails to bring her Cybuddy back to life, apart from that this episode was mostly romantic antics and a lot of hints that things are going to get pretty bad really soon. I hope that the next episode will immediately show the Crux brigade trying to capture Mizuno.

Oh, and finally the drama club is going to do something as well. Head has returned as well, so things are definitely about to change majorly in the near future.
Rating: * (Good)

Some Quick First Impressions: Cardfight Vanguard, Gosick and Wolverine

by psgels, posted in Gosick, Some Quick First Impressions, Wolverine

Cardfight Vanguard

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a wimp.
Now I’m sure of it: this is the season of awesome soundtracks. When even the silly shounen cardgame show has some excellent music, it really is a great season for the audio department. Anyway, this show is definitely completely silly with a ton of bad engrish, but for a kiddie show about card games, it’s not really that bad. I especially like how the creators managed to create the biggest wimp in existence as the lead character: it’s nearly hilarious to see how much this guy lacks a spine when he’s not in a card game. It was very pleasant to see those bullies just walk up to him and steal his best card with so much ease. It’s still ridiculously silly, though, full of bad acting (not to mention that school teachers actually use the cards of this game in their lectures). I have to give credit for some actual good monster designs (emphasis on monsters… the characters themselves look just stupid), but it’s still obviously a “buy our cardgames” show.
OP: Surprisingly good for a kiddie show. Very cheesy and hot blooded, though.
ED: This one’s just cheesy, though.
Potential: 10%

Gosick

Short Synopsis: Our lead character meets a genius detective in the form of a little girl.
Good lord… that hair. Heroman’s character designs look just tame in comparison. Who the hell found it a good idea to put such a ginormous horn on top of that detective? On a more serious note: this episode was really tedious to sit through. That hair guy had a lot to do with that, but even worse is the male lead. This is supposed to be an exciting show about detectives, so why is he so bland and whiny? This show seems to be heading the Bakemonogatari route with the “smart girl dumb guy” trope, but the girl here isn’t exactly smart: she’s just tsundere who has access to the script. In the example mystery of this episode (which was very lazily told, by the way), she never really evaluated all of the possibilities, she just stated a ridiculously far-fetched solution that nobody would have guessed. As for the positives: there were a few dark parts that hinted at something deeper than silly adventures (I guess it’s just a matter of patience to see that actually pay off) and the animation, courtesy of Bones is quite good. Especially on the female lead (for quite obvious reasons) and the backgrounds are also very imaginative.
OP: Boring J-rock.
ED: At least not bad, but neither really good ballad.
Potential: 60%

Wolverine

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a bishie with a tragic love story.
Okay, so the big question: is Wolverine as bad as Iron Man? As a matter of fact actually… it isn’t. It’s still very outsourced, but this is nowhere near the mess that Iron Man was. It actually has come up with an interesting story here, in which Wolverine is chasing after some Japanese mafia that took away his girlfriend, compared to Iron Man’s… whatever the hell it was trying to do with its corny morals. The action scenes in this episode also felt better than any of the fights I’ve seen from Iron Man, and the creators actually managed to put down some convincing villains, and Logan himself also is far from the incompetent moron that Tony Stark was. The horrible distorted faces are also gone. The creators are really going for a tragic story here, and so far they seem to be doing a pretty good job, with an interesting atmosphere. It’s nothing great, though: there was quite a bit of hammy acting and the romance was definitely a bit cheesy and should have been fleshed out more, not to mention the transition between scenes is a bit messy, especially at the beginning of the episode. I’m glad that Madhouse actually got some competent people on this, though.
OP: Decent, but nothing special after watching it more than twice.
ED: This one is surprisingly good, though: both in the visuals and the music.
Potential: 70%

Star Driver – 13

by psgels, posted in Star Driver



Yeah, sorry for the lateness on this episode. I was away for most of the evening yesterday and there were too many other posts that I had planned.

This is a major episode for Star Driver though, along with the previous one. The halfway point is especially for original series a good turning point. Star Driver doesn’t show this with some midway climax, but rather by making the characters finally deliver and develop. And sure, this episode marked the first Cybuddy that got revived, but what made the past two episodes special was that they revisited characters who had already been the focused on previously.

This time it’s Benio’s turn, and I really liked her increase in character in this episode.This episode delved into her past and how she grew up, it shows her as a skilled practitioner of Kendo, while still in the shadow of Sugata. She got much more interesting than the girl who keeps running after guys thanks to her convenient first phase that we came to know her as in the previous episodes. Star Driver may pull all these fancy red herrings and flashy fights, but it really is a series about its characters, and this episode really showed that it started delivering in that are.

A big Issue I have at the moment is that the creators are still god-moding Takuto and Sugata a bit. It’s not just in the way that they keep winning fights, but this episode showed the umpth girl who fell in love with one of them. At this point I’m not really sure whether the harem elements are really working or are going to work.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 – A wakening of the Trailblazer Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Mobile Suit Gundam 00




Gundam 00’s Awakening of the Trailblazer is one of those movies where you need to have seen the series for. Spoilers for the Gundam 00 will follow in this review, otherwise I can’t properly explain the impression that this movie left me.

Anyway, I was ready to just get this movie over with, expecting the Gundam 00 Movie to be another forgettable flick. But, to me surprise there was one thing about this movie that made me really happy as soneone who sat through the fifty episodes of the two Gundam 00 series: it has no annoying characters!

Seriously, half of the annoying characters is already dead at this point. The others really impressed me how they managed to spend the entire movie from whining: two years have passed again since the end of the second season, and finally everyone seems to have settled down. Saji and Louise who once urged me to break the screen of my laptop once every episode are actually a cute couple now. Mister Bushido finally dropped that ridiculous mask of his and stopped being a char clone, Marie and Allelujah also are quite happy together. All of the innovators who are still alive have become more than paper bags of characters and even Setsuna has a romantic interest now other than his Gundam.

The cast of this movie is still HUGE. I can’t recall any movie with more characters than this one, and I’m impressed with how it managed to involve all of them in this movie and developed a surprising amount of them at the same time while also introducing a bunch of new ones. It’s definitely much more than I expected.

This movie can very much be compared to Gundam Wing’s Endless Waltz: its villain is completely new but has a vague connection to something important in the original series, it’s much paced very differently from the TV-series that dragged on and it’s actually quite effective that way despite a few glaring problems. This movie takes a lot of time for its build-up, which makes the action scenes stand out even more. The action scenes themselves are actually pretty varied and don’t get boring, yet stay in the same Gundam-esque tradition of having space battles on a huge scale.

As for the plot itself… yeah. The villains are aliens now. Still, it’s handled decently: any kind of realism in Gundam 00 was abandoned anyway since the arrival of the Trans-am system, and this movie just rolls with it, while at the same time tying in neatly with Aeolia Schenberg’s ultimate objectives. The aliens themselves though are as flat as a pancake in terms of character and the ending of the movie is just.. ridiculous. Seriously, it feels like that ending was thought up at the last possible minute.

The graphics of the movie is a very mixed bag. The character animation is surprisingly mediocre for a movie by Sunrise. Instead however, the biggest part of the budget went into the CG near the end of the movie, and granted: that is a visual feast.

Overall, the ending is of headdesk and facepalm level, but apart from that this movie was surprisingly refreshing compared to how annoying and forgettable Gundam 00’s second season was.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Actually well paced for Gundam 00’s standards. Good action, good build-up. STUPID conclusion.
Characters: 8/10 – Shallow villains, but the other characters surprised me a lot: they’re not annoying and are actually able to show off their development.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Gorgeous CG, simple character animations for movie standards.
Setting: 8/10 – It adds on the Gundam 00 franchise in its own way. Some things work well, others don’t work at all.

Suggestions:
– Mobile Suit Gundam Wing – Endless Waltz
– Macross Frontier – Itsuwari no Utahime
– Digimon Movie 2 – Bokura no War Game