Category: Finished Series: Action

Whoa, a major episode here. For the second time in a row, it focuses on Kanako, but in this episode she actually ends up fighting. The previous episode apparently created this backlash that somehow affected her first phase, causing all of her stocks to drop, creating this surprising sense of urgency for this series.

And okay, it is rather questionable for her to be an Olympic level boxer despite never having seen her train, but my guess is that this is all part of this series’ idea to make her as successful as possible (though granted, it would have been nice if we saw her actually box a bit before this episode). The interesting thing is also that she can’t become the leader of the Glittering Crux anymore. Does that mean that we’ve got a villain less? Is this the last time we see her in the spotlights, or are the creators going to pull a few more tricks?

Also, the revival of Cybuddies. It’s still a bit vague on what exactly needs to happen in order to revive broken Cybuddies, and in what way it’s going to drain energy from Takuto (do they need to beat him in order for it to work, or do they need to be near him?) In any case, I’m glad that they made it not as easy as it sounds here.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

And finally, we’ve gotten to the second part of the Kanako arc, this time focusing on her female servant, Simone. And it’s this point at which you can really see that this series is getting better now that we’re moving into the interesting back-stories. This episode really did some justice Simone, and turned her into quite an interesting character, not to mention also giving Kanako some extra depth here.

The interesting thing with Star Driver is that at the beginning, I thought that all of the character arcs would have the same format as Kanako’s. Instead, everyone is different. Kanako’s arc is probably the most Utena-esque: developing her both through stories of her and the people close to her. Midori and Benio meanwhile are running are both running after guys, but the latter does so to control everyone while the former is interested in them for a whole different reason. Keito meanwhile only acts behind the scenes and doesn’t seem to have anyone close to her and the biggest mysteries are Head and his replacement, You.

All of them don’t just have completely different characters, they also have completely different roles in this series, are explored in completely different ways and influence the plot in completely different ways. Utena had the advantage that it had 39 episodes to really go in-depth with its cast. This was vital because this way, it could give all of the major supporting characters three big arcs. Since Star Driver doesn’t have that luxury, I like the solution it found for that. Whether it’s actually going to work though, we’ll have to wait for that until the second half. This episode in any case was a neat pointer to the right direction.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

At first this looked out to be a rather boring episode with the baseball and all, especially considering how Utena’s light hearted episodes were completely brilliant. Still, as the episode went on it became apparent how much characterization the creators ended up putting in this episode.

The interesting thing is that this show is no longer as flamboyant as it used to be and it’s gotten a lot more subtle now. Of course, Takuto still is the light-hearted and energetic character he always was and this episode was of course also chockful of screaming fangirls, but around him, all sorts of interesting things are starting to happen.

A lot of the flamboyance in this show is like a red herring: loud and obnoxious, but for once it has a lot to make up for it with its characterization. The “faceplant in boobs”-scene was definitely annoying, but unlike for example that 08th episode of Index, there was so much going on with so many different characters that I quickly forgot it.

Also, what’s the meaning of the songs of the priestesses? In this episode we get a new one (I still prefer the fish girl song, but that one too was quite good), but there have been enough battles that occurred without the presence of one such song. Do their songs strengthen something, or do they just do it for the heck of it?

Overall, this was the first episode in a long while that didn’t bring some sort of major twist. Instead, it convinced me that this series can manage its huge cast. A huge potential pitfall with series with a huge cast is that they try to give equal attention to all of them without making any of them stand out,but in star Driver there are a lot of them that stand out, each episode grabs all of the chances it can get in order to add some character to them, even when the episode in question doesn’t focus on them at all, and the ones on which the episodes in question do focus on still get the proper attention they deserve. Each episode grabs a different array of characters, and that’s probably the thing that makes this series so varied.

Also, a huge theme of this series turned out to be leaving the island: this show just keeps introducing stories about characters who can’t leave it, characters who leave it, and Takuto being the only one known so far who actually did the opposite and came to the island. The creators are going somewhere with that, and I’m interested to find out where that is.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Yet again: an episode that gives a complete new spin to the story. And we’re only nine episodes in yet; normally you see these kinds of things ten episodes later or something. This episode again did something that went completely against my expectations, it brought in A TON of new stuff, characters and plot threads.

Mizuno, the west maiden really brings a huge new plot along with her. From out of nowhere, she introduces a new Crux Brigade member (replacing the head, who went on a holiday after what happened in the previous episode), who turns out to be Mizuno’s twin sister, entirely in it to protect her sister from being found out (even going to the point of setting up a flamboyant act for it), not knowing that her subordinates (four also totally new characters) have formed their own brigade and are pretty much just using her as a tool. This definitely brings some great new potential to the series. Also, this episode on top of that introduces painter R. We have no clue who it is apart from that it’s special to both good guys and bad guys.

I don’t really understand the whole point of the shrine maidens at this point, though: why is the West Maiden necessary to reach third phase? I mean, I can understand it if you’d need 1 maiden for phase 1, 2 for phase 2 etc (opening up the possibility for a phase 4 as well), but the fish girl just left and the brigade members still were able to enter phase 2.

This wasn’t the most enjoyable episode because it spent quite an amount of time introducing these new characters (plus, I’m missing the fish girl song). The fight scene in this episode also was a bit unremarkable (again, it was just used to build up and nothing more). The romantic hi-jinks were also not the most enjoyable, but the fanservice could have been much worse I guess. There were no stupid cliches nor was there too much of a focus on the fanservice, so I guess it’s all-right.
Rating: * (Good)

So I thought that the creators would make Sugata as an antagonist a long-running theme of this series. Apparently though, they just intended this arc as a part of his character-development and in terms of that, this arc really served its purpose: we definitely got to know more about Sugata during the past episodes, even though he was such a silent character before this arc.

Also beyond my expectations: the cage girl left. I mean, she finished her story, left her cage and at the end of the episode she’s on a boat away from the island. I seriously have no idea what to make of that because this series really likes to play with that: there have been plenty of times at which it hinted to put characters on a bus, only to immediately bring them back and characters who looked like they were important at first sight got put on a bus instead. And don’t get me wrong, I really like that unpredictable side of this series.

The battle of this episode was a typical manly fight, with lots of morals and one liners. Perhaps it was a bit cheesy, but it definitely worked as a good conclusion to Sugata’s arc. Samekh’s power is apparently too much for the Pink-haired girl to handle, which does mnake me worried whether or not the creators are god-moding Sugata a little too much here, but there still are plenty of ways for them to write themselves out of that corner. I’m especially interested in what happened to that Pink-haired girl: we did not see her exit her chamber and hand in her badge. So much for being formulaic, eh?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Ah, so with this episode it becomes clear what the creators were going for: a plot twist that when used well can turn out great, yet is very, very, very easy to screw up. Many series have fallen because they simply could not control the cheese that comes with such a plot twist: the best friends turned enemies.

Overall, the show has a potential wall-banger, but this episode did well in introducing it: beyond being very well written and breaking some more of the formula it carefully set up, it used the strange powers of the Crux brigade well, as it had already been established that the pink haired girl’s kisses have some strange influence on her partners.

The only question I’m stuck with right now is about the history of this island: if it was this easy to wake someone who owns the King’s Cybuddy, then why was he the first one to get accidentally hit in Zero Time? What did the island look like in previous generations? Was the Crux Brigade always active? With this episode, the creators pretty much obligated themselves to really delve into the history of the island, otherwise we’re left with a pretty nasty plothole.

In any case though, this series did some pretty neat stuff with its characters over the past seven episodes. At this point, the cast is already setting itself apart, and it’s really getting more interesting with each episode and it’s also that every episode so far has been different in tone and setting, despite these formulas.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Whoa!? This early?

Like expected, this show only got better as soon as it started focusing on one of the major characters. This episode, it was Sugata’s turn. His Cybuddy… has the power to make the user sleep eternally. It’s apparently the king of all Cybuddies (so much for Takuto getting himself a special Cybuddy), and based on the tale that the blue-haired girl was telling, it’s based on a king who got bored of his immortality and wanted to be put to sleep on purpose.

After that kind of exposition, I really did not expect the creators to use that card so early: I thought that only later in the plot, he’d be forced to use it. My guess is that he really is going to remain asleep for quite a number of episodes and that we’re really not going to be able to see him for a while. The creators really don’t seem like the type of people who would just chicken out after so much build-up.

Also, the birthday thing was something they probably got from Clamp: two characters with the same birthday, with a lot of irony put into them. It works in this context as well, though. It’s of course one thing for Sugata to hate his own birthday because of his father finding that day out of all possible dates the right date to tell him about his destiny, but Takuto having the same birthday is also interesting. We really don’t know much about him, but the creators do keep hinting that there’s something about him: that watch for example: we know that it’s important to Takuto, having it with him on his birthday and all, but apart from that we don’t know anything about it.

On a side-note: I love the use of insert songs in thsi series. It’s great for the atmosphere.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

After watching all of the shows that debuted this autumn season, I’m really sure now: Star Driver has by far the best direction and animation, and it’s one of the few series that didn’t blow its biggest budget in its first episode, and actually kept a consistent quality throughout all its episodes. And the great thing is that the animation here really helps in bringing the cast alive: some of the inbetween animation in this episode was really smooth and detailed. At that level, it really adds something extra to the characters.

Also, this episode was weird. There was this school nurse who used her cybuddy to make herself as young as a teenaged girl again, but the weirdest thing was that she was a huge raving fangirl for bishies. It was quite ridiculous, but the creators actually managed to make it work. It again managed to make this nurse into a great character to follow, even though she would have been obnoxious in most other series with a sub-par direction.

Also, regarding the battle: this episode convinced me: they’re going to be great. So far, none of the battles really looked like the others. Takuto managed to win in every one of them, but again: him winning every battle he’s in is trivial in a series in which there’s so much else going on. I liked how the creators actually went with the twist in which she is defeated by her own fetish and carelessness.

On top of that, you can also see that the creators aren’t forgetting the rest of the cast here: while the first few episodes focused on these relatively minor characters, they were also busy fleshing out the main cast, and this episode was no exception. That’s the sign of a good episodic series. I’ve said this before, but I really don’t mind an episodic series when it’s done right. If they can use these stories to build up the series as a whole, it’s only going to make the series better.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Well, so much for the formula: this episode already broke it and instead had one of the cybodies unleash an illusion on Takuto. The characterization here was excellent, and even though this episode was quiet and completely different from the previous three, it developed Takuto and Wako’s relationship quite well and showed a number of pretty interesting things about their pasts. What caught my interest the most however was the things that this episode promised.

I mean, at this rate I can very well imagine that the creators are planning to have Takuto fight a different character each episode. Because of this, it’s starting off with the unimportant characters: they both serve to introduce the concepts, and flesh out the main characters: Utena did the same in the Black Rose arc. In any case, this offers tons of opportunities to weave the stories of all kinds of characters into one, and this show definitely has the potential and creativity to pull this off.

I like how all of the main villains are different, and that has made all of the episodes so different so far, aside from the repeated scenes. The black-haired girl seems to like to brainwash people into submission. The interesting thing is that at the moment that Takuto saw through the illusions, the leader instead said that her plan worked out well. And to be honest, I’m not really sure what they really expected to do with this illusion, but if it had a bigger purpose than just “take out Takuto”, then I’m very interested in what the rest of the episodes are going to offer.
Rating: ** (Excellent)