Category: Finished Series: Action

Sengoku Basara – 18

by psgels, posted in Sengoku Basara




This episode was crazy. It was just a complete madness, that’s how over the top it went with its action. I mean, the things that Toyotomi pulls here are really unbelievably badass. By far the best episode of the second season so far. This is exactly what I’ve been hoping for when I picked up this series. The pirate, for a guy who has had such little airtime before, he really showed the best of himself in this episode. I mean, talk about awesome action here.

The great thing is also that the action of this series knows when not to drag on. The previous episode was a bit boring with its build-up, but it did what it was supposed to do. The battle between Toyotomi and the pirates really lasted one episode here, and didn’t try to be too long, nor too short, so Toyotomi still had plenty of time to blow up the ocean (no, really) and completely decimate the huge pirate ship just by himself. Just compare that to what the demon king in the first season did: sit on his chair for nearly the entire series.

I think that that’s also a major improvement over the first season: this series is always moving and developing. It’s dynamic, rather than the first series which IMO wasted too much time repeating itself, or repeating the same plot threads over and over (most notably the one with Nobunaga’s sister). Every episode of the second season so far has been different, with a different focus and mood. It actually forms a great contrast.

At this point, I really have no clue on how much of the story of the games the anime has been following, but this is just one episode that I just can’t ever see in game format. Just, no way. At this point I can only imagine the liberties that Production IG have taken with this adaptation, but their input has worked really well.

The big danger right now is God-moding Toyotomi. I mean, over the top is one thing, and it’s very cool right now, but it becomes a bit of a problem when the bugger is supposed to get defeated. For the final battle, I really want to ask this series to really make it exciting, over the top, yet plausible, and not suddenly hand Toyotomi an idiot ball, or decrease his power level, or something similar that shows like this often tend to pull…
Rating: *** (Awesome)

High School of the Dead – 06

by psgels, posted in High School of the Dead



Um. Yeah. I’m not going to blog softcore porn here…

Regarding the parts of this episode that weren’t part of High School of the Boobs, this episode created a new layer of chaos by finally showing the police being forced to take drastic measures, and actually kill people. It’s all a big build up to the second half of this series, and at least that part of the episode worked well.

This episode also introduced a really weird plothole with the dog. It was barking, it made noise, it was loud… and yet the zombies didn’t seem to care. I mean, these really are the most selective zombies I’ve seen, only responding to certain sounds while completely ignoring others. It’s a shame really. Zombie dogs would have been quite interesting here.
Rating: – (Let’s just move on here…)

Sengoku Basara – 17

by psgels, posted in Sengoku Basara



This was a bit of the problem with the first season: it spent so much time on building up that it forgot to actually deliver. This episode was bugged by a bit of a problem: there were no fights at all. There was just one point where Masamune and Uesugi crossed blades, but that was more as a sign of friendship than anything else. Oh, and there were some cannons who destroyed a bunch of ships, but that too was just build-up for the next episode.

The build-up is nice and all but this is supposed to be a hot blooded action series that really needs its time of 12 episodes. I know that Sengoku Basara in total has 25 episodes, but it’s still a bit different compared to your regular 26-episoded anime. I really hope that the creators know what they’re doing here.

Either way, another reason why the first season was so boring was because the battles that it did feature were rather boring. I think the biggest offender here was the battle around Tokugawa. I mean, here the creators had the founder of modern Japan, but the huge fight around him never really was interesting. With all of the battles that this episode has been building up for, the next episode seems like the perfect place to make up for it.

And it’s not like this episode was boring in the way that the first season was. It’s just that we hardly learned any new information here: everything that happened here was just meant to flesh out the different subplots: rather than getting from A to B, this episode described the road between A and B. It’s cool, but the creators really have to use it in the rest of the series. The part I liked best probably was that scene in which we saw Masaune’s men take care of their own injuries and see then recovering. Now THAT’s more than just build up.
Rating: (Enjoyable)

High School of the Dead – 05

by psgels, posted in High School of the Dead



Well, yeah. There isn’t much to say about this episode, really. It was clearly building up to that one fight scene at the end, and while nicely animated, this episode lacked the atmosphere of the previous episodes. We’re also introduced to a new major character, who turns out to be one of the best snipers of the country who just happens to be a childhood friend of the nurse.

Most of all, this episode was used for the background of the different characters, most notably the people who remained on the bus and who weren’t hypnotized by that psycho teacher. It’s not the most exciting episode because of that, but it’s good to see that we finally get to see for exactly what kinds of relatives they’re worried. Now, all that’s left is for the rest of the episodes to actually use this.

The one major event was that psycho teacher was finally ditched, which definitely is a good thing. However, I doubt that the creators intended him to be just a plot devices to get the characters out of the bus, only to lead them to another vehicle they can use (that armoured car). Especially considering that the creators in no way have explained what was up with that one student who was suddenly yelling at Komuro. Because of that I fear for the future of this series, especially because the creators were hinting at a bath episode next week…
Rating: (Enjoyable)

Sengoku Basara – 16

by psgels, posted in Sengoku Basara



Here’s a strange twist: the creators decided to revive the single most annoying character of the first season. Okay.

This isn’t a bad thing per se, it’s all going to depend on how the creators handle her. Ichi wasn’t necessarily bad, she just got on my nerves due to the poor balancing of the first season, combined with the fact that she DIDN’T DO ANYTHING. She was really being set up as the useless character here, which was really obnoxious considering the huge amount of screen-time she received.

HOWEVER, this is where the character-development kicks in. In the first season, she had plenty of reasons to be useless. With all of those reasons dead now, she’s bound to be different here, and she’s bound to evolve, especially when the creators went through such trouble bringing her back to life (or rather, making use of the fact that her death wasn’t 100% confirmed. Make sure that this is the last time that you pull this, series!). I mean, that haunting scene in which this series shortly changed into a horror atmosphere was really good!

Also, while this is the typical time-slot for big budgeted action series, It still is great to see that we can have episodes like this, with long dialogues that intend to build up this atmosphere and the action, making sure that it’s as interesting as possible, rather than a bunch of random endless action scenes. The dialogue here works because of this build-up, as it’s able to keep in this atmosphere of the series.

Meanwhile, Toyotomi, I like him much better as a villain than the demon lord of the first season. The latter, while really badass, only had one gimmick, and apart from that he just sat on his chair, being evil throughout most of the series. Toyotomi actually does stuff, he has a past, and he isn’t as outrageously evil either. That scene in which he spared Date Masamune may have been a bit cliche, but it did show that this isn’t really a fight between good and evil, but instead it’s just a complete chaos in which many different parties with the same goals are trying to create peace while getting as much power to themselves as possible.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

High School of the Dead – 04

by psgels, posted in High School of the Dead



Not since Engage Planet Kiss Dum have we seen a recap this early in a series. Obviously, something went wrong, though thankfully only the first half of the episode was a recap: the rest of the episode was new material, but even then you could see that a lot of corners were cut here, like a number of far-away shots and convenient censoring that obstructed nearly the entire screen (though admittedly, some other scenes did have very good animation).

My guess is that something went wrong with the outsourcing. Madhouse seems to be a studio that outsources a lot, and my guess is that the part of this episode that some outsourced companies were responsible for failed to deliver their work on time. Hence the sudden inclusion of a recap.

Anyway, about the actual new content of this episode, it was mainly meant to show how even the people who didn’t turn into zombies can snap and cause chaos. With the authorities gone, people have just turned to killing in order to survive. It’s an interesting varation on the “punks are beating up random people”-trope.

Oh, and there were a number of small new scenes in between the recap (it’s as if the creators want to force you to actually watch it), but the only noteworthy thing about it is that we did see organized efforts in getting everyone to safety. That smirk of that teacher however… was just too much. I can understand that the creators wanted someone with a personality that will cause conflicts, but with this guy you can just hang a neon-sign above him reading “I am an asshole”.

Also, this episode showed that Zombies react to not just any sound, but the sound of metal. People talking and yelling seem to be just fine. This really seems to be a bit of a weird design choice, if you ask me.

Oh, and the creators? They’re definitely Shaun of the Dead fans. This episode featured another cameo, and both the title of the series as the title of the episodes are references to its title.
Rating: – (Disappointing)

Sengoku Basara – 15

by psgels, posted in Sengoku Basara



Whoa, was that Ishikawa Chiaki who suddenly performed an insert-song in the middle of this episode? Awesome, the creators here are certainly making sure to make this one a spectacle. Usually I’m not a fan of overacting, but this burning passion was exactly what prevented the first season of Sengoku Basara from standing out.

In any case, I’m glad to see that the second season is so much better balanced here. This episode was all about Maeda Keiji (who seems to have been upgraded to a lead character in this season) versus the rest of his clan, as he tried to stop them from engaging into a pointless battle.

I think that what makes Sengoku Basara more interesting than your average action series is that even though there’s a clear villain here, it’s still a complete chaos, where a lot more conflicts are going on. On top of that, the characters themselves aren’t stupid fighting machines (that’s one thing that the first season did right), but instead things lie far more complex, and I like how even though this is supposed to be an action series, it still puts a lot of focus on this dialogue.

Also, I believe that this was one of the first fantasy series that has the balls of actually animating the fact that the bodies of the characters are strong enough to stop a freaking katana. It’s great to see this actually get animated, rather than the usual thing in which we see some sort of flash, but don’t really know what exactly happened, and why someone isn’t sliced to death when being struck by such a killing weapon. Sengoku Basara isn’t the best game adaptation by far, but it definitely has the right intentions. That swordfight in the middle was definitely well coordinated.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

High School of the Dead – 03

by psgels, posted in High School of the Dead



Here’s one thing that I’m a bit afraid of: this series falling into the formula in which the main characters find survivors, who all just get killed off anyway in favour of the lead characters. I mean, the first half of this episode was really predictable in the way that you just knew that these kids they picked up would just end up getting eaten. I guess that that’s why it’s a good thing that this series will only have 12 episodes.

In any case, this episode tried a bit too hard in my opinion to introduce an asshole. For this guy to work, the creators really need to give more attention to the groupies around him, and give them personalities just like the main characters. The guy himself also needs to get a bit more of those normal scenes in which he isn’t acting like a total snob.

On the bright side though, the fanservice was pretty much toned down in this episode compared to the previous ones, which is a good sign. If anything, the lead characters are all likable despite their flaws, and I like how at the end of this episode the creators tried to break up the two lead characters from the rest, in order to avoid the formula from getting stale. Zombie killing can only remain interesting for so many episodes, so I’m glad that the creators have spent their time to at least give us some solid 12 episodes here.
Rating: * (Good)

Sengoku Basara – 14

by psgels, posted in Sengoku Basara




Of course, I’d rather see more of the old production IG, with is mature and imaginative premises of Real Drive, Chevalier or Ghost Hound. But really, this isn’t bad either. I’m really willing to give this series a chance now that they got rid of the old director (who, ironically, is directing another show that I’m blogging this season). Seriously, the first season had the ingredients to become a great action series if it wasn’t for this guy.

With every series, it’s different how much influence the main director has over the series as a whole. With the first season however, that influence was so dull and average that it lacked passion. There was overacting, and characters with ridiculous powers, but the overall atmosphere of the series didn’t make use of any of it. There was just one exception to this: episode 2. Naoyoshi Shiotani (who also created the amazing-looking third OP of Blood+) just took over the entire episode and delivered one heck of a creative episode. But that also was part of the downfall of the rest of the series: it just couldn’t live up to that particular episode and it looked like it wasn’t even trying at times.

With the new director, I hope that he can achieve this balance between its action and plot. Because with Production IG behind the helm, it’s definitely different from your usual over the top action scene, with its anatomically correct character-designs, large emphasis on dialogue and surprisingly thorough historical references. I’m not expecting the next Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto here, but still an action series that entertains, and yet does remain with a good storyline.

The past two episodes have yet to surpass the second episode of the first season, but they were a massive improvement over its other episodes. The set-up for this sequel is in ways similar to the first, in which we have one ridiculously over the top bad guy being badass, while his right-hand man pulls all sorts of sneaky tricks from behind the scenes. Their presentation is a lot better though. This episode also hinted at how they’re going to be more than bad guys, and actually tried to flesh them out for about half a minute. That’s also a pretty good sign, considering how the previous bad guy, while badass, also just sat on his chair for entire episodes.

The animation still makes use of CG people, but thankfully they’re only used for the background, and nothing that goes on in the foreground (which is what the first season tended to do at times). The animation overall is pretty detailed, and the animators also take care of these small things as animating the characters’ chins when they talk. There was one particular shot in this episode that just showed a piece of sky when Katakura Kojuurou was getting beat up. That was a bit lazy, but some of the other shots of Date Masamune attacking made up for that.
Rating: * (Good)

High School of the Dead – 02

by psgels, posted in High School of the Dead



As for the series I’m not going to blog:
– Shukufuku no Campanella… who the hell found that a good idea?
– Seitokai Yakuindomo just keeps repeating the same jokes over and over again.
– Mitsudomoe has some actually funny moments. But it’s also utterly disgusting and it tries way, way too hard.

High School of the Dead of course has its problem, but in terms of atmospheric zombie bashing it’s a pretty solid choice this season. Tetsurou Araki, the director of Death Note, Kurozuka and that story with the really long title in Aoi Bungaku was the perfect choice to animate this thing and make it as atmospheric as possible with his unique style.

This episode wasn’t as good as the first, though. Mostly, this can be blamed on some of the new characters. The school nurse is just about an exact carbon copy of any other school nurse out there. Now first of all, this is something I’ve been wondering since ages: why are school nurses necessary in Japan? Really, at our high school the janitor knew first aid, and whenever an accident happened (which really was not often), he would take care of everyone. Are Japanese schools really so accident prone that they need to reserve an entire room for it, and hire someone who doesn’t need to do anything for most of the time?

But yeah, the big problem with that nurse is that she’s really annoying, along with that annoying sound that her boobs make whenever she does something. I really hope that we don’t have to listen to that for the entire rest of the series. Still, I’ve got to give credit where credit is due: she was decently fleshed out in this episode, and she isn’t an entire stereotype.

The other annoying character was that pink haired girl. Again, a collection of moe cliches: genius, tsunere, twintails, glasses, etc. The worst though was the part in which in she made NO ATTEMPT TO HIDE HER VOICE. She had the right intentions, she didn’t hide in the obvious places, she’s careful on where to go, she carefully analyzes the situation around her and yet she fails to think of one of the most obvious ways to give her away. Yes, it’s a zombie outbreak people. Let’s start yelling to everyone! Again though, credit where credit is due: her breakdown at the end of this episode promised good stuff. As long as she doesn’t continue yelling like that throughout the rest of the series, I’ll be happy.
Rating: * (Good)