Category: Finished Series: Action

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 – 29

by psgels, posted in Mobile Suit Gundam 00



Short Synopsis: Marina plans to go back to Azadistan, to try to rebuild her country again.
Highlights: That romance is either going to make or break this series.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10 (Enjoyable)
The ED of this series is starting to sound better and better, and I finally realized that it’s been done by Ishikawa Chiaki (who also did the theme songs of Bokura no). It’s pretty much the best theme song of this series so far, even though it still comes nowhere near the work she’s done for Bokura no.

In any case, this episode was pretty much about romance(or potential romance, in any case): Alelujah and Soma grew up together, but Soma doesn’t seem to realize this (most likely from the time when people messed with her brain, in the first half of the first season. Of course the removal of these berserk tendencies needed to have some repercussions). Then we have Feldt, who sees the image of Neil in Lyle, and Lyle uses this to hit on her. Meanwhile, Marina asks Setsuna to go with her to Azadistan, while both of them proclaim that they’re not in love in stereo (pretty much THE hint in anime of a future couple). Billy meanwhile is angry because Sumeragi “betrayed” him and started to develop new mobile suits for the enemy.

The thing is, that this series definitely can’t use some badly developed romance at this point. The creators are going to be very careful to actually develop all these relationships right, in the middle of the series. I’ll be happy as long as the romance is used wisely, and doesn’t get in the way of what’s really important in this series, and gets used as character-building. I was glad that the second season removed the teenaged-part from the series, but that doesn’t mean that this has given the light for cheesy romance now. It’s just too late now to turn this series into a romance-one.

There’s also one thing I’m wondering for a bit, but that may be because I’ve been watching the second season raw so far. But if four years have passed already, then why hasn’t the Earth-Federation gotten the chance yet to mass-produce the Solar Furnaces? Why haven’t they discovered the workings of the Trans-Am-system they’ve gotten from Alelujah’s machine when he was captured? Their tactics in this episode were pretty weak: they pretty much knew the position of the Poseidon, and yet they only attacked with a small number of Mobile Suits. But I guess that that was meant to be: to show the ineptness of the new white-haired commander, and push Kati up a rank.

And there’s one thing I’m also glad about: neither Saji nor Louise was annoying in this episode. Saji is already trying to work on the Poseidon (so my big fear of him becoming a Gundam pilot is unfounded), and Louise is growing up much more, although I’d like to see more screen-time of her, since she only appeared in two or three short scenes so far.

Shikabane Hime – 04

by psgels, posted in Shikabane Hime



Short Synopsis: An idol-turned-Shikabane kills people who don’t like her songs.
Highlights: Best fight so far; Makina’s background.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10 (enjoyable)
Okay, so I’ve gotten a lot of varied feedback on the new episode rating scale, some positive and some negative reactions. As a result, I’ve changed the scale a bit yet again, where anything above or equal to 7/10 means that I liked the series, as opposed to 6/10 (which was too low) or 8/10 (which meant me handing out only 8/10s for 95% of the cases).

In any case, this was a pretty strange episode for Shikabane Hime’s standards, where it spent the first few minutes on Keisei who decorated Ougi’s room full of figures and otaku-posters while he’s sleeping. While a bit funny, it did ruin this series’ mood a bit. On the other hand, however, it was a nice way to flesh out the different characters.

This really was an episode that was meant for both the cast to get closer together, and the viewer, to learn more about the characters. We finally learn a bit about Makina: it seems she was killed, along with her entire family in a fire. She already knew Keisei at that time, and something happened between the two that made Makina return as a Shikabane. The reason why Makina doesn’t berserk like all the other sis because of a contract she made with Keisei, where in exchange she gets to take his life-force (or something similar, at least) so that she can heal her wounds. Judging from the fact that the idol in this episode was surrounded by human allies, I’d say that it takes a skilled monk to make such a contract.

The enemy this time also got a bit more difficult than usual, and it’s good to see that the creators are adding an extra challenge to them, provided of course that they’re not going to drag on these fights over time. The idol’s story was a bit less interesting than the other episodes so far, but that may also be because that’s a subject I’m not interested in at all. Thankfully, the end-fight was an excellent one. I like how Makina doesn’t have any super-strength, but instead just a larger resistance than usual. And even then, when she leaps off a building, she still gets hurt, as opposed to other series where characters can jump off cliffs and are just fine after a few minutes of unconsciousness.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 – 28

by psgels, posted in Mobile Suit Gundam 00



Short Synopsis: Allelujah is found and this episode shows how the Celestial Beings go and rescue him.
Highlights: Lots of different characters get a bit of development.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10
We’re three episodes in, and I’ve got a huge question burning on my mind: what the heck happened to Ali al Sarshes!? I mean, he was a pretty big villain in the first season. I can’t just imagine how he would have suddenly decided to retire or something. I can understand how the guy wouldn’t have a big role in the past few episodes, but not even one shot of him?

In any case, in this episode it becomes clear why the creators went through such lengths of making Setsuna meet up Saji and Marina Ismael: so that he could pick both of them up in the second season. In this episode, it’s Marina’s turn, as it seems that she screwed up with her country, and coincidentally ended up in the same prison. While that’s a bit questionable, I’m interested in what the two of them will turn into once they’re pas their angst-phase. Right now, it’s pretty logical for them to be confused about Setsuna’s ideals and stuff, but it mustn’t take too long.

One major advantage of the second season over the first season is that the characters are already fleshed out in the second one. I remember how the characters spent a lot of time warming up to the viewer in the first season, and that’s one problem we don’t have here. I originally thought that the second season would introduce lots of new characters, but to my surprise, the amount of new characters has been really low. None of the major characters of the second season didn’t appear in the first, and the only important new ones that I could pinpoint were the new young crewmembers of the Celestial Being, probably to replace Liechty and the other one who died at the end of the first season. The other big advantage of this is of course that now, there are hardly any teenagers left in the series. Always a good thing. ^^;

It’s a bit cheap to replace the dead Lockon with his twin brother, to not anger the guy’s fans too much, but then again this IS Sunrise after all. I appreciate that the creators at least give a bit of effort into reviving their characters, and don’t let them just appear from out of nowhere. Lyle also adds an interesting element to the group dynamic of the Celestial Beings: he didn’t go through the same things as the others, so he isn’t on the same line as the others yet. My only real complaint is the following: how the heck did he know how to pilot a Gundam right off the start? I really would have preferred to see the guy train a bit more and get used to the controls.

Oh, and is it just me, or did this episode have a different ED than the previous two? The song still really isn’t to my tastes, but some of the artwork that appears in it is downright gorgeous.

(* Note to self: Gundam 00 continues with some new material after the ED. I usually skip that part to avoid the next-episode preview and potential spoilers, but that’s not something that should be done with this series. *)

Shikabane Hime – 03

by psgels, posted in Shikabane Hime



Short Synopsis: A number of people get killed after hearing the cries of a baby.
Highlights: Makina and Kagami
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
I think we’ve got ourselves a record here: it’s episode three, and the male and female lead still haven’t become a couple. Sure, they might meet each other a lot, but that doesn’t have anything to do with the bond between the two, but rather that cat which keeps pulling the strings from behind the scenes. The two of them are being fleshed out pretty nicely overall, with this episode giving a cold for Kagami to deal with. It’s also nice to see that his whining actually was justified in this episode, where the baby actually wasn’t the culprit. That removes the one-sided part about their relationship, where Makina was the strong one and Kagami the weak one. I believe that they’re going to grow nicely so that they can complement for each other’s weaknesses.

What I also like about this series is that apart from Makina and Kagami, there are actually lots of different and more characters. These first three episodes have introduced a significant amount of returning characters, even though we’re talking about episodic stories here. The cat and the strange guy who killed this episode’s bad guy, what are they plotting? This series is especially going to be interesting if the creators manage to give everyone on Kagami’s brother’s organization his and her own identity (the unimportant ones still feel too much like one single character at this point: replace them with one guy and you’d never know the difference).

I must say that with this, Gainax has clearly shown that they can make more than brainless action-shows, which I like a lot. What it needs to pay attention to is that male lead, Kagami. So far, he hasn’t been that annoying, but the FACT REMAINS that he’s an angsty teenager. The guy needs to develop quickly before the angst gets annoying.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 – 27

by psgels, posted in Mobile Suit Gundam 00



Short Synopsis: Setsuna recruits a new and an old Celestial Being.
Highlights: Good to see some build-up for the new setting.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
As for the shows I’m not blogging:
– Kannagi has excellent production-values, but at the same time the characters move like robots with weightless hair.
– To Aru Majutsu no Index… the freaking building was on fire, complete with fire alarm and sprinklers. Why the heck did nobody notice anything? Why was the building still in one piece?
– The sister in Kemeko Deluxe downright sucks. The second episode already shows that the inspiration (and budget) was running out. There are enough better comedies this season.

In any case, this series is quite refreshing after Code Geass and Macross Frontier of the past season. I like the 4-year time-skip a lot, and it has a lot of potential, but there still are a few questionable parts here and there. It’s great to see that Setsuna has grown up, but at the same time Saji is turning into the new Setsuna: the central immature character who questions everything and grows as the series continues. Ah well, at least he is just of the type that needs to calm down, but at the same time, I really don’t hope that he’s going to hijack a Gundam to kick Nena’s behind…

The different growth of the characters really differs from character to character: Soma didn’t change a bit, while Sumeragi lost all of her confidence in the past few years. Louise also surprised me that she turned into a soldier, but at the same time Tieria still feels pretty much the same as he did in the first season. I think a huge task of the first half of this season is going to be to establish the development for every single one of them, and make them feel more complete. Marina Ismael: what has she been doing for the past four years, really?

The OP and Ed are pretty much the same stuff. I really don’t get it: this series has a great soundtrack, which became even better with the second season, and yet it’s stuck with the OPs and EDs full of cheesy J-Rock. And to think that Gundam Wing had an such excellent OP. Ah well, at least the battles got some extra budget when compared to the first season, but I’d just wish that the creators would spend it on something other than flashy Solar Furnaces. The sparkles are nice and all, but they don’t really add anything.

Oh, and while it may seem that I’m criticizing a lot here, I actually really liked this episode. With a huge setting also come huge risks, and I appreciate this series to take a gamble and go with such a complex setting. It can fall apart very easily, but when it works, the results can turn out very interesting. And I guess that that’s the appeal of this series: it may make a few mistakes here and there, but it never forgets to remain solid and consistent. Really, the two mecha-epics this season promise to surpass the mecha-epics of previous season in every way, apart from perhaps Macross Frontier’s huge budget, but let’s not get too ahead of the facts.

Bonen no Xamdou – 13

by psgels, posted in Bonen no Xamdou



Short Synopsis: Akiyuki and Nakiami return to Sentan Island.
Highlights: Akiyuki’s parents.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Ah, so it seems that the creators are planning to enter the second half of the series with some development between Haru, Furuichi and Akiyuki, instead of going for an action-packed midway-climax. Makes sense. The next episode should either have the military intervene right before the three of them can make up, or they have enough time to say a proper goodbye to each other.

I must admit that I’m a bit disappointed that Furuichi returned back to the rival he was, but then again, there still is half a series left. There are a lot of things that can still happen, and it pretty much depends on the next episode of what the creators have in mind.

Still, the best moments in this episode were definitely from Akiyuki’s parents, who finally got to see their son again. They’re really so un-typical for such a series: most of the time, the father is gone and some sort of famous guy (acting as a rather cheap plot-device to explain why the lead character has better powers than other people) and the mother acts as a brave housewife. It doesn’t happen often when both the father and mother are left behind, and both parties will live their own life. Especially that scene between Akiyuki and his father was awesome: it never tried to be overdramatic, and instead it decided to go with subtle drama. Nice effect.

Shikabane Hime – 02

by psgels, posted in Shikabane Hime



Short Synopsis: Three dead children come back as corpses
Highlights: Male lead takes some getting used to, but is more than just a damsel in distress (or a male version anyways).
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10
Aaah! Why did this series’ second episode have to air so soon? Basically, at this point I’m still desperately trying to figure out which shows I’m going to blog, and in this case I’m doubting between three series: Shikabane Hime, Kurozuka and Chaos Head, and I’ve got two spots for the three of them. Shikabane Hime has a cast with potential and an excellent soundtrack; Kurozuka has the best production-values of the season but its characters need a bit more work, and Chaos;Head… well I don’t have a freakin’ idea about it yet, but it’s supposed to be mystery and I’m a mystery-fanboy.

So, yeah. For now I’m going to blog this thing, but do expect it to disappear again if I get blown away by Chaos;Head and Kurozuka’s second episode. The thing that especially intrigues me about this series is its director: the director of Gilgamesh. This guy knows his subtlety, and he’s just been assigned to the most un-subtle production-studio you can imagine: Gainax. The result is pretty interesting: quiet moments that take their time in building up, and yet it’s got hitting action-scenes. I’m hoping for this series to take the best of both extremes. And yeah; because of the male lead and this series’ relations to Gilgamesh (and probably also because most people are expecting this to be the next Gurren Lagann), I’m expecting this series to not really become that popular.

Another reason why I decided to blog this series was that within only two episodes, we’ve already seen quite a few sides of the male lead, and he’s definitely not a stereotype, which has potential for this series’ second season. The guy will feel annoying in this episode, though, especially in the way that he stands in the way of Machina like that. It’s also quite rare for such a guy to actually be voiced by a voice-actor that still sounds young, who still has that nose-sound in his voice. It’s a shame that the children in this episode were obviously voiced by adults that tried to be overly squeaky, but I guess that that can’t be helped.

If I’m still blogging this series next week, then the creators need to pay attention to the ultimate villains of this series, and don’t make them stereotypical bad guys who are out to destroy the world. The children in this episode were a fine example of enemies that were neither good nor bad, so let’s hope it can keep things that way.

Some quick first impressions: To Aru Majutsu no Index, Kemeko Deluxe and Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season

by psgels, posted in Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Some Quick First Impressions

To Aru Majutsu no Index

Short Synopsis: Our lead character finds a cute girl on his balcony.
Highlights: Generic, but solid.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10
Okay, I have to admit: for a series that’s about cute female teenaged mages, it’s above average. The characters were still pretty annoying, but the script is solid and it can actually make this series work. The series also has a great soundtrack, and the graphics are decent enough. For this series tow ork, the lead female does need to get much more down-to-earth, though, and she’s going to have to stop trying to be overly cute. The same goes with that ten-year-old teacher, she also felt really out of place.

Kemeko Deluxe!

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to marry a cute girl.
Highlights: This season’s comedies are… weird!
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10
Joining Sunred in the category “so bad it’s good” is Kemeko Deluxe. It’s another parody, this time of the Harem-genre, and yet again it had a hilarious though disastrous first episode. It’s a bit disturbing, but these two shows have been funnier than anything else this season has offered so far. It may just be me and my very strange sense of humour, but some of the parodies in this episode really worked. Still, the premise where the lead character gets married to a cute girl who has to live inside a hideously ugly robot and the huge fanservice only can remain funny for a limited period of time, and I wonder whether it’s going to be Kemeko or Sunred that’s going to run out of jokes first.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season

Short Synopsis: Our lead character turns out to be alive.
Highlights: Action-packed and character-centric start of the new season.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,25/10
How Awesome! Finally a series that centres around adults. Sure, they’re relatively young adults, but it’s definitely better than nothing with this season. Seriously, too many series are about bloody teenagers this season. This is only the second or third season that doesn’t. Have some variation! In any case, the worst thing about this episode is that every single main character that supposedly died at the end of the first season turns out to be still alive. It’s a bit of a disappointment, but nonetheless this does allow for some great character-development later on. This episode already started very nicely by finally trying to get Saji out of his angst by letting him meet Setsuna right off the bat. The action-scenes were also very nice, and the new soundtrack is also as good as the previous one. Overall, one of the best first episodes of the season. What this series now needs to do is keep track of its own characters, and make every single one of them count. Really, Sunrise has some good potential to redeem themselves this season after their countless train-wrecks, with the solid series of Tales of the Abyss, Gundam 00’s second season and of course Gintama, so let’s hope that they grab this chance.

Some quick first impressions: Casshern Sins, Rosario to Vampire Capu 2 and Shikabane Hime Aka

by psgels, posted in Casshern Sins, Shikabane Hime, Some Quick First Impressions

Casshern Sins

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has upset a lot of (or robots in this case) by killing someone.
Highlights: That Casshern-guy is rather dull.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 6,5/10
As much as I’d like to fanboy over the unusual art style and setting, I just can’t. There were too many parts of this episode that just didn’t sit right with me. The tune that the creators picked for the OP doesn’t seem to fit the dark mood of the rest of the series, and most importantly Casshern striked me as a very dull main character. All he does in this episode is fight and angst. Come on, flesh the guy out a bit! Right now he just is another one of those angsty teens with an unknown past, even though he’s a robot. What I also don’t like about this series is its “good guys pretty bad guys ugly”-mentality. Even though they seem to have reasons for their anger at this Casshern, every bad guy ultimately becomes just target practice for this Casshern, none of them have any depth so far. The only thing I did like was that little robot girl and her caretaker. They were nice.

Rosario to Vampire Capu 2

Short Synopsis: Our lead character enters his second year at the “youkai school”.
Highlights: WHY?! WHY did this thing get a second season!?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 2/10
Christ. Here I thought that this series couldn’t possibly get any worse, and here this episode proved me wrong. This episode was downright terrible, with non-sensical characters, stereotypes all over the place and a downright ridiculous plot, not to mention the horrible setting that it inherited from the first season. It’s one thing to bore me, but a series has to be really bad if I end up face-palming through the majority of the episodes, just to get distracted from the pain that is going on on the screen. The only thing that was even remotely interesting was the “Moka-Tsukune-Moka-Tsukune”, but even that felt forced. I mean, I really want to give these bishoujo-series a chance and all, but it’s series like this one that really make it difficult for me to take them seriously.

Shikabane Hime Aka

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has yet to get involved with a group of “Shikabane”-hunters.
Highlights: A few flaws here and there, but nonetheless very solid.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Ooh, I’m impressed. There’s a lot to like about this series: excellent soundtrack, very nice fights, a great air of mystery. I also really like the voices of the male and female leads: their voice-actors aren’t trying to be overly cute, but instead believable, which really works. The rest of the cast is a bit less, but that can be forgiven. I also like how this episode closed off with the two of them NOT staying together, and they’re still relative strangers to each other; it’s always good not to rush these things. There were a few coincidences here and there, like when the lead female fell right where the lead male happened to be, but it can be forgiven if they merely served to set up the story and characters. The two classmates were probably the most annoying about this series, but even they got a bit of development at the end of the episode. Overall, good series so far; nice potential, just don’t let this turn into a cheesy love triangle.

Bonen no Xamdou – 12

by psgels, posted in Bonen no Xamdou



Short Synopsis: The pieces start moving for the second half of this series.
Highlights: Furuichi’s development.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
Okay, so this was probably the last time I make use of the 10-01 raw providers. Their quality is horrible-raws level, but the worst is that their resolution is way too stretched in terms of height. It’s like having a 4:3 resolution with a 16:9 video. Thankfully this episode made up for it. It’s a typical intermezzo, but at the same time it really pushes the plot forward for the second half of this series.

Big development #1: Nakiami and Akiyuki leave the Zanbani, for Tessik Village. Benikawa turns out to have had an affair with the guy who controls the strange Xam’d tower, and she seems to be hiding much more about her past. “Writer of the Crimson Revolution”? Nakiami’s goodbye was really touching, and at the same time this has left a lot of potential for that second half, because Benikawa is just too important for the story for the Zanbani-crew to just become secondary characters.

Big development #2: Furuichi seems to be infected by an imperfect Xam’d, or something similar. It probably was awakened due to the way he kept pushing himself over the limits, but whatever he was, it made him see what kind of an idiot he’s been. I should have known that the creators knew exactly that he was being an asshole. They’d of course never let him be just a simple rival to stand in Akiyuki’s path, and so he successfully removed one of the few problems I had with this show.