Category: Finished Series: Action

Macross Frontier – 23

by psgels, posted in Macross Frontier



Short Synopsis: Ranka and Brera arrive at the home planet of the Vajra.
Highlights: Well, finally it seems that the love-triangle is over.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10
Okay, so this episode was meant to spice up the upcoming finale a bit. It was a it of a mixed bag, like usual with this series. There were some things I liked:
– Sheryl’s little bits of screen-time
– Some more exposition about the nature of the Vajra and Ranka’s background. The creators actually remembered that huge space-craft of ten episodes ago and explained what it was about. As it turns out, Grace once lived together with Ranka and her mother, and they lived happily together with the Vajra.
– A few scenes here and there about the casualties that the recent Vajra outburst caused.

There were also some things I didn’t like. Most importantly Ranka, getting captured by the Vajra like the damsel in distress that she is. Really, I want to like her, and her character isn’t badly written at all. It’s just the way that the creators use her that bugs me like no other. Especially since now it seems pretty much clear that she’ll end up together with Alto. Okay, Alto said that he’d rather kill Ranka than let the Vajra use her for destruction, but I really doubt whether the creators have the GUTS to kill her off.

There’s also this bit about Brera, being Ranka’s brother, which has been delayed way too much in my opinion. It was pretty obvious that the two were siblings more than thirteen episodes ago, and only now the creators decide to reveal it to the characters. This should have been clear much earlier, to allow for some development between the two. To think that even Brera didn’t know.

Please, Ranka. There are two episodes left. Please do something in that finale other than predictably provide a Deus ex Machina ending. Kick Grace in the ass, make the Vajra kill Leon, anything as long as you don’t end up being some god-moded damsel in distress!

Birdy the Mighty Decode – 10

by psgels, posted in Birdy the Mighty Decode



Short Synopsis: Senkawa and Nakasugi go on a date and Natsumi and Muroto go after some rumours about Syamalan.
Highlights: Yet another episode that delivers.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
And here I thought that this would be a simple intermezzo, where the series takes a small break, and takes its time to introduce the next arc. Instead, the creators managed to turn this episode into both an intermezzo and an episode that yet again pushes the plot forward. Especially the mysteries around Syamalan continue to tighten as this series goes on.

I must say that I like this series more and more with every episode, and it’s really one of those examples of a series that starts off rather weak, and only picks up later in the story. In fact, I see the entire first season as just one big introduction for the second season. My guess is that this first season takes care of everything around Syamalan (consider him as a sort of mid-boss), so that the second season can focus on Capella, and the guy with shades and his boss.

I’m really curious to how the creators planned to end the first season. It’s probably just going to be an average climax, where Syamalan gets stopped, but I can’t help but think how both Noein and Escaflowne’s thirteenth episode were absolutely amazing. I wonder whether the director has the same in mind for Birdy the Mighty, or would he rather provide a solid introduction for the second season instead?

Macross Frontier – 22

by psgels, posted in Macross Frontier



Short Synopsis: A calm before the storm things are set up for the finale.
Highlights: Ozma and Catherine.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10
Okay Westlo, you’ve proved your point. At the previous episode, I declare Sheryl standing no chance at Alto’s love, only for the two to sleep together in just one episode later (at least, that was very much implied). For now, I’ll refrain from making any predictions about this love-triangle until the show’s actually over. I’ve never been that good with love anyway.

In any case, this episode set things up for the finale of this series. Leon gets the Macross Fleet ready to chase after Ranka, if I understood things correctly, and Sheryl started singing again. It turns out that her disease can be cured, in the same way that Ranka’s currently suppressing her own disease. Ozma and Catherine also successfully managed to escape and allied themselves with the rest of SMS, who now know too that Catherine’s father was assassinated. And about that ending… did Ozma just force Alto to be abandoned by the rest of the Macross-fleet?

My problem is, though, that with three episodes left, I’m really not sure whether Macross Frontier can pull off a good finale. I mean, I’m not really curious to see Ranka’s past, and this series will have to end with the death of Leon, where both Ranka and Sheryl will be saved and Alto choosing one of them. I really don’t see any potential for the creators to spice up such a predictable ending. This also isn’t the most solid series, so a straightforward ending also doesn’t seem to have much success.

Bonen no Xamdou – 08

by psgels, posted in Bonen no Xamdou



Short Synopsis: Akiyuki finally gets the chance to meet Haru.
Highlights: So that’s who that mysterious guy in the OP was.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
Excellent episode, among the best of the series so far. Although I spotted some strange coincidences in this series for the first time (like how did Akiyuki know exactly where Haru would be?), but these were small enough to be ignored. Especially since that scene of Akiyuki and Haru’s re-encounter resulted in some great character-development, now that it turns out that Furuichi became to hate Akiyuki for letting the white-haired girl blow up the bus, along with his classmates. It’s quite sad that he never allowed Akiyuki to properly talk to Haru in this way, but at least this way, Haru will have nobody to rely on. I predict some great growth from her.

The creators do need to pay attention to not let Akiyuki’s and Furuichi’s rivalry become overly cheesy, though. I’ve often seen such an attempt at drama fail, where childhood friends come to hate each other (Dragonaut, anyone?). Sure, I can understand how two close people can grow apart from each other, but for the rival to become one of the top officials of the evil empire (or something similar), it gets a bit hard to believe. One example where the childhood rivalry did work was Area 88, where the rival basically ruined the lead character’s life out of jealousy.

In any case, I loved this episode not just because of that, but everything that went on around it, from the crew of the Zanbani who was worried about Akiyuki and Nakiami, to the father and daughter that Akiyuki met in the previous episode to those strange people from the northern lands, who helped the southern government. I personally love a series with a huge amount of characters, where each of these characters has his or her own agenda and issues, and Bonen no Xamdou is also doing really well in that area.

Also, is it me, or did the background art in this series look better than ever in this episode? I’m also glad to see that the guy with the camera from the OP finally appeared. It’s obvious that it’s been a long time since he shaved, but I’m surprised that he was Raigyo, the Xam’d that Nakiami saved before Akiyuki.

Birdy the Mighty Decode – 09

by psgels, posted in Birdy the Mighty Decode



Short Synopsis: Just about every important character in this series gets attracted to what happened at the end of the previous episode
Highlights: Finally another great fight-scene!
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
Okay, so this series still needs miles to go before it can call itself equal to the likes of Noein or Escaflowne, but nevertheless, the past few episodes have really impressed me. The past three episodes have shown an incredible contrast to the first six episodes, which goofed off beyond belief. This episode also answers what the heck happened to the budget of this series: it’s clearly been saved for the major fight scenes like the one here.

Just about every side-character apart from Senkawa’s random classmates got fleshed out some more and gained some extra depth in this episode. Keisuke Muroto turns out to be quite a nice guy, despite his rather forcing ambitions. The guy reminds me of the male policeman from Noein. Natsumi is just as curious as Senkawa was, back in episode one.

Sayaka still doesn’t seem to know anything about her “other side”, and neither does it seem that Birdy and Senkawa recognize her from the last episode. But then again, you don’t easily suspect your classmate from being a psychotic killer. Syamalan turns out to be quite a famous person, with even larger ambitions. What exactly did he find so special in the wrecks that Sayaka left? He does seem to know about her, since he knows Capella. I couldn’t pick it up exactly, but at the end of the episode, did Capella promise him to hand over Nakasugi’s other self if he cooperated? This Ryunka they keep talking about, is that Sayaka’s other self?

In the meantime, the goth-girl turns out to be an android, and the guy with the moustache whose name I don’t know also finally does something.

The guys in moon-suits who wielded fire weapons also really worked. I originally thought that this series would keep Senkawa’s classmates apart from perhaps Sayaka away from the action, but as it turns out, it has other plans. Again, much like Noein, they all play their own part, aside from providing some obligatory classmates for the lead character.

Macross Frontier – 21

by psgels, posted in Macross Frontier



Short Synopsis: Most of the episode sees Ranka, as she tries to sort out her own feelings.
Highlights: Well, at least the love-triangle progressed a lot.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10
Well, this had to happen, I guess. Ranka’s still my least favourite character in this series, so an episode that focuses nearly entirely on her obviously isn’t as exciting as the past few episodes were. It’s really a calm-before-the-storm episode, where everything gets set up for the finale. It’s a bit of a bummer that the finale is going to be about a bunch of teenaged lovers who chase after each other, but there’s still enough potential left for some nice action-scenes. I just hope that now that Sheryl’s chances of getting it on with Alto are gone, she won’t turn into a useless side-character who can only watch.

In the meantime, it was an interesting plan of how Luka came up with the plan to get rid of the swarm of Vajra: get them all on one island, remove all people from that island and blow it up. I wonder where that swarm came from, by the way. I originally thought that it spawned from Ranka’s little friend, but in this episode it showed that it turned into something completely different, and different from most of the brainless Vajra-enemies we’ve seen thus far.

I’m also interested in what happened to Ozma and his lover. We never saw them getting caught, so they’re still on the run somewhere. I’m interested in what they can do for this series’ final four episodes. They’re along with Sheryl about the only ones who are on to Leon’s complot, so I wonder how they’re going to pull it off to kill the guy.

Bonen no Xamdou – 07

by psgels, posted in Bonen no Xamdou



Short Synopsis: Haru’s letters reach Akiyuki, and a possibility for the two of them to meet pops up.
Highlights: Another building-up episode, but this time the Xam’d and humanforms got some extra depth.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Another solid and enjoyable for Bonen no Xamdou. I think that this is the pattern we can expect for much of the rest of the first half of this series: mostly fleshing out the characters and building up the storyline, with your occasional action-sequence like the attack on Sentan-island and the Xam’d going berserk. The question is now whether the second half of this series can effectively make use of all the time that was spent on building up in the first half, but we still need to wait a couple of months before we get the answer to that. In any case, so far the first half has been wonderfully down to earth, and that’s why I like this series so far.

In the meantime, Haru’s still very worried about what happened to Akiyuki. As it turns out, the Xam’d was killed relatively easy, but the real purpose of it going berserk was to show that it wasn’t looking for trouble, it was just a pregnant woman who wanted to live, and at the same time show a strange pillar in the sky that only the Xam’d and Haru could see. The question is obviously: why could Haru see it and everybody else not? It’s probably got something to do with Akiyuki.

I also wonder what Haru’s going to do when she finally meets Akiyuki. Will she continue to stay with the military? Will she desert it and join the crew of the Zanbani (that would be rather lame, by the way)? Meanwhile, Akiyuki’s little adventure alone reminded me of the time when Renton went off on his own in Eureka7, although their reasons are totally different. There hasn’t been any real tension so far between Akiyuki and the crew, unlike with Eureka7, where the crew of the Gekko-go kept teasing Renton over and over again. Bonen no Xamdou is much more a coming of age story for Haru than that it is for Akiyuki.

This episode also again blurred the line between the Xam’d and the humanforms. It’s like humanforms are a lesser form of the Xam’d. The guy that Akiyuki meets in this episode: we’re still not sure whether he’s a humanform or a Xam’d, since his symptoms looked exactly like Akiyuki’s. But on the other hand, when even these common people are able to at least gain their senses back after having been Xam’d, then why is Sentan Island’s military having so much trouble to deal with just one of them?

Birdy the Mighty Decode – 08

by psgels, posted in Birdy the Mighty Decode



Short Synopsis: Senkawa and his friends from school are invited to Nakasugi’s summer house.
Highlights: That second half…
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
Seriously, is it me, or is this series really getting better and better with every episode? The build-up in this episode was downright excellent, and it went seamlessly from a quiet and light-hearted mood in the first half to a much darker second half. So what if the first episodes in this series goofed off? They did what they were supposed to do: flesh out characters in this series.

The past few episodes have continued to push Nakasugi’s powers more and more dramatic. In this episode, she even destroys an entire neighbourhood, and this is probably going to continue to get even worse in the future of this series. I liked how the police arrived at the house at the end of the episode. It shows that you can’t just destroy a building and get away with it in this series, adding to the believability. But what was that book that Natsumi was looking at, the one about the destroyed buildings that had the younger version of Shamalan on it? For some reason, Nakasugi wanted to distract her attention from it as quickly as possible, suggesting some sort of connection between her past and Shamalan.

The question also remains who those footprints on the wall belonged to. If they really are from Capella, then why would she go and play around with Senkawa and the others? What did she hope to achieve by walking on the walls and leaving her footprints?

I like what the creators did with the background music in this episode. The tune that the doll played in the previous episode returns multiple times in this one. I remember how Kaiba once did the same, and the technique works out pretty well.

Bonen no Xamdou – 06

by psgels, posted in Bonen no Xamdou



Short Synopsis: Haru receives Akiyuki’s letter
Highlights: Haru, you seriously rock.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
I think that with the arrival of Akiyuki’s letter, the introduction of this series is finally over and the plot can start to really develop. The time for mourning about the tragedy of Sentan Island, and it’s time to move forward. Furuichi joins the military, and to my surprise Haru does so as well! I sort-of suspected that she wouldn’t sit still for the entire series, but to think that she’d actually join the army. That really makes her much more interesting than most other female love interests, whose majority seems to degrade into a damsel in distress.

Toujirou also doens’t seem to be the bad guy I originally thought he would be. There are a lot of parallels between him and Dominic of Eureka7: they’re both young leaders who have troubles with their subordinates. Toujirou in this case is fundamentally against these experiments with the Xam’d, and this episode gave him reasons enough to worry when one of these Xam’d that was supposed to be dead revives and starts rampaging. I guess that this is another way that a Xam’d can turn into, without the help of Nakiami. This begs the question: why can Nakiami safely control the Xam’d, while a scientist from her people can’t do the same, and ends up with the Xam’d going berserk?

Akiyuki’s fight against that humanform reminded me of Eureka7, where Renton suddenly realized that he’s been fighting humans. I’m surprised at how different this was done in Xamdou with its subtle approach. But then again, Akiyuki is a lot more mature.

I’m also reminded of another series, which disturbs me a bit. I just keep comparing Haru and Nakiami with Shirley and Karen from Code Geass, even though the former two managed to get about as much depth in six episodes as the latter did in 46 of them… It’s strange, there are of course a few similarities, but also just as much differences, but I just can’t seem to stop comparing them..

Macross Frontier – 20

by psgels, posted in Macross Frontier



Short Synopsis: This is the episode… where all hell breaks loose.
Highlights: Sheryl, Kuran and of course Michael.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
So this is where the big climax of Macross Frontier begins. Ranka’s pet has finally revealed its true colours as the larvae of not just one Vajra, but an entire Vajra colony who go rampant as soon as they’re hatched. To make matters worse, the Vajra’s from outside have noticed this ad come to help their new comrades. Leon manages to make use of the confusion in order to successfully carry out his coup, but that still makes me wonder how he’s planning to solve that Vajra-problem he’s ended up with.

I really liked Sheryl in the episode. I remember how in the first half, she was one of the more annoying characters, but her character is really the one that received the most development through this series, and it’s really beginning to show now. Like expected, in this episode, she overcomes her anxieties and provides the support for not only Ranka, but also for the people who are hiding for the Vajra. Her character is really getting stronger with every episode, and I appreciate that a lot.

I wish I could say the same about Ranka, though. That girl is getting more annoying with each episode, and especially here she keeps whining and clinging to Alto, now that the shock of seeing Alto with Sheryl caused her song to lose its power over the Vajra. At this point, she really is my least favourite character of this series, and that’s not a good thing, seeing as how she’s the central character in this series. I really hope that she doesn’t end up ruining the finale of this series.

The real climax of this episode was of course the scene between Kuran and Michael. It’s the creators’ way of saying: “yes, we mean business” by killing off Michael so easily, just after he officially became a couple with Kuran. It’s an often-used plot-device, but the interesting thing is obviously going to be how this is going to affect both Alto and Kuran for the final five episodes.