Category: Amatsuki

Okay… Amatsuki has a good chance of becoming Studio Deen’s next masterpiece. Yes, this episode was that good.

I’m left quite speechless by it. Amatsuki has really been the most emotionally intense series of the spring-season so far, and with series as Kaiba, xxxHolic, Kurenai and Himitsu, this HAS TO SAY SOMETHING. I really like how all the good series this season have their own points at which they excel.

It turns out that Toki was called by a god who is the head of a shrine. When he arrives there, the major bad guy first comes into contact with him, and he makes it clear that Toki’s eye is something very special. He does all this in some kind of strange dimension. When Toki returns from this dimension, he’s found inside the shrine. The priestesses of this shrine then get mistaken by the huge demon inside of Kuchiha and think that the threesome is an enemy. Then all hell breaks loose as they attempt to release the dormant powers inside both Toki and Kuchiha, in order to find out their origins, though I didn’t think that they expected to find such a huge beast inside of Kuchiha. The goddess of the temple then shows up, and almost gets crushed by said demon (in the shape of a huge dog). Bonten then appears as well, taking over one the priestesses.

After this episode, I know for sure: Amatsuki is going to be a really special series. Really, so many things happened at the same time, and the result is nothing short of stunning. If you’re doubting whether or not to check out this series, then at least wait till you’ve seen the fourth episode to decide whether or not you want to follow it.

Very interesting. I originally thought that series as Macross Frontier, RD, Kurenai and Himitsu would have the most difficult dialogue to understand, but as it turns out Amatsuki is about to walk away with that title. No other series this season depends so much on its dialogue than Amatsuki, especially when characters start long monologues (especially the bald head of the temple is guilty of this) it becomes a real challenge to figure out what he’s talking about. Of course, Real Drive does take second place with its complex dialogue, and I do believe that it’s no coincidence at all that both shows are directed by the same person.

You wouldn’t say it from the outside, but this series focuses a lot on people’s history, and complex relationships. In this episode, we meet the older brother of a guy who was an assassin for Sakamoto Ryouma (a guy who planned to overthrow the Tokugawa dynasty), if I’m not mistaken. This older brother claims to have nothing to do with his brother, and yet the second half of the episode shows how he isn’t 100% trustworthy. It’s especially suspicious since he can see spirits as well.

What’s interesting as well, is how this series puts a lot of focus on the fact that Tokidoki went to school, before he came to this world. It’s surprising how many shows there are with the same theme of transferring someone to another (often less advanced) world, and hardly any of them try to use the protagonists’ knowledge about technology to improve their lives. It took me a while to understand it, but in the previous episode, Toki uses his chemical knowledge to get rid of one troublemaker, and in this episode the fact that he’s well-schooled catches this assassin’s brother’s interest.

This episode introduces another major character: the one with all the ear- and lip-piercings. What’s interesting is that he calls a certain “he” the enemy of the world. I’m not 100% sure whether or not this is Tokidoki, but it does look like it. I originally thought that he would be the bad guy, but now I’d call him more of an “antagonist”. In any case, he’s not on Tokidoki’s side, because he doesn’t appear in the OP.

I’m trying to find a good series to compare this to, but I can’t seem to think of anything. I can’t really seem to find any series that reminds me of this one, like how Kurenai reminds you of Red Garden, or SA looks like Ouran. And that’s really the great thing about this series: from the outside, it really looks like a mediocre series, it looks too brightly coloured, it’s been done before, and then it turns out surprisingly deep and complex.

As for the reasons why I won’t blog some other shows:
– If there weren’t already enough reasons not to watch To Love-Ru: it airs on freaking Thursday, which already features four, possibly five excellent shows, which already are too many shows on the same day!
– Itazura na Kiss is hands-down hilarious. Fans of traps might want to check out the second episode, because there appears one. However, I can’t see myself blogging this week after week.
– Druaga no Tou can really go both ways. Like anyone could have expected, this is no comedy at all. It’s got a lot to like, but for every good point there’s also a bad point. If you want to see Gonzo do RPG-parodies, then go check out Master of Epic. That’s one series that’s fully geared to parodies and doesn’t have an overall storyline.

Besides, Amatsuki is better than Druaga no Tou in every single aspect apart from two: sense of humour and background art. And it of course seems that Druaga played all of its trumps in the first episode, that just leaves the background art, which just isn’t enough. I think that the thing that Druaga no Tou can learn the most from Amatsuki lies in the storytelling. Amatsuki really packs a punch in its climaxes. It knows how to time its lines and optimally use its characters to keep me glued to the screen, and that’s something I really missed in Druaga.

Toki is also inexperienced, but he’s also really different from the male lead in Druaga (whose name I already forgot, even though I watched the second episode half an hour ago). He’s not the only one who’s special, it seems. There have been more people who have been through the same thing he has been, and even worse, with the other guy losing his arm and all. He’s also naive, yet he’s not a complete idiot. I also really like the female lead, but that may be because I often like strong female characters. She really stands miles above that ditzy healer from Druaga no Tou. That really was the worst part about the second episode of that series.

This is really going to be my main series to follow from Studio Deen. While they were my favourite production-company during the previous Autumn- and Winter-season, mostly due to their magnificent performance with Shion no Ou (with the addition of the really solid Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai) this season looks to give that title to Madhouse, who actually have the potential to surpass themselves with all the different series they picked out to animate. Production IG also looks forward to an excellent season.