Category: Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction

Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – 26

by psgels, posted in Armed Librarians - The Book of Bantorra



yeah, so there is no doubt that this show is getting cheesy. The thing is, however, that I’m much more interested in how this finale uses the build-up that has been provided by the rest of this series. In a way, I can understand the criticisms to this series: standalone the characters indeed aren’t the reason to watch this show.

I haven’t really been watching this show for its characters, though. The reason I became a huge fan of this series was because of its storytelling: the way it managed to weave so many storylines together. The boldness of the script and the way that it was able to write these gripping action scenes, simply with this plot that had so many interesting ideas stuffed into it, combined with its powerful and over the top soundtrack.

I really love it when anime decide to show off what they’re good at. The reason why I’m also such a big fan of Noloty and Volken was not because what they were, but what they represented. I really believe that every anime should focus what it’s good at, and this finale has been truly action-packed, throwing tons of plot twists and ideas into the mix and exactly what I’ve been looking for! While other series this season have more realistic characters, none of them really excell in the same magnitude that Bantorra’s plot has been impressing me with, week after week after week. THAT’s exactly why I already consider this to be a huge contender for my favourite show of 2010, even though we’ve still got three seasons to go before I can say for sure. it’s SO going to be a shame to see this series end next week, because I’ve been enjoying every single minute of it.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Eden of the East I – The King of Eden Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Eden of the East



After watching this movie, I’m sure of it: Higashi no Eden should never have been a Noitamina-series. The time-slot is perfect for those short stories that have a small but dedicated focus a la Tokyo Magnitude, slice of life stories like Hataraki Man and Antique Bakery or episodic series in the way of Kuchuu Buranko or Hakaba Kitarou. Series that want to tell a huge story are far better off with a regular time-slot of 26 or more. This is the mistake that shows as Library Wars and Jyu Oh Sei also made. The series of Higashi no Eden just jumped around too much to really allow the story to develop properly.

The movie’s pacing is completely different. It’s here where Kenji Kawayama has more than enough time to spend on telling his story. And that’s exactly what made it work for me. It’s a shame that the build-up of the first season left things to be desired, because otherwise it really would have been an excellent movie.

And seriously, I was expecting the two Eden of the East Movies to jump around just like the TV-series did. Instead, they focus on believability and realism. The background sounds are kept to a minimal. And instead we get to see long, long scenes of character-building that don’t attempt to cut any corners whatsoever. It really takes its time to let everything flow naturally, which makes for a very slow-paced movie, but the characterization is worth it. This really is just like Seirei no Moribito: not afraid to get boring in order to be realistic, which often has its uneventful times. It’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to watch such an anime, and it’s without a doubt refreshing and I’ve got to admire the restraint of this movie, avoiding the use of overly cheesy monologues or over the top plot twists, while occasionally packing a punch where needed.

There are a bunch of weird things with this movie, though. While the TV-series did a surprisingly good job at handling the language barrier, the movie… um… didn’t. One scene shows Saki talk in English to an American with a really weird accent who uses really short sentences. A while later, we see Akira talk to the same guy, in JAPANESE. The American understands him and just talks back in English. Uh, why? How? There are also some of the side-characters that I still couldn’t buy. The comic relief of Saki’s friends… I’m still not much a fan of them.

Nevertheless, I have to admit: a lot of attention to detail was put in the atmosphere of a young company. I can very much relate to that (due to my current internship and all), and I must say that the creators caught it spot-on. And that’s really the great thing about this movie: the realism that you really don’t get to see in many other anime. Despite the hiccups, this movie was really refreshing compared to how the TV-series disappointed me. There are still a ton of questions that need to be answered in terms of the plot. But hey, with 90 minutes, Paradise Lost should be able to do it.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Much more focused than the TV-series. Really slow pacing allows for lots of realism.
Characters: 8/10 – Such a slow pacing gives a nice feel to the characters, but they still spend a bit too much time on exposition + badly portrayed Americans.
Production-Values: 9/10 – No significant increase in quality compared to the TV-series, but that one already looked awesome so there still is a ton of eye-candy.
Setting: 8/10 – I first want to see what Paradise Lost is going to do before celebrating this part: there is a ton of potential in this setting, provided that the next movie handles it well.

Cobra The Animation – 12

by psgels, posted in Cobra The Animation



So this was the build-up before the finale. Nothing remarkable is really to say about it, but it wasn’t bad either, and still solid Cobra-esque entertainment.

Overall, I really had my doubts when I found out that Osamu Dezaki wasn’t involved in the production of this series, and it really shows: despite a few shots, this series really went with its own direction in its attempt to pay homage to the Cobra manga. And you know what, it worked? As an adaptation of a very old manga, this series did just about everything it should have done.

But guaranteed, I am still dying for more Osamu Dezaki. It would be awesome if we could get another series like Ultraviolet: Code044 which really allowed this guy’s style to shine at its best. Nevertheless, looking back to this series it really has been fun. And it finally showed that fan-service can be more than just showing under-aged teen-aged girls. Sure, the characterization is as far from realistic as possible, but that’s part of this series’ charms.
Rating: * (Good)

Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – 25

by psgels, posted in Armed Librarians - The Book of Bantorra



Ah, what an episode. At this point the creators of the anime were standing for a major dilemma that hits just about every series out there: the fact that the story doesn’t fit exactly into 26 episodes. I’ve raged enough about this problem with other series, but with this series, they’re actually pulling it off to put the essence of the final novels into these final episodes without derailing. This series is everything that fantasy and steam-punk should be, and it seriously set the bar much higher for future generations. Even until this episode, it kept an excellent balance between plot, setting, characters, background and action. Each speaking to the imagination.

One of the major pitfalls of mystery series is the point at which questions have to be answered. Asking a lot of intriguing questions is one thing, but it takes skill to make all of eventual answers live up to the hype that these questions created. And this show even proved that these answers kick ass. We finally get a glimpse into heaven, and what it’s like. And we finally get to see the background story that resulted into everything: Ruruta Coozancoona’s. We already could have guessed that the Armed Librarians and the Church were created in order to create exciting books. This episode didn’t just show why this was all done, it also showed the story behind it. That it was all in an attempt to destroy the gods who kept destroying the worlds they created because they were unhappy with the continuous wars.

When you think a bit further, this had some interesting results: these Gods surely were short-sighted bastards. Thanks to Ruruta the world wasn’t destroyed and instead it continued to thrive. The result? A stable world full of actual democracies, in which most of the drama is caused by the guy who took god’s place: Ruruta, and his wishes to provide interesting books in an attempt to bring back his loved one.

The big question still remains however: what the heck is heaven? The people we saw gathered in the theatre: what exactly was their connection? Since the previous governor of paradise was among them, it may be a place where the true men gather: the ones who came closest to Ruruta’s ideals for the perfect book (which would also explain why Hamy ended up entering it even though her hook didn’t appear yet).
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Cobra The Animation – 11

by psgels, posted in Cobra The Animation



This episode was pretty much everything that is Cobra in a nutshell: evil organizations, fighting bad guys, stealth, jails, exotic locations, gunfights, treasure hunts, bloodsport, hot chicks (FOR ONCE not teenagers), charismatic crooks. And of course the psychogun. The infiltration of the base of the slave market just screamed Cobra, and it’s interesting that this episode was so enjoyable, while completely staying true to itself.

A neat idea in this episode was that machine that would display the aura of the people fighting in the arena. It’s a nice subversion to the Dragonball Z-esque spontaneous auras that you often see in a lot of fantasy shows. Having it actually explained a bit makes it look actually cool.

Shiva’s castle also brings back a theme that has been used in many stories throughout the entire Cobra 2010 series: greed. Here we again have an array of side-characters, lusting for a supposedly awesome treasure. Now, the question is Cobra’s role in all of this. Why is he doing it? What event in his past has to do with all of this?
Rating: * (Good)

Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – 24

by psgels, posted in Armed Librarians - The Book of Bantorra



Since it looks like there isn’t going to be a continuation, this episode pretty much would be a big test for the creators: can they stuff the remaining novels into such a short-timeframe, while capturing their essence? It’s a thing that many series have failed at, but what do you know? This episode was in no way less awesome than the previous ones.

While a bad ending can still mess this up, at this point however I’m confident to say the following: Bantorra has the best plot of any other series I’ve seen in the past few years. While other series may beat it in terms of characters, animation or dialogue, the storyline of the past 24 episodes has been utterly sublime, and I can only think of very few storylines that impressed me more than this one. I absolutely love how bold, creative, unpredictable and layered it turned out to be. Even though the novels don’t seem that popular at all, it’s awesome that the people from David Production saw their potential and decided to animate it to a wider audience.

This episode answered a lot of the main questions, including the identity of “heaven”, and Hamy’s background. Seriously, I never expected Chacoly to have turned out like the way we saw her in this episode. Broken by Hamy after her heart was broken… and somehow living on without any purpose. As it turns out, both Hamy and Chacoly were attempts to kill Ruruta Coozancoona, a.k.a. heaven, in two different ways. Chacoly tried to make him fall in love, while Hamy was meant to be a tool to kill Ruruta. How her desire to die comes into this…. I’m not sure yet.

The other big mystery for the next to episodes to explain is what Ruruta is after. At first I thought that he was simply looking for entertainment as some sort of bored deity, but then this episode threw that girl into the picture. My guess is that she’s dead now, and he’s pretty much been sulking about her for 2000 years. Him achieving “true happiness” may just have been impossible from the start. But what could he be after? I mean, it’s not like the dead are going to come back if the world gets destroyed, right?
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Seikai no Senki Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Seikai no Monshou



I like how, even though it’s a direct sequel, Seikai no Senki is completely different from Seikai no Monshou. It shows that the creators aren’t one trick ponies, and it makes the premise much more dynamic to see it explored in all those different ways. Seikai no Monshou was pretty much a space adventure series. Seikai no Senki however, is war. And let me tell you, I can count the series that managed to portray science fiction battles in a more realistic way than what we saw here on one hand.

During the battles, the lead characters Lafiel and Jinto may not be the centre of the focus. They may not hold the key of victory, and they may not possess a god-mode weapon that can take out several enemy ships in a row. Their ship may not magically dodge bullets, and they also may not fight according to their own battle plans, and instead have to follow orders. But that’s the great thing about it! The battles here are believable and purposefully kept from going over the top. 2000 years (or however long humanity may take before developing stable spaceflight) into the future, I can totally see large-scale space battles happen in a similar fashion.

As compared to Seikai no Monshou, which walked all over the place, Seikai no Senki is a very focused story, and much more consistent. It tells two stories at the same time. One part is focused at a single ship, and the people who command it. The other focus is at the top officials and admirals, who attempt to steer the battle in the right directions. Due to the large amount of time that it spends fleshing out these people through their dialogue, it becomes fascinating to see these people strategize.

As for the dialogue… well, Seikai no Monshou did just about everything there was to do in terms of hard-hitting and confronting dialogue, so there was no way for Seikai no Senki to beat it. Instead, the dialogue is much more subtle. It’s still very noticably there and Jinto and Lafiel still don’t hesitate at all to speak their minds in a very un-Japanese-like fashion, but it lacks the edge it once had. This one is also much more about creating an atmosphere of what it’s like to command a small battleship at the front lines. The dialogue instead excels in the small things, like characters taking subtle jabs at each other, or subtle hints that are actually meant to flesh out characters beyond what they tell straight-forwardly. Oh, and I loved that cat, who just keeps coming back. There’s hardly anything comedic about it, but it brings a surprisingly human side to the main cast.

I can’t say which one of Seikai no Senki and Seikai no Monshou is the better one. They’re too different to really say for sure: Seikai no Monshou had a bit of a disappointing finale, but an excellent beginning. Seikai no Senki instead doesn’t really have an episode that I’d crown as awesomeness, but instead was excellent from beginning to end. Still, Seikai no Senki did have the advantage that it could use the build-up that was provided by Sekai no Monshou, without which I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much as I did.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Very realistic space battles. No God-mode beams whatsoever and it’s still an action-packed series.
Characters: 9/10 – Less focus on character-development, but the dialogue is incredibly rich in fleshing out its cast.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Still solid, but nothing really special for its time.
Setting: 8/10 – Not as interesting as in Monshou, but still very solid.

Katanagatari – 03

by psgels, posted in Katanagatari



Excellent, this episode did exactly what I hoped it would do. While the tongue-in-cheek storytelling of the first two episodes was fun, it was bound to get old after a while. this episode drops the comedy (aside from one scene, perhaps), and instead takes itself seriously. The result is my favourite episode of this series so far.

Unlike the first two episodes that made a bit of fun of the villains, we finally could explore this episode’s sword wielder to her full potential, and this episode did well in fleshing her out, and telling about her backstory. She wasn’t exactly rounded, but as a flat character she was pretty good. This of course amounted to a lot of exposition, but I felt like it was more balanced than in the first episode. It’s also good to see that this show intends to be varied.

I’m also surprised by the music in this episode. Taku Iwasaki isn’t someone I’d name amongst my favourite composers, but his scores definitely know how to hit the spot. I like the use of choirs in soundtracks (as long as they’re not overdone, obviously), O I quite liked the musical score at the end of this episode.

In any case, this episode showed that Katanagatari is another one of those shounen series that suffers from the “I’m about to attack you, but first let me tell you my life story”-syndrome. The reason why I like it here, compared to shows as Bleach, is that the dialogue adds something to the characters, and the fact that the action scenes themselves are short and sweet, and pretty much what action scenes involving deadly weapons should be: deadly. Battles here are very much built up with the dialogues, resulting in a short but sweet climax.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Cobra The Animation – 10

by psgels, posted in Cobra The Animation



So this is going to be the final arc that closes off this series, spanning the final four episodes. So far, I must admit that I’m intrigued: here this series comes and gathers 13 people for a mission… only to kill off more than half of them throughout this episode without any information whatsoever as to who they were.

The remaining ones are actually pretty similar to the group that was there at the mountain climbing arc: we have the token chick and assassin combined into one, then there’s the guy who bears a grudge against Cobra and the siblings are also there, although this time they’re less friendly with each other. The Geronimo of this story will probably be the King.

Despite the similarities, it wasn’t a boring episode at all. One of the reasons for that was of course the unpredictable bloodbath that occurred in this episode, but this arc also has a lot more time to get interesting, compared to the mountain-climbing arc that was just two episodes. There’s also that matter of who it was that called everyone, as none of the people who made it alive seems like a good candidate. The siblings are just too stupid for that, the bird wouldn’t call everyone together without knowing about Cobra, the woman would not have invited Chaos Troopers, and Cobra would have been a lot more careful with choosing who he wants to work together with, if something would cause him to have to find back-up for some reason.
Rating: * (Good)

Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – 23

by psgels, posted in Armed Librarians - The Book of Bantorra



So here I thought that I was beginning to understand the story of this series. And then this episode comes and gives a completely different dimension to just about everything. Seriously, is there no end to the Armed Librarians’ awesomeness?

I remember noting a few episodes ago, that the Violet Sinner might be this series’ protagonist. Okay, so that was obviously wrong and incredibly misguided, as this episode showed that she too could be quite the bastard to Hamyuts, and probably turned her into what she is today. I’m very surprised that the creators have decided to show much deeper into the past, to show where everything begun: with the wishes of one of the acting directors to destroy heaven. AKA: that damned tree!

This episode revealed A LOT: as it turns out, the Armed Librarians exist in order to protect heaven, while the Church is there to maintain it: to provide it with good books in its attempt to achieve true happiness. The reason they’re at war is mostly because most members don’t even know about this, and Kachua getting strange ideas and taking these ideals much further than necessary.

Now, about Hamy: the majority of her past hasn’t been revealed yet, but based on what this episode my theory is the following: both she and the Violet Sinner were developed as a way to destroy heaven. Heaven told Makia that it wanted to die, however I believe that this was mostly another one of its attempts to create the ultimate book: Hamy. I have no bloody clue what his wishes are, but I think that the church believed that Hamy’s book was the one that Heaven was looking for, and therefore tried to kill her with all their might. In contrast, the Violent Sinner was meant to destroy heaven: when her love would come true, heaven would be destroyed.

My guess is that whatever Heaven is trying to do, Hamy wants it as well. By ‘wanting to ascend heaven’, she meant that she wanted to have her book absorbed by that tree. She’s basically been living her entire life, trying to make her book as exciting as possible! That’s why she wanted to die: in an as exciting way as possible, so that’s why a simple suicide wouldn’t work: everything about her needed to be glorious in order for her to be the book that grants Heaven’s wishes.

I’m not sure how that ties in with the Violent sinner, though. There are just too many open questions about her at this point. Who did she love? What is her connection to Hamy, and what did she want Hamy to create?

Overall, Armed Librarians has been without a doubt my favourite show during the past Winter Season. The next question is simple: SECOND SEASON WHERE!?
Rating: *** (Awesome)