Category: Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction

Fate/Zero – 18

by psgels, posted in Fate/Zero

An, so this is this season’s kid episode. I like it much better than the first season’s, because instead of giving character to one of the characters of Fate/Stay Night, it’s entended to shed some light into Kiritsugu’s background, and explain why he became a mage hunter. We see him as a kid, growing up on an island somewhere in the south of Japan that gets infested by what I’d call zombies, caused by the research of his father.

This explains that with all of the talk about lineage, we haven’t really seen anything about Kiritsugu’s parents so far. This episode doesn’t explain what happened to his mother, but I suspect that that’s got something to do with anime’s “weak and dead mother”-syndrome. What I liked about this episode is how well it fleshed out Kiritsugu and his childhood friend Shirley, together with Kiritsugu’s father… only for everything to fall apart.

One thing that I do wonder is what triggered Kiritsugu’s sudden character change at the end of the episode. I mean, I get that seeing your entire world being turned upside down is a huge shock, but would that turn Kiritsugu really from an innocent young boy who grew up normally, into a cold blooded killer with no fear of death whatsoever, in a matter of hours? The start of this episode whowed that he’s reckless, when he dived off that cliff higher than everyone else, but I don’t think that any other part of this episode hinted at that darker side of him.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Tsuritama – 04

by psgels, posted in Tsuritama

When it comes to series that are about characters who are practicing a certain thing (in this case fishing), I generally tend to prefer watching experienced characters: the characters who already know the basics, and use that knowledge to tell their story. This compared to series like Tsuritama, which are a beginner’s guide instead. The thing with basics is that they tend to be boring, and they take away time from when things get really interesting. As for Natsuki, the supposed “Fishing Prince”… has he actually caught a fish before in the past episodes?

The thing with Tsuritama is that out of Kenji Nakamura’s series, it has the most fleshed out characters, but the least exciting plot so far. What I mean by that is: I’m missing something in this series, especially considering how this is a Noitamina series. This episode again was build-up, making it all the more important for the second half of this series to be balanced well. At the very least, this episode closed off the introduction. Yuki can catch a fish now, the brainwashing device is gone, and Yuki has warmed up to his new friends. Now it’s up to this series to develop that and turn things into something special.

The best part in this episode came from Natsuki. He is both a very good catalyst between Yuki and Haru, but this episode also revealed his own issues. His relationship with his father has the potential to, again, become very good if well developed.
Rating: * (Good)

Fate/Zero – 17

by psgels, posted in Fate/Zero

So now that Caster and Lancer are gone, this series immediately moves on to another thing that it has been promising for ages now: Kotomine Kirei. The entire episode was dedicated to just building up to the moment where Kirei would betray his master. The moment itself wasn’t really unexpected, as right when Irisviel requested him to pull back from the Grail war it was obvious that he wouldn’t just let that happen, and afterward he was handed a knife of all things, but the scene itself was very satisfying. Also helped by a lot of budget being poured into that one scene.

Now, let’s see what he can do in this series now that he has some power again, and can act independently. With four episodes this series killed off a huge amount of characters, compared to how relatively few important characters died in the first 10 episodes. It definitely made good use of the build-up.

The one thing I don’t really get as someone unfamiliar with the Fate franchise is the squiggly lines on the priest’s arm that Kirei took over somehow. How does that work anyway? What power does this guy have, and why does he have it? Why did the grail find it good idea to have a guy like this, especially when he’s allied to some of the masters and could have just refueled Tohsaka’s command spells on a whim? Also, if one needs to defeat all seven servants in order to get to the holy grail, then what about Rider’s wish to become human? And does his master know about this? So what’s in it for the servants to win the holy grail war anyway?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Mouretsu Pirates – 17

by psgels, posted in Mouretsu Pirates

Now this is where everything just comes together. Talk about an amazing episode here. The plot just got 10 times more interesting.

And the strange thing is that even though when you summarize this episode in just one line, it sounds horribly cheesy: the Bentenmaru saves Jenny Dolittle who has been forced to marry against her will. But the background and detail and all sorts of dependencies and politics that the creators threw into this episode were just awesome. This episode just showed how fragile the pirate business is, and how the Bentenmaru is completely dependent on insurance companies. Those insurance companies can be manipulated. The question remains how Jenny managed to start a company that gained such an amount of wealth, but with her connections, it’s probably not impossible.

Also, I really like how the creators waited 16 whole episodes before revealing that two characters are lesbian. This way it feels much more like being lesbian is just a part of who they are, rather than making their sexual orientation their biggest defining character trait. It worked really well and the two characters in question make for a very interesting and down to earth couple.

Also a nice touch is how this episode toyed around with out expectations and imagination. This series has been so grounded that when the girls started imagining how Jenny must be held captive, in full bride gown and all, it had to be one of those crazy delusions you see everywhere. And in the end, that delusion turned out to be what really happened.

My only complaint is how suddenly everyone is incredibly competent at their jobs. I mostly noticed this at the end of this episode. But really: this episode was the one who put Mouretsu Pirates a notch above the other big Sci-fi shows this year. Let’s see if they can follow.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Tsuritama – 03

by psgels, posted in Tsuritama

This episode had a lot of build-up in it, with most f it being devoted to Yuki learning how to properly cast a fishing-line in an almost shounen-like way. On top of that we get a lot of character building. This is the kind of episode of which we can only say whether it succeeded or not at the end of this series. It all depends on whether the rest of the episodes use the build-up provided in this episode well.

The key will be Yuki’s grandmother. This episode revealed that Yuki has very big psychological issues and he gets even worse when something happens to his grandmother. his episode had him sorting his thoughts out on that, but it’s not enough. And no, having his grandmother collapse for real later in the series won’t be enough either. That’s just cliched.

What I did like in this episode was the use of emotion in this episode. Especially the end of this episode where everyone was just yelling out their frustrations worked well with me. This show is well acted, and the characters are quite diverse, while having their distinct personality. The only exception to this is Haru. He’s a bit too overacted.

Also, Tapioca is a duck!? I could have sworn it was a goose.
Rating: * (Good)

Fate/Zero – 16

by psgels, posted in Fate/Zero

Kiritsugu… has generic villain motives. “I am going to end all murder and killing, and in order to do that I’m going to murder and kill!”

Joking aside, with three episodes, it’s evident that the second season of Fate/Zero is already improving a lot. The first season had a lot of build-up, and now that that is over we can finally get down to business, and I love how well the creators made use of this. Kiritsugu’s plans were very well thought up and executed, in addition to being completely ruthless. Although I do wonder how he knew where Kayneth and his fiance were. Does that have to do with these familiars that were mentioned in one of the early episodes of the first season?

I also loved that after all of the focus on Chivalry from Saber’s perspective, this episode yet again comes with the complete opposite of this in order to criticize it. Neither side is right: Chivalry basically means killing with honour, but Kiritsugu’s methods also only give birth to more conflicts. I love how this episode managed to balance that out.

Also, Kotomine Kirei. If I didn’t find out that this guy is the main villain of Fate/Stay Night, I really would not have guessed that. This episode again showed him as this conflicted soul, not sure of what he wants to do. Seeing him trying to figure this out is also quite interesting.
Rating: **+ (Excellent+)

Mouretsu Pirates – 16

by psgels, posted in Mouretsu Pirates

Up till now, I didn’t really mind Mami: she’s a girl with a healthy fixation on making clothes, and I can very much see why she wants others to wear the clothes she designs and makes. There was nothing creepy about her. At least, until this episode. Spending three all-nighters to create random costumes for twelve different high school girls on a whim. That’s a bit much.

The actual heist this episode also was hard to watch: it worked out fine in the end, but it was very unprofessional. Not to mention the dress up party that popped up from nowhere and some of the characters putting on very bad displays.

Thankfully though, this was far from the main point that this episode wanted to make. Everything apart from that was really solid. This is an arc for Marika’s growth. For that, this arc did take some risks with its suspense of disbelief, but then again Marika would never have been able to change and show herself off like this if it hadn’t happened. Also, the end of this episode finally revealed what this arc had been building up to all along. Wow. Now that’s an interesting twist.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Tsuritama – 02

by psgels, posted in Tsuritama

As a fun and whimsical series, Tsuritama stands at the top of this season for me. This show has something more than the other shows about teenagers doing stuff, and it’s not just originality. It’s also the characters who feel much more genuine than usual. They play off each other quite well and most
importantly: despite the way they act, they’re not annoying.

the lead character is an interesting variation to your typical loser here. The thing is that the things that go on in his head and what he actually says are completely different. He’s actually really shy, but most of the time it doesn’t seem that way due to how detailed his inner monologues are. But then someone comments on how shy the guy is, and you indeed start thinking of how he comes across when you strip away all of the inner monologues. And yeah, that makes him stand out as very weird, especially since he keeps making silly faces for no apparent reason.

Oh, and I also love the guy with the goose. He’s just so… surreal.

Out of all the shows this season, this one probably has me the most curious about what the heck it’ll be about. It’s hyping up its own story so much with at the end of every episode foreshadowing, and yet this is a show about fishing. How on earth are they going to fill 11 episodes with that? They must have some brilliant idea about this, and I can’t wait to find out what it is.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Fate/Zero – 15

by psgels, posted in Fate/Zero

Overall, the competition that Fate/Zero faces this season is larger than what it faced for its first season. But really; the great thing about this season is that every series has its own point at which it really stands out. There really are a lot of well produced shows, but each stands out in its own way: Zetman through its expressive drawings, Lupin with its experimental and artistic style, Apollon through its fluidity and accuracy, Tsuritama with its whimsicality, Eureka Seven with its epic action, and Fate/Zero has the incredible polish that has become even better from what I remember of the first season. Seriously, this was probably the best episode of the series so far.

With this I can understand the need to take a 13 episode break, because the creators really used it. The CG in this episode was amazing, ranging from the dogfights in the air to Saber regaining her noble phantasm. Caster was also used much better than in the last episode, as the focus was much more on the characters fighting out a way to stop it, rather than blindly attacking it. The monster appeared in fewer scenes, which definitely made it more menacing. It’s also good that my least favorite character of the series is gone now, because that now makes way for the rest of the cast to shine.

This episode did particularly interesting things around Saber. With this episode she felt more like the main character of this series, with her Excalibur that allows her to cleave an entire fortress in one blow, but Archer and Rider made it look more like a curse than a blessing at the end of the episode. This will definitely return later.

The best looking scene of this episode was when that bug guy was burning. The animators really went for something different there, but there was a ton of raw emotion in that scene, and I loved what the creators did to him.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Mouretsu Pirates – 15

by psgels, posted in Mouretsu Pirates

Generic mecha protagonist who can instantly understand mechas as soon as he touches it: eat your heart out. This episode went pretty much as you thought it’d go when a group of teenaged pilots are forced to operate a ship they don’t know: with problems. You can see that they know a fair bit about operating space ships, probably both due to school and their work at the yacht club, but if they don’t know the quirks of a particular vehicle it’s going to be very hard to actually get it to work.

It probably still is a bit simplified (one look at the manual was enough for everyone to understand everything about a heavily customized vehicle), but I’m still really glad that this series addressed this. What’s also is interesting is that we got to see an interesting flaw of Marika here: her self confidence. In this episode she really underestimated what it would take to pilot the Bentenmaru and didn’t tell its crew about what she was going to do, and it’s a nice touch to have the crew rush out a bunch of manuals to guide them along the way. I also loved their reactions when they found out what Marika was up to.

And then there is the subplot of Marika’s mother going for a career switch. With this series finding very erm… “creative” ways to get its characters at the right place, I’m wondering what they’re going to do to her. Is she going to return to the Bentenmaru as well or something?
Rating: ** (Excellent)