Category: Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction

Last Exile – Ginyoku no Fam – 21

by psgels, posted in Last Exile - Ginyoku no Fam

Here’s an interesting twist: Fam actually admitted that she was wrong when all she did was trying to figure out a way to bring the grand race back. I’d almost praise, her if it wasn’t for the fact that we’ve still got a climax left. I mean, it’s not certain, but there are an awful lot of arrows pointing into the direction that she’s going to be shoe-horned into saving the day and getting rid of that giant Exile that was activated in this episode. If the creators pull that twist, then all of this build-up would have been for nothing. It’s because of that that I’m not going to judge this series yet, because that ending will be really, really important for this series.

And yeah, this episode was fairly straightforward build-up. It was a bit strange when Luscinia just walked out with an unconscious Augusta and nobody found it strange, but then again he also holds a very high position. It’s the same here: if the ending is good, then this episode is also good. If the ending is bad though, then this episode was just delaying the inevitable.

Still, I liked that the creators succeeded in portraying that that doomsday weapon really is a doomsday weapon. These are themes very heavily lifted from Gundam, of all things and it makes me wonder why Luscinia spent so much effort in getting this war going if he could have just fired off that thing a few ties, but ah well: he has been proven to be a deranged ruler who believes that he can bring peace as long as he is the ruler of everything, so I probably shouldn’t look too deep into the meaning behind his actions.
Rating: * (Good?)

Mouretsu Pirates – 09

by psgels, posted in Mouretsu Pirates

You know, when I saw that picture of that castle I realized how un-typical this series is for Satelight. I mean, their trademark is spamming eye-candy, and lots of it, even with the series that Shoji Kawamori has nothing to do with. Mouretsu Pirates however doesn’t care about that in the slightest; that castle picture was probably the work of one of the artists behind Guin Saga who was brought in temporarily to make it look authentic.

The character-designs in this show are varied, but I really wouldn’t call them eye candy, and this is pretty much common over a lot of other works from Tatsuo Sato (most notably Stellvia of the Universe, where the CG looks really out of place when you think about it). However, this series does look very consistent, and it shows that with effort you can make a great show even on a limited budget without trying to be all visually fancy. This is a great example for the projects who don’t have great artists to back themselves up: instead of focusing on a few money shots here and there while ignoring the rest, it’s also very much possible to just deliver consistency without standing out, in order to focus on the characters. In this case, it worked nicely to bring life to the characters.

In any case, this was the type of building-up episode that I like: the ones that are interesting. This episode added a lot to Gruier by showing what her home country looked like. The Ghost Ship also turned out to be the first manned space flight meant to cross light-years, which is a clever way to again flesh out this setting.

Marika is also really getting the hang of being a pirate captain. She takes initiative when she needs to, but also listens to advice when she needs to, and this episode once again balanced this out really well.

I also liked that anti-climax that was used when the princess’ new dress was delivered. The two servants really looked dangerous and the music that accompanied it was really well chosen, and yet nothing really happened other than a few things being delivered. After all that build-up, it seemed kindof odd, but in a good way. We’re definitely going to see those two again, but this was a very interesting introduction for them.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Last Exile – Ginyoku no Fam – 20

by psgels, posted in Last Exile - Ginyoku no Fam

Hah! Now this is more like it. This episode had really little action, and yet it’s my favorite Ginyoku no Fam episode in quite a while now. It had this genuine warmth that I have been missing for a while now, it was different from the previous episodes and offered some variety, there was a lot of focus on the different politics of this series and again Fam knew her role and wasn’t shoved at the center stage.

With this episode I realized that the previous episodes of this series have been a tad monotone, and really needed a bit more variety than what they have shown so far. Probably the big culprit of that was how this show had to focus on cute girls and all. This episode also finally developed the themes of war further. Thins really got resolved now, yet at the same time the ending of this episode showed how fragile peace can be. It was a particularly good twist to have the Gracien girl try to assassinate the big bad guy, and Lilliane’s death definitely made an impact, especially considering how she consciously sacrificed herself. Also, Fam is a princess.

The next episodes have a tough question to answer: why was that necessary? I mean, with Shangri-La it always was obvious that Kuniko was special in the way that the villain was intereseted in her. Here though, I’m not sure what the purpose of all of this is other than making Fam feel special. This is episode 20, there are only three or four episodes left. It feels tacked on at this point.

What also worries me a bit is that we still haven’t gotten any new information about new Gonzo projects. The sales of the second volume of the DVD were about as much as the first volume (around 3000 copies), which thankfully isn’t the disaster that was Shangri-La’s record, but still means that Gonzo probably made some losses, having also financed a lot of this project themselves. However, what are their plans for the rest of the year? They’re awfully quiet, considering taht they should be nearly done with Last Exile here.

The impression I get from watching Last Exile is that most of Gonzo’s talented animators went over to David Production, along with a bunch of producers (you can really see Gonzo’s boldness in a lot of David Production’s projects), while Gonzo’s 3D department, the part at which they were the most innovative, remained at their side, along with most of their bad animators (the badly animated parts of this series are animated in the exact same way tht other badly animated Gonzo shows were). It’d be a shame for them to go bankrupt anyway.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Mouretsu Pirates – 08

by psgels, posted in Mouretsu Pirates

So, I expected that the mysterious girl at the end of the previous episode would set the actual plot of this series in motion. The timing and mystery around her character seemed just right at this point in the series. What I did not expect however, was that we’ve suddenly got ourselves a princess among the main cast.

Obviously the show wants to go somewhere with this, but with this episode I can’t yet say exactly what. It also doesn’t really help that that princess has been very mysterious about what she actually wants of the Bentenmaru, causing her to actually stow away, leaving everyone around her behind. That’s not something that princesses are known for.

So this episode was mostly clever building up. I admit that the creators did find a good excuse to somehow have her appear at school, especially considering how half-assed these reasons usually are. As by the series standards: she feels very natural as a princess: you can see that the way she acts is princess-like, but at the same time she also just feels like a normal girl. I also liked how the first person who Marika suggested to escort her was Schnitzer. The creators are really building up this guy as the lovable tough guy of this series.

Another big mystery of this episode is why the princess was allowed to board the Bentenmaru while it was known that they would head into a combat situation. Again, a princess is about the last type of person that you’d want to bring there. It probably has to do with whatever she wants from the Bentenmaru.
Rating: * (Good)

Last Exile – Ginyoku no Fam – 19

by psgels, posted in Last Exile - Ginyoku no Fam

There are many challenges about series that place children at the center of adult struggles. One of the big ones is making their roles in the grand scheme of things believable. Ginyoku no Fam is struggling with this, clearly. And yet here it barely managed to make things work.

A lot of stuff in this episode challenged my suspense of disbelief, but on the other hand it was exactly what the previous episodes had been building Fam’s character up to. The big problem with that evil empire is that it’s got this very young empress who has been hi-jacked by a revenge-crazed psycho. All it would take is someone who would make her a bit more proactive, and that’s where Fam comes in. This episode had her play the role as a delivery girl, and to be honest, it’s there where she really belongs.

Having said that, though…

Something went wrong with the world building here. It’s been bugging me for quite a while now, but this episode convinced me: the world of Ginyoku no Fam feels empty. This is a very serious issue for a show whose biggest asset is exactly the world it created. My point is: how on earth was Fam the first to suggest to that princess to make them stop fighting? What happened to the to her subordinates here? Aside from the main characters, in the end the world here feels lifeless.

There also was one point in this episode that couldn’t be excused with the budget troubles that Gonzo has been having. It’s the point where the Sylvius appears, and immediately starts shooting down every single warship in its vicinity. And that after all of the previous episodes were building up how hard it is to actually control such a thing: the sylvius spins a bit and suddenly everything is gone and we cut to a new scene. That was just plain laziness.

And with this, the major conflict is over. And the only thing that remains is that bad guy. I mean, he wasn’t involved in this episode for a reason: there’s that doomsday weapon of an exile that’s going to threaten the entire planet, yadda yadda yadda, we know the story by now. I really wonder whether the creators will be able to make that kind of an ending interesting.
Rating: (Enjoyable)

Mouretsu Pirates – 07

by psgels, posted in Mouretsu Pirates

This was a build-up episode that was mostly meant to flesh out Marika as a pirate. She developed a bit, got used to her life as a captain, and continued with her education.

Bizarrely enough a lot of her jobs are to act as entertainment for large cruisers for a very heavy fee (oh, the insurance will cover things anyway). What struck me in particular is how it focused on human errors. Usually in science fiction settings, everything is managed perfectly. Here however, this episode stressed that there are humans behind these controls, and that these humans can make errors. We have no idea who they are, but by describing who they are and what they’re doing, they are getting fleshed out quite well. That’s very good for later on in the series. I also like the solid advice that they kept giving Marika. If anything, Misa Grandwood is a very good teacher.

The end of this episode also showed the first glimpses of the overall plot of this series. The small girl who snuck aboard the Bentenmaru. She will very likely be the catalyst that will trigger everything that’ll be happening for the rest of the series. I’m glad to see that the creators waited relatively long with introducing her, in order to allow the characters to play themselves out. And all that, while avoiding the big problems of building up: not being interesting.
Rating: * (Good)

Last Exile – Ginyoku no Fam – 18

by psgels, posted in Last Exile - Ginyoku no Fam

This was pretty much a build-up battle. Nearly the entire episode was dedicated to it, but it was just there to build up to the next episode, and the visuals also weren’t as good as with the major battle scenes in this series.

Probably the most interesting was actually Fam. Yes, I’m surprised to say this too, but for once she could act according to her role: a teenager who is caught up in the middle of a war, and who happens to be a really good pilot. With this, it’s natural to assume that she would try her best to help her side win the war, but this conflicts very much against her previous ideals of not wanting to kill others. Finally the creators actually made her torn a bit between this dilemma, and finally it seems like she is starting to understand the situation she’s in. In the second half she goes back again to trying to disable warships, but that’s completely in-line with her character, and for once she actually fails at doing this.

I might also have to correct something I said earlier. About a month ago, I found out that this series is supposed to have 21 episodes. I thought that that was with the recaps included, but the official website of this series seems to suggest otherwise. If I understood things correctly, then there will be 21 regular episodes, 2 recaps, and one special episode (presumably at the end). This episoe at least makes more sense that way: with three episodes left, this wasn’t the kind of finale buid-up that I’d expect, with the main villains doing… absolutely nothing. With two extra episodes focusing on the side villains like here though, it makes sense.
Rating: * (Good)

Mouretsu Pirates – 06

by psgels, posted in Mouretsu Pirates

Whoa, this was actually a really well made episode. The script was just wonderfully written this week. And yet again this show turns completely different from what it was before. The variety in this show rocks!

The best way to describe this show was as a parody of pirate stories. And this isn’t in the predictable way, with everyone going “ARRRRR!!” and stuff. Instead, it showed what would happen if you added a bit more realism than usual to the usual “good pirate” tropes. I loved the bureaucracy in this episode, along with the little play that was set up at the end of this episode (don’t worry, your insurance will cover everything). I kept wondering how the creators would tackle the “legal pirate”-thing, but this was a very humorous look at it.

And then there was the scenario: the creators managed to stuff the bureaucracy, training, and stage into just one episode, without making things feel rushed. Things felt very natural here, and this episode added a lot to the setting of this series. Including its bizarre rules of having to do some pirating within 49 days, which is pretty much what Bureaucracy is about: overly complicated rules for the sake of consistency in the administration.

I also like how this episode didn’t bother to give a formal introduction to the rest of the crew of the Bentenmaru. They were just there, and there wasn’t the kind of forced introduction. Over the course of the series, we’ll get plenty of chances to get to know them. We already got a great start with the nicely named robot Schnitzer, who was very well acted: stern, but not the usual silent badass.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Last Exile – Ginyoku no Fam – 17

by psgels, posted in Last Exile - Ginyoku no Fam

It has been a while. Since I watched an episode that left me with such conflicted feelings.

This episode. There was no Fam in it whatsoever. Seriously, she had no scenes at all. But, Gonzo. Are you serious with this? Did you seriously just air a recap episode of the first season?

I mean just… what the hell. This episode even had the OP of the first season. Alvis basically narrated what happened to her in that season. Most of the episode was taken up by this. It was annoying, and I skipped through most of it. And then the new material came and suddenly explained what happened at the end of the First Last Exile, and it FINALLY showed the grown up versions of Claus and Lavie. My inner Last Exile fanboy rejoiced here and started jumping up and down with excitement, much more than I thought it would at the eventual revelation of this. On top of that, it all just looked so completely gorgeous and imaginative. As strange as it was, this episode definitely highlighted all of the character development that went on.

Okay, Gonzo. I’m game. I won’t judge this episode badly until the entire series is over. Last week I said that the final third of this series will be its worst. This episode instead did something I completely did not expect. If you’ve got a plan to just go completely against conventions, then I’d love to see it. If this recap was necessary for that, then I won’t mind. Right now though, it’s too early to tell.
Rating: #!&% (???)

Mouretsu Pirates – 05

by psgels, posted in Mouretsu Pirates

These past two episodes are a really big surprise. At first I thought that this would be like Stellvia of the Universe, a series that Tatsuo Sato previously worked on. And here, this show suddenly makes a trip to Starship Operators, which was one of the most believable science fiction series involving small scale spaceship battles in terms of science fiction. And the thing is that we still haven’t reached the meat of this series: only at the end of this episode did the main character decide to become a pirate. Seriously, if the rets of this series is going to be as varied as these first five episodes, then we’re in for a treat here.

As for this episode, I really liked it. It really managed to make these science fiction concepts exciting, and the hacking sequence was done very believably. I really liked how the characters made use of their status as a bunch of high school girls to fool the enemy with “Dammy” systems and other diversions. The enemy on the other hand also wasn’t stupid here, and actually used the interesting tactic of just switching off their computers and resort to manually operating their guns.

This show also really shows that technology has its limitations. A lot here has been automized, but it’s like one of the characters says: when something goes wrong, it’s up to the humans behind it to tell it where to go next. Computers are very stupid things: they do exactly what you tell them to, but nothing more.
Rating: ** (Excellent)