Short Synopsis: Angelica falls in love with a male Elmony; Chuu is being cute again; Deep in a dungeon, two brave*cough* adventurers struggle for their lives.
Good: Hilarious, probably the funniest episode I’ve seen this year; even more characters are returning; the two adventurers were SO INCREDIBLY CUTE; Actually good animation!
Bad: Some Gonzo-advertising managed to slip in at the video-file I watched (from Saiyaman). Usually, this wouldn’t be a problem, but please chose some better series than Garasu no Kantai and Witchblade.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10
First of all, I finally found out a few more names of the characters in this show. Very handy, especially in this show, which has the nasty tendency to recycle most of its characters into other ones with different hair-colours and outfits (but what else did you expect? This IS an mmorpg-based anime, after all ^^). A quick rundown:
– Angelica: she’s the blonde Newtar in a pink school uniform. It seems to be quite a popular costume. ^^; Anyway, I’m glad to see her return. It’s better to see recurring characters than new ones at this point.
– Karen seems to be the Warage Green clone with Warage Pink uniform. I’m not sure why she keeps following Angelica, though. They’re probably two very good friends.
– Fuu-chan is the monster that keeps accompanying Karen. I’m not sure if this Fuu-chan is the same monster that’s accompanying Chuu when she’s in Warage Pink-mode.
– The Pandemos in traveller’s clothes we always see with Chuu appears to be named Pukotsu.
– The white-haired Cognite seems to be called Phillipe, though that’s his chibi-form. I’m not sure whether Philippe also plays the role of the other white-haired Cognites we’ve seen.
– Philippe’s Newtar companion gets called by Syozo (I bet that’s spelled differently).
On a whole different note, I loved this episode! First of all, it finally has a bit of decent animation. People move fluently, there are lots of close-ups and we see a few high-quality drawings, and some actual CG is used with the submarines to simulate the particles in the “ocean”. It definitely makes the characters look a lot better. I also appreciated that the unimportant bystanders actually had some original character designs this time, instead of being recycled versions of main characters. I knew this anime could do well if it tried.
The first sketch: Angelica and Karen return, like mentioned above. In this episode, she finds a new obsession: making clothes for the boy she has a crush on. She yet again gets a bit carried away, scaring this boy in the process, when she manages to create a huge pile of different clothes for the two of them to wear. I really liked Karen’s role in this, as the bystander who watches and tells the story a bit. And who eventually gets chased because Fuu-chan ate Angelique’s wallet. ^^;
The second sketch: yet another adult in the real life acting funny. I think I finally know the meaning behind these scenes. They’re supposed to be real-life events, with a mmorpg-element added to them. This time, a shop. I loved it how the shop-menu was opened when the guy tried to buy something. ^^
The third sketch: Pukotsu and Chuu again. This time, his backpack is broken, and Chuu managed to find a new one for him. Obviously, it’s an extremely cute elephant rucksack, not fitting his character AT ALL. It would be funny if he’d be wearing the same backpack in the next episode as well. ^^:
The fourth sketch is about two male Elmony. I’m really not sure whether we’ve seen these two figures yet, seeing as their particular character design gets recycled in many, many other characters. The only difference is the outfit, hair colour and the colour of their cheeks. In any case, in this time, we see a red-haired Elmony do all kinds of cool stuff and blow up enemies, and there’s a green-haired one who wants to either copy him, or hit him with the same method that the red-haired one uses. Obviously, he fails. ^^
The fifth and last sketch is the funniest of the episode. And the cutest. We return to Philippe and Syoso in chibi-form. They’re inside a scary dungeon, trying to get to the centre. Obviously, they fail in a horribly cute way. They first have to beat the dangers of travelling underwater, which is followed by a highly amusing talk under water. This really makes for the funniest accent. XD Next up, they reach the lair of the boss of the dungeon, who’s been sealed in a very eerie place and who gives off some very strange voices. Obviously, Philippe and Syozo ignore him and go for some more challenging enemies: the ordinary bats. They’re quite fearsome, as they weren’t even hurt by Syozo’s Miner Burst, lv1! This calls for Philippe to put on his super invincible armour! It gives him unfathomable strength, but it has one major disadvantage: he’s unable to move. XD
I’m not sure whether someone who has never played an mmorpg would get some of the jokes, but for the people who do have played their share of them, this anime is pure gold. It’s so full of the most hilarious parodies. A definite recommend.]]>
Category: Finished Series: Comedy
Master of Epic – 04
Short Synopsis: An eccentric fashion designer; Warage Black is missing!
Good: The introduction-sketch; The main character gets more screentime than ever (as in, 10 seconds ^^;); I LOVE the smilies.
Bad: This episode wasn’t as good as the previous ones, unfortunately; this show deserves better animation.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 6.5/10
Aw, too bad. While this episode definitely was funny, it wasn’t as outright hilarious as the past few episodes. Especially Waragecha used a rather overused joke, and too many of the jokes centred around people getting beat up. While it is funny once in a while, you don’t want to repeat this too much.
Still, the episode definitely was memorable. Mostly because of one particularly wrong sketch, in which we saw a Pandemos who dressed himself up as a fashion-designer. He also got angry whenever someone dared to call him a male. He really gave a totally new meaning to the word “trap”. And when you think things couldn’t get even wronger, the episode ends in a very strange, and very, VERY wrong way.
I also loved the end of the introduction, where the male Elmony started to chase the Cognite with a giant club. ^^ The main character also actually spoke more than one sentence. We see more of her with every episode progressing.]]>
Master of Epic – 03
Short Synopsis: The search for true love! Warage Five Versus Groups of Punks II! What the heck is up with the main character?!
Good: Is incredibly cheesy, knows this, and fully utilizes this. Probably the best episode so far
Bad: Gonzo… animation…
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Seriously, this show uses its main character in one of the most original ways I’ve seen in a while. Over the past few episodes, we’ve seen lots of different characters, the orange-haired Newtar actually looks like an extra right now, even though she’s on the top spot in the promo-art and the OP. During the first episode, we saw a girl who looked like her, just with pink hair. In the second episode, we saw a very small flash of her, falling down a castle, and right now, we get to see even more of her when she runs past the screen for about one second, wearing black angel-like wings. Oh, and she also appears later in the show, and she actually has a short line, after disappearing again, as fast as she appeared. ^^;
Also, after watching this episode, I’m starting to notice more and more patterns. Apart from the Waragetcha sketch, the fishing scenes, the news and the introduction, the major part of the first half of the episode focuses on some girl who has some kind of problem, with the silver-haired bishie-Cognite appearing in some way. We also have a scene in which the Pandemos tries to impress Warage Pink (or Chuu), and she ends up doing something entirely uncute afterwards, which in turn, makes that such a cute scene. ^_^ There’s also this very strange scene, in which we go back to real life and see some weird man/men do something ordinary in a very, very, very strange way. I still don’t understand it.
Still, I’m having more and more problems figuring out who is who. Not only because of their lack of names, but because some characters show up in different clothes or hair. The Warages only made this more confusing when it seems that they’ve all got a second identity (Warage Black OMG O_o). And it indeed seems that Chuu is Warage Pink. But the Elmony newscaster, is he the same as the one who does the introduction? But I’ve also seen a green-haired male Elmony. He must be someone else. I think. A copy of the silver-haired male Cognite with blue hair didn’t make this easier. ^^;
Anyway, this episode yet again was loads of fun. Some of the jokes were incredibly creative, other were just too cheesy that they became funny, while other scenes were just too stupid for words. I’m also a huge fan of the smileys this show uses. ^_^ (Also, is it me, or was the female newscaster working on her accent during this episode? ^^;)]]>
Master of Epic – 02
I love this show. In the past, before I became an anime-fan, I used to play my fair share of anime as well, and I love how this show parodies all kinds of clichés and aspects of your usual MMORPG. This show plays into some crossover world between a MMORPG and a cute fantasy-world, and I love how it combines the two. ^_^
Still, I’ve been wondering during this episode… who the heck is the main character? I originally thought that it was the pink-haired girl of the previous episode, but she didn’t appear during this episode at all. This makes me suspect that the real main character is still hiding somewhere, waiting to be introduced. In fact, I think we saw a small glimpse of her when she fell down the huge castle.
It also seems that every episode has a number of returning sketches, and a number of random ones. The first returning sketch is the introduction, in which the Elmony and the white haired Cognite introduce the episode, and explain something about the world of MMORPGs. In this case: dying. We see them bickering while on the background, a Pandemos gets slaughtered. (If you’re wondering what Elmony, Cognite and Pandemos is, that’s how the races are called. The human-like beings are called Newtar).
Another sketch which also seems to return every episode is the fishing sketch, in which random characters, quite often with Warage Pink included, randomly sit and wait for fish to bite. We also have the Warage Sentai Team, who does random MMORPG-things. During the last episode, they were PK-ing, right now, they try to enter a dungeon, but get too scared because of all the rumours floating around. ^^ The final returning sketch is the news broadcast, in which we have the same Elmony as before on the scene, this time with a newscaster being a yellow-haired Cognite. This time, the Elmony wants to interview someone but this guy seems to be asleep. ^^;
The rest of the episode is filled with random scenes of characters acting cute. Warage Pink is often seen in small scenes, often accompanied by the traveller-Pandemos. I think he’s trying to impress her, but either fails, or she does something incredibly scary, like eating a bat alive. This episode also introduced a girl who dislikes fighting, so she tries to find ways to live in this world, without having to fight monsters… and fails miserably. ^^
The male Cognite also returns this episode, but he isn’t quite as fortunate as he was during the previous episode. We first see him get beaten up by two sandworms, who appeared in front of him while he wasn’t expecting it, and later in the episode, he returns into a super-cute chibi-form, only to get slain by a bunch of axe-wielding swines, along with his companion who gets beaten up just as miserably.]]>
The Law of Ueki Review – 90/100
Say hello to the anime with the most creative battles ever. We finally have a series which understands that strategy-based battles are so much better than power-based battles. At least, most of the time.
The premisse is simple: we have this God, who organizes a tournament in order to decide his successor. 100 middle schoolers are picked, and given a power. Then they have to fight each other, and the last one standing wins. The good part: most of these powers make no sense at all. They’re certainly not the thing you’d expect. I’m referring to the power to change trash into trees, tomatoes into magma, bamboo into scissors and a ring into a rocket. And these are just the least original of the bunch. There also is a limit to each of these powers, as in a condition that has to be fulfilled before you can use it. Think of the ability of changing water into fire if you put it in your mouth, the ability to change towels into steel if you hold your breath and many more. When these are used in battle, the results become incredible.
It was really clear that the creators put all of their creativity in these battles. Some of them truly turned into something memorable, as you will have no idea what’s going to happen, or how the antagonists will be defeated. It’s also great that a great deal of humor was put into these battles, and somehow the creators managed to find the perfect combination between comedy and action.
The first thirteen episodes of the series contain either amazingly funny battles, or just a couple of scenes you just need to sit through a bit. Though that may be tedious, the awesome episodes are definately worth it. The six episodes afterwards, are horribly creative, and touching as well. In these episodes, Ueki shows his best side, and the bad guys just keep getting better and better.
The next six episodes, especially the first bunch, are amazing. We get to see some great duels, which contain the best strategies of the series, as the side-characters of the show show off their best. The six episodes afterwards (27-32, if you lost count) follow with a short intermezzo. Nothing special or worthwile happens here, though. There are some funny moments, but these were certainly not as good as the previous ones.
The series suffers a huge blow around episode 32 and 33. These were horrible examples of directions at which you should never go, and the se/ries went there. At this point, it almost made me give up the show. Luckily, in the episodes following, the show manages to steadily pick up, until episode 38. From this point on, The Law of Ueki really begins to shine. We get to see the best fights ever, perfectly combining comedy and action into one gigantic heap of awesomeness. Especially when the side-characters come into the spotlight, the show just switches from one amazing scene to another.
The awesomeness continues until episode 43. After this, the show loses its shine, and eventually manages to produce a decent ending. These last episodes were better than you expect, though they just weren’t on the same level as the previous episodes.
The art of the characters looks a bit different than usual. The unevennes of the faces is heavily accentuated, and every scratch becomes visible. I like this, it’s also what originally turned me on to keep watching the series, although as the series progresses, you become used to this. The backgrounds are a very good piece of art. Although the same ones are used for a couple of episodes after each other, this doesn’t really destroy that effect, it only makes it better. The music, although nothing extraordinary, it used to its full extend. It makes the dramatic scenes so worthwile, and adds even more to the great battles.
Overall, any action fan will surely just love this anime, or if you’re just in for a couple of good laughs, then I really recommend this anime.
Final Rating: 90/100
The Law of Ueki – 51 (ending)
And it has ended! Based on my expectations of the last episode, it could have been done better, but it also could have been done. Still, I am SO glad that the creators managed to include one final piece of Ueki-goodness into the series before it ended. I thought it got lost after episode 43. It really was the best reason ever to keep the hero alive after a seeming death, and you so DO NOT see it coming, though it makes perfect sense, except for the coincidence that those two objects just happened to meet with each other.
Anyway, I’d have loved to see some more side-characters in the climax, though I’m satisfied. The usual part about what happens afterwards also was enjoyable to see, though nothing special.
The Law of Ueki – 50
One episode left, and we’re in for a grande finale. It promises to be a great drama, after all, Ueki has only 18 chances to finish Anon off. The Ballow team also still has to give out its final trump card, Hideyoshi also didn’t get to stand in the spotlights. I’ll eat my hat if Sano, Rinko and Mori have played their parts in this show, Robert still has to have a few tricks up his sleave, and is Rihou really taken out forever?
Though, I’m wondering… how did Anon manage to beat Robert in the first place? Anon had nothing at that time, no sacred treasures, no power, no nothing. So, how did he do it? Anyway, it’s also glad to see that the creators still haven’t used up all of their creativity at the end of the series. Ueki’s Maoh, and Anon’s trick at the end totally deserve credit. The fact remains, though, the the fight wasn’t as glorious as we’re used to. Unfortunately.
Will the ending be as predicted, will the ending be horrible, or do we still have a few surprises left? The way it is now, this show can go every possible direction.
The Law of Ueki – 49
Ugh… I guess I had my hopes up too high. I was expecting the side-characters to at least do some damage to Anon. Well, I was wrong. Anon’s still uberpowerful and nothing in this episode changed that. I also hate the cliffhanger in this episode. It was exactly like the OP had been hinting at. Mori falls, Ueki comes just in time to rescue her, accompanied with wings.
This episode also had some awesome moments, though. The first one is when Mori encounters Kilnorton, of all people left behind in the last episode, Kilnorton is the first one to reappear. One down, two to go. Then it appears that he has an actual background, which the creators managed to slip in right at this point in the series. Just as with the other characters, I really enjoyed this. Another thing I really liked is a bit of cheating on the creator’s bit. Both Sano as the two other members from the Ballow-team still have one final attack. We hear their names, but what they look like will forever remain a mystery. Some people may find this dull, I found it brilliant.
We get to see another lazy-creator moment when Kilnorton arrives at the battlefield. Everything is ready for the ultimate-Ballow-attack, with the three members combining their power into one giant attack. Again, we never know what this might be, as Anon knocks Kilnorton out before he has the chance to use his powers. This brings up some interesting issues. Anon KNEW that that attack would be dangerous. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have to stop it in such an extreme way. I hope this gets used in the next episodes.
The thing I really liked about this episode, was right before the ‘climax’, when Anon finishes everyone except Mori off. The look she gets on her face was just brilliantly done. Of course, afterwards, everything just gets predictable as hell. Sigh. Anyway, I hope that the last two episodes will be worthwile. There are just three things left that need to be solved: Why did Anon finish Kilnorton off so quickly? Where’s Ballow? And where’s Hideyoshi?!!
The Law of Ueki – 48
I kept fearing for the last couple of episodes do be horribly bland and dull. I just saw no way in which Anon could make for a good ending. Still, the creators keeps surprising me. They made Anon crazy enough to host an all-on-one battle against him. Add that to the fact that the side-characters played a big role this episode, and you have enough to make me see how wrong I was. But then again, we still have the ending. I’ll keep fearing for that bit.
The element I liked most about this episode was that there were SO MANY different parties playing a big role. We have Ueki and Mori together, Hideyoshi is alone, Sano and Rinko, Anon himself, Rihou, Margaret, the Ballow-team split up in three and not to forget, Kami-Sama’s assistant. Each of these parties gets sufficient airtime, everything somehow gets balanced into near-perfection. I loved it, even though the main premisse of the show is kindof cheesy.
Well then, Ueki and Mori were quite a distance away from Anon when he revealed his evil schemes, so it takes them a while before they can get to him. Before they get the chance, however, Margaret runs into them. He then reveals something very interesting about the protector-clan, which will probably give Ueki the advantages he needs to beat Anon for good. I have to say, apart from the convenient timing, that I like this. It really gives some background about the members of the protector-clan, and doesn’t just make them dull-characters.
The Ballow-team gets split apart. The punk-guy and the martial-arts-guy want to fight against Anon. The glasses-guy refuses to, and leaves with the intention of retiring. Ballow is just too stunned by Anon’s revelations that he’s become unable to move and react to the outside world. This is quite an interesting turn of developments. If they aren’t returning in the next couple of episodes, I’m going to eat my hat and like it. They still must have some role. In Ballow’s case, it’s a bit predictable, but in the glasses-guy’s case, this might turn out to be quite interesting. If this is done right, it can become really quite interesting indeed.
Sano and Rinko were quite close to Anon when he made his revelasion, so they try to hide themselves before Ueki arrives, trying not to be noticed. Rihou gets to be the first one to fight Anon. That’s not what I expected of him. The most often calm Rihou suddenly turned impulsive. Anyway, Rihou gets pretty beaten up by Anon, but it also appears that the sacred treasures don’t work on Rihou. Therefore, we get to see a long fist-fight. Of course, the creators turned into something reasonably interesting, but I do miss the strategy-element. Anyway, after a long while, Rihou gets smashed to unconciousness, and Sano and Rinko finally decide that they’ve waited enough. The way this was excecuted was pretty nice and original. Mostly, you see characters consider the options between going and not going. This time, you don’t. It’s a nice touch. Anyway, the next episode should be awesome: Sano, Rinko and the two guys from the Ballow-team versus Anon. They’ve got to do something to make him flinch in some way, and considering Sano’s tactics, it’ll probe to be incredible.
That may be fine and all, but the person I enjoyed most was Hideyoshi. Okay, he also ran away. But that’s the good part. He KNOWS he’s useless. He KNOWS he can’t do anything. He’s struggling with this fact. He’s been struggling with it all along. However, I’m going to eat my other hat if this was to be the last time he got some screentime. He still didn’t have his time to shine. Rinko, Mori and Sano all had this. Hideyoshi didn’t. Combine this with the power he has, and I can’t wait for the next episode to come by. Four episodes left to go!
The Law of Ueki – 47
Too bad the title of the episode revealed what was to be happening at almost the end of it. It took away a bit of the power of that moment. Still, I never would have thought for it to be carried out this far and this horrible. Anon really is one heck of a bad guy.
But still, after this, he’ll probably have the entire world, including heaven, against him. Ueki’ll probably defeat him in the end anyway, though. That’s the only thing that an be said. We also still have to see the moment in which he gets his wings (the thing the OP and ED have been subtly hinting at since the beginning of the second season). I so hope that the side-characters will play a big role in these events.