I am SO glad that at least one series of the new fall-season has horror-elements. It’s really shaping up to become one of my most favourite genres, especially because the Japanese style of storytelling works so damn well with it. And I don’t mean the gore-style horror. Anyone can cut off limbs or draw scary monsters. The horror I’m referring to is the psychological one. Another thing I like about this is how horror-series can often captivate me throughout their entire airtime, in comparison to, say, dramas, which more often than not only stand out because of their climaxes.
The horror in this episode was excellent, and at the same time it developed both Tarou and Masayuki, as the two of them, accompanied by Oogami go to see the abandoned hospital, in order to try and make Tarou remember. It also seems that all three of them suffer from traumas. We already knew this about Tarou (kidnapped along with his sister who’s now dead) and Oogami (witnessed his father after he killed himself), but it also seems that Masayuki hasn’t had a perfect youth: he killed a classmate of his. For the exact details, I need to watch the subs, but it’s clear that he’s still haunted by it.
What also surprises me is how close Tarou and Masayuki suddenly are. Last episode, Tarou was getting all tsundere when Masayuki tried to approach him, but the current episode did start with Masayuki, who invited Tarou to his place. We also see a bit more of Miyako, who has visions of Tarou’s childhood. Could she have some kind of post-traumatic disorder as well? The episodes so far were deeply rooted in psychology, so I can imagine that she has.]]>
Category: Ghost Hound
Ghost Hound – 02
Okay, if this episode didn’t remind you of Serial Experiments Lain, then I don’t know anymore. There is just no other director who relies so much on creepy sound-effects to create an atmosphere as Ryutaro Nakamura. It does work, though, and I liked this episode a lot. It’s still mostly a case of building up, but things are getting more intriguing as we learn new information about the characters.
It seems that the main character’s sister was his older sister. The two of them were in a fight when they were kidnapped. The face of the kidnapper was also revealed in this episode, and the freaky thing is that he looks like just an ordinary guy. He was killed by a truck afterwards, though. The guy in suit, who we saw in the previous episode, seems to be some kind of detective or psychologist, who hopes to find out more about what happens through hypnosis. It seems that the case still isn’t solved after all these years, but I wonder why… could it be that the body of the main character’s sister still hasn’t been found yet?
Overall, I was able to follow most of this episode, though I’m going to need to watch the subs later when they come out to fill in a few things I didn’t pick up, especially regarding the reasons why the brown-haired guy is so curious and likes to investigate. It could be in his nature, but I’d like to know that for sure.
This episode also sees the main character (I really need to find out his name), discovering the place he’s been seeing in his dreams. It seems to be beyond a shrine, where the girl who managed to see him in his dream-state in the previous episode lives. Apparently, he had no idea where he had been kidnapped before, and he the shock of the kidnapping probably made his sub-consciousness to lock out some of these experiences, like the kidnapper’s face. When he also tried to enter the area, he suddenly entered a dream-state, which seems to back this up.
Then the final main character seems to have had a similar experience when his father(?) ended up dead, right in front of his eyes. We don’t get much info about him, though. Either that, or I failed to pick it up. Regarding the animation, this is et another one of these shows that couldn’t keep up with the high quality of the first episode, and the animation quality has gone down. Despite this though, it still looks very good, but there may have been a bit too much recycled scenes.
What also intrigues me is the OP. It somehow reminded me of xxxHolic, and I feel that once the characters are established, the creators are going to treat us to the stories of these different beings. Or it could be that this series is just like El Cazador, where the OP and ED have nothing to do with the show itself. :P]]>
Some quick first impressions: Shion no Ou, Koharu Biyori and Ghost Hound
Shion no Ou
Okay, so here’s one that’ll never get licensed: the creators assumed that the viewers know the basic rules of Shougi, which isn’t really the case for most western viewers, now is it? Still, this series rocks, despite this, and it actually motivated me enough to learn more about the game in order to understand it better. I’ve said this before, but I really like Studio Deen, in the way that they’ve got an eye for great concepts, and there is a chance they’ve struck gold here. The murders only turned out to be a very small part of all the mysteries surrounding this series, and I’m so going to watch this.
Koharu Biyori
The OVA-format can be great for those stories that are too short for their own series, yet have the potential to turn into excellent stories. And then came Koharu Biyori where a perverted teenager buys himself a maid-robot and puts her in different dresses. Seriously, this is just one big excuse for fanservice; it’s especially obvious when a big octopus appears from out of nowhere. I admit, there were some funny moments here and there, like the selfish-joke, but that’s nowhere near enough to make up for the shallow plot, bad writing and nature to milk money out of the perverted otaku.
Ghost Hound
For me, this was the big title for the fall-season for me, and so far it doesn’t disappoint. It’s nothing amazing yet, though, but that’s because this clearly was an introduction-episode, with the purpose of giving the viewer a small taste of the different characters and the setting. One of the interesting things about this episode is how the creators managed to make a male main character of about fourteen years old who actually doesn’t feel annoying. I also like how his sister died, when both of them were kidnapped when they were young: it shows great promise for the future episodes. The graphics also look awesome, but what else do you expect when the character-designer of Jigoku Shoujo and Production-IG team up together? The voice-acting is also quite good and realistic; this is going to be a major series once the plot really gets fired off.]]>