Category: Finished Series: Slice of Life/Drama

Uchoten Kazoku – 03 – 05

by psgels, posted in Uchoten Kazoku

I’m still amazed at how drenched this series is in culture. This show goes into so much more detail than anything else about the world of Tanuki, Tengu and other mystical beings. The creators really did their research, and it shows: it’s really rare for a series to feel this authentic. I don’t know enough to know how much this show made up and how much of it is taken from japanese folklore, but even then: in both ways the culture in this series just sparkles with life.

And still this show is diverse. The plot is coming together, but still every episode manages to be different, and highlight a different part of the lives and traditions of the characters. I loved the idea of having a sake-powered flying house, and Benten also turned into quite the character. On one hand, she ATE the father of the main character. On the other hand, she acts like it’s the most natural thing in the world and has fallen in love with him.

This series sure loves its contradictions. It’s especially a big part of episode five, which showed a posh club of spiritual leaders debate whether the tradition of eating tanuki is really worth it, put next to this one guy who loves tanuki so much that he also loves to eat them. It’s really bizarre to look at tanuki this way when they are portrayed in this really weird cross between human and animal. That’s also what I love: no tanuki or tengu really lost that animal side: nobody here feels 100% human. Sometimes it’s more apparent than others, but Yasaburo (I hope that that was his name) hiding for so long was so wonderfully characteristic of an animal that feels threatened.

The acting in this show overall is really good. Characters all have their quirks, yet they are more than just that. Everyone has multiple sides, and the lines they deliver are brought convincingly. This show also knows perfectly fine when it needs to be dramatic, and when it just needs to let things play out casually. You can really see that this was written by a brilliant writer.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Rozen Maiden 2013 – 03 & 04

by psgels, posted in Rozen Maiden 2013

I love how different this series turned out to be from the original Rozen Maiden! It still has the same characters, but the atmosphere, the execution, and the themes are completely different here. That’s what a good sequel should be: avoid the tried and true and go into its own direction! It also really helps that this direction is much more mature now.

These past two episodes: they’re really well detailed! Heck, over the span of three episodes we’ve just seen one doll, and even she appeared at just the end of the third episode. In the meantime we get a full look into the life of the grown-up Jun, and into his mind. Because of this we can really see how meeting with Shinu is subtly changing him. There’s enough tension between his job, and taking care of Shinku as well, not to mention how Shinku said at the end of episode four that this can only last for seven days. The whole interplay between young and old Jun is also very good.

What’s also different: there is quite a bit of symbolism added in the narration, ranging from that kid’s story that always pops up in the middle, to various visual symbols when characters are explaining things. The question now is what will happen next: they’re obviously building up to something. Will they be able to use this build-up?
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Tamayura – More Aggressive – 03 & 04

by psgels, posted in Tamayura

Seriously. This is one of the cutest anime that I have seen in a long, long while. I mean, over these entire two episodes, I just kept going “d’awwwwww” at just about everything the characters did. That is very rare for me: usually I hate series that aim to be cute. The big reason for that is that 90% of those characters are not characters: they’re either cardboard cut-outs, they try to play up their cuteness too much, plain stupid, contrived, and just plain underdeveloped. Tamayura has something that makes the entire cast different from that.

What Potte is trying to do: that really invoked empathy from me. Perhaps my own shyness connected with her, or perhaps it was because of how much development she already has. These two episodes really were about overcoming shyness, and they really did that well. Even beyond Potte, that one teacher was a very nice touch, about how it took him like, 20 tries to ask what he wanted. And the whole performance. It was so bad, yet so adorable!

The new character already feels right at home after four episodes, and the great thing is that she doesn’t feel forced in, but it was more than logical for her to appear. The rest of the cast, Potte’s friends, they’re close to her and all, but most of them don’t share her passion for photographing,and the ones that do are either much older or younger. Here she managed to find someone of her own age and experiences to connect with.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Silver Spoon – 02 & 03

by psgels, posted in Silver Spoon

I’m back from London. It was really big, but also great. And Kero, Sachin and Smurph: you were awesome. It really was great to meet you!

And now I have the daunting task to catch up to everything again. Starting off: Silver Spoon, the latest Noitamina-series. Thank god, afte the past spring season had that Katanagatari-rerun. Next autumn there will be two new original series and a second Psycho Pass season has been announced, so the timeslot will be back in its glory again.

But first: a Moyashimon-esque series about farming. On the surface the two series really are similar: a guy joins an agricultural school, with a lot of quirky characters. The difference is how both series look at quirks. In Moyashimon, all of the quirks were played straight, and you got to love the characters because of that. In Silver Spoon, there is more lurking underneath the quirks.

Silver Spoon toys with your assumptions. In that way, you could see that this comes from the same writer as Full Metal Alchemist: one moment it’s serious, and the other it’s silly. And it uses the serious moments to build up for its jokes, only to bring the characters back to reality again by showing the harsh realities of farming that a lot of people like to pretend aren’t there.`I mean, the thing with the vererinarians being able to kill animals? Powerful stuff. The combination between comedy and drama was probably done best with the piglets.

I wouldn’t immediately see that Silver Spoon is better than Moyashimon at this point. The big danger for this series is that it will start getting too melodramatic, which is something that Moyashimon managed to avoid on the whole. The main character’s background… it feels a bit too angsty for my tastes. It’s there where there was no comedy whatsoever, which felt a bit out of place.

Another thing that this show does quite well is the balance of the cast. There are a lot of characters here, but they’re all quite different and colourful, especially when you look at the main side characters. Though granted, some of the minor side characters are walking cardboard cut-outs.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Uchoten Kazoku – 02

by psgels, posted in Uchoten Kazoku

Yeah, what can I say? Uchoten Kazoku stands with head and shoulders at the top of non-sequels this season. It could have easily been the second Noitamina-series this season. For those who don’t know: this was originally written by the guy who wrote Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei, and with this it really is clear: this guy is a really good writer. This has by far the best script of the entire season: it’s just way more eloquent than every single other series.

And then there is PA Works that managed to breathe this to life really well. These episodes are all scripted out really well, starting with random dialogue, a bit of conflict here and there, and then ending with a very powerful climax. What also surprises me: these two episodes were very different: first the drama was about that old tengu. The second was about the family of the main character, and what kind of impact the father had on it. Powerful stuff.

This show knows its build-up very well: there’s just so much in each episode, but everything somehow adds up to each other. Every character gets a chance to talk about his or her feelings and gts the chance to be fleshed out really well thanks to that excellent dialogue, with the result that there are already a ton of likable characters within just two episodes. I really liked the frog in this episode, the mother was really charming, and even the two tanuki from that other family were different from the usual brats: they were brats, but the way in which they transformed, plus their place in their own family made them also interesting to watch.

A lot of characters here are Tanuki, and a lot of the characters really have this animal side to them. The only one who doesn’t is the main character, or rather he is very much different from the rest of the cast. You can see he’s a tanuki with how he treats his own transformation powers, but aside from that I miss that animal side of his.
Rating: 5,5/8 (Excellent)

Rozen Maiden 2013 – 02

by psgels, posted in Rozen Maiden 2013

Rozen Maiden’s new series is weird. Really weird. The first episode was this vague recap that wasn’t a recap. And now the second episode pretty much contained the best transition into an alternative retelling that I’ve ever seen. Seriously, as a Rozen Maiden fan, this just blew me away.

I just expected something that started similar with the original Rozen Maiden story that then diverged a different way. I totally did not expect this episode to show what would have happened if Jun didn’t order Shinku’s suitase. They skipped like eight years or something! He’s an adult now! We just got to see how he grew up!

I love this, he actually managed to escape being a hikkikomori, and now he’s in this state in which he needs to deal with the fact that he basically threw a very important part of his life away. You can really see that on one hand, he’s bright, but on the other hand he just stopped learning for so long. I love how he struggles in his life like that, showing some of the conseuqneces of his actions in the first seasons that didn’t involve the dolls. The biting reality of that one manager also really help. Yeah, he’s a jerk, but damn that guy raised some good points.

The thing is also: I totally have no clue whatsoever what to expect from this series. In every other series, I can at least suspect the directio they’re going in. Here, I’m blank and my best guess is that they need to get rid of that seventh doll. But beyond that, I have no bloody clue. This episode really surprised me many times here!
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Tamayura – More Aggressive – 02

by psgels, posted in Tamayura

Hell yeah, Tamayura! Let’s get more aggressive! Rawr!!!

On a serious note, I’m glad that this series has returned now, and it hasn’t lost its touch of making me just dream away while watching an episode. The last time there was a series that did this so well was last year with Natsume Yuujinchou Shi. The very misleading title of this series seems to refer to Potte’s growth: her taking her hobbies further, and starting a photography club at school. It’s time for the characters to explore all of the things they can do.

And that’s actually very good, because the one thing I want from this sequel is progression. At this moment, this sequel can’t just do the same thing that the first season did: it needs to be like Aria: continue in the same style, but bring in heaps of character-development. I mean Im glad and all that this show got a second season, but the main reason for it is so that it could get a chance to exploit its potential. Not pander with random slice of life again. A pointless sequel is just a waste of a good budget.

Whether this really paid off will obviously take a few months to really become apparent. So far, the first steps have been made though, with Potte starting the photography club, and the introduction of this new character. But there needs to be more. Potte already had a sempai to look up to, and the first season was all about realizing your dreams. Come on, Tamayura! Be ambitious!

Also, I’m not sure whether or not this is because it’s been a while since I watched the first season. But I actually found Norie funny, along with her antics around Potte’s little brother.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Aku no Hana – 13

by psgels, posted in Aku no Hana

ZEXCS: this show cost little to make: rotoscoping is relatively cheap and good for a low-budget series. Please some one in there: see beyong all of the negative publicity that this series has gotten. Look past the bile, and see some potential for a second season! Otherwise this was one heck of an annoying ending to pull. Basically all it did was tease us for a sequel.

I really liked that Kasuga could finally see a bit into Nakamura’s mind. That was great. Then there followed this chase, followed by a lot of atmosphere building, to a lot of teasing scenes for events that are yet to happen, like what the OPs have been doing. That was one heck of an evil cliff-hanger. The atmosphere still was really good during all that, and I find it a bit strange that they put so much work into rotoscoping all these random scenes for nothing, but still the chance of this getting a second season are unfortunately really low.

And for me that’s pretty much the only big blemish on an amazing series here. I mean complain about the rotoscoping; if you ignore that than the creators excuted this story basically perfectly with some fantastic atmosphere.

Aku no Hana took risks. Oh dear god, it took risks! More series with the same mentality would definitely be appreciated! I can’t promise to have the actual review of this one out today. There are a number of first episodes that I first want to check out.
Rating: 4,5/8 (Good)

Aku no Hana – 12

by psgels, posted in Aku no Hana

You could see that this was a calm before the storm episode, right before the conclusion of the series, but even then it was very well done. It didn’t focus on the atmosphere or disturbing psychology as much as usual, but still: the creators made it a really personal episode, centered around Nakamura.

I loved the way she just completely ignored Kazuga, but also how we finally get to have a look at her family, and how they react on her behavior. Seriously, the way her father dealt with it was really interesting: you could see he was an adult, but he had no clue how to get a grasp on his daughter, and they just grew apart like that.

The best was the ending of the episode though. It promised one heck of a final episode! Throughout the entire series, Kasuga mainly managed to show his deviant-self because Nakamura pushed him, save for the moment where he stole the underwear. Here, he finally does something out of his own again. He didn’t do it for Nakamura, he did it out of his own curiosity.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Aku no Hana – 11

by psgels, posted in Aku no Hana

Every season, there is one series that in one way or the other reminds me why I still love anime. Aku no Hana is one of them, and this episode only established this even more. Even this late in the series, it still pushes the boundaries of television series, and tries to see what it can get away with. This episode took guts. It could so easily have been incredibly boring, and yet they pulled it off. This was just art.

I mean, when you look at synopsises of this episode, there is one thing you’ll realize: nothing happens! Yeah, I guess Kasuga and Saeki formally break up and all. But take a look at most of this episode: long stretches of Kasuga just walking around, long stretches in which absolutely nothing is said. And yet these parts were so full of emotion.

Is that what teenaged angst feels like? Is that what it feels like to be in a completely hopeless situation? Heck, this episode was about the emptiness in Kasuga’s heart, and it did not portray this through dialogue, or plot. But rather through just animation and sound. The nonverbal communication was absolutely fantastic here. The atmosphere! I can’t believe how well it was carried throughout the entire episode!

Also, the climax. Perfect use of all that build-up!
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)