Category: Finished Series: Slice of Life/Drama

Hana-Saku Iroha – 16

by psgels, posted in Hana-Saku Iroha



Before the actors arrived, I just couldn’t help but think that the entire movie thing was a scan. Then the actors arrived, and I’m not really sure what to think right now.

I mean, while I can buy a film crew making a movie in the inn (it does have a very authentic character, after all), I’m really not sure in what kind of mind the director was to promise important roles to the Kissuiso staff. Even weirder having the novelist assist with the writing… without an editor or even one meeting with the director about what he should write. Then there was that pool thing: why bet on something of which you have no idea how much mold it has accumulated over the past 20 years? (Also, please tell me that that isn’t going to be an excuse to have a pool episode in the near future…). It all seemed way too convenient, and more like this suspicious guy coming onto Ohana’s uncle with this shady deal that required 10% of the Inn’s income.

But no, the actors came, and it actually really looks like the director is just quirky. We’re going to have to wait for the next episode to really see the points it was trying to make, but the focus on Ohana’s uncle was really good. On top of that, this went further on the troubles of a small inn. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if the inn ended up going out of business for the climax of this series.

I do have a bit of criticism at this point though, especially when comparing this series to Ao no Exorcist. I know that it’s a bit weird to compare slice of life to shounen fighting and all, but I’m especially referring to the light-hearted scenes (again, this show knows how to do drama correctly): with Ao no Exorcist, I really noticed the light-hearted scenes get more interesting and enjoyable with every episode, as you can see the cast grow. With Hana-Saku Iroha though… this still is more of the same. Those kinds of scenes weren’t really interesting in the first half, and little has changed in the second half I’m afraid.

It’s not really the fact that nothing happens: I have really enjoyed far slower series in the past. But like that scene where Ohana was trying to fly on a broom, or when they were cleaning the pool… it just… didn’t feel right. Too forced, even.

What’s also jarring is that now that I think about it: the second half so far didn’t really have much character development for the main cast. The past arc developed Yuina and her fiance quite well, in Kissuiso (whenever things aren’t happening), things are changing too slowly. Perhaps the biggest change in the main cast is that Minko is less annoyed with Ohana. Compare that to Tiger & Bunny, taking a look to give a ton of new insight to vital characters, Ao no Exorcist who introduced a bunch of new characters to spice things up, Steins;Gate with its plot twists or Hyouge Mono, where [SPOILER]. There seems to be too little movement in this series, and the fact that this is slice of life shouldn’t have anything to do with that: it has enough drama to have made something interesting out of it.
Rating: * (Good)

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée – 02

by psgels, posted in Ikoku Meiro no Croisée



Argh! Deciding which of the big slice of life series to blog this season was hard! I mean, Usagi Drop is just undeniably good. Its acting is more realistic than all of the other series combined. If it aired during any other season, I definitely would have blogged it. It’s heart-warming as hell. Okay, that’s perhaps not the most fitting metaphor I could have used, but you get what I mean.

In the end though, I decided to go for Ikoku Meiro no Croisée is because I just find it a really interesting experiment. For one, I like historical series a lot, but this series also really delves into cultural differences. This series also is slightly different than your usual series that takes place in Europe, due to the French roots that Satelight has (did you know that Basquash was originally conceived by a Frenchman?). From the backgrounds, you can really see that a lot of attention to detail has gone into this series to make it really authentic. With Usagi Drop, I don’t think that there will be as much to write about, not to mention that according to what I’ve read about it, it’ll never really get to the growing up arcs, which (as a non-manga reader by the way), I actually really would have liked to see. If Usagi Drop would have been 22 episodes, I really would have blogged it instead. But then again, Ikoku Meiro no Croisée is also just going to take up 12 episodes. That’s the one criticism I have about this season: there still are too many series that don’t go beyond 13 episodes.

As for the final series that I’m going to blog this season: it’ll either be Dantalian no Shoka, or another Kaleidoscope-type post series. I’ll decide that next Friday.

In any case, this episode was chock full of cultural differences: a lot of this episode was about different kinds of food, but this episode also looked at the differences in architecture, customs, mindsets and traditions. Yune being cute is nice and all, but it’s those things that really drew me to this series. In the background you can also see authentic birds and I’m also impressed at the creativity that was put into the people and buildings in the background.

The kimono is probably going to be the recurring plot in this series. It’s not the most interesting part of this series, but I can see why it was included. This is really set in a time where the big corporations started rising and steal competition away from the small merchants. It’s a tad forced and all, but it also definitely has potential.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Natsume Yuujin-Chou – 28

by psgels, posted in Natsume Yuujin-Chou



The first series I’m going to blog this season… is a pretty obvious one. I blogged the first two seasons back in 2008 and 2009, and I really liked them, so it’s awesome to see a third season appear. This is one of the three series of which I was 100% sure that I was going to blog this season.

This episode really reminded why I originally fell in love with this series. When this episode aired, I felt completely refreshed. It had this completely refreshing atmosphere that I haven’t felt in a long time. This was a simple, yet wonderfully paced story about another youkai that crosses Natsume’s path. I really liked how nothing was really what it seemed: this episode dealt a lot with superstition and rumours.

Normally in anime, you can guess pretty accurately who are the good guys and the bad guys, whenever it’s not being morally ambiguous, of course. Here though, you’ll never know whether or not a youkai bears ill feelings until it starts to attack. This episode showed a dangerous looking, but well minded youkai, but then again this series did have plenty of scary youkai who did attack.

What’s especially awesome about this third season is that we’re seeing more of Reiko than ever. The previous episode already showed a lot of her, but this episode went even further. This series just kept hinting at how huge her powers were, and yet in this episode she used Rock Paper Scissors to get the name of the demon. Did she use this same trick everywhere? I mean, there have been enough youkai who unwillingly gave up their own names.

The village scene felt a bit out of place, but it was definitely an interesting representation of the mythical village: to have it be exactly like how it was painted in the past. It’s also something new in this installment of the series.

Overall, I do wonder whether this series is going to surpass itself or not. I really like this series, but I also have to admit that the second season was not as good as the first. The biggest reason for that was that it was incomplete: the episodes that built up the main storyline built up for something that wasn’t in that season, whereas the individual stories (of which the first season entirely consisted) really focused on delivering good standalone stories,. The past two episodes were in the same vein, and really wonderful to just sit back and relax at. I really wonder whether we’re going to see the build-up of the second season pay off at a point now.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Hana-Saku Iroha – 15

by psgels, posted in Hana-Saku Iroha



By now it has already been established that Ohana is strange, and this episode only established that even more. To come rushing out and actually volunteer to act as a waitress in order to help out the in she’s supposed to be staying at. At first, I thought she was crazy, but as the episode went on, I really got what this episode tried to tell.

Instead of dancing on Yuusuke’s grave, this episode focused on the development of both him and Yuina, but it also had some interesting messages to share about working, that tie in really well with the rest of the series. Ohana is the type of character who doesn’t wonder whether or not her ideas are strange: she just carries them out. In the past that lead to a bunch of awkward, annoying and embarrassing situations, but with this episode it actually paid off really well.

On top of being well written, I also felt that the background art of this episode was exceptionally good, even for this series’ standards. It looked really crisp and clean. It may be that I just returned from a holiday myself and all, but the inside rooms look really realistic and have this great use of lighting, compared to the copy and paste indoor art you usually see. The landscapes also were really well drawn. It’s all with just that tiny amount of CG to crisp things up, yet not make everything look blocky and stand out.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Hyouge Mono – 15

by psgels, posted in Hyouge Mono



Might as well start catching up with Hyouge Mono’s latest episode, and really: it’s again great to see how elegantly this series creates its drama. This really doesn’t aim to be the most exciting series, but it brilliantly uses its subtle and slow atmosphere and characterization to deliver its drama… only to follow up with its facial expressions. Oh, those facial expressions: they’re still priceless after fifteen episodes.

The interesting thing is that they really feel apart of this show now, as in they’re not used as anti-climaxes or anything: I’m not sure how, but both the really well detailed facial drawings as the distorted faces contribute to this series. They’re often funny, but along with the pacing, music and direction they really bring out the best of these characters. This episode showed that as well, with a ton of talking, but perhaps just as much non-verbal communication.

It’s building up, but this again was the kind of build-up that doesn’t just try to stall for time until the next exciting bit, but also really tries to deliver a really good story. This episode both built up the tension between Sasuke, Hashiba and Senno, and already used this tension between them with great results. And of course we still have that black guy. On one hand he is a bit stereotypical, in the way that he again is this tough no-nonsense guy, but at the same time he is really well used with Nobunaga’s death.

Oh, and in terms of the tiny details: I like how this series actually keeps track of the hair of its characters: it actually grew back for both Hashiba and Sasuke. That’s rare, because usually when a character cuts his/her hair, it always stays the same length, even though significant time passes.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Hyouge Mono – 14

by psgels, posted in Hyouge Mono



The first half of this episode was nothing special, so I thought that this episode would take a break after the “action-packed” previous episode. Okay, so that turned out to be wrong. This episode was sublime. The acting in the second half of this episode was once again wonderful. Spoilers down below, for those who haven’t seen this episode yet.

Things obviously got hilarious once Sasuke showed up again. Seriously. This guy as a leader is just awesome, and Mitsuhide’s move on him had me in stitches. Not to mention his new look. Oh god. that came out of nowhere. It;’s going to take a while to get used to that…

But this episode really shined because of Akechi Mitsuhide. I’m really not sure what it is, but this series has an amazing sense when it comes to the death scenes. Yes, Mitsuhide dies in this episode, and I love how much time the creators took out in order to show this. This really allowed them to put in a ton of detail, from between his defeat, to him fleeing his castle, to the point where he eventually gets slain. And finally we get to see one of those scenes where someone takes forever to die, done really well. Akechi’s death is slow, but you can really see him get worse with every second. The visuals again were really good, and the voice acting once again was rock solid.

Seriously, with the Summer Season, Thursdays are going to be crazy: Noitamina, plus Penguin Drum, Blood-C and Hyouge Mono. It’s a wonderful line-up. It’s difficult to compare everything because the series this season are so incredibly diverse. There probably won’t be a series with acting as good and refined as Hyouge Mono: this show is just too good for that. However, there are plenty of other ways to stand out. Penguin Drum has its characters, Blood-C has its animation and pacing, Usagi Drop has its realism, No.6 has its setting, and in this way I could go on for the entire season. I have no doubt that this is going to be an awesome ride.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Showa Monogatari – 12

by psgels, posted in Showa Monogatari



So here too we’re nearly at the end. Unlike what I expected, it’ll focus on Kouhei’s father. It makes sense: it’s what this entire series has been building up for, but that does mean that his brother did not really get the time to show off his character. I really thought that he too would get an arc like Yuuko’s, but it pretty much stopped after his date failed.

This episode was build-up to that finale, along with Kouhei’s best friend suddenly announcing that he’s moving far away. That’s the thing with this series: every character’s story is linear, apart from Kouhei, whose is episodic. The stories around him are the least coherent. It’s an interesting mix, that would have worked if the acting was better.

The same acting also got in the way of this episode. I mean, having a friend move far away again is a situation that a lot of people can relate to. The acting during the goodbye scene though was just really bad. Especially Kouhei hammed it up, but the other kids also delivered cringe-worthy performances, and this is both in terms of the voice acting and the animation. What was meant to be a tearful goodbye ended up looking rather silly.

This episode also may have dropped the sickness bomb a bit too often when it kept hinting to both Kouhe’s father AND grandmother’s health. His father was the first to collapse, but I’m not sure what Grandmother’s health is really going to add at this point. I do like how this series keeps fleshing out all of its characters while building up to the finale, though: this episode again left no character really ignored. That’s pretty good, especially since it has been doing this consistently.

Father’s sickness has potential, though. It’s obviously a bit forced, but with the right character development it can make for a nice finale. But do give Kouhei a small role. That yell at the end of this episode felt so disinterested that I’m pretty sure that his voice actor is being forced by his parents to perform this and would rather be doing something completely different.
Rating: * (Good)

Some Quick First Impressions: Natsume Yuujin-Chou San, Yuruyuri and Ikoku Meiro no Croisée

by psgels, posted in Ikoku Meiro no Croisée, Natsume Yuujin-Chou, Some Quick First Impressions

Natsume Yuujin-chou San

Short Synopsis: Our lead character can see youkai.
Oh, it’s wonderful to see this one back again. It still has the dreamy atmosphere it always had, and the way this episode started off with another episodic story was great to get back into it again. It’s a basic, but very charming story about another youkai who met Natsume’s grandmother a long time ago, and this episode once again did a great job of showing her story while keeping things simple. It may not have been the best episode so far, but it had a lot to like. The animation still is really good, and this episode also stressed some of the character development that Natsume went through in the first two seasons. It’s a very relaxed episode that did its job really well. Oh, and it also was great to see Nyanko-sensei again.
OP: Well built up song with a good use of instruments, though the visuals are a bit unremarkable.
ED: Simple and relaxing, fitting this series perfectly.
Potential: 90%

Yuriyuri

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a random junior high school girl.
Well, here we go again. Here’s the thing: this first episode of Yuruyuri wasn’t half bad. It’s an episode of a bunch of random junior high schoolers goofing off, but it had a number of good jokes, it made sure that its characters, while annoying, weren’t at least one-sided stereotypes and this pretty much was the best animation we’ve ever seen from Dogakobo. It could have been much worse, but the thing is: this remains a show in which nothing happens beyond the antics of a bunch of cute girls. I’m not saying that that on its own is bad, but those series tend to have one really, really big disadvantage: they get incredibly repetitive. Take A-Channel: it could have been decent but devolved into an onslaught of boob jokes and characters repeating their quirks over and over. Denpa Ona? Nice coming of age drama until the characters just kept repeating themselves and the horny aunt just kept hitting on the male lead. Astarotte no Omocha? Heartfelt until it couldn’t stop talking about panties and generic romance cliches. And the thing is: the first episode of Yuruyuri has yet to show any hint that it won’t follow the same path. It only had a few bad fanservice jokes, but you can bet your hat that once they run out of jokes they’ll start groping boobs on a daily basis. On top of that, the main character is a complete airhead. And while she was far from the most annoying airhead out there, there really is little what you can do with such a character in the long run.
OP: The usual generically upbeat j-pop song that will get annoying really fast.
ED: This just feels like the second part of the OP song…
Potential: 45%

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to take care of a young Japanese girl.
Oh my god. That was almost too adorable. This was once again an unbelievable first episode. This time in the incredible undeniable charm that this episode has. This goes beyond being just cute: just about everything about the lead female is just ridiculously charming. The animation isn’t trying to be anything big, but it is really consistent and does a great job of bringing the cast alive, plus you can also see the amount of detail that has been put into the background art. The lead character isn’t just an ordinary character: he’s a blacksmith. His shop is full of all kinds of interesting designs and furniture and a lot of attention was put into making the art as authentic as possible. Heck, the creators even got a number of fluent French voice actors as the narrator and vocalists. I really have to say that Satelight are making brilliant use of their French roots and connections here. Overall: Sato Junichi did it again. This once again was brilliant characterization. Although I do have to say that it is very dramatic. It needs to take care not to devolve into melodrama as the show goes on.
OP: A bit of a mundane OP, but quite well animated.
ED: Adorable. Just… adorable.
Potential: 90%

Hana-Saku Iroha – 14

by psgels, posted in Hana-Saku Iroha



Oh, I nearly forgot that this show had a fourth main character (as in, character who shows up on all of the promotional material alongside the three female leads). She’s really been a gimmick character so far, so it was a bit weird to see an episode fully dedicated to her. An episode that spent the rest of its time on plain fanservice and beach episode antics. Oh, and the male classmates of the cast were really annoying as well.

So yeah, this episode was a big step back from the previous arc. I would have hoped that with this, the character development would really get interesting, but that doesn’t really work with a character who hardly ever had any significant impact in the first half. Having said that though, this was the best episode for her so far where we got to know quite a bit more about her.

At this point though, I’m not sure whether she may have the distinction of being a main character. She still needs to convince me that she didn’t just get lumped together with the rest of the main characters just because she’s a cute girl. That spot would have been much more appropriate for Tohru or Ohana’s grandmother. This series is about the staff of the Kissuiso. What is she doing among them?
Rating: (Enjoyable)

Hyouge Mono – 13

by psgels, posted in Hyouge Mono



Something really interesting happened in this episode. The stage was a large scale battle, probably the largest scale we’ve seen so far. It’s something anime has always been weak at: animating small armies and the battles between them. So I’m really surprised at how much detail this episode managed to put in it. Seriously, this was much more realistic than what you usually see!

Take for example the shot from far above: the creators actually tried to animate it. It was clunky, but heck: you could see how every figure moved. That really is something I have never seen in anime before and this episode actually managed to show the sheer size of the armies it was dealing with. The soldiers weren’t just specks, they actually had movement and weight to them.

Then, the actual battlefield: again you usually see people just swinging swords randomly in the midst of the plot. After this episode I realized that a common tactic is to show one character, then the next, then the next in order to keep the action going. The way in which this episode kept focusing on Sasuke gave it a completely unique dimension. It still was a complete brawl, but it also focused on the moments of silence on the battlefield, when there was nobody coming after Sasuke or when he was lying down, nearly knocked out. Also, instead of just showing a bunch of guys coming after Sakuke all at once, this series actually made all of them have their own purpose.

It’s really much more of this “screw conventions, we’re re-imagining this one completely!”-attitude that I love, and this show rocks especially because of how well it works. It’s all incredibly detailed, authentic and well written. I love it in particular when not just the characters, but also the creators use their brains during a major battle scene, and that’s exactly what happened here.
Rating: ** (Excellent)