Category: Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense

Mirai Nikki – 12

by psgels, posted in Mirai Nikki

Okay. Now this was just crazy.

The big difference between this arc and the previous ones lies in the characters. In the previous arcs, the villains just weren’t interesting. their characterization was too simple, their characters were too one-sided. Fourth has been around for a while, which really helped. Ninth and that other officer also were getting better, which resulted in an episode that was finally about characters I could care about, and it’s no longer an “us vs them” deal. As a result this was pretty much my favorite episode of this show so far.

What I do want to know is how Ninth escaped from all of this. I know she has the escape diary and all, but even escaping is very hard if you’re chained to a freaking police officer. I mea, the fact remains that she blew up a school and a hospital. Did he just let her go because she looked cute or something?

I also love the way in which the end of this episode featured Yukiteru claiming that the officer he shot turned out to be alive. I know that being shot in the chest is survivable when treated immediately, but there still are so many things wrong with that:
– First of all, what happened Yukiteru’s sense of responsibility? “Oh, he didn’t die; I have no guilt whatsoever; I don’t need to visit the hospital to apologize to him or anything, let’s move on now…”
– Also, I love how this show just lets it slide off that Yuno has just become a mass murderer here. I’m not even talking about those corpses she hides. This episode did show her mercilessly kill about five police officers. And nobody even mentions that afterwards. Could Yuno perhaps be this ghost that only diary holders can see or something?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Mawaru Penguin Drum Review – 92,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Mawaru Penguin Drum



Revolutionary Girl Utena aired in 1997. When I watched it, it immediately conquered a spot on my list of favorite series ever, and still stands there. After that its director, Kunihiko Ikuhara, put out the Utena movie, and after that things became eerily quiet around him for more than a decade. Once in a while he did a random storyboard, but apart from that he really was strangely absent. So imagine my surprise when it was announced that he’d do another full fledged series again.

Right from the start it’s obvious that these two are from the same makers: this show is chock full of symbolism. Everywhere, the creators stuffed in references, cross references and visual symbols that only became apparent episodes after they appear. At first sight this is just random, but the great thing is that every symbol here has a meaning and place in this series. At first sight this series may seem like it’s complete chaos, but it’s actually surprisingly well structured on hindsight.

And yeah, this show pretty much has the best direction of the entire year. The way it combines the visuals, music and story together: no other show did it better during the past 12 months. The music does an excellent job of fitting within every scene it’s used, the animation really makes the characters come alive, the timing of all of the scenes flows really well. And the acting of the characters is really solid, especially considering the amount of broken characters in this series.

The excellent acting also leads to an excellent cast of characters. Just about everyone develops throughout the series. It also makes use of a ton of flashbacks and flash-forwards, to illustrate this, also giving the cast a ton of background in the process. The cast in this series really is dynamic, and engaging beyond belief.

And then there are the plot twist. This series really likes throwing plot twists, and being as unpredictable as possible. This makes for one heck of a plot. At first it might seem that this series is just throwing around twists for the heck of it, but nearly everything in this series is properly foreshadowed and hinted at on hindsight. The plot of this series is so tightly put together. This is an anime original series, so there is no need to be afraid of rushed endings or stories that just stop in the middle. The ending of this series is amazing and closes off this series wonderfully. This really is one of my top picks of 2011.

Storytelling: 10/10 – Great sense of timing and bringing out all different sorts of emotions. Really tightly written plot.
Characters: 9/10 – Excellent character development, very likable characters, although some take a bit to get used to (Ringo!)
Production-Values: 9/10 – Very solid and inspired animation, excellent soundtrack.
Setting: 9/10 – Penguin Drum is highly symbolic, and even its setting makes use of this. Because of this, things aren’t made 100% clear, but this is a very interesting way to get its messages across.

Suggestions:
– Revolutionary Girl Utena
– Simoun
– Noein

Mawaru Penguin Drum – 24

by psgels, posted in Mawaru Penguin Drum

The point where I realized what the Penguin Drum was came at the beginning of this episode, in which we saw the caged Shouma and Kanba, and Kanba found the apple in his cage. There, it all made sense: Kanba would share the apple, and they both probably would have died if that apple wasn’t there, making their lives even more fragile than Himari’s. At first I thought that those apples were a symbol for Ringo, but the way it kept being used in the second half just didn’t add up to that. It still remains interesting that at the beginning of the show, the penguin hat sent the brothers to Ringo of all people. But in any case, it remains very cruel what this implies: in order to save Himari, the lives of Shouma and Kanba were needed.

And it is as I hoped: this ending really is amazing. The story came together wonderfully. The characters reached their catharsis. It all fitted really well. It’s not like all questions were answered, but in this case I believe that this doesn’t matter much. This show answered enough things and the rest is just up to our imagination. There is more than enough room to fill in the blanks. This series relies really heavily on symbolism and the surreal to paint its story anyway. What this show is in essence is a character study. And on that, it really delivered.

Overall, this show just completely dominated as my favorite series for the past half year. It was one heck of a step above all other shows that aired. Now that it’s finished, can I say that I like it better than Utena? To that, I unfortunately have to say no: this series is amazing, but I still like Utena better. It just as more fresh, it had better character development, it could take more time to show off its cast. And even then, Penguin Drum still remains as one of the best two shows of the year. I’m not yet sure which one is the best, but I’ll get to that in my 2011 summary.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Un-Go Review – 87,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Un-Go



Ah, the Noitamina Timeslot. It’s been going solid for more than six years now. Making a Noitamina series is a tricky thing to do, especially with the way that timeslot has evolved during the past three years. Series in it need to be both ambitious, yet fit in a very limited time and space (with only a few exceptions). There have been quite a few who miscalculated on this, like what happened with No.6, Eden of the East or C. Or Library Wars, Jyu Oh Sei and Moyashimon for that matter.

Here comes a show that does this in a different way, though. Un-Go realizes that its time is very limited, and yet it tries to put a lot of stuff in each of its episodes. This is a formula that can screw up in so many different ways, and yet here the creators actually nailed that balance that gets everything right. This show is half-episodic and half-continuous story, and for each of its arcs, even the ones that just take place in one episode, it makes sure that their murder mystery stories deliver. It’s great at build-up, and the twists it delivers all kick ass. It’s fast, but never too fast or too rushed. It’s definitely something where you need to pay attention if you want to be able to get it, but that’s the great thing: it forces you to think and pay attention.

As for how this show managed to be able to do this? Well, it just has no space reserved to flesh out the characters. There are no scenes in this series where we can just see the characters take a bit of time, and show off their characters’ sides. Every scene and line of dialog has a meaning to the plot. This posed another challenge to the creators, because they had to find another way to make these characters interesting and make them carry the story. The result is that the characters are fleshed out through their actions, ways of speeches and their reactions. It’s all carefully intertwined with the dialogue. This doesn’t lead to the most memorable cast, but still to one that works. The characters in this series somehow end up being fun and nice to watch.

The mysteries in this series are also carefully intertwined with this series’ setting. It’s post apocalyptic, but it uses this really well to spice up its stories, and it does so in quite some imaginative ways. This series really loves to pull heel-turn twists, in which things turn out to be completely different from what they seem at first. You can definitely see that a lot of time was spent on the script of this series, and that makes it consistently enjoyable for those who are in for something with a very fast pacing. It may seem overwhelming at times, but it’s because of this that the creators were able to put so much in so little time and somehow make it work.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Some excellent mystery storytelling here. Very fast paced, though.
Characters: 8/10 – They’re not fleshed out in the usual ways, but they still have some nice details to them.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Very solid graphics, but in particular the music backs up the show really well.
Setting: 9/10 – Uses its setting really well in the backgrounds of each of its stories, with a great look at modern technology.

Suggestions:
– Mononoke
– Shigofumi
– Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei

Un-Go – 11

by psgels, posted in Un-Go

And here we have Un-Go’s ending, which I must say pleased me a lot. There are some parts that never got answered, like what really went on in the previous arc, but this was very worthy as a finale itself.

Probably the weakest part was the motivation of the bad guy, which while plausible, also felt a little weak. I personally believe that he also had a grudge against Kaishou’s practices during the war, and that that together, along with coming in the possession of someone as powerful as Bettenou caused him to do it.

This was a great murder mystery though. What made it especially interesting was that Kaishou, despite being innocent in this case, still isn’t entirely clean. He could easily have pulled off something like what he was framed for, and I think that that was what made the previous episodes so believable. The string of revelations at the studio also was great. The pacing again caused the story to come together very nicely.

What’s also interesting is that this episode didn’t have the biggest budget. It was mostly just very good explanation and exposition, with one really big explanation. Suddenly Inga came up from out of nowhere and started chasing Bettenou with some awesome animation. It probably wasn’t even the case of a big budget here, but rather that Bones got themselves one really good animator, and specifically put him on that particular scene. It works perfect to give a bit of an action-packed climax here in an otherwise dialogue-filled ending.

Overall, this season was unique in the way that my three favorite series all somehow ended up airing on the same day: for me Penguin Drum, Hyouge Mono and Un-Go rank as the top of the past three months, and Aikawa Shou did it again. I really like this guy as a scriptwriter and with this, he also shows that he’s great at noitamina series. There still is a prequel OVA left, to which this episode dropped a lot of hints. Looking forward to it!
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Mirai Nikki – 11

by psgels, posted in Mirai Nikki

This show is fun, but it just makes no sense at times. Yuki has no problems with falling down a height that would have easily killed him (its a miracle they survived it even with that truck there), but gets incredibly scared to cross a ladder over just one floor, from which he just could have lowered himself.

Also, with all those unfunny skits at the end I didn’t thin it was possible, but this show actually made me laugh during that scene. Yukiteru was completely stupid there, but because of that the comedy actually worked. That was really refreshing after sitting through all of these bad skits at the end of each episode.

I’ still hard pressed what to exactly think of Yukiteru. I mean, he’s not as bad or dull as Shu from Guilty Crown (tip: if you want to make someone the next Shinji, at least get his characterization right!), and instead he’s the exaggeration of all wimpy male leads out there. This leads to scenes where he randomly shoots police officers (wtf?), and scenes where he keeps whining about being hungry and completely fails to understand the situation he’s in.It has its fun moments, but it’s exactly that latter part that bugs me a lot, and I do think that that’s holding this show down a bit.

As for Yuno, she’s a lot mote fun, although there is one thing that this anime did that I don’t really like, and that is the way they used the “vaant eyes” of in this episode. I mean, at least try to create some suspense here. Right now they’re like this “psycho-switch” on this computer. It’s too un-subtle. I often dislike the way this is used in anime. It’s like hanging a sign over the character saying “oh look, I’m acting strange!”. I get that this is supposed to be over the top and all, but even over the top series can become better through subtle acting.

Also, as for the bad jokes in this episode outside of the skit: how did Yukiteru smell donuts from outside… inside a closed window?
Rating: * (Good)

Mawaru Penguin Drum – 23

by psgels, posted in Mawaru Penguin Drum

Okay. It’s time for answers. Finally the plot is coming together!

This episode really had me at the edge of my seat. It’s not just the plot that revealed some huge secrets: the characters themselves are also getting pushed on the main stage, and the drama around them is worthy of a finale so far. The big twist came right at the beginning of the episode: the bad guy of this series has pretty much been a dead guy. The rabbits were actually what he turned into. The two penguin hats? They’re part of Momoka.

Momoka actually tried to stop Sanetoshi from fully blowing up the world, although she failed partially. Somewhere in this half-spell, both parties got the abilities to play with the dead: My guess is very much that Mario would also be dead if it wasn’t for that hat of his, or at least that would explain why Natsume is so worried about him. The thing is however, that Sanetoshi’s healing powers are surprisingly long-lived, compared to what the Penguin hat could do. Heck, I’m very much inclined to say that Sanetoshi is currently deceiving Kanba, with the few healing powers that he still has left.

Penultimate episodes do have this tendency to focus too much on plot and too little on characters. This show actually didn’t! In this episode, Shouma was sorting out his own feelings, Himari tried her best to get Shouma and Kanba back together, Kanba got really sinister in the part where he cold-heartedly shot Shouma. And holy crap Ringo and that fire scene! Her role had already changed completely in the second half of this series, but this really brought her character to a different level.

Now, the ending of this series will definitely be the type of ending where the creators will try to put as much as possible into one episode. For these types of endings, the most important thing to remember is balance. There is no doubt that at this point, the creators have more than enough ideas to fill that last episode with. It’s bound to be awesome. but what would rally make it this series’ crowning moment of awesome is if every one of those ideas get just enough time to play out, while still making everything flow well into each other. Let’s really hope that the creators can pull this off, because this show deserves it.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Un-Go – 10

by psgels, posted in Un-Go

Now that we’re nearing the climax, the dialogue in this series moves even faster than ever. But really: I don’t mind. In fact, I actually encourage this series to continue with this style, and where you really have to put in effort to follow everything. This is a great way to involve your audience, and it’s been a long while since I watched a series that did it so well. The best way to illustrate this effect is to mention Boogiepop Phantom: if you thought that this series moves fast, you haven’t seen anything yet: that series is a complete puzzle to figure out. Your mileage may of course vary very much, but I really enjoyed having to puzzle to get everything out of the story.

Bettenou’s powers proved to be a terrific end boss here. What the hell here is real? In this episode the creators also suddenly came with small details like this handkerchief that had been tampered with. On top of that, the creators keep throwing us for a loop with multiple attacks on Kaishou. It’s indeed a very plausible theory for him to fake his own death, but who was this shady figure who stood behind Bettenou in that one shot? And why would Bettenou ask Inga to expose some of Kaishou’s deep secrets if she was working together with Kaishou? And what about that taxi driver who happened to be familiar with that female investigator?

With one episode left, I’m pretty confident to say that Noitamina did it again: Un-Go so far stood head and shoulders above all other Autumn Season Series, and the other shows are going to have to try really hard next year if they want to be able to top it. I mean, if the ending actually delivers like I hope to, then this pretty much is the example of how to do a fast paced Noitamina right. Instead of just rushing through its storyline, it actually made optimal use of its time. Compared to No.6 or C, which ended up skipping details, this show actually managed to focus on them.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Mirai Nikki – 10

by psgels, posted in Mirai Nikki

Hmm, either the OP and ED changed, or some wiseguy at the subbers thought to be funny to overlay a piano track. I’m edging for the latter because it just sounds too unprofessional. I mean, it’s nice and all that someone at Gotwoot knows how to play the piano and all, but using this method you make both products just inferior.

In any case, this episode consisted out of two halves. With the first half, I’m beginning to understand why everyone keeps going on and on about Minene. On top of showing an interesting and different part of her past, it also finally showed a confrontation between diary holders that didn’t involve Yukiteru and Yuno. If we’re going to compare Fate/Zero with this series, then it’s not the fact that nobody died in Fate/Zero that irks me the most, but rather that every major confrontation has to have Yukiteru in it. He’s just not an interesting character, even after 10 episodes.

This is shown even more by the second half of this episode, which returned to the dating sim roots again. I get that they’re trying to build up and all, but that bridal fair just wasn’t interesting at all to see Yukiteru stutter and mumble his way through. Afterwards, during the big supposed moment of this episode: what idiot just mentions a corpse in front of someone he hardly knows?
Rating: (Enjoyable)

Mawaru Penguin Drum – 22

by psgels, posted in Mawaru Penguin Drum

Well, so I kept hoping for these final episodes to bring everything together. And with this episode, they did. The developments in this episode took this show to a new level. With things finally concluding, the twists i this episode brought in the best out of the characters. The twists in this episode made terrific use of the build-up.

The great development here was the family breaking up. For so many episodes it seemed just natural for the three siblings to stay together no matter what. And yet in this episode things really go horribly wrong. Himari had died before in this series, but this time, it actually seems that this is for real (although I wouldn’t be surprised if she still had some part to play). She finally stepped up and realized what she caused Kanba to do.

What’s also surprising here is how powerless Shouma was: for a long while it seemed like he was going to be the main character of this series, and yet he hardly had any role, aside from the moment we’ve been waiting for: Double-H to make an appearance, only to disappear again. Overall, this is something that I really have to give to Utena: the shadow play girls in the end turned out to be much more awesome, even though you can see here how the creators tried to give them a very important role in the story.

Apart from that, I’m not going to compare the two shows just yet, due to how important the ending was for both of them. There are some very obvious differences, and the next two weeks it will be up to this series to show how well its ideas worked. This episode really was in the right direction, but was it right enough?

What also made this episode awesome was Natsume. Again her role changed completely last week. In this week, we get to see the results of this change, and how her attempts to get her brother back failed. It’s in a completely different mood from her earlier attempts when she tried to get him back with that sweater she knitted. That sweater by the way was a very sneaky hint to the two of them being siblings, when you compare them to Himari’s knitted clothes for her “brothers”.

And on a side-note: what was Shouma doing in that box?
Rating: *** (Awesome)