Shigofumi
Ever since the past spring-season, Saturday has by far been my busiest day in terms of blogging, and it doesn’t look like the Winter-Season is going to change this, with yet another excellent series. Even though we’re only halfway the season yet, I’m pretty sure that Shigofumi has the best episode of all the new shows that have aired. It’s only the first episode, and it kept my interest throughout the entire episode with some excellent storytelling (and a very nice twist at the end. ^^;). Shigofumi turned into an excellent combination of Shinigami no Ballad and Jigoku Shoujo, and grabbed the best elements of them. The main character for this episode would have been better if he was a bit smarter (what idiot fires off an amateur-rocket in the middle of a city anyway?), but overall, we’ve got ourselves an gem here.
They are our Noble Masters
Well… at least it doesn’t take itself seriously, unlike the abominations of Rosario to Vampire and H2O, though something makes me suspect that some kind of melodramatic element will appear in the semi-final episode or something. In any case, instead of bad, They are our Noble Masters is just boring. There are lots of stereotypes and fanservice, but at least the plot doesn’t seem to be written by a whiny twelve-year-old who’s just hit puberty. Nearly everything about this series is just mediocre, though at least there is chemistry between the characters that kept me from falling asleep. Overall, this series will never become memorable, though at least it’s not the worst this season’s had to offer.
Porfy no Nagai Tabi
Okay, I know that this is rather useless, but please, someone sub this series, and don’t let it get horribly ignored like what happened with Les Miserables. There’s a very good reason why this is a series that’s part of the World Masterpiece Theatre-series: there’s no moe, no forced climaxes, no stereotypes, and instead it’s got genuine and detailed storytelling. Like expected, the big earthquake that separates Porfy from his sister has yet to happen, and I can imagine how the creators decided to use the first few episodes to flesh out the two of them and their mother, and already it has been an excellent slice-of-life series. Sure, this is definitely going to be the slowest series of the entire season, but it’s going to be worth it when the drama kicks in. To add to that: this series also has the best background-art of the entire season. It looks absolutely gorgeous and life-like. The music also is excellent, just like what you’d expect after Les Miserables (the Greek influences really work). Unfortunately, a lot of people will probably not give this series a chance, but you can be sure that I’m going to be blogging it from beginning to end. This definitely is one of the most promising series of the season.
And we’ve reached another two-episode arc that would have easily been put into just one episode. I’m not sure whether I like the new happenings on the Starside-hotel, it’s a bit one-sided, if you ask me. Still, perhaps the conclusion will prove to be more interesting. I’m not sure what exactly it is with this series, but there’s something that rubs me the wrong way. I’m not sure exactly what, though.
Surprisingly, we don’t see Furuhata and Andou back, though the old guy returns. So I was mistaken after the previous episode: he and the manger are completely different. He’s now turned into someone who keeps clinging to Kaiji, whom he knows he can trust because he was saved by him before.
The game this time is completely different from the restricted Rock, Paper and Scissors. This time, the contestants (i.e. Kaiji&co), have to engage in an incredibly reckless stunt in front of a number of drunken bastards who are betting on them, fighting for their lives. Basically, there’s a 30-meter long bar that needs to be walked across. If you’re the first to reach the other end, you get 20 million. For every three people, there’s one bar, so if you’re second in line at one bar, the only thing that can make you win is push the one in front of you.
Still, I doubt that this arc is over with just this game. Kaiji, the old man (Ishida) and Sahara didn’t get to share the same bar for a reason: they need to survive for the next stage.]]> 
It’s strange… usually I can easily write enough for at least paragraphs for an entry, but for my entries for Kaiji I never seem to have any inspiration.
In any case, this episode is an intermezzo: we see Kaiji, as he spends a few months living and working to pay off the huge debt he has now, before he gets recruited for the next arc by Endou. We also see the final major character introduced: the guy we saw in the ED. The guy really fits into this series: he likes to trick and make fun of people, but he is alert and can see through people, just like Kaiji. I liked the beginning of the episode, where Kaiji basically refused to socialize because he’s just not good at it. But one thing… his new manager, was that the same old guy as before? Well, there goes his image of a nice guy.]]> 
And so, finally the Espoir-arc is finished. And really, the conclusion was awesome! It really showed the worst ides of human nature: the ease to lie and deceive. I was surprised at the way that Kaiji found his way out of that room, by actually stealing from Okabayashi.
Overall, I think that anyone could have predicted who would survive the games right from the start. While it was awesome to see that probably the only honest guy on the entire ship was saved too, it had it coming. Otherwise he wouldn’t have had so much attention in the beginning-episodes. Predictability isn’t really Kaiji’s strongest point, but fortunately it makes up for this with excellent character-development and screenplay.]]> 
Fans of the fifteenth episode of Rahxephon can rejoice: its director, Mitsuo Iso has embarked on a new project called Dennou Coil. Having done the animation for major Ghibli-movies such as Porco Rosso, Ocean Waves and Only Yesterday as well, this guy had the potential to create a masterpiece. Thankfully, he actually pulled it off, and many consider this series as one of the best of the entire year.
The thing that’ll probably immediately catch your attention when you start to watch this series is the immense amount of creativity that’s put into the series. It takes place in about twenty years, where a cyber-world exists that people can only see if they’re wearing special glasses already is something you don’t think of quite easily, but Mitsuo Iso created a world that consists out of much, much more than just that. The first half of the series carefully builds this up, and makes sure that the viewer has been accustomed to the many sides of the setting, only for this series to really get fired off with the second half, and the final quarter of the series has some incredibly emotionally charged climaxes.
To make this even better, Dennou Coil has amazing production-values, second to only Seirei no Moribito. What you usually see with series is how their first few episodes have amazing animation, only to switch to a lazier animation-style after a few episodes, but Dennou Coil is different. The animation is of a consistent high quality, and there are no signs of outsourcing at all. The character-designs may look simple, but the animation and integration with CG make them look beautiful.
The characters may not be among the best points of this series, but they do work effectively when they have to, due to the careful building-up of the storyline. One point of critique would be that most of the side-characters could have gotten more development. Daiichi, Denpa, Fumie and Kyoko are wonderful characters, but if feels like they weren’t used to their full potential, and their roles became smaller and smaller as the series went on.
One thing that irked me, but will probably have little effect to those who plan to marathon the series is the overabundance of recap-episodes. In total, there’ve been three of them for a 28-episode series. The final episode could also have been a bit less rushed. Finally, there are three episodes in the middle of the series (11, 12 and 13), which I guess were meant to flesh out the world of Dennou Coil a bit, and they’re excellent standalone episodes, but they really feel out of place with the rest of the series, and only throw in more potential that unfortunately had to be ignored in the end.
Apart from this, though, we’ve got ourselves a masterpiece here. It’s one of the highlights of the year, and apart from Kaze no Shoujo Emily, it’s the most consistently good series of 2007 for me. It’s anime like these that show that even stories focused at children can be awesome nonetheless.]]> 
Ah, thank god. For a minute, I thought that the ending for Dennou Coil would end up rushed, but thankfully the series gets closed with one final powerful climax that nicely finished the series. Obviously, the ending itself doesn’t match up to some of the other series of the spring-season: Bokura no, El Cazador, Seirei no Moribito, Kaze no Shoujo Emily and Ooedo Rocket all wrapped up their stories better than Denou Coil did in this episode, but I can’t complain, as it could have turned out a lot worse.
And so, we finally find out what really happened in Yasako’s flashback. Obviously, if you haven’t seen the episode, CLOSE YOUR WINDOW. Yasako ended up in the coil-domain thanks to Densuke, right after the accident with Nobuhiko and Isako occurred. She than ran into Nobuhiko at the shrine, and the two of them had fun for a bit. Then Nobuhiko realized that the coil-domain was starting to collapse, so he told Yasako to run away fast, while he himself got sucked into the void.
Afterwards, Yasako managed to escape the black void, and met the Null. This guy turned out to be indeed Yasako’s grandfather. The two of them recognized each other quickly after Yasako’s memory went blank, so the two of them managed to say one final goodbye. The reason Yasako’s grandfather was there was because he was trying to save Isako. Nobuhiko lost his body in the accident, though Isako’s body remained, and it was Yasako’s grandfather who managed to bring it back in the end.
There were quite a few forced scenes in this episode – Nobuhiko suddenly got eyes, and there’s no real reason given for all the revelations. But one thing that went really well, apart from the climax itself, is the emphasis on one of the major themes of this series: saying goodbye to the deceased: Yasako got to say her final goodbye with her grandfather, Isako got to see her brother one final time, Densuke remains gone, but he appears in front of Yasako and Kyoko one final time, when they’ve grown up. This is really why it’s a children’s series in the end: it’s meant to show children who have lost something important to keep remembering this person, but live on at the same time.
And so we’ve come at the end of the major gems of the spring-season. It’s really been an awesome ride, and also a really consistent series.]]> 
Haha! That was some major plot-twist at the end of the episode! I’m not going to say what it is, though. I’ll leave that up to the next and final episode of this series. There’s just so much potential for it!
In any case, Mayumi turned out to be a small character in the end, whose purpose was to show Yasako where she had to go to find the other side. Mayumi just still hates Yasako, because Yasako basically did nothing to stop rumours about her and Michiko-san from spreading, while she had enough chances to do so. It’s like Mayumi said, Yasako tries to be nice to everyone, but when it really matters, she won’t do anything. That’s why Mayumi felt betrayed, and their fight began.
The reason Haraken was on the move in the previous episode was not because he still longed for Kanna. Instead, he somehow found out that Yasako was trying to get to the other side, and wanted to stop her. Tamako catches him easily enough, though they both end up collaborating in trying to get Yasako back. They’re too late, though, and end up sending a Sacchi to the other side. This Sacchi has a few modifications, though: it can fly!
(Thank god for wao’s summaries) And we finally know why Nekome does what he does: his case is quite similar to that of Takano’s in Higurashi: his father was a researcher as well, and when he finally discovered something major (I think he was the one who originally developed the Imago-function), this was taken away from him by Megamas. So he teamed up with Michiko-san to cause some kind of major scandal for Megamass, by making Michiko cause every kid with Imago to faint… so I guess that that means that the real reason why he allowed Isako to try and get her body back was for Michiko to take over Isako’s body. But still, did he have to go for such a complex way? Couldn’t he just have lured people inside the keyholes and make the v2.0s destroy them? That would have caused a scandal for Megamass as well, wouldn’t it?
I also wonder… where did Michiko originally come from? Did she just appear out of nowhere, or is she like the humanoid illegals, who in the end turned out to be products of Yasako’s grandfather that went out of control? Was she originally created by Yasako’s grandfather, but did something entirely different from what he had in mind? In this episode, she looked awfully human-like, apart from her eyes, perhaps.]]>