Okay, it didn’t turn out as good as episode seven, but it sure as hell was enjoyable! I’m glad to see that the past few arcs have been way less predictable, as I never really confirmed the culprit until he was revealed. I also loved his backstory and character-development. I liked how he didn’t really turned out to be evil, he just wanted to have revenge for the things that people did to him. His miserable state of two episodes ago was an act all along.
I loved both Numata and Tsukiko, and how the ending wasn’t a 100% happy one. Numata will be serving in Jail, and Tsukiko has forgotten the things that he did, in exchange for her previous memories. It’ll only remain a question whether she can forgive what he did, and whether she’ll still want to be with him after the years he served in prison.
I think the only really evil person here is the major. He’s nothing but a greedy bastard who framed his son into killing Tsukiko, and he probably made him do even more. Even Kobayashi acted because he didn’t want to disappoint his father, which probably was because of the way he was raised.
Overall, it’s either me, or the arcs are getting better and better. There’s only one arc left, and let’s hope that the creators saved the best for last. I’m intrigued as to what they were planning to do to resolve the series. Sakon will obviously be in the spotlight more than he’s ever been, and I do wonder what part of him the creators will use for this.]]>
Category: Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense
Death Note – 36
GOD DAMMIT!!
That’s got to be the worst cliff-hanger EVER! How can the creators expect me to wait for an ENTIRE WEEK FOR THE NEXT EPISODE?!?!
Agh, this is going to be a short entry, because I refuse to spoil what happens, but let me tell you this: THIS QUITE POSSIBLY WAS THE BEST EPISODE OF DEATH NOTE YET! It’s been a long time since an episode had so much tension as this one. If you excuse me now, I need to relieve my frustration on some unfortunate object.]]>
Bokura no – 11
Bokura no continues to impress me like no other series this season. Even though the past few episodes haven’t really introduced new elements, and they’ve just been focusing on the children whose backgrounds could be told in just one episode, I still love this series. Heck, it’s exactly what I want, seeing different people react to the same fate, when they have to say goodbye to their daily lives.
It’s interesting, the first few episodes killed off the weakest characters (especially Masaru and Isao), and the past few episodes have been eliminating the stronger ones, the ones who put other’s lives above themselves (especially Daichi and Moji, who we get to see in this episode). While this episode wasn’t as excellent as Daichi’s, it still was a really good one. In this episode, we get to see why he’s been so calm, when compared to the others. Just like Daichi, he had to be strong for someone else. In this case: a childhood friend with heart problems. For a change, this friend is male, instead of the sick female that other anime often stereotype.
What makes this case so interesting is that Moji wants to have his heart put in his friend (Nagi was his name, by the way), so that he could get better. Through especially the first half of the episode, we see Nagi get more depressed by the minute, thinking that he’ll be dying while Moji and his other friend, will live, while Moji in fact knows that it’s going to be the opposite.
I’m fearing for Kanji in the next episode, as he seems to be the strongest of the current cast, with his laid-back attitude. (If you didn’t guess already, I tend to always skip the next episode-previews due to possible spoilers.) Of course, it’ll be also interesting to see one of the two adults in the pilot’s seat.
Regarding the other children, it seems that the girls have developed a strong bond through the episodes. Jun also causes some trouble again with his whining.]]>
Dennou Coil – A Circle of Children – 06
Due to the absence of both Isako and Daichi, this episode had a lot less flashy graphics. Instead, it focuses on Sacchi, Haraken, Kyoko and the mysterious black motorbiker we’ve been seeing. Another clear building-up episode.
A quick list of the new information:
– Yasako and Fumie’s teacher is getting stalked by another teacher who has the hots for her.
– Haraken seems to be researching about Illegals, according to some rumours, he seemed to be doing this with a girl named Kanna, but she ended up dying. After that, he carried his research out on his own.
– What really happened was the following: Kanna and Haraken carried out their research on a strange place, and got in a fight. Kanna left first, and that’s the last thing Haraken saw of him/her(?). It could be that he or she was killed by an illegal.
– Haraken frequently visits a flower shop, which happens to be right next to a post office which is the homebase of the Sacchi.
– Kyoko likes to put on two different pairs of shoes.
– Sacchi can’t sense its target at a distance of 30 metres.
– Fumie once had a pet as well, but a Sacchi killed it. Oyaji apparently doesn’t count as a pet.
– Yasako and Fumie agree to help Haraken in his research.
– The black biker we’ve been seeing is actually Haraken’s seventeen year old aunt. Instead of going to school, she seems to be high-placed in some company in charge of the Sacchi, which is why Haraken had so much control over it.
– At the end of the episode, Kyoko has given up her “unchi”. Right now, she bothers everyone with motorbike impressions.
– Yuuko’s father seems to worn under Haraken’s aunt.
And I probably missed a few things. The fact remains that the characters and settings in Dennou Coil need lots of explanation, which is what the previous episodes have been giving. I’m looking forward to the point where the introductions are over, and this anime can start to develop its characters, and use the information it’s been giving us for th past few episodes.
Kyoko also is quite interesting, in the fact that she really looks like a five-year old girl, and the creators did not bother to tone down her annoyingness. You don’t see that in many anime nowadays.]]>
Death Note – 35
I must say… that was an amazing episode! I didn’t think Death Note would be able to surpass itself, but holy god, it did! I never expected this to happen to Mello and Takada at all. The people who say that the second half sucks really need to see this episode.
Mello, who started out as an annoying brat totally received my respect after this episode. He also shows that he’s only human, he knows that Near is about to get Kira, and he himself hasn’t been getting anywhere with Misa, so he decides to go for one final attempt to defeat Near, and he makes mistakes which cost him his life. He never knew that Takada possessed a few pages of the Death Note, and he had to pay for this. All the bad things I’ve said about him, I take them back after this episode.
And Light finally demonstrates how cruel he can be. If Takada gets discovered, it’ll mean that Near finds out about her, holding the Death Note and his plan will be gone, so he makes use of the fact that she was abducted by Mello to make her commit suicide. The question remains: will Near buy it? I think, though, that he’s become so focused on his plan that he won’t be able to notice this.
While I originally believed that this would turn into a “calm before the storm”-episode, it turned out magnificently. I doubt whether the next two episodes will be able to beat it, though we’ll see. This isn’t the first time that Death Note surprised me. I’m glad to see that after a bodgy middle part, Death Note managed to redeem itself completely, and I can’t wait to see the next episode!]]>
Bokura no – 10
I may be wrong, but I think we’re currently at the quietest part of Bokura no, in which the children whose backgrounds can be taken care of in one episode are featured. I think we can expect Kirie next time. Because of this, Bokura no has temporarily become a case-based show (a series which features one character per episode). The thing with the case-based show is that you’ve got the phenomenal and awesome cases (episode nine), and the normal cases (episode ten).
This episode was by no means bad, but the previous episode was just so incredibly good, that this episode just doesn’t live up to it. The episode features Mako, and we get to see the reason why she’s so shy: her mother works as a hostess. Because of that, all her classmates think that she’s some kind of weird girl, Mako got ashamed of her mother, and she started to get bullied. She basically spends the episode, trying to understand her mother a bit better.
One thing I did like was how Mako tried to be useful somehow, by making outfits for the different pilots. She only had the time to finish four of them, but I like how she turned out to be a very good tailor. Tana also made sure for a nice surprise in the end, when she asked Tanaka to look for Jun’s real mother. This does mean that the two of them have different parents, and that Jun’s mother divorced his father at one point. The father then kept Jun, remarried, and they got Kana. After that, they either died or disappeared. I didn’t expect this, though. A few episodes ago, Sasa noted that she might kill Jun at one point, but right now it looks like she’s trying to save him, despite the hard time he gives her.
I think that with this pacing, we can expect Bokurano to be either a 24-episode-series or a 26-episode-series. I’m glad to see that the creators realize this. We’ve got 14-16 episodes left, with eight pilots left. This means that there will be enough time left to give each character enough background without rushing it, and the fact that the creators are turning up the pacing already at this point must mean that they’ve got a rather interesting ending in mind. I can’t wait to find out. ^^;
Interestingly enough, this episode also cut back on the animation-budget a bit. Mako looked a bit weird during a few of her shots, and the fight was rather short and meaningless, when compared to the others.]]>
Dennou Coil – A Circle of Children – 05
Heh, and here I thought that Isako would soon befriend Yasako. This episode again showed that she’s got enough plans of her own. She really came to the city for a specific reason, and spent this episode recruiting Daiichi and his four comrades to help her do the dirty work.
This episode also introduces another character: Haraken. He seems to be the president of the biology-club, but he also is really knowledgeable about illegals, something that has rather interested Yasako after her own experiences with them. He joins Yasako and Fumie as they go after Isako, who might be after a huge ore of meta-bugs. They’re not the best trackers, though, and I believe that Isako knew about their plans, ever since she saw Oyaji spy on her.
In any case, Haraken’s skills are a big mystery, since he’s incredibly shy and never uses them. Even though he’s the leader of the biology club, his leadership capabilities are zero, and Fumie keeps saving him from things like Daichi’s pranks. Fumie also explains that Daichi has grown up like a reach brat. It first started when he found out that lifting skirts was fun. When he then got introduced to hacking, he kept bugging others with his pranks.
I also finally realized how people can actually get hurt. It’s probably already explained by now, but I finally realize that the cyber-world heavily uses radio-waves. Whenever Sacchi cleans up dirt, it also uses radio-waves, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the cyber-world entirely consists out of these radio-waves. I can indeed imagine that a long exposure to these radio-waves can get harmful. That’s why Daichi clinged to his friend when his body was affected by too much of these radio-waves, in order to turn back to normal a bit.
Anyway, basically Isako takes Daiichi and four of his friends to a bus-graveyard. In one of these buses, they find a number of explosive meta-bugs. At that point, Yasako and Fumie, who still were spying on them were surprised by a Sacchi and gave themselves away. In the confusion, one of the kids gets separated from the others: Akira, Fumie’s little brother. She doesn’t like it when she finds him, though, and tries to frame him into spying on Daichi. I’m not sure whether he’ll actually do this. 😛
We also see two or three scenes which feature a mysterious motorcyclist. I’m not sure what her role is, but she seems to be spying on Isako, and Isako doesn’t like it. We’ll probably know more about her in the future. The episode ends with something quite interesting: Haraken is able to manipulate the Sacchi. The question: how and why?
Overall, the episode was quite good. I especially like Yasako in this series, even though her role has been small up till now. I also love how Isako keeps messing with the others. Like how she knew that Yasako and Fumie were trailing her, causing her to throw some explosives in their direction. ^^]]>
Ayatsuri Sakon – 22
I’m not sure how many others are still watching this anime, but that isn’t stopping me from really enjoying the current arc. This one might indeed have a very good chance of rivalling the second arc, and also for the first time since that arc, I’ve got absolutely no idea who the heck the culprit is. My best guess would be that Tsukiko is faking about losing her memories, but she sounded awfully genuine in the time we saw her.
It’s like everyone’s hiding something. Apart from Hoshie, everyone has at least one thing that doesn’t make any sense. Why kept Kobayashi visiting Numata’s sister? Was he the actual culprit? What is his father’s role, and why did he look worried? Why was Numata killed off in the first place? Did Tsukiko really survive such a fall and lost her memories? And why the heck did the culprit tape his victim and was stupid enough to lose this tape?
The background music also was truly excellent. If there was anything that could contribute to the already creepy mood, even though it just consists out of piano-tunes, it would be this one. I also laughed quite a bit when Sakon managed to sneak past a large number of police-agents, and Ukon was talking about Tachibana behind her back. ^^;
Luckily, The Ayatsuri-Sakon Project has the tendency to release the different arcs quite fast after each other, while the periods between the releases of the different arcs take up a few months. With a bit of hope, the final episode of the arc should arrive quite soon, as I’m really eager to find out whether it really is as good as I hope it to be. The past two episodes have already been excellent, now let’s hope for a good finish!]]>
Death Note – 34
Strangely enough, I’m beginning to like Near more and more. He first was an annoying brat, but during this episode, he grew on me. Probably because he finally showed some signs of actual action, rather than just continuous research.
Anyway, Death Note seems to be heading to quite an interesting ending. I mentioned it before, but this series has gotten way more consistent, and the past episodes all have been really enjoyable to watch, without any obvious bad points. When you compare this to the horrible Yotsuba-arc, it’s definitely an improvement.
With this episode, it indeed is clear now: Light is out of it. For the past five years, it’s been so easy to keep himself concealed that he got lazy. In the first episodes, he thought up some incredibly clever tricks to avoid being detected, like the bag of chips, or the method to keep the death note safe. However, as he kept getting closer to L, he actually found that using L’s name was actually the perfect way to clear any suspicion of him. He became too much used to this. So, what tricks does he use in the current episodes? How does he make sure that he gets his messages to Takada? Well, meet her in a room, on regular basis, and get rid of any video-cameras in order to talk to her via notes.
Obviously, it has to raise suspicion when you keep enforcing this rule, even though it’s perfectly possible to install some hidden cameras without Takada even noticing it. Still, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Heck, “Good Light” was far more annoying than “Grown-up Light”. It’s interesting to see the downfall of a former genius. It goes quite against the usual shounen-formula which dictates that main characters must keep growing stronger.
Obviously, Light is going to have a few more tricks up his sleeve. It looks like Near is going to execute his plans next time and we’ve still got three episodes left. Mello probably also is coming in action now that the person he’s been observing has been captured (and he’s been given enough time to come up with a plan of some sort). I’ve already been spoiled about Light’s fate, but unlike with L’s death, I’m actually really curious about how this anime will turn out. Who will survive? Who’ll die?
In any case, the final three episodes are promising to turn into something very interesting. I can’t wait. :)]]>
Bokura no – 09
Oh my god… that was such an amazing episode! This time, it focuses on one of the more overlooked characters in this series: Daiichi. And the timing couldn’t have been better. After all the hate and paranoia of the past few arcs, it was SO refreshing to see someone with a personality, entirely opposite of Isao’s.
The results turned out amazing. Finally we have a pilot who doesn’t have any grudges at all. He lost his parents at early age, so he’s had to take care of his two sisters and brother for a few years now. He basically spends most of the episode, living his last days with his family, and he asks the others not to try and interfere with him. I can’t believe how mature he was, with the prospect of dying!
Seeing all the other children cry as Daiichi tried to take care of the enemy mecha also was too sad. It’s also interesting, with most series where random monsters have to be beaten, their strength keeps increasing. With Bokura no, though, the strength of these mechas remains the same. It’s just their destructive capabilities that increase. That definitely got clear with this episode, when Daiichi has to beat a strange kind of steam-roller. This episode definitely was one of the highlights of an already amazing series, and it should definitely not be missed!
Anyway, regarding the plot, the two people from the military sign themselves up, so that each enemy can now be taken care of. We also see Koemushi in another discussion with his mysterious conversation-partner. The dialogue was a bit hard to understand, but it seems he’s pissed off that the military people signed themselves up. Ushiro also gets mentioned, though I don’t really picked up why.
By the way, this anime is quite mean towards its male character. Four of them are left now: Moji, Kanji, Yosuki and Yuno.]]>