Category: Kaleidoscope

Summer 2012 Kaleidoscope – Week 31

by psgels, posted in Summer 2012 Kaleidoscope

Okay, today I finally had a bit of time to fiddle around a bit with episode ratings. I’ve used the current star system for a few years now, and it’s time for something new. I’ve wanted to go back to numerical ratings, although using ratings out of ten proved to be too similar to the ratings I use for full series, and I don’t want to confuse those. So instead I’m going for the following:

1/8: These are the worst types of episodes: uninspired, full of clichés, incredibly boring to watch, badly animated, etc.
2/8: These are the boring or really annoying types of episodes that leave me wanting things to end, or the kinds of episodes of an established series that completely go against what the series is about.
3/8: This is a rating for mediocrity: I guess the episode was there… but nothing really caught my attention, or what did catch my attention was drowned out by too many annoyances. Most episodes would fall between 3/8 and 4/8
4/8: This would be the rating for a standard episode: nice things happened, it caught my attention, and I enjoyed it, but it’s not really special.
5/8: I like these episodes a lot, either through outstanding visuals, interesting subject material, well written scenarios or sympathetic characters. Most episodes from the series I watch would fall between 4/8 and 5/8.
6/8: These are the episodes that really do something to stand out. Incredibly fun, engaging and interesting to watch.
7/8: The types of mind-blowing episodes that only come here once a month if you’re lucky. I guess that this would be the equivalent of the ****-rating that I used to use.
8/8: This is reserved for the best episodes of the best: the types of episodes that only come once a year if you’re lucky, and I really want to be able to highlight those kinds of episodes.

This seems to be nice enough. I’m probably also going to use ratings of half numbers (5.5, 3.5, etc). Why a rating out of 8? Why not? That’s what experiments are for. I think I’m also going to ditch the “good”- and “excellent”-labels. They were getting a bit old and they started to lose their meaning. I’m not sure whether this will be the definitive explanations, because I really noticed that thinking of a rating system and actually using this in practice is something completely different. I remember how with the ratings I use for full series, my original intention was to have the median around 60/100, but that also changed over time.

#1: Hunter X Hunter – 41: Oh my god, finally!! The Spider Troupe has made its appearance! And they actually nailed them! These are by far the best villains I have seen in any shounen series, period. Because of this I had been really afraid what this series would do with them. But the way in which they were portrayed i this episode: they can really make it work! Finally I’m getting excited about this series again! – 5.5/8 (Excellent)

#2: Kokoro Connect – 04: The script of this series is excellent, but that is probably because of the source material. But what really surprised me about this series is how good the voice acting is for a Silver Link-series. Where usually the characters in their series sound flat and one-dimensional, they here have a wide range of voices that shape their personalities, and I really wonder where that sudden change came from. Could that really be the influence of Shinya Kawamo or did something different go on? – 5.5/8 (Excellent)

#3: Polar Bear Cafe – 18: Oh my god, those ghost stories were perfect for the deadpan humour of this show. In particular Polar Bear’s story was absolutely priceless. On top of that, this episode tried to subtly slip past a lot of details that really make you wonder about the characters once you start thinking about them. Why on earth is a Lama working overtime in a zoo? What is Penguin going to do at that Buddhist memorial service? Oh, and the new ED is awesome. – 5.5/8 (Excellent)

#4: Tari Tari – 05: This episode showed me something: that blond girl isn’t really the best main character for this series. This episode finally took her to the background in favor of the other characters, and suddenly this show got a lot better. There still are the cliches like the dead mother, but they were all really well done and heart-warming. – 5/8 (Great)

#5: Saint Seiya Omega – 17: Ow, this episode had some outsourcing issues. Other than that, it was incredibly cheesy during the big fight, but it had its charms. That Kiki guy probably is another member of the old Saint Seiya cast, and his cameo was handled pretty well here. – 4/8 (Good)

#6: Phi Brain – 41: Finally this series returns again to the actual Orpheus Order. It was a bit of a cheesy episode, but with the nature of those rings that’s no surprise, really. And really: this was actually pretty good and it finally started to resolve things. On a side-note: when is Nonoha going to take her hair down…? – 4/8 (Good)

#7: Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon – 16: Obligatory boring fanservice episode. Also, I do hope that they’re not going to drag out that festival arc. – 3/8 (Mediocre)

#8: Total Eclipse – 05: The sheer nationalism indeed is starting to get annoying now. On top of that, does this show really need a cowgirl who is just there for the fanservice? In fact, why are we even following a bunch of test pilots anyway when the rest of the world is about to be destroyed? – 3/8 (Mediocre)

#9: Tanken Drilland – 04: I think that this is the point where I’m going to drop this series. The stupidity of the characters is just too annoying, and watching this episode only served to remind me that Saint Seiya is currently doing what this series is doing, while also taking itself seriously. And after all of the criticism I have for that series, that has to say something. – 3/8 (Mediocre)

Summer 2012 Kaleidoscope – Week 30

by psgels, posted in Summer 2012 Kaleidoscope

#1: Phi Brain – 41: This was undoubtedly the single best episode of the second season. Finally the creators actually used the fact that Orpheus Rings distort the minds of their wearers well, by making them say things that they normally wouldn’t do. At this point, Ana Gram definitely is the most heartfelt character of the entire series, and the one who suffered the least in this series’ attempts to degenerate the entire cast, and this episode really showed that. – Excellent+)

#2: Kokoro Connect – 03: How? Why? When? Is this still the same show? Is this really Silver Link? With this kind of good acting? Seriously, this was a massive improvement and it went quite deep into its different characters. I’m impressed. – (Excellent)

#3: Hunter X Hunter – 40: Finally! The Yorkshin arc has officially started now after forty bloody episodes of waiting! The calling out names still is a bit childish, but the rest of this episode was excellent build-up. The new characters are all slightly different from what they used to be in the 1999 series, but they can definitely make this work. – (Excellent)

#4: Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon – 15: Well, this was a typical Horizon episode: it really doesn’t make any sense once you start thinking about it, but what went on was pretty damn cool and creative. This definitely was an interesting way to portray negotiations. There’s just one thing: a girl pretending to be a guy in order to avoid gender racism is a pretty interesting subplot. But in the context of this series? Really? – (Great)

#5: Tari Tari – 04: Well, thanks to Wakana and the three musicians this was the best episode of Tari Tari so far. It was quite heart-warming, with the only mitigating factor being the dead mother that has been done to death. Kids, whatever you do, don’t ever get kids! If you do, there is a 50% chance that you’ll die within a few years. – (Great)

#6: Total Eclipse – 04: A simple episode, and the side-cast still is stereotypical, but the two leads… they’ve got interesting chemistry together. It’s a bit overblown and angsty, but it can work. – (Good)

#7: Binbou-Gami ga – 03: This is one that I missed in my catch-up streak last weekend. Overall, comedy is incredibly subjective, but with this show I notice that much more, as people have many different reactions here. This episode was cute. It had “trying too hard” written all over it, but had some good jokes. The yelling however has gotten very dull right now, and it’s also one of those series that just drops references for the sake of dropping references, which also has gotten quite annoying. And it’s only the third episode yet. Ultimately, this just isn’t funny enough for a comedy for me, especially considering the competition it has right now. – (Good)

#8: Polar Bear Cafe – 17: This was one of the lesser episodes of Polar Bear Cafe. It still was funny, but it was pretty much about Panda and Polar Bear trolling again in the first half, and Rin Rin in the second half. It’s not really something new, and these jokes are starting to wear off now. – (Enjoyable)

#9: Binbou-Gami ga – 04: Sorry, Binbou-gami, but with this I’m going to drop you. The new character of this episode was just a collection of bad SM-jokes. For a comedy, this just isn’t funny enough. When I watch a comedy, I want to really laugh out loud, not chuckle once every five minutes. Comedy is incredibly subjective, so if you like SM-jokes and lots of yelling, then this series is for you. I’d rather watch Polar Bear Cafe and Poyopoyo, though. – (Disappointing)

#10: Tanken Drilland – 03: Anime writers need to realize the boundaries of stupidity. Running into a trapped room? That’s okay. Anyone can make such a careless mistake. A different matter is it when a character falls for the classic “money on a string”-trap. Especially when the “string” is a sticky spider thread. And he wraps it around his arms. And falls for the same trick twice. And that wasn’t even the worst in this episode: a character goes missing and instead of looking for him, they think that he has abandoned them and run off with the treasure. – (Lacking)

#11: Saint Seiya Omega – 16: It’s not like this episode sucked completely. The change of pace was welcome, we saw something different of the world for a change and this was definitely good to bring some diversity such a monotone series. But everything about the restaurant felt like an insult. Like “why are you still watching this? We surely aren’t trying anymore”.I can understand that fillers need to have light-hearted material compared to regular episodes, if you’re going to use them at all, but even with light-hearted things you actually need to try. – (Lacking)

Summer 2012 Kaleidoscope – Week 29

by psgels, posted in Summer 2012 Kaleidoscope

#1: Polar Bear Cafe – 16: I have no idea whether Mr Necktie was just a one-shot character or whether he’s going to make more appearances, but seriously: this guy is awesome! I know it’s getting boring to keep putting this series at #1 for these rankings, but this episod had me yet again in stitches. The first half was incredibly corny, while the second half really shined with Mr Necktie’s inner monologues. – (Excellent+)

#2: Hunter X Hunter – 39: YES! YES! This is the episode I’ve been waiting for. The point at which this series goes “Shounen conventions? Screw shounen conventions, we have a story to tell!Ägainst my fars, this episode worked, plus there were a ton of new background songs introduced, which indeed confirms my suspicion that the creators have been saving the best tracks for later. – (Excellent)

#3: Sword Art Online – 02: Two questions: if everyone is playing with their real-life avatar, then what about the guy with blue hair? Why do creators bother with hiding the faces of important characters if they’re prominently featured in the OP? Beyond that, awesome animation! More detail on Episode 03. God, I am so late. – (Great)

#3: Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon – 15: I do think that the male lead is trying a bit too hard to brighten up the mood at this point. I mean, there’s being silly, and there is taking that oo far. But using Macbeth as a weapon? This episode has definitely made up for it. – (Great)

#4: Tari Tari – 03: While I do appreciate that more and more foreigners are appearing in anime and that those voice actors doing a better and better job of not sounding too Japanese, can we now please portray these characters as actual people, rather than one-joke characters? Just look at Gunslinger Girl: not all Italians are weirdoes or players. – (Good)

#5: Kokoro Connect – 02: Okay, I have to admit that this was pretty amusing, and much better than the first episode. Rather than throwing some lesbian scene fro out of nowhere the characters actually went into the gender issues and what it’s like to be suddenly personality-swapped, rather than Ömg I’m a girl now! Must touch boobs!” – (Good)

#6: Tanken Drilland – 02: This episode introduced the third main character. And he is annoying. And uselesss. Thankfully, he realizes that he’s useless and annoying, so at least the creators are using this. Also, a fantasy series in which bullets are limited is not something you see every day. – (Good)

#7: Saint Seiya Omega – 15: The side-character of this episode apparently was someone from the original Saint Seiya series. So let me ask the people who saw that one: was he always such an idiot? I mean, the concept behind this episode could have worked, if only he didn’t have such stereotypical character-design (this is especially surprising considering one of the best character-designers out there worked on this series), and he wasn’t such a moron. “You are my enemies! So let me carefully explain what’s going on to you.” Also, that summoner silver saint… did he actually do anything this episode? I mean, I know this episode wanted to point out that he is just interested in his creations, but also the golems just… stood there. – (Enjoyable)

#8: Phi Brain – 40:So, Rook has finally returned. With this episode it’s finally time for him to show what he’s made of after such a long absence. So what’s his match against? An old dog…. truly an opponent worthy for what once was the main antagonist of the series. Seriously, I get that this was meant to show how ruthless the Orpheus Order are, but why spend this story on Rook? Why so late in the seris? This just felt like any other episode now, and nothigng would really have changed if any other character replaced him. Even Nonoha could have dealt with this! Also, the long-haired bad guy has reached the point where he’s so bad that he becomes funny. Not a good sign for a show that takes itself seriously. – (Disappointing)

#9: Dog Days’ – 02: I couldn’t complete this episode. In the end, the fight scenes, the central focus of this series, just aren’t that good. People just spam beams and make weapons explode until the armor of the opponent breaks (or in the girls’ cases: their clothes tear up). I mean, I can understand it if you want to have a premise that trivializes war and all, but if you do: go for it all the way and actively use this. – (Disappointing)

Summer 2012 Kaleidoscope – Week 28

by psgels, posted in Summer 2012 Kaleidoscope

#1: Polar Bar Cafe – 15: This show… is brilliant. Oh my god, I’m nearly dying from laughing here. This show managed to surpass itself yet again. – ***+ (Amazing)

#2: Tamayura Hitotose – 05,5: One issue that i still can’t find a good solution for is how to cover OVAs. The thing is, that I want to cover these things because I’ve often noticed that they suffer from a lack of buzz and people don’t often know about them, even though there is some very good stuff amongst them. The problem though is that in my experience, it’s too much of a chore to devote a single post to all of them. What I’m still searching for is some sort of catalog or easily accessible post or page that would briefly highlight the noteworthy OVAs out there. But for now I’ll just include them in these ratings. This episode was awesome and I nearly dozed off due to how relaxing it was. This is what I mean by using ovas well: this episode showed so much about Potte and her father. Awesome. – *** (Awesome)

#3: Computer Kakumei OVA: Computar Kakumei and the below listed Marimo no Hana are two OVAs of only 10 minutes long that have a surprising amount of talent within them (heck, both directors worked on multiple episodes of the Tatami Galaxy and Kaiba among others). While this didn’t come together for Marimo no Hana, Computer Kakumei is actually quite interesting. At first it seemed a bit of a sell-out with the lead’s female’s father suddenly getting hospitalized, but there was a surprising amount of heart to it. The visuals also look very pretty, but what caught my attention the most was how good the soundtrack was.In fact, for such a short OVA… I can hardly recall any OVA of that length that had a better soundtrack other than Comedy. – ** (Excellent)

#4: Tari Tari – 02: I’m not going to blog this series for the fear that it’ll be too short to make any real impact. But still this episode impressed me with how much went on there. I thought that the entire series would revolve around getting the choir club going, but with this episode this entire subplot has been resolved already. This definitely was a significant difference from the first episode and I quite like how the creators juggled around the roles for everyone and made everyone important in trying to make the joint recital. – ** (Excellent)

#5: Hyouka – 11,5: Again, I’ve gotten a bit tired about devoting full entries to OVA episodes like this, so I’ll just list this one here. It’s a pool episode, and while it’s not a very good pool episode (remove the pool part and this episode still would have been able to make the points it wanted to make), it is quite worth watching, if only for what they did to Oreki’s character and his boredom here. – *+ (Great)

#6: Binbou-Gami ga! – 02 – Unfortunately, this is as I expected: this episode was not as good as the first, by far. The new character introduced is just an overblown unfunny stereotype and this episode flowed far from as smoothly. On top of that, a majority of the jokes was very forced and fell rather flat. This is a bad sign. – (Enjoyable)

#7: Hunter X Hunter – 38: This episode only featured the same exposition I’ve already seen before. So yeah, I found this really boring, but it’s good to have all this set-up over with now; this part was even longer and more annoying back in the 1999 series. – – (Disappointing)

#8: Marimo no Hana – OVA: So, AKB0048 is currently very good. Interestingly, this 10-minute OVA is an example of how not to use them. Two of its members basically voice the main male and female. And the male one sounds like a girl. I mean, totally, without any question. And really, I’m not blaming the girls here, the producer here should have known that you can’t just throw idols everywhere and expect this to work out, and this really was a cheap cash-in with no thought put into it whatsover. Which is a darn shame, because this OVA has a bunch of really good animators working on it. – – (Disappointing)

#9: Yuruyuri 02 – 02: When I watch a comedy, I want to watch something that makes me laugh. Not something that dabbles on randomly while trying to annoy me. Dropped. – — (Lacking)

#10: La Storia della Arcana Famiglia – 02: I checked Amazon. And I could only find 6 DVD volumes listed, meaning that it’ll be highly likely that this show will only have 12 episodes. For that, it’s goofing off way too much, there is too little happening: go back to fun action scenes instead of having bishies talk to each other trying to act quirky while saving kittens. Dropped. – — (Lacking)

#11: Phi Brain – 39: Why, Phi Brain? Why!? There was so much wrong with this episode it’s not even funny. Why did you decide to bring back the single most pathetic villain of the first season? Why did you find it a good idea to bring back such a comically evil bad guy? Why did you kidnap Elena without involving Gammon in this at all? Did you entirely forget the romantic hints that the first season was building up to? Why did you take Nonoha instead? Why did she end up partaking into part of the puzzle now of all times, in which she was absolutely useless? Why didn’t you give her something to redeem herself with? Why did you make Rook appear from out of nowhere? Why did Rook’s helper arrive just at the right time? Why did they know about a kidnapping that even Cubic wasn’t aware of? Why did you suddenly introduce two game players, even though the Orpheus Order people have up till now always battled the main cast directly? There are just so many things about this series now that make no sense whatsoever from a storytelling perspective. It’s like this series WANTS to ruin itself or something. — (Bad)

#12: Campione- 02: I dropped this about 4 minutes into the episode, in which this show revealed itself as a harem, the lead female completely changed character and the male lead’s sister got jealous at her. —- (Terrible)

Summer 2012 Kaleidoscope – Week 27

by psgels, posted in Summer 2012 Kaleidoscope

So yeah, this season I’m going to continue ranking the shows that I’m not blogging from best to worst. The format will be pretty much the same, although I’m not going to include Poyopoyo anymore. In terms of writing about 2-minute episodes, my inspiration has run out for that. However, if I haven’t made this clear by now: check this series out, because in terms of relatable slice of life you really can’t get any better than this.

#1: Shirokuma Cafe – 14: The premise of this episode was crazy. Both halves were; a polar bear and a penguin visiting the bech is already surreal enough on its own, but the first half of this episode really tole the show. It’s based on an idea so stupid that nobody tries it anymore. And here this show comes and goes with it. – **+ (Excellent+)

#2: Alice in the Country of Hearts: I’m not going to make an entry out of this, but I do want to say that against my expectations after finding out that this was yet another reverse harem with a ton of bishies, I really enjoyed this one. It has made not making any sense into an art form. Characters really appear from out of bloody nowhere and things jump from one place to the other without any explanation whatsoever, even for the standards of something based on Alice in Wonderland. But the charactrs are fun an interesting, the dialogue was surprisingly good, the music was used really well. This really had the charms that originally made me a fan of the shoujo genre. *+ (Great)

3#: Hunter X Hunter – 37: This was the first time in which I’ll admit: this episode was significantly better than its counterpart in the 1999 series. the 1999 version at this point was t its dullest point: so much build-up had passed, and things still didn’t look like they were picking up. this version though, is different. Ging’s background was done much better, and the whole lay-out of this story flowed much more. Also, what do you mean that this story is 13 years old? I’m curious to my younger readers: did you actually recognize those cassette tapes? – *+ (Great)

#4: Saint Seiya Omega – 14: This week’s episode was actually very good, the way in which it used someone from Saori’s past and delved more into it. The plot is also finally moving, but do you really meant to say that they still need to collect four more of those goddamn crystals before they can face the big boss? – *+ (Great)

#5: Phi Brain – 38: Jikugawa was one of the few characters who wasn’t affected by the past degeneration arc so his part in this episode was very god. However, now that my suspense of disbelief has been broken I’m starting to notice other thing. For example how empty the school is: Ana and Nonoha were supposed to evacuate the entire building, and yet we only saw one other person. It’s important to populate your world, people. – *+ (Great)

#6: Kokoro Connect – 01 – Part B: So I was surprised over all of teh feedback that I judged this series too early, so I at least figured to check out the second half of this episode… and right after the point where the first half left ff a crazy lesbian appeared from out of nowhere and started groping the girlIs this really common behavior? In any case, afterwards things got better and I may have been a bit too harsh rating this with 0% potential, but I still don’t really like how the dialogue is too tatic, or how random this show is: there is no point to these gender changes: theey’re just there for no reason whatsoever and unlike Natsuiro Kiseki there is no context behind it. What this show was very good at was describing the slice of life situations for the cast after they left school, but I really don’t want to see more of this show if it’s just going to base itself of unfunny perverted jokes. – — (Lacking)

Spring 2012 Kaleidoscope – Week 26 + Wrap-Up

by psgels, posted in Spring 2012 Kaleidoscope

#1: Natsuiro Kiseki – 12: I usually use Media Player Classic to watch episodes, but I watched Natsuiro Kiseki’s finale on Windows Media Player (on my crappy laptop I have experienced that it’s the best in terms of smoothness). Unknowingly I had the player settings stand on repeat. So yeah, I got quite a scare when suddenly the episode started looping, ESPECIALLY with this kind of episode. Apart from that, what can I say about it? Wonderful idea for a final episode and a really heart-warming finale. – ** (Excellent)

#2: Hunter X Hunter – 36: Yes, Madhouse: this is how you do action scenes. With lots of dynamic movements instead of frames that look like they have been directly copied and pasted from a manga. This episode did drag on a bit too much, but hey: this definitely is a start. Up next will be the arc that I found to be the single most boring of the 1999 series, so this is really where this show can make the difference. – ** (Excellent)

#3: Nazo no Kanojo X – 12: This episode yet again was chock-full of teenaged hormones, though they were used well. The tension between two lead characters is what makes this show fun, and this episode had more than plenty of that. – *+ (Great)

#4: Kimi to Boku – 25: Kimi to Boku goes with the “random episode”-ending, but it’s a fitting one: it’s about the future of the characters, it had a ton of Chizuru being annoying, and instead of being the most dramatic episode of the season it ended on a mellow, yet charming note. Well done. – *+ (Great)

#5: Jormungand – 12: So much for the interesting trio of last week. As for the other antagonists in this episode: the guy who killed off all of Valmet’s comrades was just another snarking bad guy who kept smiling even though all of his subordinates got killed. I know he’s a killer himself too, but wouldn’t he at least be annoyed or something? I like the guy with the many nicknames, though. That scene where we first see him with his family is exactly the thing that the other villains in this series lacked. Also, who did they get for that one great song that popped up in the middle of the episode? There is no way that that guy is Japanese. – *+ (Great)

#6: Sankarea – 12: Well, that was inconclusive… this episode definitely had its char in nothng happening, but having nothing happen also is a bit of a dwnside for an ending. I’m sure Studio Deen are going to milk this into a second season and all, but still this was a strange way to leave. – *+ (Great)

#7: Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki – 25: Great to see that Poyopoyo seems to continue for another season. This episode perhaps tried a bit too hard with the slapstick, but it still had quite a few inventive jokes. – *+ (Great)

#8: Shirokuma Cafe – 13: Okay, so for episode 13, this series dedicates itself entirely on to Handa and the comedy takes a much less prominent role. I think that that’s one of the main issues with this series: it dabbles tooo long on one particular subject, because Handa already was a main focus of last episode, and this episode only established that he wants to date Sasako, yet can’t muster up the courage. This episode did have its charms with the Tanabata, though. Also, Mr Tortoise’s wish had me in stitches. – * (Good)

#9: Saint Seiya Omega – 13: The fight of this episode was boring in which the main cast had to take down some strange fly guy, but I do like that the creators at least went itno his motivation for being evil (being unhappy with Athena). Oh, and Aria finally did something. – * (Good)

#10: The Legend of Korra – 11 & 12: Ouch. Amon’s background was good and all, but the ending… that was not good. Not only was it a huge Deus ex Machina ending, but it also rendered so much of the earlier episodes useless. I really found the idea to take someone’s bending away forever a great idea and it’s part of what attracted me to this series. But yeah, as soon as Korra lost her bending it became obvious that the creators were trying to look for a way to cancel all of that. And really? By having a bunch of dead people show up from out of nowhere? – – (Disappointing)

Okay, now so to wrap things up:
Number of series consistently covered: 11
Series that made the number one spot in these rankings: Natsuiro Kiseki (4x), Another’s OVA, Kimi to Boku (1x), Legend of Korra (1x), Hunter X Hunter (1x), Nazo no Kanojo (1x), Shirokuma Cafe (1x).
Series with the highest average rankings: Natsuiro Kiseki, followed by Kimi to Boku, Legend of Korra, Nazo no Kanojo and on place 5 there is Shirokuma Cafe.
Series with the lowest average rankings: Saint Seiya Omega, followed by Sankarea and Medaka Box.
Biggest improvement: Hunter X Hunter’s latest episodes. Sankare and Medaka Box also improved.
The Best Week: Week 23; every series delivered there and there were many awesome episodes to be had.
Worst Week: Week 26; endings are hard to do really well.

My plans for the next season.
Overall, I really enjoyed these posts, so next season I’m going to do them as well. There are six series that look interesting enough to weekly blog. The rest of the series will be summarized in these Kaleidoscope posts. Now, there is only one thing: Phi Brain doesn’t deserve an entire post dedicated per week anymore after what it pulled for the past arcs, so that series will too be delegated to the Kaleidoscope serie. So what should I replace it with? I’m currently toying with a few too many ideas, so I need a bit of guidance.

What should I do next season?
  

Spring 2012 Kaleidoscope – Week 25

by psgels, posted in Spring 2012 Kaleidoscope

#1: Hunter X Hunter – 35: Holy crap! What happened here? Suddenly the fight animation has turned incredible. I was fearing that the creators would put the shading overdose with the Hisoka fight again, like what they’ve been doing many times now when he comes into the spotlight, but the movements were amazingly fluid and dynamic here. – **+ (Excellent+)

#2: Natsuiro Kiseki – 11: Again, this was very impressive. The audition scene in particular showed a completely different side of Yuka, but the rest of the cast also got its share in the spotlight. The rock will probably pull one more nasty trick, which is probably what the final episode will be about and on top of covering the audition, this episode also built up for that wonderfully. – ** (Excellent)

#3: Kimi to Boku – 24: The best romance this season doesn’t come from any romance shows, but instead of shows that happen to have romance in them. Kimi to Boku, I applaud you with such a subtle portrayal of Kaname’s romanc. The implied love triangle with the younger sister was a bit pointless, but Kaname and his romantic interest were really well acted. – ** (Excellent)

#4: Legend of Korra – 10: This episode was meant to show the character development, especially on Korra’s part, as well as starting up the actual climax of this “Book”. The action scenes were still good, even though not among the best, but the plot twist at the end was a big one and I like how far the creators went with that. – ** (Excellent)

#5: Jormungand – 11: The bad guys of this episode were better than usual. Their personalities combined together better than usual, and they were actually built up as a threat, rather than just some more cannon fodder for Koko&co. Valmet’s backstory also helped. – ** (Excellent)

#6: Shirokuma Cafe – 12:: An entire episode dedicated to trolling pandas. Oh dear god, Panda really was more sadistic than usual here to Hand, and yet it again had quite a few hilarious moments, the best probably being the point where they took over the zookeeper’s office. – ** (Excellent)

#7: Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki – 24: Amidst random sketches about passing the time while it rains, this episode stood out because of that giant frog. After nearly two seasons, Poyopoyo can stil manage to find new ways to be adorable. – *+ (Great)

#8: Nazo no Kanojo X – 11: This episode was indeed better than expected considerng the build-up. The creators didn’t go into the corny love triangle route, but instead kept tihngs fresh. I do have a different complaint about this episode, though. Nazo no Kanojo is all about the subtle tease: saying a lot with relatively little fanservice. this episode was all “Screw that! Here are naked girls over and over! Let’s have wacky hijinks ensue when the male lead accidentally sees them!”. – * (Good)

#9: Sankarea – 11: I have no idea what to make of this episode. On one hand it had some really good partsand twists, it used a few anti-climaxes nicely and all. and on the other hand there was the really weird decision of the creators to randomly dress up Rea for no particular reason (not to mention the question how these maids managed to dress up Rea when she was in shackles and all), the incredibly silly tone after all that build-up, the return of the cousin with her really bad dialogue and the uncanny ability of the creators to focus on her boobs and ass whenever she appeared. Sankarea: you have potential. Why do you have to be so goddamn annoying as well? – @#*% (?!?)

#10: Saint Seiya Omega – 12: This was watchable fodder in which Kouga shows yet again that he’s the chosen one, though it was interesting to see some more back-story revealed of what I presume was the first season. In order to put the spotlights on the new cast, the creators had to pull some tricks here and there to get the old cast out of the picture, and yeah, I guess being defeated to the point of being crippled for life is a good option. – * (Good)

#11: Medaka Box – 12: And Medaka Box closes off with a return to the mundane “character of the week” routine while waiting for Medaka to heal and the new bad guys to arrive. It had some merits, like showing what the cast would do when the lead character is absent, but this isn’t really the kind of episode you’d want as a mid-season finale while waiting for that second season. And yeah, this one got a sequel. I didn’t expect it, but it does help, considering how little the first actully got done. – * (Good)

Spring 2012 Kaleidoscope – Week 24

by psgels, posted in Spring 2012 Kaleidoscope

#1: Shirokuma Cafe – 11: Polar Bear Cafe, you just surpassed yourself. The first half of this episode was just surreal, and pretty much was the funniest thing I’ve seen all season. I couldn’t stop laughing while watching it. – *** (Awesome)

#2: Medaka Box – 11: So yeah, this arc was completely different from the rest of the series, but it worked. It was so over the top, but at the same time it used the development of the first half of the series and I also liked how it toyed with the shounen conventions. I have no idea how this show plans to wrap itself up in just one episode, but still this was Shouji Saeki‘s best work as a director on a full series. I guess it really helped that he was both the director and the main adapter, because as flawed as this series is, it does have one thing: a big picture, and that can’t be said of every incomplete adaptation. – ** (Excellent)

#3: The Legend of Korra – 09: I’m not really fond of how the creators continue with the love triangle and all, but the second half of this episode took some really interesting twists and turns here. I like how there are many different parties who are up against each other here and it makes for a great plot. But what will this show do once everything is over? – ** (Excellent)

#4: Kimi to Boku – 23: This episode was about Mary, and as expected it got a lot of very neat character development in. What I didn’t expect was that the twins also got some unexpected character development; it was subtle, but definitely there. Both worked really well here. – ** (Excellent)

#5: Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san OVA – 03: Azazel-San’s latest OVA came out this week, and this one takes place directly after the TV-series. It’s 30 minutes long, with an OP that hints at many characters who haven’t appeared yet, so the creators are definitely planning more of these OVAs. This episode introduced Lucifer, a very narcissistic Koala, and the direction was in top shape all over this episode, with a creative direction and a lot of hilarious visual jokes. – ** (Excellent)

#6: Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki – 23: This was another one of those episodes in which the creators tried to cram as many different sketches into one episode as possible. people chatted, launched themselves, rode a bus, visited a movie, cleaned for spring, were bothered by lots of rain and… are these episodes really just 2 minutes long? – ** (Excellent)

#7: Sankarea – 00: A ton of shows are on hiatus this week, but Sankarea did have an OVA coming out. And really, I expected to be this pointless OVA of some sort, but it actually had a very clear point to it. It was a tad uneventful and that coincidence at the end was just unnecessary, but as an explanation behind the notebook, and therefore the concept behind the entire series, this was actually a pretty interesting use for a prequel OVA. – *+ (Great)

#8: Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou OVA – 01: So apparently Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou has DVD specials that contain extra sketches. This one was just two minutes long and was mostly just buiding up to one joke. And despite being rather corny, that joke made me laugh. – *+ (Great)

#9: Saint Seiya Omega – 11: At the very least: the stakes are now much higher and more interesting beyond high school tournaments. This episode was not as impressive as the previous two weeks, but still it had its merits. Just don’t let this drag on by again having one episode focus on a different cast member, because that’s getting really formulaic. – * (Good)

#10: Jormungand – 10: Hmm, this may have been me not paying attention, but was it explained how Koko was able t find that Balkan leader so easily? I’m still trying to puzzle out why this series leaves me relatively indifferent, even though its subject matter is pretty interesting. This episode also had interesting dogfights… but it all just goes too easily for out main cast. – * (Good)

#11: Nazo no Kanojo X – 10: This week… was building up to something really corny here. And I am not sure whether it’s smart to end the series with that, people. Childhood crushes are a dead horse by now so it was very tedious to see the writers use that to create a love triangle. It’s a good thing that Tsubaki and his “ex”-crush were well acted so they managed to save this episode with that, but this show will be ending in two weeks. This isn’t the time to introduce cliches. – * (Good)

#12: Kingdom – 02: Dear god, I can’t watch this series anymore. It’s one thing to be dramatic, but this was some of the most overblown melodrama I have seen in years. On top of that the script tends to repeat the obvious over and over. I unfortunately got my hopes up way too high for this one, and it’s definitely the biggest disappointment of 2012 so far. Dropped. – — (Bad)

Spring 2012 Kaleidoscope – Week 23

by psgels, posted in Spring 2012 Kaleidoscope

#1: The Legend of Korra – 08: This episode caught me off-guard. Every time I thought “oh, they’re finished now”, it only got even better. This had it all: excellent action, it was full of emotion, it played with Korra’s hypocrisy and touchy politics. The best episode of this series yet, without a doubt. – *** (Awesome)

#2: Nazo no Kanojo X – 09: I already had a suspicion when the episode started up, and a quick look-up on ANN confirmed it: yes, Shigeyasu Yamauchi was behind this episode, and he really succeeded in making an already excellent adaptation even better. This episode was even more expressive than usual, and his camera-angles and different poses that focus on subtle movements really brought the characters to life here. – *** (Awesome)

#3: Saint Seiya Omega – 10: Okay… I was originally intending to drop this series; it still hadn’t caught my attention, but I figured that I might as well give it one more episode. And then this episode proceeded to surpass the entire series in every single way: better acting, better action, better music and better use of it, there is better character-development and the plot got a lot more interesting, not to mention that the drama also finally delivered. A quick look-up revealed that Rie Matsumoto was behind this episode, and it really shows. Keep an eye out for her, because she really is Toei’s latest rising star, and let’s hope that the next episode can keep up with this momentum. – *** (Awesome)

#4: Natsuiro Kiseki – 10: And with this, this series is back to its old level. The rock was at its trollish best again, and the entire episode was just based on a great idea with time travel. This one was all about youth memories, and a really creative way to show more about the cast when they were young. – **+ (Excellent+)

#5: Shirokuma Cafe – 10: A hilarious episode. It pretty much was the best use of Panda in the series so far. He is such a troll, and this episode had a ton of fun with that by having a group date with Handa of all people. Penguin also was priceless in this episode. – ** (Excellent)

#6: Kimi to Boku – 22: Very cute episode, again with great romance. Plus, having a graduation ceremony has been done many times before, but it is a great way for character-development. – ** (Excellent)

#7: Sankarea – 10: This series really is trying to get its basics right: background, background and more background. This is the third episode that just takes one of the members of the cast and devotes the majority of its time to show her background and her issues, this time it was the mother’s turn. And really: this was good. It showed who she is, why she is with that asshole of a father and how she changed over the years. Plus: none of the annoying characters made an appearance! Or at least a conscious one. – ** (Excellent)

#8: Medaka Box – 10: And we’re over nine thousand here with Medaka Box. This episode was not as creative as last week, but the change of tone really is apparent here and I like how the creators pulled all of the plugs, while still remaining consistent in the themes it explores. – *+ (Great)

#9: Jormungand – 09: An episode of contrast. It worked very nicely, with the combination of an escort mission giving a new dynamic to this series, while on the other side the small moments take enough time for the characterization of the main cast. The fanservice was annoying though, and this series chronically ignores to give any sort of interesting background or touches to the villains beyond the basics. – *+ (Great)

#10: Hunter X Hunter – 34: That one scene with the electricity: that’s where the animators finally loosened up a bit, and there were other scenes during Killua’s fight that finally had a direction that didn’t seem like it was pasted from manga-panels. The rest of this episode had plenty of those shots, but it’s definitely good to have a start here. What I also appreciate is that the creators bothered to fully let this arc play out, even though that meant having a few repetitive fights. – *+ (Great)

#11: Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki – 22: This week’s episode was a cute story about a crow. Nothing stand-out hilarious for this series’ standards, but it remained very cute. – *+ (Great)

NB. Yes, Poyopoyo is actually last this week. What that means is that pretty much every series on this list delivered and was really enjoyable to watch, and I have very little to bitch about. That’s the great thing about this season: the huge quantity of series worth watching.

NB2. Overall, I’m really enjoying doing these rankings each week with short summaries. I’ll probably do this next season as well.

Spring 2012 Kaleidoscope – Week 22

by psgels, posted in Spring 2012 Kaleidoscope

#1: Another – 00: I don’t feel like writing an entire entry about Another’s OVA, but I do want to say: this is how a prequel OVA should be done. If you liked Another’s quiet moments, then this is a great recommendation because it adds a lot to Mei’s character here. The suspense build-up also was really well done, and the shout-out at the end of the episode was a very nice touch as well. Excellent way to close off this series. – **+ (Excellent+)

#2: Medaka Box – 09: Now this is more like it. Finally stuff happens, and I like the new direction. The action scenes finally delivered, and I really like how the different weapons and moves used poked fun at shounen conventions. Will this be enough considering there are only three or four episodes left, though? – ** (Excellent)

#3: Nazo no Kanojo X – 08: Lots of teenaged hormones running rampant this week, but they were done with such restraint that the tension really got addictive. Usually boob touching is completely and utterly shallow and just for the sake of fanservice , but here it played a huge role in pushing the main couple closer to each other. – ** (Excellent)

#4: Jormungand – 08: One of the best Jormungand episodes so far. They came with an interesting character for Koko to face, it used its politics nicely and some more side-characters got fleshed out. Let’s hope that the next episodes will also be like this. – ** (Excellent)

#5: Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki – 21: What’s so amazing about this show is how easily it is to relate to these characters. This episode was a wonderful example of highlighting all sorts of different habits that pet owners have, and I don’t even have pets. – ** (Excellent)

#6: Shirokuma Cafe – 09: The first half of this episode was boring. The problem with Rin Rin is that he’s just an over the top stereotype, and focusing more on his characters just exposes his flaws. The second half though had Penguin and Polar Bear both in their best element. – *+ (Great)

#7: Hunter X Hunter – 33: Getting back to the explanations: so first we have an actual match in which some of the powers are explained. Then we have the aftermath in which Hisoka explains his powers. And now we get even more explanations as Gon and Killua also have to figure out what’s going on. Just weave that into one; it’s not really a major fight that deserves so much airtime. The end of the episode though. That was quite good. I’m still not a fan of how this series prefers shading over actual animation during the really heavy standout parts, but finally Killua showed off something new. – *+ (Great)

#8: Saint Seiya Omega – 09: Things are finally getting excited. The problem with the first episodes was that the fights lacked impact. Here though, they were interesting to watch and exciting as they were intended. The animation still has miles to go before it can reach Heartcatch Precure and Casshern’s levels, though. – *+ (Great)

#9: Sankarea – 09: An episode entirely dedicated to the sister. Okay. Surprisingly, this resulted in all of the annoying characters being completely absent, and resulted in a much more bearable episode. It was a kindof touching episode. On a side-note: Sankarea is stating to turn into a pet, rather than a human being. She needs to do things for herself as well. – *+ (Great)

#10: Natsuiero Kiseki – 09: This is a strange week: the boring series surpass themselves, while the usually strong series have a week off. The problem with this week’s episode of Natsuiro Kiseki was that it was too forced, but in a bad way. Some parts that would be really surprising are just slided off for the sake of convenience. The biggest example was the end of the episode: when a naked girl just randomly appears, it should be a huge shock, but the two girls here seem to have forgotten about that mere seconds afterwards. Not to mention the bad boob jokes. – * (Good)

#11: Kimi to Boku – 21: Hmm, this was the weakest episode of the second season. I’m not really a fan of the “let’s see how much trouble the characters can work themselves into”-storylines, especially when they involve slapstick, and it was too forced. Better luck next time. – (Enjoyable)