Category: Special Articles

Okay, I just finished Lunar’s wave of new Ayakashi Ayashi, and I know I’m not blogging it, but I just had to say something about this series. While I originally thought that this would be just another shounen-fighting series, it has pleasantly surprised me on so many levels. First of all, its characters. It comes with a wide variety of characters, some of them had some kind of problem, worry, which has something to do with their history and the way they grew up. The great thing is that these problems and worries really are different from what you usually see in anime. Never have I seen an anime which put so many emphasis on longing for another place, or different faces of yourself. Not only that, but Ayakashi Ayashi combines this with some very complex storytelling. It’s based on arcs of two or three episodes, but somehow these small arcs end in great multi-layered conclusions. Another thing which makes this anime stand out is its huge roots in Japanese history. Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto may have a lot of historical references, that series is nothing compared to Ayakashi Ayashi. While Bakumatsu looks at history from a higher-up’s perspective, Ayakashi takes this a step further when it shows the story from the perspective of people with a low to medium status, and it does this with great detail. For example, I’ve seen my share of anime which involved a brothel, but never did I see it this detailed as in Ayakashi Ayashi. It’s too bad, though. This is an excellent series, it’s got great storytelling, but the fact remains that it’s hard to understand. Because of this, it’ll never be really popular. And still this series has been scheduled to air at the prime-time date of anime, the former place of popular series as Blood+, Gundam Seed Destiny and even Full Metal Alchemist. The result: it got cut down from 52 episodes to 26. -_- I’m actually wondering how this will take out. There’s no doubt that there will be rushed parts, but it’ll be interesting to see if the creators actually managed to pull this off right. The results are noticeable even now, though. The past five episodes have had a sudden increase in comedy, and Saizou often turns into chibi-mode when she’s astounded. Often by Atl’s new found relationship. So far, especially the comedic note has done the series good, the creators actually knew when to use it, and when to keep serious.]]>

Okay, I finally managed to finish the first 26 episodes, and I’ve come to the conclusion that this is a very, very fun show. I can really understand why Matthew fell in love with it. It’s a huge shame that no fansubber has ever attempted to translate more than the first five episodes of this. This really is everything a mahou shoujo should be. One of the things I really liked was the excellent combination of comedy and drama. It knows EXACTLY when to be funny and when to take itself seriously. Because of this, it not only turned into an incredibly hilarious series, it’s also a series with some very interesting characters. Rain and Fine turned into two lovely characters, Pumo proved to be more than a mascot, while Bright and Eclipse formed a few nice twists. The story is basically like this. In a strange world, there are seven countries. The Sun-country, the Moon-country, the Seed-country, the Windmill-Country, the Waterdrop-country, the Jewel-country and the Fire-country. Our two main characters are the princesses of the Sun-country. They’re given the power of prominence to save the power of the sun, which has been getting weaker and weaker. Soon, however, others start to go after their powers to claim them for their own. While this is a show for children, some of the elements in the story are surprisingly dark. So far, the series has been focusing on three points. Firstly, it really took its time to introduce the different countries. Each country has gotten at least 2 episodes dedicated to itself, and a lot of different places in these countries have been shown. It’s not often in an anime when the main characters can travel freely from one world to another without a good reason, and this anime makes good use of it. Each country already has had a nice amount of development, and yet I only managed to finish one quarter of this anime. The second focus are the relationships with the princesses of the other countries. Each five episodes, one of the even countries organizes a princess party, in order to strengthen the relationship between the different countries. During these episodes, the different princesses really get a healthy dose of development for their own. The third, and darkest focus is the plot to steal the prominence (Rain and Fine’s special powers) from Rain and Fine. The advisor of the Moon-Country is planning to use it to rule over the entire world. A standard plan, but the characters involved are what makes this interesting. The prince of the Moon-Country has noticed this, and the effects this has on his sickly mother, so he disguises himself as Eclipse, in order to prevent the prominence from being taken away. He does act incredibly cold, though. That’s why Rain and Fine see him as the major antagonist in the beginning. I like how this show puts develops him and his counter-player: prince Bright of the jewel country. Eclipse starts out as an incredibly Shady character, but instead, he is a very caring person, while Bright starts out as the charming prince on the white horse, while he gradually develops a nervous breakdown. Still, the story and characters may be nice. What really makes this anime fun to watch is its great sense of humour and cuteness. Rain and Fine are way too funny at times with their antics. You have to love the scenes in which they’re invisible. ^_^ Rain and Fine also have a strange tendency to at random times do a dance to reflect their moods. Not only when they’re happy, but mostly when they’re disappointed. These dances are awful, but they’re way too funny. ^^ I’m wondering what the creators have in store for the rest of the series. I’ve still got 72 episodes to go. The few glimpses I saw of Futago Hime Gyu seemed to suggest an introduction of a large amount of new characters, so that should prove to be no problem. But what will happen in the next 26 episodes? The climax at episode 26 was a pretty serious one, which can be concluded in two or three episodes. What kind of twist will the creators give this one?]]>

Whoa, I just got some stable internet again, and the first thing I see is my shoutbox, in which Impz congratulated me for being accepted in the 9Rules-community. It’s something I didn’t really expect, seeing as when the first rounds of submissions featured such high-quality sites, I rather gave up hope of ever being accepted. Guess I was wrong. ^_^

And on top of that, this also seems to be my 700th post. Great, only 300 more till I hit the milestone of 1k posts.This also seems a good moment for a few statistics, seeing as I hit a rather large amount of other milestone in the past few weeks.

Total amount of comments: 1012 (Yay, more than 1k ^^;)
The top three commenters are the same as the previous time when I made this list (back when I made my 300th post), just a different order. Anga has made the most comments (54), then comes Cos (52) and Hopeless is still third (28, does anyone know what happened to him?).
Total amount of visitors: 104039 as I write this. Finally I managed to hit the 100k milestone, though I’m getting a bit worried seeing it took me 13 months, while others got their first 100k visitors in only three months ^^;
The largest amount pageviews in one day: 1554, back in April 30th, just before Blogsuki kicked me out.
Amount of series finished blogging: 16
Series with most posts: Jigoku Shoujo (30)
The largest amount of posts made on one day: still 12, during both my christmas updates 2005 and 2006
The longest episode-post I made was that for Higurashi 19, a massive 3973 words. I don’t think I’ll be topping that one soon. ^^;

So, my exams are finally over. Thank goodness they’ll stay away till at least March. All that’s left now is to catch up with all of the series I missed. I’m saving the best ones for my christmas update (aka december 24th), though. And unfortunately, I think I’m going to drop two more shows.

Sorry Kanon, but if episode ten was the best you could afford, I’m gravely disappoined in you. Never once did you manage to touch my heart. If the rest of this series will be filled with even more like this, I don’t think I’ll be able to survive. Please cut out the overblown and forced scenes and show us some action. And no, saying “Au” or “Uguu” doesn’t help either. They’ll never be able to beat ~Goth, Goth, Loli, Loli~ anyway.

And also La Corda d’Oro will be dropped. Dating sims stay one of the worst genres of anime, even though this time, the males and females were switched.

Oh, and on a small note, there will be a chance that I randomly disappear again during either this week or next week. We’re going to move in a few days (as in real life) and me disappearing simply means that I’m having trouble setting my internet connection up right. ^^;

The end of the year is coming near, and so are my exams again, unfortunately (next week, to be exact). There are some particularly nasty ones among them, so I’m unfortunately forced to cease my blogging activites for a while, in order to properly prepare for them (seeing as blogging does take up a bit too much time to prevent me from concentrating on them). I may be able to make one or two posts, though don’t expect too much. I’ll be back in about 1,5 weeks.

Wow… I finally managed to last a full year. It seemed an appropriate time to change my lay-out. Star Crossed v3, in a way. I’m really liking it so far. It’s basically a huge edit of the Georgia 2004 template. Unlike my previous two lay-outs, it’s really been built to match my style of postings, instead of the lay-out I had on blogspot, which was just the basic lay-out with a few things changed, or my previous lay-out, which was an attempt to move the same-lay-out to blogsome, because I liked it so much.

This also seems a good time to introduce a new feature: the review index. I’ve written quite a few anime reviews in the year I’ve been active (61, to be exact), and I must imagine that things are getting a bit unorganized. That’s why I’ve made two posts, one which sorts them alphabetically and one which sorts them, based on ratings. Along with a small genre-definition for each of these anime.

I don’t write that much articles, but I felt like I had to say something about this issue. Those who frequent my blog probably should know that I’ve been annoyed with this issue for a long time.

Yesterday, I saw the first episode of an anime called Rakugo Tennyo Oyui. Ever heard of it? Nope? That’s what I thought. I missed it as well. It’s a series which aired during this year’s winter season. I originally thought that the creators delayed it, and that it never aired in the first place. Guess what? It did air, it finished after 12 episodes and only one sub has come out so far. But as that one was entirely neglected, the fansubbers gave up after only one episode. Well then. Does Rakugo Tennyo Oyui deserve to be neglected so much? Is it really so bad that people don’t want to even touch it? Of course not. It’s a perfectly fine light-hearted mahou shoujo with comedy elements. There were only one or two annoying characters, apart from that, the rest of the characters were very interesting to see. Especially the way they interacted with each other.

Rakugo Tennyo Oyui isn’t the first anime to be so horribly neglected. I originally thought that Makai Senki Disgaea was ignored, but at least this series got all its episodes subbed. There are much worse cases of ignored anime. Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club, for example. It’s a truly excellent series, but almost nobody could find out, as only one episode has come out subbed. Himawari? An actually nice, inspiring slice-of-life series about a ninja academy. It’s few attempts at comedy also were very good and the series sparkles in character development.

Shoujo Yang Geum no Yume? great adventure series about a girl who loves cooking. This one also just got one sub. Kirarin Revolution? A semi-serious story about a girl chasing down her dreams to become a pop idol. Nothing wrong with that. Despite its annoying elements, I enjoyed watching the only two subs which came out. Hime-Sama Goyoujin? A perfectly fine comedy anime about idiots acting stupid. Great if you don’t want to think about anything. Yoshinaga-Chi no Gargoyle turned out to be hilarious, but because there were only two subs which came out, this series got horribly neglected as well.

My point is, that each of this series ranges from good to awesome. None of them deserves the treatment it’s got. Now, let’s take a look at the really bad series, shall we? Coyote Ragtime Show was fully subbed, almost right after it aired and id had three fansub groups working on it. It’s the same with Zero no Tsukaima. Yoake Mai Yori Ruri-Iro na got its first two episodes subbed right after they aired by two fansub groups. Mamoru-kun ni Megami no Shukifu wo also has two groups working on it. Shounen Onmyouji also got subbed in less than a week after it came out. Same with Tokimeki Memorial, Gift and Love Dol.

Now, let’s take a look at the popular series. Both Kanon and Death Note have a massive SIX fansub groups, working on them at the same time. It doesn’t matter whether they’re good shows or not good show, six fansub groups is way too much. Two would have been more than enough. And there are more series like this which get way more fansubbers working on them than is actually needed (Zero no Tsukaima, .Hack//Roots, Coyote Ragtime Show, etc).

Notice this trend? The popular shows get oversubbed and because of that, the ignored shows get no chance of being fully subbed, in order to get the attention they deserve. And the annoying thing is, that it’s very easy to actually solve this problem. Take Death Note, for example. Live-Evil and Toriyama World can just continue to bring out Death Note at a steady pace, so that C1 can tackle, for example, Himawari. Desuno can focus on Shoujo Yang Geum no Yume, SOY can work on Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club and Animanda can sub Kirarin Revolution. Same with Kanon. SS-Eclipse and Sprocket can continue with Kanon, so that Shinsen-Subs can work on a show like Jigoku Shoujo or Marginal Prince. A.F.K. can try to handle Rakugo Tennyo Oyui, AQS-Anime can try to sub Yoshinaga-chi no Gargoyle and AnimeU can give Hime-Sama Goyoujin a try. And voila, a lot of problems would be solved. This, of course, is just an example.

I’m not trying to attack, flame or troll the fansubbers in any way. You’re all great people, who bring anime to the non-Japanese community. But I felt that I just had to say something about this. It’s been a trend for a while, and I’ve been getting more and more annoyed at it. Especially when the solution is so simple.

I’m not sure whether I’m going to use this section often, but it’s perfect if I want to say something about certain series outside of the monthly summaries. Perhaps I’ll use this more often in the future f I want to say something about series I’m not blogging.

Himawari

I remember that I classified this anime as mediocre. It was probably an ordinary love-anime which was doomed to be nothing special forever. Well, I was wrong. ^^ I decided to check this out again after seeing the promo-art for the second season and became curious. I’ve seen 6 episodes as of right now, which have made me be able to give a more fitting description for this show: it’s about a female ninja, who’s horrible at every field, but has a huge amount of motivation and determination. I can’t believe how inspirational this worked. Not just for the rest of the cast of characters, but for me, as viewer as well. Himawari gets thrown into some situations, any normal person would have just quit after a few minutes. And she actually gives her full dedication to these situations, even though she goofs off horribly. This case is a simple matter of a bad first episode. I wouldn’t say that this anime is going to win many prizes, but it’s definitely a good watch.

Yoshinaga-chi no Gargoyle

It’s really a long time ago since I saw the first episode. I just finished the second one, and now I know: this anime is hilarious! If there ever was a series which doesn’t deserve being abandoned by the fansubbers, this is it. I can’t believe how funny the cast of characters is. Each one manages to contribute in some way, and the two main characters are just hilarious. They definitely have interesting and unique personalities. I’m really recommending people who love a good comedy to check this one out, and I’m really hoping that Doremi will continue subbing this hilarious anime. ^^

Gintama

Gintama is another one of those anime you need to get into before it becomes actually funny. I think that that’s why most people (including almost me) ignored it when it first came out. Now that I’ve seen up till episode 6, I’m glad to say that Gintama is a hilarious anime. Just like with Yoshinaga, the comedy works great. There are so many puns, references and just pure random moments. I also like that this is one of the few anime that critizises itself. The dialogue is pretty difficult to follow, even with english subs, but that makes things only better. The cases, introduced in the individual episodes also show that thought has been put in them. This definitely is one of th emore creative anime out there.