Category: Special Articles

I assume that most of you have already seen the infamous episode 22 by now. I’ve already shortly expressed my opinion about the episode in the shoutbox, but I figured to dedicate a post about it, since it confirmed something that’s been irking me about Code Geass for quite a while now. I adore series full of plot twists, which would naturally mean that I’d enjoy Code Geass as well, but for some reason I just couldn’t get into it. Now I finally know why. Not just in this episode, but throughout the entire anime did Code Geass have the nasty tendency to feature a bit too perfect of a timing. Events are so arranged that they create the biggest sensation. The plot twists don’t rely on the characters or the plot, but they rely on coincidences, just like your standard soap-opera. Just think of when Lelouch found out about Suzaku’s identity because his mecha was cut just in the right way to reveal his face and not kill the guy or stop him from moving. Or in episode 21, when Lelouch, C.C., Shirley, Suzaku, Kallen, Ougi and Villetta all somehow end up in the same warehouse at the same time. Or Suzaku just catching Kallen when she’s bathing, and I could go on for this for a while longer. Sure, one coincidence in a series never hurts, and neither do two or three of them. But when a series practically lives off the stuff, something has to be wrong. I’d much rather see a cleverly thought-out plot-twist than the result of what happens when two characters “accidentally” bump into each other. It just feels cheap. I’m quite surprised that this series is so enormously popular, as it’s not really that good. Because of this series, the cleverly-written anime like Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi get nearly no attention at all. Overall, it’s sad to see that Clamp’s talent got wasted on this one. Ah well, at least the character-designs look nice. (on a side-note: my favourite part of episode 22 has to be Lelouch’s father laughing at everything that’s happening. I wish he’d get more screen-time, the anime would turn a lot more interesting with this.)]]>

Bjorn’s Anime Blog Yesterday, I took part in the jury of the Animeblogger.net awards. It was quite fun, basically we made our own choices for the categories of the animereactor-awards. It was great to see that we were with a nice selection of people with varying tastes, so there wasn’t an overly huge emphasis on the popular series. Best Overall: Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu Best Story: Noein – Mou Hitori no Kimi e Best Character Development: Eureka 7 Best Animation / Visual Effects: Pale Cocoon Best Soundtrack: Mai Otome Best Opening / Ending: Shakugan no Shana Best Action: The Third Best Adventure / Fantasy: Mushishi Best Drama: Honey and Clover 2 Best Romance / Love Story: Bokura ga Ita Best Comedy: Ouran Koukou Host Club Best Fanservice / Ecchi: Joshikousei Best Sci-Fi / Mecha: Eureka 7 Best Thriller / Mystery / Horror Anime: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Best Quick Watch Anime: REC Best Male Character: Atori (Noein – Mou Hitori no Kimi e) Best Female Character: Honoka (The Third) Best Villian: Sonozaki Shion (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni) Best Newcomer: Kanon (2006)]]>

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.