Category: Anime Reviews

Towa no Quon 02 is an improvement over the first movie, which is good to see. The animation budget went down a bit, but everything else is more interesting than the first movie. The characters are less annoying, Quon is less perfect, the main side characters are better fleshed out, the lead female is much less of an idiot. Overall it’s a good movie spent, and proves to be a good antidote for all of the optimism that was present in the first movie. This puts it at least above Break Blade, where all of the movies just looked too much like each other. This movie instead is about a supernatural murder mystery. It’s actually well built up and the movie has a clear structure. That helps too. Having said that though… the culprit behind the murders turned out to be one heck of an emo. The acting for the culprit was very bland, one sided and done to death. And overall, this movie still hasn’t really solved the way in which most of the characters are just too one-sided. This movie fulfilled its purpose in building up well, but it’s not there yet. The next number of movies need to continue this upward trend.

Storytelling:	8/10 – Nothing bad, but also nothing to really stand out. Solid build-up at least.
Characters:	7/10 – Too many one-sided character and the main bad guy in particular was one heck of an emo. The main character got better, though.
Production-Values:	8/10 – Much less eye candy compared to the first movie, but still there is plenty of movement.
Setting:	8/10 – Solid concept and this movie built up well. It’s not used as well as how it could have been, though.

Suggestions: – Toward the Terra – Tiger & Bunny – Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha]]>

Oh my god. I’ve finally finished the first part of this behemoth of a franchise. Legend of Galactic Heroes is completely unique. It took more 12 years for it to completely finish, from the opening movie to the final side-stories. It was un-rivaled at the time when it came out, and nothing like it ever appeared again. With amine being as it today, I don’t think there will ever be another series like it. I know that it’s long (it totals a whopping 162 episodes and three movies), however if you have the time to watch it and are tired of anime’s trends towards moe and cheap entertainment: by all means give it a chance. This is one of those series that actually changed my perception. After finishing this series, my view of how to portray tactical warfare, strategical warfare and politics are completely different. In those three areas, this series just blows every other anime out there out of the water with its complexity, maturity and ingenuity. Instead of basing itself on weird logic, just about everything in this series is carefully thought through and fleshed out. The main cast of this series is intelligent, without being perfect: everyone in this show has his or her flaws to make up for it, ranging from hypocrisy to laziness and temper. I remember that my biggest criticism for the first movie was that the creators tried to make the main characters smart by surrounding them by rashly thinking officers who can’t see the big picture. This thankfully also got fixed throughout this series. Not by just removing it, but giving it a very deep meaning within the story. Whereas the movie was just a depiction of a space battle, the TV-series has very strong themes about Autocracy versus Democracy, what it means to be a ruler and commander, and what it means to be a hero. The incompetent people who fail at their jobs are used perfectly in order to illustrate how difficult commanding an army can be. And then, there is the character development. This series has 110 episodes, divided over 4 seasons. All four seasons stand on their own as different, and this particularly shows in the character development, and how the characters think and act. The main cast changes subtly, but significantly, but even the side characters grow throughout this series. And really: the cast of this series is ENORMOUS. What this show also likes to do is take minor side characters who haven’t appeared for what feels like 50 episodes, in order to put them a bit in the spot-lights and show how much they’ve changed. Now, this series has undoubtedly parts that it does better than any other anime out there. Did it turn into my favourite series, though? For that question, I’m afraid that my answer is no. At this point, Legend of Galactic Heroes is ridiculously hyped. Let me however clearly state what this show isn’t: it is not a roller-coaster ride. It’s also not a series that is easy to get into, it’s not a series that blows you away time after time, it’s not a series with an impeccable atmosphere, nor is it a series that’s very easy to watch and draw you in. The storytelling in this series is very composed and polite. It’s so very calculated and the plot twists feel very natural, but I did have to force myself to really sit through such an emormous amount of 110 episodes. The direction delivers its plot twists as they are, and rarely adds extra spices to the storytelling in terms of inventive camera work, or passionate voice acting. The animation as well is very composed: it’s good enough to keep character models consistent, battles interesting, but only one out of 10 or so episodes really goes beyond that. And heck, the episodes with the best animation aren’t the most important ones to the plot, and there is one character death episode that actually suffers from very bad animation. It’s a bit like reading a history book, really: it is incredibly interesting to see how everything plays out, but it still feels like something is missing when you compare it to other forms of entertainment. 110 episodes is really long. Nevertheless though, I still believe that this was the absolute best that anime had to offer until Escaflowne came out.

Storytelling:	9/10 – For its length, this series actually never drags. The dialogue is truly excellent, the battles are all well written. The direction could have used a bit more bombast though, and is sometimes a bit too composed for its own good. Nevertheless, that composure also has plenty of charms on its own.
Characters:	10/10 – Brilliant. The cast is huge, and yet everyone feels different and has his own part in the story. The changes over 110 episodes are immense, and what especially sets the cast here apart is how intelligent half the cast is.
Production-Values:	8/10 – Solid, with very few weak moments and the creators have come up with a very inventive way to depict huge space battles, but there are still too many static frames for me to really rate it as 9/10.
Setting:	10/10 – In terms of politics, strategy and tactics, this series is completely un-rivaled. An enormous setting that dynamically changes, and reacts believably to the characters’ actions.

Suggestions: – Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – Mouryou no Hako – Seirei no Moribito]]>

I feel that episodic series tend to be dismissed for the wrong reasons. “It has no story”? What do you mea, these series are filled with stories? Personally, I find that an episodic series needs to have two elements in order to really succeed: 1) Strong episodic stories. 2) Something to tie the show together. Dantalian no Shoka has nailed one of them. Basically, this is a show that explores various people who were given strange powers through what this show calls “Phantom Books”. These stories start off a bit clumsily, but amongst the episodes there are some real gems to be waiting. Some of the people highlighted are well fleshed out and portrayed, and when it wants to, this series can really create a great atmosphere to support them. These stories are all varied, interesting and aside from a number of duds here and there, succeed in telling their story. I’d say the ratio of episodes that don’t work to the ones that do is about 1:2. Ironically, the main characters are some of the least interesting characters of the series. They feel more like plot devices that the show needs in order to be able to move from story to story than actual characters most of the time, and their development is just shallow, and they fail to really tie this series together or give it a satisfying conclusion. Especially Dantalian herself is just an annoying brat who spends every episode randomly insulting people and not really doing anything at all to contribute to the story. Standalone though, the episodic stories and characters are more than enough to make this one worth watching. On top of that, Ganiax threw in a lot of eye candy as well, with some gorgeously animated action scenes (oh, ad Osamu Kobayashi also pays a visit to do one episode). The main couple is annoying, but this show has more than enough to make up for it.

Storytelling:	8/10 – An excellent array of strong individual storylines, though this series’ attempts to tie them together doesn’t really work.
Characters:	8/10 – Dull major characters, minor character.
Production-Values:	9/10 – Gorgeous visuals, animation that isn’t afraid to try out stuff.
Setting:	8/10 – A bit far-fetched at times, and the phantom books in the end are just mcguffins, but when you look at each episode individually, their settings are well fleshed out and described.

Suggestions: – Kino no Tabi – Kuchuu Buranko – Shigofumi]]>

For a long time I wondered what happened to the good parts of Xebec. I mean, it’s been ages since they released anything. Now however, I know: they were working on this movie. This was one heck of a roller-coaster ride. The Fafner TV-series set itself apart with the way in which it took the “teenaged mecha”-formula, and executed it well. Not partially well, like what Ao no Exorcist is currently doing, they really came up with a great setting, premise and storyline for their run. This movie carries on this tradition, with a significantly upgraded budget. This is a real feast for the eyes and especially the action scenes are just gorgeous. Oh, and the music kicks even more ass than it already has. Heaven and Earth makes terrific use of its time. The TV-series did enough building up. Using this, it can really deliver climax after climax after climax, with a very good balance between the quiet scenes that never drag out. On top of that though, it does manage to push the themes of the TV-series further, like the enemy, who is trying to understand human nature, or the way in which the main cast uses children, just because they happen to have special powers. This movie is an action movie, but it puts its characters’ emotions above all else. It successfully introduces a new cast of characters who manage to show themselves off, without taking over the series in favor of the main cast. The main characters themselves also have some great scenes themselves, while also giving plenty of time for the side characters to shine (another great point of the TV-series that managed to carry over). The creators really tried to turn this into an emotional roller coaster, and combined with some excellent character development, they really succeeded. This has one downside, though: it refuses to explain most of the stuff that happens. I mean, it describes what happens, but as for the why behind everything this is a movie that really likes to leave its viewers into the dark. Let me stress this to the people who haven’t seen the Fafner TV-series: watch that one first. Heaven and Earth is really meant as a continuation, not to mention that it’s filled with spoilers from the TV-series. If you have watched the TV-series and liked it however, then there is no reason not to watch this movie. It delivers an excellent emotional climax to an already excellent franchise.

Storytelling:	8/10 – Great pacing, emotional and exciting. There’s a lot of teenaged angst and it may not explain exactly what went on, but nevertheless this was very solidly told.
Characters:	9/10 – This movie really gets the emotions out of its characters, without delving into cheese for even a second. A genuine roller-coaster.
Production-Values:	9/10 – Gorgeous graphics, action scenes and dogfights. Awesome soundtrack.
Setting:	8/10 –

Suggestions: – Macross Frontier – Itsuwari no Utahime – Tales of Vesperia – Ponyo on a Cliff By the Sea]]>

If there was any studio that stood out this summer season, it has to be Brains Base. In fact, they were completely dominating the entire season. Out of the three seasons they released, Kamisama Dolls was the lesser one. And it still is very good.

Kamisama Dolls’ formula is in fact very simple: you have a storyline with a lot of drama, comedy, action, and a whiff of romance, and put it in 13 episodes. The result is some top notch entertainment that balances those four elements together into a very enjoyable series from start to finish. If you’re looking for something quick and exciting, then this series is a pretty solid choice.

The setting to back it up is solid with the backdrop of a corrupt village that houses ancient fighting machine. The cast too knows what it is, and is accurately developed, fleshed out, and in particular the acting fits the series perfectly: the main cast in particular knows how to keep the balls into the air and keep the story exciting. In fact, this really is a series whose story is dictated by its characters, even though this may not be apparent at first sight.

There are some weaknesses, though. The biggest being that it’s ridiculously incomplete, and another case of “read the manga if you want to know what happens next”, cutting off its story right in the middle. There are also a few characters who bog the show down by being way too over the top, and this show tries to be a harem show and a straight romance at the same time, which really doesn’t fit together: there is an obvious main couple in this series, and yet the creators somehow find it a good idea to introduce a crush on the male lead’s sister and a completely over the top childhood friend. Especially the latter is the worst member of the cast of this series, and it’s a good thing that the pacing of this show is nice and quick, so these things become just minor annoyances.

This show isn’t really trying to be anything deep (heck, the majority of the plot is based on characters acting unreasonable for various reasons), so don’t expect really deep characters, or many attempts to subvert cliches or tropes, but what it does, it does well. It’s nice, straight-forward and well produced entertainment.

Storytelling:	8/10 – Ridiculously unfinished, but a nice combination between action, comedy and drama.
Characters:	8/10 – Solid and fun characters, with a few particularly good ones, and a few particularly annoying ones.
Production-Values:	9/10 – Top notch action scenes, well directed and animated characters.
Setting:	8/10 – Its themes have been done before and better, but nevertheless it’s quite solid to support its series.

Suggestions:
– Narutaru
– Seto no Hanayome