Category: Anime Reviews

Digimon Movie 1 Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Anime did not do well on the Dutch television. When I was in elementary school, we hardly had any of it on, which sucked. However, when I entered high school there actually was a period when the TV-stations were seriously experimenting with it. It started with Pokemon, and probably reached its height during Dragonball Z. I think that the best we got out of it was about half a year of Cardcaptor Sakura in a really bad time-slot (you know, the time at which everyone already is supposed to be at school). Eventually though, all the anime was gradually cancelled until nothing really remained apart from the really crappy stuff.

Among the shows that also made it over here were the first two seasons of Digimon. The second season sucked pretty badly, and was nothing more than a one-sided emo-fest rip-off, but I liked the first season. Its story was cliched, but the characters were pretty charming. There are two thing that always bugged me. The first is the mysterious reason why the Dutch broadcasting company refused to show the episodes that took place in foreign countries. Seriously… wtf? The second is that at times characters kept referring to strange events that happened in the past, but we never got to see them. So when I later found out that they were supposed to be movies but that those bastards never showed them, I was pissed off. Now that I finally ended up watching the first movie, I’m pissed off even more because it’s by far one of the best episodes of the series. It would have been a terrific eye-catcher to get people interested.

It took me this long to watch this movie because, hey: it’s a movie based on a kids show. I couldn’t imagine how they can’t be something other than silly side-stories that add nothing to the franchise whatsoever. This movie is different, though. It first of all shows how some of the characters were when they were just tiny kids, but it’s also a damn good movie in itself. Its story is simple yet effective, and it doesn’t try to be anything that it isn’t. There’s enough time for that in the TV-series. Plus, for the background music the creators used the bolero. Can it get any more awesome than that? If you have somehow sat through the first season of Digimon, you owe it to yourself to check out this 20-minute prequel.

For the past five years, movies that are based on TV-series have hit a bit of a slump. They’re either lazy recap movies, or take too little risks, probably in fear of angering the fanbase. I’d say screw that. Before that time we’ve had tons of those movies which really went with their own ideas and visions. There were the big ones like Patlabor and Utena, but even the small movies like this show that you don’t always have to be epic or incredibly complex to work. Still, there is hope. Let’s hope that the upcoming Evangelion, Eden of the East and Haruhi movies will be able to break through this trend for the next decade.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Simple, fun, charming and detailed.
Characters: 8/10 – Young Taichi and Hikaru are adorable.
Production-Values: 8/10 – They actually used the bolero for the soundtrack.
Setting: 8/10 – I finally know why this event made such an impact to the characters in the series.

Kuchuu Buranko Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Kuchuu Buranko



There are a few things you must know about Kuchuu Buranko. It’s being directed by the director of Mononoke and Bake Neko, which were deep horror-mindscrews with deep stories and characters. Kuchuu Buranko, while you might think otherwise at first, is completely different.

It’s a series about psychology: a weird doctor and discusses 11 of his patients throughout its run. Instead of trying to surpass Mononoke in terms of depth, the creators decided to focus on something completely different: entertainment. The patients in this series really aren’t that complex: most suffer from some sort of Obsessive Compulsive disorder, and each conclusion often just requires them to realize one small thing. However, seeing this show explore their issues and struggles is where this series’ strength lies.

The characters in this serise don’t shine through their depth, but their simplicity. While they’re all exaggerated, they’re also down to earth. Just random people from all sorts of walks of life, and their problems are very easy to relate to. Especially in the second half of the series, where the creators take more and more chances, this results into a number of hilarious and charming situations.

While the depth in this series doesn’t come from the individual stories, it’s more layered when you look at the big picture. This series loves to put in easter eggs or references to past (and in some cases even future episodes), but the general message that it in the end wants to convey is genuine and yet simple.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Very entertaining and interesting.
Characters: 8/10 – Not deep, but fun and easy to relate to.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Unique art with great direction, though the actual animation is minimal
Setting: 8/10 – Lots of references to other episodes, nice moral.

Aoi Bungaku Review – 92,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Aoi Bungaku



My favourite show of the season? Definitely. Aoi Bungaku provides an awesome closure to this decade in anime with a collection of six beautifully told stories. Every single one with its own director, style, atmosphere, focus, graphics, soundtrack, themes and stories. It’s a really big experiment, that worked out wonderfully well.

No Longer Human is a wonderful character-study with a powerful and well developed main character. The visuals look like a non-action version of Kurozuka in a way, but with even more detailed art. In the Woods, Under the Cherries in Full Bloom proved to be a great combination between comedy and mindscrew, and it really had the director of Death Note and Kurozuka in its element with its Bleach-like character-designs. Kokoro is probably the least impressive of the six shorts. It’s based on a very nice idea of varied perspectives, but it’s a bit cheesy in its execution. It’s certainly not bad, though.

Hashire, Melos! Is just incredible. It’s done by the director of Mouryou no Hako, and the dialogue is just as deep and detailed as it was there. On top of that, the animation is utterly fantastic. Characters move wildly and even the slightest movements are incredibly detailed, and it gives the characters so many powerful emotions. A Spider’s Thread in its turn is a simple but all around enjoyable and tense story with great screenplay. Hell Screen then continues to close off with a huge bang with a great and powerful mindscrew, combined with a really strong direction, soundtrack and visuals.

And seriously, it’s amazing how much talent Madhouse managed to stuff into this series. It has a total of five directors, and four of them are absolutely brilliant in what they do, and have their own styles and their own brilliance. The animation is just amazing, especially in Hashire, Melos!, and definitely the best of this season, and not to mention that every single story looks unique with its own distinct set of graphics. Even Hi no Tori (which had a similar formula) had at least similar character-designs!

The depth of the characters varies from simple (Spider’s Thread) to elaborate (Melos, No Longer Human), but nearly all of them make impact. And heck, even if you don’t like one story, there’s always the next one that turns out to have a completely different focus. As much as the fansubbers will hate it, I’d love to see more series like this (imagine for example if other studios would attempt this as well). This collection of adaptations of literary works manage to fit in the stories pretty nicely in these relatively short amounts of episodes: some of the stories have been changed here and there, but it’s been done with conviction.

Storytelling: 10/10 – Powerful and gripping in six different ways.
Characters: 9/10 – Amazing characters, especially for short stories.
Production-Values: 10/10 – Detailed animation, incredibly imaginative visuals for every six of the stories.
Setting: 8/10 – Not the main focus, but solid.

Kemono no Souja Erin Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Kemono no Souja Erin



I’ve said this plenty of times now, but my biggest problem with anime at the moment is its “we’ll animate the second season only when the sales are good”-tendency. That’s why it’s good to see that there are still series that take risks and plan a full 50-episode course and plan in the full story that they want to tell. Kemono no Souja Erin is a slow-paced series, but because of its length it can show things that would not have been possible within 26 episodes.

What makes this series unique is its huge focus on taking care of wild animals. Erin starts as a little girl, but as she grows up you can see how her fascination with these wild beasts grows and develops, until she actually ends up taking care of them for real. This is done with a real attention to detail, and it’s really focused on Erin thinking outside of the box to find out the best ways to take care of these animals (in her case, Beast Kings, a huge kind of fictional dog-bird). Erin, and the trouble she has raising these animals are really one of a kind, and really the reason why you want to watch this series.

Aside this, the series also spends quite a bit of time on politics, but these just aren’t as good by comparison. The country’s background is a bit one-sided and just not as interesting as Erin and the challenges she faces trying to raise Lilan, the main beast of this series. On top of that, as the politics take over the show near the end, they end the series with a really cheesy, cliched and sloppy ending.

The animation is also a bit of a mixed bag. The art itself is beautiful: the backgrounds are very original, and whenever a beast is about to attack someone, it gets all surreal, as to symbolize the chaos that’s going on in the mind of both the attacker and attacked. This would have been a great series to look at if it wasn’t for the constant use of flashbacks, recycled frames, and even entire recycled scenes. Normally I’m don’t often notice this, but this series really takes it a bit too far.

Nevertheless, this is one of those shows that puts nearly 50 episodes into the development of its lead character. Erin really stands out as a memorable character, and her growth from just a small child into adulthood is very detailed, making her into one of the best developed characters of the year. The side-cast also all have their own moments to shine. It’s a shame that there are a number of weaker episodes, but the good ones really make up for it.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Slow but very solid and imaginative. No cheese aside from the final episode.
Characters: 9/10 – Erin is an exceptionally well developed character.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Great art, both foreground and background. Solid animation but too many recycled frames.
Setting: 9/10 – Lots of depth on taking care of beasts and wild ainmals. Solid albeit one-sided view of the country the show is set in.

White Album 2 Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, White Album



If you’re planning to watch the first season of White Album: good luck. Have fun sitting through one of the most frustrating series of the past years. However, for those who do manage to get through it there is a reward, because the second season is much, much better. In fact, it’s a breath of fresh air for both the harem and hentai game adaptation genre.

The first season really had no idea how to write good drama. It really tried, but revelations were poorly built up, the romance was shallow, and it used really cheap plot devices in an attempt to create drama (answering machine?!). Thankfully, Seven Arcs noticed this, and actually changed the directors, in favour of someone who did know what he was doing. The result really allowed this series to show the best of its daring premise.

The result managed to add depth to nearly all the characters. I really loved the execution of this series: a lot of bad stuff happens in this series, Touya for a large part is an incredible bastard who fools around with tons of women, however everything still progresses naturally: it never goes over the top or forces climaxes. Characters don’t suddenly turn emo because of one simple revelation, but what goes on inside their heads is much more complex than that. Every character has his or her own issues that get explored really well and the way that the creators manage to interweave all these stories is really skillfully done. There’s hardly any moment of boredom.

And then Touya. He really is one of the least likable lead characters after Makoto Ito, but in comparison to the latter he’s actually really well written and receives some memorable development. In fact, he’s so incredibly refreshing amongst most other harem leads with their wimpy and one-sided personalities. This guy’s issues are deep and yet they come together wonderfully at the end.

I really was prepared to hate this series when it first started, but it really proved me wrong when it improves on the first season in a lot of ways. It’s at times very emotional, but at the same time also very subtle and realistic. This really is everything I want romance to be, and it’s truly a leap forward for the harems and hentai game adaptations. If you’re tired of seeing the same thing over and over again in these genres, then this is a series that you should check out. However, be warned: it makes no attempts to make its characters easily likable. It’s realistic, but hard to get into as well.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Realistic, poignant, weaves many storylines into one and yet it progresses very naturally.
Characters: 9/10 – HUGE improvement over the first season. Touya is one of the best developed harem leads out there.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Better animation, great use of music.
Setting: 8/10 – Accurate and finally stops using it as a cheap plot device to get Touya and Yuki to miss each other.

Kanashimi no Belladonna Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Merry Christmas everyone. Christmas really is a time of peace, love and friendship. So yeah, I found this a good time to finally watch Kanashimi no Belladonna. It sounded like a good idea when I started watching it!

But seriously though: wow. We’re talking about 1973 here. Anime at this time was just giant robots and silly action shows. The industry was only ten years old, at a time when animation really was only meant for kids. And here this movie comes, with its sex, suffering, extortion, love, betrayal, pain, seduction, sex and more sex. It must have made a huge impact on the animation industry at the time!

The storytelling is just surreal. Even Studio 4C’s stuff is tame, compared to the style of Kanashimi no Belladonna. It’s obviously not for everyone. You really have to like artsy stuff, and as you can imagine from the screenshots: there is no way that the creators could animate images of these details. There are lots of still frames, while the animation that’s there is simple and often resorts to repeated frames.

But seriously, who cares! The art in this movie is absolutely beautiful. Even now, more than 35 years later, there still hasn’t been an anime that could call itself equal to this. Every frame is drawn with so much inspiration. I’m really going as far as saying that this is the best-looking anime of the seventies. It’s gorgeous in every way, and the soundtrack itself consists out of a bunch of great songs and background tunes for its time.

Despite being artsy however, this movie also excels in its characterization. Jeanne’s progression throughout the movie really hit me. The way that her life is spiralling completely out of control as she gets lost within her own greed, somewhere in medieval France. She desperately tries to be meaningful, despite the sacrifices she has to make. There’s a ton of symbolism and tons more of different ways to interpret these.

So yeah, obviously this isn’t a movie that you want to show your little brother or sister, because the story is told with tons of sex scenes. The same sex scenes will also turn off those who aren’t into artsy stuff, because seriously, they can get really bizarre at times. I seriously have no idea what went through the minds of the creators as they came up with this. I personally really enjoyed the movie. It’s really surreal, but very haunting at the same time.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Very surreal, but surprisingly deep.
Characters: 8/10 – The movie doesn’t get lost in its own art: the characters are strong.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Utterly amazing. The most beautiful anime of the 1970s
Setting: 8/10 – Makes well use of its setting.

Kappa to Coo no Natsuyasumi Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Kappa no Coo to Natsuyasumi: ET the Anime. We have a boy who finds a alienkappa. The two live together along with the boy’s mother, father and annoying sister. Eventually however, the boy must protect his new friend from the evil scientistsmass media and help him find his own kind back. But don’t let my overly generalized synopsis fool you. It’s a very charming movie.

What we have here is a charming family movie with a pretty nice characterization, that also isn’t afraid to touch upon some more mature themes. Between the gentle slice of life, this movie (clocking in at over two hours) discusses bullying, friendship and having to live in a completely new environment, but it also criticizes the mass media (and in a way that makes them come across as wrong, but not stereotypically evil), the “bystander effect” and other aspects of modern society. The themes are a bit one-sided overall, but they work well enough.

But most of this movie’s focus really goes towards the characters, which are nicely enough developed for a movie. The lead boy suffers a bit from how he looks like so many other young lead characters in other movies like this, but Coo, the Kappa, is well portrayed, and you have to love the antics of his bratty little sister. His parents are also strong characters, and combined they make up for his genericness.

This really is a movie for the fans of slice of life who also like some dark parts once in a while. If you’re not into slice of life, then it will be a bit hard to enjoy, considering that for a movie, it’s over two hours long. Kappa to Coo no Natsuyasumi takes a well known premise, but executes it well.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Gives both the light and dark parts of the story plenty time to unfold.
Characters: 9/10 – Good development for a movie, Coo and the side-characters are likable.
Production-Values: 8/10 – No Big budget movie, however the messy animation during the action parts works well.
Setting: 7/10 – Lacks originality, it’s portrayed well.

Swan Lake Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Back in the sixties and seventies, before the age of Ghibli, Toei still had the ambitions to become the “Disney of Japan”, and was enthusiastically competing with Nippon Animation for that title. It’s not much of a surprise of course that a movie of the Swan Lake once was made. And I’m pretty impressed, actually. It’s obviously a children’s movie, but if you like this sort of stuff then Swan Lake will have you entertained.

The music for starters is fantastic. But really, how can you go wrong when you have Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake as your soundtrack? With some of the best parts of this classical masterpiece, this movie truly is a feast for the ears and it creates a great atmosphere to work with.

Well then, the story itself is a bit unrealistic at times (romantic love story between a prince and princess who happen to meet each other and fall in love. Oh, and let’s not forget the two squirrels who somehow make themselves into important characters…), but it definitely has its charms. The story is well paced and makes well use of its airtime. Although there’s one particular Big Lipped Alligator Moment with ballet-dancing eggs. No, really.

In any case, what made me like this movie the most was the villain: Rothbart. His motives are just plain wrong, but he’s such a fun guy to watch. The characterization for him is just excellent and he’s the one who manages to carry this movie from the moment he first gets mentioned. Now here’s a movie that manages to create a really enjoyable character. The rest of the cast is also pretty enjoyable. Odette may be a bit useless, but it doesn’t stand out too much because of Odin, the Prince and the squirrels (yeah, these two oddballs really have their charms) have their own colourful personalities.

Let me take a bit of time to talk about the ending, though. The progress of this movie is fairly linear and modern fairy-tale-like, but solid. At the end, there’s this big battle between good and evil, which is actually pretty engaging… until the creators suddenly decide to pull a completely random twist that comes right out of nowhere, makes no sense whatsoever and isn’t explained in the slightest. Seriously, there are Deus ex Machina endings, and there’s this. You really have to try to be that bad.

Nevertheless, I like kids stuff once in a while, and this movie perfectly satiated my thirst for them. That ending was just… weird, but the rest of the movie was very enjoyable. This obviously isn’t the movie you want if you’re looking for maturity, but if you like innocent and likable characters, then this movie has them.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Well paced storyline, WTF-ending.
Characters: 9/10 – Great characterization. Villain rocks.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Fantastic soundtrack, pretty good animation.
Setting: 7/10 – A tad unrealistic, but what else did you expect from a fairytale?

Garzey’s Wing Review – 40/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



So I was told to check out Garzey’s Wing. I can see why. It’s hilarious.

For all of the wrong reasons, though. Especially with the English Dub on, it’s just one of those shows that are so bad that they become hilarious. There’s no way that I’m going to rate this high, but it is an hour and a half of solid entertainment.

It’s basically just another one of those stories in which a teenager somehow gets warped up to a different world and somehow turns out to be the holy warrior who is the only one who can save the day. There are really tons of shows with such a premise, but this is really a particularly badly executed one. The pacing is just so incredibly erratic that 50% of the cuts don’t make any sense whatsoever. This OVA leaves no time to catch a breath, and the amount of plotholes that come out of it is just huge (the good guys, for example, for a bunch of people who are mere slaves, they surely collected quite a bit of ammo and supplies).

The dialogue is… just abysmal. The English voice acting in particular just way too stiff and camp. Seriously, I have no idea who was behind them, but while watching this, I could almost imagine the voice actors yelling all of their lines in an over the top manner. I have no idea who wrote the English dialogue, but it makes no single attempt to come across naturally. There are hilarious parts in which characters stop mid-sentence because the original Japanese dialogue was much shorter. It also leads to some absolutely priceless one-liners.

I’m not one to usually enjoy bad shows, but what sets Garzey’s Wing apart from most of the other really bad series is one person: Yoshiyuki Tomino. While this was his biggest failure ever, he at least tried: the movie’s concept is at least creative, the animation is at least good (save for a bunch of really obvious shortcuts) and the pacing at least doesn’t drag or become boring.

I respect Tomino a lot: this series really shows how bad his depression was, and it must have been horrible for him to go through this for around ten years, and I have respect for this guy for pulling himself out of it. He very neatly produced the good version of Garzey’s Wing with the Wings of Rean, which was a genuinely good OVA.

But Garzey’s wing was just crap.

Storytelling: 3/10 – Stupid, way too fast and tons of plotholes.
Characters: 1/10 – Abysmal voice-actors, non-sensical characters, no depth whatsoever.
Production-Values: 7/10 – Nice animation and music, save from some horrible shortcuts.
Setting: 5/10 – Lots of nice ideas, none of which are used well.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Umineko no Naku Koro ni



When it aired, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni really blew my mind with its mystery horror combination, so obviously I was looking forward to its spiritual successor: Umineko no Naku Koro ni. It really managed to take the Higurashi formula, and take it into a new, fresh and original direction with a really mind-blowing mystery-story.

Umineko at heart is a murder mystery-story with so many layers, so many red herrings and so many times at which the viewer is forced to look beyond the box for new clues as to the identity of the real killer. Higurashi already had me forming wild theories about what was going on, but this effect is even more noticeable in Umineko. It’s a really thought-provoking story that makes you think you have a clue as to what’s going on, only to throw a plot twist that renders all of your speculation useless. This mystery really is why you want to watch this series, because it really does this like no other.

It’s just a shame that the story’s incomplete. There’s no second season announced at this point, so at the end of the series, you’re not going to know what the heck happened throughout the majority of the series. This really is the thing that I hate the most about modern anime: that the shows with weak sales don’t get their much-needed sequels. Umineko is at the verge of becoming yet another one of them. NOTE TO SELF: delete this paragraph in the unlikely event that a second season does get announced.

Okay, so how about the execution? Unfortunately, it’s a bit rushed. Apparently, the creators tried to stuff 50 hours of visual novels into just 26 episodes, so a lot had to be cut. While the cuts were made skillfully so that the entire storyline is still intact, the direction feels rushed at times, and not as captivating as it could have been. The animation is rushed as well, but thankfully neither are bad enough to get in the way of what’s really important.

Because of that, I can say that I really enjoyed this series. It’s a thought-provoking series that really brings mystery to a whole new level. But where the heck is that second season?

Storytelling: 8/10 – Direction could have been better, but well paced which keeps your attention.
Characters: 9/10 – Large and varied cast of characters where nobody feels redundant.
Production-Values: 7/10 – Good music, rushed animation.
Setting: 10/10 – Incredibly thought-provoking. Brings mystery to new levels.