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Nazo no Kanojo X Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

If there is one Studio that I consider to be the absolute worst out there, it’s ARMS. They only made one good series once, with Elfen Lied in 2004, and after that they have been churning out one crappy and poorly fanservice series after the other. A few years ago, a Studio named Hoods came along, formed by former Gonzo employees, and it was actually heading to surpass these guys by completely dropping all pretense and producing outright porn, disguised as television-series. Thank god for Nazo no Kanojo, which shows that they’re also willing to go for actually good premises, and treat them seriously.

Okay, the essence of this series is about the relationship between a couple of horny teenagers. This could have been done so badly, but instead this turned out to be a very refreshing and charming take on teenaged relationships. The characters aren’t dabbling in a constant “will they won’t they” loop, and instead start dating right from the first episode, and this series explores their relationship. It’ also helps that the lead girl is rather… weird.

Yeah the tag-line of this series is its drool exchanging, or a metaphor for kissing. Beyond that though, the female led Urabe has a bunch of mysterious powers that really give a fresh dynamic to the teenaged relationships. Her dialogue is often very sharp and unexpected, and she makes for a very interesting character. The male lead is a bit less interesting, but eventually he grows into more than just your average teenaged main character.

Amidst all of the romances in anime that are focused on characters not being able to say anything, the chemistry between these two characters is also really refreshing, as they very often talk out their problems and issues they have with each other. In fact, it’s the chemistry between the two of them that is the most worthwhile of this series, and how subtle the creators managed to portray the sexual tension between them with all sorts of metaphors. The use of fanservice in this series also tends to be very good and fits in the story quite well, rather than being forced to watch the “oops I fell and my panties are showing!”-routine over and over.

So yeah, charming, subtle and sometimes clever romance involving a couple of horny teenagers. This is pretty much one of the best and most believable renditions you can get of that even though the characters have rather weird ways of exchanging their own saliva.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Mostly subtle romance, although there are times when this series loses it a bit.
Characters: 9/10 – Very good chemistry for a teenaged romance. This series knows exactly what it is.
Production-Values: 8.5/10 – The creators got themselves a particularly good soundtrack for this series. You’ll understand when you hear it, but it really contributes a ton to this series.
Setting: 7.5/10 – Standard high school setting. Not the main cfocus of this series, but still.

Suggestions:
– Bokura ga Ita
– Seikai no Monshou

Mouretsu Pirates Review – 86/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Mouretsu Pirates



A series about pirates in space. The creators could have easily put a ship in space and have the characters go “RRRR!” a lot. Not Mouretsu Pirates though. This show is ambitious.

Instead of going with the tried and true formula, Mouretsu Pirates managed to completely create its own setting. It asks the question of what pirates would look like in a futuristic setting in which mankind has ventured off to space. The result is a setting in which Pirates are bound by insurance companies, and are kept afloat as this cultural heritage who raid people as a form of entertainment, and it manages to create all sorts of interesting stories and concepts based on this.

Now, Mouretsu Pirates has a series structure that has some very interesting parts, but also a few downsides. Now, the series consists out of about five major arcs. All these arcs are completely different from each other, they all focus on different characters, they all have different moods and themes, and most importantly: they all get increasingly better. what this pretty much entails to is a series that is a bit hard to get into at first, because the first arcs put a lot of emphasis on world building and setting things up just right, but once it takes off, this series really takes off into a really entertaining roller-coaster ride that just keeps changing.

And also on the character-department this series stands out. The cast of this series is HUGE; every arc introduces a ton of new ones, and I’m glad to say that this is one of those series that handles a huge case really well: it’s diverse and full of all sorts of colourful characters. It’s of course impossible to develop all of them in 26 episodes, but this series chooses very wisely who it wants to develop, while for the rest of the cast it always finds something interesting for them to do or base some interesting revelation around them.

Going back to the early episodes that put a lot of focus on build-up, that has another advantage: The creators re also really good in letting the characters just play out their actions. The result is a series that while being hard science fiction, has a cast of characters that feels real and relatable. I mean, this series may be about pirates, but there are also a surprising amount of arcs dedicated to a high school gir’s yacht club (yeah…), but these characters are portrayed so down to earth and likable that it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.

A few weeks ago I’ve seen someone describe this show as “Shoujo in Space”, and that pretty much is the best tagline I could find for it: if this term appeals to you, then by all means give this show a chance, because there is a lot to like in it for shoujo fans as myself. This definitely was a very clever series that went from very careful set-up to a really entertaining ride with a ton of colourful characters. If it wasn’t for Natsume Yuujinchou this would have been the best series to debut in Winter 2012.

Storytelling: 8.5/10 – Excellent sense of build-up and variety through its run, but it does take a while to get going.
Characters: 9/10 – Has a huge cast and knows how to use it.
Production-Values: 8/10 – This is a Satelight series, but a low-budget one: it has nice CG at times, but they’re not spamming eye candy like in their usual series.
Setting: 9/10 – This setting here is very creative and well fleshed out. The creators defiitely put thought into how to give a new spin to “pirates in space”.

Suggestions:
– Infinite Ryvius
– Gankuen Seni Muryou
– Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra

June Summary

by psgels, posted in Monthly Summaries

Apologies, this entry is slightly shorter than usual. I’ve basically been writing up entries all day now, because there is way too much ending at the same time. With this, I’ve finally caught up with everything aside from the movies and Mouretsu Pirates (which I’ll cover tomorrow).

In any case though: this season rocked. It may not have had a series like Ano Hana, Yojou-Han Shinwa Taikei, Phantom, FMA, Himitsu or Kaiba, but what it did have was quantity: a huge amount of diverse and worthwhile series. There was a ton of stuff worth watching here, much more compared to the seasons of recent years, and I had a lot of fun following it.

#26 (new) – Kingdom – (4/10) – I still can’t believe how much melodrama there was in this series. I mean, there is bad acting, and then there is this series that seems to believe that the harder you scream the more impact it makes.
#25 (new) – Kokoro Connect – (4,5/10) – The episode started off all-right, but as soon as the characters opened their mouths, I knew that watching this series was going to be incredibly difficult. Filled with bad fanservice jokes and characters who can’t shut up talking yet ultimately hardly say anything worthwhile.
#24 (20) – Phi Brain – (6,5/10) – Phi Brain… what the hell did you do this month? I mean, we’ve seen a string of six or so episodes that completely failed their purpose and destroyed my suspense of disbelief. Instead of developing, the characters actually regressed back, the main motivation for the villains is really stupid and forced and in particular Nonoha completely got her chance to shine wrong (“I’ll just remain in the kitchen while you boys be cool and solve puzzles”)
#23 (new) – Campione! – (7/10) – Again the fanservice is really bad, but not a complete disaster. Could make for some good action fodder if it heads into the right direction.
#22 (22) – Saint Seiya Omega – (7,75/10) – There was one really good episode of Saint Seiya. Apart from that, it has been mostly forgettable, but things can change with its second half.
#21 (21) – Sankarea – (7,75/10) – Ultimately, Sankarea needed more to do. These final episodes really felt like they were struggling to fill in their time, and the annoying characters didn’t really help its case. Which is a shame, because in terms of acting it really had a lot to like.
#20 (19) – Jormungand – (8/10) – It’s a shame that Jormungand’s problem was that it couldn’t come up with interesting villains. It showed several attempts at creating them this month, but quickly abandoned mot of them, or left them for the second season to use. It’s a shame: Black Lagoon shined because of how different all the arcs were, but here they end up feeling just too similar to each other.
#19 (9) – Legend of Korra – (8,1/10) – Yes, that ending. I’m not so much bothered by the fact that it felt like a deus ex machina for someone not familiar with the first Avatar series, but rather how it canceled out a lot of the most memorable moments of the Television-series, and removed a lot of the tension from the series. A shame, because this really had potential.
#18 (10) – Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki – (8,25/10)

Poyopoyo is still dabbling along with its unique charm of combining slice of life with a round cat and huge laughs. And that’s the thing: every character here is full of life, not just the animals.

#17 (23) – Medaka Box – (8,25/10)

Well, this month definitely was the best month for Medaka Box: the plot finally got interesting and it finally got the chance to use all of the build-up. The battles were interesting, now let’s hope that the second season won’t take this too far.

#16 (15) – Nazo no Kanojo X – (8,25/10)

This has always been a series about a young couple, but in this month the two of them really started getting horny, and the pas month has been chock full of teenaged hormones running wild. The chemistry between the lead couple still is quite strong.

#15 (13) – AKB0048 – (8,25/10)

AKB0048 was slightly weaker this month because it spent a lot of time building up, but it still was quite impressive how it managed to get away with such a bleak setting for a show that’s supposed to be about this idol promotion. There is a lot of interesting drama between the characters as well and I like so far how this series is both energetic and depressing as hell. It still makes no bloody sense though.

#14 (14) – Zetman – (8,25/10)

Here is the thing: Zetman actually wrapped up right. Amidst all of the rushed series out there, this was a breath of fresh air. They did have to derail Kouga’s character for this to happen, but overall I’m really satisfied with how this show turned out considering the restraints it had.

#13 (18) – Aquarion Evol – (8,4/10)

Well if anything, the past month has been really fun to watch. It’s been totally over the top mecha action with a ton of plot twists along the way, and it worked. A worthy finale for the first of the big sci-fi series this year to end.

#12 (8) – Kimi to Boku – (8,4/10)

Kimi to Boku went with the “life goes on”-ending, but in the meantime it did have a bunch of very interesting and well delivered episodes that have been typical of the second season. I’m glad I stuck with this one.

#11 (16) – Shirokuma Cafe – (8,4/10)

Panda turned into a complete and utter troll this week, but that made him so much fun to watch. The highlight however, was the episode about the date with Penko. That was the single funniest episode of the entire season and made me nearly fall off my chair laughing.

#10 (17) – Hunter X Hunter – (8,4/10)

The fight between Gon and Hisoka: that’s the first time in which the animation team really impressed me here. They dropped all of the still frames and yelling out attacks, and instead delivered some excellent fight scenes. I’m getting psyched because we’re just one arc removed from where the story gets really, really good.

#9 (12) – Hyouka – (8,5/10)

Hyouka is definitely interesting. Now that we’re near the end of tis second arc, it still consistently well animated and acted with mysteries that are down to earth, rather than overly complicated. This series definitely stands out in how it’s able to flesh out the small things.

#8 (5) – Natsuiro Kiseki – (8,5/10)

Natsuiro Kiseki closed off with a very heart-warming finale and overall it has been as strong as it has ever been with a lot of great character-development to close off.

#7 (11) – Tsuritama – (8,5/10)

the final month was definitely the best month for Tsuritama so far. This is where things got really fun and whimsical with a lot of very creative twists thrown at the screen. The final episode was not was creative as what I’d hoped, but still it was a very entertaining finale.

#6 (6) – Lupin the Third – (8,5/10)

The ending was weird, but for me, it worked really well, and was the second-best ending of the past season due to the balls that the creators had to pull it off. Overall the final third of Lupin has been the best, with a lot of interesting scripts and twists.

#5 (3) – Fate/Zero – (8,6/10)

Ultimately, it’s a shame that I wasn’t familiar with the rest of the fate franchise, because I feel that this has held back my enjoyment for this finale, as it suddenly introduced a lot of concepts that can only be understood if you have seen Fate/Stay Night. Nevertheless though, the actual ending on hindsight was really good. Third best ending of the season.

#4 (7) – Eureka Seven Ao – (8,6/10)

Eureka Seven went completely crazy this month. This was chock full of mind games and the creators playing tricks on you, filled to the brink with all kinds of plot twists that are deliberately vague and hard to understand, and I loved it.

#3 (4) – Mouretsu Pirates – (8,75/10)

Hell yeah, this show is awesome! The past month let loose of all the brakes and this show surpassed itself many times with a ton of fun and interesting twists and a cast of characters that seems to have a ton of trump cards hidden in their sleeves that they decided to reveal all at the same time. This show completely exceeded my expectations here.

#2 (1) – Sakamichi no Apollon – (8,75/10)

I personally loved the ending for Sakamichi no Apollon. And how it said so much with so little. It definitely was the best ending of the season.

#1 (2) – Uchuu Kyoudai – (9/10)

Uchuu Kyoudai pulled an amazing new direction here: introducing fifteen new characters, all with their won characteristics, strengths and weaknesses and forcing them to live together for two weks in an attempt to become an astronaut. This month was full of great moments for both Mutta and the rest of the cast, and everyone plays off each other wonderfully.

Natsuiro Kiseki Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

By far the biggest surprise of the past season was Natsuiro Kiseki. I mean, it looked like an unoffensive series about four girl who live together, like a Tamayura light or something. The end result being so damn good though… I did not expect that. Natsuiro Kiseki turned out to be completely different from Tamayura. And even better.

So, this series is about this very sadistic rocks that takes the wishes of a bunch of teenaged girls and grants them in a way that troubles all of them. It’s pretty much a writer’s excuse to throw all sorts of wacky situations at the lead cast, like making them invisible or getting the literally stuck at each other. What makes this show so good is how well it makes use of this.

All of the rocks diabolical plans force the characters to develop, grow closer together, face things they have been avoiding, all sorts of stuff lfike that. It’s also a great way to flesh them out and makes for some really varied episodes in which there is always something interesting happening. This transforms a show that could have been just another group of stereotypical girls to a heart-warming full fledged character study with well rounded characters.

There are two main weaknesses with this series. The first is that it’s obviously forced: the characters are always put into the situations most convenient for their development. In this context, I didn’t really mind that though. No, the biggest flaw of this series that I can find is that it can be a bit overacted at times. The characters themselves are easy to create drama, and while they act very subtle on some occasions, on others they just try to hard. But heck, this was incredibly heart-warming in any case and a very enjoyable series from start to finish regardless.

Storytelling: 9/10 – A versatile series and uses its own plot devices wonderfully for the points it wants to make.
Characters: 9/10 – Well developed characters who are continually challenged and forced into coming to terms with their issues.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Sunrise solid animation and production values.
Setting: 8/10 – Juts based on one summer holiday and some local folklore. Works well though.

Suggestions:
– Hana-Saku Iroha
– Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club
– Windy Tales

Sankarea Review – 75/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

When I try to sample each series at the start of each series, I try to look for potential. I mean, some series are undoubtedly worth watching, but others perhaps might need a bit more time to get going or take off. Sankarea was one such series: it was difficult to sit through, but it definitely had its strong points. After watching the entire series, I have to say that it definitely had its redeeming moments. I’m just not sure whether they are enough to make this series worth watching.

Okay, so here is the thing that sets Sankarea apart from your average moe series: the acting for the main cast is very believable. The male lead, while weird and a geek, isn’t the same harem lead you see everywhere, but instead his characterization is subtle and his worries are very grounded. Rea, the main female lead feels fresh and her father and mother makes for some very interesting and diabolical villains. The combination of these four ingredients didn’t really take off right at the start, but across the series they have quite a few interesting moments and developments that make great use of how genuine and well characterized they all are.

The big problem is that that is about the only noteworthy praise i have for this series… and it has its moments in which it gets really, really annoying. The male lead has this pointless love triangle with this very annoying cousin shoved in, his classmates somehow managed to accomplish ticking me off in every single scene they appear in. I understand having these light-hearted moments in order to balance out the dark stuff, but the light-hearted moments completely fail at being funny, they break up the atmosphere rather than contribute to it and they have the characters trying way too hard to be archetypes.

And that’s strange for a series that really aims to get its basics right. Seriously, it really feels like the writers only read parts of “writing 101”. It’s got a whopping three characters who are entirely dedicated to just one side-character in order to give them background and development, but in the meantime, it forgets to be interesting. I would really recommend watching up to episode three of this series, because that really is where this series shines. After that though, it dabbles on a bit with a good moment here and there, but not really enough to stand out anymore, which is a shame because this really had the potential to go somewhere.

Storytelling: 7/10 – This series puts too much emphasis on the basics it feels like it often struggles to find things for the characters to do.
Characters: 7/10 – Some characters are really good, others are really, really bad and are a pain to sit through. That should not be the case in an anime you watch for entertainment.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Granted, Studio Deen has been improving on its visuals lately. It’s the completely wrong area for them to improve on, but granted this show looks pretty when it wants to.
Setting: 8/10 – Neat ideas, especially around Rea’s character. They could have been used better, though.

Suggestions:
– Phantom
– Natsu no Arashi
– Asatte no Houkou

Sakamichi no Apollon Review – 87,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Sakamichi no Apollon



Last year Kunihiko Ikuhara of Utena fame made a surprise comeback after many years of absence. This year, it’s the turn for Shinichiro Watanabe to direct his first full series again after Samurai Champloo. Sakamichi no Apollon is a full drama. He already experimented a bit with this with the surprisingly good Baby Blue of Genius Party (much like how Masaaki Yuasa’s entry there became the prototype for Kaiba), but here he could go all out with a 12-episode Noitamina series.

Now, this series is a teenaged romance, which unfortunately is a very, very over-saturated genre, so the creators really had to do something in order to stand out. They found several ways. The first way is bringing in music. Playing instruments is a huge theme for many characters in this series, and it deserves to be praised how well the musical performances in this series look. the creators made use of Rotoscoping in order to make the animation of every single musical performance play synchronous with the actual music. This is something i have never seen before in a Television-series, especially with so much detail. Because of this, the creators are able to say so many things throughout these performances alone, and they often are the stand-out moments for every episode.

Second of all, there is the way in which this series portrays its characters, which is a huge level above what you normally see. At first sight they look like the ordinary stereotypes, but they immediately set themselves apart through their acting and by how self-aware they are. The series very subtly shows many different sides of them. On top of that, the series is chock full of events that force them to change and adapt. These are by far the most well-rounded, dynamic and fleshed out characters out of any other series this season. Probably of the entire year.

This season of Noitamina was definitely what the time-slot needed after the disaster that was Guilty Crown. There is jut one downside to it, and that is the huge amounts of angst that the creators use to keep the story going. Kaoru in particular is a character who is hard to like due to his social anxieties, and there is this constant tension between the characters that depends a lot on this angst and social phobia. Unlike other series though, the characters are fully aware of this and it gets used brilliantly for their development, rather than stalling for time.

Storytelling: 8.5/10 – Keeps the twists coming, very well paced for a Noitamina-series. A bit too much angst though.
Characters: 9/10 – Really well rounded characters in the end. Their acting is definitely a step above the norm.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Amidst all of the series with great visuals, Apollon stood out with its amazing rotoscoped musical performances. Plus, Yoko Kanno is awesome.
Setting: 8.5/10 – The setting isn’t the main focus of this series, but really allows the creators to do stuff with the characters that would not have been possible if the time period was any different.

Suggestions:
– Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Boku-Tachi wa Mada Shiranai
– Nodame Cantabile
– True Tears

Tsuritama Review – 84/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Tsuritama



Back in 2006, Kenji Nakamura surprised probably everyone with his three episode masterpiece that was Bake Neko, part of the Ayakashi-television series. It was trippy intense and brilliaantly written and built up, Together with Kenichi Kasai’s adaptations, it defined and popularized Noitamina and brought it to a mainstream audience. Ever since, Kenji Nakamura has been releasing a new series every now and then, with 2012’s installment being Tsuritama, at which he completely diverges from the types of shows he normally does.

I loved all of his previous works, but they collectively all had one downside: the characters. Relatively little time was spent on fleshing them out, and most of them were pretty one-sided and didn’t really come to life. Tsuritama is entirely dedicated to attempt to do this correctly, and it works. The plot is simple on purpose exactly to allow the characters to play themselves out naturally. There are relatively few action-packed climaxes in this series, but all of them have clear meaning and kick ass and ultimately make it a really fun show to watch.

And even though this series takes it easy in terms of pacing, it definitely doesn’t take it easy in terms of the ideas it has. This series really thrives on originality: it may have a teenaged cast, but within that it has many fresh ideas, like an alien with a watergun, a duck named Tapioca, or how about an entire series dedicated to fishing? Especially in the second half of the series the scenarios get particularly creative.

A downside is that this series does take a while to get going. The first half of this series contains a lot of build-up and is pretty much fishing 101 as it drills the necessary fishing skills into the main charachter in order for him to function properly in the second half of the series. While this can get a bit boring at times, I can’t deny that this series has a really well written structure: it knows exactly how much story it should have to not get rushed, it knows how much time to spend building up an make its characters feel alive, while stil having enough time to actually deliver on the fun and action-packed bits. Noitamina-series are infamous for their pacing issues, but Tsuritama is a series that gets the balance and format just right.

Storytelling: 8.5/10 – Fun to watch and a greatly paced out structure and a creative scenario.
Characters: 8.5/10 – The series is fun because the characters are fleshed out well and get to play themselves out naturally.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Not as trippy as you’d expect from Kenji Nakamura, but still has a unique and colourful look and wild animation where it matters.
Setting: 8.5/10 – Really tries to be original amidst all of the teenaged series that try to see who can rip each other off the most.

Suggestions:
–

Lupin III – Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna Review – 86/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Lupin III - Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna



As the spring season approached, it seemed clear what would be the series with the most interesting staff working behind it: Sakamichi no Apollon, the director of Cowboy Bebop coming back after many years of absence to work with some of Madhouse’s top animators and the always lovely music from Yoko Kanno. And then a new Lupin series got announced.

Seriously, the people involved in this project: it’s directed by Sayo Yamamoto, who directed Michiko e Hatchin, the scriptwriting powerhouse of the recent years Mari Okada wrote the series composition, Shinichiro Watanabe (the same director of Cowboy Bebop) did the music production, Takeshi Koike is behind the character-designs, and on top of them there are some episodes written by Dai Sato (the guy who wrote Ergo Proxy and Eureka Seven) and Junji Nishimura, the director of Simoun. All of these people are responsible for masterpieces, and here they were stuffed into one single project. The result is a breath of fresh air.

Now, I do have to admit one thing:: the influence of all of them is clearly visible, but don’t expect any of them to surpass themselves here. Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna is far from as good as the series that these people became known for. When you set the standard lower and compare it to the series that have come out in the recent years though, it really stands out as something unique that anime definitely needed.

This series just oozes style from beginning to end. The character-designs are just gorgeous and every episode is just chock full of inspired images and artwork that go completely against the trend of current anime. There is a TON of nudity in this series, but the fanservice is completely different from the juvenile fanservice you see in all the other shows these days.

This series is really focused on adventures, just like the Lupin series it’s based on. This time though, the one who stands in the center is Mine Fujiko. The episodes are all varied and very different from each other, and they all are chock full of references and homages to other works of fiction that use often-used female character tropes, which it then proceeds to subvert completely. Seriously, the huge amounts of boob in this series may not make it so apparent, but Mine Fujiko is a very strong and independent character.

Beyond this, this series is also a whole lot of fun to watch: there are some episodes that have great chase scenes, others have great action scenes, yet others are much more focused on well written dialogues and yet again others thrive on using weird plot twists. It’s a really well made series.

There are a few things that do hold this series back though. First of all there are the character-designs in this series: they look gorgeous and really detailed. But they also are really hard to animate consistently, and yet, the creators definitely try to animate as much as they can. The result is unfortunately a lot of jerky movements and facial movements that just look off or strange.

The second is that this series has little character-development, but that’s just a minor issue. The creativity that went into the characters and their re-imaginations, complete with how they play off each other more than makes up for this. This is why I love remakes for anime: a lot of them are really made by fans of the franchise who don’t care about trying to recreate them as accurately as possible, but want to give their own spin to them, and Mine Fujiko to u Onna is no different. the more I write about this series, the more complete it starts to feel, and that’s a sign of a really good series.

Storytelling: 8.5/10 – Loads of variety and a bunch of great scripts that come together really well.
Characters: 8.5/10 – The characters are used really well and play off each other wonderfully. This excuses the sometimes jerky acting more than enough.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Very artistic and unique. The art is where this series set itself apart among the many shows with gorgeous graphics this season.
Setting: 8.5/10 – Where this series rocks is how there is so much to be read in between the lines. It’s a homage and a parody at the same time, and it references a wide variety of different works and uses this really well.

Suggestions:
– Michiko e Hatchin
– Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin
– Ultraviolet: Code 044

Jormungand Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

Sometimes, a show comes along that has the best of intentions… but just seems to miss the boat by a few inches. Jormungand is scheduled for 24 episodes, this first season covering 12 of them and this seems to be enough time to cover its entire story about weapon dealers who travel all over the world. This should have been an awesome series, but instead this season had more than a dozen better series. So what happened?

Well first of all this season is awesome, that’s definitely a matter of bad timing for Jormungand, but even then there is a reason why it failed to stand out. I’ve seen quite a few comparisons between this series and Black Lagoon, but that’s not quite right. Black Lagoon had a cast of widely varied and colourful characters. Jormungand wants to have a cast of colourful characters, but gets a few things wrong.

The series definitely knows its basics: every episode is dedicated to give background and a story to at least one member of the cast. These backstories and developments are definitely interesting. It also fleshes a bunch of them out quite well, most notably Jonah. The problem though, is that it doesn’t do this with every character.

Now, that on its own isn’t a bad thing: the trick with a series that has a huge cast is to make every character feel unique and part of the story. And that’s where Jormungand falls down, especially with its villains. There is no big villain in this series: every arc has its own antagonists, and they’re all pretty much carbon copies of each other. The creators keep recycling two or three archetypes over and over again: the loud-mouthed complaining boss, the ditzy and spunky female sidekick and the silent soldier. After seeing the protagonists easily beat these characters over and over again with seemingly no effort, things get a bit boring. This series also really likes snarky characters, up to the point at which just about every bloody characters is snarky to some extent.

And that is a shame because a series with this concept is destined for greatness. The places that the characters visit are unique and beyond any cliches, and it really toys with the themes of weapon dealing and morality in a fresh way. And there are definitely interesting characters, but they’re just overshadowed by the unremarkable ones. But here is the thing though: it still has plenty of potential for its second season. It laid out more than enough build-up for that. The second season will have to put in much more emphasis on getting better villains, but there are plenty of hints that it will. There is plenty of interesting stuff in this first season, it just gets held back a bit. Remove that and who knows what you’ll get?

Storytelling: 8/10 – Fun action scenes and good pacing. Battles are too easy sometimes.
Characters: 7/10 – There are way too many similar characters and archetypes throughout the series. The few good characters don’t manage to save this series from being dragged down by this.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Funky soundtrack, its own visual identity and nice animation.
Setting: 9/10 – The most interesting part of this series, with still a ton of potential left for the second season.

Suggestions:
– Madlax
– Black Lagoon
– Mobile Police Patlabor