Category: Other:

I’m Back

by psgels, posted in Special Articles

Hey everyone, I’m back from my holiday to Germany. For those intereseted, some highlights include:
– Being completely overwhelmed by the Castle Neuschwanstein and the most beautiful views I have ever seen in my life.
– Meeting a ton f great people, including a Spanish couple, some architecture PHD students, some Belgian travellers, Dutch Students, English students,, a Vietnamese fashion designer, Americans from Oregon, New Jersey and a guy from Seattle travelling together with his daughter, a member of the Australian women’s soccer team as they were about to play the quarterfinals of the world bup, but most importantly Sasa, ChobitsChi and liangchaos. You guys were awesome and it was great to actually meet you in person.
– Walking outside of the Berlin Hauptbahnhof, only to realize that I left my bag in the train. Having to travel to Rostock of all places to get it back.
– Completely randomly bumping into this huge building chock full of grafitti and indie art. I usually don’t like art museums, but this was one big exception and very impressive.

Overall: Germany. Awesome country. Awesome vacation.

In any case, for the next number of days I’ll try to catch up tot he anime I missed, and the comments you all posted, along with deciding which series I’m going to end up blogging this season, and how. The big question being which of the excellent series this season I’m not going to cover weekly.

Some Quick First Impressions: Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni, Mayo Chiki and No.6

by psgels, posted in No.6, Some Quick First Impressions

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is an idiot.
Oh god. The creators just completely gave up. I dropped the first season quite early on, but I refuse to believe that it was as bad as this first episode of this second season. This was completely dull in every single way. For some reason, the creators decided to introduce the new season with a beach episode, and a completely uninspired one at that. If this is supposed to be setting the standard, then I really don’t want to know what the rest of this season is going to be. Really, this episode somehow accomplished to not get even a chuckle out of me during the entire episode. It was just random unfunny banter, characters abusing their quirk that already was established in the first episode of the first season and the main characters trying to hit on girls while screwing up miserably. This seems to have been one of the most anticipated series of the season. Why? This was just like any other moe show, aside from perhaps some Shaft-esque visual ideas in the banter that looked suspiciously much like budget cuts.
OP: Boring song, but not the worst, and the visuals at least try out something interesting.
ED: A really bad joke.
Potential: 0%

Mayo Chiki

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to live together with a cute girl who pretends to be a guy.
Now this was just stupid. It’s your standard bad fanservice comedy, but with the worst parts only enlarged. The result is a first episode that makes even less sense than usual. The entire premise of this series hinges on this girl pretending to be a guy, where for some reason it’s really bad if even someone found out about her. The problem is that this disguise is utterly terrible and yet this show tries to tell us that nobody figured it out by now. Heck, even when the main character catches her in the toilet (Locks? We don’t need no stinkin’ locks!) he still doesn’t get the hint, and needs to bump into her causing her shirt to burst open (no, really) in order to finally get the hint. The rest of this episode was filled with those bizarre leaps in logic, not to mention that the main characters is overly sensitive to females, making his nose bleed whenever they touch him. Who the hell found that a good idea?
OP: Why do these generic moe shows always need to have the exact same terrible OP?
ED: Again stolen from “Generic EDs 101”
Potential: 0%

No.6

Short Synopsis: Our lead character runs into a fugitive.
If there was one genre that I’d have to label as my favourite, it’d be the adventure/mystery genre. By far the most of my favourite series hover around those series, so because of that I was quite looking forward to this series. As it turns out, Number Six is an adventure series that’s really well acted. Against my expectations it takes its time to show the two main characters get to know each other, and as a result they’re both miles away from stereotypes, even though at first sight they may seem a bit cliched. With that, we come to a bit of a problem though: the pacing. This is a show with just 11 episodes; 12 if it gets lucky. At this point it’s impossible to say whether it knows what it’s doing due to this being a manga adaptation. However, if it can use its slow pacing, yet mysterious setting (that also was well portrayed from the eyes of a teenager by the way, and this episode only skimmed the surface) to actually build an 11 episode story, this can really turn into something special. It’s got the potential, a lot of attention has gone into both the characters and the setting, the soundtrack kicks ass: it has the ingredients. But yeah: manga-adaptation.
OP: Another good song that fits the show quite well.
ED: A simple ballad. Nothing special, but nothing bad.
Potential: 80%

Some Quick First Impressions: Mawaru Penguin Drum, The Idolm@ster and Usagi Drop

by psgels, posted in Mawaru Penguin Drum, Some Quick First Impressions

Mawaru Penguin Drum

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has a sister with poor health.
And in the end, this was a wonderful first episode. There was a ton of different stuff that stood out here, but the most important part is that on top of having a ton of neat ideas, this also has an incredibly charming cast of characters. The acting isn’t as subtle as with Kami-sama no Memo-Chou or Usagi Drop, but the characterization is so well directed and colourful that these still are some of the best characters of the season. The different characters play off each other wonderfully, making actual good use that they’re siblings and know each other for their entire lives. Now, on top of that it has a smashing soundtrack, the best background art of the season (and it knows this), it has very strong direction, makes excellent use of repetition, it’s actually got a number of new visual ideas, the transformation sequences kick a ludicrous amount of ass, the plot twist in this episode was an awesome and unexpectedly delivered way to start the story off and the final second… just the final second. This series really knows how to combine its mostly light-hearted and enjoyable mood with dark plot twists. This. Has style. And what’s better is that there are still 23 episodes left.
OP: Perhaps a bit too mellow, but greatly stylish.
ED: Weird visuals and a great song
Potential: 95%

The Idolm@ster

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a cyborg Frenchman wearing a frog suit and riding a unicycle for all we know.
Unlike Uta Prince, The Idolm@ster actually tries out something new. The problem is that I have no idea whether that new idea it’s trying out is actually any good or well executed. Here’s the thing: this series takes the format of an interview: we have a guy with a camera running around, asking questions of all of the idols in this series in order to establish everyone. The guy with the camera is completely bland and doesn’t even speak (seriously: all his lines are just subtitles), and in this manner this series tries to show its huge cast of characters. Now, there are several problems with that. First of all: this series isn’t really clear what shots are shot by an in-story camera and which ones are out-of story shots: the guy walks around, you can see the girls talk to him and answer his questions, but the view jumps around so much, even to shots that are just completely impossible to film with an actual camera. This series doesn’t establish which ones belong to the camera guy and which ones don, unless the lead character also possesses magical teleport powers or something. Second of all: this show has a huge cast. There are like, 20 different characters. This show tries to give character to all of them, AT THE SAME TIME. This first episode is obviously nowhere near enough to make them anything more than blatant stereotypes, and the voice actors didn’t really make things better, as they pretty much acted out the exact stereotype that their character was meant to represent. And yes, there are quite a number of annoying characters here. Still: this is something new and I at least appreciate this series for going in a bit of a different direction, and the chaos of this episode did have its charms beyond the annoying bits. I’m a fan of series with large casts when done well, but the IdolM@ster is really going to have to put in effort to make everyone step away from their stereotype. It isn’t impossible though: there is still hope.
ED: Unfortunately, this one turned out to be nothing more than generic J-pop.
Potential: 50%

Usagi Drop

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is forced to live together with his aunt.
Usually introduction episodes are meant to give a taste of what’s to come. With Usagi Drop though, things are very different from usual: it starts off with a funeral. It shows people together who normally would never be together, it shows them in mindsets they usually would never be in, and most of the people we saw here in this episode are likely to never appear again. It’s definitely an interesting way to open up a story, and this episode really showed some nice things you can do with that format. There already was a lot of implied character development, plus the characters played really well off each other. This was realistic. The drama was really subtle: there was none of the overacting you usually see in anime. This episode especially rocked in how it let everything play off naturally: it didn’t force anything: it just established its characters and gave them the opportunity to let things play out themselves. In the next episode we should really see the direction where this series wants to head for, but this episode sold me already. This is solid like Noitamina should be. Now all that’s left is to actually create a full story for 11 episodes. Plus, this series does deserve plus points for again including a main character who isn’t in his teens or twenties.
OP: Finally another series that goes back to Noitamina’s tradition of weird OPs. It’s quite a charming one.
ED: Relaxing song with pretty neat images
Potential: 85%

Somne Quick First Impressions: Nyanpire, Kamisama Dolls and Morita-San wa Mukuchi

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Nyanpire

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a vampire and a cat.
Gonzo is back! Unfortunately, I do have to say that this is Bad Gonzo. This was just… very poorly produced and it looks more like the commercial for a crappy j-pop band. Here is the thing with this series: its episodes are only 4 and a half minutes long. Only 3 minutes are actual content. The rest consists of a 90-minute live action music video that’s supposed to be the ED. That’s 33 percent of this series! I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a big percentage completely devoted to OPs and EDs, but the worst part is that the ED is pretty much the worst ED of the season. The dancing and choreography are all terrible, in the “we try to be funny but totally aren’t”-way. As for the actual content… it was pretty dull. It’s understandable that the animation is very simple, but the acting was really bad as well. The entire episode was the main cat looking for food, but any attempt of it to be cute didn’t work thanks to bad voice acting and timing.
ED: Live action mixed with traditional animation doesn’t necessarily have to be bad. But here it’s utterly terrible.
Potential: 0%

Kamisama Dolls

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has a sister who can summon a god.
Here’s a show that realizes that it’s only got 12 episodes to work with! Dear god, it put a ton of stuff into just this one episode without feeling rushed (it does have very large mood-swings, though). It established the main cast, it gave them depth, it showed their background, it fleshed them out, it introduced the main villain and made him one heck of a force to be reckoned with, it did romance, comedy, action, mystery and adventure all together. This entire episode felt like a strong standalone thriller. The writing was rock-solid and the animation courtesy of Brains Base was excellent, the action scenes were awesome too and the few cliches that were there were made up by great characterization. It’s a bit of a shame that the promotional material only showed the main characters’ little sister: she’s like, the only teenager in the entire series so far, with the rest being adults.
OP: Holy crap, what a song! Ishikawa Chiaki’s vocals are amazing, the track itself is very inspired with this latin-ish theme and the visuals are based on a great visual idea.
ED: More traditional for Ishikawa Chiaki, but still a great song. Spoiling the next episode is a bit less of a good idea, though.
Potential: 90%

Morita-san wa Mukuchi

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is shy.
Ah, that figures. Morita-san’s episodes are only 3 minutes long. I was really wondering how the heck the creators were going to deal with this TV-series when the OVA already was ridiculously poorly produced. Having short episodes makes this slightly more bearable, but this remains a gimmick series: it’s entirely about the lead character being shy, and this episode just consisted out of a few typical scenes where shy people have problems with. Being shy myself, I can understand where the creators are coming from, but it all just feels way too shallow. It just lists these scenes with predictable outcomes, its comedic timing misses the mark completely and the characters are just one-dimensional stereotypes who are entirely dominated by their quirk. It had its charms and at least this was much more bearable than the OVA, but I still fail to see the point in watching this.
OP: Really feels like it was thrown together at the last minute.
ED:
Potential: 10%

Fafner in the Azure Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Fafner in the Azure is another one of those series where a bunch of teenagers pilot to save the world. Unlike a lot of other series of its genre though: this series is actually aware of how many things are wrong with that, and actually provides a number of very good reasons for it, making it one of the core themes of this series, up to the point where this becomes a character study first, and a mecha series second.

If this show does anything right, it’s the way in which it explores its themes. This series is about so much more than just the atrocities of war: it’s about using children to fight for you, it’s about existence, and how other life forms view humans. The villains, the Festum, seem like your average brainless monsters at first, but as the show goes on they take on a very interesting role in the entire series. This show, is inspired. It knows exactly what it wants to do and delivers one heck of a tragedy.

As a character study, this series also really delivers on its characters. The cast is quite big, but this series makes sure to give everyone the time and opportunity to show off his character and develop. Soshi is a great main character to make this happen: he has presence as a main character, but at the same time he also gives his co-stars plenty of opportunities to stand in the spotlights. This doesn’t just go for the major side-characters, but also the minor ones: every named character has a very clear and inspired purpose in this series.

It’s a series that’s wonderfully crafted together. Now, it does use some techno babble at times, so some of the twists that depend on this may come a bit abrupt on this, but heck: this is the kind of series that looks generic on the outside, but has so many great ideas on the inside. If you’ve never watched a mecha and would like to know what the genre is about, this is a very good one to start with.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Well told, nicely paced, very good delivery of its plot twists, though a tad too much techno-babble at times.
Characters: 9/10 – A really well developed cast all around, ranging from the main to the side-characters.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Made in a time when 2D and 3D really did not mesh well, but the animation and visuals still are solid and look quite good.
Setting: 9/10 – Tons of great ideas and inspired themes and backgrounds.

Suggestions:
– Bokura no
– Bonen no Xamdou
– Star Driver

Some Quick First Impressions: Natsume Yuujin-Chou San, Yuruyuri and Ikoku Meiro no Croisée

by psgels, posted in Ikoku Meiro no Croisée, Natsume Yuujin-Chou, Some Quick First Impressions

Natsume Yuujin-chou San

Short Synopsis: Our lead character can see youkai.
Oh, it’s wonderful to see this one back again. It still has the dreamy atmosphere it always had, and the way this episode started off with another episodic story was great to get back into it again. It’s a basic, but very charming story about another youkai who met Natsume’s grandmother a long time ago, and this episode once again did a great job of showing her story while keeping things simple. It may not have been the best episode so far, but it had a lot to like. The animation still is really good, and this episode also stressed some of the character development that Natsume went through in the first two seasons. It’s a very relaxed episode that did its job really well. Oh, and it also was great to see Nyanko-sensei again.
OP: Well built up song with a good use of instruments, though the visuals are a bit unremarkable.
ED: Simple and relaxing, fitting this series perfectly.
Potential: 90%

Yuriyuri

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a random junior high school girl.
Well, here we go again. Here’s the thing: this first episode of Yuruyuri wasn’t half bad. It’s an episode of a bunch of random junior high schoolers goofing off, but it had a number of good jokes, it made sure that its characters, while annoying, weren’t at least one-sided stereotypes and this pretty much was the best animation we’ve ever seen from Dogakobo. It could have been much worse, but the thing is: this remains a show in which nothing happens beyond the antics of a bunch of cute girls. I’m not saying that that on its own is bad, but those series tend to have one really, really big disadvantage: they get incredibly repetitive. Take A-Channel: it could have been decent but devolved into an onslaught of boob jokes and characters repeating their quirks over and over. Denpa Ona? Nice coming of age drama until the characters just kept repeating themselves and the horny aunt just kept hitting on the male lead. Astarotte no Omocha? Heartfelt until it couldn’t stop talking about panties and generic romance cliches. And the thing is: the first episode of Yuruyuri has yet to show any hint that it won’t follow the same path. It only had a few bad fanservice jokes, but you can bet your hat that once they run out of jokes they’ll start groping boobs on a daily basis. On top of that, the main character is a complete airhead. And while she was far from the most annoying airhead out there, there really is little what you can do with such a character in the long run.
OP: The usual generically upbeat j-pop song that will get annoying really fast.
ED: This just feels like the second part of the OP song…
Potential: 45%

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to take care of a young Japanese girl.
Oh my god. That was almost too adorable. This was once again an unbelievable first episode. This time in the incredible undeniable charm that this episode has. This goes beyond being just cute: just about everything about the lead female is just ridiculously charming. The animation isn’t trying to be anything big, but it is really consistent and does a great job of bringing the cast alive, plus you can also see the amount of detail that has been put into the background art. The lead character isn’t just an ordinary character: he’s a blacksmith. His shop is full of all kinds of interesting designs and furniture and a lot of attention was put into making the art as authentic as possible. Heck, the creators even got a number of fluent French voice actors as the narrator and vocalists. I really have to say that Satelight are making brilliant use of their French roots and connections here. Overall: Sato Junichi did it again. This once again was brilliant characterization. Although I do have to say that it is very dramatic. It needs to take care not to devolve into melodrama as the show goes on.
OP: A bit of a mundane OP, but quite well animated.
ED: Adorable. Just… adorable.
Potential: 90%

Some Quick First Impressions: Nurarihyon no Mago – Sennen Makyou, Sacred Seven and Kami-Sama no Memo-Chou

by psgels, posted in Kami-Sama no Memo-Chou, Some Quick First Impressions

Nurarihyon no Mago – Sennen Makyou

Short Synopsis: Our lead character leads the youkai.
Okay, this season is definitely being adapted by different people. This episode fitted this series much, much better. It’s like, an improvement in every way. You can really see that the director of Hyakko worked on this: it has the same timing, the same camera angles, and there are actually jokes put in the lighter moments that are really similar to Hyakko’s delivery (oh and for the record: I really liked Hyakko and consider it among the better high school comedies out there). What’s more though, the animation also really got an upgrade, and actually looks really good. Characters look less like cardboard boxes, and the creators even found a way to get Rikuo’s hair to move. Finally after Giant Killing we get to see again that Studio Deen DOES know to create some eye candy. As for the story: I have no idea whether or not it’ll be better, because this episode animated a chapter that the first season forgot to animate and inserted at the weirdest point in the final episode. Peoeple kept promising that Rikuo’s friends would play a much lesser roles in the later arcs, but this episode still was all about them, so I’m not sure where they think they’re going with this.
ED: Neat visuals, catchy instruments, though cheesy vocals.
Potential: 75%

Sacred Seven

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is the legendary hero who will defeat evil.
Here’s the thing with this first episode: this series needs 24 episodes. With that, it can make a great plot and cast of characters. Without it, it’ll probably have a difficult time. With this series, I really would have liked it if the creators put a big more imagination into the setting. I know who wrote this and the creators could certainly have been able to do something more than just another high school mecha show. But the thing remains that this episode was quite solid. The action is good, the characters are a bit emo, but with the right development they can really work (hence the 24 episodes) and it will probably make an entertaining, yet unremarkable series. The big problem is that it has very little that makes it stand out aside from small things like the OP and the fact that the main character is riding around on a very tiny motorbike. Those were really cool, but they also were just gimmicks. This show takes too many elements from other mecha series, and doesn’t even go with the most interesting ones. It lacks a signature, and will the creators be able to create this during the rest of the series?
OP: Yuki Kajiura delivers again.
ED: Yuki Kajiura delivers again.
Potential: 70%

Kami-Sama no Memo-Chou

Short Synopsis: Our lead character meets a girl who is Not in Employment, Education or Training and who works as a detective.
Holy crap. This was well written. I mean, heck: this was incredibly well produced. Rock solid in every single way. The premise of this series of yet another guy who finds yet another genius detective does far from justice to this episode. The cases and especially the dialogues are intelligent, the side-characters all are portrayed with exceptional detail and are miles away from the usual stereotypes. The story in this episode was great and really well built-up as well, but in particular it was the voice acting that really made this episode shine and bring the characters alive. This is a series which has episodes of 45 minutes, and it really makes use of that to make everything play out slowly. This was creative and the few jokes it put into this episode really worked. My only complaint is JC Staff forcing in their usual incredibly out of place fanservice shots at the end of the episode. They really need to stop doing that, because that was the only blemish on an otherwise consistently excellent first episode.
OP: Unremarkable music, but inspired visuals.
ED: Hell yeah, rock and roll really well done. Great visual direction as well.
Potential: 95%

Deadman Wonderland Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Deadman Wonderland




Suspense of disbelief is this tricky thing. It’s because of that that it’s hard to recommend, but if you’re not bothered by the fact that this series show doesn’t make any sense at times, it has a lot to deliver in return.

The thing with Deadman Wonderland is that it has a completely insane setting. The creators really tried to create a prison that would be the equivalent to hell on earth. There is so much morally wrong with this series and just about every episode is filled with practices and protocols that would cause a complete outrage normally. The way in which the prisoners are treated in this series is reallly imaginative, but also completely dark and twisted.

Now, just throwing in some dark and twisted stuff is nice and all, but those alone don’t make a good series. What makes Deadman Wonderland so interesting is that it’s got a very likable and diverse main cast where everyone has his or her own purpose. There’s a lot of overacting, but that is to be expected in this kind of setting. There is a nice amount of character development for 12 episodes, and the pacing of the story hardly ever leaves a dull moment.

As for not making any sense, this series does need to pull a few things here and there to make sure that its main character doesn’t just immediately… die. He’s a fourteen year old kid and while a decent lead for his age, a number of deus ex machina need to be pulled in order to keep it that way. The show is rushed, so it doesn’t have time to explain every single detail while also devoting enough time to its characters and the few quiet moments here and there.

So yeah, this series has cheese, deus ex machina, overacting and a rushed plot. On the other hand it has amazing action scenes, excellent characters, an engaging and imaginative setting and a great plot. It’s really going to be a matter of balancing the flaws and stenghts here, but personally, for me it really worked and I enjoyed ths show a lot.

Oh, but this show does cut off a the end with a huge cliff-hanger with no hint to a sequel in sight. That sucks.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Uses Deus ex Machina, but makes up for it with a grat plot and an intense style.
Characters: 8/10 – The acting isn’t the betst at times and there is some cheese, but it makes up for this by great characterization, character development and a diverse and likable cast.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Not up to Manglobe’s standards and it becomes clear that the earthquake left its mark here as well, but makes up for it with gorgeous money shots and very fluid animation.
Setting: 9/10 – Imaginative beyond belief, and the creators really succeeeded in delivering a second hell on earth.

Suggestions:
– Blassreiter
– Blue Gender
– Jyu Oh Sei

Yondemasuyo, Azazel-San Review – 77,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Once in a blue moon, Production IG makes a comedy. The results are… weird. This time in particular, they put Tsutomu Mizushima in the directing seat. The result is a completely vulgar and outrageous piece of animation with no sense of shame whatsoever.

There is a sharp difference between this series and Hen Zemi, which aired in the same block. Hen Zemi didn’t care how disgusting it was. Yondemasuyo Azazel-san doesn’t care how insulting it is.This show is outright sadistic and knows it, and that’s part of its charms. The characters are all the biggest bastards and yet their antics are really fun to watch. The delivery is chock full of the most ridiculously distorted faces which somehow works out quite well. It’s got a great sense of chemistry which often is much more enjoyable than the actual jokes it tries to tell.

The jokes are where this one just isn’t as good as the OVA. It just feels like at times this series just doesn’t seem to have any inspiration for jokes. At about half the episodes, I didn’t really know what this series was trying to make funny, and it came across as really forced comedy. The two arcs where this becomes especially clear are the fish arc and the Otaku arc. Throughout the series it becomes really clear that this series hates Otaku with passion, but it portrays them with so much bile and anger that it just forgets to make jokes, and just continues spewing fire without actually doing anything with it.

On the other hand though, the good episodes are totally worth it. Moloch in particular is an awesome character who despite only appearing in a few episodes, completely steals away any scene he’s in. The rest of the cast are also really enjoyable to watch when they’re on fire, and it’s often the small jokes that work out the best in thsi series.

In a way this is a typical series of Tsutomu Mizushima. I consider him to be an awesome director, but his pure comedies have always had this weakness of losing themselves in their shock value and forgetting to actually be funny (take for example Dokuro-Chan, Dai Mahou Touge, Kemeko Deluxe). He has been getting back to his level of Hale Nochi Guu, though: both this series and Squid Girl were quite good, but this series still shows his flaws as a comedy director.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Completely outrageous, vulgar and bile.
Characters: 8/10 – Excellent chemistry between the main character that makes this show enjoyable.
Production-Values: 8/10 – A unique look, courtesy of Production IG.
Setting: 7/10 – Lacks inspiration to remain consistently funny.

Suggestions:
– Jungle wa Itsumo Hale nochi Guu
– Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt
– Hen Zemi