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X-Men Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, X-Men




Overall, the past season has turned out to be excellent, but there is one interesting are where it is below average: the animation. Unfortunately, the earthquake’s mark on the anime industry shows up the clearest here. And so we got quite an interesting series to walk away with the award for the best animation of the season: this one.

This series doesn’t look as good as Madhouse’s best looking series, but it still is a wild and vivid looking series. the colours are really varied, the animation is bold and strong and the character designs are completely unlike any other anime out there, even considering that this is based on an American franchise.

If you’re also looking for good action, then this show has it, and buckets of it. It’s a really well directed show in technical terms: the action is plentiful and always moving, making sure to alternate enough between characters to keep everything dynamic. Couple this with the gorgeous animation and you’ve got a very entertaining series to watch.

Now, where this show falls down a bit is the plot. It’s not bad like Iron Man or anything, but it made a number of core design decisions that prevented the story from fully delivering. The creators unfortunately tried to do two things at the same time: first of all they wanted to make an epic and action-packed action series, and on the other hand they wanted to create a serious drama about mutants and teenagers with powers and the people around them. These don’t really blend well together.

The result is an action-packed series that tries to be deep, yet doesn’t have the time to actually flesh out its characters. It has like five different villains who all are tied together, and yet it has nowhere near enough time to focus on all of them, leaving some key villains as dull and uninteresting. On the side of the good guys meanwhile, the creators introduce a rather annoying new character. You want to see the X-Men kick ass? Well, there’s a Mary Sue amongst them who keeps stealing their spotlights. This reduces Storm in particular to someone who doesn’t just do anything, but the rest of the cast also particularly near the end is ignored in the favour of some random whining teenagers. Essentially the entire final conflict is nothing more but dictated by Teenaged angst and emo. This doesn’t work with characters who aren’t well fleshed out!

This is a shame, because the parts about the X-Men themselves are quite good Wolverine in particular is a lovable character, but the tension between them is also healthy and interesting, and whenever the teenagers aren’t at the centre of the attention this show really kicks ass. It’s just a shame that the finale of this series, the place where everything was supposed to come together, gets completely dominated by teenagers who don’t know what they want to be. Compare that to the Wolverine series: it knew exactly what it was, it knew exactly what it wanted to do and all of the characters knew their roles and were fleshed out sufficiently, while at the same time the series delivered a lot of neat action. Its acting and production values may have been horrible, but this balance is something that unfortunately the X-Men lacked majorly, and that’s why they get the same rating.

Storytelling: 7/10 – Doesn’t know what it wants to be, and therefore doesn’t come together at the end leaving a bad taste. It’s really good at writing action scenes, though.
Characters: 8/10 – A bit of a mixed bag, but most of the characters are interesting enough to keep watching. The teenagers just aren’t.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Gorgeous animation and visuals and a strong soundtrack to boot.
Setting: 8/10 – The backstory behind the X-Men remains a fascinating one.

Suggestions:
– Wolverine
– Toward the Terra
– Read or Die OVA

Dororon Enma-kun Meerameera Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




I love remakes! I’m not sure what it is, but they nearly always seem to get made by big fans who really want to make something special out of them in order to do them justice. Take Casshern Sins with its amazing style and direction, or Tetsujin 28-Go which brilliantly made the context under which its original series was written into its storyline and made it a central theme. This also goes for the silly series. And damn. Dororon Enma-Kun’s new coat turned into a wonderful and outright crazy series to watch for the past season.

Let me first put up a fair warning though, because this show isn’t for everyone. I really mean it when this show is crazy. It’s also a fanservice series: the main character is a huge pervert and this show won’t shy away from any opportunity to show naked girls. It even has a character who runs out completely naked throughout the entire series. It’s filled with sexual references, and it’s completely juvenile in every single way.

In fact, when this series started I was really close to drop it. The first two episodes of this show are really bad, and they just feel like some random adventures with a lot of annoying kids and fanservice that just wasn’t entertaining at all. Only at episode 3 does this series show its real colours. From this moments, it just takes its fanservice to complete absurds. No idea is stupid enough for this series. From episode three onward, this series gets completely over the top in every single way. It’s filled with the most bizarre scenes, parodies some obscure references from the time in which the original Dororon Enma-kun was written, and the overacting reaches bizarre levels of ridiculousness.

I’d even label this over Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt. It’s true that that series looks more unique and that it also have some really good ideas to base its episodes on, but Dororon Enma-kun has it completely upstages in terms of entertainment. If you can appreciate the juvenile humour, it is a ridiculously entertaining series. It takes one crazy idea and just makes it spiral out of control over and over without any sign of slowing down. Not all of the episodes are of the same level, but the really crazy episodes (there are about five of them throughout the series) are just completely awesome from start to finish and one hell of an entertaining ride.

Basically, this is the kind of series that I want to watch when I don’t feel like watching an intricate plot or deep characters: a show that really releases all brakes in order to be as entertaining as possible. This show knows how to upstage itself time and time again, and while it uses several running gags, there is so much creativity put into this thing that it never feels repetitive or dragged out. It uses its own ideas incredibly well and I had one hell of a time watching this. Pun semi-intended.

Storytelling: 9/10 – A “No idea is too crazy”-mentality. Completely over the top in every single way and uses its huge amounts of creativity to deliver a really entertaining series.
Characters: 8/10 – Obviously you shouldn’t expect any development here, and they really take time to get used to, but their antics get hilarious to watch.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Amazing soundtrack (seriously, this thing is completely awesome) and while the character designs look simple at first, there is a ton of creativity put into it.
Setting: 8/10 – Obviously it’s nothing special at first look: youkai invade the world and they need to be stopped. But it has so many ideas put into its run that it it becomes amazing.

Suggestions:
– Hoshi no Umi no Amuri
– Hakaba Kitarou
– Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-Hen

[C] The Money of Soul and Possibility Control Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, The Money of Soul and Possibility Control




I’ll start off this review with a ranking of Kenji Nakamura’s series so far:
4. Kuchuu Buranko
3. C
2. Mononoke
1. Bake Neko

This guy is an excellent director who comes out every two years or so with new and interesting concepts, that are especially well directed, with bright and colourful graphics and interesting messages that other anime wouldn’t bother with. He has gotten to direct more different series than any other director so far. Even when he’s flawed, his series are just plain interesting. With C, we have his first series that follows a full storyline, rather than just a collection of short stories.

Now, C is an interesting thriller. Like Eden of the East, it focuses on social commentary, but this time it takes a look at the financial crisis. The best way to characterize this show is as “interesting”: the world it created is very original, the people that the main character meets throughout the series all have their own stories to tell to flesh out this setting, the battles and action scenes are really well directed: all of this is really interesting to watch, despite some major flaws.

Because yes, unfortunately this show is of the kind that tries to stuff way too much in way too little. This show is rushed as hell, which leads to problems that it can’t fully explain its setting, or that it can’t take the time to quietly flesh out its cast. A lot of plot twist happen completely out of nowhere because this series didn’t have time to build them up, because it was focusing on more important parts. But for a rushed series though: it held itself up really well.

This of course all depends on how easily your suspense of disbelief can be broken, but the pacing and scenario of this series continue to prevent this show from getting boring at all. Whenever this show is glossing over a detail, it’s doing so because it’s focusing on something else. The music in this series is really, really good, and the action scenes consistently belonged to the most creative and vivid of the entire season. Beyond that, it knows what parts it’s building up to and because of that it’s able to close off with a excellent finale that gives a satisfying conclusion by bringing the bits and pieces that it did manage to build up through its run together.

Now, C does not have the best acting here. It’s because of this that the characters take a bit of a time to get used to. The animation is unfortunately not the most detailed, and the entire series is full of distorted faces. The characters range from nothing special to actually quite interesting, but a big problem is that the main character belongs in the former category for a large part of the series. There are enough good characters to make up for that, though.

C has ambition and knows how to use it well. That’s the kind of series that I really like. This is the kind of series that would have been even better if it had more episodes to work with, but it prevented itself wonderfully from just driving into a wall. Instead this is a runaway truck who somehow manages to emerge still running at full speed despite having hit various things alongside its rampage.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Excellent scenario, and while the pacing might make you think that it’s going to turn into a trainwreck, it never does and only gets more dynamic and exciting.
Characters: 8/10 – Varied, from interesting to a bit of a boring main character.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Gorgeous art, though too many distorted faces and out of place CG.
Setting: 9/10 – Very creative backstory, interesting developments and while this obviously isn’t meant as an analysis of the financial crisis, it’s still very interesting in what it does with its setting. It leaves many things unanswered, but not enough to break suspense of disbelief.

Suggestions:
– Eden of the East
– Kuchuu Buranko

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-Tachi wa Mada Shiranai. Review – 92.5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-Tachi wa Mada Shiranai




Moe in Noitamina. It was a risk. Especially after how Fractale screwed up so badly, seeing A-1 try again in a timeslot whose audience has always been at older audiences with the same teenagers that anime is filled with… I definitely had some doubts right before this series started. And then Ano Hana aired and turned out one of the best written shows of the season.

Ever heard of the phrase “short but sweet”? This is the key to the best Noitamina-series out there: most of them can only be eleven or twelve episodes long, so they really need to know how to use their time, and this series is a brilliant example of how this timeslot should be used. It leaves no moment wasted, it never drags, and it’s always developing its characters, delivering heavy drama, and moving back and forth between showing new things about its characters and fleshing them out.

The show follows six teenagers as they deal with their pasts. All six of them end up as well rounded characters, with their strenghts and flaws: one is an airhead, another is an asshole, another is socially awkward. This series juggles all of them together brilliantly. The acting is excellent and this show is even able to breathe life into the side characters of this series.

Now, this is the kind of series where the characters write the plot. If you like series that have a complex storyline, you don’t need to go for this series: this is just a coming of age drama, but it’s amongst the best I’ve seen. It is very dramatic though: this series really pushes to get as much drama into 11 episodes as possible without making itself shallow: all of the drama here is meaningful and brings out the best of the characters, but if you like series with more restrained and composed acting, you might want to look elsewhere.

If you are looking for an emotional roller coaster however: watch this. Few series can boast to be this well laid out, especially when so small. Everything fits just perfectly. I’m not a fan of moe, but this show is so good that it immediately won me over.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Brilliant at juggling around its drama, never leaves a moment wasted, although the drama can get a little heavy-handed for some.
Characters: 10/10 – A complete tear-jerker; wonderfully rounded characters that play off each other amazingly.
Production-Values: 9/10 – No still frames, no recycled scenes, fluid animation, detailed art, excellent soundtrack. An overall job really well done in every aspect.
Setting: 9/10 – A soothing village back in a forest. Down to earth.

Suggestions:
– Asatte no Houkou
– Clannad After Story
– True Tears

Last Exile Review – 87,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Okay, so I finally managed to finish this series. I can now understand why when it first aired in 2003, it made quite an impact. It had this unique charm and excellent CG animation that actually still holds up today. It’s got a few problems, but overall it’s a unique adventure series.

The big strength of Last Exile is that it’s inspired and imaginative in just about every single way: it’s heavily influenced by the Miyazaki flying movies, but it managed to build its own original setting around that: there are original ideas behind just about every facet of this show, the designs too are just completely unique (with excellent CG to back this up). This is a wondrous journey from start to finish.

Now, beyond the ideas, this show also has the execution to back it up. I want to specifically praise the characters and the acting, who too feel unlike other shows of its kind. To best explain this: the dialogue feels much more natural and balanced than what you usually see in anime, making good use of pauses and nonverbal communication as well. The drama in particular is really well delivered thanks to this.

In terms of the story, this is a bit of a strange one, though. It’s the kind of series that really dislikes exposition, and keeps most of this as brief as possible. Because of this, a lot of the stuff in this series is left to the imagination as to “how and why” they happen.

Due to the acting, another interesting effect is that some characters go completely against their supposed archetypes. The one big exception is the main villain who really is an evil megalomaniac no matter how you cut it, but characters like Lavie, Mullin, and even Alex Rowe: they really know their characters and don’t try to be anything more for the sake of some extra forced drama. I really appreciate that, but because of that this series does have a few points where it drags because of that. It does come together wonderfully for the ending, though.

The strange thing with this series is that it may not be the most exciting series. And despite the solid acting, there are certain moments in the story that do feel forced. And yet, now that I’ve finished watching this show, it feels so complete. The end of this series really feels like the end of a long journey, and yet I can fully see a second season that focuses on a completely new cast work; the setting is more than rich enough for that. I wouldn’t call this amongst Gonzo’s best; they made too many classics for that, but it still makes the top 7 and it’s definitely a great show to watch.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Lots and lots of style. A bit one-sided at times, but never really drags.
Characters: 9/10 – Characters who fit the setting incredibly well. Very natural dialogue and voice acting.
Production-Values: 9/10 – This show is eight years old and still looks unique and amazing. You don’t often get to say that about 3D CG in a tv-series.
Setting: 9/10 – The setting still stands on its own with great ideas and a detailed description. It leaves things unexplained, but gets a nine because it really speaks to the imagination.

Suggestions:
– Shangri-La (just note that while Last Exile is really subtle, Shangri-la most definitely isn’t).
– Simoun
– The Third

Karigurashi no Arrietty Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Oh heck, Studio Ghibli did it again. With this, they created yet another must-watch for all ages. If you like family movies, it really is a must-watch.

Now, Ghibli makes two kinds of movies: epic adventure movies, and slice of life movies that often have fantasy adventure themes. Arrietty belongs to the latter, as it shows how a young boy meets a fantasy creature known as one of the borrowers: tiny people who borrow small stuff from humans in order to survive. That kind of set-up is common, but rather than “boy meets fantastical creature”, this movie makes it “fantastical creature meets boy”. Unlike the vast majority of these kinds of movies, we follow Arrietty, how she lives, where she lives, and what she does. And dear God, this movie is good at that.

This movie is meticulously detailed in order to make its setting come alive. Nearly the entire movie just takes place in one house in a small forest, but the creators put a ton of small ideas and detail into just about every scene. The amount of things that these borrowers create from the stuff that they borrow from the humans is immense, the movie is full of all kinds of different kinds of animals, ranging from bugs to mice and birds. It’s a lush movie that just sparkles with life wherever it goes.

Also: the animation. Let me say that out of all of the Ghibli movies not directed by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, this one has the best visuals. The backgrounds in particular are just gorgeous, but what feels unique about the animation is how the creators succeeded in showing the difference between large and big. I mean, the main character is about ten centimetres high. When big things are around her, they really look BIG. Especially the way in which humans are animated next to her: that was done in such a way that I have never seen before.

There’s only one major weakness in this movie, and that is some forced conflict near the end of the movie. I’m not talking about the actual ending (which really was great), but the climax before that, in which this movie suddenly turns into one of those preachy environmentalist movies for ten minutes with a conflict and villain that just don’t fit the mood at all. It’s an act that feels like it doesn’t belong in the movie in terms of tone and themes, not to mention that the ‘villain’ is pretty pathetic.

The rest of the movie is environmental, but not at all preachy. Instead it focuses on the subtle tensions between coexisting species, not pointing a bad finger but rather letting everything resolve itself naturally. It’s got some wonderful characters to back this up with (again, the animation really brings these guys to life) with really good voice acting. Despite that one hiccup near the end, it’s a wonderful watch.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Down to earth, well paced and mature, with perhaps one forced bit near the end.
Characters: 8/10 – There may not be much interesting development, but the acting is excellent, and the characters really come to life. It’s got a bad villain, though.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Gorgeous artwork, detailed beyond belief, not to mention the wonderful soundtrack.
Setting: 9/10 – Immensely detailed in describing the life and environment of the main character. There are a ton of ideas in just about every scene.

Suggestions:
– Kiki’s Delivery Service
– Furusato, Japan
– Porco Rosso

Some Quick First Impressions: Appleseed XIII

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Appleseed XIII

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is an elite mecha pilot.
Whoa early! I thought that Appleseed was only set to appear for another ten days. I guess that this is a preview episode or something? In any case: yeah, this was already better than the two movies. It’s not like it already is deeper than the best parts of the 2004 movie, but this episode focused more on the relationship between Deunan and Buriarios than the two movies combined. That’s the kind of stuff you need this early in the story. Having said that, though: this episode was very sappy. I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if Deunan was on her period for the first half of this episode. In terms of the graphics: the faces look as weird as most other 3D series: it’s the botox-faces syndrome, but at least they’re moved nicely. Apart from that though, this episode looked excellent. It’s especially good at lighting and those kinds of effects, and the insertion of the symbolic images to the Greek Mythology were also a nice touch.
OP: Nice idea with great designs.
ED: Really short, but I like how they even stuffed symbolism here.
Potential: 80%

May Summary

by psgels, posted in Monthly Summaries

This really is a season of building up: half of the shows are carefully preparing for later, so who knows what kind of season it’ll eventually become? Let me say this though: there are a lot of shows that really take good use of their premises. It’s perhaps not the best spring season we’ve ever had so far, but it is a very imaginative and diverse one. Oh, and the fact that there are so many shows that focus on adults also helps.

OVA Releases
#3 – Valkyria Chronicles III – (7,25/10)

Ah, what a shame. This one was really disappointing. I have to give credits for the creators in the way that they did make their main characters far, FAR less annoying than the characters of the TV-series… but they’re completely flat. Every character just has one side and that’s it. There’s way too much of them for just 24 minutes and they’re alll really poorly acted and fleshed out. The production values are also rather bad, and without knowing overall this just gets one big ‘meh’.
#2 – Norageki – (8,25/10)

This was only 20 minutes long, but it was really well told here. It’s a well paced mystery story with quite a nice ending. The characters, while not having any depth, still were interesting to follow as well.
#1 – Armored Trooper Votoms – Alone Again – (8,5/10)

Thankfully this actually turned out well. The story of Votoms got an excellent conclusion after all. Especially the end was great, but the entire OVA was based around a great idea that definitely fills in some of the gaps that the Gen-ei hen left open. This is simple but effective storytelling like it should be, and I’m glad that it really contributed to the Votoms Franchise again, unlike the abominations that were Case;Irvine and Finder.

TV-Series
#25 (14) – Denpa-Onna to Seishun Otoko – (7/10) – I dropped this show. It had potential at the beginning, but the endless discussions about nothing are badly drawn out and not interesting at all. Not to mention that the series was getting more annoying by the minute.
#24 (23) – A-Channel – (7,5/10) – In the end I dropped this. The biggest reason for this was that it was getting really repetitive; the characters just kept comparing boob sizes and they just kept talking about the same things.
#23 (16) – Sekai-Ichi Hatsukoi – (7,5/10) – It’s a shame, but I just had to drop this after the fifth episode because I just couldn’t get through it. It suddenly introduced a bunch of completely new characters, but they were the example of how ridiculously forced shounen ai can get. It had no good characterization whatsoever and unlike the first four episodes, this was just there to get guys to kiss and feel embarrassed.
#22 (21) – Hen Zemi – (7,5/10) – Hmm, Hen Zemi has become a bit boring. It’s unfortunately as I feared: the current season is just a list of gross things, without the energy or timing of the OVA. Because of that, it just has a shock factor, and when that is gone I see few reasons to actually come back to this, unfortunately.
#21 (24) – The World God Only Knows – (7,75/10) – I think that because of the hype surrounding this series before it aired gave me the complete wrong expectations about this series. For a laid-back story that aims for modest entertainment… I guess that it could have done a lot worse. It still hasn’t grabbed me, though, but I do admit that the past arc was the best so far.
#20 () – Inazuma Eleven – (7,75/10) – Four episodes in, and I strangely enough haven’t dropped this one yet. It has something that keeps me watching. The characters are all boring and the animation also isn’t that impressive, but the energy with which it presents itself is commendable. Seriously, this is really dark for a kids’ show, and it actually created quite a bit of an atmosphere that retained my interest.
#19 (27) – Astaroote no Omocha – (7,75/10) – Here’s the thing with Astarotte no Omocha: it sounds like a really bad premise, but it’s surprisingly heartfelt. It’s nothing special, but the relationship between parent and child is surprisingly well done here. I originally dropped this, but after picking it back up I have to admit that it has surprisingly enjoyable characters.
#18 (10) – Gintama – (8/10) – The Sarutobi-arc was just bad. It tried to be way too silly for the sake of silliness, and was just painful to watch. One more episode like that and I’m going to drop this thing because I don’t want to sit through that any longer. The episode after that was a great recap episode though, but yeah: it’s a little early for that one and it only highlights the production issues that the entire sequel has been having.
#17 (19) – Moshidora – (8/10) – Okay, so the budget was bare-bones, Moshidora actually told a surprisingly good story that made good use of its time of only ten episodes. The end was a bit cheesy, but the premise of a high school girl reading Drucker’s Management was quite interesting.
#16 (9) – Ao no Exorcist – (8/10) – In a surprise, this month suddenly brought the character to Hogwarts and this turned into a school life series. Okay. It’s a bit weird, but in terms of building up it did its job by exploring the characters, discussing their motivations and preparing for all hell to break loose later. Literally, probably.
#15 (7) – Hana-Saku Iroha – (8/10)

Lotsa building up here in this series. That unfortunately doesn’t really make this show as enjoyable to watch as it once was, but it’s still fun to watch the main cast together as they try to run the inn. Now all that’s left is to hope that that build-up actually pay\s off

#14 (20) – Yondemasuyo, Azazel-San – (8/10)

Moloch was awesome. He really saved this series from the same fate as Hen Zemi. But granted, the rest of the cast also is a lot of fun to watch here. It’s completely over the top, but surprisingly watchable.

#13 (18) – Fireball – (8/10)

This show still is random, but in a good way. I love these anti-climaxes that it just keeps throwing at the viewer, and its comedic timing is also pretty good here. Oh, and the graphics also look really good at this point. Recommended if you want to waste two minutes.

#12 (11) – X-Men – (8,25/10)

The visuals here are damn good: this show looks vivid and wild, and the action always is interesting to watch. the story leaves the most tings to be desired: it feels too random at this point. The characters aren’t the best, but they’re still pretty interesting to watch at the moment.

#11 (13) – Showa Monogatari – (8,25/10)

In this month, this series has continued to paint a surprisingly authentic picture of Japan in 1964. There were a few bad parts, like the animation or the drama around Kouhei, but overall the cast has grown quite nicely so far. The four preview episodes were weird, but they did show how the cast evolved in quite an interesting way. It’s got this great combination between random slice of life and meaningful drama.

#10 (26) – Dororon Enma-Kun Meera Meera – (8,25/10)

This show. Is crazy. It’s a fanservice show, but it delivers its fanservice in such a bizarre way that I can’t help but love it. It’s completely juvenile and yet fun to watch from beginning to end, with great jokes and a lot of creativity that will go with any idea, no matter how stupid ti is. Oh, and beyond that, the soundtrack is also much better than I expected here.

#9 (12) – Deadman Wonderland – (8,5/10)

This show is extreme. It’s complete balls to the walls in its themes and mood. But at the same time though, it doesn’t forget about its characters. This show has become surprisingly interesting to watch due to the cast of characters who are surprisingly well fleshed out for such a premise. Beyond that, it’s also the creativity that the setting has, and all of the things that it just keeps throwing at the lead character that have sold me.

#8 (15) – Sket Dance – (8,5/10)

After its first episode, I heard from several people that the different stories vary from really good to really mediocre. Now here’s the thing: after eight episodes, I have not seen a bad episode yet. Sure, it gets a bit far-fetched at times, but overall Sket Dance surprised me at what a sincere series it has become. Every episode so far has had its charms, and the best thing is that it’s also surprisingly varied: both the different arcs and characters stand on their own, and this series takes pride in its creativity, which seems a gimmick at first, yet ends up surprisingly well used.

#7 (17) – Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji – (8,5/10)

Well, it’s taken a while, but the current arc of Kaiji kicks ass! This arc was very calculate, which makes things pay off even more at the end. The creators really manged to crawl into the minds of these characters, and they really impressed me there. The atmosphere also really worked here. More of these arcs, please.

#6 (8) – [C] The Money Of Soul and Possibility Control – (8,5/10)

The great thing about C is how well it looks upon its subject material: it just keeps offering different views, motivations, people and opinions, some of which are surprisingly well fleshed out. It’s a shame that it doesn’t have the right budget to really animate what it wants, but it does know how to create an atmosphere.

#5 (6) – Steins;Gate – (8,5/10)

Steins;Gate is slow, but very solid. It has a great cast so far, its themes are really interesting, the plot is really well paced and the atmosphere rocks. Sure, it follows a bit of a harem set-up with a guy surrounded by many girls, but it has more tan enough to make up for it.

#4 (4) – Tiger & Bunny – (8,5/10)

If I had to summarize Tiger & Bunny with one word, it’d be lovable. Heck, the entire cast is a joy to watch, even when the main storyline is out of the picture. The bond between the different characters is always being developed, and the whole backdrop of superheroes working for sponsors is still working really well to keep everything together.

#3 (22) – Gosick – (8,75/10)

In this month… Gosick has become amazing. Seriously, the last episode that was even remotely mediocre was episode fourteen. After that, Gosick has been nothing but character development, breath-taking adventures and engaging thrillers. Finally everything has come together, but I seriously did not expect this show to become THIS good. Right now, this show has turned into a roller coaster ride that just keeps coming with interesting plot twists, and not to mention the characters, who received major improvements.

#2 (2) – Hyouge Mono – (8,75/10)

This show can both be hysterical and serious when it wants to, and it just rocks at both areas. It has without a doubt the best dialogue of the entire season, even though it’s really difficult to try and understand. It’s a really authentic view at the sengoku era that combines politics, aesthetics, silliness and intrigue with each other brilliantly so far.

#1 (1) – Ano Hi Mita no Hana no Namae o Boku-Tachi wa Mada Shiranai – (9/10)

This turned out to be an amazing series, with exceptionally brilliant characterizations. Every episode pushes the characters forward and it leaves no moment wasted to give more meaning to them. It’s a sad show, focused on running away, but it has just the right combination between sadness and hope here.

Colorful Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Ah, Ascension: the new promising production company, spawned apparently from Sunrise. I originally thought that Kizuna Ichigeki from the Young Animator Training Project was their debut, but as it turns out their first work is the movie Colorful. After this, they stand out even more as a force to be reckoned with, because here they actually got themselves a number of good writers.

Colorful is a slice of life movie. This is a crowded genre at the moment, but it holds itself up very nicely. It’s perhaps not the best, but the character development is definitely worth it. It doesn’t follow the formula of “first half slice of life second half drama”, but instead it blends in both parts very nicely, taking the time to slowly show his character in his every day life, along with the problems he has and how he develops. The drama is good and quite genuine at times as well.

Kou Outani developed a solid soundtrack, and the animation is also simple, but detailed: not the best for a movie, but there is still quite a nice amount of movement. Characters move life-like, and the animation and voice actors succeed pretty well in portraying the characters throughout the movie. It does have a number of flaws that prevent it from being a great movie, though.

This movie was directed by the same guy who directed Kappa to Coo to Natsuyasumi, and pretty much suffers from the same problem in that it perhaps does not make the best use of its time. It’s the build-up that leaves things to be desired and feels incomplete at times, which prevents the drama from really reaching great heights.

Second of all, and this is a complaint that I’ve seen mentioned by some others already: the ending is… a bit of a downer ending. It’s not like it’s rushed or anything, and neither is it a plothole ending, but it’s the kind of ending that tries to shove its messages down the viewers throats, and they weren’t messages that I personally agree with. For the sake of spoilers I’ll only say that this movie does not use its premise well enough. Beyond that though, it’s a very solid movie that’s worth the watch if you’re into slice of life dramas.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Really well written dialogue, but misses something in terms of building up.
Characters: 9/10 – Excellent and life-like portrayal and development.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Nothing special for movie standards, but the animation remains impressively detailed. Especially the background art is consistently great.
Setting: 8/10 – Don’t watch this movie for its premise; watch it for its characters and how they fit into their daily lives.

Suggestions:
– Junkers Come Here
– Whisper of the Heart
– Kappa to Coo to Natsuyasumi

Summer Season Preview – Movie and OVA Edition

by psgels, posted in Seasonal Previews

Interestingly, in terms of movies the upcoming season will be a season of experiments. There are a lot of movies that try out new ideas, or go into different directions than the series they’re based on. This both has a huge amount of potential, as a huge amount of risks, and I like it! Even if the movies and OVAs might disappoint, at least it’ll be interesting.

There is something new about this Season’s Movie and OVA preview: due to a lack of time I don’t have any room to be as thorough as I usually am, so I’m just going to lump all of the DVD specials and Franchise Movies together. I usually have the least to say about all of them, and most of the time their staff (especially with the DVD specials) are the same anyway. Only in special cases I’ll make exceptions and give them a full post. Oh, and this way I can also talk about ongoing OVAss

DVD Specials:


Titles: Tantei Opera Milky Holmes, Fairy Tail
Comments: This season has only two dvd specials, one for Milky Holmes and one for Fairy Tail. I couldn’t care less for the Fairy Tail one, especially after the promo for the previous OVA, but more Milky Holmes is always fun. It’ll allow the creators to deliver one more time, without potentially dragging themselves in another season.

Ongoing OVAs :




Titles: Air Gear – 03, KissxSis – 05, Black Lagoon – Roberta’s Blood Trail – 05, Yurumates – 02
Comments: Out of all these four, I’m only looking forward to Black Lagoon. The previous episodes have been excellent and the finale is looking out to be one where all of its build up comes together. It’s a raw and powerful OVA. Yurumates 1 was really forgettable, and really poorly produced from what my memory tells me. KissXSis was just crap, and Air Gear seems just for the fans of the manga (correct me if I’m wrong here, though).

Franchise Movies:



Titles: Gekijōban Pocket Monster Best Wishes! Victini to Kuroki Eiyū Zekrom, Naruto Shippūden: Blood Prison, The Prince of Tennis: Eikoku-shiki Teikyū-jō Kessen!
Comments: These are the kinds of franchises who either churn out a movie every single year, come out so often that I don’t want to talk about them anymore. Having said that though, that Naruto Movie does intrigue me. It finally has a good looking promo, and I just discovered that it’s being directed by the director of Gilgamesh and Shikabane Hime. As far away as I’d want to stay from a Naruto movie, it does have me curious. As for the prince of Tennis, though I stopped being interested in that one when I learned about the ridiculous tennis moves that were pulled off. And seriously, how long can you make a show that’s just about tennis?

Ongoing Movie Series:

Titles: Mardock Scramble – 02
Comments: Ah, mardock Scramble is a movie that I’m still looking forward to. The first one hasn’t appeared yet though, but it’s about time that it showed up. It looks completely gorgeous anyway, and it’s a premise I’m really intrigued at.

Baby Princess 3D Paradise 0 [Love]

Summary: It’s about a family of 19 sisters — from a newborn baby to a graduating high school senior. In the novel version, a high school senior named Youtarou thought he was an only child — until he met his real mother and discovered that she has 19 daughters. He ends up living with his “true family.” – (Taken from ANN)
Type: OVA
Director: Takayuki Inagaki
Script: Yuuko Kakihara
The Positives: It gets points for actually thinking that people will buy such a stupid premise.
The Negatives: Good lord, there is so much wrong with this series. The fact that it tries to sell itself in 3D with no point or purpose, fact that there is a guy living together with 19 of his sisters, the incest, the fact that he was unaware of everything, and that poor mother of his. Don’t get me wrong though, the story about a really large family has potential, but not with the director of Rosario to Vampire and the series composition guy of Sora no Otoshimono behind the execution.
First-Glance Potential: 0%

Vitamin X Addiction

Summary: The game is set at Seitei Gakuen, an elite private academy that teaches every level from kindergarten until college in Tokyo. A new female teacher named Yūri Minami is starting her second year of teaching here, and she is now moving up from teaching middle school students to the assignment she had sought after: grammar for high school students. Unfortunately, she gets assigned to “Class X,” an infamous group of seniors; it is said that all of their previous teachers have retired due to ulcers or neurosis. Minami must try to reach out to these students and get them into college. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: OVA
Director: Keiichiro Kawaguchi
Other Notable Staff: Satonobu Kikuchi (Character Design)
The Positives: … at least it has a story that goes beyond “let’s try to get in romantic situations with members of the opposite sex”. Also, Keiichiro Kawaguchi… you could do much worse with him. although he will be working on three things at the same time…
The Negatives: What is it with these utterly stupid titles for the bishie shows this season? Also, is this series seriously thinking that it can run through thirteen bishies in three episodes? They’re not even trying anymore…
First-Glance Potential: 0%

Sora no Otoshimono: Tokei-jikake no Angeloid

Summary: Tomoki’s peaceful life is far away in the past, now he has to deal with 2 angeloids Ikaros and Nymph along with his friends from school, each one of them very special on their own ways. Tomoki’s dream about an angel warning him from the rage of heavens is getting very common at his sleep, then one day a new angel who has power up to the standard of Ikaros arrives Earth with the sole purpose of terminating Tomoki since his dream is starting to connect both realities, the Earth and the Synapses, a very powerful angel indeed. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Director: Hisashi Sato, Tetsuya Yanagisawa
Script: Yuuko Kakihara
The Positives: Um, the fanservice?
The Negatives: I once praised Sora no Otoshimono for at least trying to be entertaining, but heck. I take that back. Sora no Otoshimono really is a lot of the same. the premise is once fun, and then it just keeps repeating itself over and over again. This movie too: the trailer looked exactly like the series has been. Not even the animation seemed improved. This turned out to be just another one of those generic moe shows, and I can’t believe they actually made a movie about it.
First-Glance Potential: 0%

Gekijouban Mahou Sensei Negima

Summary: The story is centred around Negi Springfield, a ten-year-old wizard from Wales, who dreams of becoming a Magister Magi like his missing father, a special wizard who uses his powers to help normal people, using covers such as working for NGOs. Initially appointed as an English teacher at Mahora Academy in Japan he becomes a teacher to a middle school class of 31 older girls. However, the peaceful school life is quickly disturbed as people from his father’s past appear and Negi has to form contracts with various students to overcome the new dangers. Finally he embarks on a journey to the Magic World together with his partners to find his long-lost father. This film is the climax to their adventures depicted in the Shiroki Tsubasa Ala Alba and Mou Hitotsu no Sekai OVAs. – (Taken from AniDB)
Type: Movie
Director: Akiyuki Shinbo
The Positives: If you’re a fan of Negima, then there’s more. This is one franchise that either gets the proper time to get its story, or is getting milked out by Shinbo once more. I unfortunately never watched it beyond one episode (and have no intention to pick it back up by the way) so I can’t tell.
The Negatives: Blegh, Shinbo.
First-Glance Potential: 0%

Hakuouki OVA

Summary: ??
Type: OVA, 5 Episodes
Director: Osamu Yamazaki
The Positives: Well, Hakuouki 2 was only 10 episodes long. I guess that this is where the remaining episodes went. This looks like it’ll focus on some of the bishies some more and I guess that there’s nothing wrong with that. And it still has the director of Toward the Terra, but it’s getting harder and harder to believe that he once actually directed that kind of epic.
The Negatives: But still, Hakuouki felt mediocre in every way to me. I mean, I could see where it was going and all, but the characters all just were so dull, and the female lead was so cheesy. I just couldn’t get through it. Twice.
First-Glance Potential: 30%

Alice in the Country of Hearts

Summary: Alice Liddell was forcefully kidnapped,brought down a hole into Heartland/Wonderland. Due to a trick,she has no choice but to play a mysterious game in order to go home. She has to meet the residents in Heartland/Wonderland to fill up a potion bottle(to complete the game),only then can she go home. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
The Positives: So this movie is based on a game that re-imagines Alice in Wonderland with Bishies, and the movie itself will also contain a completely original take on the story. This can go either way, depending on who will be in charge of this thing (which unfortunately isn’t known yet). This reminds me the most of Kuroshitsuji, though.
The Negatives: It’s just that Kuroshitsuji’s Alice in Wonderland arc was terrible. There was way too much randomness for the sake of randomness. Plus, what can still be said about Alice in Wonderland right now? Just make your own story, instead of trying to stick to that famous name.
First-Glance Potential: 70%

Hayate the Combat Butler

Summary: Abandoned by his parents and given a monumentally large debt as a Christmas present, 16-year old Ayasaki Hayate is at the lowest point of his life. Desperately trying alter his hapless fate, he decides to kidnap someone to hold for a ransom. Due to an ill choice of words, the girl he tries to kidnap misunderstands the action as a confession of love. His plan is totally crushed when he gives his real name out. Realizing his wrongdoing, Hayate proceeds to rescue the girl from the yakuza, who had instead kidnapped her. The girl, as a token of thanks, offers Hayate a job as her butler. Hayate, overwhelmed by her kindness, vows to protect her even at the cost of his life. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Director: Hideto Komori
Script: Yasuko Kobayashi
The Positives: Hayate never caught my attention, but perhaps this is different, because the staff is different yet again. I mean, Manglobe, of all studios, is behind this one? The director in particular did a ton of animation and animation direction on Samurai Champloo and Ergo Proxy. Or take Yasuko Kobayashi, who wrote Casshern Sins. This could actually prove to be quite an interesting experiment here.
The Negatives: The big question though is whether or not you can watch this without having seen the series. I don’t feel like catching up to 75 episodes right now…
First-Glance Potential: 70%

Carnival Phantasm

Summary: ??
Type: OVA
Director: Seiji Kishi
Script: Makoto Uezu
Other Notable Staff: Yasuharu Takanashi (Music), Eri Takanagi (Original Creator)
The Positives: This… has the same director and writer as Kamisama Dolls. That’s quite interesting, especially considering how Seiji Kishi is a fun director with a great sense of comedic timing. Oh, and the soundtrack made by the same guy who did Heartcatch Precure, Jigoku Shoujo, Shiki and Toward the Terra? Count me in!
The Negatives: Makoto Uezu of course remains a bit of a bug here, and the same goes for Eri Takanagi: I’m not sure whether the original writer for Kannagi is the best for this project.
First-Glance Potential: 75%

Gekijō-ban Anime Nintama Rantaro Ninjutsu Gakuen Zenin Shutsudō! no Dan

Summary: The anime is based on Soubee Amako’s Rakudai Ninja Rantarō ninja gag manga (Asahi Comics) about the adventures of Rantarō and other ninja apprentices at an elite ninjutsu academy. The story is set in Japan during the tumultuous Sengoku Jidai (Era of the Warring States). As first-graders, Rantarō and his ninja-in-training friends are called “Nintama” — a contraction of the words “ninja” and “tamago” (“egg”). – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Director: Masaya Fujimori
The Positives: Yeah. Um, so I was planning to just ignore this one and label it amongst the other franchise movies that it looked like. But then I discovered that it has the same director as You Are Delicious, the surprisingly amazing dinosaur movie that also looked like a kids’ show at first sight. And indeed, the promo looks nothing like the TV-series. This could very well be another brilliant movie of his.
The Negatives: it remains a kids’ show, though. And 3D.
First-Glance Potential: 75%

Tekken: Blood Vengance

Type: Movie
Director: Yoichi Mori
Script: Dai Sato
The Positives: The trailer looks really cool and varied, this is promising to be an excellent action movie, especially with Dai Sato (Eureka 7, Ergo Proxy) as the main writer.
The Negatives: I couldn’t find anything about that director, though.
First-Glance Potential: 80%

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira

Summary: It’s a collection of four mini-stories, one adaptation and three original, to celebrate the 10th anniversary fo the franchise.
Type: OVA, 4 Episodes
Director: Hideki Tachibana
Script: Toshifumi Kawase
The Positives: Being a big fan of Higurashi, I really got delighted to see more of it. When used well, they can really become awesome. Rei already showed that even comedy episodes can become great here. Toshifumi Kawase also is one of the best people that Studio Deen have: his characterization in particular is consistently incredible, so I’m very eager to see what he has in store here.
The Negatives: What the heck? What is the director of Dragon Crisis and H2O doing here? We don’t need Higurashi ruined by his mediocre direction.
First-Glance Potential: 80%

Fullmetal Alchemist: Milos no Sei-Naru Hoshi

Summary: Two brothers lose their mother to an incurable disease. With the power of “alchemy”, they use taboo knowledge to resurrect her. The process fails, and as a toll for using this type of alchemy, the older brother, Edward Elric loses his left leg while the younger brother, Alphonse Elric loses his entire body. To save his brother, Edward sacrifices his right arm and is able to affix his brother’s soul to a suit of armor. With the help of a family friend, Edward receives metal limbs – “automail” – to replace his lost ones. With that, Edward vows to search for the Philosopher’s Stone to return the brothers to their original bodies, even if it means becoming a “State Alchemist”, one who uses his/her alchemy for the military. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Director: Kazuya Murata
Script: Yuichi Shinbo
Other Notable Staff: Taro Iwashiro (Music), Kenichi Konishi
The Positives: The animation director? It will be the same guy who animated Tokyo Godfathers. That’s bound to look amazing.
The Negatives: To my surprise, the staff is entirely different compared to any other Full Metal Alchemist anime, and that worries me. The guy who is going to write this thing has only written Doraemon movies before. Kazuya Murata also doesn’t really stand out as a director. Sure, he has done great episodes, but none of the full series he directed stand out.
First-Glance Potential: 80%

Kokuriko-Zaka Kara

Summary: The story is set in Showa 38 (1963, a year before the Tokyo Olympics) and follows the coming of age of an ordinary, pigtailed high school girl named Komatsuzaki in Yokohama, a harbor city near Tokyo. Her sailor father went missing after an accident, and her photographer mother is frequently going abroad for work. Her family now runs a lodging house. The manga recounts Komatsuzaki’s everyday life of “laughter and tears” with two boys — a school newspaper member and the student council president. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Director: Goro Miyazaki
Script: Hayao Miyazaki, Keiko Niwa
Other Notable Staff: Katsuya Kondo (Character Designs)
The Positives: Ghibli’s new film. This will be a collaboration between father Hayao Miyazaki and son Goro Miyazaki. It’s interesting how time, Hayao is actually actively collaborating with Goro after Tales of the Earthsea, and I’m intrigued to what the results will be. In any case this seems like a very good shoujo movie.
The Negatives: I thin kit’s safe to say that Goro Miyazaki is a bit spoiled. I’d love to see him go someplace other than under his father, and develop his own style, rather than forever trying to live in his fathers’ shadows.
First-Glance Potential: 85%

Towa no Quon

Summary: The story follows a boy named Quon and others who suddenly wake up with supernatural powers. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie, Six Parts
Director: Umanosuke Iida
Script: Saizo Nemoto
Other Notable Staff: Kenji Kawai (Music), Toshihiro Kawamoto (Character Designs/Animation Direction), Takeshi Mori (Collaborative Director)
The Positives: Bones looks like it’ll be doing something really interesting here, celebrating a project conceived by the late Hellsing Director. Toshihiro Kawamoto is an amazingly experienced animator and Kenji Kawai is an amazing musician, so this will definitely be a feast for the senses.
The Negatives: The weakest here seems to be the main writer: Saizo Nemoto. He’s excellent on individual episodes, but I’m not sure about his works on the Tokyo Majin Gakuen Sequel…
First-Glance Potential: 85%