Category: Other:

Some Quick First Impressions: Lotte no Omocha, Hoshizora e Kakaru Hoshi and The World God Only Knows 2

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Lotte no Omocha

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a ten year old succubus who needs to find herself a male to suck… wait what?
Well, on the bright side Shinbo actually held himself back: his style for once wasn’t all over the place here and the other creators also got their chance to bring their own style out. Unfortunately though, this still wasn’t very good. A lot of this has to do with Rie Kugimiya who is getting really annoying having to play the umpth tsundere, although at the very least she’s more eloquent here then her previous role in Dragon Crisis. She remains an annoying brat, though and this episode was tedious to sit through because of her. The character designs are also really generic and the music was just stock music as well. There was an actual story, but it moved awfully slow here and a lot of time was just reserved for moe antics that were neither funny nor enjoyable. There is only one character who caught my attention, that purple-haired servant. She at least was interesting to watch and actually seemed to have half a braincel. I probably would have been a lot more positive about this series is if focused on her instead.
OP: I hope that this wasn’t one of those “let’s summarize the plot here in 90 seconds”-OPs, because it really looked like one.
ED: Could have been worse, but still a boring ballad.
Potential: 10%

Hoshizora e Kakaru Hoshi

Short Synopsis: Our lead character meets a lot of cute girls that he can date.
This was actually nearly unwatchable. It’s the kind of hentai game adaptation that pulls every cliche it can think of, puts no creativity whatsoever in its scenario, is horribly produced and does just about everything in its power to make its females as annoying to watch as possible. You really know the drill: the lead character arrives in town as a transfer student, he bumps into a bunch of random girls, accidentally kisses one, then runs naked into the shower in front of another one, and upsets an older woman with big boobs by calling her a middle-aged lady. This is the kind of crap that has been popping up for nearly a decade now. On top of that, though, the voice acting is also horrible. Especially the main female sounds like she lives in a tank full of helium, the male lead’s acting is abysmal whenever he’s embarrassed, his younger brother sounds way too much like a little girl and it has the most annoying white haired girl who does nothing but whine at the male lead. The character designs are also really bad and completely uninspired. There were some hints at a serious story, but I really don’t see this show doing anything good with them with this kind of opening episode.
OP: Anime seriously needs to stop forcing voice actresses who can’t sing to sing in the OP for a show.
ED: Again, very badly sung.
Potential: 0%

The World God Only Knows 2

Short Synopsis: Our lead character needs to kiss certain girls in order to remain alive.
This episode was much of the same as the first season. Which like, really is a bad thing here because the first season already was really hard to sit through. I mean, this obviously wasn’t as bad as Sofuteni or Oretsuba because it really does try to give its characters an interesting story, but TWGOK still is inherently flawed: everything in this series is exactly like the games that Keima plays. The characters are all one-sided with a twist, they all immediately fall in love with the main character, and they all don’t amount to much beyond their quirks. And of course, you don’t become good at martial arts by learning the basics, but by cleaning the floor, if a cool person enters the classroom everyone suddenly gets quiet and gazes in a awe, and the female lead is incredibly klutzy, whiny and annoying (no, that also didn’t change, unfortunately). This show fails at what it is trying to do here by having no real difference between games and reality, and even now there still is no hint whatsoever that this is going to change!
OP: The classic case of “oh, the first OP was really good, so let’s make another version like it that tries too hard and ruins itself.
ED: Boring J-pop, but granted: it is better than the first ED.
Potential: 30%

The Star of Cottonland Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Ever feel like you’re in the need of a really big hug? You need something warm and charming to watch? Meet The Star of Cottonland. This movie is beyond cute.

The creators of this movie set themselves the task to make its lead character as adorable as possible and they succeeded pretty well, actually. It’s a unique little movie about a small kitten in a world where cats are drawn as people. Ranging from her subtle movements, innocent inner monologues, subtle development and her non-verbal communication: everything that the lead character does is chock full of charms. This is a movie that was made by people who really like cats, there is no doubt about it.

Beyond that though, this movie also shines because it has quite a creative storyline. There are none of the usual cliches or tropes, and the ones that are there are averted throughout the movie. It has some bittersweet elements, but it’s never cheesy. In fact, the reason why these bittersweet elements work so well is because of how subtly they’re delivered, excellently combining the lead characters’ charm. Technically, this is a movie about self-discovery, but it chose a pretty original way to play out. It leaves a lot of stuff successfully up to the viewers’ imaginations and it also know exactly how much it should wrap up in order to feel complete.

Now, there are a few flaws here and there among the side characters, some are just one-dimensional and others have rather forced motivation. The weirdest is one particular woman with an allergy of cats, though. For some strange reason, the creators of this movie seem to confuse cat allergy with cat phobia. This woman never sneezes or gets any itches, but instead acts completely neurotic whenever a cat is in her vicinity.

In any case, a Star of Cottonland is a well made movie. It’s quite well animated especially around the lead character. It’s entire cast does an excellent job of growig on you as the movie goes on, and it’s a very nice watch for anyone who is looking for something really cute for 90 minutes.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Well restrained, yet makes the story evolve really well.
Characters: 9/10 – Absolutely adorable lead character; the creators did an amazing job of bringing a young kitten to life. Side characters have a few problems here and there.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Life-like animation for the lead character.
Setting: 8/10 – The way in which this series treats cats is a really nice idea.

Suggestions:
– Chi’s Sweet Home
– Junkers Come Here
– Kero Kero Chime

Some Quick First Impressions: Pretty Rythm, Jewel Pet Sunshine

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Pretty Rythm

Short Synopsis: Our lead character from out of nowhere gets idol powers.
Out of all of the kids’ shows this season… this was actually the worst of the entire bunch. The thing is that the other kids’ shows this season, while boring, at least knew what they were doing. They were trying to be cute they provided a nice enough fantasy for kids here. Pretty Rythm however completely misses the point of fantasy, and starts to outright lie against its audience. Yes, it does not matter that you’re not working hard. Someone will see you jump around and immediately see your talent, you get to shine on a stage without any preparations whatsoever and you can immediately get the boy that everyone is looking up to. This show doesn’t even pretend to care about setting things up correctly. All it is is a bunch of deus ex machina that allow an airhead to just randomly become a well loved idol. On top of that, this show also contains the most terribly CG-animated dance sequences, along with some terrible live-action shots at the beginning that serve no point or purpose whatsoever. And yes, I know that this is for kids and all, but I remember that when I was a kid, I also hated these live action bits inbetween my cartoons. I mean, I just wanted to enjoy my favourite characters back then. Not see some random boring people do boring stuff and stroke each other’s egos.
OP: Boring J-pop
ED: Terrible song, terrible live action bits.
Potential: 0%

Happy Kappi

Short Synopsis: Our lead character finds the prince of a mysterious kingdom of stuffed animals.
Happy Kappy is entirely in 3D CG that tries to look like 2D. The results… vary. There is a lot of movement, but it all feels a bit too erratic and undirected. In any case, this is one for the kids. It’s just another one of those shows where a random girl gets her own pet (this time by feeding him a donut), and that pet has magical powers. It’s all just so cliched and I can’t find anything to praise it about. The acting is also pretty bad as well, which doesn’t make this one enjoyable in the slightest. And yes I know I’m criticizing something that is meant for kids here, but that’s no excuse to not try a little harder.
OP: Too much sugar
Potential: 0%

Jewel Pet Sunshine

Short Synopsis: Our lead character if a cute and fluffy animal.
That was… that was… what the hell was that?! This is the third year for Jewel Pet, and it has always been this boring children’s show about a bunch of girls who get their own cute pets. Especially the second season (or what I saw of it before tuning out) was incredibly generic and annoying. And here this show suddenly comes, puts all of the animals in school (seriously, they sit behind school desk in class just like all other students… alongside a robot and an alligator that never really are explained, let alone even mentioned. What the hell happened in that second season? This entire episode was full of overacting and bizarre situations that were mostly so bad that they became good. Also, what is up with this season and goats? First Nichijou, and now this series also has a goat in the middle of a classroom.
OP: TOO MUCH SUGAR
ED: Badly sung and boring J-pop
Potential: 30%

Some Quick First Impressions: Sekai-Ichi Hatsukoi, Yondemasuyo, Azazel-San and Hen Zemi

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Sekai-Ichi Hatsukoi

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is gay.
The Sekai-Ichi Hatsukoi tells a cheesy story between two guys in high school. I pretty much already got bored with it after that episode. So, here the TV-series comes and actually skips 10 years into the future, and actually becomes quite good. What the hell? This isn’t even my bias for Studio Deen talking: I really dislike how lazy they were during the past Winter Season. This however… this just turned into a romance about two guys of 25 and 27 who work as shoujo manga editors. In fact, this episode was not about gay sex at all, and instead about the characters themselves, especially the lead characters and the choices he made in his life after the events of the OVA. On top of that, the comedy still works quite well. The lead character’s inner monologues are quite funny, but also the new department in which he starts working has a lot of charms to it. This perhaps doesn’t have the charms of something like Antique Bakery, but it still was surprisingly enjoyable here, and this is coming from a straight male.
OP: Unfortunately not as good as Junjo Romantica’s OPs.
ED: This is some cheesy boy band embarrassing themselves…
Potential: 75%

Yondemasuyo, Azazel-San

Short Synopsis: Our lead character works for a professional summoner.
After seeing so many disappointing comedies this season, especially with Hen Zemi being tamed down, I was expecting something similar for Yondemasuyo Azazel-san. But holy crap, this went even further than the OVA! This was just completely hilarious, and I actually laughed the hardest at this OVA out of any show this season, even including Gintama. I should have known that in the rare cases where Production IG does a comedy, the result would be something unique. For Azazel-san, there meaning of “restraint” is just completely absent from the dictionary. It’s so completely over the top in just about anything it does, but at the same time it’s well acted. There’s a great combination between morbid deadpan humour and some of the most varied but ridiculously drawn facial distortions I’ve seen. If you thought that Azazel was a bum in the OVA, you really haven’t seen anything yet. Some of the things he does here are completely outrageous, but just hilariously funny. It’s all done with a wonderful sense of timing, and the way in which every episode is very short (again just 12 minutes) keeps everything fresh. This is just weird in every single way.
OP: Actually pretty decent.
Potential: 80%

Hen Zemi

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is surrounded by perverts.
Today is the day of series that already had an OVA before airing. First up is Hen Zemi, interestingly in an episode that only takes up twelve minutes. This is something I really like here: series that realize that you don’t necessarily need 20 minute episodes if this doesn’t fit. In any case, Hen Zemi pretty much was the best fanservice comedy of the new season, but that has mostly to do with the fact that all of the other fanservice shows were so poor. I enjoyed it, but at the same time I unfortunately noticed that it has been tamed down compared to the OVA. The dialogue is still there, it’s still interesting and it’s still perverted as hell, but it’s also less fast and less well delivered. the chaos and disturbance of the OVA don’t return at all here. The OVA knew exactly how to just keep going on and on and get more and more under your skin. This was just a bunch of perverts talking to each other. It misses the dynamic delivery of its lines, effectively turning it into just another fanservice comedy. An above average one, indeed. But it’s a shame that the director of the OVA was shipped over to Sofuteni in favour of the director of To Love-Ru and Rio Rainbow Gate.
OP: Actually a very nice OP for this series. Only 30 seconds long, but with enough energy for the usual minute and a half.
ED: Fanservice!
Potential: 55%

Yumekui Merry Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Yumekui Merry




If you’re looking for eye candy, then this is an excellent recommendation. Yumekui Merry is a piece of art, with some of the most artistic direction. Jut about every camera angle is interesting and dedicated to make its cast stand out. Every single background drawing is utterly gorgeous. With a rock-solid that brings a ton of life into the cast, this is a great show to watch, though it has its problems.

Shigeyasu Yamauchi‘s influence is all over this series. The camera-angles, the timing, the intonation, all is very carefully planned out really put some emotions behind them, and the animators and artists only back this up. If anything, this show is immersive and a terrific example of what can be done with the animation medium.

The bugs in this show are in the story. Most notably in how it’s way too short for 13 episodes and it failed to really understand what that means. In the first half we get a very interesting series that questions the nature of dreams, what would happen if they were taken hostage and the main characters are put on a wonderfully gray moral scale.

In the second half, though, the creators realized that the manga that this series is based on is in no way going to fit in 13 episodes and that there wasn’t going to come a sequel. They then try to wrap this show up with their own story arc that fails to wrap up anything, has a bad one-sided villain that doesn’t allow the story to go anywhere and specifically seeks out cliches, even when it has to resort to Deus ex Machina to get there. The delivery is still as good as ever, but the story that the second half of this series is trying to tell is just… unimpressive. It reduces a complex moral question back to cliches.

do bother to check out the first half if you have the time, though. It’s a wonderful little series with excellent characterization. It’s always nice to see Shigeyasu Yamauchi’s unique style of directing, but I do wish that he had been put on a story that… actually had the potential to show itself off. The big victim of this syndrome for the next season will be Deadman Wonderland. Seriously, don’t screw up yet again on a flaw that has struck so many series by now! It’s really getting annoying seeing so many shows end without ever getting to their potential.

Storytelling: 7/10 – Excellent timing and atmosphere, but loses points for the lazy way in which it tries to wrap itself up in its second half, especially with one heck of a deus ex machina ending that could have easily been avoided.
Characters: 8/10 – Excellent characterization, and really well animated. A few cliches here and there holding them back, though.
Production-Values: 9/10 – A visual feast. Period.
Setting: 8/10 – A very interesting premise, however the second half doesn’t use it as well as it should have been used.

Suggestions:
– Digimon Movie 3 – The Golden Digimentals
– Casshern Sins

Some Quick First Impressions: A-Channel, Maria Holic Alive and Sofuteni

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

A-Channel

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is in high school.
This was a surprise here. A-Channel is a step above the likes of Sofuteni, Nichijou, Oretsuba, Maria Holic and all those other shows where we just follow a bunch of high school girls. I mean, there is moe and all, but unlike the above mentioned series, the characters are more than just excuses to show cute girls. The lead character for example is an air-head, but she’s more than just that stereotype: she actually has quite a few male friends and has great social skills. The other lead meanwhile is your average deadpan snarker, but this episode made her actually quite charming by making her just a tad socially awkward, along with incredibly devoted to just one friend of her (and at the same time not having this overshadow her entire character). The animation also supports all this. I’d even argue that the animation here is better than in Nichijou, because it succeeds even more in bringing the cast to life and it’s much more efficiently used. In short: the characterization of A-Channel is actually good here.
OP: I’ve heard much worse this season.
ED: This is the kind of song that I feel will get really annoying after listening it for five times.
Potential: 60%

Maria Holic Alive

Short Synopsis: Our lead character lives together with a cross-dresser.
For most anime, a sequel means the chance to expand upon their universe, use their build-up to bring more depth to their storyline and character and push them to a new height. For Shaft however, it stands for pointlessly dragging out a show that fitted perfectly in 12 or 13 episode and being really boring in the process. Because of that, I am not going to bother with this series unless someone comes with a really good reason to do so. I’ve given these endless sequels too many chances to impress me, and every time they ended in disappointments. It also doesn’t help that Shinbo is working on three series at the same time this season. There’s no way taht that’s goign to work! This episode also was… obnoxious. It has the kind of lead character whose voice actress thinks that good acting is continuously yelling. A lot in this episode also had a same problem that Nichijou is currently having: there was a lot of randomness, but all of it just felt like randomness for the sake of having randomness. There’s nothing coherent about it at all and the creators were just seeing how many random things they could throw at the viewer. Nichijou still has a pretty decent cast to back up this flaw, but this episode of Maria Holid… none ofe its characters stood out. Especially the lead character was bad, but the rest of the cast also just failed to stand out. It also feels that a lot of characters were just there for the heck of it. In fact, everything about this episode just felt done for the heck of it.
OP: I hope that they didn’t really think that this kind of rambling would work as an OP…
Potential: 0%

Sofuteni

Short Synopsis: Our lead character plays tennis.
Yeah, this is Xebec and its moe again. This show seems to believe that if you can just show a bunch of random teenaged girls with here and there some fanservice do stuff together you have done enough to be interesting. It really doesn’t bother to be more than what it advertises: moe, fansevice and tennis. This entire episode was pretty much a random day at the tennis club. This could have worked in theory, but the characters are just too weak. They’re all one-sided cliches, fanservice material and completely unlikable. The deadpan snarker was forced, the big boobed pervert’s entire character is just based around one joke, but by far the worst was the main character. I mean, I know that some teenaged girls can’t be too bright and all, but that girl was just way too much of an airhead.
OP: The usual obnoxious J-pop
ED: What? No fanservice ED? That’s at least one plus.
Potential: 0%

Some Quick First Impressions: 30Sai ni Hoken Taiku, Sket Dance and Dororon Enma-kun Meera Meera

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

30Sai ni Hoken Taiku

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has never had sex despite being 30.
So yeah, this pretty much was set out to be the worst show of the season. Not only did it have a terrible premise, it was also produced by the creators of Tono to Issho, an abysmal comedy. Thankfully though, at least this show has a point: it takes censorship to the absurd, showing that censorship has nowadays been so bad that even sexual education gets pointlessly censored. Apart from that though… this was \just painful to watch. This still is a show about a 30 year old virgin who gets visited by a sex god. The animation is terrible, and the few good jokes that it has are ruined by a poor delivery. This pretty much is an endless slew of corny sex jokes and the lead character getting embarrassed. Stay away from this one, if it wasn’t obvious enough already.
OP: Cheesy J-pop.
ED: Well, at least the song isn’t bad…
Potential: 0%

Sket Dance

Short Synopsis: Our lead character run a club that takes care of random jobs.
This was a decent opening, both with flaws and strengths. The major flaw is that it’s trying to be funny, yet fails at this consistently. During the build-up parts of this episode, I was mostly bored, as nothing really interesting was going on. On the other hand though, it did deliver the twist at the end quite well, and the animation in the fights is actually very good. This is the kind of show that has potential for later. The thing is, however, that this is a shounen jump adaptation. How many more episodes will it take for this show to actually make use of this potential? Will the series be over before that happens? Shounen Jump adaptations are notorious for dragging on, so I first want some confirmation that Sket Dance will not do that. Unlike for example Bakuman, neither its premise nor its characters are strong enough for that.
ED: Cheese
Potential: 65%

Dororon Enma-kun Meera Meera

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a demon who kills other demons. And a total brat.
This… was weird. Overall it disappointed a bit, but Enma remains quite well animated, courtesy of Brains Base. This allows the creators to come up with all kinds of interesting monster and background designs. The soundtrack also is excellent and varied and overall this definitely was a fun episode to watch. The biggest problem here however was that the dialogue was trying too hard. It was too busy trying for random punchlines to get some laughs, and the actors were overreacting way too much. This is like that obnoxious brat who keeps yelling for some attention. To me, it seems like the creators did not spend enough time on thinking about how to make the dialogue work best. If this wants to work, it will have to find this balance between extremely fast pacing (yes this episode moved really fast), and the fun charms of the cast. Oh, and I’d like to thank this show for the most disgusting image I’ve seen in a long while. We really needed that.
OP: Surprisingly well animated.< Typical Go Nagai-esque OP./em>
ED: Not bad.
Potential: 50%

Some Quick First Impressions: Hyouge Mono, Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Hakairoku Hen and Sengoku Otome

by psgels, posted in Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji, Hyouge Mono, Some Quick First Impressions

Hyouge Mono

Short Synopsis: Our lead character really likes tea.
I really have no doubt that this will be the most underrated show of the season. It’s just completely void of just about any trope that you usually see in the popular anime: there is no moe whatsoever, nor any bishies. Instead the lead characters are all in their thirties; there is no youth in this show whatsoever. Meanwhile, takes place during the samurai age, yet there are hardly any battles, with this instead being a dialogue-centred series. On top of that, this is Bee-Train, so there is a lot of focus on talking heads. The soundtrack is completely weird and unconventional and the characters all tend to make silly faces. And I absolutely loved this first episode. It’s completely unlike any other series set in the Samurai Age, especially the main character is unique, with his really weird combination of silly facial expressions and down to earth dialogue. Steins;Gate’s lead looks just ordinary compared to this guy. Still, his characterization is excellent, and with Bee-Train, the build-up also was just terrific. Most of this episode was quiet, but the climax of this episode was already amazing. And you know what the best part is? This will go on for 39 episodes. When was the last time that a series of this caliber got more than 13 episodes? Let alone 26!
OP: Quiet and laid-back, with interesting visuals.
ED: I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Bee-Train OP or ED like this. Again really relaxed.
Potential: 90%

Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Hakairoku Hen

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has money problems.
Kaiji is a show about Gambling, but this first episode of the sequel didn’t have any of that. It was just meant to build up, and introduce the next arc, and it was actually very good in doing so. For Kaiji standards in particular, a lot happened here. The creators really wanted to show how deep one could fall if you get on the wrong side of the mafia. They lure you in with the promise that one day your debt will be over, but use very dirty tricks to just push that deadline back and back. This episode did a great job of breaking apart Kaiji’s spirit with basic psychology. That’s the big difference between Akagi and One outs: those are shows to see how well a superhuman can pwn just about everyone around him and their lead characters are more than aware of their own abilities.. Kaiji is at the complete opposite: he’s completely flawed, makes the most stupid decisions, only standing out because he can struggle like no other. Of course, at this point I can’t yet comment on whether this second season has improved the pacing issues of the first season. The only criticism I have at this point is that the narrator is a bit too enthusiastic. Even describing the most mundane activities are announced with that over the top voice of his. But then again, why am I expecting subtlety from this series?
ED: WTF. Just… wtf…
Potential: 80%

Sengoku Otome

Short Synopsis: Our lead character lands is just an average schoolgirl who winds up amongst famous people from the Sengoku Era.
Sengoku Otome’s biggest sin is its blandness. I wouldn’t call this bad.. it just fails to stand out in any kind of way. Just about everything about this show screams “been there, done that”. It has nothing that really sets itself apart of that is actually remotely good. The creators to me just didn’t seem to care here. The premise of a random teenager ending up in a fantasy world has been done a ton of times before, so you really need to set yourself apart in this genre. So what do the creators do? They choose a complete airhead as their main character. They turn it into self-insert fan-fiction amongst famous historical figures. They gender-swap said figures into females. They put no effort whatsoever into the character designs. And okay, the character-designs aren’t as bad as with Dog Days, but they still are pretty bad here. This entire episode just followed one cliche after the other, with nothing really to make up for it. If the characters were likable then this could be forgiven, but even there this show doesn’t do anything. The lead character is beyond annoying, and the rest of the cast is just completely one-sided and uninteresting.
OP: Like the show, bland, both in terms of visuals and music.
ED: Fanservice!
Potential: 10%

Black Jack OVA Review – 90/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Osamu Tezuka is an utter genius. With that I don’t just mean that he single-handedly fired off an entire new medium; he’s also a masterful storyteller. Especially his stories that aren’t aimed at children rock. But what’s more, due to his legacy his stories also have been adapted by some of the best directors imaginable. Ryouruke Takahashi, for example: I may be a huge fan of Votoms, I still consider his masterpiece to be his adaptation of Hi no Tori. Rintarou meanwhile delivered brilliant renditions of Metropolis and again Hi no Tori. The Black Jack OVA meanwhile is Osamu Dezaki’s chance to shine. And again: this was undoubtedly the best thing I’ve ever seen from him.

There have been more adaptations of the Black Jack franchise, but all of them just seemed to be missing something. This however is a perfect adaptation. It’s an epic that took eight years to be fully created. It has only ten unrelated episodes, but each episode is fifty minutes long, and that turned out to be the perfect length: long enough to include some deep storylines, yet short enough not to drag on.

This show… completely took me by surprise. Every single episode has a deeply imaginative story that tests the boundaries of medical science. Every episode is somehow combined with either political, military, corporate or some sort of other intrigue. Seriously, the stories here put in a lot of effort to set themselves apart. Stories are often multi-layered and just keep building up with all kinds of plot twists, in the true fashion of Osamu Tezuka’s best works.

But beyond that, when you look at this show with a more technical view, it’s amazing to see what the creators did here. The attention to detail in all of the medial procedures is stunning. They even got a number of medical advisers in order to make sure that everything is accurate (or as accurate as possible when dealing with made up diseases). It’s well known that Osamu Tezuka used to be a doctor and that he wrote Black Jack with a ton of medical knowledge in mind, but it’s also the way in which this series is animated that is just stunning. It’s all completely uncensored: this show doesn’t shy away in the slightest to show Black Jack’s operations in full detail, whether this is ranging from a simple medical check-up to a brain surgery.

The result is a show that seriously gave me a new interest in medical science, even though this usually doesn’t interest me in the slightest. This show did justice to both inexperienced doctors, and geniuses. It shows that there are many different kinds of doctors, and how even the best surgeon in the world is powerless in some cases. And furthermore it also is brilliant in portraying the actual victims: the people who contracted these bizarre diseases and the people close to them. This show shines like no other portraying the agony that these people go through, and it does so with strength and conviction, (courtesy of Osamu Dezaki’s unique style), instead of cheese.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Just brilliant. Always knows when to deliver its next plot twist. Its stories sparkle with creativity.
Characters: 9/10 – Terrific voice acting, amazing characterization, both for the doctors and the patients in this series. Even Pinoko was adorable this time.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Gorgeous artwork, but granted: Akio Sugino‘s style is completely different from usual anime.
Setting: 10/10 – An amazing medical background, even compared to the other Black Jack installments.

Suggestions:
– Black Jack Special (Don’t get me wrong: the Black Jack Special is crap compared to this OVA; it completely got Pinoko’s character wrong. But it does contain the very important episode on Black Jack’s backstory. This OVA assumes that you’ve seen that, even though it aired at a later date…).
– Hi no Tori
– Metropolis

Level E Review – 90/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Level E




My favourite comedies are the ones that don’t just make me laugh a lot. They also truly excel in another area, whether this is its cast of characters (Kodocha), storytelling (Law of Ueki, Gintama) or subject material (Excel Saga). It’s been a long while, but with Level E I can finally add another series to my top 10 of favourite comedies. This show is an absolute delight to watch.

Adapted from a manga from the same writer as Hunter X Hunter and Yu Yu Hakusho, written in 1997, Level E is a brilliant comedy. For one, it is hilarious to watch. It’s got a fantastic comedic timing that plays together brilliantly with the chemistry between the different characters. This show really has a knack for getting under the skin of its different characters, with hilarious results.

Beyond that, though… this series is also just a fantastic storyteller. It basically consists out of a number of unrelated arcs, ranging between one and three episodes, all of which focus on alien life on earth in their own way. Some arcs share similar characters, but apart from that they just all have their own focus and story. This creates a ton of variety: every episode is different. And on top of that, they’re all really well told. They make excellent use of their momentum in order to both be hilarious, and actually tell some serious and interesting stories here, with a ton of well built up plot twists. It all comes together wonderfully in the end. While the stories have nothing to do with each other, they do all build up to the same atmosphere and universe, leaving an excellently fleshed out series behind, especially considering how there are only 13 episodes.

Beyond that, this show also has an amazing sense of characterization. Every character here is likable and original, miles away from the usual stereotypes. Both the males and females set themselves apart, with especially Yukitaka, Kraft and Miho. Due to the nature of this series they have relatively little airtime aside from perhaps the blonde prince, but they still stand out as amazing and down to earth characters who refuse to act like idiots just for plot convenience. the second biggest flaw of this show is really that we don’t get to see more of its awesome characterization.

The biggest flaw meanwhile is that it’s one big tease. The thing is, that it has an absolutely fantastic first arc. If the rest of the arcs would have followed in its example we would have had one of the best comedies ever made here. Instead, the rest of the arcs of this show do take a step back, but even then there is more than enough to like here. The amount of cliches in this series is really the bare minimum of what you can get and due to its rock-solid characters and storytelling it’s even enjoyable when it’s not funny, something quite rare for comedies.

Storytelling: 10/10 – Extremely witty and an amazing comedic timing. It’s a show that is constantly changing, even within its own arcs and that makes for a really diverse 13 episode series that leaves no moment wasted.
Characters: 9/10 – Amazing characterization for a 13 episoded series that focuses on different characters in each arc. It’s not that these characters are well developed. Instead, they’re the type of characters that are full of life, yet are down to earth and compelling to watch throughout the entire series. They’re the perfect example of how you can also get an amazing cast without a ton of drama.
Production-Values: 8/10 – The animation is average, but even this is made excellent in a few episodes with some excellent camera angles and visual ideas. The CG can be a bit obtrusive, though the soundtrack is excellent.
Setting: 9/10 – An excellent look at the concept of aliens on earth. The stories all feel fresh and a lot of imagination has gotten into creating a simple, yet over the top, yet consistent setting here.

Suggestions:
– Ooedo Rocket
– Sexy Commando Gaiden
– The Law of Ueki