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Some Quick First Impressions: Shinryaku! Ika-Musume, Otome Youkai Zakuro and Yosuga no Sora

by psgels, posted in Shinryaku! Ika Musume, Some Quick First Impressions

Shinryaku! Ika-Musume

Short Synopsis: Our lead character wants to take over the world.
It’s awesome to see what a good comedy this turned into. It did just about everything right here with its first episode: it introduced the characters, played around with their characteristics, made sure that they’re not just based around one gimmick but have multiple sides, and it comes with a lot of different and clever little jokes. From watching this episode, I’ve gotten very positive about this series having enough inspiration for at least thirteen episodes: none of the jokes here felt really repetitive, and instead they were all building further upon each other, rather than this series bombarding us with as many random jokes as possible. The characters all have this thing that sets them apart, but they’re at the same time down to earth: essentially this is just a story about a squid girl who starts working with a bunch of siblings who run a bar at the seaside, and they actually have some pretty normal conversations in between the jokes, who both serve as building up the jokes and building their characters. I’m very positive about this, and this could very well be the best comedy of the season.
OP: Mostly foreshadowing a bunch of the jokes of the series, but again: it looks very diverse here.
ED: A decent ballad.
Potential: 80%

Otome Youkai Zakuro

Short Synopsis: Our lead character fights evil youkai.
With these first impressions: I don’t just look at the first episodes themselves, but also their potential, and that’s where my biggest issue with Otome Youkai Zakuro lies. I mean, this episode really was excellent, it had a great chemistry between the characters and gave an interesting spin to the youkai genre by just throwing all pretense out and just giving everyone the ability to see them, rather than trying to make one or two main characters feel special. Suddenly, we have a clash of different cultures that was definitely interesting to watch. However, I feel no potential from this one: the chemistry was based on a bunch of gimmicks that will become boring if they get abused too much. This episode gave no indication whether or not this series will use these characters optimally, or just dabble on with them. See, with series like Shinrei Tantei Yakumo, you could really see that the creators make use of every moment of their limited time to add more details to the story and characters. Otome Youkai Zakuro meanwhile dabbles often in useless comedy that, while funny, also can become a problem as soon as it starts getting boring. Still, my biggest fear for this was Chiaki Kon, but she really pulled off a great first episode here. This show can be a hit if it manages to use its episodes right.
OP: A decent OP with quite some solid visuals.
ED: Uninspired, both in the music and the visuals, which seem to be just copied from the manga.
Potential: 70%

Yosuga no Sora

Short Synopsis: Our lead character moves back into the town he grew up in with his twin sister.
God, not even more incest? As if we didn’t have enough of that already. Still, I have to grant this series this: they really seem to want to be doing something with the brother-sister love, instead of either parading around with how it’s supposed to be “daring”, or just inserting stuff for the heck of it: the incest is far from the biggest problem with this series, and works well enough because the brother and sister in question are well portrayed. the main problem with this series is that just about every other character isn’t. They’re all random harem stereotypes, all of them try way too hard and therefore are very badly acted, which only makes them more annoying. This series tries to force an entire harem around the lead male that has no business doing there, and it uses just about every cliche and superfluous plot twist to get girls to fall in love with him: there are a bunch of childhood friends, plus more “loves at first sight” than you can shake a stick at. Overall, this could have been a decent incest story, but it loses a lot of points for trying way too hard.
OP: A decent ballad to start the series with.
ED: I like EDs that show a bit of the past of the characters.
Potential: 35%

Some Quick First Impressions: Hakuouki Hekketsu-Roku, Shinrei Tantei Yakumo and Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii wake Nai

by psgels, posted in Hakuouki, Shinrei Tantei Yakumo, Some Quick First Impressions

Hakuouki Hekketsu-Roku

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is surrounded by the Shinsengumi.
I watch these first episodes of second seasons of series that I originally dropped, in order to check whether or not I missed something: did they actually improve through their course? How have things progressed so far? In the past, I have revisited a few series that I originally dismissed this way. So, what does Hakuouki do? A recap; perfect. I dropped Hakuouki after episode five, and after watching this recap, I have to admit that I probably dropped it at its weakest episode. This episode just kept the twists coming here, which were actually quite interesting. They were a bit cheesy, and I saw little change in the villains, but the story turned out better than I expected: this is not like Vampire Knight which devolved into nothing more than angst and bishies. This second season also promises to be a lot more varied here. I still have two problems, though. The first is that this recap episode nearly worked a little too well. It perfectly summarized twelve freaking episodes in just twenty minutes. These pacing issues also were part of my issues with the first episode: it was just so damn slow at times, with little to make up for it. The second problem is the female lead. I like her premise, but the creators forced her too much into the harem role: she has to be everywhere, she has to be involved with everyone, and her whining holds back scenes that she has no business in whatsoever. For me to actually finish the second season of this series, I demand two things: make every moment count, and develop Chizuru significantly.
ED: Decent.
Potential: 40%

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a detective who can see spirits.
Yeah, you don’t want to watch this series as a murder mystery. At that area, it’s nowhere near as good as series as Ayatsuri Sakon: the introduction moves too fast, the culprit is revealed way too soon and at no point does it try to make the viewer wondering what’s going on, or unravel clues. Instead, this show is more of a thriller and character study. When looking at it that way, the fast pacing is going to be interesting for the future of this series, it will be more able to concentrating on “why is everything happening”, rather than “what’s going on”, and with the right execution it will be a good way to spend its limited time of 13 episodes on its characters. Koichi Mashimo’s absence on this Bee-Train series hurts, though: I’m really missing his characterization here, and that’s what worries me the most about this series. Still, even though the characters could have been better portrayed, I’m not denying here that this wasn’t a good episode: it started off slow, but it steadily got better and better, resulting in a great climax for a first episode that really made me intrigued, especially when it got all artsy with the buildings and the random people. The soundtrack is not as good as usual Bee-Train series, but nevertheless it’s among the best of the season when it finally shows its real colours.
OP: Quite intense, and surprisingly varied in tone and atmosphere for an OP. Works well.
ED: Beautifully sung. I like the concept of combining pictures from the pasts of the characters.
Potential: 80%

Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii wake Nai

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has a weird sister.
There is a new male lead cliche that has been emerging during the past number of years to join the ranks of “your typical loser”. I’d like to call him the “Kyon-clone”: neither a loser nor too popular, he snarks himself through the series and tries to be the voice of reason amongst a cast of weird people with his voice acting having nowhere near the charms that Kyon had. It’s a cliche I see quite a while used in harems, and it’s starting to get annoying. Ore no Imouto has another one, and he does little to set himself apart. In any case, I was really fearing this series, though THANK GOD it’s not as abysmal as KissXSis was; there was little fanservice and the two siblings didn’t seem to be in love. Instead, it’s more like Nyan Koi: occasionally able to raise a chuckle, but most of all boring. For now, at least, because I have one HUGE problem with the way this episode portrayed the lead characters’ little sister: she’s a freaking tsundere! I appreciate this series for including a bit of wit in its dialogue and all, but they really weren’t subtle with those hints!
ED: It’s more like some insert song than an ED, but it’s generic J-pop anyway.
Potential: 10%

Some Quick First Impressions: Star Driver, Yumeiro Patissiere Professional and Letter Bee Reverse

by psgels, posted in Letter Bee, Some Quick First Impressions, Star Driver

Star Driver

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is the legendary pretty boy.
Hell yeah! This is the series I’ve been looking forward to the most this season, and it does not disappoint. It’s a bit silly and nonsensical, but it really turned those would-be flaws into a really charming series, full of neat ideas, homages and a diverse cast of characters. You can really see the influences of the guy who wrote Utena, and at the same time this series packs enough new stuff with a delightfully refreshing and upbeat mecha series. The direction is also excellent, and makes optimal use of its time, the characters and really manages to make their charms stand out as much as possible. And the animation! Without a doubt the best of the season so far. Characters move very smoothly, and the show is chock full of interesting poses, and especially the mecha fight in this episode looked absolutely gorgeous. This episode was stylish, adorable and while the story may not make the most amount of sense, that really doesn’t matter in the big picture here.
OP: Great to see an OP with some actual visual inspiration, rather than doing what every other OP is already doing.
ED: Neat animation, though that pop song is rather generic.
Potential: 90%

Yumeiro Patissiere

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a high school student of a pastry school.
I watched about five episodes of the first season of Yumeiro Patissiere, but ended up dropping it because it was getting repetitive and I saw no real future in it. I did not expect this second season. At all. I’m not sure whether I’ll end up watching the first season (50 episodes is really long), but this episode nevertheless was really good, showing just about every character significantly grown up, heading into the direction of their dreams. The cast surely looks a lot more diverse, interesting and colourful than what I watched of the first season. I’m really surprised here. There are some downsides, though. the most notable is the portrayal of Americans: what the heck was that?! I guess I’ve been spoiled a bit too much by Giant Killing and all, but the American in this episode had just about every stereotype you can get with the portrayal of Americans in anime. And he’s supposed to be a major love interest? On top of that, I also don’t quite get the premise of this new season. Despite what the title of the title may suggest, the lead character is only in high school, but she and three other students are asked to run a street full of pastry shops. Now, this has some interesting potential as you never see series about managing a large amount of shops and all, but I really wonder how the creators are going to solve this without introducing a a huge amount of shop employees (we saw absolutely no hints in the OP about it), and why they would leave such an important task to a bunch of high school students, despite their talents.
OP: Probably the biggest surprise in terms of OPs this year. It’s rather weird, yet surprisingly good and lively.
ED: Again, I expected something really generic and instead got a bunch of bicycles flying around in the air. Definitely better than your average ED.
Potential: 65%

Letter Bee Reverse

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is still an incredible crybaby.
I know that this series is cheating a bit and all, but I see no way in which Letter Bee Reverse is not going to have my favourite opening episode of this season. I mean, after such an incredible cliff-hanger, the creators made this episode into an aftermath that worked better than I could have expected. I seriously teared up at seeing Lag Seeing and Nichi, after what happened at the end of the first season, and this episode really gave both of them the time to really develop their feelings. I mean seriously, Letter Bee is a unique little shounen series that’s mostly plagued by the fact that the fillers are a bit annoying to get through. The plot, the setting, the characters: they’re all much more interesting than your average shounen series, and this episode could have been no better proof to that. I mean, I can only imagine how amazing this second season will be if the creators end up toning down the fillers here.
OP: I can only imagine what kind of spoilers this OP is trying to refer to.
ED: Screw Naruto, screw Bleach, I’m really glad to see that Studio Pierrot have finally found themselves another series to show off their creativity in art. This ED looks absolutely gorgeous.
Potential: 100%

Some Quick First Impressions: Bakuman, MM! and Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt

by psgels, posted in Bakuman, Some Quick First Impressions

Bakuman

Short Synopsis: Our lead character wants to be a manga-writer.
The season so far has really had its ups and downs. The biggest down however was the characters department: none of them tried to be anything deep, nearly all of them were just simple and one-dimensional, based on a gimmick or stereotype. Bakuman changes this, however: within its first episode it establishes its two main characters, it clearly shows what kind of past the lead character lived in and how this managed to shape who he is today, and it detailed what he likes how he looks at life. This is how first episodes should be done… aside from the romance, perhaps. That was pretty forced, cliched and unnatural.
OP: A very interesting emulation of the old kids shows.
OP: The refrain is pretty decent, but the rest of the song is a bit boring.
ED: Interesting art, upbeat, quite a good way to close off each episode.
Potential: 80%

MM!

Short Synopsis: Our lead character likes to get beaten up by cute girls.
Yesterday was quite a good start for this fall season, but I also fear that that marks the ending of all of the good fanservice shows. MM is just another in the line of uninspired Xebec shows with shallow attempts at comedy. Basically, this entire episode was mostly just cute girls, beating up the lead character, but if you ignore that, then all of the stereotypes of your generic harem are there. There is no creativity whatsoever in the set-up here and everything has been pretty much taken from other series. The only thing that really sets this series apart is its extreme focus on sadomasochism, but that is nowhere near enough to carry this series: no matter who beat up the lead character, it all looked the same, it wasn’t funny at all and the entire episode was a chore to sit through. At the end of this episode the creators also tried to insert a little drama, but that just felt incredibly forced and out of place. There is no creativity, there is nothing that stands out, I really see no potential whatsoever for this series.
OP: Is that supposed to be a song?
ED: Again, horribly sung and utterly generic.
Potential: 0%

Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt

Short Synopsis: Our lead character fights crime with her underwear.
Without a doubt the best action so far, the most interesting direction, the best art style, the best humour, the most entertaining episode, the worst taste, the most amount of fanservice, the biggest amount of toilet jokes, the most creative scenario and the most shameless first episode of the new season. And yes, considering how we already got Sora no Otoshimono, Iron Man and Super Robot Wars, who were also focused on most of these areas, that has to say something here. Panty and Stocking is a show of extremes: it’s really trying to push boundaries here, and you can really see that this was made by the same creators of Dead Leaves, rather than Gurren Lagann. Some of the jokes are completely disgusting and tasteless, but it is refreshing for once to see a show treat the matter of sex so nonchalantly seeing as how most supposed fanservice shows try to pretend it doesn’t exist. And when disregarding the fanservice, I really have to praise what the creators did with the action here, especially that chase scene was a lot of fun. There’s one HUGE problem, though: the characters. Panty and Stocking were pretty much both based on a gimmick each: Panty likes sex and Stocking likes eating. To stay funny and enjoyable they’re going to have to try harder than that!
OP: Short but sweet.
ED: It’s catchy and all… but who thought that this would be a good fit for this series?
Potential: 75%

Some Quick First Impressions: Sora no Otoshimono Forte, Super Robot Wars OG: The Inspector and Iron Man

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Sora no Otoshimono Forte

Short Synopsis: Our lead character lives together with a bunch of cute girls.
As much as I’d hate to admit it… this episode actually made me laugh, and it actually was pretty good at times. I mean, the direction, the ideas including this “new world” and “dream diving”, the huge production values, this episode was actually pretty good… despite the huge amounts of fanservice. This series has its mind completely in the gutter, but at least its fanservice jokes are actually inspired ones, compared to the same stuff you just get to see over and over again. Of course, this show does have its share of cliches, the male lead is beyond annoying at times and I doubt that I’ll be able to watch much of this series either way (last season I gave up as soon as the flying panties arrive), but still it’s good to see that at least there is a fanservice show that puts in some actual effort. This episode was a bit slow, and nowhere near as good as B Gata H Kei’s opening episode, but on the flip-side, I can easily see this one top shows as Asobi ni Iku Yo.
OP: Very clever start there. The song is badly sung, but at least it’s an improvement over the regular cheesy j-pop you usually here with these shows.
ED: Better than your average ED on a moe show, but still dull and pretty uninspired.
Potential: 50%

Super Robot Wars OG: The Inspector

Short Synopsis: Our lead character fights mechas.
This is a bit of a hard show to gauge for its story, based on just its first episode because it starts right in the middle of an action-scene without really much of a context: most of this episode consisted just out of a bunch of giant robots piloted by a bunch of kids and young adults, without much of an explanation of who they were beyond a bunch of one-liners that also still lacked their context. It’s all up to the rest of the series to make some sense out of this, because right now they’re just a bunch of one-dimensional cardboard cut-outs with rather bad character-designs. The action itself was pretty good, though. This episode was nicely paced and it kept my attention, which is what I can’t say of the first season of Super Robot Wars (which seems to be a completely different series, by the way: this episode showed no characters I recognized). Still, seeing as this series really didn’t make any attempt to make sense of what the hell was going on, I really fear that it’s just going to devolve into a random string of action scenes. And fanservice.
ED: Well yeah… it’s obvious what the creators were going for with this one, eh? Let’s just move on here…
Potential: 40%

Iron Man

Short Synopsis: Our lead character hits on women and flies around in an armoured suit.
The first thing that immediately stands out with this series are the visuals: no effort has been spent at all in making them look good. The amount of inconsistent and distorted faces leads to a number of embarrassing shots, especially with character-designs that are this detailed. At this episode, the animation itself was still good and detailed, but I fear what’s going to happen in the rest of the series, when the budget is going to force the creators to come up with a lot of still frames. As for the story: this series assumes you know Iron Man’s background: it is just another adventure in Iron Man’s life, focusing more on his future than his past. The acting was downright bad at times, and it also doesn’t look like the setting of the series will be important: Iron Man crashed randomly into concrete, blocking the road for countless of cars, and he just walks away with nobody finding it strange (“Screw the rules, I have money!”). The whole premise of a hijacked suit is standard comic book fodder, but with the right development it could be made into something interesting. The creators are really going to have to try, though. With the half a year of delay, the direction of this episode should not have felt as rushed as it did here.
OP: Pretty good music that fits Iron Man very nicely.
ED: Very good. There is little animation, but it actually has a good artistic direction compared to the actual series.
Potential: 50%

September Summary

by psgels, posted in Monthly Summaries

Of course, in the past number of years there have been quite a few small Winter and Summer Seasons. However, the big difference with previous years is that there always were plenty of interesting series that were carried over from previous seasons. That’s pretty much the biggest problem with the past summer season: too much of the spring season series stopped after just 11 to 13 episodes, leading to this seasons’ quantity problem.

Overall though, this was a very interesting month: some series really exceeded my expectations, while others failed to live up to them. There were fewer interesting series than usual, but the series that stood out really did stand out, and that’s why I see no reason to call it as dry as the past Winter season.

#19 (19) – Amagami SS – (4,25/10) – Just… make it stop. No more, I give up. The first two arcs still had their charms and all, but the shy girl arc has become downright unwatchable. I’ve been stuck at episode eleven because I couldn’t get myself to listen to her abysmal voice acting anymore, let alone the horrible scenario and character-development that the creators have given her. Dropped.
#18 (18) – Asobi ni Iku Yo – (7/10) – I went into this series, expecting entertainment. In the end, I didn’t really get a whole lot of this. The final twist to resolve the love triangle in this series was just completely stupid and out of left-field, especially how everyone just bought it. Way to negate all of the build-up you put into this, guys.
#17 (12) – Heroman – (7,25/10) – That one scene. The one in which Joey started glowing. It made no bloody sense at all, but it was damn cool to look at, and just about the only highlight of the finale of this series that I can remember. It tried to be way too epic for its own good, making the big bad guy way too strong, with all of the disastrous consequences. The whole finale never really used any of the build-up that the previous arcs tried to give it, and it really didn’t leave with a good aftertaste.
#16 (16) – Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi – (7,75/10) – It’s a bit of a weird choice for its final episodes, to have the climax at the semi-final episode, which ultimately didn’t really accomplish anything. It’s not been the strongest month for Ookami-san, but it still was pretty enjoyable, not to mention gorgeously animated.
#15 (11) – Mitsudomoe – (7,75/10) – I’m really worried about that second season. With the way that the creators have been repeating their jokes at this rate, that second season is bound to be not as good as the first season. Still, the repeated jokes still were within bounds this months, and I got a number of good laughs out of every episode.
#14 (15) – Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu – (7,75/10) – My main issue with this month for Denyuuden was that it spent a bit too much time trying to show how much the people with Alpha Stigma are suffering. We know that already, no need to shove it up our faces. Overall I’m still missing something with this series, though episode thirteen was a very interesting hint of more interesting things to come.
#13 (7) – Sengoku Basara – (7,75/10) – With the huge amounts of build-up that went into it, that final episode was not good enough to make up for it. It lacked the creativity of episode six, it skipped one fight completely and the creators overall should have tried harder. Nevertheless, it still was a short but sweet ending that was a lot of fun to watch. Just be sure to balance out your show next time, Production IG.
#12 (9) – Nurarihyon no Mago – (7,75/10) – Thirteen episodes in, and unfortunately this doesn’t seem to be able to compete with Studio Deen’s better works. It’s a nice adventure with a couple of pretty charming characters, but so far it’s nothing special, and it should really try in its second half to do something more.
#11 (17) – Sekirei – (8/10) – Overall, this series had quite a strong month, considering the main goal of the side-story that took most of its focus. There still needs to come some kind or third (or possibly even fourth) season to wrap everything up, though.
#10 (10) – Anyamaru Tantei Kiruminzoo – (8/10)

It’s a bit of a chaotic finale here, but that’s what made it a fun way to close off this series. The final bad guy was one incredible moron in the way that he went down, but with the stupidity of some of the characters through the series, I guess that that was meant to be his charms. The creators came with some neat twists and the characters could really show themselves off. Overall, I’m quite happy with how this series turned out.

#9 (14) – High School of the Dead – (8/10)

A surprisingly quiet end for what’s supposed to be a zombie bashing show, but I liked the charms that that had. It really allowed the characters to show a bit about themselves.This show just ends without any resolution, which did annoy me a bit, though.

#8 (3) – Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru – (8/10)

This series should have ended with an anime original ending. The build up to the final episode was perfect for that, and it would have been able to close off this series perfectly instead of the half-assed deus ex machina ending that we ended up getting here. The ending for this one was probably the most disappointing ones of the season, but before “it” happened, this series really was incredibly solid.

#7 (13) – Katanagatari – (8,25/10)

I think the part about Katanagatari that I like the most is how it’s basically an exploration of all kinds of martial arts and swordplay. The double-length episodes really allow the creators to delve into these mechanics, much more than you usually see in series like this. The latest episode was down to earth, but worked exactly because of that, along with the wit that it sometimes shows (Shichika trying to learn sword fighting stances for example was hilarious) and the increasingly interesting chemistry between Togame and Shichika.

#6 (6) – Rainbow – (8,5/10)

I really liked the arcs the creators chose to close this series off with, exactly because they were by far the least depressing and overly epic arcs of the entire series. Instead, what we got here was a heart-warming closure that was really focused on the hopeful future. Most of the major conflicts were resolved already, and instead the series’ finale was fully focused on the future of the characters.

#5 (8) – Kuroshitsuji – (8,75/10)

This series really impressed me. The plot in the final episodes just kept the interesting twists coming, making optimal use of not just Alois and Claude, but also Ciel and Sebastian shined. I have a hate/love relationship with the ending, but I still really liked it.

#4 (5) – Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin – (8,75/10)

A few Deus ex Machina, but apart from that the final three episodes left a strong impression behind, and especially episode eleven was just amazing. It’s a shame that this series had its balancing issues, because it really could have been one of the best series of the year if managed to fix its biggest issues.

#3 (4) – Shiki – (8,75/10)

“Natsuno did something stupid”. That pretty much describes all my problems with this series. The rest is just absolutely delightful with its art and atmosphere, especially in the way that the past few episodes have used the build-up of the earlier episodes. The idea around which this series is based is nothing new, but it throws in more than enough to make this series worth watching.

#2 (2) – Heartcatch Precure – (8,75/10)

A ton of plot and focus on Cure Moonlight this month, with some really adorable results. Like Cure Sunshine, she is completely different from Cure Blossom and Marin, and so the mood of this series this month also was bit more mature than usual and it’s great to see this series evolve like this.

#1 (1) – Giant Killing – (9,25/10)

A fantastic month for Giant Killing, the finale closed off the series perfectly, and yet it left enough room open for a second season. That final match was incredibly dynamic: it evolved with every single episode and it really used its teamwork to make it an awesome watch against the Osaka team, who were some worthy opponents.

Rainbow Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Rainbow



Madhouse is at its best when it’s dealing with mature series, boasting a refined execution and storytelling. Rainbow is not that. It’s bloody intense to the point of melodrama, and it wants everyone to know about it as it tells about a group of youths as they spend time in prison.

And it’s indeed easy to look at Rainbow and get annoyed by its cheese and melodrama. Storytelling is a balance between trying to tug your emotions, and showing restraint. Rainbow instead just attempts to show the intense suffering in prisons with as much drama as possible by either being overly dramatic, overly sappy or overly cheesy. Having said that though, this show does pack an excellent plot and the characters are more than charming and developed enough to make up for it.

Because as overdramatic as they are, the heavy scenes in this series make one hell of an impact. This series shies away from nothing to prove its point, and this can be seen as early as episode two. As overblown as some of the scenes are, prisons in the years following the second world war were a pure hell, and the creators really succeeded in getting this effect. One guard in particular is just a complete and over the top nutcase that is both easy to hate and love, especially as this guy develops.

Speaking of development: the biggest reason why this series is so memorable is because of the huge amount of time it spends on showing the characters growing up. The entire second half takes place a year after the lead characters leave prison, and try to pick up their lives again. We get to see their troubles fitting into society, chasing after their dreams, and dealing with the pasts they grew up in. Whereas the first half of the series is dark, depressing and hopeless, the second half is bright, heart-warming and hopeful. Throughout both, the themes of friendship remain a red thread throughout the entire series, and together the two halves, as different as they may be, form an excellent whole, leaving behind a very well developed cast.

Whether or not you’ll be able to enjoy this series depends entirely on how you’ll be able to stomach the overly sappy and dramatic nature of this series. Especially psycho guard (as I’d like to call him anyway) will be… hard to swallow at times. It’s never going to be a masterpiece, and Madhouse has certainly done much better in the past. Nevertheless, for those who don’t mind there is a lovable and heart-warming cast, well thought out and planned plot and a great soundtrack.

Storytelling: 8/10 – The plot itself is really excellent: perfectly paced, makes optimal use of its 26 episodes, throws in plenty of twists and turns. It’s just the delivery that will tug your suspense of disbelief with how over the top it is.
Characters: 9/10 – Wonderfully developed, each character has his own strengths and flaws.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Average for Madhouse standards. Lots of still frames that do look quite pretty at times. The soundtrack is excellent, though.
Setting: 9/10 – A very interesting twist on “old versus young”, this series shines in portraying the lead characters’ attempts to fit into society, and the darker sides of the period after the second world war.

Suggestions:
– Death Note
– Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji
– Red Garden

Koi Kaze Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Boku wa Imouto ni Koi Suru, KissxSis, Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai, Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne—!!

Yes, I really dislike how incest is handled in anime. Even leaving the above-mentioned series aside, it feels like you’re less likely to find a brother and sister in anime who aren’t in love with each other and in eight out of ten cases, it’s completely pointless and shallow and handled with absolutely no taste at all. There are exceptions, though, and Koi Kaze is just about the most notable out of all of them.

It really has built up a reputation over the years, and after watching it, I can really understand why. Right from the start, it treats is characters seriously, portraying them as actual people, rather than stereotypes. The protagonist is just a regular guy with a regular job, and the series portrays him as he falls in love with his underaged sister, without pointing fingers or trying to appeal to any kinds of fetishes or fanservice. Throughout its entire airtime, this series remains focused on just the development of the lead characters.

I was pretty surprised at how well this series made use of its time. Its premise is simple, and because of this it really could use its thirteen episodes optimally to flesh out and develop its cast. The story is slow-paced, but there are few really wasted moments. The dialogue is also down to earth and makes sure that the characters are able to really express themselves properly. Heck, even if it wasn’t for the controversial source material, this would have been an excellent romance.

It’s not exactly the material that will blow you away; what it is is a consistently well written romance that despite its slow pace and controversial topic is actually very accessible and easy to watch due to its short length. My main gripe with it was that the most dramatic scenes were a bit too angsty, lacking something to counter-balance them, and no matter how badly the upcoming “Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai” and “Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne” anime end up butchering the themes around the relationships between brothers and sisters, this series can definitely hold its head high with the wonderful way in which it portrayed its characters.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Doesn’t mess around, and instead is fully focused on telling its story, with a slow yet calculated pacing.
Characters: 9/10 – The best at portraying incest. And even without the incest, this is a wonderfully developed romance.
Production-Values: 8/10 – There is one single episode that really has some incredibly detailed and inspired animation. The rest of the series is rather inconsistent, but does justice to the characters.
Setting: 8/10 – Solid, especially in exploring how the characters think that their actions will fit in, though apart from that it really remains in the background.

Suggestions:
– True Tears
– White Album
– Asatte no Houkou

Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin




The past summer really had its quantity problem, but there still were three series that really stood out to me as a breath of fresh air that may have significant flaws, but also have a delightful execution. These series are Shiki, Kuroshitsuji II and Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin. While Shiki had an incredibly solid execution and Kuroshitsuji got better and better as it went on, Occult Gakuin instead was just all over the place, which had both its advantages and disadvantages.

This series promised to be a fast-paced adventure series through the occult with its excellent and very witty first episode, but instead it turns out that it’s built around several two-episode arcs instead, focusing more on its characters while developing its plot only in the background. In Occult Academy, no episode really is like the other, with the result that you might be expecting a fast-paced action episode, only to get a bunch of episodes that focus more on the quiet type of storytelling.

On the bright side though, you’ll never know what this series will focus on next, and the episodes in which this series really goes all out were without a doubt the best episodes I watched during the entire summer season. The producers got some of the most amazing staff to write for some of the episodes, ranging from the director of Michiko e Hatchin, the director of Mouryou no Hako and Aoi Bungaku’s Hashire Melos to the writer of Noein and Birdy the Mighty Decode. There are thre episodes in this series that are so well written, portrayed and animated, that simply their presence makes this entire series worth watching.

Now, as for the rest of the series, it does have some balancing issues, and some other episodes fail to entice any excitement, and could have been cut from the series easily. The series itself spends a bit too much of its focus on developing Maya as a character, that it forgets about the other parts of the series. Because of this, some parts are rushed while others just take too long, on top of their lack of creativity compared to the better moments of the series.

Despite the balance issues, the plot does come together quite nicely in the end, though. All of the major questions get answers quite nicely and used to bring in some very interesting twists near the end. And really, amidst the countless of series that don’t seem to have any ambition, Occult Academy really tried to create something interesting, creative and diverse. It’s set up pretty much guarantees that you’ll be disappointed in one way or the other due to the lesser episodes, but for me it had enough to make up for it. I have quite a few issues with this series, but really: if those issues were fixed then this would have been a serious contender for the best series of the year and it will be awesome if more series would try to follow in this series’ footsteps.

Storytelling: 9/10 – The writing ranges from average at worst to absolutely fantastic at best. When it wants to, this series can be truly excellent at building up, but there are times in which it doesn’t have enough creativity in its script.
Characters: 8/10 – A very solid cast, but considering the premise of this series, the creators could have eliminated some overused cliches, and they could have done more with Maya’s character considering the amount of time that was put in her development.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Gorgeous and creative animation that really brings the characters to life.
Setting: 8/10 – Explores the occult from all over the world. Very interesting as a kaleidoscope throughout the supernatural, though never really goes in-depth.

Suggestions:
– Baccano
– Michiko e Hatchin
– Kaiba

Sekirei – Pure Engagement Review – 77,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Sekirei… has its problems. Most notably revolving around the well endowed bosoms of all the females that gather themselves around Minato, the male lead. It’s obvious that its premise is partly there for the boobs, but alongside that it does pull off something that just about every fanservice show is missing: an actually interesting plot.

The first season was plagued by having to actually set up its partially awful premise, but in the second season things come a lot more together. This series still pulls a few deus ex machina, the most notable being them suddenly changing the freaking gender of one of the characters and the pointlessly moronic antics of the main villain, but the overall storyline does get better and better, and especially the last arcs succeed quite well in their attempts to tug at your heartstrings. For all its faults, this is a series that does know how to develop its cast of characters.

It’s also interesting how Seven Arcs managed to significantly improve the animation budget for the second season. Especially the second half of this sequel has quite a few beautifully animated fight scenes. I mean, the entire series has really improved throughout its run so far.

Even at this point, the story is still nowhere near finished, but at this point I can’t say whether or not a third season is going to come in two years to wrap up the story. This second season mostly finishes the introduction of all of the characters, it rounds off the basic back-story behind the entire premise and it concludes a number of side-stories. It really made the franchise a lot more solid, but a third season really is necessary to delve into the essence of this story because regarding the core of the series, all we got was a bunch of vague hints here and there. I’m not going to recommend this series until it becomes clear whether or not that third season is going to come, but either way this was a pleasant surprise.

Storytelling: 7/10 – The excessive focus on fanservice and a few Deus ex Machina hold this one back, but overall it’s a lot more solid than the first season.
Characters: 8/10 – If you get part the premise of all of the characters, they’re actually pretty good and well developed here.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Surprisingly well animated fight scenes here, the rest of the animation is also pretty solid.
Setting: 8/10 – The biggest improvement over the first season. A lot of time was spent on making the foundation of the series more solid, and it works quite well.

Suggestions:
– Futakoi Alternative
– Code-E
– Sola