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Hashire, Melos! Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Interestingly enough, Hashire, Melos! has already been adapted into an anime once before (twice, actually, but here I’m focusing on the 1992-movie), so while waiting for the final instalments of Aoi Bungaku, I figured that I might as well check out a completely different interpretation of the classic story by Osamu Dazai. It of course isn’t as good as Ryousuke Nakamura’s version, and it even seems that the entire part of the author writing this story was completely new. But nevertheless, this movie shows that even the original story without this interplay between author and fiction had a lot of potential.

Because of the different ages, direction, themes and focuses, you really end up with two completely different stories that just happen to have some of the same characters. The dialogue in the movie isn’t as complex as the Aoi Bungaku version, nor is it an as big of an emotional roller-coaster, but it does allow for much more time to flesh out Melos and Celine, the two lead characters. And it’s in these two that the power of this story lies.

They’re both two men with their own strengths and weaknesses, and my favourite part of the movie were their reasons for doing the seemingly stupid things that they did: they’re well-backed up and powerful motivations. The ending is a bit rushed and predictable, but it’s not what’s important to the story at all; heck, even the movie realizes this by telling how the story ends right at the very first scene.

The music isn’t anything special, but the animation is really what you’d expect from a movie: very smooth and detailed with a real minimum of still frames. Despite again, this animation being not as expressive as Ryousuke Nakamura’s version I still very much recommend this movie because it really has its own points where it shines, and despite my rather repetitive complaining, I didn’t feel like watching a copy of something that I already watched once before at all. This movie adds quite a bit of depth and colour to the already interesting characters of Melos, Celine and Dionysius.

Storytelling: 8/10
Characters: 9/10
Production-Values: 8/10
Setting: 8/10

Kara no Kyoukai – The Garden of Sinners – A Study in Murder (Part 2) Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Kara no Kyoukai



The seventh and final Kara no Kyoukai Movie is another long one, clocking in at two whole hours. This really gives more than enough time to properly give attention to the story that explains the rest of the mysteries that the previous six movies have left behind. And really, these past seven movies have been a real treat. They’re all different and don’t try to rip off each other, contrary to what you might expect. They’re a great recommendation for any mystery-fan, though do note that the seventh movie isn’t the best.

I’m pretty surprised with some of the flaws that actually managed to slip by in the second part of A Study In Murder. The focus this time is the shock-factor: there is a lot of gore, even more disturbing than in the previous movies, and it also touches upon a big taboo in anime: drugs. While I applaud this series for actually going there, I do think that they could have spent a bit more time making them work out right. Bluntly said: this is the most unrealistic of all the Kara no Kyoukai movies.

The gore really is gruesome, but there are times when it’s overdone a bit too much. Characters who are badly wounded (even those without any sort of supernatural powers) just walk away without even flinching (or bleeding, for that matter), and not to mention Shiki’s ingenious “handcuff-escape-trick”. hello? You have a mechanical arm! What was the point of giving her that anyway? The effects of drugs on people also didn’t seem too well portrayed. Especially for a movie of this caliber, I expected a lot more detail. This also was the only movie in which the CG didn’t blend in well with the other graphics. While most of the movie looks as gorgeous as ever, the CG saliva just looked way off, and some of the goreish flesh-wounds had this as well. Really, what happened?

But despite these, does it have enough to make up for it? Plenty. The interplay between Shiki and Mikiya in this movie adds a lot of depth to their characters and it provides a satisfying closure to the questions that were asked throughout this series of movies, mainly in the second one. It’s pretty unpredictable as well: before starting this movie, I had a completely different image of the true culprit.

The direction is also as solid as ever, and the double length really allows the story to play out like it should have. It’s just a shame of the above-mentioned flaws though. In the end, my favourite movie of the seven remains the fifth one, closely followed by the fourth. This one hovers somewhere in the middle: still very good, but hampered by strange flaws and a story that just isn’t as strong as some of the others.

Storytelling: 8/10
Characters: 8/10
Production-Values: 9/10
Setting: 8/10

Turn A Gundam Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Those who have been reading some of my past mecha series reviews will probably know that I’m not the biggest fan of the Gundam franchise. These series often degenerate in strings of random fights that hardly ever resolve anything, and the storylines are way too often taken over by angsty and emo teenagers (or in Gundam 00’s case: angsty and emo young adults). However, this isn’t the case for Turn A Gundam!

I’m really glad to see that Turn A Gundam, directed by Tomino himself, manages to keep a solid direction and focus throughout the series. Okay, it’s a bit of a flawed direction here and there, but at least the plot is continuously moving. Something very impressive considering the complex, detailed and imaginative world that this series has to work with.

While on one hand, Turn A Gundam doesn’t escape some of the big clichés of the mecha-genre (a teenaged lead-character who just “happens” to find the “superpowered mecha of awesomeness”; “fighting is bad, so I will fight for these ideals!”), it makes up for it with its attention to detail: the cast for this show is huge, but Tomino manages to create lots of different fractions, all with their own ideals and morals. It has a carefully constructed setting, and the attention to detail for each of the mechas, airships, hovercrafts and spaceships is very impressive. I personally loved how at random times, Tomino liked to subtly flesh out random nameless soldiers, as they reported some news right next to a very important queen that everyone looks up to.

The large focus on politics is also one of the highlights of this series. While there are of course plenty of mecha-battles, a major theme of this series can also be found in the continuous peace negotiations, and how things like this that are so seemingly easy and obvious can be hampered by bad luck, just two or three people, or just plain bad planning and coordination.

As the show moves into its second half, it does lose a bit of steam, though. While definitely not bad, the second half of Turn A Gundam is inferior to the first. For that, I blame the series’ major villains: Agrippa has just way too little airtime and therefore makes no impact, while Gym Ghignham is just a plot device who continues to shout cheesy one-sided ideals. The two of them really put an evil side (and subsequently turn the lead characters into somewhat stereotypical good guys) to a series that had such a fine blur in morality, in which nobody really belonged to the good or bad side, and drag this series down.

Because of the lesser second half, I can’t quite call this show top-notch, but there is a lot to like in it nevertheless. Yoko Kanno has really worked her magic on the soundtrack, and the direction is strong under Tomino, with his trademark fast-paced dialogue that will keep the viewer on his toes. I’ll continue to raise eye-brows at teenagers who somehow end up piloting the most important military weapons in a single war, but hey: the rest of this show has enough other stuff to offer.

Storytelling: 8/10
Characters: 8/10
Production-Values: 9/10
Setting: 9/10

2000-2009 – Decade Summary Part 1

by psgels, posted in Yearly Summaries

It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do with these “Decade Summaries”. I first thought of listing the most memorable moments for me during the past 10 years, and actually tried writing such a post, but eventually I got stuck with it: I just can’t to justice to those moments. In the end, I figured that I’m so often trying to pick out my Top 3 for each season, so why not show a compilation of my three favourite series for every season of the decade?

So yeah, this is obviously going to be a quick-fire post with a lot of one-liners. This post contains 40 Top 3s, so it’s mostly used to give readers a glimpse of the good shows that aired during the past decade (the ones I’ve watched, anyway). In the second half of this decade summary, I’ll go more into detail. You can expect it around the end of December.

Basically, every anime is only eligible during the season that it originally started airing. Spring is from March to May, Summer from June to August, Autumn from September to November, et cetera.

Winter 2000

#3: Mushrambo – Yeah, this season sucked. Dragged on for way too long in the end, but had its moment of creativity as a shounen series.
#2: Kazemakase Tsukikage Ran – Simple yet fun samurai comedy.
#1: Boogiepop Phantom – Unique mystery-series that really requires a user to think in order to actually understand it.

Spring 2000

#3: Love Hina – The first harem I ever watched, and pretty nicely done compared to the other shows of this genre.
#2: NieA Under 7 – Very charming slice of life series with awesome character-designs. I should have rated this one higher when I reviewed it.
#1: FLCL – Crazy, but well written and engaging little OVA.

Summer 2000

#3: Brigadoon – Marin to Melan – Sunrise Mecha with its own unique style. Very well developed characters.
#2: Jin Roh – The Wolf Brigade – Very intelligent movie (Mamoru Oshii was involved, so how could it not be?). Very well written with a great ending.
#1: Strange Dawn – Everything fantasy should be. Incredibly detailed storytelling with an incredibly strong cast of characters.

Autumn 2000

#3: Legendary Gambler Tetsuya – Very interesting look at Mah-jong and cheating. Never drags on.
#2: Sci-Fi Harry – Imaginative and deep mystery-series that may have bitten off a bit more than it could chew.
#1: Argento Soma – Seemingly average mecha at first, but becomes really good near the end with simple but well developed main characters and storylines.

Winter 2001

#3: Earth Girl Arjuna – Great graphics, nice characters, but way too damn preachy.
#2: Tales of Eternia – Interesting choice to go with a side-story instead of a full fledged epic rpg-storyline. Nothing special, but fun enough.
#1: Spirit of Wonder – Scientific Boys Club – Strange little OVA, but very imaginative slice of life.

Spring 2001

#3: Soultaker – Back when Shinbo’s style was still new and fresh. Very nicely written and layered mystery-series with plenty of nice action.
#2: Zone of the Enders – Dolores – Awesome mecha epic with a great emphasis on family values and probably one of the oldest protagonists I’ve ever seen in a TV-anime.
#1: Figure 17: Tsubasa & Hikaru – A truly excellent character-study that combines gentle slice of life with tense and intelligent battles.

Summer 2001

#3: Fruits Basket – Shoujo series done well. Great characters, but especially the dialogue stands out.
#2: Arete Hime – Very quiet but engaging medieval movie that really takes its time to show the lead character.
#1: Spirited Away – In my top 3 of favourite Miyazaki-movies. Lots of details and imagination in just about everything.

Autumn 2001

#3: X – Well executed character-study from Clamp.
#2: Kaze no Youjinbou – Wonderfully animated and detailed look at local Yakuza, combined with an engaging mystery-plot
#1: Millennium Actress – Satoshi Kon’s excellent homage to various movie genres. Absolutely lovable cast.

Winter 2002

#3: Full Metal Panic! – Successfully combines moe with a war drama.
#2: Voices of a Distant Star – A very impressive short by Makoto Shinkai. Awesome graphics and a sense of distance that only he can pull off.
#1: Hunter X Hunter OVA – Everything a shounen series should be. This story is imaginative, intelligent focused and very well built up.

Spring 2002

#3: Comedy – Don’t get fooled by the name: this 10-minute short is a beautifully animated short story about feudal Ireland.
#2: Full Moon wo Sagashite – Long build-up is long, but this idol mahou shoujo becomes truly heart-wrenching eventually.
#1: .Hack//Sign – A unique concept, focusing on character interactions inside MMORPGs. Awesome philosophical themes and characters, but not for those expecting action.

Summer 2002

#3: Sentou Yousei Yukikaze – Beautiful graphics. A bit confusing of an OVA, but the action and characters make up for it.
#2: Saishuu Heiki Kanojo – Perhaps not the saddest series out there, but the quiet scenes among the death and destruction are truly worth it.
#1: The Cat Returns – Fun, whimsical and charming story with great characterization for the various cats around.

Autumn 2002

#3: Overman King Gainer – Seemingly average mecha show at first, but it stands out due to its beyond awesome OP and incredibly creative ideas thrown into the setting and scenario.
#2: Hanada Shounen-Shi – The lead character is very, very hard to like. An annoying brat in every single way. And yet this series is really heart-warming.
#1: Haibane Renmei – I have hardly ever been so emotionally moved as with this series. A fantastic character-study and with incredibly well explored themes.

Winter 2003

#3: Wolf’s Rain – I’ve only seen three shows of this season. I didn’t quite like this one. The concept had potential, but the main plot and characters didn’t.
#2: Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou – Quiet Country Cafe – I’m still wondering why they didn’t make a TV-series out of this, but ah well. Relaxing slice of life OVA.
#1: Ashita no Nadja – This is how good shoujo adventures can be. Really fun characters, and a surprisingly deep and well developed plot during the second half.

Spring 2003

#3: Kino no Tabi – The Beautiful world – Thought-provoking travelling series with a very likable lead character of Kino.
#2: Oseam – One heck of a tear-jerker of a movie. Korean animation at its finest.
#1: Kaleido Star – An anime about circus performers, and it’s a really well developed one. It makes optimal use of its long length to really show a memorable development for the lead character.

Summer 2003

#3: Narutaru – Shows what kids are really going to do when you give them a bunch of violent monster. Very disturbing, to say the least.
#2: Rumiko Takahasi’s Rumic Theater – 13 stories written by Rumiko Takahashi, all about random, ordinary adults who run into extraordinary problems. Very down-to-earth and the creators make every story count.
#1: Tokyo Godfathers – Satoshi Kon at his best. This movie is crazy, fun, adorable and deep, so that even a few deus ex machinas won’t prevent it from truly shining.

Autumn 2003

#3: Gilgamesh – Very interesting horror-series with an imaginative plot that breaks quite a few traditions. It’s got interesting themes, the fights are very tense, though it might be a bit slow for some.
#2: Gungrave – Ah, the character-development! An in-depth look into large mafia-organizations and some really good animation by Madhouse.
#1: Mermaid’s Forest – Rumiko Takahashi Again, this time her Mermaid Forest stories are adapted. Disturbing, and the individual short stories make optimal use of their time to make an as big of an impact as possible.

Winter 2004

#3: Maria-Sama ga Miteru – Takes a while to get going – even for a 13-episode series – but proves to be a very nice character-study with yuri elements in the end.
#2: Jubei-Chan 2: The Counterattack of Siberia Yagyu – Has some of the best fight choreography out there. The plot itself is a bit predictable, but the characters and action totally make up for this.
#1: Paranoia Agent – Satoshi Kon yet again takes a number one-spot with this witty, paranoid, mysterious, diverse, intense, screwed up series of his.

Spring 2004

#3: Samurai Champloo – Manglobe’s debut, and what a well-directed debut it is. Even though this show is about nothing, it’s fun enough to see the three lead characters interact.
#2: Hi no Tori – Incredible adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s classic stories. Every arc stands out, among which are a number of true gems in terms of storytelling.
#1: Mahou Shoujotai – I still consider this to be my favourite anime ever. Experimental in every way, truly excellent characterizations, a great world for the story to play with and a very original set of graphics and animation.

Summer 2004

#3: Mind Game – This top 3 was rather hard, because I hardly saw anything in this season. Still, even though the movie underwhelmed me when I watched it, I do have to admit that that final scene in this movie is something truly unique and entertaining.
#2: Elfen Lied – The problem with Elfen Lied is that it tried to combine harem stupidity with very serious and depressing themes about mass murderers. They don’t mesh! Nevertheless, I really liked the good parts and the ending.
#1: Otogizoshi – Folklore, divided into two distinctly different arcs. The second one is quieter, but superior.

Autumn 2004

#3: Zipang – Very interesting concept about cause and reaction. Asks deep questions but unfortunately is a bit too short.
#2: Rozen Maiden – This is what I’d like to call a series in which everything went right. No second is wasted, and both the plot and characters went where they should have.
#1: Fantastic Children – An amazingly told series with a great cast of characters. It´s perhaps a bit confusing at the beginning, but the plot twists near the ending are more than worth it.

Winter 2005

#3: Kimagure Robot – Short but quirky comedy about robots (yeah, there wasn’t much else this season).
#2: Starship Operators – Space Opera done right. A huge focus on complex tactics rather than brainless action, with a powerful ending.
#1: Air – Starts as another one of those harems. Ends as a gripping and heart-wrenching story with some very neat ideas in its style of storytelling.

Spring 2005

#3: The Law of Ueki – I consider this both as one of the best comedies and shounens out there. It’s pretty silly, but you have to love all of the weird powers that these people have. Not to mention the huge amount of creativity that has been put in the different battles.
#2: Glass Mask – An incredibly in-depth look at acting. This series surely took that extra step towards developing its cast, and what a wonderful drama it turned into.
#1: Eureka7 – A bit of an unbalanced series, but where this series hits, it hits really hard. Renton and Eureka start out as a bunch of random mecha-piloting teenagers, but their development throughout the series is truly memorable.

Summer 2005

#3: Kamichu – Very charming slice of life series. Period.
#2: xxxHolic: A Midummer Night’s Dream – A Very interesting mystery-movie, despite being just a side-story in the xxxHolic franchise.
#1: Pani Poni Dash – Remains funny throughout the majority of its airtime, quirky style. A successful comedy.

Autumn 2005

#3: Jigoku Shoujo – Talk about atmosphere. The first season of Jigoku Shoujo was gripping, had some twisted episodes and a great conclusion.
#2: Mushishi – Episodic series can hardly get any better than this. Wonderfully subtle storytelling about deep and thought-provoking characters
#1: Noein – Fantastic action, incredible characters, awesome soundtrack, wonderful storytelling, I’m running out of adjectives here.

Winter 2006

#3: Yomigaeru Sora – Rescue Wings – An anime about the rescue forces. A really good portrayal of what these people can be up against.
#2: Ayakashi – Japanese Classic Horror – Especially Bake Neko was a triumph in storytelling, but Yotsuya Kaidan was also a very good and especially disturbing horror story.
#1: Ergo Proxy – Weird but very imaginative and complex story. There always was something interesting going on with this series.

Spring 2006

#3: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – When this series first aired, it blew my mind with its gripping mystery-story, characters and disturbing footage. All behind such a seemingly cute exterior.
#2: The Third – The Third has struck me as a very balanced show, with a bit of action, slice of life, science fiction and intrigue, but first and foremost it stands out to me because it features one of the best characters I’ve seen: Honoka.
#1: Simoun – This series is what I consider the best character-study ever. The creators took a very imaginative concept, a group of fascinating characters, and turned into one of my favourite series.

Summer 2006

#3: Otogi Juushi Akazukin – THE series for modern fairytales. It has lots of cameos, and a very cute style of storytelling that makes it a lot of fun to watch.
#2: Flag – A unique series. The entire story is told through the perspective of cameras and photos. The story itself is really slow, but very detailed, realistic and imaginative.
#1: Le Chevalier d’Eon – Despite a slow start, this series eventually turns into a well developed and very strongly directed epic in 17th Century France.

Autumn 2006

#3: Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto – On top of the action, this show was also a very nice history-lesson for me. Especially the first half had a very strong direction.
#2: Red Garden – Another show with a great cast of characters. What made this series stand out was the amount of detail that was put in their characterization, and especially the dialogue was phenomenal at times.
#1: Asatte no Houkou – Body-swapping: it’s often done for comedic purposes. This series showed how high a serious execution of this trope can reach.

Winter 2007

#3: Master of Epic – For this MMORPG adaptation, the creators decided that instead of creating a serious story like what would happen with most other shows of this kind, they would parody the heck out of it. The result is a very fun and successful collection of sketches that make fun of tons of MMORPG tropes.
#2: Nodame Cantabile – This series succeeded, both as a comedy and as a look at performing classical music and especially directing. Very strong cast of characters.
#1: Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – The revival of the World Masterpiece Theatre delivered an incredible series with memorable character-development for just about any member of the cast.

Spring 2007

#3: Toward the Terra – Space operas at their finest. Toward the Terra’s story is bold, imaginative and gets the best out of its cast of characters.
#2: Kaze no Shoujo Emily – An adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s classic. A really charming slice of life-character study, about living towards your dreams.
#1: Bokura no – I really have to praise Mohiro Kitoh for his truly thought-provoking ideas, but also the staff of the anime, who took an unfinished story, and managed to turn it into something memorable and gripping that perfectly fitted the 24-episode timeframe.

Summer 2007

#3: Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei – A really good comedy, full of nice references, subtle jabs and witty humour that didn’t turn stale within its 13-episode timeframe.
#2: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai – This sequel to the Higurashi series provided all of the answers we needed. The pacing was much slower, but that really allowed us to get a good view of the characters.
#1: Baccano! – You have to praise Baccano for the way it managed to weave so many different stories about so many different characters into just one series of 13 episodes. There’s always something interesting going on because of it.

Autumn 2007

#3: Mokke – Charming and heart-warming slice of life series about two sisters as they meet various people and supernatural spirits.
#2: Ghost Hound – A horror-series with an incredibly thick atmosphere and a huge focus on psychology.
#1: Shion no Ou – An awesome combination between murder mystery and shougi, thanks to a very snappy sense of storytelling and an awesome cast of characters.

Winter 2008

#3: Hakaba Kitarou – A very interesting combination between horror and comedy. It’s always a guess what this one will go for.
#2: Gunslinger Girl – Il Teatrino – Ah, who cares. I liked this. Completely different style when compared to the first season, but nevertheless it had a haunting atmosphere, and it did manage to catch the essence of this concept.
#1: Porfy no Nagai Tabi – An exceptionally well written and realistic travelling series, combining charming and relaxing slice of life with the dark and lonely parts of Porfy’s life.

Spring 2008

#3: Amatsuki – This show stood out with its really heavy emphasis on dialogue and very strong direction. Now where is that second season!?
#2: Himitsu – The Revelation – I personally loved how this series’ mystery knew exactly how much it should reveal. Suspense at its utter best: you’d never know what would happen next, or where an episode would focus on.
#1: Kaiba – An incredibly imaginative concept with a fantastic story to work with. Very haunting and thought-provoking.

Summer 2008

#3: Ultraviolet: Code 044 – A bold direction along with a very nice storyline to work with. What I loved about this show was its atmosphere and strong cast of characters.
#2: Natsume Yuujinchou – Natsume’s stories in which he’d meet various spirits is nothing new, but yet again it’s well executed, and Nyanko-sensei is a gem to watch.
#1: Bonen no Xamdou – I don’t think I’ve ever seen a full fledged TV-series that was better animated than this gem. The action was fantastic, and yet this show also spent plenty of time in quiet scenes to flesh out its characters properly.

Autumn 2008

#3: Clannad – After Story – The first Clannad was very interesting, but still a bit formulaic. Then the second season came, and blew all stereotypes away with a heart-wrenching second half.
#2: Michiko e Hatchin – You can trust Manglobe to deliver an incredibly accurate portrayal of Brazil of a few decades back. With incredibly strong characters and an always fun scenario, Michiko e Hatchin really stands out among its season’s best.
#1: Mouryou no Hako – What an intense focus at dialogue. I don’t think that any other series has this much and complex dialogue as Mourou no Hako here, but everything is just so interesting and well detailed, not to mention that the plot is incredibly well detailed.

Winter 2009

#3: Shikabane Hime Kuro – Despite some initial hiccups, Hikabane Hime Kuro continued to raise the bar set by its predecessor, developing its characters and delivering ver exciting action-sequences into a great series.
#2: Kemono no Souja Erin – This really shows the power of long-running series. Throughout the 50 episodes of airtime, the creators are able to provide a very detailed portrayal of its lead character, Erin the beastiarian.
#1: Birdy the Mighty Decode 2 – The first season wasn’t really anything special, but the second season came and improved on it in every single way. The animation is incredible, the characters are really well developed, the story saves enough time to show a bit about the setting and how it dynamically interacts with the main storyline. A real gem.

Spring 2009

#3: Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – For me, this one beats the original series by far. It has a terrific concept and a very well developed setting. (This was another top 3 that was hard too choose: so many series with place 2 and 3 potential).
#2: Guin Saga – Now this is what epic fantasy should be. A large focus on politics and slow character-development. The intrigue was what made this series really memorable.
#1: Phantom – An incredible soundtrack, combined with some really strong development for the lead characters. Phantom stood out with its bold execution

Summer 2009

#3: Spice and Wolf II – This series continued where it predecessor left off, and delivers two well written and intelligent arcs full of witty dialogues and character-development.
#2: Aoi Hana – A very interesting and especially very subtle character-study about a lesbian romance. And for once it isn’t filled with anime stereotypes of this genre.
#1: Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 – A depiction of what would happen if Tokyo were to be hit by an earthquake of the 8.0 on the Richter scale. Shocking, sad, and very emotional.

Autumn 2009

#3: Darker than Black – Ryuusei no Gemini – This sequel went into a completely different direction as its predecessor, but still retains is incredibly strong direction and its message that people die when they fight to the death.
#2: Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra. – A breath of fresh air in the intrigue-genre in the way that it continues to defy expectations and twist around seemingly unconnected stories into a whole
#1: Aoi Bungaku – Not only is this series an example of really good storytelling, it also completely changes style for every of the six stories it’s animating. Each of the stories has this unique feel about it, all in their own way.

November Summary

by psgels, posted in Monthly Summaries

Overall, this season stands out to me as average, but solid. There are a lot of well written shows, that at the moment just don’t seem to hit any real heights, and yet remain very enjoyable to watch. The exceptions are a number of true gems, though.

#22 (19) – Yumeiro Patissiere – (6,5/10) – I originally planned to continue watching this, due to its surprisingly good start, but unfortunately the past month revealed this series’ true colours. It just keeps introducing cheesy jealous bitches who are in love with the three male bishies that hang around the lead characters. The drama that comes of it is just terribly shallow. Dropped.
#21 (22) – Winter Sonata – (7,5/10) – Really hard to say anything about this series due to the slow subs. The only episode released this month was a bit cheesy, and it feels like entire scenes are missing, or something.
#20 (21) – Kobato – (7,5/10) – Right now, Kobato still is pretty dull, but at least you can see that the characters are getting fleshed out and explored. What the series needs to do is keep this up, and USE this in the second half to develop them.
#19 (24) – Kimi ni Todoke – (7,75/10) – I’m still struggling with Kimi ni Todoke, but there’s some definite potential. It’s pretty good when it doesn’t pretend to be anything: the dialogue is inspired and well written. However, the cheese during the dramatic parts is just way too overdone.
#18 (14) – Letter Bee – (7,75/10) – Still building up. You can see that it’s building up to something interesting, but it isn’t quite there yet. In the meantime, I’m just enjoying Nichi’s antics.
#17 (20) – Kaidan Restaurant – (8/10) – It’s a bit childish at times, not to mention that the lead character must have really angered the gods badly for her to run into THAT many ghosts, but the horror works surprisingly well. The quick horror stories all do their job of being creepy, and it’s always interesting to watch these episodes.
#16 (17) – Hetalia Axis Powers – (8,25/10) – I must say, that that second season of Hetalia has become much more balanced than the first one. It doesn’t endlessly keep hanging on the same jokes, and instead delivers varied and fun jokes. Very nice.
#15 (15) – 11eyes – (8,25/10) – This series is still going strong for me, although I do find Yuka a bit hard to swallow. Her characterization for me just doesn’t work, and it’s very annoying to watch her angsty romantic issues.
#14 (10) – Anymaru Tantei Kiruminzoo – (8,25/10) – This really turned out to be surprisingly good. I especially love how this series doesn’t just have people, transforming into animals, but also animals transforming into people, with hilarious results as they try to make sense of humans. The story also is a bit more than just “monster of the week” as well. It’s obviously a bit of a stupid series, but for me it’s been very enjoyable.
#13 (9) – Tentai Senshi Sunred – (8,25/10) – This is very rare for a comedy sequel: it’s actually better than the original series. While the first Tentai Senshi Sunred had its share of weak episodes, the second season doesn’t, and every episode is a hit and cracks me up with its typical sense of humour, combining detailed realistic dialogue with incredible stupidity and Super Sentai Parodies.
#12 (3) – Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – (8,25/10) – This month was mostly building up, and that’s where Full Metal Alchemist’s big weakness lies: it may be very exciting at times, but it does take quite a while to get there. At those points, it just loses out to other, better-paced shows. Do note that this score reflects on just the episodes that aired this month; NOT the entire series.
#11 (13) – Konnichiwa Anne – (8,25/10) – A very good month for Konnichiwa Anne. Not stellar, but Anne’s development has finally started tying this story to Anne of Green Gables. There are some animation errors, but so far this series has been able to avoid the biggest pitfalls. Now let’s hope that this series can pull off a good finale.
#10 (12) – Sasameki Koto – (8,25/10)

I’m surprised: this series is still going strong. The characters are very genuine, which really helps the seemingly formulaic premise. Especially the relationship between the lead characters is fleshed out really well

#9 (1) – Umineko no Naku Koro ni – (8,25/10)

A bit of a step back when compared to the previous month, but again, you can see that this show is building up. Ange herself isn’t the most interesting character, but let’s see whether all of the build-up can pay off in the end. Again, this relatively low score is just for the episodes of this month. I’d rate the entire series higher, depending on how good the final parts of this series are going to be.

#8 (8) – Marie & Gali – (8,5/10)

The only thing I dislike is the constant hiatuses that this show keeps taking. Apart from that, I’m amazed that it still hasn’t run out of creativity in the slightest. Every episode is a hit, that keeps putting in new ideas.

#7 (11) – Kuchuu Buranko – (8,5/10)

This show has really gotten better and better: the cases have become more complex, interesting and funny, plus, all of the references to past episodes really work.

#6 (7) – Cross Game – (8,5/10)

Great month for Cross Game. Akane really brought in a new spark that influenced nearly every single character in the series, which really brought the spark back in this series’ slice of life.

#5 (18) – White Album – (8,5/10)

You know. Call me crazy, but I like this show again. It’s just unique; first of all it’s School Days but actually well written, but also the writing really gets the best out of the characters, and unlike the first season it allows for very emotional scenes without the usual soap opera cheese that accompanies them. But yeah, Touya still is an incredible asshole. 😛

#4 (5) – Kemono no Souja Erin – (8,75/10)

Even though the end is near, Kemono no Souja Erin still continues with its quiet and focused pacing, and that in no way prevented the plot twists that arrived in this month from creating impact. Very fitted for a prelude to the finale.

#3 (6) – Darker than Black – Ryuusei no Gemini – (8,75/10)

The major thing that my three favourites this season all have in common is a very strong direction. Darker than Black knows exactly how to deliver its story and make it exciting. It also takes care to develop its characters and really makes use of its limited airtime this way.

#2 (4) – Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – (9,25/10)

What a breath of fresh air. The direction of Armed Librarians is bold and daring, and I just love the way in which this series keeps tying seemingly unrelated plot threads to each other in the end. Here’s one series that continues to defy my expectations of it.

#1 (2) – Aoi Bungaku – (9,25/10)

There should be more series like this, seriously. Every story so far has been unique and different, and all of them have been made based on great ideas. In the Woods… was an awesome mind-screw, Kokoro was a terrific character-study told in two different perspectives, while Hashire Melos is beautifully animated and directed.

Usavich Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Here’s a quickie: Usavich may be 39 episodes long, but each of these episodes is just a minute and a half long. You can breeze through this series in about one hour. But is it worth it? Yeah.

The thing with comedy anime, and especially those very short and strange looking ones is that you’ll never know whether or not they have enough inspiration for their jokes after some initial hilarity. Usavich is the story of two CG rabbits, who we can see in jail, an later on in the series they escape. The sense of humour in this series is downright absurd: there are tons of violence jokes, toilet jokes, sadism, flat-out randomness and let’s not forget the three musical episodes that are some sort of musical medley throughout various sound-effects. Just watch it, it’s very hard to explain.

The lead characters have absolutely no lines, and are pretty stereotypical, but what makes Usavich awesome is its sense of timing. The jokes are all delivered spot-on, and it retains its hilarity throughout the entire series. It loses a few points by repeating some of its jokes at times, but most of the episodes sparkle with creativity. A recommendation if you’re looking for a really quick watch. Heck, even Chi’s Sweet Home’s episodes were longer.

Storytelling: 9/10
Characters: 7/10
Production-Values: 8/10
Setting: 8/10

Matantei Loki Ragnarok Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Matantei Loki Ragnarok is the first installment of Hiroshi Watanabe’s “Mystical Detectives”-trilogy (along with Tactics and Suteki Tantei Labyrinth). Those who’ve read some of my earlier reviews about this guy’s work know what I think about him: he can be incredibly talented, but also incredibly stupid. Whenever I go into a series of his, I absolutely have no idea what to expect.

I actually watched an episode of Ragnarok before I started this blog, and I wasn’t that convinced. It seemed just like any other silly adventure series that had nothing but a group of characters, going on silly adventures. And here the danger of first impressions shows up again, because against all my expectations, this turned out to be a genuinely excellent series. It’s a bit silly at times and sometimes it leaves a few small questions unanswered, but oh boy. This series really delivers when it wants to.

Like I said, the ingredients are pretty formulaic. In fact, you can see a lot of parallels with Hiroshi Watanabe’s other shows: we have the mahou shounen, his butler. There’s the annoying female sidekick, the animal sidekick, the complete moron, the energetic guy who runs a lot of jobs. Yet, this series actually makes something out of it. The cliches are there, but really: the characterization is so damn good.

This again isn’t a show for everyone, because it’s another one of those series that has a lot of slice of life in it. You might think that this will devolve into a series where most of the time is spent on random mysteries, but those actually play a fairly small role. Much more important to this series is showing the characters interacting with each other, and just having fun on a daily basis. And it does so with creativity. Loki is actually a pretty likable male lead: he’s mature, despite his looks, and likes to tease others. The female side-kick does yell a lot, yet she’s not stereotypical enough to get annoying, and she has enough other sides to her than her constant “mystery!”-catchphrase.

Throughout the majority of its airtime this simply is an enjoyable, varied and sometimes silly slice-of-life/adventure series. There are a number of goofball characters, and therefore also a number of goofball episodes with a sense of humour that’s typical to Hiroshi Watanabe (no idea is stupid enough!). This series really sets itself apart in its final quarter, however. It’s astounding how much this series takes its time to fully develop its main characters AND villains. This series has a really heart-warming finale that made me rate this show much higher than I was originally planning to.

The animation is basic, but it’s being made up by the visuals themselves. The character-designs were done by one of the best character-designers in the business (she also did the character-designs for Ghost Hound, King of Bandits Jing and not to mention Jigoku Shoujo). The music, especially near the end, also manages to create a great atmosphere for this series.

I might be one of the very few in this, but I’ve really become a fan of Hiroshi Watanabe. It’s obviously not because he’s a consistently good director: Star Ocean Ex and Shining Tears X Wind were just terrible, and Suteki Tantei Labyrinth was a trainwreck (an incredibly fun trainwreck yes; but a trainwreck nonetheless). However, the thing with this guy is that he just keeps surprising me. No matter what kind of series he’s doing, every single one of his series have caught me off-guard and surprised me with a sense of creativity I truly did not expect. Whether it’s good or bad remains to be seen, though.

Storytelling: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Production-Values: 8/10
Setting: 8/10

Gakkou no Kaidan Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



For most of the series I review, I watch them in their original language. There are exceptions, however, and this is one of them. The original Gakkou no Kaidan is beyond mediocre. The characters are shallow, the stories are stupid and formulaic (there are twenty episodes in total, and it rips off The Ring in at least five of them), depthless, predictable, full of plotholes and every ghost is stopped right at the last possible moment. If I were to review the Japanese version, you could subtract at least 20 to 30 points from the rating.

Interestingly enough, the person in charge of the English Dub thought so too, and decided go with his own version. The result is a hilarious parody chockful of American pop culture and jokes that are so wrong that you’d normally never see in anime. Think sex, drugs and violence here. On top, the characters also love to break the fourth wall whenever something doesn’t make sense in the script. And it actually works!

The lead characters also get transformed from just another standard group of kids without much of a distinct personality, to a group with a retarded dyslexic kid, a drug addict, a closet pervert Jew and an obsessively devoted christian. The funny thing is that despite these seemingly offensive stereotypes, the characters are actually much more colourful and developed than their original versions.

I’ve heard plenty of stories about dubs who completely ruin their original series. However, with everything there are some definite exceptions: with Gakkou no Kaidan, there hardly was anything left to ruin, and the writers for the dub had a clear vision of what they were going to do. It’s an interesting experiment that really brightened up an otherwise horribly dull series, and the humour isn’t like anything you’re ever going to encounter in anime. The only thing that really stands out in the original version is some nice shading and the OP. Talk about catchy.

Storytelling: 9/10
Characters: 8/10
Production-Values: 8/10
Setting: 8/10

Tenchi Muyo! – Ryo-Ouki 2 Review – 77,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Well, so here’s my review of the second OVA of the series that has the dubious honour of having been ripped off the most amount of times by lazy writers. It also includes the special Bangaihen episode that aired in between the first two OVAs for convenience’s sake. Overall, you can see that this series holds an edge over most other harem concepts. It’s still a bit of a hard to believe premise and the reasons for the different females to stay with the lead characters are… silly to say the least. But hey: at least they’ve got reasons!

I actually like the second OVA better than the first. My big problem with the first is that it lacked balance, especially the serious parts just dragged on for ages. This really was fixed in the second OVA: the action, serious parts, slice of life and comedy are all nicely balanced. At first, this show might make it seem like it starts with a random filler episode (like so many other shows have), but thanks to detailed slice of life and good characterization there’s hardly a moment in this show that’s really boring. On top of that, when it does tend to drag on, some character-back-story suddenly pops up.

The OVA does a great job to flesh out and explore a majority of the characters here, and you definitely get to know them better throughout the series. That’s definitely a plus. And even the purely slice of life special bangaihen is enjoyable to sit through thanks to the characters and the comedy. When the main storyline for this OVA pops up, it actually delivers, and it has a much more interesting villain than the rather dull one that the first OVA had to use.

There were only two major annoyances I had with this OVA. The first is Ryo-ouki. I know that she must have meant well and all, but near the end her excessive nondescript squealing becomes just too annoying. This didn’t work in Pokemon, and it also doesn’t work here. The second annoyance is the final ten minutes of the OVA: for some strange reason, they’re nothing but a slide-show with people talking in the background. Did the budget ran out at that point or something? It’s surprising, because the rest of the budget is actually really good with very smooth and detailed animation.

Tenchi Muyo isn’t really going to make it to my favourites anytime soon. It might be very good for your average harem, but there still are tons of non-harem series that are just better and have more interesting and believable stories. It’s just isn’t my kind of setting here and the seemingly endless amounts of times at which this formula has already been ripped off didn’t really help increasing my enjoyment of it. Nevertheless, this second OVA yet again stands out with some pretty nice characterization of its characters, and that has to say something.

Storytelling: 7/10
Characters: 8/10
Production-Values: 9/10
Setting: 7/10

Star Crossed Four Year Anniversary + New IRC Channel

by psgels, posted in Special Articles

I think that at the time that I started this blog, I never would have guessed that I’d still have it four years later; it really was created on a whim, and eventually I just never had any intention or reason to quit it. Anyway, today marks Star Crossed’s fourth anniversary. Like I also did in the previous years, here are some statistics:

General Statistics:
Up till now, I’ve made 3019 posts, regularly blogged 108 different television series and 13 movies and OVAs.
The site has been received 3020186 unique visitors, which consist out of 1942846 first time visitors and 1257340 returning ones. (Basically, in the past year I received nearly the same amount of visitors as in the entire first three years combined).
18085 comments have been posted (many thanks to everyone who posted one)

Top-10 Most Accessed Series:
(note that this list is from the past year only, otherwise it’d just look too much like the list I made a year ago)
10. Michiko e Hatchin
9. Guin Saga
8. Bonen no Xamdou
7. Mushishi
6. Jigoku Shoujo
5. Pandora Hearts
4. Phantom
3. Casshern Sins
2. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
1. Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood

Top-10 Most Accessed Posts: (a bit one-sided this time)
10. Hajime no Ippo – New Challenger Review
9. Which Autumn Series do you want me to blog?
8. Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – 23
7. Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – 26
6. Mahou Shoujotai Review (for a series that had such an enormous impact on me, I surely did write a crappy review of it).
5. Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – 27 (the internet is weird… this post is barely a month old… and it’s about a bloody recap…)
4. Bonen no Xamdou – 02
3. Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – 19
2. Darker than Black Review
1. Top 10 Anime (the old version)

Top-10 Google Keywords: (aside from the obvious ones as “psgels”, “star crossed” and variations of “top 10 anime”)
10. Umineko no Naku Koro ni
9. Pandora Hearts Blog
8. Saiunkoku Monogatari Season 3
7. Genji Monogatari Sennenki
6. Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood 23
5. Guin Saga
4. Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood 27
3. Mouryou no Hako
2. Aoi Bungaku
1. Darker than Black Review
(Especially number 2 and 3 surprise me: those were the last two series I expected to generate lots of hits O.o)

Amusing search-terms (I can’t believe how many screwed up ones I managed to find this year…)
anime girl with 5 different personalities – Schizophrenia, anyone?

crazy person claiming to be the real neo trinity forum – I don’t know what’s worse: a person claiming such a thing, or people actually searching for this guy…

dress up kurenai sense but first she has to be naked – What the heck did this guy have in mind? O.o

hi me anime – Hi… um, me psgels

porfy is a stupid name. say it. porfy. – It’s short for Porphyras, a greek name. Obviously it’s going to sound wierd in English.

anime in which a star turns into a skateboard? – Oh god, please no!

anime were can i buy paprika – at the local supermarket?

how to blog anime – Go to wordpress.com, register and start writing

how to make an anime with you as the star – You really don’t want that to happen.

sky bolg of nice girl – Even though this is a typo, I have no idea what this guy was trying to find with this term…

what does 3 year anniversary mean – That something is three years old, idiot.

what season is august in – You seriously needed to search for this?

26 + 74 = one hundred – Erm… thank you for this piece of information…

japan, producing of the worlds weirdest shit since 1952 – Certainly!

a 13 to 15 line paragraph on how i betrayed my best friend – Write it yourself, how should I know about that friend of yours?

a anime where you can see girls – You’re going to have to be a bit more specific than that. 😉

who blogs star crossed anime – I do.

humanity calls out for a hero… can a child of ruin be the savior of mankind? anime – Oh no, not another one!

i can’t understand your blogs cuz of your bad english – Um… sorry. I’ll try to type more clearly from now on.

i will force that reasoning aside with my unreasonableness” – I like this one.

when did june start 09 – Um… on June 1st, 2009?

when some when apologize and i dont want .. nicknames – Why?

a letter to have good first impression from a nice girl – Again, write one yourself.

at the beginning, to begin with, afterwards, finally, after a while – Get on with it!

i have a great idea for an anime but don’t know what to do with it – Here’s my advice: just go sit in a corner, and wait until the idea goes away.

i’m not fully understood – Who is?

i’ve been a princess – Who isn’t?

interesting metallic thing – I really wonder what this guy was hoping to find when he typed this in…

what’s the weird anime that anne is not telling me about – … no comment.

“parents are still alive”, anime – That’s rare…

what would kaiba say – “Screw the rules I have money” (only the ones who watched the Abridged Yugioh will get this reference, but ah well).

is that a motha-fuckin’ rpg?! is that a motha-fuckin’ rpg in a backpack?! – This one’s my favourite. ^^;

IRC-Channel
Oh and if I recall correctly, a few months some people requested an irc-channel. So, why not:

#starcrossed @ irc.chatspike.net

This is pretty much an experiment, but if it catches on I’ll post a link to it somewhere on the main page.