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Futakoi Alternative Review – 77,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



I have no idea how horrifically bad the original Futakoi was, and I really don’t want to find out. Still, having heard that its sequel, Futakoi Alternative was nothing like it, completely different and story-wise had nothing to do with it; that it was supposed to be a really random and experimental series, my interest got sparked. After watching it, I do have to say: Futakoi Alternative was indeed a fine attempt to add some originality into the harem genre. But it’s in NO WAY perfect.

The show tells about a 21-year-old guy whose father resembles Nabeshin and whose yakuza friend looks like that guy from Getbackers, who works as a private investigator and has two cute 15-year-old assistants/girlfriends (pedophilia, anyone?). But those two girls aren’t just two regular cute girls; no, they’re twins. In fact, this show is full of them: they’re all identical twins (on a side-note: have there EVER been twins in anime that aren’t identical?), they even dress the same, have the same hairstyle, hair-length and love interest. The only things at which they differ are their personality and one accessory that they have different. And that’s the case for every single one of them. Seriously, it feels like the designers simply went through a checklist to create all of them.

Futakoi Alternative can really be classified as one of those series that are just… weird. It basically consists out of two subplots: one is a quiet character-study between the lead character and the twins; the second one… is about the quest to destroy an evil mutant squid who breathes fire. Yeah it’s like combining Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann with True Tears in one show. Especially that first episode is very misleading: it’s extremely fast paced. full of explosions and awesome animation, only for the pacing the next seven or so episodes to slow down completely and the show taking itself much more seriously.

But there’s one thing that this series does really well: the narration. Basically, the narrator is the lead character himself, but his lines are inspired and quite a significant amount of time is spent on the history of the different characters: to show how they were a couple of years before the start of the story. That really helped to prevent these people from turning into a bunch of paper bags and they’re quite enjoyable to watch.

In the end though, this is a series that you don’t want to be taking seriously. Not just because of the evil squids and all, but also because of the huge amount of plot-holes. Especially in the second half, this show likes to take huge leaps through its logic and some of the most urging questions are never answered: why did the twins choose the lead character, of all people, to go to (no really; they’re just there… no explanation whatsoever)? Why did nobody object to such a ridiculous arranged marriage? Why did that awesome cop get so little screen-time!?

It’s really strange: this show really had a surprisingly solid middle part; I was really taking this show seriously when the evil Nazi squids suddenly popped up from out of nowhere and turned out to be the source of all evil (no, seriously). It’s definitely different and original which is something that the harem genre really needs, but I feel that even without the weirdness, it would have been an even better series.

There are a lot of things wrong with this series. For example, if the creators weren’t obliged to insert cameos from the original series that really have absolutely NOTHING to do with the story at all, they could have used this extra time to fill in the plot-holes left. We’ve really got ourselves an enjoyable show here, but because we never know why the three lead characters got together in the first place, it lacks foundations a bit.

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

Victorian Romance Emma Review – 87,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Ah, maids. Anime creators often use them to make moe characters even moer; usually with rather… embarrassing results to say the least. And take the well-known subplot, in which our hero has found his true love, but his stubborn parents refuse to allow this marriage because they’re stubborn and want to have an arranged marriage. These are two subplots which reappear in many, many different anime, but never quite like Victorian Romance Emma.

It’s very easy to just ignore this show because it looks boring, but it really turns into a pretty accurate portrayal of what life was for the English upper classes in the Victorian age. There is so much realism in this series and it knows it. This series shows noblemen as regular people, who hardly come into contact with the lower classes, and have to be continuously politically correct in front of their peers.

That’s nice and all, but what really makes this show is the cast of lead characters, and how wonderfully subtle their relationship plays out. This series definitely is a very slow one, and so people without patience are probably not going to enjoy it, but because it’s so slow it’s really able to make the romance between the two lead characters play out very naturally. This series makes excellent use of its 13 episodes and every episode, it pushes the story forward a little bit, until it finishes off with a very good conclusion.

There also seems to be a sequel, but I don’t think that that would have been necessary: on its own, Victorian Romance Emma is already a wonderful series about the bridge between noblemen and your average maids; any more would only ruin it. It’s one of those series which leaves a lot of the dialogue unsaid and the beauty is really watching everything slowly play out. For once, the fathers mentioned above are nothing like the stereotypical evil parents that refuse to let son marry for the sake of just a bit of drama, but Jones actually gives some very plausible reasons as to why he can’t let his son go off and marry a maid. It wouldn’t just be hard on him, but also on Emma herself, because as a noblewoman, she’d constantly be looked down upon by all the other nobles.

There’s just one character that really should have been left out. Thankfully he’s a side-character who doesn’t have much screentime, but whenever he does appear on the screen, he completely distracts from the main point of the episode and most of all is just a very obnoxious brat. I’m talking of course about Collin: the little boy who seems to have lost his balls somewhere (seriously, he has the voice of a girl!) and does nothing other than continuously whining and crying. There seems to be no point for him to be even in the show, so I really wonder why the creators even brought in such an annoying little brat.

Still, Victorian Romance Emma is a must-watch for everyone who is into historical series. It’s a mature romance series with very likable characters that knows exactly how to use its time, and how to subtly develop its characters. Even though in the beginning it may seem a bit boring, it all becomes worthwhile in the end.

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

May Summary

by psgels, posted in Monthly Summaries

My opinion on this season? Awesome. It really is one of the best seasons we’ve had in years, and especially the series I’ve been blogging haven’t disappointed at all so far. This season is especially excels in characters: there are lots of series with excellent characterizations and that make use of lots of quiet moment in order to flesh out their cast. A lot of the series this season are slow paced, but there are also some roller-coaster rides among them and overall, I’m very satisfied. I’m not sure whether this correlates to an almost complete lack of series from the mecha-genre (apart from two shows, but those are either so delightfully different from all of the mecha-series that we’ve been seeing for the past years, and/or know that they’re not supposed to be taken 100% seriously).

Rankings, like last month are a bit strange again, I basically tried to generate the rankings for each show, compared to the others that are currently airing. Say, for example that Show A has a really good setting, and there are only a few other shows with a better setting, it’s going to rank higher than if there are many shows with excellent settings, and vice versa. I know that it’s a bit weird, but for some reason it does more accurately reflect my feelings about the shows this season.

#25 (31) – Higepiyo – (6,75/10) – I dropped this show after episode six or something. It’s a shame that the only gimmick this show really had was the moustache. Apart from that it’s just been reusing its jokes over and over again.
#24 (20) – Koukaku no Regios – (7,5/10) – Okay, so the finale has finally started. This is the point where everything is supposed to come together, and sure enough: the characters are developing quite nicely… If only the plot knew where it wanted to go. For some reason the filth monsters have suddenly become incredibly weak, characters are conveniently zapped from one place to the other without much explanation, there are lots of pacing issues and with all the build-up of the rest of the series, it still feels like things haven’t been built up and introduced well enough. I hope that the finale can prevent this series from becoming a true disappointment, but things aren’t looking good.
#23 (11) – Kurokami the Animation – (7/10) – Aah! Sunrise, what are you doing?! There was a lot of potential going for this series once it hit its second half, but this month completely raped any potential this series had left. The way Keita came back to life without any explanation whatsoever, combined with a truckload full of other badly planned Deus ex Machina completely destroyed all the credibility this series had going for it. The final nail in the coffin for this thing was Reishin’s comeback, including his complete loss of any kind of personality whatsoever. Reishin’s background and the explanation why he became the bad guy was also laughable at best.
#22 (25) – Saki – (7,75/10) – You know, this series would have been much better if the creators actually knew a DAMN THING about Mah-jong. Right now, the matches are all “ooh look at how incredibly strong she is!” and “wow she’s even stronger”. There’s too much moe, there’s too much fanservice, but I have yet to drop this series because the characters do remain charming.
#21 (18) – Valkyria Chronicles – (7,5/10) – I’m still looking for a reason to continue watching this series, because it’s getting duller and duller now that some sort of generic ancient civilization of the Valkyrians has been introduced. Seriously, Guin Saga is currently doing just about everything better than this series is.
#20 (13) – Sengoku Basara – (7,75/10) – I want to like this series, but something is stopping me from it. My impression is that it’s in a bit of an identity crisis: it keeps hopping back and forth between GAR and epic manliness and historical politically correct warfare, but it doesn’t succeed in bringing out the best in either of them and they seem to be working against each other, rather than complementing.This really isn’t the best GAR series this season, and for historical warfare in feudal Japan we have Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto which has done a much better job at that, so I’m running out of things to recommend this series for.
#19 (19) – Chi’s New Address – (8,25/10) – There’s a really big difference with the first season now that Chi no longer has to stay in the house, but it’s still a really funny comedy. Right now the creators are introducing all sorts of interesting characters (I especially loved the return of the pet shop saleswoman) and Chi really is as lovable as ever.
#18 (new) – Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya – (8/10) – Well, it’s pretty much what I remember it to be: whenever Haruhi opened her mouth I wanted to punch the screen, but as soon as that annoyance left and the focus returned back to Kyon, Mikuru and Yuki it suddenly got a lot more interesting. I’m glad to see that this show hasn’t lost its wit yet. Now if only the fan-base would get less annoying and overwhelming.
#17 (22) – Gintama – (8,25/10) – Now this is more like it! I’m not sure what exactly happened, but this month Gintama showed that it most definitely can continue on with its new director, and that the guy can actually be funny and compelling. While still nowhere as good as it once was, the past few episodes released on fansubs have been a large step into the right direction.
#16 (16) – Shin Mazinger Shougenki! Z-Hen – (8,5/10) – Now this is pure entertainment! I really have a weakness for that retro cheese, but the new Mazinger is shaping up to be a really enjoyable series that tries just about everything to make an as big spectacle as possible, without falling into the same pitfalls as the likes of Code Geass by sacrificing solid storytelling for entertainment. I especially like how the creators seem to realize that mecha-battles alone are boring, so they made sure that most of the action happens outside of Mazinger, while they still keep Mazinger central to the plot by simply making him god-like whenever he gets the chance (not often) to show his awesome powers.
#15 (10) – Hetalia Axis Powers – (8,5/10) – There really is just one word needed to describe this series: brilliant. I especially love it when this series starts messing with cultural differences (especially the “in heaven” and “in hell”-songs were priceless), and I still find it a bloody shame that the Netherlands isn’t a character that’s made fun of.
#14 (12) – Marie & Gali – (8,5/10) – Oh, this series doesn’t make one iota of sense, but I like it so much. Every episode, there’s just so much weirdness going on, and I absolutely love the huge amount of creativity that the creators have. I’m glad to see that this show doesn’t seem to be ending after only thirteen episodes, because that’s just too little in order to show everything about this very strange setting in which Marie Curie bakes radioactive cookies and Newton is in love with apples.
#13 (14) – 07-Ghost – (8,25/10) – 07-Ghost has been a very strange beast. Unlike some other shows this season, it doesn’t have something it stands out in particular. It’s not the most ambitious series, its setting is on purpose kept very small, fillers are used to flesh out the characters. But what it does, it does very well. The characters are very enjoyable to watch and especially the fights and battles are very well coordinated and written, with just enough dialogue and just enough action without any of the two getting in the other’s way.
#12 (21) – Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – (8,5/10) – In eight episodes, this show did what the original series took more than 21. Still, I already like it much better than the original series: the comedy and action mix well, there’s always something going on and the characterization is just so much better. Now that the two series are finally about to diverge from each other, I’m interested to see where the creators can take this.
#11 (5) – Guin Saga – (8,5/10) – Now that this series has also included medieval warfare between large armies, it really has caught my attention. About the only downside to this show is the really inconsistent animation (which really needs to be top-notch with this kind of series), but the whole setting, Guin, the enemy Mongols. Everything is compelling to watch further, despite the slow pacing.

#10 (3) – Pandora Hearts – (8,5/10)

Not as good as the previous month, but still an excellent series with great chemistry between the three lead characters. It’s obviously building up right now, so I’m eagerly waiting what it’s planning to do with the rest of the series, considering the creativity that it has already shown us. I just hope that the bit of the cheese shown in a few episodes between Oz and Raven isn’t going to return.

#9 (8) – Basquash! – (8,5/10)

Ah, Basquash. I’m still amazed at how behind the childish characters, weird fanservice and weird plot, there’s a surprisingly deep story lying. The characters are very well written and enjoyable to watch, though the fanservice can become a bit too overwhelming at times.

#8 (7) – Ristorante Paradiso – (8,5/10)

It’s interesting how all of the characters seem to have their own issues in the past, and yet this remains such a charming and quiet slice of life series. At the moment, the characters are getting fleshed out really well, and it’s enough to just watch this series for the characters and their daily lives, spiced up with a bit of their pasts. I felt like I really got to know these people.

#7 (15) – Hajime no Ippo – (8,75/10)

Now this is more like it. The Brian Hawk-arc took a long while to build up, but it’s been SO intense so far. Especially after the fighting started, I just can’t wait until that next episode gets released.

#6 (6) – Natsu no Arashi – (8,75/10)

This show has really proven a great execution, with a very nice combination between comedy episodes and serious ones, which both deliver in their own way to the main storyline. The comedy-episodes are really hilarious (thanks to Jun), and really: at the beginning of the show, did anyone expect to see the characters standing amidst a sea of fire in the midst of World War II?

#5 (1) – Eden of the East – (8,75/10)

Well, so while this show isn’t the best of the season anymore, it still is rock-solid with believable and likable characters. This month was mostly used for building up, though my one gripe is that it’s going to be such a long wait until the movie is going to come with all of the answers.

#4 (17) – Shangri-La – (8,75/10)

At first sight it’s stupid, silly and very incoherent, but as it turns out Shangri-la has much, much more to offer than just that. It’s a clever, compelling and confronting series with a lot of creativity in the story-writing. Every one or two episodes, the mood, themes and atmosphere completely change when the focus falls on something different, while the series still remains strong as a whole. Definitely one of the dark horses of the season.

#3 (2) – Cross Game – (9/10)

Possibly the smartest series of the entire season. This series has wit, but more importantly it has such a lovable cast of characters. Everyone is simply compelling in their actions, antics and development, and this series is just a must-watch for any slice of life fans, even those who have nothing with baseball.

#2 (4) – Phantom – (9,25/10)

What a fantastically subtle characterization of the lead couple. This series without a doubt stands among the top of this season and is definitely recommended if you’re looking for deep and well developed characters (and it’s only been nine episodes so far). This has a really good chance of becoming Bee-Train’s best series after .Hack//Sign.

#1 (9) – Konnichiwa Anne – (9,25/10)

After the first two episodes, I never expected that right now this series would already have been as good as it has shown now. You’d expect that in these first few months, this series would be quiet and nothing much would happen, but instead EVERY SINGLE episode has been awesome this month, ranging from Elisa leaving the house to childbirth to Ben’s drinking problems. There’s always something to make something special out of this series. And what a bittersweet series it has turned into!

Full Metal Panic! Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



It’s probably no surprise that romantic comedies are among my least favourite genres in anime. The reason for that is that 90% of the bunch just looks way too damn much like each other, is too afraid to go beyond the usual genre tropes, and/or just plain lazy. Nevertheless, I definitely enjoy that remaining ten percent that manages to avoid these pitfalls. Full Metal Panic belongs to those 10%, and is another example of a Good Gonzo series.

Full Metal Panic is a story that combines this romantic comedy with futuristic military combat (mechas included), and it tells the story of a teen-aged army sergeant (Sousuke) who grew up as a child soldier that ends up protecting a not-so-regular high school girl (Chidori). These two really are the reason why you would want to watch this series: even though the series is seven years old by now, they’re still fresh and dynamic, and the relationship between the two of them really grows on you. Sousuke’s socially inept antics will delight any fan of deadpan humour, while Chidori herself quickly sets herself apart from all other overused tsunderes with her wit. The two shine in the comedic part with some fresh jokes, but they definitely impress the most when they get serious.

Overall, this series has made a good use of its airtime; it consists out of four arcs, which all serve their own purpose: the first arc serves as introduction, the second fleshes out, the third one provides background and in the fourth one everything comes together in a great climax. This series knows how to build up and finish off with an impact, though my one complaint is that the comedy and drama don’t try to mix at all: an episode is either focused at completely at comedy or completely at drama; there’s hardly any in between.

Full Metal Panic is a series that shines in the way it takes a bunch of cliches, and makes them actually believable. Mechas and romantic comedies have been done to death before, but in this series, it’s actually made plausible: the situations that the characters are thrusted in make quite a bit of sense. The military side of the story is fleshed out really well and the battles are pretty realistic for anime’s standards. And take the seemingly oddball character of Tessa: she’s a young girl who commands an entire crew of a hyper-modern submarine. Throughout the course of the season, you can and will be wondering why the heck she is at such a position. And yeah, while there is of course no way that this would ever happen, her actions at the end of the series will have you convinced that she at least deserved her position.

Unfortunately, there were cliches that even this series didn’t escape (I’m looking at you, walking-into-bathroom-naked) and the building up during the drama parts does take a bit of patience when everything is being set up because during these parts there isn’t a lot that is going to make you keep watching, but the climaxes will definitely deliver in the end. My biggest complaint is that the main villain lacks any sort of background whatsoever: he’s definitely one of he smarter vilains out there, but he could have become so much better if we actually KNEW WO HE WAS. There are a few annoying side-characters (I’m looking at you, Chidori’s classmates), but overall Full Metal Panic can boast a well developed main cast, and I’m interested to see what Kyoani could have added to their development when they took over the franchise.

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

Major Review – 72,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



I’ve been looking forward to watch the Major series for a while now, and with this I finally managed to check out the first season. The baseball series form a truly underrated genre in anime, with most people getting turned off because they don’t know anything about the games. Well, let me tell you that I’m in no way a sports fan, and yet I’ve enjoyed myself quite a few wonderful baseball series, and I was hoping to add Major to that list. Well, that’s definitely taught me not to get my hopes up too high before starting a series.

The premise seems solid enough: this season shows a young boy of nine years old named Goro as he challenges the little league with his team, and the succeeding series will show him as he slowly grows up into adulthood. It would have been a fine series if it wasn’t for the damned cheese that this show overflows with. I know that passion and manliness can spice up an anime, but this show is really taking that way too far.

This series just tries way too hard to create as much drama as possible. Just as an example, they really try to make Goro’s past as sad as possible. Whenever things are looking a bit too happy, you can bet your hat that very soon something unexpected will happen that will put everyone in despair. The characters are always eager to angst, and especially the way in which Goro just keeps yelling and whining at everyone really doesn’t help anything.

This would have been excused if it wasn’t for the other flaws of this series: the characters. There’s definitely development among them, but it’s handled so badly at times that it gets really hard to take this show seriously. The worst example of this is the bullies: one episode we see a bunch of bullies turn one of their classmates’ life into hell, the next episode we see Goro yelling at them and suddenly they’re begging for forgiveness, professing their love for baseball from out of nowhere and completely change character.

And this formula really appears pretty often, by the way. Whenever a side-character is feeling down of has his issues, then within an episode we see Goro yelling at them and giving a speech about the power of friendship and they’re completely healed again. In the second half of the show, a bit of pointless romance also pops up that never gets anywhere, and especially since we’re dealing with nine year-old kids here, I really wonder why the creators bothered with it anyway.

Then there’s the baseball. Granted, it’s not the worst part of the show and the creators are able to create some interesting situations and fun games… but the fact remains that the matches are just too forced. This isn’t the first time in which a baseball series has an incredibly good pitcher as a lead character, but even when taking that into considation, Major is really stretching it with Goro. He needs a team full of incompetent idiots in order to prevent him from God-moding himself through every single game with ease. Within six months, he transforms a team that started out with a bunch of random kids with no talent for baseball to the best team of their age in Japan. All through the power of friendship.

It’s therefore no wonder that the baseball matches become utterly predictable, in a bad way. Characters become incredibly good or bad, depending on the writers’ wishes. Even though all the opposing teams use interesting strategies, the only tactics in Goro’s team are ad-libbed. But the worst thing is that every single game is set up exactly so that Goro is the one to save the day, by scoring a point at the very last possible moment.

Usually I can excuse a flaw here and there in a series, but Major just has way too many of them, not to mention that Goro himself is completely unlikable. He really is your typical shounen lead character with a dark past and a simple mind, and really doesn’t do anything to diverge from it. Most of the opposing teams would have been more interesting if they didn’t simply turn into stereotypes. There are some interesting characters, like Joe Gibson and Shigeno, but the two of them hardly ever appear.

And as for some positive comments: the baseball matches are definitely exciting. when you watch them for the pure entertainment value and don’t mind how it ends, then they’re going to keep you busy, because there is lots and lots of passion in this series. The graphics look simple, but the animation and music also do their job and don’t stand in the way of anything. But the thing is that there are many baseball shows that are so just much better than this one. Try Adachi’s works, or if you want more excitement there is also Princess Nine, while for the tactics you can go to One Outs and I’ve also heard that Ookiku Furikabutte is awesome. I’m just not going to bother with Major anymore.

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

Maria-Sama ga Miteru Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



I really didn’t know what to make of this series when I first started watching it. Maria-Sama ga Miteru has been going on for three seasons and one OVA right now, and this review is going to be of the first of the bunch. It tells the story of a very strict Christian school and especially the elite students: the student council and the ones around them. The focus isn’t so much on the management-tasks of the council, but much more about them being the role models that they are, and their relationship with their so-called “Soeur”: an underclassman that they pick out to be their “sister”.

My initial impressions on this series weren’t exactly good. The beginning episodes were just too… boring, and there wasn’t really anything that made me want to watch the next episode. The drama mostly revolved around things that were hugely overstated: the characters really made a fuzz about even the smallest things that their co-stars did wrong. I can understand how gossip is supposed to be an important part of the show’s themes, but it really didn’t interest me at all.

Yumi (the lead character) didn’t help either, as out of all the characters she was the most annoying one, which is something you really don’t want to happen to one of the central characters in a series. She’s naive, just keeps whining about all sorts of things, she lacks background (that may be saved for the future seasons, though) and all in all, her story just isn’t as interesting as the other ones of this show.

But oh my god, the side-characters really were amazing, especially within only 13 episodes. While nothing much interesting happens in the first half of this show, the cast really comes alive in the second half. I especially loved Sei’s story, with one magnificent episode dedicated to her past standing out as the absolute highlight for me, but all members of the side-cast are rich and colourful, they have a deep story behind them and are very subtly developed.

And the side-characters really are the ones who are solely able to carry this series. The character-designs are well done, but the animation has quite a few bugs here and there, and you also don’t want to watch this series for the storytelling or setting: they do their job of being solid and staying in the background, don’t have any flaws, but also don’t stand out either.

So yeah despite Yumi I just can’t look negatively at this series. Good things come to those who wait, and that definitely applies to this series. There’s lots of character-development, but it all has a sense of subtlety, which is pretty rare in anime, and even Yumi isn’t the worst of characters once you get to know her a bit. And while she may be featured often in this series, there still is plenty of time in which the rest of the cast has the chance to get fleshed out. I’m interested what the other seasons can add to this series, because there’s plenty of potential left after only thirteen episodes.

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

Some thoughts on the “Anime is Dying” doom scenarios

by psgels, posted in Special Articles

Okay, so most of you probably know that I don’t write a lot of editorials because I suck at them, but I still want to say a few words about this subject. After Howling-Kun mentioned the DVD-sales of certain shows in the shoutbox, I started looking at some of the other data in this topic. Now, this is not going to be a rant on how most of my favourite shows aren’t getting any DVD-sales. Everyone’s of course entitled to what he wants to buy (although it does get harder and harder to associate myself with this fandom when shows like Training with Hinako top the charts…).

Instead, those rankings reminded me of all the fuzz that’s going on, and how many people seem to be claiming that “anime is dying”. With this many times that the same doom-scenarios popped up, I almost started believing this myself, until I saw the actual facts in the following graph of DVD-sales in the topic mentioned above.

Well, I may not be an economist or anything near it, but here is my interpretation of the graph. First of all, I don’t get any of those arguments about how anime is supposed to be dying. Sure, sales have gone down compared to 2005, but that’s just a very selective analysis: compare it to ten years ago, and you can see a huge increase in sales. The decline in sales of the past years is about the equivalent of a kick in the groin: sure, you’re going to be walking funny for the next couple of hours, but “dying” is a big overstatement.

The thing is, that the year with the biggest sales was 2005. Interestingly enough, the response in 2006 to this was a huge increase in the amount of different anime titles that was released, as everyone seemed to be profiting from this boom in the sales of the industry. Unfortunately though: just like in the stock market, when sales suddenly go up, this isn’t going to continue forever. Right now, the anime industry is trying to find a new balance amidst the significantly increased interest in anime for the past ten years, and until it has found this the market is going to wobble around like a drunk student on his way home.

And as for the relatively low sales figures of 2008: did you seriously expect anything different with the current economic crisis? The recession has also hit Japan very hard, so it’s of course to be expected that last year’s sales would decrease. What I actually haven’t seen yet is people who are looking at the future. Sure, reports like this are nice and all, but they seem to assume that this recession is going to take forever.

With a bit of luck, the economic crisis is going to be mostly over in 2011 which is going to allow the industries to recover. So what’s going to happen with anime when that point arrives? When that point arrives, people are going to have more and more money to spend on anime, so there actually is a chance for a very solid recovery in the not-so-distant future. Who knows?

And really, as long as producers are able to churn out well-produced series of which they know are never going to sell well, I’m not buying those “anime is dying”-arguments anymore. As long as there are Genji Monogataris, Himitsus, Porfys and Kaibas, it shows that the animation companies aren’t at the real edge of destruction.

Macross Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews


Those who followed my blog about a year ago probably know that I wasn’t exactly… ‘pleased’ with the way Macross Frontier turned out. Even taking the upcoming movie into account, it never really seemed to know where it wanted to go and while it definitely had some good points, it also just kept getting stuck at an endless love triangle with a bunch of unimpressive lead characters and villains.

Still, it did inspire me to go after the early Macross-series, in order to find out why the franchise got its fan-base in the first place. And I must say, I’m glad that I did. While not perfect, the original Macross does a lot of things right at which Macross Frontier screwed up. As probably one of the first series to combine serious love with mecha action and doing a really good job while at it, I can see why this series had such a big influence on the later anime to come.

The thing that struck me the most about this series is how interesting the villains actually are. At first, when I learned that this show would be about a mysterious alien race called the Zentradi attacking Earth, I was fearing lots of “Humans rock!”-themes, combined with an ending at which the aliens suddenly turn good like how Macross Frontier pulled it, but it was actually much more clever than that. A large part of this series is actually focused on analyzing why these Zentradi fight, how their society is created and how Earth’s society impacts them (which provided some of the most entertaining scenes of the series). It also shows what would happen if a race would be suddenly forced to a totally different life style, and how hard it is to adapt to these new life conditions.

The three lead character are also much more capable of carrying this show. There again is a love triangle, but it’s pretty well built up and this series uses its episode length of 36 very nicely in order to let everything gradually play out and the show evolve. This really gives the love triangle between them the chance to sufficiently develop and close off with a pretty satisfying conclusion, although near the finale the romance can get a bit cheesy at times. I also really appreciated that it didn’t try to stuff all of the meat of the series in the final four episodes or so, though going into detail why would perhaps be a bit too much of a spoiler.

Unfortunately, at other points the show does have some pacing issues. Some episodes really give events the time to flow naturally, but a few episodes really move way too fast, with the most notable being ‘the wedding’. It just comes way too bloody fast and before you know it the involved characters have completely shifted their personalities. The ending also felt like it could have used half an episode extra.

And obviously, the production values aren’t as good when compared to Macross Frontier, but that’s not going to surprise anything. Compared to the other shows of its time though, the animation looks very capable. Most of the time it’s very rough around the edges and the hand-painted cell animation definitely feels jerky, but the whole look matured just as well as for example Matsumoto Leiji’s character-designs did. The music however, is beyond rescue. Lin Minmay(one of the lead characters, an idol)’s songs mostly consist out of very cheesy J-pop from the seventies, and even though the rest of the soundtrack serves its purpose, every time she started singing the sound got more and more on my nerves.

Overall, if people are wondering which Macross TV-series to check out first, it basically boils down to this: with Macross Frontier you get a shallow story with a godly budget, and with the original Macross you get a series with dated production-values through a fascinating setting. Just take your pick. Personally I definitely prefer the original.

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

April Summary

by psgels, posted in Monthly Summaries

I think that this is the first time that this ever happened ever since I started including ratings in these summaries: none of the shows I’m watching has a rating of 9/10 or above. But that’s logical since the only awesome show that continued from the past month was Hajime no Ippo, and that one had a lesser month this time. In any case, this is really typical of this season: there are no instant classics yet, but there sure are a hell of a lot with the potential to become one.

Oh, and another thing: I ended up experimenting with the rankings again. The result is that some shows with higher ratings may be ranked lower than you’d expect and vice versa. This time, I basically tried to generate the rankings for each show, compared to the others that are currently airing. Say, for example that Show A has a really good setting, and there are only a few other shows with a better setting, it’s going to rank higher than if there are many shows with excellent settings, and vice versa. Please don’t ask me in what kind of mindset I was when I thought of this system.

#41 (new) – Gokujou!! Mecha Motte Iinchou – (2/10) – The honour of ‘worst show of the season’ goes to this… thing. Congrats. I never imagined that something would end up beating Queen’s Blade in this category. Dropped.
#40 (new) – Queen’s Blade – (3,25/10) – One thing I don’t get about these series: why aren’t they just turned into a hentai-series? I mean, you get a lot more nudity that way and the show doesn’t have to pretend to have a plot or anything. In any case, this one’s obviously dropped.
#39 (new) – Cookin’ Idol Ai! Mai! Main! – (3,75/10) – In this series, the impossible happened: Hiroshi Watanabe surpassed himself. The cabbage song combined with the utterly bad acting were already bizarre, but when I looked at the staff list, everything suddenly made sense. When I thought that he couldn’t sink any lower than Shining Tears X Wind, this guy proves me wrong once again. Dropped.
#38 (new) – Metal Fight Beyblade – (6,5/10) – Stupid shounen stuff of which I don’t even remember what it was about. Dropped obviously.
#37 (new) – Hanasakeru Seishonen – (6,75/10) – The best way to describe this show is a teenaged soap gone anime. Seriously, the incredible stupidity of the bits that I saw before dropping this show are nearly unbelievable. Characters have really dull and overemotional personalities. Dropped.
#36 (new) – Jewel Pets – (7/10) – Ever since Otogi Juushi Akazukin and Power Puff Z I’ve been looking for those really charming and childish kiddie shows. The only problem is that the good ones are really hard to find! I was hoping that Jewel Pets would finally return some spark to a genre that virtually burnt out now, but alas; it showed its true colours soon enough: all of the characters lose their personality completely after their introduction episodes and become mere paper bags. Dropped.
#35 (new) – Tayutama ~Kiss on my Deity~ – (7/10) – That first episode had its enjoyable moments, but there is no way that I’m going to continue with this series. It just feels too much like your standard average harem. Dropped.
#34 (new) – Slap Up Party ~Arad Senki~ – (7/10) – While I appreciate the idea of an international production between Japan and Korea, there’s no denial that the writing in this show sucks. While usually Gonzo’s game adaptations have some surprise in them, Slap Up Party only consists out of a bunch of clichés struck together, and the humour really quickly gets dull. Dropped.
#33 (new) – Dragonball Kai – (7,5/10) – I sat through 270 episodes one time already, and I don’t want to do the same, even though everything’s shortened. This really is the series for those who are new to the franchise. Dropped.
#32 (new) – Hatsukoi Limited – (7,5/10) – In the end, I figured that the lead girls seemed a little too much like copy-pasted moeblobs and I don’t feel like sitting through this series to find out whether I was wrong when there are many other better comedies this season.
#31 (new) – Higepiyo – (7,5/10) – Ooh, this isn’t looking good. While it had the nice premise and the first two episodes were hilarious, it’s quickly getting dull because the creators keep overusing the food jokes. Bring in some novelty, please!
#30 (new) – Charady no Joke na Mainichi – (7,5/10) – I tried to follow this for a while, but in the end it’s just not worth the trouble of having to sit through the episode, not knowing when a joke falls flat or becomes hilarious. Out of the first fourteen episodes I watched, only two really made me laugh, and there are much better comedies this season. Dropped
#29 (30) – Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica – (7,5/10) – I pretty much agree with the general consensus of this remake: it’s definitely better than the original, but still not really worth it to watch all the way through the end. Dropped.
#28 (new) – Asura Cryin’ – (7,5/10) – There is potential, but the characters are too annoying for me to want to check whether the show can realize it. Dropped.
#27 (new) – Tears to Tiara – (7,5/10) – I’m not that interested in the next Utawarerumono. There’s much better stuff this season, so I ended up dropping this series.
#26 (36) – Hayate no Gotoku – (7,75/10) – It’s unfortunate that I can’t watch every show that airs. I know that I never really gave this series a proper chance, but at the same time there are too many other shows this season that I also want to watch. Dropped.
#25 (new) – Saki – (7,75/10) – The big problem with Saki is that I’m not yet convinced of Saki’s talent. Take Shion no Ou, for example: even though the rules of Shougi were unclear to many, you could see that Shion was pwn. Saki instead is a character who could perform a Russian Roulette eighteen times and still come out alive. Still: the characters are enjoyable to watch and because of that I haven’t dropped this series yet. But seriously, there need to be less episodes of the kind of episode four. A bit of moe is of course fine, but that was really stretching it.
#24 (new) – Souten Kouro – (7,5/10) – Madhouse’s only new show this season, and quite frankly it’s a disappointment. I’ve never been interested in the whole romance of the three kingdoms setting, and this show again doesn’t seem to convince me otherwise. Dropped
#23 (new) – K-On – (7,75/10) – Obviously, this isn’t my kind of series. I still don’t understand why the heck everyone’s drooling over Mio. For me, the characters were just way too annoying. Dropped.
#22 (23) – Gintama – (7,75/10) – Granted, it still in no way lives up to the first 100 episodes, but the new director at least is competent when he gets to the serious parts, and I have to agree that episode 108 was pretty good.
#21 (new) – Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – (7,75/10) – The new Full Metal Alchemist isn’t perfect. Especially its idea of cropping two chapters in one episode leads to rushed episodes. But on the bright side, Ed and Al are a hell of a lot more likable than in the original series, and that has definitely potential for the future of this series.
#20 (17) – Koukaku no Regios – (8/10) – I can’t really say that Regios is getting better, but neither is it getting worse. It still has nice characters with a competent plot in an interesting setting, but as usual, nothing really stands out.
#19 (18) – Chi’s New Address – (8,25/10) – The first four episodes were a bit too serious for their own good, but after that Chi’s Sweet Home really became just as good as the first season, if not better. Especially the rate of dull episodes seems much smaller now.
#18 (new) – Valkyria Chronicles – (7,75/10) – While this show is nothing special yet, there looks to be potential for its second half. The lighter moments, especially those involving Alicia, are a bit annoying, but once the tank combat starts the show gets much better. Now let’s see whether the creators can pull this show off.
#17 (new) – Shangri-La – (8/10) – The character animation is incredibly inconsistent, yeah. Thankfully the rest of the series has enough potential to make up for it. Shangri-La at the moment is nothing special yet, but I’m intrigued by the setting, the cast is likable and you can see that it’s really using the beginning episodes to build up for something. This show can really go anywhere, but for now I’ll remain positive.
#16 (new) – Shin Mazinger Shougenki! Z-Hen – (8,25/10) – You can really count on the creator of Giant Robo to make a remake of the Mazinger series awesome. And oh, the irony: all of the giant robots of the good guys have proven to be absolutely useless so far, and instead the best action happens between the spectators. A very nice touch if I say so myself. I’m definitely going to enjoy this series.
#15 (7) – Hajime no Ippo – (8,25/10) – Just about my only complaint of Hajime no Ippo is that it suffers from the Dragonball Z syndrome. With that, I don’t mean that it has the ability to stretch five minutes into five days, but rather that once formidable side-characters become absolutely useless as soon as the lead character level up much faster than them. This month was relatively weak for this series: it was still fun (with some hilarious facial expressions), but nowhere up to the level of the first half.
#14 (new) – 07-Ghost – (8/10) – This one has been quite the solid series so far. So yeah, there are some shounen ai undertones here and there, but it’s nothing that should really distract you from viewing unless you’re a complete and utter homophobe. The characters are quite likable and it’s got lots of potential for the future.
#13 (new) – Sengoku Basara – (8,25/10) – I know I talked down on this series in my first impressions, but it looks like I’m going to have to take back those comments. Sengoku Basara is GAR, manly, exciting and has some amazing action scenes. Once you start to get the back-story a bit, the whole thing suddenly becomes much more interesting.
#12 (new) – Marie & Gali – (8,25/10) – Call me crazy, but I’m enjoying this little show. It’s fun to see especially Marie’s antics, but also all of the weird stuff and cameos that goes on, along with this show’s unique style and episodes of only five minutes proved to be quite entertaining.
#11 (19) – Kurokami the Animation – (8,25/10) – Woo! I’m glad that my prediction with this series was right: during the past month, Kurokami became significantly better when compared to the rather lacklustre first half. Now that the storyline’s evolving there are lots of nice and juicy plot twists that are actually pretty interesting to watch. Now let’s hope that the show can keep this up.

#10 (14) – Hetalia Axis Powers – (8,5/10)

Episode 14 was absolutely brilliant. It’s a really good thing to see that this series is just getting better and better. The inclusion of the rest of the cast has really been good for this show. Although I do have to say that Hetalia is at its best when it makes fun of country stereotypes, and at its worst when it’s overusing gay jokes.

#9 (new) – Konnichiwa Anne – (8,25/10)

I was a bit fearful that this series might end up a bit too dramatic, but so far there turns out to be no reason for those worries. Anne is shaping up to be an awesome character, and she especially shines when she dives off into that own world of her.

#8 (new) – Basquash! – (8,25/10)

Some of the jokes used are… immature to say the least, and yet I still find myself enjoying this series quite a lot. It’s got a great sense of fun and the chemistry of the characters is working out surprisingly well.

#7 (new) – Ristorante Paradiso – (8,25/10)

Rispara has definitely been an interesting series so far, and I especially like the detailed and fleshed out characters that stood apart right from the beginning. David Production made a good debut with this show.

#6 (new) – Natsu no Arashi – (8,5/10)

The most underrated show this season. I may have dropped this show from blogging, but that in no way means that I don’t like it. It’s good to see Shinbo finally handling a series with actually good characters. This show has some wonderful slice of life scenes, and yet at the same time there’s this theme of past versus present that keeps everything together. Also, am I the only one who likes the male lead? Sure, he takes some time getting used to, but I find him quite enjoyable.

#5 (new) – Guin Saga – (8,5/10)

Classic fantasy, and for once it’s done absolutely right. The pacing is really slow, but it’s the type of show that really easily draws you in. Just about everything in this series is big, ranging from the locations, characters, the soundtrack or the setting.

#4 (new) – Phantom – (8,75/10)

It may not be that different from Bee-Train’s usual series, but I’m biased so I don’t care. Besides, with such an excellent source material, this series is promising to be one of the top Bee-Train series. Already after four episodes we can see the awesome characterization that certainly proves lots of great stuff for the future.

#3 (new) – Pandora Hearts – (8,75/10)

I really like this series so far. The whole atmosphere that seems like a modern-day fairy tale gone really dark continuously has something interesting to offer. As a big fan of mystery-series, I really like how it just keeps bringing in new questions after answering a few. The storytelling has been really solid so far, and I actually quite like the very distinct look of the graphics. Definitely something to look out for.

#2 (new) – Cross Game – (8,75/10)

Do not get fooled by the simple character-designs, because this show really stands out as one of the best of the season so far. Already after four episodes, the show has a cast of characters in which nearly all of them (including the tiny side characters) have presence. It’s got a very subtle sense of humour, combined with great slice of life and just the right amount of drama. Definitely one of my top picks of the season.

#1 (new) – Eden of the East – (8,75/10)

Yeah, this series is really good stuff. The production values are really high and the episodes thus far have been incredibly intriguing. I can’t wait to see the rest of this thing!

Touch Review – 87,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Next up in the line of very long series that are very long: Touch, a baseball drama that clocks in at 101 episodes, and it was followed by three compilation movies and two more full-length TV-specials (not included for this review, though). The huge length is no reason to get scared off, though, because this movie is not only one of the finest examples of why anime of the eighties rocks, it also still stands rock-solid as one of the best high-school romances I’ve seen.

Because I must say, the creators made optimal use of the long length. The pacing for this show is very slow, but that did result into a cast of some of the most amazing characters. Especially Tatsuya and Minami receive nearly 100 episodes of pure development, that makes their characters SO believable. Each characters has his own strengths and weaknesses and grows in his or her own subtle way.

Which brings me to the second strength of Touch: absolutely nothing feels forced, and yet it’s full of unpredictable plot-twists. The creators have a knack for setting things up very naturally and yet get the best out of the characters while staying light-years away from melodrama. In fact, the big dramatic scenes are always handled with a wonderful sense of subtlety, rather than trying to squeeze as many tears out of the viewer.

But yeah, the downside of this is that this is one tough series to get through, considering the length. There are strings of tens of episodes without any sort of action and that are just focused on very slooowly fleshing out the characters. We get an outstanding view on their lives this way… but many people will find it boring, especially considering the huge length of this show. One of the challenges in storytelling is choosing a good combination between compactness and completeness, and this show might have gone on for a tad too long.

At times, I have been criticized at being a bit too harsh on anime from the seventies and eighties in my reviews, but my point is this: if those ages could produce shows that are as awesome as Touch, then why couldn’t the others have done the same? The only area at which old anime should be inferior to the newer ones is the animation quality (which by the way, for touch looks quite detailed, especially considering its length), but this series more than proves that the seventies and eighties knew more than enough about what it takes to creating an truly outstanding cast of characters.

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