Category: Other:

Some quick first impressions: Kemono no Zume, Hanoka and Shoujo Yang Geum no Yume

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Aah, finally we get another good batch. It’s good to see that this season does actually have some good series. All of these anime feature something different from normal anime. One is co-produced with Koreans, another is entirely made with flash, while yet another has a very messy art style.

Kemono no Zume

Ah, this is what I’ve been waiting for. A monster hunter falls in love with a monster and vice versa. Quite an interesting premise, and I’m happy to say that the first episode left me with a good feeling. Our main character isn’t invincible after all, as he seems to have an indigestion problem when facing monsters, and our female protagonist/antagonist was actually introduced in quite a funny way. In fact, this anime succesfully managed to produce some very funny moments, while the serious moments were kept sortof light, though full of content. The art style is indeed something which immediately catches the eye. It’s incredibly messy, especially the animation. Still, in the end, it works. It really contributes to the overall style of the anime.

Hanoka

This anime is completely created in flash. While others may find it ugly, I kindof appreciate the fact that people are experimenting with different art styles. And indeed, this anime looks quite unique. With also five minutes per episode, in which 90 seconds of this are occupied by the OP, leaving only 3,5 minutes left, you also can’t say that this anime bores you. But that doesn’t nessecarily mean that it’s good. In this case, however, it does have potential. It’s an anime about a war, which is being fought. Our main characters has special powers, though she’s held captive, only to serve in the war. She was quite sad, and these emotions did surprisingly well. I have no idea what the rest of this anime will be about, though. It can go anywhere, from incredibly bad to incredibly good.

Shoujo Yang Geum no Yume

Okay, why did this show take so ridiculously long to get subbed? It’s quite good. In case you’ve never heard about this series, it aired during the spring season. Now, a massive five months later, it has its first episode subbed. It’s about a very energetic girl, who loves cooking. Her late mother inspired her for this, before she died. She used to say that seeing Yang Geum (our main character) eat her dinner would make her really happy. Yang Geum is now aiming for about the same thing. Meanwhile, a lot of interesting things are going on in the background. It seems that the prince of the country is rather inexperienced, and goes hunting with only one guard. Assasins take advantage of this and actually attack, while Yang Geum and her cousin happen to be near. They actually manage to scare away these assasins in a very creative way, and they also manage to see their faces, which immediately gives this story a good start. Our main characters also are very likable. They’ve got interesting personalities. Another interesting point is that this is one of the first, if not first Japanese-Korean co-productions, hence the Korean names. Overall, if there ever was an unpopular show which deserves way more attention, it’s this one.

Wolf’s Rain Review – 62/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Wolf’s Rain is quite an interesting anime. It’s an action-adventure series, with an overall dark and grey mood. Some parts of the story are very creative and original. A world in which wolves are thought to have been extinct for 200 years. The wolves still being alive because they can take the appearance of a human. A religion which believe that humans have evolved from wolves. A quest for the wolves to paradise. Quite interesting, isn’t it? The anime also features some interesting-sounding side-stories, which seem really good on paper. However.

This could have become a good show, weren’t for the fact that the plot was so badly written, to the point it actually becomes laughable. The largest problem was that it seemed that the creators were trying to test the boundaries of coincidences. People conveniently run into each other for no reason at all, at exactly the right time. Twenty times. Per episode. It really becomes funny if this happens so many times in one anime.

That, however, isn’t the only thing wrong with the plot of this show. The creators seemed to have thrown in certain events which don’t make any friggin’ sense at all. For example, wolves who travel for about a month through harsh, snowy terrain, making several pitstops at towns as well make as much progress as a hypermodern spacecraft. piloted by the bad guy. People also get hit by gunshots, and just keep walking around like nothing happened and it’s also nowhere explained why the wolves are so incredibly strong other than give the main characters an excuse to stand out.

And I haven’t even started to talk about the predictability of some of the scenes yet. It was quite funny to see the show take a predictable turn each and every time. The creators’ attempts at romance also totally backfired, as these were the most predictable and hilarious of the entire show. Especially when two lovers were portrayed happily dancing and running in a field full of flowers, and were actually serious about it.

The main characters also were a collection of clichés: tough, impulsive silent guy, annoying brat, carefree dude and hardened streetpunk. Especially the main character likes to go into fights without a reason at all. And these characters are also stupid enough to take a flower girl who needs only sunlight and water to survive into a forest so thick that sunlight and water don’t come through. Still, I have to admit. The side-characters definitely were interesting, when they weren’t entangled by the show’s predictability.

This show really surpasses every other show at episode 15, when it comes with not one, not two, but actually four friggin’ recap episodes. All these episodes do is tell the exact same thing, compressed in four episodes. It was really annoying, trying to get through these episodes. Then the show continues again, with it’s mildly interesting pacing, like nothing ever happened.

Then, at episode 26, this anime actually takes a turn for the better, and the final five episodes actually were surprisingly good and well-written. That is, until you realize the kind of ending the creators were going for, after which the thing turns predictable again. Still, I have to admit. Especially the first half of these final five episodes was worth seeing. But perhaps that was because they focused more at the side-characters than the main characters… hmmm…. In any case, the ending itself was rather dull. Still, the final bad guy was quite interesting to see.

And yes, I have to admit. This show’s got a big budget, which means pretty graphics and music. There’s nothing wrong with the art, and especially near the end, the music really contributes to the series. The art, animation and sounds are one thing not messed up in this anime.

Overall, I still enjoyed watching this anime. This really is a good example of an anime which is so bad, that it actually becomes good. If you really like to mock anime, I definitely recommend this anime, as it’s got so many flaws up to the point that it becomes laughable. Still, if you combine this with the good points, the result ends up being quite entertaining.

Some quick first impressions: Night Head Genesis, FLAG and Mamotte Lollipop

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Thank goodness the overall quality of this batch is better than the previous ones, with major thanks to Night Head Genesis for this. It’s great to see that for each bad show, there also is a good show during this season.

Night Head Genesis

Despite the cheesy title, this definitely is one of the better series to air this season, aside from Otogi Juushi Akazukin perhaps. Especially the first episode is beautiful. Two young brothers, both paranormally gifted, are shunned by everyone throughout their entire life. One of them can make things blow up when he’s angry, while the other can read people’s minds if he touches them. When the oldest one was about ten years old and the youngest five years old, they got separated from their parents, as they became too dangerous. Especially the reaction of the oldest brother when he found out about this was just too sad to see. Another MAJOR plus of this anime is the terrific music it features. The tunes are extremely simple, but I think it’s because they’re so simple that they work perfectly. I’m really recommending this show.

FLAG

This show already is extremely popular, after only its first episode got subbed. I think, however, it’s still a bit too early to label this show as good or bad, as the first episode was just one big introduction to the anime. The background story got explained, the characters introduced, but nothing really happened. I think that that’s up for the second episode. In any case, this anime tries to be as realistic and believable as possible. The story features around a small country, in the middle of civil war. A young photographer makes a picture which later turns into the symbol of peace. When the peace negotiations are threatened to get interrupted by extremists, this photographer gets sent back to this country, in order to report for a local army, which plans to fight the ones who oppose the peace. I’m not sure whether it was a good idea for the creators to include mechas for this army, when the anime clearly focuses at photography. Still, a lot of thought was put in the design of this mecha. For once, things actually made a bit sense, as the creators tried to show how the mecha works from the inside. It’s better than the usual techno babble we see in most mecha-shows.

Mamotte Lollipop

Okay. This is just stupid. Not necessarily in a bad way, but unfortunately not in a good way either. It’s definitely the shoujo-series, from beginning to end. The story’s like this: our main character’s dreamguy is someone who protects her from anything bad coming her way. What does she get? Not one, but *gasp* two pretty bishounen who protect her from anything bad coming her way. All because she swallowed a magical pearl they need in order to succeed for their magical exams. If we ignore the very unorthodox final exam the magical world features, the anime’s decent. Some funny jokes are made, some of the characters are interesting, but overall, it doesn’t really add anything new. It seems that the entire show will be focused around these two guys, protecting the girl. I’m not planning to follow this one, as I doubt that I can endure more of the same for twelve more episodes. Still, the flying car was hilarious.

Good Witch of the West – Astraea Testament Review – 81/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Good Witch of the West - Astraea Testament



This series also came out, along with the huge wave of new series at the beginning of the spring-2006-season. It’s a fantasy-series, embedded with lots of politics, drama and romance. With its 13 episodes, it’s a short series. Maybe a bit too short.

This series has two point at which it excels with some incredible quality: the story and the graphics. The graphics really are some of the best to be ever seen in anime. The character art really moves away from the standard-designs, in order to create something really unique. Each of the characters looks really beautiful. The hair has some very interesting shapes, and the CG is very nicely integrated with the regular drawings. It also becomes clear that the creators liked to play with lighting effects, which gives a really good atmosphere to the whole package.

The story also is incredibly well thought out. We’ve got a lot of different characters, all playing their own, distinct roles. The story’s got a lot of facets and elements. Characters have good reasons, and the setting is very creative. The story basically is a battle between three people for the position of the queen. As the story progresses, more elements keep getting added to the story, in order to turn it into a masterpiece.

Unfortunately, this anime also has bad points: the pacing and the storytelling. The story may be great, these two factor mess it up a bit. The fact remains that thirteen episodes is too little for this series. It would so have benefitted from six more episodes. Because it had to squish such a story in only 13 episodes, some elements did get lost. The fact also remains that quite a few time is spent on developing a love-triangle, which, in my opinion, only worked annoying. The last few episodes of the anime, however, these problems disappear and the anime is able to conclude in a very nicely paced ending.

Another thing this anime is very good at is creating tension. The music really helps in this. The anime features a very good soundtrack, which really works at times like these. The action scene also remain in the category of the better ones.

Overall, if you’re looking for a fantasy anime with a very good story, I’m certainly recommending this anime. Though this is not an anime you can afford to miss or forget even one second. If you do, the story will immediately make no more sense. Things just aren’t explained that well, and it would also be better to marathon this series, instead of watching one episode at a time. The anime remains great, though prepare for its flaws.

Noein Review – 96/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Noein



Noein is an outstanding anime. Heck, at the moment, Mahou Shoujotai is the only anime I can think off which has made a bigger impact on me. This anime is that incredible. It’s a science-fiction series, but it cleverly stays away from all of the clichés that the other science-fiction shows are so often plagued by.

Noein has so many good qualities, I don’t know where to start. The story, for one, is something very simple, it contains some often used elements, though it’s extremely creative in what it does. So many interesting plot twists happen during the course of the anime. It really always leaves you guessing. The characters are also amazing. Noein features a huge range of characters, and for some reason it manages to fully develop, explore and give the player the chance to know them in only twenty-four episodes. The result is that you can’t help but care about them during the entire course of the anime.

The pacing also is another very interesting issue in Noein. During some episodes, mostly the intermezzo’s, the pacing is slow. Perhaps a bit too slow, but their contents made up for everything. At other times, the pacing is incredible. So many episodes feature events which succeed each other in an extremely rapid pacing. Surprisingly enough, nothing felt rushed at all.

The moment I saw this anime for the first time, I knew I was looking at something special. The first episode really contained something unique, and as the episodes progressed, the scenes began to get more amazing by the minute. Then, around episode ten, the episodes started to become incredibly good. episode 15 continued with the normal awesomeness, only for the last three episodes to whack me down with scenes which actually managed to be even better than the anime has ever been. The way it ended definately belongs in the category of amazing endings. Even though some issues were left unexplained (PHONE!!??).

And I haven’t even started talking about the graphics and music yet! Seriously, both of these departments are outstandingly done. The entire anime is done in a very experimental art style. Characters and animation look extremely messy, but somehow the effect this has is incredible. Especially if you combine this with the OST. It really is one of the best OSTs ever, and the creators really knew exactly when they had to use it. The battle scenes also are a huge joy to watch. This anime features some amazing looking battle choreography. This works especially good with the character art, as it becomes even more messy during these action scenes. Needless to say that the result is awesome.

Okay, so the anime has a few flaws when you look at the detail. Some of the technobabble may work confusing at times. Especially when you don’t know anything about physics. At times, Haruka may look a bit too much like a damsel in distress. And there are more things like these. But believe me, the good parts totally make up for these.

Overall, I seriously recommend you to check Noein out, if you haven’t already. It may be a science-fiction series, but most of the airtime is actually spent in a normal timezone, instead of the futuristic one. The art is awesome, the characters are awesome, and the antagonist is one of the freakiest one of his kind, able to play his role very well. Watching this anime was amazing. Really amazing.

Some quick first impressions: Binbou Shimai Monogatari, Innocent Venus and Project Blue Chikyuu SOS

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

The Summer Season continues once more with a huge load of garbage. Thank goodness Binbou Shimai Monogatari managed to change the flood of bad anime, but I’m really getting impatient now. Much of the gems of this season have yet to either air or get subbed, so I’m hoping for Kemonozume, Flag and quite probably Angelique and Night Head Genesis to arrive quite soon.

Binbou Shimai Monogatari

Binbou Shimai Monogatari is one of the better series we’ve seen this season. Okay, that doesn’t really say much, but the fact remain that this series remains entertaining. It’s indeed a slice-of-life series, about two sisters, who have lost their mother and their father has run away because of huge depts. They now have to live together. Most of the time, I’m not really into slice-of-life series, though this series managed to keep me interested. The fact is that the two girls love each other. A lot. But because of their situations, they doubt a lot, making mistakes and solving them again. It works very inspirational this way. Still, I do have to admit that there are a lot of boring scenes, but the overall picture was good enough for me to keep watching.

Innocent Venus

I’m probably one of the few persons who didn’t like this one. This anime has achieved lots of popularity since it aired, though I’m not able to see the good side of it. Basically, what this anime tries to do is provide the action scenes with as much darkness and tension as possible. It tries to for the picture of a horrible world, in which the main characters have to survive. Unfortunately, it tries too hard. The action scenes are dull, they’re not exciting at all. They only consist of a bunch of mechas killing each other and people shooting innocents in the head, while trying to spill huge gallons of blood with each shot. Like I said before, the main characters have to survive in this world. So far, they’re uberpowerful for some reason, and uberannoying as well. The only good character was the clown-like person. Some elements also don’t make any sense at all. For example, why did the military name the girl “Venus”? Venus is a yellow plannet full of sulphur, or she was a greek goddess (who wasn’t really what you’d call innocent). Huge hurricanes also have gotten the names Hyper Hurricanes, which which sounds more like a bad name for a fighting-move. A map of the current world, after it’s been flooded also gets shown, and it doesn’t make any sense at all. Right now, it seems like tectonic plates have been moving, instead of a bunch of huge hurricanes.

Project Blue Chikyuu SOS

But when you think that Innocent Venus is bad, just wait till you see Project Blue Chikyuu SOS. This anime is just horrible. For starters, the two main characters are a fourteen-year-old brat who holds the position of company president, with the massive amount of 200 billion somethings in assets and a guy who graduated for the MIT at the top of his class. To make things even duller, they’re able to beat any ordinary adult who comes their way, and they even manage to outsmart entire armies. Yeah, right. Well, then, the plot isn’t really what you’d call exciting. Aliens have been preparing for five years, in order to start an invasion. They, of course, conveniently start with just one attack, instead of going all out at once. The plot consists of convenient meetings and events that make as much sense as an igloo in the desert. Seriously, stay away from this anime.

Okay… this is annoying…

by psgels, posted in Special Articles

As you can see, the bandwidth for some of my images has run out. I’ve been using photobucket in order to display the pictures I need for each point, though the downside of this is the fact that it has a maximum amount of bandwidth it can use per month. As this month will end tomorrow, the problem isn’t that big, but it remains annoying. Thank goodness you can have more than one photobucket-account, which means that problems like this one won’t occur anymore. At least, let’s hope so. ^^;

7 New OVA To Be Released on August 1st Preview

by psgels, posted in Special Articles

I was fairly surprised when I ran into these ones while preparing for the July-Summary. Another surprising fact is that nobody seems to be talking about them. Well, time to change this, I just had to post it. Every single one of these OVA has a unique art style, and every one of them will probably have a very dark mood.

Maihime OVA

No, it’s not what you think. It’s not Mai HiME, it’s Maihime, or Dancer Girl. It’ll probably focus on the love of a dancer girl, judging by the art and the fact that AnimeNfo labeled it as a love-romance. Here you can see some teaser screenshots, and I have to say that I like them.

Neko Machi

There’s absolutely no information about this one, except for some japanese writing I don’t understand. Still, this looks to be one creepy OVA about cats. If you take a look at the teaser screenshots here you can also see that the art will be rather dark, strange, and probably unique. I like that. AnimeNfo labeled it as a fantasy-horror.

Zakuro Yashiki La Grenadiere

A french novelist called Balzac wrote the story for this one in the book “La Grenadiere”. It’s about a woman and a child who live in a small cottage in 19th century france. Supposedly, the woman was labeled as a mystery, as she didn’t get out of the house too often. AnimeNfo labeled this as a novel, which doesn’t really give much information about the genre, though I think it’ll be some dark slice-of-life story. Here are some teaser screenshots, and they look gorgeous.

Yo Shomei Bijutsukan LINE

This’ll be a rather unique anime. It’s about art. It’s art style is extremely simple, like an old picture-book. AnimeNfo didn’t assign any genres to it, though the teaser-screenshots, which can be found here give us more clues about the nature of this OVA. It’ll be simple, it’ll be art. Will it be good?

Gendai Kibunroku Kaii Monogatari

This’ll be a definate horror OVA. It consists of six parts.
1. At a dry river bed a refrigerator associated with a terrible anecdote, “Refrigerator.”
2.A one room western-style house, above a carved table an objects stands out like a sore thumb. It was an accidental discovery to a College of Arts student’s terror. “Daruma.”
3. On a long bridge while boys are traveling, they encounter a ghost personally, “Bridge of Evening.”
4.I n a free shopping market a sarcastic man is guided to the otherside, “U.S. Military Sale.”
5. The railway crossing; continual mortal accidents are a puzzle being persued, “Railroad Crossing.”
6. Summer vacation at a tranquil countryside, boys personally experiance a miraculous event, “I want a friend.”
These descriptions don’t really sound that scary, but who knows. Here are the teaser-screenshots, and I´m wondering how these descriptions and these screenshots are linked.

Fantascope Tylostoma

This is a strange one. We have this man, who appears every 700 years. Because of this, he’s able to see once flourishing villages decay into oblivion. Then he meets a woman, a prostitute, from this period, the passion begins. Most likely, this will be a love story. Though the most remarkable feature of this OVA is the art. Everything is in sketchbook-style. Here are some teaser screenshots.

Joseito

This anime will be making use of 3D-animation techniques, though not the standard way. Here are some teaser screenshots which show this. The show is going to be a school-life anime. Fairly unique among the other OVA’s listed here. It’s about a painter, painting a schoolgirl, and giving this schoolgirl her own story.

Pani Poni Dash Review – 89/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Pani Poni Dash certainly is one of the better comedy-anime out there. Every single episode just had me cracked up, time and time again. Its huge cast of interesting and unique characters combined with the huge waves of parodies and references came together into a brilliant piece of awesomeness.

The situation’s like this: Rebecca Miyamoto, or Becky, is a child prodigy. At the age of ten, she already graduated from the MIT (supposedly the best university in the United States, correct me if I’m wrong). She then goes to work as a teacher on a high-school. Still, she remains a ten-year-old child, and the creators did an extremely good job in portraying her brattiness.

The class Becky has to teach also is full of interesting characters, ranging from the idiot to the sarcastic, evil person and the bookworm to the plain girl. These character bring the perfect combination between serious and whacky personages, which get turned into some really funny moments.

If the main characters are out of the picture, the side-characters have enough material to show. The incredibly huge cast of unique characters worked out really great. There’s bound to be a character fit for everyone.

This anime also is extremely well coordinated. Every second of screen time, multiple things are happening at once. Whenever a character’s talking, something whacky is happening in the background. The creators manage to stuff so many in just one episode. They try to give enough room for each of the side-characters, even if it is just one second in an episode.

I also seriously recommend listening to the OP. The show’s got three different ones of them, and all of them are extremely high-quality, though don’t expect the lyrics to make sense. The creators also spent a huge load of time on the art and character design, with Becky appearing in a different outfit each episode, complete with a different haircut. Most of the characters look too cute as well, though Becky is by far the cutest. Do beware, though. While this definitely isn’t a harem or fanservice show, the creators aren’t scared to show some fanservice-y shots of the different characters at times.

Overall, if you want to see a comedy-show, I seriously recommend this anime. It really is one of the better comedies out there. While it isn’t perfect and some moments may miss the mark, it certainly gives a good shot.