Nagi no Asukara – 03

by psgels, posted in Nagi no Asukara

Holy crap, that main character! This episode really was great! I really liked how this episode elaborated on the cultural differences between the fish people and regular humans, and all of the trouble that comes with trying to hook up with someone of the other side. The star crossed lovers here are done really well because of how this episode explored all of the implications it had, and how it involved the perspectives of a lot of different people here: elder, teenagers, adults, students. They showed many sides of the same coin.

But dear god, this kid acts like this angry bear in the way he constantly lashes out at everyone. I mean on paper he’s not a bad character and the point of his character makes sense, but his aggression is just waay overdone. He constantly screams, he constantly acts like he owns everyone, he constantly thrusts his nose into other people’s business. This guy really tries his hardest to be unlikable.

Character-development. The creators are definitely going for that, and I know from experience that Mari Okada can turn annoying characters around. But even then this guy is currently just stomping all over a perfectly fine show and his flaws are just caricatures. On top of that they just hurt the show by turning everyone off of it.

So yeah, unfortunately the creators here have done better. Mari Okada’s script for Ano Hana was much better, because it actually balanced the characters together. The same goes for the first three episodes of Hana-Saku Iroha (despite its really weird third episode), True Tears, The director, Toshiya Shinohara, is a guy guy who seems to need plot twists: that’s where he really knows how to deliver, as shown with Bantorra and Kuroshitsuji II. Nagi no Asukara unfortunately is at the moment too much of a standard series, and while you can see that the creators really try to throw in some good plot twists, the way in which the kids stand in this spotlight only ends up hurting this series.
Rating: 4,5/8 (Good)

Autumn 2013 Kaleidoscope – October 20th

by psgels, posted in Autumn 2013 Kaleidoscope

Phi Brain 03 – 02: Kaito, Rook: if you were in a giant room that was turning and moving around… you should have noticed that. I see that this series starts off well by pushing your suspense of disbelief to its limits. Everyone’s taking puzzles even more seriously here. The villains are basically “must… destroy… all puzzlers in the world!! All Puzzlers must die, so let’s beat them by using puzzles!” – I’m not kidding! But yeah, for the things that really mattered, this episode delivered. The characters were as fun as ever.

Ore no Nounai Blahblah – 02: Unfortunately a lot worse due to some bad direction and animation issues, but there still were plenty of good jokes in this episode.

White Album 2 – 02: Okay with this it’s definitely not like the first two White Albums. The whole belt thing was a bit weird, but you can see clearly what the creators are doing right now: setting up the love triangle. The attention to build-up is admirable, now the question is whether this show can make use of it, or whether it’ll just play the ‘boring’-card.

Little Busters – Refrain – 02: Okay, Little Busters, I have to hand it to you: this episode was amazing. I would not have minded at all if this were the ending of the series. This is wonderful as a conclusion. You can still ruin this by throwing in some harem-nonsense, but standalone this episode was the single best episode we’ve seen from Little Busters, BY FAR. Well, done!

Hajime no Ippo – Rising – 03: Awesome: Aoki has always been an incredibly likable side-character, so I’m trhilled to see that he got an actual arc dedicated to him here. That’s how I believe that the sequels are better than the original Hajime no Ippo series: it’s not just about Ippo. But yeah, tons of hilarity this episode on top of Aoki being really charming, and getting to fight the perfect opponent for him.

Kill La Kill – 03

by psgels, posted in Kill La Kill

So in a move to keep the pacing fast, this episode already broke the monster of the week formula, only to get back to it again next week. That’s good. Monster of the week can be awesome when done right, and having a fight with the main bad guy this early keeps things fresh. Aside from that, there are two other keys that are necessary for this format to work:
– ‘Interesting’ individual episodes (interesting can be anything, as long as it’s good)
– Building up to something, and using this at the end.

So far kill la Kill is on the right path. The fast-paced battles so far are enough to keep my attention from start to finish, and it’s too early to tell whether or not this is going to succeed in the long run, there still is potential for it either way, but it’s definitely not a bad attempt thanks to this episode spicing things up.

The acting also is pretty damn good: the villains all have presence and really are threatening, the main is engaging, and even that annoying side-kick for once is so weird that she’s somewhat endearing. You can really see that the creators here are big fans of old school anime, and they aim to put their own twists to them. Gurren Lagann was a homage to the mecha genre, Panty and Stocking were all about american cartoons a la Invader Zim and the Power Puff Girls, and now this show is about the school genre, taking the genre completely over the top using the exact tropes that were already abused so often and taking it over 9000.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Samurai Flamenco – 02

by psgels, posted in Samurai Flamenco

Samurai Flamenco is perfect for Noitamina: aimed at adults, creative, great characters, and really well written. I mean, Silver Spoon and Galilei Donna were nice and all, but this is going to be the next really big hit from the timeslot again after Psycho Pass.

There are two reasons why this show stands out. First of all is the characters: they are amazing. Pretty much the best of the season along with Kyousogiga. I can’t really say which are better at this point because both series have completely different ways in which they use their characters, but the chemistry between them is just amazing. Every character works well together.

Also, more than any other series, I have to say that this series is clever. Really clever. It may have an idiot as a main character, but everything is done very deliberately. Episode two played around with him brilliantly. It first portrayed his ideals as childish, immature, stupid. And then it completely turned things around, exactly by making this guy be the stubborn idiot that he is. That was actually amazing! You see, by far the majority of all stupid characters in any medium make the classic mistake of not knowing the difference between being “dumb”, and acting like you had your head lobotomized.

Our Samurai Flamenco clearly has issues, but he actually behaves like a character. He’s just simple minded and cannot see the results of his actions, and he lives in his own world.

And then there were these small details, like how this show also sheds some light on how much crap idol managers have to endure for their living, having nagging models on one hand, and the corporate drama on the other. She too is a great character.

I finally want to talk a bit about the guy who wrote all of this: Hideyuki Kurata. Why? Because this is a guy who has frustrated me for the past couple of years. Take a look at the shows that he adapted recently: The World God Only Knows, Asa no Yoichi, Dragon Crisis, Kannagi, all series with a terrible series composition. Oh, and he also did that Ore no Imouto show. That’s a pretty bad resume, right?

Well, the source of my frustration came from the shows he wrote before those: he’s the mind behind Read or Die, Now and Then, Here and There, Brigadoon, Kamichu, all brilliant and really creative series. What happened, really? Like with Manglobe, I at this point had given up a bit of hope on this guy, but right now it seems that he’s just really bad at adapting stuff. I dunno, but to me he just seems bored when he has to work on other people’s stuff, because his adaptations scream laziness all over. His original stories sparkle with personality, though. It makes me really wonder what happened. Couldn’t he land better jobs? Was he stuck in a rut?

Also, Manglobe. Really, the mentality they had when they created Samurai Champloo, Ergo Proxy, Michiko to Hatchin and House of Five Leaves: they need to get that back, even though it wasn’t commercially successful. Because those four series are an array of incredible series with a ton of creativity and heart. There really was a time at which Manglobe belonged among my favourite production companies, but yeah, we all know where that went. But at the very least they managed to stay alive despite their financial mishaps, so let’s hope that Samurai Flamenco will usher them to a strategy of a combination between cheap commercial driven series, and quality projects like this one.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Galilei Donna – 02

by psgels, posted in Galilei Donna

In order to be able to watch Galilei Donna, you need to be able to accept the fact that a middle schooler spent three years, cramped up in a basement, constructing a big goldfish airship and mecha including artillery, fancy interface and weapons. This stands out. A lot. Beyond that it’s an excellent thriller though.

Heck, we need more shows with a varied cast like this with lots of different ages together. What I really like is that the family has an entire history behind them already. They’ve basically fallen apart over the years, due to the divorce, the pushy mother and the diverging interests of the three daughters. That’s actually a pretty cool backdrop to start the series with, especially with so much going on here.

The end of this episode really did stress though that this series is about the girls, and not their parents, however I do hope that father and mother are going to be more than just damsels in distress. It’s been so long since we’ve had a series that had divorced parents, but it works so well. Just look at what Noein and Bounen no Xamdou managed to do with them. Here too, they deserve to be actual characters, rather than plot devices who are only important in the beginning.

So far though, I’m excited. There are plenty of series with action this season, but this series clearly stands out with its scope and ambition. It really aims to be a fast-paced and varied thriller, it goes for the epic, and in a good way. I feel that epic is way often abused, just to create some fake tension. It’s easy to give someone enough power to destroy the world. Blah, boring. This show fast-pacedly introduced a story that dates back centuries, it puts the protagonists against an organization that controls the police. The villains feel like a real threat, and the destruction that happens feels real, thanks to the talk about suing these buggers for destruction charges. Galilei Donna understood that, which is a great sign for the future.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Some Quick First Impressions: Pokemon XY

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Pokemon XY

Short Synopsis: Our lead character wants to catch them all. Still.
Okay, so the ingredients for the new pokemon series: an inventor kid, a young girl who barely looks even eight, lots of cute new pokemon and big mega evolutions, and a brainwashing Team Rocket. Unfortunately I have to say that the originality is lacking here, but it’s Pokemon so I guess it can’t be helped. There are only two parts that are really bad: that one kid’s backpack, which is pretty much set up to be a plot device that can become anything the creators want whenever they write themselves into a corner, and the fact that Team Rocket brainwashes now, and it’s the cheap kind of brainwashing. This is something that personally annoys me, because brainwashing overwrites any kind of development a character may have by just blaming it on the brainwashing. Beyond that, Ash still is annoying, Team Rocket still is obnoxious, but the huge variety of pokemon is what sets this show apart. That alone gives this show a variety that all other kids’ shows lack. The animation was also pretty good for this series’ standards (the character designs look much better than with Black/White). Also this is the first time I noticed this, but the music here was pretty good.
OP: Really not bad for a this series.
ED: Oh god this is awesome
Potential: 40%

Coppelion – 03

by psgels, posted in Copellion

Okay, this is just getting silly. I’m dropping this show for now, but I first want to drop a few lines on why. The gist is that the creators of the anime can’t write. I really had hoped that the series could continue with the style of the first episode, but unfortunately they’re going to continue with the style of the second episode, and the flaws really are standing out more and more.

I mean… this episode just made no sense whatsoever. It really just felt like the creators were blindly adapting the original story without really thinking about how to make it work. You need to cut stuff out. You need to pick one thing to focus on, and just remove some side stories or side-scenes, so that you can have a smooth pacing, instead of trying to get every single big thing in here, while skimping on the explanation or story and character building. Some creative freedom is needed for that. Don’t be afraid to use it, because there is no way that chapters will be perfectly paced for 20 minutes of anime. Just remember to keep consistent and sensible.

This episode just jumped from one line to the next. Characters were shocked out of bloody nowhere just because there was no build-up, and drama also just got pulled ou tof the characters’ asses because everything had to move so fast. And the thing is: this show doesn’t even make any attempt to hide it. I’m really surprised at how wooden the acting is. There’s no personality in the characters whatsoever, even though the first episode did not have this problem.

I also had to laugh when the whole radio thing happened: the girl’s boss just transmitted this radio signal, and the old man just “happened’ to pick that up. How pathetic is it when the military uses signals that can be intercepted so bloody easily? Have they never heard of encryption in this new world or something? Also, this is the future, right? These girls are part of the military, right? Has nobody really heard of a stealth bomber before? And even then, since the whole poisonous thing is apparently only a bit more than a decade old, people before must have lived normal lives, right? Then why did everyone take such a long time to recognize a stealth bomber? I mean, I knew that shape when I was a kid, and I certainly would never have mistaken it for a freaking CROW.

Gohands really strikes me as a group of very talented animators that got together, while forgetting to bring in everything else. All their series just scream wasted potential, if only they’d hire some competent writers. They can’t be THAT hard to find, can they? I mean, it worked with Mardock Scramble: there they had Tow Ubukata outlining the story of the three movies, and that worked! You could see how well everything fit together.
Rating: 3/8 (Mediocre)

Kyousogiga – 02

by psgels, posted in Kyousogiga

This show. It does so many things right here. Here, in the beginning, it actually devotes its first real new episodes to the past of its cast, something that most other series just put in as an afterthought.

Here is the thing, comparing this to the other episodes and series that have aired in this season so far: There are a ton of series that are packed with style, and great animation and direction, however there are two series where you really need to pay attention in order to catch all of the tiny details that the creators managed to put in it: Kyousogiga and Galilei Donna; Even Yozakura Quartet can be enjoyed while laid-back. Galilei Donna meanwhile has some pacing issues and strange plot twists carried around. And that’s why this show is my favourite of the season: every frame is deliberate, creative and has a ton of heart behind it.

In this series you’ll never know when a mythological reference will pop up, or heck: even a reference to the other episodes. It may look vague, but everything is really deliberate and the more you puzzle, the more things start to fit together. I especially loved the quiet part in this episode where the bunny returned. The whole part about crying also was masterfully done. This show has found a way to be charming whilst completely avoiding cheese.

You can really see that this is a passion project of Toei, otherwise they can’t keep this kind of consistency. I mean, after two OVAs and two episodes, I sstill haven’t seen any sign of weakness. It has continued to be varied, creative and inspired, while still true to its own style. Usually there would be signs of outsourcing, uninspired parts, cut corners, or some sort of thing that could have been done better. With this, I have no criticism: everything worked. Sure there were a lot of slice of life scenes that could technically have been omitted if you care about story and all, but they together serve to paint the picture of the female lead, and flesh her out. I feel that any part of this episode removed would have taken away from her. On top of that, I can’t see anything that the creators could have added here to improve on her backstory without making things unnecessarily complicated.

On a sidenote: another actually good ED. Nice!
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Yozakura Quartet – Hana no Uta – 02

by psgels, posted in Yozakura Quartet

For those of you who don’t know: Yozakura Quartet is being directed by Ryo-Chimo. His previous works include the chief animation direction of Birdy the Mighty, the animation of some of the best-looking parts of Noein. This guy is an awesome animator, and with Hoshi no Umi, he showed that he can translate this to direction really well as well. So yeah, I was delighted to see a full series being announced on it.

Episode two was the kind of episode that would not have been possible in the OVA: just too little happened in it and it was mostly meant to flesh out the characters, something they very badly needed midst all that action. And this episode did a very fine job of making the various slice of life interesting, by paying attention to the fine details. Things like a character eating ramen may not seem like much, but they bring said character alive. That’s what this entire episode did: there were so many characters involved, the entire town felt alive and bursting. I suspect that this is a trick that Ryo-Chimo picked up from working with Birdy the Mighty Decode, which also had that.

But yeah, I didn’t notice this in the first episode because of all the awesome action and all, but really: were the groping twins really necessary? The fanservice in episode 1 was fine because it just flowed perfectly with the action, but this episode was like “let’s throw a horny nun here who likes to grope people and let’s spend a ton of inbetweeners on those scenes!” – Really Yozakura, your animation is awesome. You can spend your inbetween animation on tons of better stuff than a bunch of boob shots.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Autumn 2013 Kaleidoscope – October 14th

by psgels, posted in Autumn 2013 Kaleidoscope

I’ll try to post these entries on Sunday Evening. They’re just a collection of impressions about the series I watched that I didn’t blog. No rankings, no systems, just raw impressions and opinions. Enjoy.

Hunter X Hunter 96 – 99: Hunter X Hunter reached another one of its annoying phases again. The context of these four episodes was wonderful. I love what the creators are trying to do here in the big picture. The inrigues that come from all kinds of sides, some characters being really careful in their approaches in order to win. Great. But what happened in these four episodes was completely inconsequential in which the named cast just one-sidedly takes down a bunch of ants with weird powers. The part with the spiders was fine: it actually showed lots of new things about them, and gave them much appreciated depth, and the ants they took down were ants we know. However, Gon’s battle against that snake, bat and was really annoying to sit through and just served to kill some time. Not to mention that that fight just made no sense and it was way too overcomplicated for its own good.

Golden Time – 02: The comedy was less there, but I like what this show is trying to do: Kaga is an obsessive stalker and goes way too far and totally deserves a restraining order and yet this show is trying to make us sympathize with her. also pulling the “she’s pretty”-card for that.

Hajime no Ippo Rising – 02: A request to the creators: would you please try not to spoil what happens in your episode titles. I know that this episode was a bit more complex than just that, but it’s the same as hearing “character x does y”: it takes away a bit of the suspense. A suspense that by the way was utterly excellent aside from that tiny detail in this episode by the way. Oh how I missed these intense matches. It was a great way to get back into this series. Just let the next arcs take a little more time, okay?