Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet – 03

by psgels, posted in Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet

This show… it feels like a bit of a combination between Ghibli and Last Exile. But things like the pirates (especially that pirate queen), the atmosphere, the sense of adventure. You can really see that this show takes a lot of cues from them, while at the same time using Leda to create its own identity.

This episode built up some very good suspense of disbelief with how it dealt about the deaths of those pirates last episode. It really put emphasis that that would have some very dire consequences, and that they’re basically at war with the pirates now. The rest of this episode took care of that quickly, but still it serves as a good build-up here. I doubt that that was the last that we’ve seen of them.

The thing right now is that that one robot is pretty much a godmode-button. Normally in storytelling this completely takes away all tension. And this will also go for this season, unless the creators do something with it. That brings us back to Urobuchi Gen, who obviously took that into account. The question now is: what will he do with it? Will he now focus on problems that can’t be solved with brute strength? Will he remain all-powerful, but will this turn into an exploration of the complications that this brings with it? Or will it pull in more people of Led’s kind, throwing the people of the Gargantia in the middle of a conflict that’s way above their heads?
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Hataraku Maou-Sama – 03

by psgels, posted in Hataraku Maou-Sama

Hataraku Maou-sama’s third episode was clever: on one hand it was cliched, but on the other hand most of it was saved because you knew that something was going on, and hinted at previously. That turned a simple date into something intriguing. And at the end of the episode we still don’t know whatever the hell that was.

Having said that though, this episode was a bit of a step back in the comedy. It’s not that it was bad, it just wasn’t as good (the first two episode had some very witty writing). Still, I laughed. Emilia’s stalking and not being subtle about it whatsoever was probably the funniest.

The most notable part of this episode was the ending, though. On one hand it’s good, on the other hand questionable. I really like how there is change: Maou doesn’t just have none of his powers for the biggest part of the series: this changes. That’s very good. What I don’t understand is that he suddenly really got out of characters. Emilia also found it strange and all, but I still want some explanation on how some evil demon overlord has suddenly gotten so passionate about saving people. And don’t give me that harem crap.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Shingeki no Kyojin – 03

by psgels, posted in Shingeki no Kyojin(Attack on Titan)

I already know what’s going to happen for the first couple of episodes in this series, but this episode was a bit of an exception, in which the creators went into far more detail during the training arc. I guess that in that way, I still prefer anime over manga. It’s probably something really personal, but in animated form, I can get a better feel of who the characters are, making them easier to relate to. Eren really benefitted from that in particular.

On the other hand, the creators did spent an entire episode training, which is not the most interesting practice to watch. This episode was really interesting for the character building. It made characters stand out without using cliches, and showed a good combination of characters who were just there to live the easy life, to do something exciting, or determined to exterminate the titans. The cast is large, but everyone has his own identity. We’re going to have to wait a bit longer to find out whether the creators nailed the big strength of this series though.

This is the balance between build-up and delivery that you need to strike right. I think that that will be a very big challenge for this series: getting the pacing right to fit the story into 25 episodes. With this episode they chose for a solid base on the characters, at the expense of taking a bit of a step back. Now let’s see whether the animators can make the wait pay off!
Rating: 4.5/8 (Good)

Aku no Hana – 03

by psgels, posted in Aku no Hana

This series. It’s the best horror anime that I have seen in a long while. It’s really been long since I watched something that made me feel so uncomfortable, in such a good way. I love how this show just completely breaks down teenaged anxieties and fears and how it just makes them spiral out of control.

What’s more: every episode has just gotten more and more intense so far. Episode one was a slow build-up, episode two saw things escalate, and with this… things have gotten completely crazy, but it’s also done in such a realistic and believable way, while at the same time what happened was just completely messed up.

You can just see the fears and guilt build up inside of Kasuga: he doesn’t want to be seen as a pervert, or strange, or evil. And with that he just keeps wiggling himself into more and more of a corner. And that lead to just a brilliant climax that I think a lot of teenagers or ex-teenagers can relate to.

What happened in the first half of the episode was probably a bit less relatable, but still I love the camera work there (and I can only imagine how difficult that scene must have been to do right without rotoscoping on a tigh budget!), plus how crazy Nakamura turned out to be now that she finally found someone she can use with similar interests as her. I really like how she just forces herself completely into her comfort zone.
Rating: 6.5/8 (Amazing)

Spring 2013 Kaleidoscope: March 18th

by psgels, posted in Spring 2013 Kaleidoscope

So, some feedback on my previous entry: it seems that people were actually expecting something else when I said that I’d do a kaleidoscope this season, and that is more of an entry with short impressions on a lot of different series.

I can get behind that. I also like to highlight a lot of different series. The problem is going to be to keep up with all of it. Ever since I got a life I can’t just consistently keep up with everything every single week, so be sure to expect some delays.

These entries won’t be complete, but every thursday, I’ll try to give a rundown of my favorite episodes of the series that I’m not blogging, along with disappointments or other noteworthy episodes that I happen to watch. Enjoy.

Top 3:

#1: Yondemasuyo, Azazel-San Z – 02: very rarely is a comedy sequel better than its predecessor. And yet, Azazel-san here had its best episode yet. With this I include all the OVAs and TV-series together. With the first episode I already said that Moloch is by far the best character of the series, but he really surpassed himself with this episode; it was just brilliant. The creators had so many hilarious ideas with how they made him pretend to be a stuffed animal and they built up their humour perfectly. Heck, this was the funniest thing I’ve seen all year.

#2: Hunter X Hunter – 75: Finally. After waiting for more than a year and a half. Throughout 75 episodes. We are finally about to get to the new material. Finally I won’t have to bitch anymore about the series just being a glorified recap. Anyway, the Greed Island arc was done better in Madhouse’s version compared to what Nippon Animation did to it (better pacing, better action, better acting, things flowed much better), but it remains for a large part a training arc that is just boring to watch. This final episode though was really good, as it showed some of the people behind the Greed Island Game. Just one thing: didn’t Hunter x Hunter have its own alphabet? What are they doing then toying with latin letters over and over here? And then the text on the cards for Greed Island is in Japanese… how do languages work there anyway?

#3: Danchi Tomou – 02: Oh come on, people. It’s been a week and still no subs? What is this? 2008? Anyway, Tomou is good. It’s slice of life without much happening, but the characters are quite endearing so far, and it’s about actually interesting situations. I actually quite liked how everyone just got out and had dinner outside on a whim. It’s full of these small relatable things, but sometimes it does go on for a bit too long (the smelly hands thing got awkward quite fast, and it just went on and on!)

Notes about Aiura: sorry, but being the fan of Ryousuke Nakamura I have to talk about this. The second episode still was funny, the voice acting was still very good, but there are some stereotypes. Well hidden stereotypes, but you can see that this was based on a mediocre manga.

Disappointments:

Karneval – 02: I’m not going to watch the second episode of everything, only the series that I thought had potential. Out of those, Karneval disappointed me the most. Listen, there is a difference between stupidity, and acting like you’re outright lobotomized. The male lead acts like a completely whiny kid with no grasp of who he is. The rest of the cast tries way too hard with their acting. If I dropped the Hakkenden, I also have to drop this one, because the Hakkenden was much, much more solid.

Devil Survivor – 02: You know what really surprised me? How boring this show is. I mean, even Persona had some fun elements when it started, but this… the characters are completely bland and I’ve already forgotten what half of this thing was about. The animators try, but I see no motivation whatsoever from the scriptwriters or directors.

Chihayafuru – 39

by psgels, posted in Chihayafuru

Holy crap! When Nishida lashed out to Tsutomu last episode, I did not expect that it was about to build up to something as amazing as here right now. I mean, the outcome of this episode was predictable, but the way in which it happened totally wasn’t!

Most of the episode was about Chihaya and her growth. Chihaya lost to Megumu, but it’s clear that she has become better, while at the same time that she has a long way to go (the way how her nails were clenched into the palm of her hands the whole time). And then when she lost, Tsutomu really came out of nowhere to really steal the show. This show already had the luck of the draw decide against the team’s favor, so with this it is a really good way to balance out. Because of this you really don’t know what to expect when things come down to it. Either way it was Tsutomu’s crowning moment of awesome there.

Then there is Kanade. What really surprised me here was that there were two matches of which we hardly got to see anything: Kanade’s and Taichi’s. What really intrigues me was why Kanade finished before Taichi, which really made me think that we haven’t really seen much about how she actually improved. All we know is that she suddenly has gotten really good, with multiple wins in a row despite being dead tired. Still, was Taichi just against a better player? It seemed like the best two seemed to be against Chihaya and Nishida. I mean, Taichi is pretty much an A-Class player at this point, as soon as he manages to win that damned tournament, so what exactly worked against him there?

This episode was also full of hints about special cards: the cards that contain the names of everyone. Chhaya lost hers to Megumu, Megumu lost hers to Chihaya. And I noticed the creators also dropping the names for the cards for Arata and Shinobu. Yay for building up!

One thing never improved though: the photographing guys never really stopped being annoying.
Rating: 6,5/8 (Amazing)

Red Data Girl – 02

by psgels, posted in Red Data Girl

What this season lacks, is quantity. The amount of series that really stand out here. There are the obvious stand-outs of Shingeki no Kyojin and Aku no Hana, in terms of comedy there are the hilarious Maou-sama and Azazel-san, and also Gargantia has potential, but beyond that… I don’t really sense enough ambition, not to mention the complete lack of long series aside from Shingeki no Kyojin. To me this feels more like a strong winter/summer season, instead of the Spring season that it is.

Red Data Girl is a bit of a wildcard. I intended to just blog the TV-schedule of it, rather than keeping up with the pre-release. It has the potential to become a very charming or interesting series, although it probably never will hit its heights. Still, I’m intrigued, especially by the first episode. The second episode was a bit of a step back for me.

I like the atmosphere. The music rocks. The backgrounds are very well drawn. I like the side characters. These guys make it worth watching and they are engaging to follow. The lead female though… needs work, and it mostly has to do with how at the moment, she fits in a very annoying cliche: the useless character. Everything gets done for her, most of her powers are just passive, she holds everyone back. Mind you, she’s well acted, but there is only so far that you can take a character doing just nothing. These first two episodes were full of hints that they are going to put a spin on that uselessness for later: don’t let me down on that.

Oh and about this season’s strong point: voice acting. There are lots of series in which the voice acting is really good and engaging. They try to emote and connect with their adience, rather than yelling way too hard all the time.
Rating: 4.5/8 (Good)

Gargantia on the Vendurous Planet – 02

by psgels, posted in Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet

Suisei no Gargantia, pretty much the best mecha series of the season. What I like best so far is how it’s more than just mecha: it’s just a story that has a mecha in it, it has a bit of gunplay in it, it has a bit of post apocalypse. It’s very varied and fleshed out. compare that to Majestic Prince, which feels very monotone, or Valvrave that just puts the tried and true school formula in a place where it doesn’t belong. Plus it’s the only show that can actually take itself seriously. That’s also a plus. I mean I like comedy as well and all, but comedy that feels out of place does more harm than good for me.

Not to say that this series is perfect though. The characters strangely remain teenagers, and the lead female in particular needs to be fleshed out more (though granted, she got a lot more tolerable in this second episode), and the same goes for the rest of the cast: aside from the male lead none really stands out so far, so the creators need to develop them somehow. Make them interesting.

What I liked about this show is that you can see that it’s going to escalate. That was quite cleverly done, in the way that those pirates were obliterated so easily without effort. It’s just the build-up to something much bigger and much worse, something that Urobuchi Gen tends to be good at. Though I’m not expecting a gore-fest, I am expecting that things will escalate somehow. It’s up to him to find a good way.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Shingeki no Kyojin – 02

by psgels, posted in Shingeki no Kyojin(Attack on Titan)

So I think that it was obvious that I was going to blog this series. It is undoubtedly the epic of the season, not to mention that it feels so unique. I know what will happen up to a chapter or ten or so, but even then these first episodes had me fired up. The thing with the manga is that I only got invested with the story at the point of episode three, at which it gets really, really good. The anime really put in some effort to make the build up very detailed and engaging.

What matters the most is the next few episodes. This series is incredibly polished. But the manga was more than that. It had something extra with its presentation. Let’s now see whether the creators can capture that as well.

This episode mostly stood out with how dark and grim it was about the consequences of the outer Rose Wall being breached: there just was not enough food for everyone. People were abandoned and eaten, but on top of that people were now in a situation in which the entire population just would not be able to survive. It only adds up more to how incredibly screwed humanity is, and I really like that.

Then the presentation: the creators really gave a very worthy attempt to bring life to the titans. The big titan that breached the gate in this episode really had presence thanks to some very good animation and direction. It’s because of scenes like this that I called this series nearly impossible to translate well to animation: The giant designs are really detailed and they all just look incredibly intimidating. You need to keep this up consistently if you want to be able to retain the same epic atmosphere.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Aku no Hana – 02

by psgels, posted in Aku no Hana

Rotoscoped or not, cheap or not. Here is the thing: Aku no Hana so far has gotten the biggest emotional response out of me out of the entire season. This second episode, it was even better than the first in which we just saw the emotional breakdown of the male lead, and all of thewalls he ran into in order to get out of what he did. It’s not like I automatically like things because they just happened to be different (I hated Inferno Cop for example). It’s just that this method of animation works brilliantly for getting a really big emotional response. The reason I like series that are different is because there are many different ways to make something awesome, but it’s very easy to get caught up in the tried and true formula and I love series that think outside of the box. As long as it works, obviously.

That’s also my opinion about the huge change in art style compared to the original source. Personally, I don’t care how faithful it is, as long as it works well. In the same way, Shingeki no Kyojin could turn into this magical girl series for all I care, as long as it manages to find a way to be just as epic as the manga chapters that I read of it. With that said, Aku no Hana is amazing. The atmosphere over the first two episodes was just brilliant.

Probably my favorite parts of this episode was when Nakamura invaded Takao’s personal space so closely. He was busy setting up all of these walls for himself, and she just forced herself right through them with that evil smile of hers. Her voice actress really was great for that. In fact, every voice actor here really works. Everyone here sounds very sincere and believable. For me this series also has the best voice acting of the season.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)