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)

Hataraku Maou-Sama – 02

by psgels, posted in Hataraku Maou-Sama

A really difficult question: whether to blog Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge, or Hataraku Maou-sama. On one hand I really like Crime Edge’s weirdness, compared to Maou-Sama that does have some cliches. Crime Edge also can be quite heart-warming, while Hataraku Maou-sama doesn’t attempt to be that. Crime Edge has an atmosphere, while Hataraku Maou-sama doesn’t really seem to care about that.

Still, what happens when you really start thinking about them? In that case, Crime Edge ends up being a celebration of weird fetishes, without really much depth. Hataraku Maou-sama on the other hand is one of the most clever comedies to appear over the past few years. Seriously, this series bites.

Instead of doing random joke after random joke, everything fits in this series, plus the jokes are all built up before you even know it. The earthquakes at first seemed random, and only after a minute I realized that that might mean something more. Especially when that random text arrived. This series is full of stuff like that, where you only realize a joke has been made, half a minute later. Or jokes that only work because of some clever build-up early on.

What also helps is some fantastic voice acting. I especially loved the part where that Hero was locked out of the demon king’s apartment and she started ranting outside of the screen. This series also really tries to be believable and realistic at times, which is what makes the jokes work even more: the suspense of disbelief is great here! How often do you see characters just doing random groceries, or just living their daily lives in the middle of trying to take over the world?

Just try to keep the cliches out of here. You’re better than that, show. *Har har you are fighting so you must be in love, har har*
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Spring 2013 Kaleidoscope: Saint Seiya Omega – 52

by psgels, posted in Spring 2013 Kaleidoscope

To be honest, I am not sure yet which series I’m going to blog or not this season. I still need to make up my mind on that. Still, I feel like doing another kaleidoscope this season. Giving a small commentary on every episode I watch is going to be impossible, so instead I’m going to blog a different series each week, and on top of that I’ll cover the episodes that really stand out or catch my attention.

A fitting start would be the transition for Saint Seiya from its first half into its second half, because there are some really weird decisions made here… First though, about the conclusion of the first half: the animators really went all out for that, and I really like that. The story was cliched, but the really good animation and atmosphere really brought that to life and I love how much freedom they got for it.

And then… this happened. As I’ve said before, I was really looking forward to this because it shows the return of the Heartcatch Precure director. This is a guy who also directed Interlude, which was a really weird OVA that did have its flashes of brilliance, and I think that that’s what describes this first episode of Saint Seiya Omega’s new arc for me.

Because holy crap, who came up with that new character? What is this walking cliche doing, just forcing himself into the middle of the story, right from out of nowhere with that stupid outfit of his? I guess now that Koga has grown up the creators needed a new immature character to balance things out and all, but couldn’t he have been a bit more likable and less cliched? I mean, this is a cliche that only really bad sequels pull in order to drag out their storylines even more.

That’s not to say I hated this episode, but the weird thing is that I liked it for really weird reasons. I mean… that butler! I have no idea who he is, but I really felt sorry for him! The part where Seiya failed to kill that girl? I liked that a lot. That one golden saint? His speech about how shallow his own powers are really got to me.

And then on the other hand you have the animation that clearly had its shortcuts taken, including really cheesy transformation sequences (I know that there is a background from Heartcatch Precure here, but you don’t HAVE to include them, you know?). And then Koga just went and randomly pulled that giant unicorn out of his ass… So yeah, all in all this has me quite baffled on how it will turn out…
Rating: #%!*/8 (???)

Uchuu Kyoudai – 51 & 52

by psgels, posted in Uchuu Kyoudai

I’m just including episode 52 in this entry so that I can comment on the new OP and ED. I love them! They are unmistakably Space Brothers, but they feel so retro! The OP reminds me of this cheesy beach music, while the ED starts out dull and boring, and suddenly explodes in this really well sung piece that actually perfectly symbolizes parts of the story, and the quest of both brothers to reach space.

But yeah, episode 52 WAS a recap. That’s the only flaw of Uchuu Kyoudai at this point: the excessive flashbacks. Episode 51 took nearly five whole minutes before it got to its new content. What could be the cause of this? Budget restraints? Is the manga not long enough ahead? Not enough staff?

Either way though, when episode 51 did start for real, it was really, really good. It really took its time again, to focus on the difference between Nitta and his brother, and Mutta and Hibito. I really like how Mutta and Nitta both are jealous of each other. The episode also showed some progression in Nitta’s brother, and it did so with a lot of heart. Nothing that Nitta did when he was in the desert had any effect on that, but it was the fruit of Nitta and his mother, constantly having patience with him and encouraging him to actually do something with his life. With this, the first step was set.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Chihayafuru – 38

by psgels, posted in Chihayafuru

This match is very different from usual for Chihayafuru. Normally, it delivers in every episode. Last episode felt a bit flat. Normally it tries to push forward as many characters as possible. Here however, the focus was different. This really was about Chihaya versus Megumu. This episode at least.

Perhaps I’m not a fan of making the match go on for three entire episodes, but that allowed this episode to have that clear purpose for a change: a really detailed view of how Megumu changes through a match. That really had me fired up much more than I expected and I really have to say that how she gradually lost that ditzy behavior of her was done in this episode.

Oh and I said that this episode didn’t really focus on pushing forward the other characters. but still, Chihaya forcing herself to contest cards, Nishida losing badly, Tsutomu trying hard, the other girls trying really hard for Megumu, they were all really nice touches. I just meant it for the really high standards of this series. Seriously you do not see series that are as consistent as this series. Especially considering that we’re almost forty episodes in!

One point of criticism: that point where Tsutomu figures that a girl will likely want to grab cards about broken hearts because it’s one of the themes that the singer whose name is on one of the towels of the girls sings about… that is overanalyzing things a bit too much.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Review – 89/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure



There are a lot of ways to adapt something. Shounen battle series tend to very quickly fall into a very dull variation of that: really slow pacing that goes on forever with long boring drawn out battles that all look like each other. David Production looked at them, and just said “we can do better!”

They grabbed one of the most popular shounen series that hadn’t been fully adapted yet and gave it a kickass treatment that just screams epicness that fits the story perfectly. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure on its own is already a completely crazy story, but this anime actually throws in everything it has to amplify this insanity. The voice actors all yell out their lines with an incredible amount of passion and energy, the animation is full of weird and over the top poses and trippy colour effects, the soundtrack is completely epic with many different tracks (including even dubstep), the pacing is incredibly fast, yet nothing feels rushed. All dedicated to make the adrenaline rush as high as possible.

The plot of this series is basically a bunch of incredibly muscly guys punching zombies to death. That could have been so dull so fast, but beyond the incredibly over the top execution, the actual contents of the action scenes are really creative and fun to watch. This show knows how to keep itself fresh: every character is varied and unique (and really likable by the way, the best being Joseph and Stroheim), every villain has different powers and methods of fighting, and this show loves to use all sorts of props and powers to remain interesting. This series in particular loves to give huge powers to very tiny and weak things, to prevent things from being just one superpower after the other. It keeps fights with random goons really as short as possible, so that it can focus on the characters who actually matter.

Of course, this series is not for everyone. It is for those looking for over the top action, and in terms of shounen action it pretty much offers the best you can get. Having said that though: it is pretty simplistic at times. Some characters are quite one-sided and only work because the presentation is so good. Don’t expect the most complex character-development here, but instead huge heaps of energy and manliness.
One-Sentence Review: An excellent adaptation, full of incredibly over the top shounen action with a very creative plot and really likable, albeit simple, characters.
Suggestions:
– Baccano
– Shin Mazinger Z
– Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure – 26

by psgels, posted in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

Oh Jojo. What an ending. I did not expect what would happen here at all. Perhaps the ending was not as impressive as with Psycho Pass or From the New World, but still this is every way in which a shounen series should end. You hear that, other shounen series? Watch this for how endings should be done!

Still, the climax of this show was so over the top that it just could not have been made today. It’s just so completely bloody random to suddenly have the volcano erupt this giant rock into the stratosphere that blows Cars into outer space. It’s completely impossible and really inconvenient, but in terms of creativity and as a plot twist it just made for the perfect over the top ending. Yeah it makes no sense, but this is so much better than just the characters sending beams to each other until one side dies. Plus there is the irony: the perfect human being on earth is completely useless outside of it.

It was also really fun to just see this series take the piss out of aftermaths, and poking fun at so many tropes before they even existed. Joseph hooking up with Suzie Q was hilarious, and how many times have we seen an actual divorce here? I can count the amount of series with divorces on one hand (Noein, Xamdou, Zone of the Enders, uhhh…).

Bringing a character who was thought dead back to life is a dead horse. But I can forgive this show for it by how it did this, and how much it poked fun at this.

So, as for any possible continuations. The ending of this episode was a sequel hook, nothing more. Until we see an official confirmation it is not clear whether the producers can gather enough money to make it. Now, as for the actual chance that they will succeed in this: I’d say it is pretty damn good. Take a look here and here. A little bit of math shows about 22109 sold DVD and blu-ray copies. That’s a lot!
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Some Quick First Impressions: Valvrave the Liberator

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Valvrave the Liberator

Short Synopsis: Our lead character may pilot a super giant robot.
This really had Ichiro Okouchi written all over it. The creator of Code Geass. This episode had lots and lots of shock value. That is not necessarily bad, but it does have me worried that this show somehow tries to convince us that the safest place to store an all-powerful robot, capable of annihilating everything on its path and that takes the soul of its pilots, was a freaking SCHOOL. I mean, the only thing that the plot had going for it so far is that it’s bigger on the shock factor. Otherwise it’s just another “been there, done that”-story about this random kid who just “happens” to find a big mecha. It’s a good thing that the animation is actually very good, the music is actually pretty amazing and the rest of the characters are… interesting enough. But really: if you want to create a giant trainwreck: think BIG. Think original. Don’t give me that school crap.
ED: Cathchy, but visually it’s nothing special.
Potential: 65%

Little Busters Review – 77,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

Key’s series are… interesting. They always have their flaws, but when they hit, they really make for a home run for me. Their latest title is Little Busters and yeah… let’s not fool ourselves: it is their worst adaptation so far. It’s a show that has so many problems, but still: if you look beyond them you actually can get something quite good out of it.

So yeah… where to start? The format is known at this point: we have the male lead who moves between various female characters and solves their problems one by one, with random stuff inbetween. It’s a simple task, but… yeah. The creators did not spend a lot of thought on polishing this. Some of the voice actresses are actually abysmal at their job (especially girl #1), making their story painful to sit through. Then there is the way at which the show tries to rush through its story way too fast in order to be able to stuff everything in, resulting in a long-string of infodumps that just fail to engage. And then there are some stories that are inherently just completely bad and stupid, where resolutions make no sense, or people overreact for no reasons just to create drama. Whenever this series tries to get dramatic, it falls into this horrible mess of bad execution and only one of the girls really ends up doing well there.

And yet… I managed to finish this series. The reason for that was all the stuff inbetween the big arcs. The slice of life, the random goofing off. For some bizarre reason, this show is actually really good at just fleshing out its cast. Rather than your standard harem, there are actually other male characters who aren’t cliches, and these guys are actually really interesting to watch. Why couldn’t they have had their own arcs? And beyond that it is just a very fun group of friends to watch. Screw the drama! This would have actually made a fine slice of life series there. The cast is varied, and even though there are a bunch of stereotypes, everyone just fills in for each other. The bond between the rather large cast of main characters is quite well done.

Do I recommend this then? Nah. It just takes way too long for these strengths to really show, and there is A LOT of crap you have to go through, just to be able to enjoy the good parts. Little Busters is… misguided. At this point it nearly seems like a build-up just for Refrain, which apparently is supposed to be amazing. But my opinion about those kinds of series is simple: DO NOT make me sit thruogh an entire season of build-up. I’ve got better things to do!
One-Sentence Review: This show is quite good at just goofing off and doing random staff. It’s quite bad when it goes really dramatic.
Suggestions:
– Clannad
– Air
– Ano Hana

Some Quick First Impressions: Aiura, Yuyushiki and Danchi Tomou

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Aiura

Short Synopsis: Our lead characters are a bunch of random high school girls.
So… yeah. For those of you who didn’t know yet… allow me to share something. The series this season with the best line-up of staff members isn’t Shingeki no Kyojin. It is not Aku no hana. Nor it is Gargantia, Red Data Girl, Hataraku Maou or Crime Edge. Nope. It’s this one. Allow me to introduce to you the next work of Ryousuke Nakamura, the best director to emerge out of the past ten years. After doing Mouryou no Hako, Hashire Melos and Nerawareta Gakuen together with Mieko Hosoi… their next work is a 4-minute series involving a bunch of random schoolgirls. I really hope, along with Mappa’s recent Teekyu, that this is just a side-project in which they want to do something silly for a chance. And yeah, this pretty much was the best of its genre. No cliches, no stereotypes. It just does what it sets out to do: animate the daily life of a high school girls. The jokes are not forced and it also doesn’t try to be funny if it doesn’t have to (unlike Yuyushiki, for example), not to mention that it builds up its jokes, which is always a plus. The animation actually focuses on subtle movements, rather than looking cool or impressive. I mean, it’s clear that this was made by people who know how to bring characters alive. I would have just hoped that they would do something more… ambitious. These are people that can bring stories to life that nobody else can.
OP: Crab! Crab! Crab! Crab! Addictive song and something different~!
ED: An actually relaxing song, instead of overly J-Poppy.
Potential: 75%

Yuyushiki

Short Synopsis: Our lead characters are a bunch of random high school girls.
A bunch of high school girls at a high school club doing random things. I am NOT a fan of this genre, yet I do believe that everything has its exceptions. Yuyushiki was actually rather close to being that exception, with a bit more thought into its script and storytelling. Rather than just being random, this episode outlined the first two days at school: there was progression. The animation was good for such a series, it was sometimes relaxing, and it did sometimes get a chuckle out of me. That’s at least the direction I’m looking for. Unfortunately, what really killed this one for me is that most of the jokes just fell flat. I don’t know about you, but I personally hate sitting through bad jokes. For me, they’re worse than simple boredom, especially when there is so many of them. The blue-haired girl in particular just kept trying to force her stupidity down our throat with ditzy comment after ditzy comment, and the pink-haired girl really was hit or miss.
OP: Not the most generic opening this season, but nothing special either; at least it gives a good overview of what the series is about.
ED: A walking ED where the gimmick wears off fast.
Potential: 40%

Danchi Tomou

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a random kid.
I’ve stopped covering the kiddie series with these first impressions. One because of time restrictions, and two, because I can only say the same thing so many times (they all are really too much the same). The exception to this of course is the small collection of actually good ones, Danchi Tomou being one of them. Yeah, it is entirely done in cell shaded CG, that doesn’t earn it any points or something, but when you look beyond that you actually have quite an endearing slice of life series. What sets this one apart is its acting: Tomou is really bratty, but it’s one in a way that it’s enjoyable. His antics are varied, funny and not totally random. He really feels like a little kid. The rest of the cast has the same: They feel like actual characters, rather than cliches or stereotypes. The thing remains though, that I don’t really see a red thread keeping this together. The creators need to find something to make me continue watching, to keep me coming back. The fact that Tomou’s father is away is a good start, but not quite there yet.
OP: Awesome. You can see that this is from the same director as Space Brothers. Why do I feel the need to watch this over and over again?
ED: A walking ED. With a small twist.
Potential: 80%