Uchuu Kyoudai – 48 & 49

by psgels, posted in Uchuu Kyoudai

Damn you, Space Brothers! Damn you!

Uchuu Kyoudai is a brilliant and amazingly inspiring series, and at the same time it’s completely evil. Now that we’re back on a training mission again, this evil side of its has really shown again, in the form of some of the most addictive cliff-hangers I’ve seen since Giant Killing. The reason why this show is so evil is because it seems to make a sport out of it: how can it make the wait for next week as frustrating as possible?

These past two episodes. They were so chock full of hints for the future of this series. And this series didn’t even attempt to hide them: it’s like: “har har, you’ll only find out about this later!”, with “later” varying from five minutes to 20 episodes. As if the prophecy wasn’t enough already, these episodes just kept referring back to it, fully aware of what they did. Uchuu Kyoudai is a series that’s always looking to the future. And god, I love this series.

The thing also is: every time it hints at something, the eventual pay-off is something different from what it seems at first. This was most obvious with that snake (god damn whoever thought of that), but also Nitta and his brother at the end. I knew he had issues with his brother, but I never expected things to be as serious for him to blow off a survival mission like that. And then there are the little things. Like that shirt. Damn, it’s completely irrelevant, but I want to know what’s on that shirt!
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Chihayafuru – 34 & 35

by psgels, posted in Chihayafuru

Let’s first talk about the story of these two episodes. Most notably, Arata. The creators used him for a story that involved two completely unrelated characters and at the start, I really had to wonder why they had to spend an episode on them. It could have easily be omitted… or so I thought. But even then, it looked like a bit of an odd choice to spend an episode on when you look at just the premise: Arata almost gets into trouble when he breaks the rules. It’s this kind of hijinks side story that is often used to fill up time or something.

But holy crap, the execution. These two episodes were roller-coaster rides. These two episodes just kept going with the mood switches and plot twists that just went completely against my expectations. At the start I really wondered what the heck the creators were thinking with such a random subplot. Then Arata nearly got expelled, and I wondered why on earth the creators would be including this. Wasn’t it in the benefit of everything if he just ended up playing? What are you doing here creating “pointless” extra drama? And then the Queen randomly appeared from out of nowhere, and I understood completely. The climax for that subplo really surprised me, but it paid off incredibly well. And in the meantime it did a brilliant job of fleshing everyone out: Arata’s feelings about not competing in the team matches, the Queen’s feelings over Arata, the headaches that everyone is having with the King. Not to mention how Arata’s shadow has been constantly looming over Chihaya and Satoru.

And then, there was the match against that ultra high-class school. That was pretty much one of the best told karuta matches against gimmick teams. The opponents were really interesting, but what really made it stand out is how it was brought, making clever use of how it appears to lump everyone together, only to do the complete opposite. It’s the kind of match that the team was bound to win due to the other team being completely insignificant, and yet Chihaya’s win just felt so incredibly good. The creators really cleverly just focused on one match: Chihaya’s. At the same time it just casually ignored that she pretty much was the only one in big trouble by the opponents’ playstyle, not to mention that she was up against their best player who really was a complete genius in terms of memorization.

The creators just kept throwing different twists and turns to the match. They gave some good characterization of the guy, Chihaya’s mix of admiration and fear was hilarious, the Queen’s random appearance was also perfectly timed and the moment when there were only six cards left and Chihaya’s strengths started to show: it was glorious.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

From the New World – 23 & 24

by psgels, posted in From the New World

From the New World has been a delight. It has been such a long while since I saw a fantasy series in which the characters were so cunning. From both sides. The past two episodes were all about trying to kill Yakomaru and Satoru and Maria’s child, and the creators realy took a lot into account here. All tactics really are clever. People make mistakes, but they are covered by their allies in order to balance things out and preventing from god-moding everyone. And that lead to some wonderful casualties.

It also helps that every character involved in these two episodes was one that I really liked. Perhaps Satoru was the weakest of the bunch for having the least to write home about, but Saki has been a fantastic main character over the series, bringing a great balance of inventiveness and insecurities. Kiroumaru expecially surprised me in these episodes when he showed where his intentions lied: the survival of his colony, and how he underlined the difference in mindsets between the humans and queerats: the will to give up. Maria and Satoru’s child is an example of a villain with little screentime done right: he has been built up for ages as an incredibly dangreous foe, and time and time again this has been re-established, without making him invincible in the way shounen series do it: impossible to kill aside from someone who is “stronger”.

Also, Shun. The creators brought him back at quite an interesting point in the series. What exactly is he? Is he Saki’s instinct, which she portrays as his memory? Or is there something else going on here? I think that it’s the former, seeing as how this series has been so down to business, and how there have been no hints against the fact that the dead in this series stay dead.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure – 22

by psgels, posted in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

I must say: this fight was AWESOME!

Using chariots definitely was something different from the usual standard fight scene, and the creators spiced it up even more by turning just about everything into a weapon, from conventional crossbows to horses, cannonballs and pillars. The best thing was how it kept using surprise after surprise in order to push the fight forwrad. This isn’t your standard action, this is the action that remains interesting!

It’s going to be a real shame when this series finishes, because it has definitely set the bar really high for the future shounen series. Possibly only Hunter X Hunter should be able to come close to this level of entertainment, but when it comes to series that are purely about fighting…. it will be incredibly difficult to top this.

You can notice how this series was originally a manga: there are tiems when characters are about to hit something, and yet these scenes take ages because some characters need to be able to finish their dialogue (this timing problem stands out much less in manga format). This is something that often irks me, but the creators really managed to be able to solve it with their raw passion and energy here. Also something tells me that the creators here are big fans of Osamu Dezaki…
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Robotics;Notes – 20

by psgels, posted in Robotics;Notes

So, Robotics;Notes. I really appreciated it when you claimed to try and be as realistic as possible. The fruits of that were really visible in this episode’s best parts. However… don’t pull stupid stuff like what you did in other parts of this episode. Those parts didn’t really work.

The worst one was where the life of a young child was saved by… a parrot. Seriously, I could buy the robots perfectly. It’s part of your setting. But don’t randomly introduce superbirds. That just… makes no sense whatsoever without build-up. Beyond that, there were a few plot twists that didn’t sit right with me. This more has to do with personal taste, though:

– First of all, why did Kimijima Kou find it necessary to tell everyone about his evil plans? What point does it make? He could just kill everyone and have things over with. But then again, nobody could anticipate that damned bird…
– Second of all, brainwashing. I do not like the usage of this as a plot device for having characters do things they wouldn’t do on their own. It takes away all of their free will. It’s like saying “screw our differences, I was just brainwashed and I totally agree with you!”
– Third of all: why did you have to wreck a plane for that?
– Fourth of all, why the robot? The villain here is a bit of data. The focus should be on Frau and Kaito as they use some sort of Killballad H4x0rz to get rid of him or something. Why are the robots useful?
Rating: 4.5/8 (Good)

Zetsuen no Tempest – 21

by psgels, posted in Zetsuen no Tempest

Okay. If this isn’t a mindfuck then I don’t know anymore.

I have one question about this episode, but that is for below. First, I just want to praise this series for its absolutely wonderful rendition of Aika, who in two episodes really has become my favorite character of this series, with already an incredibly strong cast. The way she just blew Hakaze away with both her logic and powers was amazing.

In fact, this episode was so damn logical. That she killed herself: it was given the circumstances by far the most logical possible cause for her death, considering that she’s incredibly strong and the complete and utter lack of alternatives. But the reasons why really blew me away. The irony was wonderful: the way in which she decided to kill herself in order to be able to set the story in motion, in order to be able to defeat the tree of Genesis. Time travel is always tricky to write, but I really like what this show did with it. I also really liked the details at the end of the episode: Yoshino running past Hakaze, not knowing what will happen after half a year.

I just wonder: was suicide really the only way? What if Aika did not commit suicide, and instead used her knowledge to make things progress smoother? Could they have stopped the Kusaribe clan? Wouldn’t that have lead to a bigger chance of being able to stop the Tree of Genesis? Or was there some other kind of risk that I didn’t take into account here?
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Psycho Pass – 20

by psgels, posted in Psycho Pass

Aha, a great type of episode so right before the climax of this series: one that nearly entirely consists out of people talking to each other and exploring the ins and outs of the setting here. Discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the Sybil System. With this episode it’s clear that the creators knew full well what kind of flawed system they created with Psycho Pass.

I really liked the atmosphere of this episode, especially at the time where Akane was talking to those canned brains that make up the Sybil System. This episode also revealed that just about every pair of brains there comes from some kind of latent criminal, some of which did even worse things than Makishima Shougo did. That explains why they took an interest in him. It creates this interesting paradox here: when they contribute so much to society, does that make up for their actions when they still had a body?

And I wondered about this many times, but with this episode it’s really clear to me that the lack of security is intentional. Gen really intended this to be a criticism of modern society, and the way in which it’s heading. Having everything done and decided for us makes us lazy. We don’t take any insurances for the worst case scenarios, we don’t think for ourselves.

So this seires will get more epic and all, but there is one point that this episode stressed that I really like about it: destroying the Sybil System isn’t going to solve anything. It’ll just create chaos and nothing more. This is not a case in which we can just kill the evil big bad guy and have things automatically fixed. Also, since Makishima Shougo is far more interesting than your average villain, this is one finale I’d really want to see.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo – 20 & 21

by psgels, posted in Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo

Whoa. This episode hit me hard.

Before watching these two episodes, I had lost a bit of my motivation to keep up with Sakurasou because it seemed to head into the predictable finale direction: love triangle angst with forced drama for Sakurasou closing down. It all sounded so “been there, done that”, and seemed so far away from what made this series so good. And then… Aoyama failed her auditions.

Damn, these two episodes had some bleak themes: with hard work and guts alone you ain’t gonna make it, because there will be enough people who also have that. Just because you put in all of your effort, doesn’t automatically mean you’ll succeed, and both Sorata and Aoyama found this out the hard way. With such an inspirational series, I did not expect this direction, but I also really liked how the creators used Shiina here: All the while, she had been inspiring everyone, and yet here it becomes clear why she pushes everyone away: again her art was the thing that got noticed. And she did land the job incredibly easily. Life is just unfair that way.

The one thing I’m a bit iffy about is the plot with Sakurasou closing down and all, but even there this series makes very good points: so what if it’s closed down? You can always find other housing. The main problem underlying here is that people are trying to foce Shiina to give up her ambitions.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

AKB0048 – 21 & 22

by psgels, posted in AKB0048

I’ve often noticed that series can get a bit boring when they tend to get more epic. I think that that’s what happened to me for AKB0048. The biggest reason is that it started off so original and different, but there are only so many ways in which you can deliver an epic action scene. Also, these two episodes did not have what originally made me like AKB0048 so much: the way in which it had such a critical eye for the idol business. I originally thought that this would not matter, but its absence does show in these two episodes..

I did like how the focus on this episode went to the center novas, and what happened to them, especially the photographer who went over to the dark side in order to attempt to get the best friend back, not to mention the way in which the Yuuko just blew up with her performance. That’s the kind of change that I did appreciate. The character development for the good guys in this episode was good.

DES though… are pretty lame villains. They are the kind of villains who are willing to destroy entire cities for the sake of progression. On its own not really bad, but we’ve seen these villains so many times before. They’re not fleshed out in the slightest. There’s nothing that makes them stand out, there’s no depth to them. That’s not really the best group of antagonists to feel sorry for.
Rating: 4,5/8 (Good)

Chihayafuru – 33

by psgels, posted in Chihayafuru

Holy crap, that cliff-hanter! I was all set to type up about this episode’s use of foreigners, but first I just have to say that that caught me completely by surprise. Right from out of nowhere the end of this episode foreshadows so many things that we’ve been looking forward to: ARata seeing Chihaya again was already great. But for the Queen to also appear. Awesome.

Anyway, as for the foreigners, I see what you did there, Chihayafuru. First you made yourself seem like you had these horribly voiced foreigners with horrible Engirsh, only to reveal that they were raised in Japan for their lives. Instead this episode touched a bit upon their alienation as foreigners, and how they’re doomed to stand out in the xemophobic Japan. It worked well. Aside from the black guy perhaps. He just looked silly.

But yeah, the first match in a tournament is usually just the one that we breeze through and who hardly pose a challenge. It’s predictable, and this was an interesting way to fill it up: show people with a passion for Karuta, but who aren’t bothered with being competitive. They’re just doing this for fun and because they enjoy it.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)