Zetsuen no Tempest – 16

by psgels, posted in Zetsuen no Tempest

The past few episodes were weird in how they suddenly focused so much on Hakaze’s crush on Yoshino. Compared to the first half of this show, it contrasted completely: here we have this serious series full of mind-screws and world-shattering conflicts… that gets followed by a happy romance story. This episode I think forms the conclusion to that.

Hakaze once again was hilarious, but this episode carried it even further. It showed how Yoshino indirectly used Hakaze’s powers because she was worried about him. From the outside this looks like a cheesy scene, but there is something that just does not add up: Yoshino is no idiot.

I love how, even though he’s the main character, we are not allowed to fully look into Yoshino’s head. The way he used the chain in order to slide to the other side, and just “ran” into that easily avoidable burning building… it’s like he was asking to be saved with magic or something. So we’re now at the point at which a person like him has full control over the end of the world. Hakaze confessed her feelings and will now be very, very heavily influenced by his actions. Oh boy. The question is now: was this on purpose? This show is evil enough to not give any confirmation or denial about this.

There are two series that are referencing classical literature this season: Psycho Pass and Zetsuen no Tempest. They both use it as symbolism, but in completely different ways. Psycho Pass occasionally mentions a classic and compares its own setting to it. Zetsuen no Tempest meanwhile is all about Hamlet and Tempest, using this symbolism to show the difference and similarities between the two works.

Also some really good animator was working on the scene where Yoshino rescued that child. Lots of creative movements!
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Psycho Pass – 15

by psgels, posted in Psycho Pass

It’s getting more and more clear what the creators wanted to show with the setting of Psycho Pass. It’s not just that they wanted to show that a society based on the Sybil System would work. That was just a method to get to what it really wanted to show: a society that has not known crime for a for a long time. And what if those people were suddenly handed the means to get away with crimes?

This once again was a very good episode. The animation for example had some very interesting shots, in which you could actually see the depth of the character-designs. This is quite hard to do in HD, but this episode was full of those scenes here.

I also really like Makishima’s long dialogues as he explores the flaws of the Sybil system and talks with others about it. On top of recommending a few good books (quite good to see so many interesting references here to compare this setting with), I like his conviction to see what lies at the center of the Sybil system, and I can understand why people want to follow him. I don’t often have that with nameless goons from an evil organization (yeah, the main villain may be a psychopath for wanting to destroy the world, but who in their right mind is going to follow them?).

What surprises me: how little police there is in this city. I mean, the engineers behind the Sybil System made a number of really big mistakes. Security through obscurity is another one: it is the belief that as long as you don’t tell anyone what your system looks like. That works fine, until someone actually finds this out. The police has been decimated, to the point where the people in charge believed that they weren’t necessary except for the extreme cases.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

From the New World – 18

by psgels, posted in From the New World

This really was an episode with some awesome animators. Especially the big fight scenes looked gorgeous and very artistic. The budget of this series has not been as big as its first half, which is quite common for series, but what I love is that the creators still are trying to make it look really nice.

As for the content… I did not expect an all-out war at this point. At all. Perhaps near the end of the series, but I did not expect the main focus of the third arc to be the war between the humans and queerats. Yakomaru so far has been unpleasant, but with this he actually attacked the humans with all sorts of dirty tactics. The weirdest of one is that they now have human allies that can use Cantus.

I wonder… was the first arc the catalyst for this? I mean, the queerats probably caught some snail or something, but did Yakomaru realize with the young Saki and Satoru that the “gods” were mere mortals? I mean, something happened. It’s not normal for the queerats to make such a progression. The question is whether Saki instigated it, or whether she was merely unlucky enough to end up in the center of it all.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Some Quick First Impressions: Doki Doki Precure!

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Dokidoki Precure

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to be a mahou shoujo.
My big issue with Precure: there is so much of it! I’m not going to devote so much time to it, unless it’s really good, like what happened to Heartcatch Precure. Now, did Dokidoki’s first episode reach the same level as Heartcatch’s first episode? No. For me it lacks the fresh emotional touch and the energy that I noticed there. However, I am positive about this episode and it stands out among the better ones. For once, the lead female is not a ditzy airhead anymore (seriously, there were too many characters in precure like that…). Okay, she still is incredibly naive, but her resourcefulness at least is a start! If I have to be honest though, with the current execution, I do not think that I will continue with this series. I miss emotions. I miss some passion. The characters may develop well, but I do not want to be bored while waiting for that. The current pacing… I think that I will get bored.
OP: Not the worst, but also not that good of an OP.
ED: You’re still not done with those crappy CG dance EDs?
Potential: 50%

Uchuu Kyoudai – 43

by psgels, posted in Uchuu Kyoudai

At the start of the episode, Hibito only had 8 minutes of oxygen left. The oxygen ran out at the 17 minute mark. Substracting from that the 3 minutes of recap and opening, about five minutes of a flashback. And then you come awfully close to going through the actual time that Hibito went through. In real time! That was bloody intense.

I really thought that the creators would end up killing off Hibito, but the build-up was perfect: his rescue is very believable in the end. In the end what saved him was that one of the buggies was nearby. The creators pulled a few tricks, but having the Brian arrive at the last moment… thanks to all that build-up it got away with it.

The detail I probably loved the most here was the way in which there is no wind on the moon, so tracks don’t get erased. I mean, the last episode was great because we got to see a souvenir that Brian Jay left. This time though, we also got to see his footprints that brought him there. It’s a small detail, but so powerful, considering that he died afterwards.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure – 17

by psgels, posted in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

Warning! Warning! Some people notified me in the shoutbox about this, and I’d like to say it here as well: apparently the next episode preview for this episode contains a massive spoiler. Avoid it at all costs.

Now, about this episode, it reminded me again why this show is completely crazy. Villains in shounen series that are really hard to kill are a staple. Regeneration and stuff. I’ve never seen it done so well as with this series, though. This series shows exactly how tough it is in order to kill these buggers, and these invincible people make optimal use of their bodies now that they have these powers. Holy crap, a guy attacking with his tendrils that contain superheated blood?!

AC/DC is… quite a character. He’s just the same as Jojo in how he’s cunningly thinking all ahead. Not to mention his over the top acting that was hilarious. I loved how he cried like a baby over his lost arm. His voice actor is also perfect for this role. Having him reduced to a brain at the end of this episode… this will be glorious…
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo – 16

by psgels, posted in Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo

The sister… she has returned. Thanfully, thankfully her role seems to change. This was the first time in which she really abandoned her role of “cheap siscon” and instead just as a normal sister who gets to encourage her brother. Thank you for finally going there, Sakurasou. Having a sister like that is fine. Just cut the romantic hints and you would have had a good character from the start.

Beyond that, Shina was hilarious again, Misaki was hilarious as the bullfrog, and Sorata’s presentation was well done: he didn’t exactly make it, but he got his foot inbetween the door. It’s indeed unrealistic to believe that things just go right, right from one presentation. Still, he was given a chance. And I thin kthat with Shiina’s talent as an artist, he might actually get there.

Beyond that, this episode was just lots of slice of life. In fact, when the episode ended I was surprised that was already over, considering how little had happened. And then I thought back and realized that a lot had actually happened, it was just nearly all small scenes that were meent to build characters. Perhaps not the best that this series has shown so far, but still really good.

Oh yeah, valentine’s day is coming…
Rating: 5/8 (Great)16

AKB0048 – 18

by psgels, posted in AKB0048

Once while zapping, in a lazy mood, I saw one of those model talent hunt shows which required its models to bungee jump. I can only imagine that this episode meant to poke fun at that completely silly and pointless practice with the end of this episode, otherwise I cannot fathom the bizarre set-up of having a gigantic hole with at the bottom a giant power-off switch. Nor why DES mechanics have a wide availability of bungee jump cords available… or perhaps…

What’s interesting is that this episode revealed this series to be one giant joke. Des has been profiting from AKB0048 just as well, and it’s using its entertainment ban and offensive actions to make huge amounts of cash, not to mention that apparently they’re very interested in Kiraras. Because of that, this it explains why they never really were able to take out AKB0048: because they never tried. The question now remains how much of this show ended up scripted. Knowing Mari Okada… yeah.

In the meantime, more character-development, this time for the useless one. It showed that yeah, being useless also has its charm, especially when something pays off. The character-development for the rest of the cast also showed because of this: they were able to goow up and become more dependable. I mean just look at them: they just ran in and grabbed a bunch of machine guns and started shooting stuff… yeah. It’s not like my suspense of disbelief was still in one piece for this series. I do appreciate however that they completely failed at driving a mecha. In the context of that scene it worked well. They didn’t need to drive it accurately, it just needed to make a big mess. Which it did. DES probably left the keys in on purpose or something…
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

AKB0048 – 17

by psgels, posted in AKB0048

Now this was a tear-fest! An entire episode dedicated to the general elections. There were just so many heightened emotions as everyone got announced and had to make an acceptance speech. The creators stuffed in as much emotion as possible here. That’s the advantage of having a big cast: you really can pull off episodes like this and make it very interesting to watch. With a main cast of five people this would never have been possible.

Chieri was probably the only one who went a little over the top. It’s okay with being over the top, and I know that she was very emotionally distressed there, but to have her make the speech as if she were having an orgasm… that’s not really the right way to do it. The point that the creators wanted to make with her: that she accepted her own position for the sake of standing in the spotlights despite feeling bad about it. It would have worked so much better with a bit more subtlety on it.

Beyond that though, this really had the amount of happiness and emotion. The main characters who really were glad to have made it rocked (number one and number two, after all of the build up together worked really well). But also the small scenes with some of the minor characters worked. Characters who may in the past have had only a few moments were developed here. Everyone acted so differently here, a great way to flesh them out.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Chihayafuru – 29

by psgels, posted in Chihayafuru

This was one of those episodes that really caught my attention. It played with a common trope in fiction: the Underdog. With these kinds of competitive series, the underdog is a lot of times the focus: the people who you would not expect to win, yet prove to be surprisingly skillful. They’re very often main characters.

In Chihayafuru though, the characters aren’t underdogs. Perhaps the juniors, but all of the seniors have this undoubted talent, and stand out like they will get very far. And in this episode, they had to fight a group of underdogs. A group of players who only started recently, and yet who made a a huge improvement thanks to a very passionate coach who has regrets over never reaching his own goals.

And I love how they gave the cast a challenge, especially Taichi had a difficult time, and his opponent would have fitted perfectly in any underdog team. I also lvoe the way they were announced: completely out of left field. Taichi has always had his problems, but this was a big moment for him to realize that he thinks too much. In this way he really needs to take an example of Chihaya, whose entire mind is filled with nothing but Karuta. In that area, they really are the complete opposites.

One detail I really loved: Taichi finally dares to ask for a towel, and Chihaya immediately leaps over Tsutomu to give him one. No dialogue, no animation even. The creators just kept focusing on the same shot for what felt like ages. That was simple, but made a ton of impact.

Beyond that this episode also showed how important good readers are in order to keep people on their focus: a different rythm must make things more difficult for the seasoned player who is always used to the same timing.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)