Psycho Pass – 13

by psgels, posted in Psycho Pass

Now this episode marks the time for Psycho pass to take a more in-depth look at its setting. In the first half we got to see what it’s like to live in this society, and now this series really starts to question it, and it does so in quite an interesting way. It’s not like the Sybil system is currently evil now, this episode looked at it from quite a few different angles and perspectives. I really liked that.

Nobody in this episode actively questioned the Sybil system, yet everyone talked to each other as if they did, to try and reassure each other. Akane in particular did bother her time to question that system, but rather actively challenged her emotions by reliving her memories, going along with the system. In this episode she was shown that her crime coefficient does not rise really high, but in the end, what does this mean really? She is a great asset to the flawed Sybil system.

Also, take note: this episode had a small bit that played at the end of the ED, which is rather important. In this episode we’re introduced to who is probably the one who manages the enforcers and the entire police. I already like her character: I like her dialogue and how she is trying to manage the Sybil system without things going out of control. And at the end of the episode a connection between her and Makishima was revealed, which should hint that her hidden agenda could become really interesting for the next few episodes.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Robotics;Notes – 13

by psgels, posted in Robotics;Notes

Ah, and some more of the different storylines are starting to connect more closely. This episode reaffirmed that the bad guys in this series were basically trying to annihilate the entire world, but this episode showed that the final episode of Gunvarrel contained quite a number of big hints that these plans were in the works. So yeah, Frau’s mother knew what was going on, and tried to stop it, using the same kind of subtle messages that that dead guy whose name I forgot has been showing. My guess is that he knew what happened to Gunvarrel, and tried to be even more secretive, hence why these hints were even more obscure.

The solar storm thing by the way is something that really shows that this is from the same creators of Steins;Gate: the world won’t be destroyed because some giant thingy of doom will explode, no: it put some extensive background into why this will happen with the magnetic storms. It found quite a clever way to put these in by not fully having the characters explain what would happen, but to show a file containing the details. This will be something that you need to pause your browser for in order to fully understand, but I find it a very nice addition there.

Also things just got real here. The solar storms happened at the end of this episode. What I didn’t expect was that at this stage, this series would ask even more questions: which bugger managed to hack into Frau’s twitter account? It probably has to do with the cheater subplot, which will probably get a lot clearer in the next few weeks. I actually like that a lot: the series has managed to balance all of its different subplots quite well. Probably the only one who doesn’t really fit is Subaru: what’s his point in this series? He hasn’t really done anything major, other than help a bit with the robot building.

Oh, and I just realized: the solar storms and the robot building are of course linked to each other because it’s the solar storms that will make all robots go out of control. Next question: why is the main robot of this series special here?

Al for the characters, Frau went through a lot here, even to suicide attempts, although it seems that she was stopped just in time. We also finally got to see her younger version, which always is a great way to flesh out a character. It’s clear that the second half of this season will be a lot heavier in terms of drama, and yeah: with Frau the creators again did a very good job.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo – 14

by psgels, posted in Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo

Whoa! The writing in this episode was even better than usual. It was to the point that the episode felt like it took much longer than the usual twenty minutes, so much did the creators manage to put into it, and the creators managed to significantly develop three major relationships at the same time.

The thing with this episode was not necessarily the characters hooking up: all of it had it coming from miles ago. It’s just… the characters just kept talking. And talking. About their feelings, about the feelings of others, about what to do, what they’re struggling with, and it was all in great detail. It’s probably something personal (in real life I’m also very occupied with these kinds of issues at the moment), but it really hit home, and it was quite thought-provoking for me. This all was with great voice-acting so I really loved this episode.

What I do hope for the next couple of episodes, is that Nanami will find her own guy, instead of sticking with Sorata. At this point she has to notice that it’s not going to work for her. I know that the love triangle will make for some easier drama, but it’s so much more interesting if she also manages to find someone for her own. Her role has been second choice for the enire series, only saved by her good characterization, but this episode really showed that she has an excellent character, who really feels a bit wasted in her current role.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Magi – 14

by psgels, posted in Magi

Magi uses its three main characters in an interesting way: episodes in which all three of them are active are quite rare. First they all travelled separately, then Aladdin lost consciousness for an entire month. It’s quite interesting, actually.

Now, as for this episode… the politics… Alibaba sure came with some ridiculous ideas. It was definitely creative, though and I have to say that I did not expect this. If the rest of this series will focus on turning Balbadd into a democracy and the challenges that come into its way, it’s going to make for a pretty interesting conclusion.

Having said that though, there is one thing I realized this episode: Magi is a series based on middle eastern folklore, based on modern ideals. The slavery already was one hint for this: sure, it’s something terrible and all, but back in those days people just found it normal, and were more preoccupied with their own survival. Then this episode with Alibaba’s sudden decision to turn an entire monarchy into a republic overnight. It is that this series suddenly revealed that there are other republics in this world, but still: it just does scream “freedom! equality for all”. Idealistic and inspiring indeed, but historically accurate? Err… Not to mention breaking off an arranged marriage in those days. I’m not saying that this was bad or anything, though it did catch my attention.
Rating: 4/8 (Good)

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure – 14

by psgels, posted in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

How big is the soundtrack of this series anyway? This episode added italian flavours, and better middle eastern flavours than what Magi has been dealing to us. And in the meantime I just keep hearing more tracks I haven’t heard before. Also, is it just me or did this episode bring in yet another ED? Seriously, the producers from David Production… I love these guys.

Anyway, this epiode was meant to introduce a whole bunch of characters: the main antagonists (for real this time…. right?) and we finally get to see the guy who has been appearing all over the promotional material in this series: Zeppeli’s grandson. The latter especially was done with that great sense of humour, and I loved how it used the ripple for all kinds of bizarre effects, from slinging spaghetti to putting a dove in a woman’s mouth. Especially the latter…. how do you think of it?

And yeah, the creators did a good job of making the three new villains even worse than the previous one, making them look like a walk in the park in comparison. The trick will now be to keep up the momentum. My biggest fear is that they lack the humour that some of the other characters in this series have, because of how crazy the jokes here… it’s a large part of why this show is so incredibly entertaining now. They need to be more than just another stronger version of the same bad guys.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Uchuu Kyoudai – 40

by psgels, posted in Uchuu Kyoudai

I had been spoiled about the cliff-hanger of this episode (seriously, try to keep things like that out of the shoutbox; you know who you are…), but neverthelesss. : what an episode. And to think: this airs on sunday morning. Think of all the traumatized kids here. I mean, nobody died yet, but still, this was heavy stuff here. Also, an entire episode in which Mutta didn’t appear.

Here, you can really see the benefit of realism. You have series in which characters have all their bones in their bodies broken, limbs cut off, or cough up blood like crazy. But in this series, you really fear for the characters’ lives due to how meticulous it has been in portraying its characters: they feel real, making any danger to them so much more tangible. Especially since this episode also was a big chunk of atmosphere of Hibito trying to save both himself and his partner, all the while that this episode kept dropping hints that his oxygen tank was about to burst.

And it did, while both of them were still far from being saved. Heck, how long is Hibito going to be able to survive like this? And this brings me back to an awful feeling that I’ve had since this series took so much time into building up Hibito’s launch. I originally thought that something would just go wrong there, but heck. Are the creators seriously planning to kill off Hibito? Holy crap man. I mean, I can see the creators actually go through with that with all of the build-up they’ve done!

And I’m already going to give a warning for next week: really try to keep spoilers to a minimum there. Something tells me that that is an episode you do not want to be spoiled about…
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

From the New World – 15

by psgels, posted in From the New World

And with this episode, we come back to squealer. The Queerat with a surprising intelligence. This episode confirms it: he’s not exactly evil, but he is clearly trying to use the gods for his own gain here. I actually really like his character, and how he’s this guy who on one hand can’t be trusted, yet on the other hand is very useful.

But this episode came with another very interesting revelation here: the queerats are trying to copy human culture. Like, the culture the humans left behind when they started getting the cantus. This episode showed this even more, by showing exactly how much of these queerats there are in one colony (tens of thousands), and by throwing some traditional Japanese armour on them. It might very well be possible that Squealer also caught one of those snails, and if he did, the information he got out of it could prove to be very dangerous. Like, this episode was only the tip of the iceberg. Note that he talked about colonies he “merged with”. Something tells me that he just captured them by force.

Also, the queen story becomes more shocking again. It’s like this bizarre combination between an insect society and a human one. With ants for example the queen also never leaves the nest again, but this really takes it a step further when she’s forcefully kept alive, just to produce offspring. It’s a huge moral dilemma: she’s needed because she is the only one who produces children, but in the meantime she also attaks and kills everyone.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

AKB0048 – 15

by psgels, posted in AKB0048

Now that we’ve got the obligatory string of first episodes out of the way, it’s time to focus on what really matters this season. I still say that the Winter of 2013 sucks, because in terms of original content there is very little that stands out, not to mention the lack of variety. In the end, for anime to move forward, this is the most important for a season overall, otherwise we’ll just get stuck in a string of endless sequels.

Nevertheless, there is a lot of great stuff in store the upcoming three months: the amount of sequels and continuing series that will all stand out on their own way is amazing here. It’s been a while since I’ve seen so many of them at the same time that managed to impress me like this. And this is series that all deserve their length they need to become even better, rather than being just some corporate sell-out. That’s the theme between the 10 series I’m blogging this season anyway: no pointless padding!

Anyway, AKB. This time we’re introduced to the the absolute horror. The thing that’s even worse than watching a bunch of idols: VARIETY TV! I really hate those kinds of shows. In the Netherlands they are already utter crap, but I can only imagine how boring they must be with Japan’s standards. So yeah, when this show started to poke fun at them inbetween the lines, it did make my day. First the characters being utter crap at it, and afterwards them succeeding by doing what? Having fun at dodgeball and losing their clothes? Speaking of which, Mimori has turned even more into a walking boob joke. Go fix that in the upcoming episodes.

Inbetween the promotional activities, there also was this plot going on. Most important twists here revolved around Chieri, and how she suddenly became incredibly popular after last week. And yeah, the reason behind this was pretty much her backstory: she made the news, on top of being a famous daugher. Because of that she caught the attention of a lot of people. Her speech did the rest. The question now is what her father is planning: he’s obviously trying to use her popularity now, but what for?
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Jormungand Perfect Order Review – 84/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

I have been putting this one off for way too long, but that’s not because I was looking up to reviewing it. Rather there was so much coming out that I instead wanted to cover, but I guess that I’d just wrap up this sequel that really improved a lot over its original series. The key for that was its plot, for once.

The first Jormungand series really was a build-up series: it’s there to introduce the characters, get the viewers a bit used to the world and concepts of this series. It could have done this better though, because it was too monotone, both in terms of stories and characters. Perfect Order drops the random stories, and instead is much more coherent, not to mention varied in both terms of content and characters.

The improvements first become visible with the characters. The first season was flawed because it had too many characters who were trying too hard to be snarky. The second season then commences to both introduce characters with significantly different personalities, as well as develop the current cast to go beyond their snarky self. Suddenly, a cast that was once bland sparkles with personality, just as I hoped.

The plot takes a while longer to show its trumps, but in the end, it actually does pay off with a number of really good plot twists. Not going to say when they show up, but let’s just say that the characters were preparing for a certain events for a very long while. It really impressed me in any case.

This is not one of those cases in which all of the build-up comes together, though: the plot twists themselves are really good, but the first season’s random stories remain rather… random, and just could have been done better. It’s really the writing that improved so much, but Jormungand as a whole is not a series that is perfectly paced or told, not to mention that even though the setting for this series is very original (taking place over the whole world and not just Japan, America and Europe), it just doesn’t feel real or relatable. There remain a few too many one-dimensional characters in this series, despite the added variety. Nevertheless though: very solid show. Including an awesome soundtrack.

Storytelling: 8.5/10 – Big improvement: things feel much more solid and coherent and it finally starts building up to something, with a great payoff.
Characters: 8.5/10 – A varied cast, that really shines in comparison to the bland cast of the first season.
Production-Values: 8.5/10 – Solid animation, but what really stands out here is the soundtrack. Again a big improvement in how it’s used.
Setting: 8/10 – Nice choice of locations, but it doesn’t make enough of an impact for a higher rating.

Suggestions:
– Black Lagoon
– Irresponsible Captain Tylor
– Seikai no Senki

Psycho Pass – 12

by psgels, posted in Psycho Pass

Interestingly, Psycho Pass had the same idea for episode 12 as Robotics;Notes: develop a side-character. Overall, this always is the episode for side stories: right after the big halfway climax. Psycho Pass’ case is interesting, because of how little the character in question showed of herself before that episode. She was just there, but with this episode, Yayoi got a character.

Dead people are often glorified in these kinds of series, but here is one who actually turned out to be quite an asshole when you learn who he actually was. Or at the very least he is incredibly rash. Beyond being about Yayoi, the rest of the older cast also got some interesting details added to them.

I found it quite strange that all of the latent criminals were just lumped together like that. Yayoi for example still could think quite clearly, but she was put together with people who had very obviously lost it. Or was that meant to show how she was special? That she was one of the few people who did not go crazy from being locked up for so long, being denied her artistic expressions?

Artistic expression is one of the surprising themes of Psycho Pass, by the way. It’s almost as if there is no normal art to be found and instead it seems like this show hates artists. Or more precisely: the Sybil system hates artists. In this series, you’ve got the psychopaths, like with the murdered schoolgirls, but the other artists are labelled as liberalists and freedom fighters. I can’t believe I’m spotting similar themes as AKB0048 here…

Also, the new OP: I liked the old one better. Mostly because of the dull vocals that you hear everywhere else in rock-songs. The ED is similar: quite generic, in my opinion. Although it does have some nice visual ideas.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)