Little Busters – 06

by psgels, posted in Little Busters

So in the end, Komari: a girl who couldn’t get over the death of her brother. As someone who tends to prefer characters with… at least a bit of independence, I do feel a bit let down. At least Fuuko and the Uguu girl had their reasons for having the minds of five year olds. Setting therapy aside, I really find her to be the most annoying Key character I have seen.

And yet, I actually really liked the rest of the cast in this episode. Riki was the only one who really was able to do anything, but I really liked the way in which everyone supported him. I also quite liked Riki as he tried to get Komari back on her feet. The story is here so simple that yeah, Komari did need to just get hit on the head a few times, so I liked their idea to do this with another picture book, and even though Riki was just terrible at drawing, I like how he still went through with it. That’s for me the biggest difference between the beginning of this series and Kanon: the Uguu girl also was annoying, but beyond that it didn’t have much else that caught my attention, making it a lot less bearable for me to watch.

I expected more from gramps, though. In the end he was also partially responsible for Komari ending up the way she did because he refused to help her, instead just staying away from her. He’s an important person in her life, and yet he just abandoned her under the pretext that she’d cry when he’d die. Well, in that case I’d better stop making friends if all I’m going to do is make people cry when I eventually pass on. This guy needs to be healed too here. Does he also have his own arc? I’d love to see that actually.
Rating: 4.5/8 (Good)

From the New World – 07

by psgels, posted in From the New World

This episode ends the first major part of this series. Where last week left us off with a very bleak cliff-hanger, this time was not as bleak as allied reinforcements arrived. Instead this episode was chock full of hints of how badly things can go wrong. Since we’re only at episode seven, there is plenty of time for the creators to live up to that.

What really struck me in this episode was how Saki and Satoru had to keep trying to look like gods: if they gave up or showed signs of weakness, they’d immediately lose their advantage in the battle, causing them to get killed off really easily. Then there was the threat of the Hornet colony, which really made a presence of being dangerous this episode. Squealer in particular was really good at only enlarging this feeling with his fidgety acting, on top of nearly betraying them once. Something tells me that we’re going to see more of him.

And then there was that scene in which all those larvae were captured. I mean, there have been many series about war and all, but I can’t recall one showing such a bleak picture, in which basically thousands of babies were taken hostage ON SCREEN, pretty much doomed for slavery for their entire lives. There have been enough series that implied this. But has it ever been shown so clearly?
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

K – 06

by psgels, posted in K

We’re nearly at the halfway point of this show and it’s time to bring in the background episode: the episode that shows who it was that Yashiro supposedly killed. It was a strange guy who liked to try out a lot of different things, hung around with thugs, even though he wasn’t one himself and who was also very charismatic to boot. This episode seemed to hint that at one point he split in two, with Yashiro being his other half, who afterwards just lost his memory. What the cat has to do with this… I have no idea.

Again, this episode was neat, but again I feel like the creators could have done more with this. It’s all very straight forward, and none of the characters really stands out or sets himself apart. What I liked best was Yashiro this episode as he realized that his memory was fake, but even that was a bit monotone.

Oh, and I still quite like the detail that the creators put in their environment. The backgrounds in this series are probably rendered photos, but they still look gorgeous. Plus, you can see that the creators of this show like food quite a bit, with all of the details they put into the different kinds of food that the characters eat. Whether this will be enough for this series though… I’m not sure.
Rating: 4/8 (Nice)

Robotics;Notes – 05

by psgels, posted in Robotics;Notes

This episode really reminded me of Sword Art Online, and how much better the execution of this show is. The big difference is that Robotics Notes isn’t all about wish fulfillment: the male lead can normally interact with girls without romantic hints being dropped over and over. The AI that appears actually acts a bit believably as an AI, instead of having a ridiculously contribed backstory, and the girls do no revolve around the main guy at all. That alone made this episode very refreshing to watch.

But there is more: as a big mystery-fan, I loved the second half of this episode when it started focusing on this. Where did that AI come from? What makes her so special in a series that’s actually about robots? Who made that prediction, and why did he know the exact times when the solar storms would happen? Why did this Kimjima Kou know Mizuka?

Also, Steins;Gate turned Cern into an evil organization. This show seems to do that with NASA and JAXA. I also like that they used their real names this time. I like this back-story as an added intrigue. The pacing of this show is slow, but it does add in quite some significant new stuff with every episode.

What I also liked what this episode did, was how it focused on the world itself: with beached whales, and talking about the wheather around the world. They’re small details, but these bring life to this series.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure – 06

by psgels, posted in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

After watching this series, so much has suddenly become clear. The influence that this series has had is unmistakable on some other series. Perhaps there has never been another series like it, but I really recognize its “anything can be awesome”-mentality. For example, something tells me that Death Note’s chips-eating scene took some of its inspiration from this series.

In the second half of this episode, it showed that even something as simple as opening a door can have impact if you just put enough passion into it. That scene was amazing due to all of the build-up it has gotten, and how badly everyone wanted to open that door (“Let me try to punch this iron door in!”), and how it caused Poco to do something.

Then there were things like turning a bunch of leaves in a large magnetic hang glider. Just… how did these guys think of this? I also love the ridiculously overblown symbolism, like when Bruford was defeated and suddenly flowers started growing around him. When pulled half-heartedly, this can get so incredibly cheesy, but here it just becomes awesome, especially accompanied by Speedwagon’s overly emotional and elaborate ways to state the obvious.

Though turning luck into pluck… that is one of the most bizarre uses of Engrish I’ve seen in a while…
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Psycho Pass – 05

by psgels, posted in Psycho Pass

You know? Psycho Pass is very good at using its build-up. This arc was rather strange at times, but what I really liked was the climax of this episode in which the villain of this arc was apprehended. The directing there was really good, the music rocked, and everything came together. Of course it got quite surreal in a way that wasn’t for everyone, but I liked how creative it was (also, that use of alcohol rocked).

I also liked how this episode went much more in-depth into the existance of online idols. Last week we were introduced to the concepts, but this time showed much more details, and what it means to be an online celebrity. The scriptwriter also really liked to quote famous philosophers in this episode. It also made me wonder: if someone killed me, and still kept posting at the same rate that I do… would people notice?

This also showed a bit more about the world of Psycho Pass: the world here seems to have its own method of determining psychological coefficients, but not optimal search algorythms: people still need to search smartly if they want to find something, because there is so much information. On the other hand, Holograms have gotten to such an advance state that even a computer can’t tell the difference; that, or there are tricks to fool the visual sensors for the computers (which is why everything looked so trippy).
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Zetsuen no Tempest – 06

by psgels, posted in Zetsuen no Tempest

This is the episode where Zetsuen no Tempest set itself apart. It already had hints before that its story was very different from the usual, but here this really paid off when suddenly everything is turned upside down.

I mean, before it just seemed that there were a bunch of parties that were all acting independantly. This episode revealed so much connections between the different characters, and all of those connections are different. This episode was full of all sorts of bonds, from alliances to truces; I really liked the diversity.

Especially Mahiro impressed me in this episode, though. His mistrust of Yoshino, combined with how Yoshino seems to trust him completely worked really well in this episode, especially combining the tensions with Aika. It’s an interesting episode to reveal that the two of them were more than just siblings. And as much as I’d like to pull the hate card for doing the not blood-related thing again, they actually chose that relationship themselves, rather than making it some contrived excuse to have incest.

Also, Hakaze actually being the one more likely to destroy the world. Nice twist.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excelllent)

Little Busters – 05

by psgels, posted in Little Busters

Ah, screw Sword Art Online. I’m still going to watch and finish it, but there is no point in blogging it anymore. I actually really liked the first half, but the entire set-up of the second half is just wrong. There is no way the creators are going to be able to make up for that. I’d rather focus my limited time on something else. Now, why that something else turned out to be Little Busters of all things probably needs some explanation.

– The best Autumn 2012 show that I’m not currently blogging is pretty much Jormungand. I really support what that series is trying to do and if you got through the first season, I do urge you to check out the second. I just don’t have any inspiration to write a full entry about it. I noticed that when writing about its first season.
– Saint Seiya Omega unfortunately has gotten much worse again with its second half, introducing a sting of no less than TWELVE over the top battles against all odds against golden saints that will probably only get good near the end again. It’s pointless to blog it at this point.
– Sukitte Ii na Yo is also pretty good, but it comes off a tad forced at times. It’s good, but when characters come with their past it feels like the creators are running down a checklist instead of genuinely try to tell a story.
– The best other alternative would be Btooom: short and sweet suspense. In the case of that series though, I think it lacks depth, and probably isn’t going to get much with just 1 cour. Not to mention that an analysis of the fight scenes would just devolve into a string of complaints about the bad physics.

Now, Little Busters has its problems. DEAR GOD, it has problems. However, I do have a few reasons why I want to blog it, which I’ll get to below. To summarize though: its five opening episodes are better than the first five opening episodes of Kanon, and worse for Angel Beats, Air and Clannad. Still, it has something.

This is pretty much my mindset while watching an episode of Little Busters: “HATE HATE HATE HATE hate hate HATE HATE hate… oh this is actually pretty good… this is surprisingly good, whoa”. And this not in the way in which other bad or dull shows have a few redeeming moments: while those moments are enjoyable, they usually don’t succeed in removing my annoyance with the series by being dull or still not doing anything significant. I remember how Guilty Crown had one good episode. Well, whoop-tee-doo, it didn’t make up for the rest of the show. Little Busters actually succeeds in this. I’ve blogged a number of other series that were clearly flawed, but had enough to make up for them (Zetman, Deadman Wonderland), and to be honest, I want to give a more nuanced view over this series. I do feel like it has been getting too much negative reactions because there are enough things to like about it, and I want to highlight this series from a different perspective.

Yeah, so what if Kyoani doesn’t animate this. I actually don’t consider them to be that much better than JC Staff to be honest. Yeah sure, their animation is better, but they also keep making shows I’m not interested in. JC Staff also has these series, but they also make plenty of interesting shows, on top of shows that sound cliched, but are surprisingly well executed (Kimi to Boku, Milky Holmes, Yumekui Merry, Kamisama no Memo-Chou, Otome Youkai Zakuro, Aoi Hana, Nodame Cantabile, etc).

Now, the worst part of Little Busters BY FAR is the voice acting. I managed to get used to all of the characters by now, except for ONE: Komari. Dear god, she is annoying. Every time she opens her mouth something horrible comes out. And it doesn’t help that she’s trying to be incredibly ditzy and klutzy. This girl. Who the heck thought that that voice would fit her well!?

Now, with the key visual novel adaptations, the worst characters also get their arcs in first, and that very much is the case here. Nanami indeed is the worst key character so far, although she still is not without her merits: her story is at least more interesting than Kanon’s Uguu-girl, the previous holder of this title. The people around her: I find them actually very interesting, that missing brother and the grandfather, to the point where they actually make up for her annoyingness.

What also is a huge plus for this series: the chemistry between the characters. That is something of a pet peeves of mine: if the chemistry is good, then I can let a lot of things slide because I’m enjoying myself. And it’s not like this show is particularly funny or anything, but the side-characters all feel genuine. The cast is also quite large and full of interesting characters that aren’t just girls, unlike what you’d expect from other visual novels. The chemistry in this series is not of the kind that is immediately enjoyable, but the kind that makes me go “that was actually pretty fun” afterwards. I like this effect a lot actually, and for that, plus the promise that this series has for its future episodes makes me want to blog it.

But dear lord… I do hope that upcoming Winter will be a small season…
Rating: 4/8 (Nice)

Kamisama Hajimemashita – 06

by psgels, posted in Kamisama Hajimemashita

I love how this show is able to cheer me up no matter what. This once again was the best episode since the first episode, and that first episode really was in a league of its own with all of the hyperactivity going on there. This episode was utterly hilarious in its first half, and incredibly charming in its second.

I usually dislike fevers because they’re often forced in for extra drama, but here the creators made brilliant use of it by having Tomoe dress up as Nanami. As an added surprise, Shinjirou was again hilarious in combination with him, toying with a lot of the bishounen idol cliches. His entrance alone was just delightful in the way that it created this expectation that things would get crazy, and they did.

What this episode also did really well was portray love: Nanami’s crush developing was very good, especially now that she also got to see a chunk of his past and how much he changed. His previous master is also finally introduced here. This part worked particularly well due to how much I like the characters already, after just six episode, and I really have to say that Kamisama Hajimemashita has some of the most consistently enjoyable characters of the season.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo – 05

by psgels, posted in Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo

The one charcter I always found a bit questionable in this series was Nanami Aoyama: the classmate. Why would the creators want to bother adding a harem element with this series when the relationship between Shiina and Sorata already is interesting enough? With this episode she took an interesting new twist.

So it was obvious that she would move in at some point. I did not expect her to actually take over Shiina duty for at least a while though. It’s a nice touch to finally have a normal girl in Sakurasou to balance out the aliens that are Shiina and Misaki, and the creators make great use of it. This episode was actually quite hilarious whenever Shiina started trolling the couple of Nanami and Sorata.

Also, this episode was about deadlines: everyone in Sakurasou is pretty much incredibly busy with their work, and this episode was full of all-nighters. It’s actually quite inspiring to see everyone work so hard at what they want to do, while also balancing out the chaos that happens in Sakurasou.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)