Sword Art Online – 12

by psgels, posted in Sword Art Online

Oh come on, Sword Art Online. Are you really serious with this episode?

This isn’t Phi Brain, which has built itself up as being completely crazy.The setting you’re trying to build is a fairly believable one, so you really don’t get away with pulling such ridiculously stupid episodes like this.

So let’s see what all happened in this episode:
– The soldiers with no will to live of a few episodes ago came from the first floor and were sent there by this maniacal tyrant. Ok, makes sense.

– A woman who saw last episode’s display of swordsmanship requests Kirito and Asuna to help and save one of her comrades who is stuck in a cave without any weapons. This also is fair enough for a power struggle.

– When they arrive they find that he is trapped by some incredibly strong level 90 monster. First of all: why is that one guy still alive? Did the guy who took him there serve as a shield and did he find some sort of place to hide out in? I mean, that monster could have easily killed him in one swipe so I find that hard to believe. Also, what was that monster doing there, contradicting just about every rule established so far. There had better be some very good reasons for this. Also, why on earth did he take so long to warn Kirito&co. He started with that incredibly long greeting. Instead he could have yelled “watch out! Trap!”. And for that woman to not listen or even react to that was quite cringe-worthy.

– But the worst came when Yui suddenly pulled out god-mode powers and instantly deleted that thing. Let alone having her regain her memories at a very convenient time, the story of her being an AI monitoring program for player health just makes no bloody sense. Why on earth would you want to give her emotions like that? What on earth was the idea behind this? If people go crazy just show a cute young girl to her? What on earth?

– The biggest insult however was this: the story that Kirito and Asuna changed her because they shared some happy moments together. And apparently were the only ones in the ENTIRE GAME to do so. Are you really serious here? Are you really serious that they are the only successful couple in the bloody game? Did nobody else hook up? I mean heck. I knew that this show looked down upon the players that aren’t Kirito or cute girls, but I didn’t think that it was this bad.

– And Kirito, what on earth were you doing hacking into the server? How did you get a GM account, why didn’t you use this before and why are you powerful enough to override admin actions? Why did he know exactly what to do and why didn’t Asuna question this? And come on. The heart of an AI? Really?

For christ’s sake, if you’re going to have these twists, build them up or something. Hint that it’s possible. Don’t just randomly introduce them from out of bloody nowhere.
Rating: 2.5/8 (Disappointing)

Uchuu Kyoudai – 24 & 25

by psgels, posted in Uchuu Kyoudai

Pardon me for just including two episodes in one entry in my attempt to catch up to the backlog I created on holiday, but at least these two episodes fit with each other as the intermezzo between the third and final exam. And seriously, even in an intermezzo this series is just amazing. It’s like the creators looked at the cast and went “You know, we don’t have enough awesome characters yet. Let’s create another one!”. Azuma is a wonderful addition to this series.

There was so much going on in these two episodes, but the big focus of this was Hibito’s preparation to take off into space, while Mutta waited for the exams to start. Azuma was this really famous astronaut who Hibito passed in order to be able to participate in the upcoming shuttle launch. These episodes were very vague on how he feels about the ordeal, and this episode clearly stated that a few times, but it also gave a wonderful explanation of who he was and what he accomplished. The personal bond between him and Hibito was really subtle, but a great addition.

And the comedy was as awesome as usual. The creators especially used Apo great, and this dog really breaks a lot of habits for animal mascots. For one he doesn’t force himself into every episode (he was gone in the episodes in which Hibito did not matter), plus he knows when to be cute and when to take things down. The waking up masks were hilarious, but at the same time he also was great when just watching Mutta train.

And the ending of episode 25 was just wonderful. I didn’t suspect that that would be the point where Mutta’s parents would meet Serika, and the way in which they dropped all sorts of hints on her was hilarious, only made better by that director breaking the fourth wall announcing the ED. An which I still consider to be among the best EDs of the year by the way.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Rinne no Lagrange – 23

by psgels, posted in Rinne no Lagrange

So, last week I complained that things were getting too plain for Rinne no Lagrange. Did they fix that? Well…. the music was better than ever, the graphics also had this very trippy feel about them. The storyboard also was pretty good and in terms of action it was a very solid episode. It was also definitely full of emotion. But what about the actual content and the way in which the storyline progressed?

The structure was basically “overpowered villain beats heroes easily; heroes have a bit of quiet times to reflect on themselves; heroes gather their strength; heroes beat villain”. It’s quite a common pattern, and the first half was fairly dull in this. Especially because Dizelmine was pretty much on berserk-mode so it was just a random ending fight.

In the second half of the episode however, it redeemed itself. That’s when it went back to a climax that really fits this series. Dizelmine unfortunately was too far gone to be saved, but the way in which Madoka, Lan and Muginami nonchalantly had some sandwiches before battle was great, and the supplex in which they ended up beating him fitted perfectly. In the meantime Dizelmine’s subordinates also realized how pointless war was, bringing a believable end to the conflict now that the crazy dictator is gone, and Moid also finished his part and got arrested.

So at least this episode was fun enough, nevertheless in the end, Rinne no Lagrange did not turn out to be as fun as I hoped. And also, I have to wonder: you had such a great character with Madoka’s aunt. Why didn’t you use her more often?! Why did she stand on the sidelines so much? Her few seconds of glory in this episode were great, so it’s a waste of potential that this wasn’t used more often.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Uta Koi – 12

by psgels, posted in Uta Koi

They may have been one of the best episodes of Uta Koi yet. In any case the emotional impact it had on me was one of the highest. It’s one of the more whimsical stories of the season (yet again of a love unfulfilled), and it also has this energy that was very addictive, and emotions kept changing from one to the other.

Also, what I really liked is how this episode basically told the same story twice: once from the perspective of the guy, and then from the perspective of the girl. The guy’s story was focused on how he met her, and his struggles to restore his family name that eventually failed, while the girl’s story was that of a young empress falling in love and being unable to do anything to get together due to society. Once again with Uta Koi establishing that there was no such thing as freedom back then.

On a side-note: this episode had a few cameos from Sei Shonagon. Slowly, we’re moving further down history, and that’s the red thread connecting all of the episodes together here. Apart from episode six perhaps.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

The Manga Experiment – Week 38

by psgels, posted in Manga Experiment

So while I was flying and waiting in busses and stuff during my holidays, I had the Manga Wish to read and finish. It really ended up being the first multi-volumed manga that I ever finished, and with only four volumes it’s a very concise story. This week I’want to have a stab at reviewing a full fledged manga.

So as the people who watched Kobato might know, that series is a bit of a combination between Wish and Kobato. The story for Wish is completely different, though. It takes place in the same setting, and there are some concepts that are also important here, but the story of Wish happens much more around the core of the setting, while the characters in Kobato have no idea about the inner workings of how their world and ideas work. So yeah, if you’re a fan of Kobato this is a great read for the extra background information that the Wish manga gives.

And really, this was such an incredibly adorable manga. Clamp are masters of creating diverse, versatile and likable characters, and they did it again here. The thing that sets Wish apart from other manga that try to be as cute as possible is this diverse cast. We have the lovable angel Kohaku who spends half of her time in chibi-form and the elegant angel Hisui, who are always drawn with lots of frills and stuff, and yet on the other hand the series is also full of devils, the lead character is very stoic and plain (not to mention 28 years old), and his grandfather is also a very prominent character. The cast consists out of idiots and smart people, brash ones and calm ones. The personality of everyone here is completely different, very balanced out and the contrast worked really well.

As for the plot progression, four volumes turned out to be a great length for this series. It’s short and very easy to just pick up, especially for someone who is new to manga like myself, but it does have enough time to flesh out its cast. There is a lot of slice of life in this series, as it likes to toy with the “I’m going to live with you”-trope. Seriously, like half the cast of this series ends up living with the male lead at some point; male or female, it doesn’t matter. Anyway, this build-up is great for showing off the different characters. And then that ending comes. Let’s just say… that this is Clamp. Rather than ending with something conventional, the ending definitely surprised me and I quite liked that.

The short length and relatively large cast does have its disadvantage: there are a bunch of one-dimensional side-characters, and some side-characters depend on their gimmick a bit too much. There also is this side-story about this schizophrenic cat that doesn’t really go anywhere. Oh, and it also has singing. I’m not sure whether this is because I’m new to manga, perhaps I’m just too much of a fan of multimedia, but drawing someone who sings just does not work for me. It looks awkward, even though the singing panels are often drawn with a lot of detail in this manga.

Anyway, Wish. Great read, although I think that I do prefer the Kobato anime. It had more time to develop its cast and I do prefer Kobato over Kohaku: Kobato’s story has this tragic side to it. Wish is definitely more concise and doesn’t have a first half of random episodes to wade through. If I’d rate this as an anime, it’d probably get somewhere like 84/100. I still haven’t quite figured out how I should review and rate manga, but that’s something for later.

Hyouka Review – 86/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Hyouka



Kyoani annoy me at times. I mean, they employ some fantastic animators and they’re superb at keeping up a crisp and consistent animation quality, but they just keep making shows I don’t care about. I just don’t like pure slice of life series in which nothing happens or that just keep repeating themselves. Thankfully with Hyouka, they went for a series that had a dash of mystery, so for the first time in years I finally could really enjoy their work again.

And Hyouka still has a ton of slice of life. It aims to be very down to earth, and create believable characters. The difference here with K-On, Lucky Star and Nichijou is that there is something going on other than random slice of life. Each of its episodes is dedicated to the characters trying to solve some sort of mystery. And the mystery aren’t the regular ones that you’ve gotten used to in anime. The characters here are o crime solves, but instead the mysteries are all very mundane and simple, especially the episodic stories. Think of a kimono that is missing, or some other detail that just doesn’t fit right. It’s all about speculating and coming up with theories, while the characters live their daily lives.

The series is laid out with basically three major arcs, and all kinds of random episodic stories inbetween them. The episodic stories are nice and creative, but this series really sets itself apart in its multi episode arcs. The stories around them are simple, yet have very complicated stories behind them. They are full of people speculating different theories, and often getting things wrong. The storytelling takes a while to get going due to all of the slice of life put into it, but that allows it to put a ton of detail in these stories, examine everything on multiple layers, and the pay-off really manages to make use of its build-up.

And if it’s an attention to detail you want, then Hyouka really delivers on that. Whether it’s in the relationships between the characters, or the different environments. Kyoani’s animation really brings those to life. The characters themselves are all teenagers who at first sight seem like the usual stereotypes, yet develop into completely different directions. There is one character who will probably get on people’s nerves a lot though: Chitanda. She’s well fleshed out in some areas, but also rather forceful. Or make that very forceful.

Hyouka is just a very well made shows that loves to use its own simplicity as a smokescreen for a detailed cast of characters and setting. It’s subtle in a lot of different ways, so if you like these kinds of series, then definitely give it a show, because it has a lot to deliver in that area.

Storytelling: 8.5/10 – Slow-paced, but very detailed and subtle.
Characters: 8.5/10 – Relatively little character development, but it’s made up for it by likable acting and excellent characterization.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Kyoani managed to really bring the characters alive with their animation here.
Setting: 8.5/10 – Loves the mundane type mysteries. Doesn’t really make for an epic series, but it’s most definitely very interesting to watch.

Suggestions:
– Hourou Musuko
– The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
– Hana-Saku Iroha

Hyouka – 22

by psgels, posted in Hyouka

So Hyouka’s finale isn’t a big arc, but instead a collection of small stories. There’s a lot of character development in them, but nothing is definitively resolved. Pretty much a life goes on ending due to there still being a novel left unanimated, which I suspect will be saved for a movie if the sales go well enough. Kyoani has the tendency to announce those much later after finishing the series, so who knows when that will come, if it’ll come at all, so right now, I’ll just conisder this as the ending of Hyouka.

And while it wasn’t the best episode, both in terms of content of how far it pushed the relationship between Oreki and Chitanda, I still quite liked it. The parade was a very nice way for the animators to show some of their skills, and it was very well directed there, and it does serve as an interesting closure. The mystery itself was probably one of the simplest yet, and I feel like the creators could have done more during the cherry blossom scene at the end. I like how the creators toyed with the cherry blossom tropes by using Oreki’s imagination there… but it’s not quite there yet.

The one thing I also liked a lot about this episode is the detail it put in local customs, and the things it takes to organize them, the people who are all involved with them and the effort it takes to make everything go without a hitch. I didn’t care much about the mystery of who was behind the bridge, but the stress that this created was very well portrayed.

So yeah, Kyoani really need to so a non- moe slice of life series, however Hyouka was a very good compromise. Next season they’ll have Chuuninbyou, which unfortunately looks much more generic in terms of formula. But it has a great director, so who knows what’ll happen?
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita Review – 82.5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita



Okay, so the one way in which the Summer Season set itself apart was with its creativity. For one season, I wouldn’t have to worry about premises getting more generic, or a lack of initiative to try something different, because this season may not have been big, but we got series like Uta Koi, Kokoro Connect, Natsuyuki Rendezvous, Horizon, Moyashimon. All series that wanted to be different and brought in a ton of creativity in the process. The series in which this was by far the most apparent was Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, or Humanity has declined.

From the outset, you might suspect that this is a cute little series with fairies. Instead though, this series is a full blown satire that uses its setting of fairies in all kinds of creative ways to create surreal storylines and premises. The thing with the fairies in this show is that they can pretty much make anything happen, and yet they act based on the most random of whims. The result is a complete chaos when they end up going, and the lead character is usually stuffed right in the center of this, leading to the creation and destruction of civilizations, being stuck in a time loop and fighting an army of headless chickens and all kinds of stuff like that. Yes, this series prides itself in its creativity all the way.

The way in which the stories are told also takes a bit to get used to. This series follows a very fast, dialogue-based pacing, and most of the show is told through the thoughts of the main character, serving as a narrator. The dialogue is often erratic due to the fairies being so damn whimsical, and it also doesn’t help that the arcs air in a random order so at the start you’ll be completely lost on what’s going on. But on the other side it’s also the series’ charm: it’s very eccentric this way and you’ll never know through what kind of loop you’ll be thrown next. You’ll never know when something interesting hits you here in this series.

This didn’t all go without its issues, though. The erratic nature of this series results in that it tends to ignore the character department. It’s only until the second half that we actually see characters show different sides of themselves. The lead character’s past is only revealed in the final arc. It’s a distant series that isn’t looking for people to connect with the lead characters, which is a bit of a pity because the result is that the series is not as engaging as it could have been, especially in its first half.

So pick this one up if you’re looking for witty dialogue and creative settings with a good dose of dry satire. It’s good for a short watch with only 12 episodes and it may miss some depth in the character department, but there’s enough worth watching.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Very nice satire, quick witted and incredibly whimsical.
Characters: 7/10 – In its first half, the characters are way too one-sided, and that unfortunately hurts a bit too much, and the characters are just too likable to deserve this.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Kou Otani gives a nice soundtrack, though far from his best. The visuals are also very striking and full of bright and pastel colors that give this show a unique charm.
Setting: 9/10 – This show has ideas, and it’s not afraid to use them.

Suggestions:
– Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru
– Seraphim Call
– Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito

Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita – 12

by psgels, posted in Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita

Well, I’m glad that at least in the final two episodes this series stuffed in some bits of character development. Whether it was a wise decision to save this for last is a different matter, though. I do think that it would have improved this series if this arc was shown somewhere around the beginning, so that we would have gotten a bit of a better feeling for Watashi. But ah well, the result is a strange and heart-warming ending and that the rest of the series put its focus more on its satire than on its characters.

But yeah, this episode showed how she grew up as an alienated teenager, to the point where she started to interact with others again. The way in which it did that was rather strange though. I mean, she was all happy, then she discovered that her classmates had severe psychological problems, then she spent a bunch of years with the white-haired girl, only to stop caring about it afterwards anyway. There was no drama whatsoever put into that point, even though the rest of the episode was pretty much the most dramatic that this series has ever been.

It worked well though, only the addition of the fairies felt a bit forced. They were completely absent in the whole episode until it felt like the creators suddely remembered their existence again and had Watashi sprint somewhere off for them. It felt unnatural, even in this series.

Still, great show. It’s not the best of the season, and the lack of characterization throughout most of the series definitely cost it some points, but its unique charm was enough to redeem it. And really: it’s great to see AIC do something good again.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Sword Art Online – 11

by psgels, posted in Sword Art Online

This episode made me realize something: there is this unwritten rule in Sword Art Online going on that everyone abides by: never talk about the life you had before you ended up trapped in the game. It’s like, everybody is too scared to remember those days and instead their lives turned to be just their lives in the world of Sword Art Online and nothing else. In .Hack//Sign in contrast, I actually loved how they dealt with this issue: most of the time the characters were characters in an mmorpg, and yet once in a while it would drop hints to their real identities. Now, I do wonder why Sword Art Online went with the route it took: to completely remove any life that the characters had before being trapped. I mean, nobody is reminiscing about those times. They only talk about getting out.

In any case, the new girl thankfully is different from the other girls in this series, in that she doesn’t immediately fall for Kirito. She definitely is the big mystery in this show and will likely be very important in solving everything. She’s got like “I AM MYSTERIOUS” written all over her, but with the right development she can bring a lot of good stuff to this series.

But come on, Sword Art Online. Stop using these overused cliches over and over. The scene in this episode that pissed me off was the one with the thugs. It’s something you see in a ton of different series, and I nearly always dislike how it’s done, and this episode was no different. It’s the standard type of scene that creators go for whenever they need some extra tension, but here it was completely pointless. The kids and the nun are likely never going to matter again after this and there would have been better points to show Asuna’s magic sword. I also always really dislike how stereotypically these thugs are portrayed. I mean, these guys are full grown men. I’d like to see a bit more detail on how they became that way, and who they are. Stop using them as excuses to make the main characters look cool.
Rating: 4.5/8 (Good)