Rinne no Lagrange Season 2 Review – 81/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Rinne no Lagrange



Mecha series today are a bit rarer than what they were in the past, but they definitely still keep getting made. 2012 gave us shows as Eureka Seven Ao, Aquarion Evol and the entirely original Rinne no Lagrange. In the first season we already got to see its rather interesting sense of plot progression, and with this we finally finished its long-awaited conclusion.

Now, let me start by saying that Rinne no Lagrange is very unconventional as a mecha series. It’s usually a series of action and lots of fight and over the top plot twist. Instead the mecha fights only take up a small portion of this series. The first season spent much of that extra time building up and creating characters, whereas the second season is more about developing a plot about two warring planets and the mindsets of the leaders. At the same time it still tries to keep true to its themes of reaching out to others, rather than fighting and the slice of life. It’s a daring combination indeed, and unfortunately it does have a few hiccups, but also interesting results.

The most interesting of the results is that it has quite a good cast of characters. It really devotes time to explore the relationships between the different members of the cast, and this definitely pays off in the second season, whether this is the bond between the three female characters, or between the kinds of the two worlds. Again this uses the theme of reaching out and talking to each other above fighting quite well. It also leads so a number of very enjoyable and whimsical scenes.

The hiccups result from trying to be too epic at the same time as trying to be personal. On one hand it tries to create this huge setting involving three planets, on the other it tries to revolve everything around five characters. It doesn’t combine too well, and especially in the final arc of the story it doesn’t really seem like it really knows how to deliver an action packed climax so it just pulls a berserk button on one of the villains, removing any personal aspect of his character.

At its best though, it is kindof refreshing to see this series deal so lightly with politics that are usually entirely serious, and it still manages to take itself seriously despite of it (compared to series that turn politics into a joke for the sake of moe…). It still didn’t quite exactly strike the right balance, but it’s an interesting attempt nevertheless. However, I do have to say that I expected more of this series. It’s all a bit too careful, especially considering the ingredients it had as a fully original story, not based on anything. Take Madoka’s aunt for example: a wonderful character, who mostly just stands on the sidelines doing nothing. There were points at which it should have taken a few more risks. It’s a tad too mundane to really make an impact, and it definitely had the potential for it.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Gives a different spin to the mecha genre by combining politics with slice of life, but failed to tweak the balance.
Characters: 8.5/10 – Great and enjoyable cast with a good resolution, though had the potential to be more.
Production-Values: 8/10 – There are a few moments of eye candy, but apart from that the animation is pretty average. Soundtrack is as good as ever.
Setting: 8/10 – Could have been great, but is a bit stuck in a limbo between this show’s wishes to be both epic and down to earth.

Suggestions:
– RD Sennou Chousashitsu
– Mouretsu Pirates
– Simoun

Rinne no Lagrange – 24

by psgels, posted in Rinne no Lagrange

Well, there you have it. It’s a surprisingly fitting ending for this series. A bit silly, but I like how it went against conventions.

In a normal episode, this episode would be all like “you think you have beaten me, but I have yet to reveal my FINAL FORM!”. Instead, things looked scary for a while, but most of the action in this episode was the Rinne settling down. It fits this show well: there was no way in which an action-packed finale was going to work for this show. It’s not an action series at all. Instead it’s about its characters and happens to have some action in it.

Instead this episode ended up glorifying the jersey club, making it the most powerufl entity in the entire universe. Oh, and the two planets colliding… they don’t. It’s plausible, but also one heck of an anti-climax. It’s definitely a very strange ending, but also quite a charming and daring one. The atmosphere definitely worked, and this episode took its time wrapping everything up. Though did we learn why Moid disappeared in the end?

Still, I do feel that the final quarter of Rinne no Lagrange was its weakest, simply because it didn’t really have much to do, so it just drove Dizelmine Berserk. It lead to this nice ending, but I do feel that the creators could have used it better, or if they were going for this ending they should have built it up better. Because my main impression with the second season was that it didn’t seem to know that this was going to be the ending. Still, it was definitely fun to watch.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Eureka Seven Ao – 21

by psgels, posted in Eureka Seven Ao

This episode. There was someone involved who made the execution slightly different from usual. The way in which the characters interacted with each other was slightly different from usual, but very noticeable. There were these scenes which were a bit deformed, but very well animated in terms of character movements: they moved all over, and the episode had a lot of strange yet dynamic facial expressions. Most notably the animation at times was very smooth and the movement was very elaborate.

A quick look-up of the animators and directors involved with this episode doesn’t really point to one source that caused the change in style. My best guess is that a few people sat together and came up with the idea to try something new this time, because it’s both the storyboard, animation and direction that have changed. I like this a lot by the way, these experiments. Bones is usually a studio that thrives on consistency, especially in the past years, so seeing Eureka animated so whimsically definitely was a surprise here, but I liked how well that scene brought forth her emotions. Now that was some good use of fluidity.

What also caught my attention was the climax of this episode. This whole episode was basically about Elena. We now finally know all that is up with her: she was accidentally brought in from the past, but somewhere along the way she started finding herself special and thought that she came from a different world. That’s also why she probably created all those alternative personas. But anyway, her climax: she starts yelling and after just one love declaration of Ao she completely calms down. That was very unusual, and while it was a bit weird it worked surprisingly well there. Those emotions of hers were quite nicely done there and I really like these kinds of episodes in which the creators try to do things a bit differently.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

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)