Summer 2012 Kaleidoscope – Week 32

by psgels, posted in Summer 2012 Kaleidoscope

#1: Hunter X Hunter – 42: Half a year ago, when the build-up still was a drag to get through, I remember noting how it was impossible for this series to get Senritsu (or Melody in some subs) right. Imagine my surprise when in this episode, the voice actress gave a great performance as the gentle yet sharp music hunter. Beyond that, Madhouse delivered some really good animation on the arm wrestling, and it’s just so much fun to see all of the chess pieces moving into the right position for the action to start. Rewatching the Hunter Exam arc really took a toll on my patience, but it was worth the wait. – 5,5/8 (Excellent)

#2: Tari Tari – 06: Ah, I see the formula now: every member of the cast gets a few episodes of time to tell his or her story. This concludes Wakana’s story, and to be honest this was really heart-warming to watch. The use of a dead mother was a dangerous cliche to use, but the way she came to terms with everything really worked quite nicely here. 5/8 (Great)

#3: Kokoro Connect: I tend to dislike plots like the one of this episode, because they’re rather overused and often underutilized, but at least it was well explained. I like this series and its really sharp dialogue, but it is not my favorite of the season and I do have a bit of criticism for it: this could be more balanced and sometimes feels a tad too forced. It’s either really silly for a long time, or really dramatic for a long time. Change things up a bit. Play with the scenario. Flesh the characters out in interesting ways. Also, this is a light novel adaptation, right? Will this all fit in just 12 episodes? – 4,5/8 (Good)

#4: Saint Seiya Omega – 18: Interesting. A few years ago I watched a lot of those episodic travelling adventures, and what annoyed me with most of them is a refusal to split up the main party, even when this would have been the most logical turn of events. Because of this, I like what the writers did here and did not expect that to happen. The character in question definitely emerged as a better one out of this episode. – 4,5/8 (Good)

#5: Polar Bear Cafe – 19: An average episode for Polar Bear Cafe’s standards. It brought in a lot of new characters, though. The penguins in the first half in particular were funny, but in the second half there were a few too many of them, to the point where they took over the entire story. Which wasn’t really that interesting. – 4/8 (Nice)

#5: Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon – 17: This was a much better improvement and a very fun episode to watch. The innuendo jokes perhaps were really cliched, but everything else was pretty damn interesting. The best was that wolf guy who literally fought with the justice of England on his side. How do they come up with it? – 4/8 (Nice)

#6: Phi Brain – 42: I’m actually liking this series again, and the new direction of trying to save the villains is starting to work for me again. It’s still not as good as what the first season was at this stage, but it’s definitely getting there. The puzzles are also interesting and varied again, thank god for that. – 4/8 (Nice)

Maji de Otakuna English! Ribbon-chan OVA: This is an OVA that appeared a few weeks ago, along with Kyou no Asuka Show. It’s five minutes long, and it’s pretty much a parody of really bad otaku-targetted mahou shoujo. It had some nice ideas highlighting how hopeless these productions sometimes can be, and the way in which it was basically the same take trice with different narrators was a nice touch. Do I recommend it though? Nah, the jokes just weren’t good enough for it, and even though it was parodying cliches, most of its jokes were dead horses themselves. Only check this out if you’re a fan of the genre. 3/8 (Mediocre)

#7: Total Eclipse – 06: Oh for god’s sake, Total Eclipse. This was the final straw. You already were on a thin line, and then you come with such an atrocious episode as this one. This was the kind of episode that I feared would appear ever since the director got announced. And yeah, with this he strikes me as a guy who is just plain incompetent. He tried to do both the direction and series composition here, so I can see that he’s a fan of the Muv Luv franchise, and I like how he focused the first two episodes on one of the side-characters, but beyond that, he just has no clue how to tell an interesting story and instead just heads off into bad acting and fanservice. It’s a pity for him that he ended up getting that depression, because he probably worked really hard on this, but a directing job is just way above his league. Dropped. And Welcome to Island!!! – 1/8 (Terrible)

#8: Kyou no Asuka Show OVA: Ah, people warned me not to check this out, but I just had to give it a try for myself. Kyou no Asuka show is basically a 5-minute OVA, and it turned out to be about one single joke: a girl whose skirt was stuck under her bag. This episode was basically every guy who ran into her getting flustered and horny, and this was as badly delivered as it sounds. Who greenlighted this? – 1/8 (Terrible)

Uta Koi – 06

by psgels, posted in Uta Koi

Okay, which monkey was the one who introduced crack to the writing staff of this series? What on earth did I just watch for the past 20 minutes?!

Seriously though, this was just amazing. Uta Koi already was the single most original series of the season, but this episode was just one giant middle finger to just about every anime storytelling convention. This was just outright bizarre from start to finish, it was completely silly in every single way, and it was glorious. People need to make more filler episodes with the mindset of this episode.

I think every single one of us made some sort of Yugioh joke when we first learned of Chihayafuru. I mean, from the outside a series about a card game does seem awfully similar if you’re unaware of any sort of context. I however never could have expected that a year later,this series would come along and actually transformed the 100 poems into flippin BATTLE CARDS, complete with its own set of rules and powers, leading to bizarre situations in which someone was able to summon himself on the battlefield to do massive damage.

I love how this episode made a complete fool of itself (the grand prix had me in stitches as well), but at the same time it didn’t skip on the historical references. This episode also introduced a ton of new characters and famous figures. Did any of those make an appearance in the OP though? How many more of those guys will this series introcuce?
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Rinne no Lagrange – 17

by psgels, posted in Rinne no Lagrange

This episode really showed the strength of Tatsuo Sato’s series. I mean, this is supposed to be a mecha-series, but the Vox of this series only appeared at the end of this episode, taking off. Instead this episode was one giant build-up to the final moments of the series. It really had my attention from start to finish here and every time at which the episode seemed to dull in, they threw in something new to regain that attention. And that in an episode with so little action in a series that’s supposed to be mecha action.

Last episode I noted how annoying Yurikano was. Okay, I understand now: that sharp contrast between who she really is made her such a more interesting character because of this. Then there was that point two episodes ago, at which I whined that Lan’s brother needed more attention. And yet again this episode comes and delivers on that. This episode fleshed him out: he didn’t really change, but he finally showed his colors as a ruler ruler who knows that what he’s doing is bad, yet continues to charismatically lie his way through the episode and threatens to kill off an entire race for the sake of his own people. His character still is typical, but this episode made him so much more relatable than what he was before.

What also surprised me was that this episode pretty much answered all of the major questions in this series. From this point onward, there are many routes that this series can take, but here is the thing: this is an anime original series, so the creators have been preparing for that from the start of the series. Also, this is by Tatsuo Sato, who really was on fire this year. With Mouretsu Pirates, the final quarter just kept getting better and better, and I really hope that he can influence this to be the same here. The thing is: that at this point Rinne no Lagrange has a really good and relatable cast. The build up has been done really well, but actually using the build-up takes a lot of skill. The people working on this have the potential to make it work, though.

Also, I noticed that the soundtrack has gotten a bit more varied: it uses a lot of different instruments together. A nice touch.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Hyouka – 16

by psgels, posted in Hyouka

This arc still is going on? I thought that by now, the characters would have solved things by now, but they really are teking their time solving everything.

So this episode did something very interesting in terms of mystery: it toyed with its conventions. What I mean by that is that in this episode it provided the clues needed for the audience to figure out the culprit of the Juumonji case, but they did not show him whatsoever. They basically fleshed a guy out really well without ever showing him. Now that takes a very good writer to pull off.

So yeah, my theory: the student council president is behind everything, with the goal to spice up the school festival and have a bit of fun. Oreki’s sister probably talked to him last year when she bought that manga and figured out that he had something planned. That’s all pretty clear now, it’s just that the guy himself is an enigma.

Beyond that there also was some really good characterization on the rest of the cast. Mayaka’s reaction when that girl spashed water over her was particularly well done. Chitanda was as fun as ever, but who really caught my surprise was Satoshi. Is it me, or did this episode show a different side of him: a side that’s jealous of Oreki for being able to solve everything he can’t.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Uchuu Kyoudai – 19

by psgels, posted in Uchuu Kyoudai

Good lord, Sharon. Do you really mean to teach two young boys about cooking by using a large sharp cooking knife on top of a wooden table?!That poor table!

Also, this episode did what I thought was impossible: it added even more depth to Mutta by revealing even more of his past. I mean, his aunt Sharon was bound to be special with that observatory of her and all, but when this episode revealed who she really was, it put even more pieces of the puzzle together: because of her influence, Hibito was able to go into space, and the two siblings were probably invited into JAXA, able to attend all these lectures.

I love how for Mutta, she was the most normal thing in the world: he knew a famous person, but he pretty much didn’t know any better because the only space fanatic he grew up with was his own brother, Hibito. This was a really charming episode that allowed him to finally talk to people with the same passions as he had.

Revealing these things only at this stage of the series also has a very nice side-effect: the characters actually had lives before the start of this series. This show doesn’t just have an obligatory background arc, but instead is full of anecdotes of who Mutta and Hibito were when they grew up. This really gives the illusion that they had witnessed a lot of different things already, compared to most leads out there where the background just comprises of one or two key events in their past, and nothing else.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita – 06

by psgels, posted in Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita

Whoa, the best episode of Jinrui wa Suita Shimashita so far! At first it started a bit dodgy with that personality-less Yozakura Quartet-inspired catgirl, but as this episode revealed her true nature it totally changed. On top of being the first actually good Engrish pun I have ever seen, it’s just such a fascinating idea to give a personality to the Pioneer and the Voyager and have them return through fairy magic. What this episode also did really well as opposed to the previous episodes was to shed a bit of light into their stories, and deliver some charming drama between the two of them.

The RPG setting now also makes sense, as a major theme of them is exploration: exactly what the two satellites were built for, even though they completely lost their purpose in this episode.

With this episode, I’m also starting to see some build up coming together. First of all this episode first showed that the episodes here are aired in a random order, as this turned out to be a prelude to the first arc. I like that a lot: when you watch something and things only fall on their place once you go along, and it’s especially well done for an adaptation, since they have a habit to just leave out things like that. Take for example the king of confusion: Touka Gettan: it may have been a bit inexplicable while watching it, but I’d actually rate it much higher than I did when I reviewed it.

This episode also finally showed that there may be more to that assistant than what was thought before. Some of the things that Watashi says to him are rather weird, like near the end of the episode when she is interrogated, she tells him to back off.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Summer 2012 Kaleidoscope – Week 31

by psgels, posted in Summer 2012 Kaleidoscope

Okay, today I finally had a bit of time to fiddle around a bit with episode ratings. I’ve used the current star system for a few years now, and it’s time for something new. I’ve wanted to go back to numerical ratings, although using ratings out of ten proved to be too similar to the ratings I use for full series, and I don’t want to confuse those. So instead I’m going for the following:

1/8: These are the worst types of episodes: uninspired, full of clichés, incredibly boring to watch, badly animated, etc.
2/8: These are the boring or really annoying types of episodes that leave me wanting things to end, or the kinds of episodes of an established series that completely go against what the series is about.
3/8: This is a rating for mediocrity: I guess the episode was there… but nothing really caught my attention, or what did catch my attention was drowned out by too many annoyances. Most episodes would fall between 3/8 and 4/8
4/8: This would be the rating for a standard episode: nice things happened, it caught my attention, and I enjoyed it, but it’s not really special.
5/8: I like these episodes a lot, either through outstanding visuals, interesting subject material, well written scenarios or sympathetic characters. Most episodes from the series I watch would fall between 4/8 and 5/8.
6/8: These are the episodes that really do something to stand out. Incredibly fun, engaging and interesting to watch.
7/8: The types of mind-blowing episodes that only come here once a month if you’re lucky. I guess that this would be the equivalent of the ****-rating that I used to use.
8/8: This is reserved for the best episodes of the best: the types of episodes that only come once a year if you’re lucky, and I really want to be able to highlight those kinds of episodes.

This seems to be nice enough. I’m probably also going to use ratings of half numbers (5.5, 3.5, etc). Why a rating out of 8? Why not? That’s what experiments are for. I think I’m also going to ditch the “good”- and “excellent”-labels. They were getting a bit old and they started to lose their meaning. I’m not sure whether this will be the definitive explanations, because I really noticed that thinking of a rating system and actually using this in practice is something completely different. I remember how with the ratings I use for full series, my original intention was to have the median around 60/100, but that also changed over time.

#1: Hunter X Hunter – 41: Oh my god, finally!! The Spider Troupe has made its appearance! And they actually nailed them! These are by far the best villains I have seen in any shounen series, period. Because of this I had been really afraid what this series would do with them. But the way in which they were portrayed i this episode: they can really make it work! Finally I’m getting excited about this series again! – 5.5/8 (Excellent)

#2: Kokoro Connect – 04: The script of this series is excellent, but that is probably because of the source material. But what really surprised me about this series is how good the voice acting is for a Silver Link-series. Where usually the characters in their series sound flat and one-dimensional, they here have a wide range of voices that shape their personalities, and I really wonder where that sudden change came from. Could that really be the influence of Shinya Kawamo or did something different go on? – 5.5/8 (Excellent)

#3: Polar Bear Cafe – 18: Oh my god, those ghost stories were perfect for the deadpan humour of this show. In particular Polar Bear’s story was absolutely priceless. On top of that, this episode tried to subtly slip past a lot of details that really make you wonder about the characters once you start thinking about them. Why on earth is a Lama working overtime in a zoo? What is Penguin going to do at that Buddhist memorial service? Oh, and the new ED is awesome. – 5.5/8 (Excellent)

#4: Tari Tari – 05: This episode showed me something: that blond girl isn’t really the best main character for this series. This episode finally took her to the background in favor of the other characters, and suddenly this show got a lot better. There still are the cliches like the dead mother, but they were all really well done and heart-warming. – 5/8 (Great)

#5: Saint Seiya Omega – 17: Ow, this episode had some outsourcing issues. Other than that, it was incredibly cheesy during the big fight, but it had its charms. That Kiki guy probably is another member of the old Saint Seiya cast, and his cameo was handled pretty well here. – 4/8 (Good)

#6: Phi Brain – 41: Finally this series returns again to the actual Orpheus Order. It was a bit of a cheesy episode, but with the nature of those rings that’s no surprise, really. And really: this was actually pretty good and it finally started to resolve things. On a side-note: when is Nonoha going to take her hair down…? – 4/8 (Good)

#7: Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon – 16: Obligatory boring fanservice episode. Also, I do hope that they’re not going to drag out that festival arc. – 3/8 (Mediocre)

#8: Total Eclipse – 05: The sheer nationalism indeed is starting to get annoying now. On top of that, does this show really need a cowgirl who is just there for the fanservice? In fact, why are we even following a bunch of test pilots anyway when the rest of the world is about to be destroyed? – 3/8 (Mediocre)

#9: Tanken Drilland – 04: I think that this is the point where I’m going to drop this series. The stupidity of the characters is just too annoying, and watching this episode only served to remind me that Saint Seiya is currently doing what this series is doing, while also taking itself seriously. And after all of the criticism I have for that series, that has to say something. – 3/8 (Mediocre)

Sword Art Online – 05

by psgels, posted in Sword Art Online

This episode’s girl of the week is based around a murder mystery: she once was a member of a guild. One member of that guild is currently killing off its other members. Again, the interesting part of this is the setting: it’s established that SAO is a well designed game, and allowing powers that would enable people to kill each other in save places would be unfair, yet an item like that exists. Why would the designers have put that in the game? This game seems to be balanced on the idea that it’s an MMORPG: such a power in an MMORPG would be complete suicide that would utterly destroy the balance or any kind of social interaction people can have. This arc will probably shed some more insight into the minds of the creators.

Meanwhile this episode introduced a few more flaws for the two main leads (yes, the female lead has appeared again). The guy really once again established that he is this hardcore gamer who has started to see the NPCs as actual characters: he’s actually starting to sympathize with them, even though they can technically be used in a plan to take out bosses. With the girl, I’m having trouble why she became a squad leader of the top guild around. Mostly because in the first minute we see her handing out orders, only to leave and never do anything leadership-ish again and instead going on a date with the male lead while everyone was fighting. Also, does she have to be a tsundere?

The acting also was a bit wonky at the end of the episode. I mean, I understand being paranoid and all, but these guys completely lost it and started sprouting nonsense. Another thing that really is starting to irk me is that this series is trying to populate its setting, yet completely failing. With that, I mean that it shows crowds, but these crowds completely lack any sort of life. Everyone just stands there, nobody responds, and you can spot the important character amongst them by looking at who has cute character designs.

Apparently people are able to change their hair colors in this game. Why do only the characters who are important to the story use this feature?
Rating: 3.5/8 (Enjoyable)

Moyashimon – 16

by psgels, posted in Moyashimon

Ah, another school festival arc. The second series this season that has a school festival that takes up multiple arcs. Unfortunately, this is such an overused backdrop that every series that uses it needs to have something that makes it stand out. Moyashimon comes with mexican liquor and housewives.

To be honest, this was probably the weakest of Moyashimon Returns so far. For one, it was building up to a joke that will only arrive next week (a joke that seems pretty lame, by the way) so very little happened, but the cast seemed to miss its usual chemistry. I also think that Misato and Kawahama went a bit too far, but that might change next week. The problem is that with only eleven episodes, 20 minutes to waste on a simple build-up episode is a lot of precious time here, so I do hope that the creators know what they’re doing.

And I dunno, this series has a bit of a bad luck to air right alongside Hyouka’s school festival arc, which did put in a ton of detail in its setting. I can’t help but compare the two, and with that, this feels rather empty. The mexican liquor was interesting, but beyond that I didn’t see much more extra detail in how the school was portrayed.
Rating: 3.5/8 (Enjoyable)

Natsuyuki Rendezvous – 05

by psgels, posted in Natsuyuki Rendezvous

Last week we left off with Hazuki finally giving off his body to that ghost in a drunk mood. This episode carries that further, and it’s definitely different from usual anime, in which such a possession only lasts a few minutes: at the end of this episode there still was no sign of him being content with leaving Hazuki’s body. In fact, things only seem to have just started yet.

In the meantime we have a wonderfully subtle portrayal of Atsushi in Hazuki’s body. It was emotional, but not melodramatic. It was sad, but not consistently sad: it actually balanced his feelings for finally being able to talk to Rokka again with his attempts of getting used to Hazuki’s new body, getting a better understanding of the guy in the process. I like how he tried to cut his own hair as a way of dealing with his frustrations, but he didn’t exactly end up ruining the guy’s image in front of Rokka. Of course she thinks he’s a horrible drunk right now, but he did nothing that would make her outright hate him, interestingly.

Hazuki meanwhile… didn’t really do anything. His part in this episode was mostly building up as he ran around in this dream world along with ythe younger Rokka, although she did provide a few hints about Atsushi when he was younger. The actual meat of that subplot will probably be revealed next week, although it is surprising to see this series beat around the bush a bit. But that’s something that I also find that this show does really well: it’s really well balanced, on top of its excellent voice-acting, script, music, characters, timing, etc.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)