Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita – 05

by psgels, posted in Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita

Pion… something tells me that the creators watched Yozakura Quartet before creating this series, because she has the hair of one of the characters and the scarf of another one of the characters.

In any case, this episode really fleshed out the world in which this series takes place, which coincidentally is the best part of this series. As a result, we had an episode ful of creativity. I like how the fcreators used the fairies in order to describe luck. This also was the first episode which made me feel like humanity has actually declines: we saw ruins, it got confirmed that electricity is scarce. I didn’t really get that idea from the hordes of manga fans of two episodes ago.

Bizarrely enough, despite the creativity in the setting here, I can’t seem to find much inspiration to write about. I mean, this series has its excellent backdrop, but does it have something beyond that? Its dialogue perhaps? It’s definitely well written, but so far the best thing that the dialogue has done is flesh out and detail the setting. Kou Otani’s soundtrack also is great, but lacks depth, so there also isn’t much to talk about there. The visuals as well: this show has a unique visual direction, but beyond that there also isn’t much interesting to say about the animation. Hmm…
Rating: 4/8 (Good)

OVA Impressions: Shiranpuri

by psgels, posted in OVA Impressions, Young Animator Training Project

Shiranpuri is a short with its very own artistic vision: it’s got very distinctive character-designs, rather than going with the same thing over and over again. This is the entry for the Young Animator Training Project by Shirogumi. You know, the people who are currently animating Moyashimon, and they also did Antique Bakery. These are people who definitely go for interesting and unusual premises, but Shiranpuri is very different from their usual stuff.

Here, we get a story about bullying, and more particular: about being a witness to bullying without doing anything about it. And it really was quite good. On one hand it was indeed a bit preachy, but on the other it was very realistic in how the bullied kid ended up transferring schools, in the hopes of building up a completely new life. There was some really good character-development in just 20 minutes for the three central characters, and the use of adults as bystanders was well-balanced.

What’s interesting is that this shows that Shirogumi is nowhere near dead: they’re still producing things, but at their own pace, but this short shows that they’ve acquired a couple of very good animators. There were a few scenes in which the movement was really dynamic and even the backgrounds (albeit simplistic) moved seamlessly, and they were able to draw the models right from many different angles.

Uchuu Kyoudai – 18

by psgels, posted in Uchuu Kyoudai

Well, it was a long wait, but it has finally happened: an episode dedicated to Makabe. And it worked wonderfully: not just he himself emerged as a better character from this episode, but the rest of Team B did as well, especially the fidgety guy and the bossy guy (whose names I can’t remember at the moment, unfortunately) got more depth as this episode finally focused a bit more on their personalities.

Makabe though, he really is aware of how direct he is. I love how he’s been trying, yet failing to keep the team together. It’s great for introducing a bunch of flaws for him: he is brilliant, definitely, but he also can be quite self-centered, also shown by how he replies to those women selling magic space stones. The end of this episode was really charming with the way the creators used his daughter to cheer him up again. This episode really brought balance into his character.

And in the meantime, this episode had a hell of a lot of fun, fleshing out the people from Team A. Mutta in particular was as hilarious as ever, but the rest of the cast also had their wonderful moments because of how analytic he can be. I especially liked how he was forced to scream out twice every day, and how Nitta responded after breaking the toilet. This show, just is brilliant.I thought that last year we got lucky with Kotetsu from Tiger & Bunny, but to be honest: the series is nowhere near over yet, but at this point Mutta has completely surpassed him.
Rating: 5.5/8

Sword Art Online – 04

by psgels, posted in Sword Art Online

Before I got into anime blogging, I was a member of an RPG community, focused on RPG creation. Back then I spent a lot of time fiddling with stories, level designs and gameplay (in fact, this blog started out as an experiment during that time), and during that time I also played my share of MMORPGs, so I know what it’s like to play one. And I also know that SOA brings in one major difference that makes the mindset of its players completely different: the fact that you die once your HP reaches zero.

Generally when I played, I’d run around in areas that would give me the fastest experience with the least amount of hassle. I would then turn on the auto pilot until my SP (or skill points or however it was called) run out, after which I’d probably die from a lack of healing items or efficient ways to kill monsters. Now, would I have done the same if my life depended on it? Hell no. I’d stock up on healing items and focus on running away from monsters.

In fact, it surprises me that Kirito still is alive: his playing style is incredibly risky. Apparently he was this awesome player during the beta test, but back then dying still was a momentary annoyance. I’m surprised that he managed to turn off his automatic pilot that is so prevalent in MMORPGs due to all the repetition. Someone said that in the first month, more beta testers lost their lives than new players, and I can very well believe that: these were already used to the rules of the beta, while the new players were probably extra careful.

So yeah, I’m digging this concept, I’d just wish that the plot of these past two episodes made better use of this. The concept of this episode for example was good, as it showed how the jail system evolved and how this game’s moral system is. But the characters were just boring. This yet again was Kirito interacting with the cutest girl around. Have some variety. What I find particularly annoying is how this series looks down upon the rest of the people in this MMORPG. The girl actually had friends, but she decided to ditch them and go with Kirito. The evil players? We never knew what goes on inside their heads: I see no difference between them and NPCs.

Also, why were all the monsters suddenly equipped with tentacles?
Rating: (Good)

Summer 2012 Kaleidoscope – Week 30

by psgels, posted in Summer 2012 Kaleidoscope

#1: Phi Brain – 41: This was undoubtedly the single best episode of the second season. Finally the creators actually used the fact that Orpheus Rings distort the minds of their wearers well, by making them say things that they normally wouldn’t do. At this point, Ana Gram definitely is the most heartfelt character of the entire series, and the one who suffered the least in this series’ attempts to degenerate the entire cast, and this episode really showed that. – Excellent+)

#2: Kokoro Connect – 03: How? Why? When? Is this still the same show? Is this really Silver Link? With this kind of good acting? Seriously, this was a massive improvement and it went quite deep into its different characters. I’m impressed. – (Excellent)

#3: Hunter X Hunter – 40: Finally! The Yorkshin arc has officially started now after forty bloody episodes of waiting! The calling out names still is a bit childish, but the rest of this episode was excellent build-up. The new characters are all slightly different from what they used to be in the 1999 series, but they can definitely make this work. – (Excellent)

#4: Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon – 15: Well, this was a typical Horizon episode: it really doesn’t make any sense once you start thinking about it, but what went on was pretty damn cool and creative. This definitely was an interesting way to portray negotiations. There’s just one thing: a girl pretending to be a guy in order to avoid gender racism is a pretty interesting subplot. But in the context of this series? Really? – (Great)

#5: Tari Tari – 04: Well, thanks to Wakana and the three musicians this was the best episode of Tari Tari so far. It was quite heart-warming, with the only mitigating factor being the dead mother that has been done to death. Kids, whatever you do, don’t ever get kids! If you do, there is a 50% chance that you’ll die within a few years. – (Great)

#6: Total Eclipse – 04: A simple episode, and the side-cast still is stereotypical, but the two leads… they’ve got interesting chemistry together. It’s a bit overblown and angsty, but it can work. – (Good)

#7: Binbou-Gami ga – 03: This is one that I missed in my catch-up streak last weekend. Overall, comedy is incredibly subjective, but with this show I notice that much more, as people have many different reactions here. This episode was cute. It had “trying too hard” written all over it, but had some good jokes. The yelling however has gotten very dull right now, and it’s also one of those series that just drops references for the sake of dropping references, which also has gotten quite annoying. And it’s only the third episode yet. Ultimately, this just isn’t funny enough for a comedy for me, especially considering the competition it has right now. – (Good)

#8: Polar Bear Cafe – 17: This was one of the lesser episodes of Polar Bear Cafe. It still was funny, but it was pretty much about Panda and Polar Bear trolling again in the first half, and Rin Rin in the second half. It’s not really something new, and these jokes are starting to wear off now. – (Enjoyable)

#9: Binbou-Gami ga – 04: Sorry, Binbou-gami, but with this I’m going to drop you. The new character of this episode was just a collection of bad SM-jokes. For a comedy, this just isn’t funny enough. When I watch a comedy, I want to really laugh out loud, not chuckle once every five minutes. Comedy is incredibly subjective, so if you like SM-jokes and lots of yelling, then this series is for you. I’d rather watch Polar Bear Cafe and Poyopoyo, though. – (Disappointing)

#10: Tanken Drilland – 03: Anime writers need to realize the boundaries of stupidity. Running into a trapped room? That’s okay. Anyone can make such a careless mistake. A different matter is it when a character falls for the classic “money on a string”-trap. Especially when the “string” is a sticky spider thread. And he wraps it around his arms. And falls for the same trick twice. And that wasn’t even the worst in this episode: a character goes missing and instead of looking for him, they think that he has abandoned them and run off with the treasure. – (Lacking)

#11: Saint Seiya Omega – 16: It’s not like this episode sucked completely. The change of pace was welcome, we saw something different of the world for a change and this was definitely good to bring some diversity such a monotone series. But everything about the restaurant felt like an insult. Like “why are you still watching this? We surely aren’t trying anymore”.I can understand that fillers need to have light-hearted material compared to regular episodes, if you’re going to use them at all, but even with light-hearted things you actually need to try. – (Lacking)

Eureka Seven Ao – 15

by psgels, posted in Eureka Seven Ao

Plot build-up! And it’s the good kind of build-up that has enough interesting things to do while the chess pieces are all set right. This episode was necessary to confirm a few things: the secrets indeed have been different from what was assumed. This episode confirmed this by revealing that these things are sentient, and that the Japanese government has managed to collect a living example of this.

The characters instead were the ones who made this episode interesting, using Ao’s complete change after meeting with his mother as a catalyst to show different sides of a lot of different cast-members. Ao in particular has really changed in how he views his responsibilities, as shown by how he tried t get these sleeping pills. In this episode it went to the point of taking this too far, where he desperately wanted to live up to what he thinks are his mother’s expectations.

Also I’ve probably mentioned this before, but Fleur’s father has to be inspired by Ikari Gendou from Evangelion. He’s not as extreme, and there have been points in which he has been fleshed out quite nicely as a father figure, but in this episode he revealed where exactly he has been taking the Quartz that he has harvested. What I find interesting is how, even after the revelation that the Secret aren’t exactly evil as long as you don’t get in their way, he still is more intent on destroying them, rather than the actual scab coral.
Rating: (Excellent)

The Manga Experiment – Week 30

by psgels, posted in Manga Experiment

Apologies, last week I was a bit too busy to catch up with everything so I didn’t have the time for this one. I’ll continue with it this week, though. For this week, I’m going to be checking out multiple chapters for some series. I don’t want to do this for first chapters though, because I want to be able to gather as many first impressions as possible with this, since this experiment is really meant for me to figure out my taste in manga.

Hito Hitori Futari – ch.03-ch.05: This one still has my attention, and for the first time this week, the art also managed to captivate me. It was the point where the main character was struggling with the president’s inner demons and when that… thing just showed up. The art for that was just intense. Beyond that, I’m really liking this series’ interpretation of common tropes as guardian spirits. These things are nothing new, but Hito Hitori Futari gives a fresh new interpretation to them.

Hotel – ch.02-ch.03: These are two more science fiction stories, with actual people in them. The first is a story about a guy who marries a girl way younger than him, and then she dies in a hospital. I didn’t really like this one. I missed context, and it was too much like another “let’s feel sorry for a cute dying girl” with little to add on top of it, despite the nice artwork. Chapter 03 though… oh boy, what the hell did I just read? This is science fiction, taken to the absurd. It’s like a complete parody of the first chapter, and I admire the creativity it had.

A Million-pound Love – ch02-2, ch-03-1, ch-03.2: These chapters I tried to read without listening to music. I’m not sure, but I had a bit of a harder time focusing. In any case the second half about the story of the flying people was a bit fuzzy. I noticed that with other manga as well in that the dialogue doesn’t really flow right and that there are a lot of gaps in the narrative. The twist at the end was good, though.

Chapter 3 tells about an ignorant 14-year-old kid who in four years grows into a brilliant physicist who on his own manages to build an entire spaceship that humanity can use to colonize other planets. Yeah, I found that really hard to buy when I first read it, but at the end of things, this turned out to be a brilliant story. It shows just how much a character can change over the course of four years depending on the circumstances, and it plays wonderfully with this. It’s so laid out that everything comes together at the final acts. This is a bit longer than the other one-shots I tried so far (80 pages), but it uses all of them really well, combined with Reiko Shimizu’s excellent ability to portray emotions and show as much as possible on a single page. Despite how hard it is to buy at times, this contained the best characters in this experiment so far.

I am a Piano (Oneshot): A really really short one-shot (only 9 pages!). And this one was a bit too short for my tastes, especially compared to the other one-shots I’ve tackled during this experiment. It’s definitely based on a nice idea, but it just lacks detail and context due to things moving so far: characters are introduced in one panel and then disappear in the next again. Neat use of colors, though.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous – 04

by psgels, posted in Natsuyuki Rendezvous

This episode really shined in how well it balanced showing what went on in the minds of the characters. For Hazuki it has two ways to show his thoughts: his long inner monologues, and his fast inner quibs in the middle of conversations. Rokka has them too, but the difference is less extreme. In contrast, we didn’t get so see into the mind of Atsushi for most of the episode, though at the end it was perfectly clear what he had been thinking throughout most of the episode.

Most of this episode was about the date in the amusement park. And it felt very awkward, but that was entirely the intention of the creators: Hazuki really wanted to use this opportunity to make his move on Rokka, forcing his way through everything. It’s interesting how the only impression he has of the past amusement park is one photo that in no way showed what was going on in the rest of the trip. At the end, this was suppored to be the catalyst to the big moment at the end of the episode: him giving up his own body in a drunk mood. This depended a lot on the right emotional portrayal of the characters, and really: the creators nailed it.

After this, it’s all going to depend on where the creators take this next. There are a ton of ways they can to after the next episode. It all depends on the meaning that they’ll give of Atsushi’s short meeting with his wife.

Also, I think that right now we’re at a historical junction: 20 years from now, people can somewhat differentiate some of the series from before 2012 and after. From today, the big landmark of Tokyo is the Sky Tree, and not the Tokyo Tower anymore. The next terror that will land upon the city will choose to smash up the Sky Tower, and from now on, the Tokyo Tower will just be seen as its small brother.
Rating: (Excellent)

Moyashimon – 15

by psgels, posted in Moyashimon

This second season did have a bunch of strange plot decisions, I give it that: I mean, at this point the main character of this show has pretty much changed into Hazuki. A germophobe. Because of that, the microbes have completely changed their role in the series due to the lack of interaction between them. Right now, this is a series that has a character who happens to be able to see them, and they’ve become narrators and commentators.

Now, is that a bad thing? I wouldn’t say that that automatically is the case: the series just needs to provide something to make up for this change of focus. And it has done so with its lectures and slice of life, both of which are excellent. This episode showed new stuff about old alcohol brewers and their businesses, which was quite interesting to watch.

The slice of life in this series also is the kind of slice of life I really like: it doesn’t focus on the daily grind, but on the small details, like the characters sitting down to eat some kind of new snack, or hanging out at a bar. They’ve provided lots of interesting conversation in the process. My only complaint is Haruka. I know arranged marriages are still a big thing in Japan, but this is a cliché that has gotten to the point of being a dead horse that’s too often used to introduce tension when the creators lack inspiration. If you wanted some drama around Haruka, you could just as easily have given her some money troubles that would prevent her from carrying her studies further.
Rating: (Great)

Uta Koi – 04

by psgels, posted in Uta Koi

It still surprises me how light-hearted this series is, but really: I’m learning something new with every episode here. This episode in particular contained a lot of comic relief. And almost no romance whatsoever.

Instead, this is about two poets and their relationship, as they discuss poems and love poems. I did not expect that, but at the same time I find it a nice touch that the creators are trying to link all of these poems together. In Chihayafuru they all just seemed like random poems that were compiled, written by random poets, but not only do all of them have backgrounds, the poets also knew each other and influenced each other. There are poems that fit one author much more than others. That’s fascinating right there.

I’m just not sure what the point is to put Fujiwara no Teika in all kinds of modern situations. This time he was on the beach under a parasol and hitting watermelons. And don’t get me wrong, their explanations are quite useful (especially when they started talking about criticism)… but it still feels weird.
Rating: (Great)