Eureka Seven Ao – 14

by psgels, posted in Eureka Seven Ao

At this point, I think I’m pretty sure of the big difference between Eureka Seven and Eureka Seven Ao in terms of series structure: consistency. Based on the past fourteen episodes, I can say that Eureka Seven’s stand-out moments were much more shocking and much better delivered than Eureka Seven Ao’s. On the other hand, Eureka Seven Ao just had a streak of awesome episodes that doesn’t seem to end anytime soon. Compare that to Eureka Seven’s season of build-up. Which one’s the best? I’d say that Eureka Seven still edges it for its world development and these mind-blowing standout moments. But seriously: I love its sequel as well.

This episode also had an awesome plot twist to add to this show’s vast array. And really, these are the kinds of plot twists that make me wtf out loud. They toy with your expectations, and strike when you’d least expect it (I really thought that Eureka immediately knew that Ao was her son, but holy crap Ao has a sister!), and yet they feel part of the plot, instead of just shoved in for the sake of having plot twists.

The rest of the small plot twists were also very fun and interesting to watch, but there is one in particular that caught my attention: Ao hating his father. I originally thought that there was some deep reason behind that. I mean, this series likes to withhold certain pieces of information from the viewer, even when it’s about the main character (which is great, by the way: it shows that said main character had a life before the start of the series), but in the end, he just blamed him for being there with his mother. Which, you know, is pretty reasonable for a kid his age.

This episode also made me realize what the creators were trying to do with him. I mean, the one thing that makes Ao stand out: he acts mature for his age. Why? Because he had a bad childhood. He never really got to be a child because of all that island and discrimination stuff going on. This is the biggest reason why he is so fundamentally different from Renton, who despite losing his parents (he did, right? My memory si fuzzy about that one), did grow up happily and he even had an idol to look up to. And that brings us back again to the main theme of this series: kids don’t belong in war. You could see that again when that one smirky officer was about to shoot Ao, and how many people jumped on him.
Rating: (Awesome)

Natsuyuki Rendezvous – 03

by psgels, posted in Natsuyuki Rendezvous

If it was just the voice acting in this series that was as great as it was, this series would already be amazing. But it’s not just that: the music is brilliant, and in fact got even better in this episode with its combinations of piano and string pieces. And on top of that the expressions are wonderfully drawn in this series: its ability to convey emotions also is completely unrivaled in this season. And the bizarre thing is: this is Dogakobo. What really surprises me is how they suddenly got themselves some awesome producers who could bring together some people who really know what they’re doing. What triggered that? I mean, these are the guys who are behind the many seasons of Koihime Musou. They only did one series once that didn’t involve blatant moe: Ryoko’s Case File, but that was nowhere as well executed as this series is.

I mean, there is also the way in which they got Ryo-Chimo to direct the OP, but what also surprises me is how tightly everything is produced: Kou Matsuou is involved everywhere: he directs, he writes the script, he even directed the ED. On top of that, every episode director so far also personally wrote the storyboard. I know that originally these roles were pulled apart in order to allow for more consistency in the anime production process, so that even with an average staff you could produce a great episode because the workload is divided, but it’s still good to see that the people who have the time and skill to do both at once are still there, because this in my opinion allows for a more creative control over each episode.

What the creators did in this episode brilliantly was show how hopeless Atsushi’s situation is. He’s pretty much forced to watch some random guy start hitting on what he still considers to be his girlfriend, and being sick for his entire life he really became a sympathetic character here after his charades last episodes. And really: Hazuki is one of the most flawed main characters out there, but in a completely different way from usual. This guy is cold and brash, not polite at all. Yet at the same time, he’s very sharp-witted which despite him being an asshole at times, makes him really great to watch. My one nitpick about this episode was that we got to see very little inside the head of Rokka herself. That was what made her so interesting in the first two episodes.
Rating: (Awesome)

Moyashimon – 14

by psgels, posted in Moyashimon

The creators here nailed college, with one exception, which became clear to me with this episode: how come there is only one member of the cast who drinks? I mean, it’s college: the time which is notorious for people drinking themselves into a coma over and over again. I don’t care about the minimum age in Japan being high: Japanese students have got to have found some ways around that, right? In any case, my biggest issue is that with this, the “drinks a lot” has become a stereotype, rather than an actual character trait, due to the main cast being portrayed so black and white.

Also, my memory on the first season is completely fuzzy: I really don’t remember much of it, but haven’t some things changed in the process? I mean, for example I cannot remember that the microbes actually gave classes on fermenting (which are really interesting, by the way). In any case, what also strikes me as a big difference is that the cast is much more fun to watch now, now that it doesn’t have to bother with introductions. It makes the characters more… down to earth.

This meanwhile was an arc for Hazuki to flesh her out, and I must say that the creators used her well, but also the rest of the cast worked quite well together. I’m just wondering where the creators plan to go with that arranged marriage stuff…
Rating: (Great) – (Note: I am going to think of something new for these ratings, I just don’t have the time for that right now)

Moyashimon – 13

by psgels, posted in Moyashimon

Holy crap, I am so late! And screw this, I’m going to blog Moyashimon. This episode convinced me that it deserves a second season. As a matter of fact, it could very well become better than the first season at this rate. It really deserves this with such a tight script, and it’s definitely more than just a comedy. Plus, I have a point that I want to make.

Over the past weeks, I noticed quite a few people who commented on how uneventful this season is. And I’ve been thinking, the only way in which I can agree with that is if you’d compare it to last season with its huge quantity of standout series. Nevertheless, I’d still call this season a stand-out one, and definitely a unique one.

I mean, this isn’t like 2011’s summer season, which had a ton of series with amazing starts. What this season does have however, is creativity. Seriously: there is Uta Koi with its tons of historical content, Moyashimon with its focus on bacteria, Jinrui with its fairies and satire, Horizon with its powers and world. On top of that there is the dramatic heavy hitter of Natsuyuki Rendezvous, Hyouka and Uchuu Kyoudai which carried over from the previous seasons, and Hunter X Hunter is getting to the point where it gets really fired off. I mean I don’t know about you or anything, but I have more than enough to watch this season. If I had to label it with one word, it’d be “interesting”. Perhaps it’s not the most dramatic season (aside from perhaps Eurka Seven and Natsuyuki Rendezvous, but there is more than enough to keep you busy.

Anyway, Moyashimon: did it always have such a good script here? I mean, there is a lot of interesting dialogue in this episode, and unlike with shows as Joshiraku, it feels like the characters are actually explaining things to each other, rather than just provide exposition. The characters here have a chemistry together and feel just like real college students. The acting in this show is quite well done, if perhaps overshadowed by the other Noitamina-series this season.

Also, I remember again why I have hardly any memories of the first season: its ending was rather bad. Sure, with this second season it’s not an ending anymore, but it still was a rather rushed gimmicky episode whose concept ended with a very disappointing cop-out. I hope that the creators aren’t going to do the same for this second season.
Rating: Excellent

Uta Koi – 03

by psgels, posted in Uta Koi

Now that all Summer series have debuted, I can say this for certain: Uta Koi has the best soundtrack of the season. Even though this is a season that has three of my favorite composers in it (Yuki Kajiura, Kou Otani and Hikaru Nanase), it is Yasunori Mitsuda who until now was completely unknown to me who really stole the show. And on top of that, the soundtrack is also really well used, and knows exactly what tracks to use at each moment.

And yeah, this series is just fascinating. The Heian era is one that doesn’t appear often in anime, in favor of the samurai and Sengoku eras and all, but I still find that onE very interesting. This series takes people shrouded in mystery (in this episode’s case Ono no Komachi and gives its own interpretation to them. The most important creative liberties here are Ono no Komachi’s position and the reason why her lover couldn’t visit her for the full 100 days.

it just takes a while to get used to these weird stylistic choices that the creators went with. This time, Fujiwara no Teika dressed up as the new Tokyo Sky Tower… okay. And yet, for the childish voice he uses, the actual episode took itself pretty seriously and didn’t feel childish at all, and it also put a lot of emphasis on the misogyny that reigned during those days.
Rating: Excellent

Hyouka – 13

by psgels, posted in Hyouka

This is a bit of a strange arc here. Hyouka is technically a mystery-series, yet there is about 0 seconds of mystery in these past two episodes: it’s the story about the mysterious stolen props. Instead, this arc is about showing off the school that this series takes place in. We’ve seen glimpses so far, but this time we really get a good overview of what the school looks like and what kind of culture it’s got.

This is something that Kyoani often likes to put emphasis on, especially Kanon of all series took place in what really felt like a school, rather than have this be an obligatory place for people to meet. As someone who hasn’t been in a high school for seven years (god, I feel old saying that), I definitely appreciate that.

I also like the variety in this arc a lot: the creators gave everyone something significantly different to do: Chitanda to be overwhelmed by the different clubs, Satoshi keeping track of all of the events, while succeeding in promoting the classics club, Oreki is his usual self doing nothing, and Ibara took care of the tension and drama with her manga club. They balanced together quite nicely.

Oreki had some interesting moments in this episode with Chitanda’s photos, but I also want to talk a bit about the OP. I don’t really like the OP: the visuals aren’t as inspired as the first OP, and the song is just dull J-Pop to me (I think it’s clear by now that I’m really not a fan of J-Pop and J-Rock), but it does stand out in how it portrays Oreki, especially at the end in which the rest of the characters doodle on his face and he gets angry and starts chasing them…. now does that really sound in-character? Would he really be the type of character who would get so pissed off by this that he’d forget his own laziness and start chasing people?
Rating: Excellent

Rinne no Lagrange – 15

by psgels, posted in Rinne no Lagrange

This episode was really good, although I’m still clueless on what the rest of its plot will be about. I mean there is this obvious war and Ran’s brother who needs to be stopped, on top of those strange Vox powers, but beyond that I have no clue how the creators plan to spice things up. At first I thought that this would be Muginami and Ran who continue to fight over Madoka, but that was solved in this episode by something that a lot of other teenaged pilots should do: by talking things out. So what’s next?

What I mean by this is: Rinne no Lagrange still needs something to make it stand out in its second half. Aquarion had its bizarre fanservice, Mouretsu Pirates had its huge and addictive cast. With Rinne no Lagrange, the ingredients are all there to make an impact. It’s the type of series that puts a lot of emphasis on reaching out and prevention, rather than dumb action. Now, make use of this!

One thing that already changed a lot at this point is the powers of the Vox. I’m not sure what happened at the end of the first season when Midori produced that giant flower, but Madoka can now hear what’s in the minds of the other Vox powers, and that’s likely to only be the beginning.
Rating: Excellent

Some Quick First Impressions: Ebiten

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Ebiten

Short Synopsis: Our lead character strips innocent girls to their underwear.
So, Ebiten has immediately won the “Worst character-designs of the season”-award (those eyes!), but what about the rest of the episode? Well, I guess it wasn’t that bad. Of course it wasn’t anything amazing, and don’t ask me why that one girl had to be stripped and tied up all the time, but when the characters in this episode started role-playing, things got fairly amusing. Ebiten is a show that thrives on meta-fiction: its set up is similar to the bad parts of Haruhi, and there were a lot of Saint Seiya references in this episode. And not the kind of references that are there for the sake of having references, but they were actively used. I think the best series to compare this with is a Joshiraku minus the wordplay and with a ton of random fanservice added, but unlike Joshiraku the characters were trying to be actual characters, rather than vehicles for the author to show off his sense of wordplay. Does that make up for the fanservice? I dunno? That depends on the next episodes.
ED: Why are you trying to make live-action girls substitute for the characters? It’s not like they look alike or anything; bad use of idols
Potential: 50%

AKB0048 – 12

by psgels, posted in AKB0048

It still surprises me with how much this series can get away. I mean, this must have been originally intended as some sort of sell-out, and yet: the ED of this episode is purely instrumental. It was a really good ED, but it in no way promotes AKB48 as an idol group. Really: whoever was behind that idea: I really admire the balls it must have taken to go with this.

Add that to the different cast members openly criticizing the system for AKB0048, on top of this episode showing how this business can mentally break down these girls from the stress they face. These are some very surprising liberties, and with this, I really hope for a second season for this series. especially since this episode came with a bunch of twists that can only be good with some extra episodes.

In a 1-cour series, claiming on the 12th episode that you’re going to say goodbye means an aftermath. In a 2-cour series, it means character development end evolution. Same for that new pet thingy that appeared at the end of the episode.

Also, how many “hard work and guts”-tropes is Nagisa going to subvert anyway? I mean, they go on this heroic quest to save her father, but he doesn’t want to be rescued. She gets her chance to perform in the center of the stage, and breaks down. The motivational speech she gets in this episode about not giving up doesn’t change anything: she still lost, but it made her face the fact that she did rather than completely turning the tables. She still had to see everyone work extra hard to make up for her.

Does that make her a bad character? Here’s the thing: I usually hate characters who don’t do anything, because they’re completely pointless. Nagisa is different, though: her uselessness has a point, and she also has a character; I especially liked that she changed after meeting her father and decided to not inconvenience her mother.
Rating: Excellent

Jinrui wa Suita Shimashita – 03

by psgels, posted in Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita

In this episode, our lead female meets a manga author that she went to school with who invents gay romance fiction and creates a legion of fujoshi by doing so. The thing is, and I’m not sure why, but I had trouble keeping my attention on this episode and I kindof wonder why.

Well, there of course is the way that I’m not interested in works that are purely fanservice and the entire culture that surrounds it, but also: how does this world work anyway? They have cars and apparently methods to transport huge amounts of people, but simple fiction and a printing press is something lost to the ages?

If anything, I fail to miss the point that this episode wants to make. Was it all meant to build up to that moment at the end in which they got caught in a manga? In that case, there is something that bothers me: this series will likely be only 12 episodes long. i feel like it’s taking too long to get from A to B. For a series as Uchuu Kyoudai this is fine because it’s both long and consistently interesting, but with this episode, this series is neither…
Rating: Enjoyable