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)

Hyouka – 14

by psgels, posted in Hyouka

I was surprised that out of all people who Chitanda managed to find to help her, it was that one upperclassman of the previous arc. It made for quite a strange scene with Chitanda being intimidated and all by the tips she gave. Beyond that, this again was a very enjoyable episode in which the characters did all sorts of events. I have to give it to this series: it brought something new to the overused school festival.

This had this degree of detail that is just missing in all of the other school festival arcs I’ve seen. The pacing may be a bit slow, but because of that it could show as much as possible, with the crown being the cooking competition, which showed new things about all four main characters and showed a lot of detail in all of the different dishes that were made and how they were made. This is something that only Kyoto Animation can do, so I’m glad that they at least made use of their talents, as much as I’d like them to do something different from a school series.

I also like how Sayaka pretty much made a big fuss last episode for nothing. As for Oreki, he actually raised his voice. On top of that, I liked how creatively the creators tied in his whole trading subplot with the cooking contest. The next episode will finally be about actual mystery, but heck: this arc already served its purpose to flesh out just about everything in this series. The question now will be to actually use this. It’s of course one thing to have a well fleshed out cast, but what would make that even better is actively using all of that.
Rating: (Excellent)

AKB0048 Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in AKB0048, Anime Reviews



So, AKB was a series that not many people seemed to like, so with this review I’ll try my hardest to explain why it managed to win me over. And let me get one thing straight: it’s not like I’m some sort of idol fanboy. In fact, I hate the idol business. I really dislike J-Pop as a music genre. And I’m really not a fan of abusing moe and cute girls to pander to an audience. So yes: how on earth did this show manage to win me over?

For the people who aren’t familiar at all with AKB0048: AKB48 is an idol group, consisting out of a huge amount of teenaged girls who sing songs and do other cute things. This series is meant to promote them: the main characters are all played by various members, most of whom have no voice acting experience, and the plot is about a world in which music has been outlawed and the girls run around and perform guerilla concerts as a sort of resistance. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right? Yeah, but here is the thing: the two main creators, the chief director and the main writer, are two of the biggest trolls around in the anime business: Shoji Kawamori and Mari Okada. And they were given a lot of freedom. I still don’t know who found that a good idea, but bless this person.

Now, to fully appreciate this series, you’re going to have to need to read inbetween the lines a bit. It’s indeed true that we have a bunch of idols who sing and fight evil enemy soldiers at the same time. But at the same time this series does some really surprising things as a show that’s meant to be a promotion of an idol group. I mean, usually these things are incredibly cheap and superfluous: cartoonified members of the group go on random adventures and try to be as cute or cool as possible. AKB0048 however, completely throws these conventions out of the window and starts to focus on the uglier sides of being an idol; how unfair the business can be sometimes, how hard it forces teenaged girls to work and how it forces some dangerous mindsets on them. This series, on one half is indeed cute girls doing cute things, but that other half is really dark to balance all of that out, with some really cynical messages at times.

Beyond that, this show also is just very well executed. The thing with this show is that nearly all voice actresses are completely new, so they don’t have a stereotype that they all try to fit in like what you’d have if people like Kugimiya Rie were cast and all. There are a lot of characters in this show, but none are unlikable or try to force their cuteness down the viewer’s throats. They’re all well-developed and all have engaging issues that actually differ quite a bit. Beyond that there is excellent animation and musical numbers: the performances in this series really work and its use of music is really excellent.

Having said all that though, the overall storyline of this show IS completely silly. The people who outlawed entertainment are nothing more than shallow villains, and somehow they keep getting beaten by a bunch of little girls despite being in armored tanks and mechas. For as much attention this series gives to entertainment and idols, so little it spends on the actual bad guys of this series. That really is the biggest weakness of this series: at times it will be really, really hard to maintain your suspense of disbelief. The sign whether you’ll like this show or not is probably at episode number two: if at that point the characters don’t interest you, then you’ll have a very hard time with this. That episode however does have the power to really capture its audience though, so if you’re interested in this series, do give it a chance and don’t be put off by the whole premise… too much.

Storytelling: 7,5/10 – An excellent animated musical, but the action scenes make no sense!
Characters: 8,5/10 – Large cast with actually likable characters, rather than characters who put too much emphasis on moe stereotypes. They actually got a balance here.
Production-Values: 8,5/10 – Eye candy! Great use of music and songs.
Setting: 8,5/10 – A very cynical and interesting look at idols that you would not expect from a show that’s meant to promote idols.

Suggestions:
– Aquarion Evol
– Macross Frontier
– Nerima Daikon Brothers

AKB0048 – 13

by psgels, posted in AKB0048

Okay. That was awesome.

With this final episode, AKB0048 managed to surpass itself. It was a really cheesy episode, and yet everything just worked. With this, I really understand

why Shoji Kawamori was assigned to oversee this project: he really knows how to create an animated musical. I mean, I have a lot of problems with Macross Frontier, but it really was one of the few series to have nailed the animated musical (other examples of this done right are the Nerima Daikon Brothers and Beck). This was a wonderful climax that had his name all over it.

And meanwhile, I guess that the plot of it all makes sense here: apparently Lancastar is this special planet that these fairy-things really like. That’s why the current generation of AKB is so special: there are a lot of people from Lancastar on it. At this point this remains a mcguffin, of course, but it’s good to have some sort of reason behind everything right now.

AND OMG YES< SECOND SEASON! It'll probably be very different from the first season, and my guess is that there are two ways it can go: more light-hearted and away from the criticism, or completely insane. The thing is, that both can work, because at this point, the cast is more than strong enough to carry this series. Every character right now is likable and engaging to watch. The idol commentary was great to watch, and I'd love it if the creators would carry this further in the second season, but I also won't mind it if they will focus on something completely different there. This series doesn't just have potential, it has potential for many different possible directions. Rating: (Awesome)

Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita – 04

by psgels, posted in Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita

So unlike the previous episode, this episode was actually about the fairies again, as they created this bizarre manga world that traps people and forces them to create stories that excite readers. Y being the bad writer she is, completely ruins this by trying to tie as many cliches together as possible and making a complete mess of a story. It’s a nice parody of bad manga.

One thing I did notice is that the blond kid doesn’t really feel like a character. I mean, being mute is of course one thing, but oftentimes he’s just there to provide a handy note from the creators in order to keep the story going or get Watashi out of a pinch.

One wasted opportunity was that the creators didn’t show the other manga that the characters were competing with. That would also have been interesting. Still, this was a nice episode that was interesting to watch. I’m still waiting for the characters to really set themselves apart, but there is still time for that.

Regarding the soundtrack though, I feel that this is one of Kou Otani’s lesser works. It just doesn’t seem to fit the satirical atmosphere of this serise, and disappears just too often into the background to the point where I hardly ever notice it. It’s still typical of his soundtrack, but that’s just because he uses that one instrument that nobody else uses. (That one synthesizer)
Rating: (Good)