OVA Impressions: Wasuregumono

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

I apologize for the lateness of this entry. But especially after seeing another batch of the Young Animator Training Project being announced for 2013, I do want to keep up with this project, because the initiators really seem to want to make this a long-term project. And unlike Buta, Wasurenagumo is really good.

In fact, after Ojii-San no Lamp it has the best storyline, it has the best animation, and it has the best characters of all the projects so far. the animation in particular is really impressive, especially considering how this comes from young animators. These people really were able to show off their skills in this episode, because the fluidity really is amazing. And not just at a few money shots, but there really are a lot of scenes that have that.

This really shows that Production IG has recruited many talented animators and inbetweeners. Now what would be really great is if they were going to make series with interesting concepts again, instead of Kuroko no Basuke, Shining Hearts and Guilty Crown. Now don’t get me wrong, my main issue is that this is Production IG we’re talking about. They are the people who once boasted some of the most original series out there, and were the people behind gems as RD, Ghost Hound, Chevalier, Seirei no Moribito, Patlabor, Otogizoshi and Ghost in the Shell. There is a big difference here, but at the very least they are still experimenting with their one-shots and movies, not to mention the balls they had with Blood-C.

In any case, about Wasurenagumo (that is a very annoying title to keep typing over and over), this episode definitely stood out in its characters. It helped that they were really well animated and brought to life, but also the writing and acting was very good. At the same time though, it was strangely creepy and disturbing in the end. Make that very disturbing.

The thing with Wasurenagumo is that at heart, it is a horror story. It just doesn’t show that until right at the end, with a completely baffling plot twist. Just… wow.

By the way, next year’s Young Animator Training Project should definitely be fun, because I am really curious to see what the junior division of the four studios that signed up looks like and what they can do. First there is the obvious Gonzo: how did they survive? Who did they recruit? Then there is Studio Trigger’s first official project (Studio Trigger is the studio founded by Hiroyuki Imaishi, and I’m really curious to see who he managed to attract). Then there is Madhouse; with so many of their best people going freelance, it’s definitely going to be interesting who will replace them. And then there is Studio Pierrot, a studio that had some of the top animators out there… ten years ago. Are their new people simply there for Naruto and Bleach, or will their new division be a breath of fresh air after how deeply that company has fallen lately.
OVA Episode Rating: 8.25/10

Fate/Zero – 24

by psgels, posted in Fate/Zero

After nearly finishing this series, one thing that surprised me is that Kotomine Kirei didn’t really turn into such a psychotic villain. In fact for me he’s one of the most interesting characters in this second season in the way he’s searching for something to fill his doubts with. I’d much rather label Kiritsugu as the psychopath, especially after what happened in this episode.

But that definitely was a great cliff-hanger at the end of this episode. Although that does leave me to wonder: Tohsaka Tokiomi wanted a wish that would require to rewrite the laws of reality right? If such a wish is possible, then why can’t Kiritsugu’s wish of wanting to save everyone come true? To take the boats example: why not use magic to fix both holes? I get what this episode was going for in that Kiritsugu’s wish was way too naive, but if you’ve already gone over nine thousand multiple times, then this seems a pretty strange place to stop. Also, why did the grail appear, even though there were still some people fighting over it?

In any case, the action scenes were all great here, although the fight between Saber and Berserker felt a bit underwhelming, considering most of happened off-screen, and we still don’t really know why he became Berserker. Kiritsugu vs Kotomine was very well directed though, and I liked a lot how professional both were.
Rating: *+ (Great)

Mouretsu Pirates – 24

by psgels, posted in Mouretsu Pirates

So, how does Mouretsu Pirates decide to fill in its penultimate episode? Plot twists. Or should I say, character twists. This episode was full of twists about characters that went into completely different directions than what was hinted about them. So to summarize:

– Coolie is actually hot when she takes off her coat and glasses.
– The legendary chef had five sons, who all opened up their own places.
– Luca has been kidnapped and switched with an android.
– Kane has a body double with a spike of very twitchy hair.
– Ririka has been captured by that very theatrical pirate of last episode.
– Chiaki has apparently spoken some very praising words about Marika to her father.

I mean, for this show to pull all of this in one episode, let alone the penultimate. I really like their guts and it’s a great way to build up to the finale, especially considering how it has never done anything like this before. If anything, Mouretsu Pirates is a really varied series: every arc is different and yet it comes together so wonderfully.

Now, the big danger with all these plot twist is the classic “rushed ending”. Putting in too many plot threads for the final episode to actually resolve. With this, it’s clear that Mouretsu Pirates is going for a fast-paced ending, and these kinds of endings can vary greatly, from being really good to being really bad.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Spring 2012 Kaleidoscope – Week 24

by psgels, posted in Spring 2012 Kaleidoscope

#1: Shirokuma Cafe – 11: Polar Bear Cafe, you just surpassed yourself. The first half of this episode was just surreal, and pretty much was the funniest thing I’ve seen all season. I couldn’t stop laughing while watching it. – *** (Awesome)

#2: Medaka Box – 11: So yeah, this arc was completely different from the rest of the series, but it worked. It was so over the top, but at the same time it used the development of the first half of the series and I also liked how it toyed with the shounen conventions. I have no idea how this show plans to wrap itself up in just one episode, but still this was Shouji Saeki‘s best work as a director on a full series. I guess it really helped that he was both the director and the main adapter, because as flawed as this series is, it does have one thing: a big picture, and that can’t be said of every incomplete adaptation. – ** (Excellent)

#3: The Legend of Korra – 09: I’m not really fond of how the creators continue with the love triangle and all, but the second half of this episode took some really interesting twists and turns here. I like how there are many different parties who are up against each other here and it makes for a great plot. But what will this show do once everything is over? – ** (Excellent)

#4: Kimi to Boku – 23: This episode was about Mary, and as expected it got a lot of very neat character development in. What I didn’t expect was that the twins also got some unexpected character development; it was subtle, but definitely there. Both worked really well here. – ** (Excellent)

#5: Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san OVA – 03: Azazel-San’s latest OVA came out this week, and this one takes place directly after the TV-series. It’s 30 minutes long, with an OP that hints at many characters who haven’t appeared yet, so the creators are definitely planning more of these OVAs. This episode introduced Lucifer, a very narcissistic Koala, and the direction was in top shape all over this episode, with a creative direction and a lot of hilarious visual jokes. – ** (Excellent)

#6: Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki – 23: This was another one of those episodes in which the creators tried to cram as many different sketches into one episode as possible. people chatted, launched themselves, rode a bus, visited a movie, cleaned for spring, were bothered by lots of rain and… are these episodes really just 2 minutes long? – ** (Excellent)

#7: Sankarea – 00: A ton of shows are on hiatus this week, but Sankarea did have an OVA coming out. And really, I expected to be this pointless OVA of some sort, but it actually had a very clear point to it. It was a tad uneventful and that coincidence at the end was just unnecessary, but as an explanation behind the notebook, and therefore the concept behind the entire series, this was actually a pretty interesting use for a prequel OVA. – *+ (Great)

#8: Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou OVA – 01: So apparently Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou has DVD specials that contain extra sketches. This one was just two minutes long and was mostly just buiding up to one joke. And despite being rather corny, that joke made me laugh. – *+ (Great)

#9: Saint Seiya Omega – 11: At the very least: the stakes are now much higher and more interesting beyond high school tournaments. This episode was not as impressive as the previous two weeks, but still it had its merits. Just don’t let this drag on by again having one episode focus on a different cast member, because that’s getting really formulaic. – * (Good)

#10: Jormungand – 10: Hmm, this may have been me not paying attention, but was it explained how Koko was able t find that Balkan leader so easily? I’m still trying to puzzle out why this series leaves me relatively indifferent, even though its subject matter is pretty interesting. This episode also had interesting dogfights… but it all just goes too easily for out main cast. – * (Good)

#11: Nazo no Kanojo X – 10: This week… was building up to something really corny here. And I am not sure whether it’s smart to end the series with that, people. Childhood crushes are a dead horse by now so it was very tedious to see the writers use that to create a love triangle. It’s a good thing that Tsubaki and his “ex”-crush were well acted so they managed to save this episode with that, but this show will be ending in two weeks. This isn’t the time to introduce cliches. – * (Good)

#12: Kingdom – 02: Dear god, I can’t watch this series anymore. It’s one thing to be dramatic, but this was some of the most overblown melodrama I have seen in years. On top of that the script tends to repeat the obvious over and over. I unfortunately got my hopes up way too high for this one, and it’s definitely the biggest disappointment of 2012 so far. Dropped. – — (Bad)

Tsuritama – 10

by psgels, posted in Tsuritama

You know what? I’m actually enjoying Tsuritama more than Apollon at this point. This episode was all the fun that I hoped it to be, and it was a really creative calm before the storm episode. Just about everyone here made this episode exciting and I love the work that was done on the screenplay.

I have to say that Yuki’s little trip to Nagoya was a really creative way to get him out of the picture for a while, so that this show could focus on all of the side-characters instead. Yuki himself racing back to Enoshima also was really fun to watch. On top of that, the great thing about Duck is that even though they look silly, they were actually quite competent. They just had the bad luck that their target was absurdly powerful in the water. And they had a couple of very gullible goons, okay, but there is nothing wrong with their thoroughness.

In any case, Tsuritama is a series that is really built around its finale. Every part of it is meant to built up to these episodes, and this has its advantages and disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage is that the first half tends to be rather boring. I don’t mind build-up as long as it satisfies two conditions:
– This build-up actually pays off and gets used.
– It is actually building up, and not dragging out and delaying the inevitable.

Tsuritama at this point satisfies both. The whole first half of the series really took its time to flesh out the characters and show a bit of drama around them, while it gave Yuki a crash course in fishing so that he would be able to take on JFX in the upcoming final episode. I don’t feel like it has rushed or dragged on at all, and these episodes all played out very naturally. Because of this these past episodes have been so believable and engaging. With this, I can really see that the creators put in a lott of time to make sure that the pacing of this series works, and I congratulate them for that.

The reason I wasn’t optimistic during the build-up part is because I have been disappointed a little too often by series that promised to build up… only to fail to deliver, or ending on some rushed finale. This didn’t just happen in manga adaptations, but also anime original series like Tsuritama. If the finale also ends up delivering however, then Tsuritama really is a great example of a series that got things right.
Rating: **+ (Excellent+)

Sakamichi no Apollon – 10

by psgels, posted in Sakamichi no Apollon

Apollon, I thought that you were too good to pull the “walking into naked”-card. Of course it was well explained and it was used well, but still this remains something that needs to die.

But yeah, this episode then proceeded to put in the same amount of development that most shows only manage in three times that amount. It got through the annoying, triumphant and calm before the storm stage by the end of it with Kaoru confessing again after a long period of dodging around the issue, even though that in the it only helped to return to the status quo.

The big twist for me in this episode though was Sentarou’s father returning, especially after how much effort he put into advancing to the third year thanks to Kaoru. I know that he hates his father and that he very likely sees that he loses his place in the family this way, but for him to disappear is quite radical. At first I thought that they were going with the predictable school festival ending, but this is a drama before this is a musical series, so this is indeed a great way to spice things up.

Speaking of which: no instruments were played i this episode.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Lupin III – Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna – 11

by psgels, posted in Lupin III - Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna

This was another Mari Okada episode. And one impression I’ve gotten after watching this episode is that she really likes Oscar. This was the second episode devoted to him and his crush on Zenigata. Whenever this show focuses on Oscar it suddenly gets so full of shoujo-vibes, completely different from the rest of this series. It’s great for variety’s sake, not to mention that we actually have a bisexual character in a series where the rest of the cast is just straight.

Having said that though, I do have to point out that the end of the episode suffered from one huge flaw in Oscar’s logic: why jump along with that bomb? I mean, couldn’t you just… drop it or something? Right now, his end is basically that he was trying to be someone who impressed inspector Zenigata, he got indirectly rejected and couldn’t bear this so he committed suicide. Was that the image the creators were going for? Still, I liked this episode a lot again. Perhaps also due to this shoujo vibe it had.

The animation by the way also really improved over this episode. This episode finally had some smooth animation again, plus the artistic direction also was at its best again. The smoke effects in particular had some really good animation, so I’m glad that the producers still managed to find enough budget to pay some attention to inbetween animation. On top of that this episode took place in Paris. Having been in Paris a month ago, it really hit home how they portrayed it. Although obviously all hints of commercialization were removed.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Zetman – 11

by psgels, posted in Zetman

This was a huge episode for Kouga here. The previous episode already built this up, but this really is where the hole subplot with the white-haired guy comes together. While it’s hard to see what parts of his story were real and which one were a bluff, there nevertheless was a grain of truth to his words when Kouga noticed that he got ecstatic from fighting.

I am not sure how this scene worked in the manga, but here in the anime Kouga turned into this archetypical hero who actually gets bogged down by his own naivety and is forced into situations in which he screws up horribly and fails to save people’s lives. I like that a lot here.

This episode also had these scenes in which the animation got really good again, which really has my hopes up that the creators did save some great animators for next week, the series finale. The creators actually wrote it so that they can actually wrap up this story if they want to. But then again, there have been plenty of anime that also looked like they could wrap everything up in their final episode, only to go into a completely different direction with unnecessary sequel hooks.

My one concern: this episode really stood out. It was excellent psychological warfare that has been built up for quite a while now. Jin on the other hand doesn’t have that: he’s just a strong guy who fights stuff. The finale will definitely be action-packed, but what about the rest?
Rating: **+ (Excellent+)

Hyouka – 08

by psgels, posted in Hyouka

The reason why the camera moves so little in anime, aside from panning and zooming, is that it’s really hard to animate backgrounds, on top of animating character-models from different angles. And here Hyouka comes and gives a wonderful rendition of the view of a cameraman walking around. This is only possible with very careful use of CG, and I really have to admit that they blended this in really well with the entire look of an amateur camera. But it’s especially the way they kept all of the character-models consistent in all these frames that is impressive.

The movie was very different from the movie that was made in Haruhi, which was played for comedic effect, but there is one thing about that that they copied over and improved: the bad acting. What I mean by that is that it really feels like it was made by a bunch of high school kids: everyone was acting very stiff, and some were yelling their lines out too loud. Furthermore there were few cuts compared to a professionally made movie, simply because it’s such a hassle to do that.

We’ve also gotten our first long arc again with this. It’s a bit of a strange set-up, and especially the three amateur detectives have me a bit puzzled. Going through so much trouble of trying to find the culprit when you could just ask the sick scriptwriter for a small explanation, plus you still need someone to write the rest of the script.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

AKB0048 – 07 and Aquarion Evol – 24

by psgels, posted in AKB0048, Aquarion Evol

One thing that I’ve noticed about a lot of Mari Okada’s anime original scripts: the one thing she has trouble with is being interesting while building up. Especially in the first halves of her longer series have these flashes of brilliance intermixed with dull slice of life. Take Hana-Saku Iroha’s long wring of random episodes, Aquarion’s boring romantic set-up in its first half, or even Kuroshitsuji II’s first four episodes that were nothing but random hi-jinks. We too are now on that point for AKB0048 unfortunately, but the end of this episode did remember to actually deliver.

And it did so with some very weird succession rules that showed even more what a strange organization this AKB0048 is. So everyone is set to become a succeeding member of one of the founding members of the AKB, and who gets to succeeds is decided by strange flying blobs based on very vague criteria, they are ruled by a strange shadowy figure who writes unnerving lyrics. And also: we’ve seen people talk plenty of times in this series about “graduating”, however nobody has actually explained what that entails to.
Rating: * (Good)

There was so much trolling going on in this episode of Aquarion. Where to start: Amata was consciously abandoned by his parents, causing him to have a bad childhood, Ah, and you finally see them again? Too bad! Seriously, can’t we ever make these people survive and have them take responsibility for what they did? Shoji Kawamori was all over this episode, but the most apparent really was the ending, in which the main source of the conflict turns out to e environmental destruction. I already found it strange that there was so little of that in this series.

It made for a very fun episode though, and I definitely enjoyed it. It’s definitely nice to have such over the top plot twists combined with interesting characters here. They’re not all interesting of course: Mikono YET AGAIN did absolutely nothing, but Zessica and Mikage have really grown on me, Kagura really got his time to shine here, and even Amata has gotten interesting to watch now that we’ve delved into his back-story.

Also, now that we’re near the end of the first half of 2012, I think I can say this confidently: Aquarion has the best soundtrack of the year so far. Yeah okay it was copied from the first Aquarion and all, but still: it blows all of the other soundtracks this year simply out of the water due to its massive size, sheer versatility and consistent epic tone.
Rating: ** (Excellent)