Zetman – 06

by psgels, posted in Zetman

Holy crap, this episode was intense. This show actually got even better with this episode. I don’t care how butchered the last episode was with the three murdered high school girls. This episode made some awesome use of it by continuing that path of sacrifices and toying with how hard it is to save everyone. There was a lot of stuff going on at the same time here, combined with some awesome action scenes.

And yeah, I just can’t help but praise the visuals of this\ series. This animation is just so incredibly expressive. This is an effect that you can’t get no matter how big of a budget you have, how well it plays together with the music and the storytelling. Really, TMS Entertainment has shown some wonderful stuff this season.

There are only two really bad decisions that they made. By far the worst was the decision for this series to only have 13 episodes this show really deserves more. The problem probably is that they couldn’t get enough sponsors to really get to 26 episodes, hoping for good DVD sales. Now this was a very big production error that unfortunately happens way too often. The second big mistake was hiring Atsuhiro Tomioka to compile the scripts. This wasn’t all bad: like with his other series, he really managed to add that something extra and succeeded in making this a standalone series. But someone needed to oversee the content that he cut away to do it because he really tends to do that. Then again though, I haven’t read the manga, but having the restriction of only 13 episodes to work with, I can also very much understand to skip certain parts in order to get further into the manga at the end.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

For the people living in and around Paris

by psgels, posted in Special Articles

I apologize for being late on this, because I just finished booking this myself, but after all the talk about a week ago in the shoutbox I do at least want to try and get some sort of meet going.

Upcoming Sunday and Monday, 13th and 14th of May, I’ll be in Paris for a short holiday. It will be my first time there, so are there any places that I just have to go to visit? Also, if any of you happen to be in the neighborhood, I’d love to meet up somehow.

Hyouka – 03

by psgels, posted in Hyouka

I personally love mystery stories, but since they require much more build-up than usual, it’s always a question whether or not they will succeed in the end. Hyouka has some very good papers, though. The detail with which it portrays its characters is more than enough to keep my interest, especially since none of them try to be too annoying/stupid etc.

There are multiple ways in which this can be classified as a mystery-series. The least interesting is the detective story format of each episode. They are very impressive of the characters… until you realize that everything is written by just one guy who can plan out everything, leading to the “detective”‘s observations to just turn superhuman, turning him into something like a narrator instead.

The other type of mystery was done really well in this episode, and really convinced me to sit this series out. It’s the kind that builds up to an overall story by revealing a tiny bit each episode about the overall mystery. The previous episode started with the revival of the Literary club, they hinted at the Anthologies. This episode reveals the anthologies, along with the whole reason for reviving the literary club along with the mystery that happened so many years in the past. This episode was really good at that, ending with a great little cliff-hanger.

And I also think that this series is really good at fleshing out its characters. Their dialogue between them is inspired, but take for example at the beginning of this episode, and they touch things like the edge of teacups, or the girl adjusts her hair. Seriously, Kyoani uses its budget well here. Does that make the animation perfect… nah. There are times when the animation is a bit too bouncy, which goes against this attempt at realism. Fate/Zero meanwhile has better CG, Lupin III has more artistic artwork and camera angles, Apollon’s animation is smoother and Zetman’s is more expressive. And so we’re in a season with a ton of series with awesome animation that all stand out in their own way.

Oh, and a question to the people living in Japan: do people really make such a big deal over smoking there? I mean, it’s not unheard of for teenagers to smoke, and while it’s frowned upon, it doesn’t really seem scandalous. Also, I was wondering why that guy chose a classroom of all places to start smoking things up, since he was using a classroom and all. If he went through so much trouble to set up infrared sensors, couldn’t he have searched for a better place to do it?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Aquarion Evol – 19

by psgels, posted in Aquarion Evol

Okay. This episode caught my attention.

Last week I noted that I had gotten bored with this series. After watching this episode and thinking a bit more about it, I’m able to explain a bit more accurately why that happened. It’s got a lot to do with the structure of this series, and mostly my expectation for the interesting stuff and development to arrive with the arrival of the second half. Instead, the development of this series came to a grinding halt with the random filler episodes. The problem was that no character really improved or was developed further. Everything came at a standstill, apart from Zessica of all people. And she was in no way an interesting character to watch, with her only character-trait being love triangle bait, resulting into that incredibly stupid wardrobe change of her.

Looking back, these episodes were wasted. These filler episodes with the bizarre bananas and burying: they should have been done earlier in the series. These episodes should have been used to build up the plot some more. What originally attracted me to this series was the bizarre romantic subtext, along with the promise of featuring boys versus girls. Instead of that we gradually saw this show turn into a standard love story. There are plenty of those series already, and done better. Looking back, this series really could have used these ideas more in its first two thirds.

With this however, things actually changed and became more interesting. Shrade finally did something again, we got a closer look at what that other world is, Amata’s story with his mother FINALLY got somewhere at the end of the episode. What’s more: Mikono actually did something on her own (was I the only one reminded of Star Driver at the scene where she left? It would be pretty interesting if she were to follow that example), there was this bizarre plot twist pulled in which… Mix was gender-swapped (O.o). Finally things got shaken up! Finally it uses its characters.

And then there is Zessica. When it first became clear what the creators were going for, I facepalmed at the thought of having all this build-up… leading to her brainwashed and a villain. Now that I think more about it though, this holds potential. At the very least she’s doing something. She still desperately needs another character-trait beyond liking Amata, but finally she’s more than love triangle bait for Amata and Mikono.
Rating: *+ (Great)

Phi Brain – 30

by psgels, posted in Phi Brain

I like how this series pretends that it’s got the plot of a series that’s fifteen years old, taking a formula only to nearly immediately deviate from it again. I really thought that for now we’d just get a string of episodes that would feature the POG taking control of some side-character. Instead, they are making visible progress in their goals. And this episode was all about Gammon.

And yeah, this was the best episode of the second season so far. Gammon just got even better. At first I didn’t really know where it was going to go to when Gammon was suddenly invited to join the Orpheus Order, especially since Gammon generally joins the side that is against the side that pisses him off the most. But then it turns out that this was actually a follow-up on last week after which the Orpheus Order tried to get ahold of his sister. She’s fine now as they lost interest in her, but this really made an impact on Gammon. This episode was meant for him to resolve this and emerge as a better character instead.

And in the end this episode made use of the first season, relating back to the time Kaito and Gammon first met by having Kaito play for a Giver for once. Gammon was hilarious to watch by being thrown off his element like that, and I also really liked how Kaito did things for a completely different reason (he was pissed off at Gammon himself). It was very refreshing to have these two actually play each other’s roles for a change. It was an awesome way to flesh them out.

Having said that though, the characters in this series are idiots. In a way, the Orpheus Order might have gotten Gammon to join them. Hell, if they paid him for it he probably would have done so. But what on earth made that Doubt-guy think that he’d still join them.. after they openly threatened the life of his sister? Gammon on the other hand: I know that you gained control over your own anger again at the end of this episode. But still: you know the location of people who openly endanger innocent people… and you don’t use it?! Why?
Rating: **+ (Excellent+)

Uchuu Kyoudai – 06

by psgels, posted in Uchuu Kyoudai

Well, this episode finally revealed the reason why Mutta will pass the test. Heck, it was nearly entirely dedicated to that in some way or the other. And seriously, these writers are awesome. It yet again put more depth into the two lead characters, answered a whole bunch of questions and yet makes perfect sense.

I really wasn’t surprised with the revelation that Nanba and Mutta spent as much time as possible at JAXA. After seeing that UFO, it was the perfect motivation for the two of them, and it also perfectly explains why Nanba got the cards to become an astronaut. Mutta was the same, only he gave up on it while in high school, while Nanba continued.

I also love how we’re still not exactly sure what Nanba thinks: we never go inside his head. I think that we’ve had only three characters do that so far: Mutta, Serika, and with this episode Masa. Mutta meanwhile spent the entire episode moping, but he did that so well and it showed even more about His and Hibito’s relationship that it doesn’t really matter.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Mouretsu Pirates – 18

by psgels, posted in Mouretsu Pirates

This show is very shrewd. There are some parts that feel so real, especially with the characters. and then it keeps pulling some weird over the top plot twists from out of nowhere. This arc once again ends with a wonderful anti-climax that I did not see coming.

The build-up for this episode was fairly straightforward with the electronic warfare and the spaceship battles. And then the revelation of Jenny’s fiance’s over the top performance as some sort of hitler-like figure felt so out of place that it became hilarious, especially when Chiaki immediately followed it by one of her best performances as a pirate so far.

And at the same time, I also feel like ths is something that the final arc is going to use in some way: the anti-government sentiments. This episode did show that there are quite a few people who are looking to organize some sort of revolution. I can very much imagine the Bentenmaru getting involved in this somehow, and it woud make a very interesting climax. Speaking of which, I do wonder whether the creators also plan an anti-climax like in this episode for the ending of this series. It would be awesome if they did that.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Fate/Zero – 18

by psgels, posted in Fate/Zero

An, so this is this season’s kid episode. I like it much better than the first season’s, because instead of giving character to one of the characters of Fate/Stay Night, it’s entended to shed some light into Kiritsugu’s background, and explain why he became a mage hunter. We see him as a kid, growing up on an island somewhere in the south of Japan that gets infested by what I’d call zombies, caused by the research of his father.

This explains that with all of the talk about lineage, we haven’t really seen anything about Kiritsugu’s parents so far. This episode doesn’t explain what happened to his mother, but I suspect that that’s got something to do with anime’s “weak and dead mother”-syndrome. What I liked about this episode is how well it fleshed out Kiritsugu and his childhood friend Shirley, together with Kiritsugu’s father… only for everything to fall apart.

One thing that I do wonder is what triggered Kiritsugu’s sudden character change at the end of the episode. I mean, I get that seeing your entire world being turned upside down is a huge shock, but would that turn Kiritsugu really from an innocent young boy who grew up normally, into a cold blooded killer with no fear of death whatsoever, in a matter of hours? The start of this episode whowed that he’s reckless, when he dived off that cliff higher than everyone else, but I don’t think that any other part of this episode hinted at that darker side of him.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Spring 2012 Kaleidoscope – Week 18

by psgels, posted in Spring 2012 Kaleidoscope

#1: Natsuiro Kiseki – 05: What a completely adorable episode. The characters just continue to grow here. even though there was no stone today, this was one of the best depictions of a cold in a long while. – **+ (Excellent+)
#2: Shirokuma Cafe: I don’t get it. Some of the jokes in this seris are horribly predictable. This episode again had all kinds of animals suggest bizarre dishes around their favorite food, and Shirokuma’s bad puns. And yet it’s hilarious and so refreshing to watch. The punchline to the parfait fair also was delightful. – ** (Excellent)
#3: The Legend of Korra – 04: Cheesy romance aside, this is the first time I’ve been impressed by this series. The creators used Korra’s brashness in an excellent way here in combinatiton with the politics. – ** (Excellent)
#4: Kimi to Boku – 17: This episode played up Chizuru’s annoyance to the max again, but I’m not bothered by that as much as I used to. Again this episode was really charming and simple. – ** (Excellent)
#5: Sankarea – 05: Very torn on this episode. It would have been #1 if it wasn’t for that annoying cousin. Excellent build-up and pay-off, although I do wonder whether turning zombies in assaulters was the right decision. – ** (Excellent)
#6: Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki – 17: I’m still amazed at how short this series is: not including the OP and ending screen, its episodes are only two minutes and ten seconds long. This episode had 6 different sketches in just that time-frame. All of them were fun. – ** (Excellent)
#7: Jormungand – 04: Good episode for Koko as finally her character was a bit more rounded. Also, “I am an American! I have blond hair, I work for the CIA and I am an asshole!” – *+ (Great)
#8: Nazo no Kanojo X – 04: A bit of a step down compared to last weeks, mostly because the saliva is starting to lose its gimmick, but nevertheless that girl whose name I’ve forgotten had some nice moments together with Urabe. – *+ (Great)
#9: Medaka Box – 05: I noticed that Medaka is often able to hold the higher moral ground, solely because she’s so ungodly good at everything. Will this get used later? Also Gainax, there are times where a slideshow is good, but there are also times where a slide-show is just lazy. For a Gainax series I am surprised how actually mediocre the action in this series is. – * (Good)
#10: Hunter X Hunter – 29: Uh, Hunter X Hunter… are you serious in this? Do you really intend to have people call out the names of their attacks, accompanied by huge letters? Is that your idea of how to best represent Nen? – * (Good)
#11: Saint Seiya Omega – 05: Is the entire series going to be about training and people being hot blooded? – (Enjoyable)

Un-Go – Inga-Ron

by psgels, posted in Un-Go

Fr4anchise based movies have always been this interesting beast and I’ve noticed myself that it’s always difficult to rate them. I’m not sure why, but the format of a movie is rather difficult to correctly mesh with the format of a movie; that’s how different these two formats are. And on top of that, there are so many different ways in which to execute these movies: sequel, prequel, side-story, filler, completely new story, background movie, recap story, done in the same style, with a completely different style or a style that’s similar, but not quite the same, or just going for an entirely different alternate retelling. All these options have had their examples that worked really well and that didn’t work at all. Un-Go went with a prequel movie that’s done in the exact same style as the TV-series. And it delivers.

This movie is set to answer some of the questions that are left behind by the TV-series. Not all of them, unfortunately. We get to see a lot of details and new information on the two leads, along with Bettenou, and it subtly answers a few questions about the final arc of the TV-series. Characters like that one prisoner however never make an appearance. For me though, this series did answer as many of the most lingering questions without forcing things in and I’m overall very happy with the result. Shinjirou, Inga and Bettenou definitely emerged as better characters out of it.

Now, the reason why I’m not going to rate this movie is because it really is just another episode of Un-Go. It fits right in with the series, unlike for example the Eden of the East Movies. If you’d package this as a 13-episode series, you wouldn’t notice the difference. This movie blends in perfectly, it rocks for the same reasons as the TV-series, and if you’ve liked the TV-series, then there is no reason to not watch it.

The storytelling really packs the same punch that made the TV-series so good, combining interesting characters with a fast-paced dialogue and throwing in many twists along the way that lead into very satisfying conclusions. Again it succeeds in fleshing out quite a few new characters in a minimal amount of time; something that very few other series can boast. It’s all-around enjoyable and had me consistently fired up.