Mirai Nikki – 24

by psgels, posted in Mirai Nikki

Okay… so now this show just pulled stuff out of its ass to push its plot further. The result was weird and kindof interesting, don’t get me wrong, but where did Ninth’s resurrection suddenly come from, and why does she suddenly have flying, time travel and teleportation powers. Overall this episode was a bit too much convenient storytelling.

Still, I have to admit: this episode did something new to the resurrecting and time-travel tropes. I mean, for a minute I face-palmed when I found out that the creators were basically going to resurrect the cast again (so much for those death scenes, eh), but I actually really liked how this episode brought distinction in the people from different time-lines. It acknowledged that everyone Yukiteru knew is still dead, and it clearly labeled Yukiteru as an idiot for trying to save yet another Yuno. Time really got screwed over here, and that was a nice idea.

Oh, and this episode also explained why it was such a big deal that Yukiteru saw the corpses of Yuno’s family… only that it doesn’t… I mean, first of all they were terribly hidden. Yuno had plenty of time to clean things up, and she invited Yukiteru to her house, knowing that there was a really obvious room that anyone with a curiosity would want to check out. Second: wasn’t it Akise who found out Yuno’s identity? Didn’t he find out about that on his own?

Also, I keep finding it a bit morbid that the day that the creators chose for the world to end… happens to be my birthday. Are you trying to send me some sort of subtle message, Mirai Nikki?
Rating: *+ (Great)

Phi Brain Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Phi Brain



Apologies for the delay on this review, but I first wanted to get all of the new episodes this season done. Phi Brain was a series that many people probably quickly discarded. It started really silly, and the entire premise takes a lot of suspense of disbelief to accept: “yeah, there is this kid who has to solve puzzles in order to battle this evil organization”. Most of the early episodes just consist out of Kaitou (the male lead) solving a bunch of puzzles.

Now, the puzzles are obviously a very big part of this series. If you can look past the silly premise, then you’ve got a series that can be quite creative when it comes to the puzzles that it throws at its main cast. The show actually presents its big puzzles so that the viewer can try to solve them himself, but only if he uses the pause button in the middle of each episodes. The characters in this series are usually very fast when it comes to solving puzzles, and it’s impossible to take everyone into account here. At a certain point int he series this series turns its puzzles into 1-on-1 battles anyway.

In any case, those who did keep watching were rewarded in the character department, because as soon as this show starts developing its character (I’d say with the arrival of Rook, around episode 10), it never stops. Kaitou in particular grows into a very sympathetic character, and the side characters all work around him, and all of them have a good backstory with especially good reasons for their actions. The creators actually convinced me that the entire premise was at least partly plausible. There are times when this show gets a bit too sappy, but the majority was really well directed and had this great combination between action and characterization.

Were the first episodes wasted then? Nah, they’re just silly. Beyond that are very creative puzzles and good stories, although this series does have its points where it completely ignores all of Newton’s laws. The characters are all enjoyable as well, and especially Gammon stands out in his quirky antics as not your ordinary rival.

Visually this series mostly stands out in its designs. Both the puzzles as the characters look unique. The actual animation of the characters is very inconsistent, but it’s nothing special or bad. The music is very well done, though.

This remains a shounen series, and it loses points for being a bit too sappy at times, but this nevertheless this was a very interesting attempt to do something different with the genre that is usually nothing but people throwing superpowers at each other. With some damn good characterization I do recommend this if you’re looking for something in that direction.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Well storyboarded and manages to make solving puzzles fun.
Characters: 9/10 – There is a surprising amount of depth to these charcters, which especially manifests in the second half.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Great designs, decent animation, good soundtrack.
Setting: 8/10 – Creative puzzles, but completely ignores the laws of physics at times. The whole premise of this show is also really hard to buy.

Suggestions:
– The Law of Ueki
– Kaleido Star
– Princess Nine

Some Quick First Impressions: Acchi Kochi, Sengoku Collection and Shirokuma Cafe

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Acchi Kocchi

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a random high schooler.
This is the type of slice of life series that I have a really hard time enjoying. This was basically an entire episode consisting of random incidents of the characters doing random stuff, without much coherence between them other than “they go to school” or “they go to the game store”. A lot of this episode was just random, but didn’t really show much of the characters other than their basic personalities. It’s good to see an actual couple for once (they are, right?), but this overall just was too boring. The moe antics also didn’t really help, because the girls in this show all try way too hard to be cute. Yes, all of them.
OP: Who on earth found it a good idea to make these poor voice actors sing. This sounds terrible.
ED: “Hey, you know you can buy figures from this series? We’re just here to remind you! *wink wink, nudge nudge*
Potential: 20%

Sengoku Collection

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is the guy who united Japan when it just consisted out of a number of warring states.
Well, I didn’t think it was possible, but yes: there actually is a series this season that is worse than Queen’s Blade and Naruto SD. Good lord, Oda Nobunaga, what have they done to you? I mean, I knew that this series would turn famous people from the Sengoku era into moe girls, but I didn’t think that it’d be this bad. This series’ Oda was the most annoying tsundere I have seen in a long while. Throughout the entire episode she did nothing but whine and attempt to act cute. even though she didn’t really do anything. Her acting was terrible, and to make matters even worse: she somehow ends up in modern day, and runs into a common loser. This is the worst kind of wish fulfillment. It’s dull, bland, it doesn’t try at all and just relies on the fact that it has a bunch of badly delivered moe antics in the hopes of selling DVDs. I mean, I know that fiction is about taking artistic liberties with history. However, this gimmick isn’t even new. People have been turning famous figures into annoying cute girls for ages now. Are there really people who get turned on by this?
OP: “We couldn’t be bothered to animate the whole thing, so here are a bunch of uninspired slide-shows.”
ED: Very badly sung, especially in combination with those instruments.
Potential: 0%

Shirokuma Cafe

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a panda.
Holy crap, where did this come from? I mean, every season has its set of series that get announced later than usual, and which are usually these bad and minimally produced gimmick series. In this season however, they just continue to surprise me with their solid execution. Shirokuma Cafe turned out to be a bizarre slice of life series, but it’s actually fully animated and the characterization here really is surprisingly good and realistic. The creators here perfectly captured the laziness that you’d expect from a panda without reverting to cliches. It was a tad annoying at times, but this really was surprisingly heart-warming and the jokes were pretty good too. The entire series is based around a cafe, with the three main characters being a panda, polar bear and penguin. You’d expect that all three would end up working there, but no: the polar bear is the only employee, the rest of the characters just are guests. As for what the panda’s job is… well, just watch the episode if you want to find out.
OP: There aren’t many good OPs this season, but the ones that are good are really good here.
ED: Stop-motion using go pieces. Great idea!
Potential: 75%

Some Quick First Impressions: Gon, Arashi no Yoru ni and Kuromajo-San ga Tooru

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Gon

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a dinosaur.
Forget about the title. Forget about the main character, he’s just some random kid with superpowers. No, this series is about a bear named Ussu. This is the guy who made this show surprisingly entertaining for a kids’ show. I was really fearing after having to sit through that Naruto SD show, but these series can actually be funny. Aside from Usu, there are a couple of other characters in this show who had some good jokes, the albatross in particular. Gon really is just a vehicle to bring everything together. In the meantime though, he also is very annoying. Oh, and if you’re wondering what the heck mammals are doing in a dinosaur show: the show also doesn’t explain that. It’s just a random island with a bunch of animals in which a dinosaur randomly appears. This series is obviously very childish and all, but here is the thing: aside from Uchuu Kyoudai (which isn’t a real comedy anyway), this was the funniest first episode i got to sample this season so far.
OP/ED: Warning: do not listen to these songs, unless you want them to get stuck inside your head for the rest of the week.
Potential: 75%

Arashi no Yoru ni

Short Synopsis: Our lead characters are polar opposites.
This is what I mean by kids series trying harder: this series has an actual story that challenges the characters, rather than being random fighting or hi-jinks. Movies have already gotten this down, but there are very few TV-series like this, which is why I’m glad this was made, even though it already was adapted into a movie. What I hope is that this show will expand on the movie’s themes and allow everything to flow more naturally. This episode gave a good start: it was pretty similar to how the movie started, only with a bit more dialogue here and there; a good start. I especially liked how this episode focused on how forced this entire premise is, but in a good way. In terms of animation this series clearly is inferior, because the CG can look quite ugly at times, but at least the characters move around a lot here, and they do so differently from your average CG-show. My big fear of this show will be the overacting: this episode kept it from going overboard, but there is potential for this to dive into straight-up melodrama.
OP: Um, guys. A little too much of romantic undertones here…
ED: The same “let’s have the cast walk nowhere”-ed that you see everywhere (this makes three this season already)
Potential: 70%

Kuromajo-san ga Tooru

Short Synopsis: Our lead character does magic stuff.
So, this turned out to be a story of a girl who gets harassed by a black witch and ends up as one in training. Episodes are only 7 minutes long, and it’s all fairly plain and all, but for a kiddie show it could have been worse. If you want your kids to be quiet for 10 minutes, this show is good bait for this. For older audiences though…. I don’t think that this show has much to offer. A lot of stuff in this episode just happened for the heck of it, and this show is also pretty bad at explaining why everything is happening, with pretty minimal animation. It’s not as bad as with the horrid flash shows, but any less animation and this would be a slide-show. Also, the teacher in this series is an asshole. In the end, the creators could have taken more chances. I mean, Risky Safety was a show with the exact same premise, but it was 50 times more adorable and creative than this here.
OP: Cheese
Potential: 40%

Some Quick First Impressions: Lupin the Third – Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna, Medaka Box and Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka – Of The Dead

by psgels, posted in Lupin III - Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna, Some Quick First Impressions

Lupin the Third – Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a thief.
The visuals in this series are incredible. The character designs, the background art: it all looks gorgeous and very artistic, and the animation really brings them alive. And this episode revealed something more: you know Shinichirou Watanabe? He’ll be the music producer in this series again, ON TOP of directing Sakamichi no Appolon this season. The soundtrack also was full of Jazz songs that fitted the show really well. Beyond that, this show will probably be a collection of stories around Mine Fujiko, with the center around adventure. This episode was quite interesting and entertaining, and especially Lupin and Mine Fujiko played off each other quite well. This episode showed how the two of them met, so you don’t need to be familiar with the Lupin franchise at all to get this series. There is a lot of nudity in this series however, but thankfully it’s nowhere near the usual fanservice you see all over anime. My one complaint is that the side-characters are rather one-sided. Let’s hope that the next episodes can bring some change into that, because this really deserves it.
OP: One of the most unique OPs I’ve seen in a while. And also the best.
ED: A bit less interesting, though still a good song.
Potential: 90%

Medaka Box

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a student council vice president.
Well, I do admit that Gainax’ execution helps with a premise like this. This episode was over the top and moved fast, which is definitely preferable to seeing another really slow-paced high school series. Overall there are some things in this episode that I disliked, like the camera’s uncanny ability to focus on Medaka’s boobs, or how she’s just way too perfect as a character, and most of the rest of the cast perhaps isn’t the most interesting, but they do have potential for later. At the very least the creators spent quite a bit of time on the main couple and how they were when they were kids. That’s a good thing for an opening episode to do. This probably won’t be anything amazing, but by the looks of it it’ll still be pretty entertaining.
OP: Unimpressive J-pop
Potential: 70%

Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka – Of the Dead

Short Synopsis: Our lead character lives together with a bunch of cute girls.
This episode really reminded me why i came to dislike Kore wa Zombie so much: it doesn’t even seem to be trying! This show is supposed to be a comedy. Half of this episode was nothing but repeating jokes from the first season and random out of place slice of life, which also just copied the first season. The other half was just building up to one joke, which was incredibly forced and half of which was also copied from the first season. There were two new characters introduced… both of which immediately got added to Ayumu’s harem. And then there was the animation: the creators blew all of the budget on the OP, making the actual animation of this show very dull, again with scenes blatantly copied from the first season. It’s clear that at this point, the creators have completely run out of inspiration and therefore are trying to fill their time with these gimmicks. Comedies should be bold! They should be entertaining and well thought out. Not these uninspired moe hacks like this.
OP: At least this is well animated. But Studio Deen, you’re putting your priorities at the complete wrong place.
ED: Oh come on…
Potential: 10%

Some Quick First Impressions: Recorder to Randsell Re, Naruto SD – Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden and Queens Blade Rebellion

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Recorder to Randsell Re

Short Synopsis: Our lead character stands out.
So, time to check back on how this series turned out. And my impression of this series has gone down even more. We’re supposed to be 14 episodes into the series already, and all this episode did was re-establish the premise of this show: having a very tall younger brother and a very tiny younger sister. What happened in the previous episodes, really? This felt like watching the first episode all over again. There doesn’t seem like any progress was made at all. I know that the episodes are only 2 minutes long and all, but this is a bit too extreme. On top of that, I like my comedies to be well acted. This was the entire opposite of that. Especially the brother was hard to watch.
ED: Dull song. And why the sudden fanservice?
Potential: 0%

Naruto SD – Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a bad Naruto fanfic character.
Oh god… make it stop. One of the hardest types of episodes to sit through with these kinds of first impressions is the bad comedy. I mean, Queen’s Blade was terrible, but it still was kindof bearable due to how bad it was. Naruto SD however, is a series that fails miserably at being entertaining. This was 25 minutes of sitting through horrible jokes. Over and over again. The creators of this series have no idea how to tell good jokes. More often than not we just have Rock Lee act random for no discernible reason, it keeps repeating its bad jokes over and over, and this show thrives on making random toilet jokes that fail at being funny. The characters are all incredibly annoying and probably the only value this holds is for diehard fans of the Naruto franchise. And yet for some inexplicable reason this show finds it necessary to explain the basic premise of this show over and over again.
OP: Cheesy J-Rock
ED: Also dull aside from the random dancing.
Potential: 0%

Queens Blade Rebellion

Short Synopsis: Our lead character boobs.
Look. I’m not against all fanservice. In fact, the series I’m looking forward to the most this season will probably have tons of it as well. However, what I can’t stand are the series who use it as an excuse for being terrible. It really is a shame that pasting a bunch of boobs everywhere guarantees dvd sales like this. This episode was by far the worst first episode I had to watch this season so far. The action was terribly choreographed and made no sense. And really: I don’t care how many famous voice actors you got for this show; the acting still is abysmal. Oh, and I have to congratulate this series, for pulling the dumbest twist I have ever seen while sampling these first episodes. Really: imagine a girl with big boobs (clearly visible) in a short skirt and very long coloured hair. It takes until the armor around her boobs breaks for everyone to realize her gender. I… have no idea. In more than six years of blogging, I have never seen stupidity this big.
ED: Poorly produced J-Rock song. Not to mention the terrible visuals.
Potential: 0%

Aquarion Evol – 14

by psgels, posted in Aquarion Evol

I was surprised how this episode started out as a very dark aftermath. It was very different from the previous episodes of this series, and a lot of time in the first half was dedicated to making Jin’s death sink in. I’m not used to that from Shoji Kawamori, especially when it happens so early in the series. Then the second half arrived. Yup, that’s him allright. No mistake about it. And Mari Okada’s influences make it even weirder.

The moment where the headmaster suddenly announced everyone to bury themselves, this show just got surreal. I’m not sure what kind of symbolism it is to have the cast sleep right next to the dead while they’re mourning for a falen friend, but it was glorious anyway. The way in which Mikage suddenly appeared as well was an awesome cliff-hanger.

Zessica by the way is heading into a wrong direction. She’s now at the point where her entire character is “I like Amano”. The rest of the cast here is great, and this episode used Mikono’s uselessness well, but Zessica is just the same old third wheel without any chance that you see everywhere.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Some Quick First Impressions: Zetman, Kimi to Boku 2 and Accel World

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions, Zetman

Zetman

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has superpowers.
Whoa, I really love the visuals in this series. The animation during the fight scenes in particular was just amazing. Most first episodes are very crisply produced with a lot of inbetween frames. The animation here however put in something extra. The animation was wild and vivid, and sometimes quite messy, which lead to some awesome camera angles. The character designs also work much better than what I first expected based on the promo art. The faces of these characters have depth, so to speak. My big fear for this series was that the script would move too fast, but that too turned out surprisingly well. The first parts of this episode moved very fast, but the points where it mattered, this episode really took its time to tell its story. This is pacing that’s actually well balanced, rather than all over the place.
ED: Catchy, but a bit too much synth. Why the hell are you spoiling a twists that’s coming up, though?
Potential: 90%

Kimi to Boku 2

Short Synopsis: Our lead characters are a bunch of teenaged boys.
AS much as Chizuru gets on my nerves… I yet again have to admit that this episode was excellent slice of life. In fact, this was one of the better episodes of Kimit o Boku due to how incredibly natural the dialogue was. In particular the second half was really well written, even though it was just characters talking to each other. It’s the kind of slice of life where nothing happens, yet things happen. Instead of a forced moral at the end, the episode just ended with the cast doing something random they felt like. Again, Chizuru still is really annoying, and the random cats still are pretty pointless, but this was a typical episode of Kimi to Boku, which somehow at the end of every episode uses its annoyances to do something interesting with the characters. If you can stand the obnoxious characters, you’ll like it. Otherwise: don’t bother.
OP: Either my laptop couldn’t follow the frame-rate, or the visual effects were rather cheesy this time.
ED: Why that cat?
Potential: 80%

Accel World

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a creepy stalker.
I had no time to also watch the second episode that came out, but based on just the first episode, I really fear that this show will be… annoying to watch. It’s a shame though, because there is some definite potential in the setting for some good science fiction. I actually liked the way in which this series combined the real world with its fictional virtual world on top of it. So why on earth did they have to settle for a harem around such a wimpy protagonist. I like how for once the main character is overweight (although he literally is the only character in this show who is like that), but he was really annoying to watch with his annoying whining throughout the entire episode. This episode already introduced two potential love interests who take interest in him for very flimsy reasons, which really isn’t a good sign for the romance in this show. The rest of the cast also was pretty bland, with the worst being the worst portrayal of bullies I’ve seen in a while with three guys who are constantly bothered by constipation or something and just randomly assault their victims, even in the midst of dozens of people. I’m at this point really doubting whether or not to continue watching this: there definitely are a few good things here; the animation is also very good, but I just know that the cast will get on my nerves a lot.
Potential: 50%

Phi Brain – 25

by psgels, posted in Phi Brain

Okay, so this episode broke about half of Newton’s laws and it was a bit sappy at times, but considering this series, that’s not particularly surprising anymore. What is surprising however is that this episode ended without any hint for the next season whatsoever, aside from the next episode preview. Not even a looming shot of the new villains. The preview that did show them, however, and again I still have no answer to a question I’ve been asking for weeks now: how on earth will they be able to top this?

In any case,Rook’s story finished here. I found it interesting that the creators found a creative way to use Nonoha in this episode, with her sweets and all. The most interesting part was the interplay between Kaitou and Rook during the puzzle here. One thing I really wonder is why Rook decided to leave on a journey of all things. “Yeah yeah, I’m repenting for what I did. To prove it I’ll go on a holiday…” – what?

Overall, I do think that the strange leaps in logic at times are what prevent this show from really becoming outstanding. Sure it’s about crazy puzzles and all, but the suspense of disbelief also wants something, especially when the characterization is this good.
Rating: * (Good)

Hunter X Hunter – 25

by psgels, posted in Hunter X Hunter

And with this, we enter what I found to be the worst part of the original Hunter X Hunter TV-series. It’s not like it was badly executed there, but it just took so bloody long and there were just too few characters who really went anywhere beyond the dull training arc. It’s here where the new series can finally set itself apart, and I wonder how it’ll be able to do this, beyond being a lot shorter.

As for the actual episodes, I’m going to nit-pick again, because both versions of the series took nearly exactly the same content for this one episode, although there were some differences here and there. The most noticeable was Killua: in the 1999 version he just waited behind the door while he let the butler play with Gon for a bit. Here, he gets impatient to see Gon and goes out on his own (right when the butler finishes his test by the way, so the outcome didn’t really change). What caught my eye in particular was how he lighted up when he was about to see Gon.

What this version did better was how they handled Canary. In the 1999 version, this was done with a bit too much cheese (with cheese by the way, I mean heavy acting that fails to engage me and instead ends up a bit silly or detracting). The part where this series is inferior is where Gon cuts his eye to let out some bleeding. It again has to do with this series’ bizarre concept of pain, because Gon slices himself in the same way he’d slice a piece of meat for cooking. The 1999 version however, did it much more subtly.
Rating: * (Good)