Another – 11

by psgels, posted in Another

This episode… just went all out. Now that everyone knows that the dead student needs to die, this show just descends into one giant string of murders, with the ghost helping a little bit here and there. Holy crap, this was intense.

While the series has its problems, with this I do have to say that aside from perhaps Milky Holmes and Natsume Yuujinchou (both sequels), Another stands as my favorite Winter Season so far, because of how interesting it made its own plot. The progression so far was very creative, it knows how to use mystery really well, and now that things are spiraling out of control it’s really turning into very good horror here.

Problems in this episode were the abundance of overblown facial expressions, along with that fire in the kitchen. I’m no physics major, but I’m very sure that fire doesn’t work that way. Of course, it’s possible to build up an explosion and all, but that’s only assuming that the pressure can’t escape. While this is plausible in a new building, the hotel they were in seemed rather old. Plus, with a giant fire burning everywhere I’m not sure why there weren’t any holes burnt into the walls at some point. Or why nobody could hear an entire dinner room on freaking fire.

But yeah, the gore was good, but what really made this episode was the psychological horror of everyone just going crazy. This entire episode made use of that by using the entire class for that. One point of criticism would be that the series should have focused more on each of these people, because it’s pretty obvious who the ghost is right now by the logic of that 1) it has to be a named character and 2) it has to be someone who stays into the background, but for that you’d need a 24 episode series.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Natsume Yuujin-Chou – 51

by psgels, posted in Natsume Yuujin-Chou

This will be the first three-episode arc of Natsume, if I’m not mistaken, right? And what a topic they picked out to do it. Next episode will be amazing. This episode meanwhile dealt with another episode in Natsume’s past.

With this, I understand why the earlier episode focused on that girl Natsume met, because this episode showed another girl he left an impression on, only in a completely different way. Where the first girl really started to sympathize with him, this time it’s about a girl who felt jealous of him, as he took away the attention of her parents, on top of being strange. Again, this is why these episodes belong in the fourth season, and not in the third. The third was all about Natsume’s development, while the fourth is about everyone around Natsume, and it develops these characters instead, with as climax Natsume’s parents.

I especially loved the part where Nyanko-sensei shrugged off that it’d still take a few years for the youkai to start getting hungry for more than just insects. Natsume really didn’t want to go back into that house again, but hearing that, you knew exactly what he was going to do.

Overall, Brains Base has really dominated the past year. I mean, out of all their releases, Kamisama Dolls was the least impressive. They delivered an awesome remake of a classic show, they came back with Kunihiko Ikuhara, and Natsume has really delivered some amazing episodes. Unfortunately it looks like this awesome streak will end next season. I’m sorry, but people need to stop re-imagining classic historical people into moe stereotypes.
Rating: **+ (Excellent+)

Aquarion Evol – 12

by psgels, posted in Aquarion Evol

Finally, ti’s time for the developments to start hitting. This episode was full of twists to spice up this series, and it’s about time because the series was starting to stagnate a bit. Especially when Andy started this episode by organizing a slumber party. What could have been a dull filler instead really got the characters moving. In particular the invisible girl and the spy guy.

This show did stagnate a bit when trying to get these two to catch up to the rest of the cast, but having these two elope, of all people, can prove to be quite interesting. There was some good tension between the two of them in this episode, and seeing as they’re both shy, the potential for character development on the both of them looks really good.

I however, do fear the direction in which the love polygon involving Mikono and Amato is heading. I mean, this episode pulled a lot of twists on them, but these twists include the abandoned child and pulling sudden yandere hints around Zessica. I mean, this had it coming and all, but I really wish that the creators would use Zessica for something more than just a pointless love triangle. And looking for porn the minute she enters a guy’s dormitory…

Here is the thing: Mikono, you’d better not turn into a damsel in distress in the second half of this show… I know that this is a Mari Okada series, but this also is a Shoji Kawamori series…
Rating: *+ (Great)

Rinne no Lagrange – 11

by psgels, posted in Rinne no Lagrange

Talk about an interesting wake-up call here. For a while this episode played out like you’d think it would, with Madoka eventually heading into the battle again (I like however, how she actually waited until she was given permission to take off, and how she actually received careful instructions of the upgrades in her new machine), but I really like the darker twist at the end of this episode.

Before we’ve seen Madoka try and try to keep the damages that were caused by the fighting to a minimum. I thought that this would be just a good way to keep continuity in the series, but this episode really starts playing with it. The thing is that before, Madoka only had to fight a small amount of enemies. Now that they’re actually bringing in entire armies, it’s much more difficult to prevent stray bullets from hitting anything. The results was that people indeed got hurt as a defeated mecha fell into a field full of people.

The question is why these people weren’t evacuated. This episode showed some huge overconfidence issues in the good guys, as they probably didn’t expect the enemy to bring in an army like this. Either that, or they lack the authority to actually pull out a mass evacuation, these are the only reasons I can think of why they didn’t do that.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Phi Brain – 24

by psgels, posted in Phi Brain

The reason why I was so baffled when this got a second season still stands: this show is really heading into a great ending here. Really, the series will end next week and I really would not have minded things to end this way. The only thing left now is for Rook’s final battle, and the only thing that will be left unresolved is Gammon’s storyline, who could have been easily written into this finale.

This episode really was a calm before the storm episode. And for a minute I totally forgot that this was supposed to be a shounen series. With Sato Junichi at the helm this was inevitable, but this series definitely has a ton of shoujo elements amidst the puzzle battles, and I have to say that these work really well.

Calm before the storm episodes are often boring. But really: Rook trying to have one relaxed afternoon with Kaitou just hanging out added a lot to his character. It’s a great way to flesh him out a bit right before the finale, at which he suddenly revealed that the whole “Puzzle of God” was just one huge red herring, and that it had actually already been achieved when Jin challenged Professor Pythagoras two years ago.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Hunter X Hunter – 23

by psgels, posted in Hunter X Hunter

Okay, so the good thing about the fast pacing here is that we’ll get through the building up parts more easily. The bad thing is that with this, the scenes don’t have time to play themselves out. And because of that this episode didn’t really work. Good lord, the cheese!

I am glad that the training arc was very short. Gon, Killua and Leorio had to train to get stronger, and a training montage later which shows the three of them building up their strength later, and they’re strong enough to pass through the door. It was quick and concise and didn’t drag out like the 1999 series did. I liked that. Then however, they got to the black servant, and that’s where they really blew my suspense of disbelief. The same fast pacing now made the following scene really cheesy.

It’s the same syndrome where this show just refuses to spend any effort into anyone who isn’t a main character. It spends so much time with shading Gon, Killua and Leorio, and yet it puts in no effort whatsoever at the portrayal of this servant, making he big change moment look silly more than anything else.

With the shading, I also think that madhouse is putting the emphasis on the wrong things. Either shade, or don’t shade at all. Right now, it just looks weird and really forced whenever these shaded scenes appear. It’s like the producers scream “this scene is important! Pay attention to it!”, while all it does is limit the actual animation because it makes actually animating these shaded shots so much harder. It’s a shame, because the director actually used this technique well when he was dealing with adapting Rainbow. There the shaded scenes were at the end of each schene, rather than in the middle. In these scenes it’s much more effective to focus on some extra detail here and there.

On top of that, he also really doesn’t seem to know how to use Hirano Yoshihisa’s soundtrack. That guy’s soundtracks aren’t just something that you can randomly play everywhere. What really baffles me is how at the end, when the black servant gets shot, he immediately decided to play out the choirs. In a show with so many nonchalant deaths, that one deaths suddenly brings in the really cheesy choirs from out of nowhere without any account in timing whatsoever.

The thing with Hirano Yoshihisa’s soundtracks is that you need to use them to build up an atmosphere. Here though, the creators use them to enhance the dramatic scenes. That difference is subtle, but if you blindly use the over the top scenes at the most dramatic scenes you miss the entire point of build-up. Compare that to Himitsu: the best track there was that clapping tune (and what a great track it was!), and instead of waiting until the last possible moment each episode, the creators used it when the characters were investigating each murder. And after that, they could complement the actual climaxes with a wide variety of other tracks, instead of being way too limited by the obvious choice.
Rating: – (Disappointing)

Nisemonogatari Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Monogatari Series



To start this review, here is where I was coming from when starting Nisemonogatari: I really did not like its predecessor, Bakemonogatari. I had a ton of problems with how Shaft executed that series; it was trying too hard, the tons of still frames, far-away shots and blank frames made it look more like a slide-show than an actual anime, the characters bored me, the subject material didn’t feel interesting. It was a chore to sit through. In the meantime though, Shaft changed a lot. It’s not like they stopped making boring shows (Arakawa’s second season was a pain to sit through…), but their successes have allowed them to get a budget to actually animate their series really well. Enter Nisemonogatari.

To my surprise, I actually liked this series. I have a ton of problems with it, don’t get me wrong. But they actually get less in the way compared to Bakemnonogatari, and I was actually able to enjoy the good stuff inbetween these flaws.

Now, by far the biggest improvement and the biggest reason to watch this series is the visual presentation. Unlike Shaft’s early work, the characters in this series are actually animated, and they’re animated really well. Heck, Nisemonogatari was by far the best animated series of this Winter Season, and that is with a season that has a Shoji Kawamori series and a Brains Base series. There is a ton of creativity in the images without looking like it’s trying too hard with pretentious references or unnecessary convoluted detail. This show is a visual feast.

Bakemonogatari also really got on my nerves with its really poor storytelling. It had a ton of dialogue and all, but in the end its arcs never really seemed to amount to anything. To my surprise however, I actually really liked the way in which the both arcs that comprises this series resolved themselves. The dialogue was actually used well, and the growth tat the different characters go through is much more interesting. So yeah, I liked this show. but it really made it hard at times.

You might notice that Bakemonogatari had 15 episodes which combined to five different arcs, and even then it was dragged out. Nisemonogatari has 11 episodes… and consists out of only two arcs. It takes forever to get anywhere, and especially its first half drags on horribly. And ti does so with an ungodly amount of fanservice.

Seriously, this show randomly brings in characters, giving them a rather shallow reason to appear again and then proceeds to have them walk around naked, bathe with the male lead and all kinds of other stuff. At best it’s creative and clever, but at worst it’s realy distasteful. You’d think that at least the dialogue would make up for it, but even that grinds to a halt when the characters end up talking about nothing else but fanservice, over and over and over again.

This really ends up eating away at the majority of the series. The entire female cast needs to have had a long dragged out fanservice scene with the male lead that doesn’t go anywhere. It’s just way too much. Just as you think you’re done with one girl, the male lead moves on to the next and it starts all over again. The important lines that are tacked onto it that actually develop the characters and add more to them feel tacked more than anything. This show even jumps the implied incest bandwagon without really contributing anything to it. I don’t mind fanservice if it’s used well and all, but this was just way too much.

Thankfully, the points where it gets down to business, it really becomes good, and this series does really give some good insights into its lead cast. The dialogue whenever the fanservice isn’t involved is actually dedicated to fleshing out the characters and the wordplay is more put to the side-lines. Watch this if you want to see an arthouse flick, because it definitely is a well directed visual feast.

Storytelling: 7/10 – Great dialogue, way TOO MUCH fanservice.
Characters: 8/10 – Good development, interesting cast, well fleshed out characters for once.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Gorgeous and fluid animation with very creative shots and images. The music is nothing special, though.
Setting: 8/10 – Even though nobody seems to live in the world of Nisemonogatari outside of the main characters, the underlying themes make up for itwith some neat ideas and backstories.

Suggestions:
– Dororon Enma-Kun Meerameera
– High School of the Dead
– Michiko e Hatchin

Mouretsu Pirates – 11

by psgels, posted in Mouretsu Pirates

The Bentenmaru has an actual crew? I mean beyond the people usually sitting in the bridge? That’s kindof like Seikai no Senki, isn’t it? The focus is entirely on the main bridge, while it’s assumed that the people who are working to keep the ship running are doing their jobs.

In any case, with this episode we’re introduced to the ghost ship. And so far, this has been some excellent mystery and the creators are very skillfully building up its secrets as the characters get closer and closer to it. It really piqued my interest of what the heck is up with that ship.

I also liked the process of getting there. this series was really in danger of turning into a lot of techno-babble, but they did q pretty good job here in explaining what went on and making things believable. The programmer in me also rejoiced when they suddenly showed the Serendipity’s identification code. I’ve had to struggle with these quite a few times myself.

There is one thing I missed. I might have looked over this in a few previous episodes, though, but why was Gruier trying to reach the ghost ship outside of her family’s influence again? There is so much going on in each episode that it’s easy to miss stuff and in my case I probably missed something very important.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

To Aru Hikuushi he no Tsuioku Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

Quite often, movies suffer from being too epic. I understand that conflict is necessary, and trying to think big is a great way to do it, but there are also a lot of stories that have no business going there. To Aru Hikuushi he no Tsuioku understands this, and actually creates the right balance. Sure, there is a war going on, and one of the main characters is a princess, but it smartly doesn’t attempt to solve everything in its airtime. At heart, this is an escort story, nothing more, nothing less.

And because it understands this so well it’s able to do a lot of things that other movies can’t. It definitely stands on its own in terms of its plot, which is well paced and gives ample time for events to play themselves out and the characters to develop themselves and flesh each other out. There is relatively little action for a show that’s supposedly about a war, but the few dogfights that are there are really well directed, and the build-up between the quiet parts and the climaxes is excellent.

The characters in this series are also very good most of the time, and that is mostly due to the acting. The characters manage to show off a good variety of their personalities, and they act very believable. There are large parts of this movie dedicated to just showing the two lead characters play off each other, and they work really well together… most of the time.

It’s unfortunate that this movie has one major flaw, really: the romance itself can get really corny at times. The movie has good intentions, but the great acting just can’t hold up as soon as the characters get too sappy about their feelings. The ending also involves one particular twist that makes no sense whatsoever other than giving it a cheesy aftertaste.

So yeah, because of that it’s not amongst the best movies, but really: it has a lot to like. The thing sit does well, it does really well.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Well told, and knows very well what it wants and doesn’t want.
Characters: 8/10 – Very believable characters… outside of the romance.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Great dogfights, although apart from that the animation is nothing special.
Setting: 8/10 – A bit too one-sided on the discrimination subplot, but apart from that we’ve got a believable setting that smartly stays away from being too epic.

Suggestions:
– The Sky Crawlers
– Seikai no Monshou

Last Exile – Ginyoku no Fam – 22

by psgels, posted in Last Exile - Ginyoku no Fam

That was actually much better than what I expected it to be. As the penultimate episode (not counting that epilogue that seems to be scheduled for this series in two weeks), this episode was meant to take down the giant doomsday machine. This machine is this giant flying monster with impossible fire-power, being controlled by just two people who are hiding in the center of it. The episode finally ends up boiling down to trying to get inside, reach those two and stopping them. And yeah, that’s something that Fam is really good at. I really feared that when they pulled the princess card a few episodes ago, they would do something similar here, but really: it’s been established that she is a very good vanship pilot. It makes sense for her to be the first to reach Luscinia when you take this build-up into account.

Also, Koichi Chigira really did it: he really made the battle against this giant flying monster work. The Grand Exile really feels HUGE. Even when Fam gets inside, it takes ages for them to get from one side to the other, while in a flying plane, of all things. The build-up to this also was great. They made the Grand Exile a really formidable foe, while also giving it its weaknesses that come with being so big.

When looking at the big picture though, Ginyoku no Fam in the end did not live up to the original Last Exile. I still like it, but nowhere near as much as with its predecessors. Let’s take Luscinia, the main villain. In the end, he is pretty poor, and I can only hope that the final episode at least redeems him. There’s very little to set him apart, and as for being a threat… he seems more like this angsty guy who can’t get over one death and therefore upholds a plan that just can’t be sustained in the long run, and he just pales in comparison to the villains of Shangri-La and the first Last Exile, who had much more confident and smug personalities that actually made them feel a threat.

Also, I do think that the first half of Ginyoku no Fam is better than the second half. It’s because there, it was doing something that it was actually really good at: world building. The second half put much more focus on the war and politics, and to be honest it doesn’t really stand out. It’s solid, don’t get me wrong, but beyond the gorgeous graphics I’m missing something to set itself apart. The Gracies idea was nice and probably the part that stands out the most, but the grand scheme of things still seems a bit… simple.

I mean, it’s essential for a show to change over the course of its time, but the change itself needs to be good. The second half of a series, especially of the 2-cour format, is something where the creators can really go all out, but Ginoku no Fam missed the mark a bit in trying to be too epic, while ignoring the parts that they also should have paid attention to: the characters and setting. things were added to them, but I feel that this was not enough.
Rating: *+ (Great)

Yeah, this is a new rating, between 8 (Good) and ** (Excellent). I found myself more and more in the need of one. While running this blog I got to spend a lot on various kinds of ratings. Tkae my reviews for example: I started out with using numbers as 82/100, 74/100, etc. At one point I simplified those ratings to 80/100, 82,5/100, 85/100, etc because I found myself unable to explain the difference between a show that I’d rank 85/100 and 86/100. Afterwards I started to use the same kind of philosophy for rating episodes.

I’ve often been criticized for not having an evenly distributed rating scale, but honestly, I don’t care about that at all. I just want something that I’m comfortable with, and the current rating scale mostly evolved from rating countless of series and episodes. However, now that I’ve used this system for a few years, I’ve noticed that I run into more and more episodes or series that belong inbetween two ratings (like this episode for example: it was better than the episodes that I usually label as “Good”, but at the same time I didn’t consider it to be “Excellent”). I’m going to try and refine these ratings at the points where they need to now.