Tantei Opera Milky Holmes – 24

by psgels, posted in Tantei Opera Milky Holmes

That’s it? Milky Holmes are you serious in that your big ending… is a cheesy shoujo dance scene? Don’t get me wrong, I again really liked this episode, but it also was a very bizarre way to end this series with, especially with last week’s bizarre God of Lard climax. this episode pretends that nothing happened there, completely changes genre and instead makes a total mockery out of the shoujo genre.

I only have one really big complaint with this episode, and that is that it used the big comedy cliche of pulling the reset button: “our heroes have finally achieved their objectiv- oh wait, I guess not! Too bad, hahaha!” – This is something that has been pulled way too much and they’re hardly ever worth it.

Still, there was enough creativity in this episode to make up for that. It wasn’t the best episode, but as an “aftermath”, it was a neat idea to instead have the big over the top climax not at the very end.

Overall, I first noticed the director of this series, Makoto Moriwaki during his previous series, Lilpri, due to how incredibly energetic his style is. In Lilpri tis unfortunately was badly used, up to the point where all the characters did was yell at each other and the bad acting got monotone really fast. Milky Holmes has the variety and creativity that makes his style work. This season got even better with Seiya Numata behind the animation. I’d really rank this on the same level as Ben-To and Dororon Enma-Kun. It had a few weak episodes here and there, but these were totally overshadowed by the great parts.
Rating: *+ (Great)

OVA Impressions: Black Jack Final – 02

by psgels, posted in Black Jack Final

Well, Rest in Peace, Osamu Dezaki. This very likely was the last episode you ever worked on, and what a great episode it was. This was the last time where his unique sense of storytelling could be exhibited. The subject for this episode is wars. Black Jack has dabbled in this area before, but with a setting that so closely resembles Northern Korea (remember that this originally was written at a time when Kim Jong Il wasn’t even leader yet) does give it a slightly different load than usual.

Once again though, this episode captures what makes the Black Jack OVAs so incredibly good. It makes optimal use of its 45 minutes of airtime to play out and come with twists and turns, plus as usual it also puts in a lot of time into its characterizations. The lead character in this episode didn’t just have one issue, but instead she had a wide range of issues, who at the same time were all related to each other.

Also, I didn’t expect to see this at this point, but Black Jack actually regretted saving someone’s life. In all of the stories of him I’ve seen so far, he has always been very passionate about saving lives as soon as he set his mind to it, but this really pushed that boundary here.

In terms of the visuals, it’s a shame that the budget of this episode left some things to be desired, because things were a bit sloppy in that era. The cinematography still was wonderful, though. This episode still managed to pull off a ton of visual effects that are so typical of Osamu Dezaki, in which he really tries to get the biggest emotional reaction while using minimal methods. Even in this episode, these scenes still are full of energy.

I personally love it when a director, writer or artists manages to put a lot of his own style and ideas into his (or her) work, and there are very few series directors whose style is as immediately recognizable as Osamu Dezaki. I really hope that a lot more young directors pick this up and start to let their own styles flow into their works more freely. That’s what provides variety and diversity.
OVA Episode Rating: 8,75/10

Mirai Nikki – 22

by psgels, posted in Mirai Nikki

This episode was undoubtedly crazy.

The plot is finally coming together after all the seemingly unrelated arcs in the first half. Finally it becomes clear what Akise’s role is in this series and he finally got his episode to redeem himself. Also, there was Yukiteru who is well on his way to become one of the least inept main characters out there. Thankfully though, the creators are actually playing with this for once, rather than just copying the standard male lead over and over again. Oh don’t get me wrong: Yukiteru has elements of this guy written all over him, but being such a wimp to actually kill his friends like that in favor of his deranged girlfriend. I like that.

Overall, I do have to say that Mirai Nikki was by far the worst series for the past year to avoid spoilers on. Both from the different OPs and EDs, but also from the fans who kept giving away hints that the audience wasn’t supposed to know yet. Looking back, I think that that was for me unconsciously something that held my enjoyment of this series a lot, especially considering how focused this series is on its surprises and plot twists.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Chihayafuru – 24

by psgels, posted in Chihayafuru

Shock! Gasp! Surprise! A major character actually put on weight!? In anime where characters always need to look perfect!?

I mean, once in a while we get overweight side characters here and there, like Nishida in this series. But the main antagonist? It’s really been a while since we had one of those, let alone characters whose physique changes so drastically. Of course it’s a bit exaggerated here, but this was nevertheless a really interesting twist.

Heck, I’m really baffled here. Ever since the show was announced, I’ve been dreading this moment: the ending, knowing that there was no way for this show to end well. And here, this show actually pulls off a stunning penultimate episode.

I don’t care about wrapping things up, but for me an ending needs to take the series, its themes, characters and push them even further. So yeah, the actual king and queen match are a great way for this show to close off. This really goes against all conventions. I really was expecting this show ending with Chihaya playing some random match, as is the norm with all other sports shows. And instead, this episode was completely different, yet completely in line with the rest of the series. It shows the level that Chihaya has yet to reach: a match between two players of actual Queen material. She played them both, but actually watching the two of them play taught her how much she still needs to grow. Shinobu blew her away in the first match, but in this episode she really became human. And again we’ve got another top player who becomes a bit weaker (yet much more intriguing) due to some imperfection or laziness.

I really admire the guts of the creators to not have this episode revolve around Chihaya (like the entire rest of the series), but instead put two side-characters into the spotlights. These kinds of creative twists are some that I can really appreciate, especially when the characters in question are so damn good. Chihaya herself also had a great place in this episode so she still is the main character here.

Now, I have a message to the next episode: end with an ACTUAL ending. I don’t want to see a sequel hook, or the feeling that there still is going to be some sort of next episode or something. It’s obvious that this show isn’t going to get a sequel, now make use of that! What I want is “here is an awesome and creative climax that pushes the characters to new levels!” not “thanks for watching and let’s hope that someday we can tell the rest of this story…” This show deserves it!
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Some Quick First Impressions: Ozuma and Hiiro no Kakera

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Gakkatsu

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a badly animated teacher
Well, at the very least the utterly horrid flash shows are getting better. Don’t get me wrong, this was still far from good, but it does spend much more time into actually animating its characters and make things move, rather than High Score or Haiyoru Nyaruani which just were a bunch of still frames with moving mouths. These five minutes actually had some decent direction and camera work. The soundtrack actually was energetic, the dialogue was delivered with some actual energy, rather than trying to be as annoying as possible. But yeah, what’s this series about? An overly enthusiastic teacher with strange ideas like trying to rename that bump that some people have on their wrists. There was some nice dialogue in this episode that makes it a good gimmick for one episode, but it’s still got no chance to actually be worthwhile in the long run. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that these shows are actually getting better, but they still have a long way to go.
OP: Surprisingly catchy…
Potential: 10%

Ozuma

Short Synopsis: Our lead character runs into a cute girl.
Clumsy, is how I’d describe this first episode of Ozuma. It definitely doesn’t win points in the build-up or execution. It feels like the characters all read their lines a little too fast, and this show doesn’t seem familiar of the concept of pauses between lines. The animation also is quite poor and I really expected more of Ryousuke Takahashi. On the other hand though, we’ve got a very strong contender for the best character designs of the season (which probably can only be contested by Saint Seiya and Lupin; yes, I know they’re all remakes of past character designs. I can’t help it that most characters look the same nowadays), along with an interesting setting focused on all sorts of desert vehicles. This really is meant as an homage to the Matsumoto Leiji series. This unfortunately means that if you’re not familiar with him, you’ll probably miss a lot here. Despite the flaws though, the end of this episode did give me that vibe I’ve had with some of his other stories. Let’s see whether this one can develop into something interesting in just six episodes, however it really has to fix the poor acting for that. It’s not like every character here is badly acted, but there is some pretty bad stuff among them.
OP: Dull J-Rock
ED: The singing isn’t bad, but the song is a bit boring and it’s just another dull slideshow mostly comprising of only the females in the series. Show some of the guys for god’s sake.
Potential: 60%

Hiiro no Kakera

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a princess who needs to be protected by hot bishies.
Studio Deen has always been the most prominent producer of shoujo series. So yeah, when they decline, it’s no wonder that the entire genre takes a nose-dive. With Hiiro no Kakera they’re basically making the same show yet again. This pretty much is another Hakuouki or Brave 10, only this time things take place in modern times. The bishies here are the same bishies that you see in all those other series. The execution is the same as ever and does very little to entertain. I have to give the series this: it does know how to build up an atmosphere, and at least the writing is better than usual with these series. The animation however…was really bad here. There is movement, but that movement is incredibly awkward. The worst was when one of the characters tried to do a somersault and instead randomly slowly floats into the air for three seconds. That’s also a case of bad direction here: there are no attempts made to make things look better or more interesting than they actually are. The only thing that the graphics have going for them is that the backgrount artists are really good, but that too seems wasted here with this lackluster execution. When was the last time we had a good reverse harem anyway? Yumeiro Patissiere?
Potential: 15%

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)