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.

Ano Natsu de Matteru – 10

by psgels, posted in Winter 2012 Kaleidoscope

Okay, it’s time to make up the balance. With these two episodes we’re probably done with the heaviest romantic stuff, and it’s time to see whether this series ended up delivering on the things it promised.

Ichika, Mio and Tetsuro: these are for me the strongest characters. Mio is the one who changed the most as a character, and especially came to her right in this episode. Her back-story was really weird and bordering on fanservice, but I can’t deny that I like her growth a lot. Ichika meanwhile rocks in how she subtly gotten used to her life on earth. Her story is no nonsense: she’s not wrapped up in complicated love triangles: she likes Kaitou, it took her a while to confess, but when she did it was great. She finally has someone to confide in. I also like her portrayal as a real character, rather than just another romantic interest. Tetsurou meanwhile mostly rocked for being so direct and eloquent in the first half of the series. I’m not a big fan that he turned this show in something resembling a love tree (Tetsuro has Mio and that beach slut who are into him, he himself is in love with Kanna, Kanna is in love with Kaito, just like Ichika and that random childhood friend; the only exception to this is Kaito liking Ichika back). Still, looking back I like his character development and place in the story here.

Kaito… is a bit of a tough one. He’s got his good points, but also his lesser. On one hand, he actually knows what he wants. Thank GOD, he knows what he wants. As for his portrayal, though… I’ve got to confess something I realized when typing up this entry. I keep confusing his name with Senkawa. Yes, the lead for Birdy the Mighty. I really have to force myself to get his name right. It’s not a matter of the characters being too similar. Heck, Senkawa was far more annoying than Kaito in the first half of Birdy the Mighty Decode, and far more interesting in the second half. However, even in his annoying phase, he stood out. Kaito doesn’t. In the end he just didn’t escape his generic bland stereotype for me.

Then there are Kanna and Remon. Remon is just a walking catalyst: she’s got no character out of her usual snark, just acts there to spark up the romance between the other characters, and provide a light-hearted tune, but I can’t think of any scene where she really caught my attention. Kanna did have those scenes, most notably last episode. However, beyond that she disappointed a bit. In the end, she too isn’t really a character. Her only purpose in this series is to spice up the love triangles. On one side it’s to add tension for Kaito and Ichika, on the other hand it’s for the Mio and Tetsuro story. Beyond that, I don’t think that this series put any effort in giving her an actual character. The rest of the cast of this series can work when you subtract the romance. She can’t. She isn’t the worst character of this series.

The worst character of this series? That honour goes by far to that mascot.

So yeah, it turned out a bit of a mixed bag, but in the end the pros outweigh the cons. Romance series are something bizarre to me. A lot of the romance shows I like have huge flaws and annoyances to counteract some parts that they do incredibly well, and Ano Natsu fits that pretty well. The solid execution doesn’t make it a stand-out and I do feel that it could have tried more to set itself apart from its cliches (especially during that horrid beach arc) but I enjoyed it so far.
Rating: * (Good)

Tantei Opera Milky Holmes – 23

by psgels, posted in Tantei Opera Milky Holmes

Uh guys… this was actually the penultimate episode. Why did you end with a climax here? Are you really ending this series with this? Did you intend the pig guy to be the final antagonist of this series all along? Don’t get me wrong, this episode was awesome, but it was completely different from what I expected.

Still though: this show did it again: again we’ve got ourselves a great climax for a Milky Holmes series. Both were really over the top, but the differences are… there. The first ending still took itself considerably seriously: it was an over the top and action-packed ending and knew it, ending with a great anti-climax. This though… this episode was one giant joke. This completely took the piss out of your typical anime ending.

This episode was just like your typical overblown ending, with all of the cliches there. The only thing is that the subject material was just completely bizarre. Mot final bosses are generic bosses with a ton of power that need to be taken down. Here though… we have the cast fighting a giant lard monster. It was hilarious how he tried to build up this epic atmosphere, using nothing but lard. It’s been a while since I watched something so ridiculously camp,and have it actually work out. The same kind of energy that the entire series had also worked really well with this.

The animation was interesting here. It’s the kind of episode where the budget clearly was limited, yet they try to make the best of what they have while caring nothing whatsoever about consistency. The result was an episode that had everything: still frames, bland faraway shots, fluid action scenes, very creative camera shots, actual moving cameras (which are really hard to do in anime besides the usual panning) and very creative images (seriously, give these artists an applause: they somehow managed to do the impossible and pulled off an entire episode focused on nothing but lard, and they made it look awesome).

Overall, JC Staff has the potential to become as bad as AIC and Xebec, but what sets them apart from all the other companies that focus excessively on moe is that they do put in effort to make their series actually good, and they do allow for experimentation. Or at least with a much bigger frequency than most of those other companies. And as for Artland… if there’s any company who baffles me the most, it’s got to be them. I mean, these were the guys who animated Mushishi. They made significant contributions to Legend of Galactic Heroes. And then they come with series like this. In fact, all of their moe shows are much better than usual, even though their series usually look very cheap. This was by far their best animation since Mushishi.

Also, do I want to know what next week will be about? Will that be the real ending, or some random side-story?
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Mirai Nikki – 21

by psgels, posted in Mirai Nikki

Apologies for the delay. There are times when I’m just a bit lazy with my entries. In any case though, the second half of Mirai Nikki has proved to be much more entertaining than the rather boring first half, and especially the final quarter of the series is without a doubt the best part of it.

Ninth’s death was really sappy, but it worked pretty well when Ninth suddenly started to relate to Yukiteru and realized the similarities they had. Oh, and I also love how the saves in this series have a mind of their own: out of their own volition they close off to protect Yukiteru, they only grant access to the makers (including their daughter) and even if you’re similar to said daughter you can get in. Again I’ve unfortunately been spoiled about the reason why, but the death of Eleventh was still very satisfying.

What I do like about Mirai Nikki is that, while it’s not the best of the season, it actually will end well. It waited until the manga was finished and allocated enough episodes to do it. With three episodes left and what seemed like the major antagonist Eleventh gone, I’m pretty excited for the final three episodes.

I do wonder, though: why is Akise in favor of making Yukiteru the next god, when he still has Eighth? I mean, he said that Yukiteru had a valid reason for bringing back his parents and restoring things to normal… but can’t eighth do that as well? He seems to forget that Yukiteru also has the makings of a psychopath and is incredibly emotionally unstable. I’d rather trust eighth, to be honest.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Chihayafuru – 23

by psgels, posted in Chihayafuru

Okay. We’ve finally gotten near the point that has been looming over the entire series: the ending. At first I thought that the creators wanted the finale to focus on a really important match, but Chihaya’s loss last week made that impossible. This episode instead was really different from all of the previous episodes. And to be honest: this would have been a great point to close off this series, knowing that it had to.

Finally Chihaya is doing something other than Karuta. Finally her character is growing and experiencing new things. The romance subplot also would have worked even better if the creators didn’t shoehorn such an obvious loser into the picture. With this episode I also realized how rare these kinds of parties are in anime. Usually everyone focuses on festivals and all, but simple events where everyone goes to some bar or something hardly ever happen.

Also, I would have said that Taichi is getting on my nerves. But I really liked the part where Chihaya locked herself into the closet. My big fear is that with two episodes left, his angst won’t go anywhere. This guy still needs to develop and as corny as it is, I hope that the final two episodes will focus on this. I also do this because at this point, it will get really hard to use Karuta as the climax for this series. And don’t get me wrong: there have been plenty of series with one-episode or two-episode finales, and I loved many of them. But not with series who only adapt part of their manga and cut off right in the middle of their story.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Natsume Yuujin-Chou – 50

by psgels, posted in Natsume Yuujin-Chou

Okay. Best episode of the fourth season yet. I was wrong.

This episode started out like your average episode: trolling about Reiko, only to go into a completely different direction. That direction was Natsume’s parents. Nowadays I rarely cry in front of an anime anymore. But this one did it. Halleluja, this show just got even better.

It’s also amazing with how little this episode ended up as a heart-wrenching story. The emotions in it were incredibly subtle, and Natsume was hiding his feelings the entire time, but this was so well portrayed that it worked wonderfully. Parts where he says that as a child, he tried to not look at the picture of his parents may seem light-hearted, but it says so much of the cold environment he grew up with. Dead parents are a cliche, but when it’s developed so well I just can’t get annoyed about it at all.

The scene that really hit home was when Natsume lost the picture of his parents. Being shy myself, I could really relate to him there and how he tried to hide all of his problems out of fear of getting too much in their way. Heck, I’ll just say it: this was the best episode of the entire season. This is exactly what I’ve been waiting for.
Rating: **** (Fantastic)