Aquarion Evol – 06

by psgels, posted in Aquarion Evol

This episode returned to the action.And well… it was just over the top, like everything else in this series. In particular the focus on Shrade was just meant to kick ass and be as grand as possible. Now, I know Shoji Kawamori, so I’m not going to be trolled by one of those twists again, but his entire performance in this episode was just wonderful. The soundtrack in this series is great, but it’s at its best when he is involved.

In comparison, that dog bad guy still needs a bit of work. He has potential as Mikono’s future groom, but right now his characters still isn’t interesting enough, not to mention that he pulled a very cliched retreat at the end of this episode. Again though: this episode promised some interesting connections; now live up to those!

Going back to that soundtrack… how big is it anyway? I mean, there are series that have two or three good tracks and keep repeating them, but this episode came yet again with more tracks I hadn’t heard before, and they just all kick ass. 2012 is definitely going to be an interesting year, with two Yoko Kanno series. Although I did hear that a lot of this soundtrack was composed for the first season already. My guess is (considering Yoko Kanno’s inactivity for the past years) that the rest of the soundtrack was composed by the composer of Zegapain’s soundtrack. Seriously. She should do more.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Mirai Nikki – 17

by psgels, posted in Mirai Nikki

Overall, Seventh were by far the most interesting opponents that Yukiteru and Yuno faced so far. It’s probably because of this that this arc has been my favorite so far. This episode also delved a bit in their past and gave them a pretty nice closure. The creators made good use of how they as a couple are similar, yet completely different from Yukiteru and Yuno.

Oh yeah, and then there was that thing with Yukiteru’s parents. Now that was just done for the shock factor, I believe. Of course I went ‘wtf’ when he stabbed her, but that’s the kind of twist that Guilty Crown would pull if it had the chance, and it doesn’t really fit Mirai Nikki’s thriller atmosphere of putting crazy people in a death match. I’d understand it if he was under the influence of drugs or something, but to be completely sober and pull something so random…

As for the leaps in logic, this episode was fairly light on them. There was just one point where the Seventh guy yet again got hold of Yuno’s diary. And he yet again didn’t think about destroying it. Sure it was a fake and he could have used it to get more information and all, but by now he should have known that Yukiteru is completely useless, and Yuno the biggest threat, and that getting rid of her would make things so much easier.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Rinne no Lagrange – 05

by psgels, posted in Rinne no Lagrange

Holy crap.

I mean it’s easy to just dismiss this show based on first looks. A bunch of girls piloting mechas to save aliens? That sounds completely generic. And yet the execution and direction are just so damn good here. I mean, this is the Fafner team of Xebec, working together with Tatsuo Sato, written by the guy who wrote the second half of Darker than Black. And it’s true that the biggest sin of this series is being so generic: with an execution and staff like this, just imagine what it could have been if it had an actually good premise here.

Nevertheless, the characters in this episode were awesome. The chemistry between these guys is really fun to watch. This episode introduced the main bad guy, and this completely sets Muginami apart from the stereotypical ditzy girl she was at first. This episode first starts with revealing that she indeed is a villain, making use of some great tension between her and Lan, only to reveal afterwards that she has just been acting on her own, and instead is being seen as a parasite by her comrades.

These kinds of episodes really allow the sharp direction here to shine. The main villain is also very interesting at this point (the coat thing was very funny), and the sharpness and timing of the dialogue here is subtle, yet witty. On top of that, this show has a second season confirmed in the summer season, so there will be enough time to really flesh these characters out.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Hunter X Hunter – 18

by psgels, posted in Hunter X Hunter

Okay, I know what I’m going to do this season. The thing is that Ano Natsu, Black Rock Shooter, Inu Boku and Smile Precure are all series that are interesting, yet not interesting enough to be blogged weekly. So instead I’m going to do another Kaleidoscope and blog one of these four shows each week. Hunter X Hunter however has nothing to do with that. This show is great, period. And I’m going to bring it back from hiatus now that Hyouge Mono has finished.

I do want to say though, that it will probably be impossible for me to not blog this as a fan of the ’99 series. I will try to also write some impressions about actual episodes, but blogging this series for the past months, I really realized that I just have to draw comparisons between the two, so I really apologize for being a bit inaccessible to the people who are only now being introduced to the franchise. These comparisons will mostly be in the ’99 series’ favor for the current arc, while the next arc they will be very likely in the 2011-version. And after that, anything can happen.

Gon really impressed me in this episode. For me, the really big difference of the past few episodes between the two adaptations is that Gon immediately recovered from his poison in the new adaptation. Because of that, the moment where he stood out in this arc has shifted. This version doesn’t have the agonizing time that Gon spent, trying to recover from the poison. Instead, he had to wait all alone with his pride hurt and do nothing but wait for his friends. That gave this episode a slightly different meaning here, and instead made this episode really stand out for him. I really loved how he forced himself to help Leorio and the others.

Now, the next episode in the ’99 series was like, my absolute favorite Hunter X Hunter episode outside of the Yorkshin arc. That’s another reason why I really had to pick this show back up, because even though I’ve already seen it again, and the impact probably won’t be near what it was when I first watched it, I really want to see how the creators handle it this time. The ’99 series had a lot more time to devote on fleshing out the side characters. It even treated the characters who were just destined to die or drop off seriously here and this lead to a wonderful side-cast. This new series doesn’t have a lot of that, but I’m still impressed with how they made Ponzu in an interesting character despite only know learning what her personality was.

With this episode however, I can also see that the 2011 series put a lot of time into fleshing out the nine remaining contestants. The questionnaire from the chief was still really great to watch. I also really liked Hanzo here, even though he only appeared for like… 30 seconds; it took me a while to realize, but that guy actually had three tags worth of one point with him. That actually means that he couldn’t find the tag that Killua threw away, and I can only imagine how he desperately had to try and find two other tag holders in order to get the right points. I managed to track one down to being that one guy with long black hair, but I just can’t find out who the other was.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Phi Brain – 18

by psgels, posted in Phi Brain

They’re actualyl going to go much further with Gammon than I thought here. At first I thought that this episode would be the regular “let’s fight and be friends afterwards again like nothing happened”. Instead, the opposite happened and Gammon got even more pissed off at Kaitou. I like this twist a lot: he’s currently hating what Kaitou has turned into, and is tired of constantly being looked down upon. Now, I really hope that the creators don’t back down and have him return to being Kaitou’s lapdog near the end of this first season, because he would the perfect spice for the second season.

The one thing I think that the creators should have spent a bit more attention at is how Gammon feels about the fact that his puzzles can kill people. This is the thing that needs a bit more work to really flesh out. Especially after what he said to Nonoha: that Kaitou could very well end up killing her (a very good point, by the way). However, this episode revealing that he has a sister was a very nice touch here, because his dislike with Kaitou is also large enough to abandon her.

Oh, and the puzzle in this episode was actually very creative here. This also was the first time where the puzzle was more like a game between two players, rather than something that had to be solved (not counting the makers trying to cheat their asses off, of course).
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Mouretsu Pirates – 05

by psgels, posted in Mouretsu Pirates

These past two episodes are a really big surprise. At first I thought that this would be like Stellvia of the Universe, a series that Tatsuo Sato previously worked on. And here, this show suddenly makes a trip to Starship Operators, which was one of the most believable science fiction series involving small scale spaceship battles in terms of science fiction. And the thing is that we still haven’t reached the meat of this series: only at the end of this episode did the main character decide to become a pirate. Seriously, if the rets of this series is going to be as varied as these first five episodes, then we’re in for a treat here.

As for this episode, I really liked it. It really managed to make these science fiction concepts exciting, and the hacking sequence was done very believably. I really liked how the characters made use of their status as a bunch of high school girls to fool the enemy with “Dammy” systems and other diversions. The enemy on the other hand also wasn’t stupid here, and actually used the interesting tactic of just switching off their computers and resort to manually operating their guns.

This show also really shows that technology has its limitations. A lot here has been automized, but it’s like one of the characters says: when something goes wrong, it’s up to the humans behind it to tell it where to go next. Computers are very stupid things: they do exactly what you tell them to, but nothing more.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Some Quick First Impressions: Smile Precure

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Smile Precure

Short Synopsis: Our lead character battles against evil bad guys who turn everyone emo.
Do you k now why I love Heartcatch Precure? It’s because it immediately was awesome. Just show someone the first episode, and it’s immediately clear that it is a major step above the others. I mean, I heard that Suite Precure got better as it went along and all. But does that really warrant having to sit through what could be 26 episodes of boring stories and the most moronic bad guy goons ever, just to get to there? And that brings us to Smile Precure. I’ve seen quite a few first Precure episodes over the years, and while this one was nowhere as good as the Heartcatch Precure opening, I still have to say that it makes for the second place here. It unfortunately has a lot of Precure cliches, and the chemistry between the five main characters still consists out of overacting and annoying cliches. But this episode had a great sense of energy. This episode was fun to watch because of that, and the direction was consistently sharp.The character designs unfortunately are generic, but the animation is very good as well, and the music again is of a very high quality here. The big task for the next episode is to give me a reason to continue watching: give me a reason to care about these characters and make them more than just the cliches that they seem to be at first.
OP: Catchy?
ED: Are they ever going to stop doing these godawful CG Precure EDs?
Potential: 70%

Last Exile – Ginyoku no Fam – 16

by psgels, posted in Last Exile - Ginyoku no Fam

So, imagine that you’re a general of an army. There is one particularly nasty country who keeps attacking others and killing your own people. At this point you’ve finally managed to find the opportunity to form an alliance with other parties who were in the same situation as you. You’re in a meeting between all kinds of leaders in order to complete this alliance, and suddenly some random girl starts yelling things about love and peace and how you should not attack each other.

This episode showed that the final third of this show will very likely be its worst part. This is simply because the story of this show is pretty much its weakest aspect. Last Exile is about world building. Show us more of that! The big problem with this episode was that Fam wanted to bring peace to the world by bringing the grand race back. That’s nice and all, but that’s not exactly the right way to stop an evil psycho with a misguided cause of trying to get revenge for some leader who was killed. Fam just fails to see the core problem of what’s going on here.

The core problem here is that we have some guy exploiting the fact that there is a country that’s being run by a six-year-old. And the annoying part is that a lot of other characters DID figure this out. Focus on them! The part where they have to guide this young of an empress into getting control of her subordinates: that’s an interesting storyline. This show was actually well on its way to do that, until Fam stepped in and started to distract her with that Grand Race.

Children being stuffed into an adult setting. It’s not like that can’t work. However, they need to know their place and what they can do. The big problem is that Fam can’t do anything aside from piloting a vanship really well, and skill has been completely pointless for the past months. Heck, my favorite series, Mahou Shoujotai, is about something very similar: a girl of Fam’s age with very big pacifist ideals. The thing is, that Arusu actually tried her hardest to stop the conflicts, and she actually did stuff that mattered, not to mention that she was in a position and a world where she actually could.

The more I think about it… what has Fam actually done in this series? Um… she stole a bunch of ships, I guess. She saved this princess. In terms of politics however, she has been completely useless, and yet the creators keep shoving her in that role. And I think that that’s the thing with the production of this series: Koichi Chigira is a very good director, and you can really see how he breathes life to this setting and scenario despite the limitations. Kiyoko Yoshimura however just isn’t cut out to write original stories. You can really see that she just isn’t a good writer. The producers at Gonzo were most likely responsible for putting Fam into the position of the main character. It was her job of fitting a good conflict for her and making her a likable character. Instead, this feels like a story where she was just pasted into, without really considering whether or not she really fit. And it just feels like a very sloppy job at that.
Rating: (Enjoyable)

Tantei Opera Milky Holmes – 17

by psgels, posted in Tantei Opera Milky Holmes

Did they seriously devote an entire episode to streaking?

This perhaps wasn’t the most over the top episode, but it mostly stood out in how it was one of the most disturbing episodes so far. Oh, it was really fun to watch as usual. The combined idiocy of the entire cast still outshines any other series. The characters in this series give new meaning to being a moron. The animation and visual direction were as great as usual.

But yeah, this episode was full of the most bizarre streaker jokes. And it’s not like “let’s shove a streaker into the viewer’s faces a lot of times”. Instead the characters meat this bizarre girl with a multiple personality disorder who dresses like one, and for some reason beyond me end up dressing like streakers themselves later in the episode. The fanservice and also the jokes they make about it are completely bizarre. Also Arsene, WHERE THE HELL DID YOU PULL THAT WHIP OF YOURS FROM? O.o

Also, this episode understands its running jokes. This episode had several of them, and they still are hilarious due to the slight variations in the context they’re used in. The animation also still is as inspired as ever: this episode also had very good… uh…poses (I’m not referring to the streaking here! It’s just that every shot here is inspired and has a camera angle that works and has some creativity in it).
Rating: ?* (Yeah…)

Inu X Boku SS – 04

by psgels, posted in Winter 2012 Kaleidoscope

Hmm, so I had hoped that that new character would bring in a bit of a dynamic. Instead he’s just another side character who happens to know some of the other side characters. Not the thing that you’d expect for progressing the storyline of this. I think it’s fairly safe to say now that Inu X Boku will be the worst TV-series from David Production for me.

With this episode, I’ve gotten a really clear picture of this series. It’s really a “feel good show”, and it actually cheers me up quite a bit when watching it. I can really see it work out… if it had 26 episodes to work with. That will allow this cast to properly grow. Unfortunately this is not the case and instead we only have 12 episodes. With that in mind, this episode wasted too much time and introduced too many characters, who were all one-sided, adding even more to the big problem of one-sidedness of this series. It was funny, but with this rate this show is never going to get the right development out of them.

The coming week I’m going to be shuffling around a bunch of series in my blogging schedule. I’ll give this show one more episode to redeem itself, but at the moment it’s the only show that I’m blogging that I’m dissatisfied with. I first want to wait until Smile Precure airs and Black Rock Shooter delivers its second episode for that.
Rating: * (Good)