Mirai Nikki – 12

by psgels, posted in Mirai Nikki

Okay. Now this was just crazy.

The big difference between this arc and the previous ones lies in the characters. In the previous arcs, the villains just weren’t interesting. their characterization was too simple, their characters were too one-sided. Fourth has been around for a while, which really helped. Ninth and that other officer also were getting better, which resulted in an episode that was finally about characters I could care about, and it’s no longer an “us vs them” deal. As a result this was pretty much my favorite episode of this show so far.

What I do want to know is how Ninth escaped from all of this. I know she has the escape diary and all, but even escaping is very hard if you’re chained to a freaking police officer. I mea, the fact remains that she blew up a school and a hospital. Did he just let her go because she looked cute or something?

I also love the way in which the end of this episode featured Yukiteru claiming that the officer he shot turned out to be alive. I know that being shot in the chest is survivable when treated immediately, but there still are so many things wrong with that:
– First of all, what happened Yukiteru’s sense of responsibility? “Oh, he didn’t die; I have no guilt whatsoever; I don’t need to visit the hospital to apologize to him or anything, let’s move on now…”
– Also, I love how this show just lets it slide off that Yuno has just become a mass murderer here. I’m not even talking about those corpses she hides. This episode did show her mercilessly kill about five police officers. And nobody even mentions that afterwards. Could Yuno perhaps be this ghost that only diary holders can see or something?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon is… weird. I mean, Kimi to Boku was annoying, but that was part of the reason why it worked. Most of Horizon’s flaws are completely pointless. For starters, this is directed by Manabu Ono. This guy has found himself a trademark. A very annoying trademark that involves pasting enormous boobs on his characters.

The result is a show with character designs who are indeed very varied and inspired, but look absolutely abysmal. The enormous hair of the characters looks like this series is still stuck ten years ago. Because of this, even though this show has a large budget, there is hardly any room for eye candy at all.

To continue: the great thing about the characters in Horizon is their diversity: it’s chock full of colourful characters of all kinds of ages, shapes and forms. And yet the main character is an incredible pervert who considers groping boobs a greeting. The fanservice in this show is so completely out of place and gets thrown so often into otherwise serious scenes that it’s not even funny.

Overall, this is a show that thrives on chaos: it tries to put an immense amount of content into just 13 episodes. The result is a massive cast of characters, a huge setting, and very fast-paced dialogue that have their good points and their bad points. The good points about the characters are that when they want to, they can deliver some interesting chemistry. Alone they’re cliches, but together their relationships become quite unique. The bad points re the aforementioned fanservice, and the huge amount of underdeveloped ones. It unfortunately… doesn’t really mask that.

Then there is the storytelling: the setting in this series is full of ideas. every single character has this really weird and unique power that he or she uses to fight. The good thing about this is the imagination that went into it. The bad thing is that all of the battles in this series make no sense. It feels like the animation staff at times just doesn’t know what they’re animating. The battles furthermore completely create pull their own rules from out of their ass, depending on what is most convenient for the plot, and this changes with every battle. This is a show that on one hand forces its viewers to think and pay attention, but on the other hand it demands a ton of suspense of disbelief and expects the viewers to not really think about the logic behind each battle. That doesn’t really match here!

Above all though: Horizon wants to tell a story, no matter how crazy and incoherent. The ideas in this series are like a blast from a shotgun shell: some hit, while others completely miss the target. There is one thing I cannot fault this series for, and that’s for being generic. Compare that to Koukaku no Regios, which at first started out with a similar setting. only to refuse to focus on it. Horizon refuses to not focus on its setting. It definitely needed to be more refined, and the story desperately lacks some kind of editor. But it is a great trainwreck to watch.

Storytelling: 8/10 – This show is a complete chaos. It’s well written, but also lacks direction at times.
Characters: 8/10 – Huge and diverse cast of characters, with some characters who work, others who don’t, or characters who do work, but make it really hard to actually be likable (the male lead for one)
Production-Values: 7/10 – This show has a large budget. So why go for these abysmal character designs that make any possible form of eye candy impossible?
Setting: 9/10 – Really diverse, full of ideas, tries to put as much into its setting as possible.

Suggestions:
– Overman King Gainer
– Turn A Gundam
– Baccano!

Kimi to Boku Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

The two big slice of life series of Autumn 2011 were Tamayura and Kimi to Boku. Overall I ended up liking Tamayura better, but I also recommend this show. Plus: this show isn’t even finished yet, while Tamayura was a sortof sequel.

With a show about a group of five high school goys, there is one thing that you need to understand before watching this series, though: Kimi to Boku is annoying. This show is obnoxious, and fully aware of that. In fact, it actively tries to get on your nerves. You need patience with this show. This might sound weird, but this show has an overall “bored” atmosphere. The characters are mellow and lethargic. Most of this show is actually a bit of a chore to watch.

But here is the thing: with every episode, this show redeems itself. Whereas episodes start unbelievably boring, they always lead to some redeeming point where this show suddenly delivers heart-warming drama and acting. And not only that, it actually uses the annoying episode to build up and develop into something that catches your attention.

These characters really got on my nerves, but the fact remains: these are really well written characters. Their acting is really believable. They’re far from the usual stereotypes and they’re already quite well developed.

There are two points at which this show leaves things to be desired, though. The first is the random cat shots that often have absolutely nothing to do with the scene they’re shown in. I still don’ really understand what’s up with them. The other, is Chizuru. Being annoying is one thing. This guy is annoying, every single time he opens his mouth. And he never shuts up. And I mean, I know that real high school boys are annoying as well and all, but a show about watching paint dry is realistic too, but that doesn’t make me want to watch it. This guy is not interesting to watch at all and the moments where he redeems himself are far too few to make up for him constantly trying to be an ass.

Let me stress though: he is the only character with this. The rest of the cast more makes it worth watching this series and sitting through the awkward moments. This show tried to invade a genre where the majority of characters are usually girls, rather than guys, and actually upstaged a lot of them here. That’s quite impressive.

Storytelling: 8/10 – It might not seem so at first, but this show knows how to tell a story.
Characters: 8/10 – With the exception of Chizuru they’re all surprisingly well written. They will be annoying, though. Be prepared.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Nothing special here, but nothing that gets in the way of the rest of the series.
Setting: 8/10 – Little detail is given to where this show takes place, although the past of the characters is nicely laid out.

Suggestions:
– Hourou Musuko
– Showa Monogatari
– Bokura ga Ita

Shinryaku!? Ika-Musume Review – 70/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Shinryaku! Ika Musume

The big disadvantage of having a successful comedy is that people want to make sequels of it. It sold well, so hey: why not try milking it out some more? What/ You mean to say that the first season already exhausted all of the possible jokes that could have been made? Who cares! People will buy it!

So yeah,Squid Girl 2 is much of the same. And in this case, this is a bad thing, because “much of the same” in a comedy pretty much means that the entire second season is derivative. There is no reason for it to really exist. This season doesn’t really advance the show or characters aside from perhaps a few minor details here and there that you could have made an OVA out of. And for the rest of the time this show spends repeating some of the jokes and scenarios of the first season.

It becomes clear very early on that the creators are struggling to find new material to fill 12 episodes. The creators at least try to squeeze some new jokes out of things, but this series never really introduces new characters, so its only option is to try some variations of some of the jokes we’ve seen so far. The result is that there are a few characters who just keep returning. In particular the crazy scientists are guilty of this: their crazy inventions are really often used to create random wacky situations for Squid girl to be in. Also milked to death are Chizuru, and worst of all: the crazy stalker. The stalker was completely horrible in the way that just REFUSED. TO BLOODY. GIVE UP. She tries to glomp Squid Girl more than five times every single episode, for god’s sake!

Thankfully the creators realized that there was no way for them to remain funny for 12 more episodes, so at least they tried to shift their focus a bit: they at leas try to make sure that the ending of each story comes with an original twist. For this, I can at least say that they’re hit and miss: sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. But at least they’re not as derivative as the rest of the series.

But seriously though: there is no real reason to watch this; over these entire 12 episodes, there was only one sketch that I considered to be genuinely funny. That’s way too little. Ideally if you’re interested in this series: watch till episode 11 of the first season. That’s all you really need, because this series has the really weird tradition of suddenly turning to a serious story for the final episode. And yes, this second season has this too. And yes, it’s baaaaaaad….

Storytelling: 7/10 – Repeated jokes and scenarios from the first season that while mildly funny, are not enough to sustain interest.
Characters: 6/10 – Only a few details are really added to the characters. That’s not good here, and it’s a good thing that the characters still have a bit of their natural charms left.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Still solid, but the animation too has gone downhill.
Setting: 7/10 – This show is completely derivative. Again nothing is added here.

Suggestions:
– Mitsodomoe
– Tentai Senshi Sunred
– Demashitaa! Power Puff Z

Ben-To Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Ben-To



To say that the moe genre nowadays is overcrowded is an understatement. I’m sure my bias against this genre wouldn’t be as bad if it wasn’t just so bloody everywhere, and I don’t even like most of them, and the comedies in this genre are no different. The exceptions for me are the ones who really put in effort. Not the ones who get lucky on one episode and then keep screwing up afterwards. No, the ones who try to be genuinely entertaining, week after week. Ben-To understood this.

This show just pushes the boundaries in the genre of the fanservice comedy. Gone is the copy and paste formula: this show just takes a crazy formula and goes to town with it: people fighting over half-priced lunches. There is a lot of neat stuff you can do with that, and this show realized that.

And the setting isn’t the only thing that the creators spent attention at. The animation and action are really meant to be as fun as possible. The soundtrack is actually the single best soundtrack of the past season in how over the top it is. The action scenes are excellent because of this. Every single one of them is really fun to watch.

And on top of that, this also is a very well told series. The build-up in this series is actually very good: it knows exactly how to lead its atmosphere into the food battles with a slow and subtle parts to increase the tension. The acting also is far from the usual you see in moe shows. Sure, it’s incredibly over the top like it should be, but at the same time the actors also know when to show restraint. The characters in this series are because of this much more colourful than usual.

Overall the story in this series also keeps it nice and tight, and both major arcs in this show are interesting enough to keep up with this series. It’s unfortunately not the most consistent series, and there are a few parts here and there that go off track. Especially in the second half the fanservice suddenly goes out of control at times, which leads to shows that are just too forced because of this. Thankfully this doesn’t involve the final episodes, so this show can still close off with a bang, but still. The fanservice in this series usually is subtle (especially for Yarizui), however at others the creators go completely overboard on the penis jokes. Thankfully these scenes are a minority, rather than the majority.

Ben-To and Dororon Enma-Kun. If you want to watch fanservice series that are actually entertaining, rather than completely lazy in terms of storytelling, these are the two shows I recommend above all others with on a third place Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt. Especially the first two though: these two realize that pushing boundaries doesn’t mean trying to out-gross each other, but to try out new things in terms of storytelling and scenarios.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Really knows how to be entertaining. Great build-up, really fun food battles.
Characters: 8/10 – Nothing amazing, but this show still has some really solid characters that are surprisingly well acted at times.
Production-Values: 9/10 – This has the best soundtrack of the season, and while the visuals are inconsistent, they do know how to animate a good action scene with restrictions.
Setting: 8/10 – Thank you for being a moe show with an actual inspired premise.

Suggestions:
– Dororon Enma-Kun Meerameera
– Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt
– Hyakko

Ben-To – 12

by psgels, posted in Ben-To

Okay, so I had an entire post written up, only to accidentally delete it. *headdesk*

In any case, this was a wonderful way to end this series. This really was entertainment. The ultimate bad guy turned out to be much better than I expected. He’s not just this guy who is ridiculously strong and beat Orthros three years ago. With daily fights over food, that would be a bit against the point of this series. Instead, his psychological attacks were wonderful. Especially with his own theme song, the way he stepped on their pride was a very nice idea here. Sato also proved that he’s worth it as a main character when he actually used the same tactic as the villain of the first arc. Everything came together really well. It’s unfortunate that Yarizui wasn’t involved, but heck; she was sick. Finally someone’s being responsible here.

Overall, Kore wa Zombie Desu ka nearly killed my faith in an entire genre last winter. At that point, I was really consented with the idea that unfortunately, for a few great episode, we’d have to sit through hours of the creators not even trying to be entertaining. Thankfully, the rest of the year proved me wrong though.

I’ll just say it: Ben-To and Dororon Enma-kun were the best fanservice comedies I have ever seen. Ben-To may not have been the best show this season, but it did push the boundaries within its own overcrowded genre, and set the standards of it higher. I count that as a job well done for David Production. Let’s hope that they can do the same for Inu X Boku.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Fate/Zero Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Fate/Zero



First of all, for those who are wondering: Fate/Zero is a prequel of Fate/Stay Night. You don’t need to have seen Fate/Stay Night in order to enjoy this, although it would be wise to first read up on a bit of the terminology, because that is pretty much the only thing that this series assumes its audience to be familiar with.

Now that that’s out of the way: this definitely was a unique and interesting series to watch. It has a few flaws here and there, but on the other side of the coin we have a very original and well researched setting here. This series grabs many classic references and figures from all over history, ranging from Alexander the Great to King Arthur, and puts them all together. Chivalry is a huge theme in this series that gets looked upon from all sorts of different angles.

What’s also great here is that it’s really hard to pinpoint the actual main character in this series. Of course, in theory this should be Saber and all, but you’d be surprised at how little airtime and attention she gets in this series. The character development of some of the other characters is far more interesting, and she’s very often outclassed by the rest of the cast here. In particular Rider is just one of a kind. He’s without a doubt the best character of the bunch and his monologues are incredibly well written. But really: nearly all of the characters here are interesting and colourful, perhaps with the only exception of the rather one-sided Caster-duo.

The main flaw of this series is the pacing. Very often this show just doesn’t flow well. The first episode for example is 50 minutes of random people talking without giving the viewer any reason to care for them, and the battles in this series are often a bit understated because the characters keep interrupting them to talk to each other about their strategies and powers. Fate/Zero spends a lot of its time on building up for the second season. At times this goes at the sacrifice of its pacing.

Still, this is a show that definitely gets better over time, as you get to know more and more of its characters. The characters slowly reveal more about themselves and their backgrounds and motivations. It’s here where the dialogues in this series really shine, to the point where they become the thing to recommend this series for. Make no mistake, the script in this show is very well written here and when this script combines itself with the character development, it’s when this show is at its best.

So yeah, the pacing has issues but really: in a time when anime diverts more and more into teenagers, it’s great to see a series that fully focuses on adults, and actually delivers a really solid storyline here. Seriously, this was one of the most solid series of the past three months.

Storytelling: 8/10 – A few pacing issues, but excellent dialogue.
Characters: 8/10 – A rich and diverse cast that will take a bit of time to fully blossom. Also a lot of the development seems to be saved for the second season.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Yuki Kajiura perhaps doesn’t bring in her A-game for this series, but still pretty solid all around. The animation is very good too, with especially the combination between 2d and CG being very good..
Setting: 9/10 – Well researched, imaginative and quite unconventional.

Suggestions:
– Le Chevalier d’Eon
– Rose of Versailles
– Amatsuki

Fate/Zero – 13

by psgels, posted in Fate/Zero

Okay, so this was a bit of an annoying cliff-hanger to close off the series with. Nothing was resolved at all. We’re just going into a 3-month hiatus, which will immediately start with the fight against Caster.

The rest of this episode was building up, and it’s clear that the creators are holding on to their trump cards for the second season. The dialogue in the Rider parts in particular were very good (by the way, I could have sworn that Rider was the Persian conqueror Iskander, but instead he turns out to be Alexander the Great).
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Overall this series had some flaws here and there, but despite that this was my favorite Type-Moon adaptation aside from about half of the Kara no Kyoukai Movies. I’m probably one of the few who actually liked the Tsukihime anime, but in the end that series is inferior to the setting and research of this series, and none of its characters come close to Rider’s. It’s just better in a lot of different ways.

For the next season, I do hope that Caster dies off quickly, because the caster duo has been the least interesting pair of the series so far. It’s all just too standard, the fights against him were boring, his hobbies of murdering children never really paid off due to the censorship, and this episode pretty much sealed the deal and the creators just gave up on him, turning him into a giant blob in order to at least make it a bit of a challenge to bring him down.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Hunter X Hunter – 13

by psgels, posted in Hunter X Hunter


I’ve said it before, but at the moment I’m currently really busy with moving in real life. I managed to buy my own house and right now, I’m finally moving out of my parents’ house, and I’m going to live on my own now, and I’m pretty overwhelmed by everything that you need to take care of. So with that in mind I kindof appreciate that this was a recap. That definitely helps to ease the workload a bit, especially on a day when two major series also end.

So yeah, recap. Nothing special: Gon writes a letter to his mother telling everything that happened. Yadda yadda yadda, nothing special at all. Next week will be the infamous new year break, so we’re pretty much into a two-week break right now. January 8th things will start again, and then it’s time for things to really get fired off.
Rating: – (Lacking)

Sengoku Basara – The Last Party Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Sengoku Basara

Okay, it may seem like a strange idea to watch and review the Sengoku Basara movie of all things on Christmas Eve, but I really have to say: if you finished watching the first two series: just watch this movie and enjoy the fireworks. It’s one hell of an enjoyable way to spend an evening.

You can definitely see that the creators wanted Sengoku Basara to end with a giant bang. Everything here is just completely over the top. Every single voice actor is having the time of his life, hamming up his role. And it actually works with such a series that’s so full of manliness. The first two series already developed the characters, and this movie realizes that it only needs to work a bit on the new ones. The result is that a far bigger portion of this series is devoted to the action than the second season, and the action is far better and over the top than in the first.

The downside is that this movie throws away all pretense. While the first two seasons had interesting storylines, this one has just has one goal: being over the top. We’re done with the complex plot lines, here is just an over the top and emotional epic ride. So yeah, when you boil down the storyline they used for this movie, it’s full of cliches and overdone tropes, packed together in a very simple premise. It may not seem so at first, but yeah. At a certain point, you’ll understand why.

And yeah, this movie is pretty much fanservice. I don’t mean that it suddenly grew boobs or that the characters suddenly start stripping for no reason, but I mean this in that this movie is entirely dedicated to pleasing the fans. Because of that it’s in no way accessible to those who haven’t watched the other Sengoku Basara-series, but this movie took the things that stood out the most in the TV-series, and built a movie around them.

At this point, I had been exactly waiting for this series to go all out, which is why I’m very pleased with this movie. It definitely washed away the disappointment of the ending of both TV-series, because they just weren’t epic enough for what this show promised. This movie finally delivered on that promise. I just can’t take this franchise serious anymore after this, though. Especially after the ED, which was all kinds of awesome, but just doesn’t belong in a series that expects you to take it seriously. Merry Christmas everyone, by the way.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Completely over the top and it works.
Characters: 8/10 – Makes good use of the fact that it already fleshed out its characters.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Solid as usual.
Setting: 7/10 – Please don’t believe that Sengoku Basara is an accurate portrayal of the Sengoku Era…

Suggestions:
– Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection
– Tailenders
– Shin Mazinger Shougeki Z-Hen