Last Exile – Ginyoku no Fam – 11

by psgels, posted in Last Exile - Ginyoku no Fam

Interestingly, in this episode the Sylvius is victim to the same weakness that Fam&co have been taking advantage of: the way in which it’s actually quite easy to shut down a huge battleship if you know where to look. Thankfully this episode included this: it shows that Fam isn’t special, and things get a lot more believable when it’s not just the good guys who came up with this idea.

In any case, this episode did get one of the shorter straws on the animation budget, even though what happened here was quite important to the overall story here. First of all Alvis returns, but Lilliane, Milia’s sister, turning out to be alive, and a sudden ally to the evil empire marks a large turning point for this series. Combine that with the fall of the sylvius here, it makes this episode even more of a turning point. Next week will be the infamous new year break in which absolutely nothing airs, so this should have been a great way to close off the first half of this series. So why the budget wasn’t bigger here is beyond me.

The first half overall wasn’t as good as the first half of the first Last Exile, but it still had a lot to like. So far we’ve seen great characters that despite their young ages are quite likable, and the show already got some good drama out of them. The big weakness so far is the large amount of inconsistencies and weak points. Shangri-La had those too, but to make up for it it just had a crazy plot that just kept moving. Ginyoku no Fam’s story though is much slower, allowing these things to stand out more. I’m definitely curious about the second half though. That will be the point for this show to really evolve. If it can do that, it will get pretty memorable here.
Rating: * (Good)

Onigamiden Review – 75/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

Um. Yeah… about this movie.

It already had an unusual staff behind it. It’s directed by the director of Spriggan, written by a guy who worked on all kinds of series from Element Hunters to Spice and Wolf, the character designs are by the same guy who designed the characters for Ghost in the Shell, Jin Roh and the Sky Crawlers, the storyboards are done by the guys who animated things like Cannon Fodder and A Tree of Palme and it’ produced by Studio Pierrot. Oh, and just a small detail: the animation director is freaking Shinji Hashimoto. If you don’t know who Shinji Hashimoto is, watch this. That’s just a small portion of the talent of someone who is amongst the best animators in the business.

If you’re wondering what good animation is: just watch this movie. The animation here isn’t necessarily flashy, but the fluidity and the motions are just incredible. There are so many visual ideas in this movie. There is so much motion in it, even for movie standards. This really is the first production in more than half a decade in which Studio Pierrot really got to show off their unique animation style if you don’t count a few random episodes here and there that just happen to have the right staff. It is great that producers still continue to give people like Shinji Hashimoto opportunities to oversee the animation of entire productions, because like this movie shows: the result just looks incredible. As for the rest of the movie though….

Look, the problem isn’t with the acting. The voice acting is perfectly fine. The pacing is also pretty acceptable: it’s slow, but it never drags. The choice of music is a bit weird for a series that is about Japan of 1200 years ago, but it ends up working very nicely. The setting is also something that interests me a lot. A time when Jesus wasn’t even a thousand years old yet is not something we get to see often. This would have been a very good movie… if it wasn’t for the story.

Because yes, this is a serious story about the history and heritage of Japan. And yes, it’s about a random boy who gets transported there and gets to command dragons for no particular reason. Whoop-dee-doo.

Now, this alone isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it all depends on how well it’s handled. Unfortunately, everything just goes too easy for this kid. All he has to do is glow a bit, and then suddenly he can command this huge dragon (who has no personality whatsoever by the way, even though he’s the titular Millennium Dragon). Because of this lack of urgency for him, he starts worrying about morals. The result is that he spends a large part of the movie whining and trying to convince everyone not to fight.

I don’t know what’s worse: the fact that he’s actually trying this, or the fact that the potentially interesting setting was reduced to such a farce to make this actually possible. This movie is completely shallow. At first things the sakes seem huge on this series, but eventually things degrade into a conflict because this kid has a trauma because his parents died. The only things that actually resemble this setting are the images. Apart from that it seems that the writers put in no research whatsoever into the setting they were dealing with.

This is the kind of children’s movie that dumbs itself down way too much, for the sake of appealing to kids. It’s such a shame, when the animation is so good, it just doesn’t have the story to back it up with. There are just fundamental problems with the writing staff here.

Storytelling: 7/10 – Solid storytelling, but there is hardly any substance.
Characters: 7/10 – Well, it has potential, but the main character is just too young and puts the priorities on the wrong place.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Really great animation, a ton of fluidity, a ton of animation ideas.
Setting: 7/10 – Interesting setting, but underutilized.

Suggestions:
– Yona Yona Penguin
– A Tree of Palme
– Kai Doh Maru

Mawaru Penguin Drum Review – 92,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Mawaru Penguin Drum



Revolutionary Girl Utena aired in 1997. When I watched it, it immediately conquered a spot on my list of favorite series ever, and still stands there. After that its director, Kunihiko Ikuhara, put out the Utena movie, and after that things became eerily quiet around him for more than a decade. Once in a while he did a random storyboard, but apart from that he really was strangely absent. So imagine my surprise when it was announced that he’d do another full fledged series again.

Right from the start it’s obvious that these two are from the same makers: this show is chock full of symbolism. Everywhere, the creators stuffed in references, cross references and visual symbols that only became apparent episodes after they appear. At first sight this is just random, but the great thing is that every symbol here has a meaning and place in this series. At first sight this series may seem like it’s complete chaos, but it’s actually surprisingly well structured on hindsight.

And yeah, this show pretty much has the best direction of the entire year. The way it combines the visuals, music and story together: no other show did it better during the past 12 months. The music does an excellent job of fitting within every scene it’s used, the animation really makes the characters come alive, the timing of all of the scenes flows really well. And the acting of the characters is really solid, especially considering the amount of broken characters in this series.

The excellent acting also leads to an excellent cast of characters. Just about everyone develops throughout the series. It also makes use of a ton of flashbacks and flash-forwards, to illustrate this, also giving the cast a ton of background in the process. The cast in this series really is dynamic, and engaging beyond belief.

And then there are the plot twist. This series really likes throwing plot twists, and being as unpredictable as possible. This makes for one heck of a plot. At first it might seem that this series is just throwing around twists for the heck of it, but nearly everything in this series is properly foreshadowed and hinted at on hindsight. The plot of this series is so tightly put together. This is an anime original series, so there is no need to be afraid of rushed endings or stories that just stop in the middle. The ending of this series is amazing and closes off this series wonderfully. This really is one of my top picks of 2011.

Storytelling: 10/10 – Great sense of timing and bringing out all different sorts of emotions. Really tightly written plot.
Characters: 9/10 – Excellent character development, very likable characters, although some take a bit to get used to (Ringo!)
Production-Values: 9/10 – Very solid and inspired animation, excellent soundtrack.
Setting: 9/10 – Penguin Drum is highly symbolic, and even its setting makes use of this. Because of this, things aren’t made 100% clear, but this is a very interesting way to get its messages across.

Suggestions:
– Revolutionary Girl Utena
– Simoun
– Noein

Mawaru Penguin Drum – 24

by psgels, posted in Mawaru Penguin Drum

The point where I realized what the Penguin Drum was came at the beginning of this episode, in which we saw the caged Shouma and Kanba, and Kanba found the apple in his cage. There, it all made sense: Kanba would share the apple, and they both probably would have died if that apple wasn’t there, making their lives even more fragile than Himari’s. At first I thought that those apples were a symbol for Ringo, but the way it kept being used in the second half just didn’t add up to that. It still remains interesting that at the beginning of the show, the penguin hat sent the brothers to Ringo of all people. But in any case, it remains very cruel what this implies: in order to save Himari, the lives of Shouma and Kanba were needed.

And it is as I hoped: this ending really is amazing. The story came together wonderfully. The characters reached their catharsis. It all fitted really well. It’s not like all questions were answered, but in this case I believe that this doesn’t matter much. This show answered enough things and the rest is just up to our imagination. There is more than enough room to fill in the blanks. This series relies really heavily on symbolism and the surreal to paint its story anyway. What this show is in essence is a character study. And on that, it really delivered.

Overall, this show just completely dominated as my favorite series for the past half year. It was one heck of a step above all other shows that aired. Now that it’s finished, can I say that I like it better than Utena? To that, I unfortunately have to say no: this series is amazing, but I still like Utena better. It just as more fresh, it had better character development, it could take more time to show off its cast. And even then, Penguin Drum still remains as one of the best two shows of the year. I’m not yet sure which one is the best, but I’ll get to that in my 2011 summary.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Un-Go Review – 87,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Un-Go



Ah, the Noitamina Timeslot. It’s been going solid for more than six years now. Making a Noitamina series is a tricky thing to do, especially with the way that timeslot has evolved during the past three years. Series in it need to be both ambitious, yet fit in a very limited time and space (with only a few exceptions). There have been quite a few who miscalculated on this, like what happened with No.6, Eden of the East or C. Or Library Wars, Jyu Oh Sei and Moyashimon for that matter.

Here comes a show that does this in a different way, though. Un-Go realizes that its time is very limited, and yet it tries to put a lot of stuff in each of its episodes. This is a formula that can screw up in so many different ways, and yet here the creators actually nailed that balance that gets everything right. This show is half-episodic and half-continuous story, and for each of its arcs, even the ones that just take place in one episode, it makes sure that their murder mystery stories deliver. It’s great at build-up, and the twists it delivers all kick ass. It’s fast, but never too fast or too rushed. It’s definitely something where you need to pay attention if you want to be able to get it, but that’s the great thing: it forces you to think and pay attention.

As for how this show managed to be able to do this? Well, it just has no space reserved to flesh out the characters. There are no scenes in this series where we can just see the characters take a bit of time, and show off their characters’ sides. Every scene and line of dialog has a meaning to the plot. This posed another challenge to the creators, because they had to find another way to make these characters interesting and make them carry the story. The result is that the characters are fleshed out through their actions, ways of speeches and their reactions. It’s all carefully intertwined with the dialogue. This doesn’t lead to the most memorable cast, but still to one that works. The characters in this series somehow end up being fun and nice to watch.

The mysteries in this series are also carefully intertwined with this series’ setting. It’s post apocalyptic, but it uses this really well to spice up its stories, and it does so in quite some imaginative ways. This series really loves to pull heel-turn twists, in which things turn out to be completely different from what they seem at first. You can definitely see that a lot of time was spent on the script of this series, and that makes it consistently enjoyable for those who are in for something with a very fast pacing. It may seem overwhelming at times, but it’s because of this that the creators were able to put so much in so little time and somehow make it work.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Some excellent mystery storytelling here. Very fast paced, though.
Characters: 8/10 – They’re not fleshed out in the usual ways, but they still have some nice details to them.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Very solid graphics, but in particular the music backs up the show really well.
Setting: 9/10 – Uses its setting really well in the backgrounds of each of its stories, with a great look at modern technology.

Suggestions:
– Mononoke
– Shigofumi
– Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei

Un-Go – 11

by psgels, posted in Un-Go

And here we have Un-Go’s ending, which I must say pleased me a lot. There are some parts that never got answered, like what really went on in the previous arc, but this was very worthy as a finale itself.

Probably the weakest part was the motivation of the bad guy, which while plausible, also felt a little weak. I personally believe that he also had a grudge against Kaishou’s practices during the war, and that that together, along with coming in the possession of someone as powerful as Bettenou caused him to do it.

This was a great murder mystery though. What made it especially interesting was that Kaishou, despite being innocent in this case, still isn’t entirely clean. He could easily have pulled off something like what he was framed for, and I think that that was what made the previous episodes so believable. The string of revelations at the studio also was great. The pacing again caused the story to come together very nicely.

What’s also interesting is that this episode didn’t have the biggest budget. It was mostly just very good explanation and exposition, with one really big explanation. Suddenly Inga came up from out of nowhere and started chasing Bettenou with some awesome animation. It probably wasn’t even the case of a big budget here, but rather that Bones got themselves one really good animator, and specifically put him on that particular scene. It works perfect to give a bit of an action-packed climax here in an otherwise dialogue-filled ending.

Overall, this season was unique in the way that my three favorite series all somehow ended up airing on the same day: for me Penguin Drum, Hyouge Mono and Un-Go rank as the top of the past three months, and Aikawa Shou did it again. I really like this guy as a scriptwriter and with this, he also shows that he’s great at noitamina series. There still is a prequel OVA left, to which this episode dropped a lot of hints. Looking forward to it!
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Chihayafuru – 12

by psgels, posted in Chihayafuru

Whoa, they’re already heading to the finals here. This was just one episode worth of build-up and aftermath, keeping up with this series’ tradition of not dragging on at all. And yet, this episode did everything a build-up and aftermath episode should do.

It actually put a neat detail in for every single one of the character: Chihaya feeling overwhelmed, Desk-kun losing his interest in grades, Pork-kun going back to his teacher, Kanade understanding that she also has to learn the rules and habits of competitive Karuta… and that teacher who suddenly made a complete heel-turn when she found out how hard the characters are working. Kazuya meanwhile is a very reactive character: on his own he’s not that detailed, but he shines when he plays off of the others.

There also was this charming little part about Chihaya wanting to get noticed by her parents. It’s a nice subversion from when this trope is usually played: usually this sibling shadow is this impossible barrier that can’t be breached. In this show though, Chihaya is starting to shine on her own. Also, after seeing so many ditzy idols, it’s great to see Chieko, who puts on two completely different personas when she’s on or off camera.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Tamayura – Hitotose Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Tamayura




It’s a common premise: you have a series that’s about a bunch of high school girls and you follow their daily lives; it’s that simple. It’s far from my preferred genre though, and I find myself bored with most of them. There are, however, exceptions. Having the guy who directed all of the Aria series behind this also helps.

The cast does need a bit of time to warm up (especially if you haven’t watched the prequel OVAs), but for me, this was one major step above the usual series in this genre. For one: it spends a lot of time on fleshing out and developing its characters. Every episode is dedicated to showing different sides of the cast, or having them develop as a character. This is all very subtly done, ad the characters themselves are all very believably acted, with some very impressive and fluid animation that remains very consistent throughout the entire series.

Sato Junichi also uses this one trick that also worked really well with Aria: well written dialogue and voice overs, containing subtle morals that all of the characters can relate to. It again works very well, and all of this leads to a very heart-warming series with a genuine cast of characters.

It’s definitely a series that needs to grow on you, because the characters definitely do not show themselves off right from the start. This does lead to a few annoyances that you just need to sit through, like a really big crybaby, or a character who does nothing but whistle. Plus Sato Junichi’s habit to go with the weirdest looking cats imaginable.

Nevertheless, if you’re looking for a heart-warming slice of life series then this is a very solid choice. This is very relaxing and heart-warming, and it’s short and to the point with only 12 episodes and 4 ovas.

Storytelling: 8/10 – It’s slice of life, yet things happen here. Excellent at creating a heart-warming atmosphere.
Characters: 9/10 – Well developed in a short time, excellent acting, although you do need to get used to the cast.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Lots of animation, fluid and consistent, and a very good soundtrack.
Setting: 8/10 – The town in which this all takes place is actually very detailed and fleshed out.

Suggestions:
– Aria the Animation
– Windy Tales
– Hitohira

Tamayura – Hitotose – 12

by psgels, posted in Tamayura

The first part of this episode was pretty much what we expected: celebrating the end of the year by organizing a large exhibition, restaurant, shop and theater for the lead characters. Although it still was weird to see people celebrate the end of the year in a completely different way from what I’m used to. (What I’m used to is mostly staying inside, watching random television and everyone massively igniting fireworks all at the same time after the clock hits 12).

What this episode showed me was that Japanese really treat the end of the year as another festival, where you can informally visit a lot of places, hosted by all kinds of different people. Is that true, or was that an exaggeration by this series? Last episode there were perhaps a bit too many people who came to just view Maon’s performance, and this episode too had the characters acting like magnets for other people.

And then, this episode suddenly closed off with Sayomi taking them on another trip, and her car getting stuck. I must say, that was quite a creative way to end this series with. It was fully on-topic, giving Potte a reason to remember her father again, but at the same time it was so random and whimsical that it’s definitely going to be memorable, rather than the usual carefully built up ending or aftermath. I like it.

The past half year, Sato Junichi has really delivered. First with Ikoku Meiro no Croisee, and then with Tamayura. They filled in for each other perfectly: Tamayura didn’t have an as interesting setting as Croisee, it on its turn did not have the forced drama and had much better acting. I’d count neither among the best slice of life series I’ve seen, but at the same time both were really solid and interesting.

I tried following other slice of life series this year, but that didn’t work as well as here. I’m still not exactly sure why, but these two series did not try to be funny: they just let their characters speak for themselves. Nichijou could have been nice if its jokes weren’t so hit and miss. A Channel just degenerated into boob jokes, while Yuruyuri went down even faster with its lesbian jokes. Those just aren’t the shows I want to watch. These two series however had characters who knew who they were, a solid setting to back it up, meaningful dialogue. That kept my attention.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Nurarihyon no Mago Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Nurarihyon no Mago




I really was not pleased with the first season of Nurarihyon no Mago. It started off decently, and then it went on… and on… and on… and eventually it forgot to actually deliver. As a shounen jump adaptation, its source material had plenty of time to carefully build up its story, and this show actually ended up dragging that out even more. That definitely was not fun.

In any case, the second season looked promising: the pesky build-up was over: we now know the major characters, and it’s finally time to get to the meat of this series. So of course this show dives into multiple training arcs that are dedicated to making the characters stronger. Do you see the problem with this franchise?

However, I have to give this sequel credit: it is much, much better than the first season. Studio Deen put completely different staff members on it, and they fit this kind of story much better. The direction in particular is excellent and delivers some impressive characterization. The graphics also got a significant upgrade: just about everything looks better here. The animation is more detailed, but in particular the art and camera angles are much more detailed and imaginative, to the point of actually turning this series into a show with a ton of eye candy (this show also has one of the best character designers out there, and with this season, you can finally see why).

The storyline for the sequel is also far from as flimsy as the first season was. It’s deeply rooted in the past of many of the important characters, and it actually means something to the cast. It’s much easier to sympathize with both the main characters and the villains (also rejoice: Rikuo’s annoying classmates are much more bearable and play a far less prominent role, to the point of actually vanishing for most of the airtime). So if only it didn’t break up its pacing so often.

Yeah, most series have an average arc-length of around five episodes. This arc lasts a whopping 24 of them. That’s just way too long, and by far its most nasty habit is that Rikuo just randomly gets pulled out of the action, in order to train, get stronger and acquire a new power. These training arcs are way too bloody long, and really prevents this show from getting going until near the end of the show. But at that point, it really takes off, and delivers a solid semi-ending. It doesn’t wrap everything up, but the emotional closure is really well done there.

Is it worth it to sit through 48 episodes of this thing though? Nah. All I can say is: it will get better. But the problem with shounen jump adaptations is that they just have way too much time to waste. The currently airing Hunter X Hunter is the first in a long while to actually avoid this flaw. I’m giving it a solid rating for its execution, but that’s only because I don’t include the first season in it, which you unfortunately need to have seen in order to get what’s going on here. Go for this if you’re really bored.

Storytelling: 7/10 – Takes way too bloody long to get to its point and breaks up its flow too much with training arcs. Otherwise very solid, though.
Characters: 8/10 – This arc finally is dedicated to the characters, and gets some good things out of them.
Production-Values: 9/10 – A surprising amount of eye candy in this show.
Setting: 8/10 – There has gone quite a bit of attention to youkai lore into this series.

Suggestions:
– Tactics
– Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi
– Pandora Hearts