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

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)