Un-Go – 10

by psgels, posted in Un-Go

Now that we’re nearing the climax, the dialogue in this series moves even faster than ever. But really: I don’t mind. In fact, I actually encourage this series to continue with this style, and where you really have to put in effort to follow everything. This is a great way to involve your audience, and it’s been a long while since I watched a series that did it so well. The best way to illustrate this effect is to mention Boogiepop Phantom: if you thought that this series moves fast, you haven’t seen anything yet: that series is a complete puzzle to figure out. Your mileage may of course vary very much, but I really enjoyed having to puzzle to get everything out of the story.

Bettenou’s powers proved to be a terrific end boss here. What the hell here is real? In this episode the creators also suddenly came with small details like this handkerchief that had been tampered with. On top of that, the creators keep throwing us for a loop with multiple attacks on Kaishou. It’s indeed a very plausible theory for him to fake his own death, but who was this shady figure who stood behind Bettenou in that one shot? And why would Bettenou ask Inga to expose some of Kaishou’s deep secrets if she was working together with Kaishou? And what about that taxi driver who happened to be familiar with that female investigator?

With one episode left, I’m pretty confident to say that Noitamina did it again: Un-Go so far stood head and shoulders above all other Autumn Season Series, and the other shows are going to have to try really hard next year if they want to be able to top it. I mean, if the ending actually delivers like I hope to, then this pretty much is the example of how to do a fast paced Noitamina right. Instead of just rushing through its storyline, it actually made optimal use of its time. Compared to No.6 or C, which ended up skipping details, this show actually managed to focus on them.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

OVA Impressions: Eiyuu Densetsu – Sora no Kiseki

by psgels, posted in OVA Impressions

My main reason for wanting to check this out is because the Kinema Citrus team is behind it. They already showed that with .Hack//Quantum they can put down a good rpg adaptation. This is a genre that is exceptionally challenging to do, because 1) you cannot animate grinding, leveling, or talking to everyone in the continent to get a feel for the setting, and 2) a lot of RPG adaptations are OVAs that need to find a way to condense their huge stories into a much shorter timeframe. And despite all that, there have been quite a few shows that actually pulled this off. Eiyuu Densetsu though… not so much.

And don’t get me wrong, this OVA was well produced. The characters were well acted, the animation was very good, the action was well directed. In terms of production, it all lived up to Kinema Citrus’s standards. It’s just that the content in this episode had one major flaw: it assumed that its viewers were familiar with the source material…

… so yeah. If you played Eiyuu Densetsu: go ahead and watch it. This OVA is entirely dedicated to pleasing you. If you haven’t though, it’s a whole different story. This movie ultimately boils down to an abridged version of the TV-series, but it doesn’t bother to introduce anything. It refuses to explain anything. Who are these characters? Why are they on this journey? Why is all this important to them? The explanations that are there all assume that you know these things. On top of that, this OVA has a really bad Deus ex Machina near its climax, and it doesn’t even attempt to make full use of its time by wasting three whole minutes on a hot spring.

To tell epic stories like this in a limited time frame, you need to use your time cleverly. The best way is to put in a lot of small details that flesh out the characters as you go along. but Tales of Symphonia’s method of rewriting the story to make the pacing flow better in anime format works as well. This one wastes too much time on fanservice and random pointless scenes that would have worked on a 26-episode series, but not a short OVA. Even though this is 40 minutes, that’s still short.
OVA Episode Rating: 7,25/10

Chihayafuru – 11

by psgels, posted in Chihayafuru

Here’s also the thing with the team matches: because Chihaya’s team has two rookies, it pretty much means that the three other players need to win all of their matches to make up for that. That does put a lot of extra tension on them compared to the usual. It’s just one of the examples of how well this series is put together. This episode pretty much spent an entire episode and nothing more on the finale of a tournament. The perfect length to both deliver a good climax and to also prevent things from dragging on.

No,w, I do wonder: nearly all of the characters of the flashback arc returned. Will these characters do the same as well? Especially that tall guy looked like he might return much more often after this, and it’s already great to see two characters who actually know the main cast in this team, through various karuta clubs.

I also love how this show handles its foreshadowing in this episode. I often feel like sports series try too hard to build up on the big opponents that they have to beat. For on, it’s still a mystery of what Arata is going to do. But also, this episode referenced the upcoming opponents in just one single line, and never again mentioned them afterwards. I like how subtle this was done.

Speaking of which, I can already see one really big problem with the way this series is set up: Arata. Right from the beginning it was clear that Chihayafuru would end halfway through its story, but for a long while it was still a mystery what this would actually mean for this series (especially for the ones like me, who haven’t read the manga). However, Arata is clearly being set up to only reunite with the main cast, in the second half of this story. In other words: the part that’s never going to be animated. And that’s a bloody shame because the part where Arata appeared again in this episode was awesome.
Rating: ** (Excellent

Tamayura – Hitotose – 11

by psgels, posted in Tamayura

“Oh yes, today is christmas”.

I find this a very typical line here. Christmas stands synonymous for a warm-hearted feeling, so I pretty much expected this show to fully use it. And then this episode came, and it actually showed that it doesn’t need it. This episode was charming beyond belief, even without the Christmas feeling.

I think that out of all of the characters in this series, the best developed one is actually Maon, and not Potte. Every character is of course very well rounded here, but Maon has this extra edge, where she actually managed to crawl out of her shell very believably. The whistling really shows this: in the second half, she only used it when feeling down. What once was the start of her development now has turned in this reminder to herself of how she should try out many different things.

As a writer, I could really relate to this episode, and what it means to keep living up to everyone’s expectations. A writer’s block is inevitable sometimes, and while at first it seems like just simply putting your mind to it, in practice things don’t go as easily. Personally I’ve found that looking at your work from a different angle works best, with the challenge being finding that angle. This episode portrayed it wonderfully. It was also a very un-typical story, and yet it was exactly something that you’d expect a high school girl to write.

And holy crap, this thing will end next week! Overall, I’ll be content if it ends there though. That makes this series short and sweet, unlike Aria, which requires a lot more effort to fully watch. If you add these 12 episodes to the four episodes of the OVA, you pretty much get the perfect length: 16 episodes. This is something that a lot of other producers should realize. Sure, it’ll probably be a bit harder with continuous stories and all, but what I’m saying: producers, be creative. You’re working in the anime industry, so it shouldn’t be that hard to find inspiration.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Mirai Nikki – 10

by psgels, posted in Mirai Nikki

Hmm, either the OP and ED changed, or some wiseguy at the subbers thought to be funny to overlay a piano track. I’m edging for the latter because it just sounds too unprofessional. I mean, it’s nice and all that someone at Gotwoot knows how to play the piano and all, but using this method you make both products just inferior.

In any case, this episode consisted out of two halves. With the first half, I’m beginning to understand why everyone keeps going on and on about Minene. On top of showing an interesting and different part of her past, it also finally showed a confrontation between diary holders that didn’t involve Yukiteru and Yuno. If we’re going to compare Fate/Zero with this series, then it’s not the fact that nobody died in Fate/Zero that irks me the most, but rather that every major confrontation has to have Yukiteru in it. He’s just not an interesting character, even after 10 episodes.

This is shown even more by the second half of this episode, which returned to the dating sim roots again. I get that they’re trying to build up and all, but that bridal fair just wasn’t interesting at all to see Yukiteru stutter and mumble his way through. Afterwards, during the big supposed moment of this episode: what idiot just mentions a corpse in front of someone he hardly knows?
Rating: (Enjoyable)

2011 Summary Part 1: My Top 23 OPs and EDs

by psgels, posted in Yearly Summaries

Compiling my top OPs and EDs of the year always is the most annoying part of writing up my yearly summaries, because this means that I have to listen to hordes of utterly horrid J-Pop songs in order to separate the cream of the crop. Still, having cringed for god knows how many times at some utterly terrible songs that eventually instantly made me turn for the off-button like some sort of reflex, I do want to highlight the series that do put in effort to create a memorable opening or ending. Whether it’s based on a simple well executed idea, or an ambitious project with a really interesting creative vision. I don’t care for OPs that just introduce the cast or hint un-subtly at random spoilers, or EDs that just contain a mellow ballad with a still image, I want to see something different or more. These too are great opportunities to showcase great animation.

So ere you have it, my top 23 of favorite OPs and EDs of the past year. Why such a random number as 23? Well… I miscounted. actually thought that I was making a top 20, but only found out too late that I had three entries too many for that.

Continue reading “2011 Summary Part 1: My Top 23 OPs and EDs” →

Phi Brain – 11

by psgels, posted in Phi Brain

So, let me get this straight: this episode involved our cast being turned into giant monsters, invade a city, and move around buildings in order to solve a puzzle. Who the hell comes up with this stuff?!

But yeah, that’s what I like about this show: the complete ridiculousness of its premise. This episode’s puzzle really took the cake in terms of ludicrousness of the puzzle’s theme. They were never THIS crazy, but that only shows that this series is getting better. When they already get this surreal, I’m looking forward to see them actually push that even further in the second half of this series.

Again though: this was really enjoyable, and I’m warming up to the characters more and more. The chemistry between them is also just getting better and better.

Also, the side-villain. This guy’s reaction is just extreme when it comes to failure. Also, why is his screen bouncy? What kind of bizarre technology are they using. This episode seems to be the end of him, though I do hope that he’ll at least get some closure.

Also, did they seriously give a professor of theirs the nickname Pythagoras? They do know that the real Pythagoras was a crazy old man who founded his own bizarre religion? Well.. the creators did indeed get that second part right. So what about the first part…?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Nurarihyon no Mago – Sennen Makyou – 24

by psgels, posted in Nurarihyon no Mago

So, this seems to be heading into an anime original ending? Let me say the following: as someone who didn’t read the manga, I didn’t notice this. In a way, I do agree with the decision to end at this point: this show should not be allowed to drag on any longer. I’ve heard that the next arc will be even longer than this one. There’s no way that I’m going to watch that. This will be good closure, if it indeed is handled well.

My only complaint about this episode was that Abe no Seimei is a very stereotypical villain with one-sided motives. Still, it’s not a case where all hope is lost. This episode was very solid in how it delivered the background of the girl who would once become Hagoromo Gitsune. That was actually a great closure for her story.

The pacing here was fine as well (and hey: people actually bother to distract the main enemy while giving others the chance to talk). A lot of stuff happened in this episode, which is a really major difference to how this show once was with its endless stream of build-up.

Now, for the anime original ending, this series needs to remember the largest flaw of these kinds of endings: the fact that they nearly always tend to play it too safe. That’s the big issue with nearly every single one of them, in one way or the other. I’ll hold my breath for this one, but at the same time: I can actually see an ending being possible here. Much more than usual.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Ben-To – 10

by psgels, posted in Ben-To

After two weeks of no food battles, getting to see another one does make it extra sweet. Especially when the creators still haven’t lost it at all, and the battle in this episode was excellent as usual with very creative fights that had some really terrific direction, including a camera that just wouldn’t sit still and a good use of the supermarket as a setting.

I think I get what the creators were trying to build up on here: the two twins are supposed to be the main villains of this series, and instead of immediately showing their strength they just built up their characters through different ways, before heading to this episode. The big problem with this is that they were really annoying characters before the fight happened. The good thing is that this fight indeed served its purpose, and I like them a lot more now.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Hunter X Hunter – 11

by psgels, posted in Hunter X Hunter

I’m afraid to say it, but this episode was won by the first Hunter X Hunter series. It’s here where the difference in direction and acting unfortunately worked against this series’ favour. The difference is very much in the details, but there are a lot of details here that when stacked up, unfortunately weigh this episode down quite a bit.

First of all there’s that character design of the female prisoner. That was just… way too much. The whole mind game between her and Leorio had much less impact due to Leorio’s overacting. Then there are these details like when Leorio had to grope the girl to confirm whether she told the truth: there they came up with a creative way to censor it. Here, it’s just the same. Or take the part where the ninja manages to finish the trial: the joke the first series had there, with Hisoka and that other guy, worked much better.

Killua’s match was the real downer, though. This is supposed to be one of the worst mass murderers out there. Why then did they play this cheesy rock tune when they explained who he was? The gore was toned down, showing that while this show is willing to get quite gory, it won’t cross the usual borders. There, that scene really made impact, but here it just lacked something.

The strange thing about the music of this series: it’s composed by Hirano Yoshihisa. This guy is usually awesome. He composed the soundtracks for Himitsu, Real Drive, Death Note and the Book of Bantorra. It would have been great to hear his epic and experimental style here, but it really doesn’t sound like he’s trying for this series. What gives?
Rating: * (Good)