And another episode of building up, although there is one particular scene that really had some gorgeous visuals: the part where Emiya blew up that building. It did unfortunately again follow the golden rule of anime (people aren’t dead unless confirmed. Archer’s master’s death wasn’t confirmed), which does take away a bit of the tension, but that confrontation was my favorite part of this episode.
I’m still a bit puzzled about my enjoyment of this show. I mean, this show is definitely the most solid series of the season, but it feels like it’s missing something on the emotional level for me, and I can’t exactly put my finger to what it is. And that while I normally love series that are full of talking . Right now the only thing that I can think of is that at the moment, is this show has too much exposition. The good thing about that is that it’s very solid build-up, and therefore there is plenty that can still happen when the spring season starts and this show enters its second half.
In any case though, the people i n this show are smart. Or in any case, quite a few of them. There are a lot of people who know very well to run away from battles they can’t win. I also would have liked to see how Emiya managed to blow up the building: putting explosives in a mage’s tower with god knows how much surveillance is no small feat. Did he use magic for that, or is he just really good at hiding?
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>
Hunter X Hunter – 06
Well, it had it coming. This just is an episode that you just need to sit through. Even in the original series, it was by far the most out of place story of the entire series. It is a necessary one, because it showed a completely different side of Hunters than what we’ve seen so far (compared to for example Ninjas, who only do ninja stuff, or shinigami, who only fight dead guys for example). This world building is essential for Hunter X Hunter, but there is also a matter of storytelling: making the story you’re trying to tell interesting and enjoyable to watch. And that’s where this story just put too little attention in.
If this is how they did it in the manga, then I can understand the fillers that the first series used. In the first series, this exam was split in two parts: the pig catching was the task for the fat dude, while the girl’s task was to make sushi. The way they did it at least made this story more bearable and interesting because how only one examinee knew what the hell it was supposed to be anyway. That at least made part of this episode fun and diverse.
Also, Hirano Aya is turning into another Kugimiya Rie and Yukari Tamura: most characters she voices are made much more annoying than what they could have been, just doe to her voice.
Some more notes about this episode:
– Even the animators realized that this episode was just something that had to happen, because they put in no effort at all.
– The second part still had this “we depend on the knowledge of just one examinee to get everyone through”-bit.
– This episode did nail Todo, even though he had less screentime.
– What he hell happened to Hisoka?
Rating: – (Disappointing)]]>
Last Exile – Ginyoku no Fam – 04
Haha, Tatiana actually returned here. It’s great to see small hints of how the different members of the original cast of Last Exile have ended up, while at the same time this doesn’t detract new viewers from the experience.
This episode perhaps wasn’t as serious as the previous two, it still really showed that this show knows what it’s doing. This episode showed the characters from their lighter side. The first half was all about fleshing them out, and it did that really well. It showed the characters having a random meal, or making a bed, or doing maintenance work. All those details contribute to making this setting come more alive.
Also, this episode explained to me why they chose Fam as the main character: she’s very energetic and positive, and this transfers to the people around her. My big fear was that Gonzo would turn this into some sort of weird copy of the cast of Sky Girls, but thankfully these characters have a lot of personality, and despite the childishness, it makes them fun to watch. I like how even the people on the ship she tried to attack didn’t act like random goons, but were actually interested in her.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>
Hyouge Mono – 29
Is Sasuke seriously walking around the battlefield with a bunch of wooden bars tied behind his back, out of fear of being shot in the back? Seriously, I know that Warfare isn’t the main focus in this series, but the tactical ideas that spring forth from the minds of these characters are just brilliant. It’s been a while since dropping giant logs on your enemies was such an effective weapon. The best one though still stems from a number of episodes ago, with Hideyoshi’s brilliant plan to build the front of a house on top of a hill to scare away his enemies.
Also, there are a lot of things that this show does really well. The one that really stood out though, was the way it handles its death scenes. They’re all incredibly well acted and delivered, although we hadn’t seen one recently. This episode however… holy crap, they did it again. First of all at this point I did not expect the person in question to die, but also the way in which Bee-Train delivered it was incredibly well done.
It is unfortunately getting clear that the budget is running out. Or at least, this episode had quite a few rushed shots. I guess that it’s inevitable due to this series’ length and the way that this is a series that under any other producer never would have been green-lighted, but I do hope that the creators can keep at least their standards going. At the very least there are some really talented artists working on this show that can really draw its character models with a ton of details and shadows.
Rating: *** (Awesome)]]>
Persona 4 The Animation – 05
This episode was… annoying. In fact, I didn’t enjoy it at all, and I can only hope that the next people that the male lead runs into will be better.
I have no idea why this show suddenly decided that it wanted to be a high school romance for one episode. I mean, that is a really tricky genre to get right: it’s overcrowded and the competition there is huge, and this wasn’t really the best type of execution. I can see how the story of this episode would have worked on paper. Heck, the protagonist here actually got himself a girlfriend, though completely platonic. That already brings him further than 90% of all other male leads. But the delivery of this episode was just bland.
Also, I know that the people from AIC aren’t the best animators, but at least have them try to put a bit of believable emotions into its characters. I mean, there are more studios that have acting problems, for example Madhouse, but at least they try to actually emote their characters, even though they lack the budget for it. Aside from a picture, the male lead in this episode only showed two emotions: bland neutral and badly animated bland embarrassed. It just… did not work. The gimmick of this show is that this guy’s personality grows based on these game-like traits. I’m not seeing that.
There are a lot of these teenaged high school shows that start off promising… only to devolve into badly told stories that don’t go anywhere. Especially the past winter season left me a bad impression with series like this, and this episode was really starting to show the first hints of the likes of Kore wa Zombie, Dragon Crisis and Yumekui Merry. Please let it get better instead of dabbling on in mediocrity like this! The past winter season was bad enough, and I don’t want to lose even more patience than I already have.
Rating: – (Disappointing)]]>
Mawaru Penguin Drum – 17
How rare: a Penguin Drum episode devoted to build-up. Or at least, it’s promising a ton of stuff for next episode and its pacing was surprisingly quiet for this show’s standards, aside from one over the top confrontation between Yuri and Natsume. It did not lack in the plot twist department at all.
In fact, in terms of plot twists, thi episode can actually be seen as a turning point, where most of the things that we had to assume in the first half are canceled. The Penguin Drum isn’t the diary at all, and Tabuki has a very clear hidden agenda that he kept very well hidden. And heck, I just realized the parallels between Yuri, Tabuki and Momoka, and the main trio of this show. Add that to the rumors that Shigeyasu Yamauchi (the director of Casshern Sins) will be working on next episode, and yeah: I can’t wait.
I do want to say a bit about the music, though. It is very good, but in the past weeks I have been rediscovering Utena’s soundtrack, and I’m blown away by the utter difference between the two. The biggest thing is that Uterna’s soundtrack spans a whopping 7 disks in total! The creators went and composed a traditional soundtrack, and then they contacted like, three different musical groups to sing in and compose the different themes for all of the duels. This way they had a different song for every single duel in styles that evolved perfectly. Cowboy Bebob had this too.
Modern soundtracks just don’t have this. And yet, with smart production decisions this can still easily be possible. I mean, those different EDs are nice and all, but the creators could have easily used the budget they used for Triple H’s songs to actually compose songs that fit inside the series, instead of stuffing them into EDs. Having a huge soundtrack gives a lot more freedom and expression in terms of storytelling.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>
Un-Go – 04
Holy crap. So yeah, last week Un-Go already delivered my favorite episode of all of the new series of the Autumn Season. This week, it surpassed itself. Now this is storytelling!
This episode… it just turned everything about the previous episode upside-down. This episode was brilliantly written and delivered some amazing twists, in the same quick fire delivery of the previous number of episodes. This is also what I love about Science Fiction: there are so many different angles at which you can look at the evolution of technology. This show here is yet another completely new look at it.
On top of combining its plot with its philosophy, this episode also had those nice details, like the talking fridge that reminds you of eating more healthy foods as a poke towards those modern useless programs that exist today.
I also disagree that Un-Go’s pacing is too fast, like what happened to C. The differences between the two are subtle, but if this keeps up, Un-Go is going to end up much better. The thing with C was that it tried to flesh out its characters and develop them, while at the same time telling an epic story about money. Un-Go however is entirely focused on its storytelling and presenting its ideas and theories. It’s in essence a collection of stories, told by its characters and every single line and scene has its purpose. The result is a show with a flat cast, but an amazing sense of pacing, storytelling, twists and setting.
Oh, and on a final note: the music was on fire in this episode. More of this, please!
Rating: *** (Awesome)]]>
Chihayafuru – 05
The great thing about this series is that it doesn’t leave you hanging at all. This episode fulfilled all of the things it promised last week: we got to see why Arata went away from Karuta, and more importantly how he changed and what he had turned into. the characters actually immediately went to visit him. This also shows that this series doesn’t necessarily need to have a karuta match in every episode, and that it can also deliver in these kinds of episodes.
The real key in this episode was the moment in which Arata was chasing the train on his bike. It’s nothing new, but that point revealed a lot about what he turned into. Before that he kept hiding into this emo shell of his, but it all came together when he couldn’t keep up with the train and it turned out that he was very ashamed of his own inability to get over his grandfather’s death.
I like how these first five episodes didn’t dilute themselves with too many side-characters, but instead really focused on the three leads. It lead to some wonderful drama, and this feels like a good point to introduce them. They will really be necessary to keep the Karuta matches interesting, because seeing nothing but Chihaya’s style over and over for 26 episodes will very likely just get boring. The side characters will be key in spicing up the rest of the series, although they also need to know when to give the stage to the main trio, because the fact remains that these kids are really, really well portrayed.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>
Tamayura ~ Hitotose – 05
It’s not like Tamayura is the perfect slice of life series. there are the characters who sometimes are a bit annoying, and I also really dislike how it draws its cats. I think that this is a trend that started with Azumanga Daioh, but I really wish that anime would draw cats like… actual cats, rather than just blobs. The other extreme of this is of course Kimi to Boku, which does have normal looking cats, only they serve no purpose whatsoever in the series.
However, when I think that only half a year, I tried to give shows like A-Channel and Yuruyuri a chance, I really have to praise this show for avoiding their pitfalls and instead of immediately losing all inspiration and turning into a slew of unfunny repeated lesbian and boob jokes, this one stays true to itself and continues to develop its characters. The same goes for Kimi to Boku, by the way.
This episode it was the turn for Fu’s mother and childhood friend. It is a very nice touch for her mother to be a former biker, and I’m glad that the creators took their time to show a bit of her as well. In any case, this probably means that we’ll have two or three more character-focused episodes (Kou, Kaoru, and possibly Sayomi). After that, it’s the point where this show can really set itself apart… hopefully.
In any case, The atmosphere still works: it’s this light-hearted kind of mood that doesn’t get broken even with Norie ranting at her fullest. That is what I believe holds this series above Kimi to Boku. Both shows are very solid slice of life, but Kimi to Boku just tends to break its mood whenever the yellow-haired guy opens his mouth. Kimi to Boku on the other hand has a more creative flow with its drama. It’s ironic, but the more these shows go on, the more similarities I find…
Rating: * (Good)]]>
Mirai Nikki – 04
Okay, so now there are diaries who can turn people into zombies.
This episode pretty much continued the trend of this series and lapsed Yuno further into her psychotic tendencies. It perhaps wasn’t the best episode so far, but it still was entertaining. It’s a shame that it’s almost impossible to not get spoiled about Yuno, though. The suspense in this episode probably would have worked a lot better if it was unknown what exactly she was.
Now, I do wonder why Twelfth chose a moment in which four diary holders were at the same place at the same time to try and kill even his superior. My guess is that there is some sort of time limitation to his hypnosis diary and that he can only use the servants once or something.
Also, we’re only at episode 4 of 26, but I do hope that this show will take its time to show a bit more about all of the different characters, and who they are. At the moment, I’m still missing something from them, and they could have been a bit more fleshed out at this point, compared to other shows.
Rating: * (Good)]]>