You know, I was about to put up this story of how this show may be more childish than the first season and how this was a bummer, but not necessarily a bad thing as long as it was handled well and all. And then this episode aired.
I’ll repeat myself here, but the key here to these shows that try to aim at a younger audience is whether or not the creators believe that kids are idiots. This episode showed that the creators understood that, and it was much better than the opening episode. It packed some gorgeous visuals, and the acting was also surprisingly solid. Even Fam showed that she can be serious when she needs to, which was really needed after the previous episode. This show still uses the fact that she’s an incredible pilot to put her in the spotlights, but for now, it’s believable enough (only just, though).
In any case though, this episode surprisingly made the plot a lot more intriguing when suddenly the princess got kidnapped and called down this gigantic moon thing that was supposed to be another Exile down to earth in order to blow everything up. The relationship between the two sisters was surprisingly genuine and well portrayed. Not to mention the girl suddenly losing her father. This really was the sign that this isn’t necessarily just a lighter version of Last Exile.
Also, the graphics. Before the start of this show, I knew that a lot of people had left Gonzo. The CG team however stayed, and it really shows in this series. Gonzo has always been un-rivalled in terms of CG. Not with combining CG with traditional 2D drawings, but in terms of CG foreground animation they were consistently putting out the best of the best in all sorts of innovative ways. Just look at the first Last Exile, Gankutsuou, Bokura no, Blassreiter and Shangri La. And they really plan to show that they still got it here. While it’s impossible to beat Guilty Crown in terms of sheer animation power this season, this series still looks gorgeous, and I’m actually willing to say that it has the most creative visuals of the entire season. The ship designs are all full of imagination, but also the way they’re used, the dogfights, the camera angles and the huge fleet battles. There’s a lot of stuff to see here to marvel at. On top of that the soundtrack also arrived and did a great job in creating its atmosphere.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>
Hyouge Mono – 27
The soundtrack of this series so far has been unique. It’s still very clearly of a Bee-Train series, but Kou Otani really restrained himself this time. It had a wonderful effect, but it may have been a bit too restrained, to the point where it could really show off as much as it would have, for a Bee-Train series, whose trademark has always been absolutely fantastic soundtracks. This episode though, introduced a track that went into the right direction, though. It’s very interesting how the creators waited 27 episodes to reveal it, and especially considering the moment when it was played, it is a very interesting hint to the future of this series.
All in all this was a wonderful episode dedicated to character development. Hashiba Hideyoshi was incredibly happy after the heir news, but again Sennou Soueki sole the show, when it turned out that his views actually changed after the previous episodes. During the past episodes, he really showed more emotions than ever (and again, the music really helped with it).
What’s also surprising is that even Sasuke learned from his mistakes. He was really getting too silly during the past episodes, and he actually realized that. And we still have 12 episodes to go.
Rating: *** (Awesome)]]>
Mawaru Penguin Drum – 15
… have I already mentioned that I love Mawaru Penguin Drum?
I mean, heck. This episode once again was just completely amazing, and yet it seems like this show has just only started. Sixteen episodes, and this show is still delightfully fresh and dynamic, and we’ve now reached the point where the really good character development comes in. At this point the characters are an absolute joy to watch.
This episode was all about Yuri’s background. Last week was all about asking questions, and this week in its turn managed to answer them. Yuri’s twisted background made a huge impact, but I especially loved how the creators managed to write Ringo’s sister in there. When we first learned of her death, it was through the eyes of Tsubaki. This episode however completely turned that around when it was revealed what kind of role the diary played in this.
Also, the storytelling in this episode was just weird. It was the kind of episode that was full of plot devices, but they were so brilliantly used that it didn’t matter at all. The fact that Shouma stayed in the same inn as Yuri and Ringo was revealed hilariously, and I also love that the creators just pulled some random friend of him from out of nowhere to accompany him. Like, he actually had a life before the beginning of this story. Only for all of that to be nullified when he slipped on a random bottle. Natsume’s part in this episode also made no common sense whatsoever, but damn, was it glorious!
Also, did I understand this correctly? Did the creators really turn Tokyo Tower into THAT?!
Rating: *** (Awesome)]]>
Persona 4 The Animation – 03
I still haven’t forgiven AIC with its bullying away of some of the animators due to mis-management. But I have to admit: I liked this episode.
There are things that are starting to grow on me. The introduction of each episode is actually quite well done with these two figures in the limousine, but also the comedy and the quiet moments were much better than last weeks. In particular the scene in which the two leads got arrested by the police for walking around with fake swords was hilarious, but I also liked the timing of the parts where Yukiko suddenly appeared on the television screen.
The last interesting part still was the fight scene, though. On one hand it’s interesting to see so many things that look like a game, but the battles still follow too strict of a formula. The whole inner conflict in this episode was pretty much identical to last episode, and what’s also weird is that both thi week and last week, the angsty character in question had a strong relationship to someone who hardly ever got any screentime at all. The weakest part was the angst, though. That needs to have better acting in the future.
Rating: * (Good)]]>
Guilty Crown – 02
This show is gorgeous, it’s directed by Tetsurou Araki (the director of Death Note and Kurozuka) and animated by Production IG. It’s bound to be action packed, and for those reasons I’m going to blog it. I don’t have any expectations for this beyond mere eye candy, though.
Here’s the thing: we’re in the middle of a very creative season, with continuations of shows with incredibly rich and imaginative settings (Last Exile, Hunter X Hunter, Fate/Zero), new series with really creative premises and purposes (Ben-To, Un-Go, Chihayafuru, Mirai Nikki and even Phi Brain). And here this show comes with its superpowered teenagers, bland boy meets mysterious girl, stereotypically sadistic villains… and that’s pretty much it. Beyond the fact that it can shoot a good action scene and that this show looks amazing when it wants to, it just doesn’t have anything that sets it apart.
What I’m really afraid of is that this never really gets fixed. My big problem here is that this thing is written by the same guy who wrote Mai Otome and Macross Frontier (ignoring for a moment that he also came up with Seiko no Qwaser). Thankfully these first two episodes were not as bad as Mai Otome: this show is unremarkable, not bad, obnoxious and stupid. However, I’m more and more beginning to see this as the spiritual successor of Macross Frontier, but without the idols. It too looked pretty, but had a very weak story and bland characters, who never really seemed to know where they were going.
I was hoping for this episode to prove me wrong, but instead this was even more generic, due to the lack of quiet moments. First of all there are the usual questions: why do both the military and the rebels, despite having plenty of adults, depend on teenagers to pilot their mechas? If you have a reason for it: then that’s fine, but don’t just put some cute girls in mecha suits just for the sake of fanservice.
Also, the blond kid. Whose idea was that; seriously? This guy is the only actually bad character in this series so far. In every single scene, he’s portrayed as a psycho with a temper, even when there’s no reason for him to be so. I mean, the bomb girl in Mirai Nikki was psycho for a reason: she was risking her life in the middle of a truckload of explosives that she set up herself. This guy instead is like “muhahaha, I’m evil; bump into me and I’ll kill you!”
What’s more is that this show is too busy portraying its bad guys as assholes, rather than actually make compelling villains. The point where they killed those random civilians (who strangely were never mentioned again after their death; not even people mourning about them). What’s also bugging me is the existence of the female lead: why is she in this show, really? All she’s done so far is give powers to the male lead (which, according to what people are saying, can be done by everyone else as well). Oh, and appear in his school. Why was there a need to show that in the most cliched way possible?
However, what has also really bugged me so far: I’m seeing very little of Tetsurou Araki’s distinctive style here. I’m a fan of Death Note, Kurozuka and also that one story he did for Aoi Bungaku: the atmosphere and direction there were rock-solid, but they were nothing like what was shown here. This show needs to grow. Get rid of that psycho blonde and focus more on the characters without wasting time on pointless side stories or making the action too repetitive.
Rating: – (Disappointing)]]>
Un-Go – 02
With this, I’m sure: Un-Go is along with Chihayafuru my favourite show of the Autumn season. What can I say? I’m a sucker for episodic shows done right.
This season has a lot of creative series with creative premises and backgrounds. Un-Go is no exception to this, but what sets it apart from all of the other sis how it uses its creativity. I really like how much the creators managed to cram into just two episodes. This episode in particular was just chock full of neat ideas, creative twists, science fiction. I in particular love how well this show manages to use its apocalyptic setting as the basis for its murder mysteries. That’s what managed to turn this into a unique mystery.
What’s more: it also seems that this series understands what it means to be a Noitamina series. Leaving Guilty Crown aside with its 22 episodes, the pacing in this show is really fast, but not so rushed that it takes away from the storytelling. The decision to focus more on storytelling and setting than on characters had an interesting effect compared to C: the creators really can cram in as much as possible into just one episode. This definitely is not an easy show to watch: you need to be constantly paying attention in order to keep up with all of the revelations. It’s great to see another one of those series where you have to put in effort to really understand everything that’s going on.
In any case, I was looking forward to this show right from the beginning, thanks to the staff who are behind this show. Un-Go had definitely the best pedigree out of any of the fall series, and that’s saying something in a season with two Sato Junichi shows. Of course the director of Oh Edo Rocket and the first Full Metal Alchemist series is a plus, but what immediately sold me was that this thing is written by Shou Aikawa. This guy has written a truckload of original stories for anime, most of which sparkled with very inspired writing and creativity. This is the guy who came up with Oh Edo Rocket, Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi, Nadesico, and even Simoun, of all things.
What’s more: the producers got themselves a sound director who really knows what he’s doing. The music in this series doesn’t just feel like random background noise, but is really well timed for each of the scenes. In particular the tracks of the idol songs were perfectly played in according to what went on on the screen (which especially sounded nice during the download scene). What also surprises me is that the creators actually showed the difference between J-Pop idols and people who can actually sing well: the voice they got for the girl who was supposed to play for the part of the dead girl really was significantly better than the other members of the idol group, who were just in for their looks.
One complaint about this episode: continuity. One moment the male lead has scars on his face. A few scenes later, they’re completely gone. Also, the characters still aren’t the strong point of this series, but it has more than enough to make up for that.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>
Legend of the Galactic Heroes – A Hundred Billion Stars, A Hundred Billion Lights Review – 87,5/100
They aired after the main Legend of the Galactic Heroes series, but make no mistake: the two Gaiden series are prequels. One Hundred Billion Stars, One Hundred Billion Lights tells stories about the past of the main character, Reinhart von Lohengramm. In theory, they could be watched at any point in the series after episode 3 of the TV-series. The benefit you get from watching it early is some solid characterizations, backgrounds and introductions before the series gets really fired off. The benefit you get from waiting to check it out until the series finishes is a very solid background arc.
Now, the main series did hint at various events that happened in Reinhart’s past that we never fully got to see. Surprisingly though: this OVA doesn’t address those at all, and creates a whole array of new stories throughout Reinhart’s teenaged years. There are three small arcs of four episodes, followed by a big one comprising of 12 episodes. The last arc is typical LoGH: it focuses on large scale tactics and strategies, while weaving the stories of all kinds of characters together while at the same time asking many poignant question about the nature of war and commanding an army. Reinhart here shows a version of himself that he did not show throughout the main series, so it’s definitely worth checking out.
And then there are the short arcs, which really surprised me. It’s here where Legend of Galactic heroes shortly dabbles into other genres than its area of expertise: large scale space warfare. Each of these arcs are completely standalone and surprisingly varied. One of them even turns into a murder mystery, but in particular the third arc is masterfully told: it combines Legend of Galactic Heroes’ signature style of thoughtful dialogues and complex motives, and throws it into a story that instead of being told by reason, is told by emotions. That was the highlight of this season for me.
Now, these side stories miss the grandeur of the main series, so I can’t rate it as highly as the first. The stories are all really good, and again very intelligent, but they don’t come together as well as the main series did with its 110 episodes. It’s not that this movie is as unconnected as the first movie was. It’s still pretty much the best you can get in terms of warfare on a much smaller scale. It lacks the politics that made the main series so unique, though, and they definitely add a lot of things to this series and its cast. In terms of the big picture it’s just a matter of comparing a panther to a gigantic lion with wings.
| Storytelling: | 9/10 – Surprisingly varied: actually experiments with different genres, while keeping up its distinct style of very intelligent dialogue and storytelling. |
| Characters: | 9/10 – The characters in the original Legend of Galactic Heroes were already really well developed. The side stories allow them to show off even more sides of themselves. |
| Production-Values: | 8/10 – Actually an slight upgrade compared to the main series. |
| Setting: | 9/10 – This show doesn’t have the chance to get really grand and daring with its setting like the main series did, but it’s still a ridiculously solid portrayal of fleet warfare. |
Chihayafuru – 03
Well, those were three opening episodes that were as good as I could have hoped for. At first I thought that this show would take a bit of a gear back in order to slowly show Chihaya growing into Karuta. And instead it wrapped up the childhood arc, ending with the three main characters all going separate ways for a while. Again a lot of stuff happened here. It’s a great idea to take the first three episodes to develop the cast when they were kids. With this, the only show this season that has a chance to beat this series’ first three episodes is Un-Go if it plays its cards right.
Why I like this show more than the others: it’s got both the best characters, and the most energy in its direction of the season. This show is both really well acted, but it also manages to really put a force into each of its scenes that makes every minute interesting to watch. Compared to the series that carefully build up their stories (for example Hunter X Hunter, Fate Zero, Persona), it’s much more engaging, and compared to the series that try to deliver immediately (Mirai Nikki, Ben-To) it’s the best at setting up a great base for the rest of its series, both in terms of characters and atmosphere. Again with the sole possible exception of Un-Go, and again that series is going to have to put in real effort to actually be able to beat this thing.
With this, the creators also gave a great depiction of the tired trope of childhood friends. This usually sucks because it’s often just slapped on. You want two characters to have a special bond? Wham! Childhood friends! This show turns the tables around by first of all creating the young versions of the characters, and have them grow from there on. Their younger versions feel like they’re a part of them, rather than just some plot devices. This episode was also full of the tiny details like Arata’s movement while he was sick, or how much emotion the animators managed to bring in just about every shot.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>
Phi Brain – 03
The more I watch this show, the more I’m baffled by one thing: why?
Seriously, within these first three episodes, the creators have yet to explain a single thing. This doesn’t include the big questions, like why the bad guys are challenging the world’s best puzzlers to puzzles, or why the main character is blackmailed to solve them. It’s also still a mystery of what the entire side cast is doing here. Why is there suddenly an inventor kid showing up? Why did he dislike puzzles, even though mathematic equations are just another version of puzzles? Why does the red hired guy follow the male lead everywhere where there’s a puzzle? Why did he bother to give him a bracelet that gave him headaches while he was thinking, even though you NEED to think when you’re inventing something or solving a math problem? Why didn’t the male lead just get a large pair of scissors to get that thing off? Why did the puzzle maker of this episode want to blow up the city he planned out like he was playing SimCity? Why is every of those puzzle makers a sore loser? Phi Brain, I will be seriously impressed if you actually manage to answer all of this.
I am beginning to see the intentions of the creators, though. The key of this episode was that the red haired guy somehow joined in. Last episode I found this really random, but now that I’m thinking about it: the creators are aiming to create a cast of six characters who all together try to solve the puzzles that get thrown at the main character at the same time. That explains their outrageous and the really weird and childish banter: when this gets developed, it can lead to some really fun and interesting scenarios. This episode was rather weird, in particular the kid’s development, but at the same time, it was surprisingly fun when they started to actually solve the puzzle.
What also makes this show weird is the way in which it allows its audience to solve the puzzles first: by assuming that there’s a pause button somewhere. It’s a bit weird to rely on that, but they always provide everything you need to know to solve the puzzle, only they don’t allow the viewer to solve things unless you’re a really fast thinker. I can understand why: with so many people who think at different speeds, this indeed is the more solid approach without making the fast ones wait and cutting the slow ones off.
Rating: * (Good)]]>
Mirai Nikki – 02
This show is crazy. But that’s the interesting part about it. It’s completely over the top action and suspense, and it’s bound to be one hell of an entertaining series. The question now is: can it keep this pace up for the rest of the series, without self-destructing under its own ideas?
That bomb girl that appeared in this episode particularly over the top, where she pretty much had planted bombs around an entire school building (not an unimpressive feat, by the way). It lead to quite an interesting episode to watch. Her major flaw again was that she’s portrayed as this complete psycho, without much more (you’re a terrorist bomber? That’s great, but how do you make money and where do you get your materials from?). Thankfully she managed to escape so that she can at least get some development later on, but so far this is the part where this series needs to work on the most at this point: giving a reason to care for the other diary holders.
The chemistry between the two main characters is wonderful, though. Yuki in particular is how a wimpy male lead should be done. Instead of just acting bland like how most of his counterparts are done, this guy really acts scared and pathetic, especially around people he believes can help him. Also, did two main characters just kiss willingly in the second episode already? Thank you for not beating around the bush, actually!
Rating: ** (Excellent)
OP: A contender for the best OP of the season, if it didn’t spoil some of the rest of the characters.
ED: A bit more subtle in introducing the rest of the characters, but also a bland song.]]>