Hana-Saku Iroha – 23

by psgels, posted in Hana-Saku Iroha



Bravo, Hana-Saku Iroha! Well done! Awesome episode! This is what I’ve been waiting for!

Seriously, this is the thing that sets Hana-Saku Iroha apart from the other slice of life dramas: when it wants to deliver drama, it really delivers it well, with terrific acting and imaginative set-ups. This episode brought all sorts of events from the series together, and the great thing is that the creators really put in effort to give this episode an as interesting premise as possible while still never tugging at the viewer’s suspense of disbelief. Sure, there are some coincidences, but their timing is used wonderfully, so who cares?

I mean, the creators could have just settled for showing how everyone would move on after the closure of the Kissuiso. Then however, they didn’t just bring in the director again, they actually also showed the test footage he made during his arc, and the creators show it to Kou of all people. There was a ton of character development because of that, and Ohana and Kou only met at the end of this episode.

To think that, in three weeks there finally won’t be any Mari Okada series airing. Ever since 2008, there have only been two seasons in which she DIDN’T write something: Summer 2008, Spring 2009. Apart from that she hasn’t just been churning out one series after the other, but she wrote many of my favourites with only rare moments of weaknesses (really, only Fractale really went wrong, along with perhaps that Kodomo no Jikan OVA; Vampire Knight apparently was a very good adaptation of an unfortunately cheesy manga, and perhaps Kuroshitsuji I was a bit too long for its own sake). My favourite has to be the work she did on adapting the Armed Librarians, with a close second the amazing original script that she wrote for Ano Hana.

As for Hana-Saku Iroha, I remember comparing it to True Tears, noting how it completely lacked its subtlety. After 23 episodes, this still remains the case, but True Tears was the kind of series that really turned its subtlety and ambiguity into its main selling point: you could never tell what the characters were really thinking. Hana-Saku Iroha meanwhile is a lot more blatant, but it has a big knack for creating interesting situations and genuine drama. Overall, if I had to compare the two then I think I’d still prefer True Tears, but that’s mostly because it really had amazing acting, whereas the characters of Hana-Saku Iroha do tend to try a bit too hard at times. I still consider this to be an excellent series though: it took its hiccups, and didn’t just make up for them, but actually used them and made them a core part of the series.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Ao no Exorcist – 21

by psgels, posted in Ao no Exorcist



I’m not sure what happened here. These are just those points in a series that completely do something against my expectations. I’m not really sure what happened here, but the plot suddenly got really, really good.

The bizarre thing here is that I had completely given up on the plot, and here this episode comes and does just about everything right to bring it back to life. Yukio’s angst was largely going nowhere, so here this episode comes and throws in his grandfather. The teacher was boring, and here this episode give s him an actually engaging back-story. Shiemi had been reduced in importance, and here she actually stands up against Rin, proving that she’s much, much more than just another token female.

This episode was really excellent, but in the context of this series, it’s much more than that: it really managed to save this series, and brought it back out of its slump. The thing with the previous episodes was that they had been building up the wrong things: Yukio and Rin’s grandfather should have appeared much earlier, the Vatican should have taken up its villain role much earlier, instead of just returning over and over to an angsty Yukio. Either way though, this episode was better than even most of the episodes that DID come from the manga material. There was just so much packed into it.

As for the ending: the satan problem will still remain. At the very least though, the creators are trying to make it very action-packed, with the entire Vatican declaring a war on the demons. It’s a bit sudden, but heck, I can buy it at this point. Will it make up though for Satan’s complete and utter lack of development? Well, let’s find out!
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Tiger & Bunny – 23

by psgels, posted in Tiger & Bunny



Now, this episode was build-up, so it was not as impressive as the previous episodes. That pay-off had better be worth it, because a show as awesome as this one deserves an awesome finale.

And yeah, I applaud the creators for avoiding the cheese when getting Barnaby out of Maverick’s memory control. Tiger’s attempts to get through to him had a great emotional response, and yet it was a simple insult that did the trick. That really was a great anti-climax, and at the same time it was a great conclusion to the bond between Kotetsu and Barnaby.

But Christ, we’ll already be ending in two weeks! This really strikes me as the show that’s gonna end with a one-episode epilogue (or at least an epilogue that will take a significant amount of time of the final episode for that epilogue), so we’re going to get the meat of the ending of this series next week!

The big potential pitfall I think will be that the ending is going to get too mundane: at this point, all of the mysteries are solved, and the struggles between the main cast are gone. It’s entirely about trying to defeat Maverick and that Robot now. This is really something where the creators are going to have to go over the top.

That ending is going to matter a lot, whether I’m going to rate this 90/100 or 87,5/100. These numbers may seem random, but let me put it this way: this series still has the potential to become my favourite Sunrise series of the past ten years. If that ending is good, it will probably stand on top of my current top 3 of Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto, Zone of the Enders and The Big O (Gintama unfortunately doesn’t count because of its second half). If the ending is mundane, it probably won’t make that top 3, so I’m really eager to see whether this series will be able to do it.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Summer 2011 Kaleidoscope – Week 35

by psgels, posted in Summer 2011 Kaleidoscope






Okay, so I’m finally starting to feel a bit better. Due to that cold of mine I just had enough enerty to keep up with the series that I’m blogging, although even there I probably said quite a number of tactless things. In any case the result of that, combined with how busy I’ve been lately left me with a huge backlog of different series that I still have to get through.

Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji – 48
Like expected, the creators really wrap up the tension here and this was an incredibly nerve-wrecking episode, but god dammit, they’re still not done yet?! There still are four episodes of this thing left before either that ball goes in or Kaiji loses? Holy crap!
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Blade – 10
Holy crap! This actually was by far the best episode out of all of the Marvel series combined (and yes, I’ve seen all of them). Out of nowhere, the series came with even more background: that of Deacon Frost, and it was actually really good! With this, it definitely has the best villain out of all the Marvel series, and the last part of this episode also showed that it has the best female sidekick out of them. Heck, just about the only parts where this doesn’t overshadow the others at this point is the animation (X-Men did that better) and the action itself (which was done better in Wolverine and the X-Men again). Aside from that though…. I’m really impressed here. It even turned its cheesy acting into a charm.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Kamisama Dolls – 09
Solid build-up, but this also showed me (someone who hasn’t read the manga) that the creators don’t intend to close this off at all. The length really is the big problem of this season, with just too many series that are too short. In any case, this episode had fun getting the characters to snark at each other and it was pretty interesting, but that new girl had better have a very good reason to turn Kyouhei into a harem lead!
Rating: * (Good)

Dantalian no Shoka – 08
The characters that Dalian and Huey meet in this episode were… pretty much the least interesting ones so far. For one they remind me too much of the idiots of Gosick, but also the reasoning in their stories is just… strange. Usually in Dantalian no Shoka, it’s the phantom book’s effects that are far-fetched. This time it’s the characters actions that are.
Rating: (Enjoyable)

Sacred Seven – 10
Well, that was corny. Was Ruri’s backstory really worth it spending an entire episode about? It felt like it came from a soap opera. Seriously, the thing with this series is that it’s trying to be something that it isn’t. It thinks it has depth and so tries to act like it takes itself seriously, while the story and characters are completely shallow. For god’s sake, I can understand that you want to keep your series simple but effective and all, but at the very least make it effective. Do something that catches the viewer’s attention! Anything!
Rating: – (Disappointing)

Blade – 09
This is bizarre. Blade just used one of Wolverine’s side characters better than how Wolverine used them. Seriously, I don’t know if there are any other people who are still watching this series, but I’m currently having a blast with it. This episode once again was a really entertaining action episode that is gonna make the perfect conclusion for the Marvel Series. We’re going to Cambodia next? Awesome! Also, you have to give props to the soundtrack guy here: this guy pretty much made four kickass soundtracks without any apparent weaknesses whatsoever, all with their distinct and incredibly engaging tracks.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Sket Dance – 22
Thankfully this show has recovered from its string of weaker episodes. The first half of this episode was quite hilarious in which they raped the legend of Momotaro (the guy that’s born from a peach), and the second half was simple but heart-warming. It perhaps wasn’t the show’s best episode, but it was fun.
Rating: * (Good)

Nurarihyon no Mago – 35
Here is my question for the rest of this arc: the creators did a good job of making Hagoromo Gitsune incredibly powerful, even up to the point where she can easily take control of Kyoto’s best Omnyouji like it’s nothing. So how the hell is Rikuo gonna be able to make a difference without introducing some serious power level inconsistencies?
Rating: * (Good)

Dantalian no Shoka – 07
A surprisingly charming episode about scents. Its effects still are rather far-fetched, but that’s the entire nature of the phantom books. This episode was well told and had a great conclusion, although Dalian still needs work. Oh, and this show also makes pretty good use of its music. Gainax, start doing 26-episode series again!
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Nurarihyon no Mago – 34
Okay, so that training arc was rather boring, but what really caught my attention in this episode was the surprisingly addictive direction of Hagoromo Gitsune’s quest to conquer Kyoto. Especially the use of that skeleton she dug up in this episode worked well. Also, I’m not sure what it is but in this new season the awesome character designs stand out much more than in the first.
Rating: * (Good)

Usagi Drop – 09
Entire episode dedicated to Kouki, and it just shows the differences between raising a boy and a girl. Although I do think that this series idealizes girls a bit too much. They too have their quirks that are unfortunately a bit glossed over.
Rating: * (Good)

Kami-Sama no Memo-Chou – 09

by psgels, posted in Kami-Sama no Memo-Chou



Kami-Sama no Memo-Chou what the heck do you think you’re doing you only have 13 episodes.

This is what I mean by this show acting like it’s twice its length: I mean this episode standalone was very good, but in the context of this series the creators pretty much wasted one valuable episode. I mean, Nemoto’s background was very good and all, but do the creators really want to focus on such a minor character when there’s enough gold buried underneath the main cast? The writing and mystery of this series really are great, so it’s very annoying when the creators keep dodging them…

But yeah, this episode. It was a bit bizarre, suddenly deciding to go with a baseball episode of all things, but it was fun to watch. Especially Alice showed a totally different side of her when she actually went out to the field to try batting. It obviously wasn’t meant to be believable at all, but it’s a good way to flesh out the main cast. It was fun. Heck, even the fanservice was nearly completely toned down. It’s just completely the wrong time for it.

What’s more: the previous episodes promised us some awesome backstory on Alice. And yet the final arc of this series seems to focus on Ayaka. Which is nice and all, but that does leave us with a main character with gaping holes in her back-story. I was really looking forward to that story of hers, so it’s a bloody shame that we won’t get to see it.
Rating: * (Good)

Mardock Scramble – The First Compression Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




And here’s another widely anticipated movie: the first of the Mardock Scramble trilogy. Finally, Gohands could get in a project that actually showed off their talent, rather than making the umpth bad harem clone. The promo art for this series looked absolutely gorgeous, it had the writer of Fafner and Chevalier behind it. There was a ton of promise behind this. So, how did it go?

Well, that was screwed up. Mardock Scramble is science fiction. It’s based around all kinds of interesting ideas, some of which do not care how sick in the head they can get. There’s a ton of nudity as well, but despite all this it has an style that works really well. Its story is dark and well acted, it takes itself seriously and ends up as a great science fiction character study.

There are multiple characters, but within the first hour of this trilogy the focus went mostly to just two of them, and they got a good dose of airtime dedicated to their backgrounds. They’re both pretty interesting for a one-hour movie. Nothing stellar, but the bond that develops between them is quite engaging to watch.

Beyond that, this movie just oozes with style. The animation and art are both utterly gorgeous, especially the use of colours makes this a visual feast. The action is really well directed and amazing to watch as well, especially during the second half of the movie. It’s one of the strengths of the movie, but also one of its major weaknesses: it’s so busy with this style that at times it forces things along, just for the sake of this. This leads to sometimes rather jumpy editing and character development that may be a bit too sudden.

The meat of the story obviously isn’t in this first movie yet, and whether I’m gonna recommend it is going to depend entirely on the direction that the other two movies take it in. It’s very much a continuous story, so this movie doesn’t really just stand alone (especially when considering its cliff-hanger). It set up all of the building blocks. Now it’s up to the other two movies to use it.

Storytelling: 8/10 – A bit jumpy, but nicely paced, good dialogue.
Characters: 8/10 – The development is a bit forced, but good background and the bond between the two main characters is interesting.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Gorgeous; great style, excellent use of colors.
Setting: 8/10 – Lots of neat ideas, though some are just pointlessly gory and are a bit out of place.

Suggestions:
– Kara no Kyoukai- The Garden of Sinners – Overlooking View
– King of Thorn
– Rebuild of Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance

Hyouge Mono – 20

by psgels, posted in Hyouge Mono



The great thing is that only now have we passed the halfway point of this series! While just about every other series is nearing it’s end, we still have 19 delightful episodes of Hyouge Mono left. If I hadn’t done it yet, Bee-Train, I applaud you on such a consistent job you’ve done on this series.

This episode was as excellent as any other Hyouge Mono episode. It wasn’t a major episode, but still stuffed with some interesting developments. The best part was seeing it all play out though. The first half had Sasuke visit a friend of Soueki, who seems to also be a master of aesthetics, despite being incredibly poor. After that, it was the time for the bald monk assistant of Soueki to go a bit berserk over his own sense of aesthetics after he heard Soueki comment on Hashiba Hideyoshi’s sense of style (which indeed is pretty awful). I’m really interested in what he’s still planning to use him for.

Overall, halfway though, Hyouge Mono turned into a series that I really could not have predicted. The way at which it looks at aesthetics still is amazing, and at this point the characters also have developed or grown quite interestingly.

As for the music: this definitely has the most mundane soundtrack ouf of any Bee-Train series yet, aside from perhaps .Hack//Dusk, but I’ve mentioned before that I consider that show to be by far Bee-Train’s worst production. The thing is though, that with this music, it is able to create one heck of an atmosphere. It’s still amongst the most original and unique soundtracks of the year, although I do feel like they lost out to Dororon Enma-Kun this year.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Mawaru Penguin Drum – 08

by psgels, posted in Mawaru Penguin Drum



Ack, this series surely knows its cliff-hangers. They just keep getting more addictive, and for some reason they always pull those twists that you just don’t see coming at the time. This series constantly throws you for loops with its red herrings, symbolism, plot twists and characters.

In any case, one of the other interesting parts about your comments on my August Summary was the surprising amounts of people who found that Penguin Drum was Overhyped. And yeah, I do guess that I’ve been hyping this show and that I’m a huge fan of it, but I do want to clarify a few things here:
– I’m not just a fan of it because of the director of Utena. Even if this were made by a completely new director I’d gush over it (for example Mouryou no Hako: that was pretty much the directional debut of Ryousuke Nakamura, but it didn’t take long before I became a fan of him and his unique style). I just love the endless amounts of energy, and the huge amounts of details that the creators put into just about everything here. Yes, it’s weird, but that’s exactly to my tastes.

The one argument that I really didn’t understand was that the story was going nowhere. Doesn’t every episode deliver new twists? Or is everyone waiting for Shouma to get his hands on the Penguin Drum or something? The thing is, at heart this is a character study. The penguin drum is nice and all, but it’s not what this series is about. The past episodes have just built further and further upon Ringo’s character, while at the same time being ridiculously fun to watch. I guess that the pacing could be a bit more faster. Utena’s arcs were all very short, sweet and to the point. I agree that it does not look like the lay-out of this series will be as unbelievably well laid out as with Utena. But it has plenty enough of its own.

Now, this episode was not the best that this series has shown so far, but even then I still loved it. The direction still was rock-solid and the animation and facial expressions and gestures were really dynamic. Ringo is completely crazy, but the creators did make her come alive wonderfully. Oh, and the Western Scene was awesome.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

No.6 – 09

by psgels, posted in No.6



Oh, that’s very cruel. That cliff-hanger I mean. They were about to dive into the core of the correctional facility, and Nezumi said to Shion that he’s very likely going to change after what he sees there. So yeah, we only have two episodes left for that. Don’t promise awesome character development when you know that you’re going to end in less than one hour!

Yeah, I may sound like a broken record and all, but that’s the thing with this series: it just is THAT solid. For the past nine episodes there have been no weaknesses whatsoever aside from the “big one”. Seriously, it’s been a while since I watched a series that was this solid, and whose only single problem was the fact that it was based on a much longer source material that it would never be able to complete. And to be honest, this had it coming right from the beginning with Seishi Minakami: he’s basically pulling another Shigurui here, which also was a rock-solid adaptation from beginning aside from the fact that it just refuses to answer one of the biggest questions of the plot.

What caught my attention the most was the near rape of the dog keeper. Holy crap, that was well portrayed. The acting was excellent throughout this entire episode, but she really stole the show there. How different is that side we got to see of her!
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Blood-C – 08

by psgels, posted in Blood-C



You know how often action series like to set themselves at high schools? You know how often the bad guys just ignore the most perfect targets of high school students? Yeah. This show realized that too. Holy crap that was intense! This is horror! The pacing still was excellent and the portrayal of the cast as ordinary high school students is really paying off now!

I’d also like to direct you to this interview, of the director of Blood-C and the director of Blood+ (and who has been pretty much writing every installment of the franchise). That, combined with this episode took away all of my doubts for this series: this is gonna be awesome.

The interesting thing is that the Junichi Fujisaku fully intended this Saya to be different from the Saya of Blood+ and really intended this series to make use of its creative freedom. And I have to agree that this so far has been an awesome way to expand upon the Blood Franchise. Heck, the director was intentionally planning to make the series END, while still leaving open room for the movie which will be completely different, which is EXACTLY what I’ve been hoping!

As for why I didn’t mind this series in the beginning, even though I have given up on series who started with very bland characters. For one, the execution really helped: for me, Blood-C immediately had a really tight atmosphere, and used its flashbacks combined with its battles really well to build up a sense of urgency for the cast. It puts them in a context and made me interested in what this series would look like when it really fired off. Compare that to R-15 or Baka To Test to Shoukanjuu Ni, which were just slurs of bad acting and jokes that didn’t work, with nothing that really caught my attention.

All in all, I do not think that the characters in this series are badly acted or portrayed, like for example what happened with Uta Prince and Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel, which both did try to tell some overall story, but completely lost me on how completely stupid they were. Saya herself may not be smart, but this is on a different league compared to the stupidity of the shows mentioned above. The acting here is restrained, instead of characters trying to act all over the place in the hopes of catching attention. Those are the characters that I find to be the most obnoxious the most often.

Overall I like the way this show did its cross-overs. Interestingly, it’s not the only series to have done that this season, with Blade and all. The best cross-overs can really enhance both shows and add some new things and introspectives, while being excellent stories that are still watchable on their own, no matter whether we’re talking about in-universe cameos or alternative universes. That’s why I’m not a big a fan of the Votoms alternative movies: they felt rather random and didn’t seem to add much depth to the Votoms franchise and they weren’t really interesting to watch. Same for the Precure All-Stars movies: I found them to be rather boring and they didn’t really add anything significant to Heartcatch Precure.
Rating: *** (Awesome)