Blood-C – 02

by psgels, posted in Blood-C



And the third series I’m definitely going to blog this season: Blood-C. Before I decide on the others I first want to watch Dantalian no Shoka and Kami-Sama no Memo-chou’s second episode that air this evening. As a fan of Clamp though, I really like this series so far. It’s got a lot to like, but at the same time I can also understand that it’s not for everyone.

For the ones complaining that this is too slow, though: that’s pretty much both Clamp and Blood+, albeit in many different ways. Blood+ took a really long time to get going (like, 15 episodes or something), while Clamp’s stories are always filled with a lot of laid-back scenes, describing the different characters. It’s that kind of charm that I really like, because of how they always end up delivering upon it later, using the slice of life scenes to create memorable characters, even those who are supposedly one-sided at first. My only worry right now is the 13 episodes, but at the same time I’m very curious as what Clamp can do when they have less time than usual to work with.

Oh, and the fight scenes! This series definitely has the best action of the season. This is because you can actually see what happens: characters’ movements are detailed and actually anatomically correct. Saya really feels like she’s struggling with the enemies she fights, and instead of the cameras just focusing on some weird angle, they really allows us to see how she moves and tries to attack. This has been a knack of Production IG for ages now. I really feared that they abandoned this philosophy with Sengoku Basara, but thankfully Blood-C shows them once more animating some excellent down to earth fight scenes.

Now, the big potential pitfall for this series will be spending too much time on build-up, and (most importantly) too little on actually delivering. I liked this episode, though. The non-action bits were good slice of life, and felt very personal. The characterization was pretty good and down to earth, especially of the cast as a whole, and the characters talking to each other actually kept my attention throughout the episode. When describing the slice of life, the dialogue is actually quite natural, the characters discuss down to earth topics that actually secretly flesh them out really well. My only problem is that Saya acting embarrassed felt awkward. Her acting overall has its moments where it’s a bit weak.

Oh, and for the people who haven’t seen Blood+: don’t worry. It’s not yet sure whether or not this Saya is the same Saya as in Blood+, because we don’t know whether her father is telling the truth about actually being her father and all, but this really seems like an original story. There have been no references to other series
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Mawaru Penguin Drum – 02

by psgels, posted in Mawaru Penguin Drum



The second series I’m blogging this season is another obvious one. Even during this season full of excellent series, this one stands at the top with its imagination, execution, style, elegance, characters and delivery. Again, it may not have the most realistic acting (that award is undoubtedly going to Usagi Drop), but the dialogue, the pacing, the writing: just about everything here hits the spot.

Now in a way it is awesome to have one series by Utena’s writer, and another by Utena’s director within the same year. Star Driver was already excellent as a fun action mecha series, based on weird concepts and all, but when just looking at the first two episodes, Penguin Drum really has it beaten. Whereas Star Driver was less serious than it actually seemed at first, Penguin Drum is more serious than it actually seems. On one hand you have these crazy and fun antics between the brothers and the penguins, and on the other hand this does deal about death quite easily, it features a stalker who somehow is related to everything, and even beyond that everything seems to be connected somehow.

There are a ton of hints and counter-references that I’m only noticing now on this second playthrough, like the girl losing her shoe, the train groper warnings, the hints at underwear. As for the latter, it also has the good kind of fanservice: it makes sense within the story, it’s whimsical and doesn’t bog the rest of the episode down. And it’s actually quite hilarious. The penguin’s quirks in this episode really were… unashamed.

Then there is the symbolism, with the huge amount of train references (I can already see numerous other railways coming up on that eye catch map as well), the penguin signs that are actually everywhere on the street (part of the story, or just a nice quirk?). Oh, and yeah: when Heartcatch Precure aired, I mentioned how it had the best transformation scenes since Utena. So yeah: the penguin transformation scene was awesome. Finally like Utena, we have another series that turns them into more than just the main character powering up.It’s still not as good as Utena of course, which had repetitions like, everywhere (it really was one of the select series out there who actually knew how to use repetition correctly), but it’s actually good that this series has similarities, but not too many. This will allow this series to stand on its own, and not in Utena’s shadow. Now all that’s left is to wait and enjoy whether or not this series lived up to the hype it built up.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Natsume Yuujin-Chou – 28

by psgels, posted in Natsume Yuujin-Chou



The first series I’m going to blog this season… is a pretty obvious one. I blogged the first two seasons back in 2008 and 2009, and I really liked them, so it’s awesome to see a third season appear. This is one of the three series of which I was 100% sure that I was going to blog this season.

This episode really reminded why I originally fell in love with this series. When this episode aired, I felt completely refreshed. It had this completely refreshing atmosphere that I haven’t felt in a long time. This was a simple, yet wonderfully paced story about another youkai that crosses Natsume’s path. I really liked how nothing was really what it seemed: this episode dealt a lot with superstition and rumours.

Normally in anime, you can guess pretty accurately who are the good guys and the bad guys, whenever it’s not being morally ambiguous, of course. Here though, you’ll never know whether or not a youkai bears ill feelings until it starts to attack. This episode showed a dangerous looking, but well minded youkai, but then again this series did have plenty of scary youkai who did attack.

What’s especially awesome about this third season is that we’re seeing more of Reiko than ever. The previous episode already showed a lot of her, but this episode went even further. This series just kept hinting at how huge her powers were, and yet in this episode she used Rock Paper Scissors to get the name of the demon. Did she use this same trick everywhere? I mean, there have been enough youkai who unwillingly gave up their own names.

The village scene felt a bit out of place, but it was definitely an interesting representation of the mythical village: to have it be exactly like how it was painted in the past. It’s also something new in this installment of the series.

Overall, I do wonder whether this series is going to surpass itself or not. I really like this series, but I also have to admit that the second season was not as good as the first. The biggest reason for that was that it was incomplete: the episodes that built up the main storyline built up for something that wasn’t in that season, whereas the individual stories (of which the first season entirely consisted) really focused on delivering good standalone stories,. The past two episodes were in the same vein, and really wonderful to just sit back and relax at. I really wonder whether we’re going to see the build-up of the second season pay off at a point now.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Tiger & Bunny – 15

by psgels, posted in Tiger & Bunny




Here it is: the long-awaited Sky-High episode. And it was worth the wait! It’s finally time to really get to know him.

And again, this episode somehow did it while also delivering a bunch of really nice twists to the plot. Skyhigh here actually gets to show why he used to be the king of heroes: he’s far from as active as the Dragon Kid for example, but his powers are by far the strongest out of all of the heroes out there. It’s really interesting how, while he’s an interesting character, most of his awesome points have just been hinted towards and that makes for a really interesting character, especially since this episode focuses on his flaws. And builds some romance around him. That also really was awesome.

I’m not sure whether this was intentional or not, but that robot actually has this really similar voice as Dorothy from the Big O. It’s really bizarre, especially considering their parts and personalities in both series are totally different, but they do speak with this similar tone. She also was animated really well, by the way.

Also, if this were a shounen series, then Tiger is about to get a huge power up. In this series however, where his powers are anything but conventional aside from the fact that he’s really strong, anything can happen. I’d actually really want to see Tiger lose his powers for real, without the creators pulling some Deus ex Machna as an excuse to make him stronger.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Hana-Saku Iroha – 15

by psgels, posted in Hana-Saku Iroha



By now it has already been established that Ohana is strange, and this episode only established that even more. To come rushing out and actually volunteer to act as a waitress in order to help out the in she’s supposed to be staying at. At first, I thought she was crazy, but as the episode went on, I really got what this episode tried to tell.

Instead of dancing on Yuusuke’s grave, this episode focused on the development of both him and Yuina, but it also had some interesting messages to share about working, that tie in really well with the rest of the series. Ohana is the type of character who doesn’t wonder whether or not her ideas are strange: she just carries them out. In the past that lead to a bunch of awkward, annoying and embarrassing situations, but with this episode it actually paid off really well.

On top of being well written, I also felt that the background art of this episode was exceptionally good, even for this series’ standards. It looked really crisp and clean. It may be that I just returned from a holiday myself and all, but the inside rooms look really realistic and have this great use of lighting, compared to the copy and paste indoor art you usually see. The landscapes also were really well drawn. It’s all with just that tiny amount of CG to crisp things up, yet not make everything look blocky and stand out.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Ao no Exorcist – 13

by psgels, posted in Ao no Exorcist



Holy crap! Flashback!

This wasn’t entirely a flashback episode, but that one did steal the entire episode here. I mean, up till now we’ve seen just Rin being abused and all. But to think that he actually lost it once and violently beat his classmates into the hospital. Also, what was that background song they used there? That definitely was the best background track I heard in this series so far.

Not to say the rest of this episode wasn’t excellent. Rin’s father has been a big theme across the series, and this episode made sure that he didn’t become something like a Jesus figure. This episode showed that he had doubts, and flaws. Up till now we’ve seen him through the eyes of Rin and Yukio. This time we also see him through that strange Vatican girl’s eyes.

Overall, this show really puts me in a dilemma this season. I was perhaps thinking of dropping Ao no Exorcist in favour of one of the new summer season series, because out of all the interesting series, it has the most generic set-up, along with the fact that it probably won’t finish its manga story within episode 24…. but this show is also getting really good. The characters have gotten really enjoyable at this point, and even the new characters like the Vatican girl fit in immediately. Dammit, this show has a generic plot, but it does what it does so well!
Rating: ** (Excellent)
OP: The visuals are interesting, but it’s too J-Rocky for my tastes.
ED: This one’s actually really good. Good atmosphere, good use of synthesizers, simple, yet well drawn visuals.

Steins;Gate – 15

by psgels, posted in Steins;Gate



I wonder how the nature of time travel works in this series, especially with Okabe’s mysterious ability. Is this series like Noein, where all kinds of parallel dimensions exist right next to each other between those lines every time he (note: he, he’s not aware of anything Cern has been doing) interferes with the past, or is there just one true time-line that can be manipulated, and where Okabe is the only one aware of these changes? Is Okabe desperately searching for a time-line in which Mayuri doesn’t die, or is he desperately trying to bend that time-line into a direction where she doesn’t die?

In any case, mostly whenever fiction uses real world examples for bad guys, they’re always these terrorists, evil armies, villains, those kinds of things. Here though, the world is going to be taken over by an organization that is at the edge of modern science. It both makes sense and is very creative for Cern of all things to be involved (after all, the person who is the first to get his hands on the technology to time travel can pretty much doom the entire world, no matter what kind of position he/she’s in.

This episode was really dedicated to Suzuha and building her into the team. We’re now at the point where she doesn’t have any secrets from the main characters anymore. After the last episode I wondered why she was wary of Makise Kurisu, and not of the obvious villain of Shining Finger, but of course it makes sense: in her time, Makise Kurisu is famous, while shining Finger was just some goon who works in the background. With the past episodes though, a lot of history has already been changed, in the way that Makise Kurisu really isn’t likely to end up working at Cern right now, which means that Cern would need to find a different way or person to create their time machine. It’s probably not impossible for them at this point, though.

It’s also interesting that Suzuha’s plan was pretty much bogged down by her own flaws: the fact that she knew hardly anything about what really went on in 2010 and her shyness. It’s a shame that she didn’t know about the Cern hacking, otherwise she just could have screamed to Okabe to just stop hacking Cern. If she was less shy, she would have found a way to explain that she’s from the future, like what Okabe did in this episode.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Some Quick First Impressions: Manyuu Hiken-Chou, R-15 and Nekogami Yaoyorozu

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Manyuu Hiken-Chou

Short Synopsis: Our lead character runs away from her village which cuts the breasts out of women.
Okay. Wtf did I just watch? I knew that Manyuu Hiken-Chou’s premise would be ridiculous and all, but this was just completely stupid in every single way. A world in which everything is dictated by breasts? Okay, you have to give this show credit for actually going for such a premise and all, but these are the kinds of shows where you wonder: why aren’t the creators just going for straight-out porn? Why is it still pretending to be anything other than that? The parts where it tries to be serious were also completely ridiculous due to the context in which it all played. This one was worth a laugh for how ridiculous it gets, but it’s not like it’s well written or anything: the action is dull (the creators put more effort into breast movement than actual animated action scenes), the characters are all complete and uninteresting stereotypes. It’s just porn: it’s got boobs (or at least, the uncensored version will. This was also an onslaught of white stripes), watch it if you’re horny or something. Apart from that, don’t bother with it.
OP: At least it’s a bit upbeat, but it’s still very uninspired.
ED: Again a dull ballad.
Potential: 0%

R-15

Short Synopsis: Our lead character writes porn novels.
So… this actually wasn’t the worst show this season. It’s not as vapidly uninspired as Mayo Chiki or Rou Kyuu Bu. It was, however, by far the dumbest show I have seen this season so far. It’s like, the entire cast of this series comprises of morons trying to be geniuses, not to mention the huge amounts of things that are just wrong with the setting here (if you didn’t know this yet: this show is about a school full of geniuses, where the main characters’ talent is writing porn novels). The series realizes that it’s got this completely nonsensical premise, and just roles with it. The result is a ton of bad fanservice, bad acting, uninspired animation and character designs, a dull soundtrack and completely one-dimensional characters, but at least it’s trying to be creative. It’s still among the top 5 worst series this season, but I did expect this to be a lot worse, actually.
OP: Dull and generic J-Pop.
ED: Again, dull and generic J-Pop.
Potential: 15%

Nekogami Yaoyorozu

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a youkai who lives together with people.
This turned out to be a laid-back comedy in an overcrowded genre: cute girls doing cute stuff while talking to each other a lot. Having said that though, this probably was among the better versions to come out. For once, the dialogue doesn’t just feel like random banter, but actually tries to go somewhere. There also are a lot of flashbacks, and this episode did try to establish its characters a bit versatile and especially the main character is a likable snarker. These aren’t the type of characters who you get sick of after a few minutes. They’ve got good chemistry and this might actually work with a good combination between random adventures, slice of life and comedy. The key is not having this show repeat itself.
OP: The copy paste OP again.
ED: Nothing special either.
Potential: 70%

Hyouge Mono – 15

by psgels, posted in Hyouge Mono



Might as well start catching up with Hyouge Mono’s latest episode, and really: it’s again great to see how elegantly this series creates its drama. This really doesn’t aim to be the most exciting series, but it brilliantly uses its subtle and slow atmosphere and characterization to deliver its drama… only to follow up with its facial expressions. Oh, those facial expressions: they’re still priceless after fifteen episodes.

The interesting thing is that they really feel apart of this show now, as in they’re not used as anti-climaxes or anything: I’m not sure how, but both the really well detailed facial drawings as the distorted faces contribute to this series. They’re often funny, but along with the pacing, music and direction they really bring out the best of these characters. This episode showed that as well, with a ton of talking, but perhaps just as much non-verbal communication.

It’s building up, but this again was the kind of build-up that doesn’t just try to stall for time until the next exciting bit, but also really tries to deliver a really good story. This episode both built up the tension between Sasuke, Hashiba and Senno, and already used this tension between them with great results. And of course we still have that black guy. On one hand he is a bit stereotypical, in the way that he again is this tough no-nonsense guy, but at the same time he is really well used with Nobunaga’s death.

Oh, and in terms of the tiny details: I like how this series actually keeps track of the hair of its characters: it actually grew back for both Hashiba and Sasuke. That’s rare, because usually when a character cuts his/her hair, it always stays the same length, even though significant time passes.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

I’m Back

by psgels, posted in Special Articles

Hey everyone, I’m back from my holiday to Germany. For those intereseted, some highlights include:
– Being completely overwhelmed by the Castle Neuschwanstein and the most beautiful views I have ever seen in my life.
– Meeting a ton f great people, including a Spanish couple, some architecture PHD students, some Belgian travellers, Dutch Students, English students,, a Vietnamese fashion designer, Americans from Oregon, New Jersey and a guy from Seattle travelling together with his daughter, a member of the Australian women’s soccer team as they were about to play the quarterfinals of the world bup, but most importantly Sasa, ChobitsChi and liangchaos. You guys were awesome and it was great to actually meet you in person.
– Walking outside of the Berlin Hauptbahnhof, only to realize that I left my bag in the train. Having to travel to Rostock of all places to get it back.
– Completely randomly bumping into this huge building chock full of grafitti and indie art. I usually don’t like art museums, but this was one big exception and very impressive.

Overall: Germany. Awesome country. Awesome vacation.

In any case, for the next number of days I’ll try to catch up tot he anime I missed, and the comments you all posted, along with deciding which series I’m going to end up blogging this season, and how. The big question being which of the excellent series this season I’m not going to cover weekly.