Yondemasuyo, Azazel-San Review – 77,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Once in a blue moon, Production IG makes a comedy. The results are… weird. This time in particular, they put Tsutomu Mizushima in the directing seat. The result is a completely vulgar and outrageous piece of animation with no sense of shame whatsoever.

There is a sharp difference between this series and Hen Zemi, which aired in the same block. Hen Zemi didn’t care how disgusting it was. Yondemasuyo Azazel-san doesn’t care how insulting it is.This show is outright sadistic and knows it, and that’s part of its charms. The characters are all the biggest bastards and yet their antics are really fun to watch. The delivery is chock full of the most ridiculously distorted faces which somehow works out quite well. It’s got a great sense of chemistry which often is much more enjoyable than the actual jokes it tries to tell.

The jokes are where this one just isn’t as good as the OVA. It just feels like at times this series just doesn’t seem to have any inspiration for jokes. At about half the episodes, I didn’t really know what this series was trying to make funny, and it came across as really forced comedy. The two arcs where this becomes especially clear are the fish arc and the Otaku arc. Throughout the series it becomes really clear that this series hates Otaku with passion, but it portrays them with so much bile and anger that it just forgets to make jokes, and just continues spewing fire without actually doing anything with it.

On the other hand though, the good episodes are totally worth it. Moloch in particular is an awesome character who despite only appearing in a few episodes, completely steals away any scene he’s in. The rest of the cast are also really enjoyable to watch when they’re on fire, and it’s often the small jokes that work out the best in thsi series.

In a way this is a typical series of Tsutomu Mizushima. I consider him to be an awesome director, but his pure comedies have always had this weakness of losing themselves in their shock value and forgetting to actually be funny (take for example Dokuro-Chan, Dai Mahou Touge, Kemeko Deluxe). He has been getting back to his level of Hale Nochi Guu, though: both this series and Squid Girl were quite good, but this series still shows his flaws as a comedy director.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Completely outrageous, vulgar and bile.
Characters: 8/10 – Excellent chemistry between the main character that makes this show enjoyable.
Production-Values: 8/10 – A unique look, courtesy of Production IG.
Setting: 7/10 – Lacks inspiration to remain consistently funny.

Suggestions:
– Jungle wa Itsumo Hale nochi Guu
– Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt
– Hen Zemi

Some Quick First Impressions: Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel – Kyun Kyun tokimeki Paradise and Blood-C

by psgels, posted in Blood-C, Some Quick First Impressions

Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 1000%

Short Synopsis: Our lead character enlists on a school for idols.
This. Was camp. Heck, if you took four body-builders and made then play bagpipes while playing monopoly they still wouldn’t be as camp as this. I’m not sure how the creators did it, but they somehow succeeded in getting every single scene in this episode to not make any sense whatsoever. This show takes every reverse harem cliche, and takes it even further. The guys in this episode are completely ridiculous stereotypes, drawn by girls who I can only imagine haven’t spoken to guys in ages: that’s how ridiculously hammy they all were. Seriously,t his series takes bad acting to a new level. An sich, there is nothing wrong with campness: Antique Bakery did it and did this with great results. The thing however was that Antique Bakery had real characters. This is just a collection of badly acted stereotypes with an extra dose of sparkle. The one positive point is A-1: they made sure to make this show look good, plus the soundtrack too is surprisingly good. Whenever characters aren’t singing, though.
OP: This one is just… wrong.
ED: Again: it’s well produced, but the vocals are pretty bad.
Potential: 20%

Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel – Kyun Kyun Tokimeki Paradise

Short Synopsis: Our lead character are magical girls who fight crime.
What the..? This is really weird: at first sight this series seems exactly like the OVA. In fact, the entire first scene was completely borrowed from the OVA. However, as the series went on, it became clear that there was one major difference that changes pretty much everything: they changed the villain! If you never saw the OVA you might wonder why this is such a big deal, but here is the thing: the OVA was meant to subvert the magical girl genre: it showed that fighting crime shouldn’t be taken lightly and it uses its far superior villains to teach the lead characters not to goof off just because they have special characters. In this episode however, the creators swapped this villain out for a bunch of total idiots. The result is that this series is now a really camp kaitou-series, with the bizarre effect that it tries to deliver a bunch of really weird scenes straight. This episode tries to take itself seriously while pulling a number of horses who have long since been beaten to death. This isn’t in the way most harems keep repeating each other. This episode was full of the plot devices that nowadays only appear in parodies. They’ve been long since beaten to death that writers don’t even bother with them anymore, and here this show comes and expects them to still make sense. It just doesn’t work, especially with all of the silly acting.
Potential: 20%

Blood-C

Short Synopsis: Our lead character hunts monsters.
Oh boy! Talk about a standard set for the rest of the season. This episode was rock-solid in every single way. Even the Noitamina series are going to have their hands full on trying to come close to the level of detail in this episode. Especially the big action scene at the end: now THAT is how you animate a fight scene. This episode also really screamed Clamp, but I really mean that in a good way. It has some of the elements that return in a lot of their other series, but also plenty of new stuff for them, not to mention the rock solid characterization. Saya is a teenager this time (who has nothing to do with the Saya of Blood+, by the way), but most of this episode was laid back and made excellent use of this to establish the main cast. They already seem like a unique bunch. Everything was really well acted, the pacing was really fluid, the characters are strong. All that’s left now is an engaging story. Please, someone say that this will go on for more than 13 episodes!
OP: A strong contender for the best OP of the year. Utterly gorgeous with music that fits it perfectly.
ED: Simple but effective.
Potential: 95%

Hen Zemi Review – 75/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




This season had what I’d liek to call “the disgusting comedy block”. It’s a double feature of Hen Zemi and Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san. Both have just 10-minute episodes, both are really extreme in what they do, both were preceded by a far superior OVA and both… had no sense of shame. Hen Zemi was the weakest of the two: it’s fun to watch, but not much more than that.

One big factor in this is that it just never was able to get anywhere near the quality that its OVA had. The OVA really is superior in every way to the TV-series: the animation is much better, the dialogue is much more fast paced and detailed, the characters are more interesting. The TV-series really is a tamed down version, and it loses a lot of charms because of this.

To explain: the big difference between the two is that the OVA really described its disgusting content in full detail. That’s what made it so completely disgusting and if you want to watch something that gets under your skin: that’ the series for it. The TV-series however is just a kaleidoscope of various disgusting practices. It just lists a bunch of disgusting things. The effect of that wears off once the novelty disappears and in the end it becomes more of an exercise. This makes the disgusting stuff just predictable, and the nudity and sex references just plain fanservice.

Where this series does try to deliver is in expanding upon its characters. This admittedly worked out quite well, and there are a few cast members that are well fleshed out this way. On the other hand though, there also are plenty of characters who just have one defining trait or too much of a caricature. Especially the lead character is used as nothing else aside to be the butt of a joke, and the biggest pervert in the series is taken way too far.

So while I liked the OVA, I unfortunately can’t give a high mark for this series. If you’re interested, you can just check out the OVA: they’re short and sweet and perfect for this type of show, and even though the TV-series expands upon the characters, there are tons of other comedies that do that better. This was just too often too mundane. I watch comedies because I want to laugh or otherwise be moved, and that’s where this series had little effect on me as it neared its end.

Having said that though, I do want to praise Xebec for finally going with a fanservice comedy that does NOT revolve around teenagers. At least it’s something, but there still is a long way to go for them. Like Gonzo, there really is a Good Xebec and a Bad Xebec, with a very strong distinction between the two. I guess that this was amongst the best tv-series from Bad Xebec, but it really needs to give more space to Good Xebec, because these guys can really make great stuff when given the chance.

Storytelling: 7/10 – Goes too much into a formula.
Characters: 8/10 – There are some interesting characters, nobody really is obnoxious, but it’s nothing special.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Again solid, but nothing special like the OVA.
Setting: 7/10 – Yeah, it’s a kaleidoscope of disgusting stuff. That novelty wears off quickly, but not as quick as the pseudo-academic air that it wants to give off.

Suggestions:
Hen Zemi OVA
– Mitsudomoe
– Dororon Enma-Kun Meera Meera

Gosick Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Gosick




During the past half year Mari Okada set some sort of record: writing five series in just half a year, two of which original stories. This totaled 70 episodes in just six months. Surprisingly, with the exception of Fractale, all of them were really, really good.

Gosick does have a catch though: a weak start. The first half of this series is pretty much a mystery series that fails at mystery: the stories themselves are good, but the cast that has to solve them is surrounded by idiots who miss vital clues, need everything explained on a silver platter for them and just can’t think for themselves. The mysteries meanwhile get solved so conveniently that the detective in question must have had access to the script in order to be able to figure them out. These stories all don’t really serve any purpose to the plot or characters and are generally pointless and a bit of a chore to watch.

Intead, this series shines when it turns to its main storyline and adventure roots. This amounts to about three arcs and the first half, and just about everything after episode fourteen. It’s here where this show against all expectations reveals itself as wondrous journey throughout imaginative stories and murder mysteries that are deeply rooted within its setting of a small fictional country in Northern Italy in the 1920s. It successfully combines occult, legends and folklore with each other and succeeds in what a great adventure series should be.

Beyond that, it’s also here where the characters really get better. The stupid characters either get better or get shafted in favor of the vast array of interesting ones with great back-stories. There is a ton of character development in this series for both the main and side-cast and this gets woven wonderfully together with the story.

With Gosick you have to be patient. It’s not just that it takes its time to get going: some episodes and stories are downright bad, rushed and make no sense. This gets completely abandoned as the series goes on, though. ‘Engaging” is the best way to describe this series. It may not be amongst Bones’ best work, but once it left its flaws behind, it really drew me in.

Storytelling: 8/10 – It doesn’t get the mystery-genre at times, but as an adventure it hits a lot or right notes, though it remains a bit rushed at times.
Characters: 8/10 – Aah, this is a difficult one to grade because of the sheer difference between the first and second half. The big plus is the huge amount of character development, the big minus is the number of unlikable idiots that walk around in the first half.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Solid throughout the entire series, but not the most remarkable for Bones’ standards.
Setting: 9/10 – Tons of great ideas, settings and backstories that will really draw you in. Even when the characters are having a day off, the setting remains rock-solid throughout.

Suggestions:
– Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra
– Pandora Hearts
– Nijuu Mensou no Musume

Gosick – 24

by psgels, posted in Gosick



Okay, so in the end it does feel like a bunch of novels were crammed into just these two final episodes. The mood swing is a bit too abrupt, and they definitely were rushed. On the other hand though, I did not expect the direction it took because of that: I really expected a formulaic mystery to close off the series. Instead, the mysteries are completely gone at this point, and instead it’s a finale that focuses on character development. Fair enough: that part worked really well.

Two episodes isn’t a lot, so the big separation between Kujou and Victorique doesn’t feel as big as it could have been, but I still admire what Mari Okada managed to do within 2 episodes: she got the essence of this finale. the distance was there, and using a big war as a backdrop, it really made for an engaging ending with two major characters (Marquis de Blois and Victorique’s mother) gone from the stage. Grevil got some great development, Victorique was absolutely wonderful, Kujou also was great, the king got some redemption, the things that were put in this episode really tried to reach as many characters, while to my surprise they actually ignored all of the stupid characters (with perhaps one small scene as an exception).

Brian Roscoe was a bit of a disappointment, though. To me, it seems like he was just killed off for the sake of being killed off: he didn’t need to die and would have actually made things a lot more interesting if he lived. Both of his versions, I mean. Also, Victorique’s hair thing was a bit… weird. How did it change color?

Overall, the show was at its best around episodes 14 to 18. This ending though: it also was really good. It’s a shame that Gosick has such a weak start, because it’s definitely a great adventure series.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Some Quick First Impressions: Blade, Rou Kyuu Bu! and Double J

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Blade

Short Synopsis: Our lead character hunts vampires.
And the final installment of the marvel adaptations is Blade. Once again, a solid opening. It really seems like Iron Man was the bad apple in the series, because the others had some pretty good starts. Blade too: this episode was an interesting combination between horror and action, and it hit a lot of right notes: the animation isn’t as good as the X-Men, but it still convincingly takes second place: the action looks gorgeous and the images are very creative, especially that birth scene. The protagonist Blade kicks ass, the female lead looks to be an interesting co-star, the creators made the right decision to immediately establish and introduce the main villain, and there are no teenagers in sight. Oh, and this series of course also deserves points for having an actual black characters. It’s been ages since we’ve had one of those. Overall, this episode feels like it takes the middle ground in the Marvel franchise: it doesn’t have the animation nor setting of the X-Men, but on the other hand it also doesn’t have Hisako and it doesn’t try to pretend to be anything more than it is. On the other hand it doesn’t have the fight choreography of Wolverine, but the animation and acting is much better there (although there is still quite a bit of ham). If this gets done right and if it manages to combine the best out of the previous X-Men series, this could very well become the best in the series.
OP: Pretty much what we’ve come to expect from the Marvel-series, although I have to say that I like the designs a lot.
ED: Unlike the other Marvel anime EDs and a lot simpler. It works.
Potential: 80%

Rou Kyuu Bu!

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to coach a junior high basketball team.
Okay. Look. I have been looking forward to this season a lot. It’s promising to be an awesome season. But this was completely abysmal. In every single way. The creators did it: they somehow succeeded into making every single character a pain to watch. This is complete and utter fanservice with some of the most terrible script-writing, just caching in on popular trends. The voice acting is utterly terrible from the moment the five lead girls opened their mouths, and aside from that they all are completely stereotypical. The entire episode was just uninspired dialogue and fanservice over and over, but the worst thing is that it actually tries to take itself seriously: this episode kept hinting in the most unsubtle hints that half the cast has a dark past with some of the ham-handed build-up imaginable. This is pretty much the archetype of what’s wrong with modern anime.
OP: The song… is exactly the same as every other generic moe girls OP. Seriously, it’s like a direct copy with perhaps a bit of a louder drum base.
ED: Brings obnoxious to new levels.
Potential: 0%

Double J

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a random high school girl.
What happened to the days of Hanoka, when the flash anime actually put some effort in their animation? Seriously, Double J is the latest in a string of utterly horrid Flash shows that could have easily been out-produced by a bunch of high-schoolers. I can only imagine how ridiculously cheap these are to make, and ever since Tono to Issho they just keep coming and coming, but there really has been an explosion of them during the past year (most of which I refuse to review). Double J is an evil one, though. It is a very evil one. Most of the episode was exactly what it says on the tin: random girls talking. It’s far from the worst of the genre because at the very least it didn’t try to deliver the most awful jokes with a straight face. But then the ED arrived and they showed that the producers actually DID get a really good animator for this show. Seriously, if the rest of the animation of this series was even a tenth of how good that was, I’d watch it. Instead we got these ridiculously cheap series that just hope that some random otaku find the girls cute enough to buy it…
OP: Just a random CG thingy that even I could have made with the right tools.
ED: Now this is some awesome animation!
Potential: 10%

Hyouge Mono – 13

by psgels, posted in Hyouge Mono



Something really interesting happened in this episode. The stage was a large scale battle, probably the largest scale we’ve seen so far. It’s something anime has always been weak at: animating small armies and the battles between them. So I’m really surprised at how much detail this episode managed to put in it. Seriously, this was much more realistic than what you usually see!

Take for example the shot from far above: the creators actually tried to animate it. It was clunky, but heck: you could see how every figure moved. That really is something I have never seen in anime before and this episode actually managed to show the sheer size of the armies it was dealing with. The soldiers weren’t just specks, they actually had movement and weight to them.

Then, the actual battlefield: again you usually see people just swinging swords randomly in the midst of the plot. After this episode I realized that a common tactic is to show one character, then the next, then the next in order to keep the action going. The way in which this episode kept focusing on Sasuke gave it a completely unique dimension. It still was a complete brawl, but it also focused on the moments of silence on the battlefield, when there was nobody coming after Sasuke or when he was lying down, nearly knocked out. Also, instead of just showing a bunch of guys coming after Sakuke all at once, this series actually made all of them have their own purpose.

It’s really much more of this “screw conventions, we’re re-imagining this one completely!”-attitude that I love, and this show rocks especially because of how well it works. It’s all incredibly detailed, authentic and well written. I love it in particular when not just the characters, but also the creators use their brains during a major battle scene, and that’s exactly what happened here.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji – 39

by psgels, posted in Spring 2011 Kaleidoscope



And as today is the last day of June, this is going to be the last post for my Spring 2011 Kaleidoscope. I am not sure what I’m going to do next season though: whether I’m going to do a Summer Kaleidoscope and blog six full series, or blog seven full series instead: it’s entirely going to depend on that seventh series. Plus, it’s got two huge question marks as well in the form of Appleseed and Last Exile. They’re both two series that aside from the regular line-up I really want to blog.

In any case, this episode was build up, build-up and even more build-up. The creators made sure to make it into a gripping episode though, especially when Kaiji brought in Endou of all people: the guy who was responsible for getting him into his mess in the first place. This episode was really being mysterious in the way that it refused to reveal Kaiji’s plans (much like the previous arc), so a lot of this episode consisted out of cryptic hints at how supposedly awesome his plans are going to be, although the negotiations with Endou really kicked ass in how intense they were.

Now, the big pitfall for this series is going to be the the suspense of disbelief. There is one big difference between Akagi and Kaiji: Akagi was superhuman. It’s not about seeing really smart plans, but about psychology. Kaiji meanwhile belongs in the category of series that specialize in plans and schemes. The biggest pitfall of those kinds of series is to take their plans a step too far and make them just ridiculously complicated, a la Death Note or Code Geass where in the end things depend on the most precise coincidences. That’s also one of the reasons the first season annoyed me, in the way in which Kaiji miraculously danced across death on the beam arc.

In terms of characters though, this arc does have the most interesting side-kick for Kaiji that we’ve seen in this series yet. His Buddhist roots, his incredible temper: all of it works really well and it’s quite a step away from the usual young guys. The villain though has yet to prove himself. He’s just this posh underling, and nowhere as interesting as some of the best villains of this series.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

June Summary

by psgels, posted in Monthly Summaries

This was one of the best months we’ve seen in a long while in anime. It may not look like I followed many series (there WAS a lot of crap this season), but the shows that were good were really, really good, and a ton of them were just amazing. This month showed some rock-solid endings, twists, turns and executions. It turned out to be an incredibly diverse season with series that all stood out in their own ways and not just one genre dominating. More seasons like this, please.

#22 (19) – Astarotte no Omocha – (7/10) – So I ended up dropping this, quite early in this month. It just went nowhere, it just devolved into a generic romantic fanservice comedy: the exact thing that it should not have done with such a premise. It was good when it still focused on drama, but in terms of romance it has nothing and just kept repeating itself. The worst were the idiot prince and the way in which Asuha completely devolved into someone who can’t stop talking about not wearing any panties. This all was really badly written.
#21 (21) – The World God Only Knows – (7,25/10) – The final teacher arc had the poor luck that it ended in a completely nonsensical way. After that the series decided to end with an episode that would have been good, had it any sense of comedic timing. The end result was a horribly forced ending that was a pain to sit through, and only cemented at how tired I am of this series.
#20 (20) – Inazuma Eleven – (7,25/10) – In the end, I decided to drop this. It’s indeed dark for a kids’ series, but my main issue was that the characterization left much to be desired. In five episodes it introduced like, 30 different characters. Now, who are these characters? Why should I care about them? What makes them different aside from their character designs? Only four or five of them really matter, and they are the typical shounen cliches. In fact, this mostly feels like a rip-off of the original Beyblade series (yes, I watched that one).
#19 (22) – Hen Zemi – (7,5/10) – After twelve episodes, was it really worth it watching Hen Zemi? Unfortunately, I have to say no. The reason why the OVA worked so well wasn’t just the fact that it had much better writing, but also because it was short but sweet. The TV-series now is just an endless string of gross things and fanservice: it gets boring once the shock factor wears off. By now we expect Hen Zemi to be disgusting. It is, and hardly brings any extra spice in that aside from that.
#18 (14) – Yondemasuyo, Azazel-San – (7,75/10) – I’ll get to more detail about this when the final episode airs, but what interestingly seemed to be the biggest pitfall for this series was that it ran out of inspiration for jokes. The otaku arc in particular just seemed to not know what kinds of jokes it should make. The final arc was better, but again: it was a tad forced and predictable in the way it played out.
#17 (11) – X-Men – (7,75/10) – When comparing the X-Men to Wolverine, I still like the X-Men better, but that’s just because Wolverine had a really simple story and had lots of issues with its acting. The X-Men unfortunately did dull in a bit in their final arc when the drama all boiled down to teenaged emo. The big problem is that the creators shafted the main cast in favor of Hisako and Takeo, who were by far the least interesting characters of the entire series.
#16 (18) – Gintama – (8,25/10) – The past arc of Gintama was a great one, although it ended rather xenophobic (but then again, that’s Gintama: the aliens are nearly all portrayed as mind-numbing idiots, punching bags for Gintoki or completely evil bastards). The arc however did deliver a lot of depth to Otose and the people from her past and it certainly was a major improvement over the comedy episodes of the previous months.
#15 (new) – Appleseed XIII – (8,25/10)

Forgive me, but I can’t seem to remember for the love of me where I managed to find the first episode of Appleseed XIII. I liked it a lot though. It’s chock full of symbolism to the ancient Greek mythology and the characterization is a lot better than in the movies. Deunan really acts like she’s on her period, though.

#14 (13) – Fireball – (8,25/10)

Fireball remained a great watch throughout its entire run. Now it’s of course not hard to remain interesting for only two minutes, but this did it with a style that I really enjoyed. The comedic timing and the graphics were still as great as ever.

#13 (11) – Showa Monogatari – (8,25/10)

Irregular releases are still irregular, but we’re nearing the end. This month showed actually some very interesting drama around Yuuko in quite a realistic way. Sure, the acting could have been better, but the themes, and drama really relate back to problems anyone could have had. Of course you have to like history in order to be able to enjoy this, but this by far doesn’t deserve the negligence in terms of fansubs.

#12 (16) – Ao no Exorcist – (8,25/10)

Ao no Exorcist at the moment is surprisingly enjoyable. The fleshing out of the earlier episodes has paid off and at this point there hardly is any boring moment left, despite the generic set-ip. Characters are used well, the banter has gotten funnier, the drama has gotten more sincere. This is the right direction, although it does need to stop putting so much stupidity in its filler episodes.

#11 (7) – Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji – (8,25/10)

The Pachinko arc was intense, but it did suffer a bit from Kaiji’s formula: again we have a set-up that consists out of a lot of money on the line, a seemingly easy game and a predictable outcome. What I liked was the introduction of the old man, who seems different from the other sidekicks that Kaiji had so far. Also, that daughter. What the hell are the creators building up to?

#10 (8) – Sket Dance – (8,5/10)

This month saw the best and the worst episode of Sket Dance so far, but the tournament arc really made up for it by being really fun, yet somehow taking its characters seriously. Now all that’s left is to wonder how long this series can keep up this excellent pace.

#9 (4) – Tiger & Bunny – (8,5/10)

This month we got to see the halfway climax for Tiger & Bunny. It;’s a solid story with a ton of character development, but it also spent a lot of time building up. There’s a lot of promise in this show becoming even better for its second half.

#8 (9) – Deadman Wonderland – (8,5/10)

It really is a bloody shame that Deadman wonderland doesn’t have the time to fully show off its story, because it’s still one heck of an exciting series inside an insane setting. The animation has its ups and downs but when it has its ups it really looks gorgeous, and beyond the insanity, the characters are still surprisingly good. There’s some nice character development, not to mention that the delivery also really knows how to make its scenes count. Only complaint is that Ganta at times may angst a bit too much. At others though, he’s a great lead character.

#7 (3) – Gosick – (8,5/10)

This month wasn’t as good as the previous one, but it really does come close to that. The climax was a wonderful one and the stories again were full of intrigue and imagination. At this point the character development has also really kicked in, which really paid off here.

#6 (15) – Hana-Saku Iroha – (8,75/10)

Now this is a major improvement! The past arc for Hana-Saku Iroha has been amazing, and chock full of character development. It kept pushing its characters into situations where they were forced to confront their flaws and weaknesses and especially the acting was just wonderfully detailed, both in terms of voice acting and animation. If this is the pacing that this show can keep up, we’re in for a major treat.

#5 (6) – [C]The Money of Soul and Possibility Control – (8,75/10)

C was really rushed, and yet it pulled off an amazing finale. The main themes and subplots managed to come together, the direction got better than ever and aside from the way its plot evolved, it was just a damn entertaining series to watch. Especially the ending was really well delivered and brought some great closure to this series.

#4 (5) – Steins;Gate – (8,75/10)

Steins;gate’s plot really got interesting this month, but what’s more is that the execution also got rock and rock solid. The animation makes excellent use of its limited budget, the acting just gets better and better, the pacing and atmosphere hardly ever show a weak moment and it looks like this series has only just started.

#3 (10) – Dororon Enma-kun Meerameera – (8,75/10)

The ending to this sereis was absolutely fantastic. It just released all breaks and delivered one absolutely crazy roller coaster ride full of old references and that just kept upstaging itself in terms of downright insanity. This was entertainment at its finest and I had one hell of a time. Oh, and the background music also was as solid as ever. I can’t wait to hear what the same composers end up delivering for No6.

#2 (2) – Hyouge Mono – (9/10)

This month showed an even bigger focus on politics than this show already had before, still with the rock-solid execution and acting of this series, combined with an amazing plot twist along the way. What I especially like about this series is how much balls the delivery has. There’s a ton of detail put in the way that these people interact with each other, making this an awesome “lots of talking”-series.

#1 (1) – Ano Hi Mita no Hana no Namae o Boku-Tachi wa Mada Shiranai – (9,25/10)

And with its final month, Anohana somehow managed to actually surpass itself. Its conclusion brilliantly weaved together everything this show needed and give every character a chance to show a bit of himself, leading to a heart-wrenching ending. It’s perhaps not entirely realistic and yeah, it had its share of overacting, but everything remained well within the boundaries of my suspense of disbelief thanks to the script that just kept pushing the characters forward and once again left no moment wasted.

For the people living in Berlin and Antwerp

by psgels, posted in Special Articles

Sorry for wasting the time of everyone else again, but between July 9th and July 14th, I’ll be on holiday in Germany, so there won’t be any posts published during that time. On July 11th, 12th and 13th I’ll be in Berlin, so if you happen to live there: how about we meet up?

Also, on July 23rd I’ll be on Antwerp’s Atsusacon, so the saem goes there to the people who were also planning on going.

I’ve never used this blog to try and organize meets like this, but I figured who cares. It might lead to something interesting.