Level E – 11

by psgels, posted in Level E




So, after the slight disappointment of last week, this episode hits back in full force with just a completely bizarre premise. And even there, the episode plays out completely unlike I expected. This episode was just… surreal.

This episode toyed with mystery like no other. It was both an excellent mystery story, but it also brilliantly poked fun at the genre with the way in which it suddenly put the local baseball team into the middle of Koushien. The balance between the silly and serious parts was excellent and I loved the original twists it gave to the whole premise. The characters all just calmly analyzed what was going on, with a few goofballs being entertaining (most notably, the Prince and the Captain of the team).

It related back to an event in the past that was surprisingly intense, and created a really great mystery atmosphere. Because of that I also loved the way this episode played out, because in the end we never really were told who exactly caused things, and things were just solved by having fun and playing baseball. It fitted perfectly and yet subverted a ton of mystery cliches.

And really, this is what I have been missing so dearly in Gosick: none of the characters were idiots. They all shared their own take on things, but aside from the obviously moronic captain (who really had his own charms and purpose), they all looked around and used common sense. That’s how you write good mystery. Not by relying on artificial stupidity.

Overall I think that 13 episodes (yes this series will be 13 episodes long) is the perfect length for this series. It’s short, but really sweet in this way, making no scene wasted whatsoever. Even the previous episode served its purpose of breaking up the pacing, and I love how the creators managed to do that in just one episodes. Compare that to so many other 13-episode series that put in intermezzo after intermezzo after intermezzo. So far, every episode has stood out. This is really what these short series should strive for.

There is just one reason why it’s a shame that this isn’t a long series: the characters. With that, I don’t mean that they should be more developed; they already have a ton of charms. Instead though, it’s a shame to see so much potential go away. The characterization in this series is absolutely amazing: none of the characters feels like a stereotype, aside from perhaps Ouji. The people that this series shows feel so fresh and interesting: even though we only see most of them for a few episodes, they feel and act like real people. Their acting is just wonderfully down to earth. If anything, I just hope that future series will take them as their inspiration because characters this fresh really don’t appear often. The best example of this is of course the couple from the first arc.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Star Driver – 23

by psgels, posted in Star Driver



For the majority of this episode, I kept thinking whether this really was the right content when the series is going to end in two weeks. I mean, it was a good episode and that punch that Takuto gave to his father definitely was awesome, but right now a lot of pressure has been put on the finale: it’s all going to have to happen within two episodes. It’ll either be short but really, really sweet, or a rushed mess that leaves a bad taste.

I can see what this episode was trying to do: build up. They used the remaining Vanishing Age as quite an effective build-up for the finale, along with building Sugata up to e the king of the Crux brigade (continuing to build-up from where the first half left off, though that didn’t make his entrance any less weird). It was very focused, but perhaps a bit too focused at this stage. I’m not going to judge whether it was a wise move or not until I’ve seen that ending, though. Short finales can be just as awesome as long climaxes, if not even more, though they tend to be a very double-edged sword.

I do have another criticism, though: I’m not really interested in the fight scenes anymore. I tried to defend this early on, but in the end the big problem with the battles in this series is that they just all look like each other. They don’t stand apart, and the way that they always take place in the same setting with the same recycled frames, the creators really needed to make every battle stand out with some creative ideas, and in the end they didn’t. Utena faced the same problems, but there the creators managed to overcome this wonderfully.
Rating: * (Good)

OVA Impressions: Tales of Symphonia – 08

by psgels, posted in OVA Impressions, Tales of Symphonia




Okay, so episode 6 was all about Regal and Presea, episode 7 took Sheena under the loop and now episode 8 comes probably with the least interesting couple: Lloyd and Collet. And don’t get me wrong, this episode still was pretty amazing, but the two of them just are the least interesting and received the least interesting upgrade from the game.

What I mean by that: in the games Collet got kidnapped quite a few times, but it’s not as extreme as here in the OVA where she was pretty much out of the picture for more than two episodes (especially considering how they were both 40 minutes). Lloyd meanwhile had to become a less strong main character, in order for the side characters of the anime to shine. In the games, he always was the one who pushed the story forward and carry the rest of the cast along with him. Raine pretty much was the only other character who could also do that. Here though, it’s the other way around: every side character takes you along in order to tell his or her story. In exchange, Lloyd needs to angst once in a while. He’s still matured, but he’s definitely a weaker character than in the games. Even in this episode that was supposed to focus on his development, we had characters like Zelos, Yuan and Kratos stealing the show.

Also, the comedy around Sheena was surprisingly good. And no, I remember none of the jokes she used from the games. Again, this really is an excellent adaptation. This episode only loosely followed the plot of the games; even less than the other episodes. Especially the fight against Rodyle was done nicely. In the games he just transformed himself into a monster because the characters needed someone strong to fight. In the anime, he instead uses this trap that allows him to nicely tease the characters in front of him and it also gave Presea another crowning moment of awesome.

And thankfully, this isn’t the end either. There’s a final batch of OVAs coming to detail the finale of this story. At this point the only characters that haven’t been taken under the loop are Zelos, Genis and Raine, and I’m really glad to see how much this episode kept hinting at how their stories will not be ignored: this episode really established that Zelos is working for Cruxis, and the end of this episode introduced Mithos, who will have a major impact on Genis.

I really wonder how the creators will handle Mithos here, though. I always found him a bit flimsy in the game. The characters never really questioned the really strange things he ended up doing (and thankfully the creators indeed did cut away the scene in which he [SPOILER] from Rodyle’s Human Ranch) and it was so obvious who he was and yet the characters never even questioned it.

the one thing that I really hope for in that final OVA is for the characters to pay a visit to Exire. I know that it has absolutely nothing to do with the story and all, but it really would be a wonderful addition to a certain character. I mean, this character just won’t be complete without it.
OVA Episode Rating: 8,5/10

OVA Impressions: Kizuna Ichigeki

by psgels, posted in OVA Impressions, Young Animator Training Project




Kizuna Ichigeki is… weird. I mean, on one hand it is a martial arts OVA with strange character designs (designed by the guy who also designed the characters of Mind Game, by the way), but on the other hand the context in which it happens is just so bizarre and random that I’m not even sure whether the creators knew what they were doing.

This short shows the debut of Ascension, a completely new animation company. Overall, this short mostly impressed me because of its visuals: those were really good. The big problem here is that they didn’t get themselves a good scriptwriter.

In between the fights are these silly dialogues between the characters that are what I suspect supposed to be funny and charming, but mostly just end up random blabbering. Especially the grandfather is annoying: he’s the kind of guy who keeps making jokes because he thinks he’s funny, while he’s actually really obnoxious. The bad guys also have the flimsiest reasons to actually try to fight the lead character and serve no purpose whatsoever beyond being meat for fanservice. Just about the only thing that the scriptwriter did right was portraying the themes of family: together the cast does form quite a happy and sincere family.

Also, the cat. That freaking cat. That was by far the biggest “what the hell” of this short.

The actual animation however is excellent. The fight scenes in particular are fun and exciting, and a lot of care has gotten into the choreography. The way in which people move around and react to each other, it’s all been done very intricately and the animation really brings the characters to life. I see a good future for Ascension. They just need to find a bunch of good writers.
OVA Episode Rating: 7,5/10

OVA Impressions: Ojii-San no Lamp

by psgels, posted in OVA Impressions, Young Animator Training Project




The Young Animator Training Program is an initiative to create four standalone OVAs with the purpose of training new animators. Each short would be handled by a different studio, and each would get a certain budget for it. An excellent idea. Ojii-san no Lamp is Telecom Animation Film’s result. You know, the people from Secret of the Cerulean Sand, Uninhabited Planet Survive and Moyashimon.

For this OVA I was expecting this short slice of life story of Japan around 100 years ago, in which we would see a young boy and his grandfather’s lamp. You know, the kind of children’s slice of life that you see more often. As it turns out, I totally wrong about this. Instead, it paints a picture of the life of an oil lamp salesman. Only the first half of this OVA is about his childhood, the meat of this OVA is about him as an adult.

It turned out to be a poignant story, about the use of light in pre-world war Japan and the technological advancements. It’s not something you usually see, and this OVA actually has this great balance between its focus on lamps and the titular grandfather, with a strongly written ending. It may be a bit too dramatic at times, but this is nothing major.

As for the animation, we can expect nice things from the people who animated this in the future: the inbetween animation here is quite good and life-like. It’s perhaps nothing special for a seasoned veteran, but this definitely was a great start for inexperienced animators.
OVA Episode Rating: 8/10

Letter Bee – 49

by psgels, posted in Letter Bee



You know what? There have been a lot of anime based on wonderful stories that unfortunately didn’t have enough time to animate these entire stories. Leaving aside the series like Giant Killing that managed to pick a logical point to end, and series that just ended up rewriting the entire source material, Letter Bee turned into one of the better attempts to wrap up its story. It’s obvious that the final quarter of this series isn’t its best, but at the same time: I can’t really fault it for anything here, aside from just not being as good (and perhaps being a bit sloppy in the adventure department at times).

This episode again: granted, it was pretty much a “now that we made up let’s all fight the big evil together”… but it just did everything so solidly. Everyone pretty much acted like you’d expected. Sure, it was a bit disappointing to see Dr. Thunderland turn good again, right after it was revealed that he worked for Reverse, but seeing the nature of Reverse I don’t really blame him to have a change of heart either. He probably had a few talks with the twins, who also had all the reasons to eventually step away from them. Also, Largo went in to get the help of Maka? I mean, why not? If there’s anyone who can stop that Cabernet it would be Maka, and after Nichi’s visit I don’t see them refusing a genuine request from someone like him.

Everything pretty much flowed into each other based on how pretty much the entire cast has matured over the series and stopped caring about these revenge plans that really harm more than are useful. Pretty much the only one who didn’t develop was Lawrence, who I liked the least in this episode. Next episode we’ll see whether or not that action of his was pointless.

The creators pretty much ended up wrapping up the story of Letter Bee by instead of having things spiral out of control, they tried to reduce the tension between the characters. And the way in which they did this… it was actually pretty plausible and worth the large amount of episodes they put into it. The plot is less exciting, but at the same time there also weren’t any cheap plot twists, rushed conclusions, or downright ass-pulls. The plot still plays around with morals, but the characters are brought together through this single evil entity of the Cabernet. The Cabernet alone is a pretty lousy villain of course, but as a plot device it did its job pretty nicely.

If only this series had more episodes, though.
Rating: * (Good)

Bakuman – 23

by psgels, posted in Bakuman



So, one advantage of that slow pacing is that the episodes that DO have a lot of stuff happening really end up standing out. This episode really caught me by surprise and it was one of the best episodes yet. The change of pace was really welcome, and it showed a ton of new stuff.

Basically the entire premise of this episode was that it showed the start of a whole bunch of new manga from nearly all of the important characters. Also, finally we actually got a good glimpse of what the stories were that they wrote were like. They were only short blurbs, but it’s great to see actually something more than some random pictures here and there of which we don’t know how they tell their story.

The reactions of everyone were what sold this episode to me, though. This episode was full of emotions. Mostly cheerful ones, making this a very uplifting episode. Ideally I would have wished that the entire series was this dynamic, but at least we’re seeing the build-up really pay off at this point now. At this pace though< i can really see the second season becoming awesome. If it makes good use of the build-up of this first season and remains as dynamic as its best episodes then it can become an excellent coming of age series. In any case, if it wasn't for that second season, then I this really wouldn't have been a good place to end this series... Rating: ** (Excellent)

Wolverine – 11

by psgels, posted in Wolverine



Yes, this is the underdog of the season. I’m really glad that I decided to blog it, especially after the disappointment that was Iron Man. It’s nowhere near the best of the season, of course and I know that it doesn’t match up to juggernaughts as Level E, Madoka Magica and Hourou Musuko thanks to the hammy acting. But in terms of series structure it did just about everything right here.

The thing with Wolverine is that unlike Iron Man, you can really see that the creators are having fun with it. They’re trying to make every episode into a spectacle, and they especially succeeded in that during the previous month. The series overall also avoided a lot of flaws that usually strike action series: the way in which they forget to spend time on characters, setting and build-up. The atmosphere in this episode was just excellent and it has been for episodes now. The only time in which this series took a break was in the middle of the series, and that was time it put to good use in order to lay out the background of that bizarre island they’re on, plus Yukio’s simple but surprisingly effective backstory (which again was used very nicely in this episode).

It’s also a matter of expectations, of course. I mean, my expectations for Wolverine couldn’t be worse, until I found out that it was being handled by the director of Himitsu and one of the scriptwriters of Kurozuka. After that, I pretty much had no disappointments from this series whatsoever aside from the hammy acting in the first episode. This probably would have gone completely different if Wolverine would have aired before Iron Man, but I still have to applaud the creators for delivering such a solid action series.

The key here is suspense of disbelief. The way in which there always is something interesting going on (the battles in the earliest episodes were long, but knew how to not drag on). I really noticed that during the fights with Shingen. The characters were acting pretty over the top, but I couldn’t help but love the voice actors during that scene. The voice actors delivered their lines with such passion that it just made it into a wonderful scene.

The series is still too simple and miles away to really stand amongst the best of the season; I mean, it’s not like the story has any depth or anything. There is one thing, however, at which this series IS the best out of the entire season right now: the use of its soundtrack. And yes, this is in a season that has two of my favourite composers in it, Yuki Kajiura and Hikaru Nanase. This episode in particular was a feast for the ears.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Aim for the Top: Diebuster Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




I had my problems with the original cast of Gunbuster, but that was mostly because they didn’t try hard enough to step away from the stereotypes that they would later inspire. It’s also a bit of a matter of flat characterization, but overall I would not really call any character annoying.

Enter Nono, the lead character of Diebuster.

I’ll be honest here: the first half of Diebuster was a bit of a chore to sit through. Nono is not a likable main character at all with her one-sided overacted klutziness and stupidity, and the pointless fanservice actually gets in the way of the story. The drama in this movie also didn’t really impress; the major theme of this series is characters, refusing to grow up. This leads to characters refusing to accept reality, angsting quite a bit and and making a whole lot of dumb decisions. This drama is consistent (in fact, it’s about the only consistent part of this OVA), but it also just wasn’t interesting.

Nevertheless, this was written by Yoji Enokido. He shows this in the second half (and especially the final two episodes) by just going “screw being plausible, we’re just going over 9000 here”. The final two episodes are full of nice and awesome ideas that I very much suspect ended up as the inspiration for Gurren Lagann’s finale. Unlike the first Gunbuster, Diebuster doesn’t try to be physically plausible in the slightest, but that does allow it to to go with some interesting science fiction ideas.

Ideas which ultimately are reflected best into the graphics of this show. Seriously, the graphics look awesome here and are IMO the biggest reason to check out this OVA. They’re really imaginative and make excellent use of the creativity in the plot.

Above I mentioned that this is a very inconsistent series. That’s both a good and a bad thing. I mean, you don’t want to watch this for its cohesive plot, because the story is a bit of an undirected mess, not to mention the angst not being that impressive, but on the other hand this did make this OVA evolve through its episodes, and it prevented Nono’s annoying antics to ruin the entire OVA (she really gets better as the anime goes on).

Oh, and on one final side-note: I keep seeing everywhere that you need to have seen the original Gunbuster before watching this OVA, but I don’t really think that that is the case. You can watch them in any order really.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Not the best at drama, but when it’s on fire it really entertains.
Characters: 7/10 – Nono is annoying, and none of the cast really end up making this up.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Gorgeous, full of excellent artwork and ideas.
Setting: 8/10 – Not as interesting as Gunbuster or FLCL, but still full of nice ideas and concepts.

Suggestions:
– FLCL
– Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
– Wings of Rean

Kimagure Orange Road – Summer’s Beginning Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



After the perfect first movie formed a perfect ending for the Kimagure Orange Road franchise, I was really wondering how the creators would be able to top that with the second and final movie. And yeah, this movie is a step back. It brings cheese into the romance and it requires a whole bunch of random coincidences, just to get going.

Especially the first half of the movie brings back a lot of stuff from the TV series that made it so annoying. Kyousuke’s powers at this point are like the nuclear power you see in a lot of American comics: they do whatever is convenient for the plot at the moment. Kyousuke himself also has this tendency to narrate a bit too enthusiastically at times, saying a lot of things that would have been much better off when left unsaid.

Nevertheless, I really urge fans of Kimagure Orange Road to check this movie out. If you’ve managed to sit through the hell that was the TV-series, this movie offers a HUGE amount of character development, showing the entire cast in their twenties. Ironically, it’s only until the aftermath when things get really amazing, but it’s so worth the wait. Whenever this movie isn’t cheesy, it really delivers a wonderful romance, miles away from just about any overused stereotype.

The animation… is surprisingly mediocre for a movie. I mean, for me, most of the TV series even looked better. Most of the budget of this movie is wasted on a pointless dance scene. For movie standards, I really expected more of the animation.

Oh, and on a side-note: this movie links Madoka to Yuki Kajuira. That is just awesome.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Okay, so it uses cheese and some coincidences, but those coincidences make sure that it has an awesome premise to work with.
Characters: 10/10 – The characters already had excellent development. Then this movie comes along.
Production-Values: 7/10 – The animation is disappointing for a movie. On the other hand though: it features Yuki Kajiura’s debut. Years before she got big.
Setting: 8/10 – Stays true to Kimagure Orange Road, though a little too well perhaps.

Suggestions:
– The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
– Maison Ikkoku
– Umi ga Kikoeru