OVA Impressions: Trava – Fist Planet

by psgels, posted in OVA Impressions




Who is Takeshi Koike, and why is he directing Redline? With that question in mind, I set out to check out the other anime he directed: Trava – Fist Planet. It turned out to be a strange OVA, consisting out of four episodes of between 11 and 14 minutes long; it’s a science fiction story about two random guys having to perform some kind of survey on an unknwon planet.

It’s an OVA that’s definitely all about its graphics, and it definitely has a very skillful direction. Just about every shot in this OVA looks nice. It’s full of weird camera angles and it’s got some unique character designs that it puts to good use. There is a ton of eye candy here, and I can only imagine what Redline is going to look like when it has an actual movie budget.

As for the rest, the only other part that stands out is the dialogue. The characters bickering with each other gives them a nice charm. A lot of this OVA is just them nonchalantly insulting each other, which is enjoyable enough to last for the fifty minutes of total airtime. Beyond that though, the story is completely rushed, especially in the final episode, and the characters also all have just two or three sides to them, and nothing more. It’s enjoyable, but doesn’t do much beyond that. But who cares? The graphics and the direction make it a definite interesting watch.
OVA Episode Rating: 7,75/10

Bobby’s in Deep Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Bobby’s in Deep… definitely took me by surprise. I mean, at first sight it’s just a story about a teenager. With the vast majority of anime being about teenagers, I expected this to be some average romance movie. Nevertheless, after watching this I can say that this movie felt unlike any other anime I’ve seen. The animation, characters, direction and plot: they’re all totally unique.

The movie is a portrait of a 17-year-old guy who likes motorbikes. The thing is, that the way in which he is portrayed is what stands out here. The pacing is really slow, but this allows the creators to show who he is. His problems are wonderfully realistic and miles away from just about any cliche, all really helped by an excellent scriptwriter for the dialogue and narration. This movie knows exactly what to way, when to say it, and when to just shut up and let the animation speak for itself. Together with a very pleasant 80s soundtrack this creates a wonderful atmosphere and character whose realistic portrayal should have been an example for the future, which it unfortunately didn’t become.

And as for the animation: expect a lot of different animation styles here. The director for this one is excellent in the way that he blends all of them together. A lot of shots of this movie don’t contain any faces or close-ups at all, along with a few montages and quite a number of still frames. In contrast however, the animation in some of the other scenes is amazingly smooth. To come with a bit of an indication here: some of the Key Animators for this movie were Koji Morimoto and Takashi Nakamura. Believe me, this shows.

This is the kind of slice of life movie that I really like: instead of random events, every part of this movie is carefully planned out to try and give a complete view of the lead character and portray him for who he is, and do justice to some of the major events in his life. It’s all wonderfully compiled together with an amazing ending in which just about everything comes together with both a great subtlety and a power. This might be the first time where Madhouse really showed how unique they can be when they want to.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Terrific build-up, says a lot with both the dialogue and the nonverbal communication.
Characters: 9/10 – An excellent portrait of a teenager with many subtle characterizations.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Not the biggest budget, but what it has is excellently used. Some of the animation is breathtaking. Excellent soundtrack.
Setting: 8/10 – Excellent backdrop of the way and place where a kid like him would live.

Suggestions:
– Gosenzosama Banbanza
– Hitsuji no Uta
– Nasu – Suitcase no Wataridori

Digimon Movie 3 – The Golden Digimentals Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




The first season of Digimon has a lot of sentimental value for me. I discovered it back in high school, when I was about 13 years old, and after Pokemon, it was the series that made me aware of what anime was, and how different it was from all the other cartoons that aired on television. And on top of that it had a great and very enjoyable cast of characters.

The second season, though… was a different story. Looking back, I have very little positive to say about it. It’s not really the ending that bugged me, aside from the epilogue, the final episodes were actually some of the few parts that did catch my attention, but overall it just covered boring and repetitive stories, while completely abandoning the few interesting subplots it introduced completely. The characters were nowhere as interesting as the ones from the first season, who were demoted into side-characters for very shallow reasons. It was overall just one big letdown, so originally I wasn’t planning on watching any more of the movies beyond the first two. Until I found out that Shigeyasu Yamauchi (the director of Casshern Sins and Yumekui Merry) directed the third movie.

And I’m glad I did. I mean, seriously: this movie is absolutely not what you’d expect from a movie targeted at kids. The direction of this movie is just unique for such a movie: it’s both adventurous, has gorgeous action and yet has many quiet and down to earth parts that make the characters wonderfully believable. This movie is without a doubt the best part of the second season.

The bad guy in this movie actually isn’t someone who is just out to destroy the world, or wreak havoc for the sake of wreaking havoc. His personality is simple, but he has a great backstory. The second part that makes this completely unlike most other adventure movies is the build-up in the first half. It’s nearly entirely dedicated to just showing the characters slowly travel from place A to place B, taking its time to bring them to life. There is none of the cheesy dialogue that you usually see in adventure movies, but instead the characters talk with each other believably, both verbally and non-verbally.

Now, the budget of this movie isn’t stellar, but still very impressive. The result is smooth animation during the quiet parts that really brings the cast to life. And as for the action scenes: they’re completely gorgeous. Shigeyasu Yamauchi knows like no other how to direct compelling action sequences, and this movie is another excellent example of this.

The flaws in this movie are in the details. Te most glaring is the one that has the characters hitchhike from New York to Denver. Now, I’m no American or anything, but is that even possible? Not to mention that the movie takes place in America, yet everyone talks Engrish. The cutting overall is a bit erratic. Sometimes this works great, but at others it feels like entire scenes are cut off. You especially need to watch the second half twice in order to really get what’s going on.

Despite these flaws though, I praise this movie for trying to be different from the original, its solid storytelling, its imagination and the way that it doesn’t try to spoon-feed itself to its audience. This movie has the mindset that I really wish more franchise-based movies would do nowadays, instead of just making movies for the sake of making movies. Yes, Toei, I’m looking at you.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Wonderfully told for a kids’ movie; great pacing, excellent climax.
Characters: 8/10 – The characters never really caught my attention in the TV-series. It says something for this movie when it actually made me care about them.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Shigeyasu Yamauchi excels in both the action and quiet scenes.
Setting: 8/10 – Dares to be different from the TV-series, though it does have a bit of a bad portrayal of America.

Suggestions:
– Digimon Movie 1
– Yumekui Merry
– Casshern Sins

Level E – 09

by psgels, posted in Level E



I love how despite there being multi-episode arcs in this series, every episode still feels different, and this arc in particular was an excellent example of this. The romance gets dropped, and instead this turns into a bit of a thriller, and as for the lead characters… Ouji returns and the episode is chock full of the addictive chemistry between Kraft and Ouji, making this episode even better than it already was.

I also loved that for once, an arc with a gimmicky premise like this doesn’t end with a cop-out. I mean, usually when the creators put the stake of the entire earth on something silly like this, they end up writing themselves into a corner and end up with a very cheesy and rushed ending. Here however, Ouji actually comes up with a plan to save the entire earth using clones and a whole lot of breaches of intergalactic treaties.

This episode also contained a few nice jabs at alien abductions, in quite a few different ways, from abductions while asleep, those classic light beams and suddenly feeling like 30 minutes disappeared. I also keep getting amazed at Ouji. His trick is that he’s either completely honest, or not honest at all, and his lies sound so sincere. When he said that he used to be a woman… oh lord.

The reason why I consider Level E to be one of the best comedies I’ve seen though, is really because of the big picture. I mean, standalone comedies that are funny are nice, but this series adds in so much more. The standalone stories that it tells are actually very good ones that could have worked well even without the humour, it has consistently created down to earth characters that are believable and relatable, and its backdrop of 90s alien fiction continues to create interesting backstories and fits really well in terms of the big picture. It’s just everything that this series does that still makes me consider this to be an amazing comedy, even though I do admit that the funniest arc was the first one.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

OVA Impressions: Seikai no Danshou

by psgels, posted in OVA Impressions, Seikai no Monshou



The Seikai franchise has two OVAs, one that takes place after the three TV-series, and one prequel. While the former felt like the creators were stuffing an entire novel into just fifty minutes, the latter is an interesting little side-story. Like the title suggests, this isn’t about Lafiel, but instead about her parents.

This OVA works as a background OVA, telling a bit more about who Lafiel’s parents were (about which we were mostly left in the dark throughout the TV-series), but as a standalone short story it also works pretty well. It’s got a good atmosphere, and although it’s simple it’s well told and paced.

And of course, as expected from this series the dialogue is excellent. The characters are once again very eloquent and a lot of this OVA just consists out of Lafiel’s parents talking to each other. The script continues to be interesting and blend in well with the story that’s going on.

If you’re planning to watch this OVA, I’d recommend to at least watch it after watching the first half of the first season, otherwise it will lose some of its meaning. It’s a nice watch for any fan of the franchise, though.
OVA Episode Rating: 8,25/10

Windaria Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Fantasy stories that focus on a war between two kingdoms, a light and a dark one, are a dime a dozen. When you make one, you really need to set yourself apart. Windaria did this through its development. If for the first half of the movie, you feel that the story is perhaps a bit too generic, then don’t worry: it’s meant to be that way.

Windaria takes your general fantasy set-up, and does a lot of things right with it. The animation is pretty good for 1986 standards, with a lot of fluid movements. The story at the beginning may be generic, but it’s well told: ample time is given to each of the major characters to flesh them out, the artists do a wonderful job to draw and animate the people from the two different countries, and the biggest flaw is probably the very stereotypical evil king.

Obviously since the development is the strongest part of this movie, I’m not going to say much about what happens next due to the spoilers and all. Let me just say that this movie knows how to use its build-up. Its ending especially is wonderful. The second half of this movie did some really neat things to the cast of characters and made sitting though the first half entirely worth it.

This one is definitely recommended if you like old fantasy movies. It’s underrated, exactly because of how much the first half looks like your average fantasy that DOESN’T develop its characters well, but this is one wonderful exception to this rule. Well acted, well developed and averting quite a few cliches, Windaria was a very interesting movie.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Excellent use of build-up, and a very solid fantasy story overall.
Characters: 9/10 – Excellent development.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Very fluid and a good soundtrack, though not the best for movie standard.
Setting: 8/10 – Starts off with a few too many cliches, but ends up as a great story of fantasy war.

Suggestions:
– Escaflowne – A Girl in Gaea
– Tales of Vesperia
– The Cockpit

OVA Impressions: Angel Densetsu

by psgels, posted in OVA Impressions



In another case of “don’t judge a book by its cover”, we have Angel Densetsu, a silly premise of a guy who has an incredibly scary face, made a lot better thanks to a very capable director. The budget of Angel Densetsu is very low, but despite that the timing of the different shots, plus the impact they make, is impeccable.

If there’s anything that this OVA is good at, it’s creating an atmosphere with minimal resources. The artwork in this series is simple, but it can be downright freaky at times, and the way in which everyone is just completely terrified of the lead character creates a wonderful little atmosphere here.

The story itself is just downright bad though. I mean, the dialogue and the scenario are just terrible and shatter any sense of suspense of disbelief. The story tries to portray this guy with a scary face but a heart of gold, but his inner monologues make it sound more like he’s some kind of deranged lunatic. His naivety also knows no bounds. Even in the most obvious cases, he sees no sense of hostility towards him at all. Heck, this guy makes Sawako from Kimi ni Todoke look like Stephen Fry in comparison.

The characters around him also make an elephant out of the tiniest mosquito around him, just to keep the story and the misunderstandings around this guy going. The big problem with Angel Densetsu is that it’s ridiculously forced. Not to mention that it’s based on a much larger manga, and that it just ends right after introducing a bunch of story-lines, making it more a commercial than an actual story. Check it out only if you’re looking for a good atmosphere, otherwise, give it a pass.
OVA Episode Rating: 7.25/10

Star Driver – 22

by psgels, posted in Star Driver



YES! YES! YES! What a way to start off the finale of this series!

To put the play here of all places, I love the idea. It was foreshadowing, it showed a completely different side, it was very different from the previous episodes, it was based on a solid idea, it had already gotten a lot of build-up, and at the same time it stays true to the series’ core: school life.

I’m not sure whether I’m the only one in this, but I personally love the series with short climaxes. It doesn’t always need to have months of build-up, but with the motto of “say more with less”, I’ve found that some of my most memorable climaxes are actually the ones who put their finales in a relatively short amount of time. After this episode, this means that there are just three episodes reserved for the climax of Star Driver. And this episode really pointed towards the fact that the creators are planning something really interesting for the final episodes here. Finally this series makes use of the fact that it’s an original story!

What really would have made this series a force to be reckoned with would have been more of these kinds of episodes. The ones that are based on a strong idea, and what would have allowed each episode to stand on its own, rather than just being a collection of episodes all about school life and robot battles. I mean, that’s why I’m currently such a big fan of Level E: all of its stories are different and based on great ideas rather than cliches. That’s the one thing that Star Driver lacked and what really could turned this into an amazing series.

What also was short but sweet in this episode: that aftermath. I mean, dear lord, how many new things did we learn about the characters in like, what? A minute? I mean, the stuffed animal talks, the president of the drama club is an alien, the cybodies come from space and Tauburn was specifically created for a human? Talk about creating intrigue for next week.

Overall, there is only one bloody show that aired during the past half year and that isn’t going to end within a month: Gosick. At the moment, the endings that are looking the most promising are the ones of Level E, Madoka Magica and Star Driver here. Let’s see which one can deliver the most interesting end here.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Mitsudomoe Zouryouchuu! Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Mitsudomoe



It’s rare for a comedy sequel to be better than the original. Here is one, though. The original Mitsudomoe had its moments of hilarity, but it also had many problems: milked out jokes, trying to be way more disgusting than what was tolerable, and the endlessly repeated forced misunderstandings between the characters. Those problems are actually fixed in the sequel, Mitsudomoe Zoryouchuu.

The keyword here is balance. In the sequel, the creators make sure that no character is overexposed or milked out. Everyone gets some decent time to show off his collection of quirks and jokes. Most episodes are separated into five sketches, and those sketches either centre around one theme or are completely random, but they continue to be different and dynamic. Even the final episode still is hilarious.

The humour in this series works especially well because of how it uses its characters: in the first season it relied a lot on innuendo humour, but this too is much more varied here. The series is at its best when there are a lot of different characters involved who all play off each other, where their emotions quickly change from one to the other. At these points it becomes incredibly dynamic and fun to watch.

The more solid execution also makes the characters a lot more down to earth and likable. The first season was way too full of toilet humour for this. The second season still has that, but it’s much more restrained. The result is that now, the characters in this show are much like your typical children with their childish antics and sometimes perverted minds. Most series about children in elementary school age try to portray them innocently, but Mitsudomoe goes out of its way to show their bratty and naive sides. The second season makes it surprisingly easy to relate to.

In Mitsudomoe 1, the ratio of sketches that worked versus the ones that didn’t work was about 50:50. In Mitsudomoe 2, this is around 75:25. Most episodes have one sketch that is absolutely hilarious, and several others that are quite funny. As for the bad ones though, those are the ones in which either the creators don’t try hard enough, the joke they use just falls flat, or the creators just fall back into the flaws of the first season by repeating jokes for too long. or just being disgusting for the sake of disgusting.

I wouldn’t recommend checking out Mitsudomoe 2 without having seen the first season, as it relies on running gags that were started in the first season. However, if you’ve seen the first season, then watching Mitsudomoe 2 will only make this show better. It has a number of bad sketches, but those are vastly outweighed by the good ones. It’s a much more solid and enjoyable comedy.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Hilarious, solid and varied comedy, knows most of the time that it shouldn’t milk its jokes.
Characters: 8/10 – Some characters are just bad. Most of them are pretty good though, especially their chemistry is on fire in this season.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Bridge’s debut could have been much worse.
Setting: 8/10 – It’s an elementary school. Yet much more believably presented than in the first season.

Suggestions:
– Muteki Kanban Musume
– Ga Geijutsuka Art Design Class
– Hanamaru Youchien

Mitsudomoe Special Episode

by psgels, posted in Mitsudomoe



Yeah, this one is part of the first season. The sexual innuendo is less subtle than ever, jokes get repeated and the misunderstanding jokes are back again. It still had its funny moments, but overall it was also a bit forced, and nowhere as hilarious as most of the episodes of the second season.

By far the worst part of this episode was the “Hitoha’s cheeks are like boobs” joke that just got repeated ad nauseum. It was a bad joke to begin with, but it was dragged out horribly and gave Yabecchi eventually an excuse to bring the misunderstandings back again when. The two parts about Mitsuba’s weight loss also had some of the same repeated jokes, but it had some good laughs. The sushi bit was pretty hilarious though.

One thing that I especially noticed in this episode was that it went a bit overboard with the facial reactions of everyone. Especially Mitsuba was yelling for the largest part, and there were a tad more overacted gasps than were comfortable. To close off this series, the previous episode really was a better choice.

Overall the past year has been interesting in the way that much less series were released than usual, and they were also much smaller than usual, the majority not even going beyond thirteen episodes. This allowed me to blog much more different series than usual, and also series that I normally never would have considered blogging: this series, Gosick and Zombie. It was an interesting year, but in the end I really do prefer the large seasons like the upcoming spring. Sure, there may be more crap, but there are also more interesting series. Blogging these pure comedies was fun, but I’m probably not going to weekly blog any of them for a while unless a comedy that is as good as Level E or Geijutsuka Art Design Class pops up.
Rating: (Enjoyable)