Hourou Musuko – 02

by psgels, posted in Hourou Musuko




Finally! Another good AIC series!. These guys really got on my nerves in 2010, in which they released a truckload of series and I only ended up liking one of those (Tentai Senshi Sunred, to be exact). This however is an excellent depiction of the bustling school life. It’s perhaps a bit on the angsty side, but the creators somehow succeeded in making a very slow paced slice of life series in which a lot of stuff is happening at the same time.

As someone who hasn’t read anything about the manga, I like the decision to start out in the middle of the manga. There are already too many series that only end up animating the first X volumes of their source material, and this is an interesting twist on the matter, especially considering how there is no way that Hourou Musuko is going to be longer than 11 episodes (Noitamina and all).

At first it’s a bit confusing, but this show explains where necessary and at this point I’ve finally got a good image of who the characters are. Whereas Aoi Hana’s cast was really small, Hourou Musuko’s is quite large, but that’s what I like about it. My problem with a lot of high school series is that they only bother to give a character to four or five important characters. Here, the entire classroom feels alive.

During this episode, I also nearly forgot at times that this is about cross dressers. It’s so unlike any other cross-dressing show I’ve seen, and this episode was about many more things than just the male lead’s gender issues. A major theme was with the female lead and her friends. It was nicely built up in the way that you only realize that it was building up to this when the major parts already started.

Overall I really like slowly learning more and more about these characters who already have a heap of backstory prior to the start of this series. The main downside is that I still have no idea which character is named which. I usually have to look up some characters’ names while writing these blog entries, but in this series it is really extreme: I even have no clue what the names of the two lead characters are…
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Fractale – 02

by psgels, posted in Fractale




So, the first time in which Noitamina is featuring on a moe adventure. On one hand, this did lead to this season having nothing but teenagers in it (save for only Wolverine), but for Noitamina it’s interesting to see that they’re trying out new things and directions. The announcement of Usagi Drop says enough that they haven’t sold out, and that this series is merely a way to diversify the timeslot. it’s setting in any case is bringing enough interesting stuff to the table.

Last week, I mentioned how the annoyance of the characters was probably going to be the major issue with this series. After the second episode, I still stand by that, but things did change a bit. In particular, the male lead showed that he can actually be a male lead: this episode showed enough of his sides, both his strengths and flaws. With a bit of development he should be fine to push this story forward, provided that his hormones aren’t going to act up too much like they did in the previous episode.

Instead we have this new girl, along with that team rocket clone. My problem with them is that they feel artificially stupid and oblivious to their surroundings. The team rocket clone are just a bunch of annoying morons whose saving grace is that they seem to work for someone who knows what he’s talking about, while the new girl (who is probably going to be the female lead) acted really strangely when she ended up destroying that trailer camp. She got better as the episode went on, though.

I was going to write the following down as a flaw: the way in which nobody really seems to notice that new girl as she ended up destroying the trailer park. But then again, as I rewatched the episode, I pretty much realized that people aren’t able to see her. The setting is definitely the best part of this series: I like its ideas, the way it’s portrayed, and this episode also showed that it knows how to put in these small details in its storytelling. Oh, and the background art is also really gorgeous.

Now, compared to Kannagi’s first two episodes the starting episodes of Fractale didn’t have the same production values or slick characterization. Still, after the episode 2 point Kannagi pretty much went nowhere and drastically decreased in quality, while I don’t really see the same thing happening with Fractale: it’s got a lot of potential in its setting. All that’s left is to hope is that the more annoying characters won’t get in its way.
Rating: * (Good)

RahXephon Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




It’s amazing to think that even in the early days of Bones, they already managed to gather a ridiculous amount of talent. I mean, they immediately showed how good they are with animating down to earth fight scenes with Angelic Layer, they got to do the Escaflowne movie, which had some fantastic animation, and not to mention Cowboy Bebop’s movie (of which I’ve heard many good movies). Then they came with RahXephon and really cemented themselves as a unique production company.

First and foremost, RahXephon is an example of the heights that anime can attain when they make full use of of their creative liberties. For something that aired nine years ago, it just has absolutely fantastic ideas within its graphics. The mecha design is exquisite, and unlike any other series I’ve seen. The use of CG is brilliant, especially for its time. The cleanup animation may leave a lot to be desired, but this show more than makes up for it with its gorgeous artwork and animation. The scenes in this series are also really well directed: this show is full of ideas, from the small details to large plot twist.

Now, as for the story itself though, you’re definitely going to like a bit of a mind-screw once in a while if you want to be able to enjoy this series. In particular, this is in no way a series that tries to explain everything that’s going on through it’s airtime: it leaves a lot unmentioned, and it especially refrains from mentioning exactly why everything is happening in this series. Instead, it just leaves this up to the viewers to make their own interpretations. I personally really like these kinds of series, but if you don’t then prepare to go “wtf” quite a few times throughout the series’ airtime because even for my standards this show ended up leaving a bunch of crucial unanswered questions behind.

Now, one thing that annoyed me a bit is that the cast of characters in this series is a bit of a mixed bag. It can be very good, and the acting is mostly rock solid, and the backgrounds of the characters are overall pretty interesting, but at the same time this show also spends quite a bit of its time on teenaged angst, unfortunately to the point where it takes up too much of the storyline and just goes on for too long. Characters refuse to talk to each other for strange reasons, and various romantic relationships take ages to get from A to B due to superficial padding.

Overall though, while this isn’t a show to watch for its cast, it still has a lot to like here, and I’m impressed what the people from Bones pulled off here. And to be honest, I had a really difficult time deciding whether to give it a rating of 85 or of 87,5, because even nine years after it aired it still is unique. Unfortunately, I do have to admit that it had some parts that were annoying. Nevertheless, it did have got the kind of mindset that I really like, where it put more focus on being interesting than on being flawless.

Storytelling: 9/10 – A lot of subtle details in the storytelling, the pacing is slow, the story is vague on purpose and yet packs some great and interesting scenarios.
Characters: 8/10 – Too much teenaged angst and characters who make strange actions, but the rest of the cast is solid enough to make up for it.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Unique graphics for a TV-series. Brilliant use of CG, especially for its time.
Setting: 8/10 – Inspired by Evangelion, but packs more than enough great ideas and details of its own. Could have been more solid, though.

Suggestions:
– Neon Genesis Evangelion
– Argento Soma
– Darker than Black

Level E – 02

by psgels, posted in Level E



As for the series I’m not going to blog:
– Beelzebub is just crap. Why does this director keep getting work?
– Zombie is being overshadowed by the other comedies this season. It’s funny, but not the funniest of the season.
– I’m probably going to pick up Dragon Crisis after Showa Monogatari’s four preview episodes end. It’s enjoyable, but I don’t have any room for it right now.

Meanwhile, Level E is just unbelievable: this second episode was even better than the first. This show is absolutely amazing, and just about every scene in this episode was just awesome. It’s been a while since I’ve seen such a good comedy as this one, and this is coming after the Autumn Season of 2010, which had more excellent comedies than you could shake a stick at. The comedic timing, the build-up and voice acting in this show are all just perfect.

I also loved how this show subverted various alien cliches. Usually when aliens come to earth, they try to blend in by putting on some kind of people suit, right? This episode premiered some new aliens as just human-like, but they travel around in these bizarre cheesy alien costumes. Or take those scenes in which the aliens are surprised by some of humanity’s inventions, which this episode parodied by having that blond-haired alien enjoy the heck out of the snow on a broken television set.

I also love the main characters. Yukitaka and Miho in particular, as they turned out to be nothing like the first episode made them out to be. Yukitaka already had an interesting background with his history as a bench-warmer at Japan’s top baseball school. This episode also revealed that he was a former punk (and used that extremely well, by the way). Miho meanwhile threw all stereotypes away in this episode with her own unique backstory, being raised in an extremely paranoid way. I especially like how sharp she is: she immediately notices everything around her, including Yukitaka’s backstory. Seriously, a lot more female leads should follow her example.

In fact, there are a ton of characters who are completely different from what they appear: it was for a long while a mystery what these men in suit were, and the cat turned out to be… a walking alien camera. This is just full of these awesome details and nice ideas.

Oh and on a side-note: don’t try to look up the long-haired alien’s name on sites as Myanimelist and AniDB. I did, and unfortunately just spoiled myself to an awesome joke that the creators have in store for us for the next number of episodes and that only amazed me even more of how extremely well this show is planned out.
Rating: **** (Fantastic)

Heartcatch Precure – 47

by psgels, posted in Heartcatch Precure



Okay. That was awesome.

I mean, Cure moonlight once again proves here that she’s my favourite character of this series. An entire episode devoted to her fight with Sabaaku and Dark Precure, only being helped by Cure Blossom. In just about any other mahou shoujo, characters like her often take up the role of a supporter in the background: creators would have put priority on the real main character, in this case Cure Blossom. Here instead we get an epic fight between her and Dark Precure, worthy of the climax of this series.

On top of that: Professor Sabaaku. Dear lord, he’s Yuri’s father. I always wondered what happened to Yuri’s father, but somehow it only occurred to me that he might be also part of Sabaku when his mask fell down. That really was an awesome plot twist, to think that he created Dark Precure, entirely because he wanted to beat his own daughter. That Dune is one bastard here. If he somehow found out what Cure Moonlight would become later (presumably because he got some sort of similar radar like the one that the mascots have), he really could have pulled it off by brainwashing her father.

And the best part is that things aren’t even over yet. This episode ended at the exact point where Cure Moonlight beat Dark Precure. Like, immediately after that. No aftermath. Heck, not even a “curing scene”. This really convinced me that the creators are trying to save the most heartwarming moments for last, which is also why we haven’t gotten to see Kumojacky and Cobraja’s real forms yet. I mean, pretty much the only bad guy left at this point is Dune. With two episodes left, the creators can really pull off an amazing finale at this point.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Star Driver – 15

by psgels, posted in Star Driver



The first episode in which no cybody appears whatsoever. And at the same time it’s also one of the best episodes so far. I mean, how many plot twists did this episode feature on one single character anyway?

This entire episode was dedicated to Mizuno, and only at the end do we get to see the part that the previous episode was building up to: the Crux Brigade making their move. The rest of this episode was all about character development when Mizuno finally realizes that Takuto is into someone else and also where her mother returns home, after abandoning her children years ago. By far the best part of this episode was when she tried to leave the island though: that’s where her character really came together.

And those weren’t even the only plot twists in this episode. First of all it’s finally revealed that Head is indeed the painter R. I mean, there was no way for him NOT to be, but after finally having this confirmed it does have some interesting implications: this episode again hinted at how this guy is supposed to have this huge history. On top of that, he’s actively trying to recruit Sugata again, but this time without using mind control. Sugata meanwhile finally decided to break off his engagement to Wako (if Takuto wins a duel from him, at least). This episode was really hinting at how something is going to happen to both him and Takuto. But yeah, this is Star Driver: whenever it’s trying to hint at something, it’s actually hinting at something completely different.

Oh. And who the hell were those sudden new members of Vanishing Age?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Ookiku Furikabutte – 38,5

by psgels, posted in Ookiku Furikabutte



Apologies, I seem to have missed Ookiku Furikabutte’s DVD only episode. It’s a bit of a second epilogue and it’s very much like the DVD only episode of the first season: focused on the aftermath, both for the lead team and the ones from the opposing team. It’s been a while since the series finished, so I had a bit of trouble refreshing my memories and remembering who was who again, but overall I liked this episode.

This episode pretty much did everything it needed to do to wrap up this season, while at the same time leaving with a huge “we’re not done yet so read the manga”-end in which the different team members show their ambitions for the team (they did this once before, right?). We see some interviews, Abe’s visit to the doctor and also the opposing team as they mentally prepare for their next match, along with the anxieties of their captain.

I really wonder whether or not a third season will arrive. Overall the DVD and BD-sales have not been bad at all, averaging at around eight thousand copies per volume. This is however considerably less than how much the first season sold, not to mention the terrible reception of this series in the western world. Ah well, it’s a matter of time before we know for sure. There was a gap of three years between the first and second season after all.
Rating: * (Good)

Mitsudomoe Zouryouchuu! – 02

by psgels, posted in Mitsudomoe



As for the series I’m not going to blog:
– Let me get back to Gosick when either Heartcatch Precure ends or Showa Monogatari’s first four preview episodes are over. By that time the characters will hopefully be less annoying.
– I remember noting how Cardfight Vanguard at least didn’t contradict its own rules in its first episode. It did in its second, though. Not to mention the huge amounts of cheese.
– Freezing’s second episode was even worse than the first. Plus, it has one of the worst male leads of the season, only eclipsed by the one from Cardfight Vanguard and Oniichan.
– Oniichan no Koto Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne… just… no.

Meanwhile, there are two reasons why I decided to blog Mitsudomoe:
1. Convenience.
2. It’s rare for a comedy sequel to actually be better than the original.

In regards to the first reason: Mitsudomoe 2 will only have 8 episodes. That will be very handy considering this. In case you haven’t looked at its official website, let me elaborate: the official site lists the following release dates for its DVDs:

Blu-ray＆DVD 『SUPEARNATURAL THE ANIMATION』
ファースト・シーズン/全22話
◆2月23日⇒Vol.1-3（第1-6 話） レンタル開始／Vol.1（第1-2 話）発売
◆3月9日⇒Vol.4-6（第7-12 話） レンタル開始／BOX1（第3-12 話）発売
◆3月23日⇒Vol.7-9（第13-18 話） レンタル開始
◆4月6日⇒Vol.10-11（第19-22 話） レンタル開始／BOX2（第13-22 話）発売

Basically, episodes 1-6 will be available from February 23rd, episodes 7-12 from March 9th, episodes 13 to 18 on March 23rd and the final four episodes on April 6th. That is a whopping twenty-two episodes of Supernatural in only a month and a half. If Mitsudomoe ends a month earlier, then at least I’ll have a bit more space in the hopes of being able to properly cover it….

As for the the second reason: this sequel is just unbelievable. The first season had its problems: about 50% of the jokes were hilarious, the other 50% just fell horribly flat. In the second season, this ratio shifted to 80% of hilarity with 20% of jokes that just aren’t as good. These past two episodes have been absolutely hilarious, and to my surprise this second episode was even better than the first.

In this episode, this show finally shows that it knows the difference between repeating a joke ad nauseam and running jokes. This episode took the material of the first season, and really started toying with it. The start of the episode was the perfect example, in which that creepy occult girl suddenly appeared. Right from the start, you could sense the tension and the huge probability of things going wrong.

It also helps that these episodes were much more varied than the first season. Even the previous episode which was just focused on one big story never felt like it dragged on. This episode was the complete opposite in that it had many different scenes that prevented these jokes from dragging or milking themselves. The entire second half for example was about Christmas, and yet we saw the preparations to the Christmas party, the Christmas party itself, the hopeless way in which the teacher spends it, the part where santa clause arrives, and its aftermath. The story here flows much more naturally than the first season, which just was a bunch of random scenes pasted together.

Now, this show still has its mind in the gutter, but it’s much less deep than the first season: it only makes a tasteless joke when it’s got a really good one (like Hitoha’s hairy leg) and even the resident pervert didn’t keep on rambling about panties like he did in the first season. On top of that, this show can also boast Mitsuba: the first female lead character who actually doesn’t look like a supermodel in a long while (Kuragehime only counts half, because the only thing that prevented Tsukimi from the same thing is that she didn’t bother to spend time on her looks).

Now, there were some bad jokes in this episode. The female teacher… even this sequel didn’t really manage to make anything out of her. She’s such a hopeless character that I don’t think that anything can make her funny. The mother joke also felt a bit flat. Still, this episode had me in stitches during the largest part. This is really one of the series this season that majorly exceeded my expectations.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Letter Bee – 40

by psgels, posted in Letter Bee



This episode was evil. The more I think about it, the more I want to curse the creators. To end with such a cliff-hanger, how are we supposed to wait another week for that?!

Seriously, the majority of this episode was so incredibly sweet. It was very sappy, but with this series it only makes sense for Lag to be overjoyed that he can finally spend time with Gauche, and actually carry out a number of deliveries with him. It’s finally time for Gauche to pick his life back up where he left of and the reunion to Aria and Sylvette was really sweet and emotional.

And then Thunderland came with the announcement that he just realized that Gauche might have been putting up an entire act. It was built up really well and worked as an excellent plot twist. What exactly went on in his mind though is a complete mystery. We know that he regained his memories of both his time as Gauche and as Noir: if he still was the old Noir he wouldn’t have gotten along with Lag this much; he could easily have smacked him in the head and ran off. At the same time though, the bugger found his duties as Noir more important than his family. I’m really dying to see his thought-process there.

On a completely unrelated side-note: it seems that Bleach is actually going to end (there is no way that that band would screw something like that up if it wasn’t true). Great news, because that means that Studio Pierrot finally have more resources available to make interesting stuff again. Having them adapt both Naruto and Bleach at the same time really hurt their output of interesting series. Perhaps Level E is the first sign of this. Or perhaps Beelzebub is going to take its place. To be honest, I hope that that last thing isn’t going to be true.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Bakuman – 15

by psgels, posted in Bakuman



After the eventful previous episode, we’re back to a leisurely pace this week, centred mostly on its aftermath, building up and one new major development: Mio’s debut as a voice actress. The romance itself didn’t really change during the past few episodes due to that strange promise of not wanting to meet each other until they’ve both made their dreams come true, but thankfully that’s about the only thing about this show that’s currently not moving (albeit really slowly). That’s pretty much this show’s biggest strength at this point.

This episode did give Moritaka some extra motivation though, now that he knows about it. Mio also showed some new sides of her: the conflict between her modesty and her dreams of becoming a voice actress. She did get herself quite a rare chance here (I can only imagine how different the voice acting business works from the manga writing business) and it took a while for her to really accept that she just made a major step toward becoming a full fledged voice actress.

The start of this episode meanwhile (the recap at the start was one minute and ten seconds long, by the way; I think I’m going to keep track of those times from now on…) showed also a bit more about the difference between Nizuma Eiji and our two lead characters. Because he’s on his own, he has this talent of making things up as he goes along, and somehow making it interesting (I’d like to see how that guy handles continuity, by the way), but with two people this suddenly becomes a lot more difficult as you have to make sure that you’re both on the same line of thought. At the same time though, Moritaka and Akito also don’t strike me as the pure version of the “calculating type”, in the way that Nizuma Eiji is the pure form of the “genius type”.
Rating: * (Good)