2010 Summary Part 2: Character Edition

by psgels, posted in Yearly Summaries

And here is the second out of four 2010 Summary posts I’ve planned for this year. I’ve noticed that during previous years, I paid rather little attention to the different characters that appeared in each year, so this time I decided to devote an entire post to them. This post contains a bunch of character-based awards, along with my top 6 of favourite supporting characters, male characters and female characters. These were really the characters who caught my attention the most and made the biggest impression on me, so yes: they’re quite personal lists. Feel free to share your own favourite characters of 2010 in the comment section. 😉

Most annoying character

Ookami Kakushi – Hiroshi Kuzumi

This award only goes up for the series that I finished watching. If I didn’t drop Amagami SS on its half-way point, half its cast would probably have walked away with this award. Another character who really annoyed me this year was Elcea from The World God Only Knows as an incredibly obnoxious moeblob, but Hiroshi, the lead character from Ookami Kakushi takes the cake. Throughout the entire series, he’s supposed to be the central character, and yet he does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. He just runs around randomly, says the most generic lines and never gets the story anywhere. This guy… who found it a good idea to make him the central character?

Worst Character

Iron Man – Tony Stark

Again, this only goes for the shows that I actually finished this year, but dear god. At the start of this year, I really could not have guessed that I’d pick an adult for this category. Still, there’s so much wrong with Tony Stark’s character that I hardly know where to start. It’s a complete bastardization of a Cobra-wannabe, who runs after women with cheesy one-liners at one time and keeps on sprouting ridiculously corny morals the other. As a superhero he also makes some of the dumbest decisions out there. I really hope that Wolverine will fare better. A honorable mention goes to Il Re from Togainu no Chi, just for what the heck he turned into in the final two episodes of that series.

Best Cast of Minor Characters

Giant Killing

This award goes to the series that had my favourite side and supporting characters, both major and minor. With this award, I especially want to congratulate the series that came with huge casts, and yet gave every character his own purpose, story and development. Full Metal Alchemist and the Armed Librarians were especially good at this, but also Shiki and the way that it gave a unique feel to all of its villagers stands out and Star Driver is also doing a pretty good job so far. None were as good as Giant Killing though: the entire series is about teamwork, and how everyone involved with football is important, from the players to the coaches, the management and the supporters. All of the characters in Giant Killing were great to watch and together they painted a wonderful whole.

Best Voice Acting

Sarai-ya Goyou

This year had a lot of comedies where you could really hear that the voice actors were having the time of their lives: Gag Manga Biyori and Tentai Senshi Sunred had very simple animation, but this gave their voice actors a lot of freedom that they used really well. Beyond that, Full Metal Alchemist also had a very inspired voice cast and Yojou-han’s endlessly fast monologues were also a delight to follow. Ookiku Furikabutte delivered a greatly realistic and down to earth performance, but in the end I decided to pick Sarai-ya Goyou for this category. The voice actors are both restrained and deliver with a lot of emotions, and they really seem to understand their characters.

Best Character Development on a single character

Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei – Watashi

There were a few characters this year that were really well developed throughout their series. A simple form of this is Kobato, who grew up wonderfully as a character. Then there also are these long-running series like Full Metal Alchemist and Cross Game who make great use of their time to show the span of several years. Especially Kou, Aoba and Edward go through these great, subtle changes. For great changes that are anything but subtle, there was Shiki with Toshio who really hardened up as a character with all of the things that happened to him. The best though, was Watashi: the entire series is devoted to showing his antics, and in how many different ways he can change depending on the choices that he makes. Usually the series with the great character development are the long ones, but this is one series that puts more character-development in than most other.

Best Character Development on an entire Cast

Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra

Armed Librarians was just amazing: in every arc, it just took a bunch of characters and developed them in a way that just kept surprising me. Even the long series of Cross Game and Full Metal Alchemist, which both had around twice the amount of episodes to develop their cast didn’t do it as interesting as Bantorra did it. They do take up the second and third place, though: the way in which they show several years subtly change their entire cast made them into some really memorable series. I also want to give a honorable mention to Rainbow: granted there was a lot of stuff wrong with its characterization, but it really tried to give its seven main characters as much development as possible, and that’s really what saved that series from being yet another cheesy drama.

Top 6 Supporting Characters

#6: Rainbow – Ishihara

Ishihara is actually a character that I for a long while considered way too over the top to be likable, often dubbing him “Psycho Guard”. But in the end that’s what his charms turned out to be: he was such a ridiculously over the top character that he became priceless at the point where Rainbow’s plot really got interesting. He’s the ultimate of sadistic characters, but at the same time his development and conclusion had me nailed to the screen.

#5: Kuroshitsuji – Alois Trancy

I only noticed this once I had fully compiled this top list, but my favourite supporting characters of 2010 are chock full of testosterone while surprisingly this isn’t necessarily the case for my favourite main characters. The characters on this list are just so out there that they immediately caught my attention, despite not being the central characters. In the end, Ciel and Sebastian remained the central characters of Kuroshitsuji’s second season, despite all of the hints that previously pointed at this sequel. I still believe that Alois should have been good enough as a lead character himself: his flamboyance totally dominated every scene he was in and it was always great to see his rambling.

#4: Giant Killing – Kazuki Kuroda

Much less over the top than the two previous entries, Kuroda was the lovable nagger of the series: he was constantly complaining and annoying the people around him, but he did it in such a way that it just instantly became charming. Especially when he was trying to pick a fight with people much taller than him. As the series goes on, we also learned quite a bit about him and some of the soccer players around him.

#3: Shiki – Tomio Ookawa

Tomio Ookawa is hard core. He mostly stood out in the latter half of Shiki through his actions, but this guy genuinely impressed me. The exact reason why is riddled with spoilers, but as a supposedly random villager, his change and development were a part that made the final act of Shiki truly memorable.

#2: Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – King Bradley

The thing with King Bradley is that even the animators loved him as a character: every single action scene involving him portrays him as an unstoppable beast with absolutely gorgeous and imaginative drawings. This guy is ridiculously competent and at the same time his backstory gives him a surprising amount of depth.

#1: Shiki – Tatsumi

When I first saw Tatsumi, I laughed at his ridiculous haircut. Throughout the series however, he really made me take all of that back. He is an excellent villain: just when things are starting to look good, this guy shows up. His loyalty and aggression really made him stand out as one of the top characters of 2010, especially considering how he as a villain has so relatively little airtime.

Top 6 Male Characters

#6: Cross Game – Kitamura Kou

First and foremost, Kitamura Kou is a wonderful character to watch during the many slice of life moments in this series. His often-faked nonchalance is consistently witty and enjoyable to watch. He forms a good combination with just about every other character of Cross Game, but his relationship with Aoba really stands out with the way that the creators just consistently kept subtly poking it. His development is amazing, with fifty episodes dedicated to his growth from elementary schooler to a high school student.

#5: xxxHolic Rou – Watanuki

Watanuki only appeared in one single OVA this year, so he counts too as a character of 2010. I mean, before this OVA Watanuki already was a really well developed and sympathetic character, and here the Rou OVA comes and SPOILER is suddenly SPOILER and not to mention that SPOILER. It’s a very spoilerific OVA so I’m not going to detail what happened in this Summary, but he really impressed me.

#4: Sarai-ya Goyou – Yaichi

Sarai-ya Goyou had sublime characterizations, so a few characters were bound to turn up in these lists. Yaichi was an enigmatic character throughout the entire series, subtly menacing, yet he had a ton of different sides. His conclusion was especially stunning, but he was portrayed consistently excellent throughout the entire series.

#3: Shiki – Toshio Ozaki

The reason Toshio is amongst my favourite characters has a lot to do with the things he does through the series. Again due to spoiler reasons I can’t exactly explain what part of him left such a huge impression on me, but those who watched the series can probably imagine what I’m referring to. I will say that we don’t often get doctors as main characters, and this makes him a unique main character for this series to work with.

#2: Sarai-ya Goyou – Masanosuke Akitsu

Masanosuke was completely unlike your average samurai, lacking in confidence due to his timid personality. He had a subtle background, and the entire series was about him coming to terms with both himself and his new friends where he was forced to question his own morals. He was a terrific lead character with excellent development throughout the series, and the chemistry he had with the rest of the cast worked in just about every way.

#1: Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei – Watashi

This top 6 is really dominated by Noitamina, but both Shiki, Sarai-Ya Goyou and Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei featured some truly terrific characters, al in their own way. My favourite was Watashi, though. It’s like I said above: every single episode was dedicated to developing Watashi in a different way, depending on the choices he made. He was generally a loser, but in some he was actually successful. In some he was an idiot, in others he turned into a prankster and in others he completely wasted his time. Everything comes together wonderfully at the end, everything about his development feels completely calculated. And that’s what made me chose him as my favourite male character of 2010.

Top 6 Female Characters

#6: Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – Noloty Maruchie

Noloty could be a main character or a side one; Armed Librarians always was a bit vague on who its main characters were, but with the impact she made on the story, I’m considering her a main one. The thing is that with Noloty, she could have easily been a really annoying character: she’s the epitome of morality. But the creators played it so pure, making her naivety both a cure and a curse with long-lasting implications. Because of this she avoided the problem that most characters with strong morals have: becoming preachy.

#5: Seikimatsu Occult GakuinMaya Kumashiro

Occult Gakuin’s biggest fault was that it spent too much time on Maya’s character, and too little on the plot. This left a really unbalanced series. But granted, Maya was an awesome character in the end. She was ridiculously fun to watch as a strong character with plenty of flaws and her deadpan attitude to everything was consistently entertaining. On top of that, Occult Gakuin is one of the first shows who can actually boast some good five-minute DVD-specials that show a very cute younger version of her.

#4: Cross Game – Tsukishima Aoba

The creators really had a knack for portraying Aoba in situations that turned out completely different from what you first thought they were. Aoba is a very talented baseball player and teacher to Kou, and yet it’s tragic that due to being a girl, she can’t really participate in official matches. Her loyalty to Wakaba combined with her wonderful realistic portrayal made her a character who was consistently enjoyable throughout 50 episodes.

#3: Letter Bee – Nichi

Nichi is awesome in just about everything she does. Her innocence is both comedic gold and captivating in the serious scenes. She works well in combination with just about every other character due to her childish jealousy and loyalty.

#2: Kobato – Hanato Kobato

Clamp… you did it again. I’m not sure why, but they really have a talent to create captivating characters with really strong developments, and Kobato was 2010’s addition to this. For most of Kobato’s first half, she was this typical ditzy female character who just runs around, but as the series moved on, she more and more grew up, found her identity and her conclusion was amongst the best of the year. I usually like strong characters, but Kobato’s charms and innocence really won me over.

#1: Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – Hamyuts Meseta

This number one spot was a no-brainer for me. Hamyuts Meseta is in a completely different league from all of the other characters this year. She single-handedly took the concept of a strong female character and gave a totally new meaning to it. She was just a fantastic anti-heroine throughout the entire series, and her wishes to die were only a slight hint to her eventual back-story. Hamy consistently kicked ass when she appeared on the screen and her entire appearance was like a steam train: nearly unstoppable.

December Summary

by psgels, posted in Monthly Summaries

As usual in December this summary is a little earlier and smaller than usual in order to give me some time to work on my 2010 summary. I’ve planned three posts and for some reason I found it a good idea to make this year’s summary much bigger than I did with previous years, so I really need that time.

As for the past Autumn season, it was definitely an interesting one. In all of the years I’ve been blogging, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a major season (as in Spring and Autumn) with so few series that go beyond thirteen episodes. This lead to a lot of short but sweet series. Nothing is really in the realms of classics, but there still was a lot to like about the different series that aired. Probably the thing that I liked the most about this season is the many surprises it carried: for every show that performed disappointingly, there also was a show that came from nowhere and turned out to be much, much better than expected.

#24 (new) – Starry Sky – (3,75/10) – Ten minutes, just to glorify an incredibly overused cliche. Studio Deen, what the heck do you think you’re doing?
#23 (25) – Iron Man – (5,25/10) – The end was completely generic, just like the entire series. Any hope for this show to redeem itself went down the toilet with the decision for who got to be the final villain.
#22 (23) – Togainu no Chi – (5,5/10) – This show completely lost it in its final two episodes. It really feels like the creators stopped caring, that’s how bad it was. Il Re’s changes were just completely baffling, and the entire conclusion was just a mishmash of poorly built-up plot twists and incredibly poor animation.
#21 (20) – Arakawa Under the Bridge – (6,75/10) – Well, this ended with a big resounding “meh”. I hoped that the final episodes would at least show the journey to Venus, but even that got shafted in favour of this random unfunny fighting tournament that just went on forever.
#20 (17) – Nurarihyon no Mago – (7,25/10) – Agh, what a disappointment. This entire month I was waiting for some sort of hook for a second season, and it never came, delivering a boring final battle against a boring villain instead. That second season is really going to have to make up its mind: either go entirely for an anime original arc, or just stay faithful to the manga. This series just showed that you can’t do both at the same time.
#19 (21) – The World God Only Knows – (7,5/10) – the book girl arc was certainly not the worst of the series, although it still was rather cheesy. That final episode was just weird, though. And I’m still not sure whether this was in a good or a bad way.
#18 (19) – MM! – (7,5/10) – So in the end, this show never really concluded anything. It has passed by as a very messy harem, but this month again was quite enjoyable enough.
#17 (16) – To Aru Majutsu no Index – (7,75/10) – The current arc of Index is about average. The back-story is nice, and the characters have their good moments… but also their annoying moments. It’s a good thriller, but a number of the female side-characters were just beyond obnoxious: Mikoto’s mother is just a giant boob joke, while Index is more annoying than she ever was in this arc.
#16 (18) – Fortune Arterial – (7,75/10) – The ending was strong, but I really would have liked to see a 10 minute epilogue: the way it is now this show is inconclusive. I have to praise this show though, because the build-up to the finale was surprisingly good.
#15 (14) – Bakuman – (8/10)

This show is nicely bubbling along. The pacing is sloooow, but nothing bad has happened yet: every episode so far did progress the characters, so only time can tell whether it’s going to work out or not.

#14 (9) – Yumeiro Patissiere – (8/10)

I really did not expect this show to end at episode thirteen. It was also a completely silly conclusion that just screamed convenience. Still, it advanced quite a few relationships and it was a lot of fun to watch in the process.

#13 (15) – Katanagatari – (8,25/10)

I didn’t really like Emonzaemon’s final fight, but overall the end here was a pretty interesting one, with nice twists that still retained the dialogue.

#12 (12) – Shinryaku! Ika-Musume – (8,25/10)

The ending sucked! Seriously, I have no idea what the creators were trying to do with the final two segments, but it didn’t work. But also, that’s about the only thing of this series that I didn’t like this month, so it all evens out. Especially Squid Girls interpretation of Teruterubouzus was just completely hilarious.

#11 (13) – Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru – (8,25/10)

Overall this was a solid conclusion to a solid series. Its trips into the supernatural were unexpected, but worked well most of the time, and I especially liked that old guy. This month too gave a lot of neat characterization to the main cast, and overall I’m very happy with how things turned out.

#10 (11) – Tantei Opera Milky Holmes – (8,25/10)

Haha! Even the finale was taking the piss out of itself. It really was brilliant, and at the same time an action-packed finale, which is something that you don’t often see in comedies (see Squid Girl).

#9 (9) – Otome Youkai Zakuro – (8,5/10)

It’s a great conclusion for this series: most of the characters received a final bit of development, and this final month really did justice to them. The backstory of Zakuro’s mother was especially interesting and it’s as wonderfully told as ever.

#8 (6) – Star Driver – (8,5/10)

Star Driver is finally coming together as a character study now that it’s revisiting previous characters, and the cast is definitely getting more and more depth. Let’s hope that it can keep this up for its second half.

#7 (10) – Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt – (8,5/10)

Panty and Stocking really was on fire this month: they tried out a ton of interesting ideas, and the finale kicked ass in many different ways. My only complaint was that the pre-finale was a tad cheesy, but apart from that the creators really made up for the lackluster first episodes of this series.

#6 (2) – Kuragehime – (8,5/10)

Kuragehime is still great, but it lacks the energy that made the previous two months so addictive. Most of this can be blamed on a sulking lead character, but even when this show kicked down a notch, it still packs some great characterization and jokes.

#5 (3) – Shinrei Tantei Yakumo – (8,5/10)

Completely opposite of what the first half of the series was, the final arc of Yakumo really took its time to fully tell its story and it was a great little ending that did justice to the different characters.

#4 (8) – Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu – (8,5/10)

For its finale, Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu pulled something completely unexpected for its final two episodes… and it actually worked. I mean, there still are huge holes in the story with so much material left unanimated, but for a series that once really annoyed me, the final two episodes really left a good aftertaste for this series.

#3 (5) – Letter Bee – (8,75/10)

Letter Bee has a wonderful cast of characters, and that really was the main focus of this month, as they really allowed the plot to shine. On top of that, it was also a major month for the storyline itself and I really like how things are developing.

#2 (1) – Heartcatch Precure – (8,75/10)

This month was mostly building up for the big finale, and it was utterly adorable while doing so, which made the latest episode in which Dune finally arrives hit extra hard. Now that the ending is so near, this series really managed to stay true to itself, while also carrying on to add to its different characters.

#1 (4) – Shiki – (9,25/10)

This series just became utterly amazing in its final stretch. After months of build-up, it finally ends up using its final trump card and that has lead to an incredible climax. It hasn’t ended yet, but I see very little that can get in this series’ way of delivering the best ending of the season.

Otome Youkai Zakuro Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Otome Youkai Zakuro was another one of those series that went under the radar this season. And granted, when looking at its premise it seems like a very simple youkai series. However, it’s a series that really shines through its execution and it does a great job combining the youkai genre with the romance one.

It’s the kind of series that perhaps doesn’t do anything new, but what it does it does really well. The three lead couples are all charming, each in their own way and especially Agemaki and Zakuro are two very good main characters who are both more than just romantic stereotypes. The simplicity of this series also allows the creators to put in a lot of detailed character development, and that especially manifests itself in Zakuro’s background, but the entire main cast emerges from this series with some depth.

the only real flaw of this show is its restriction to some cliches, like Zakuro the Tsundere, or a villain who listens to a few overused archetypes. It’s well told though, so despite these cliches it’s really able to put an emotional charge to just about every episode. It’s very consistently told and at the same time the drama is genuine enough to get nowhere near the levels of cheese, thanks to some subtle characterization.

It’s a great recomendation if you’re looking for some light romance. the story itself is well paced and keeps a great balance between the romantic developments between the characters, and the actual story and the growth of their characters. Autumn 2010 had many sleeper hits. This is one of the biggest ones.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Well balanced, treats its cast seriously and can be both very subtle and pack a punch.
Characters: 9/10 – Characters are neatly laid out, the main ones have a lot of depth and backstory, but it’s especially the relationship between them that really well done.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Great artwork throughout the entire series.
Setting: 8/10 – Youkai series aren’t new, but it’s nevertheless a very solid setting for this series.

Suggestions:
– Rozen Maiden
– Ga-Rei Zero
– Natsu no Arashi

Otome Youkai Zakuro – 13

by psgels, posted in Autumn 2010 Kaleidoscope



I really would have liked to see Otome Youkai Zakuro go on for 26 episodes instead of just thirteen, but ah well, at least this was a great ending that was simple, yet very well told: all of the important characters reached their catharsis and the creators managed to add a very nice emotional charge to it. The three main couples all grew even closer together, Byakuroku and Daidai got themselves a great conclusion, and the final twist on Zakuro’s mother also made her into a really sympathetic character, where her love as a mother, that has been questioned throughout the entire series, was restored.

Only Omodaka got a bit of a short straw here with that suicide ending of his. I’m not sure what was up with that and what the creators wanted to prove with him just dying without any reason: he just chose to sit next to his mother as the house around him burned down. And I know that there is the golden rule of anime and all (no character is dead unless this is confirmed), but this is the final episode: there was no hint whatsoever that he survived, despite half the episode being dedicated to the epilogue.
EDIT: oh wait, it seems I missed an epilogue and he really did not die. ^^;

At the end of the episode, the bureau of spiritual affairs also got disbanded, only to reappear only minutes later (with a plausible reason, though). That twist was mostly there to get that kiss out of Zakuro and Agemaki. I guess that there wasn’t time to let it flow naturally between them (because granted, it’s probably going to take a long time for them to stop arguing if their relationship ends up happily ever after in the first place). It in either case was a charming bit of romance.

Overall, this blogging a different series each week turned out to be a nice experiment, that I might do again in another season where there a lot of shows about which I have something I want to say. I’m not going to do it next season, though: when Heartcatch Precure ends I’ll be able to cover nine new series: that’s half the total amount of series in the entire season.

I’m not yet sure which series those are going to be, though. I’m guaranteed to blog Level E, and things also have to be pretty strange if I’m not going to cover Yumekui Merry, Fractale and Hourou Musuko. For Supernatural it’s all going to depend on how the heck they plan to release it. For Rainbow Gate, Freezing and Infinite Stratos it’s going to depend on whether or not they have their mind in the gutter. Madoka Magica, Wolverine and Beelzebub have very notorious staffs so any hints towards that will play a big role in whether or not I’m going to blog those, and Gosick and Dragon Crisis will get covered if they’re not as childishly stupid as they seem to be at first sight. In any case though, I never had to choose nine new shows to blog in such a small season, so I’m at least thankful that it’s going to be a very diverse one.

Going back to Otome Youkai Zakuro, my initial worries were that it wasn’t ambitious enough with its story, and granted its story isn’t as complex as, say, Shinrei Tantei Yakumo, but it still developed into a very nice and simple story that pushed a lot of right buttons. A definite recommendation for those looking for some light romance.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Nurarihyon no Mago – 26

by psgels, posted in Nurarihyon no Mago



I didn’t know that there was supposed to be a 26th episode of Nurarihyon no Mago, but it turns out to be a recap. A nicely cut recap that actually shows the core of the past arc, but a recap nonetheless. There was no new content and no hook for the second season.

Whether I’m going to blog the second season depends entirely on the season it airs in: if there aren’t many great series I’ll cover it, if there are however many awesome series then I’m going to prioritize those. I just have one major request for the creators: just pick what you want to focus on. Either go for a completely original arc, or just faithfully adapt this thing. You can’t do both at the same time.

Oh, and small Rikuo with an adult voice… it’s still creepy after watching it a second time.
Rating: – (Disappointing)

Heartcatch Precure – 45

by psgels, posted in Heartcatch Precure



The previous episodes were surprisingly light for a show that’s so close to its end, so I figures that it was using these quiet moments in order to build up to something. And dear God was it building up to something!

I mean, talk about overkill: Dune easily beats just about every main character, he easily takes back his old powers, nearly destroys the Heart Tree and all of the hard work that Tsubomi and Erika put into it, turns the entire world into a desert and its entire population into crystals. All in about five minutes.

And I mean, at the end of the series there will probably be some sort of magical power that can restore everything back the way it was once Dune dies (though interestingly Tsubomi and Itsuki did destroy a building in this episode), and there were a number of survivors, but the only people who survived were the ones who were previously turned into a Desatorian: everyone’s parents are completely gone, despite being a HUGE theme of this series. Only Itsuki and Erika got lucky that their respective sister and brother managed avoid being turned into a crystal.

Also, this pretty much puts an end to the episodic nature of this series: there’s no way that Kumojacky and Cobraja are going to be able to turn anymore people into Desatorians. With four episodes left, there is plenty of time to give all of the villains a worthy conclusion, and I really hope that the creators use that opportunity.

On a side-note: Koppei was bad-ass.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Star Driver – 13

by psgels, posted in Star Driver



Yeah, sorry for the lateness on this episode. I was away for most of the evening yesterday and there were too many other posts that I had planned.

This is a major episode for Star Driver though, along with the previous one. The halfway point is especially for original series a good turning point. Star Driver doesn’t show this with some midway climax, but rather by making the characters finally deliver and develop. And sure, this episode marked the first Cybuddy that got revived, but what made the past two episodes special was that they revisited characters who had already been the focused on previously.

This time it’s Benio’s turn, and I really liked her increase in character in this episode.This episode delved into her past and how she grew up, it shows her as a skilled practitioner of Kendo, while still in the shadow of Sugata. She got much more interesting than the girl who keeps running after guys thanks to her convenient first phase that we came to know her as in the previous episodes. Star Driver may pull all these fancy red herrings and flashy fights, but it really is a series about its characters, and this episode really showed that it started delivering in that are.

A big Issue I have at the moment is that the creators are still god-moding Takuto and Sugata a bit. It’s not just in the way that they keep winning fights, but this episode showed the umpth girl who fell in love with one of them. At this point I’m not really sure whether the harem elements are really working or are going to work.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Arakawa Under the Bridge X Bridge Review – 70/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




I never watched more of the first season of Arakawa than an episode and a half, and I originally had no intention to keep up with its sequel. After hearing so many praises and requests though, I eventually decided to check out Arakawa Under the Bridge X Bridge, and surprisingly actually stuck with it for thirteen episodes. Now… was it worth it? No; I still feel like this series was a waste of my time.

I can see the intentions of this series: it’s a series in which a bunch of nutcases gather themselves under a bridge, don’t care about what anyone outside thinks of them and just are having fun with each other, all kept together by a central character Nino. As the show goes on, a potentially interesting subplot of space travel also pops up. There went quite a bit of imagination into the different character designs, from a guy with a star mask on to a washed up samurai and a little girl who can transform into a bodybuilder.

That’s all fine and dandy, but this is supposed to be a comedy. And I didn’t find it funny, at all. It perhaps got a chuckle out of me three or four times over its entire run, which is way too little. The jokes are all just horribly dull and look way too much like each other. It’s typical Shinbo esque humour of a lot of people screaming and yelling, but they fail to deliver anything actually funny. The humour also uses a ton of anti-climaxes, but they’re all so poorly timed that you can see them from miles ahead. The rest of the humour is all based on characters acting weird or acting strange, or some of the minor characters just showing off their stereotype. Everything is told in the same way, so when you’ve heard one joke, you’ve pretty much heard them all.

On top of that, this series is also horribly paced, dragging on jokes beyond belief. Every time when you think that they’ve finished with a joke, they just return to it and milk it out some more. Compare that to Squid Girl: even in its arcs, it always was changing its scenarios and really tried to not stay on the same topic for too long. This series instead has little inspiration and therefore tries to stay at the same spot for way too long. Especially the muscle jokes get over-abused, but the Amazoness also makes way too many appearances for her character to be worth it.

I tried. I really tried giving this show a chance despite my biases for Shinbo at the moment (and I do really like the different OPs and EDs of this series). But in the end, I just couldn’t find anything funny about this series. What kept me watching was the space travel subplot, but in the end this never reaches a conclusion: the characters are just randomly running around, often completely abandoning it and the final episode doesn’t resolve anything, only ending with a last-minute cheesy moral.

I haven’t watched the first season, so I can’t be sure of this, but here is one thing I want to ask of the people who did watch it: was this season really necessary? To me, I completely failed to see the point behind this sequel, like what happens with just about every Shaft Sequel that has appeared. To me, Arakawa’s biggest problem was that it got adapted by Shaft, because I had the same problem with this series that I had with a ton of their other series, simply because of how apparently Shinbo doesn’t allow his directors to have any individual style except for his own.

Storytelling: 6/10 – Very uninspired comedy, poorly paced, isn’t funny and drags its jokes out way too much.
Characters: 7/10 – Most are just to caught up in their own gimmicks and stereotypes and aren’t enjoyable to watch in the slightest and the entire cast never really gets anywhere.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Granted, some of the visuals are neat, but for a well animated Shaft series you should go to Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru.
Setting: 7/10 – Doesn’t really do much with its setting, it’s a neat idea but I don’t think that anything really stands out about it.

Suggestions:
– Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru
– Kuchuu Buranko
– Cromartie High School

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Shinrei Tantei Yakumo




Bee-Train’s installment for 2010 is called Shinrei Tantei Yakumo, a 13 episode series about a psychic detective who can see ghosts. Lacking their usual director, Koichi Mashimo, the characterization is not as good as we’ve come to expect from them, but there still is a lot to like about this series.

Let me first put a few disclaimers here though, because this isn’t the most accessible series. First of all, despite the “Tantei”-part of the title (tantei = detective), don’t expect this to be a murder mystery: it isn’t. The culprits are often immediately revealed without really giving the audience the time to speculate wht happened. The mystery of this series instead mostly lies in its overall story.

Second of all, adapations whose stories don’t exactly fit within either 13 or 26 episodes nowadays often have slow paced beginnings and rushed endings. Yakumo is completely the opposite: it rushes through its first chapters, just so that it can take its time with the final two arcs of the story in which everything comes together.

So the first half of this series basically consists out of random stories for every episode. The pacing is really fast and some things are rather rushed in order to get everything to actually fit within twenty minutes, but overall these stories work surprisingly well. They’re especially good a using their own build-up and almost all of them end with a neat and interesting conclusion.

The main story that pops up in the second half is actually very interesting. The show boasts a number of very interesting characters (another plus point is that this is one of the very few series of the past season that isn’t about teenagers and actually make suse of it), with some badass characters that are very likable to watch. The show can also boast a neat cast of major villains here, who really are built up as a menacing bunch with a very interesting backstory. The voice actors meanwhile are good, yet composed, so there is none of the usual annoying overacting. There however are a few characters that can get on people’s nerves. Most notably Haruka, the romantic interest, but she’s far from the worst of her kind.

With 13 episodes, the characters aren’t as deep as your usual Bee-Train series, but they are great nonetheless. I especially loved the way in which the second half interweaves all of their stories together, and there is quite a bit of good development in this series, both for the main characters and the side characters.

The music this time is compoed by the relatively unknown RON, who deliver a great little soundtrack that is surprisingly varied. There are a ton of great tracks that the creators use really well, and this show just continues to introduce new ones. The character designs are simple, but the inbetween animation is quite good.

Overall, Yakumo is another series that went a bit under the radar this season (despite the HUGE hype leading up to it) but this is quite a good series to watch, even for some people who usually don’t like Bee-Train’s really slow sense of storytelling, because the pacing of this series is much faster than their usual series. Just be aware of some sloppy and rushed storytelling here and there.

Storytelling: 9/10 – A bit rushed and lacks attention to detail in the beginning, but makes up for it in the way that it manages to weave its different stories together and how well it uses its own build-up.
Characters: 9/10 – Great and diverse cast of well developed characters, there are plenty of strong and likable characters around. And a few that are hard to like, though.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Great soundtrack, decent animation, unremarkable art.
Setting: 8/10 – Seeing spirits is nothing new, but this series does give a fresh spin to it.

Suggestions:
– Madlax
– Soultaker
– Matantei Loki Ragnarok

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo – 13

by psgels, posted in Shinrei Tantei Yakumo



That turned out to be a very nice little ending. It’s far less exciting than I expected, but it formed a very good conclusion to the series. Unlike the rest of this series, nothing was rushed about this episode at all.

So the plot of the bad guys was indeed to try and get the ghost of Yakumo’s father a real body. For that, they needed him in despair and that’s why all of his family members were killed. Miyuki Nanase indeed shot Gotou, as the final straw. The way in which things eventually got solved is a bit weird, yet interesting. It’s not like some deus ex machina suddenly makes the villains incompetent or stupid: their plan just failed. The reasons why exactly are a bit vague, but Yakumo simply refused to give into his despair.

In the end, the villains probably waited for too long to inhabit Yakumo’s body: it would have been much easier to drive him to despair while he was still a teenager (but then again, I think that Yakumo’s father was too much focused on acquiring an actually good vessel, and not a teen-aged one which I can somewhat understand). They tried to make him into a broken character, but in the end Gotou, Isshin and Haruka pulled him out of it. It’s cheesy, but this is one story where the power of friendship is actually quite acceptable to be the final twist. It could have been better, but it also definitely could have been worse.

I also really like that the creators really took their time for the epilogue. I’m not sure how Gotou wasn’t hit at a vital spot, but at least he does spend quite a bit of time at a hospital. Isshin however… actually died. It’s a great idea to base the epilogue of this series around his funeral, it’s a perfect way to close off the series.

Overall, Bee-Train’s series usually last for two seasons: that really gave them the opportunity to come with some really great plots and characters. With just 13 episodes however, Yakumo actually gave a very good attempt. It’s nowhere near Bee-Train’s best, I really noticed that while watching Madlax, but it’s still very good. I’m really thrilled for 2011: not only will Koichi Mashimo return, but he’s actually going to do a series of 39 episodes. I’m really glad that after 2010 that had so few series that dared to be long, 2011 finally is showing series again that go beyond 26 episodes.
Rating: ** (Excellent)