Angel Beats – 14

by psgels, posted in Angel Beats



It was a long time a mystery what the Angel Beats OVA would focus on. I mean, the ending was pretty conclusive and left hardly any room for expansion. As it turns out, this is the “Bad End” version of Angel Beats. Yes, that comes directly from this episode and no, it’s unlike anything you imagine with such a title.

In the end, this pretty much is an episode in which this show takes the piss out of itself. The entire episode is based around the premise of Yurippe coming up with a plan that required everyone to confuse Tenshi with high tension. What follows is an entire freaking episode with non-stop yelling, screaming and people overacting. It’s a complete and utter chaos in which half the cast acts out of character in order to keep the tension as high as possible.

I liked Angel Beats, but I always thought that the director was a bit of a mis-cast. This episode however screams his style all over. It’s ridiculously high in energy without any subtlety whatsoever. The episode itself was completely stupid, but I laughed quite a bit. There’s also this constant tension level-meter that makes things even more hilarious.

There were some cheesy parts of the episode, like how the quiet girls like Yurippe and that ninja girl got the highest tension when they started yelling. It’s a complete filler, but it does fit within the series’ premise: this remains a series in which a bunch of confused spirits are just running around randomly and that’s exactly what this episode was.
Rating: * (Good)

Gintama The Movie – Benizakura-Hen Review – 65/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



The beginning and the ending of the Benizakura movie continue some neat new material that breaks the fourth wall, especially the beginning is quite funny. The rest though… it’s exactly the Benizakura-arc of the Gintama series. It’s the laziest kind of recap movie in which you don’t even need to cut and paste anything.

So, does it work? Well, the thing is that I have a hard time figuring out for who this movie was made. The fans have already seen this movie. And in fact, watching the same movie a second time caused me to only pay more attention to its flaws, like how Gintoki gets stabbed like five times and never seems to really be bothered by it. At the same time though, people who never have seen this movie will not get why this was one of the best arcs of the series. It’s true that the Benizakura arc is a standalone story, but it relies a lot on characters who have been fleshed out in the previous arcs. This movie depends a lot on its running jokes, and you won’t get them if this is the first thing you see of the series. It’s the same for the background it provides for the main characters: this arc was so great because it gave Gintoki and Katsura a ton of new depth, but you won’t get that without having sat through forty episodes of their antics.

So yeah, this movie is pointless. It gets some points for being a good story with nice action and voice acting, but all of that was just completely copied from the TV-series. The sketch at the end of the movie that has characters fighting over being the lead character is also just basically the same dialogue that the series loved to use in its recaps. I don’t really see any reason to watch this movie.

Storytelling: 6/10 – It’s exactly the same as the Benizakura arc. The few minutes of extra banter at the beginning and end do not make this movie worth watching.
Characters: 7/10 – The characters are good, it gives background to the main characters, not having seen the TV-series makes them lose all their impact.
Production-Values: 7/10 – The only graphical updates are that things are in wide-screen now. That’s far from enough.
Setting: 6/10 – With a recap movie, I always ask “what’s the point?” This movie has none.

Suggestions:
– Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha The 1st Movie
– Macross – Do You Remember Love
– Macross Frontier – Itsuwari no Utahime

Nurarihyon no Mago Review – 75/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Nurarihyon no Mago




You know these really long shounen fighting series, of which people say “yeah, it starts bland but after 30 or so episodes it gets really good”. That’s this show; at least according to the many people who have read the Nurarihyon no Mago manga. And yes, it has only 25 episodes.

Nurarihyon no Mago does have a fairly intriguing premise, chockful of the Japanese Shinto culture. It’s pretty solid in the way that it builds up its main characters, side characters, setting and premise. A lot of episodes of this series go into background, fleshing out the different characters, so much even that building up is pretty much the only thing it does. In order to see it pay off, we’re going to have to wait for the second season and because of that I can’t really recommend this season standalone because 25 episodes is a long time to sit through.

The different story arcs throughout this series aren’t bad; they’re just unremarkable. The main problem is that Rikuo (the main character)’s grown up form is just too powerful, taking away the tension of all of the fights he’s in. It establishes a lot of character background, but never really uses it, and that’s my main problem with this series: there is hardly anything that keeps your attention. The biggest culprit is the second half of this series: a lot of build-up there goes into Rikuo’s classmates, who in the end turn out to have no purpose whatsoever in the main story of that arc, leaving the really imporant characters of that arc way too underdeveloped.

Compare that to Letter Bee’s first season: that too went on for really long, yet at least that one delivered some great standalone stories, and kept viewers on a hook with a terrific cliff-hanger towards its second season. Nurarihyon no Mago has none of that. If I hadn’t heard the praises that the manga readers give to the chapters that follow the point where the series ends, I might even have dropped this show.

Storytelling: 6/10 – It’s an entire series of build-up. That’s not good storytelling!
Characters: 8/10 – A solid cast with likable characters. Nothing special, though.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Great character and youkai designs, animation that’s nothing special.
Setting: 8/10 – Again, an interesting background for the second series to work with. It will, right?

Suggestions:
– Letter Bee
– The Law of Ueki
– Hikaru no Go

Nurarihyon no Mago – 25

by psgels, posted in Nurarihyon no Mago



Meh, this ending was bland. Nothing really caught my attention, it left absolutely no hook for the second season, and the conclusion itself was lacking. Rikuo just battles and uses his awesome powers to easily win. At the end, he gets stopped by Tamazuki’s father who begs him to forgive his son. Rikuo smiles and agrees. The rest of the episode completely ignores all of the youkai that got killed in the process. Very smooth there. At the end of this episode, Yura actually sees Youkai at Rikuo’s mansion, but doesn’t react in the slightest. Overall, this first season is going to leave a pretty bad taste for me.

In the end, this really was the wrong director on the wrong series. Junji Nishimura needs original series: that’s where he’s brilliant. He used his liberties nicely on True Tears, but he restricted himself too much on Nurarihyon way too much. He should have either picked an original story or following the manga, because trying to go for both turned out to be fatal here. Instead, Studio Deen should have gone for people like Hiroshi Watanabe, Toshifumi Kawase, Toshiyuki Kato (though he seems to have gone to David Production in the meantime) or Sayama Kiyoko, who are great at adapting things (sure, things may have instead gotten cut here and there, but it would have been better than dragging on for way too long like this series did).

At the start of this show, I really praised it, but at the end, my opinion of it really has dropped. It’s pretty much an entire season with nothing but build-up that it never really uses. That’s my big problem with these long shounen series: they may have good parts, but they also have these seemingly endless strings of unremarkable episodes. And I mean, the target audience for these kinds of series is teenaged boys. How do these kids have the patience to sit through that?

At this point, that second season really needs to prove that these past 25 episodes have been worth it. At this point though, I’m pretty pissed at this series.
Rating: — (Lacking)

Shinryaku! Ika-Musume Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Shinryaku! Ika Musume




This season was actually quit ea good one for comedies. Eight series really made me laugh over and over, in completely different ways: we have a parody, a series that uses cute humour, one that uses sex and violence jokes, two that depend on the chemistry between eccentric characters and a dialogue heavy one. Squid Girl’s style of humour is entirely focused on its characterization.

The set-up is as follows: we have a Squid turned into a girl who thinks that she’s going to take over the world, who ends up working at a beach cafe. Each episode is divided into three segments, all focusing on a different scenario. Throughout the series, Squid Girl runs into a bunch of nutcases, who all react differently to her and her strange powers.

The show has a fairly large cast of characters, and granted, some of them aren’t as good as the others. The scientists in particular are a downright insult, and the obsessive Sanae is used too much throughout the series and therefore gets repetitive. Yet, The good ones however, more than make up for it. In particular, Squid Girl herself is an absolutely adorable character; her characterization is just fantastic, her antics are always fresh and hilarious. Her unconventional way of looking at the world is more than enough material to fill twelve episodes. Eiko also proved to be a wonderful straight man for her antics.

The result is a series that made me laugh many times. Out of all the comedies this season, it didn’t make me laugh the hardest, but it did make me laugh the most. There are a few segments that don’t work, but they are overshadowed by the good parts, unlike for example Mitsudomoe last season, which did get caught up with its own repetition. And yeah, you can say that it’s a very unambitious series: it’s just there to provide laughs, nothing more. But the thing is, that for a show to make me laugh so consistently with such a well characterized main character… it’s really something that deserves to be watched if you’re in for some light-hearted fun.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Builds up its jokes neatly, and knows how to deliver them.
Characters: 9/10 – Squid Girl is adorable beyond words. There are some bad characters, but they’re overshadowed by the good ones. Just don’t expect character development here.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Very good in the first few episodes, but dulls in after that.
Setting: 8/10 – Down to earth setting despite the silliness, and for a squid girl she has many interesting talents.

Suggestions:
– GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class
– Sexy Commando Gaiden
– Hyakko

Shinryaku! Ika-Musume – 12

by psgels, posted in Shinryaku! Ika Musume



Aah, and it went so well!

This episode… it contained the “why the heck are you pulling so many twists at the last moment only to make them pointless at the end?”-syndrome, and it’s unfortunately the bad variant of it. Let me explain what I mean by that:

I was actually fairly impressed with this episode for its main part: the final two segments actually were an actual conclusion to the series. It was completely out of left field, but actually worked surprisingly well. Squid Girl actually suddenly loses her powers due to some mysterious reason, which pretty much makes her hopes for world conquest impossible. After returning to the sea for one year she returns and actually seems to have accepted that she’s not special anymore. She’s really about to significantly change as a character.

And then out of nowhere, the scientists launch a giant whirlpool that conveniently swallows Eiko and makes Squid Girl magically regain her powers immediately in order to save Eiko’s life, completely nullifying just about every part of the serious development that was put into Squid Girl. What the heck was that?

This episode was horribly rushed. It’s the kind of ending where the creators first want to give some decent conclusion to the characters, only to hear at the last minute that they’re not allowed to because of the possibilities of a second season that this series doesn’t need. It’s these kinds of endings that I hate, especially when it’s obvious that too little thought has been put in it. I mean, the final two segments weren’t even funny. It would have been better to just pick the funniest chapter of the manga in order to end with a bang.

This final episode is a shame, but it doesn’t ruin this series at all, because it never really was building up to it, so only these final two segments were wasted and nothing else.

I hardly ever blog pure comedy series because you never know which ones turn out to be great based on just their first episode. Squid Girl however was consistently fun to sit through and write about. It’s perhaps not the best comedy this season, but the reason why I picked this series over Panty and Stocking and Tantei Opera Milky Holmes was that it had by far the most solid characters of the three. In the end there is very little character-development, but Squid Girl’s characterization really is something the creators should be proud of.
Rating: – (Disappointing)

The Dissappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




I wouldn’t call myself a fan of Haruhi; I liked the TV-series, but I didn’t consider it to be THAT good. The main story was very good, but only few of the random stories didn’t bore me. Having said that though, Haruhi’s Disappearance is by far the best thing I’ve seen from the franchise.

For starters, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single anime movie that was longer than this one and I have to praise Kyoani for actually giving its story the time that it deserves. This way, it really was able to portray the characters as realistic as it did in the TV-series. The movie is slow, but very down to earth because of this and the plot flows as smooth as water. The story of the movie is also a great mystery story, starting off really slowly but delivering a ton of interesting turns during the second half.

The best part of the movie however was the cast of characters. This movie gives a ton of insight and new developments on Kyon and Yuki, and all of the other characters also receive a lot of new depth. The story does a lot of interesting things with them, and they’re used quite creatively. When everything finally comes together, it really feels like something special. The character whose development I liked the least was Haruhi, though. To delve into why would be a bit too much of a spoiler, but let’s just say that it’s a bit too theatrical.

Now, there are two things that this movie lacks, yet what I really liked in the TV-series, however. They’re mostly technical things, but I did miss them a lot here. The first is the acting: while still good, it’s not as solid as it was in the TV-series. Kyon is still witty, but at the same time his dialogue isn’t as sharp and lively as it once was, and characters tend to overact a bit during the dramatic parts.

Also, the animation is significantly different from how it was in the TV-series. On one hand, this went on a positive note, as the creators put a lot of money and attention on the inbetween frames. The animation is incredibly smooth, and there are plenty of parts in which the animation is as smooth as possible, and the animation is a lot freer and diverse than it was in the TV-series. The animation style here feels like a combination of Clannad and K-On, but at the same time I miss the restraint of the animation of the first half of the first season: the type that consistently neither moves too much or too little, that really gave the characters the sensation of being alive, which was one of the reasons why I really liked the first half of the first season.

Those are mere details through, the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya has enough to like, even for the people who didn’t really like Haruhi in the first place. This movie does a lot of things right in terms of storytelling and characters, and it definitely was a great watch.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Great story, not as solid as the TV-series, but still wonderfully paced and told.
Characters: 9/10 – Excellent character development.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Very smooth and detailed.
Setting: 8/10 – Nicely plays around with events that happened in the past and the entire concept of this series.

Suggestions:
– Tenchi Muyo In Love 2 – Tenchi Forever
– Kara no Kyoukai – The Garden of Sinners – Paradox Spiral
– Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo

Heartcatch Precure – 44

by psgels, posted in Heartcatch Precure



Up until episode forty, nearly all of the random stories for this series were focused on kids of Tsubomi’s age. And then suddenly, this series started focusing on kids of kindergarten age. It definitely added an extra cuteness factor to this series, but at the same time it’s also become a lot more childish than it already was, since it focuses on the sentiments of little kids after all. I definitely think that the creators are using that as a build up for the finale of this series and while these stories indeed are far from the best that this series has shown, they still are really charming.

This episode was about this little girl who wants to see the Precures, but her biggest part was in order to support the main cast. First of all it was so Tsubomi could relate to how she was when she was a little kid (also not good at making friends). But just about everything in this episode was overshadowed by grandmother being awesome. It’s taken forty-four episodes, but finally we get to see what she looked like as Cure Flower. Even at a fraction of her powers, she still completely kicks ass.Not to mention that Dune finally makes his appearance.Everything is pointing towards things heating up next week.

As for the Desatorian, it was a nice idea to have the girls battle a giant snowman. I also like the little jab at otaku that the creators put in with the rather creepy guy who confuses Precures with girlfriends.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo – 12

by psgels, posted in Shinrei Tantei Yakumo



It’s the penultimate episode, and a series that once was so incredibly fast paced here really takes its time to deliver its story properly. The result is one of the quietest episodes of the entire series. It’s going to depend entirely on the final episode whether its time was well spent. The main event of this episode was that indeed it wasn’t Yakumo’s father who stabbed Ishii, but instead it was the father of that little girl he talked to. This guy really is quite the interesting villain, doing everything while dead and only able to talk and influence people. In terms of the side-characters, I especially liked Gotou. Throughout the entire series, his dialogue and voice acting has been consistently snarky and amusing.

Unfortunately, this episode ended with the infamous “let’s nearly kill someone right before the final episode”-cliffhanger. That’s a bit of a bad sign as most of the series that pull that twist only use it as a cheap gimmick instead of making it really part of the ending. Again, it’s all going to depend on that final episode and whether they can portray it well. The problem is that Nanase Miyuki has been built up as pretty much the strongest and most professional character of the entire series. If she manages to miss Haruka (or whoever she intended to shoot), it’s going to ruin her character.

In any case, Bee-Train have usually worked with famous composers, such as Yuki Kajiura, the ALI Project and Kou Outani. I really like that this time, they went with the relatively unknown RON, and pretty much allowed them to put all kinds of creativity in the soundtrack. This episode premiered a ton of new tracks, all of which worked wonderfully well. The only soundtrack they did previously was the Kurenai ED, which was generic J-Pop, so I’m really impressed by what they ended up delivering when they moved out of that genre.
Rating: * (Good)

Trigun – Badlands Rumble Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




After more than ten year since the original Trigun series ended, the Badlands Rumble movie was released. In the end, it turned out to be a glorified episode, taking place somewhere around the middle of the series, perhaps a tad later (it’s been too long since I watched the series to say exactly when it takes place). Vash, Nicholas Wolfwood, Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson all are in the movie, but it doesn’t really add anything to their characters. Instead, it’s all about an original story about Vash’s encounter with another notorious criminal.

This really was a movie that was made for the fans. If you were to watch it without having seen the TV-series, you’d probably leave with a decent impression, but no idea why the series is praised by so many people. The fans of the movie however will probably enjoy the large amount of the movie that’s devoted to the simple Trigun-esque banter. I especially applaud the creators for coming up with tons of different designs for the hordes of different bounty hunters that pass the screen, the one quirkier than the other and this movie is at its best when it’s just having fun with them; both during the quiet moments and during the action scenes (helped by some wonderfully detailed animation, by the way). It has quite a number of funny moments, though at the same time it also doesn’t really get close to the best jokes of the TV-series.

The story of this movie is fairly simple, pretty much like the episodes of the first half of Trigun. It’s neither the best nor the worst of the stories that the series came with, and it brings some pretty nice twists. The best part was how the prologue takes place twenty years in the past, which which it’s able to do some neat things. Like the TV-series, there is also a huge contrast between the silly parts and the parts at which it takes itself completely serious, and like what happened with the TV-series, they also don’t blend in too well with each other.

Overall though, this movie doesn’t aim to be anything big or fancy, it just has two goals: entertainment and nostalgia. It’s good simple fun without much real flaws (save for one very cheesy twist around Vash that the creators pull near the end), but it also doesn’t have the caliber to be remembered as a great movie. It’s pretty much what you get when you watch a really long episode of the first half of Trigun: standalone they were decent, though the best thing about the series was the big picture they paint.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Simple, but solid and well directed.
Characters: 8/10 – The characters play off each other neatly. It doesn’t have the depth of the TV-series, though.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Great designs, fluent, lively and expressive animation.
Setting: 7/10 – Doesn’t really add anything to the Trigun franchise.

Suggestions:
– Escaflowne – A Girl in Gaea
– Wild Arms
– Patlabor – The First Movie