OVA Impressions: Licca-chan – Fushigi na Fushigi na Yunia Monogatari

by psgels, posted in OVA Impressions




Licca-chan was a franchise back in the nineties. I’m not sure how popular it was back then, but over the course of ten years, it got four OVAs (two of two episodes and two of one episodes), a 52-Episode TV-series and a movie, so it must have done something right. Don’t expect me to check all of them out, but the very first installment, a two-episode OVA called the Wondrous Yunia Story, piqued my interest because of Tomomi Mochizuki’s involvement with it. It also had a really famous character-designer of its time: Akemi Takada, who also designed the characters of iconic series as Maison Ikkoku, Kimagure Orange Road, Urusai Yatsura and Patlabor.

In the end, this turned out to be quite a charming Alice in Wonderland-esque story. It is about this regular girl who suddenly ends up in a fantasy world, but it’s surprisingly creative and well produced: the animation is smooth, and the different designs of the places she ends up in are really creative. There are fish and whales swimming in the air, a talking dodo plushie, stacked boxes of trees and floating castles. It makes no sense whatsoever, but all of the ideas that were put into just these 50 minutes make this one worth watching.

The parts at which Licca is still in her own world at home are also surprisingly realistic: Licca’s family just feels like a real family, perhaps with more children than usual (she has a twins and triplets as younger sisters), which really gives it an advantage over the usual shows that feature a kid transported to another world.

Now, as for the disadvantages… you really want to watch this one for its creativity, because the plot is just a vehicle for that. It’s childish, the main villain is stupid and it just makes no sense. In the end, this feels more like a field trip than that something serious is going on, because of how easy the creators make it for the heroine. The heroine also has her charms as a lead character, and it’s not like there are any annoying characters in this series, but that’s also all that can be said about the characters.

I liked it a lot, though. The whole fantasy atmosphere of the story worked well with me. This is an OVA that really set out to create a dream-like world that just runs on your imagination and did so quite well without dragging on (which is why I’m not going to check out the TV-series for Licca Chan) This is an OVA that mostly has been forgotten, but it did not deserve so. It’s especially great to show your kids if you have them.
OVA Episode Rating: 8/10

OVA Impressions: Hiyokoi – 01

by psgels, posted in OVA Impressions



If you’re wondering: I am NOT going to make a post about Koe de Oshigoto: that one was so bad and pointless that I couldn’t even finish the first ten minutes, and when I can’t get through a first episode, that has to say something. Instead though, I do want to say a few things about this really cheesy shoujo OVA named Hiyokoi.

So, the story is about this girl who is really shy. She is a really big outcast because she spent a year away from school due to an accident. There’s a lot of tension between her and her fellow students because she’s scared of them, but she’s actually really cute. She then comes to sit next to this really popular guy and they immediately fall in love as the girl tries to get over her own shyness and… wait? Isn’t this just Kimi ni Todoke?

So, yeah. Hiyokoi pretty much is a shallow version of Kimi ni Todoke: the main difference is that Hiyo actually gets admired by the whole class and that her love interest is an asshole with a heart of gold, rather than someone who is nice all the time. It really amounts to the same kind of plot, though with a ton of more cheese added. Especially near the end when Hiyo runs away out of embarrassment, the two have this really cheesy discussion in an attempt to cheer the female lead up. Apparently the love interest was unhappy because nobody ever sat next to him…. which just makes no sense.

I really wonder when the shoujo genre realizes that it’s just been regurgitating the same show over and over again. Hiyokoi is just a cheap cash-in on Kimi ni Todoke’s popularity, and it’s not even a good one. Stay away from this one.
OVA Episode Rating: 6,5/10

Marie & Gali – 63

by psgels, posted in Autumn 2010 Kaleidoscope



This week I want to rant a bit again, even though I’m probably still the only one left who still watches this series. Still, I do want to write a bit about the strange and horrible decisions that were made for this second season. I’ll try to explain my thoughts on this series so that they also become a bit understandable for people who have never seen anything from Marie&Gali.

The first season of Marie&Gali was awesome: it was a fantastic comedy that showed how fun science can be; every episode was full of hilarity and came with completely new material and jokes, never running old or repetitive. The characters started out as stereotypes, but they really grew on you as the over the top quirky personifications of famous scientists that they were. Everything was set to also close off perfectly after forty episodes.

And then, out of nowhere, a second season suddenly got announced.

Obviously I was delighted back then, but after watching more than 20 episodes of this second season, I get more and more the impression that the second season announcement was as much a surprise for me as it was for the creators. I’m betting my hat that they only learned of it, after fully planning out the entire first season. This meant that they had to create a completely new set of forty episodes from scratch, even though they already put their best material and inspiration in the first season.

There are many reasons why I believe this to be the case. The most notable are the following:
– They inserted a freaking Scrappy. Norika, a strange whiny princess-like little girl, just comes out of nowhere and completely takes over the show as the lead character.
– The first season never repeated itself. The second season does, devoting several episodes in a row on the same concept.
– The comedy in the first season felt natural. In the second season, it feels forced. And this didn’t happen gradually, it immediately turned from good to bad at the start of the second season. But more on that below.

I’m not really sure why Toei found it a good idea to give this of all series a continuation, because it really wasn’t their most successful series by far. Especially considering how they closed off their viewer ratings cannon of Kaidan Restaurant abruptly after only 23 episodes. This season just serves no purpose.

You can also see how the creators are having trouble to fill this season through the execution. The biggest problem is Norika: her whining gets old really fast, and because of her the entire nature of this series changed because the creators included the rule that Norika can’t leave the world she’s cast in until she gets to appreciate science. What followed were 23 episodes of Norika running and screaming around, refusing to accept science and blowing everyone away with her giant teddy bear.

The first season felt so fun because it basically was about a bunch of quirky scientists who loved to show off their accomplishments to Marika (the lead character of the first season). Nothing was forced, you just had the adventures of a bunch of eccentric people who really loved what they were doing. The scientific explanations really blended in well with the storytelling. The second season, however, just turned into a series that explains science for the sake of explaining science. By trying to force Norika to accept science, they also try to force the viewers to sit through it. It loses all spontaneity.

On top of that, a bunch of characters derailed as well: the first season featured some stereotypes, but the characters were more than that: Gali was this dirty old man, but at the same time you had those scenes that showed that he was quite the brilliant scientist. The second season however reduces these characters, back to their stereotypes. You can really blame that to the acting: balanced in the first season, but the second season contains way too much yelling, especially considering how everyone in every single episode, likes to introduce him or herself in this overenthusiastic way for some strange reason.

The show at this point is still mildly funny, but it’s nowhere near as good as the first season. It’s at its best when it at least tries to do something new, but even those episodes are rare. The current episode for example featured a contest between Gali and Leonardo Da Vinci: who can build the fastest flying machine.The show so far has had a ton of these kinds of episodes. Especially in the second season, whenever Leonardo comes into the picture the creators can only seem to focus on how he pwns everything about Gali.

Oh, and the “scientific” explanation on how airplanes fly in this episode… it was actually wrong. Read some xkcd dammit!
Rating: — (Lacking)

Nurarihyon no Mago – 20

by psgels, posted in Nurarihyon no Mago



So, this pretty much was a build-up episode, mostly meant to show Inugami’s background and where his hatred to humans comes from. It’s not fairly special, with my biggest gripe being a rather average fight scene. It’s a bit of a shame that the fight ended with just everyone retreating, but then again: the deaths in this series are unexpected; it’s never the guy you think that gets killed, and that definitely has some merit, compared to other series who devote entire episodes who keep hinting and pointing at the guy who’s going to be the next to kick the bucket.

The thing that bothered me about the fight scene was that it felt sloppy. I mean, Studio Deen are definitely not the best animators, but they’ve shown plenty of excellent action scenes in the past with their limited graphics, but this was just… rushed. The biggest issue was when that Inugami grabbed Rikuo and punched him into a wall: suddenly it gets dark really fast in order for Rikuo to conveniently transform into his Youkai version. That’s just something that worked against the tension that the previous episode built up for me.

With this kind of pacing, I expect that the creators are probably planning to end the current arc at episode 24, which poses a bit of a problem considering the rumours that this show will go on past that episode number. At this stage, the production of the must have already started, and yet Amazon still only lists 8 DVDs, with 3 episodes per DVD. The second DVD meanwhile has sold at at around 3000 copies, which is less than what Pandora Hearts got, which in the end did not end up with a sequel.

So yeah, I’m a bit worried. There are the kinds of series of which I don’t mind at all if they suddenly cut off in the middle, but this unfortunately isn’t the case with Nurarihyon no Mago: it really NEEDS a second season. On top of that, as a shounen series it’s currently getting more and more overshadowed by Letter Bee, while as a Youkai series it’s more and more falling in the shadows of Otome Youkai Zakuro. I really like the work of Junji Nishimura on this series, but even for him this is far from his best series.
Rating: (Enjoyable)

Shinryaku! Ika-Musume – 07

by psgels, posted in Shinryaku! Ika Musume



This episode was about the scared girl, the scientist woman and the owner of that other beach restaurant. It both revisited old premises, but brought enough new stuff to the table.

The first part looked like it was going to develop the scared girl a bit, only for it to reset itself at the end. It’s her story that’s currently in the most danger of being milked out, although it was very funny to see her discover Squid Girl playing video games at night.

The second part of the episode was mostly fun because it introduced a bunch of goofball scientists who clearly have been working too long on their jobs at finding alien life. Squid Girl herself also had a lot of neat antics in her quest to gather subordinates: the banter between the different characters was really great in this part, even though it was completely stupid at times.

The third segment: I really liked that scene in which Squid Girl was put in that room with a drum-set: you could just bet your hat that she’d eventually use her hair on it (which was awesome, by the way). I also have to praise the creators for not dragging out the hot shy girl joke. At all, especially when any regular moe show would have overstated/ the jokes around her and her boobs way too much. Apart from that, this was a typical part which just let Squid Girl alone, and instead of relying on banter it just relied on her own random antics. Worked well.

But still, this episode again wasn’t as good as some of the other Squid Girl episodes: it had its funny moments, but it wasn’t as funny as the first five episodes, and neither was it as creative. Now, the interesting thing is going to be whether this show will pick itself up again, or whether it really ran out of steam. Everything is still possible at this point, especially since this episode looked like it was building up quite a few things for future episodes.

As for the animation… that one also took a bit of a nose dive, unfortunately. Again, it’s nowhere near bad, but it’s not as god as it used to be. In the previous episodes Squid Girl was really well animated, with a ton of frames spent on her movement, but unfortunately this episode didn’t have that. Again, the question remains whether or not the creators are saving their budget, or they blew it all on the first five episodes…
Rating: * (Good)

Katanagatari – 11

by psgels, posted in Katanagatari



And so, we’ve finally reached the penultimate episode of Katanagatari. It pretty much was the episode to wrap up all of the background behind this series by showing more about Shikizaki Kiki, along with finally putting an end to the Maniwa corps. It wasn’t my favourite episodes of the series so far, but I still liked it quite a bit.

The big difference between this episode and the other one so far is that there was surprisingly little focus on strategies: the main match was just a fight between Shichika and Houou until one of them went down, and it also lacked the build-up that made some of the other fights in the series so great. In the meantime though, it was a neat opportunity to look a bit into the mind of Shikizaki Kiki, and how he managed to forge all those weird swords anyway. It’s an interesting tiwst that because of his influence, these people with supernatural powers like the Maniwa corps started walking around.

As for the ending… yeah. It’s a common twist to pull on a penultimate episode, to put a main character on the verge of death with no apparent save. Remember the golden rule of anime, though: no character is dead unless confirmed. I’ve seen people in anime recover from wounds much more serious than Togame’s, and especially considering the incredible speed at which Maniwa Pengin recovered from his wounds, I really have no doubts that Togame is going walk out of this series alive.

If there’s one thing that has been bothering me for the past number of episodes, then it’s the pretty one-sided way in which Emonzaemon has been murdering off the Maniwa corps.His fights in this episode especially weren’t really that spectacular, with his fight against Houou becoming Dragon Ball Z-esque at times (“let me turn into a beam of light to show how fast I am!”), and in his fight against Pengin he just got lucky that Pengin was stupid enough to explain the exact details of his powers.

At this point, I’m not really sure what to expect of the final episode: one of the big reasons why this series was so good was because of the light-hearted banter between the different characters, the addictive style of storytelling and the way in which it took its time to analyze the different martial arts that Togame and Shichika ran into. I really fear that with that princess, those charms will disappear in favour of a more epic ending.
Rating: * (Good)

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo – 07

by psgels, posted in Shinrei Tantei Yakumo



Holy crap, that was awesome! What the hell happened here? This show suddenly starts building up its main story, and then it delivers by far the bets episode it ever had. I wasn’t really expecting much from this series other than its great music, style and atmosphere, but damn: this episode pushed a ton of right buttons. Not to mention that the soundtrack surpassed itself. Yet again.

The biggest part of why this episode was so awesome was because it introduced us to the two most bad-ass women of the entire season. I mean, I was aware that Bee-Train had something for strong female characters and all, but even for those standards, Nanase Miyuki and Miya both were awesome in this episode in completely different ways, though their similarity is their professionalism. Miya is just… I love her voice actress: the way that she’s just so serious, and yet she doesn’t try to add in anything more. Nanase Miyuki meanwhile was who most of this episode focused on. We had never really seen that much about her: she just kept standing next to Yakumo’s father, but that’s all she did. In this episode she finally comes into action, and she’s just crazy, yet hardly wastes any movement in order to get what she wants. (Also, take that, Sailor Moon! Even I didn’t recognize her in that disguise and yet Gotou nearly noticed it).

And oh, the character-development. In particular Yakumo and Yuutarou got hit hard: the phone call Yakumo made to Haruka was definitely not one he would have made a few episodes back. Yuutarou meanwhile also was a bit of a klutz, but the creators used that one surprisingly well near the end, when he really got pounded by Miya for not doing anything while Gotou got captured.

Now, it IS going to be really hard for this show to keep this momentum, I realize that very well: this episode ended with all of the main characters kidnapped all in different ways. It’s the reason Miyuki was so awesome, but how the heck are the creators going to write themselves out of that? There really has to be something within Yakumo’s father’s plans that specifically includes not to kill them, otherwise things could get a bit nasty with Deus ex Machina…

Oh, and the music. Dear god, the music! at first I wasn’t the most impressed it (having heard far better from Bee-Train in the past), but seriously, when it just keeps introducing new tracks that just get better and better then I’m really anticipating the tracks that they’re still saving for the last parts…
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Star Driver – 07

by psgels, posted in Star Driver




Ah, so with this episode it becomes clear what the creators were going for: a plot twist that when used well can turn out great, yet is very, very, very easy to screw up. Many series have fallen because they simply could not control the cheese that comes with such a plot twist: the best friends turned enemies.

Overall, the show has a potential wall-banger, but this episode did well in introducing it: beyond being very well written and breaking some more of the formula it carefully set up, it used the strange powers of the Crux brigade well, as it had already been established that the pink haired girl’s kisses have some strange influence on her partners.

The only question I’m stuck with right now is about the history of this island: if it was this easy to wake someone who owns the King’s Cybuddy, then why was he the first one to get accidentally hit in Zero Time? What did the island look like in previous generations? Was the Crux Brigade always active? With this episode, the creators pretty much obligated themselves to really delve into the history of the island, otherwise we’re left with a pretty nasty plothole.

In any case though, this series did some pretty neat stuff with its characters over the past seven episodes. At this point, the cast is already setting itself apart, and it’s really getting more interesting with each episode and it’s also that every episode so far has been different in tone and setting, despite these formulas.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Winter Season Preview – Movie and OVA Edition

by psgels, posted in Seasonal Previews

As usual, with every seasonal preview I also realize a preview that discusses the upcoming movies and OVAs (the ones who are slated for December, January and February in this case). Note that it usually takes nine months for the movies to actually get released, but this seems like a good place to look forward to them. Most of the interesting stuff this season consists out of TV-based movies and OVAs, but in that department there really is a lot of neat stuff. Here is a list of everything you can find on this preview:

This list will NOT cover:
– Live-action (so no Gantz Movie)
– Simple episodes of series of OVAs or Movies that have already debuted (I do not want to repeat myself about Queen’s Blade’s OVAs over and over again). This also includes Tales of Symphonia and Break Blade. Exception to this is when the distance between the different instalments of these episodes is really big or significant (like with the Macross Frontier movies for example) or when they’re completely different from each other like the Votoms Trilogy.

Satelight, Xebec, Sunrise and Madhouse also have some great ambitions in terms of the movies and OVAs here. The season isn’t as full with movies as the current Autumn season, but there still are quite a number of interesting ones to check out.

Isshoni Training 026: Bathtime With Hinako and Hiyoko

Summary: Do you really want me to write this down?
Type: OVA
Director: Shinichiro Kimura
The Positives: The pain will stop once you turn your media player off.
The Negatives: I’ve just lost my faith in people ever stopping to release crap OVAs.
First-Glance Potential: 0%

Dreams C Club Pure Songs Clips

Summary: It’s based on an XBox 360 Dating sim: The anime will recreate the heroines of the game with two-dimensional graphics for the Dream C Club Pure Songs Clips, a two-volume DVD/CD collection of character songs and music videos. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: A bunch of animated music videos.
Director: Sasa Fujisawa
Other Notable Staff: Mayumi Watanabe
The Positives: I’m blank.
The Negatives: The sample that they put on their main website looks and sounds utterly terrible. Is this entire project going to be full with that crap? What a cheap cash-in!
First-Glance Potential: 0%

Goulart Knights

Summary: The story begins after mysterious creatures named “Archons” suddenly appear in the world. Humanity faces the threat of annihilation from these creatures. Only the “Chalice,” the source of humanity, can defeat the powerful Archons. So, the humans assemble an Archon-slaying unit from fighters who have the ability to bring forth the Chalice to fight. The ones chosen to fight the Archons with the Chalice as their weapon are called Goulart Knghts. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: OVA to promote a newly formed boy-band.
The Positives: It’s a completely original story, so it could possibly go anywhere with the right writers.
The Negatives: But ah, who am I kidding here: it’s just there to promote four random guys as a cheap cash-in. Their music sounds completely generic and the premise sounds as if it were written by a twelve-year old, there is no way that this is going to work.
First-Glance Potential: 0%

Ah Megami-Sama

Summary: Keiichi Morisato is looking forward to university life. But in reality, he has no luck in anything, and he has trouble with clubs, love, etc. The truth is that he has an unlucky star above his head. One day, Keiichi is stuck watching the dorm while his sempai are away, and has a mountain of chores to do to boot. But Keiichi is a good-natured person, and is set about doing his duties. As he is about to finish his final chore, he makes a phone call to his sempai. But the words that came through the receiver are, ‘Goddess Help Line.’ Shortly afterwards, a beautiful goddess named Belldandy appears in front of him from the mirror of his room. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: OVA, Shipped with a Manga Volume
Director: Hiroaki Gouda
The Positives: Is this one still going on?! Ah well, it’s got the same director and likely also the same staff behind it, so if you liked Ah Megami-sama’s previous anime instalments then you’ll like this one.
The Negatives: How much can you squeeze out of a premise like that anyway? At the moment, there are already 42 different volumes of Ah Megami-sama’s manga. Is it really that good of a story that it warrants such a long running time?
First-Glance Potential: 20%

Fortune Arterial OAD

Summary: – (Taken from )
Type: Original Anime DVD, bundled by manga volume
The Positives: Thankfully Fortune Arterial’s story turned out to be pretty good…
The Negatives: ..but what can they do with just one episode, meant to “commemorate the fact that it got made into an anime”? Most of the useless fluff of Fortune Arterial’s anime was hard to watch anyway, so are they really planning to make an entire episode with just nothing but that or something?
First-Glance Potential: 30%

Bleach – Jigoku-hen

Summary: The Jigoku-Hen subtitle signifies that the story takes place in a place unvisited by Tite Kubo’s original manga, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary next year. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Director: Noriyuki Abe
Other Notable Staff: Kubo Tite (original creator, supervision)
The Positives: It’s only a movie, so the battles can’t drag on for as long as they did in the series. Kubo Tite is actually supervising the production of the movie, so it’ll probably be adding something to the world of Bleach, rather than being a pointless random side-story.
The Negatives: There really is a good and a bad Pierrot. The bad Pierrot is what I consider to be Naruto and Bleach, and Naruto at least has some good character-development. Bleach started off as a hilarious series, but after thirty episodes it started to drag on its fights on and on. After ninety episodes, I finally gave up on it. Furthermore, just look at the promo art here: all of the characters look like they’re incredibly constipated!
First-Glance Potential: 30%

Yuri Seijin Naoko-san

Summary: The surreal gag manga follows a quiet, timid girl named Misuzu whose older sister Naoko is returning from studying aboard. However, when she hurries home to meet her sister, Misuzu instead encounters Naoko-san, the strange alien from Yuri-sei (Yuri Planet) who loves eroticism, yuri, and girls. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: OVA Included with Manga Volume
Notable Staff: All we know is that Ufotable will be producing it.
The Positives: The manga has been running for five years, so that must mean that there’s at least enough material for such a premise, right?
The Negatives: But really: are people running out of ideas or something? The “Yuri planet”… there is so much wrong with that and I can only hope that the creators realize this as well…
First-Glance Potential: 30%

Princess Resurrection OAD

Summary: Hiro Hiyorimi is a boy who has just moved to the city to meet his sister. While walking down the sidewalk, he is suddenly hit by a car (crushed by construction beams in the anime). On the verge of death, he is seen by a young woman clad in gothic clothes. She then resurrects him, leaving him alive in the hospital morgue. He wakes up confused over what happened, only to encounter the woman again as she eliminates some wolf creatures. She addresses Hiro as “her servant” and introduces herself as “Hime” (Japanese for Princess). The story then follows Hiro as he assists Hime in killing creatures that have been sent by her siblings to attack her. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: An Original Anime DVD
Director: Keiichiro Kawaguchi
Storyboard: Keiichiro Kawaguchi
Other Notable Staff: Kukido Sadakata (Character-designs, Animation Director)
The Positives: The original TV series was completely generic (or at least the first two episodes were, before I gave up on it), but the staff behind the OVA is completely different here. The visuals seem a lot more interesting with the same character-designer from Shikabane Hime.
The Negatives: The director is really generic, with his only good work Zettai Karen Children (and perhaps also Hayate the Combat Butler, but I didn’t really like that one either). His other works include Yutori-chan, Moetan, Kowarekake no Orgol, Nyan Koi and Getsumen to Heiki Mina. I really don’t think that he can make this story any less generic than its anime counterpart.
First-Glance Potential: 40%

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu OVA

Summary: Advanced placement into a school of higher grade proof-reading is determined by the results of the Promotion Test strictly for class type. Ranging from A class with the best facilities anyone can offer all the way down to F Class which is composed of low dining tables, rotten tatami mats and other worn out facilities. Students can change classes by competing using the Examination Summons Battle system or ESB. Students summon characters with their equivalent test mark scores and use them to compete with other classes. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: 2 Episode OVA
Director: Shin Oonuma
Series Composition: Katsuhiko Takayama
Other Notable Staff: Kouji Azuma (Art Director)
The Positives: Katsuhiko Takayama’s work on Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, Ga-Rei Zero, Hantsuki and the first seasons of ef and Natsu no Arashi was very solid. Same goes for Shin Oonuma on Pani Poni Dash and Natsu no Arashi and ef’s first seasons, and finally he can do something without Shinbo.
The Negatives: I didn’t like the TV-series of Baka to Test much, though. It felt like it wasted all of its best jokes in its first episode, and quickly got repetitive and annoying afterwards.
First-Glance Potential: 40%

Inazuma Eleven: Saikyō Gundan Ogre Shūrai

Summary: The main character, Endou Mamoru, is a very talented goalkeeper and the grandson of one of the strongest goalkeepers in Japan, who died before he was born. Even though his skills are incredible his school lacks a real soccer club as the 6 other members don’t appear very interested even in training. But as soon as a mysterious forward called Gouenji moves to Endou’s town, the young goalkeeper sets out to find and recruit members for his soccer team. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Director: Yoshikazu Miyao
Series Composition: Atsuhiro Tomioka
Other Notable Staff: Akihiro Hino (Original Creator)
The Positives: I didn’t watch Inazuma Eleven (heck, it’s been going on for two years now and there’s still no end in sight), but I can really see this work as a movie here: it’s basically just an incredible cheese-fest in which a bunch of kids use the most ridiculous powers while playing football: this can really work as an over the top brainless action movie.
The Negatives: Atsuhiro Tomioka has no sense of pacing! Just look at Good Witch of the West, Makai Senki Disgaia and Zombie Loan: all of them could have been so much better if they were actually paced properly.
First-Glance Potential: 40%

T.P. Sakura ~Time Paladin Sakura~ Jikuu Boueisen

Summary: The project is a spinoff from the developer’s D.C. ~Da Capo~ franchise and features the Sakura Yoshino character as a seemingly ordinary third grader with secret special powers. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: OVA
Director: Takehiro Nakayama
Series Composition: Naoki Tozuka
Other Notable Staff: Makoto Koga (Character designs, Animation Director)
The Positives: They did get a pretty experienced guy as the animation director. His works include Aria the Animation, Sola and a bunch of Cardcaptor Sakura episodes. The director has also never directed an anime before, so this could be interesting, as he worked on quite a number of interesting projects. The scriptwriter meanwhile did write a bunch of episodes of Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou, so perhaps he’ll be able to put the same charms into this OVA.
The Negatives: I’m getting a bit tired of the milking of that Da Capo franchise, though. And if you’re going to start with a spin-off, please to an imaginative one instead of such an uninspired mahou shoujo knock-off.
First-Glance Potential: 50%

Morita-san wa Mukuchi

Summary: The four-panel manga follows the everyday life of a high school girl named Mayu Morita who is exceedingly gentle and thoughtful, to the point that she does not say much of anything to anyone. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: OVA (2 episodes have been confirmed), bundled with Manga Volume
The Positives: Nothing is really known about who is going to adapt this manga or anything, but the premise could turn into a gentle slice of life series.
The Negatives: I’m not exactly sure what’s up with the promo images, by the way. They just were there on the main website of this OVA, but I hope that they look a bit more… detailed than just that…
First-Glance Potential: 50%

Mirai Nikki

Summary: High school 2nd year, Amano Yukiteru, is a boy who has problem making friends. He thinks of himself as a bystander and will always write down everything he sees in a cell phone diary. Tormented by solitude, Yukiteru began to imagine things like a friend called Deus X Makina who is apparently the Lord of Time & Space. Seeing Yukiteru’s miserable state, Deus gives him a new ability. His diary will now record events that will happen in the near future. Yukiteru is then forced to participate in a game which the winner will become Deus’s successor. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Pilot OVA bundled with Manga Volume
Director: Naoto Hosoda
Script: Katsuhiko Takayama
Other Notable Staff: Eiji Hirayama (Character-designs)
The Positives: Everything is pointing to the fact that this is a pilot, meant to test whether or not Mirai Nikki will work as an anime. The premise of a diary that predicts the future does have a lot of potential in the right hands. Katsuhiko Takayama is a pretty good adapter, considering his works on Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, Natsu no Arashi and ef.
The Negatives: The director and character-designer of Shuffle worry me a bit, though.
First-Glance Potential: 60%

Mai no Mahou to Katei ni

Summary: In the story, eight-year-old second-grader Mai Tatsumi uses magic to understand her family’s feelings. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: 30 Minute OVA
The Positives: This one isn’t listed on Moonphase yet, but I decided to include it anyway. An OVA either for kids or nostalgic adults, it seems promising anyway, especially since it’s from PA Works.
The Negatives: But then again, the exact adaptation staff is not known yet, so it could really be a flop as well.
First-Glance Potential: 70%

Kara no kyoukai Final Chapter

Summary: Mikiya Kokuto finds himself intrigued by two things. The first is by Shiki Ryougi a beautiful, yet rather unsociable, girl and the other is the strange series of violent deaths that start occurring in his town. As he attempts to get closer to Shiki, he soon learns that the two are connected and that there are many supernatural forces at work which could very likely get him killed as well. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: 30 Minute BD OVA
Director: ???
Script: ???
Other Notable Staff: Kinoko Nasu (Original Creator)
The Positives: More Kara no Kyoukai is of course always welcome, even though I have absolutely no idea what it’ll be about.
The Negatives: I mean, the movies were fairly conclusive, weren’t they? This Final Chapter isn’t even a movie, but an OVA, and it is shipped along with a 60-minute recap of the first seven Kara no Kyoukai movies.
First-Glance Potential: 80%

Macross Frontier – Sayonara no Tsubasa

Summary: Macross Frontier marks the 25th anniversary of the Macross anime franchise. It is a direct sequel to the first Macross series and Macross 7 and follows the lives of Alto Saotome, Ranka Lee and a pop idol named Sheryl Nome on board the Macross Frontier colonization fleet. After the war against the Zentradi aliens, Humankind has spread across the universe in order to ensure its survival. The Macross Frontier fleet is part of a effort to spread and maintain the culture of humanity. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie (Part 2 of a Do You Remember Love-esque remake)
Director: Shoji Kawamori (Yes, he’s actually directing on his own this time)
Screenplay: Shoji Kawamori, Hiroyuki Yoshino
Other Notable Staff: Yoko Kanno (Music)
The Positives: The first Macross Frontier Movie was a really big surprise: it was much shorter than the TV-series, but actually much better: it was much more streamlined, the graphics were even better, the characters were nowhere as annoying. It’s now up to Sayonara no Tsubasa to continue this trend to make it really work and not give us the cop-out ending that the TV-series treated us with.
The Negatives: Hiroyuki Yoshino wrote the scripts and scenarios of Mai Hime and Mai Otome, Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny, Sora no Oto, Seikon no Qwaser, Denpa-Teki na Kanojo, Dance in the Vampire Bund and assisted in the series composition of Code Geass R1 and R2. Holy crap: when this guy is good, he really is great; when he’s bad, things become a trainwreck!
First-Glance Potential: 80%

Votoms Finder

Summary: Votoms Finder will center around Aki Tesuno, a guard for scrap salvagers and a pilot of a robotic mecha called an At or Altro (as opposed to VOTOMS’ trademark Armored Trooper mecha). – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie (second of a trilogy)
Director: Atsushi Shigeta
Script: Mayori Sekijima
Other Notable Staff: Junichi Hayama (Character designs, animation and art director)
The Positives: The fun part of the three Votoms movies of course is the fact that they’re going to be completely different. The Votoms Franchise has really gotten itself a unique conclusion when it already was a unique series, and this movie will detail more of a side story in the universe of Votoms. The director also has his first shot at directing something, and before this production he only worked as an animator and animation director before. I’m really interested what he’s able to do with this franchise. Mayori Sekijima meanwhile also wrote the Soultaker, Zegapain and Gad Guard and adopted Skip Beat, Pandora Hearts and le Portrait de Petit Cosette, so this should prove to be really interesting.
The Negatives: But yeah, the thing remains that Ryousuke Takahashi isn’t going to be involved with this one, while he was the big reason that Votoms became so good. Junichi Hayama behind the visuals doesn’t seem like the most solid choice, and you can see that in the rather cheesy promo art. Mayori Sekijima also did adapt a bunch of flops.
First-Glance Potential: 80%

Fafner: Dead Agressor: Heaven and Earth

Summary: – (Taken from )
Type: Movie
Screenplay: Tow Ubukata
Other Notable Staff: Angela (Theme Song Performance)
The Positives: I have not watched the original Fafner in the Azure, but I’m really looking forward to watching it, as it sounds like an awesome action series. The same goes with this movie, and I’m very interested in what Xebec can do to it. Especially because Tow Ubakata also wrote the original stories of Mardock Scramble and Le Chevalier d’Eon.
The Negatives: Okay, so he also was the one who wrote the series composition of Heroic Age. That’s about the only reason why I’m a bit cautious about it, but as soon as I get the chance to watch the series of Fafner, I’m going to track this one down.
First-Glance Potential: 90%

Tailenders

Summary: The destiny of Tomoe Shiro, a formidable racer with a very promising career, experiments an U-turn when a serious accident puts his life at stake. He recovers miraculously, though, when his heart is replaced with the engine of his own racing car. However, because of that very reason, race regulations demote him to the category of a mere mechanical part of the vehicle and is deprived from the right to participate as a pilot in regular races. Only in a far away colonial planet, along with a multitude of other charismatic pilots also vetoed from participating in regular competitions, he will be given the opportunity to race for his pride and the money of the prize. And so this exciting rally starts!! – (Taken from ANN)
Type: 28-Minute Movie
Director: Picograph
Producers: Anime Innovations Tokyo
The Positives: Oh god, I love Anime Innovatitons Tokyo already: this premise sounds even better than Cencoroll’s. Here’s hoping that they’ll be able to do many more projects after this.
The Negatives: They’re like Studio 4C, though: very creative and innovative, but their projects are often really short. This one is just going to be 28 minutes, and I’d love to see them sponsor some actual TV-series.
First-Glance Potential: 90%

Supernatural the Animation

Summary: Two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, team up to find their father, John, who went missing on a hunting trip. However, their father isn’t a typical hunter: he hunts supernatural creatures like ghosts, vampires, and various demons and he’s trained his sons to do the same. Along the way, Sam and Dean save innocent people, fight creatures and ghosts, and collect clues to their father’s whereabouts. – (Taken from Wikipedia)
Type: 22 Episode OVA
Director: Atsuko Ishizuka, Shigeyuki Miya
Script: Sumino Kawashima, Akemi Moriyama
Other Notable Staff: Shusei Murai (music), Takahiro Yoshimatsu (character-designs, animation director),
The Positives: Holy crap! Where to start: Shusei Murai was the one who composed Mouryou no Hako’s haunting soundtrack, there are a ton of people who worked on Aoi Bungaku who are going to return for this one, including the directors of Kokoro and Hell Screen and the Spider’s Thread, Sumino Kawashima did some amazing work on the screenplay of Hashire Melos and a bunch of Himitsu the Revelation episodes and to top things off we have the character designer of Trigun and Ooedo Rocket in charge of the animation. On top of that, with 22 episodes this is promising to become the longest OVA since Legend of Galactic Heroes or something, and the creators will be animating the best episodes of the TV-series, along with some completely new ones. This really is one to look out for.
The Negatives: I have not watched anything of the Supernatural series. Would that be a disadvantage, or an advantage? Do the creators plan to create a standalone story here, or are they just going to end up animating a bunch of random episodes?
First-Glance Potential: 90%

Armored Trooper Votoms: Koei Futatabi

Summary: At an oasis, Chirico (the main character of the VOTOMS series) will reunite with his old friend Gotho and other characters after 32 years. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Director: Kazuyoshi Takeuchi, Ryousuke Takahashi
Script/Storyboard: Masashi Ikeda
Other Notable Staff: Masanobu Nomura (Art Direction)
The Positives: Hell yeah, I’m a big Votoms fan here, and based on the way that the Gen-ei hen is playing out, the creators are intending this to be the movie to conclude the entire franchise. Unlike the first two movies of the trilogy, this is one that Ryousuke Takahashi will be involved in as the director, which only makes things even better.
The Negatives: Why the heck is the director of Cluster Edge writing the script?
First-Glance Potential: 90%

Heartcatch Precure – 39

by psgels, posted in Heartcatch Precure



In the previous episode, Dune sent a huge monster to the Precures, which took all of their powers to take out. In this episode… his weakest goons threaten two children and take their toys. Okay,yeah this was a bit of a step back: an intermezzo before the final arc happens, meant to lighten the mood.

A filler this was not, though. It was more like a side-story which could have been omitted, or aired earlier on in the series preferably. It mostly was hilarious because of the banter between Erika and Coffret, which really was perfect to lighten up the mood. The entire premise of the episode was based on”yeah we’re fighting but after a bit of a fight with the bad guys and each other we make up again”. Don’t get me wrong, this still was a very enjoyable episode, but it’s not within the standards that this series has set before.

Yeah, it’s a bit of a shallow episode, but it had plenty of stuff to redeem itself with. This was the best episode yet for the Snackies (or whatever they’re spelled), especially their “maintenance squad” was hilarious, but their visual comedy in this episode was also priceless, now that they finally got the chance to be the main bad guys. Coffret’s voice actress also was really good in this episode, and she prevented what could have been an annoying whiny episode into quite an enjoyable one.
Rating: * (Good)