Bakuman – 08

by psgels, posted in Bakuman



This was really looking out to be my favourite episode of Bakuman thus far, but I didn’t really like the ending. That annoying classmate was a bit too much here in a series that tries to be realistic. It was a bit of a cheap way to create drama, and this show doesn’t need him. I mean, there are assholes and all, but this guy is just a caricature.

The rest of this episode impressed me, though. It was all about the psychology of the two leads: they’ve passed their fist big hurdle, but how do they keep themselves professional enough to keep writing? This episode was entirely meant to flesh out the flaws of the two leads and it definitely made them more interesting to watch.

On top of that, in the end the story they came up with (which indeed was both visually and in terms of its concept more interesting) got rejected. In the end it remains a competition between other manga authors to compete for a spot inside a magazine, and apparently the producers found the other premises more interesting. I’m really interested in the manga story that the creators eventually do find interesting enough to publish.

This episode also was about Moritaka’s worries of his art being not good enough. Compared to the pilot, his art has also gotten quite detailed, but to me it seems like the thing he’s looking for is inspiration. At the same time, I think that he’s also unrightfully thinking that he’s miles behind Akito’s writing, after all it’s one thing to come up with a premise, but the real challenges for Akito are to weave an entire story around it.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

OVA Impressions: Armored Trooper Votoms – Phantom Arc – 05

by psgels, posted in Armored Trooper Votoms - Phantom Arc, OVA Impressions



That was just absolutely amazing. Both this franchise and this OVA keep just heading in new and different directions, and yet at the same time this OVA is also bringing together the different parts of the series. This episode really embodied the things that made the mystery-parts of the Votoms-franchise so awesome: it just keeps throwing you in new settings and situations that are completely original.

It was a building-up episode, but it did that extremely well with its atmosphere. This child of god gets even more intriguing than it already was now that it got abducted by those strange huge bugs, who seem to know exactly what to do with it, along with that girl who turned out to be a previous Child of God, who managed to survive for god knows how many places, suggesting that these children of god are some sort of immortal, which is pretty believable considering how Wiseman lived for 3000 years.

And yet that makes Chirico even more intriguing, as he’s supposed to be even above these deities. I also loved all of the religious subtext that this episode again brought to the table. Religion in Votoms was always something vague, yet very much real. It never really was explained what exactly Chirico’s powers are, and yet his destiny plays a key part here: wherever he goes, something really important happens and everyone wants to be a part of it. At first sight Chirico seems to be nothing more than yet another variation on the Gundam-esque Newtypes, but his nature lies far deeper than that.

Oh, and what I also really liked was that the creators finally showed a bit more depth to the scene in which Pailsen tried to burn Chirico. It’s now revealed that he burned the entire research institute in which he was gathering potential Abnormal Survivors, and I think that that’s the point in which Pailsen really found out about Chirico. I’m especially intrigued by that boy and girl who ran towards each other, and what their relationship with Chirico was. And again, I loved how mature Chirico reacted to it.

We really need more series like this in the future. Heck, the Gen-ei hen has pretty much become my favourite OVA of 2010, and to think that there still are one episode, one movie and two side-story movies left. the entire Votoms franchise really is something unique. The animation could have been better, but ah, who cares? It’s nowhere near bad enough to ruin the rest of this experience.
OVA Episode Rating: 8,75/10

Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu – 20

by psgels, posted in Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu



Again: a really good episode. I mean, it really took a while for this series to get going, but it’s quite excellent at this point with very few weaknesses left. Ryner’s angst ten episodes ago was still rather annoying. Right now though, with an entire episode dedicated to it, it really shined again: this was such a bittersweet episode for such a seemingly jolly fantasy series.

There is no real good and evil in this series, but the biggest asshole is without a doubt that short-haired Gastark guy. The things that he does in this episode were just… depressing beyond belief, especially after how often this series has reminded us how much the people with the Alpha Stigma have been suffering in the past.

The parts that really made this episode for me was when Ferris got in the picture, though. After 20 episodes, she finally got the chance to yell something other at Ryner than her usual random insults. It’s about time that the relationship between these two developed, and the past episode did a wonderful job there.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Shiki – 16

by psgels, posted in Shiki



This series… every time I think that the turning point is about to arrive, the Shiki prove me wrong by only nibbling away even more lives. I mean, how many characters at this point are still un-bitten by the vampires? I can only tihnk of Toshio, Toshio’s mother, the three remaining nurses, Seishin and his parents, the awesome beard guy and his wife and Kaori. That’s only eleven characters left, out of who knows how many this show started with.

This series makes excellent use of this hopelessness: this episode was mainly meant to give the Shiki some background, and yet at the same time it went back to the despair when Tatsumi trashed all hopes of Akira of being able to fight back. Just one shot of him was enough for that.

The background of course was very appreciated as well. It’s interesting that Sunako, and not the two vampires I thought to be her parents, turned out to be the mastermind behind everything. Up till now, the biggest potential pitfall for Shiki was shallow main villains, because of the relatively little time that has been spent on this threesome, so I’m glad that at least Sunako has gotten a bit more depth here.

This episode also provided a great view into what Shiki think like: they mostly retain their personality, but what changes them the most is their thirst for blood and attacking people. This leads them to attack their loved ones, in the hope of getting them to the other side. Now, the question remains: what makes special vampires? Why did Natsuno and Tatsumi rise up as vampires who have no problems with Sunlight? Is that random, or do certain conditions have to be met? And if that’s the latter, did the Shiki avoid meeting those conditions in order to have something to manipulate their subordinates with?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Kuragehime – 05

by psgels, posted in Kuragehime



This episode did exactly what I hoped to: instead of goofing off, it wasted no time in pushing the plot forward. Instead of waiting until the penultimate episode for the Sisterhood to actually stand up and do something, it brings in the news that Chieko’s mother is planning to sell the place. That was exactly what this series needed to prevent it from getting stale.

This episode itself was also a complete chaos with the amount of things that happened at the same time: Tsukimi was too busy being love-sick, the sisterhood made a failed attempt to speak up at a council meeting, a newly introduced woman starts hitting on Shuu and Kuranosuke starts his attempts on giving the entire sisterhood a huge make-over. Every part of this was just full of energy, and I especially liked the parts of the episode that tried to mix all of these together, which made this episode juggle all kinds of emotions. It’s one of the rare points at which you can really see that this is from the same director as Baccano and Durarara, as Takehiro may be one of the most versatile directors out there: it feels like his style changes with every series he’s working on.

Unlike the previous episode we didn’t get to see into Shuu’s mind this time, which probably was a build-up for the next number of episodes, because we don’t know exactly what kind of impact the previous episode made on him. This episode portrayed him as relatively normal, but at the same time we also don’t really know what kind of impact that woman made on him (who by the way is quite a character: the personalities she creates for the people she manipulates sound so fake when you consider her real character): was she meant as a character to develop him, Tsukimi or both?
Rating: *** (Awesome)

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)