Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu – 11

by psgels, posted in Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu



To be honest, I’m beginning to get a bit bored with this series. You could see that this episode was really trying to be sad here, but to me it still felt like it was missing something. If you guys aren’t going to let me drop Katanagatari, then be prepared that I’m going to stop blogging this series after the start of the Autumn season in favour of a more interesting series.

It’s not like this series is becoming unbearable to blog in the same way as Kimi ni Todoke, and this show is nowhere near bad, but I am getting rather tired of it. Last week I blamed the side characters for this, but I don’t think that that’s everything. The reason I’m a big fan of the fantasy adventure genre is because of the creativity and variety of the really good series. And that’s something I’m missing here, with this episode being a good example: in this episode we yet again see Shion strategize about some random problem, we yet again saw Miran scheming something, and most importantly: we yet again saw Ryner battle some random mages and angst over his past.

Especially that last part is something that has been getting on my nerves. Yes, we know that the guy had a sad past, can we move on now? That boy with Alpha stigma just felt too forced. It’s like the creators went: oh, look. We killed his parents in front of his own eyes. FEEL SORRY FOR HIM. It didn’t really work for me.

This show could still turn out much better in its second half, but I just don’t trust this enough to be honest. Still, the setting is still solid, albeit unimaginative. And I can very much see it as the director’s best TV-series so far.
Rating: * (Good)

Kuroshitsuji II – 11

by psgels, posted in Kuroshitsuji II



You know, for most of the duration of this series (I’d say a bit less than two thirds of it), I thought of this as a bit of a silly series that had nice ideas. But I’m more and more forced to take this show seriously at this point. I mean, the creators here did something that I really want to see in a whole bunch of more and other anime: take full advantage of its creative liberties; instead of going through the tried and true formula, it really played around with its plot and characters.

And really: this just seems to get better and better at this rate. I really loved this episode, and the way it used this quiz maze in order to show Alois’ inner torment. Combine that with the fact that he forced Claude to reveal that he’s been used as a cheap tool to get to Ciel, the characters really perfectly used each other in this episode. I really love these types of episodes, and to think that the creators used it as the semi-final episode.

\With one episode left, it’s either going to be a complete success or a total disaster, and I really feel that it’s going to have a major impact on how I’ll end up rating it. And seriously: I’m seriously willing to rave on this series if it doesn’t end up chickening out at the last possible minute. At this point, this series has exceeded my expectations twice: the first was with its first episode, and now again with its final episodes it has become much more fun than I could have expected. Please don’t let that final episode ruin things, because I really liked how Johanna pretty much stabbed everyone in the back for her own goals. Talk about neat plot twists.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Rainbow – 23

by psgels, posted in Rainbow



Awesome to see that alongside Suppon, the creators also took their time to show Lily’s story here and have her develop. Again, it’s an arc completely different from the previous ones so far, in the way that Suppon doesn’t really have any problems fitting in. The only thing that’s seriously getting in his way is the trauma from 13 years before, in which he lost his entire family.

The fact that he still hasn’t gotten over it was pretty sad, and that combined with Suppon’s usual maturity made this quite an effective episode. As for Lily, I like how this series really doesn’t try to avoid sensitive subjects here. The childrape of the earlier episodes were much worse, but I can very much imagine of how the problem of foreign soldiers having their way with local women, only to abandon them afterwards, is addressed here, as usually anime are too politically correct to talk about it. Really, 2010 has been an interesting year for the portrayal of WWII with this series and Senkou no Night Raid. This series takes care to show the horrors of that time period, while also showing that every side had its share of assholes.

And I know that I’ve been saying this often enough, but damn, I’m really impatient for that Heitai-arc. This guy is one heck of an interesting guy, so I really hope that the final two episodes, or at least the semi-final one, will be his.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Nurarihyon no Mago – 10

by psgels, posted in Nurarihyon no Mago



A few episodes back, I complained that Kana had no character. This episode proceeded to give her one. Fair enough.

Seriously though, I really like it when a character I previously disliked or even hated redeems him or herself. And this episode had this for Kana. It’s a great sign of how a series is changing for the better. Out of all the episodes that centred around Rikuou’s classmates, this is the one I like best so far, even though the stakes of this episode are probably the lowest of the entire series with that random mirror youkai.

But yeah, we got to see Kana as she was young, she stepped out of her role as simple damsel in distress and actually started critically asking Rukuo and Nura questions. It’s not like she was a bad character anyway, I just disliked her because she was nothing more than a plot device that Rikuo needed to save. This episode had her again captured by a youkai, but she did step out of that role and became more than that. I especially liked how, since this episode was told from her perspective, it became a strange little horror episode, especially when Nura dragged her to that Youkai restaurant.

The end of this episode also introduced the new upcoming villains, and it’s here where this series is really going to have to deliver, especially as next month it’ll get some serious competition when Letter Bee starts airing again. While Letter Bee has way more flaws than Nurarihyon no Mago, it does have a better setting, atmosphere and soundtrack, plus at this point it also looks like its overarching story is a lot more interesting than Nurarihyon’s. It’ll have to put in some effort to not get overshadowed.
Rating: * (Good)

Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin – 10

by psgels, posted in Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin



Well, that settles it: the end of this episode really hinted that in the next episode, the finale is finally beginning. With that, we should get away from the random storylines and back to the main storyline, which is bound to be a lot more action-packed.

The big question is obviously going to be: did this series take up too much time, trying to develop Maya? The thing with the past two episodes was that the direction was nowhere as interesting as the rest of the series, which can really hurt with a 13-episode series. I mean, the first half of this series was full of wit. The absence of this wit throughout most o this episode was rather unnerving. There were some parts I liked, especially the part in which Fumiaki tries to talk to Maya (seriously, more anime characters should do that), plus the development of Maya was also quite nice, but right now this series is in the danger of spending so much time on development that it sacrifices too much of its entertainment, story, Anime no Chikara tension and atmosphere.

Having seen Sora no Oto, this is something that worries me, though thank god it’s not as extreme here. At this point, Sora no Oto had novels full of questions that it had yet to answer, and that really showed in its final episode in which it tried to do way too much at once. Senkou no Night Raid in contrast did have a great build-up with its finale, and that’s because it abandoned its build-up phase very early after episode seven. Occult Academy looks to be somewhere in the middle. Three episodes will be plenty of time to resolve all of the questions it has left hanging, but can it deliver? With its excellent script and direction it has built up expectations for its ending> I really want to see something more than a simple ending that just attempts to answer those questions. I want to see something that rocks.

Ultimately, the ghost girl felt shallow to me. This series really has the opportunity to toy with new ideas, and here it comes with the ghost of a dead girl who was neglected and can go to pass on after hugging her father. I can understand that the creators wanted Maya to relate to her, but it’s all “been there, done that”, with no need to spend two whole episodes on it. A skilled writer could have put the past two episodes into just one episode and make them work just as well.
Rating: * (Good)

OVA Impressions: Tamayura

by psgels, posted in OVA Impressions



To be honest, Tamayura turned out to be a bit disappointing. First of all because it’s just fifteen minutes long, and second of all because it’s not really like Aria, but more like K-On with photographing instead of music. So yeah, if you’re interested in K-On but find it too long then this OVA might be something for you.

The OVA tells the story about a bunch of girls who are living in a small city. Due to the short length, the lead character is pretty much the only one who isn’t a stereotype and gets some attention. She’s a bit annoying with her antics, but she is decently portrayed when the focus turns to her photography hobby.

The problem is that this show uses a few too many unnecessary cliches. The lead character has a dead father, without any point to it, she is of the klutzy type that seems to be really popular nowadays for some reason and this is another one of those series that reduces cats to weird moe blobs. I have no idea why anime really wants to do that, seriously? Real cats are much more awesome than that.

Oh, and there is also one particular character who has a specific character trait that has the potential to evolve into a horrible, horrible moe cliche on its own. At this point she is completely original, but I cringe at the thought of what would happen when moe series in the future take over the idea and include a character whose only method of communication IS FREAKING WHISTLING!

Overall… this OVA wasn’t really worth it. Its premise is too run of the mill, and it had too little to make up for its flaws. The voice actresses seem to be trying too hard most of the time, which doesn’t really help to remove them from their own stereotypes. I hate to say this, but this is one of the worst things I’ve seen from Sato Junichi.
OVA Episode Rating: 6,75/10

High School of the Dead – 10

by psgels, posted in High School of the Dead



That’s… interesting. Three episodes before the end, this series suddenly decides to abandon its brainless action and fanservice formula for the duration of the episode in order to get some depth on the characters, and in that department this probably was the best episode yet, despite being not the most exciting episodes. It’s definitely going to be interesting if this series would decide to go into a completely different direction, if it wasn’t for that ridiculously over the top cliff-hanger at the end of this episode that showed that this was just a single episode mood-swing.

I have watched hardly any zombie flicks, so I don’t know how often they deal with topics like in this episode, but I liked it. The most interesting part here is that the main cast here was in the wrong: now that they have become part of this larger group of people who are trying to survive, they don’t fit in, they refuse to give up the valuable weapons they acquired, they don’t help others and instead of keeping calm they start fighting with each other. Still, this episode worked. I like how the characters in this series have the right combination between flaws and positive character traits.

But yeah… that nazi teacher will be back in the next episodes. Unlike the lead cast, he is a character whose flaws are ridiculously unbalanced within his character, up to the point where most of his airtime was just a string of annoyance, and the same goes for the students that he turned into his slaves. If anyone is able to ruin the finale of this series, it’s these guys.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Sengoku Basara – 21

by psgels, posted in Sengoku Basara



Boy, Production IG, you sure are planning to make a lot depend on that ending of yours, with yet another episode without much fighting. This episode again continued to build up, it continued to set the stakes higher (Toshiie Maeda now also turns out to have regrouped and will be part of the final battle as well). Most of this episode was focused on tactical plans, rather than actual fighting (which had little tactical purpose). And that with three episodes left.

One criticism to all this build up is that the creators could have told us more about the different characters, like give them more background, show them as they were younger, that kind of stuff. The characters all have their issues here, but I feel like the creators could have made more use of that if they were going to spend a lot of time building up anyway. Still, I admit that the creators did well in fleshing out their characters. While not the best, this show did put in some effort to show different sides of them, another one of the points at which I feel this series is superior to the first season, even though the first season had much more action.
Rating: * (Good)

Giant Killing – 23

by psgels, posted in Giant Killing



Aargh! Stupid cliff-hangers!

I mean… wow. The way this show builds up tension is just amazing. I mean, I can’t stress enough how nerve-wrecking this episode was, and it was just meant as a build-up! It was pretty much all about Natsuki, a character who had just been introduced, less than ten episodes ago. I really did not expect him to steal the show this way.

At this point, I’ve seen quite a few sports series already, and it really is an excellent genre: I hardly ever watched one that didn’t work. I used to be very biased against the series, but when I actually got to try out one of them, I quickly realized how completely stupid my biases were as I discovered a number of amazing sports series. And yet, despite such a high standard (and with “Shion no Ou” not counted as “sport”), at this point I’m willing to label Giant Killing as the best sports series I have ever seen. It rocks at everything: the characters, the tension, the chemistry, the depth, the entertainment. The animation is the only part at which it isn’t amongst my favourites this season, but in exchange it does have excellent character-designs with a unique graphics style, so even there it could be forgiven.

I also loved how this episode took something so obvious as “the ball belongs to the team, and not to you”, and went much further in this. Alone it would indeed have been a bit of a cheesy saying, but it becomes actually pretty interesting when related to Natsuki: I really put my money on how he was once one of those guys who took these crazy egotistical risks while understanding that at the same time the ball belonged to the team, but right now this 8-month leave changed him significantly. He’s no longer able to take the crazy risks due to his fear of getting injured again and having to spend 8 months out yet again (something I actually can relate to a bit).

It’s a bloody shame that the DVD sales are terrible, though, but this had it coming, unfortunately. In Japan, football just isn’t as popular as baseball, and it has very little to do with traditional Japanese culture. Still, I really believe that this show has a market internationally, especially in the countries in which football is really big. It’s a series that will be near-impossible to dub, but I feel that this is one of those series made with an international audience in mind, rather than just a Japanese one.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru – 22

by psgels, posted in Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru



For a moment, I thought that the creators here were building up to one of those “final final bad guys”-twists, in which the guy who had been built up as the final bad guy throughout the series actually turns out to be someone completely different, with the final bad guys someone either his subordinate or employer, hidden somewhere in the shadows throughout most of the series (which is a nice idea of course, if it weren’t for the fact that those new bad guys often have nowhere near the depth of the original bad guys). I’m glad I was wrong with that.

So yeah, Reiga remembers his time as Kanata. At first I found this rather cheesy, but after second thought this makes for a pretty interesting plot twist, because he actually consciously decided to live as Reiga, rather than Kanata, rather than this being a matter of mere brainwashing. This makes me even more interested in whatever the hell it was that Reiga hates so badly.

So here’s the thing: there are two episodes left, and we end this episode with Yuki in an actual position to talk to Reiga. Sure, he’s kidnapped and all, but I really like what the creators are doing here: on one side they’re building up to an interesting set-up for a final battle, in which the characters, especially Luka and Takashiro, promise to go all out. On top of that, a major theme of these final two episodes will also be an attempt of Yuki to get through to Reiga, while Reiga needs to explain whatever the hell he’s been trying to do, along with try and successfully carry out this plan. If well balanced, it will make for an excellent ending.

The biggest roadblock will be Reiga himself: the way he develops will be crucial whether the ending will be great or just dull. What the creators need to avoid at all costs is another one of those cases of “talking the monster to death”. I want to see some genuine tension between him and Yuki, without having him magically changes sides because of some cheesy speech that Yuki holds at the end.

Oh, and about this episode: I’m glad that the creators didn’t waste an entire episode as a calm before the storm here, but instead kept it to about half an episode, while immediately putting more pressure on the cast. It shows that those general classes aren’t just sitting on their chair waiting for nothing, but actually are willing to act on their own beliefs and agendas. Not because they’re simply whimsical like a cliched anime protagonist, but because they don’t trust Reiga.
Rating: ** (Excellent)