Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin – 06

by psgels, posted in Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin




It’s just as I hoped! This episode really was awesome, and it had a really excellent direction behind it. With the comedy elements this really was different from the likes of Mouryou no Hako and Hashire Melos, but you could still see the traces of Ryousuke Nakamura and Mieko Hosoi. God… these people need to direct another full fledged series.

There were a ton of really well animated shots in this episode, with quite some fluid animation and imaginative camera angles. There were a few scenes that really brought these characters alive, and especially the diving scene at the end was just utterly beautiful. It’s also very interesting how two completely different types of artists worked on this episode and the previous one: the previous episode was very obviously drawn by Mamoru Hosoda fans, while Mieko Hosoi has a completely different inspiration (I’d love to know what that was, by the way).

As for the direction, I absolutely love how this episode played out. Throughout most of the episode we see this careful build-up that shows Maya investigating exactly what happened, combined with a number of quick but really good jokes. There were a few outbursts of drama, like the sudden point in which Kozue started crying, but that too was just used to build up to that final part, which worked really well with Bunmei’s life flashing before his own eyes. It lasted like what? 2 minutes. But they really were worth it.

Beyond that, they also made it plausible for Bunmei and Maya to make up. Thankfully they stayed away from any sort of romance, but rather Maya forced herself to see past her biases after having seen the future.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Daddy Long Legs Review – 75/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



With this review I feel like I really need to explain its rating. Daddy Long Legs seems to be one of the most appreciated series of the World Masterpiece Theatre out there. At AniDB it is rated as the best of the franchise with more than 100 votes, so quite a lot of people seem to agree on the classic status of this series. I don’t, though.

If I sound harsh in this review, remember that I’m comparing this to the other World Masterpiece Theatre series I’ve seen. And really, you can see the influences. This remains a series that’s based on a novel, and so the characters are constantly growing up, are forced to come to terms with their flaws and really change throughout the series. It’s perhaps not the most original story, but as a story of growing up it does its job quite well. I just have some fundamental problems with how it was executed.

I think my problems are best summarized by that it follows too much from classic shoujo tropes. And of course, there have been quite a few other WMT-series in the shoujo genre, but they had a very solid execution to back it up with, while this one doesn’t. The drama in this series at times tends to resemble a bit of a soap opera, where the writers try to make the different characters clash a little too easily. Especially the latter half of this series is filled to the brim with romantic cliches that have been done better by many different series that appeared both before and after this series.

Because this is yet another one of those high school series that puts a poor person (an orphan in this case) in a rich environment, leading to culture clashes, it really needed something to make up for it and partially, this series did. Even though it sometimes likes to force its drama, the slice of life moments were well portrayed, and the creators did a good job at exploring the differences between the culture of the upper classes without devolving it into just a string of endless parties or snobbish, stuck up and spoiled children. Julia, one of the main side characters, is especially good at that, where you can see that she has been spoiled her entire life, and yet she behaves like an actual teen-aged girl with more sides to her than just that.

And really, for the biggest part of this series I really didn’t mind it that much. Sure, it wasn’t the best of the World Masterpiece Theatre by far, but it still was pretty good, and did what it was supposed to do, and I didn’t really mind the flaws I mentioned above. Then, however, the ending came.

Now, I have watched a number of series where the ending completely changed my opinion, causing me to rate it much higher or lower than I originally had in mind, and this again happened here. That ending was one of the most contrived, cheesy, Deus ex Machina-laden endings I have seen in a long while now. A huge part of this series is devoted to building up to this particular ending, which then completely trashes any kind of subtlety or charm that was originally introduced. The plot is made way too complicated for its own good and in the end this series collapses under all of the plot twists it made to make the ending as spicy as possible.

The reason why I’m such a big fan of the World Masterpiece Theatre is because how well it handles its drama. It’s all very genuine, its characterization is truly excellent. The final quarter of this series however reduces most of its drama to stereotypical teen-aged angst, and it’s not even good angst. Relatively smart characters also tend to behave like idiots when the plot demands it. I have a lot more plot-related qualms to the ending of the series, but that would be too spoilerific to discuss in this review. The characterization of this series is good, but not good enough to make up for the many issues I have with this series.

Storytelling: 7/10 – Solid at times, but tries way too hard at others.
Characters: 8/10 – Ignore the bad teen-aged angst and you’ve got a bunch of likable characters that are actually quite well developed.
Production-Values: 8/10 – there is no eye candy, but the animation is detailed and does what it needs to do.
Setting: 7/10 – Held back by just too many things that don’t make any sense, a high school that lacks any kind of life, and too much of a focus on shoujo cliches to really show much of America in… whatever time period this is set in.

Suggestions:
– The Trapp Family Story
– Kaze no Shoujo Emily
– Perrine Monogatari

High School of the Dead – 06

by psgels, posted in High School of the Dead



Um. Yeah. I’m not going to blog softcore porn here…

Regarding the parts of this episode that weren’t part of High School of the Boobs, this episode created a new layer of chaos by finally showing the police being forced to take drastic measures, and actually kill people. It’s all a big build up to the second half of this series, and at least that part of the episode worked well.

This episode also introduced a really weird plothole with the dog. It was barking, it made noise, it was loud… and yet the zombies didn’t seem to care. I mean, these really are the most selective zombies I’ve seen, only responding to certain sounds while completely ignoring others. It’s a shame really. Zombie dogs would have been quite interesting here.
Rating: – (Let’s just move on here…)

Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru – 18

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



Whoa, Luka. This was quite an episode for him, and it had a really good atmosphere here. This episode shed a big light on what actually happened to this guy, and the relationship between him and his kin. The exact reason for this is still left for the flashback that’s going to show the past between him and Yuki, but this episode really showed his loyalty towards his decision to betray his own kind.

Interestingly this episode also explains why Luka kicks so much ass with his powers, and it turns out that in-breeding Duras only leads to stronger species, with him being the best example of this, safe for perhaps Reiga. I really suspect that he hated this kind of upbringing.

At a certain point the villainess also pulled the “I can create illusions and therefore transform into your loved one and you completely fall for it”-card. This was one of those few cases in which it actually worked. Usually you’d see completely through such a trick with enough common sense, but Luka did have his nostalgia to blame for falling for it. I mean, how many hears has he been waiting to see the girl Yuki back?

Also, I really want to praise the background artists of this episode. The use of colours and CG really made for some beautiful artworks. Elegy herself didn’t have the best character-designs, but heck, that could be just the creator’s intentions. All of the Duras have looked rather silly in this series, so it might just be that the demons in this series have a strange taste in fashion.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Giant Killing – 19

by psgels, posted in Giant Killing



Ah, yes. The creators are really intending this to be a major match. Just look at the huge amount of time that went into this episode, just leading up to the kick-ff of the actual match. Considering that we’ve only got six episodes left, this might just be the start of the climax of this series. If that’s true, then we’re really in for an awesome climax. Six episodes will be plenty of time to really build up the tension, and progress the match. This series has already shown that its attention to detail is superb, it’ll really be able to show this off with a time in which you can actually fit ninety minutes.

This is also one of those details, but I love how the Dutch people don’t have typical Dutch last names, like “de Groot”, “de Wit”. That isn’t needed either: there are enough Dutch people walking around with strange last names (or German for that matter). This really establishes that this series is dealing with actual people, and doesn’t really care about stereotypes, while at the same time they do make sure to establish these people as foreigners. The Dutch people really are freakishly tall for Japanese standards. Tatsumi’s question about the bikes is bound to have been intended as a subtle jab at this (and yes, for the people who are wondering: we do indeed have more bikes than people. Everyone and his dog seems to have one).

In any case, this episode didn’t feel wasted at all: it really established how the Osaka team is one of the nation’s favourites, with four national players, they’re the tournament’s top scorer and have yet to be beaten. But that’s the beauty of these stories about professional soccer: it doesn’t make them unbeatable. If this were a high school series, one loss would mean that they would be out of the tournament. Because of this, the creators really were able to play with this losing streak of the ETU where despite two wins, they’ve mostly played in a draw or a loss.

I also feel that this is one of those very few series that can end anywhere. Obviously I’m hoping for a second season for this thing, but the lack of ultimate goal here pretty much enables the creators to wrap up the story after any arc, since there pretty much can’t be an actual ending that closes off all of the subplots: life will always go on, and times will always be hard for the ETU. The more we get to see of them of course, the better, but I doubt that this series will leave that empty feeling that other series do when they suddenly stop with their manga still ongoing.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Sengoku Basara – 17

by psgels, posted in Sengoku Basara



This was a bit of the problem with the first season: it spent so much time on building up that it forgot to actually deliver. This episode was bugged by a bit of a problem: there were no fights at all. There was just one point where Masamune and Uesugi crossed blades, but that was more as a sign of friendship than anything else. Oh, and there were some cannons who destroyed a bunch of ships, but that too was just build-up for the next episode.

The build-up is nice and all but this is supposed to be a hot blooded action series that really needs its time of 12 episodes. I know that Sengoku Basara in total has 25 episodes, but it’s still a bit different compared to your regular 26-episoded anime. I really hope that the creators know what they’re doing here.

Either way, another reason why the first season was so boring was because the battles that it did feature were rather boring. I think the biggest offender here was the battle around Tokugawa. I mean, here the creators had the founder of modern Japan, but the huge fight around him never really was interesting. With all of the battles that this episode has been building up for, the next episode seems like the perfect place to make up for it.

And it’s not like this episode was boring in the way that the first season was. It’s just that we hardly learned any new information here: everything that happened here was just meant to flesh out the different subplots: rather than getting from A to B, this episode described the road between A and B. It’s cool, but the creators really have to use it in the rest of the series. The part I liked best probably was that scene in which we saw Masaune’s men take care of their own injuries and see then recovering. Now THAT’s more than just build up.
Rating: (Enjoyable)

Heartcatch Precure – 26

by psgels, posted in Heartcatch Precure



An adorable episode to close off the first half of this series. Nothing really major happens, though we get to see more about one of the members of the fashion club, which is always nice. It’s a simple story about a shy girl who has trouble talking to the person she looks up to, but quite effective.

The battles in the meantime are getting a bit boring at this point though. It’s clear that at this point the creators still are very much building Itsuki’s role into the team, but the battles have now a bit degenerated in to the Precures spamming attacks until the other side either goes down or teleports away. In her first few episodes you could really see Itsuki using her martial arts background into the fight, but this episode this wasn’t really apparent. Kumojacky in the meantime feels like he attained a new ultimate technique for the umpth time.

Instead this episode was all about Naomi and the rest of the gasshuku. Not a lot to say, but still really charming.
Rating: * (Good)

Introducing the forums

by psgels, posted in Special Articles

So, for the people who haven’t noticed yet, since about a week the forums are back. You can find them at psgels.co.cc. I know that the first time I tried putting forms to this site it rather failed, but I’ve learned a lot from it and hopefully set it up so that it won’t die out after a few weeks. It’s already looking pretty good with a lot of activity, you can also find the latest updates on the side-bar at the right.

Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu – 06

by psgels, posted in Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu



“Oh, you guys are fighting a lot, so you must be very close to each other”. …Well… so it turned out to be this series to drop this bomb. I guess it had it coming and all, but seriously: was it really necessary to reduce the chemistry between Ferris and Raina to a stupid cliche like that?

I have more problems with the creators actually using such a cheesy line than with Raina and Ferris themselves though. I mean, that line sucks because it suggests that a girl seemingly hates you is actually secretly in love with you. Sure, with enough development you can make this work, but there are too many tsunderes who only reaffirm how incredibly shallow their personalities are.

With Ferris and Raina this is different, though: none of them really are tsunderes; they’re just acting and they both know it. From the first minute they met, they have been constantly trying to playfully piss each other off. They simply grew into two good friends… and yeah. If romance develops from that it’s going to be a bit annoying, but at least plausible.

Anyway, the rest of this episode continued to develop Miran as a bit of a villain. Nothing really special, though the fight scene was pretty nice. It’s just a bit of a shame that the character-designs are rather generic here (either that, or I just don’t like Zecxs’ style of character-designs…), but it’s nothing major. This was a building up episode after all.
Rating: (Enjoyable)

Kuroshitsuji II – 06

by psgels, posted in Kuroshitsuji II



“I will now use this ladder in order to try and defeat this almighty demon butler”. “I will now use this bowly thing that produces music in order to brainwash everyone around me”. Now that’s what I’m talking about. Screw those god-mode powers: anyone can give that to their characters. But when the creators put those hilariously ridiculously executed ways to achieve their goals: that’s really something of the Kuroshitsuji franchise.

Especially the way in which Sebastian ended up countering that brainwash device: creating his own concert of water-filled wine glasses, even though he… could have just smashed the entire thing.

Anyway, the plot. Finally we get some stuff explained. So… why did Sebastian revive Ciel? Well… it turns out that he wanted to give Ciel a second chance at revenge. Okay. So apparently, this all has to do with the fact that somehow, Ciel is special. Special enough for Sebastian to want to steal his soul twice, and Alois to collect him like a stuffed doll. The problem here is Ciel’s memory loss, which somehow complicates things. I admit, it’s quite a decent explanation. Here’s the thing though: Ciel’s hidden powers, or whatever it is that makes him special, are still a complete McGuffin. They’re just there to give this second season a plot, nothing more.

Either way, I enjoyed this episode a lot. The way in which it it made such stupid stuff so epic. The soundtrack was especially good at this. I also love how the entire episode was pretty low-budget, with the sole exception of some of Claude’s hand movement. I mean, out of all the things to spend the most animation frames on, this is quite an interesting idea. Or do fangirls nowadays have hand fetishes?
Rating: * (Good)