Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva Review – 77,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



You know these puzzle games? Well, someone actually found it a good idea to make a movie about one, impossible as it may seem. The creators of this movie really were put in front of the daunting task of coming up with some sort of epic story that involves solving puzzles, and while the result is far away from perfect, I’m still surprised at how interesting this movie became.

Let me start with the good: the back-story. The story behind the mystery that Professor Layton and his assistant have to solve is imaginative, and actually a pretty good mystery-story. In the beginning it throws in a ton of red herrings and hints at you, and as the movie progresses it shapes together quite a nice overall story. This pacing, along with its ideas are bound to hold your attention and the characters that the mystery focus on are good and well fleshed out.

The animation by PA works also was quite interesting. The character-designs are simple, but quite varied and aesthetically pleasing. The animation is consistently fluid as you could expect from a movie, and the soundtrack is equally excellent.

Right, now that that’s out of the way: the bad stuff. Well, first of all, the movie assumes that its watchers are fans of the games. This means that you’re not going to get any background information about the main characters. Who is professor Layton? Why does he, one of the apparently most brilliant “puzzle scholars” (actual quote from the movie!), have a ten-year-old kid as his assistant? Who is that charming but mysterious Scotland yard cop? Especially the intro of the movie is just weird, unnecessary, confusing, stupid and never explained. Expect none of this to be addressed throughout the movie, even if they’re jarring. It’s just there to focus on the story of the Eternal Diva.

Then, the plot. As imaginative as it may be, there are just large chunks of it that don’t make any sense whatsoever. Most notable is the plan of the bad guys, which is just ridiculously complicated no matter how you look at it. The reason that this movie has so many red herrings is because of how incredibly needlessly elaborate their actions are, considering the goals that they’re trying to accomplish. You’d need to have looked at the script of the movie in order to be able to understand what’s going on (yes, that’s also a criticism to a bit more spoilerific part of the movie).

Overall, the movie is too forced. It’s too focused on its storyline (which really is quite good) and forgets the fine details as avoiding deus ex machina, completely writing characters out when they’re not needed anymore, making sense, that kind of stuff. Still, I’d especially recommend the first half of this movie, because that really is build up for a mystery done well.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Deus ex machina, lacks attention to detail, but is actually pretty good at building up and creating tension.
Characters: 8/10 – No depth on the lead characters, but the side-characters are pretty good for a movie.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Pretty good for movie standards, though not the best.
Setting: 7/10 – I’m very torn on this one. The setting behind this movie is very imaginative… it just doesn’t make any sense and really doesn’t seem to care about this at all.

Suggestions:
– Laputa: Castle in the Sky
– Gedo Senki
– The xxxHolic Movie (just ignore that review. It’s crap)

High School of the Dead – 03

by psgels, posted in High School of the Dead



Here’s one thing that I’m a bit afraid of: this series falling into the formula in which the main characters find survivors, who all just get killed off anyway in favour of the lead characters. I mean, the first half of this episode was really predictable in the way that you just knew that these kids they picked up would just end up getting eaten. I guess that that’s why it’s a good thing that this series will only have 12 episodes.

In any case, this episode tried a bit too hard in my opinion to introduce an asshole. For this guy to work, the creators really need to give more attention to the groupies around him, and give them personalities just like the main characters. The guy himself also needs to get a bit more of those normal scenes in which he isn’t acting like a total snob.

On the bright side though, the fanservice was pretty much toned down in this episode compared to the previous ones, which is a good sign. If anything, the lead characters are all likable despite their flaws, and I like how at the end of this episode the creators tried to break up the two lead characters from the rest, in order to avoid the formula from getting stale. Zombie killing can only remain interesting for so many episodes, so I’m glad that the creators have spent their time to at least give us some solid 12 episodes here.
Rating: * (Good)

Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru – 15

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



So, this mostly was a build-up episode in which Yuki travels to the main Giou mansion. We get to see some new characters who live there and a lot of hints at the long-awaited background of Yuki and Takashiro. This series often puts a lot of emphasis on travelling to build up its tension: first Yuki’s journey to the Twilight Mansion and now again.

The light hearted moments still are… awkward though. I understand what the creators are trying to do, but most of the attempts to create laughs worked mostly unintentional because of how stupid they were.

Despite that, this wasn’t a wasted episode at all, and thankfully we got a number of scenes that showed a bit of the depth of the characters. Takashiro’s worries were addressed here, plus one of the new characters (a genius professional shougi player) sent out a strong hint to Yuki at how serious the fight against the dumas should be taken.

Also, there’s a new OP and ED this week. The OP is fine, interestingly it’s Takashiro again who steals the show. But the ED… oh, god. Talk about an anti-climax. Who found it a good idea to end such a gloomy series with silly upbeat j-rock?
Rating: * (Good)

Giant Killing – 16

by psgels, posted in Giant Killing



It’s interesting to see how many things this series is doing at the same time. I mean, every episode has its main focus, in this case Sera, but at the same time it really takes every chance it gets in order to flesh out its other characters a bit as well. I mean, we have Sera here who is worrying about his position in the team, but at the same time: he isn’t the worst player in the team. His attacks may not have been scores, but he actually kept quite a bit of pressure on the opposing defences, which allowed Murakoshi to score, which at the same time showed that he had very much learned from Tatsumi, back at the start of the series.

Also, while Sera is currently fearing Natsuki to kick him out of the team, Natsuki isn’t the least bit worried about Sera, but rather only has eye for Tatsumi, wanting recognition. In the meantime, this episode kept dropping hints that Sera’s stand-in, Sakai also has his own issues. So, if I got this right, then we have Sakai who has issues with Sera but is being ignored, Sera has issues with Natsuki but is being ignored, while Natsuki is having issues with Tatsumi while he’s (largely) being ignored.That’s quite elaborate, considering that this episode also succeeded in throwing in some tactics, making every team different with minute details and how past plays affected their strategy, while it at the same time didn’t forget the fans and the press, which also got their moments in this episodes beyond mere cameos.

Also, Sera’s injury. Seriously, I don’t know anymore. This is the third time now that this series has made a big deal of an injury that afterwards didn’t turn out to be anything major. They’re definitely building up to something with that, but I think that episode sixteen is still a bit too early to start using this trump…

Speaking of which, can some manga-readers confirm how far we’re into the manga right now? As in, how many volumes does it have, and does this series look to be on schedule?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Heartcatch Precure – 23

by psgels, posted in Heartcatch Precure




Now, with all that build-up, this episode had better be worth it: we finally see the entrance of Cure Sunshine! And indeed, the animators were at their finest, and they really made sure to give the third Precure an adorable entrance. The entire episode was really well directed, with some top-notch jokes, instant chemistry between Potpourri and Itsuki and gorgeous transformation scenes.

Seriously, Sunshine’s transformation scene completely blew that of Cure Blossom and Cure Marin out of the water. Talk about fluid animation here, this looked even better than some of the best animated scenes of the Precure DX movie! The rest of the visual direction of this episode perhaps was nowhere as fluent as that, but there were a ton of interesting shots and angles, without going over the top.

What’s also interesting is the following: since Cure Blossom and Cure Marin were the two weakest Precure ever, this addition of Cure Sunshine is bound to throw the plot into a new direction. After all, Itsuki isn’t just great at martial arts, she also contains a shield. She was easily able to beat something that Blossom and Marin had a ton of trouble with. Now, there is no way that the creators are going to have nothing happen at the villains’ side: they need to include some sort of a reason to give Itsuki a challenge. Whether this means that Dark Precure will come more into action, or that it’s going to be something else, I really sense that something is going to happen that will turn this series a lot less linear now.

As for Itsuki’s brother, I can understand his fears of going into surgery, which make him forget to be that cool brother that Itsuki always looks up. His angst was well delivered… and why did this episode end before he was turned back?
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Sengoku Basara – 14

by psgels, posted in Sengoku Basara




Of course, I’d rather see more of the old production IG, with is mature and imaginative premises of Real Drive, Chevalier or Ghost Hound. But really, this isn’t bad either. I’m really willing to give this series a chance now that they got rid of the old director (who, ironically, is directing another show that I’m blogging this season). Seriously, the first season had the ingredients to become a great action series if it wasn’t for this guy.

With every series, it’s different how much influence the main director has over the series as a whole. With the first season however, that influence was so dull and average that it lacked passion. There was overacting, and characters with ridiculous powers, but the overall atmosphere of the series didn’t make use of any of it. There was just one exception to this: episode 2. Naoyoshi Shiotani (who also created the amazing-looking third OP of Blood+) just took over the entire episode and delivered one heck of a creative episode. But that also was part of the downfall of the rest of the series: it just couldn’t live up to that particular episode and it looked like it wasn’t even trying at times.

With the new director, I hope that he can achieve this balance between its action and plot. Because with Production IG behind the helm, it’s definitely different from your usual over the top action scene, with its anatomically correct character-designs, large emphasis on dialogue and surprisingly thorough historical references. I’m not expecting the next Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto here, but still an action series that entertains, and yet does remain with a good storyline.

The past two episodes have yet to surpass the second episode of the first season, but they were a massive improvement over its other episodes. The set-up for this sequel is in ways similar to the first, in which we have one ridiculously over the top bad guy being badass, while his right-hand man pulls all sorts of sneaky tricks from behind the scenes. Their presentation is a lot better though. This episode also hinted at how they’re going to be more than bad guys, and actually tried to flesh them out for about half a minute. That’s also a pretty good sign, considering how the previous bad guy, while badass, also just sat on his chair for entire episodes.

The animation still makes use of CG people, but thankfully they’re only used for the background, and nothing that goes on in the foreground (which is what the first season tended to do at times). The animation overall is pretty detailed, and the animators also take care of these small things as animating the characters’ chins when they talk. There was one particular shot in this episode that just showed a piece of sky when Katakura Kojuurou was getting beat up. That was a bit lazy, but some of the other shots of Date Masamune attacking made up for that.
Rating: * (Good)

Aria The Animation Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



it’s been a long while since I took so long in finishing a mere 13 episoded series, but this is not meant against this series: the episodes here just have this tendency to suck all energy out of you, but for once in a good way. While I wouldn’t consider this anywhere among Sato Junichi’s best series, I still enjoyed its calm atmosphere.

Aria’s genre, the slice of life moe series, is a genre that I usually don’t really enjoy. It’s definitely one of the better series of the genre, though. While a lot of time is spent on just showing the every day lives of its lead characters, it sets itself apart with two things:

First of all: its dialogue. Between the characters it feels natural, while the voice overs have this tendency to talk about pseudo-philosophical themes that have to do with the episode’s content. It actually works quite well in both making the episodes interesting and fleshing out its characters. The characters in this series aren’t exactly well developed, but they’re neither stereotypes or one-sided. They’ve all got this natural charm to them.

Second: it actually takes place in quite an interesting and original setting. Instead of yet another high school series in Japan, we’re brought into the future, where Mars has been colonized and a new Venezia has been founded. This series is excellent at portraying the city, as well as the jobs that the main characters have as gondoliers. The series explores the past as well as the present, and also managed to create an entirely new culture. It’s this part that managed to impress me the most about this series so far.

By far the most annoying part of this series was the portrayal of cats, especially the strange blob that is the pet of the lead character (named as President Aria). This cat is just way too over the top with its attempted cuteness, and a large potential turn-off for future audience. I know that this was the case me, when I first tried to check it out, back in 2005 when it first aired.

Overall though, you can see that Aria the Animation is only the beginning for its story: the side-characters actually received much more development and background than the lead characters, while instead a ton of time is spent on building up its setting and fleshing out its characters. Things really have to move in a weird way if its sequels aren’t going to surpass it.

Storytelling: 8/10 – A ton of slice of life, but also doesn’t forget to put meaning to its scenario.
Characters: 8/10 – Not much development, but the human characters are all nicely down to earth. The animals are annoying, though.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Not the best, not the worst. The soundtrack especially has its moments.
Setting: 8/10 – Original, interesting.

Suggestions:
– Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou
– Anne of Green Gables
– Kino no Tabi

Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu – 03

by psgels, posted in Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu



Wait… what the hell? How did this series suddenly become so awesome? I mean… just… wow. This episode was unbelievable. It was so completely different from the previous two episodes, it stopped with playing these silly games and actually put forth a genuinely good and emotional episode. I don’t get it! The staff for this series is crap; how… why… when?

I don’t know what’s going on anymore. This… just is one of those episode you have to see to believe. The previous two episodes were all pretty light-hearted in their build-up. This episode promised to be exactly the same as the previous one: we go on some small adventure along with the lead character and his side character friends, while we get to know the setting a bit more. Seriously, I really believed that those guys would be major unimportant side characters throughout this series.

But what took the cake was how the creators portrayed Raina, unleashing his inner powers. I mean… wow. They did just about everything right there. The budget here may not be the best of the season, but damn, was it well used! It really was an excellent portrayal of his inner struggles of keeping such a power locked inside of him, and yet it didn’t drag on like you see with most other people who unleash their hidden powers.

And holy crap, this episode also turned the romance into something good. In the previous episode it was a bit forced, but damn, that romantic tension here really added even more to this episode. With a series that started off so silly, the creators surely squeezed a heap of drama out of its premise in this episode.

When I started blogging this show, I wasn’t expecting anything. You know, perhaps in its second half it could turn into a nice action series of some sort. This episode however… that was about the last thing I could have expected. And it’s not like this can just be attributed to the fact that the creators finally have some good source material: it really was the direction here that gave the scenario its extra edge. This really came from people who spent a lot of time thinking of making this episode as awesome as possible.

I’m definitely extremely interested in this series right now. This could just have been a one-shot episode of awesomeness. It could still derail in the rest of its airtime, but damn, this was just unbelievable. I’m seriously interested about the rest of this series now. But still, it’s episodes like these why I love anime: those series that you have no expectations of that suddenly turn out to deliver so well.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Shiki – 02

by psgels, posted in Shiki




First, let me put up this disclaimer: this blog will discuss Shiki the anime, not the manga or novel. If you want to talk about stuff that happens there, then go to some website that discusses spoiler material. I’m usually very lenient on comment moderation, but I will get poisonous and delete comments that discuss spoilers.

The only thing I want to know here is the following: Shiki is an adaptation of a manga that is an adaptation of a novel, right? Wouldn’t it have been better if this series would have directly adapted the novel, rather than going for a strange double adaptation?

Either way, this is one of those rare second episodes that actually surpasses the first episode for me, even after an already favourable first impression. The direction was excellent here, the acting was very believable and the animation had quite a few interesting cuts and angles. We’re really in for an awesome series if this keeps up.

Having grown up in a small village, even smaller than the village that is portrayed here, I can somewhat understand the feelings of Natsuno feeling cramped up. It really is a village in which everyone knows each other, and there is hardly anything to do, other than to sit inside. I like how the creators portrayed the village, and actually put a lot of attention in making the bird’s eye view connect with what happened in the series. The strange thing about this village is how many doctors there are. I mean, in an entire village that’s loaded with old people, one out of every 216 people is a medical staff.

I’ve also gotten used to the character designs y now. They’re a bit weird, but definitely original. Especially the older people look great here. Daume… turned out to deliver a surprisingly solid series, considering that they only did silly moe shows up till now. It’s actually great to see that Noitamina allows all kinds of animation companies to produce a series for its timeslot, and it’ll be interesting if Daume made more of these serious series in the future, in other time-slots.

Interestingly, the series s taking the approach of a bit of a medical thriller: some kind of disease is causing problems (probably having something to do with that castle that was built). In the first episode, it still seemed a bit too similar to Higurashi and Ghost Hound, but with this episode it really set itself apart.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Kuroshitsuji II – 03

by psgels, posted in Kuroshitsuji II



I tried. I really tried watching the first Kuroshitsuji series, but yet again I only got as far as episode two before it became too much of a chore to watch. Shallow, predictable, annoying, I really don’t want to watch more of it. I know that I don’t have the right to criticize the second season without having fully watched it… but I’m gonna do it anyway. Thanks to that first episode, I’m really willing to give it a chance. This show was advertised as that you could watch it even without having seen the first season, so the creators had better live up to that.

So, as for the most burning question: no, there were no Alois and Claude in this episode either. Again, this episode acted like nothing happened. My guess would be that this series is flashing back without announcing it, or something in that direction. Either that, or that mysterious spider hints that Claude was behind the incident of this episode, which if true would really suck because even for him it would make no sense.

This episode wasn’t as awful as episode two, but it still was pretty unimpressive. It showed another character who seems to be a recurrent one: that red haired guy with a chainsaw. I don’t like him, especially in the way that his voice actor continues to ham up his performance. This episode was a bit of a murder mystery thriller, in which someone is setting people on fire.

It all was pretty shallow, the culprit revealed herself pretty early, there wasn’t much attempt given at fleshing her out, so the creators just sent her into a maniacal killing spree without making her really interesting to watch. Her weapon (photographing people to death) was a nice idea, but that also was all it was: a nice idea. It’s neither used well nor would this episode have been any different if she just stabbed people with a knife.

For some weird reason, Tetsuya Endo turned out to be the episode director of this episode… which is strange because he should be working on Digimon Xros Wars. Either way, both here and with Digimon he’s not really showing his best side. This confirms to me that he really is one of those directors who needs good source material in order to really shine. I admit that you couldn’t do a lot with an episode that had a premise like this one.

Okay, so the original author said to give this series a chance until episode four or eight, so I will withhold judgment for now. But seriously, this series is going to have to become a lot better than this now. What I want to see are bold, new ideas executed well. The way that this series has been set up, it’s the perfect opportunity to try out new stuff, but instead it’s been stuck with ideas that it never uses. I mean, this is A-1: they’ve been doing nothing but that in 2010, despite a shaky production at times. I understand that Kuroshitsuji isn’t one of their main series, and that it’s really apparent that they are focusing on Occult Gakuin this season. I’ll be fine with the lackluster animation or the CG horses, as long as the storytelling tries out something interesting.
Rating: – (Disappointing)