Some Quick First Impressions: Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin, High School of the Dead and Seitokai Yakuindomo

by psgels, posted in High School of the Dead, Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin, Some Quick First Impressions

Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is the daughter of the head of some supernatural high school.
How awesome. This was everything a first episode should be! Funny, entertaining, tense, mysterious, intriguing, engaging, this episode was all of it. I was really afraid of the way that the promo material portrayed the lead characters, but there turned out to be no need to worry. The female lead at least is a very colourful character, and most importantly: this episode really wasted no time to delve into her background. It just went “screw carefully introducing characters and waiting with their background until the last minute. We’ve got only thirteen episodes here, you know!” This episode was full of weird and entertaining plot twists that had a ton of charms. The jokes were quite creative, and most importantly: while it definitely made its characters out to be a bunch of oddballs, it never turned them into idiots. Especially the part in which that ghost pretended to be the lead character’s dead father, she really saw through such a shallow trap immediately, instead of getting all sentimental about it. However, I do have one thing to say about this episode, and this is a pretty big issue: this clearly was a “let’s go all out with our first episode”-first episode. That is NO EXCUSE for the show to dull in after this. This has the potential to become a classic if all the episodes are of this caliber. However, will the creators really have enough material to make every single episode entertaining, or will they just descend into random fluff after this?
OP: Very neat art there.
ED: A decent ballad
Potential: 95%

High School of the Dead

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is in a school full of ZOMBIES
Yeah, it’s pretty much like expected. The story itself has the depth of a paper bucket, we have a school zombie invasion and your average teen-aged lead happens to be one of the few who manages to escape, along with his love interest. There’s a ton of fanservice as well. Does that matter, though? Of course not! This is just one of those shows that knows exactly what it is: adrenaline. This episode was a great taste in what is about to come, with a tight and over the top atmosphere, with a lot of passion and overacting. Right from the start, this would be a series that’s going to sell itself with its action, and well, in this episode it accomplished its mission! On the cliche side of things, though: while there are definitely cliches here and there (the childhood promise being the worst of them), the lead characters for once aren’t actually useless or weak. the lead female practices martial arts, while the lead male has also showed that he can kick zombie ass.
OP: Decent J-rock, though nothing special.
ED: Again, decent j-rock.
Potential: 75%

Seitokai Yakuindomo

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to be in the student council in a school with 90% females…. they’re not even trying anymore, are they?
Oh boy, oh boy! I hope that you’re a big fan of short-jokes, because this series surely has enough of them in its endless attempts to remind us that one of the characters is short. Seriously, the people from GoHands are terrific animators. So why the heck do they keep spending their time with these incredibly stupid premises? While not as bad as Princess Lover, Seitokai Yakuindomo is yet another one of those series in which we get to see cute girls with the depth of a paper bag parade around the screen, all around one male character who gets his usual harem. The jokes here… were terrible. They’re not funny, and some of them get repeated endlessly. I doubt that many people who visit this blog were planning to check this one out, but still: there are so many better shows of this kind. I don’t see anything that sets this series apart from its ilk.
OP: Glad to see that the jokes that the series plans to drag out in the rest of the series are even more terrible than what they showed in this episode.
ED: Obnoxious.
Potential: 0%

Giant Killing – 14

by psgels, posted in Giant Killing



This is just one of those series that can be awesome, even in episodes without any action. This was all meant to be an intermezzo, but it still was an excellent watch, and really gave some extra depth to the people it featured.

Most of all, this episode was about the older fans, trying to re-find their nostalgia, and Yuri’s work addiction. It was quite adorable to see those older fans, trying to get their friends from the past interested in football again, even though most of them have grown out of it. The sheer passion they have in this really is addictive, and it really shows that this series is as much about the players as it is about the fans.

Meanwhile, Yuri got some development as she realized how early office workers are finished with work. She’s surrounded in such a masculine environment. Her overworking to the point of getting no sleep was handled subtly, but the rest of this series also has a ton of even more subtle characterizations. I loved in this episode that we got to actually see Kuroda’s fans. They were… peculiar. Another thing I love is that Tatsumi really is someone who’s trying to look cool. And yet, when a goal is made, he screams just as wildly as anyone else around him.

Out of all the series that are currently airing, this now is my favourite, now that Sarai-ya Goyou, Yojou-han and Full Metal Alchemist have ended. While those were all full of production values, this one really shows that even on a small budget you can be very detailed in your storytelling. This series is really full of life, but in a completely different way from the three above mentioned. The first half already was amazing, but I’m very interested to see whether it can surpass itself in the second half.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru – 13

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




This was the climax of the first half of this series, and you know what? It was the best episode of this show yet. There was of course Yuki’s angst over Kanata and all, but seriously, this was a very exciting episode that also pushed these characters a bit further. And surprisingly, it was Takashiro of all people that stole this episode for me.

This episode also showed how good the soundtrack of this series can be, and the entire episode really looked gorgeous with all of the visuals that JC Staff were experimenting with. Seriously, I prefer the way they render blood far above the ketchup you usually see in anime. On top of that, we got plenty of hints of background for Reiga (plus Takashiro, which explains pretty much why the Giou clan is used to hunt for these things).

Overall, I’m happy now, and with all of the mid-bosses dead at this point, I’m very interested in the second half of this series. It’s here where the creators really are going to have to use the development of these characters, in order to develop them even more. They’re going to have to spent a number of episodes fully detailing how the characters were in their past lives, and how they changed, ESPECIALLY Reiga and Takashiro. The prospect of that alone is bound to make the second half more interesting than the first.

By the way, does anyone know how far we’re into the manga?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Heartcatch Precure – 21

by psgels, posted in Heartcatch Precure



I like this show. A lot. But I have mixed feelings about them dragging out the search for the next Precure.

I mean, I can see what the creators are trying to do: in the past two episodes, there has been no shallow hint whatsoever on the identity of this third person. The creators really tried to stay away from the formula that usually surrounds these kinds of tropes. (You know, everyone keeps looking, they can’t find anyone, and only at the last possible moments when the bad guys are about to beat up the lead characters does the mysterious character show herself). In this episode, Tsubomi and Erika were perfectly capable themselves in taking care of the Teacher’s fear of ghosts.

This is all fine and dandy… if it weren’t for the fact that it’s still pretty obvious on who the new main character is going to be. I mean, despite trying, it really made the mistake early on of giving this particular character character-designs that stand out, a mysterious introduction in the first episode, and quite a bit of background for a supposedly unimportant character.

So while I appreciate the series’ efforts, I’d rather just have it get things over with, because return we got a bunch of stupid antics from the three mascots that just went on and on as they sought out the new Precure. I know it was funny, I know it was great to see past characters back, but I also know that it was obnoxious.
Rating: (Enjoyable)

Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood Review – 92,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood




Because the first season of Full Metal Alchemist went with its own story, it turned out to be one of the most famous anime of the decade, and the manga was finally about to finish, it maybe wasn’t much of a surprise that Bones ended up animating the story of the manga. And they really made sure to give it a top notch treatment here!

Especially in the past few years, the trend has grown in which series should consider themselves lucky if they can get 26 episodes, or even enough time to animate the entire story on which they’re based. Full Metal Alchemist is different, however: with 64 episodes, it received just the right length in order to tell the full story of the Full Metal Alchemist manga, and boy is it an awesome one!

The story here is completely different from the first season, but I ended up liking it a lot better with the different focus. It’s still focused on a ton of action-scenes, but the story around it is deep, well fleshed out and mature, especially for a series with many shounen elements. The world that the series is set in is well fleshed out, multi-layered and quite detailed.

Another huge focus of this series is the time it spent on characters preparing. With the epic nature of this series, a lot of time is actually spent on the lead characters, finding allies to help them. The cast of this series is huge, but everyone in this series has his or her own part to play in the large scheme of things. The length also allows the creators to really look at all of them and their motivations, backgrounds and purposes, in order to make all of them unique, with excellent results.

What you get is an epic action series with plenty of depth to come by, carefully paced and wrapped up in the end with a finale that’s full of adrenaline. However, you should note that the first fifteen episodes or so follow pretty much the same story as the first Full Metal Alchemist TV-series, and it’s clear that at that point, the creators try to get through these parts as fast as possible in order to get to the new material, compared to the very slowly paced first season.

It of course depends on how keen you’re into seeing the same things again, but there are some notable differences between the two. Brotherhood cuts some of the useless fluff of the first season away, like the moments that were just there to show contrived situations for the lead character to save the day, though it also cuts away a lot of the minor character-building scenes. Don’t worry though, because after 16 episodes, the series continues with a completely different story that in my eyes completely surpasses the original Full Metal Alchemist.

It’s a definite recommendation if you’re looking for something epic. Despite being 64 episodes, Bones keep a surprisingly good animation quality throughout the series, especially the action-scenes themselves look gorgeous for such a long series. The soundtrack also fully captures the grant atmosphere of the story, and will make sure for a show that will keep you entertained.

We here have a series that really made excellent use of its opportunity to finally show an epic story that goes beyond even 52 episodes, while always keeping on track and not losing itself somewhere in the middle. The creators had a really excellent manga to base themselves on, and even though they did not keep to the manga for 100%, the way they brought it to animation still deserves to be applauded.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Well paced and varied in the long run, exciting and engaging in the short run.
Characters: 9/10 – A ton of different characters, most of them get their chance to show off themselves and get some depth. Plenty of character-development as well.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Great animation from Bones, plus an excellent soundtrack.
Setting: 10/10 – Excellent in its depth and multiple layers, focusing both on the big picture as the individual details. Successfully brings many different stories together.

Suggestions:
– Bounen no Xamdou
– Vision of Escaflowne
– Nadia – The Secret of Blue Water

Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – 64

by psgels, posted in Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood



And so, this series is finally over. What a ride it’s been!

As an epilogue, this episode managed to wrap everything up pretty neatly. The future of some characters are very neatly detailed, while for the others it’s left to our imagination. It’s great to see that both Ed and Al have gone their own ways, where Ed chose to take it easy in order to be able to raise his family, while Al took more ambitious plans. Roy meanwhile grew a moustache and got a step closer to beconing the next fuhrer, while getting his sight back with the help of a philosopher’s stone provided by Marcoh.

I admit, at the beginning of this series I tended to complain a lot about Winry, but looking back, this mostly was due to the way that the first season treated her, than her role here. She was a fine love interest in this series, and the creators didn’t try to shoehorn her into the main plot at the last minute. Instead, they used Al and Mai (and Izumi and her husband too, I guess) for the bit of romantic tension, which strangely seemed to fit a whole lot more.

Anyway, I was quite surprised at the reactions I got last eek, when I said that I’d pretty much label this series in my top 5 of 2010, so let me elaborate a bit further on that. At this point, I still can’t decide what my favourite show of the past half year has been, and I’m very much doubting between the Armed Librarians, Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei and this series. Assuming that two more series of that same caliber appear in the upcoming half year (which is reasonable, I suppose), that’s how I came to make that statement about this series being top 5 worthy.

Full Metal Alchemist was indeed freaking epic, but the thing is: the Armed Librarians were also really epic in their own way. Yojou-han on the other hand may not have been epic, but it was a masterpiece nonetheless. These three all had their own points at which they stood out as memorable. Full Metal Alchemist did this with its length, detailed setting, cast of characters, and the way its action scenes had been written. In comparison though, if for example Bounen no Xamdou would have been 39 or 52 episodes long, I would not have rated it inferior to this series.

And don’t get me wrong, this isn’t one of those series like Gurren Lagann, Kanon or Haruhi in which I, while enjoying the series, do not agree that their popularity is deserved. Brotherhood realyl deserves all the popularity it’s getting, but granted, I have seen quite a number of series that made more of an impact on me.

I don’t think that this has to do with being shounen or seinen or what. I mean, with series like Les Miserables being labelled as kids’ series, and series as Koihime Musou labelled as seinen… do we really have to hold it against them when a series has shounen elements? Besides, if this really is a shounen series, it really was one of the damn best of its genre.

The fantasy action genre, along with science fiction, is very much my favourite genre out there, so my standards are really high for it. What this series didn’t have, which I did experience with other series of its genre, was this addictive style of storytelling that keeps you at the edge of your seat. The kind that keeps juggling all kinds of emotion at once. Full Metal Alchemist instead was like a bulldozer, especially near the end. Is that bad? Of course not! it’s still a freaking awesome series.
Rating: * (Good)

Senkou no Night Raid – 00

by psgels, posted in Senkou no Night Raid



Okay. So apparently an episode 0 got released. I assume that it’s a DVD-episode, but I don’t think we’ve ever gotten one of these this fast. I mean, it hasn’t even been a week since the series ended. If this trend is going to continue throughout all of the Anime no Chikara series however, then we might have the beginning of a very interesting trend and attempt to lengthen anime beyond thirteen episodes.

This episode plays before the entire series: we’re on a boat, and we get to see the point at which all of the lead characters are introduced to each other. A very important episode, and I’m very glad that it’s this that the creators decided to focus on, compared to Sora no Oto’s DVD episode. The rest of the episode was about a standalone story about the infiltration of a group of human smugglers who posed as a film making company on that same boat.

I actually believe that this serves as a better introduction than episode one. It’s nicely action-packed, we get to immediately see a bit of intrigue, the characters are properly introduced and I think that it’ll give a favourable impression on more people than that that real first episode did, which rather haphazardly threw in the concept of superpowers.

The story of the episode itself was interesting in the way that none of the main characters knew about each other, so you could all see the jobs in which they infiltrated intertwined as they waited for the right moment. The problem with it was that the villain was a bit stupid to just leave an enemy like that unconscious without confirming whether he really was harmless. This brings me back to the earlier criticism I had about this series, before it came with episode seven: the spies in this series are closer to James Bond than actual spies.

Still, I wonder: Sora no Oto is going to have a total of two DVD only episodes. Will Senkou no Night Raid be the same? I’m especially interested if one of the later episodes contains one as well: at that point, there’s going to be no way for the creators to squeeze in an episode with a pointless or random story, so who knows what they’ll end up contributing to?

That attempted rape was… heavy, though. The way that the creators made no attempt at focusing at how Yukina was about to be violated by a creepy old pervert.
Rating: * (Good)

Kurenai OVA

by psgels, posted in Kurenai



Well… yeah. As it turns out, this is aimed entirely at the fans of the manga. None of the things that made the anime so memorable return, and instead we’re stuck with an episode of random hi-jinks and fanservice. Blegh.

In the end, this OVA turned out to consist out of three random, unrelated stories. In the first, everyone is at a pool in which some sort of terrorist fails with a very flimsy plan. The second story is entirely focused on a broken laptop and the third forces the characters to go exercising. It’s all way too forced, especially that third part, and all of the dialogue feels incredibly shallow and pointless.

I love the way how the original series really tried to improve on the manga and made it much more mature, especially with its excellent voice acting. But yeah, with this OVA that actually tries to be faithful to the manga… everyone feels completely out of character. Shinkurou gets reduced to an obnoxious teenager, Yuuno has transformed into a walking boob-joke, Murasaki’s bodyguard has turned into an obsessed caretaker and Murasaki herself changed from a kid who was way too mature for her age into something that more resembles a cute mascot character. Overall, it makes me even more glad to see the huge changes that the anime made.

And it’s not like this OVA was funny either. And to think that the anime featured one of the best filler episodes out there.
Rating: — (Lacking)

Kuruneko Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Ever since 2009, we’ve seen a huge influx of series with really short episodes. Setting aside the obviously awesome Gag Manga Biyori and Marie&Gali, most of them were just mindless fluff. Kuruneko however, turned out to be a surprisingly good one. It’s a very relaxing slice of life series about a woman who lives together with her cats, and it’s got quite a bit to laugh at as well.

This is another one of those shows for cat lovers, but it’s also very different from Chi’s Sweet Home, for those who were expecting similarities. It’s true that both series are about the adorable antics of a bunch of cats, but Kuruneko is much more calm and relaxed. The jokes are delivered with wit, rather than energy. Another big selling point is just the downright adorable way in which the woman voice overs all of her cats’ dialogues. Throughout the series you really come to know her as a genuine animal lover who really enjoys the company of all the different cats around her, despite the troubles they tend to cause.

What also helps here is that this series evolves over time. We start out with just one cat who lives together with the lead. Over time, we get to see new additions to her family as they grow up from cute kittens to fully grown felines. While it is a comedy, this is one of those series that’s also very enjoyable to watch when it’s not funny, due to the subtle charms of the characters, combined with how all episodes are just two minutes long.

This was a series that I could always count on to relax me. Akitaro Daichi definitely pulled it off. However, this is Akitaro Daichi we’re talking about. He’s capable of directing so many awesome series, and it’s been years since he really came with an ambitious series. I’d love to see him push himself to his limits again, like what he did with Now and Then, Here and There or the second Jubei-chan series. This is a very safe and easy to create series, especially for someone as talented as him. It’s nice that Kuruneko is going to have a second season and all, but damn: show something more about yourself, dammit!

Storytelling: 8/10 – Subtle and witty, yet relaxing.
Characters: 9/10 – We really get to know these characters and see the cats all grow up. Very solid for a supposed comedy, these characters are enjoyable to watch even when they’re not funny.
Production-Values: 7/10 – Very simple graphics that don’t stand out.
Setting: 8/10 – Um, yeah. Not the focus at all here, but doesn’t get in the way.

Suggestions:
– Chi’s Sweet Home (the first, stay away from the second season).
– Niea Under 7
– Tetsuko no Tabi (if you can find it, that is)

Some Quick First Impressions: Mitsudomoe, Shukufuku no Campanella and Kuroshitsuji II

by psgels, posted in Kuroshitsuji II, Some Quick First Impressions

Mitsudomoe

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has to teach a class containing three really annoying problem children.
Granted, some of the jokes in this episode really were terrible, but this still is a series that turned out better than I expected. I thought that this would be another one of those dull moe series like there are so many of this season, but it actually got a number of chuckles out of me. There are a ton of problems in this show, and some parts are just plain wrong, but I admire that in the genre of moe comedies, it attempts to do things a bit different by having cute girls make no attempts at acting likable. There are a TON of fanservice jokes in this series, but think of it this way: who didn’t at the age of ten make tons of stupid sex jokes that you didn’t understand? At the moment, some jokes worked and others didn’t, so this series still can go anywhere at this point. The biggest problem with this episode was its forced stupidity. The teachers are supposed to be the straight men in this series, but at times they fail their job at building suspense of disbelief. At a certain point the girls all asked the male teacher to pull down his pants, and he just obliged to that request without questioning it, just for the sake of a small penis joke. As a straight man, you should build up some sense of realism that can be broken by the comedic characters. This guy is unfortunately too bland for that, and his female teacher love interest is just entirely terrible.
OP: Obnoxious, yet somehow catchy.
ED: Hmm, works surprisingly well.
Potential: 45%%

Shukufuku no Campanella

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a mind-numbingly boring git.
I… have nothing. Seriously. What was that? It’s these kinds of series that really give anime a bad name. I already suspected that this show would be bad, but the depths that this series would reach were even beyond my imagination. This series is just… unbelievable in how incredibly dull it ended up to be. The characters, the dialogue, everything seems so designed to sap any sort of energy out of its viewers. The characters, and I mean EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM, become a goddamn chore to watch and listen to when they open their mouth. They just kept yapping and whining about the most pointless stuff, but the worst part was the way in which the creators seem really keen on reminding us viewer how incredibly beautiful the main cast is. Seriously, they just keep going on and on about that. The only way in which this show stands out is that girls can now get pregnant at the age of three. Worst show of the season BY FAR, this is pandering at its worst.
ED: Generic J-pop
Potential: -50%

Kuroshitsuji II

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has some sort of uber butler.
Okay, let me first explain how I went into this series: I have only seen the first episode of the original Kuroshitsuji, and I don’t really feel like checking it out at this point. The first episode felt too formulaic, it tried too hard to make Sebastien look cool and Ciel like a damsel in distress. It was too forced. However, with the new staff, new cast and new approach, I became interested in checking out the second season. And holy hell is it an improvement! I’m not sure whether I can watch or blog the rest of the series without knowledge of the first season, but nevertheless, this episode was wonderfully camp. The lead character here is an just crazy, and his butler here does things ten times crazier than what I saw in the first season. The scene especially between him and his maid was just…. WTF-worthy. And at the same time, the creators also managed to stuff in enough depth on the inner psyche of this kid, along with the weird relationship he has with his butler. It was wonderfully acted, it went over the top, yet it also had plenty of quiet and subtle moments that gave a ton of depth to these characters. Here’s definitely a big surprise this season.
OP: Standard J-rock, but very nice visuals.
ED: Nice ballad
Potential: 85%