Rainbow – 11

by psgels, posted in Rainbow



So this episode was all about Sakuragi versus Ishihara. And boy, was it full of adrenaline. Really, to have such a psychotic man after your life, where you can easily take his life, yet that would only complicate things infinitely. This episode actually did a pretty good job in displaying this over the top insanity, and the challenge that Sakuragi faced in order to get that guy to just shut up and leave his friends alone.

Which left him badly wounded in the end. He’s been through worse, but this will likely increase his sentence. How long did he have left again before he got to be released? Also, there is still no reason that Ishihara will be gone now. The guy really is crazy enough to keep up with the abuse, and if he isn’t going to do it, then that doctor will find plenty of ways to kill him. This is actually a turn of events that I didn’t quite expect, because any event of Sakuragi getting caught means a ton of attempts to kill the guy.

Also, that boxing match. Its biggest purpose was to bring some extra tension in between that Sakuragi versus Ishihara conflict, but it also served its purpose in developing Mario. In any case, I’m really looking forward to that second half of this series, at which the characters can really show off this development.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Senkou no Night Raid – 11

by psgels, posted in Senkou no Night Raid



Setting two former friends against each other in a struggle is tough. This show did it, though. I really like how it has been blurring the boundaries between good and evil, using the war and atom bomb as a way to completely change characters’ viewpoints. This episode was all about that: you can’t just tell anyone about a secret so incredibly big. It’s also interesting how the characters in this episode acknowledged the coincidence of having a former lover of a colleague of your sister as one of your main allies. It remains a plot-hole, but you don’t often see characters aware of them. This really helps relativity that twist to something that really did happen through coincidence here.

Anyway, this episode was paced slowly, but this restraint has really been one of this series’ strength considering its subject material. This allowed for a much more subtle characterization than usual, and I’m getting more and more interested in how the creators plan to end this thing. Unlike Sora no Oto, there have been hardly any useless moments aside from the food filler of episode four, so if the creators can also close off with an actually good conclusion, compared to the incredibly rushed ending of Sora no Oto, I’ll be entirely happy about this show.

Also, the end of this episode came with quite an interesting plot twist: what was that guy doing there? Did he somehow find out where everyone was going, or does he have some sort of hidden agenda that he’s about to reveal? Two episodes left, let’s hope that this show will go out with a bang!
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Top 25 Favourite EDs

by psgels, posted in Top 10 Anime

Compiling this list was… annoying. At least with OPs, series take a lot more liberties to try something interesting. Most of the EDs however, just look and sound way too much like each other. There were a ton of the same ballads with dull images in front of them, but by far the worst were those moe show endings with those horrible J-pop songs. Standalone they may not be so bad, but when I compiled this list I had to listen to hundreds of these things. I was seriously glad when the pain stopped.

In any case though, there are also a number of series that showcase excellent EDs, and that’s what this list is about. Note that my taste in music is a bit weird for your average anime fan (I really don’t like most J-Pop and J-rock).

A great ED for me has first and foremost got to contain a good song. It may have great visuals, but those are no use if I’m poking my ears out. On top of that, I also like EDs that treat themselves as more than just an obligatory thing to show credits at: the ones that come with interesting ideas for a music video, or so to say.
Continue reading “Top 25 Favourite EDs” →

Some Quick First Impressions: Sekirei ~Pure Engagement~

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Sekirei ~Pure Engagement~

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has… ah screw it, I’m not going to make a Pokemon joke here; everyone and his dog is already doing that.
Here’s the big problem with Sekirei: it’s not like it’s another one of those brainless moe or fanservice shows; it’s actually got quite a decent storyline, but the comedy is utterly terrible. This episode too, the fanservice jokes were god-awful and uninspired. The creators took the most often used jokes and somehow found it a good idea to just repeat them. Within six minutes, the lead female had already tripped and planted her bosom into the conveniently placed lead character, and this episode was full of dumb jokes like that. The animation was interesting, though. The characters were drawn with a consistently as heck, but there was actually quite a bit of movement, and it actually looked quite good. Although there were times at which the animators also didn’t really understand what they were drawing (weren’t those plates hot? And what idiot closes off a program by using SHIFT, seriously?). The few serious parts reminded me of why I didn’t instantly drop this series, though. I can take this series seriously as long as it takes itself seriously. Let’s hope that the majority of this sequel will be like that, with as little of that awful comedy as possible.
OP: Standard J-pop; not good; very cheesy.
ED: Very annoying J-pop. Oh, but I guess it doesn’t matter because it has boobs…
Potential: 60%

Kaidan Restaurant Review – 77,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



I really like what Toei has been doing lately. They took three kids genres that had gotten really stale lately: children’s horror, science anime and mahou shoujo, and successfully managed to breathe new life into them with Kaidan Restaurant, Marie&Gali and Heartcatch Precure. Out of those three, Kaidan Restaurant is obviously the inferior, but if you like kids’ shows then this series will offer some unique charms.

And I must say that it was based on quite a good idea for its basic premise. From the outside, it may look like yet another show about a group of kids who really angered the gods badly, and run into a bunch of ghosts in every episode, but that wouldn’t quite do justice to what this show really is about: it’s a collection of horror stories, sometimes from all over the world, told through the perspective of the lead characters.

Basically, nearly every episodes consists out of two to three quick horror stories, delivered in bite-sized chunks. The stories are short, a tad repetitive, and not that well animated, but at the same time they’re quite well told. In just ten minutes, the creators nearly always succeed in building up a creepy atmosphere, despite the short length. The stories are well paced, correctly introduced and often not as straight-forward as one may think. The series is based on a series of award-winning children’s books, and that really shines through in the adaptation, despite the presence of any sort of big budget. It’s THE sign that you can tell a great story on a short animation budget. And heck, during its airtime this series consistently hit the top 10 of Japan’s viewing rates.

the stories are very repetitive, that’s true. But they all do what they intend to go: provide quick bite-sized chunks of horror. The series is specifically set up in a restaurant format, with meals consisting out of an appetizer, main course and desert, which proved to be quite an interesting metaphor for the series to work with. I also quite liked how some stories leave a lot up to the interpretation of the viewers by not outright stating what happened, while others are more straight-forward. In some stories, the ghosts are killed, but there are also plenty of stories in which the ghosts are the winners, or simply leave. That’s another one of the strange things about this series: it’s quite sadistic at times, but it also has its heart-warming moments.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Is actually quite effective in its horror storytelling. Consistently creates a pretty tense atmosphere for stories that only take up 10 minutes.
Characters: 7/10 – Points for the idea, but the main characters remain mere shells because of how they’re meant to represent a different person for most of the episodes. The characterization of the persons in these individual stories is quite good, though.
Production-Values: 7/10 – This is a bit of an ugly series. The animation budget is full of errors, and very basic. It does what it need to do, but nothing more.
Setting: 8/10 – Repetitive, but imaginative. The setting has a lot more charm than all those cheaply made kids’ shows that treat children like idiots.

Suggestions:
– Gakkou no Kaidan
– Telepathy Shoujo Ran
– Aoi Blink

Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru – 10

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



Costumes in anime have generally always been rather questionable. The mature series are often fine, but there are also tons of costumes in anime that make you ask “…why”. Seriously, most of the good guys of Uraboku wear normal clothes, even the red-haired guy’s outfit can be attributed to some fashion statement. But Zess, where the heck do you get the inspiration for your clothes from?

Seriously, most of the comedy in this series just doesn’t work, but this guy is comedy gold. His shirt in this episode looked like he violently ripped off the sleeves or something. It’s just hilarious how this guy just acts all cool with a continuous serious and deadpan expression, yet goes overkill at such weird times. My personal favourite scene of him so far was when he summoned that gigantic dragon to just take care of a bunch of weak bad guy underlings.

In any case, a big weak point of this series is definitely the cast of villains. This episode showed a bit more of them, and yet we hardly got to know more about them aside from what kinds of powers they have (oh, and that one of them likes hot guys). Who are they? Why do they do the things they do? There hasn’t even been a hint of this so far, and their characterization just feels bland. These people seriously need more work.

The good guys however are the ones who make me keep watching this series. This series continues to explore them, and build further on their stories. This especially was a good episode for the side-cast, and even though a terrifyingly large amount of people here have suicidal tendencies, the creators did a decent job in making it believable. It’s nowhere near amazing yet, but at least it’s still going into the right direction. It’s going to be interesting to see whether this show can pull off a strong second half.

Also, the golden rule of anime: characters don’t die unless we see this confirmed. The next episode is going to be the first test for this show how annoyingly it will try to hold on to this rule. The problem is especially with Tsukumo: if this guy lives, then the main bad guy will be absolutely pathetic in his job. On the other hand, it will be very cool if those guys actually died, and I admire the balls of the creators if they go there.
Rating: * (Good)

Giant Killing – 11

by psgels, posted in Giant Killing



Whoa, with the usual fast pace of this series, this match suddenly slowed down the pacing a lot, to give a great feel of the match. And even then it’s not even certain that this will deliver Tatsumi’s first win:the best they can do is 0-0 with such a set-up in which everyone defends. You would expect Tatsumi to suddenly change strategy as soon as the second half starts, but even that is no possibility here. It might just be that this match is just another part of the chain that will lead the ETU to victory, and that this is just a match meant to solidify the team’s defence.

It’s also great to see that the opponents here know what they’re doing. They’re not just very powerful, but also use their head in their tactics. The weak link is just that they don’t know that Kuroda devoted a section of his life to one particular player. It’s interesting how that coach didn’t notice that, even though Tatsumi did; it’s probably out of cockiness. He kept talking about professionalism, and how he desires such a team, but at the same time he feels like a coach whose head is a bit too much in the clouds.

The photographers were also a nice addition, it’s part of what makes this show so addictive. They don’t just show a bunch of photographers to the side, they also give them a bit of depth by talking about their profession.

Also, what was up with Tsubaki at the end? Was last episode’s cliff-hanger just a sneaky red herring or something? This could prove to be interesting, considering how Sera collapsing only turned out to be a minor deal (I really thought that that guy would be so badly hurt that he would at least not be able to walk straight for the duration of this match).
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – 61

by psgels, posted in Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood




It’s just as I hoped: the finale of Full Metal Alchemist managed to surpass itself. I really consider this and the previous episode to belong to the true highlights of this series. This is really what I’ve been hoping, the way in which the creators managed to use all of the build-up of the entire series and just deliver an incredibly action-packed finale.

It’s also great to see that the animation is back to its old quality again. The action-scenes looked incredibly diverse and gorgeous, and it really showed that Bones was saving up its budget for those final few episodes during the past season. I especially loved the scene in which Father blasts his first energy beam to Hohenheim.

My biggest fear of this episode was of course the following: with how powerful Father has become, how the heck did the creators plan to bump him from his throne? It would be pretty lame to just have a bunch of kids ruin a plan that involves hundreds of years of preparing. I wasn’t disappointed here, though: it was Hohenheim who turned out to have the final trick up his sleeve, as he too spent centuries, attempting to do something against Father’s plans, and therefore formed an excellent core to foil his plans. Add that to Scar’s brother, who turned out to be surprisingly close to the truth here with his research, and I’m more than satisfied.

This episode was over the top in its action, but that’s especially what I’ve been expecting of it from the start. It was all about having formerly invincible characters getting defeated, but it’s all done in style: Wrath’s ending was epic. He went down against a worthy opponent, and even then he was only at a fraction of his strength because of a mistake he made a few episodes back, causing him to get wounded. Pride in the meantime went down like Envy: it’s because he’s flawed by design in the way that he just allowed himself to be completely destroyed, just for the sake of Father’s Pride.

And at the same time this episode also had those small details in between the action. I loved the scene in which Izumi saw her husband again, or when Roy Mustang saw Hawkeye again. They were short but powerful, and exactly what’s necessary to prevent this show from just going way too much over the top. This episode really had an excellent balance between that exposition and those action-scenes.

The final episodes also now look a lot more interesting, because Father now is no longer a god-moded threat that can’t be defeated. The problem with all-powerful characters is that they can also be made too powerful. When that happens, creators need to pull really weird deus ex machinas or plot-devices in order to keep these guys from just blowing everyone away. Here however, it was handled very well.
Rating: **** (Fantastic)

Angel Beats – 11

by psgels, posted in Angel Beats



Ah, so the shadows: the final end boss. The series needed an extra boost to quicken up the plot (after all, if it wasn’t for that, there would be nowhere near enough time for Otonashi’s adventures to make all of his friends disappear). It’s interesting to see that Key intended the finale of this series to be a thriller.

There were a few things that were a bit wrong about this episode, but that’s just nitpicking. It mostly had to do with the sudden stupidity of some of the characters: why did Otonashi not notice that Kanade was just a regular player? Also, why was Yurippe the only one who understood that Ooyama became an NPC?

But yeah, it’s an interesting thought: what if all of the NPCs were once these wandering spirits themselves, who failed to pass on? That really was the thing necessary to give the entire cast a good reason to think about where they wanted to go.

But someone actually created them. What’s up with that? My guess is that it’s Matsushita. I mean, he’s just gone. Ever since he left for the mountains, he’s just nowhere to be found.

Now, it really takes skill to make him the final villain without any hints prior to that. He could indeed be hiding things like most others, but as a teenager’s spirit who is so confused… does that really make him that good of an actor? Also, he’d better have some damn good motivations to do that. The last time someone tried to kill the cast it resulted into some guy with a god-complex who just slaughtered everyone and just got cured by a big hug.
Rating: * (Good)

Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei – 08

by psgels, posted in Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei



What am amazing conclusion to the love triangle arc. Seriously, Sarai-ya Goyou has really gotten some serious competition for my favourite series of the season, I really love the way in which Masaaki Yuasa has been delivering this series so far. This episode was nearly again the exact same as the previous two, only with the focus on Keiko, Watashi’s pen-pal, and a different conclusion.

The past arc has been brilliant in making everything spiral out of control. It’s THE proof that repetition doesn’t need to be bad, provided that you use it well. There have been tons of series who did amazing things with it (Utena, Higurashi, Jigoku Shoujo and Umineko, and it’s very interesting to see Yojou-han joining them.

I think we all knew that Keiko was actually Oz, the moment he handed Watashi that magazine, in which he found Keiko’s address. Part of what made this episode so much fun though was the way in which he was so genuinely enamoured with her. The look on his face (and especially the dialogue that went on inside his head) at the moment he found out that he had been exchanging love letters with Oz was priceless.

Akaishi’s role in everything also turned out to be very interesting in the past arc. The big difference with the previous arcs is that Watashi actually did something nice for her, instead of ignoring her (that was probably the meaning of the promise-scene of the earlier episodes: it’s to show that the two actually fit each other quite well, but because Watashi is so incredibly dense he never made any advances on her and forgot about his promises to her). Also, she’s living next to Oz.

Seriously, now that prediction that Higuchi made back into that first episode gets a new dimension with this. Who knows how often they hooked up with each other while Watashi was messed up in his umpth weird idea? We’ve heard of Oz’s girlfriend before, but have we actually seen her once? And again: Johnny was no use in this episode, and Watashi again left her. But then again, he really was in love with the image of Keiko he created. That’s the really weird part here: his love for Hanuki felt a bit shallow. Instead however, he has been genuinely in love with two women who didn’t exist. In fact, Watashi is a guy who just keeps chasing after these abstracts that don’t really exist, instead of looking what’s right in front of him: something concrete that can make him happy. Johnny turned out to be the complete opposite of this: not looking far away, but instead just trying to go after what’s right in front of him.

I really wonder what those final episodes will be about: how will they put everything to a conclusion? This is Masaaki Yuasa. For the sake of spoilers I’ll be vague in this, but ‘certain’ series of his have had really… ‘interesting’ endings.
Rating: *** (Awesome)