Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – 60

by psgels, posted in Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood




This is it: the episode to which the entire series has been building up to. Because the previous episodes weren’t exactly to this series’ highlights, I feared a bit for a lackluster ending, but those fears were ungrounded: this episode was absolutely fantastic and more than a worthy climax after such an amount of build-up. What an episode!

After a bit of fights that were meant to close off the last bits of character building (Scar, revealing that he shed his prejudices, and went along with his brother’s plans, gaining the strength he needed to surprise and win from Bradley; Ed’s revenge on Pride for what he did to Al (he didn’t outright say it, but to me it seems like he went after Pride for exactly that reason; if not he would have been the one to step up and save Mai Chang)), this episode was all about opening that gate. At this point it’s clear that Bones did not save some Xamdou-level animation for its finale, but with the resources they had they portrayed the euphoria of Father, who finally was able to reach his goals after putting an ungodly amount of work to reach “The Truth”, was really well portrayed. Father has really been an excellent villain so far: from start to finish, he remained in control.

The part in which the entire country was killed off was also very well done: haunting, especially seeing everyone just disappearing like that. The creators really made sure to show nearly everyone Ed and Al met disappearing. Aside from Yoki, perhaps. I’m not sure why he suddenly comes to my mind here, but he was surprisingly missing in those scenes.

Of course, they’re still not there: there are a bunch of nasty potential cliches between the end of this episode and the ending. Most notably, Father’s demise: he’s so powerful now. He’s huge, he’s incredibly close to the truth, and everything points to him achieving his plans. There are so many ways that can screw this plot up in the next three episodes. Let’s hope that the creators realized that as well and instead will deliver an awesome ending, rather than a cheesy shounen one.
Rating: **** (Fantastic)

Giant Killing – 10

by psgels, posted in Giant Killing



As this series is very fast-paced for a sports series (I mean, it’s been ten episodes and we’ve already seen what? Six matches?), I’m actually very surprised at how colourful the creators still made the enemy teams. This time with the Brazilians as well: it’s not like these guys are rounded characters, but their roles in their own team were really well explored in this match, in between the action of the football match.

I at first thought that this episode was entirely going to be about trying to stop that threesome, but that turned just to be one part of the story. A lot of focus also went in the original ace of that team, whose ego is suffering pretty badly now that he’s not in the spotlights anymore, even though the coach may still see him as a key to winning this thing. The playful portrayal contrasting with those grudges was just enough to make all of then dynamic and interesting to watch.

As for the main cast, as this was the longest match in this series so far, I love how it involved all of the major characters here, whether they did well (the defenders) or whether they just couldn’t get through (the attackers, note how Tsubaki just couldn’t get his attack right). Tatsumi may just keep bragging that this will be the match that will turn the tide, and the time indeed seems about right for them to start winning a bit, but the creators still portrayed this episode as a struggle to keep those Brazilians at bay.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Katanagatari – 06

by psgels, posted in Katanagatari



Not exactly the best episode of Katanagatari so far, but definitely fun. This episode had fun in making the tiniest character ridiculously strong, and most of the combat played with that. Her back-story was very simple, but it worked (was it just me or did it seem like her family got killed off by that guy Shichika ‘defeated’ in episode four?), but to make up for it we got a much more prominent role for the Maniwani.

The beheading scene was a bit too much, though. Even though there was a good reason for that badger (at least, I think he was dressed up like a badger), to kill him at a point when more than half of the other Maniwani are already dead is just stupid. And to do this in front of Togame and Shichika made even less sense.

Oh, and the creators used blushes in this episode to develop the relationship between Togame and Shichika. Simple, but refreshing considering how oblivious they were for each other early on in the series. In any case, this seemed like an episode meant to set a bunch of things up. The fights were quite exciting, nevertheless.
Rating: * (Good)

Angel Beats – 10

by psgels, posted in Angel Beats



This episode contained the best joke of this series so far. The scene at which Tachibana stole Yui’s guitar was absolutely hilarious.

In any case, this is the Yui episode, and guess what? The Key bed-ridden girl finally shows her face. Her back-story was again rushed through, but it worked surprisingly well with Otonashi’s attempt to make her disappear. Otonashi’s weird plans in this episode really fall into line with the chaos that has been reigning over this series so far, which was mostly visible in the soccer match.

Right now I am beginning to see why Maeda Jun said in an interview that there were a ton of things that he wanted to put into this series, but couldn’t, due to restrictions. We’ve still got a huge cast left that needs to disappear. I feel that this series would have been better with an entire run of 24 episodes. The same of course goes for many other series, but this is an original series: the creators knew that this series would be popular and sell a lot. They could have easily planned the series across 24 episodes.

this episode was pretty good, actually. The confession scene at the end was cheesy in a good way, but at the same time I feel that this show could have been significantly better if it were longer. Seriously, something needs to come that will break the increasingly annoying ‘thirteen episodes’ trend that has been growing in anime for the past few years.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Durarara – 21

by psgels, posted in Durarara



“Oh yes, a girl from my school with glasses and big boobs. That sounds just vague enough to be Anri.”

I know it’s nitpicking what I’m doing here, but when this episode kept repeating it I really couldn’t help but notice how such a vague hint convinced everyone immediately about Anri’s identity.

In any case though, aside from that I can’t say anything new about how this series disappointed so far. This episode was clearly building up the things it had already established (ie, the drama around people who just refuse to talk to each other), but at this rate the series could still very much end with a bang.

Not sure whether this has to do with Mikado coming back into the picture, but I actually really enjoyed the time that was spent between him and the Dollars. To come with a bit of an analogy: it feels like Kida is trying to lead a group of dogs: loyal, but when left alone they might start barking and attacking. Anri on the other hand is leading zombies: brainless and completely obedient. Mikado on the other hand is trying to herd cats: it doesn’t work and more often than not they’ll just go with their own ideas. I find the relationship between Mikado and the dollars by far the most interesting of the three fractions that are currently about to go to war with each other.

I’m not really interested in the chaos that’s going to follow from now. Rather, I’m waiting for the moment in which the first of the three friends starts to speak up. That should prove to be very interesting. But at the same time… it’s still a pity that there are only going to be 24 episodes in this series. It really feels like the wrong place to end this series at.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei – 07

by psgels, posted in Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei



Awesome, this is exactly as I hoped: this show just continues to get better and better. Screw the repetition, every episode manages to add ten new things for everything it recaps. I was a bit fearful of the prospect of having an episode more similar to its predecessor than ever (who knows, perhaps it might even have pulled a “Seraphim Call”), but this episode very skillfully took the the previous episode, and built further upon it.

The overall scenario is pretty much the same as in the previous episode, it’s just the focus and ending are different. Instead we gloss over Hanuki and the pen pal, and instead this episode is about the love triangle around between Watashi, Jougasaki and the love doll. Oh, and Johnny. He has gotten way more extreme with this episode.

This episode really was masterfully written, not just how Watashi’s feelings kept spiralling out of control, but also that Jougasaki kept entrusting Kaori more and more to Watashi in a surprisingly similar way as how we’ve seen him in the second episode. On top of that there were also a ton of parallels with that proxy proxy war of episode four. Seriously, it felt like Ozu kept pestering him even without Watashi’s help. That could explain why he’s been so relatively absent in the past few episodes. It would be pretty awesome if he was some kind of ever-present prankster.

The next episode will be about the pen pal. the end of this episode even hinted at that. But what about episode 10 and 11? Especially Akashi had a really weird role in these episodes, as she was supposed to be the female love interest and instead Watashi has chosen three other girls to fall in love with. Will episode 10 actually be the same as these past two episodes, but on the perspective of Akashi?

It makes me think about the one oddball episode about this series: the one about Higuchi’s disciple. All of the other episodes were about portraying Watashi as some sort of socially awkward loser: the past two episodes were all about his desire to remain pure, and the other episodes really all stressed what a social dork he is. That episode was different, though. His life was miserable there not because of his own actions, but rather only because he ended up choosing the wrong club at the beginning of his university life. That proxy-proxy war was completely different from Watashi’s other struggles, not to mention that really weird scene in which Higuchi suddenly started riding a giant whale.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Sarai-ya Goyou – 08

by psgels, posted in Sarai-ya Goyou



This episode seemed to me like the start of the arc before the finale. You know, the arc that isn’t exactly at the centre of the plot, but rather is meant to develop some of the most prominent side-stories. With this series, that is about Matsu: in this arc we finally get to know him for real, and it’ll probably get resolved in the next episode, before the series can close off with a finale dedicated to Masa and Yaichi. At least, if the creators know what they’re doing and don’t just cut off this show without any conclusion or second season in sight. That’s the ONE disadvantage of this series: it’s an adaptation.

In any case, this episode was as wonderfully paced as usual. The plot is a bit more straightforward, now that Matsu has been captured and all, but the creators really made sure for it to make sense within the story. Matsu is portrayed as the noble thief. He may steal, but he’s doing it all to repay the debts that were paid to him to save his son. by a store owner. Before, we’ve already seen that when he operates alone, he becomes very reckless. He’s only the careful Matsu when guided by Yaichi, and I think that Yaichi knows this very well.

What made this episode for me however were again the tiny things, like the interplay between Masa and Yaich, and how at first sight Masa might be another one of those wimps, though his lines are all surprisingly calculated and sharp. This episode also stressed how important the friendship is in keeping Goyou together. I mean, if Yaichi wasn’t there, there would be no reason to keep doing it. Instead, everyone is acting not just out of loyalty and admiration of Yaichi (which only seems to be the case for Matsu), but also out of loyalty for each other. Masa is indeed very interested about Yaichi, but he has also gotten attached to Ume and Otake. Ume on the other hand actually nearly left, however due to what happened to Matsu he just couldn’t leave.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Ookiku Furikabutte – 36

by psgels, posted in Ookiku Furikabutte



Ah, crap. Even I could see that this episode was rushed. The thing that set Ookiku Furikabutte apart from all of the other baseball series is that it takes every pitch seriously: it spends time at animating even the most unimportant pitches, treating them like they have the potential to change the entire game. In this episode, you could clearly see the creators rushing through these unimportant pitches. This really sucks. Even though there hasn’t been an official announcement yet, it really looks like the creators are planning to end this match at episode thirteen. There can only be one reason why they would suddenly decide on that.

I knew it was too good to be true, for A-1 to keep such an incredible animation-quality throughout this entire second season, while also animating Working and Senkou no Night Raid alongside it, added to Kuroshitsuji II, Occult Academy and Sora no Oto. They like,tripled their capacity in 2010 or something? The worst thing here is that trying to cram a new season into thirteen episodes just doesn’t work for this series. The reason why the first season was so awesome was exactly because of that gruelingly long match that took up eleven episodes. With this, they took away one of the best parts of this series.

And that really is a shame because this episode really was excellent as usual. Take a look at the point where Abe grabbed Mihashi’s arm tightly and let go of it again: it actually changed colour like you’d expect with a real arm. This episode was full of these tiny details that by far would have surpassed the first season if it actually would have gotten 26 episodes to fully drag out this series.

You can see the lack of time the most at the opposing team. Really, we only got to see a lot of the pitcher and catcher. Who are the other guys? To be honest, I have no idea. They lack the individuality of the team of the first season.

I know that there is still an option for a third season, but seriously: don’t hope for it. There have been plenty of series (and sequels) who suffered the fate of never being completed, even the very popular series couldn’t escape it. It’s the one thing I hate the most about anime: the tendency to not just fully animate something but rather just animate the beginning and then see whether or not the sponsors still feel like it.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Darker than Black – Kuro no Keiyakusha Gaiden – 03

by psgels, posted in Darker than Black - Ryuusei no Gemini



It’s interesting how all three installments of Darker than Black (Kuro no Keiyakusha, Ryuusei no Gemini and Gaiden) have been completely different from each other. Gaiden again has no intention to be repetitive, and instead plays out like a slow-paced love story between Hei and Yin amidst all kinds of intrigue. Hei is here at his weakest, and even the soundtrack is completely new again.

And as much as I’m trying not to, I really can’t avoid those very obvious hints that the creators keep giving that the Darker than Black Saga is nowhere near over. I know that this is very dangerous, especially after what Ookiku Furikabutte is currently trying to pull, but still. There is no way that the creators intended the final episode of Ryuusei no Gemini to be the conclusion of this series. Even with this episode’s explanation, about how Yin is able to change the world, there still remain a ton of twists that still haven’t been nowhere near wrapped up.

About this episode, it was really excellent. It was a really slow paced episode, but the ending was very sad, and very well and very subtle in its delivery. We also learn what happened to Amber’s former comrades. They died. Seriously, all but one massacred in just one go. It again shows just how unforgiving this series can be. And at the same time, this episode also was dedicated to showing weaknesses of Hei. For the first time, he hesitated in killing an enemy, and rushed through combat.

One thing I absolutely loved about this episode was that we did not get to see the point at which Yin was captured. We only heard about what happened through that dog. Whatever went on is just left up to our imagination.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Rainbow – 09

by psgels, posted in Rainbow



Oh, how awesome could this series have been if it had an actually good director who knew the meaning of subtlety. Even with the overacting, I’m completely hooked to this series right now. This show has great pacing, and the strength of the manga really shines through at this point. This episode again featured excellent, believable plot twists when you don’t look at how much the voice actors were hamming it up.

Setsuko (the nurse) takes up a vital role in this. She was vital in restoring An-chan back to health, something that the others probably wouldn’t have been able to do this fast. She also knew an interesting shelter, and I also assume that they lived in a time where people have a lot more to do than to look at wanted posters, which allows them to keep hidden for quite a while. The big mistake Joe made earlier was that it was extremely predictable where he was going. It’s not without flaws, though. As soon as someone in the hospital starts talking, they’ll be in trouble.

While it’s going to be obvious that An-chan at least will escape, the creators succeeded in one thing: portraying how important it is for him to actually get away: Joe in this episode may have made sure that Psycho-guard (who is beginning to sound more and more like a cat in a blender by the way) won’t be able to make the lives of Baremoto, Heitai and Cabbage miserable, they will kill An-chan when they see him again. This is so different from your average shounen hero who survives battles against all odds.

And the best thing is probably the promise that there’s much more in store here. I’m still looking forward to the moment that the characters will leave prison and move on with their lives. If this plays such a big role in the OP, which just keeps hinting at it, it’s bound to play some sort of a big role in this series, and not just pop up as a resolution at the last half of the last episode.
Rating: ** (Excellent)