Senkou no Night Raid – 04

by psgels, posted in Senkou no Night Raid



Ah, the spy genre. Where our lead characters have to take care of dangerous threats, international bombings, diplomatic turbulence… and obese felines who steal photographs.

So obviously this was a bit of a silly episode, but at least it gave us a bit of a chance to get to know the lead characters, which is also important. I would have preferred it if the creators just dumped that strange photograph subplot and just showed the characters as they are on their days off, but this episode had its charms.

On a side-note, at first I wasn’t that enthusiastic about it, but on second thought I’m beginning to like this series’ tour of the world with languages more and more. I now understand why it was impossible for the creators to find a good voice actor for the lead character: is there really someone who speaks fluent in Japanese, German, Chinese and Russian all at the same time? And who knows how many more languages are going to be featured? In any case, it shows that Shanghai is growing into the international metropolis that it is today. For the series’ faults, you can at least say that it’s not looking down on its setting. Or not in a way that I can see anyway.

Also, the animators choose the strangest places to use their budget at. Most of the times, filler episodes like this don’t receive much of a budget to play with. Take a look at how well that fat cat was animated; I’ve hardly ever seen cats animated this life-like in such a TV series. Also, the crowd shots in this episode are also really well done: you can see that the streets are alive with people, who may not all be moving, but all have their own designs. And then there also are these things as the food, and the camera that they used in this episode. All were really well drawn.
Rating: * (Good)

xxxHolic Rou – 01

by psgels, posted in xxxHolic, xxxHolic Rou



Before watching this OVA, I had heard from people that xxxHolic Rou would be very confusing. But Bloody Nora, I never thought that it’d be this extreme! The non-manga readers who have yet to see this episode: STAY AWAY FROM THIS POST! MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.

Because of xxxHolic Shunmuki, I was expecting something Tsubasa-related as well. Instead, the Tsubasa-cast doesn’t make an appearance at all. Instead, we get a time-skip of who knows how many years, in which A TON has happened: Yuko is dead, and Watanuki has now taken her place. This episode asked a whole tidal wave of new questions: what the heck happened to Yuuko? What caused her to come back? Why did Doumeki’s name change? Why does it seem that Watanuki can’t leave the shop? And taht’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Even for xxxHolic’s standards, this episode was dark. Watanuki has changed a lot. The visual comedy around him and Doumeki is completely gone now. Instead, the jabs he takes to Watanuki are short and subtle. Also, this episode never left the shop: everything we see is from Watanuki’s perspective, who somehow doesn’t leave the shop. Doumeki also lost the wise-cracking part of him: he now really doesn’t fool with Watanuki anymore. He’s actually graduated university at this point.

I guess this episode was all about Yuuko’s… rebirth or something, but what got to me the most was that phone-call at the end of this episode. After all that build-up! After all that time that was spent on the relationship between Watanuki and Himawari to make them like the perfect couple… she actually ended up marrying someone different and the two have grown apart!

I must say, Clamp: you did it again. This episode really was amazing in its character-development. It’s such a stark contrast from what xxxHolic used to be. Including the time-skip was a brilliant idea.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru – 03

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



Whoa, the soundtrack for this series just continues to get better and better. that’s a very pleasant surprise for this series. Shougo Kaida seems to be very much a newbie composer, but something tells me that he’s someone to look out for.

The story so far has been a mix between cliches and interesting ideas, so it can still go anywhere. The biggest cliche in this episode was of course the lead character-deciding whether or not to join the organization of the other good guys. However, Yuki himself made up for it by showing that, while hey may be a bit of a wimp, that he does know how to take responsibility. In this episode he really showed that there’s no way that he would just go out on a flimsy adventure just for the sake of his family, and abandon the children around him. The creators also prepared a perfectly valid reason for him to change his mind in the next episode: the fact that he did not know that those monsters were after him. Compare that to 07-Ghost, in which the lead character at this point was randomly angsting and wandering around.

The big one-sided character for Uragiri meanwhile is Zess. This is the guy that needs the most work, and he’s going to need a lot of chemistry from the other characters to work out well, and his obsession is a bit overstated. Instead of talking things out, he instead just sends out blasts, and this guy seriously needs to grow a character.

This show is clearly no Night Head Genesis, I know that it lacks the many interesting ideas that that series had. Aside from Zess, the lack of originality right now is the series’ biggest flaw. But then again, who knows? So far the past three episodes have been solid, I’m hoping for the substance to come in the next number of episodes, as soon as we get to explore the characters.
Rating: * (Good)

Mobile Police Patlabor OVA Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Out of all of the pre-Evangelion mecha franchises, two stand out as my favourites: Votoms takes second place, but Patlabor even surpasses Ryousuke Takahashi’s epic for me. This OVA only reaffirms this.

Like the TV-series, the OVA that predated it by about a year has a bit of everything. Some episodes play out as a cop drama, there is the fun action-comedy, monster-science fiction, slice of life. Mamoru Oshii (yes, he directed this thing) shows a lot of different sides of him here. We of course have his trademark talking thriller arc (which of course was the best part of this OVA), but he also shows here that he’s terrific at all of those other areas.

The thing I liked best was how every episode was built up. One similarity between all of the episodes is that they always build up to some kind of punchline; everything is well calculated to make the optimal use of its time, preparing for these punchlines that, despite their wit, are all widely varied.

Standalone this is an excellent OVA. However, at the same time most of the stuff that it did here, it would do even better in the later instalments. The talking arc would be surpassed by the incredible second movie (which had this strange effect of becoming more and more memorable as time goes on), while the lighter episodes would be surpassed by some of the filler episodes of the television-series (as witty as they were, they just don’t match up to some of the classic episodes). Only the first episode really shows the franchise as its best, while the final episode is a bit of a disappointing conclusion.

As a compilation to introduce people to the world of Patlabor however, it’s excellent. The large format of 50 episodes will probably be a lot to swallow for people who don’t know a lot about the series, while the movies don’t bother to introduce the cast, which will also be confusing. This OVA is a perfect opportunity for people to get a taste of what the rest of the franchise is about. The brilliant characterization is definitely worth it.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Great balance. Excellent build-up and nice ideas. That would later be surpassed, though.
Characters: 9/10 – Absolutely lovable cast, excellent voice acting. Especially Goto is one of a kind.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Combination between still frames and really smooth animation.
Setting: 8/10 – You will need to watch the rest of the franchise in order to get the best out of this, as it only offers a quick overview of everything that’s going on.

Suggestions:
– Mobile Police Patlabor (TV). (My advice is, that if you have the time, to watch this series in chronological order, instead of the disjointed one that I’ve been doing)
– Jin Roh
– Gosenzosama Banbanzai

Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – 54

by psgels, posted in Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood



This show… just continues to get better doesn’t it? This yet again was an awesome episode, not to mention that it was also quite a sad one. It’s been a while since this series was this good at the drama-department, and that promises a lot of the rest of the finale.

With this we now also get why Envy got to be Envy. It’s again in the way he was created, however his desires go quite a bit deeper than with the other homunculi. For example for Gluttony and Sloth their personalities pretty much are defined by their name. Also Greed and Pride often remind us of what they’re called. I don’t actually get why Lust was called Lust to be honest, and Wrath seems to be excellent in hiding his wrath. Envy is different from all of them, though: alone he’s probably the weakest of all the homunculus, and instead needs a ton of human lives to actually be competent. Because he had this power he was continuously looking down upon humans, not even realizing that he was jealous of these creatures.

The death of Envy also closed off a chapter for Roy, who at that point had lost sight of his original goals. Now, I wonder to what kind of character-development that’s going to lead.

And as if this episode didn’t kick ass enough with the Armstrongs shining during the second half of the episode, there’s also the next episode, which will focus on something that I’ve been looking forward to for ages: Father versus Hohenheim. Bones, please continue to give more all of your future series the same kind of treatment that you’ve given FMA. Isn’t this so much better than just curring off potentially awesome stories after just 26 episodes?
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Giant Killing – 04

by psgels, posted in Giant Killing



The first real match of the show, and the creators have really shown that they know how to write one. It’s not the kind of match that stands out in terms of technical excellence, like with Ookiku Furikabutte. Instead, they’re all focused on getting the best out of the characters. While it’s less hard to do, it still requires a lot of skills to make this not boring and predictable.

Tatsumi, Gino and Tatsumi proved to be an excellent combination for this series to work with. Murakoshi and that bald guy actually didn’t play a role at all here, even though they were featured so prominently in the first three episodes. If anything, the past four episodes have all been significantly different from each other, in terms of important characters and premise. That’s the sign of a well balanced and dynamic series.

This episode pushed Tsubaki’s character forward; it’s here where we get to know him. The title of “Giant Killing” also makes a bit more sense now, this very much is intended as a self-aware version of David and Goliath, and Tsubaki turned out to be the vital character in this, in how he performs the best when he’s put against huge odds.

There’s one thing that the creators need to watch out for, however. It’s a shounen-syndrome of “cheaters are losers”. Granted, it’s something that you more often see in American animation compared to the Japanese, but it still sticks out whenever the writers look down on the enemy teams by having them cheat, in order to make the protagonists look better. With this case, I could see that player as someone who would fake injury, but let’s not make a habit out of it, okay?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Heartcatch Precure – 12

by psgels, posted in Heartcatch Precure



Sappy, but in a good way. This episode was all about a genuine love drama between a couple that’s about to propose to each other, where our heroines take up the role of matchmakers. The plot really took a back-seat here, and we didn’t really learn anything new, but it was a good and charming episode nonetheless.

Well, okay. That nothing new happened isn’t entirely true. We now learn a bit more about that strange power that Tsubomi keeps using to get rid of the desatorians, which is some sort of extreme make-happy-and-relaxed beam. Seeing as how Erika also was hit by it this time, we learn that it’s quite a bit different from your average mahou shoujo godmode beam. Whether it’s going to come back later in the series, I don’t know, though.

In any case, what this episode also stressed was how important family is. One of the big nonsensical stereotypes of anime is that kids with normal parents are really rare: we either have one parent, or no parents at all. With Heartcatch Precure you can really feel that the characters have their own families, however. That’s also one of the things I liked about such a series as Telepathy Shoujo Ran. Sure, its plot was ridiculously stupid, but Ran’s family was really well portrayed.

Next up: episode 13, the climax of the first quarter of this series. I’m very curious what the creators have in store. You could really see that these past thirteen episodes have been building up. If the creators really know what they’re doing, then it’s there where we should see the first hints of all the pay-off of this build-up. What I want to see is a new direction in the next quarter: something new and fresh that we have yet to see in the past thirteen episodes. Whether it’s about revisiting past characters, developing them even more, a more linear storyline or more daring concepts for episodes. Surprise me, Heartcatch!
Rating: * (Good)

Angel Beats – 04

by psgels, posted in Angel Beats



This was a really weird episode. Why? Because the drama was better than ever, while the rest was worse than ever.

Let’s talk about the bad stuff first: overall I’ve been pretty happy with the voice acting in this series. It’s not the best, but there are a ton of series that have far worse problems with their voice actors. But then that damned pink-haired girl showed up. Seriously, listening to her feels like listening to someone trying to put a cat into a blender.

It’s probably because of that that the comedy also disappointed. I mean, the creators just kept repeating the same joke over and over. How many times did that blue-haired guy try to molest her anyway? The baseball itself also felt lacking, so much that even the creators just gave up half-way and decided to just show a montage.

And then the drama came, and it actually was very good! For once it didn’t feel out of place, or was way too extreme for its own good. It was an interesting story about a guy who regretted something that he failed to do when he was still alive. We’re not exactly told how he died, but there’s are enough hints that pointed that he died of drug addiction. That anti-climax of course completely ruined it, but on the other hand: I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an annoying anti-climax, so I guess it deserves points for creativity.

In any case, the past few episodes have been complete and undirected chaos, but that’s actually what I like about this series: the characters here are very much flawed in which they don’t really know what they’re doing, or why. I think we’re actually seeing a bunch of very confused spirits wandering around, all having some regrets that won’t allow them to pass on to the afterlife. When ghosts are portrayed in media, you often see them as very confused, not really having a full grasp of what’s going on. That’s exactly what I’m seeing with the Angel Beats cast as well.
Rating: * (Good)

Durarara – 15

by psgels, posted in Durarara



This episode definitely had some interesting twists, and quite a surprising lead character: that middle-aged guy in trench-coat that we’ve been seeing once in a while in the first half. At first I thought that the creators were creating some side-story here, but the twist in the middle of the episode was… unexpected to say the least.

Looking for some interesting article to write in order to win back his daughter, it seemed like a pretty straight-forward episode that delved into film-noir territory, but having him stabbed and brainwashed was an interesting twist that asks a few more questions about the identity of that strange slasher. Is it really like some kind of parasite or virus that hops from one person to the other? Could the body that attacked him be one of those teenaged girls or something? And how does that slasher have access to the Dollars chatbox?

I’d guess that in a few episodes the show will get to the point in which it can show off the pay-off of all the build-up of the previous episodes. Having excellent build-up is of course one thing, but actually using it is something different, and I’m interested to see what this series can do. It’s obviously been building up a lot during the past few episodes, so they’re not as good or interesting as some of the parts of the first half, but it can still go anywhere at this point.

Here’s one concern, though: it seems to me that the graphics and animation isn’t as good as it used to be. Especially in this episode, the animation wasn’t as solid as we’ve been used to from this series, the backgrounds were a bit bland, and the movement of the characters also felt a bit jerky. Let’s hope that Brains Base saved enough of its budget to also deliver a solid finale.
Rating: * (Good)

Ookiku Furikabutte – 30

by psgels, posted in Ookiku Furikabutte



It’s interesting how the past two episodes have subverted a plot device that often caused the baseball series with mediocre matches to write themselves into a corner: why not let the big hitter walk? It’s the result of trying to make the storytelling too shounen, and have everything end with a big showdown between some sort of really good pitcher and hitter, and this is often reserved as the climax of the match, even though they don’t always make too much sense. Take Princess Nine for example: a nice show in many other ways, but one particular match in it made no sense because of this wrong mind-set in which you’re required to have some sort of huge show-down between pitcher and batter.

The rest of this episode was very much typical Ookiku Furikabutte: a ton of strategy, and nearly every pitch outlined, in which we both get to see a lot about the lead characters as the antagonists. Central to the antagonists surprisingly isn’t the awesome batter, but rather the pitcher, who isn’t having his day it seems. I think that the creators meant this match to be for him to find his place in the team, something that apparently his captain has been trying to no avail.

Azusa also subtly gets into the spotlights. He doesn’t necessarily have the most screentime, but you can really see that he’s struggling with living up to the place of fourth batter. The creators are making use of how he’s continually in the shadows of Tajima. I’m interested to see where the creators are going to take this: is he going to develop into someone who knows his place, or do they intend to take this somewhere more complex?
Rating: ** (Excellent)