Hetalia: Axis Powers Second Season Review – 77,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Hetalia: Axis Powers



Okay, so it might be a bit pointless to write a review about a show whose next season is going to air in a week or two, but who cares? Comedy sequels very often suffer from a lack of quality, whether it’s from a lack of inspiration, a burn out of the best jokes, or simply from trying too hard, it’s rare to run into a comedy that’s as good as its original. Hetalia however, is one such series. It’s not the best comedy out there by far, but it knows what it is: bite-size chunks of international humour.

The series still is far from the funniest show out there; in this season alone, I can name eight series that made me laugh harder than what Hetalia had to offer. However, in its second season it’s become much more consistent when compared to the first season: every episode was guaranteed to get a chuckle out of me, and it didn’t waste its time anymore on the pointless sketches as the garage cleaning, and the most annoying character of the first season (Liechtenstein) Only made one very small appearance. The historical and cultural references throughout the series are still spot-on, despite the at first seemingly stereotypical portrayal of all of the different countries.

The weak point of this season lies in the gay jokes. There are way too many of them, and they’re just not funny. Well, to me at least, but I found that the awkward moments in which whichever two countries made these embarrassed facial expressions whenever something even remotely ‘cute’ happened get old soon. I don’t have anything fundamentally against gay jokes, I enjoyed them for what they were in Junjo Romantica, but here they just won’t work.

Reviewing comedy series of course is something very personal, since everyone has a different kind of sense of humour, but I do want to praise Hetalia for this: its subject matter. Remember how last year, a bunch of Koreans got offended because this series parodied it? It just shows how easily ticked off some people are, by simple and innocent jokes. This series opened up a lot of discussions on that matter, and I hope that it helped along to build a bridge, so that we can in the future simply make innocent fun of other cultures without having hordes of angry people condemn you to death.

Storytelling: 7/10 – Consistent, quite funny, though too many gay jokes.
Characters: 8/10 – A colourful cast of different personified countries, though don’t expect anything deep here.
Production-Values: 7/10 – Nothing special.
Setting: 9/10 – Spot-on historical and cultural references.

Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – 24

by psgels, posted in Armed Librarians - The Book of Bantorra



Since it looks like there isn’t going to be a continuation, this episode pretty much would be a big test for the creators: can they stuff the remaining novels into such a short-timeframe, while capturing their essence? It’s a thing that many series have failed at, but what do you know? This episode was in no way less awesome than the previous ones.

While a bad ending can still mess this up, at this point however I’m confident to say the following: Bantorra has the best plot of any other series I’ve seen in the past few years. While other series may beat it in terms of characters, animation or dialogue, the storyline of the past 24 episodes has been utterly sublime, and I can only think of very few storylines that impressed me more than this one. I absolutely love how bold, creative, unpredictable and layered it turned out to be. Even though the novels don’t seem that popular at all, it’s awesome that the people from David Production saw their potential and decided to animate it to a wider audience.

This episode answered a lot of the main questions, including the identity of “heaven”, and Hamy’s background. Seriously, I never expected Chacoly to have turned out like the way we saw her in this episode. Broken by Hamy after her heart was broken… and somehow living on without any purpose. As it turns out, both Hamy and Chacoly were attempts to kill Ruruta Coozancoona, a.k.a. heaven, in two different ways. Chacoly tried to make him fall in love, while Hamy was meant to be a tool to kill Ruruta. How her desire to die comes into this…. I’m not sure yet.

The other big mystery for the next to episodes to explain is what Ruruta is after. At first I thought that he was simply looking for entertainment as some sort of bored deity, but then this episode threw that girl into the picture. My guess is that she’s dead now, and he’s pretty much been sulking about her for 2000 years. Him achieving “true happiness” may just have been impossible from the start. But what could he be after? I mean, it’s not like the dead are going to come back if the world gets destroyed, right?
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Durarara – 10

by psgels, posted in Durarara



This is a question to the Japanese people who happen to stumble upon this post. It’s something I’ve been wondering for quite a while now: are punks in Japan really such incredible morons? I mean, in just about every anime out there, punks dress like ridiculous Elvis rejects. I’ve seen a few series here and there that portray them differently (Kaze no Yojimbo for example), but the overwhelming majority of animated punks all have strange haircuts and over-the-top accents. Are those kinds of people really common on the Japanese streets, or is it a stereotype that evolved into this medium?

In any case, this episode’s big twist was Mikado’s sudden change of character. Now it makes sense why the creators chose such a seemingly dull lead character, as they had interesting plans for his character-development. Rather than being your typical loser, he was more like an alarm-clock, waiting to go off, and I think that his weird name was a bit of a hint for that.

The color gangs still are a big mystery at this point. This showed that they don’t actually meet face to face, but instead are a bit of an online community that happens to be stationed at Tokyo. I’m not exactly sure how that works, to be honest, but I believe that those chatboxes have a much bigger role than what they seemed to be at first. Also note the previous episode, in which Izaya’s chatbox was completely empty. Seeing as how he’s likely to also be involved with those dollars, that might have been a bit of a strange hint.

One thing I noticed was that this episode was one of the most linear ones out there. Really, nearly the entire episode was focused on Mikado aside from a scene or two, and there only were a few tiny flashbacks. It was surprisingly straightforward, and with this series I have no idea whether the creators intend to be more linear in the next number of episodes, or whether it was another one of those “build-up” episodes that’s there to give the future episodes the chance to go all out.
Rating: * (Good)

Some Quick First Impressions: Hipira-Kun and Working!!

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Hipira-Kun

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is the prince of vampires!
This is another one for the people who like the kids’ stuff, but it’s surprisingly well made. I originally didn’t give it a chance because… yeah. It’s a kids’ show about vampires. Prior to the past season, kids shows were nearly all somewhat mediocre. The art direction for Hipira-kun kicks ass, though. It may be entirely in 3D, but the creators did really well in making it look cool. The direction is also very dynamic, where you’ll often see lots of things happen at the same time. Episodes are only five minutes long, so it’s not really a big commitment to watch this either. Interestingly, it’s created by the same guy who did Deathtic 4 of Genius Party. To be honest, I enjoyed this episode more, although the story is still rather silly.
Potential: 50%

Working!!

Short Synopsis: Our lead character starts working at a restaurant with strange people in it.
To be honest, the first show to debut this spring season is a disappointment. I was looking forward to this series because it promised to be another mature slice of life series that focuses on actual adults… and yet the main characters turn out to be teenagers. The lead female was too much of a complete moron in this episode, and the main character can’t seem to decide whether he wants to play the straight man or not. The biggest problem with this first episode however was that most of the characters rely too much on their quirks for their characterizations. Especially that incredibly shy girl who hits men was way too exaggerated.
ED: Meh, another one of those obnoxious J-pop songs.
Potential: 30%

Seikai no Senki Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Seikai no Monshou



I like how, even though it’s a direct sequel, Seikai no Senki is completely different from Seikai no Monshou. It shows that the creators aren’t one trick ponies, and it makes the premise much more dynamic to see it explored in all those different ways. Seikai no Monshou was pretty much a space adventure series. Seikai no Senki however, is war. And let me tell you, I can count the series that managed to portray science fiction battles in a more realistic way than what we saw here on one hand.

During the battles, the lead characters Lafiel and Jinto may not be the centre of the focus. They may not hold the key of victory, and they may not possess a god-mode weapon that can take out several enemy ships in a row. Their ship may not magically dodge bullets, and they also may not fight according to their own battle plans, and instead have to follow orders. But that’s the great thing about it! The battles here are believable and purposefully kept from going over the top. 2000 years (or however long humanity may take before developing stable spaceflight) into the future, I can totally see large-scale space battles happen in a similar fashion.

As compared to Seikai no Monshou, which walked all over the place, Seikai no Senki is a very focused story, and much more consistent. It tells two stories at the same time. One part is focused at a single ship, and the people who command it. The other focus is at the top officials and admirals, who attempt to steer the battle in the right directions. Due to the large amount of time that it spends fleshing out these people through their dialogue, it becomes fascinating to see these people strategize.

As for the dialogue… well, Seikai no Monshou did just about everything there was to do in terms of hard-hitting and confronting dialogue, so there was no way for Seikai no Senki to beat it. Instead, the dialogue is much more subtle. It’s still very noticably there and Jinto and Lafiel still don’t hesitate at all to speak their minds in a very un-Japanese-like fashion, but it lacks the edge it once had. This one is also much more about creating an atmosphere of what it’s like to command a small battleship at the front lines. The dialogue instead excels in the small things, like characters taking subtle jabs at each other, or subtle hints that are actually meant to flesh out characters beyond what they tell straight-forwardly. Oh, and I loved that cat, who just keeps coming back. There’s hardly anything comedic about it, but it brings a surprisingly human side to the main cast.

I can’t say which one of Seikai no Senki and Seikai no Monshou is the better one. They’re too different to really say for sure: Seikai no Monshou had a bit of a disappointing finale, but an excellent beginning. Seikai no Senki instead doesn’t really have an episode that I’d crown as awesomeness, but instead was excellent from beginning to end. Still, Seikai no Senki did have the advantage that it could use the build-up that was provided by Sekai no Monshou, without which I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much as I did.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Very realistic space battles. No God-mode beams whatsoever and it’s still an action-packed series.
Characters: 9/10 – Less focus on character-development, but the dialogue is incredibly rich in fleshing out its cast.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Still solid, but nothing really special for its time.
Setting: 8/10 – Not as interesting as in Monshou, but still very solid.

Kobato – 21

by psgels, posted in Kobato



Aw, what a heart-warming episode.

I’m really glad that Kobato managed to get exactly the time it needed in order to tell its full story. I’ve said this many times before, but there are too few series that try to go beyond 13 episodes, and it’s series like this that show the heights you can reach with a little character-development. This episode wasn’t exactly the most realistic… but hey. It’s not what I expected from the episode that would wrap up the kindergarten storyline.

So, if I understood things correctly, Okiura, unable to protect Sayaka instead tried to do the only thing he could: play the bad guy, in order to prevent other bad guys from causing even more trouble for her. I remember noting how the kindergarten would certainly get its happy end… and it didn’t. It closed off in this episode, and all of the kids are away now, at other schools. It’s the price Sayaka had to pay for her father’s debts, and while everyone tried to buy her time and money, it just wasn’t enough. At least, I’m glad that Kobato managed to help her move on from that. Meddling or not, but without Kobato there would have been no way in which the two would have made up with each other, and Kobato did what you’d expect her to do, without forcing everyone to go out of character just for the sake of a happy ending. Even Okiura stayed in character, simply because we hadn’t seen so much of him yet.

Now, three episodes left… I’m getting very curious as to what Kobato’s wish is. This episode right now closed off about half of the plot, so we can expect the final three episodes to really focus on Kobato herself. I personally love it when a series wraps up one of the main plots before the start of the major climax. It makes the series more dynamic than trying to end everything at the same time. It especially works well with inspired series as Kobato , which manage to make something heart-warming out of each conclusion.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Katanagatari – 03

by psgels, posted in Katanagatari



Excellent, this episode did exactly what I hoped it would do. While the tongue-in-cheek storytelling of the first two episodes was fun, it was bound to get old after a while. this episode drops the comedy (aside from one scene, perhaps), and instead takes itself seriously. The result is my favourite episode of this series so far.

Unlike the first two episodes that made a bit of fun of the villains, we finally could explore this episode’s sword wielder to her full potential, and this episode did well in fleshing her out, and telling about her backstory. She wasn’t exactly rounded, but as a flat character she was pretty good. This of course amounted to a lot of exposition, but I felt like it was more balanced than in the first episode. It’s also good to see that this show intends to be varied.

I’m also surprised by the music in this episode. Taku Iwasaki isn’t someone I’d name amongst my favourite composers, but his scores definitely know how to hit the spot. I like the use of choirs in soundtracks (as long as they’re not overdone, obviously), O I quite liked the musical score at the end of this episode.

In any case, this episode showed that Katanagatari is another one of those shounen series that suffers from the “I’m about to attack you, but first let me tell you my life story”-syndrome. The reason why I like it here, compared to shows as Bleach, is that the dialogue adds something to the characters, and the fact that the action scenes themselves are short and sweet, and pretty much what action scenes involving deadly weapons should be: deadly. Battles here are very much built up with the dialogues, resulting in a short but sweet climax.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Sora no Oto – 10

by psgels, posted in Sora no Oto



The main reason why I wasn’t too happy with Rio during the past number of episodes is the lack of attention she got. I mean, from out of nowhere she suddenly turned out to be a princess and started angsting. It sounded so cliched. However now that she got an episode properly dedicated to it, my opinion of her turned to the complete opposite. This was an excellent episode that did several things at once, and surprisingly succeeded in all of them.

With this episode I very much understood why Rio was feeling down for the past number of episodes, since she has basically been running away from her duties as royalty (taking that owl along with her, for some reason). My guess is that she didn’t want to be forced into everything, especially because of Iliya’s death.

I as also surprised at how such a major plot-related episode also stuffed in the story of that old woman in it, and made it surprisingly good as well. It wold also have been perfectly fine to include that story a bit earlier, but this way it had an interesting effect on Rio. With the small character-development from Rio and Kanata, it turned out quite heart-warming.

Now, with only three episodes left, the climax has finally begun, though not exactly in the way that I expected, now that Rio is gone. I really wonder whether the final three episodes are going to her, over Kanata who’s supposed to be the main character. To be honest, I’d much rather that the focus would stay on Kanata and the town that we’ve been in. It’s too late at this point to suddenly introduce politics.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Hanamaru Youchien – 09

by psgels, posted in Hanamaru Youchien



The best episode of Hanamaru Youchien yet! I’m not sure whether this is because I just watched Working!! today, but it did make me think: Hanamaru Youchien is currently doing a lot of things right at which Working completely fell flat. It’s a show about a job in which we actually see adults working. The characters all have their quirks, and yet they’re also just actual people: their quirks aren’t the only thing about them. It’s got this innocence for both the adults and the children, as compared to the cast of Working, which really was trying way too hard in its first episode.

This episode was surprisingly witty, and all about different perspectives. Yamamoto always was a bit of a bimbo, but this episode shows that her sister is the same, and she actually knows this about her sister as well. It made the one-sided love of Tsuchida a lot more interesting. It was also very funny to see the three kids in this. The sharpness of their comments was just priceless.

But the best part of this episode was the second half. What an awesome way to flesh out each and every single character, simply by letting her tell why they chose to work at a kindergarten. The chemistry between these teachers is fun, but subtle and doesn’t try to shove the quirks of these characters down your throat.

Oh, and as for the role playing; Hiiragi’s deconstruction of the space adventure genre was brilliant. ^^;
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Heartcatch Precure – 05

by psgels, posted in Heartcatch Precure



Did you know that a Precure Movie is going to premiere in a number of weeks? Well, if you didn’t know, the OP is here to remind you.

In any case, while the previous episodes have all focused on the lead characters themselves, this was the first episode to completely focus on a random kid who feels down. It’s a staple of most mahou shoujo, and especially the thing that kills most of the bad ones. The mood of this episode is completely different from the previous ones and a lot of the comedy is gone now to focus on a more serious story.

However, despite all that, this episode passed its test with flying colours. With this episode, it completely trashed all of the bad episodic series, by showing how simple it is to make a great story out of just one episode with a random character. With just a few modifications to a really overused formula, it showed the power of episodic stories.

Tsubomi really wanted to help Miura, who had a very mundane problem; as he grew up his father couldn’t give as much attention to him because of his ramen shop, yet he couldn’t say anything about it because he didn’t want to disturb his dreams. I’ve seen this used quite a few times now, but this episode made it so genuine that it actually works. Being turned into a monster didn’t necessarily make him stop angsting, but rather it alerted his father about what made him worry, which lead to a pretty heart-warming conclusion.

Also, with these monsters you usually see them wreck random buildings and people that nobody is going to care about. And here this guy was, about to hit his father! That’s some hardcore stuff for a kids’ show.

And also, mind that we’re only at episode five yet. We’ve seen like, four monsters at this point, and yet this episode introduced yet another villain, instead of letting the previous ones try again. Could this be another sort of hint?

NB. At this point, when it comes to the currently airing season, I actually consider Toei to be my favourite animation company. Bones, David Production, Brains Base, A-1, Madhouse and SynergySP may also do a great job this season, but they all have just one amazing series that’s currently airing. Toei has three of them: Kaidan Restarant, Marie & Gali and this one. While all three of them may just be kids’ shows, they’re all amazing in their own way, and for once they’re kids series that don’t look down on kids by making cheap stuff, but instead try to make something actually good and engaging.
Rating: ** (Excellent)