Kobato – 16

by psgels, posted in Kobato



PL notified me of something interesting yesterday, which I had not realized yet: Kobato has grown more on me than I had realized. I was surprised when I first read that, but after watching this episode I’m sure of it: I’ve given this show way too little credit thus far. Kobato shows that you can achieve depth with simplicity, and you don’t need world-changing or epicness to deliver great characters. Thank GOD we finally have another show to remind ourselves of this.

I guess it was impatience that lead me to condemn this series early on, and opt not to blog it. After all, this series had nothing to set itself apart in the beginning. I really thought that it would end up as another one of those series with just shallow characters, where 24 episodes would just pass without anything happened. At this point, I’m not sure what was up with me: here we have a show that for once is scheduled for 24 episodes right from the start. It’s produced by Clamp, who after Tsubasa Chronicles know better than any other manga creators how to keep track of their series’ adaptations, so this series is planned in perfectly inside its time-frame, as opposed to those tons of other series that are just way too short.

My guess that it’s my pessimism that turned me off at the start. Around three years ago I probably would have jumped on this series, but ever since I’ve been disappointed a bit too often by series that started of slow and simple… and never really went anywhere in the end. I think the most recent example at the time of Kobato’s debut was Saki: I basically gave it a bit of a chance because I was hoping for that same development, but the show just turned into a huge disappointment for me. And then there are all those romantic comedies out there that thrive on showing cute girls. And really, I’ve tried to give them a chance for the past few years, but I hardly ever found one I really liked. Kobato reminds me of El Cazador de la Bruja. I’ve seen it constantly criticised for its simple story and bad action. But who cares?! The characters were damn awesome! Seriously though, especially in its second half when the characters came together it turned into a very memorable series for me.

In any case, this episode of Kobato really showed me its character-development. Would it have worked to anyone who hasn’t seen the rest of the series? Probably not. It’s all about showing not exactly how Kobato has matured, but instead how her desire to protect the kindergarten has grown and how she does everything in her power to help out. Would she have done the same at the start of the series? I doubt that. And yet her development feels natural and it doesn’t look like she just changed character. Same with just about5 everyone else: they all have gotten a passion to protect that kindergarten.

My big dilemma right now is how to recognize series like Kobato from random shows that never get anywhere. At the time of this series’ debut, I was beginning to think that I’ve gotten pretty good at evaluating the potential of a series based on its first episode, and this was a good wake-up call. There are of course those series that are obviously going to be awesome (Aoi Bungaku) or erm… not to my tastes (Ladies Versus Butlers), but what about Kiddy Girl-And? Looking back I’m glad to have dropped it, hearing the stories about it, but what if it did turn out good? Was I also wrong in dropping Railgun?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Sora no Oto – 05

by psgels, posted in Sora no Oto



Let me first talk a bit about Anime-no-Chikara, which basically is Aniplex’s attempt to create Noitamina #3. Let me first say, that I really support this idea: a timeslot of nothing but anime original stories. HOWEVER, there is a lot to be worried about. Remember Noise? That one was taken off the air, despite featuring nothing but excellent and well produced series.

In order to work, Anime no Chikara really needs to figure out why Noise failed where Noitamina succeeded. Here’s my theory:

When Noitamina premiered, it played to a hole in the market. While horror was done before, the series like Honey and Clover, Paradise Kiss and Noitamina debuted an entirely new genre in anime: the one focused at college students, and consistently delivered great adaptations with their own originality and uniqueness. Later, as its popularity grew, it slowly turned into a high quality time-slot for new ideas, mostly because of series like Ayakashi and Mononoke, which balanced themselves very nicely. Noise instead just tried to deliver great series. There wasn’t something that gave them that extra edge, the thing that made them stand out.

So, how can Anime no Chikara use this? Well, I think that to start off, the circumstances are a lot more in its favour. We’re in the midst of a crisis. Especially the anime that are about to debut were produced and created in the middle of that crisis. There are announcements like this, in which way too many producers go nothing but “moe moe moe”. Now, there’s definitely moe in Sora no Oto as well, but it doesn’t try to shove this moe down the viewer’s throat, which is a problem that I have with a lot of other moe series. If Anime no Chikara can set itself apart by consistently producing quality series that don’t try to win over their viewers with moe, and it actually becomes known for this, then I might think that it’ll be able to stand a chance. And in a way, with completely original anime, you can go anywhere, instead of being bugged by what light novels or mangas are popular. In fact, now that i think about it: one of the biggest reasons why Noise failed may just be that it lacked a good catch-phrase.

Anyway, about this episode. I’m impressed. We already knew that there was some kind of no-man’s land which was probably created through nuclear fallout, but actually seeing it had much more impact. What we saw there very much looked like huge craters, and it’s very much possible that those were caused by nuclear bombs. Who knows how many bombs were necessary to produce the entire no-man’s land, though. My guess is that the entire area was just bombed flat, and throughout the ages some parts managed to recover, while others turned into desert.

Then: the Japanese. Seriously, talk about a mystery here. I first thought that the Japanese people were sort-of wiped out at the same time as the destruction of no-man’s land, however this episode suggests otherwise. The signatures on the protective thingy were both in Japanese, and in French. For pre-destruction era people however, it would not have made any sense to pick out THAT thingie, of all the possible ones around. Therefore, something must have happened after the bombing that either forced people to change language, or everyone in the area was just wiped out, only for the French to resettle the area after whatever threat was gone.

Oh, and the animation was really good in this episode. A-1 are no Madhouse, but with the right story to animate they do know how to create good and compelling animation.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Hanamaru Youchien – 04

by psgels, posted in Hanamaru Youchien



Tsuchida surely sucks at reading books. What the hell is he doing, criticising a manga for 5-year-olds for being not realistic enough? 😛

Still, the first half of this episode pleasantly surprised me. A huge theme of this show is role-playing and that cheesy romantic scenario that the kids came up with was really cute, and hilarious to watch. In a way, this series is also a very subtle parody-series, which also comes forth in the EDs. I by the way really like that this show is going for a different ED every episode. Nice touch.

The second half saw Tsuchida away, and Anzu spent all her time with Yamamoto who had to fill in for him. I’m glad that we at least got a bit of a more colourful look at Yamamoto. It still doesn’t help that she’s completely clueless about romantic issues, but this half was enjoyable enough.
Rating: * (Good)

The Future of This Blog

by psgels, posted in Special Articles

The future of this blog: I have no idea, to be honest. Tomorrow I’m going to say goodbye to my lazy student life, and start a five-month internship. It’s going to be the first time in my life in which I’m full time busy with something. After that, I’m planning to find a job, and move out of my father’s house. 2010 is very likely going to be the year with the biggest amount of change in my life, and I’m going to have much less time to work on this blog.

However, I have no idea how much that amounts to. I have no idea whether I’ll still have the time or energy to blog twelve series every week, and I may have to cut back on that amount. In the same way, I don’t think you can expect me to churn out reviews on other anime at the same speed that I’ve been doing for the past years now. If there are delays in posting, it’s also simply because I won’t have as much time on my hand as I once had.

However, I do want you to know that I have no intention to simply quit this blog. At this point I like blogging and the community too much to just go on a permanent hiatus and stop writing. Unfortunately, with my life about to go through huge changes and with the anime industry gearing more and more towards moe and fanservice, I have no idea how I will be thinking about this in a year’s time.

As for my to-watchlist, I might as well give you an update on its status, for when I do get the chance to watch more of it, I’m about to get to the stuff I’ve been really looking forward to: when I started it out, combining it with any additions I made in the process, I had a list of 209 series to go through. At this point there are only 63 series on that list left. As soon as I get to fifty I can get to the stuff that I’ve really been looking forward to (you know, the Honey&Clovers, etc). First I still want to finish off a few sequels or spinoffs before that, though.

Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – 42

by psgels, posted in Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood



I didn’t quite understand one part in this episode. It might have been because I missed a detail in one of the earlier episodes, but even then that part in which Mai Chang grabbed that book of hers, unravelled all of the pages and laid them so precisely in such a way that they formed the transmutation circle that Father is trying to carry out… First of all, how would you even think of such a thing, and second of all: what exactly does it mean anyway?

In any case, I liked the building up that this episode did. We finally got to know a bit more about what Roy’s former subordinates have been doing, and Sloth has finally finished his tunnel, bringing Father another step closer to his plans. Also, Rose returns. Seriously, talk about an improvement over her development in the original FMA!

Hohenheim’s trip inside of Lior (in which you can still see the remains of Ed’s battle there, hehe), in which he finds the tunnel and encounters Pride. Well, so much for the strongest of all Homunculi: he can only use his full powers inside that tunnel for some reason. It’s pretty much the same as with that flask, although he did seem to have found a way somehow to go in the outside world through that boy appearance.

Also, Drachma attacked Briggs at the end of this episode. Talk about irony in which an outside force has to make use of people from inside the country in order to make their advances.
Rating: * (Good)

Cross Game – 43

by psgels, posted in Cross Game



Well, the moment I’ve feared has finally arrived: the tournament has officially started. Seeing as how I didn’t really like the previous tournament, I was ready to fear the worst of this series. And yet, here this episode comes and pleasantly surprises me.

I was ready to expect another predictable match against the former coach… and then Miki comes. It’s great to see a guy like him back after what was it? 30 episodes or so? His match was predictable, but well delivered and written and he really deserved to have won. It also build up for the next episode very well, in which Kou and the others are going to have to face him and his team.

I also liked the focus on the second years, but to be honest I’m not sure about the point that the creators tried to make with them. Usually the teammates in Adachi’s series who aren’t central to the plot are just “there”, but this episode made four carbon-copies try to hit on Aoba at the same time. Try to make them a bit individual if you do want to spend time on them, please!
Rating: ** (Excellent)

January Summary

by psgels, posted in Monthly Summaries

Well, so I’ve said that out of all the season in which I’ve been active as a blogger, this one is the worst of them all. There’s not just a lack of new shows in this season, but there also were relatively few series that carried over from previous seasons. However, does that mean that there are only one or two worthwhile anime? Of course not. There still are tons of enjoyable series. Just not as many as usual.

#26 (new) – Omamori Himari – (3/10) – Oh god, this is just the worst. Ripping off just about every generic harem show under the sun, without any ounce of its own content, going for the cheapest and safest way possible, and then thinking it can get away with it. If you like these sorts of shows, then good for you. But I personally hope that shows like these aren’t going to become the norm for anime in the future. Dropped
#25 (new) – Ladies Versus Butlers – (3,5/10) – This is one of those shows of which you’d wonder: why isn’t it a hentai? The plot is just an excuse to show a lot of naked maids getting it on with the lead character. The acting is terrible, the scenario is ridiculously bad. Why try to make this into a TV-series when you can go all the way with the hentai format?
#24 (new) – Kaito Reinya – (4/10) – Cheap flash anime. Dropped
#23 (new) – Chu Bra – (6,5/10) – This show is the product of deranged minds. While I have to give this show points for creativity, I’m just not a fan of this show’s sense of humour. The characters were dull. Dropped.
#22 (new) – Dance in the Vampire Bund – (7/10) – At this point I’ve lost all my patience with Shinbo. Wake me up when he’s not trying to make way too many shows in too little time, creating six generic shows instead of one really good one. Dropped
#21 (new) – Seikon no Qwaser – (7,25/10) – So this obviously is not my kind of series, but at least I’m glad that it chose to not just go for cheap fanservice, but also tries to stuff in some sort of story. But with the kind of fanservice it has chosen for, there’s no way for me to take this thing seriously. Dropped.
#20 (17) – Hetalia Axis Power – (7,25/10) – Nothing much to say about this show for this month. Only one episode aired and it was boring.
#19 (new) – Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu – (7,5/10) – Fun for one episode, but I don’t see the potential for an entire series. Dropped.
#18 (13) – Anymaru Tantei Kiruminzoo – (7,5/10) – Bleh. This month has been a major step down for this series. The cases were repetitive, the characters were predictable and the charms it had in the first 13 episode seem lost now.
#17 (19) – Nodame Cantabile – (7,75/10) – Yeah, this is just as I feared. The creators are putting too much emphasis on Nodame’s quirks and the charms and spirit of the first season seems completely lost at this point. Right now, this series is just another average romantic comedy, and there are plenty of funnier series in this season.
#16 (new) – Ookami Kakushi – (7,75/10) – The mystery and screenplay in this series are very good. But throughout this, it seems to be forgetting one important thing: the characterization! The characters have hardly made any advances through the past four episodes, they’re still the same caricatures that they were at their introduction. I don’t feel like we’ve gotten to know ANY of them better.
#15 (19) – Kimi ni Todoke – (7,75/10) – So this month showed the big climax for the Kurumi-arc. And I have to admit that the drama worked sort-of, but at the same time the creators were just stretching it on for waaay too long.
#14 (new) – Hanamaru Yochien – (7,75/10) – The big flaw of this show is the female love interest. She’s just another carbon-copy of tens of thousands other clueless romantic interests. The rest of the cast however is interesting enough to make this an enjoyable enough slice of life series.
#13 (new) – Cobra the Animation – (7,75/10) – Yeah, very much a guilty pleasure. The plot can be ridiculously stupid at times, but it has the single best soundtrack of the season for me. Plus, I have to applaud the creativity of the creators, and how they’ve managed to throw in quite a bit of neat ideas for Cobra to run into. The visual direction is also very good and overall it’s entertainment… but you don’t want to watch it with a straight face.
#12 (new) – Katanagatari – (8/10) – I really like the deadpan execution of the seemingly endless dialogues in this series. This show has subtle wit, the characters have their charms an the graphics looked fresh and pleasing to the eye. It’s not anything deep, but it knows how to make fun of itself and yet carryon with a serious story.
#11 (16) – Kaidan Restaurant – (8/10) – Long hiatus is looooong, but surprisingly, I’ve been looking forward to this show’s return. Here’s something I did not see coming, but I’m still very much enjoying this series’ bite-size chunks of horror (pun sort-of intended).
#10 (10) – Tentai Senshi Sunred – (8,25/10)

We’re past forty episodes and this series still is able to consistently raise laughs. I’m glad that this sequel was made with plenty of inspiration in mind.

#9 (new) – Gag Manga Biyori + – (8,25/10)

It has the same bizarre sense of humour as the first season, and I’m enjoying this series a lot. The pacing has to be among the fastest I have ever seen. Just one thing: was I the only one who had a bit of a deja vu moment at episode 4?

#8 (14) – Letter Bee – (8,25/10)

In this month, this series has won me over. The fillers are just as good, if not better at times, than the manga-material, and even though this series is episodic, it makes very well use of its formula.

#7 (new) – Sora no Oto – (8,25/10)

While it has its flaws and a bit of an idiotic lead character, I’ve found a lot to like about this series so far. The characters start out a bit one-sided, but the past four episodes have already given them much more depth than I could have expected. The real gem in this series is the setting, though. It’s a true mystery of where this series is playing, and the creators put in tons of little details to make us guess and wonder what’s going on at the background of this series.

#6 (15) – Kobato – (8,5/10)

In this month, Kobato really grew on me. The build-up has worked, and it’s no longer that moderately enjoyable series, but Kobato has become a wonderful character to watch, and the side-characters all have their charms, despite the simple storyline.

#5 (9) – Marie&Gali – (8,75/10)

Marie&Gali has possibly become even better this month now that it removed one of its very few weaknesses. It’s true that Marika once was a bit of a Mary Sue, but even that is completely gone with the past few episodes, in which she has crawled completely out of her shell. And really: it’s still an over the top fun-filled science adventure that sparkles with creativity.

#4 (6) – Cross Game – (8,75/10)

This show still manages to deliver incredibly charming and witty slice of life. The characters have really grown to me at this point, and they’re just consistently enjoyable to watch.

#3 (new) – Durarara – (8,75/10)

Out of the newly debuted series, this is without a doubt my favourite. A terrific style, every episode so far had a different style of storytelling, it’s varied, the characters are charming, the dialogue is well written and the scenario is very cleverly constructed. I’m very much looking forward to more of this, especially considering it’s going to be 24 episodes long.

#2 (5) – Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – (9/10)

This series just keeps getting better and better now. The back-story just continues to get fleshed out, and the huge cast just gets more and more complete with every episode. Bones’ animation as done a wonderful job so far and I’m getting more and more excited with this series.

#1 (2) – Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – (9,25/10)

This season, I have no doubts whatsoever in choosing my favourite show: this one. It just continues to weave all sorts of fascinating storylines into one and it does so with an incredible amount of creativity. The direction is so powerful that it makes a treat out of every single episode.

Letter Bee – 17

by psgels, posted in Letter Bee



What an adorable episode. Lag has cried for God knows how many times by now, but this was the first time at which it actually got to me. While it’s of course not good for a series to try and bang its head against a wall until it gets through, but I really feel like Letter Bee has gotten much better and consistent compared to the first thirteen episodes. The past month, we’ve seen what? One flawed episode and three very charming ones? That’s a huge improvement.

Now, I haven’t seen the OVA or anything, but was this story really what it was about? I expected something more… central to the plot, but instead neither the plot nor the characters are of any importance to the main plot or cast, or it’s very unlikely that they do. The only link is that they were very friendly with the current Head Bee and we actually saw something of him in his childhood.

In any case, Darwin surely was one awesome geezer of a Dingo. This episode did such a terrific job in characterizing him: without making him talk or show any obvious signs of his backstory, the people around him all shed light on his affections for his late master. I especially loved how despite being more than 100 years old, he still managed to outrun Lag, and save him from plummeting to his death.

Now then, the big problem in the future of this series is obviously going to be that it won’t be good if it closes off at 25 episodes, like most other series. Not with the amount of time that was not spent on the main plot. Episode 25 is currently 8 episodes away and while the fillers are nice, there’s hardly any time left for the main storyline to unfold.

I can only foresee a disaster of an ending if the creators indeed plan to end this show in two months…
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Cobra The Animation – 05

by psgels, posted in Cobra The Animation



I have to admit, it’s been a while since I watched a series that I considered a guilty pleasure and actually enjoyed. With series like these, I just have one thing I’m looking for. It’s obvious that the characters in this show are just shallow stereotypes, and there’s no way for the story to make sense, so instead I’m just looking for one thing: creativity. And that’s where this show delivers. I have no idea how faithful this series is to the Cobra manga, and despite the flawed storytelling I’m at least glad that they’re not shying away from strange ideas, and don’t try to play this series as safe as possible, just because of the financial crisis.

The villainness in this episode was just hilariously incompetent. At first it seemed like a nice idea for her to pretend to be nice to Cobra later, but then she actually tried to kill him. By pushing him over the edge of a boat. Despite knowing fully well that Cobra can breathe under water. She never even stops to think, and instead just keeps going on with her imaginary evil laugh, for Cobra to take plenty of time to shoot him. I also loved her reasoning: men are nothing but egoistic pigs. Overgeneralization FTW!

There are so many scientific holes into that story of the frozen women in the underwater current, but I have to admit: it’s a pretty neat idea. It was neatly built up, overall an exciting episode and while the visual direction wasn’t exactly up to Osamu Dezaki’s standards it still was fresh and imaginative, so I’m not complaining.
Rating: (Enjoyable)

Darker than Black – OVA

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



Seriously, this has to be one of the fastest OVA releases I have ever encountered: only a month after the original series ended. In any case this OVA was nothing like I expected. I loved it to bits, but it never really resolved any of the plot-holes that it seemed to have promised to answer.

Instead, this is very much one of those classical extra OVAs: the ones that aren’t important to the plot, and instead focus on the characters and fleshing them out so that they can’t exactly be called useless. Much like the Gunslinger Girl – Il Teatrino OVA, or Birdy the Mighty Decode – The Cipher you do not want to judge these episodes as standalone products. But they really are everything you could hope for in character chemistry.

Because GOD, this episode was satisfying. The entire first half was just spent on Hei and Yin, spending time together in some sort of tropical resort, on their run from the Syndicate. Mao is there too, but he’s just in full time cat-mode throughout the entire episode, so that Yin and Hei can finally get some quality time for themselves. In terms of plot, we don’t exactly learn something new, but Yin does start to show signs that she’s not as obedient as you’d expect of a doll, and this episode also shows one of the attempts of the Syndicate to capture her.

The animation also looks very good, and the music was as terrific as ever. Those who were hoping for lots of plot will be disappointed, because it just wasn’t there. Who knows. Perhaps a third season will some day in a couple of years get announced, which will fill in all of the question marks that are still left. However, with the current trends in anime, which still somehow seem to believe that there is not enough moe in anime, I’m not getting my hopes up.
Rating: ** (Ezxcellent)