Kuchuu Buranko – 07

by psgels, posted in Kuchuu Buranko



Apologies for the lateness of this post; the very slow subs really threw me off. In any case, this yet again was an episode that was more than worth it. I really like how this series continues to get more daring with every passing episode, it has a very nice effect of something spiralling out of control. This episode was hilarious, and while not the deepest one it still had a fun and interesting protagonist to work with: a yakuza who can’t stand pointy objects.

At this point, you can also see that the creators have loads of fun with the cross-references to past episodes. Bando returns, and heck: we even saw this episode’s protagonist in one of the previous episodes if I’m not mistaken. This explains that the ski glasses wasn’t just a random stylistic choice, but the guy actually had a reason for it: experimenting whether or not that would help him cure his fears.

This show is over the top, but in a good way. The fun in this series comes from the characters, and not necessarily the psychology: it merely fits a supporting purpose in this series. I only didn’t like that eventual part in which the rival yakuza guy turns out to also have an OCD. It’s just cheesy.

We also learn that most of Irabu’s appearances next to his patients are in fact in a flashback, and he doesn’t always accompany his clients like what was previously suggested. Only in the scenes in which he directly interacted with other people are the parts in which he went out of his office. At other times, he’s simply inside the client’s story, commenting on what happened.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Kimi ni Todoke – 09

by psgels, posted in Kimi ni Todoke



Seriously, it’s like nearly the entire episode had its head in the clouds this time. The amount of slow-motion shots, close-ups with lots of sparkles, glitters and brightly coloured flowery backgrounds is really hard to believe. I don’t want to know how much sugar the creators took before writing this episode…

In any case, this episode also reminded me how different Japanese cultural standard can be at times. A lot of attention in this episode was spent to Sawako and Kazehaya who kept calling each other by their last names. I’ve been watching anime for quite a while yet, but the difficulty these people have with even pronouncing first names surprises me at what a polite country Japan can be.

The rest of the episode, aside from this and the countless other scenes that feature Sawako and Kazehaya getting uncomfortable toward each other, focused on the upcoming sports event. It’s a staple of any high school series to feature some sort of traditional school event, so I guess that Kimi ni Todoke has gone for the sports festival. In my opinion, anime in general puts too much emphasis on these things. Seeing these seemingly obligatory events in just about every high school series also doesn’t really help. And it’s a shame, really: shows like GA show that there are plenty of other things that you can do on a high school.

Oh, and a surprise was seeing that Kurumi suddenly claiming Sawako as a friend of hers. I’m not exactly sure what to think of this at the moment. It would have been pretty weird for her to do such a thing without an ulterior motive, so let’s see what the next episodes can do in explaining why she chose Sawako of all people to become friends with.
Rating: * (Good)

2000-2009 – Decade Summary Part 1

by psgels, posted in Yearly Summaries

It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do with these “Decade Summaries”. I first thought of listing the most memorable moments for me during the past 10 years, and actually tried writing such a post, but eventually I got stuck with it: I just can’t to justice to those moments. In the end, I figured that I’m so often trying to pick out my Top 3 for each season, so why not show a compilation of my three favourite series for every season of the decade?

So yeah, this is obviously going to be a quick-fire post with a lot of one-liners. This post contains 40 Top 3s, so it’s mostly used to give readers a glimpse of the good shows that aired during the past decade (the ones I’ve watched, anyway). In the second half of this decade summary, I’ll go more into detail. You can expect it around the end of December.

Basically, every anime is only eligible during the season that it originally started airing. Spring is from March to May, Summer from June to August, Autumn from September to November, et cetera.

Winter 2000

#3: Mushrambo – Yeah, this season sucked. Dragged on for way too long in the end, but had its moment of creativity as a shounen series.
#2: Kazemakase Tsukikage Ran – Simple yet fun samurai comedy.
#1: Boogiepop Phantom – Unique mystery-series that really requires a user to think in order to actually understand it.

Spring 2000

#3: Love Hina – The first harem I ever watched, and pretty nicely done compared to the other shows of this genre.
#2: NieA Under 7 – Very charming slice of life series with awesome character-designs. I should have rated this one higher when I reviewed it.
#1: FLCL – Crazy, but well written and engaging little OVA.

Summer 2000

#3: Brigadoon – Marin to Melan – Sunrise Mecha with its own unique style. Very well developed characters.
#2: Jin Roh – The Wolf Brigade – Very intelligent movie (Mamoru Oshii was involved, so how could it not be?). Very well written with a great ending.
#1: Strange Dawn – Everything fantasy should be. Incredibly detailed storytelling with an incredibly strong cast of characters.

Autumn 2000

#3: Legendary Gambler Tetsuya – Very interesting look at Mah-jong and cheating. Never drags on.
#2: Sci-Fi Harry – Imaginative and deep mystery-series that may have bitten off a bit more than it could chew.
#1: Argento Soma – Seemingly average mecha at first, but becomes really good near the end with simple but well developed main characters and storylines.

Winter 2001

#3: Earth Girl Arjuna – Great graphics, nice characters, but way too damn preachy.
#2: Tales of Eternia – Interesting choice to go with a side-story instead of a full fledged epic rpg-storyline. Nothing special, but fun enough.
#1: Spirit of Wonder – Scientific Boys Club – Strange little OVA, but very imaginative slice of life.

Spring 2001

#3: Soultaker – Back when Shinbo’s style was still new and fresh. Very nicely written and layered mystery-series with plenty of nice action.
#2: Zone of the Enders – Dolores – Awesome mecha epic with a great emphasis on family values and probably one of the oldest protagonists I’ve ever seen in a TV-anime.
#1: Figure 17: Tsubasa & Hikaru – A truly excellent character-study that combines gentle slice of life with tense and intelligent battles.

Summer 2001

#3: Fruits Basket – Shoujo series done well. Great characters, but especially the dialogue stands out.
#2: Arete Hime – Very quiet but engaging medieval movie that really takes its time to show the lead character.
#1: Spirited Away – In my top 3 of favourite Miyazaki-movies. Lots of details and imagination in just about everything.

Autumn 2001

#3: X – Well executed character-study from Clamp.
#2: Kaze no Youjinbou – Wonderfully animated and detailed look at local Yakuza, combined with an engaging mystery-plot
#1: Millennium Actress – Satoshi Kon’s excellent homage to various movie genres. Absolutely lovable cast.

Winter 2002

#3: Full Metal Panic! – Successfully combines moe with a war drama.
#2: Voices of a Distant Star – A very impressive short by Makoto Shinkai. Awesome graphics and a sense of distance that only he can pull off.
#1: Hunter X Hunter OVA – Everything a shounen series should be. This story is imaginative, intelligent focused and very well built up.

Spring 2002

#3: Comedy – Don’t get fooled by the name: this 10-minute short is a beautifully animated short story about feudal Ireland.
#2: Full Moon wo Sagashite – Long build-up is long, but this idol mahou shoujo becomes truly heart-wrenching eventually.
#1: .Hack//Sign – A unique concept, focusing on character interactions inside MMORPGs. Awesome philosophical themes and characters, but not for those expecting action.

Summer 2002

#3: Sentou Yousei Yukikaze – Beautiful graphics. A bit confusing of an OVA, but the action and characters make up for it.
#2: Saishuu Heiki Kanojo – Perhaps not the saddest series out there, but the quiet scenes among the death and destruction are truly worth it.
#1: The Cat Returns – Fun, whimsical and charming story with great characterization for the various cats around.

Autumn 2002

#3: Overman King Gainer – Seemingly average mecha show at first, but it stands out due to its beyond awesome OP and incredibly creative ideas thrown into the setting and scenario.
#2: Hanada Shounen-Shi – The lead character is very, very hard to like. An annoying brat in every single way. And yet this series is really heart-warming.
#1: Haibane Renmei – I have hardly ever been so emotionally moved as with this series. A fantastic character-study and with incredibly well explored themes.

Winter 2003

#3: Wolf’s Rain – I’ve only seen three shows of this season. I didn’t quite like this one. The concept had potential, but the main plot and characters didn’t.
#2: Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou – Quiet Country Cafe – I’m still wondering why they didn’t make a TV-series out of this, but ah well. Relaxing slice of life OVA.
#1: Ashita no Nadja – This is how good shoujo adventures can be. Really fun characters, and a surprisingly deep and well developed plot during the second half.

Spring 2003

#3: Kino no Tabi – The Beautiful world – Thought-provoking travelling series with a very likable lead character of Kino.
#2: Oseam – One heck of a tear-jerker of a movie. Korean animation at its finest.
#1: Kaleido Star – An anime about circus performers, and it’s a really well developed one. It makes optimal use of its long length to really show a memorable development for the lead character.

Summer 2003

#3: Narutaru – Shows what kids are really going to do when you give them a bunch of violent monster. Very disturbing, to say the least.
#2: Rumiko Takahasi’s Rumic Theater – 13 stories written by Rumiko Takahashi, all about random, ordinary adults who run into extraordinary problems. Very down-to-earth and the creators make every story count.
#1: Tokyo Godfathers – Satoshi Kon at his best. This movie is crazy, fun, adorable and deep, so that even a few deus ex machinas won’t prevent it from truly shining.

Autumn 2003

#3: Gilgamesh – Very interesting horror-series with an imaginative plot that breaks quite a few traditions. It’s got interesting themes, the fights are very tense, though it might be a bit slow for some.
#2: Gungrave – Ah, the character-development! An in-depth look into large mafia-organizations and some really good animation by Madhouse.
#1: Mermaid’s Forest – Rumiko Takahashi Again, this time her Mermaid Forest stories are adapted. Disturbing, and the individual short stories make optimal use of their time to make an as big of an impact as possible.

Winter 2004

#3: Maria-Sama ga Miteru – Takes a while to get going – even for a 13-episode series – but proves to be a very nice character-study with yuri elements in the end.
#2: Jubei-Chan 2: The Counterattack of Siberia Yagyu – Has some of the best fight choreography out there. The plot itself is a bit predictable, but the characters and action totally make up for this.
#1: Paranoia Agent – Satoshi Kon yet again takes a number one-spot with this witty, paranoid, mysterious, diverse, intense, screwed up series of his.

Spring 2004

#3: Samurai Champloo – Manglobe’s debut, and what a well-directed debut it is. Even though this show is about nothing, it’s fun enough to see the three lead characters interact.
#2: Hi no Tori – Incredible adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s classic stories. Every arc stands out, among which are a number of true gems in terms of storytelling.
#1: Mahou Shoujotai – I still consider this to be my favourite anime ever. Experimental in every way, truly excellent characterizations, a great world for the story to play with and a very original set of graphics and animation.

Summer 2004

#3: Mind Game – This top 3 was rather hard, because I hardly saw anything in this season. Still, even though the movie underwhelmed me when I watched it, I do have to admit that that final scene in this movie is something truly unique and entertaining.
#2: Elfen Lied – The problem with Elfen Lied is that it tried to combine harem stupidity with very serious and depressing themes about mass murderers. They don’t mesh! Nevertheless, I really liked the good parts and the ending.
#1: Otogizoshi – Folklore, divided into two distinctly different arcs. The second one is quieter, but superior.

Autumn 2004

#3: Zipang – Very interesting concept about cause and reaction. Asks deep questions but unfortunately is a bit too short.
#2: Rozen Maiden – This is what I’d like to call a series in which everything went right. No second is wasted, and both the plot and characters went where they should have.
#1: Fantastic Children – An amazingly told series with a great cast of characters. It´s perhaps a bit confusing at the beginning, but the plot twists near the ending are more than worth it.

Winter 2005

#3: Kimagure Robot – Short but quirky comedy about robots (yeah, there wasn’t much else this season).
#2: Starship Operators – Space Opera done right. A huge focus on complex tactics rather than brainless action, with a powerful ending.
#1: Air – Starts as another one of those harems. Ends as a gripping and heart-wrenching story with some very neat ideas in its style of storytelling.

Spring 2005

#3: The Law of Ueki – I consider this both as one of the best comedies and shounens out there. It’s pretty silly, but you have to love all of the weird powers that these people have. Not to mention the huge amount of creativity that has been put in the different battles.
#2: Glass Mask – An incredibly in-depth look at acting. This series surely took that extra step towards developing its cast, and what a wonderful drama it turned into.
#1: Eureka7 – A bit of an unbalanced series, but where this series hits, it hits really hard. Renton and Eureka start out as a bunch of random mecha-piloting teenagers, but their development throughout the series is truly memorable.

Summer 2005

#3: Kamichu – Very charming slice of life series. Period.
#2: xxxHolic: A Midummer Night’s Dream – A Very interesting mystery-movie, despite being just a side-story in the xxxHolic franchise.
#1: Pani Poni Dash – Remains funny throughout the majority of its airtime, quirky style. A successful comedy.

Autumn 2005

#3: Jigoku Shoujo – Talk about atmosphere. The first season of Jigoku Shoujo was gripping, had some twisted episodes and a great conclusion.
#2: Mushishi – Episodic series can hardly get any better than this. Wonderfully subtle storytelling about deep and thought-provoking characters
#1: Noein – Fantastic action, incredible characters, awesome soundtrack, wonderful storytelling, I’m running out of adjectives here.

Winter 2006

#3: Yomigaeru Sora – Rescue Wings – An anime about the rescue forces. A really good portrayal of what these people can be up against.
#2: Ayakashi – Japanese Classic Horror – Especially Bake Neko was a triumph in storytelling, but Yotsuya Kaidan was also a very good and especially disturbing horror story.
#1: Ergo Proxy – Weird but very imaginative and complex story. There always was something interesting going on with this series.

Spring 2006

#3: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – When this series first aired, it blew my mind with its gripping mystery-story, characters and disturbing footage. All behind such a seemingly cute exterior.
#2: The Third – The Third has struck me as a very balanced show, with a bit of action, slice of life, science fiction and intrigue, but first and foremost it stands out to me because it features one of the best characters I’ve seen: Honoka.
#1: Simoun – This series is what I consider the best character-study ever. The creators took a very imaginative concept, a group of fascinating characters, and turned into one of my favourite series.

Summer 2006

#3: Otogi Juushi Akazukin – THE series for modern fairytales. It has lots of cameos, and a very cute style of storytelling that makes it a lot of fun to watch.
#2: Flag – A unique series. The entire story is told through the perspective of cameras and photos. The story itself is really slow, but very detailed, realistic and imaginative.
#1: Le Chevalier d’Eon – Despite a slow start, this series eventually turns into a well developed and very strongly directed epic in 17th Century France.

Autumn 2006

#3: Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto – On top of the action, this show was also a very nice history-lesson for me. Especially the first half had a very strong direction.
#2: Red Garden – Another show with a great cast of characters. What made this series stand out was the amount of detail that was put in their characterization, and especially the dialogue was phenomenal at times.
#1: Asatte no Houkou – Body-swapping: it’s often done for comedic purposes. This series showed how high a serious execution of this trope can reach.

Winter 2007

#3: Master of Epic – For this MMORPG adaptation, the creators decided that instead of creating a serious story like what would happen with most other shows of this kind, they would parody the heck out of it. The result is a very fun and successful collection of sketches that make fun of tons of MMORPG tropes.
#2: Nodame Cantabile – This series succeeded, both as a comedy and as a look at performing classical music and especially directing. Very strong cast of characters.
#1: Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – The revival of the World Masterpiece Theatre delivered an incredible series with memorable character-development for just about any member of the cast.

Spring 2007

#3: Toward the Terra – Space operas at their finest. Toward the Terra’s story is bold, imaginative and gets the best out of its cast of characters.
#2: Kaze no Shoujo Emily – An adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s classic. A really charming slice of life-character study, about living towards your dreams.
#1: Bokura no – I really have to praise Mohiro Kitoh for his truly thought-provoking ideas, but also the staff of the anime, who took an unfinished story, and managed to turn it into something memorable and gripping that perfectly fitted the 24-episode timeframe.

Summer 2007

#3: Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei – A really good comedy, full of nice references, subtle jabs and witty humour that didn’t turn stale within its 13-episode timeframe.
#2: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai – This sequel to the Higurashi series provided all of the answers we needed. The pacing was much slower, but that really allowed us to get a good view of the characters.
#1: Baccano! – You have to praise Baccano for the way it managed to weave so many different stories about so many different characters into just one series of 13 episodes. There’s always something interesting going on because of it.

Autumn 2007

#3: Mokke – Charming and heart-warming slice of life series about two sisters as they meet various people and supernatural spirits.
#2: Ghost Hound – A horror-series with an incredibly thick atmosphere and a huge focus on psychology.
#1: Shion no Ou – An awesome combination between murder mystery and shougi, thanks to a very snappy sense of storytelling and an awesome cast of characters.

Winter 2008

#3: Hakaba Kitarou – A very interesting combination between horror and comedy. It’s always a guess what this one will go for.
#2: Gunslinger Girl – Il Teatrino – Ah, who cares. I liked this. Completely different style when compared to the first season, but nevertheless it had a haunting atmosphere, and it did manage to catch the essence of this concept.
#1: Porfy no Nagai Tabi – An exceptionally well written and realistic travelling series, combining charming and relaxing slice of life with the dark and lonely parts of Porfy’s life.

Spring 2008

#3: Amatsuki – This show stood out with its really heavy emphasis on dialogue and very strong direction. Now where is that second season!?
#2: Himitsu – The Revelation – I personally loved how this series’ mystery knew exactly how much it should reveal. Suspense at its utter best: you’d never know what would happen next, or where an episode would focus on.
#1: Kaiba – An incredibly imaginative concept with a fantastic story to work with. Very haunting and thought-provoking.

Summer 2008

#3: Ultraviolet: Code 044 – A bold direction along with a very nice storyline to work with. What I loved about this show was its atmosphere and strong cast of characters.
#2: Natsume Yuujinchou – Natsume’s stories in which he’d meet various spirits is nothing new, but yet again it’s well executed, and Nyanko-sensei is a gem to watch.
#1: Bonen no Xamdou – I don’t think I’ve ever seen a full fledged TV-series that was better animated than this gem. The action was fantastic, and yet this show also spent plenty of time in quiet scenes to flesh out its characters properly.

Autumn 2008

#3: Clannad – After Story – The first Clannad was very interesting, but still a bit formulaic. Then the second season came, and blew all stereotypes away with a heart-wrenching second half.
#2: Michiko e Hatchin – You can trust Manglobe to deliver an incredibly accurate portrayal of Brazil of a few decades back. With incredibly strong characters and an always fun scenario, Michiko e Hatchin really stands out among its season’s best.
#1: Mouryou no Hako – What an intense focus at dialogue. I don’t think that any other series has this much and complex dialogue as Mourou no Hako here, but everything is just so interesting and well detailed, not to mention that the plot is incredibly well detailed.

Winter 2009

#3: Shikabane Hime Kuro – Despite some initial hiccups, Hikabane Hime Kuro continued to raise the bar set by its predecessor, developing its characters and delivering ver exciting action-sequences into a great series.
#2: Kemono no Souja Erin – This really shows the power of long-running series. Throughout the 50 episodes of airtime, the creators are able to provide a very detailed portrayal of its lead character, Erin the beastiarian.
#1: Birdy the Mighty Decode 2 – The first season wasn’t really anything special, but the second season came and improved on it in every single way. The animation is incredible, the characters are really well developed, the story saves enough time to show a bit about the setting and how it dynamically interacts with the main storyline. A real gem.

Spring 2009

#3: Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – For me, this one beats the original series by far. It has a terrific concept and a very well developed setting. (This was another top 3 that was hard too choose: so many series with place 2 and 3 potential).
#2: Guin Saga – Now this is what epic fantasy should be. A large focus on politics and slow character-development. The intrigue was what made this series really memorable.
#1: Phantom – An incredible soundtrack, combined with some really strong development for the lead characters. Phantom stood out with its bold execution

Summer 2009

#3: Spice and Wolf II – This series continued where it predecessor left off, and delivers two well written and intelligent arcs full of witty dialogues and character-development.
#2: Aoi Hana – A very interesting and especially very subtle character-study about a lesbian romance. And for once it isn’t filled with anime stereotypes of this genre.
#1: Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 – A depiction of what would happen if Tokyo were to be hit by an earthquake of the 8.0 on the Richter scale. Shocking, sad, and very emotional.

Autumn 2009

#3: Darker than Black – Ryuusei no Gemini – This sequel went into a completely different direction as its predecessor, but still retains is incredibly strong direction and its message that people die when they fight to the death.
#2: Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra. – A breath of fresh air in the intrigue-genre in the way that it continues to defy expectations and twist around seemingly unconnected stories into a whole
#1: Aoi Bungaku – Not only is this series an example of really good storytelling, it also completely changes style for every of the six stories it’s animating. Each of the stories has this unique feel about it, all in their own way.

Konnichiwa Anne – 35

by psgels, posted in Konnichiwa Anne



Ack! This is just what I feared. They decided to fill one of the last episodes of this series with this? Oh lord…

This episode… it really showed how the creators aren’t the best at telling a story. Out of all the possible uses this episode could have had to develop the characters, they chose such a far-fetched one that’s solely meant to make Anne look good and attempt (note to attempt) to develop only one single character: Tessa.

I say attempt, because this episode fell into the same trap as all of the other episodic episodes in this show. Way too one-sided and cheesy. I mean, this episode served no point or purpose whatsoever: Tessa already had enough depth. It’s the evil classmates that this series should be worrying about, and yet the creators hardly did anything to make them seem less one-sided than they already were. At this point, there are only four episodes left. This series really needed that time to flesh out the characters in the orphanage. Right now, the orphanage is one of the least interesting settings that this series has taken place in, after the school in Marysville.

And I also have to wonder: why is it that hard to find a subject for this episode? At times like these, I miss Porfy: it really made it seem so easy. It always had some inspiration for an episodic story with a wonderful feel to it. Konnichiwa Anne instead… throws in an abandoned baby. If it’s something that happens once in a while at the orphanage, okay. Then I can understand the need for the creators to address this problem. However, it was a totally unique case! It was just the story of one crazy father who abandoned his son. We never know anything about him. In the end, the creators threw in the baby, just to make Anne look good with her super baby-taking-care-of-skills. And not only that, it also made me aware of a rather nasty flaw of this series: its overglorified portrayal of babies. What happened to the screaming, yelling and whining that these kids keep doing that will even make grown adults pull out their hairs? In Anne of Green Gables, the way they showed that Anne was experienced in taking care of little kids.

Speaking of which… there are like, what? A few months left until the start of Anne of Green Gables? I had hopes for a while, but in the end, no. This girl IS NOT ANNE OF GREEN GABLES. In the end, she really is just a kid who looks like her. Anne has Tessa. There is no reason why she shouldn’t talk endlessly like usual to her. So why is she suddenly the quiet girl who doesn’t talk often?
Rating: – (Disappointing)

November Summary

by psgels, posted in Monthly Summaries

Overall, this season stands out to me as average, but solid. There are a lot of well written shows, that at the moment just don’t seem to hit any real heights, and yet remain very enjoyable to watch. The exceptions are a number of true gems, though.

#22 (19) – Yumeiro Patissiere – (6,5/10) – I originally planned to continue watching this, due to its surprisingly good start, but unfortunately the past month revealed this series’ true colours. It just keeps introducing cheesy jealous bitches who are in love with the three male bishies that hang around the lead characters. The drama that comes of it is just terribly shallow. Dropped.
#21 (22) – Winter Sonata – (7,5/10) – Really hard to say anything about this series due to the slow subs. The only episode released this month was a bit cheesy, and it feels like entire scenes are missing, or something.
#20 (21) – Kobato – (7,5/10) – Right now, Kobato still is pretty dull, but at least you can see that the characters are getting fleshed out and explored. What the series needs to do is keep this up, and USE this in the second half to develop them.
#19 (24) – Kimi ni Todoke – (7,75/10) – I’m still struggling with Kimi ni Todoke, but there’s some definite potential. It’s pretty good when it doesn’t pretend to be anything: the dialogue is inspired and well written. However, the cheese during the dramatic parts is just way too overdone.
#18 (14) – Letter Bee – (7,75/10) – Still building up. You can see that it’s building up to something interesting, but it isn’t quite there yet. In the meantime, I’m just enjoying Nichi’s antics.
#17 (20) – Kaidan Restaurant – (8/10) – It’s a bit childish at times, not to mention that the lead character must have really angered the gods badly for her to run into THAT many ghosts, but the horror works surprisingly well. The quick horror stories all do their job of being creepy, and it’s always interesting to watch these episodes.
#16 (17) – Hetalia Axis Powers – (8,25/10) – I must say, that that second season of Hetalia has become much more balanced than the first one. It doesn’t endlessly keep hanging on the same jokes, and instead delivers varied and fun jokes. Very nice.
#15 (15) – 11eyes – (8,25/10) – This series is still going strong for me, although I do find Yuka a bit hard to swallow. Her characterization for me just doesn’t work, and it’s very annoying to watch her angsty romantic issues.
#14 (10) – Anymaru Tantei Kiruminzoo – (8,25/10) – This really turned out to be surprisingly good. I especially love how this series doesn’t just have people, transforming into animals, but also animals transforming into people, with hilarious results as they try to make sense of humans. The story also is a bit more than just “monster of the week” as well. It’s obviously a bit of a stupid series, but for me it’s been very enjoyable.
#13 (9) – Tentai Senshi Sunred – (8,25/10) – This is very rare for a comedy sequel: it’s actually better than the original series. While the first Tentai Senshi Sunred had its share of weak episodes, the second season doesn’t, and every episode is a hit and cracks me up with its typical sense of humour, combining detailed realistic dialogue with incredible stupidity and Super Sentai Parodies.
#12 (3) – Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – (8,25/10) – This month was mostly building up, and that’s where Full Metal Alchemist’s big weakness lies: it may be very exciting at times, but it does take quite a while to get there. At those points, it just loses out to other, better-paced shows. Do note that this score reflects on just the episodes that aired this month; NOT the entire series.
#11 (13) – Konnichiwa Anne – (8,25/10) – A very good month for Konnichiwa Anne. Not stellar, but Anne’s development has finally started tying this story to Anne of Green Gables. There are some animation errors, but so far this series has been able to avoid the biggest pitfalls. Now let’s hope that this series can pull off a good finale.
#10 (12) – Sasameki Koto – (8,25/10)

I’m surprised: this series is still going strong. The characters are very genuine, which really helps the seemingly formulaic premise. Especially the relationship between the lead characters is fleshed out really well

#9 (1) – Umineko no Naku Koro ni – (8,25/10)

A bit of a step back when compared to the previous month, but again, you can see that this show is building up. Ange herself isn’t the most interesting character, but let’s see whether all of the build-up can pay off in the end. Again, this relatively low score is just for the episodes of this month. I’d rate the entire series higher, depending on how good the final parts of this series are going to be.

#8 (8) – Marie & Gali – (8,5/10)

The only thing I dislike is the constant hiatuses that this show keeps taking. Apart from that, I’m amazed that it still hasn’t run out of creativity in the slightest. Every episode is a hit, that keeps putting in new ideas.

#7 (11) – Kuchuu Buranko – (8,5/10)

This show has really gotten better and better: the cases have become more complex, interesting and funny, plus, all of the references to past episodes really work.

#6 (7) – Cross Game – (8,5/10)

Great month for Cross Game. Akane really brought in a new spark that influenced nearly every single character in the series, which really brought the spark back in this series’ slice of life.

#5 (18) – White Album – (8,5/10)

You know. Call me crazy, but I like this show again. It’s just unique; first of all it’s School Days but actually well written, but also the writing really gets the best out of the characters, and unlike the first season it allows for very emotional scenes without the usual soap opera cheese that accompanies them. But yeah, Touya still is an incredible asshole. 😛

#4 (5) – Kemono no Souja Erin – (8,75/10)

Even though the end is near, Kemono no Souja Erin still continues with its quiet and focused pacing, and that in no way prevented the plot twists that arrived in this month from creating impact. Very fitted for a prelude to the finale.

#3 (6) – Darker than Black – Ryuusei no Gemini – (8,75/10)

The major thing that my three favourites this season all have in common is a very strong direction. Darker than Black knows exactly how to deliver its story and make it exciting. It also takes care to develop its characters and really makes use of its limited airtime this way.

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

What a breath of fresh air. The direction of Armed Librarians is bold and daring, and I just love the way in which this series keeps tying seemingly unrelated plot threads to each other in the end. Here’s one series that continues to defy my expectations of it.

#1 (2) – Aoi Bungaku – (9,25/10)

There should be more series like this, seriously. Every story so far has been unique and different, and all of them have been made based on great ideas. In the Woods… was an awesome mind-screw, Kokoro was a terrific character-study told in two different perspectives, while Hashire Melos is beautifully animated and directed.

Aoi Bungaku – 09

by psgels, posted in Aoi Bungaku



This is it: THE chance for the director of Mouyou no Hako to show that he’s not just a one-trick-pony, but instead an incredible director. And oh my god, he really showed the latter. Madhouse have truly truck gold when they found this guy, because this episode was one of the best episodes of Aoi Bungaku yet!

You can really see his style from Mouryou no Hako flow through into Hashire Melos, the work he’s adapting. The sakura trees are there, the heavy use of lighting, and the protagonists also are quite similar in appearance, and both novel authors. Heck, it even has the same soundtrack as Mouryou no Hako. This episode satisfied my inner Mouryou no Hako-fanboy, while delivering its own strong story that aside from these things, doesn’t rip it off in the slightest and stands strong as a gripping episode.

The scenes in the theatre were a very nice twist: basically this episode told two stories: one story about the author of a novel and his best friend, an actor, and one story, which he’s currently writing. Interestingly enough, Masato Sakai who has been voicing all of the leads of Aoi Bungaku so far, ends up voicing Melos: the lead character of the play. I love how in this way, the creators are playing around with the concepts of “lead characters”.

But yeah, what makes this episode stand out is its sense of dialogue. It’s passionate, detailed and brings out the best of the characters. There’s so much emotion put into it, yet none of the lines are delivered cheesily.

And then the animation! It’s by far the best animation of Aoi Bungaku yet, and that in an already excellently animated series. This episode doesn’t have the best eye-candy, that’s for In the Forest. Instead, the characters move SO incredibly fluently. when they move, their entire bodies move, rather than just a limb, or some very minimal movement during just a short scene. The animation here is detailed and really brings the cast of characters to life.

There was one scene though in which this didn’t apply. I’m not exactly sure what happened there, but the part in which the lead characters’ friend comes crawling from under the bed lacks this detail, and therefore ends up a bit weird.

I’m not sure whether I understood everything in this episode, but the main storyline seems to talk about two friends who live together: one is a scriptwriter, the other is an actor. The scriptwriter is seen writing the story of Melos, the lead character of the play. At a certain point, his friend suggests to go to Tokyo, because his father would not allow him to continue acting. When the lead character is boarding the train, however, he is betrayed. The episode ended a bit too soon for me to actually make out how and why, but I expect the next episode to delve into that one.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood- 34

by psgels, posted in Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood



I wonder, after seeing Ed pay with a coin in this episode: how does money work in the Full Metal Alchemist universe? I mean, any alchemist could just gather some copper and nickel and make a fortune.

Anyway, this episode mostly consisted out of building up, although that introduction scene of Sloth rocked. The guy is pretty stereotypical (at least the “sloth” of the first season was a bit of a creative take on this trope), but the action scene was as good as usual. Heck, Sloth might be even tougher than Greed, who is supposed to be the strongest shield.

My guess would be that either Sloth or Gluttony was the first homunculus to be created. From the homunculi whose backstory we already know by now, you can see somewhat of a pattern, in which father experiments with various techniques to create homunculi, so naturally this would mean that his creations would keep getting better and better (see Wrath, who does stand out as the most skilled and emotionally stable homunculus so far). Gluttony and Sloth look like early prototypes: they have interesting powers, but tend to be too stupid or lazy to really be left on their own.

I do wonder, though. Father’s plan has always been one of secrecy, and silencing those who know about the alchemists. Why then does he send Sloth on such a mission, in which he’s bound to attract attention to himself. I mean, if he was looking for someone or something, he could have easily used Envy to infiltrate the base.

This episode was very much about getting Olivier to trust Ed and Al, which is of course a bit tricky considering how they can’t tell her exactly what they’re after, due to Winry. Still, I think she got the message at the end. The creators did well in portraying her as a hard-to-impress character.
Rating: * (Good)

Cross Game – 35

by psgels, posted in Cross Game



Ah, the valentine episode. Thankfully, the creators use it well with a pretty romantic episode with quite a few new developments. It’s episodes like this that really show the chemistry of the entire cast of characters of this series, and not just the main ones.

This episode shed quite a bit of light of how Kou and Aoba genuinely feel about each other. Aoba is clearly into Kou, but lacks confidence because of the arrival of Akane. Kou on the other hand is just clueless. Unfortunately, he falls into a staple that many other anime leads fall into, but his relationship with Akane makes up for it. You can see that she finally makes him think about his own love-life.

But yeah, the great thing about Akane isn’t just that she sparks up tensions between Kou and Aoba, but because everyone in the series aside from Azuma knew Wakaba well, she also has this effect on just about everyone in the series, and even Azuma is indirectly influenced by her. Speaking of which, he was surprisingly direct when he claimed that that the only girl he’d want to date is Aoba. For a usually subtle series, this really came out of nowhere, but I think that the reason he was able to say it was because he believes that he doesn’t stand a chance against Kou. Give this a few episodes, and let’s see how this affects Aoba.

Also, Aoba finally tried out for the girls’ team. Again, this brings us back to the baseball. I really wonder what the final quarter of this series is going to be like (assuming that there are going to be 52 episodes). The baseball is obviously going to return there, but I really hope that the creators will put away enough time for the slice of life.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

White Album – 22

by psgels, posted in White Album



Aah, I’ve seen too many shallow anime. I really thought that Mana would break down in this episode, while in reality what got into her was just a short emotional outburst. This doesn’t turn out to be the case in which a bit of talking simply solves everything and magically develops characters in the right direction. Ah, I should have known!

But yeah, this was likely the best episode of White Album so far. Instead of a major climax for Mana, we get to see a major episode for Haruka, which really surprised me: paste that scene of her in any other series, and it would have ended up incredibly cheesy. Suddenly coming out of the shower naked in a desperate attempt… that’s so hard to prevent from turning into soap opera material, it needs lots and lots of build-up. But I think that White Album actually pulled it off. I feared for a moment, because Haruka’s earlier emotion breakdown made no sense whatsoever.

This episode really shed light into her character. Her scene was daring, but still subtle and nowhere over the top, and again it was more like an emotional outburst: after that she behaved completely normal again, rather than some angsty teen that refuses to listen to anybody. Then there’s also the matter of Touya, of course, who really doesn’t seem to know when to quit.

Also, what on earth could Menou be up to? How did she find out about Misaki, and why does she intend to make her seem like a slut? I know she’s rebellious and all, but to do that just to protect Touya seems a bit unnecessary.

With only four episodes left now, we’re about to get to the point where everything goes to hell. I really wonder how the creators are planning to end this. I mean, at this point they can indeed show what they’ve been promising us ever since Touya started screwing Yayoi, or they could play the gigantic troll that laughs over us by having a very mundane ending…
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Letter Bee – 09

by psgels, posted in Letter Bee



Well, Lag is a bee now.With a bit of luck, the introduction should now be over and the real story should start. It was a bit embarrassing to hear him claim to want to become the best Bee ever. While I guess that he has been majorly influenced by Gauche and all, but all I could think of when I heard that was Naruto and Ash Ketchum. And that’s a direction I definitely don’t want him to go into. O.o

A majority of ths episode was spent on a really long flashback, that didn’t really tell us anything we didn’t know already. At least, nothing major. It did raise a few subtle questions: why did Gauche change guns? Why did he want Lag to have his old gun? Where did he get such an expensive and unique gun? And why was all important information that would explain all of these questions conveniently left out of the flashback, even though those fragments are meant to be from his soul? Oh, and there seems to be some sort of organization that plans to overthrow the goverment, but yeah: every show has those.

Also, more crying! Sylvette reveals why Gauche became friendly with Lag: Lag reminded him of Sylvette. These two should enter crying competitions, seriously. I also feel that this series is using its soundtrack a bit too much. What I mean by this is the following: in this episode, it yet again wastes a bunch of beautiful tracks during relatively unimportant scenes. If the soundtrack for this series is big, then there’s no problem, however I fear that those tracks are going to lose their impact when they’re played too often.

I may be overly negative right now, but this wasn’t that disappointing of an episode. Uneventful is a better word. Unlike many other series, I really feel that Letter Bee has potential, but there’s no way for me to know for sure whether it’ll be able to deliver in the end.
Rating: (Enjoyable)