Konnichiwa Anne – 36

by psgels, posted in Konnichiwa Anne



Yes! Yes! The creators actually got Edna right! Oh, all signs pointed towards her getting the same treatment as all other secondary characters in this series in a lame and shallow episode that rewrites characters through cheesy dialogue instead of developing them. But they actually got that bitchiness of her right, while adding a bit of extra depth to her at the same time!

Throughout the majority of the episode, I feared the worst though. The point where Anne saw Edna sneak into the shed and talk to her imaginary friend was truly facepalm-worthy. This episode just kept throwing hints that it was going to give Amy Thompson and Edna cheesy one-line backstory, Anne gladly recapped the entire series through cheesy morals and even when the series did begin to look better (the letter from the Cuthberts arrived!), there was Tessa with her endless whining who ruined it. Sure I of course don’t mind a bit of sadness, but the way that Tessa kept bawling was just a case of hopelessly overacting.

But then that final scene. I’m not sure what happened, but we actually saw Edna putting up a very cheesy act that any adult would have seen through, yet Anne in her childish gullibleness believes (which, let’s face it, any kid her age would do). At the same time, it also looks like the creators put their best artist on the job of animating these scenes: the art is powerful and very expressive, and probably the best animated scene in this series.

The thing that separates good WMT-series from average WMT-series is among others, their sense of morality; nobody is purely good. Cosette was weak, hardly did anything and dependant, Marius was a one-minded revolutionary and Jean has had his past issues. Porfy was naive and often picked fights, Anne of Green Gables (not this Anne) pulled quite a few hi-jinks as a little kid. The Anne in this series however is always morally on the right path. Her weaknesses are all meant to be charming and are actually hidden strengths. This was actually one of the first times in which one of Anne’s weaknesses was actually exploited against her.

Now the question of course is going to be: can the final three episodes finish the job? The thing is that the creators aren’t done with Edna yet. It’s obvious that her plan is going to fail, and I definitely hope that the creators aren’t going to make her jump the shark after all. That’s another point at which this series differs from good WMT: in the WMT, you know things are going to happen, you just don’t know why. In the good series, this in no way lessens the impact of these scenes. In the lesser WMT-series, they become pretty dull spoilers that make the story even more predictable than it already was.

However, the thing that worries me even more is the following: why hasn’t the next WMT been announced yet? We’re about to dive into 2010. We can assume that Nippon Animation might be planning to keep the next one at 39 episodes as well, but even then there’s nothing certain yet. Oh, I really hope that they’re not planning to abandon this franchise again.
Rating: * (Good)

Aoi Bungaku – 10

by psgels, posted in Aoi Bungaku



That was absolutely amazing. Oh my god, Aoi Bungaku was already my favourite series of this season… and this episode just blew every of its episodes so far out of the water. What a roller-coaster of emotions this turned out to be! Ryosuke Nakamura. That’s one name to remember, because this guy is destined for greatness.

Unfortunately, he’s also destined for unexposure in the western anime fandom because his series are just so damn hard to translate. Why are there still no subs of episode 9 out at this point, even though the previous episodes were subbed without any problems (in fact, even the double-episoded feature of episode 7 and 8 got out faster than this). It’s the same with Mouryou no Hako: we’ve got ourselves an absolutely fantastic director here, and yet because his dialogue is so damn complex it takes much longer for the subs to come out!

In any case, enough ranting and onto this episode. Just when I already thought that the previous episode was full of emotions, it was nothing when compared to this one. The whole story by Osamu Dazai came together wonderfully. Thoughout a majority of the episode, you keep wondering why his friend abandoned him. When the answer finally comes, the shock hits hard, and yet it makes complete sense: the guy was about to die from heart failure. Especially after all of the things that the lead character called this guy for betraying him.

But the visual direction was absolutely amazing. The animation was just incredible, and especially the part where Melos is fighting on the desk, as the main character is writing his story is nothing short of gorgeous. Anime animation cuts corners?! Hah, this episode has so much emotionally powerful movement in it. THIS really shows what you can do with the animation medium.

And to think that Aoi Bungaku still isn’t finished. The wait is going to take two whole weeks, but after that we’re going to see two stories adapted at the same time. I have no idea what to expect from that. The director is going to be someone completely new, and I have no idea what to expect from this guy. Again, this is a great gamble by Madhouse by putting a new guy in front of such a big project, but who knows? Perhaps they found themselves yet another talent here.
Rating: **** (Fantastic)

Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – 35

by psgels, posted in Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood



Quite out of the blue, this episode comes and delivers answers to some of the more burning questions that the early episodes have asked. I was prepared for the worst in terms of this show, but damn. It still amazed me to what extend this series is willing to go.

Being epic is of course easy to do: just create some sort of deus ex machina bomb that has the power to destroy the world and voila: you’ve involved the entire world in your story. Making it count is of course an entirely different story. This episode finally revealed what the homunculi were doing in Lior, and why Hughes had to die, among others. I at first thought that they were simply trying to make as many philosopher’s stones as possible, but these people are actually turning the entire COUNTRY into a transmutation circle! Bloody hell.

To think that Father didn’t take over a country in order to create his plans. He instead created a country, in order to carry them out. This explains the country’s round shape, why the capital is right in the middle of it and much more. The next big question is of course going to be: why? What could this guy possibly want even more? He possesses eternal life, is the most powerful man in the entire country, nobody can harm him in any way in the way this is going. What could he possibly want so badly that he’d create a 500-year long plan that involves so much preparation and such a hassle to carry out?

And where does Hohenheim fit into this, really? He must have had something to do with it, but what? My speculation at this point is that Hohenheim is indeed an immortal, and created Father as some sort of clone of his, which then got a mind of its own and then started that incredibly elaborate plan of his.

It’s also interesting how this episode explained the first episode as well. Wasn’t that supposed to be a filler? Interesting choice, especially considering the lack of original material in the rest of this series.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Letter Bee – 10

by psgels, posted in Letter Bee



I must say, this episode caught me off hand. With the tons of random characterizations that never really progressed neither the story nor the characters forward, I was expecting this episode to be again one of those episodes that’s just there to flesh out the characters, without any real substance. But here this episode came and proved me wrong, it looks like things are finally getting a bit more interesting.

Seeing Gauche’s backstory animated was definitely the best part of Letter Bee so far since Gauche himself left. We’re finally getting to a bit of intrigue here: what was up with the government airship that crashed, and why of all things did Gauche’s memories of his mother get erased just like that? It was pretty sad seeing Aria in the middle of it, who couldn’t believe that Gauche just forgot the most important person in his life.

As for the rest of the episode… yeah, it was pretty typical. Sylvette turns out to be a terrible cook (like we haven’t seen those people enough in anime), Lag in true shounen fashion actually shoots with too much power (you can never have too much power in a shounen-series), and Nichi still refuses to listen to anyone but Lag. Still, I’m happy. That Gauche flashback was exactly what I was waiting for. What I’m hoping for right now is that the creators put such a thing in every single episode from now on, rather than creating very long build-up arcs, just for a few episodes of climax.
Rating: * (Good)

Cross Game – 36

by psgels, posted in Cross Game



This episode: the try-out for the girls’ team that Aoba has finally decided to get into. Even though it had it coming, it was still fun to see Aoba pwn that arrogant female batter. I know that such a trick should get old pretty fast, but I still loved it. It was also very refreshing to see Aoba among other girls again. You can see that she’s a totally different person when she’s not amongst Kou and the others, . This was a well directed episode overall.

But yeah, Aoba’s talent has been well built up. Azuma played a big role in this: after trying to get past his brilliant hits, there’s hardly anything anymore that can surprise her. And yet, the creators made sure to hint that there are other talented players around.

But yeah: then there was that thing at the end of the episode… with Aoba collapsing and all. While it looks to me that it’s a simple sports injury that she’ll probably get over after a few months’ rest, let’s not forget that this is Adachi. He’s been known to kill off people before, and I don’t think that I remember any time in either Cross Game or Touch in which an injury did not have a major lasting effect. At this point, I’m very worried about Aoba because of this, especially because it happened so sudden: it was nothing like Adachi to pull such a thing so directly, so I have absolutely no idea what he’s aiming for.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Kemono no Souja Erin – 47

by psgels, posted in Kemono no Souja Erin



Very interesting. While you would expect an action-packed finale, the creators instead decided to end this series through words and dialogue. The past two episodes were far less dramatic than some of the other moments in this series, and yet they used these moments very well in developing the plot solely through dialogue.

This was another very focused episode, in which Erin attempts to convince the new queen to stop listening to Damya. Erin had the luck that the new queen is still young and naive, so she easily believed her words, but nevertheless this was a pretty powerful episode. Even an idiot doesn’t believe any random Joe who claims that one of his closest relatives has been betraying him. Erin built up her story very well, up to the eventual revelations that the country was about to head into a disastrous path.

My prediction is that the final three episodes will be a lot more action-packed than this, although I do suspect that it’s going to be more than “Seimiya’s Troops versus Damya’s troops”. Still, Damya is pretty much guaranteed to die or something similar in the final episode. With that though, I’ll be content with how this series ends, despite that only half of the novels were adapted. Throughout the past fifty episodes, this show was able to show what it wanted to show, and for me this is now a well rounded series. There are plenty of other anime who deserve a sequel more than this one (Guin Saga!? Tytania!?).

Trans Arts… yeah. I’ve had a lot to complain about them. They’re another production company that is lead by one particular director, but this guy really is very inflexible. His original stories (Sisters of Wellber) are just too cheesy, his adaptations (Library Wars, Chocolate Underground) try to do way too much in way too little time. This series however was a great opportunity for him to really take his time and carefully adapt a well written story, and with this you can see that he really knows how to direct a series. I think that his main problem is that while he’s good at writing and directing single scenes and episodes, he doesn’t know how to look at the big picture. I hope that this series provided him with some valuable lessons as to what he’s good at and what he’s bad at. Because really: I like this guy’s creativity. In this day and age in which a majority of the anime try to rip off each other, he comes with interesting ideas and creative concepts, and finally with Kemono no Souja Erin, he actually managed to adapt one of these concepts right.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Kuchuu Buranko – 08

by psgels, posted in Kuchuu Buranko



Remember that episode in which that kid stood amongst a crowd that was looking at some sort of fight going on? Yeah, this episode explains the reason behind it: a reporter with an out of control obsessive compulsive disorder was attacking a homeless guy for groping school girls. Makes sense. 😛

But yeah, this episode showed yet again that the psychology is just a vehicle to this show’s real purpose: entertainment. This really turned out to be a show that makes fun of obsessive compulsive disorders, but it does it in such a way that it also becomes a bit relatable. And really, this series works great as a comedy: that chase scene was really hilarious in its over-the-topness.

And yet, this episode actually had quite an interesting message as well, the fact that not every psychological ailment can be cured. Here we have a guy who can do his research, and thinks that for every ailment there’s a sure-fire cure. In the end though, he just ends up living with his ailment. I think that this was actually one of the more powerful endings that we’ve seen in this series yet.

I’m actually pretty curious to what this show has in store for its final episode. With the way that it keeps referencing previous episodes, there is a possibility for it to take this to a next level at the end.

At this point, I’m pretty sure of how I’d rank this year’s Noitamina-series:
4) Eden of the East
3) Kuchuu Buranko
2) Genji Monogatari Sennenki
1) Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

It’s overall been a great year for this timeslot, full of daring concepts and creative ideas. Sure, some series didn’t go as well as planned (Eden of the East… I still believe that it was poorly balanced), but you can see that a lot of time an effort has been put in every single one of them.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

White Album – 23

by psgels, posted in White Album



Okay. What the heck?

This episode had a very good chance to be among the best of this series yet. It was chock full of character-development, changing relationships, extra character-backgrounds, characters coming to realizations. Touya spinning even more out of control, and yet everything fitted. To think that Menou was the president’s daughter! That fully explains her rebellious attitude and it also gives a whole direction to Mana’s loneliness: she doesn’t just suffer from being neglected by her mother, but she also has to endure the fact that her older sister gets much more attention, because she just happens to be able to sing well.

Also, Akira and Misaki have finally broken up, which also really had it coming. Even though Touya tried to stay away from them, it was clear that Misaki still had feelings for him. She tried dating Akira, but in the end her feelings remain. Touya then obviously continues to screw even her. Or at least this is implied very heavily.

But yeah, we get more and more evidence that everything that made Touya the way he is stems from his childhood, and his relationship with his father. My guess is that the reason his father kicked him out of the house was in a desperate attempt to make him create his own happiness. It’s clear now that his father was very bad at raising his son: he wanted to reach out to him when Touya was feeling down, yet instead he tried making little girls do it.

But then, yeah. The cliffhanger. KANON-SPOILERS in the next paragraphs.

Akira… was hit by a car. Bloody hell, it’s now certain that the creators are planning to drop a bomb during the finale. I have to praise this show for really making me not suspect anything: even in retrospect, it came completely out of the blue: no shallow build-up or foreshadowing. But yeah: car accidents are always tricky to do. The question is: did the creators have a clear purpose for it. Are they going to use this to get the best out of the characters… or was this just a cheap death for extra melodrama.

I remember when Kanon pulled this, and I was reminded the most of that particular scene when Akira crashed down. In Kanon, it hardly served any purpose; it felt random and out of place, and just for the sake of a sad climax. This is pretty common in anime (or any other storytelling medium, I guess): We need extra drama! Let’s have a car run over someone!

These final episodes are really going to make or break this series. It’s been building up to this for so long, there had better be fireworks at that ending. What I want to see is total chaos that yet stays in canon with the rest of the series: I want melodrama that fits within the story without any cheap plot twists pulled solely for the purpose of extra drama. We’ve got Code Geass for that.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – 10

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



And here the next arc starts, and the creators yet again have found themselves a great concept. It’s here where any concept of “main character” gets completely lost. I guess that really the closest thing to a main character in this series has to be Hamyuts Meseta. Not because she has the most screentime, but rather that she’s somehow involved in every episode, even if it’s just watching from the sidelines. There’s still so much that we don’t know about her.

But yeah, even though Bones has its powerhouses of Full Metal Alchemist and Darker than Black, for me this remains the series with the best fights of all of the currently airing shows. Armed Librarians has this whole extra layer of strategy involved. It actually succeeds in something that only few series can boast: it has incredibly powerful characters, it has intricate strategies, and it has incredibly dangerous villains who can easily take out any moron who comes in their path. And yet, these incredible superpowers remain well defined, matched and logical.

Compare this to just about any other anime in which characters have huge superpowers: especially in the case of the villains, writers tend to write themselves into a wall with these types of characters: how the heck do you beat them without giving your main characters some godmode powers as well? It leads to huge power-level inconsistencies. And Armed Librarians is one of the few shows who can actually avoid it, thanks to Hamyuts Meseta, but also because its characters use their own powers wisely. In this series, you get a very good view of everyone’s strengths and weaknesses, and what their powers allow them to do. Even Hamyuts Meseta, the most powerful character in the series isn’t simply god-moded either: you can see that it’s possible for her to be defeated, if it wasn’t for Colio.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Darker than Black – Ryuusei no Gemini – 09

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



I had my doubts when I heard that the goofballs of the first season would return in this episode. Especially combined with Hei, shaving his beard: the creators would have to very skillfully write these final episodes, even more than the previous eight episodes. The danger of this show turning into one that goes into its on direction, yet gives up in the end and simply decides to go with the tried and true formula of the first season would be disastrous.

Instead, what this series now has to do is instead of completely going back to the style of the first season, bring both seasons together: converge the two of them into one. And bloody hell, this episode actually did it.

Of course, this perhaps wasn’t the best episode of the second season, but the two goofballs were a lot less annoying than what I remember them to be. They again had a clear purpose: to form a contrast with the contractors in this series, and they went further than the goofball in this series by actually pushing Suou towards meeting her mother; something that she for some reason didn’t look forward to. It’s a really good episode that contributed to how she’s struggling with her own identity as a contractor, while brilliantly having her avoid the usual angsty indecisive teenager route.

On top of building upon the themes of the second season, this episode was also chockful of references to the first season: Amber seems central to the plot, Hei has cut off his hair and finally has another reason to act like the nice guy he pretended to be in the first season. What’s more, some of the characters of the first season seem vital to the plot of the second season. You can see that the creators have put a lot of thought into it.

That scene in which Suou met her mother surprisingly lacked impact for me, though. I’m not sure what it was, but I was much more interested in just about everything around it. There are still a few huge questions behind it that need answering: why that woman from the CIA direct Suou to her mother? What is she trying to achieve? What has Suou’s mother been up to anyway?

Also, colds in Japan are weird. Instead of taking quite a few days to blow over, you simply faint, sleep and it usually completely disappears after a few hours. Either that or a lot of Japanese mistake colds for anemia, which is also much more common than where I live…
Rating: * (Good)