Natsu no Arashi – 10

by psgels, posted in Natsu no Arashi



Well, so my assumption the last episode was indeed wrong: Kanako was simply one of Arashi and Kaja’s classmates. In this episode, Hajime goes to stalk them inside their house (with a little help from Hideo), after which Yayoi tells him about who the two of them are. I’m not really that much of a fan of the fact that they seemed to be the only cute girls in their entire school, but then again just about every anime suffers from this, and the rest of this episode really was as top-notch as ever.

For as little time that has been devoted to her, I quite like Kanako as a villain. She’s got this evil look on her, she is sure what she wants and makes sure that she gets it. I’m curious to see whether the creators can pull off her defeat well. She has deeply rooted motivations for her actions, so it’s going to be a shame if she’s just going to end up being talked out of her actions.

Speaking of Shinbo, I am getting worried about one thing here. In the next season he’s supposed to come with Bakemonogatari, and while I don’t know and don’t want to know what it’s going to be about, there seems to be a lot of hype around it, and how this can be one of his best series so far. But at the same time he also has a third season of Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei slated for the same series, right after a spring-season in which he churned out Natsu no Arashi, which was right after the winter-season in which he had Maria Holic, and don’t forget that Pani Poni Dash OVA that popped up about a month ago. I mean, is it me or doesn’t this just look like overkill? How many series can one guy direct before being completely burnt out? There’s no doubt that Zetsubou-Sensei is going to be rushed as hell, but it’s going to be a shame if Bakemonogatari would also end up suffering from this.

In any case, I’m at least glad that Natsu no Arashi turned out so well. Now if it only can give a nice conclusion I’m really going to be happy.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
This episode again shows that this show rocks when it wants to get serious.

Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – 10

by psgels, posted in Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood



This episode mostly followed the original series again, with only a few subtle differences here and there. The most notable event of course being Hughes. I remember, when I watched the first series that his death didn’t make that much of an impact, so I didn’t expect much of this episode. But damn… seeing his daughter at his funeral nearly got me a bit teary-eyed.

So again Hughes dies because he learns too much. I’m not exactly sure how Lust knew exactly when and where he would find this out (are uber-stalking powers also among the arsenal of the homunculus skills or something?), but in any case he realizes what the homunculi are planning, and also that something is very fishy with the Fuhrer, and thus gets killed off before he can spread the word.

One of the differences with the first series is that the creators here don’t try to hide the fact that the Fuhrer is a bad guy at all. In the first series, he looked more like a nice grandpa than anything else. That’s nice and all, but on retrospect I do have to wonder how that guy became a Fuhrer in the first place, and ended up ordering the Ishbal massacre.

Ed and Al meanwhile are busy with completely different things as they travel to their teacher in the search for answers to the Philosophers’ Stone. Unfortunately Winry ends up inviting herself again. I was hoping that she would have gotten to stay home this time, but let’s hope that she’s at least going to be more useful than she was in the first series. I never really understood her popularity. All she did was fix Ed’s limbs at the beginning of the series, and then just continued on in pointless adventures that didn’t really matter in the end.

Rating: * (Good)
Mostly the same as the first series, nevertheless it had one particularly touching scene.

Cross Game – 10

by psgels, posted in Cross Game



Well, the baseball matches really are like the rest of this series: very slow paced. This entire episode was simply focused on the baseball match between the good team and the bad team, and the next episode will probably see its conclusion. It was really meant to show that Kou is still inexperienced, despite his talents, and Azuma is just very talented since he just keeps hitting home-runs off the guy.

But yeah, the entire good team really deserves its reputation: even Akaishi can’t get a hit out of that pitcher. This episode also was about the third years: even though they weren’t talented at all, they just want to make some memories during their final year of high-school. Quite charming.

This mostly turns out to be an episode in which we see different sides of everyone. Kou no longer is that confident as we thought him to be, Lisa now that she has lost her lackey suddenly starts behaving entirely different, Senda is becoming less of a loser, and instead just becomes arrogant now that he’s found something he’s good at. Definitely a great building-up episode, though I don’t have a lot to say about it.

Rating: * (Good)
Nice build-up and subtle character-development.

Futakoi Alternative Review – 77,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



I have no idea how horrifically bad the original Futakoi was, and I really don’t want to find out. Still, having heard that its sequel, Futakoi Alternative was nothing like it, completely different and story-wise had nothing to do with it; that it was supposed to be a really random and experimental series, my interest got sparked. After watching it, I do have to say: Futakoi Alternative was indeed a fine attempt to add some originality into the harem genre. But it’s in NO WAY perfect.

The show tells about a 21-year-old guy whose father resembles Nabeshin and whose yakuza friend looks like that guy from Getbackers, who works as a private investigator and has two cute 15-year-old assistants/girlfriends (pedophilia, anyone?). But those two girls aren’t just two regular cute girls; no, they’re twins. In fact, this show is full of them: they’re all identical twins (on a side-note: have there EVER been twins in anime that aren’t identical?), they even dress the same, have the same hairstyle, hair-length and love interest. The only things at which they differ are their personality and one accessory that they have different. And that’s the case for every single one of them. Seriously, it feels like the designers simply went through a checklist to create all of them.

Futakoi Alternative can really be classified as one of those series that are just… weird. It basically consists out of two subplots: one is a quiet character-study between the lead character and the twins; the second one… is about the quest to destroy an evil mutant squid who breathes fire. Yeah it’s like combining Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann with True Tears in one show. Especially that first episode is very misleading: it’s extremely fast paced. full of explosions and awesome animation, only for the pacing the next seven or so episodes to slow down completely and the show taking itself much more seriously.

But there’s one thing that this series does really well: the narration. Basically, the narrator is the lead character himself, but his lines are inspired and quite a significant amount of time is spent on the history of the different characters: to show how they were a couple of years before the start of the story. That really helped to prevent these people from turning into a bunch of paper bags and they’re quite enjoyable to watch.

In the end though, this is a series that you don’t want to be taking seriously. Not just because of the evil squids and all, but also because of the huge amount of plot-holes. Especially in the second half, this show likes to take huge leaps through its logic and some of the most urging questions are never answered: why did the twins choose the lead character, of all people, to go to (no really; they’re just there… no explanation whatsoever)? Why did nobody object to such a ridiculous arranged marriage? Why did that awesome cop get so little screen-time!?

It’s really strange: this show really had a surprisingly solid middle part; I was really taking this show seriously when the evil Nazi squids suddenly popped up from out of nowhere and turned out to be the source of all evil (no, seriously). It’s definitely different and original which is something that the harem genre really needs, but I feel that even without the weirdness, it would have been an even better series.

There are a lot of things wrong with this series. For example, if the creators weren’t obliged to insert cameos from the original series that really have absolutely NOTHING to do with the story at all, they could have used this extra time to fill in the plot-holes left. We’ve really got ourselves an enjoyable show here, but because we never know why the three lead characters got together in the first place, it lacks foundations a bit.

Storytelling: 8/10
Characters: 8/10
Production-Values: 8/10
Setting: 7/10

Victorian Romance Emma Review – 87,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Ah, maids. Anime creators often use them to make moe characters even moer; usually with rather… embarrassing results to say the least. And take the well-known subplot, in which our hero has found his true love, but his stubborn parents refuse to allow this marriage because they’re stubborn and want to have an arranged marriage. These are two subplots which reappear in many, many different anime, but never quite like Victorian Romance Emma.

It’s very easy to just ignore this show because it looks boring, but it really turns into a pretty accurate portrayal of what life was for the English upper classes in the Victorian age. There is so much realism in this series and it knows it. This series shows noblemen as regular people, who hardly come into contact with the lower classes, and have to be continuously politically correct in front of their peers.

That’s nice and all, but what really makes this show is the cast of lead characters, and how wonderfully subtle their relationship plays out. This series definitely is a very slow one, and so people without patience are probably not going to enjoy it, but because it’s so slow it’s really able to make the romance between the two lead characters play out very naturally. This series makes excellent use of its 13 episodes and every episode, it pushes the story forward a little bit, until it finishes off with a very good conclusion.

There also seems to be a sequel, but I don’t think that that would have been necessary: on its own, Victorian Romance Emma is already a wonderful series about the bridge between noblemen and your average maids; any more would only ruin it. It’s one of those series which leaves a lot of the dialogue unsaid and the beauty is really watching everything slowly play out. For once, the fathers mentioned above are nothing like the stereotypical evil parents that refuse to let son marry for the sake of just a bit of drama, but Jones actually gives some very plausible reasons as to why he can’t let his son go off and marry a maid. It wouldn’t just be hard on him, but also on Emma herself, because as a noblewoman, she’d constantly be looked down upon by all the other nobles.

There’s just one character that really should have been left out. Thankfully he’s a side-character who doesn’t have much screentime, but whenever he does appear on the screen, he completely distracts from the main point of the episode and most of all is just a very obnoxious brat. I’m talking of course about Collin: the little boy who seems to have lost his balls somewhere (seriously, he has the voice of a girl!) and does nothing other than continuously whining and crying. There seems to be no point for him to be even in the show, so I really wonder why the creators even brought in such an annoying little brat.

Still, Victorian Romance Emma is a must-watch for everyone who is into historical series. It’s a mature romance series with very likable characters that knows exactly how to use its time, and how to subtly develop its characters. Even though in the beginning it may seem a bit boring, it all becomes worthwhile in the end.

Storytelling: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Production-Values: 8/10
Setting: 9/10

Phantom – 10

by psgels, posted in Phantom



Wait, wait… what? WTF, they actually did it? If you’ve not seen the episode yet: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

This is a bit of random text to prevent spoilers from showing up on the blog aggregators, but seriously this episode has got to be the biggest surprise of the entire season. I know that I more often pull these sorts of conclusions and they don’t turn out to be true and all, but damn: Ellen was shot right through the heart and got dumped in the ocean! Bloody hell! There’s no way that she could have survived that!

Seriously, if this really is what I think it is, then this really has been the first time since ages than the creators of a show had the guts to kill off one of their lead character. I really thought that Reiji was just going to save Ellen, kill Scythe and just happily live together with her in Japan for a couple of episodes, but THIS. I never saw that coming.

I’m now sure of my favourite shows this season: Konnichiwa Anne and this series both continue to leave me stunned after nearly every single episode. Just when I think I can’t get more impressed, they pull yet another one of their surprises. Now THAT’s the sign of a good anime! It’s so sad that in the end, Ellen did choose to be Ein, and didn’t abandon her master’s trust. Reiji showed a totally different side of his this episode: we now really get to see his dark side, which is absolutely nothing like his composed, usual self.

This series sure as hell pulls no punches. Every single battle so far has ended with either one or both sides heavily beaten, whereas most series simply choose to let each side retreat with perhaps a small casualty or two. As an example, especially Gundam 00 had a nasty habit of doing this in its second season over and over again. I loved how this episode was dancing around Reiji, singing “no, you can’t get your happily ever after just yet, muaha!”
Rating: *** (Awesome)
An amazing conclusion to an already amazing arc of an already amazing series. And we’ve yet to even reached the halfway point!

Pandora Hearts – 10

by psgels, posted in Pandora Hearts



Muaha! Now this is more like it! I urge those who were unimpressed by the past few episodes to at least stick around until episode 10, because this episode really was heaps of times better. This episode really showed the power of this show’s scriptwriters, who really understand the characters they’re working with. I’m really glad to see that the building up is coming together!

This episode really was about Oz and his memories about his father, who clearly left a deep-seeded trauma on the guy. In this episode he in vain attempts to save the father of the little kid, even going against Alice and Gil in order to give the kid a good father, and yelling at the father for the horrible mistakes he made. The father tries to justify himself by saying that he killed all of those people for his son, in order to get his house and wife back, but OZ understands like no other that at this time, it simply would have been enough to spend time with him.

The animation also looked better than ever for this series. I especially loved Break’s evil grin at the end of this episode, where Vincent has made his formal introduction after shooting said father and Break lets him know that he doesn’t really like this in his own way. Still, everything in this episode was just pure goodness. It’s nothing like the cheese of a few episodes back: this was genuine drama that really came from the heart of OZ and Alice.
Rating: *** (Awesome)
Such a genuine episode, where the build-up really comes together.

Basquash! – 10

by psgels, posted in Basquash!



Very, very solid episode. My favourite part of this show has always been the Dan vs. Coco storyline, and this episode was entirely about that. On top of that, the romance between Dan and Rouge remains surprisingly enjoyable because of this. This episode was all about Dan, seeing Coco’s image in Rouge (probably because Rouge is the first female he sees as more than just a friend), and because of that he started remembering his past again, starts yelling and running around the baseball field like an idiot.

I also love how we see Coco in the background, carrying out her own agenda. She may show no emotions, but this episode really showed that she’s doing something that she likes doing. As it turns out she is much less scared of the past (probably because she learned to live with her disability, as opposed to Dan who still refuses to give up on her. Slash also made a good point in this episode: she could easily be playing a bigfoot with a few modifications made, and yet she chooses not to.

Overall that Slash intrigues me as well. HE (she?) was introduced as your typical evil overlord, but yet again she turned out to be someone completely different when s/he visited Coco for the information on Dan and the others.

One thing I do hope is that Dan’s going to stop yelling from now on. Especially in this episode, his screams were rather obnoxious to watch.

Rating: * (Good)
Very nice development for Dan, although the animation wasn’t that impressive.

Eden of the East – 09

by psgels, posted in Eden of the East



Okay, so now that this series is nearly at its end (2 episodes left), I unfortunately have to admit that Eden of the East was a disappointment. It’s obviously nowhere near bad, but with its awesome first episode, I really expected something better from this series. Unfortunately, after nine episodes my favourite episode still remains that first one: it never really managed to surpass the creativity and intrigue of Akira and Saki, meeting each other in America, and to be honest, it never even came close to that.

My guess would be that it’s the lack of focus that’s working against this series. The pacing has simply been too slow for such a series, and during the quiet moments I don’t think that the creators really made optimal use of it to flesh out the cast. I once praised this show for how it involved its side-characters with the main-storyline, but for the past two episodes I’m really beginning to wonder what their purpose is. What really is the point of Oosugi, showing the Akira-hate messages? What can that really add to the story, other than making the side characters hate Akira with passion?

The thing with mystery-series is that creating intrigue is one thing, but making the revelations worth it is really the difficult part. Now that the revelations have finally come in, I unfortunately have to say that they… don’t really live up to my expectations. So yeah, the rockets were launched by one of the other Selecao who is out to destroy Japan and start anew. Should have seen that coming. Every Selecao is trying to destroy Japan, it seems, aside from Akira of course, who along with Number 5 was probably the only one who was doing the right thing. My big worry is also that Mr. Outside. I know that there are two hours of movie left for him, but my big fear with him is that the creators aren’t going to have any time to flesh this guy out, making him dangerously close to your typical evil overlord.

Compare this to shows as 07-Ghost: even though its plot is nowhere near as interesting as that of Eden, it did put lots of time into building up and fleshing out, and actually looks like it’s going to get away with it. Eden though… something just feels to have gone wrong during its build-up. I really hope that these hunches are wrong, because I really want this show to work.

Rating: (Enjoyable)
Predictable, Pantsu wasn’t really that interesting, but at least the plot moved forward a lot.

Ristorante Paradiso – 08

by psgels, posted in Ristorante Paradiso



Okay, so now that this show is nearly at its end (three episodes left), we’re finally able to see whether it used its time well or not, and whether the series composition knew what it was doing. And if I have to say so, Ristorante Paradiso passes with flying colours. It really made excellent use of its limited eleven episodes, and it turned into one of those series that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

It’s been a very slow and quiet series, but that really is part of its charms, and really managed to capture the essence of slice of life. Even though the past few episodes have been themed to a certain character, it really NEVER FEELS FORMULAIC. Every episode is different, and yet they all have the same atmosphere, feel together as a whole and they really don’t take any stereotype for granted. If the creators can pull off a great finale, this series is really going to be complete, but that often is much harder than it looks. I’ve got faith in the director, though. She has pulled off some creative endings before, and that’s exactly what this series need.

I remember, when this series first started, that I compared it to Antique Bakery, but now I see that those are two completely different series. Antique Bakery stood out because of its originality: it dared to go where no other anime had gone before and was very creative in its storytelling. Rispara however, is much more about its characters: subtly fleshing them out, and letting the viewer slowly get to know more about them.

This episode yet again toyed with our expectations. We were promised a Furio-episode, and yet Claudio got just as much development as he did, when it turns out that when they were younger they used to work at the same restaurant: Furio as one of the top chefs, while Claudio was very much a rookie waiter without much talent. He was even less secure than he is now (you can now really see that his older version is more confident in his actions, while still recognizing that insecure version that he was 20 years ago. Now THAT’s subtle development!), but it was Furio’s fiancee who gave him enough inspiration not to quit being a waiter.

Rating: ** (Excellent)
Lots of depth for Claudio and Furio is always welcome. Very meaningful dialogue.