Casshern Sins – 08

by psgels, posted in Casshern Sins



Short Synopsis: Casshern meets a female singer.
Highlights: Beautiful climax.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10 (Awesome)
Oh, this was such an sweet episode. It again classifies as “filler”, but I don’t care! Hah! Casshern this time meets a singer, whose songs have an interesting effect on robots: they annoy the hell out of the berserked ones (by lack of a better term for it), but they the ones who aren’t interested in fighting forget about their despair about the destruction. I believe that the berserked ones actually felt the same power of her songs, although they refuse to accept it, which is why they want to destroy her. The irony in this episode was of course that the symbol of hope and destruction end up travelling together for a short while.

And I must say that those songs were really well done: not just in terms of audio, but the visuals also matched the songs perfectly. The engrish was surprisingly well done, and especially the song at the climax of the episode was just wonderful. This episode also showed that Casshern is most definitely made out of metal, so there has to be something inside him that makes him able to shed tears and heal his “wounds”.

My guess is that this show is going to go for the “Bee-Train”-pattern, meaning a first half of mostly unrelated stories and a few hints at an overall story, with a second half where the story takes over the main focus. I must say that I’m a big fan of this approach, because it really allows the viewer to get accustomed to the different characters and the setting before the big stuff starts to happen. And of course, the fact that the creators have made every random episode an excellent showcase in terms of writing, visuals and audio only contributes to that.

Mouryou no Hako – 07

by psgels, posted in Mouryou no Hako



Short Synopsis: Sekiguchi, Toriguchi and Akihiko continue to talk about the various aspects of the boxed murders case.
Highlights: Just when I thought that the previous episode was filled with dialogue…
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
Holy crap; I can hardly believe my eyes. One episode that just takes place inside one room is one thing, but two consecutive episodes, featuring nothing more than a room with three guys in it, constantly talking. I think some record has been broken with this, because this even surpasses Seirei no Moribito. I can sort-of understand why no new subs have been released so far. This series is really something else to try and translate.

Okay, so here are my attempts to try and grasp what went on. We start the episode as usual with an example from one of the books of one of the characters of this series, I suspect that this is from Sekiguchi. It starts with a little girl who’s reading a children’s book at a local shop. We then switch to or the past of the main character of the story, and we learn that he used to be a very neat guy, sometimes taking it to extremes so that he ended up skipping his lunch. After his father(?) died, he ended up living in a large house on his own, where the loneliness drove him to insanity. I think that that scene was meant to clarify why we saw him ending up cutting up the limbs in the story blurb that we saw a few episodes back.

The rest of the episode is divided into two halves again. The first half, which takes up the longest part of the episode, is spent on our threesome as they explore the concepts of “Mouryou”. It becomes clear here that Akihiko is a real fan of calligraphy, and likes to search behind the meaning of different related words and Kanji.

What I picked up was that Mouryou aren’t just a bunch of monsters. Those are called the mountain Mouryou, but the whole term encompasses a bit more. According to the dictionary, “Mouryou” isn’t just the name of one particular monster, but the term encompasses all sorts of spirits and goblins. The “Mou”, or 魍 of the word means a monster, spectre or apparition, while “Ryou”, or 魎 means a sprite or hobgoblin. I guess that if you take the two terms combined, you get quite a broad collection of things.

For some reason, he also shows a bunch of alternative ways to write “Mouryou” in Kanji that didn’t make any sense when I looked them up. My guess is that after that, Akihiko shows them a few different creatures that can be considered as Mouryou, like a water sprite, or even a shikabane (zombie), and tells them stories in which they appeared. After that follows some weird symbolism about those Torii-shrines of the previous episode, but I really didn’t get what that was about.

Then the second half of the episode starts, end the focus gets back to the boxed-murder cases. My big trouble here is that I can’t seem to find the right translation for the word “onbaku”, which seems to be the central focus of this mystery. It seems to refer back to the concepts of faith and Buddhism, relating back to the first episode. I suspect that this “onbaku” is the guy they suspect to be the culprit of the boxed-murder case. Could he be the box-maker of the previous episode? That would explain the religious references to his cult and all.

Toriguchi then shares a theory he’s been having about the culprit of the crime, as he comes with a police report on the case. It turns out that the “onbaku” has a dead daughter. He comes up with the crazy theory that he started murdering because he believed that that will save his daughter or something, but Akihiko reckons that more information is needed to get to that conclusion. He asks Sekiguchi to show the relevant parts of the registry file that Toriguchi got from the box maker and distribute it to the police. One of the names in the document catches Sekiguchi’s attention, as it seems to be the name of another rising novelist. It seems that they met once.

The episode ends as Akihiko tells them not to go near the research institute, suggesting that he either is a very good at telling the future, or knows more than what he showed in this episode.

I must say that I’m really impressed by this series. Although it’s a lot of work to try and understand it, it’s exactly series like this one that are the reason why I watch anime: those rare unique series that simply go beyond genres and have a style of storytelling of their own.

I believe that this series is a typical alpha-series, and here’s what I mean by that: for my studies, I’ve had to read a number of papers, both written by alpha- and beta-scientists. A common trait among the beta-papers was that everything is defined up to the finest detail, and you can see the same in series as Higurashi: every action has a well-defined cause and a reaction, and it’s a great example of a beta-series. Papers that were written by alpha scientists on the other hand weren’t as straightforward, and instead just tried to look at their subject in lots of different ways and from various angles. And that‘s exactly Mouryou no Hako. It’s not trying to solve this mystery by providing clues on a silver platter, but instead it’s telling the story and background from a lot of different angles and views, explaining the background that might have something to do with it or might not. This really is the first series where this effect is so apparent.

Right now, I’m beginning to understand where Kanako’s Buddhist influences came from, and I believe that she was an influential member of the box maker’s cult. If this is true, then it does explain why she forms such a central role in this story.

Kurozuka – 07

by psgels, posted in Kurozuka



Short Synopsis: Kuro is brought to a cave where Kuromitsu is kept.
Highlights: Nice little bit of depth for Kuromitsu.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10 (Good)
If I had to pick one show out of the series that I’m blogging this season, where the decision to cover it on a weekly basis may not have been such a good idea, then it’d be this one. I’m happy that out of the shows I’m watching this season, none of them is mediocre or disappoints. The previous Spring- and Summer season really showed me that I’m not someone who enjoys blogging a bad or a dull show, and I think that if I didn’t decide on blogging stuff as Macross Frontier, Soul Eater, Allison to Lillia and Nijuu Mensou no Musume (God, I really picked the wrong series to blog back at the past spring-season), I’d think back to them with a lot less annoyance.

But anyway, I’m getting off-topic a bit with that. The thing with Kurozuka is that it exactly knows what it is and does: action, horror and eye-candy, and it does do that so well. The story isn’t anything special, but it knows exactly that it’s only second fodder in this series: it’s there to support the action, to prevent it from getting boring, to add a bit of intrigue and to provide enough settings where the animators can show off their talents. It’s nice and all, and I really like the end result, but really… there’s not much you can write about it on a weekly basis. ^^;

So yeah, this episode again was exactly what this series was about, and I like the little twist that it added, where Kuromitsu once cut off Kuro’s head. There’s this whole mystery around that woman that really keeps the story of this series flowing smoothly. Sanniwa (at least, that’s what I assume her name is) really is screwed by now, with nearly all of her subordinates killed off (at least, with so many dead bodies, I don’t think there are much more people left apart from Kuro&co). I liked that part that showed her, because it really adds to the characterization of this series, something that it had ignored a bit so far. ^^;

Porfy no Nagai Tabi – 46

by psgels, posted in Porfy no Nagai Tabi





Short Synopsis: Mina runs into a certain somebody
Highlights: Some of the best art of the entire series can be found inside this episode.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
Whoa, those are some very interesting developments. I must say that I really like it that the creators aren’t just going to let Porfy and Mina meet up without a big finale. The idea is absolutely wonderful and despite the sacrifices that had to be made it will form the cream of the crop for the character-development of the two. But first a summary:

The episode starts the next day after the previous episode. Porfy wakes up and Rose is just done with her job, and taking a shower. After she’s done, Porfy tells her that he’s going to work and search for Mina for the rest of the day. He finds it a bit hard to imagine that she works during the night, and sleeps in the afternoon. He feeds the cat and then goes out to search for Mina. At the bread store of the previous episode, he tries to find out what exactly Paris looks like. Obviously, he’s pretty startled when he finds out how big the city really is.

Later in the restaurant, the waiter is having the time of his life abusing Porfy, criticizing every possible thing that he does wrong, like leaving the water on for too long, pouring too little beer into one glass, and when Porfy receives a tip from a guest who is also French, he immediately confiscates the tip. It’s his shop, so Porfy should be glad that he can at least get somewhere to work. That evening, Porfy finally has the time to write a letter to Porfy, about how he reached Paris. Rose then leaves for work again.

The next morning, we switch to Mina and Isabella, who’ve reached Paris. Interestingly, Carlos and Isabella’s father aren’t together, and the latter foreshadows a bit by reminding Mina to never forget her dream. In any case, Mina starts singing while Isabella is dealing with a customer, and that happens to attract the attention of a certain person who happened to be driving by: Tiffany Auber, the actress Mina admired so much. She sends her manager to try and talk to her, but Isabella has obviously never heard of such actresses. Even when Tiffany herself appears and asks Mina to sing the song she just sang again, she still refuses.

Tiffany isn’t the type to give up so easily, though. She tries again, but a bit more subtle: she asks Isabella to tell her fortune instead. Isabella does send Mina back to their hotel. Isabella still wants to know what Tiffany wants to do with Mina, and Tiffany starts to explain, although we don’t get to see that exact scene because something much more important is happening over at Mina’s side: Carlos is ticked off because Mina isn’t working for her food, and he starts scolding her and throws all sorts of insults at her. Mina finally insults him back, since she’s got her memories back and all. Hearing that, Carlos takes Mina to her room and starts abusing her in ways that can only be left to our imagination. Mina then grabs a potato knife and stabs Carlos and escapes. Isabella arrives at that point, and sees Mina running away crying. Carlos tries to seek sympathy with her, but she slaps him.

Isabella then tries to confort Mina by asking whether she’d like to perform in a movie. Isabella turns out to have been wrong, and understands that Tiffany is a famous actress. They decide to go see her, though Mina is very nervous, even though Isabella tries to talk some courage into her. Isabella then goes to talk with Tiffany’s manager about the details, while Mina waits at a different room full of awards and posters.

When Tiffany enters the room, she asks whether Mina has any experience in acting or singing, but this obviously isn’t the case. Tiffany doesn’t find it a problem, though. Isabella then leaves, as she’s got her own job to do, and she talks some last words of confidence to Mina, about letting flowers bloom. I think that Isabella was really happy that Mina is going to be able to grow up properly. A huge parallel to the time when that rich boy tried to take Mina away.

Tiffany then shows Mina some absolutely gorgeous shots of Paris, saying how she believes that Mina will definitely be able to break through. The episode ends with so many beautiful shots of the city that it becomes almost scary. Yeah, I think I went a bit overboard with the screenshots. ^^;

In any case, ever since Apollo’s death, this isn’t a series about realism any more. There was more than enough realism and nostalgia in the first quarter of the series, the majority of the series, the middle part, was a focused on travelling, and now the final ten episodes really are the place when the plot takes over into what promises to be a very powerful finale. The great thing about this also is that this is the WMT: you know that things are going to happen, but you never know when that’ll happen. After all, Les Miserables had an aftermath of about seven episodes, so who knows how many the creators of Porfy have scheduled?

In any case, about the whole events, of Apollo dying, Porfy running into Alecia, meeting Rose and Mina just getting picked up by Tiffany: there’s no way that that would happen in real life, but this isn’t about making sense anymore, every single one of these events was meant in order to bring out the best out of the characters. Much like Tokyo Godfathers in a way: it was an awesome movie, and every single one of its coincidences was perhaps a bit strange, but meant to bring out the best in the characters. Mostly, I dislike these sorts of things, but there can always be exceptions. ^^;

I doubted for a bit after Apollo’s death, but there really is no doubt possible at this point: Porfy and Mina will meet some day. Even if Porfy doesn’t somehow get the chance to ask Rose about Tiffany, eventually Posters will be put up and people will start to recognize Mina. If Porfy stays in Paris for long enough, he has to notice at one point, but it’s the most probable that Rose and Tiffany will reunite the two. Speaking of which, I’m getting pretty interested into exactly what kind of job Rose has. It’s probably some sort of showgirl or something similar.

And Carlos! I must say that I like what Mina did to him, to actually stab him with a knife. I also like the decision of showing the abuse behind a closed door. It can hardly be called budget-saving, with this episode featuring some of the best graphics in the entire series, and I feel that if they animated what actually happened in that room, it would have looked faker than what we got instead. But really, the guy has to be really pissed by now, especially after learning that Mina might just become famous. Here too: you just know that the guy’s going to explode, but the question is: when?

One final remark: the soundtrack. I was really impressed by the tune that started playing when Tiffany first appeared in front of Mina. The synthesizers are so un-typical of France and this series, but it’s such a haunting tune and fits the scene perfectly. Talk about saving the best for last!

Blade of the Immortal – 10

by psgels, posted in Blade of the Immortal



Short Synopsis: At a local festival, Rin finally finds her next target.
Highlights: Obviously an episode meant to save a bit of budget, but nonetheless an excellent prelude.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10 (Good)
Despite this episode being a step down from the last arc, I’m beginning to love this series more and more. Even during the quiet parts that are meant to save some budget for future fight scenes, this series still has enough interesting stuff going on.

This episode really showed how much Rin has grown. The development that she went through this series is something that takes most other series twice the amount of time, and it has felt really natural so far. She has learned to swallow her pride, and I really like how she didn’t blindly chaerg at first sight, but instead tried to find out his side of the story.

I like how in this series, nobody is really portrayed as a bad guy apart from a few grunts here and there, in the same way that nobody is really on the good side. The guy in this episode for example surely did some horrible things in the past, but at the same time he’s doing a really good job of raising a son and keeping said son away from his past. He’s really portrayed as a human being. The masked guy of the third episode was more delusional than pure evil. He cared about those dear to him, but took those feelings way too far in his mind.

My only complaint was tat the music in this episode felt a bit forced at the end, with an entire episode of subtle sounds, after which the series’ main tune suddenly starts playing from out of nowhere. It’s an amazing song, and it really adds to the atmosphere, but the way it starts could have been more subtle

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 – 32

by psgels, posted in Mobile Suit Gundam 00



Short Synopsis: Allelujah and Soma crash down on a remote island.
Highlights: Surprisingly quiet and focused for a Gundam 00-episode.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10 (Good)
Ooh, surprise. At first I wasn’t too much excited about a full episode dedicated to Allelujah and Soma, but the creators did a surprisingly good job on it, and it was an episode well spent. There was no melodrama, and yet their story reached a satisfying conclusion. I was wondering how Allelujah would finally convince Souma to stop attacking him, but it turns out that she too had a split personality. The twist has been built up for well enough, so it really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

I also liked the reaction of the rest of the team at the discovery that Allelujah brought a girl with him, at the end of the episode. Overall, this episode was really un-typical for this series, but it worked surprisingly well.

In other news: Marina learns that Azadistan is gone now, and the next episode should probably shed some more much-needed light into Tieria’s mysterious clone. I only have one complaint for this episode: Mr. Bushido.

It’s annoying, but I can live with the strange name. I can even deal with the fact that the Japanese are treating the “Mr.”-part as his last name. I can deal with the mask. But please: why the heck do you abandon your target after it’s had a technical breakdown? Seriously, finish the guy off already. This is war, for God’s sake, not a friendly baseball competition.

Telepathy Shoujo Ran – 21

by psgels, posted in Telepathy Shoujo Ran



Short Synopsis: Ran and Midori meet a grumpy old grandmother.
Highlights: Awwwwwwwww
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
So yeah, the premise doesn’t sound the most exciting, but for a series where drama definitely isn’t one of the strong points, it pretty much surprised me in terms of impact it made. Episode 19 and 21 were really genuine development for Midori, and far away from the usual cheesy drama from this series. I must say that I really like the idea of having Midori meet someone with the same outlook as her parents: scared to death because their daughter had strange powers.

Okay, so what if Midori’s violin just appeared from out of nowhere, this was such an adorable episode either way. I’m really glad to see that the creators had no intention to leave the series without any of the characters sufficiently developed, as I started to fear a few months ago. After all, the characters have been fleshed out really nicely, and their problems established, so it’s good to see that the added bit of drama actually works for this series.

It’s actually a bloody shame: I know that there are two novels that still need to be animated, which are going to take up four episodes. That leaves just one episode that the creators can fill in on their own wishes, and there’s still so much left that they can stuff in there: a bit of development for Ran (ironic how the titular character receives less development than her co-star, isn’t it?), an episode dedicated to Rui, Midori’s parents. Ah well, if they’re going to have to choose one: go for Midori’s parents. They’ve been strange McGuffin’s so far, but we hardly know anything about them. What’s up with them right now? Are they still scared of Midori? It would be awesome to see Midori as she tries to talk to them again. That’s in any case something that really fits in with the development of the past episodes.

Jigoku Shoujo – 59

by psgels, posted in Jigoku Shoujo



Short Synopsis: A transfer student from Tokyo arrives at the school.
Highlights: Only this series can come up with those kinds of plot twists.
Overall Enjoyment Value: Objective: 6,5/10 (Lacking) Subjective/Biased: 8/10 (Excellent)
One thing I love about Studio Deen, besides the masterpieces they churn out once in a while, is that in some of their other adaptations, they’re downright crazy. Incidentally, Hiroshi Watanabe’s name is very often tied to these cases, but the fact remains that some of their series just feature plot twists that no other studio would have the sanity for to include.

This episode was just awesome, but SO for the wrong reasons. I have no freakin’ idea why I liked this episode so much: you could see the big twist coming from miles away. Ever since the classmate started to involve himself with the poor transfer student who got abused by his mom, there was no way that he was going to send his mom to hell and let his classmate live. And yet the conclusion felt awesome, seeing the guy turn just as crazy as his mother. Seriously, at this point I’m convinced that for the third season, Hiroshi Watanabe weaselled himself somewhere in the production-team someway and kept throwing in his own suggestions. There’s no other explanation. ^^;;

One other thing I absolutely loved about this episode is how Ai’s dolls were having the time of their live inside the punishment scenes, and they never tried to feel pity for him. It’s logical for Kikuri, but Wanyuudo, Hone Onna and Ichimoku Ren have really changed in the period between the second and third season, and they’ve become less emotionally attached to the different cases, unless it involved them directly, like in the previous episode.

I guess the message in this episode yet again that there are times in which you shouldn’t stick your nose too much into other people’s business. While the case in this episode was definitely an example of a family that actually NEEDED help, but too often I see in anime characters that needlessly involve themselves with those in trouble, without giving them the chance to solve their issues for themselves.

Tytania – 06

by psgels, posted in Tytania



Short Synopsis: Turandia is screwed, since they practically declared war against Tytania in the previous episode.
Highlights: The very first space-battle in five episodes… was rather underwhelming…
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10 (Enjoyable)
I’m really getting curious about the second half of this series. I mean, so far the series has been much brighter than I originally suspected when I watched the first episodes, so what will this series be like once it really gets fired off? The fact remains that the director and original writer once came up with Legend of Galactic Heroes, so they should be able to deliver something worthwhile. But then again, Ryoko’s Case Files was also written by the writer of LOGH, and I dropped that one after only two episodes…

In any case, this episode was solid, nothing more, nothing less. Idris gets a sneaky plan to have Ariabart fight again against Turandia, because a loss would mean a definite degradation of his, and one less annoyance to be bothered about. Ariabart, however, blows the enemy forces away with a very simple tactic. The battle really was the least interesting part of this episode. I mean, it was over before you knew it. In fact, it’s hard to call it a fight, and it just felt like another political action that happened to involve a bunch of spaceships.

In any case, Tytania is one of the few series this Autumn season that I’m watching and not yet sold on in some way or another, but that was sort-of to be expected. With all the build-up that’s required for the setting, I’m not going to expect anything amazing for this series during its first half. What it needs to pay attention to is just flesh out the setting and characters, so that it can have a second half that makes up for the first half.

Shikabane Hime – 07

by psgels, posted in Shikabane Hime



Short Synopsis: An old classmate of one of Ouri’s classmates turns into a shikabane.
Highlights: Wonderful animation.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
Really, at this point you can consider me a fan of this series. I’m not often impressed by Gainax (at least, not as much as most people seem to), but I can’t deny that they’re a very unique production-company, and they can make some real hits when they get a concept right.

What was so awesome about this episode was the animation, in the way that it EXACTLY showed what happens if you combine the Gainax that likes bombastic visual effects with the down-to-earth and subtle director of Gilgamesh: it takes the best out of both worlds. This episode was really nicely animated, but the animation never forgot to remain realistic. There were so many subtle touches added that added a really raw feeling to the different fight scenes. there were no cheap visual effects used.

I’m also still surprised at how much I’ve come to like Ouri. He’s a whiny teenager who involves himself with the others against their will. Normally I’d hate his character, and yet I hardly ever feel annoyed at the guy, and he’s perfect to shed light at the strange nature of the Shikabane Himes.

In terms of the plot, since Keisei still is out of the count, this episode gave a proper introduction to another Shikabane-pair, who’ve taken over his duties while he remains out cold and unable to heal Makina’s arm. It seems that he and Keisei were introduced to the concept of Shikabane Himes by last week’s bad guy. Whatever he did with his own Shikabane Hime still remains a mystery, I guess.