Birdy the Mighty Decode – 07

by psgels, posted in Birdy the Mighty Decode



Short Synopsis: A certain someone with long dark blue hair starts killing people.
Highlights: Whoa, is this really the same Birdy the Mighty?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Really, this series is looking ten times better after that second season announcement. Everything finally makes sense. By far my biggest problem with this series wasn’t that it was bad, but rather its questionable use of its limited time of only 13 episodes. Five consecutive episodes did nothing but take their time to build up, and it often got distracted on things that didn’t really matter for such a short series. With 26 episodes, it makes perfect sense, though. With that kind of format, it makes perfect sense that the first episodes would focus more on building up.

Something tells me that that second season is going to rock. The director really has a knack for memorable character-development (ever since finding out that this series would only have 13 episodes, I kept wondering how he’d pull this off with such a small time-frame): both Noein and Escaflowne really began to shine once they hit their second halves. And now I finally realize the parallel of Birdy’s outer-space arc with Noein: that too showed La’Cryma surprisingly early in the series.

Incidentally, this episode also rocked. It’s the best episode of Birdy yet – at least since episode one – as it tells about a serial-killing android who bears surprising resemblance to Nakasugi. It turns out to have been infected by a bug that went wrong, that caused her to hug her victims too strongly, strangling them. Ever since, she’s been “hugging” everyone who looked like her original creator. Birdy’s rival ends up bringing it to the Indian-ish guy (I need to learn these people’s names) and the two seem to have made some sort of alliance.

Macross Frontier – 19

by psgels, posted in Macross Frontier



Short Synopsis: Ranka’s popularity has skyrocketed as she gives a concert at Alto’s school.
Highlights: Back to the love triangle again, animation was a bit off at times.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
In this episode, the plot took a step back (all we saw of it is build-up for the next episode, in which we’ll see whether Leon’s coup will succeed and the mysteries behind Ranka’s fluffy partner will be revealed) and instead this was all about developing the love-triangle between Ranka, Sheryl and Alto. A good love-triangle should be like a good tennis-match, and not with one of the players grabbing the ball and running off with it, and the creators have done an admirable job to keep it a bit ambiguous about who Alto will end up with.

This episode ended with Sheryl in favour, but the question of course remains whether Ranka will give up or not, after having seen the two together. I hope she doesn’t spend the next few episodes angsting over what to do, though. This episode kept hinting at how Alto is the big reason for Ranka to keep singing, and Ranka has never had the courage to take Alto away from Sheryl in front of her.

There were unfortunately a few scenes where the key animation frames and especially the characters looked off again. Like, Ranka’s face was too stretched out, etc. Normally I don’t have a problem with that, but this is Macross Frontier, with its huge animation budget. Most series don’t have an unlimited budget, so it’s only natural for the animation to be rather inconsistent, but Macross Frontier doesn’t have this excuse.

Bonen no Xamdou – 05

by psgels, posted in Bonen no Xamdou



Short Synopsis: Ignoring her orders, Nakiami pays a visit to her former comrades.
Highlights: Mostly building-up again, but that’s exactly what this series is good at.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
This episode continues to shed new lights on the world of Bonen no Xamdou. It seems that Nakiami joined the Zanbani when she was just young. If her country (I think it was called Tessik) wasn’t attacked for whatever reason that’s still undisclosed, she would be its leader, or at least the princess, since we don’t yet know what happened to her parents. I guess that when they lost their country, she and her comrades went their own ways, where she joined the Zanbani and the others went into the black market. I wonder, by the way. Could Tessik Village be the place where that old woman who is behind all of the Xam’d lives?

This episode yet again showed how much damage the attack of episodes 1 and 2 caused. The death toll is already at 1300 and still rising. It also confirmed that humanforms were originally just humans, as this episode shows how the scientist of the OP transforms the girl who lost her family in the previous episode into some kind of mismatched humanform. The interesting thing was that Haru stood right next to her. This might be a reason for her to become more involved with the war, now that she’s seen one of her friends as such a humanform.

This episode also featured some strange props that Nakiami’s former comrades had with them. A strange ghost-like thingy that’s supposed to protect an airship and some kind of thirty-year-old seed. Now let’s see what it’s purpose turns out to be.

Oh, and for some strange reason, I really liked Akushiba in this episode. He may be cold at times, but I don’t think that he just went to deliver Haru’s letter, just to defend his nickname. ^^;

Porfy no Nagai Tabi – 32

by psgels, posted in Porfy no Nagai Tabi



Short Synopsis: This episode had an onsen-sequence. Now that’s going to attract some viewer (not).
Highlights: That Carlos is a walking time-bomb.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
Sarcasm aside, this episode rocked. I expected this series to go back to lacklustre travel arcs again, and instead we get a Mina-episode. There’s not even one scene where Porfy appeared, and instead this episode was all about developing the trio Mina, Isabella and Carlos. Oh, and what a wonderful job it did.

The episode starts at a bar in the evening, where Carlos screwed up and his deceit was found out by one of the people he played against. Mina and Isabella try to get away unnoticed, while Isabella’s father stays behind. The next day they take the train to the next city. Carlos tries to blame Mina for distracting him, but the fact does remain that he was the one who screwed up. Carlos then asks Isabella whether she plans to carry Mina among with her forever, though Isabella doesn’t know what to answer.

In te next city, Carlos notices many rich people, while Mina looks interested at the cars (notice how this is the first time she’s ever done that. Before she had no interest in them) and Isabella tells her that there is an “onsen” in the city. Usually an onsen means a hot spring, but in this context, I think “sauna” fits better. In any case, Isabella promises to take Mina there if business goes well.

When Isabela and Mina are working, a young boy approaches Mina, introducing himself as Heinz. Mina gets scared, though, and runs away. Heinz tries to follow her, but he suddenly gets trouble breathing. Mina gets Isabella away from one of her customers in an attempt to get help, and Isabella shows her how to fix his breathing problems (I wonder how she first found this out).

Heinz turns out to be the son of a count, and so when the count arrives, he pays quite a bit of money as a thanks of saving his son. Isabella grabs the money away from Carlos when he wants to use it, saying that it was her and Mina who saved the son, not him. The two of them use this money to go to the sauna. In there, they meet one of the customers that day (the one that Mina interrupted), though she doesn’t seem to mind after hearing what happened to Heinz. She also compliments Mina about her great voice. Isabella introduces Mina as her daughter. She later apologizes for that, but Mina doesn’t seem to mind.

When they return, Isabella’s father seems to have returned, and is happily drinking with Carlos. Of course, the two have to break up again because Mina needs to sleep. In the middle of the night, Mina wakes up (probably from a nightmare, but we don’t get to see what exactly she dreamt) and looks at her mother’s watch, and then at Isabella, and then smiles as she falls asleep again.

The next day, the count arrives again, and he wants to borrow Mina for one day, as it seems that Heinz has taken a liking to Mina. Isabella tries to disagree, saying that Mina isn’t a toy, but she ends up agreeing in the end (and Carlos doesn’t seem to mind after he gets some money). They go to a funfair, and for the first time Mina leaves Isabella, in order to play with Heinz.

When they return, it seems that Carlos and the count had a little talk, and the count seems to be willing to adopt Mina, so that Heinz finally has someone to play with. It seems ideal for Mina: she gets enough food every day, proper education, a warm bed. When the deal seems closed and Heinz wants to take Mina away, Mina resists, and runs back to Isabella. Heinz and his father try to convince them otherwise, but Isabella’s father (I’ve got to find out his name someday) explains that Isabela cares about Mina, just as the count cares about Heinz.

Heinz asks that when he meets Mina again, whether they can play together or not. After the answer is yes, he leaves, while Carlos is visibly angry, saying that Isabella’s going to have to take care of Mina and the episode ends.

I really hate Carlos right now, but then again, you can understand why he’s getting angry. Before Mina arrived, he had all of Isabella’s attention for himself. They were lovers once, so seeing Isabella getting taken away from him (and by none other than an unknown kid) must indeed be annoying the hell out of him.

Oh, and on a totally unrelated side-note: this was my 2000th post. Damn, I didn’t realize that I’ve been posting that much.

Tenchi Muyo! – Ryo-Ouki Review – 75/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews


Okay, to be honest I decided to watch the first OVA of Tenchi Muyo!, the mother of all harem-anime, more as a fan of Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club, rather than expecting anything worthwhile to come out of it. Still, I guess there had to be a reason why this caught on so much in the first place. This six-episoded OVA isn’t perfect, but it does have its enjoyable moments.

Obviously, it remains rather questionable for so many cute girls to move in at the house of the male lead, but at least the creators made sure to create an alien subplot in order to explain where these girls came from, and it’s at least plausible why the most important characters fell in love with this male lead. At the same time, the story about the aliens is also interesting enough to keep the viewer busy, I guess, and at least some effort has been put into it to make it a bit coherent and original (for its time, anyway).

The characters are a mixed bag: like expected, Sasami and Washuu (the short part we see of her anyway) were awesome. Ayeka and Ryo-Ouki were also pretty interesting. Ryoko (the main female lead) is hilarious when she doesn’t take herself serious, though gets rather dull when the comedy’s gone. Mihoshi, however, was just too annoying that what was good for her (how did she become a genius detective with that attitude anyway?) and the main villain Kagato is your stereotypical Norio Wakamoto-voiced bad guy without much depth to him, and his only purpose is to explain where Ryoko came from.

The result is also a rather mixed bag of a series. The first half is really enjoyable, where especially the chemistry between the different characters stands out. Mihoshi, Kagato and Ryoko’s serious side do rather ruin the second half, though. I think the biggest mistake that this series made is the ridiculously stretched out final battle against Kagato. It takes 1,5 episodes (that means 45 minutes) before the bugger finally dies. Especially for an OVA, that’s precious time that could have been so much better spent to develop and flesh out the characters.

Okay, I should be cursing this OVA for spawning and popularizing a genre that lives on seeing who can rip off each other the most, but nonetheless Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ouki is a nicely written story (for the most part at least). It’s got a bunch of well-defined characters (and also a few annoying ones) and there are a few interesting ideas included for the OVa. I’m not sure whether there really is enough material for 78 television-episodes and a truckload of more OVAs and movies, though…

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

Wind – A Breath of Heart Review – 77,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews


I first became interested in Wind – A Breath of Heart after this guy gave it a surprisingly positive review. After watching it, I can understand why. Wind is a typical series that’s short (it’s only got 13 episodes of fifteen minutes), simple, but effective.

It doesn’t start out that way, though. Especially the first few episodes are an exercise in “spot the overdone cliché”. I spotted the annoying spunky sister, the childhood sweetheart, stupid and energetic best friend, girl who keeps abusing this best friend, classmates with a part-time job in a café, there’s a priestess, a girl with heart problems, parents gone, the terrible cook, school sports festival, shrine festival (complete with yukatas) and of course the beach episode. The only thing that seemed to be missing was a sakura tree.

And yet, this series works. The biggest reason is a great cast of scriptwriters that manages to keep the story going and the dialogues meaningful. The airtime is short, but every character gets at least a bit of depth and goes beyond the usual stereotype. The cast feels fresh, and the main storyline is also a pretty good one. Don’t expect anything amazing, but it’s well told and surprisingly dark. My only complaint is that its conclusion may have come a bit too easy, in the way of “why didn’t you do this in the beginning?”

This series is also interesting in terms of graphics. At first sight, the CG and sloppy animation may seem like a turnoff, but it’s got a sort of “I don’t care whether I’m ugly but I want movement”-feeling, which I appreciate a lot. It’s so much better than nearly ninety percent of all other bishoujo-series, which are way too obsessed with creating the perfect female body.

Overal, this isn’t the most complete series but what it does feel is a whole (if that makes any sense). The different storylines are carefully woven into each other and not a second is really wasted. The scriptwriters know exactly how to use their time, and pleasantly surprised me.

Storytelling: 9/10
Characters: 8/10
Production-Values: 8/10
Setting: 6/10

Himitsu ~The Revelation~ – 19

by psgels, posted in Himitsu ~The Revelation~



Short Synopsis: Whoa! The train-massacre-arc is going to take up three episodes!
Highlights: Talk about a change in plot-direction.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
Ah, so that’s what it was! The previous episode was supposed to be a huge question mark, only for this episode to shed light on what happened back there. The big twist: this arc is dealing with bio-terrorism: all the passengers in the train were somehow infected with a disease that first shows up on your fingernails. THAT’s why the killer looked at the fingernails of his victims, and THAT’s why the same symptoms showed up at Miyoshi: she’d been sleeping alongside these dead bodies (no, really) and carelessly caught the disease.

And I also knew something was fishy: Miyoshi and Suzuki used to date together, and Maki killed Miyoshi’s lover. There seems to be more than that, though. This episode did show a time where both of them were having a fight. And that Aoki: in this episode he actually tried to hit on (and kiss) her. That idiot caught the disease that way as well. I didn’t quite catch why he did such a thing, but we’ll probably learn that in the next episode.

I remember once noting that this series wasn’t good at characterizations. And yet I was shocked when Aoki revealed his fingernails. And at the same time, Aoki sure changed a lot in this episode, and became much more mature. I feel like this arc was really meant to show how his experiences with the MRI have influenced him, and he’s much more confident now than he was in the first half of this series. I think the first sign of this we saw was in the “don’t reach for that neck”-episode, where he just cut off the head of the dead guy.

I originally thought that it would be best for this series to keep to short arcs, and yet at the same time this is the longest arc of this series yet and it’s looking very promising. I’m really interested to how the creators plan to end this series, and this episode showed me that the best way to end was with a long arc, like this one. This is no Jigoku Shoujo, and for most of the time, it really needs its time to build up, it seems. The surprises worked great in the first half when the concept was still fresh (as shown by episode eight which STILL NEEDS TO GET SUBBED), but when talking about the second half, by far the best stories have been those that had two episodes.

Let’s see whether the next episode can surpass episode thirteen.

RD Sennou Chousashitsu – 19

by psgels, posted in RD Sennou Chousashitsu



Short Synopsis: Haru tries to take care of the source of the noise.
Highlights: If the metal wasn’t already deep enough, it just gained some more depth.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Okay, what just happened back there? The metal has always been a mysterious existence, but it’s this episode where, just like Dennou Coil in a way, the link between the cyber world and the real world stat to get really fuzzy. I originally thought that this arc was meant to develop the characters some more, but as it turns out, it was all about the setting. Because of that, this episode wasn’t as touching as usual, but it raised a truckload full of questions.

So, as it turns out, something in the jungle was causing this noise. It’s that strange machine (which we actually don’t see in the entire episode, apart from one flashback). But the thing is that it somehow cyber-ified the huge tree it was linked too. We knew that humans and dogs could be cyber-ified, but this was probably the first time I’ve ever seen a cyber-tree. The intriguing thing is that through these cyber-technologies, the tree apparently prevented rain to fall through its leaves, and at the same time plants continue to grow at its bottom, like nothing happened.

The dialogue was very difficult in this episode (note to self: rewatch it once the subs arrive) so I didn’t understand everything, but I doubt that everything that happened in this episode can be explained with logical reasoning. I must say that RD has gone even further than Dennou Coil in this aspect. Dennou Coil was just about whether or not human bodies and souls could remain in cyber-space, and whether computers could break that link that was supposed to be unbreakable. Real Drive has already passed that point, and created a virtual world where human’s consciousnesses can flow freely, depending on their imaginations.

The result? Haru got his legs back in this episode. His freakin’ legs! The legs that were supposed to have been disabled by that very same metal got restored back to normal due to some water-recovery program inside the tree. We’ve yet to get confirmed whether or not they’re back for real, but the preview for the next episode seems to confirm this.

It’s strange to think that this series is already entering its final quarter. And with this show, you’ve got no idea what it’s got in store for its finale. The characters will probably get developed a lot, now that Haru’s legs are back. The cast is already fleshed out excellently, but I have absolutely no idea where the main storyline is going to go now.

I’m also wondering what’s so bad about the lack of overall storyline for this series. I mean, there have been plenty of other series who pulled off the “collection of random stories” properly (xxxHolic, Jigoku Shoujo, Mushishi, etc). And instead the random storylines serve to shape up the setting for this series. Of course, when a lazy writer attempts this, the result is just an incoherent and dull excuse of an anime, but why does everything need an overall storyline that involves saving the world or your loved one, or something? IMHO, both episodic series without much of an overall storyline and continuous series both have their strong and weak points.

Ultraviolet: Code 044 – 07

by psgels, posted in Ultraviolet: Code 044



Short Synopsis: Mainly a building-up episode where Daxus II searches 044’s location and 426’s past gets revealed.
Highlights: Garcia.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Ultraviolet is really one of those “anime as entertainment” series that does a wonderful job fulfilling its purpose. A lot of this is also thanks to Osamu Dezaki’s specific style of directing, and all the interesting camera-shots and angles and animation styles he throws at the viewer. This is exactly why I like anime that aren’t afraid to do something more with their graphics than just the necessary animation that matches their budget. I guess that that’s also one of my problems with 90% of all visual novel adaptations. It’s not just their premises that sound boring and formulaic, but nearly all of them (and their art/animation styles) just look the same, and hardly take any risks when it comes to animation, and instead they just go for the safest and laziest way (there are a number of notable exceptions, of course). I know that experimenting is much more financially risky than the tried and true formula (like this series showed), but a lot of my favourite series have experimental elements in them (the biggest of course being Mahou Shoujotai).

Okay, enough ranting for now, about the episode: 724’s little action of the previous episode indeed caught Daxus’s attention, and Garcia managed to accidentally get caught on camera when the incident was reported. Garcia, not knowing any of this and thinking that he’s safe, meanwhile goes to investigate on 724. I liked him in this episode, and how he seems to have himself devoted entirely to protect 044.

044 herself didn’t do much in this episode (Luka was also gone entirely; he doesn’t have a clue where 044 is, after all), but what was interesting is that she showed a more female side of her when her sickness that signals the end of her life popped up. I’m quite curious as to how the creators plan to end this series. There are five episodes left, and both Luka and Daxus II still need to do their thing, while at the same time 044 doesn’t have much time left anyway.

Mission-E – 06

by psgels, posted in Mission-E



Short Synopsis: Chinami “tries” to rescue the kidnapped Maori.
Highlights: The plot thickened yet again.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
I’m still not sure whether the red-haired lady in this episode was Mils Brimberg or not. On one hand, she could have easily died her hair and adapted a kansai-ben accent, but on the other hand, she met Adol in this episode, and their meeting was nothing like the brotherly reunion that you’d expect, and when Adol talked to Chinami later in this episode, he talked as if Mils was still in coma. The entire existence of this woman is filled with mysteries right now: first she captures Maori… only to help her escape again… what point was she trying to prove anyway?

I also loved Chinami in this episode, and how absolutely hopeless she was when Maori disappeared. I’m beginning to see more and more of how her character changed so much: because she spent so much time together with her friends, trying to set up their organization in the time between Code-E and Mission-E, she became very outgoing towards her friends and people she trusts, but she’s still really bad in unknown environments, and when she feels intimidated.

This episode also revealed that… Yuma also has her own power suit. It does make sense, she’s a Type-E as well, but I’m still wondering what her exact role in their little organization was. My guess is that she was Chinami’s partner before Maori arrived, and then moved up to do more behind the scenes work when Maori got hired.