Natsume Yuujin-Chou – 06

by psgels, posted in Natsume Yuujin-Chou



Short Synopsis: Natsume meets a female Youkai, who longs to see a person from her past again.
Highlights: The female youkai and her character-development in just one episode.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
Natsume Yuujin-chou isn’t exactly my favourite show to blog. Don’t get me wrong, it’s without a doubt my favourite series this season, and I love it to bits, but because it’s so incredibly relaxing, it almost puts me to sleep, especially late at night (and for once, that’s a good thing). I don’t have much inspiration to write about after its episodes let go of me.

This episode, Natsume meets a youkai who was originally a small bird. Out of her siblings, she was the only one to survive, and after seeing her brothers and sisters die, she changed to a demon. She got changed back into a youkai by the attention of one guy, who kept bringing her food. Why he kept doing it I don’t know. He couldn’t see her in this episode anymore either, but the Youkai is still incredibly grateful for what he did.

This series is still so refreshing, that it focuses on the nice side of the youkai. Series as xxxHolic and Mokke also had occasional episodes where the youkai and spirits were moved by the niceness of people, but most of them were either evil or minding their own business. Natsume Yuujin-chou shows a different side of the spectrum: there’s your occasional evil youkai, there are also a bunch that are minding their own business, but the big focus in this series is how a bit of effort can mean a whole lot to another person. Especially youkai, who have the tendency to get much more emotionally attached to the major events in their life than most humans do.

Solty Rei Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews


Gems often pop up at strange places, and Solty Rei is a great example of this. I’m not sure why exactly I dropped it when it first aired, but it probably was something along the lines of “too dull” and “gonzo”. As it turns out, Solty Rei is a very capable anime and just as underrated.

Solty Rei does start out rather underwhelming, though. The cute characters and the dark-ish setting don’t mesh well together, nothing much really happens and the main character Solty is overly moralistic, with a typical storyline of “save the oppressed”. There’s also not much eye-candy for the viewer (none of the character-designs are really appealing and the animation has a lot of bugs). There’s honestly nothing much to get excited about, but thankfully a lot changes once this series hits its second half.

It’s rather hard to properly talk about this, since the entire second half is basically one big spoiler, but let’s just say that the first half knew exactly what it was doing, and merely was building up and fleshing characters out properly for a much, much darker second half. What shines the most is the character-development, where themes as family and loss play a central role central. The entire cast develops into something worthwhile, and not a character seems wasted.

But also the setting turns out to be much deeper than you’d originally expect. It starts out as your typical uninspired dystopia, but the series slowly develops this setting into something much more complex. The ending, at first sight may seem like another one of those overly ambitious endings, but it somehow works out and gives a great closure to the series.

Solty Rei is obviously a cheap-looking series, where Gonzo’s CG and the 2D animation just don’t mesh well together. The soundtrack is nothing special (apart from a small amount of excellent tracks that pop up once or twice), but what lies behind it is a charming series. It’s well-told (although it lies a bit too much on coincidences at times), it’s got a great setting and great character-development. It just needs to take a while to get fired up.

Storytelling: 8/10
Characters: 9/10
Production-Values: 7/10
Setting: 9/10

Blade of the Immortal – 03

by psgels, posted in Blade of the Immortal



Short Synopsis: Manji faces off against the masked guy.
Highlights: Those writers are… messed up…
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
I’m curious here: is there any fan of the manga who did enjoy the animated version? I don’t think I’ve seen anyone who liked both the manga and the anime. 😛 I’ve never understood why people would want to watch the same story twice anyway. I mean, take the big plot twist in this episode for example: one of the reasons why this episode was so awesome was because that plot twist where the masked guy had the heads of his loved ones sewed on his shoulders. That’s just bloody sick, but just like Death Note, it’s not going to make the same impact if you’ve already watched this plot twist.

In any case, this episode confirmed that Bee-Train’s slow pacing is perfect for Japanese styled horror. The entire episode had me on the edge of my seat. What caught my attention is that the background music is either vivid and wild, or totally gone during the quiet parts, which does make for a great contrast. The animation was simple as usual, but then again, you don’t want to watch this series just for the fight scenes (are people still watching this series for the action? Hah!).

I really liked how this episode focused both at horror and characterizations, and it did a great job of establishing Asano’s character. She didn’t do much in this episode (but after all, she stood before a screwed up old guy who put her mother’s head on one of his shoulders, of course she’d be incredibly intimidated), but I can see that she’s going to grow a lot in this series. She really wants to have her revenge, she just can’t. The other bad guys also got their share of attention (including a flashback of when the old guy replaced his first shoulder), and with Bee-Train, we can be sure of some great character-growth.

FREEDOM Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, FREEDOM



With the guy behind Kakurenbou as director and the director of Akira behind the screenplay and character-designs comes the ambitious project called FREEDOM, one of the few anime to be totally rendered in 3D cell-shaded CG. It’s obviously a technique that has its pros and cons, and most people will probably need to get used to the style, but once you can look beyond this, you’ll be rewarded by a charming little science-fiction series.

The big strength of this series is its cast of characters. Even though they’re a bunch of hot-headed 14-year-old guys, this series somehow makes them worthwhile. The stereotypes are there, and yet the antics of the main protagonists turn out very charming. The flaws in this series mostly pop up in the final episode, where the creators try to be a bit too epic for their own good.

Ah crap, this review is rubbish. Apologies, I’m having a blackout right now. A tip for all you reviewers out there: do not write a review if it’s been half a year or more since you saw the majority of it… If you want to get a better idea of this series, then read the rest of the posts I’ve written about it. It’s a very nice OVA to watch with great characters and it’s got a soundtrack that’s among Ike Yoshihiro’s best work. Period.

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

FREEDOM – 07

by psgels, posted in FREEDOM



Short Synopsis: The big finale of Freedom, where Takeru tries to reunite Earth with Eden.
Highlights: Straightforward but fun finale.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Well, the final episode was bound to lack in terms of realism. It’s impossible to change the entire political structure of a country with just the words of one guy. Why else do you think that China is currently still happily continuing its violations of human rights? The main leader of Eden also just didn’t get enough proper time to be fleshed out, so his rather stupid decisions were the worst thing of this final episode of Freedom.

I mean, making Kazuma, the one who helped Takeru escape, into one of the highest ranking-officers in just two and a half years. Who in his right mind would do such an unsafe thing? Kazuma was bound to use this power to rebel. There was also this strange fight scene between Kazuma and Takeru, which left both with scratches and bruises… only for these to magically disappear in the next scene…

Still, apart from that, the finale was done very nicely. The ones who were left behind on Eden changed very interestingly, especially Taira turned from Takeru’s rival to the one who organized the rebellion. For a bit, I feared that Ao would turn into a damsel in distress when she got caught, but at least she didn’t sit still and do nothing, but instead tried to convey her ideals to the people from Eden.

It was obvious that despite the doubled length, this wouldn’t be the best instalment of Freedom, but thankfully it could have gone a lot worse. I liked the romance: it was there, but it was really subtle and never really interfered with what was really important.

Nijuu Mensou no Musume – 16

by psgels, posted in Nijuu Mensou no Musume



Short Synopsis: The “detective girls” go after a rumour about two teachers that seem to fancy each other.
Highlights: The French was nice and all… but NOT with a Japanese accent!
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
This episode convinced me that the “detective girls” only exist in Haruka’s head. The creators have no intention to just end the series with a bunch of random detective story arcs, because this episode set up the story and characters for the rest of the series. We get introduced to a bunch of new characters, and Nijuu Mensou’s past is revealed a bit more.

In the meantime, Chiko’s classmates have already started the fanfiction…

In any case, this episode introduces a former university professor who knew Nijuu Mensou when he was young (I wonder, do we ever get to hear what his real name is?). I didn’t quite catch what he told Chiko exactly, but it seems to come down to that he was once a brilliant scientist when the war started, and so he ended up developing all those supernatural weapons for killing. Since his motto was “look and think for yourself”, at one point he abandoned his research, and now that everything comes to try and bite back at him, he’s had no choice than to use Chiko as a decoy.

The next villain is someone who’ll be a big problem for Chiko to escape, as he’s basically just as small and light as Chiko, and the guy’s even stronger and faster. Ever since the train incident, Chiko has only had to fight people who were much bigger than her, so the guy might be one of her toughest enemies yet.

I also wonder how the creators are going to use the story of that washed-up cleaner, and when that super-powered woman of a number of episodes back is going to return. This episode showed that she’s indeed the product of Nijuu Mensou’s research, but is she going to play a bigger role than just a bit of background for the guy?

Birdy the Mighty Decode – 06

by psgels, posted in Birdy the Mighty Decode



Short Synopsis: Nakasugi invites Senkawa and his classmates over to her house, but Birdy has other plans.
Highlights: Finally this series gains a bit of depth.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10
Now this is more like it. Birdy the Mighty Decode still is my least favourite series of the shows I’m blogging, but at least this episode was a major improvement on the outer-space arc. It’s main purpose was fleshing out Senkawa’s classmates, and it did this well. I feel a lot more familiar with these guys now, and it’s interesting to see that Nakasugi didn’t just recover from her accident that easily, as she seems to have been revived by an alien as well.

My biggest problem with this series is that the episode length of only 13 episodes seems way too short for its own good, and instead of keeping a fast and focused pacing to make the best out of such a short time, it continues to goof off and gets distracted on unimportant side-plots. This episode too: it was enjoyable and all, but there are so many side-characters and side-plots left. How the heck are the creators going to stuff those in just seven episodes with this slow of a pacing? If this was a 26-episode series, I could understand this decision, but 13 episodes is just way too short.

Macross Frontier – 18

by psgels, posted in Macross Frontier



Short Synopsis: Sheryl finds out that her sickness… isn’t as innocent as we originally believed.
Highlights: Sheryl finally gets some good development.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
Throughout the entire first half, I kept wondering why I kept watching this strange overbudgetted series. The characters were okay, but nothing really was remarkable outside of the sky-high production-values. Still, with this episode, I’m really glad that I kept watching and blogging this series. This episode was downright awesome, it first comes with an OP that’s ten times better than the original one (in my opinion, at least), then Sheryl’s character gets more development than the previous 17 episodes combined, and then the episode closes with an epic battle, where the soundtrack seems to surpass itself yet again.

Ah, to think that Sheryl was just a poor sick girl, plucked from the streets. It makes perfect sense now: it’s the same way that Ranka rose to her fame, although a bit more extreme, I guess. Now that it’s apparent that Sheryl’s singing abilities hardly have any effect when compared to Ranka, Grace has no reason anymore to take care of her, and basically just kills her off by letting the disease that got hold of her when she was young spread again. She’s really meant to be hated, having taken her business-like nature way too far out of control.

And I still remain convinced that Bobby should have gotten an episode of his own in the first half. His few scenes of manliness in this episode were awesome, and I feel that the creators could have done so much more with him if they spent a bit more attention to fleshing the guy out.

The thing I’m scared off the most right now is what Sheryl and Ranka will turn into. Sheryl will probably be fine once (or if) she recovers from her illness, but Ranka seems to be heading right down to the path of the damsel in distress, waiting to be rescued by the prince(ss) on the white horse (or mecha in this case). It’s not the cliché that gets me, but I want these characters to stand up on their own, and don’t sit around and wait for the inevitable like a bunch of potatoes.

Seto no Hanayome Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Seto no Hanayome: Gonzo’s attempt at comedy, and what a fine attempt it is. It’s very much the spiritual successor of Magikano: both series share directors, both feature cute girls and both managed to take an incredibly clichéd premise and turned it into something worthwhile. Seto no Hanayome is a bit tamer than Magikano was, and it’s also not the best comedy out there, but if you’re looking for something to laugh at, then it’s a great recommendation.

The key to the success here is the combination between the incredibly distorted faces that were also prevalent in Magikano, combined with a frantic pacing that hardly ever takes a break. Especially during the first half, this series makes sure to keep the laughs coming and coming, and it never seems to run out of inspiration for its next jokes. The characters are smartly not introduced all at once, so that each of them gets enough time to introduce his quirks to the audience.

Then, as the series entered its second half, the humour thank goodness didn’t get dull, and there still was plenty to laugh at. The characters thankfully receive enough depth to prevent them from getting dull after two or three episodes, which is very much appreciated, but this series does have some other problems, which pop up as it hits its second half, and the drama starts kicking in.

Don’t get me wrong, I usually love touching characters, but this is one of these series where drama just doesn’t belong. It gets in the way of the comedy and it’s also not that good anyway. Every time the characters started acting all serious, I kept longing back to the first half, where episodes just kept the jokes coming and coming. Thankfully, at least the series goes quickly back to comedy after these serious moments, but there’s one big exception to this: the bloody ending.

Oh, how deep does this series fall in its final two episodes. I guess it was to be expected with the director of Magikano behind it, but let’s just say that the climax of the story removes all traces of comedy whatsoever and goes down a predictable road with a story about a generic bad guy who tests the strength of the relationship of the two main characters. It’s predictable, dull and pretty much pointless.

It’s a pity when you watch a comedy with an identity crisis: no matter how hilarious the characters are, for some strange reason the creators find that they always need to close off their series with a big, epic and serious climax. The thing is though, that if I wanted to watch a good drama, I wouldn’t go for this series at all. Seto no Hanayome is all about comedy, and at least it’s got that part nailed very nicely. I especially wanted to give credit to the female lead: San. When compared to her counterparts in other romantic comedies, she feels really refreshing. She had a mind of her own, and she actually was one of my favourite characters in this series. I’m very easily bored by romantic comedies, but Seto no Hanayome has showed me yet again that the genre also has a fine selection of gems. The flaws remain, but in this case the pros do very much outweigh the cons.

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

Bonen no Xamdou – 04

by psgels, posted in Bonen no Xamdou



Short Synopsis: Akiyuki gets used to living on the airship.
Highlights: Mostly build-up, but good build-up.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
I liked this episode a lot. Don’t expect much action, since most of it was just building up, but the cast did get a lot of depth this time. It’s very good to see that Akiyuki moved out of the rebellious phase so quickly, and that he’s willing to adapt so quickly. It’s much like Jomy of Towards the Terra. At the same time, the people on Sentan Island are still mourning about the large amount of people who lost their lives. It’s good to see that the creators decided to put a lot of emphasis on this part. Too often we just buildings getting destroyed and people getting killed who never appear again.

At the same time, the mysteries surrounding Nakiami continue to grow. We still don’t know why she ended up on the postal ship. It seems that she doesn’t want to have anything to do with her own kind of people (war refugees without any place to return to and who ended up as pirates), and at the same time the postal ship isn’t exactly the best place to carry out her wishes of finding out more about the Northern Government. The ship also turns out to have its own priest on board: Tenshin. We also see that Nakiami collects the same strange packages of liquid that we saw in the first episode with the white-haired people.

This episode also convinced me that the creators are building up for some sort of romantic relationship between Akiyuki and Nakiami. Well, it was obvious right from the start, I guess. It’s a rather large cliché, but let’s hope that the creators manage to keep the romance away from what’s really important in this series. Note the picture that Raigyo left behind: the kids and the captain (whose names I’ve forgotten at the moment)’s faces were all crossed out for some reason, while Nakiami’s face was just fine, hinting that the two used to have romantic feelings for each other at one point.