Kurenai – 08

by psgels, posted in Kurenai


Ah, its finally happened. Most parts of this episode was a calm before the storm, but at the end of the episode, Shinkurou and Murasaki are finally forced to leave their home and run away from the Kuhoin family. Something’s telling me that the best part of Kurenai is about to begin!

It’s amazing you can do with solid writing. The entire episode was clearly building up for something: for a random Kurenai-episode, it just missed the intense dialogue, drama or comedy that made the previous episodes great, and instead it went for a very quiet and peaceful approach, in which Shinkurou, Murasaki and the other went to visit a local shrine. They had fun through the afternoon, and went to have dinner at a restaurant together, as a way of saying goodbye to their lifestyles of the past few episodes, because the day after that a bunch of random Kuhoin-goons came up and beat the crap out of Shinkuro, and as an added twist: there’s a chance that Murasaki isn’t a legitimate Kuhoin-child: only her father’s two sons are legitimately registered.

I liked those two goons: they’ve got a personality, and throughout the episode, you can actually see them as they gather information on the situation. As it turns out, they underestimated Yayoi’s fighting ability so they retreated

Macross Frontier – 08

by psgels, posted in Macross Frontier


Okay… so that was a disaster…

Don’t get me wrong, it was without a doubt a fun disaster, but there’s got to be some kind of limit on how many face-palm moments you can include into one single episode. Ranka in a carrot-suit already was strange, but at that point, I had no idea that the rest of the episode would feature both Ranka and Sheryl joining Alto’s class (feels like a bad teenaged soap, doesn’t it?), Sheryl’s panties ending up stolen by a random fluffy animal, every single male in the school would obsessively hunt said panties, and Sheryl chasing said creature in a flying-suit, wearing nothing but a dress. Not exactly my idea of quality entertainment.

Still, thankfully the banter between the different characters has been getting better and better. As much as I’d like to hate this episode, I have to admit that some parts were downright hilarious, especially Sheryl, finding out Alto’s “nickname”. And as an added bonus, the final minute of the episode showed how the “bad guy” met Ranka when she was alone with the above-mentioned pet. That serious scene worked surprisingly well.

I’m also wondering, since this is a show about idols: will the creators step on the topics of overly obsessive fans? This episode already made it clear that every single male in the school is a drooling fan of Sheryl, but what surprised me is that they all kept their distance from her, and only went after her panties. No autographs? No attempts to get close to her? It’s a rather strange message: an idol’s fanbase isn’t based around her talents or her personality, but instead on her panties. Everything suddenly makes so much more sense. 😛

Himitsu ~The Revelation~ – 07

by psgels, posted in Himitsu ~The Revelation~


I’m not sure if I’m the only one in this, but so far I’ve found the one-episode stories of Himitsu more interesting than the arcs that took up two episodes. Okay, that may be because the shorter stories were easier to understand, but the shortness of the one-episode arcs also has something appealing to it: it’s episodes like this one that are short and sweet, and still pack a punch. I’m interested in whether this’ll remain the same during the second half of this series (assuming of course that Himitsu will have 24/26 episodes. It would obviously be awesome if there turn out to be more episodes).

In this episode, an important businessman dies. He has a large family, but the most peculiar thing is that he can’t see people’s faces. His entire life, he’s been working hard, though he never could enjoy much social interaction, especially in the later half of his life, I believe. AS a result, he never had a good connection with his family, and refused to put his family into his will, because they’ll just waste the money he worked hard for. Instead, he left all his possessions to the one girl whose face he could see, and whom he met ten years before. That meeting made a huge impact on him. But as a result, his son got jealous and decided to kill him over it.

It’s a bit hard to imagine how someone wouldn’t be able to see faces, but you can also see this in symbolism: the guy was married, he lived with a large family, but there was no attempt made to connect to him, which in his turn didn’t give him much motivation for social interaction. I think he felt like everyone around him was around him because of his money, and not because of himself. That’s why the innocence of this little girl made such an impact on him, because she was too young to really care about his money or status.

Judging from the pattern of this series so far, the next episode is probably going to be two episodes long again. This time, I’m going to try and understand it immediately, instead of finding that I missed some huge plot-hole later. The power of Himitsu really emerges when you see the big picture, and not the smaller ingredients. Though I do hope that the focus won’t be on Aoki so much. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good character, but he has a nasty tendency to overshadow all of the other characters, who are just as interesting as he is. 😛

Allison to Lillia – 08

by psgels, posted in Allison to Lillia


Okay, that’s it. I’m dropping this series. I’ve had enough, the climax of this episode was just painful to watch. I’ll still continue watching this series for the Lillia-storyline, but I don’t want to blog this series anymore.

Owen Nicht is cornered. He’s about to get arrested, so he takes Fiona hostage. Okay, fair enough, I can live with that. HOWEVER, one of the main guards tries to stop Owen by charging directly into the guy. Owen stops him, not by pointing a knife at Fiona, but freaking stabbing the guy’s knee from such an awkward position!

And then it only gets better. Owen manages to escape (note how he didn’t retrieve his knife). The guy is screwed, so he needs to escape. So, where does he run to? The roof. The freaking ROOF. The highest point possible. Obviously, Benedict is the first to get there too, and Owen abandons Fiona to stab the guy, with another dagger that looks exactly the same as the one he just left into that officer’s leg. But here’s the best part: Benedict blocks it with his freaking watch. He didn’t evade the dagger, he didn’t try to disarm Owen. No, he moved his arm in such a risky position so that his watch would stop the dagger, with the danger that if it was only off by a few angles, it would bounce off and still hit him.

After this, I completely lost interest. I knew that this series wasn’t good, but I never imagined that the creators would resort to ZAIZEN JOTARO-plot-twists.

Madhouse, you’re a strange one: you’ve managed to concentrate all of best staff-members on Himitsu, Chi’s Sweet Home and Kaiba this season, and the worst on Kamen no Maid Guy and Allison to Lillia. It’s interesting: usually madhouse series are a strange combination between awesomeness and a bit of laziness. In this season Himitsu, Kaiba and perhaps to a lesser extend Chi’s Sweet Home are pure awesomeness without any apparent weaknesses, and Maid Guy and Allison to Lillia are among the laziest Madhouse Production that I’ve seen so far.

Ah well, now I can blog one extra series this summer, and it’s looking out to be quite a good season. Farewell Allison to Lillia. In a way, I do hope I’m wrong when I fear that the second half won’t be much better, but I don’t feel like finding out.

Crystal Blaze – 07

by psgels, posted in Crystal Blaze


Ah, the standard episode in which a character is angsting and his or her friends spend the episode trying to talk him or her out of it. I now realize how often such an episode can go wrong: it’s obviously predictable, and often it comes across rather lazy. I now realize that series as Suteki Tantei Labyrinth and Code Geass did a rather pathetic job on it: Mayuki and Lelouch did nothing but angst over what happened, then his friends come and say a few words, and they act like nothing ever happened.

Episodes like this one need lots of inspired dialogue. They need introspection, both from the character him/herself and from the ones around him. They mustn’t try to be standalone episodes, assuming that the next episode will continue on like nothing ever happened. And I must say that Crystal Blaze did a pretty good job at it. Manami was definitely depressed, but I like how the creators used a bit of comedy in order to lighten up the mood from all her angst. In this series, the characters actually try to understand both each other and themselves, and that’s what makes this so appealing.

Seriously, Crystal Blaze is one of these series where every major character has become likable, and especially the good guys are a joy to watch. I already sung praises to Shu and Manami, but Ayaka’s caring nature and Akira’s down-to-earth nature are also wonderful. And of course Poririn rocks as well. Th relatively large emphasis so far on the bad guys also really helps. These guys are definitely not your typical misunderstood villains, and they they’re turning out really nicely.

I’m really not sure what exactly it was that the creators did, but this is everything a 12-episode series should be. The reason why I prefer 26 or 39-episode series above series of such a short length is that they can easily go wrong if they’re not focused, and it takes something special to get some quality development out of the characters, something which is much easier for series with 26 episodes, because it usually takes me around 10 episodes to really connect with the cast of characters.

RD Sennou Chousashitsu – 07

by psgels, posted in RD Sennou Chousashitsu


Really, this series continues to surprise me. When I first read the premise, I thought that this series would be something like Dennou Coil or Ghost in the Shell, but I’m still struggling to find a good series to compare this to. Real Drive has become much more light-hearted than I think anyone could have expected, but because of that it’s able to show exactly how people have come to live with the metal, and it’s really able to show the ins and outs of its premise, and the creators can really show their vision of the future, and it’s really great to have series as this one show a more positive view on the future, instead of the bleak corrupted and screwed-up science-fiction series.

This time: pets. I absolutely love the little touches, where chips have been invented that translate what dogs can say (in fact, why shouldn’t this be possible in fifty years?), but there still are a few flaws in the translation, like it mistaking “food” for “friend”. That’s indeed a typical characteristic of software like this: it may do its job 90% of the cases, but it obviously can’t be perfect. It’s the same thing as in episode five: that cyborg was great at fighting, but as soon as he needed to do something else, he became like a three year-old.

The thing is that this series is already so much fun, even though all it’s been doing is building up. I really can’t wait to see this series enter its second half, and use what it’s been building up for, especially considering the director: chevalier had a rather boring first half, but it so much made up for this with its second half, and the same goes for nearly all of his work.

Soul Eater – 07

by psgels, posted in Soul Eater


Well, we finally meet the major antagonist for at least the first part of this anime. The comedy in the fights was abandoned completely unfortunately, but thankfully the chemistry between Soul and Maka continued to be very enjoyable. At the moment, I can’t really place Soul Eater among the best series of this season, though. It’s good, but there are many better series in my opinion. I think that the biggest reason for this is that it spent too much time on flashy fights so far, while it could have used this time to flesh out the characters a bit more. But then again, because this series has 51 episodes, it does have much more time to do this than most other series.

I do want to say something about the use of thugs, though. Not just here, but many anime seem to be really lazy when handling them. They’re nearly all just a bunch of loudmouthed stereotypes, and unfortunately they too are just cannon fodder in Soul Eater as well. I think that that’s why the punk enemy in the Law of Ueki worked so well: he made this punk-stereotype completely ridiculous with his obsessions.

In other news, it turns out that the reason why we never see anything of Maka’s mother is because she divorced a month ago. Now I also understand why Maka’s father is so hopelessly fooling around with other women. Something’s telling me that he’s trying to forget her by doing this. 😛

Summer Season Preview

by psgels, posted in Seasonal Previews

Well, it’s time to start looking at what the next season has to offer again. The summer-season is again going to be relatively small, but there are quite a number of potential gems in it. There’s also a wide variety of different genres; there’s slice of life, action, adventure, mystery, romance, comedy, detective, there are historic series, there’s fantasy and science-fiction. It’s going to be a pretty diverse series, and I’m glad to see people as Ike Yoshihiro make their return as well. I’ll update this list when more anime get announced.

+ Not Really Looking Forward To +
Ikkitousen Great Guardians

Summary: Loosely based on the novel ‘Romance of the three kingdoms’, modern day Japan sees a similar struggle for power between different rival schools with the three strongest being; Kyosho Academy led by Sousou Moutoku, Nanyo Academy by Sonsaku Hakufu and Ryuubi Gentoku from Seito High School. Together these three tousei, each with their own mangatama, fight for the honour of becoming ikki tousen and fulfilling their fated destiny through battle and conquest. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: Oh god, not another one. Why this airs at 9:30 in the morning is beyond me. In any case, this one will most likely be the obligatory depth-less fanservice-show that every season seems to have.

Antique Bakery

Summary: Tachibana, grandson of a rich businessman and newbie in the world of managing; Ono Yuusuke, famous pastry chef and even more infamous “devilish homosexual”; Kanda Eiji, a retired young boxer with a thing for pastries; Kobayakawa Chikage, servant friend of Tachibana and current romantic interest of Ono, who is clumsy yet serious and stoic to a fault (most of the time). Together, these four men maintain a small yet elegant cafe known as “Antique”, where they and all their customers can come together to cherish one of the few but truly important things in life: cake. – (Taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: Okay, I have no problems with Junjo Romantica, but there are borders. I’m fine with Shounen Ai. But please let this be more than just a bunch of freakin’ bishies who like to serve cake. -_- The director of Bedaman doesn’t promise much good either, and I don’t think that even Natsuko Takahashi will be able to save this series.

RoboDz Kazagumo Hen

Summary: RoboDz Kazagumo Hen is an upcoming anime, co-produced between The Walt Disney Company and Toei Animation. It is currently scheduled to begin airing on Japan’s Toon Disney starting in June, 2008, with a possible chance of airing in future Asian Markets. Despite the close release date, little to no information has been given about the project. What is known at this point and time is the episodes will be animated in 3D. – (Taken from Wikipedia)
Thoughts: Well, this series is so obscure that even Anime News Network doesn’t have an entry about it. There’s just one thing you should really know about it: it’s being directed by the director of Dragonball Z. Stay away from this one at all costs!!!

Sekirei

Summary: Minato is a total loser. He’s failed to make it into college twice, he’s unpopular with women, and he’s unemployed. But suddenly one day he met a girl dashing inhumanely fast down the road he walked, chased by 2 bandits with electrical powers. From that day on Minato’s life changed forever. The Girl, Musubi was not any ordinary girl she was a “Sekirei”, and suddenly she just bestows Minato with the power of an Ashikabi, one of a mysterious set of “masters” in an awesome battle royale between hordes of cute girls (and males) with individual special powers called “Sekirei’s”. Eventually Minato’s true capabilities will release his useless self into truly understanding all of the Sekirei’s that he embarks to gather, and his own strength. – (Taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: Produced by the same animation production who worked on the Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha trilogy. They also seem to have brought over the same director and the music composer. The screenplay will be done by someone who’s been behind various fanservice-series as Dragon Destiny, Kakyuusei, Sky Girls OVA, Zero no Tsukaima, Mezzo, DearS, etc. With such a premise, is there really any hope for this thing?

Hidamari Sketchx365

Summary: Yuno has just begun school where she always wanted, Yamabuki High School. She moves out and into an apartment by herself in a complex called Hidamari-so, which is right in front of the school. There, she meets a classmate, Miyako, and a senior student, Hiro. Yuno’s days become hectic as she begins meeting the strange artists that live in her complex. Although she’s not used to her new life style, she begins to actualize her dream while being with these gentle friends. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: Shinbou’s next series, though I never really got into Hidamari Sketch when it first aired. Slice-of-life fans will love this, though.

+ Shows With Small Potential +
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu

Summary: Based on a light novel series by Igurashi Yuusaku, illustrated by Shaa. The main character, Ayase Yuuto is your average boy without any special traits. He attends a private high school where he is one of the many and doesn’t stand out, until, one day, he happens to discover the secret of the school princess Nogizaka Haruka, and his life changes drastically from there on. Haruka, the school’s most unattainable girl, is so idolized in the school for both, her looks and intelligence, that her classmates nickname her Nuit Étoile (The Silver Star of the Night) and Lumière du Clavier (The Shining Princess on the Piano). However, nobody knows that it is only a fake role she assumes to hide her true nature. In reality she is a die-hard fan of anime, manga, and otaku culture. Promising Haruka to keep this a secret, Yuko becomes her advisor and confidente of some sort and hangs out with her more, though earning some viciously envious glares from his fellow schoolmates. – (Taken from AniDB and Anime News Network)
Thoughts: Well, it doesn’t get any points for originality, but it does look better than the regular premise of a shounen romance. Studio Barcelona (the ones who did Kodomo no Jikan and Nanatsuiro Drops) is behind this piece that’ll probably never be anything special. The director who did Otoboku seems to confirm this.

Slayers Revolution

Summary: The May issue (released on March 19) of Fujimi Shobo’s Dragon Magazine has announced the official title of the upcoming fourth anime television series in the Slayers fantasy comedy franchise: Slayers Revolution. The announcement also hinted tongue-in-cheek, but not stated, that the character Xellos will be the main character instead of the popular female lead Lina. A major announcement will be made in Dragon Magazine’s July issue, which goes on sale on May 20. (Dragon Magazine has moved to a bimonthly schedule starting this month.) Dragon Magazine published Hajime Kanzaka’s original light novels that started the franchise. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: I’m a Slayers-noob: I’ve never seen anything whatsoever about the franchise. This series could be a good way to check whether the rest of the series are worth watching. I’m not at all positive about the director, though: apart from Slayers, he directed Shakugan no Shana, Ikkitousen and Lost Universe. Interestingly enough, he also did Boogiepop and wrote the storyboard for Death Note, but by the looks of the overly moe-ified promo-art, I’ll remain sceptical for now.

Koihime Musou

Summary: ???
Thoughts: Eroge adaptation alert! I took a look at the promo of the original game, and this seems to be a fantasy series where a bunch of cute teenaged girls ended up being the commanders of a huge army. Agh, why must these things be so lazy in their explanations!? Interestingly enough though, the director of Mahoujin Guru Guru is going to be directing this one. I hope that he realizes how hopeless the original premise of this series is, and ends up parodying it.

+ Interesting-Looking Series +
Chocolate Underground

Summary: “From 5 o’clock this evening, chocolate is illegal.” It is an amazing law. The story takes place in some present-day country. The Good For You party has won the elections and announced the Chocolate Prohibition law. They prohibit all sweet things, including chocolates, because they are harmful to one’s health. “We can’t stand such an absurd rule”. Two boys, Huntley and Smudger, stand up to fight against the law. With help from Louise and other friends, they begin to bootleg chocolate. – (Taken from AnimeNfo)
Thoughts: Production IG continues its string of series with very weird premises, though I think that Trans Arts is going to be doing all the work again. Still, I must say that the prohibited chocolate has more potential than that of Library Wars at the moment. Ironically, both series share the same director, and this “ONA” also shares a lot of staff members with Sisters of Wellber. Should prove to be interesting.

World Destruction

Summary: From the creators of Xenogears, it seems. An RPG and anime will be released at the same time. “The story revolves around two main characters named Kyrie and Morute who become a part of an organization called “Destruction of the World.”” – (Taken from Destructoid)
Thoughts: Production IG keeps coming with strange premises, which you wouldn’t expect from such a major animation company. Still, I like how they try to think beyond the box. World Destruction can go anywhere, all depending on how they’ll end up interpreting the “world destruction”-part of the title. The director of the Prince of Tennis and Tsubasa Chronicle OVAs will direct the thing, the supervision and scriptwriting will be done by the scriptwriter of Himawari, Reideen and Deltora Quest and Yoshihiro Ike (one of my favourite musicians) will be doing the music. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and hope that this won’t be another lazy RPG-adaptation!

Strike Witches

Summary: The world had received the attack from the existence of the mystery that appeared suddenly. Only girls who have magic can fight against them. They install arms in an own body, and fight in the sky, the land, and the sea. Fights of girls who defend the world start now. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: The first episode still has me intrigued, as in that it was nothing like I expected. I’m interested whether the creators can carry that style further in a fully fledged TV-series, and I hope that they keep the short episode-length. The director has never directed before, which means that this series really can go anywhere, depending on his skills. This seems to be backed up by the fact that this will be another Gonzo series.

Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Natsu no Sora

Summary: Yume Kikuchi, a girl who can use magic, goes to Tokyo to be an apprentice mage to the handsome Masami Oyamada (a professional mage). In Tokyo, Yume learns about magic, helping people, and various other things on her way to being a mage. but she soon also finds out that even just magic alone isnt enough to make someone truly happy… – (Taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: I’ve been doubting whether or not to check out Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto for ages, and this seems a good opportunity to check whether the original series is any good. Hal Film Maker is behind the animation, and the original mangaka will be doing the scenario, which always helps. The director will be the director of Paradise Kiss, Kimagure Orange Road, End of the World, Beck (which I haven’t seen yet, but it seems to be awesome), the seventh episode of Kemonozume and the infamous fourth episode of Gurren Lagann (but NOT the original MTnTnK). The art director will be the one from Good Witch of the West, and the music will be done by the guy who did Vampire Knight. Honestly, I have no freaking idea what to expect from this series.

+ Definitely Looking Forward To +
Natsume Yuujin-Chou

Summary: Natsume Takashi has the ability to see spirits, which he has long kept secret. However, once he inherits a strange book that belonged to his deceased grandmother, Reiko, he discovers the reason why spirits surround him. Containing the names of these spirits, a binding contract was formed between the spirits and the owner of the book. Now, Natsume is determined to free the spirits and dissolve the contracts. With the help of a spirit cat, his days are filled trying to return the names to these spirits. – (Taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: Brains Base is busy this year. This’ll be their next series, and it can really go both ways, depending on how interesting the creators can make the demons that Natsume encounters. For this series, it’ll really depend on the quality of the scriptwriters, and having the director of Jigoku Shoujo and Baccano really helps! The series composition is done by Kenichi Kanemaki, who worked on series as Pani Poni Dash, Jigoku Shoujo, El Cazador and various Hiroshi Watanabe-series. This could prove to be very interesting!

Mission-E

Summary: Chinami Ebihara is girl with a strange ability to generate electromagnetic waves when her emotions run high. However, since this ‘ability’ affects anything electrical, it resulted in her having to transfer from school to school when she was younger. As Chinami, now 18 years of age, transfers to a new school, she once again affects the electronic devices in the school, but this time, when another student, Kotaro Kannagi, sees her do this, he becomes obsessed in studying her “TYPE-E” ability. – (Taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: About the only really bad thing of Code-E was its ending, so I’m really glad to see the sequel. I seem to be one of the few who actually liked the first season, though. It had a cast of really charming characters and for that I’m more than eager to check out the sequel. The retro promo-art makes me even more intrigued as to what the creators have in store.

Ultraviolet: Code 044

Summary: Main character “044” is a female warrior who is genetically engineered with high combat skills and ordered by the government to annihilate a vampire army. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: The trailer looks really promising. The main female lead is drawn without any attempts to make her moe, and the music sounded great. This could be the next great 12-episode series from Madhouse. Osamu Dezaki is also a very experienced director who may have been behind some of the big flops in anime, but also directed rumoured excellent series as Rose of Versailles, Oniisama E, the original Ie Naki Ko and the Snow Queen. Let’s hope he goes back to his roots for this series. Just let it be more than “Vampire of the Week”.

+ Top-5 Looking Forward To +
Yakushiji Ryouko no Kaiki Jikenbo

Summary: Based on a series of light novels written by Tanaka Yoshiki and illustrated by Kakinouchi Narumi. The story revolves around Ryouko Yakushiji, a 27-year-old multilingual investigator that graduated from Tokyo University’s elite Department of Law, and the bizarre cases she faces while working for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. Yakushiji not only has to deal with supernatural beings in her line of work, but also her rival Yukiko Muromachi, another equally talented and beautiful police investigator. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: Another police-series covering the supernatural. Sounds good! The writer of the original novel also wrote the novel for Legend of Galactic Heroes, which is supposed to be awesome beyond belief. The director can go all kinds of ways again. He did a bunch of random episodes on series as xxxHolic, Full Metal Alchemist, Gurren Lagann and Ghost Hound, and he was the episode director of Ookiku Furikabutte. This has the potential of being the surprise hit of the season.

Telepathy Shoujo Ran

Summary: Ran is a bright and energetic first-grader in junior high school who possesses supernatural abilities. Together with Midori (her friend who also has supernatural powers) and Rui, the threesome is constantly embroiled in mysterious circumstances. Ran is troubled by her powers because it seems to spark off the ill intentions of people in contact with her. However, with the support of her family and peers, Ran learns to deal with her ‘other’ side and accepts who she is. The threesome also learn how to team up as a whole and solve these mysterious events. – (Taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: Mystery? 26 episodes? Count me in! I’m really happy to see the musician Yoshihiro Ike in action again. His soundtracks are always subtle, yet awesome. Interestingly, the director for this series is still unknown, but the series composition will be done by the guy who did the script for the Snow Queen, among a bunch of other anime I’ve not seen. I’m interested to see what he can do with this concept.

Blade of the Immortal

Summary: Manji is a crass, violent samurai with a special ability: he cannot die. Cursed with immortality by the nun Yobikuni as punishment for his ruthless deeds, he has grown weary of his ageless life. The only way to lift the curse is to slay 1,000 evil men. So Manji wanders Japan, shedding the blood of the wicked on his quest to finally die. – (Taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: What? I’m a Bee-Train fan, so I’m obviously biased about this one. I’ve not read the manga, but I’m really interested in how Bee-Train’s style will work with such a bloody premise. An experienced writer (Hiroyuki Kawasaki) is behind the series composition, and the music is this time done by none other than Kou Outani, who did the music of Haibane Renmei, Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino, Popolocrois Monogatari, Ayakashi Ayashi and Gundam Wing.

Detroit Metal City

Summary: Souichi Negishi is a shy young man who came from the rural Ota Prefecture to Tokyo for college and wished to become a kindergarten teacher. However, for some reason he became the singer and songwriter of a metal band named “Detroit Metal City,” with a stage name “Johannes Krauser II.” Whenever he wears the heavy makeup, Negishi becomes a completely different person, shouting the most vulgar profanities beyond anyone’s imagination. With the popularity of DMC increases, Negishi starts worrying his double personalities can have negative effects on his (romantic) life off stage. – (Taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: Another Studio 4C television series? Hell yeah! These guys always surprise me when I least expect it. I admit, that the idea of a metal-band sounds really promising, and it attempts to explore settings that don’t often get featured in anime. The fact that this is directed by the director of none other than MUSHISHI makes things even better. Really, I can only imagine what will happen when this guy and Studio 4C join forces!

Birdy the Mighty Decode

Summary: While pursuing a criminal, the pretty but reckless interplanetary police officer Birdy Cephon Altirra accidentally kills Tsutomu, an earthling high school student. To make amends, Birdy is forced to share her own body with Tsutomu’s spirit so that he can continue his own life. At first, Tsutomu knows nothing about his situation but soon discovers that his body is starting to take certain actions without his mind ordering it. In times of action, Birdy takes full control of their shared body, transforming it back into her original female form. – (Taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: When I first learned about this series, I had no interest in it whatsoever. Then I discovered that it’s going to be directed by what’s quite probably my most favourite director ever: Kazuki Akane. Take a look at my top 10 series: this guy directed two thirds of my top 3: Noein and Escaflowne. The guy behind the series composition of Noein will take care of the series composition, I’m really curious as to what these people can do with such a premise. I don’t like the excessive fanservice in the promo, but as long as the story won’t focus much on dull fanservice-jokes, this should be no problem at all.

Porfy no Nagai Tabi – 20

by psgels, posted in Porfy no Nagai Tabi


The summary is going to be rather short this time, as I’m a bit busy with other things right now. Still, this episode was everything a travelling-anime should be: exploration, anxiousness, openness, making mistakes, meeting different people and places, trust and betrayal. It’s amazing how much the creators can stuff into one single episodes, especially considering how slow the pacing is in this series, and how there still are plenty of episodes left for this series to explore.

Porfy is ready to eave Leon, who gives him a bit of advice for the train journey he’s about to make. “First take care of yourself, then God will take care of you”. When Leon says how Porfy can return anytime, the train arrives and Porfy needs to rush to be able to get it. Apollo needs to spend the journey inside Porfy’s backpack, and of course he has a bit of trouble remaining quiet in there. ^^;

Porfy’s obviously fascinated by the huge train, and is surprised at how smooth it rides. He talks a bit to himself while doing so. A bit later, a pregnant woman enters the cabin, and Porfy offers her a seat opposed to him. Very soon a middle-aged man joins in too, and the three easily have a nice conversation. It then turns out, however, that the train is going west, instead of the North where Porfy was planning to head to. In his haste, Porfy gets off at the nearest stop, but this turns out to be right in the middle of nowhere.

Porfy looks around, and sees a nearby city. The dogs in the area are ferocious and will do anything for a meal, which already suggests that the area Porfy’s in is really suffering from poverty. When he reaches the city, however, it turns out to be nearly abandoned, and he only runs into one kid, who immediately runs away. As the evening falls, Porfy tries to leave, though he gets lost and can’t find the exit. He ends up falling asleep at one of the houses, which turns out to be occupied by a middle-aged woman.

She’s first angry at Porfy, though she becomes nicer when she finds out that Porfy has been travelling to Greece. She gives him a bit of candy to eat, and she tells him why the city ended up abandoned. It was basically during the war, the Italian government offered the residents a better place to live, probably so that they could be drafted more easily. Only a few people remained in the city, and that’s why the children aren’t used to seeing outsiders.

Porfy then falls asleep, the woman runs off with his backpack, laughs like an evil witch and the episode ends.

After the previous episode, I considered Porfy to be very lucky when compared to Perrine (from Perrine Monogatari, another World Masterpiece series): he didn’t have to take care of his mother, and whenever he tells how he lost his parents in an earthquake, people all try to be nice to him. This episode shows how much of a double-edged sword this is. The nice people will be really nice to the guy, but this also makes him really vulnerable and easily deceived. These are all lessons that Porfy needs to learn the hard way. Oh, how I’d love to see his character in twenty episodes.

And really, that random chatter in the train with random people: more anime should do this. It’s really fun. ^^;

Amatsuki – 07

by psgels, posted in Amatsuki


Wow. The past few episodes have al started, seeming like a regular intermezzo, and then the episode hits its halfway-point and closes the off with a really powerful second half. This really makes every episode deliver. Series with a continuous storyline often need to insert quiet episodes to give the characters a bit of time to be fleshed out, but Amatsuki really blurs the line between an eventful episode and an intermezzo. It’s a difficult trick to pull off right, but things like these can make a good anime even better.

The quiet parts in this episode continued to spend a bit more time on the love-relationship between Kuchiha and Toki, as well as introducing an important person from Toki’s past. As a child, he seemed to spend a lot of time with this person. Though if I had to mention one part I didn’t like about this series, then it’s the tsundere-ness of that female priest. She worked well in the episode she was introduced in, but she seriously needs some development to stay away from the usual “has no chance to be loved by male lead”-stereotype. I do like, however, how Kuchiha tried to approach Toki when he was about to have breakfast and failed. ^^;

In the second half:
– Toki and Kuchiha head off to do some job
– Kon interrogates Ginshuu, and finds out that the Koku-ten is the closest to Tei-ten (the being that created everything). This Koku-ten seems to be a guy called “Yakou”. I’m not sure who this guy is, but he seems to be some kind of enemy. He lives to drive not only Ayakashi, but also humans and the world crazy. Oh, and the curse Ginshuu is under doesn’t enable him to keep living; it prevents him from dying.
– The fox ayakashi prepares to strike and at the end of the episode she does something that looks suspiciously like killing Heihachi