Shion no Ou – 14

by psgels, posted in Shion no Ou


Really, Shion no Ou is one of these few series that’s just as awesome during its climaxes as during the building-up scenes. I don’t care anymore whether we get some exciting Shougi-matches or just their set-up: they’ll be awesome either way! Even though this episode just built up for the eight-finals of the shougi-tournament, it easy was able to remind me why this is my favourite series at the moment.

Like expected, Saori doesn’t get angry at Ayumi after finding out his secret. Instead, she and Ayumi get much closer now. Like Shion, she offers to pay for the operation on Ayumi’s mother, but yet again he refuses. What’s also interesting is how Saori too noticed that Ayumi started to get other reasons to play shougi, other than paying for his mother’s hospital bills. It also turns out that Ayumi has been keeping his shougi-adventures away from his mother as well. This was to be expected, of course. Ayumi really is a person who doesn’t want others to worry about himself, and likes to keep information about himself from others.

I’m still not sure what Satoru’s up to. First, he brought Saori and Ayumi closer together, and now he arranged behind the scenes with the help of the reporter that Shion’s first match in the eighth-finals would be against her foster-father. Instead, he keeps dropping hints how he was the one who killed Shion’s parents. What did seem interesting was the way he talked to Shion was much more different than usual, and it almost felt like he was emotionally involved with the things he said to Shion, how he too lost his parents at an early age. And really, Ayumi was too cute when he tried to protect Shion.

Interestingly enough, Hisatani also made it through the preliminaries. I loved how nervous he was at all the professional-looking shougi-players that he was amongst. It’ll be interesting to see what the underdog has up his sleeve. And I had to laugh at the way that Yasuoka picked up his phone that told him his place in the eight-finals. From his overdramatic movements, to him not knowing how to use a cell-phone.

The media also got developed a bit through this episode. Now that the tournament is progressing, the coverage of the media is also going to increase. Especially on the only two high-school “girls” who made it through the preliminaries. It really felt like they looked at Shion and Ayumi as they were a bunch of cheap idols, and it’s quite a change from the usual reporter, who always was really involved with the matches.

Shigofumi ~ Stories of the Last Letter – 04

by psgels, posted in Shigofumi ~ Stories of the Last Letter


Okay, it’s a bit hard to believe that a fire would start, just from the suns rays that shine through a bottle of water, but thankfully this time, it didn’t ruin the story for this episode at all. All the doubts I had of this series after episode 2 are gone now, and this has been shaping up to be an awesome series that successfully combines the ordinary with the spectacular.

This episode tells the story of two girls. One of them is the best player at a local high-school tennis-club, and the other is the coach of said club. A lot of signs point to the fact that both are lesbians, or at least very close friends. One of them has been left by her mother, when she ran off with another guy. Right now, this mother died, and sends Fumiko out to deliver her Shigofumi.

Most of the episode is about the girl, running away from this Shigofumi, and afraid to confront it. After all, her mother ran off without coming back at all. This has to feel like some betrayal, and the girl must have thought that her mother hated her. Turns out that her mother watched her tennis-matches from the side-lines, and encouraged her all the way. The past two stories have been simple, but due to their building-up, they’ve worked out really well. What I especially like is how we also get a small look into the lives of the ones to receive the Shigofumi. I guess that this is the same reason why I fell in love with Jigoku Shoujo. ^^;

True Tears – 04

by psgels, posted in True Tears


I like how this show is progressing so far. There’s been quite a bit of drama, but it knows exactly when to lighten the mood a bit with a few good jokes, in order to prevent the atmosphere from becoming like Kannadzuki no Miko or Kyoushiro to Towa to Sora. There’s also hardly any random fluff that feels like filler, like you see in nearly every romantic comedy, and so far, the creators have really shown that they make use of every scene to build up.

The weak link for this series so far is Aiko. She really needs some background information. I want to know why she fell in love with Miyokichi in the first place, and why the heck she became so sick of him that she started going after Shinichiro. Her relationship wit the guy feels nowhere near as interesting as with Noe and Hiromi.

I really like how this series portrays the two of Noe and Hiromi against each other. This episode develops Shinichiro’s relationship with Noe into a more friendship-like one: the two of them just hang out and talk like friends. On the other side we see Shinichiro and Hiromi having both trouble to express their feelings for each other, and they both react differently for lacking the ability to do so. Now it’s going to get interesting when no-one else than Noe’s brother asks Shinichiro to start dating Noe, at the end of the episode. The guy definitely has an interesting sister-complex, which was probably caused by the death of his grandmother.

One thing that also puzzles me is how Shinichiro’s mother treats Hiromi. The two of them aren’t exactly the friendliest towards each other. If that’s the case, then how the heck did the two of them end up in the same house, I wonder…

Saiunkoku Monogatari – 72

by psgels, posted in Saiunkoku Monogatari


Okay, so this may not be the best series to watch with a headache. The dialogue is hard enough as it is, and that headache didn’t make things better. Still, at least I’m glad that Saiunkoku Monogatari seems to be back again. I’m really starting to get impatient with this series. I want to see Ryuuki develop already! I know it’s close, but it had already been close two freaking months ago. With all the hiatuses from this series, I’d really wish that this series would hurry up and get on with it.

This episode basically introduces the next mini-arc. Something seems to be going on in the Ran-province, and Shuurei manages to get permission from Ki Kouki to travel there and check it out. It seems to involve a guy named Son Chouchou, whose role I unfortunately couldn’t pick up. We also see more of the villain for this arc, who seems to have teamed up with the suspicious-looking noble whose name I can’t remember at the time.

Interestingly enough, Ryuuki too will be heading to te Ran-province, along with Shouka. I’m really glad that this guy finally gets some attention again. He was one of my favourite characters whenever he played a major role, so I’ve been a bit disappointed that he’s had so little attention for the past half year.

Now that I think about it, does anyone know how long the second season will last? AniDB says that it’ll end with episode 39, but I just don’t trust that website as an official source. And there is no way that this series will be resolved in six episodes. Of course, that could mean that there’s a third season, waiting to air in the upcoming spring-season. That would be awesome, though I really hope that the building-up of the past months will be worth it.

Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji – 16

by psgels, posted in Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji


I’m not sure what’s wrong with me, but this has been one of the most enjoyable episodes of Kaiji yet, even though it consisted mostly of people sitting and talking. It’s probably for the same reason why I still consider the first episode to be one of the best episodes of the series as well. It’s episodes like these that are simple, yet effective.

Now I realize that with the beam-arc, Kaiji had been drifting away a bit from its original purpose: gambling. The beam-arc just consisted out of a bunch of idiots who walked towards their death. What I want to see are the mind games; people who try to outsmart each other in a battle of psychology. Seeing people, just scared to death becomes uninteresting quite soon.

It’s because of this that this arc is looking very promising. This time, Kaiji doesn’t have an idiot on the opposing side. This time, he doesn’t have to strangely be the only one to worry about the fates of others. This is really a battle between two men, and it already starts out well. Of course, with two rounds, you won’t be able to predict your opponent. It, however, really seems that Tonegawa will only lose about four times if Kaiji doesn’t start using his head soon. I’m especially interested in this experience of Tonegawa.

Hakaba Kitarou – 03

by psgels, posted in Hakaba Kitarou


The story for this week was rather bizarre… Remember the little plant that grew from Dracula’s dead body in the previous episode? Well, Nezumi Otoko uses his breath to knock a famous singer unconscious and plants this plant into his right arm. After a while, the plant starts to grow and it consumes its host. In the meantime, the famous singer met Mizuki. Yeah, who else would believe that there’s a demonic plant, growing on your arm?

In any case, the singer turns into a rather strange kind of tree-stump, and soon even loses the ability to speak. Nezumi Otoko then kidnaps the stump and moves into a secluded house, somewhere far away, using the money he stole from Kitarou in the previous episode. ^^; The stump then grows into a tree, and one very large fruit appears. Nezumi Otoko hoped that this would be the reincarnation of his late master, but instead it hatched a small version of said singer. The episode ends with Nezumi Otoko fleeing, the tree burning, and Kitarou, the small singer and a third youkai who just showed up having tea…

Still, I would be lying if I said that I don’t enjoy these kinds of stories. This series manages to combine a quirky feeling with horror-stories, and the result works out pretty well, and this series is really fun to watch.

I think we also saw the beginning of Catgirl in this episode (or Neko Musume, as Gegege no Kitarou named her). She’s just a normal girl right now, but I doubt that remain the same. Especially since Kitarou has fallen in love with the girl because she can sing so well. I doubt that he’d leave her alone. He was really cute in this episode as well. 😛 What’s also interesting is how Mizuki returned back from hell, to keep an eye on Kitarou. Indeed it would be the best for someone to keep an eye on such a demonic child as Kitarou.

Another thing I like about this series is how all the victims so far have been grown-up men. Usually, an anime would portray some kind of really cute girl in peril at this point, but the fact that Kitarou uses businessmen gives a nice twist to things, especially since they’re portrayed so much away from stereotypes as in this series.

Ghost Hound – 12

by psgels, posted in Ghost Hound


Finally, after yet another week of hiatus, Ghost Hound now seems to be back for real. This episode yet again continues the trend of seamlessly integrating the building-up scenes with the important ones. And that’s really why I love this series. At first sight, it may seem like nothing happens, and yet the plot has been continuously pushed forward by every single episode.

The major event for this episode was Miyako, freaking out in front of Tarou. Only now, I realize that the girl in the storm in the OP was her, without her braids, and only now I realize that her problem is that she often gets possessed by ghosts. I couldn’t exactly pick up what she said back then, but it’s interesting how she freaked out, just at the time when Tarou mentioned his sister, and from what I understood, she was possessed by one of the local gods. It’s quite freaky how this was done. Most series in the same position go all GAR or emo, though this was handled quite naturally.

On further news, we finally learn what happened to Miyako’s mother: she’s in Tokyo. It seems that she divorced from Miyako’s father, and Miyako decided to stay with him. I’m surprised that Ghost Hound is one of the few series where parents can actually be divorced, even though this happens quite often in the real world. But yeah, most lazy anime solve this by never showing the parents of their protagonists, so I guess it’s only natural.

Miyako’s father also runs into the councillor during this episode, and it looks like Miyako will get some sessions in the future as well. It’ll be interesting to see what he’ll discover, especially now that he’s been seeing more and more hallucinations himself. The female scientist (god, I’m going to have to start to learn these people’s names…) also manages to see Makoto in Ghost-Hound-mode, at the start of the episode. Masayuki’s father, meanwhile, is being investigated by a strange photographer, so it really seems that the guy is working himself into trouble.

Makoto, meanwhile, confronts his grandmother about his father’s death. Another conversation I didn’t quite get, but it seems that Makoto is suspecting that the same thing might happen to either him or Tarou. We also now see that Makoto’s grandmother really desires his attention, though the way she acts now, she’s never going to get it. I think that she neglected him so much over the years, that she only noticed how much she needs him once she started getting seriously ill. And yeah, now it’s a bit too late to apologize to a guy like him.

Wellber no Monogatari ~ Sisters of Wellber – 17

by psgels, posted in Wellber no Monogatari ~ Sisters of Wellber


Seriously, since when did this series become so awesome? The first season already was good, but I didn’t really classify it as the best of the season, but it seems that with the second season, the overall quality of this series has increased tenfold. Perhaps even more! I seriously consider Wellber no Monogatari as one of the best shows of the season at this point. Seriously, the past few episodes have been nothing but awesomeness.

Very few series can claim the level of character-development that Tina went through for the past four episodes. Every single episode was contributed to flesh out her character. The first one was about her relationship with Rita, the second episode was about her past, the third episode was about her revenge, and now this episode carries this even further when she starts falling in love with Galahad. Finally I can claim to like another love-story, because this is more than just an attempt to create some superficial rivalry. The creators really know how to use it, and with one episode, the entire love-relationship between her and Jin got thrown apart.

The two of them could get back together in the first episode, just like the first season did. I admit that back then, it felt a bit superficial, but I have no such feelings this time. I feel that whether or not Tina or Jin get back together doesn’t matter at this point. It’s going to be awesome either way, especially Jin can’t deny that he actually proposed to Tina. That scene was SO worth it!

I can now understand why the creators put Galahad in the main party. Originally, I thought that they just did this because of the huge popularity of the guy, but the guy was really meant to shake up the feelings of both Tina and Rita. At least with this guy, I can understand why the girls fell in love with him. He’s hunkier than all male harem-leads combined together.

Seriously, Shion no Ou is getting competition. The past episodes have been amazing, and it really feels like the creators know what they’re doing. This spells out lots of potential for the rest of the season. 🙂

Suteki Tantei Labyrinth – 16

by psgels, posted in Suteki Tantei Labyrinth


Well, that was a disaster…

I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way. In fact, this episode was hilarious, but it also remains a total trainwreck. Suteki Tantei Labyrinth has a really weird sense of humour, and anyone who even dares to disagree should see the opening of this episode. I’m not sure who in their right mind thought of it, but the people responsible should be locked up.

The animation… was pretty terrible as well. There’s no sign of the huge budget of episode fourteen. Usually, this wouldn’t be such a problem, but this time, the animators didn’t even bother to check for inconsistencies. A part of this episode is about a special statue. Legends say that if you put an item dear to you, and have your loved one pick it up, it’ll bring you together, or something similar. The statue has been rigged so, that if it rains, it’s got one hand open and one closed, and when the sun shines, they change into the opposite. It’s a bit crazy, but I can live with it.

Here’s the thing, though: pay close attention to both hands. At one point, Yaya puts in the bear, strapped to her phone on one hand, hoping to score with Mayuki and all. She then leaves, and it starts raining. It’s here where the animators forgot to keep track of which hand was supposed to be open. ^^; All the faces, throughout the entire episode also look horribly distorted.

Thankfully, this episode did introduce two new major characters: Seiran’s brother and his female assistant, who seems to have a crush on Seiran. I really like the way in which this was revealed: the guy acts like a total idiot for the entire episode, and only after that we learn that he’s more than just a random bad guy who came in to confuse Mayuki.

Really, I remember how, at the beginning of this series, I really wanted to like Mayuki’s four classmates. Little did I know that once the introduction was over, every episode that featured them turned into a total disaster. Okay, I laughed, but you do not want to watch these episodes with a straight face. 😛

Gunslinger Girl – Il Teatrino – 03

by psgels, posted in Gunslinger Girl - Il Teatrino


Let me place up this warning: if you’re watching Gunslinger Girl because of the action, then drop this series now. Seriously, if you thought the fight in the first episode was bad, you haven’t seen anything yet. Artland just doesn’t have the budget to animate nice fights, and in this episode, this shows.

In terms of storytelling, though, this episode rocked, and I really enjoyed it. Triela and Hirsher are assigned to the Pinocchio-case, and they quickly find his home. Before they were able to collect any information, the girl whom we saw with Pinocchio in the previous episode finds out about the things he’s been hiding from her, and she gets taken in by Franco and Franca, who manage to convince Pinocchio to not kill the girl. At that point, Hirsher decides to go and arrest them, even though there isn’t any kind of backup. So indeed, the mission fails, and Pinocchio, Franco and Franca escape, and both Triela and Hirsher end up with some wounds.

The aftermath was quite an interesting one, and it seems that Triela now knows who she’s up against, which has a lot of potential for the future episodes. I also liked the techniques that Franco and Franca used to get away. Sure, the fight was badly animated, but at least some thought was put behind it, compared to some other series which have characters just throwing fireballs at each other without any tactic whatsoever.