Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji – 17

by psgels, posted in Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji


Well, the same complaints as usual. We’re one episode further, and exactly two and a half rounds have taken place. Considering how one round just consists of putting up to five cards on the table (in this case two or less), you can’t deny that Kaiji is slow. Still, unlike the beam-arc and the ship-arc, I found myself not distracted by this at all. This episode is really what I’ve been waiting for with this series: mind-games, between two people who aren’t just a bunch of idiots, plucked off the streets.

I’m no Tonegawa, but this episode did a terrific job in showing Kaiji’s thought-patterns to the viewer, and I was actually able to predict some of his moves, just as Tonegawa did this with Kaiji. Like expected, in this episode Kaiji tried to use very basic knowledge to try and outsmart Tonegawa, which didn’t really work. I expect that every time Kaiji and Tonegawa change sides, the game will get more intense. After all, after the sixth round, Tonegawa really has the chance to prove how much he sees through Kaiji, and after the ninth round, it’s Kaiji’s turn to outsmart him, when everything depends on him, winning as much on the slave-side.

I’m just a bit worried about the role of the guys who fell off the beam earlier. Their significance in this series stopped entirely ever since Kaiji rose above them (which was quite early). The fact that they got through the door, and into the room that Kaiji and Tonegawa have been playing in (these guys have healed quite fast, by the way) must mean that they’ll have some kind of role later on. I really hope it’s something better than being idiots, like they usually are.

Saiunkou Monogatari – 74

by psgels, posted in Saiunkoku Monogatari


There are just two things I don’t like about Saiunkoku Monogatari: the fact that the slow subs have forced me to watch it raw, meaning that I don’t understand half of most of the episodes without Impz’s help, and all these random hiatuses it’s been having. For the past few months, I realized that it’s really important for this series to continue on a weekly basis, otherwise it loses me a bit in the middle of the action. Thankfully, it seems that the final episodes of the second season won’t have anymore random hiatuses like that, so that eliminates the second point for now. ^^;

And really, Ryuuki stole the show this episode! Finally, he’s actually starting to develop, along with Juusanhime. His sadness on the boat towards Shuuei really surprised me, and it seems that he’s really regretting how he ran away from all of his responsibilities, yet again. There’s even a possibility that he won’t be able to return as the king, which is especially unnerving, considering that a few episodes back, we saw that one of these guys had plans to take over Ryuuki’s throne.

In her turn, Juusanhime finally reveals her history with Shiba Jin. It seems that at one point, her mother died (of which circumstances, I don’t know, though; I’m not even sure whether that was revealed). Shiba Jin was then sent to kill her off too, but he couldn’t. Eventually, after three days if I picked this up correctly, Shiba Jin ended up cutting out his own eye and went along with her to the main house of the Ran Clan, and ever since the two had been in love. The two of them spent most of their childhood years together, along with Shuuei, but at one point Jin killed his own father. I’m not sure why, but if I had to guess, then it’d be because he tried to do something against Juusanhime. Probably to finish the task that Jin never could complete.

Ghost Hound – 14

by psgels, posted in Ghost Hound


Apologies for the lateness on this entry. I’ve both been busy, and some wise-guy on Share thought that it was a good idea to disguise a random music-file as the latest Ghost Hound episode. In any case, if you were waiting for the major plot-twists, then this episode is not to be missed, because the plot-twists at the end of this episode were more exciting than ever. The building-up is really starting to pay off, and I don’t know about others, but the creators have managed to fully draw me into the atmosphere of this season.

I think I’ve said it before, but what I really like about Ghost Hound is how it manages to put building-up and major climaxes in the same episodes, compared to most other series, which basically have to make use of entire arcs to just build up enough for one climax that takes a few episodes. Because of that, I just know that a Ghost Hound episode will end up satisfying, because it took so much time in the beginning of its run to carefully place all of the pieces.

In any case, to give a short summary of things that happened: Miyako finally has some therapy from Hirata-sensei. Hirata-sensei seems to be quite a famous academic in Tokyo, which seems to point out how important he believes that Tarou’s case is. Meanwhile, Masayuki finds out that the woman who has been dating his father is the female scientist. Michio (who has really warmed up now that the bullies are gone, by the way), reveals in a library book something about the “Kotosaka no Kami”, they seem to be some kind of gods or spirits.

For the counselling, Miyako gets put under hypnosis. Then, Tarou sees his sister’s image in the unconscious Miyako. It could be very well possible that right now, the spirit of Tarou’s sister has possessed Miyako. In any case, the spirit takes over her again, even worse than last time. Luckily, Komori makes sure that she forgets everything that happened. On the way back, Noriko yet again turns up, and starts going after Miyako this time. It also turns out: Makoto’s grandmother died.

These were some really interesting developments. I wonder what’s going to happen to Makoto now. Is he going to start living with his mother? Or will Noriko still take care of him? Speaking of the devil, what the heck is she up to? She was seen making several phone-calls as well, when Makoto’s grandmother called out for her help.

I’m also not yet sure whether Tarou’s sister is really the spirit that took hold of Miyako, but if this was the case, then it would explain a lot. Of course, the reason why Tarou is so interested in her could just as well be because she resembles his sister so much. 😛

Hakaba Kitarou – 05

by psgels, posted in Hakaba Kitarou


How awesome. I now fully understand why the previous episode felt so bad and weird. The entire fifth episode was dedicated to explaining the things that happened there, and it provided a wonderful conclusion to a story that started off so horrible. After watching this episode, I completely forgive this series for the disappointments of the previous episode. I’ve said before that I’m a huge mystery-fan, and Hakaba Kitarou knows exactly how to handle it!

The best thing of the episode would of course be the fact that this episode shows a totally new side of the bad Kitarou. It seems that he too was used by Nezumi Otoko. If I understood this correctly, all Nezumi Otoko was after was the part of his head that Neko Musume bit off, but you can only get your hands on it if she’s in hell. However, because of this, bad Kitarou would need a way to return from hell, and that’s why he needed Kitarou’s jacket, which basically was his link to the spirit-world. He got it in the ruckus that he caused when he set off that mouse on Neko Musume during her performance.

In the process, something went wrong, though. I couldn’t pick up exactly what happened, but bad Kitarou ended up on one of the side-paths on his way to hell, and got separated from Neko Musume. Only because of the real Kitarou’s father, he managed to get out of there, into the real hell. Unfortunately, my Japanese isn’t good enough to pick up why Nezumi Otoko ended up on television this episode either, however it was clear that Nezumi Otoko manipulated bad Kitarou to everything, and he betrayed him at one point.

Thankfully, Neko Musume also remains in Hell, even though she did have the option to return. Kitarou may have also been a bit too emo in his lovesickness, but the climax of this episode worked out pretty well because of this, when Neko Musume refused to meet him. Also, it was pretty hilarious to see how Bad Kitarou shaved his head in the end when he turned good. It’s quite impressive that the creators made him go through so much development in just one episode, and actually got away with it. ^^;

Wellber no Monogatari ~ Sisters of Wellber – 19

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


Haha, I knew it! The resemblance between the two just couldn’t be a coincidence. Major spoiler coming up ahead if you’ve been following the subs. Let me just say that Wellber no Monogatari has become amazing with its second half, and this episode was no exception. This one was fully focused at the plot, as Tina meets the second Shinigami Bee. He isn’t the one who killed Tina’s parents, but he does tell her where she can find the real murderer.

It’s in Wellber, which makes it almost certain that Rita’s brother indeed was once known as the third Shinigami Bee. Now that I mention it, Tina has never seen the guy, has she? I must say that the way that the creators handled this was very good. First they introduce the guy, and after that they keep dropping subtle hints that all point to the fact that Rita’s brother was the murderer. It’s so much better than when they saved the surprise for the last possible moment and went with a sudden revelation (Romeo and Juliet anyone?)

And those disguises! There are basically two rumours about the Shinigami Bee floating around, and Tina and Bergerac go and investigate the first one, while Rita and Galahad go for the second one. The latter two need a disguise for that in order to avoid suspicion, and both of them looked so awesome. Especially the sunglasses and new haircuts did it.

Suteki Tantei Labyrinth – 18

by psgels, posted in Suteki Tantei Labyrinth


Well, the second half of this series continues its trend of having utterly bizarre episode-openings… This time: Mayuki’s baby-photos. I’m not sure whether to commend or shun the fact that the creators have absolutely no sense of shame, because one of these pictures was particularly disturbing. You’ll understand when you see it.

The rest of the episode was about another one of the strange games by Seiran’s brother, which among others involved Mayuki and the others being chased by angry ostriches. You have to give this series credit for not screwing up the drama-part, though. It may seem really silly at times, but this episode showed yet again that this episode is quite capable to be interesting without the comedy. This really is something I miss in 90% of all other comedies. They may be funny, but their forced attempts at drama at the last minute is just weak.

I was surprised to find out that Shien was actually the older brother of Seiran. For a bipolar villain like him, he’s pretty interesting. We also learn that the reason he came was Seiju (whom we haven’t seen in weeks, incidentally). I wonder how he’ll fare against Byakko and Seiju, whenever they show up again. The fact remains that Byakko is dangerously close to convert over to the good side, so she definitely needs some more development. Heck, we still don’t know why she ended up with Seiju in the first place.

And really, first alligators, now ostriches. What’s next? Rhinos?

Gunslinger Girl – Il Teatrino – 05

by psgels, posted in Gunslinger Girl - Il Teatrino


I really, really, really hope that the useless recap of the previous episode that took up nearly half of this episode was used to save some budget for the future episodes, and NOT a sign that the budget for this series has already ran out. Bad animation is one thing, but when the creators start recapping for no possible reason, it’s often not a good sign. Let’s hope that it’s just one thing that went wrong on the production-side, like with the infamous episode 13 of The Third.

Luckily, the second half of the episode totally made up for the first half, when it gives some Background-information on Marco. Something he really needed €after the first season, where we learned hardly anything about him. It seems that he once left his girlfriend for some unknown reason, and now one of the enemies (I didn’t pick up exactly where he fits in the big picture, though) has decided to use her against Marco. This fails with the help of Angelica, though.

This episode was also meant to show how Angelica has grown, and how she’s become much closer with Priscilla. I like series like these, where the main characters aren’t necessarily the ones with the most screen-time, and where everyone gets an equal amount of attention.

Porfy no Nagai Tabi – 05

by psgels, posted in Porfy no Nagai Tabi


Ah, now everything becomes clear: the thing that Porfy’s father wanted to build was his own car repair-shop, so that he could work, while being at home. He manages to finish building it this episode (which is quite fast for a World-Masterpiece Series, by the way, though I’m glad that the creators still showed exactly how Christopher built the shed, instead of most anime which show a bunch of random good-looking pictures).

This episode was mainly meant to develop Porfy and Zaimis. Porfy is really one of these kids who’ll put his entire mind and soul into what he believes, and ignoring the rather important things around him in the process. In this episode, this is school. Porfy basically skips school in order to help his father build his shop. It turns out that Zaimis wants to be a school-teacher later, so he of course tries to stop Porfy, but fails. It’s quite interesting how he doesn’t want to tell Christopher about this, and leaves it to Porfy to tell this for himself. In the process, though, he does avoid Porfy, and Porfy in his turn does start to feel a bit lonely. Corrina makes this even worse, by stealing away Zaimis whenever Porfy wants to talk to him.

It’s an interesting way to get Porfy and Zaimis closer together. The lie was quite a small one, though because it was really given time to develop throughout the episode, it worked out really well.

Gundam 00 – 17

by psgels, posted in Mobile Suit Gundam 00


Yup, indeed. The Throne Gundam Meisers are a bunch of inexperienced idiots, even more emotionally unstable than the original four Gundam Meisters. Both Michael and Nena have no sense of subtlety, and I especially dislike Michael. Ah well, at least they’re good for some development for the main cast. This episode reminded me again of why Tieria turned into my favourite characters for this series. He’s the only one who really tries to use his head. Setsuna is also turning more likable with every episode now that he too became sceptical of his mission.

Also, I don’t understand one thing… how did the Throne Gundam Meisers know that the professor finally found out their plans? Okay, I can understand the superpowerful Gundams. This episode also gave a pretty good reason for why everything took 200 years to finally get started, because the Gundams could only be created on Jupiter. But the l33t hax0rz skills of these people are starting to get a bit ridiculous. There’d better be a very good explanation, because you don’t just “hack” yourself into a random government institution and get away with it. Heck, if things go wrong, you can easily be traced back by the right expert.

And regarding Jupiter, it finally seems that the enemy has obtained some information about the Gundams in an abandoned space-station near Jupiter. Lockon’s flying ball also mistook the Throne Gundam’s flying ball for his brother, while it seems that this brother was actually left behind on the Jupiter Space-station. I do wonder, though, how did these people find out about Jupiter, six years before everyone else?

And on a completely unrelated note: Saji has to say goodbye to Louise, who heads off to Spain. And still there is no new connection whatsoever between the guy and the Gundams…

Shion no Ou – 15

by psgels, posted in Shion no Ou


Shion versus Yasuoka. How could this episode not turn awesome? It was probably the longest match of the entire series (a bit less than one episode, to be exact). As always, the match was awesome, but what went on around the match was even more interesting! Sure, Shion managed to win, but that’s not what this match was about. It was a nostalgic trip for both Shion and Yasuoka, seeing as this was their first real match. Shion was SO adorable when she was four, and first got into contact with Shougi. I can’t believe that she actually played her first match at that young age, and it’s even more adorable how even then Yasuoka didn’t hold back.

Hisatani and Saori also have quite an interesting relationship. Hisatani has been nervous ever since he realized what he was up against, and Saori just keeps yelling at him to get him back to earth. He’s got his own match to prepare, so he can’t check up on Shion. I also like how Shion ended up winning. The usual spectators have written her down, at that point, and then Satoru suddenly reveals a fail-proof way for Shion to win that everybody else didn’t see. Of course, Yasuoka did see it, and he forfeits.

The episode also ended with a great scene between Satoru and Yasuoka. As usual, Satoru starts taunting, though Yasuoka retorts that Shion’s parents must be proud at how she grew to adulthood. After that, we see a bit more of Satoru’s past: it seems that he actually SAW his father die in the accident that killed him. After that, he shows what could very well be the nicest face that we’ve ever seen from him…