So, according to Hinano this episode is supposed to be a filler. Still, I liked it a lot more than the previous episode, which seems to have come from the manga. The storytelling for the case of this episode (a guy who loves playing soccer, but isn’t the best at it) was way better than the messed-up stewardess that attacked with bad Engrish.
Sure, the thing was still as predictable as ever, but it’s not like Shugo Chara has been known for its dramatic twists. This actually makes me hope that the director is going to go for his own storyline, as the previous episode did show that he’s got some troubles with trying to convert the manga-format in anime. This episode also convinced me that the best things about this series are the Chara-changes. It’s hilarious to see the characters act beyond their defined characters in a totally outrageous way.
Then there’s also the matter of the heavy Utena-influences. I hope that the creators did realize that the thing that Made Utena great is how it developed its elegant characters, and not the fact that it had elegant characters in the first place. 😛 The best example would be Hotari’s admirer and the strange old tv-presenter-woman. It’s very unlikely that the creators will go for it, but it would be awesome if the two of them actually get their own piece of development at some point during the anime, which will make them more than just stereotypes.]]>
Baccano! Review – 93/100
Anyone who tries the first episode of Baccano! will immediately notice one thing: the immensely huge cast of characters. I could be wrong, but this can very well be the 13-episoded series with the biggest amount of characters ever. While it’s incredibly hard to make a story with so many characters that stretches over three different timelines come together, the creators of Baccano! actually pull this off. And how!
Basically, Baccano! combines immortal alchemists with the American Mafia in 1930. It works quite well, because there are so many different characters, they just have to go beyond the clichés in order to prevent characters who look too much like each other. This results in the quirky thieves of Isaac and Miria, the psychotic Ladd and the charming Luck. While it’s of course impossible for the character to reach the same level of depth as, say, Toward the Terra, but the creators did manage to give every important character (if I had to guess, there’s about thirty of them) an identity, a clearly defined role, a small piece of development and an actual personality.
And I haven’t even started talking about the story yet. Basically, it goes from a completely incomprehensible first episode to a captivating mystery-series, where all the threads of the huge amount of side-stories end up resolved at the end of the final episode. It furthermore tells the story of three, sometimes even four, related timelines right through each other. Because of this, the creators are able to plan the climaxes really well, and they turn into one huge success, with a near-perfect combination between comedy, drama and action. I really mean it when I say that Baccano! has some of the best writing of the entire year.
In terms of production-values, this series also shines. Especially the character-designs: not only do the creators manage to give every one of the about thirty important characters a unique look, they manage to actually do this for even the unimportant and side-characters (if I had to guess, there are about eighty of them). The animation may not look crisp, but it’s detailed, never giving off a feeling of still-frame abuse. The soundtrack consists out of a bunch of catchy Jazz-tunes, which makes me wonder why not more anime turn to this, as it works great to give action-scenes a bit of a quirky touch.
Regarding the bad points, there aren’t really any true flaws about this series, apart from the sacrifices that had to be made for the good points. The first episode is basically one huge puzzle, and only later in the series will things start to make sense. The characters individually aren’t very special either. It’s only when they are combined with others that they become special and interesting.
Overall, there need to be more anime like Baccano! It’s not often when you run into a series that’s as well-written as this one. It’s a definite recommendation from me, provided that you can take a few gory scenes that pop up once in a while.]]>
Baccano! – 13
So, certain things just had to happen. This episode had a huge disadvantage in terms of predictability, and still it turned out great, even though we knew that Ennis was going to retaliate to her creator and Jacuzzi was going to kick the guy in black suit’s butt. Yes, these things happen, but in this final episode, so much more gets wrapped up.
Ladd indeed ends up unconscious, at the side of the railroad, with one arm gone, just like we saw in the first episode. After that, Rail Tracer actually ends up proposing to Chane, explaining how Chane ended up in the water in the first episode: when Rail Tracer didn’t look, she jumped into a river. Nick does the same, while Nice goes to check up on Jacuzzi, who manages to win against the leader of the guys in black suits, like expected. What I didn’t expect is a scene of Jaccuzi, right after Nice had her accident that made her lose her eye. Quite cute. ^_^
What’s even cuter is the reunion of the two lovers, especially when Jaccuzi spots Rail Tracer, thinking it’s an enemy (probably Ladd). Czeslaw also gets a surprisingly large amount of development when basically both Isaac and Miria and Maiza just greet him, without eating the guy. I guess he’s been so afraid of immortals ever since he the horrible things that his companion did to him. It’s interesting: he does remain a child, despite having lived for so long. It’s not something you can recognize in other anime that feature children that somehow are much older than they look. I loved how his story turned out. 🙂
Back in 1930, I just had to be amused when every single person who drank the sake that Isaac and Miria had been passing around returned at the same time. It seems that also a bunch of guys from the Mafia drank it, and the final fight between Firo and Szilard was awesome. I also loved how everyone reacted so happily after discovering being immortal, considering how Maiza had been hiding his secret for years and years, and probably grew scared of it.
And I just had to laugh when I found out what happened to Dallas. The idiot. It’s a bit of an anticlimactic ending, but it fits the guy perfectly, to be trapped in concrete for ages because the Gandors couldn’t find a way to kill him. It may be a bit strange that this story was included in the anime, though. Baccano! is basically the story of the immortals Isaac and Miria (as shown by the aftermath, where we see the two of them as energetic as ever in 2001), and the people they meet. The Dallas-storyline was about the only thing they didn’t have anything to do with, apart from the fact that the Gandors and Eve had met Isaac and Miria at one point.
And to close off this post, those who’ve been reading my blog know that I kept wondering who the guy in shadows was, who was searching for someone in the first episode. My speculations went from Dallas to Czeslaw’s companion, but in the end: it was Rail Tracer. The one he was looking for is simple: Chane. After all, she disappeared after he proposed to her. Of course he’d search for her. I know about the DVD-only episode, but I’ll be closing off Baccano! for now. This really has been an amazing series, and a recommendation for everyone who doesn’t mind a bit of gore here and there.]]>
Ghost Hound – 03
I am SO glad that at least one series of the new fall-season has horror-elements. It’s really shaping up to become one of my most favourite genres, especially because the Japanese style of storytelling works so damn well with it. And I don’t mean the gore-style horror. Anyone can cut off limbs or draw scary monsters. The horror I’m referring to is the psychological one. Another thing I like about this is how horror-series can often captivate me throughout their entire airtime, in comparison to, say, dramas, which more often than not only stand out because of their climaxes.
The horror in this episode was excellent, and at the same time it developed both Tarou and Masayuki, as the two of them, accompanied by Oogami go to see the abandoned hospital, in order to try and make Tarou remember. It also seems that all three of them suffer from traumas. We already knew this about Tarou (kidnapped along with his sister who’s now dead) and Oogami (witnessed his father after he killed himself), but it also seems that Masayuki hasn’t had a perfect youth: he killed a classmate of his. For the exact details, I need to watch the subs, but it’s clear that he’s still haunted by it.
What also surprises me is how close Tarou and Masayuki suddenly are. Last episode, Tarou was getting all tsundere when Masayuki tried to approach him, but the current episode did start with Masayuki, who invited Tarou to his place. We also see a bit more of Miyako, who has visions of Tarou’s childhood. Could she have some kind of post-traumatic disorder as well? The episodes so far were deeply rooted in psychology, so I can imagine that she has.]]>
Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji – 05
It’s strange… usually I can think of witty introductions for my posts, but for this one… I can’t. This episode was really good, and I love how Kaiji came out of it, but it’s hard to explain why. The best part was the part about the title of this episode, though: desperation. Kitami and his friends are probably the only ones on the floor left with more than three stars and the only ones where Kaiji knows something about their amount of cards, and Kaiji had to do everything to keep them interested in playing, especially when Furuhata and Andou kept clinging to their final star.
That latter part is quite interesting, and quite in-line with human nature. Humans aren’t inclined to put their lives on the line, despite what other anime-series might make you believe. Even though they were destined to lose in long-term, and the best chance of winning comes from challenging Kitami, they refuse to let go of their safeties for as long as possible.
Now about the next episode, the problem is that Kaiji still needs to win himself 3 more stars in order for all three of them to survive. For that, he plans to buy out all of the papers from Kitami as well, though the question now remains: how is that going to get him three more stars when everyone else has just scissors? The thing also is that now that the cards are running out, everyone’s getting more and more desperate, so the overall atmosphere is going to look grimmer and grimmer. Then there’s also that little matter that Kaiji and the others still have a huge amount of debt on their hands.]]>
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha Strikers Review – 74/100
Judging continuations has always been tricky. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS is the third instalment of the Nanoha-franchise, which I personally loved. It’s hard to not get caught up in huge expectations, which can ruin a show. Still, despite knowing this, this series disappointed me, and I don’t think that my initial expectations are the only ones to blame.
Basically, in this series, Nanoha has grown up. She’s an adult now, and we join her and the other members of the previous seasons as they form their own division in the military, where their purpose is to protect people from accidents and magical incidents. The series starts as four new rookies have joined as new recruits, and get educated to become law-enforcement mages as well.
The original two Nanoha-series worked for me because of their antagonists. They were deep, and much, much more than just random people who wanted to destroy the world. They were all fighting for their beliefs, even knowing that what they did was ethically unjustified. StrikerS in its turn, creates two more of these villains: Zest and Agito. The two of them are deep and well-developed, and therefore they’re a delight to watch.
But there lies the major problem. This series doesn’t have two antagonists, it’s got freaking eighteen of them. I wish I could say that they’re as well developed as Zest and Agito, but alas: it’s far from that and the phrase “cookie cutter” fits them unfortunately much better. Some of them have only one-line personalities, others are just conveniently brainwashed good guys and while the villains who do get a bit of actual attention (Scaglietti and surprisingly Lutetia) have huge holes in their background story, shallow development and could have been so much more in the end. For a franchise that produced such sympathetic antagonist in the past, this is just unforgivable.
While it’s less apparent, the side of the good guys isn’t flawless either. With 26 episodes instead of the usual 13, you’d think that there’d be enough development to flesh them out well, but for some reason, the creators decided that it’d be better to spend too much time on one group of character, while overly neglecting another group of characters. This leads to quite an unbalanced cast. On one side we have Nanoha, Fate and the four new rookies. They’re fleshed out, developed and all, but the cast is filled with much more (very often more interesting) characters, who hardly ever get any serious attention, other than a few minutes at a time, and most of them lack any sort of background and development. The setting is also horribly neglected. Where does Section Six the section of the military where Nanoha and the others work, stand exactly in the world? After 26 episodes, I still have no idea.
It’s not like Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS is bad. I quite enjoyed certain parts of it. The storyline is quite nice and complex, and the creators did well in creating a setting where difference in experience in combat is actually noticeable, due to the huge focus on it. The characters that were developed were worth the watch as well. But as the continuation of Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha and Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A’s, it just fails and disappoints, making this by far the worst series of the franchise, despite the doubled length.]]>
Suteki Tantei Labyrinth – 05
This really is a strange series…. this episode too: it had many points to like, and many points to dislike. Let me start with the bad ones: this series does feel annoying at parts. The officials who were pestering Yaya’s brother were stereotypes and nothing special. The way their boss also begged the bad guy to do something about Yaya’s brother was awful. I mean, he could have done this himself just as well, if he was desperate enough. I also wonder why nobody else, for eight consecutive years, hasn’t done something about the huge amount of pollution, other than just masking it with holograms. It all felt a bit stupid to me.
Luckily, the storytelling made up for it. While the story itself is pretty dull, it’s told in an interesting way, and the climax actually worked because of this and the characters. I’m not sure why, but I like Mayuki, the twins and the policeman.
Another thing I appreciated is the bit of development on Yaya, and how she actually has a reason to have a weak health. She definitely steps a bit more away from her stereotype this way. I do wonder, though, why she’s on the same school as Mayuki and the others…. Anyway, next episode we should finally the “detective” part of “amazing detective Labyrinth”.]]>
October Summary
+ October Rankings +
The start of the Autumn 2007-season did show one thing: the amount of great series just isn’t as large as you’d expect. Still, I’m glad that at least a few series managed to stand out for me, and now all that’s left is to hope that they’ll unexpectedly turn out awesome in their second halfs. Another advantage of a small season is that series that originally have been ignored can suddenly hope for a bit more attention than usual.
Oh, and in case this is the first time you see this, the series are ranked from worst to best, the number between the ( and ) indicates the place where that series was on last month, the rating is out of 10, with average being a 6,0 (and yes, I’m using the decimal comma).
#44 (new) – Goshushou-sama Ninomiya-kun – (3,9/10) – Ehm… No. Fanservice does not equal a good anime.
#43 (new) – Koharu Biyori – (4/10) – Only for people with a maid-fetish. How come crap like this gets animated, while truly captivating premises are ignored?
#42 (new) – Prism Ark – (4,9/10) – Way too much aimed at teenagers for its own good.
#41 (new) – Myself; Yourself – (5,6/10) – I really don’t remember anything about this series. All I know is that it was rather boring, so I never checked out episode 2.
#40 (35) – Romeo x Juliet – (5,6/10) – Well, I admit that it’s interesting that [spoiler] the bad guy’s dead, two episodes before the end, but things are still looking grim with an utterly predictable finale in store.
#39 (new) – Da Capo II – (5,9/10) – Just has too many stereotypes.
#38 (new) – Kimikiss Pure Rouge – (5,9/10) – I couldn’t really get myself to continue this. In the end, it’s just too generic. Dropped.
#37 (new) – Rental Magica – (6/10) – This series just feels too generic for me to continue. Dropped.
#36 (new) – Shakugan no Shana II – (6,1/10) – Halfway through the second episode, I found myself thinking: “why the heck am I still watching this bore-fest?”, so I dropped this series. Something I should have done ages ago.
#35 (new) – Dragonaut the Resonance – (6,5/10) – I’m still not sure what to think of this series. The storytelling is obnoxious, especially the best friend is getting predictable and the outfits are just outrageous, but the potential’s there.
#34 (new) – Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro – (6,7/10) – Okay, I know that this one could become good later on, but my inner-mystery-fanboy is screaming because of the shallowness of the first few episodes. Dropped.
#33 (new) – Hero Tales – (6,7/10) – A lot of people seem to think that the mangaka of Full Metal Alchemist wrote this series. Well, she didn’t. She just worked on the art. It’s perhaps because of this that I stopped caring about the plot halfway through the third episode and dropped it.
#32 (new) – Sketchbook ~ Full Color’s – (6,8/10) – While episode 1 was nice enough, episode 2 was rather boring and much of the same, so I dropped it.
#31 (new) – Minami-ke – (7,1/10) – On second thoughts, I dropped this. The comedy isn’t that funny, and it gets old soon. It’s a shame, I would like to have continued this, but my time isn’t endless.
#30 (new) – Maple Story – (7,2/10) – Say what you want, but I like this series. It may be rather childish, stupid and without much depth, it also is a fun series to watch.
#29 (new) – Clannad – (7,3/10) – This surprises me. In two episodes, the main character feels more as a part of the series than the main character for Kanon did in all ten episodes that I lasted for that one. It’s a shame that star-girl, book-girl and fighting-girl feel too much like unrealistic stereotypes, because this could be the very first Kyoani-series that I actually like.
#28 (36) – Kodomo no Jikan – (7,4/10) – Well what do you know? This series actually turned out good enough to continue. It’s just like Umisho: the fanservice is horrible, but beyond that, we have in this case a touching story about children with problems at school, and inexperienced teachers, having to deal with it. Based on the rumours, I really expected this series to turn into some kind of spawn of Satan, and I’m pleasantly surprised that it didn’t.
#27 (new) – Night Wizard – (7,4/10) – The thing with RPG-adaptations is that they’re bound to have a few clichés here and there. The thing that they need to worry about is developing their characters well, and making their setting so that the viewer will get interested. A great example is the game Golden Sun. It couldn’t get more clichéd, with the lighthouses and the jewels and all, but the world and villains still kept me interested until the final boss-fight. Still, I’m missing this a bit with Night Wizard.
#26 (31) – Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha – (7,5/10) – I’m honestly disappointed in Nanoha, though I’ll go into more detail for that once the series finishes. I haven’t seen episode 26 yet, but I should get the chance in the next couple of days. Episode 25 made up for a few things, and it did manage to turn out a bit touching in the end, but at this time, I consider StrikerS to be the weakest of the Nanoha-franchise.
#25 (new) – ef – a Tale of Memories – (7,6/10) – The story of the girl with the eye-patch has turned out great. I wish I could say the same about the manga-writer, though. His story is way too standard, and it doesn’t seem to get anywhere.
#24 (new) – Little Princess Sara – (7,7/10) – From now on, I’m also going to include this series in the rankings, as it looks like it’s going to take a while before it finishes. The first episode showed some great potential for the future.
#23 (new) – Gundam 00 – (7,7/10) – Right now, Gundam 00 has been building up for a good base to work with. It’s nothing special yet, but neither are there signs for total failure.
#22 (new) – Mokke – (7,7/10) – So it’s predictable, and the animation… well… sucks. The storytelling makes up for it, and creates a nice and relaxing atmosphere.
#21 (32) – Sky Girls – (7,7/10) – Hah! It’s just as I hoped. While the series is still annoying at times, the characters are starting to get developed, and the overall quality has risen considerably, compared to the first half of the series.
#20 (new) – Suteki Tantei Labyrinth – (7,8/10) – Okay, it’s not perfect, but it’s good and intriguing enough for now. But it’s too early to tell whether this will become a success or not.
#19 (18) – Perrine Monogatari – (7,9/10) – I was surprised to see a new member of the cast appear, in the form of a circus-boy. The messages about how wrong stealing is may have been a bit too emphasized, but overall it was a solid episode.
#18 (20) – Mushiuta – (7,9/10) – The ending created quite a bit of potential for the second season, with all the deaths and all. I must say, that while the series itself had its bumps here and there, I am looking forward to what the second half of this series has in store for us.
#17 (new) – Shugo Chara – (8/10) – While not the best beginning for a mahou shoujo out there, the potential is definitely there, and the past few episodes have been quite some fun to watch.
#16 (8) – Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – (8/10) – This month, Higurashi has been building up for the final arc. It’s definitely necessary, but not as exciting as the show used to be.
#15 (new) – Blue Drop – (8/10) – Blue Drop has been developing into a very nice series. The yuri is always welcome, and something tells me that the best of the series is still to come.
#14 (new) – Moyashimon – (8,2/10) – A well-scripted comedy with a unique premise. The different high-school anime really should take an example from this series.
#13 (new) – Bamboo Blade – (8,2/10) – Now this turned into a real surprise. Episode four was hilarious, and Tama is also shaping up to become a great character. The chemistry between the characters is just excellent.
#12 (new) – Ghost Hound – (8,2/10) – The Lain-influences are so noticeable, though the first two episodes have mostly been just building up. The potential’s there, though.
#11 (???) – Mononoke – (8,2/10) – Mononoke ended this month, and while the final arc wasn’t as good as the other arcs of the series, it was a worthy ending of such an interesting Noitamina-series.
#10 (29) – Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula – (8,4/10)
I’m glad I decided to stick with this series. I know I’ve been ranting against it, but the characters are starting to connect. Sure the plot is still hugely predictable, but the different characters are starting to make up for this.
#9 (16) – Shigurui – (8,5/10)
It’s been a while since an episode evoked more mixed feelings with episode twelve. The episode itself was absolutely stunning, then it became disgusting and then it had me wondering what the heck happened to the enormous plot-hole that was left open.
#8 (new) – Shion no Ou – (8,5/10)
Shion no Ou has turned out surprisingly good after episode three, and into the second-best of the new series that aired this season. Shion and her strong character are a delight to watch.
#7 (14) – Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei – (8,5/10)
Only one episode was released this month, but it was a hilarious one, about the class-president who doesn’t get noticed by anyone.
#6 (22) – Saiunkoku Monogatari – (8,6/10)
Now this is more like the Saiunkoku Monogatari I remembered. Most of the time is till spent on building up, but the upcoming arc sounds like it’s going to be an awesome one.
#5 (new) – Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji – (8,7/10)
For me, this is the best series of the Autumn-Season so far. It’s already after four episodes a fascinating look into human nature, and it’s one of the very few series which can be excellent, right from the beginning. Now let’s hope that it will keep up this level.
#4 (15) – Gintama – (8,9/10)
It was only a matter of time before Gintama went on to take the mick out of the censors, with hilarious results. I also remember complaining about how the endings of Ginrama-episodes are rather disappointing, but let me rephrase that: whenever an episode or half-episode of Gintama is entirely devoted to comedy, the ending turns out disappointing. With drama added, the endings are excellent, which is what the episodes that were released in this month proved.
#3 (11) – Dennou Coil – (9,1/10)
This month has been an astonishing month for Dennou Coil, showcasing some of the best episodes of the entire series. It’s been one hit after the other.
#2 (6) – Baccano! – (9,3/10)
Baccano! has turned out awesome. Now that everything is coming together, you can see the incredible quality of the scriptwriting even more.
#1 (9) – Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – (9,6/10)
With this month, I know for sure: Les Miserables is one of the best series of the entire year. The episodes that were aired this month were absolutely incredible.
+ Top 5 Episodes +
#5: Baccano! – 12
Now that’s what I call an action-scene! Fun, exciting and extremely well-written.
#4: Dennou Coil – 20
This was an excellent climax to the Haraken-storyline. Dennou Coil has really turned out into an excellent series.
#3: Ayatsuri Sakon – 26
I LOVE it when the final episode of a series turns out to be the best of the entire series. It couldn’t have been a better conclusion for the series.
#2: Les Miserables – 43
Now this is what you can do with some good build-up. There should be no doubt whether Les Miserables is worth of the title World Masterpiece Theatre
#1: Les Miserables – 41
This episode wins. Period.]]>
Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji – 04
Wow… just wow…
I was already under the impression that the previous episode showed a worst-case scenario. And then this episode comes along…. seriously, Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei has some serious competition! Basically, Kaiji gets the idea to buy up all of the Rocks, because the papers were lowest of all. It then seems that others were attempting the same thing, though they realized first that they weren’t the only ones with that plan. Now they have bought up all of the papters, and Kaiji is in despair.
Still, I wonder… that isn’t necessarily a as bad thing as this episode made it out to be. I mean, the other group has only paper… how the heck are they going to lose it, when nearly everyone else possesses scissors? Basically, Kaiji holds most of the rocks now, and they basically need his rocks to get rid of their paper and keep winning. Also, if Kaiji wasn’t so caught in despair, he would have noticed that the situation he ran in was actually quite favourable. All he needed to do was find people himself, instead of being picked out. In that case, his chances of winning increased dramatically.
That again brings me to the question of why these people bought up all of the papers. It just doesn’t make any sense. But then again, I think that that’s the true meaning behind the thing that the organizer of the tournament said: it’s all just one big illusion. Kaiji and his group and the other group of people will basically ruin themselves by trying to beat the system. One explanation of their action I have is that they also felt despair when they found out that they weren’t the only one who planned to buy up all the rocks, and went with something that they didn’t think that much through. Otherwise, why else would he show himself to Kaiji if it wasn’t out of jealousy?
By the way, could it be that the same animation-team as Death Note is behind this series? This episode clearly gave me Death-Note vibes.]]>
Gundam 00 – 04
This series has some very strange insert songs… first the ED, which gave me a near-headache the first time I heard it, and now at the end of the episode, there’s yet another very strange song for such a series.
Apart from this, I liked this episode, though. It exactly avoids the mistake that Code Geass made by relying too much on sensation, and goes for a more thought-provoking direction. I like how all kinds of different parties all end up waiting and exploring the true intentions of the Celestial Beings. One country in former South-America tries to be smart by declaring war against the union, in the hope to get support from the Celestial Beings. This plan backfires when the Gundams attack their own forces, even though no shot has actually been fired yet.
The blond guy from the union gets to be the next person to try and defeat Setsuna, though the latter escaped in the ocean. This does provide possibilities: all the guy has to do is attack a Gundam on land, and Setsuna might actually get in trouble against the modified mobile suit. I guess these suits aren’t in mass production because they’re expensive as hell, though I think that the long brown-haired companion and his teacher (I need to learn their names) will figure out how to produce them cheaply at one point.
Meanwhile, in a country in the Middle East (Azadeistan), the princess of the country (Marina Ishmael) and her assistant are observing what is happening as well, after confirming that indeed the fossil fuels have run out, hence another reason why the propulsions of the Gundams are so potentially interesting. The human-reform league meanwhile declared war to the Celestial Beings, and assigned the guy from the previous episode with the scar to capture one of them.
I do have some major issues with this episode, though. Japan remains a xenophobic country, and it shows. Taribia lies around the place that’s currently called Suriname. I know quite a few people from that country, and they aren’t exactly white-skinned. I know anime in general refuses to show people with black skins, but with a setting like this one, it’s way more obvious and painful than with, say, Shugo Chara.
Another thing that surprises me is how desperate people are over the solar power. Four hundred years have passed, and it’s not like solar power is the only power-source left after the fossil fuels run out. I can imagine how the larger countries will be dependant on the towers, but can’t the smaller countries build water-centrals, windmills and nuclear plants? Especially the latter one would have been a great option if the countries are desperate enough.
Also, Setsuna needs some serious development as soon as possible. He’s probably one of the worst members of the cast, simply because he doesn’t seem to have a mind of his own. I also hate the way he talks. I know he’s in for some development, otherwise the student couple wouldn’t need to exist, but I hope the creators hurry with it. I also dislike the pink-haired girl that showed up in this episode, but that’s more because of her character-design.]]>