Now that two episodes have been devoted to giving Takano some background, it’s time for two more episodes of building up, which fill in the final pieces of the mysteries of this show, even though the mystery has long since stopped being a central focus in this show. I suspect that in the next episode, we’ll finally know the only thing I’m still curious about: how did Satoshi die?
This episode… it wasn’t really anything special. The only thing I liked was that Satoshi wasn’t as pure as you’d think he was: Satoko was actually a huge burden on the guy. Takano herself was a bit disappointing, though. She feels too much like a stereotypical villain, even after getting background. Tomitake, who was supposed to visit Hinamizawa once every few months shows up damn often, and I’m also quite confused that Satoko, Mion and Rika of four years younger look almost exactly like their older versions. Things become a bit unbelievable when four, perhaps even five years pass and there is no single noticeable difference in appearance for any of the different characters.
I would have liked the writers to integrate all these revelations a bit with the storytelling as well. Right now, it just feels that they’re going through a checklist of things that still need explanation. Compare that to the first season, where you knew the exact same that the different characters knew. It would have been so much better if we saw Rika investigate on Takano’s past to find out these things, for example.]]>
Ayatsuri Sakon Review – 85/100
Ayatsuri Sakon is another one of these unknown series that nearly nobody has heard of, and which still is quite good. It’s an arc-based series, tackling murder mysteries. The main character is a pretty interesting one: he’s a puppeteer (Sakon). On his own, he’s really shy, but when he wields his favourite and most cherished puppet (Ukon), he becomes quiet, serious and quite cool. To make matters even better, he’s so good at ventriloquism that his puppet looks just too much like a person. Ukon is loud-mouthed, rude and nearly the opposite of Sakon’s personality, but together they form a solid base for this series to work with.
Basically, the arcs in this series consist out of three or four episodes, and in each of them, a person is killed and Sakon, who happens to be in the neighbourhood, has to solve them. These mysteries go far beyond the “Scooby-Doo”-murders, they’re committed quite carefully, and it’s very often that only the smallest details will give them away. The murderers themselves also often have quite some interesting reasons for their actions. As an added extra, because Sakon is a ventriloquist, the entire series is deeply rooted in the ancient Japanese puppetry, giving this series a unique look.
There is, however, one problem with the set-up. I’m personally a huge fan of arc-based series, but they’ve got one major drawback: the quality between the different arcs can fluctuate heavily. With Ayatsuri Sakon, it’s the arcs in the middle of the series that are a bit lacklustre, and not that interesting when compared to the other ones. It’s often obvious who did it, and they do a bit too little to really stand out.
Still, to make up for this, there are a number of astonishing arcs around the beginning and end. Especially the second and the final arc are true masterpieces in storytelling, and just about everything went right for them. These two arcs managed to become very emotionally charged, with great results.
There are a number of recurring characters here and there, and I’m glad to see that all of them get sufficient development to be more than just a two-dimensional one, and nearly all of them have an entire arc dedicated to them. Sakon is also an excellent main characters, who can, together with Ukon, perfectly carry the weight of the series. He may seem like a static character in the beginning, but don’t worry: as the show goes on, he’ll get enough development.
Overall, if you’re a fan of murder mysteries, you just have to give this series a chance. Don’t be scared away by the lesser middle part, both the beginning and the end contain some remarkable stories. It’s a shame nobody talks about this, because Sakon is definitely getting less attention than it deserves, and it’s a real underrated series.]]>
Ayatsuri Sakon – 26
This episode was… just amazing. I’ve been hoping so much that this arc would finally be able to trump the second arc of this series, but I can’t believe that the creators actually did it! This episode was quite possibly the best episode of the entire series, something which is what every series should aspire. The true villain of this arc had a really deep backstory, and this was combined with excellent writing to an ending that just couldn’t have been any better. I’m SO glad that this series turned out in an awesome way in the end.
While some arcs of this series focused at “who did it?”, this was already clear in this one: Ayano Shinozaki. The “how did it happen?” also wasn’t important: this was explained in just one minute. This really was an arc about the “why?”. Ayano is the sister of Sakon’s father. They, however, used to be members of a rivalling puppetry-school of the Tachibanas. This ended when the Tachibana-family spread bad rumours about Ayano’s family. Her father committed suicide because of his worries, while her mother went insane. Ayano and her brother then went different ways, while they both tried to end up, back with the Tachibanas, in order to take revenge.
Then Sakon’s father married, and had Sakon. Seven years later, though he committed suicide as well. It’s still not clear why, but I can imagine how he was terrified because of all the mistakes he made. Considering his family and their genes, it’s possible. In any case, because of this, Ayano decided to one day kill Sakon. His sudden promotion to successor of the Tachibana-school probably was the final straw for this. As for the reason why she didn’t just try to kill Saemon, the one who was really responsible for her parents’ deaths, with a lot of help from the media, I’m surprised that she didn’t have a clear answer for this. But I think that that’s exactly what makes a good antagonist: reasons that can’t be explained in one or two lines, but still make sense somehow.
So yes, I cried during this episode. It’s sad to see this series finally go. I’ve been blogging it for nearly two years now (to be exact, I started blogging this at November 30, 2005), and there has been no other show that I blogged for a longer time than this one, even Popolocrois. It’s obvious that it’s been a really fun time, despite the lesser parts of this series.]]>
Suteki Tantei Labyrinth – 04
In this episode, there were quite some flaws in the storytelling, though I do admit that it was nice to watch. The way the heat-seeking wax zombies moved was a bit unbelievable, Minori was also a tad too helpless even though she hurt her ankle, and the way the dog found the Tokyo Tower-figure in the end also didn’t strike well with me. Still, Mayuki and Kouta were fun enough to watch. In the previous spring-season, I’ve watched so many truly believable series, that it takes a bit of time to get used to this series, which is more like a glorified children’s adventure. One thing I do appreciate of this season is that, despite the fact that it’s nowhere near as promising as the previous ones, it is refreshingly different. There are quite a lot of children’s adventures (Shugo Chara, Maple Story, Labyrinth, perhaps Ghost Hound) and competition-series (Shion no Ou, Kaiji), compared to the Spring and Summer-season, which were more about fantasy, sci-fi and historical series.
One thing that surprised me in this episode was the soundtrack. It worked out pretty nicely, if I say so myself. It did a fine job to create a bit of tension during the eventful scenes.
And regarding the mystery: there’s definitely something strange about Mayuki. Does he have hidden powers? Is he himself important? All we know is that the bad guy wants to have this, which he can’t get by simply kidnapping the guy. It’s probably Seiran’s job to prevent him from doing that, and I think that he didn’t account that Mayuki would run off on his own for this episode.
For now, this series isn’t anything special yet, but I’m curious enough for the second half. The first major climax of the series is now over, and it’s now up to the creators to develop this into an engaging series. After all, Night Head Genesis also had a rather mundane middle part, though it turned into a mighty fine series in the end. I’m hoping for the same with Suteki Tantei Labyrinth.]]>
Pom Poko Review – 76/100
Pom Poko belongs to the collection of animations and movies, meant to raise awareness about environmental problems. In this case: raccoons, who see their territories shrink by the minute, due to humans and their need of new homes. The links to studio Ghibli are obvious: they take the myths about how Raccoons are able to transform and change their shape, and create a unique culture for these little animals, who try to do something against the humans, despite their carefree nature.
The thing is, though, that the environmental messages may be good for children and others new to these kinds of problems, but for me, I felt like I’ve seen things like these a bit too many times in other movies, commercials and documentaries. The true reason you should watch this anime is because of the raccoons themselves. They’re quite hilarious with their short attention-spans, and it’s especially interesting how they’re portrayed in a human-like way. I especially loved how the newbies tried to practice transforming.
Because of this, the first half of the movie is a lot of fun to watch. There’s a lot of detail put in the dialogue, and a nice balance of comedy and drama. I wish I could say the same about the second half, though. Incidentally, the one who directed this movie was Isao Takahata, who also did Only Yesterday. Both movies felt like they’ve gone on for a tad too long. It’s a shame: the guy clearly has lots of talent, and his eye for realism is astonishing, but his direction really drags on a bit too much at times.
The second half of Pom Poko falls victim to this. It’s just too… one-sided, and feels like I’ve seen it many times before. Granted, this movie is already about fifteen years old, but I don’t really think that the issue at hand was very new at the premiere-date either. There are also a few story-inconsistencies here and there: at one time when a raccoon is injured from a small accident, he remains in bondages for a full year. Then when he’s hit the next time, he stands up and goes on like nothing happened.
One thing that I do have to praise this movie for is that it isn’t afraid to address death. Despite the fact that this movie is aimed at children, with its carefree nature, both humans and raccoons end up losing their lives. Overall, this really is a Ghibli-movie. The animation is very detailed and full of creativity, a lot of attention has been put into the dialogue. It’s just a pity that the lacklustre second half prevented this to become a classic.]]>
Gundam 00 – 03
For now, I’m happy enough with this series. My biggest fear was that it would go down the same path of Code Geass, though at this point I’ve yet to find any hints that that would be the case. There isn’t one party that’s just pure evil, hundreds of innocent citizens aren’t killed in an attempt to evoke sympathy, the fights are short and sweet and there are no hints that two childhood friends will end up against each other. The director of Full Metal Alchemist and Ooedo Rocket hasn’t disappointed so far.
Right now, this series is just building up. The Celestial Beings first need to build up some kind of success before the real meat of the series can come. I’m also dying to know some of the background behind the different characters. How did they end up where they ended up? How come the Celestial Beings waited 200 years before acting? What I like so far is how all the four Gundam Pilots have different opinions about the war. Not bad, for only three episodes.
Ireland may have gotten a bit more development before the declaration of peace, though. It’s a bit of a pity that the creators only used wars that have been going on for more than hundreds of years, and it would have been more interesting to see the leaders of the terrorists, to make their actions a bit more believable.
This episode also explains why the two students we’ve been seeing occasionally will be important: the guy is Setsuna’s next-door neighbour and the girl is this guy’s girlfriend. The guy furthermore lives with his sister, who is investigating the Celestial Beings. The guy especially will without a doubt be responsible for a large amount of character-development on Setsuna’s side. It’s a bit predictable, but if the creators carry this a bit further, things could become quite interesting.
Then there’s also the old Gundam Models which were left behind. The Celestial Beings must be very confident to just leave clues like that behind, which could give the enemy more advantages in battles.]]>
Only Yesterday Review – 78/100
Omoide Poro Poro, better known as Only Yesterday is a story of reminiscence. It features a twenty-seven year old woman who works in Tokyo, and heads into the countryside during her vacation. It is here where she starts getting nostalgic about her ten-year old self. It’s another Ghibli-production, directed not by Hayao Miyazaki, but by his best friend: Isao Takahata. While I haven’t seen much of his works, the guy seems to be famous because of his huge focus on realism.
And with Only Yesterday, this shows. Now that I’m writing this review, I can’t recall any other anime that had a higher degree of realism than Only Yesterday. Everything just feels so real, and if you’ve lived in Japan, this effect will probably be even clearer. The character-designs are simple, yet people really look lie Japanese people, instead of some crossover between Asians and Europeans, like you usually see. The voice-acting is terrific; you can actually hear that the characters are voiced by real people, instead of actors. Children are also children, and not thirty-year old adult who try to sound like children, something I’ve only seen a handful anime do as well.
But the thing that really shines is the dialogue. No matter who you are, there’ll almost certainly be at least one scene in the movie you can completely identify with, and the amount of detail it comes with is almost scary. Still, therein also lays a problem. I myself got lost a bit when the characters started talking about periods (you know… with women and all), and the main character’s father, who may be a normal person in Japan, was a bit hard to swallow for me, who grew up in Holland, which has probably an entirely opposite culture when compared to Japan.
Those who’ve been reading my blog probably know by now that I don’t really mind slow pacing, but with Only Yesterday, even I have to admit that the entire thing goes a bit too slow. Realism often comes at prices, and because of this, certain scenes just drag on forever in order to make them look as real as possible.
There’s also the lack of emotional tension. While I found it easy to identify with the main characters, I had difficulties sympathizing with her. That’s because there’s hardly any need for them to get emotional, not until the final few scenes of the movie. But with a total length of nearly two hours, the length of it may have been a bit too long. When the characters do get emotional in the end though, the scenes work out great.
I’m also surprised at the lack of background for the side-characters. They get fleshed out enough, but I would have loved to see how the old classmates of the main characters grew up after going to high-school and beyond, because they were quite interesting to watch. The main male side-character does also get a few lines of background, but it just doesn’t feel like it’s enough.]]>
Shigurui Review – 84/100
Apologies for the lateness of this review, but more on that later. Let me first put up a warning: if you’re planning to watch this series and have some kind of little brother or sister: keep Shigurui AWAY from them. Nobody under sixteen should be allowed to watch this. Not only is this one of the, if not THE goriest anime I’ve seen, it’s also filled with over-the-top sexual reference.
Sure, a show like Elfen Lied may have had more blood, but that was also all it had: lots of blood and random limbs gushed over the screen, but it never really went further than that. Shigurui carries gore to an entirely next level. The amount of detail is astonishing; the creators have an amazing amount of medical knowledge, and they use al of it. When a finger gets broken, you see exactly which bones dislocate. When an arm gets cut off, you see exactly how the muscles grow back. And that’s what makes it such an effective horror-series.
Especially when you combine it with the storytelling. The pacing is very slow, but it uses the gore and very creepy sound-effects to create an extremely tight atmosphere. It’ll have you during its many and creepy climaxes. If it wasn’t for its flaws, this would have been one beast of an anime.
Because yes, it’s a shame, but there are a few things that went wrong here. Especially in the first half, the creators get carried away a bit too much and delve in pointless rituals, like cutting off a woman’s nipple and eating it. Only at episode six, the series gets back on track With a gripping and powerful second half. The role of women also isn’t too good in this series. Basically, every single guy in the series is a bastard, and nearly all the women are good for is to serve as sex-objects or helpless sword-targets.
My biggest gripe is with the ending, though. The ending, while it does resolve a few things, leaves huge amounts of plotholes open. The reason I’m so late with this review is that I kept hoping that there would be some kind of thirteenth episode that would wrap the entire series up, but there’s nothing. One of the two major questions asked in the beginning hasn’t even been answered, for goodness’ sake.
Still, despite this, Shigurui is a definite recommendation for those who can stomach the huge amounts of gore. The animation may be simple, and most of the series consists of still frames, but the art itself makes up for it, by being incredibly detailed, and it’s only when the creators turn to CG on very few occasions that it doesn’t look excellent. But seriously… isn’t there really not some kind of second season or OVA to wrap it up?]]>
Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – 42
Despite the fact that my favourite character is gone now, the quality of this series hasn’t deteriorated at all. This episode was an excellent build-up for the upcoming climax, and it’s promising to become an awesome one. I especially liked how Jean finally got some quality screen-time for himself, now that he finally finds out that he tried to stand in the way of Cosette’s happiness by separating her from Marius. So, what does he decide to do next? Protect Marius at all costs!
And Gavroche is really worrying me at the moment. Something is about to happen to the guy, and he’s the exact reason why children shouldn’t be fighting in a war, even though they could: he really sees the entire battle as a game, and he wants to have fun with it, next to the others, who are fighting for their ideals and families. This episode also shows four of the guys who are fighting returning to their families to protect them, rather than helping the guys at the barricade.
And Javert! I’m liking the guy more and more. He started out as a rather one-sided villain, but lately he’s been making an impact every time he appeared. I like how he’s smart enough not to struggle back when he was found out, and just stood there quietly while tied up, waiting for his comrads to arrive with the cannon, and I especially loved the ending of the episode, where Jean and Javert met each other face-to-face, with Javert not being able to do anything. The crimes that Jean committed may have been smaller than what people are currently doing with the revolution and all, but I still think that out of all people, Javert wants to catch Jean the most.
On a side-note: has anyone heard anything about any plans for another World Masterpiece Production for 2008? If there were plans, they should probably have to be announced within the next month. It would be awesome if Nippon Animation was going to try and continue the tradition it set thirty years ago, because their works are seriously top-notch.]]>
Shion no Ou – 02
Sigh… why do nearly all the good shows have to air at the same day!? To illustrate, here is my blogging-schedule for the coming season, if the shows I watch subbed get released regularly every week:
Monday:
none
Tuesday:
nada
Wednesday:
– Suteki Tantei Labyrinth
Thursday:
nope
Friday:
– Baccano! (will be ending in two weeks)
– Ghost Hound
Saturday:
– Shugo Chara
– Saiunkoku Monogatari
– Dennou Coil
– Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
– Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji
– Shion no Ou
Sunday:
– Gundam 00
– Les Miserables
I think this shows enough. And I thought the five shows on Saturday for the previous season was a lot. In other words: expect this blog to be quiet during weekdays, and busy in the weekends. ^^;
Anyway, about the episode: something went terribly wrong with the outsourcing. There’s nothing wrong with the animation, the poses are as creative as you’d expect, with perhaps a low frame-rate, but the art style is completely different from last episode. The characters now look much more like an ordinary anime, unlike the rather unique first episode. Let’s hope the creators realize this.
Apart from that though, I liked this episode, even though it served mostly to build up. Shion has finally become a pro, it seems, despite her loss of the previous episode. Ayumi and Saori meanwhile develop a rival-relationship, so it could be interesting to see how the two of them are going to develop. Especially since Saori seems the most likely person to find out that Ayumi is actually a guy. I also liked how Ayumi, instead of being glad to have won, looked down on his opponent, who was clearly playing just for the fun. On the surface, you’d say that the guy was just playing for his mother, but something tells me that he also likes challenges and to take risks.
On other news, it’s going to have to play really weird if the stalker didn’t turn out to be the killer of Shion’s parents. Ayumi managed to save Shion at the end of the episode, and ever since, Shion’s been put under surveillance, though he does send a threat to the Shougi-club, that if she were to win, he’d kill her. Obviously, the owners didn’t show that note to Shion, but there’s more than just that stalker going on. Some suspicious undercover-journalists also get introduced in this episode.
Overall, this series is going to be short (only twelve episodes, if I recall correctly), but it’s going to be interesting to blog it. Despite this season being rather disappointing when compared to the other major series, it’s good to see that there are at least a handful of series that have the potential to become great later on. Let’s hope I chose to blog the right ones.]]>