I expected the quiet mood to last for a few more episodes, but this episode was surprisingly dark, obviously I loved it, and I’m beginning to understand why Tantan-kun was included in this show: his nonchalant nature clashes incredibly with that of Shuurei. At one point, we see a conversation between him and Shuurei, where he rather rudely wonders why Shuurei puts so much effort into investigating the art counterfeiters, when there are others who can do it just as well. Let’s just say that Shuurei starts yelling. ^^;
The second half of the episode also reveals some more information about Kailing, and why she was so passionate about the art counterfeiters: it’s her daughter who’s been making them! I’m now beginning to understand how the creators are planning to trump the disease of the past arc. Apparently, her daughter is small, but very talented at painting; and we can only guess at this point how many other children have been used for this.
It also seems that the mysterious guy we’ve been seeing at the past few episode is Hakumei’s brother, also in love with Shuurei. They also seem to be related to Kailing, which means that they’re going to play a major role in this arc. I really like the direction in which it’s going so far, and this arc can potentially be the best arc of the series.]]>
Some quick first impressions: Clannad, Shakugan no Shana II and Shugo Chara
Clannad
Wow, never thought that I’d see a major anime air at a 4:3-resolution these days. Ah well, it’s not like it’s bad: it worked great in xxxHolic. Anyway, about Clannad: it turned out better than expected. There are a number of flaws, but it’s also got a few enjoyable points. The cast of characters is quite huge. I’ve heard that the storyline for Clannad is more twice the length of Kanon, so I can imagine that this series could go on for 39 or perhaps even 52 episodes. About half of the cast is original, with the other half being stereotypes. I especially disliked the uber-strong girl who somehow beat tons of punks at the same time, the rugby-team, the clumsy class-president and her sister. I especially liked the male lead: my major problem with the male lead of Kanon was the fact that he was just too bipolar, and luckily Kyoani realized this and fixed it Clannad. There was quite a bit of foreshadowing in this episode, and it sounds interesting enough so far. The animation is quite good, though the character-designs still look unappealing. Ah well, at least they’re an improvement when compared to Kanon. I’m not getting optimistic about this series yet, though. Two of Kyoani’s previous series also had some great first episodes (Lucky Star, Haruhi), but turned into disappointments quite fast.
Shakugan no Shana II
Yup, the characters are as annoying as I remember them to be. Their intelligence also didn’t really progress much since the first season. They never even question why the antagonist laughed as she went down, and Yuuji doesn’t even notice how Shana tries to avoid answering an embarrassing question. Not such a good start, isn’t it? The music did change, though, I especially like that eye-catch in a comical way. I really doubt whether this season will avoid the pitfalls of the previous one, I mean what the heck happened to the plan of Yuuji, moving away from the city? He’s still being targeted, so that would indeed be the best course of action. I really want to believe that he’s actually going to travel along with Shana at one point, but something tells me that that plan was just a temporarily plot-device to give Yuuji a bit of background.
Shugo Chara
Ah, thank goodness. I’m a big fan of Mahou Shoujo, but ever since the Winter-Season, they’ve been really meager: Precure5 was too full of clichés, Kamichama Karin had production-issues and Nanatsuiro Drops ruined itself with its dramatic storyline. Shugo Chara doesn’t disappoint at all, and I’m glad to finally see another good series of this genre. The setting is overly elegant, with a castle-like school, and let’s not forget the guy with cat-ears, but it gives off a nice style. I especially like the main character, who is already shaping up to becoming a growing and versatile character. The art and music also are pretty charming. There’s only one bad point: the horrible Engrish. I’m not sure why anime try to use Engrish to sound cool, because it doesn’t work at all. Still, this is a series to keep an eye out for. :)]]>
Baccano! – 09
Oh god, just when you think you understand everything, this episode comes and smacks you in the face with new revelations that were completely different from your assumptions! Here I thought that Dallas was Rail Tracer. Here I thought that the girl in work-uniform was Vino. Here I thought that Chezlaw was subtle in his plans. Boy, was I wrong!
My god, I seriously loved the plot-twists in this episode. I originally thought that the red-haired conductor was slaughtered by Rail Tracer as well, but now that I think about it: there were three conductors: the middle-aged one, the red-haired one and Ladd’s ally who stole a suit of one of the others. Why did I never find it strange that there were only two bodies in the back, if Rail Tracer was the one who killed them? That’s because the Red Haired one IS RAIL TRACER!! He’s one of the Gandor’s younger brothers, who once worked in the circus, explaining his extreme manoeuvrability.
We also finally learn the name of the girl in work-uniform: her name is Rachel, and she works for the newspaper-company. She went on the flying pussyfoot to collect information, though I doubt that things turned out the way she originally had in mind. It seems that the thing Rail Tracer whispered to her was just a small sentence to tease her and scare her away.
Meanwhile, it seems that Dallas has indeed become an immortal, though I think it’s the kind of immortal that is immune to wounds, but not to aging. I think that Quates wanted to do this so that he could absorb the guy when needed, and the guy would probably be too stupid to try something smart. Dallas also manages to get the bottles back, which makes me wonder how Firo and the others turned immortal. If I had to guess, then the Gandors won’t take Dallas’ actions lightly. The next episodes promise to become something very interesting.
And yes, Chezlaw was awesome.]]>
Heroic Age Review – 73/100
Heroic Age has definitely been the show with one of the most ambitious premises of the past season. While other series have dealt with the fate of the universe before, no other series does it with such a massive scale, no other series has armies as massive as with Heroic Age, and no other series has characters as powerful as some of the ones we see in here. This truly is a space-epic. The story tells of a Golden Tribe which once existed in this universe. They had the power to foresee the past and the future, they could create planets and stars, and sent out a message to the different tribes and races that populated the galaxy. Three races responded: the Silver Tribe, the Bronze Tribe and the Heroic Tribe. Then, as the Golden Tribe was about to leave the galaxy, a fourth tribe responded: humans, or the Iron Tribe.
Well, it was a nice idea. The creators got a bit too enthusiastic, and shot themselves in the foot. The major part of the plot doesn’t go anywhere, and consists out of overblown fights that take up several episodes at the time, yet resolve nothing and end up with all parties retreating with no major casualties.
This would have been okay if the characters were interesting to watch, but alas: they’re just too focused on the story. They either spend all of their time worrying or fighting, and the illusion of “depth” quickly vanishes from this series after a bunch of episodes. To add salt to the wound, nearly every member of the main cast is a teenager, eliminating any sense of realism this series already had, but worst of all, the male and female main characters have some major annoyances: they’re too perfect. The only flaw of the main female is that she’s too angsty and the main male just doesn’t have any flaws at all. This quickly becomes rather one-sided. The side-characters could have saved them, but a lot of them just lack development. Especially the Silver Tribe: they hardly get fleshed out at all as a race, we never learn their customs, heck all we get to see is their three most important leaders. That’s all.
But lo and behold: this is one of those flawed series that manages to redeem itself in the end! Around episode seventeen or eighteen, the writers turn up the pacing three gears, and the plot finally starts getting interesting as it develops in the right way, into a finale that doesn’t disappoint and turns out quite touching, even if it may have been a bit too much focused on a happy ending.
Sure, the first half is boring, but it does build up for the much better second half. While the last part was nowhere near the best part of the season, at least it managed to redeem the lacklustre first part. At least it’s not the opposite way. The soundtrack for this series is also epic, and the use of CG is excellent, even though the character-designs look very sloppy and uninspired. I guess you’ll like this one if you like epic science-fiction stories, because things can’t get more epic than this series, not necessarily in the good ways, but neither in the bad ways.]]>
Some quick first impressions: Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji, Dragonaut the Resonance and Goshushou-sama Ninomiya-kun
Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji
The first episodes of the series I’ve seen thus far in this season haven’t been exactly intelligent, the closest would probably be Suteki Tantei Labyrinth, but both series don’t really have a plot that requires you to think. Because of this, I was pleasantly surprised by this series, when the young adult Kaiji gets mixed up in a huge plot of the Yakuza. Even though I didn’t understand the rules perfectly, this series does have some definite potential, and even though we’ve yet to see the characters actually gamble, this episode felt very tense. I also really like the character-designs: they may look unorthodox, but they fit the series perfectly, along with a pretty nice soundtrack. I’m going to hope that this series gets subbed soon, as following this series raw with my skills of Japanese is probably going to be impossible.
Dragonaut The Resonance
Oh boy, this series sure has its work cut out. There were so many annoyances in this episode, it’s going to take a lot of effort to make everything believable again. Our main character is in a spacecraft which just took off from the surface, it gets hit by a blazing fireball, explodes but it doesn’t even burn one bit. The main character just flies out of the blast without any scratches whatsoever. Also, where did the fireballs come from? The guy also has a best friend at that point, who actually witnessed the crime but we never see the guy again for the rest of the episode. Furthermore, every single female with a huge bosom (and believe me, there are quite a few of them) has the need to show it off to everyone in a quite revealing outfit. The creators also seemed to have introduced monsters and people who can survive an exploding truck, thrown on top of them without even getting one scratch. I dislike these kinds of things. Sure, they can be explained and all, but if an exploding truck can’t hurt them, the only thing that probably will is overblown and overpowered energy-waves. It’s hard to really come up with a good strategy for these. The plot has potential, but if this series wants to succeed, it needs to put a LOT of work into its setting to fill up the plot-holes.
Goshushou-sama Ninomiya-kun
Ooh… the pain… the horrible, horrible pain! If you thought Myself; Yourself was bad: it’s NOTHING when compared to this… “thing”. Not only is the entire plot basically one huge excuse for fanservice, the main character is loved by all females AND males in his school, he ends up in all kinds of fanservicy-situations with a girl who despite being awfully shy and afraid of men dresses like a girl from the red-light district. I think we’ve found our worst series of the season with this one. At least, I hope so, because I don’t want to watch anything that’s even worse than this piece of garbage…]]>
Some quick first impressions: Suteki Tantei Labyrinth, Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro and Blue Drop: Tenshitachi no Gikyoku
Suteki Tantei Labyrinth
Interesting, this turned out to be a shoujo-series where a girl and two twin-companions run into a mysterious young boy-detective, and yet there are shounen-elements as well when scantily clad females fight each other (we actually get to see that very sequence four times throughout the entire episode…) and a clumsy maid appears. I have no idea what to think of this series at the moment, though. The characters aren’t as stereotypical as other series of this season I’ve seen so far, there’s a nice air of mystery, but it seems to be missing something. Still, I see no reason why this can’t be fixed in the next few episodes. It could have gotten much worse, all it needs to do now is to build up well.
Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro
This is the second of the three murder-mystery series for this Season. While Labyrinth focused on a more shoujo-style in its approach, Neuro is all shounen. And with that come its problems: this series just isn’t subtle in any way, something which isn’t good for a mystery-series. The first episode already sees our heroes solve one case, but I’m not impressed by how things turned out. The chemistry between the main characters feels artificial at best: all the guy does is look evil and physically abuse the girl, while the girl has a food-obsession and a sad past somehow. I’m not sure why, but Suteki Tantei Labyrinth somehow looks so much better after seeing this series. The style of comedy also isn’t my taste: even Night Wizard was funnier, and yet it had far fewer jokes. But the real reason that convinced me that this isn’t my series is the ending: they just had to throw in a shallow villain who turns into a huge bulked-up monster. I was hoping for cases with the same depth as Ayatsuri Sakon, though now that this series needs to have a fight for every episode, I think I’ll pass.
Blue Drop: Tenshitachi no Gikyoku
Yes! This definitely is one of the most solid titles of the season, both in terms of writing and production-values. The characters are well-written and not based on stereotypes, the scenes build up well for the climaxes with a small air of mystery, and the production values look gorgeous. While I don’t expect the latter to last for more than a few episodes, I think we can expect some great things from this series. There’s going to be yuri in this series as well, which also is a nice addition, and the side-characters so far all have their own potential. The only thing I didn’t like is how the two major characters coincidentally ended up sleeping in the same room of all possible combinations, though that’s nothing major yet.]]>
Some quick first impressions: Mokke, Night Wizard the Animation and Myself; Yourself
Mokke
Mokke was one of the two series I’ve been looking forward to the most for this season, and it doesn’t disappoint. What we have here is two sisters who live at a local shrine. One of them can see spirits, the other is easily possessed by them. There’s a very nice combination of slice-of-life and drama, and unlike the similar series Binbou Shimai Monogatari, this series never feels annoying, apart from a few animation-issues here and there, perhaps. It’s going to be interesting whether this series will remain fresh or not by developing its characters. Oh, and the music is pretty good as well. Especially the OP has the chance of being among the best OPs for this season. This is definitely the best show of the season so far, but then again, I’ve only seen four of them until now. ^^;
Night Wizard the Animation
So far, this one turned out interesting enough to continue, but it needs a lot to improve on. I like how the main characters go beyond their clichés, and the male lead actually has a sense of humour. This also isn’t a show where all main characters suddenly discover their powers: that’s only the case for one of them. The male lead and the others were already involved in the parallel fantasy-world that exists alongside the normal one. The graphics and music are nice to watch as well,, and small degree of humour is a welcome addition. Still, on the other side, there’s only one male character in the entire show so far, all female characters, the thing lacks realism (why does nobody find it strange when suddenly a car lifts off into the air?), the male and female lead look destined to end up together, and let’s hope that the rest of the series will spend enough time to flesh out the characters and go for something original. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, because this could turn into something interesting if handled well.
Myself; Yourself
So, a guy returns to his birthplace after having been away for 5 years? Where have I seen this before? Ah well, it did at least some things right: the characters go a bit beyond stereotypes unlike with Da Capo II, and the character-designs of the teenagers aren’t as outrageous as I feared. That doesn’t mean that the plot isn’t incredibly shallow, though. His childhood love turned into the worst tsundere possible, another became his landlady who agrees to make his lunch for no possible reason, the third girl turned into the obligatory unimportant female classmate and his only male friend looks way too much like the obligatory male best friend you see in every harem. I’m not sure, but why can’t these creators come up with something original? It’s really not that hard, you know? One thing I have to say though, is that this is probably the first harem without a cheesy J-pop-tune for its OP: instead we get treated to a catchy J-rock one.]]>
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 39
Seriously, this could very well be the one of the best episodes of Higurashi yet. There were a few continuity issues, but apart from that, the Minagoroshi-hen has ended perfectly, even though it was very straightforward. It basically focuses on Rika and everyone else, escaping from the Yamainu and Takano, carrying out her plan.
The Yamainu could have been a bit better, though. The fourth arc clearly showed that these guys are professionals, and now they’re beaten by a bunch of kids. Not really the most believable turn of events. The different deaths were magnificent, though. It also seems that for the next arc, the other main characters will remember what happened in the previous ones as well, which can turn out to be pretty interesting.
Then there’s the question of what Takano did after the Hinamizawa-disaster. I mean, years afterwards, Akisaka couldn’t find anything about her. She desires to become the next Oyashiro-sama, but what exactly does that mean? And why does she want it? I’m counting on the Matsuribayashi for the answers to this. With eleven episodes left, it’s promising to become one awesome ride. I wonder who the next main characters will be. Will Rika still take up this role, or is there going to be a different character?]]>
Mononoke – 09
Apologies for the delay. One thing I realized after I started to watch raws is how easy you can plan to watch them, compared to the subs, which get released at an unknown time.
Anyway, about the episode: I liked this one a lot, and the subs make this series definitely more enjoyable. It seems that the three guys who came to propose were actually already dead, and Ruri never existed in the first place. It seems that she was a form of the Mononoke Nue, who kept luring in men in order for them to acknowledge it as something more than the piece of wood it actually was.
There were a few questions left open, though. The samurai killed the fourth guy in the end, but did he really kill him or were they already dead at that point? The guy with the nose-cone seems to confirm that they were indeed really dead, as he seems to have killed Ruri, while being dead. The fact that the blood they were covered in just disappears after the killing seems to symbolize this as well: even though the two of them killed, they weren’t aware what they did back there.
Then there’s the third one. While he never killed anyone, he actually went on with a game where five scents had to be smelled, among which one of them is poisonous. Would a normal person really say the same?
Then there’s the strange dog. I originally thought that that was the Mononoke, though it was just a random bystander. It also seems that the Mononoke’s existence caused the colours in the house to dull out.]]>
Some quick first impressions: Bamboo Blade, Da Capo II and Sketchbook ~Full Color's~
Bamboo Blade
This one turned out into a pretty decent high-school anime. I like the male and female lead, who for once aren’t destined to love each other. The male lead also is an adult teacher, and there are more important male characters than him, including a geek who actually has his own girlfriend. Nice one. The banter between the different characters is fun to watch, and there’s good chemistry between them. It’s just a pity that the black-haired girl had to ruin everything. She somehow manages to beat heaps of adults at one time without breaking a sweat, she’s silent and never goes beyond her stereotype. This series is about a guy who has to assemble a team of five girls for kendo. If he does that successfully, his colleague will give him a year’s worth of sushi, or something similar. So far, we’ve seen three of the girls, one clichéd and two with promise. Let’s hope the other two will be worthwhile. The animation was definitely rushed for this episode: those were some crazy camera-angles, were often you wouldn’t see a character’s mouth when he or she was talking. Ah well, the thing this series needs to watch out for the most is not falling into a moe-fest.
Da Capo II
I haven’t seen the original series, but I decided to check this one out, just in case I missed something really good. Well, it turns out I didn’t. The major problem lies with the characters. The cast comes with a lot of females (who can be conveniently recognized amongst generics due to their near-outrageous hairstyles), who’ll probably all end up getting close with our main character, who looks suspiciously much like the main character of any other harem-series. Basically, every member of the cast is a stereotype. There’s the younger sister who helps the local nurse, the elder sister who acts motherly towards her brother (yes, the main character), there is the childhood friend, the little girl that makes us doubt how she got in a high school in the first place, the big-breasted blonde girl, the obligatory male best friends who keep acting annoying and let’s not forget the most popular girl in school. I think the only harem-cliché that misses here is the android, though I wouldn’t be surprised if she turned up somewhere along the way.
Sketchbook ~Full Color’s~
Oh my, this one actually turned out funny. It’s thankfully not as moe-centric as I thought, and the different characters have interesting personalities, which work together quite well. I’m not going to call this a success yet, as I remember how a previous 4-Koma adaptation (Lucky Star) turned dull quite fast, but if this series can manage to remain fresh, it’s going to be an interesting watch. Basically, it’s about the art-club in a local school. The funniest parts of the episode were the crow and the members of the club, trying to come up with inspiration for their next drawings. The only downside is the main character, though. It’s not the way you think: she’s fun to watch, but she makes Mugi from Hitohira look like a talking machine: I’ve only heard three actual words come out of her mouth throughout the entire episode. While it’s nice to hear her voice-actress having fun to explore the different meanings of huffing and puffing, I’d prefer to hear some actual dialogue out of her, besides her inner monologues. ^^;]]>