Whoa, plot twists! Before I start with them, I must say that I finally realized how incredibly versatile the second half of this anime had been. It started out as a case-based series, then, with Kirie and Maki it turned into science-fiction, then with Takami and Aiko, the political undertones of this series suddenly got lots of attention, and the past two episodes have yet again changed the main focus, as they start to explain all of the mysteries in the series. It’s hard to name a series where the difference is so noticeable.
Anyway, this episode: Yoko’s background. It seems that her original world has been visited by a Koemushi-like creature as well. Yoko wasn’t part of the pilots, but her brother was. He already was a huge brat at that time, but it seems that the group of children had also decided to battle until their deaths. Then, if I understood things correctly, the gray Koemushi came with a revelation when Yoko’s brother was the final pilot left: if he were to travel to different worlds, enlisting people for the very same game, he’d be allowed to live. With this news, he became overjoyed, and gladly accepted this for the chance to keep living. Yoko, while she didn’t like this, still decided to accompany her brother.
They then travelled through countless other worlds, where their robot always ended up defeated at one point. Then they reached Kokopelli’s world, where they met him. Things were a bit different in that world, as Yoko entered a class as a transfer-student in order to get them to sign up, and she became friends with them. Kokopelli’s daughter was among that class, and Kokopelli was their teacher. He was the one who nudged his daughter to enlist.
Kokopelli became like Tanaka when he found out the true nature. I guess he felt responsible for it, and offered his life, in exchange for others (aka, his daughter). Obviously, with Koemushi, this didn’t turn out as planned. In the end, only he and his daughter remained alive. I think that it’s then when they knew about the final pilot being the one to remain alive. Kokopelli offered himself, to keep his daughter alive, though Koemushi had different plans, and chose the daughter instead. When Kokopelli’s wife tried to commit suicide along with him afterwards, he suddenly was begging for his life. After that, he went on to help Koemushi and Yoko.
At least, that explanation makes the most sense. There are quite a few details in this episode I didn’t get, like why didn’t Kokopelli turn into a Koemushi as well? And why did he so easily throw his life away in the first episode? Why didn’t we see the last fight of Kokopelli?
And holy god, I suddenly realize how similar Yoko and Koemushi are to Jun and Kana! With Kanji being the next pilot, And after that only Seki and Jun are left, and it really seems like Koemushi is trying to make Jun into the next Koemushi, due to Kana being there. There’s also a thing I’ve been wondering for the past few episodes: the final pilot. Now that Kirie killed two, and Tanaka died, there should be no need for it. But according to THAT Anime Blog‘s entry of episode 17, the line-up that Koemushi mentioned consisted out of all the pilots (Komoda – Jun – Seki – Tanaka – Kanji). This has confused me for quite a few episodes already.
Anyway, next episode should be awesome: Kanji is going to pilot! (at least, I hope ^^;)]]>
Oseam Review – 88/100
Oh my god… this one’s a real tear-jerker. Anga was the one, who recommended this movie to me, more than a year ago, and I finally had the chance to watch it, and I’m SO glad that I gave this one a chance. This movie is THE proof that the Koreans can do more than just produce pretty graphics á la Wonderful Days.
Basically, any slice-of-life fan will enjoy this. It tells the story of two orphans: a blind girl and her younger brother. There are other characters as well, like a couple of monks, who end up taking care of the pair of them, but they’re nowhere as interesting as the two main characters. The boy was only one year old when their mother died in a fire, and they’ve been taking care of each other ever since.
And boy, does it end up awesome. The creators were really successful in creating a sad story which left me crying for many times in a row. The two main characters are fleshed out into really likable characters, and you’ll really end up feeling sorry for the things both of them had to endure, and the beauty of all is that it manages to stay realistic while doing so.
I’ve got only two complaints for this movie. The two children may be fleshed out, and they’ve got background, but I would have liked to see a bit more of it, like how the girl was able to take care of her brother after becoming blind, and how the two of them managed to survive until they reached the Buddhist Monastery. The second point of critique is the ending: it’s an anticlimax. The mood is built up perfectly, and the boy reaches a really pitiful state, and then the suddenly introduces supernatural elements from out of nowhere. It’s here where the religious undertones of the movie went completely out of control.
Still, don’t let that flaw ruin this excellent production. It’s obviously not for those who need action, but this is a great example of a successful slice-of-life movie. Be warned, though: the boy might be a bit annoying with his antics in the beginning, but he quickly becomes too adorable for this to really matter. If you’re looking for something to make you cry, this is a pretty good suggestion.
P.S. For those who are interested: Guriguri has translated an interview with the movie’s director into English. Quite insightful.]]>
El Cazador de la Bruja – 22
And the finale has started!
And boy, it’s promising to be awesome. I wouldn’t have guessed this during the majority of the series, but El Cazador is really becoming one of my favourite series at the time, and this episode proves it. It may have had its lesser points, but the past couple of episodes have been amazing due to Ellis and Nadie’s great characters. Seriously, only Les Miserables and Kaze no Shoujo Emily have at the moment an even more likable character than Ellis and Nadie: Eponine and Emily, respectively.
And OMG: Plot twist! Rozenberg has been the one who controlled LA all along! It makes so much sense, he had him captured for a while, and didn’t worry about the guy escaping. Of course he wouldn’t mind; he messed with is bracelet to control the guy!! That’s why he went to his laptop in the past few episodes: to remotely activate the bracelet. That’s why Ricardo and Lilio were fired: because he now has a more useful servant than the two of them.
But the most exciting event of the episode was obviously Ellis, reaching her place of destination. We now see why Rozenberg had no intention to stop her from reaching her goal, since he intended this to happen from the start. In the next episode, we should see the guy, getting back into action, and we see him fly from the United States, back to Mexico at the end of the episode.
There are now four episodes left, and I’m really curious about how the finale will take place. Rozenberg is now really going to have to prove himself, since he had little to do for most of the series. But then again, the final bad-guy from Noir had even less of a role, and when compared to her, he’s actually quite active, with his little trip to the desert to control LA. At the moment, I actually consider El Cazador a bigger success than Noir, though Noir had the strength that it nearly had no flaws, apart from being slightly annoying when the True Noir showed up again. El Cazador is quite different in that, with some of its rather questionable plot events of Ricardo and Lilio suddenly following the same path that Ellis and Nadie go, and the fact that the blue guys have stopped going after our twosome, even during the night.
Oh, and to close off this post: it’s quite surprising that Nadie actually got hurt quite badly. I wonder how this is going to affect the climax. The next episode is promising to be awesome in any case.]]>
Miyori no Mori Review – 81/100
Ah, I’ve been anticipating this one. It’s a TV-special, but it could as well be considered a movie, with a length of one hour and forty minutes. The storyline is nothing special. Evil construction-workers are planning to destroy a forest, somewhere in the Japanese mountains by building a dam, and the forest and the local children fight back to stop them. It was quickly clear that the success of this anime would depend on its characters.
Luckily, Miyori proved to be more than able to carry this TV-special. She’s a great example of a well-developed tomboy, and she easily goes beyond this stereotype. Throughout the airtime, it was awesome to see her get used to her new surroundings, including the highly imaginative creatures of the forest. Her voice-actress also shines, giving off an excellent performance. The only downside to this is that there are quite a few side-characters who do lack development, especially the bad guys are a bunch of stereotypes; they just bleak when compared to Miyori herself.
Another major plus in this production is the graphics-department. While the animation is plain and simple, the art itself is incredibly detailed, both for the character-designs and the background art. Especially Miyori’s got some excellent character-designs, while she still looks like an ordinary girl. The forest itself is brightly coloured, and a real feast for the senses.
While the soundtrack isn’t among the best, it definitely contributes to the overall scenes. Especially the tune that was played during the climax was excellent. Despite the flaws, I’d recommend this series to any slice-of-life fan, just because of Miyori. She’s a great character, who totally made this TV-special worth the watch.]]>
The Diary of Tortov Roddle Review – 58/100
The Diary of Tortov Roddle is another one of those travelling anime. It’s an OVA, consisting out of six episodes of about two to three minutes. Each of them shows a thing happening to Tortov, as he travels with his strange, long-legged pig. There are no voices at all. All dialogue we see is in the form of Tortov’s diary, which appears at the beginning and end of each “episode”.
The major plus about this OVA is that it’s so incredibly close to Tortov himself, since everything is seen through his diary. Take this in contrast with Kino’s Journey, for example. Kino always maintains a distance from both the viewer and the places she visits, in order to protect herself from not getting too attached to her surroundings.
Still, don’t go out of your way to watch this movie. It’s a nice idea, I admit, but it’s just too short to really make an impact. Tortov also majorly lacks in background. We never even know why Tortov travels. One of the episodes also has a romantic subplot, but with only 2 minutes, that one went nowhere.
The production-values also won’t save this one. The music, albeit nothing special, is nice enough to create a fairy-tale-like mood, the character-designs are unique, but the animation is as simple as possible and rather unimpressive. I know that the creators wanted to create a certain mood, but they could have tried better for this one. Travelling is a great subject for anime, and they just didn’t use it well enough.]]>
Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – 34
This clearly was one of those building-up episodes. Nothing majorly new happens, and instead attention is focused in developing the characters. Marius continues to visit Cosette, both of them are clearly in love, Gavroche provides food and shelter for two street-kids, Javert is still looking for Jean, Montparnasse continues being a total bastard by even trying to involve Gavroche, and Thenardier meanwhile showed his scariest face yet (see screenshots).
The highlight of the episode was yet again Eponine. Perhaps I’m rambling a bit too much about her, but she continues to go downhill for this episode as well, and I haven’t found myself this inclined to cheer on someone since Shuurei from Saiunkoku Monogatari in her early days. I think that it’s this episode where Marius finally realizes that Eponine feels something for him, when she openly cries in front of him, after saying her farewell to him.
I also wonder whether the two orphan children will remain with Gavroche for the rest of the anime, and whether they’ll play a big role somewhere. I just know that something really bad is about to happen, this episode was way too quiet for some reason. I really fear that all hell will break loose once Thenardier escapes. It can’t be long now, unfortunately.]]>
Tamala 2010 – A Punk Cat in Space
I’m not sure whether I should publish this review, simply because I have no idea what to think of this movie. It’s more unique and absurd than any other movie I’ve seen up till now. Even Cat Soup was easier to describe: that one was just weird. Tamala 2010, however, is beyond weird.
It starts out fair enough: there’s a world in which cats live, and we focus on one of these cats: Tamala. She looks cute, but that’s the only cute thing about her. The movie is full of foul language, blood-references in the form of tomato-soup and other red liquids, and many taboos get broken, for example gay people being open about their sexuality, rape (that poor mouse), tattoos and cute girls smoking. If 4kids got their hands on this movie, the end result would only be about 30 seconds long.
The thing is, though, that unlike anime as Dai Mahou Touge and Bokusatsu Techi Dokuro-chan, the purpose of this movie is more than just gore, destruction and foul language. The first half is basically about Tamala doing random, hateful and nonchalant things as she runs away from her mother, whom she hates. Then a very strange twist comes, and suddenly turns this into a mystery-movie. You’ll be surprised at the huge amount of attention the setting suddenly gets, and this really is the part that’s hard to describe, as I know that I didn’t do it justice. But I also have no idea how to really describe it clearly.
If you want a strange movie, though, this should be a good pick, as few movies can claim to be as strange as this one. There’s lots of symbolism in it, and I could recognize strong messages against big companies and commercialism. It’s definitely not for everyone, though. I’m also not going to rate this one, as I’ve got no idea how to really judge it. It was enjoyable, though. ^^;]]>
Dennou Coil – A Circle of Children – 13,5
Recap. It’s nothing special, though. Unlike Bokura no, this really isn’t a series where a recap works. Basically, it was aimed at young children, to explain the plot and characters a bit to them. Throughout, we see a few shots of the voice-actors for Isako and Fumie, explaining this, sometimes accompanied by a giant Sacchi-balloon, a stuffed Densuke and fake glasses. This one really reminded me that this show is aired on the NHK-channel.
The only reason I’m really making this post is to make a few announcements, for those who are wondering:
– Dennou Coil this week is a recap. I assume the next episode to finally air next week.
– There is still no sign of any new episodes from Saiunkoku Monogatari. I’m afraid it’ll take a few more weeks till it’ll continue.
– There is also no Toward the Terra this week. I assume that it’ll continue next week.]]>
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 34
I can hardly believe it, but this arc has been getting significantly better with every successive episode. Just imagine what could happen if this continues. ^_^ I won’t do an extensive summary for the episode, since there was hardly any new information we didn’t know before. This was one of these episodes that were completely focused on the characters.
It’s entirely focused at one thing: Satoko’s uncle returning. This time, it’s not only Keiichi who wants to do something, but everyone tries to save Satoko somehow. Because in this arc, everyone trusts each other completely, Keiichi manages to convince Shion to not go out and kill Satoko’s aunt. If this would have been in one of the earlier arcs, she would have never spoken about her thoughts, and gone off to kill Satoko’s aunt, just like Keiichi and Rena did in the past.
Oh, and Rika was awesome. Her mood fluctuates throughout the entire episode. She ended the episode confident, only to have this confidence slapped back at her with the arrival of Satoko’s uncle. She then went to the same despair of the previous arc, only to realize at the end of the episode that she really wanted to save Satoko. Her ideas are quite interesting, by the way. She believes that a tragedy can be avoided if none of the main characters (as in Keiichi, Rena, Mion, Shion and Satoko) kills anyone. Still, this happened in the previous arc as well, and yet Rika died. But then again, she was as distant as ever from everyone. It really looks like she’s putting her trust in the others for this arc, which might be able to avoid the tragedy. But we need to wait till the Watanagashi to make sure.
One thing that I realized in this episode as well was how much Keiichi has changed, and learned subconsciously. He was an idiot in the first three arcs, and yet he’s the most mature person among the main characters.]]>
Kaze no Shoujo Emily – 21
Yes! With a new school come new outfits! I’m not sure why this is the only show where I pay so much attention to them. I know most characters in most shows never really change their outfits, but it’s definitely not unique for Emily and the others to wear different garments once in a while. Mai from Ghost Hunt, for example, also had a diverse wardrobe, but I never noticed this until somebody else pointed it out. I think it’s either because Emily’s clothes only change once in a while, or she just looks awesome in them. ^^;
Anyway, it seems that the final six episodes are going to fast-forward through Emily’s youth. In the next episode, it’s already going to be winter. It’s going to be awesome to watch how Emily and the others will change. I loved how this episode made them look subtly older, and Ilse finally realizes that she’s got great talents as an elocutionist, when she recites some of Emily’s poems in front of a bunch of kids.
And Ruth is even worse than Elizabeth! I actually wonder why she agreed to let Emily stay in her house to let her study, as she treats her horribly. Emily can’t even open her window. I wonder whether the next few episodes will develop this more. I continue to admire Perry, by the way. He’s now reached the point where his grades are at the top of his class. It’s nice to see that everyone is now really beginning to work towards their dreams.
I’m actually wondering, are there still people who watch this series? When it started, it was blogged by two others (Impz and Usagijen), but it seems that they dropped this show. For the past few episodes it’s really felt like I’ve been the only one who’s watched this show. Obviously, I don’t care whether I am (I’ve had this before many times), but it does make me curious. This show is just way too good to be just neglected like that.]]>