Yes! An Eponine-episode! This episode was mainly meant to develop the love-triangle between her, Marius and Cosette. And god, Marius is such an idiot. Eponine finally runs into him, she’s really happy to finally see him, she’s clearly in love with the guy, and what does he do? He asks where his Ursulle is! *headdesks*
Still, this episode was pure win, as it’s because of this that Eponine finally learns the identity of Ursulle: Cosette. Eponine decides to find out her identity, in an attempt to make Marius happy, even though that will totally ruin her chances with him. She then reaches their house, and spots the infamous doll, that Jean gave to Cosette when he came to get her. And even though she knows that, she still decides to tell Marius!
Still, Jean has yet to find out about this. He still believes that Marius works for Javert, and something tells me he’s going to freak out unless Marius approaches him in the correct way. Let’s hope that Eponine can make her move after that.
About the other characters: Jean has finally managed to find a job, answering a question I’ve been wondering about for about twenty episodes. Thenardier and his companions have indeed been imprisoned, though they’re very busy with thinking up an escape-plan. No sign yet of Thenardiere or Azelma, though. Javert meanwhile, is on fire after he finally received a new clue about Jean’s whereabouts. He’ll probably get closer and closer to him in the next couple of episodes.
I also had to laugh when Thenardier’s former house-owner lashed out at the policeman, blaming him for taking away her source of income, and of course at the rather cheesy scene of Eponine, watering the flowers. ^^;]]>
Tales of Symphonia – 02
Ah, this episode was much better than the previous one. It didn’t come without flaws, though. I’m especially critical because Tales of Phantasia probably is my most favourite OVA ever, so this series has a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, Tales of Symphonia won’t be taking over that title, though it’s definitely fun to watch.
The most obvious bad point for this episode has to be the ending: they have yet to reach Tethe’Alla, which means less time for my two favourite characters, Presea and Regal. Their cases had better receive enough time in the final two episodes. And especially now tat Lloyd and Colette are getting so much development, I just WANT to see Genis and Presea together.
My second point of critique was about the stuff that was left out. In this area, where Tales of Phantasia succeeded, Tales of Symphonia fails. The great thing about Tales of Phantasia was that it allowed the viewer to fantasize for himself about what happened during the parts that weren’t shown, without it feeling incomplete. The best example has to be the line “and you had to burn our villages for that?!” It gives just enough information to perfectly explain that situation, and leave the rest up to the imagination of the viewers.
Tales of Symphonia acts like the left-out pars never happened. Take Marble, for example. Her case is essential to explain why Lloyd and Genis embarked on their journey in the first place. In this episode, it seems that the Renegades have been completely left out as well, which were supposd to be the explanation of why Lloyd and Colette managed to rejoin with each other. The explanation the anime used is just bad. I mean, how often do you run into each other, in the middle of the DESERT?! The Expheres have also been left out for both Genis and Raine. The reason why they can use magic is also beyond me.
Palmacosta was also left out, but that was inevitable,, as it had absolutely nothing to do with the main story. It is a pity to see the destruction of the town of Luin missing, which was supposed to have given Sheena some valuable character-development. Either that, or that’s going to happen in the next episode. It would be really bad if she’d just ended up joining Lloyd, just because he spared her life.
Which brings me to my third point of criticism: Lloyd. His translation into anime just didn’t go well, and he ended up looking like all other carefree, ambitious shounen-heroes out there. Again, Tales of Phantasia also managed to avoid this with Cless. The guy is determined, he knows what he wants, he’s struggling inside, and he doesn’t try to be a hero in front of others, only to fail horribly.
Okay, enough with the bad points, now the good points. Apart from Lloyd, all other characters were AWESOME in this episode. While Tales of Phantasia put more emphasis on its story, Tales of Symphonia is definitely about the characters. I loved how the creators managed to keep in Rain’s ruin-mode and seasickness, and her and Genis’s reaction when Lloyd started bashing the half-elves also was really interesting.
Colette, while I hated her in the game, also turned out really cute. I like how she broke some clichés throughout the episode, when she indeed didn’t have to fight much, and didn’t get to save Lloyd at the last possible moments. Kratos also was much better than he was in the game, where he sometimes was like a wimp. He’s much more mature, and he really shows his strength this time. Thanks to him, the fights are also interesting, with the tactics inserted. The highlight was his fight against Sheena.
It’s a bit of a shame that Sheena’s entry at the Ossa Trail was left out, but apart from that, she looked awesome in this episode. Zelos surprised me. He’s not the lovable idiot I remember from the game, but I think we’ll get to know that side in the next episode.
Another thing that really took a turn for the better in this episode: the music. I think that this is the only part where Tales of Symphonia can call itself equal to Tales of Phantasia, as they sound really beautiful, and they give the perfect mood to the entire episode.
Overall, this episode really was fanboy-worthy, though again, it’ll never beat Tales of Phantasia. I’ll never forget Klarth’s triumphant laugh after he slaughtered the army full of flying beasts.]]>
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 32
And finally the second season can really get started! Even though the previous arc was not very exciting, the time that focused on Rika’s despair built up perfectly for the current arc. The main focus of this episode was to give Rika hope again to keep trying to change her fate, and it works out greatly. 🙂
The episode begins with the confirmation that Rika indeed has been reborn in the same timeline over and over, and there’s also a new revelation: the Oyashiro-sama in Rika uses Hanyuu in order switch back time. She also isn’t in Rika’s body throughout her life, but only appears at a certain period of time. In this arc it was two weeks before the Watanagashi, in the fourth arc it was at least five years before the current time-period.
Rika also doesn’t know who is after her, though he or she indeed is partially the reason why every arc ends up different. Interestingly enough, Rika also claims that on the night of the Watanagashi, a third person will die, along with Tomitake and Takano. Did she refer to herself, and was it just a bad translation, or does a third, unrelated person really die along with them?
Anyway, the main character of this arc: Rika. The co-main character is Keiichi. We also see Hanyuu for the first time, and she’s just like a little kid, despite being hundreds of years old. Rika is surprised that she only has two weeks left before the Watanagashi, which is just too little time to prepare. She tests whether Keiichi remembers, but it fails again. I suspect that Hanyuu will be the important side-character for this arc.
Interestingly enough, Hanyuu claims that nobody has noticed her, which is in contrast with the tips, where Keiichi’s father did see her. Could it be that Hanyuu only is visible for the first X years of her life?
We then switch to the local hospital, where Satoko has just received an injection. She seems to be sick, suffering from a disease. Irie has been working on it to cure her, but it’s likely that she’ll never be healed. Takano is also helping in this.
Then we switch to the game at the toy-store, from arc 2. It seems that Rika has been playing this one for every arc, though we just didn’t get to see it. I do wonder, though, why the doll didn’t trigger Shion to freak out in the other arcs. Anyway, something interesting happens here: Rika tells Keiichi that she can predict the future, just like she did with Akisaka. Interestingly enough, Keiichi actually takes her seriously, and tries to help her. He forces the game that has been played to be changed, and he gives the doll to Mion, instead of Rena. This gives Rika enough motivation to try and change her fate again, unlike what she did in the previous arc.
Well then, the biggest question of the episode: is the disease Satoko is suffering from THE disease, or another rather nasty one. If we can get the answer about this one, and it turns out to be true that Irie really is trying to cure THE disease, then a lot of questions will be answered. In that case, Irie most definitely knows something, and he has indeed been trying to cure people, and he was killed because he knew too much. This also hints that Takano is somehow involved with him, and that she knows about his research.
This episode also yet again shows how close Keiichi is with his friends. H never even questions Rika’s story for a bit, and he actually believes her, just like how everyone was so supportive to Rena when she committed her murder. (By the way, did she still do it in this arc? Sh did it in the third arc, so perhaps she’s been doing it for every arc, though I think that that woman is just like Satoko’s uncle and Shion: sometimes they’re there, and other times, they’re not. I suspect that the real killer has been controlling this. The question remains: why?).
One thing I do hope for in this arc is a bigger role for Rena. Both she and Rika are currently my favourite characters in this series, and I’d love to see the mysteries that surround her being solved. Especially the one of why she was being chased in the previous arc, and why she freaked out in the third arc, and turned perfectly normal after that.]]>
A Chinese Ghost Story Review – 81/100
The most popular premise for a movie by far is the one where a guy (or in Spirited Away’s case: girl) winds up in a fantasy world, and meets a beautiful girl (or in Spirited Away’s case: guy) who is special in some kind of way, and the two of them predictably fall in love. A Chinese Ghost Story shows the Chinese attempt at this trope, as it’s one of the few anime that has been fully produced in China.
Interestingly enough, the creators did a pretty good at this one. Okay, they didn’t create a blockbuster, but it’s definitely better than Gonzo’s attempt at the trope: Brave Story. There are two reasons for this: the deep roots into Chinese Mythology, and the fact that it doesn’t take itself too seriously at times. It’s not a pure comedy, and the fantasy does take priority throughout the movie, but the inclusion of quirky characters and dialogue makes sure for a light-hearted feeling to the entire movie. You can especially see this in the fights. Due to their semi-serious nature, in combination with a movie-budget, they turned out to be really fun to watch, and a highlight for this movie. Something that doesn’t happen often.
The roots into Chinese Mythology also made sure that the fantasy-world didn’t turn out to be to be the same like the others. The main character for this story works as a debt collector who just got dumped by his girlfriend. During one of his assignments, he runs into a ghost town. As I’ve seen mostly Japanese mythology in my anime lately, it was refreshing to see the differences in both. For starters, the ghosts can just be seen by normal people and even a bunch of stairs turns out to be a ghost. It’s also been a while since I saw people talk this lightly about reincarnation.
The movie does have flaws, though. The most obvious one is concerning the graphics. This movie uses traditional drawings, combined with a huge amount of CG-backgrounds and animations, and the two just don’t blend well together, and end up looking fake. Another thing is that the animators just didn’t figure out how to synchronize the mouth movements with the voice-acting. It makes for a nice style, but sometimes it’s a bit too obvious. The rest of the animation for the traditional drawings looks excellent though, just like what you’d suspect from a movie.
Another flaw comes with the writing. Through most of its part, it makes the movie fun to watch, but sometimes it’s just a bit too far-fetched. Especially the ending comes with a few twists that just don’t feel right. Be sure to expect a Deus ex Machina here and there as well.
Overall, if you’re looking for something different, you might give this one a try. The Chinese definitely have a different style of dialogues than the Japanese have. It won’t win any awards, but it’s a fun movie.]]>
xxxHolic Second Season?
Kacpy reports that Moonphase announced the second season of xxxHolic! I really hope this is true, and I’ll definitely be blogging it. It’s great to see that after Wellber no Monogatari, xxxHolic will also recieve a continuation. I’m looking forward to see Watanuki’s antics again. :)]]>
Toward the Terra – 19
And the current small arc is already over. Still, despite the short length, it is a major arc. Especially this episode gives us lots of new information. In the next episode, the finale of the series is going to start, with only five episodes left. It’s promising to become an epic ride.
The very first scene already comes with a major plot twist: Physis isn’t a Myu. When Blue found her and rescued her, he found her inside a test tube. This doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s a Myu herself. Toni tells this to her, and he lets her know how much he disgusts humans, and so Physis. He also partially blames her for killing his parents, due to her similarities with Keith. He then gets chased out of the room by Physis’s assistant.
In the meantime, Shangri-La has been hovering in the sky for quite a while now. We next see Toni, training with his comrades, and he’s way too harsh on them. He’s clearly struggling about what to do. Jomie is meanwhile in his room, along with Swena. She tells him about the things he did with E1077. Swena now also needs to find something else to do, since her original mission of finding the Moby Dick has been fulfilled.
The other Myu have meanwhile gotten access of the Universal Computer, and they’ve located the data that tells about Terra’s location. It’s being protected by a rather nasty password, though, so it’s going to take a while to crack it. We meanwhile see Keith, inside E1077, and Jomie, boarding a space-ship, while getting bugged by Swena about her daughter.
Keith then turn back on the power source of E1077, and heads to the room with Mother Eliza. And now, we finally get to know the link between him and Physis: They’ve got the same DNA! They were both the products of the first successful attempts to create “superhumans”, if I had to guess. For the same experiment, about a dozen clones were made. Physis was the female part of the DNA, Keith the male. Physis got saved by Blue, while Keith was let out of his capsule as an experiment, and it worked perfectly. I wonder why the others weren’t released as well…
Back to Jomie, he finally gets to see Swena’s daughter. She’s now in the care of new parents. He then says goodbye to Swena, which probably was the last time he’ll see her. When they’re gone, Toni (who has gone along with them, along with Rio) protests how he can be so friendly towards the humans, who are supposed to be the enemies, though Jomie reassures him that he too is a human. Toni just can’t believe this.
Jomie then heads to the place where he was born, much like Keith, who is now cursing his clones and Mother Eliza. Shockingly enough, they both end up destroying their birthplaces. Jomie destroys the cave which carries the tubes with newborn children, and even though it would have been awesome to see Keith’s clones in action, Keith kills them all, along with Mother Eliza and E1077. He leaves Peter Pan behind at Shiroe’s former dormitory.
After destroying the tubes, along with the computer that protected it, he leaves the keepsake he got from Sam there. With this, he finally closed off his childhood. We close the episode with the news that the location of Terra has finally been discovered, and Keith, getting a new mission from Grand Mother, which probably involves stopping Jomie from getting to Terra.
This episode was more about its revelations, than the addictive pacing and tension of the previous arc, but it still was awesome watching it. With five episodes left, there’s plenty of time left to finish off this series, and I’m curious to see how it’ll end. At the end of the previous episode, Keith looked surprisingly human, when he was heading to his birthplace. At the end of the episode, though, he’s back to his old self, and we’re supposed to hate him again. We know he isn’t going to make it easy for the Myu, and something’s telling me that he’s going to slaughter the children of the Myu. The question is: how?]]>
Kaze no Shoujo Emily – 19
This episode focused again on Emily, but it seriously was an awesome one. It’s definitely one of her most thought-provoking ones, even though none of the other side-characters were involved. As much as I’m hoping for the Teddy-episode, I can’t deny that this episode was pure awesomeness.
It starts when Emily’s poem finally gets printed in a local magazine. The previous episode definitely had an effect, as Emily is starting to get known in the town now, and people are actually recognizing her. With that comes her first job, and the first time that Emily needs to learn about responsibilities, and a hard lesson it is.
The job is writing a poem about a recently deceased guy. The problem is, though, that from the outside, he lived a really boring life. He just worked and worked, and when he didn’t work, he drank alcohol. Emily needs to get lectured by both Elizabeth and her teacher, before she really understands the job that she’s been given. She’s obviously very inclined to just give up. Heck, it doesn’t hurt her at all. But I can imagine how much it must hurt the family if Emily broke her promise.
Still, it’s great to see both Emily and Perry growing considerably. Notice how Perry continues to study really hard, in order to catch up with the others? This episode also shows that Emily is continuing to develop her skills, and I can imagine that Teddy has been sketching as well. I’m just a bit disappointed that we never got to see Ilse’s talents. According to Wikipedia, she’s a talented Elocutionist, but I’ve yet to see that from her.]]>
Seirei no Moribito – 19
This may very well be the best episode of Seirei no Moribito since episode 3. I nearly cried at one point. It’s just too bad that the issue between Barsa and Chaggumu is resolved now, but it will be interesting to see whether the final episodes pull a similar twist. Just like El Cazador de la Bruja, Seirei no Moribito is a series that spent most of its time building up. Right now, it’s time to see whether all the building-up can come together. Both series are showing some good signs. Ellis and Nadie are becoming so cute together, and the current episode showed that Barsa and Chaggumu have a great relationship together, but I have to see first before I’ll believe it.
Basically, the current episode centres on Chaggumu, running away. He’s been angry with Barsa, ever since she knocked down Shuga, and when now he finds out that he’s destined to die. When the girl comes, and offers to run away with him, he takes the chance. Barsa tracks them down easily, though Chaggumu refuses to go with her. He claims that Barsa isn’t his mother, and that she can’t know about his suffering.
In response, Barsa throws him her spear, and claims that if he wants to leave, he’d have to stab her. In his blind rage, he rushes towards her, though she stops him easily. She then smacks him down, claiming that he’s incredibly irresponsible. Everyone in the village is worrying about him, and he can’t just run away from them. What can he do when he’s alone like that?
That scene made a lot of impact, and I love how Barsa decided to solve it. It really shows the fruit of the constant building up of ths series. I’d love to see this continued, but I remain sceptical for now. There’s one thing I didn’t understand, though. At one point, Chaggumu fell down and felt dizzy, and thought that something was watching him. What was up wit that?
Oh, and the hunters make their move too. Luckily, Barsa and Chaggumu happen to be out of the village at that time, so they’re going to have to deal with Tanda and Torogai in the next episode. I’m interested to see how it’ll go, seeing the nature of this series. I can’t help but compare Seirei no Moribito to a Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto with less fights, but where the latter turned straightforward in its second half, Seirei no Moribito continues to be unpredictable. Now let’s hope that this remains until the finale!]]>
Baccano! – 03
I’m surprised that I’m the only one who has said anything about the second episode of Baccano! This is a really fun show, especially once you realize that it keeps hopping from one time to the other without any warning whatsoever. This episode made even more sense than the previous one, despite the horribly complex first one. It’s strange, but this anime seems to know exactly what it’s doing. So many loose ends are already tied together, and we’re only at the third episode. This series is definitely one to look out for.
This episode has three focuses: 1930, 1931 and 1932.
1930 tells how everything started. Szilard Quates isn’t a mafia-boss at all. He’s a scientist, who invented the immortality-drink. His work gets interrupted by an unpredicted fire and some street-thugs, though. He first gets saved by Firo, who just received a new hat from Maiza, after which he gets attacked again. Ennis sees him recover. The interesting thing is that Firo and Ennis weren’t any accomplices back then, and they didn’t even know each other. Same with Isaac and Miria. Something happened here, and it brought immortality to at least Isaac, Firo, Luck and Chezlaw, and it set the stages for the later parts of the anime. The most obvious questions are now: where did Chezlaw get in the picture, and does Ladd have immortality as well?
1931 tells about the happenings at the Flying Pussyfoot, and it’s basically a continuation of the previous episode. Ladd and Lua have quite an interesting and puzzling relationship. By now it’s clear that Ladd has some mental problems, and Lua seems to be hopelessly in love with him. The strange thing is that they keep talking about Lua’s death, and how the moment when Ladd would kill Lua should be something really special.
Also, the reason why Ladd recognized Jacuzzi: he’s wanted. There seems to be a bounty of 5000 dollars on his head. Jacuzzi’s motives are still a puzzle to me, but I think he and Nice went on the Flying Pussyfoot to stop the Chane and her companions, as at the end of the episode, he runs into a few dead people. I suspect that these people were after this, or there must be some fifth party on that train I don’t know about. I need to rewatch the first episode for that. The obvious question is now: what the heck happened on this train, considering that even the locomotive had to be replaced? At the end of the episode, both Lad’s henchman and Chane’s companions try to seize control of the dining room, though what will happen next?
1932: the events in this year are all centred around Dallas Genoard. The events that happened in the first episode definitely didn’t happen chronologically, as there was an entire year between them. Apparently, Dallas made the Runorata-family very angry with his accusations, after they killed his brother and father. He afterwards disappeared for both them and his sister. In this episode, we see both of them enter an enterprise, trading information, and we see the black guy from the ED. He seems to have some connections with Dallas, but he unfortunately can’t help Eve. The biggest question about their story: how the heck are they related to the things that happened on the Flying Pussyfoot? So far, the only link between these stories that we’ve seen is that Eve’s brother Dallas is being searched by the Runorata-family, who is on wrong terms with the Gandor-family, who is acquainted with Isaac and Miria, who happened to be on the Flying Pussyfoot when all the events took place. Obviously, there has to be a more obvious link.
Still, I really recommend this series, and it really is among the highlights of the summer-season.]]>
Mononoke – 05
Whoa, this quite possibly was the best episode of this series yet, but it’s also by far the hardest to understand. I haven’t been so confused in an episode since the episode in Seirei no Moribito where Barsa gets her spear fixed. If this series pulls such a stunt again, I may consider switching to the subs.
Thankfully wabi sabi is following this series as well, and he managed to explain the events of this episode. Basically, the Priest’s sister entered that cabin in place of the monk, in order to fend off an ayakashi that was plaguing that sea. She did this out of love for him, while he didn’t feel anything for him. When he found out her motives, though, it continued to haunt him. Hence, the priest is the Makoto. This also probably explains why he sexually abused the monk.
The atmosphere in this episode was awesome, though. Even though I couldn’t follow this episode, I loved it.]]>