Ah, a bullet-proof vest. That explains. In any case, the plot has been skyrocketing forward in the past few episodes. Already in the first five minutes of this one, Akai’s cover is blown, and he’s unmasked as a traitor. Hiraga Gennai gives the explanation as to how he managed to survive for more than a hundred years (some kind of immortality-potion?). His meddling also manages to make sure that everyone managed to escape from Torii, who also showed up afterwards. The only casualty is one eye, which gets ripped out by Blue Monster from the Sky.
The rest of the episode focuses on Tetsuju. I’m not sure exactly how it happened, though one of his smaller bear-companions brainwashed him and made him think that the Third Blue Monster from the sky was his Kaguya-hime. Later, we see it dig up a humongous spaceship. I’m not sure where that one came from, actually. Was it the one used by Blue Monster from the Sky to get to earth? Then why was she so interested in Seikichi’s gunpowder?
My favourite character in this episode was yet again Akai. Not only does his secret go out, he’s also accused of cosplaying. And despite the rather cold relationship the two of them have been having for the past episodes, it was really cute to see both Akai and Blue Monster from the Sky together, when they’re both in trouble. Later in the episode, we also see another fight between Akai and Ginjiro, and it was as great as always. ^_^
The thing is that there are still 7 episodes left, while the story could be resolved in two of them. What are the creators planning for a finale? So far, Ooedo Rocket has been definitely entertaining, but nothing extraordinary has happened yet. Could this have been saved for the final episodes? I do hope so!]]>
Claymore – 19
Heh, I couldn’t help but find the second half of this episode amusing. I never thought that the writers would be stupid enough to pull such a cheesy twist as that one. Ah well, the next part of the manga is supposed to be the best part of the entire series, so it’ll be interesting to see where the creators can take it. Still, letting Raki literally fall into Priscilla? It feels a bit like a bad soap, to suddenly bring Claire’s best friend and worst enemy together.
Still, the first half was pure win. Both fights against the awakened beings were really good, and especially Undine got a great dose of character-development. Right now, we know that she isn’t a bad character. She cares for casualties, and she often likes to head into things alone, to not be indebted to anyone. She’s just like Helen, that she doesn’t really show any politeness. I also liked how Claire and Deneve stole the show with their unusual skills.
Veronica and Cynthia also get more development than I originally thought. They both seem to be defensive types, and they sure proved a great help for Jeane, who needed time to charge her drill-sword (how did she call it again?). I really hope to see more of the two of them, as they really seem like interesting characters. This fight was definitely meant to bring the entire group of Claymore closer together (surprisingly, there were no casualties). Helen, and the more useless claymores all were awesome as well. The only two who disappointed were Flora and Miria, simply because Flora hasn’t really shown any of her trump cards yet, and we didn’t get to see how Miria slaughtered her opponent.
It’s also interesting. I never really thought about it, but awakened beings can adjust their appearances to their will. Riful obviously wasn’t a little kid when she awakened, and Priscilla has now also taken on a new form. It’s interesting how they al chose cute and innocent forms. We’ve seen two awakened beings who go as little girls, Priscilla turned into a teenager and Isley is a pretty bishounen. I wonder what the one from the South chose for her appearance. Will we see her as well, by the way?
It’s also ironic that Priscilla finds that Raki smells good, as the scent basically indirectly comes from Teresa. I assume that she’s grateful to her now, because she caused her to awaken.]]>
Haibane Renmei Review – 94/100
Last year, in November, I made myself a little list of worthwhile-looking 13-episode series, as a means of systematically catching up to the ones that I hadn’t seen yet at that point. I’ve been gradually working down that list for the past year, as some of you might have already noticed. Some series turned out too bad to continue (Aquarian Age and Gun Frontier, for example, and Kokoro Library was just too boring), but there also were some true gems among these anime. And I’m glad to say that today, I finally managed to finish the list! There’s a reason why I chose Haibane Renmei to go last, as I’ve heard nothing but positive reviews and raves from it.
And boy, does it deliver! Haibane Renmei truly is one of the best slice-of-life series I have ever seen! It first takes four episodes of building up, introducing its unique setting and its characters, and then it waltzes the viewer down with one of the most amazing storylines, perfectly fitted for 13 episodes.
The thing is, that I’m having a lot of trouble finding anything bad to say about this series. Most series have obvious flaws, like dragging on too much, spending little time on their settings, making no sense, but Haibane seems to have done everything right. The only thing you should note is that you need to get through the first four episodes, which are nice to watch, but nowhere near as emotional as the rest of the series.
The character-designs look realistic and down-to-earth, just like the rest of the series. You won’t see any blue-haired moe-bait Konatas here. One of the biggest things to note, though, is that the soundtrack is a masterpiece. It comes from Kou Outani, the same guy who did soundtracks for among others Ayakashi Ayashi, Popolocrois Monogatari 1998 and Deltora Quest, and this may be one of his best works yet.
I see no reason why not to recommend Haibane Renmei. Not only does it keep delivering after it gets really started, I also didn’t cry as much at a final episode apart from Noein. This definitely is a memorable series, and it couldn’t have been a better way to close off my attempt to catch up with the 13-episode series.]]>
Bokura no – 17
Interestingly enough, Aiko only gets one episode for herself, compared to the four episodes that were between Kirie’s selection and death. What’s more, it seems that her role was more to build up for Kanji’s case. Now that Takami has been selected as the next pilot, t becomes clear that Kanji and Jun will be the special pilots, and they’ll probably be the ones who get some extra attention.
In fact, Aiko could have been the one along with Takashi who got the least amount of development for her case. While the people in the middle got an entire episode for themselves, this episode is not only about Aiko. Kanji, Jun and even Koemushi get developed. Tanaka and Jun finally have a talk between the two of them. I couldn’t pick up whether Jun already knew that Tanaka was his mother, but Tanaka was definitely trying to help him without trying to sound too suspicious (and failing horribly, of course. ^^;).
Kanji, meanwhile, gets into an interesting love-relationship with Aiko, right before she dies. She’s indeed really been stressed out, but it’s not only because f the fact that she’s a pilot. Her father has also been cheating on her mother, her mother kept drinking after she found out, and now that the situation of Zearth has become public, she keeps getting bothered by reporters, looking for a scoop. For her, Kanji looked like a huge beacon in the night, and something tells me she fancied him already.
We also learn something interesting about Koemushi: the one he’s been talking to is Yoko, and not his assigner like I originally thought. He’s also already decided the order of the pilots: Yoshikawa – Takami – Jun – Tanaka. Of course, this doesn’t turn out to be true when Kanji provokes him, and he lets the guy live for even longer by selecting Takami. I think that the rest of the order will match up pretty well, though. Something tells me that Koemushi has been planning to let Ushiro go last of the children, for some reason. It’s also interesting that Tanaka will indeed be piloting, if everything goes to Koemushi’s plan, at least. I really wonder how the director is planning to end this one, and save the children without the use of magic.
Another thing that makes me wonder: why were there only four lights burning on Zearth when Aiko was still alive, when there were supposed to be five more pilots?]]>
El Cazador de la Bruja – 19
Heh, it’s awesome to see that El Cazador is developing in a shoujo-ai series. ^_^ Ellis and Nadie were yet again so cute together. With this episode, we’ve arrived in the final quarter of the series and the main storyline should be kicking in very soon now. In the meantime, we get to see some very effective character-development. This episode really reminded me why I liked the first season, as it’s got a perfect timing. Add that to Ellis and Nadie’s relationship, and you’ve got a success of an episode.
The plot-development came from Blue-Eyes in this episode. The patience of the cult she’s with has finally run out, and they’re desperate to catch Ellis, which they make very clear to her. Basically, she tries to kidnap Ellis. I loved the timing, though. That main theme can be used very effectively if it starts at the right time, and this episode was a great example of this. Nadie and Ricardo and Ellis and Lilio are in a restaurant, at two different tables. The first two power-outs are used as tests, after which t seems that Ricardo rushes to protect Lilio every time, while Nadie remains seated, so they moved Lilio to Ricardo and Nadie’s seat, after which they take Ellis away with the third attempt. Ellis gets saved again easily afterwards, but then again, that has never been one of the strongest points of this anime.
We also saw something new from LA. His little bracelet lighted up and stunned the guy for a few minutes. Who the heck was behind that? The cult? He also didn’t like it when he saw Ellis and Nadie close together. Blue-Eyes also hints that Ellis can do more than her little tricks with fire and wind, and that her real power is something really extraordinary.
Well, the time is about to come for El Cazador to prove itself. I predict that episode 21 will fire off the finale, and it will be then when this anime has to show the fruits of the character-development of the series. It’s then when we’ll learn whether this series is a huge flop or a huge success.]]>
Now and Then, Here and There Review – 91/100
I actually started watching anime quite late. At the moment, it’s a bit more than three years ago since I started with my first fansubbed series, .Hack//Sign, when compared to most people. That’s why I’ve got a huge list of anime that I still need to catch up to. Anyway, another series I tried around that time, perhaps a bit later, was Now and Then, Here and There. It looked all-right, and I saw some good reviews of it.
I didn’t even last half an episode.
The way this anime seemed to start was like a bad shounen-title. We’ve got a brat for a main character, who happens to practice Kendo. He’s got a rival who is always better than him, and of course a girl he has a crush on. All signs pointed to the fact that the guy would grow, beat his rival and get the girl, and that lady luck would smile at him all the way.
Boy, was I wrong.
If I had only watched till the second episode, I would have realized that this anime is something very special. For starters, we never see the rival and crush again after the first episode, and already with the second episode, things are done to that boy you just couldn’t imagine. A lot of taboos in anime are scarily brought to the surface, and the first half has to contain some of the saddest hours of anime.
I’m SO glad that I decided to give this anime a second chance, as it really is something unique. It’s one of these anime that isn’t afraid to pull its protagonists through hell, and it actually succeeds in making this avoid the pits of cheesiness by developing a cast of excellent characters. The graphics may not seem to suggest it, but this is one of the darkest shounen-titles I’ve seen. And especially one of the most realistic ones. The music also comes with a perfect score to accompany this.
Still, all good things must come to an end. The problem with this series is that the second half of the series just doesn’t live up to the first half. Oh, it’s by no means bad, it’s got about half a dozen of awesome moments, but the entire thing is nowhere near as intense and unique as the first half, and at a number of points, it gets a formulaic and a bit unrealistic.
Still, you just have to see this series for its first half. It’s been a long time since I last awarded a rating of 90/100 and above, and this series deserves it. Like Eureka7, it’s a great example of how wrong first impressions can be.]]>
.Hack//GU – Returner
I finally got around to seeing this one, and I still think that there needs to be some kind of second season for .Hack//Roots. It also confirmed that there is absolutely no other anime that I have a bigger hate/love relationship with. The anime was a trainwreck with a great beginning and ending. Some characters were fascinating, while others were horribly dull. The great character-massacre in the middle of the series was awesome, but it did kill off all of the interesting characters, leaving most of the dull ones behind. Phyllo’s end was amazing, though before we knew what happened to him, he just was obnoxious.
Same with this OVA. Even though a lot of time had passed, Shino has come back from the dead, a bunch of new characters are introduced, and Ovan has died and reborn again, Haseo’s character-development seems to have stagnated. Something has to be wrong when his biggest change is his new outfit. He’s popular with the ladies now, and seems to have turned from a critical and lost character into your typical shounen-lead.
It also seems that the creatures called AIDA caused Shino and others to faint, though that’s the only piece of information we get. The how, why and relation to Tri-Edge are still unknown to those who haven’t played the games. Tabby also is as annoying as always.
Now the good points. Seeing Sakisaka return was awesome. I remember why he was one of my favourite characters at one point. The two new side-characters have a potentially interesting relationship, and overall it was great to see the different characters return for a bit. I even spotted two cameos from .Hack//Sign at one point. It definitely wasn’t a bad watch, and the end where we saw Ovan and the little girl was quite good.
The thing is, though, that .Hack//Roots has been relying too much on its characters, and it’s almost not using the fact that it’s got a unique setting. The reason why I’m loving series as Dennou Coil and Bokura no so much is partially because they’re incredibly well integrated with their settings. .Hack//Sign understood this as well, which is why it turned out so brilliant. .Hack//Dusk also made use of its setting, though that one failed miserably because it didn’t take itself serious enough, though. I’d love to see another .Hack anime who is serious and makes full use of its setting.]]>
Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – 31
This is just a hunch, but could it be that this episode started off the fourth arc of the book? Signs do point to yes, since the previous episode had a major climax, and it affected lots of different characters. This episode was also mostly quiet, aside from one nightmare, and it basically spends its time moving pieces on the chess-board around.
I’ve got two issues with this episode; though that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as I just know that the creators are going to use them in future episodes. The first is that we didn’t get any clue as to what happened with the people who were arrested. Do they go free? How long do they have to be locked up? Me wants to know!!!
The second is Cosete. I just hate her at the moment, as she’s currently the only character who isn’t suffering because of something. The Thenardiers are in jail now and they already had huge money-problems due to Jean. Jean came down with a fever this episode due to burning hinself and falling out of a window, and he’s clearly still being haunted by his fears of going to prison. Eponine is currently homeless! Marius has his family, Ursulle and money problems as well. Javert is probably still after Jean. And what about Cosette? She lives in a comfy home, gets protected by Jean, has a guy who can’t stop thinking about her, wears pretty clothes, doesn’t need to work, can take it easy, has time to look at flowers and worry about others. It’s so not fair when considering the other characters!
I LOVE where Eponine is going, though. Now that the Thenardiers have been arrested, she lost her home, and we see her wandering the streets of Paris, stalked by the only companion of Thenardier who managed to escape as well. It doesn’t look like she’ll be returning to her parents, even when they get released. I’m dying to know what’s going to happen to her!!!
A lot of the episode was about Marius, as he moves out as well, and starts living with Courfrac (spelling?). His aunt still tries to convince him to go back to his uncle, but fails.]]>
Kaze no Shoujo Emily – 18
This episode was another one, aimed to develop Emily. It follows a basic plot, that you see more in shoujo-anime: there’s a party, Emily is invited to a party (Oda’s birthday party), where she’s pretty much an outcast. At the same party, one big celebrity is invited as well, though she doesn’t like all the commotion and she and Emily come together in the end and make friends. Still, it was carried out decently. Emily first has to embarrass herself when Lola suddenly invites her to cite her new poem out of nowhere, and the fact that one of her first supporters was none other than Emily’s father.
The side-characters were the one who stole the show with their commentary in the background, though. Perry and Ilse were brilliant in their attempts to infiltrate in the party. There are those kinds of characters who are perfect when they watch from the side-lines. Souta on Otogi Juushi Akazukin was one of them, and Perry and Ilse are also really good at this. While the episode was nice, this show really shines at its best when the side-characters also play a big role, instead of a random adult.
One thing that I do hope is that Oda’s going to receive some background in one of the future episode. She’s about the only flat character of the cast, and it’s getting a bit annoying to see how she just doesn’t develop.]]>
Toward the Terra – 18
Boy, this series surely is on fire. After the climax of the previous episode, you’d expect a quiet episode as an aftermath, but this series wastes no time to head to its next target. It’s been only one episode and Jomie is already on Artemesia at the end of it. There’s also no time-leap, surprisingly. Toni and the others just grow up incredibly fast.
The episode starts with the return of Swena. She’s been tracking the sightings of the “Moby Dick”, which seem to suggest that it’s heading back to Artemesia. Meanwhile, she sees Keith on television, and the fangirls’ reactions to him. We then cut to a scene where the children ruthlessly kill off an enemy fleet, with the biggest of ease. The crewmembers are shocked by the amount of destruction they cause.
We then see Swena, who went to visit Sam, who now has the mentality of a 8-year old child. This seems to be a progress on what it was before. Keith has also come, and Swena starts asking him questions. Naturally, she doesn’t get much out of him, though she does give him Shiroe’s Peter Pan-book, and she tells him that Station E1077 has been destroyed, ten years ago. I’m surprised that Keith didn’t know that.
The elder members of the ship then complain to Jomie (who now has the title of “Soldier”) about the behaviour of the children. He simply says that they’re the best way to achieve their goals, while one of them notes how Jomie has changed. We then see some crewmembers talk about how scary the children have become, after which the children themselves appear with confident and cocky smiles on their faces. They basically make fun of the others.
We then see the same older embers complain to Physis, but she is in too much doubts to give a good answer, and tells them to trust Soldier. We then see Toni report to Jomie. Toni is clearly impressed by Jomie, but Jomie replies emotionlessly. We then cut to Swena, as she visits the guy who spotted the Moby Dick, and delivered her Peter Pan. When she tells him that it’s going to head for Artemesia, he gets enthusiastic and agrees to go with her.
Keith meanwhile reads Peter Pan, and suddenly finds a microchip, hidden in one of the pages. He plays it, and finally Shiroe’s message gets revealed. He’s inside of floor 001, where he shows Keith the place he’s been born. We then switch back to Physis again, when she has flashbacks of Blue. How he rescued her, and took care of her.
The next scene features the children, who come back from another mission, and the crewmembers are getting ruder and ruder in their comments, when they try to speak behind the children’s backs, which misfires because they somehow can hear everything that’s being said. When they’re alone, Artella suggests taking over the ship, for Toni to become Soldier, but Toni is the only one who opposes this plan. He then ends up being made fun of.
We then switch to the time where the Myu arrive on Artemesia. People are evacuated to safe spots, and Swena arrives on the planet as well, after being early blown up by Toni. The defence system of the planet is easily blasted to smithereens, which makes for some nice fireworks for the people on the ground. It’s also interesting to see that Shiroe’s parents have a new daughter.
The Myu then land, and a group of five people exits the Moby Dick: Jomie, Toni, Artella, Rio, and the commander-guy whose name I forgot. Swena is the only one who dares to greet them, and the two of them finally see each other again. We then turn to Keith, who is travelling with Matsuka to E1077, and the episode ends.
I must say, I LOVE the new dimension that the children have given. They may have great powers, and they may have grown up incredibly fast, they form a great problem for the Myu in the future. Simply because they don’t have a clear raison d’être, and yet have enough power to easily retaliate. The original Myu all were exiled, looked down upon and generally treated badly, after they were saved by Blue. Even the youngest ones knew the feeling, and they were grateful to the people like Blue, and later Jomie who were willing to lead them to happiness.
The children, however, have never known suffering, apart from Toni. Because he lost his parents early, and he was alone for a time, he wasn’t influenced by his own power, and grew up like a normal boy for his first years, he developed a huge respect for Jomie, through his parents. We even saw him claim that his “grandfather” was his raison d’être at one point. Artella is clearly in love with Toni, and she will go wherever he goes, he’s his raison d’être. The same doesn’t go for the other five, though. The only thing that holds them together is Toni’s authority. If you threw them a knife, they’d kill.
What also surprises me: Keith is opening up more and more, while Jomie is turning more and more stoic. I’m surprised, but Keith will not be playing a major role against Jomie in this arc, as he’ll be busy to figure out what happened in E1077. Matsuka is one big reason for this, I believe. Jomie is also going the wrong way, after Blue died. Before, he had to prove himself worthy as a leader to Blue, whenever he might have woken up. Now that that is gone, I fear that he’s turned a bit too unbalanced, and he doesn’t have anyone to look up to anymore. We don’t see him socializing with the crew anymore, which may turn out bad, in combination with the children.
Now that Makoto has started subbing this series, I’m not sure for how long I’m going to continue with the extensive summaries, but I’ll continue for now, since the previous entry got a lot of positive comments for this. Besides, this series is just way too awesome to neglect.]]>