Short Synopsis: Fishing! Swimming! Afk! Fashion! Giant Robot! Thunderbirds Parody!
Good: As Funny as always; Lots of returning characters, but why is Rosalia among them? XD
Bad: Can “the producer” really be a worthwhile antagonist? I want to see that main character!!!
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Sketch I: The Introduction. This time, the presenters talk about fishing. Not really the most interesting topic out there, is there? ^^; They realize that themselves as well.
Sketch II: The News. The reporter this time is visiting a school for those pigs. It’s quite a strange school, and I can’t imagine what they’d be learning there. Probably how to annoy people, as they demonstrate to the reporter. One even goes as far as abusing him. We never really know what happens, as the female anchor quickly switches over to another subject. ^^;
Sketch III: another Fishing Scene. Chuu has no luck at all, until something catches her hook: a drowning bear. XD
Sketch IV: Rosaria returns, along with “her” faithful partner James. Thankfully, “she” was a lot funnier than last time we saw her, but “she” remains WRONG. “She” continues to roam the online world, giving some very eccentric fashion tips to random people. This includes giving a Warage-Blue-clone a mahou-shoujo-look, and the main character together with the female Pandemos two elephant-ears. I like how the latter two got on Rosaria’s nerves. XD
Sketch V: The Office Again. This time, it gives a brilliant impression of being AFK. ^_^
Sketch VI: The two male Elmony return. You know, the one in which one of them always does everything perfectly, while the other keeps messing up. This time, he dives on top of a bunch of rocks, and gets chased by various dangerous-looking sea-creatures. I really mean it when the voice-acting under water was hilarious. XD
Sketch VII: The Office Yet Again. Didn’t quite get this one, though. The boss makes the woman cry, causing him to get fired. Now there’s a new boss. I still haven’t found the point of this.
Sketch VIII: Waragecha V. The Waragecha seriously are looking more and more like a sentai-team. First they got new suits, now they even have their own giant robot which can be split up in five smaller ones! I may be crazy when I say this, but they looked really cute this episode. The question, however, will remain what this robot will add to the next episode. The cliff-hanger stopped right after the five Elmony left to fight “the producer” yet again. On a side-note: this show is quite clever in its cliff-hangers. XD]]>
Saiunkoku Monogatari – 33
Short Synopsis: It’s the day of the selection ceremony of the head of the Sa-Clan. Ensei and Eigetsu go to attend it, Shunki rushes off to Kokujun, meeting up with Shuurei along the way, while Seiran heads to somewhere unknown, wondering why women always have to be stronger than him.
Good: Great episode! Shuurei was awesome, and finally Shunki shows a bit more about herself.
Bad: Not anything I can think of right now.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10
Sakujun was very interesting this episode. I just can’t seem to figure out what he’s really thinking. This episode showcased the last day that he’ll be together with Shuurei, so obviously he’s feeling a bit lonely. But is he really going to leave things like this? Also, what did he realize when he uttered the words “fantasy… for me?”? I just can’t seem to figure out whether he’s just a lazy guy, playing around, or that his intentions are going to be harmful in the future.
Sa Shunki meanwhile shows that she had a very good reason to remain silent. She actually has the power to order any person to do anything she wants. Quite dangerous if misused. It’s another one of the few supernatural elements in this show. It’s interesting, most of the episodes never even deal with supernatural elements, but they are there nonetheless. The eight great ones who founded the country, for example.
And holy god, Kokujun. It’s never shown explicitly, but he actually cut his own grandfather. The next episode is going to be very interesting, when Shuurei and Shunki realize what happened to him. Sho Taishi, meanwhile, continues his own storyline. His intentions are quite interesting. He always remains in the shadows, and does what he has to do for himself, while Shuurei and the others do what they have to do.]]>
Ghost Hunt – 20
Short Synopsis: Okay, Mai obviously never really died. She got possessed by a deceased spirit and relived that spirit’s memory. In this episode, the truth gets discovered about the case, now all that’s left is to solve it?
Good: Quite a bit of background info on Naru, Mai looked really freaky at times.
Bad: Why is it always Mai who gets possessed. Take Matsuzaki for a chance.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10
Okay, so a little summary. The first owner of the house suffered from a rather heavy illness, which made sure that he didn’t have long to live. Because of this, he got the strange idea that if he bathed in the blood of young people, like his maids and people from a nearby orphanage, he’d regain immortality. He began seeing himself as Urado, or another version of “Burado”, katakana for Vlad, the person Dracula was based on. Obviously, his plan didn’t work, and he died. But not before he killed a rather large amount of people. His son, the next owner, realized this, and desperately tried to hide this by sealing off the original building by continuing and continuing to expand the house, sealing off the bloodstained parts. Urado’s spirit, however, remained inside the hose, and it’s quite a powerful one, as it managed to actually physically teleport persons through solid walls, killing them afterwards.
Regarding Naru, it’s never mentioned explicitly, but I think that everyone knows now that his father is the real professor Davis. That’s why he didn’t want to be associated with the fake one. It obviously isn’t fun to see someone pretend to be your famous father. Davis also seems to have assigned Lin to look over Naru, which probably explains why such a talented exorcist is working for someone like him. Another interesting thing is that Naru backed off when Mai mentioned how he doesn’t know what dying means. I don’t know what that means, but could it be that Naru died already at one time? Is that why he keeps showing up in Mai’s dreams? In fact, could he be one of those dolls that Lin made, in a desperate attempt to keep him alive?
Then, the cliff-hanger. It would be awesome if Naru actually were to leave the mansion, along with everyone else. It’d be great to see this problem actually solve itself, like seeing the house being wrecked down, or something similar. But the fact remains, however that Ghost Hunt has never really tried to defy the general rules of anime. All stories in Ghost Hunt so far have had a beginning and a conclusion, with the conclusion solving everything. And there still is the fact that we’ve still got one entire episode left. Mai will probably whine a bit to make Naru solve the case.
Overall, this was quite a nice episode. Lots of things happened to distract from the fact that Mai didn’t really do anything. The hidden room was a great addition, Mai really looked freaky when she was in shock and the fake Davis’s confession was pretty interesting.
One thing I am afraid about is the final arc. If you ignore episode 11, 12 and 13, each arc has been dealing with an increasingly dangerous case. First we had a spirit which liked to destroy just buildings, second we had a spirit who moved around objects and attempted to drown little children. The next curse was aimed at a rather large amount of people. Next up, a school was filled with a huge amount of spirits, all set to kill almost half of the students, while this case now has a bloody serial murderer as a spirit. The next case has to be along the lines of genocide or something. If I had to guess, the final arc will have 5 episodes, since 2 episodes will probably be too little for an arc at this point (although it would be appreciated, see The Third and Night Head Genesis). It has to close the series, so Naru-chan and Mai will probably get together. This can happen in two different ways: Mai gets put in grave danger, while Naru has to save her, or Naru gets put in grave danger, while Mai has to save him. I’m so hoping for the latter.
Oh, and while I told myself not to complain too much about this series for this episode, there still is something I wish to talk about. It’s the side-characters. Why the heck are John and Matsuzaki even in this anime? They’ve got absolutely no role at all. Okay, Matsuzaki comforts Mai at times, while John says something smart once in a while, but that could also have been done by other characters.]]>
Magic School Lunar
Okay, that was weird. When this anime showed up, I knew nothing about it, but the title was interesting so I decided to download it to try it out. So, what do I get?
Nine minutes of insanity.
Seriously, this is another one of those short 9-minute films. It looks quite old, I expect it to have been released somewhere around 1990. It’s another great example of a good old show. I definitely recommend this series if you like fantasy-stories. It’s basically one big parody of the fantasy-adventure genre. Due to its length, it’s impossible for it to get boring. The evil lord Memphis has kidnapped the students of the Magic School Lunar and he demands the power of the Blue Dragon for ransom. The only problem: the head of the school doesn’t know what the Blue Dragon is. It’s now up to our three main heroes to explain this to Memphis. It may be a story, but after the first sentence of this anime, it becomes clear that it doesn’t take itself seriously at all.
The best point about this short film? The pacing. It’s really the same as the anime: totally insane, which really becomes apparent in the first scene. A character also warns in advance that this anime may be over before you know it, and that’s the perfect way to describe it. If there ever was a roller-coaster ride, it’d be this one.
And guess what, despite the age, the animation is excellent. It makes great use of deranged character designs to accompany the insanity. If you need 10 minutes to burn at one time, then this one is definitely recommended.]]>
Jigoku Shoujo – 46
Short Synopsis: See what happens when two people try to be alike and together at all costs.
Good: Nice ending; The music gets better and better; Nice symbolism.
Bad: A truck is a popular plot device; The usual formula again.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10
When I first heard Ren talk about Wanyuudo, I thought that he was taking a small break after the rather strange previous episode which made him be away for a couple of days. Though then it appeared that one client just had been holding him for a very long while, without releasing the string. In fact, she was blackmailing her victim with it. To make things even more complicated, the two of them once were friends, who did everything together dressed alike.
It’s interesting, we have a fairly standard case, but the episode was a really enjoyable one. Especially the history of the two was very nice. This is what happens when you get obsessed over a friendship. Ai and Kikuri nicely symbolized the case as well. Seeing Yurie witness Marie with a boy (aka Ren) also was a very interesting. Especially seeing that even though she gets blackmailed and abused like hell (pun intended), she actually doesn’t mind this at all. She just hopes to get back to the good old days.
The ending is debatable. The truck definitely was overused, but I like how things turned out in the end with Marie sending herself and her best friend to hell, just so that they could meet up with each other. It makes you wonder, though. What kind of place is hell exactly? This show never really shed light on this.
The question also remains: how will this show end? We’ve got the history of Hone Onna still to come, with possibly another episode dedicated to Ichimoku Ren, but what is to happen next? It would be great to see Hell-boy return, but what kind of conclusion will that give to the series? And what about the spider? And Ai’s grandmother?]]>
Popolocrois 2003 – 22
Short Synopsis: With the final arrival of a new release of Popolocrois 1998, the 2003-series also enjoyed a new release. In this, some side-characters are left behind, the Remnus is boarded and the Demon’s Passing is crossed.
Good: Great to see this back again; Gaude and Paanya.
Bad: Half of the episode was recap.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10
Ah, it’s great to finally see a bit of Popolocrois again. You could call this episode a “calm-before-the-storm”-episode, in which people prepare for the final four episodes. It’s probably to make sure that the next few episodes won’t be too rushed, but the episode itself did remain rather standard, in comparison to episode 22 of Popolocrois 1998. The recap of the great moments was nice, but I think I would have preferred some original content.
I’m not sure if it was a good idea to just cast away half of the crew, and focus on the children. Still, it may be good to focus on the characters that are really important to the story, but I wonder why Aina was included. What role does she still have in this anime, apart from wooing over Marco?
Still, Gaude and Paanya surprised me. They’re actually sprites! I’m not sure if it hadn’t been mentioned or I simply forgot, but their roles now suddenly became a lot clearer. Paanya also joined Zephys because he hates the Law of the Moon, because it took away his mother. I suspect Paanya has a similar reason. That’s also why we never saw Paanya on the sea, and Gaude on the land.]]>
Popolocrois Story 1998 – 22
Short Synopsis: After a fansub-hiatus of six months, Popolocrois Story 1998 is finally back!! It’s a definite Hyuu-episode this time, when the wind-kind line up around the castle and she actually almost marries Gamigami!
Good: It’s Back! It’s Back! It’s Back! Hyuu, Ston, Sanda and Gamigami were amazing!
Bad: Bad points? Popolocrois? Hah!
Overall Enjoyment Value: 9/10
I was SO glad that finally, after six months of inactivity this series finally appears again. It may be my joy that it finally returned, or it may be the episode itself, but the fact remained that this one was amazing. Lots of juicy plot twists and awesome characters. đ
First of all, Hyuu has been an extremely unpredictable character. I kindof forgot this, though, which made her decision to marry Gamigami and become the queen of Popolocrois quite a shock. She really doesn’t want to go back to the wind-kind. For this, she decided to use her last resort, make Gamigami swear he’d protect her. Quite an incredible moment, but things get even better.
Most of the episode develops the preparations of the marriage. Ston and Sanda have finally had enough, and they head to Hilda’s house in order to search for something. The latter happens to be away, to investigate the strange stone which appeared in the previous episode. No results yet, though. In any case, Ston and Sanda were quite funny when they tried to guess why Hyuu would want to marry Gamigami anyway. ^^
Then the time of the marriage. Everything goes well, until an entire ARMY of wind-kind appears. Then, when Gamigami is about to protect Hyuu, Ston and Sanda appear, and drench him into a cure of the love-potion! His love for Hyuu is now finally over, and he’s back to worshipping Narcia again! That is so awesome! Because of this, she runs away, and attempts to use Gamigami’s transportation device, in an attempt to run away. However, Gamigami’s inventions are known to be rather busted, so instead, it switches Gamigami’s and Paolo’s castle back to their original places, while leaving Hyuu. The episode ends with Pietoro noticing the same thing, and heading over to the castle.
This episode already was amazing. I can’t imagine what the final three episodes would be like. Especially since Gamigami is back to his original self again, while Pietoro now is the only one Hyuu can turn to. And don’t forget that Hilda and Narcia didn’t just spent an entire episode near a giant stone without a good reason. đ
It’s such a pity this show is so unknown. It’s awesome! :D]]>
Red Garden – 17
Short Synopsis: In the end, HervĂ© spoke the truth. It’s now up to Kate to tell the others about it.
Good: Kate; Claire; Rose; Rachel; Amanda; Hervé; Anna; Lise; Emilio; Yes, about everyone who did anything significant in this episode.
Bad: I expected a bit of Lula, but she was nowhere to be found.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10
Seriously, I expected an aftermath after the eventfulness of the previous episode, but I never expected it to be such an awesome one. Most aftermaths are quiet, but this one was probably even better than its previous episode. So many characters were involved in so many awesome ways.
In the end, it’s true. Kate and the others will lose their memories after everything is over. She now has to tell everyone about this. It’s almost freaky how different everyone reacted. More on that below. Kate also has to cope with her sister, now that Emilio has dumped her and disappeared.
The news is quite a shock for Claire, but as usual, she manages to control her feelings. Still, she was so sad through the episode. First she tells Kate that sheâd rather have that they wonât have secrets for each other anymore, but when they have to tell the news to Rose, she suddenly understands how difficult it is to tell someone some sad news. When they saw that Rose grew so much, and that she finally was able to see her father again, who is working hard for his family, they just couldnât bring her the news that her memories would just disappear. They expected the same with Rachel, based on episodes 4-6, so they didn’t even bother to try and tell her.
Rose indeed has grown so much. Just compare her with Rachel, who’s currently in the midst of losing all her friends. When the anime started, I could never have imagined Rose actually comforting Rachel like the way she did now. Still, in the end she’s grown so much because of her memories of her family and friends. She breaks when she hears that she’ll lose her memory in the end. She actually starts yelling at Kate.
And OMG Rachel. She actually doesn’t care whether she loses her memory or not. In this episode, we see her officially break up with her friends. After this, she obviously has nothing left. And surprise, Sam, the rather goofy guy who always remained in the shadows gets worried about her, and tries to comfort her. She obviously doesn’t realize this, but I wonder how Sam will act in the future.
Also, Rachel gave some interesting information about Amanda. When Rachel still was alive, she was probably the most popular of her group, and Amanda always seemed to look up to her, and she always wanted to be like her. She now finally managed to win over Rachel, it seems.
HervĂ©, meanwhile, has been locked up. He’s probably going to escape any episode now, but it’s now clear that he’s cut his ties with his former “allies”, who are now all worried because Lise remembered HervĂ©. Because of that, they ignore Anna, who’s starting to cough up blood because of her sudden separation with HervĂ© and Mireille.
And boy, Emilio made sure for an awesome cliff-hanger in the end. He’s obviously not going to directly help HervĂ© anymore, due to the fact that he’s lost his girlfriend, but it does seem that he’s begun acting on his own. How? By kidnapping Lise. This can become really interesting. Especially if the latter happens to run into Claire, Rose, Rachel or Kate. ^_^
And finally, I must praise the ED. It’s a great way to succeed the already exciting cliff-hangers.]]>
Otogi Juushi Akazukin – 33
Short Synopsis: Finally, the thing that was about to come ever since Gretel appeared in this show: she flees from Hansel and joins Akazukin-tachi.
Good: OMG Turude! Beware for MAJOR SPOILERS below.
Bad: The power of friendship!
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10
Whoa!
Seriously!
The episode was nice and all, but a bit cheesy. It had it coming, but Gretel joining because of the powers of friendship just overflowed with cheese. The episode itself was nice, but it didn’t really solve anything, in comparison to the previous ones. But then, at the end of the episode, I realized something incredible about Turude.
She’s Souta’s MOTHER!!! Holy god. OF COURSE, how could I not see that!? Okay, it isn’t explicitly shown, but with this, all of the pieces fit together. It had to be strange for her to be the only major character left, without any background information or history. Of course that wouldn’t be shown, it’d spoil everything. Only now the creators dropped the first hints about this! That is SO awesome. It also totally explains why Souta’s mother was captured, why Cendrion knew about her, everything!
I love this show!]]>
Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto – 20
Short Synopsis: Akizuki recovers, while Hijikata and Enomoto conquer Hakodate.
Good: Nice battles, I liked how focused the episode was.
Bad: The timing of that husband was a bit too convenient. Akizuki acted really predictable.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10
Dammit, no online-summaries have appeared for this episode yet. Ah well, luckily, it wasn’t as hard to understand as usual. We’ve got a pretty focused episode this time, featuring only a select amount of characters. Heck, Soutetsu, the troupe and the Englishmen didn’t even appear, while Kakunojou only appeared for one minute or something.
I had one major problem with this episode. It was great as usual, but Akizuki was just way to predictable. Heck, how many anime have we seen up till now where a main character gets mortally wounded, separated from everyone else, saved by a bunch of random people, get involved with some of their problems and then becoming a better character? Probably too many to count. It’s not really bad or anything, but when anime keep and keep using this, things become a bit predictable.
Still, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t like the kid nearly drowning. Akizuki gets saved by a mother and her daughter. The father left to be a soldier a long time ago. Akizuki obviously doesn’t speak much, and he keeps having visions of an evil (and rather funny) Kakunojou. Then, during a rather nasty storm, the child went playing outside, and fell into the ocean. This scene really was meant for Akizuki to realize one of his major flaws: the fact that he always tries to do everything on his own, and that he keeps blaming himself for things that happened. But seriously, Akizuki is about to leave, and the husband suddenly shows up again? I thought the creators knew better than this.
The second focus of the episode featured Hijikata, attacking Hakodate with his army. After the last episode, I said that this episode would probably feature another climax, due to the pattern of this series. It’s surprising to see that this was the first climax in Bakumatsu to not feature Akizuki. Hakodate seems to be a major city in terms of trade with Russia, it even has a European design. I can imagine that it would be heavily guarded, and that it would hold a great strategic value to Enomoto.]]>