Short Synopsis: Sakujun comes to Shuurei to escort her personally to the main house of the Sa-family. When she’s gone, Sa Shunki arrives, and Sa Kokujun meanwhile gets a few dangerous ideas.
Good: Kokujun.
Bad: Too bad that Ryuuki, Kouyuu, Shuuei and Sho Taishi didn’t play a big role.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 6.5/10
One problem with Saiunkoku Monogatari that I noticed recently is that the first episodes of the arcs don’t impress me anymore. It probably has to do with Shuurei. I hate to say it, but she hasn’t been growing lately. Still, with a bit of luck, we’ll see some changes to this in the next episode.
I’m really liking Kokujun after this episode. In the beginning of this episode, Eiki mentioned how much he resembled his grandfather’s brother, but I never expected that she also included his more malicious side in this. It seems that he got locked up with his father, though apparently the guy never moved at all. At the end of the episode, he’s becoming crazy as well, convincing himself that he has to be the one to kill everyone. This definitely can be interesting, especially after his father woke up after hearing what he said.]]>
Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto – 19
Short Synopsis: The aftermath of the huge events of the previous episode. Surprisingly, no Akizuki or Kanna. Instead, the episode is focused at Kakunojou.
Good: The Troupe returns! Great atmosphere; the reunion-scenes were excellent.
Bad: As expected, Akizuki is alive.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
While Bakumatsu’s story is everything but predictable, the same can’t be said for it’s pacing. Most episodes have been very faithfully following the general pattern of introduction/aftermath – climax – introduction/aftermath – climax – introduction/aftermath – climax – et cetera. It therefore is unexpected that we’re dealing with another aftermath here. Kakunojou collapsed after the end of the previous episode, and she wakes up at the medical area in the ship. While she has been sleeping, Enomoto and his crew managed to reach the northern island of Japan. The winter arrived, which makes sure of a nice change in scenery. (If I’m not mistaken, everyone ended up in a city called Hakodate).
Inside Hakodate, Kakunojou gets moved to the local hospital, where she obviously is quite shocked. she was quite touching to see. This episode also featured a small sub-plot, though I couldn’t quite follow that. Still, the definite best part of the episode was seeing the troupe return. Shiranui has been coming on his own, searching for Taiyuu (what was she doing there, by the way?). The others came by request of Soutetsu. He really likes to manipulate people doesn’t he? Same with Kakunojou? She was about to throw her sword away, which is something he couldn’t have happening so he decided to do something about it. His plan still remains a mystery. He’s obviously using everyone around him, even Enomoto. What could he be after?
I’m not sure about Hijikata’s role in this episode. We see him go from one place to the other, investigating, but exactly what is unknown. We also saw the introduction of another character, who seems to work right next to him: Tetsunosuke. His exact role isn’t clear, but he seems like a young genius who likes to act impulsive. What can a new character such as his add to the anime at this point?]]>
Sentimental Journey Review – 84/100
I may have said it before, but for the past few months, I’ve been checking out several 13ish-episode series I’ve been wanting to check out for a long time. I went to AniDB and made a list of all anime that looked interesting to me. Right now, I’m working through this list, with the ones that look the least interesting to go first. Because of this, I saw many great things, such as Figure 17, while series such as Aquarian age turned out to be pure pain.
Right now, I’ve put my interest to three case-based series. Sentimental Journey is the first of them (let’s see if you can guess the others ^^). I’ve always been a fan of case-based series such as Mushishi and Kino no Tabi. About these three I had some doubts, though, as they’re all kindof slice-of-lifey. Especially Sentimental Journey had me worried, since the description said that it consisted out of 12 episodes, all dedicated to the relationship of a girl to a boy.
Thankfully, this anime turned out much more interesting than that. It’s true that each episode focuses on the relationship of a girl with a boy, but for starters, all these relations were past relationships. All couples got separated at one moment, mostly due to moving away. The boy never really is put in the spotlight. Heck, we never even get to see their faces. What this anime really focuses about is how this boy changed the girl. Each of these boys had some kind of influence, and the anime features these girls, years after they said goodbye, dealing with these experiences.
I must say that I’ve never been a really big fan of slice-of-life romances, but this anime felt like a very pleasant surprise. Each of the twelve tales are heart-warming stories, some better than the others. While I would normally find stories like these rather boring, the fact that each episode took a different focus was really refreshing. I therefore can say that I really enjoyed the calm and peaceful mood for this series.
The first episode serves as a nice introduction to the general premise of the story. It already shows that this anime can come up with some original twists to make each case unique, and it showcases the typical quiet mood. The second episode comes with a totally different girl, and it’s one of the few in which the girl actually managed to find a new boyfriend. The third episode was one of the lesser episodes. The premise was nice, though I felt that it lacked something. Episode 4 asked nice questions about life and memories, though I didn’t like how everything was based on one huge misunderstanding. With episode 5, however, this anime captured me for the first time when it features a greatly emotional tale about two best friends, about to be separated.
The definite highlight for me came with episode six, where the slice-of-life elements take a small step back, and the anime turns more into a crossing between a documentary and a case-study, where it features a fascinating discussion about earthly desires. Definitely recommendable. Episode 7 proposed some very interesting questions about lying, and how the girl has experienced this. Episode 8 showed nicely how influenceable a human could really be. Episode 9 was one of the more thought-provoking episodes, when it provides a very good twist to the arranged-marriage-plot. Episode 10 was another highlight for me, when it comes with an actual ghost story, or something similar. Episode 11 comes with a love-triangle, I expected it to be rather uninteresting, but somehow it managed to hold my interest throughout the entire episode. Episode 12, finally comes with a rather peculiar case. Even though the execution was nothing special when compared to the others, it remained very interesting to watch.
One of the things I like about case-based series is that the creators just can’t get away with cases in which nothing happens. They have to actually put some work into making each case unique. Furthermore, because all cases only take one episode, it’ll rarely drag. Sentimental Journey is a great example of this, even though it covered a genre I mostly find boring. Nearly each case has something unique. It’s also not always the girl’s viewpoint we see. One story gets told by an adult, one story doesn’t really have a main perspective, heck, one story even gets told by an empty soda-bottle. If I had to mention one down-point, it’s that some stories are too much focused on a misunderstanding. It made things a bit too repetitive for the stories-in-question.
In terms of graphics, you shouldn’t expect too much from this, though. The animation is nice, but the fact remains that this anime comes from 1998. Add that to the fact that it wanted to create a rather “old” feeling. The music, however, fits perfectly for the show. It really gave a feeling of the first years of the nineties. Especially because of the OP and ED.
If you happen to read this, and you also happed to see this anime as well, I’m interested in your favourite episodes. For me, it were episode 6, with episode 10 as a second place, though I feel that this an anime that can appeal in lots of different ways to lots of different people. I’m suspecting that everyone will probably have his or her own highlight of this series. I’m curious to see if that indeed is the case.]]>
Ayatsuri Sakon – 18
Short Synopsis: The setting for the new arc: a school for the puppet-style Noh. Kaoru has an arranged marriage with the oldest son of master of this school.
Good: Kaoru was surprisingly interesting. I finally realize the good thing about this series.
Bad: Again the usual formula. I hope I’m right with my statement above.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10
Interesting, I know that I’ve been ranting against Ayatsuri Sakon for the past few episodes. But after seeing this episode, I really can’t imagine why I’d do such a thing? Sure, it’s not as good as shows like Simoun or Noein, but it does have a certain charm. Sakon himself also is a unique character. I finally realize why I liked the first couple of episodes so much, while the later bunch of episodes started to get really boring. This really is a show that you need to see once a month. Not once a week, like I tried for a while. It’s a slow show, but it definitely has some really good points. The fact remains, however, that it’s too much of the same. When you put huge breaks between watching the episodes, this effect is weakened significantly, which results into quite an enjoyable episode.
After watching this episode, I also finally realized that this show is like the sister-anime of Ghost Hunt. They both involve Ghosts, they both involve mysteries that have to be solved. The huge amount of similarities is quite astounding. Still, there are a few significant differences. While Ayatsuri Sakon focuses on solving murders, Ghost Hunt focuses on getting rid of ghosts and spirits. Ayatsuri Sakon is deeply rooted in the ancient arts of japanese puppetry, while Ghost Hunt rather offers a modern look at psychic events.
Still, I now realize that Ayatsuri Sakon has one major disadvantage over Ghost Hunt: it doesn’t have an incompetent main character. Heck, Sakon is smart, he does things on his own, and he uses his puppet to talk for him. The first arc also had lots of shock values, and Ayatsuri Sakon actually gives the viewer the opportunity to solve the case himself with a bit of logical thinking. Instead of Ghost Hunt, which comes with rather random points that rather resembles storytelling than solving a mystery.
About this episode, I really liked Kaoru when she fell in love with the guy. I’m really hoping that the Ayatsuri Sakon project will continue releasing once a month, as I’m interested to see how this will turn out.]]>
Ghost Hunt – 18
Short Synopsis: The new case: some ghosts have been hunting a very strange old mansion.
Good: Lots of characters this time. Should provide a nice twist.
Bad: MAI! Stop wandering around and actually start doing things for yourself!
Overall Enjoyment Value: 6.5/10
The next arc, and finally it looks like we’ve got another major arc which happens outside of a school-building. Right now, it seems that we’re dealing with two ghosts: a man and a woman. From the looks of it, they were heavily tortured before they died. Because of this, their spirits remained, even though they died. Right now, they’ve been kidnapping random people who entered the house. It seems that the mansion is in the possession of the former prime-minister. If not, than he’s at least involved in quite an important way, seeing that he’s the client.
Yasuhara pretends to be Naru-chan this time, since there seem to have been more psychics invited for research, some of which he doesn’t want to get involved with. I wonder who they might bee, as he never mentions them directly. But if I had to guess, it’s the British professor Davis who came over to Japan especially for this, along with his two rather incompetent assistants. Davis is just too perfect, while his assistants are just too stupid.
Lots of character-background also appeared this episode, right out of the blue. Suddenly, we learn the identity of the person who taught Naru-chan all about ghost hunting, Lin appears to be Chinese and Mai doesn’t have any parents left, so she’s living on her own. You’d wonder how she sustained herself before she broke Naru-chan’s camera.
So far, I’m not really expecting anything from this arc. Sure, the huge amount of characters is interesting, but I’m getting really pissed off at Mai now. She really needs to act for herself, and take initiative. Like mentioned before, it’s what made the fifth episode great and the other episodes lacking.]]>
Death Note – 18
Short Synopsis: Kira’s deaths have been benificial to the Yotsuba-group, and L finally manages to find this out. Meanwhile, the police has had to give up chasing after Kira.
Good: Aizawa
Bad: What is the Yotsuba-group anyway?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10
Ah, yeah. After last week’s climax, we’ve again got a number of quiet episodes of building up, before the show can reach another climax. This episode was dedicated to introduce the suspicions about the Yotsuba-group, and to get rid of Aizawa. The former wasn’t really that exciting, but Aizawa was pretty interesting. I’m wondering whether it’s really goodbye for him now, or that we’ll see him again.
Next on the list to go is probably Matsuda. This episode gave a few very clear hints that he’s absolutely useless, except for getting some coffee. This is probably getting worse, until he breaks and leaves. Or gets involved in some kind of plot twist. ^_^
The fight between Light and L also was pretty amusing, but I’d wish that Light would turn back to his old self. He’s got a really dull character right now. More than that, I want to see Ryuk back, and I want to see how he’ll react to the Yotsuba-group.
Speaking of the devil, what is up with them? Heck, what kind of company are they anyway? What would they be doing so that deaths of criminals actually are beneficial to them. I mean, that shouldn’t be too hard to investigate? Why didn’t we hear any deductions about that? I’m also beginning to suspect that one person in the Yotsuba-group indeed has a death-note for himself. One of these eight has it, but he hasn’t told the others about it. That’s why they assumed one of them to be Kira, because they couldn’t tell the difference between the deaths by Kira and the deaths by the mysterious member.]]>
Soukou no Strain Review – 86/100
Soukou no Strain is a science-fiction mecha series. There are two types of mechas in this story. Gambits and Strains. Strains are superior to Gambits in every single way, but suitable pilots are rather rare, since in order to pilot a Strain, you need to possess a unique device called a MIMIC. This has been linked with you since your birth. If the MIMIC breaks, you’ll lose the ability to fly a Strain. The story centres around one of these Strain-pilots: Sara Werec, sister of the famous talent, Ralph Werec.
Soukou no Strain has been a series with its ups and downs, but it definitely turned out as one of the better ones of this kind. The fact, however, does remain that the first episodes introduce a rather significant amount of strange plot-points, or unexplainable events. Some events also are way too coincidental for their own sake, and you’d certainly want to avoid episode 7, which is basically one huge incoherent fanservice-fest.
Still, in comparison to countless mediocre anime, this one manages to rise above them. This is because at the moments when it has to, Soukou no Strain really delivers. It isn’t afraid to kill off a number of characters, and through the course of 13 episodes, it actually manages to develop Sara and her companions into very interesting and likable characters. Some of the dramatic scenes are amazing, and especially the final episodes lack any sort of incoherent storytelling that was plaguing the first number of episodes. Add a few very interesting plot twists along the way, and you’ve got yourselves a great anime.
In terms of OST, this anime definitely delivers. It comes accompanied by a few very strong stringed-instrument-tracks, perfect for the setting. I wish I could be as enthusiastic about the graphics, though. The CG looks nice, but the character designs are not far from horrible. One bright point, though: the final episode fixes this nasty bug, and it finishes the series with some great animation qualities. I just wish I could say the same about the other episodes.
Overall, I’m recommending this if you don’t mind the action. Okay, the show has its flaws, but something says to me that it doesn’t care about these, and that it would rather ignore them so that it has more time to focus on the really important things. After all, it had to stuff quite a large story in only 13 episodes, something which is never an easy task. Still, it succeeded, in my opinion. It’s a great series, I had my initial doubts, though these were removed on the way by some very strong episodes and plot twists.]]>
Soukou no Strain – 13
Short Synopsis: And Soukou no Strain has finished, with the big battle between Sara and Ralph.
Good: Whoa, some actual good animation this time; Suddenly, the entire ED makes sense.
Bad: Like most endings, even though exciting, the ending was predictable.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
And I’ve finally finished this rather interesting series. I’m glad I watched it, as it had some really good points. But more on that at my actual review of the show. One thing that immediately stroke my eye for this episode was the huge animation quality. Or rather the huge sudden rise in animation quality. It seems that the animators went all out to give this series a great ending. I just wish this show did the same for the rest of the series, but it’s a great addition nonetheless. ^^;
Regarding the actual ending, it was surprisingly focused. Series can go three ways with their endings:
– The main characters and side-characters all finish their own story at the same time. This most often happens when the main characters have different goals than the side-characters. Usually, I tend to like this sort of ending more than the others as it has a degree of unpredictability that the next two don’t have. This usually means the most rushed of the three options.
– The main characters and side-characters all work together to accomplish their final goal. This usually makes for more of the cheesy endings, where everybody suddenly sees the light and does the exact same thing.
– The side-characters take a step back, so that the main characters can focus on their problem. This usually is the most predictable of the three options.
Soukou no Strain went with the third option. While it definitely was predictable, it could have been far worse. Sara is striked by Ralph during her fight at the beginning of the episode, which means that she has to be brought back to the space-ship in order to get her Strain fixed while Ralph floats into space due to another one of his heart attacks (or something that looks like it). Because of that, it allowed for one more quiet moment with Lotti. Surprisingly the argument between Sara and Lotti was completely over, and this scene was entirely used to create a moment of rest before Sara went to confront Ralph. Usually, before the final fight in a similar situation, we have characters going all emo. It’s nice seeing a twist like this. It prepared nicely for the scene that was to follow.
The final fighting scene must have been a great treat for the ones into action. It was pretty intense, though like mentioned before, it also was predictable. Still, I actually enjoyed the ending, mainly due to the atmosphere in the end, and one very clever idea by the creators. It seems that the ED, which I always took for granted actually showed the scene of Sara and Emily, walking on a beach, after having defeated Ralph and landed on earth. I was wondering why nobody showed up, but that explains everything. It’s a nice touch.
Finally, one final nice touch was Ralph’s necklace. It seems that he never actually took it off. (not sure if we saw this on previous episodes, though) I loved it when Sara finally acknowledges Ralph as her brother again. Sayonara Soukou no Strain. You’ve had your ups and downs, but I’m sad to see you go.]]>
Red Garden – 16
Short Synopsis: Randy is just barely alive, Claire yells at her father, Rose finds her father, Luke breaks up with Rachel, Hervé finally reveals the goals of the endless fighting, Lula finally does something for herself, Hervé nearly kills Kate, he finds out that the headmistress is the leader of his enemies and somebody actually dies.
Good: Finally Lula actually does something; the climax of the episode was grand; Claire’s fight with her father.
Bad: Why does Rachel keep quiet about her reason to be with Nick?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10
Finally this anime is getting steamed. The past two episodes have been amazingly good. We finally see some results of the building-up of the first season. It already starts out great when Claire has a fight with her father.
Red Garden is unique in the way it portrays two characters yelling at each other. It’s interesting, most anime go from a close-up of one character to a close-up of the other character, with usually an increase of tension. The character says something and the camera switches back to the first one. Red Garden, however, has people talking right through each other’s speeches. Because of this, there’s no room for a small break between two statements. Because it doesn’t focus on just one character yelling, the scene just doesn’t give room to relax a bit. It’s a great way to turn up the intensity of that scene. Especially when such a scene takes so long.
The middle of the episode was filled with a number of random scenes, dedicated to develop the characters a bit more. Kate’s sister gets on another date with Emilio, Claire didn’t regret the things she said about her father, Luke finally has had enough about Rachel, and his patience finally ran out, because she just doesn’t dare to tell what’s on her mind. That’s why he breaks up on her. Jessica becomes quite interesting when she actually starts to worry about Kate, based on the things she overheard Paula say. It’s interesting, I rather disliked her previously, but with this, she also shows actual signs of character development. Hervé meanwhile gives Kate a suspicious call. Anna’s condition is getting worse, while Rose finally managed to track down his father. It seems that he left his family because he got caught in some heavy debts. He didn’t want to trouble his family, so he left. He isn’t planning to return, as his troubles still aren’t over. But then he finds out that Rose’s mother has been hospitalized. It’ll be interesting to see what he does in the next episode. The police officer is getting closer to the bottom of the mystery when he actually gets a clear suspicion that the missing girls have been reincarnated from death. Hervé meanwhile calls Emilio to inform him that he’s going to see Kate. Lula, the headmistress and the others meanwhile hurry to Kate. It seems that they found out about his plan…
Phew. That’s another thing I like about Red Garden: so many things happen in one episode. And everyone is just different. Everyone has their own problems and twists.
The climax was the best thing of the entire episode. First of all, Hervé tells Kate the truth. Kate and the others have been fighting in order to recover one of the Cursed Tomes. Whichever side collects both of them, wins. If Hervé’s side wins, Kate and the others will die. If Lula’s side wins, Kate will lose her memories. The question remains whether he told the truth or not, but I’m suspecting that he actually did. At least, I’m hoping so. Things will turn out very interesting if that indeed is the truth. 🙂
But then things get even more interesting when Kate and the others take a step back, to show a fight between Emilio and Hervé and Lula and the rest of the school staff. In the end, this comes down to a fight between Lula and Hervé. He’s about to finish her off, though JC jumps before her, losing his life. And surprise: they’re actually siblings! And finally Lula shows a bit more of herself!
The next episode will obviously be an aftermath, but it’s interesting to wonder how this series will continue. I think that JC’s death marked the end of the first half of Red Garden, and that now the second half is about to begin.]]>
Otogi Juushi Akazukin – 32
Short Synopsis: My prayers have been heard: A Randagio-episode!!! Bremen-tachi also return.
Good: I can’t believe I cried during this episode! That was SO incredibly sad!
Bad: What can ever be bad about this episode?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 9/10
Seriously!
Oh my GOD. When I thought that episode 30 was awesome. This one is possibly even better! I really can’t believe I cried during this episode. Not just once, but for nearly a quarter of the episode! But this proofs that Randagio can be SO awesome when he gets serious. I never expected such a sad episode to come from a show like Otogi Juushi Akazukin.
Over the past few episodes we’ve come to know Randagio as the cute little idiot you just can’t stay angry about. Twice, he got accompanied by his fellow brothers, Esel, Cane and Alektor. He’s been mostly used as comic relief and small challenges. I think that the reason Cendrion hasn’t kicked him out yet is the fact that he does provide useful information at times, and he’s a nice person to order around. Still, with that, you don’t become the perfect employee, and right now, Randagion is in quite some trouble with Cendrion. It seems that Nightmarians are actually made, from special Mazoku who have enough dark energy. That’s why Randagio always came up with animal-like Nightmarians. They were just ordinary Mazoku, or talking animals to put it more bluntly, who have been converted. I’d like to meet the snake-men, though. ^^;
Anyway, because Randagio and his companions have been so adorable lately, this episode turned out so incredible. I just couldn’t help but care about them. Esel, Cane and Alektor finally realized in how much trouble Randagio has landed, and they decide to turn themselves into a Nightmarian. Because they don’t know how the flower who does the magic works, they all end up being turned into one Nightmarian. Randagio turned amazing when he learned that the only friends he probably ever had went to such lengths to help him out, without an even 100% chance of certainty.
The rest of the episode was SO sad. It definitely proved that quirky characters can be incredibly touching as well. This anime has built up perfectly for this episode. Obviously, the combination of Esel, Cane and Alektor wasn’t enough to turn them into Nightmarians, so they start having problems in the midst of fighting Akazukin and the others. Because of this, Randagio is about to lose a number of loved ones.
Seeing that this anime is aimed at children, you would expect a cure for them to be found, no? Well, that’s half of the story. Shirayuki indeed knows a spell, but it does blow away all of their memories. Because of this, they’ve got no reason anymore to remember Randagio or work for Cendrion. Seriously, this episode was awesome, awesome, and even more awesome. It’s a perfect example of an unpopular series which doesn’t deserve so little people talking about it.
Sayonara, Bremen-tachi. Things have been fun.]]>