Okay, with this post, I’ve made up my mind. Deltora Quest will be blogged, Himarari!! won’t. That makes three series I’ll be blogging this season. Will Venus Versus Virus make four?
In any case, I really like Jasmine and Barda. Jasmine got introduced in this episode, and she has quite an interesting character. Already she’s moving away from the usual female side-kick. She’s got a rather sad case. When she was 9 years old, her parents were abducted by some evil guards, and ever since, she spent her time alone in the forest. Because of that, she learned quite some interesting abilities, like the ability to talk to trees (What? You can’t do that? ^^;), and she trained a cute pet and crow quite well. She’s also probably one of the first female side-kicks who actually knows what she’s talking about.
Barda (I keep spelling his name as Baruda… damn katakana) on the other hand, is the skilled warrior with the subtle sense of humour. These first two episodes also showed that he isn’t perfect, especially when he fights and has to keep an eye out on Lief. He first collapsed because Lief was doing something stupid, making him get hit, and later he takes his eye off Lief in order to ambush the monster. He obviously starts yelling at him when he finds out that Lief also went to try and slay it. 😉
This anime also is moving surprisingly fast. I originally suspected that each country would get a large number of episodes dedicated to it, though with a bit of math, it seems that in order to give all seven countries some attention, each can only have three episodes for itself, with the ±5 final episodes dedicated to close the story. It’ll be interesting to see this, seeing as I’m currently watching Futago Hime as well, which is a show which spends a lot of episodes dedicated to one country.]]>
Master of Epic – 02
I love this show. In the past, before I became an anime-fan, I used to play my fair share of anime as well, and I love how this show parodies all kinds of clichés and aspects of your usual MMORPG. This show plays into some crossover world between a MMORPG and a cute fantasy-world, and I love how it combines the two. ^_^
Still, I’ve been wondering during this episode… who the heck is the main character? I originally thought that it was the pink-haired girl of the previous episode, but she didn’t appear during this episode at all. This makes me suspect that the real main character is still hiding somewhere, waiting to be introduced. In fact, I think we saw a small glimpse of her when she fell down the huge castle.
It also seems that every episode has a number of returning sketches, and a number of random ones. The first returning sketch is the introduction, in which the Elmony and the white haired Cognite introduce the episode, and explain something about the world of MMORPGs. In this case: dying. We see them bickering while on the background, a Pandemos gets slaughtered. (If you’re wondering what Elmony, Cognite and Pandemos is, that’s how the races are called. The human-like beings are called Newtar).
Another sketch which also seems to return every episode is the fishing sketch, in which random characters, quite often with Warage Pink included, randomly sit and wait for fish to bite. We also have the Warage Sentai Team, who does random MMORPG-things. During the last episode, they were PK-ing, right now, they try to enter a dungeon, but get too scared because of all the rumours floating around. ^^ The final returning sketch is the news broadcast, in which we have the same Elmony as before on the scene, this time with a newscaster being a yellow-haired Cognite. This time, the Elmony wants to interview someone but this guy seems to be asleep. ^^;
The rest of the episode is filled with random scenes of characters acting cute. Warage Pink is often seen in small scenes, often accompanied by the traveller-Pandemos. I think he’s trying to impress her, but either fails, or she does something incredibly scary, like eating a bat alive. This episode also introduced a girl who dislikes fighting, so she tries to find ways to live in this world, without having to fight monsters… and fails miserably. ^^
The male Cognite also returns this episode, but he isn’t quite as fortunate as he was during the previous episode. We first see him get beaten up by two sandworms, who appeared in front of him while he wasn’t expecting it, and later in the episode, he returns into a super-cute chibi-form, only to get slain by a bunch of axe-wielding swines, along with his companion who gets beaten up just as miserably.]]>
Otogi Juushi Akazukin – 28
Ah, the recap episode, I was wondering where it went. Still, I’m glad that this episode consisted out of 2 minutes recap, and 18 minutes of the usual goodness. This time, the dwarves are visited. Of course, when there are elves, dwarves can’t be missing, can they? 😉 Okay, so what if flowers bloom strangely underground. Heck, I’m not even sure why there even was light, but the episode was damn good. 🙂
This especially was because of the beginning. The episode has barely started, Souta has barely finished his first recap-block, or we immediately switch to a battle with Gretel, Randagio and two huge snails. I like it when they do that. Fights like these don’t necessary need building up, they also work good as a build-up for other, better scenes. Like the one in which Souta and Ringo ran, and fell into that hole. ^^ Randagio also was brilliant in this episode. 🙂
But OMG, what’s happening to Gretel?! First of all, how did she obtain so much power, and second of all, is she going to be alright? It seems that she has the power to enlarge her sword many times, though that seems to take a huge toll on her. To what extend is she willing to prove herself to her brother anyway!?]]>
Ghost Hunt – 09
Now this is getting more like it! It turns out that we’re dealing with a 4-or-even-more-episode-arc. This one also turned up the pacing and intensity quite a bit. The question now remains: is the final episode going to do the same?
I think one of my biggest problems with the previous episode was the predictability. During the first two arcs, you had no idea who was behind it, but with this one, it’s clear that the culprit is Ubusuna-sensei, seeing as she’s almost like the epitome of a red herring here. Luckily, this episode decided to focus more on Naru-chan and Mai than on her and Kasai. The only thing new about the two of them was the confirmation that all of the ones who opposed her in the beginning got into some kind of accident. Oh, and Ubusuna-sensei knows a lot about psychics, only confirming my theory about her being the culprit.
Naru-chan is just a psychic, not a diviner. That’s Lin’s job. He’s really trying to look as cool as possible, without appearing too full of himself. I’m still not sure whether he has an eye on Mai or not. He does show up around her a lot when he’s not supposed to, though. 😛 For example, when Mai’s near the well (great scene, by the way). I’m also wondering whether something’s wrong with him or not, seeing as he’s going to keep up with his appearance until he collapses. That’s what this episode showed. ;)]]>
Ghost Hunt – 08
Ah, so that’s why Masako couldn’t find any spirits: we’re dealing with a curse now, initiated by a person. This person has to have some connection to Kasai, but isn’t interested in individual targets. It also has to be one who knows a lot about spirits and how to call them. Ubusuna-Sensei?
Still, that doesn’t explain Kasai’s strange behaviour. Also, why was there a ghost who kept staring at Naru-chan, without doing anything, right after Mai told Kasai about how Naru-chan was more of an Onmyouji? Still, I actually was a bit disappointed with this episode. Okay, it was good, but it’s nowhere near the quality of episode 5. If this really is a 3-episode arc, then I’m hoping that the conclusion will prove to be worthwhile.
This episode had a lot of explanation as well, about Psychics and Curses. It’s quite interesting, though they were at the place where normally the climaxes would be. I’m really hoping the best of this season lies in its third and conclusive episode. Ah well, the scene where Matsuzaki smacked Bou-san for his comment about her age really made this episode worth watching. ^_^]]>
Ghost Hunt – 07
Ah, finally Ghost Hunt is back, and they did it again, with a very interesting and different case. While in the first case a rather significant amount of walls and glass were broken, and the second case featured a ghost who liked to abduct small children, we now have something which likes to cause a large amount of accidents, brainwashing and other small incidents. All of this is combined with the usual gang, bickering like usual. Ah, gotta love it. ^_^
The first half of the episode featured the basic introduction. We get a bit of background info from Bou-san, it seems that his main profession is a bass player, while he occasionally exorcises spirits and stuff. The setting is a school, in which a number of not-so-pleasant things have been happening:
– There is a desk, everyone who sat at that desk ended up in a train accident where the door closed with their arm still in-between it, causing them to get dragged away.
– One teacher kept getting bothered by a white hand which kept knocking on his window at night.
– One girl started acting strange when she randomly jumped on the desk, ate sand and jumped in an ice-cold pool with her normal clothes on.
– Something has been messing around in the gym storage.
– A strange shadow has appeared.
– One girl’s desk has been possessed by a strange white hand.
– I think you get the picture now.
Then, things start to get interesting when Matsuzaki, John and Masako arrive. First, we have the usual bickering between the characters, and for some reason, Naru avoids any snide remarks regarding Masako, yet again, and started reminding Matsuzaki of her past failures, and that she hasn’t been too useful over the past few episodes. You’d wonder why he’s so scared of her. ^^
Also, it does seem that both Naru-chan and Mai have powers. Mai just doesn’t know it, while Naru doesn’t show it. Naru-chan has already proved to be a good exorcist, and now he’s even a psychic, while Mai keeps having strange dreams which hold some clues to the case. The question remains: did Naru-chan hire her because he knew this, or did he hire her in order to give some random girl this power?
Central to this case seems to be Kasai, a psychic who kindof ruined herself by placing too much attention on herself. She caused quite a commotion between the ones who believed in her powers and the ones who didn’t, and her temper caused this to end up in a rather bad situation for her, in which the entire school with the exception of one teacher shuns her. She’s quite interesting as a character.
Overall, an excellent episode yet again. I like how each of the characters are polar opposites to each other. It makes for good chemistry between them. :D]]>
Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – 02
This will be the first show I’ll be blogging from the Winter-season. I’m still pending about the others. Master of Epic will also probably get blogged, perhaps even Venus Versus Virus, and Deltora Quest and Himawari!! depend on whether I can find enough inspiration to write about their second episodes, which were excellent by the way.
First, before I start, I might want to put up a small disclaimer. I’ve never seen, read or heard anything about the original work. This is the first time I’ll be experiencing the story. Therefore, you won’t hear things like “the book was better at X”, “the anime omitted Y” or “the anime omitted Z”. Feel free to comment about this, though.
Well then, about the episode. I was surprised about how Cosette evolved, only from the first episode, same with Ebonie and Azele (I think their names are spelled that way, not sure though). At the end of the previous episode, Cosette really looked like a helpless girl, now that her mother had left her and she was put in the care of that evil woman. But this episode, she really showed that she can be strong if she wants to. I like how she doesn’t care about the things that are done to her. It’s probably because she’s clinging to the hope that her mother will come back to her some day. Ebonie and Azele also were quite interesting. Where they wanted to play with Cosette in the first episode, this episode makes them resemble to the two evil stepsisters from Cinderella.
Jean Valjean continues to play with Aran in this episode, by playing in on his conscience. He asks him to deliver a bit of cash to the local hospital. I’m not sure what his motives are. He might have done it in order to prevent him from going into the wrong direction, it may have been because he needed a loyal assistant, or it may have been because he could relate to him. I think it’s for a personal reason, though, as he goes all out of the way to hint about his own past to Aran.
It seems that Jean committed a sin at a time (stealing bread, if I recall correctly), after which he fled, and kept running for nineteen(?) years. In the end, he got caught, but the one he stole from forgave him, and gave him two silver chandeliers (that part was a bit vague on me). We aren’t told what happened after that, but I can guess that these chandeliers helped Jean get the position of major he’s currently at.
I also liked how the twosome of Ebonie and Azele also get what they deserve at times. The two of them get some cakes, and pretend that Cosette stole them from them, in order to get even more cakes the next day. If it weren’t for Gavroche (okay, I know I spelled that one wrong), who overheard the two of them, and took the cakes back. ^^ Still, this also means that they are going to take revenge, and they’re going to do something even worse. Should be interesting.
I’m also not sure what to find of Gavroche yet. It may be his lack of development, but of all the main characters, I like him the least. I’d love to see how he and Cosette got acquainted in the first place. Apart from him, I really like this series so far. I’m really hoping that the huge length of this anime won’t ruin it, seeing as there’s lots of potential in this one, which doesn’t deserve to be ruined.]]>
Some quick first impressions: Nodame Cantabile, Venus Versus Virus and Getsumen to Heiki Mina
Nodame Cantabile
This is another one of those anime that was highly anticipated. It didn’t really impress me, though. Okay, it’s a nice series, though it didn’t really grab my attention like shows as Deltora Quest and Master of Epic did. It’s basically a love story between two polar opposites. At certain points, it had some nice comedy, though most of this first episode felt annoying to me. Still, I’m going to watch at least a few more episodes before I dismiss this, seeing as it does have potential.
Venus Versus Virus
Ooh, this one turned out quite interesting. I was expecting another one of these standard shounen-fighting anime, though this anime added quite a few bunch of interesting elements. I really like the main character, especially her alter ego. I’m also glad to see that the fights actually revolve around strategy, and not just on who is the strongest. It could have been better indeed, though for now I’m happy. I’m also quite interested when the yuri-elements in will show up. The two main characters make a good couple. I also loved how Shimire tried to lure out the virus by poking a random tree with a small stick. ^^
Getsumen to Heiki Mina
It’s indeed as I though, this show is full of fanservice. Still, I’m glad that this show has a good sense of humour. That really managed to save it. This show has absolutely nothing new, but it’s fairly well executed. Still, it’s far too early to call this one amazing, and I think this will always remain “just an enjoyable show”. It’s basically a mahou shoujo, featuring a high-school girl who can transform into a bunny-girl with a bunch of carrots sticking out of her ***. I’m also not too happy about how her powers are introduced. While most mahou shoujo have learned from the older ones and give their main character at least a good reason to start working as a mahou shoujo, what Getsumen to Heiki Mina basically does is: Random cute pet: “Yeah, hello, we’ve got a giant monster here, destroying a bunch of things. Here’s a bit of power and a cute suit, now go whack it up.” Mina: “Okay!”]]>
Death Note – 13
I began to get a bit afraid that after Death Note’s lisencing, the subs would stop appearing as well. Being Dutch and all, I couldn’t care less whether or not some random American company acquired the licence. Luckily, there are people who feel the same, with one fansub appearing just a few hours ago, as well as a softsub. For more info on the softsub, go visit Wakaranai.
Anyway, about the episode, it started off a bit buggy. It may have been because of the quality of the softsubs, though it also was more of the same. It also felt a bit rushed. But when Misa actually found out Kira’s identity and went to his house, things really went from decent to amazing. Especially because I was so anxious to see how Light would react after the things Misa told him. Especially since he kept asking her cold questions.
Misa herself also was extremely touching to see. She definitely had some good reasons to go after Kira. It also quite surprised me. I knew she wanted to meet him, though I never realized that she was that dedicated to him. You also have to love Light’s smirk at the end of the episode. It’ll be interesting to see how the two of them will do after this episode.]]>
Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto – 14
And so, the second half of Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto starts. And as usual, I had a great deal of trouble understanding it. As expected, we’ve got another aftermath here, after the huge events of the previous episode. We first see Ebisu’s funeral, while Akizuki starts getting really mad at Soutetsu, seeing as he failed to stop the lord’s head yet again.
For the largest part, this episode focused on Kanna, who’s become the leader of the four Englishmen we saw in the previous episode. This was after a conversation he had with Parkes, which I didn’t understand too well. But it did reveal some interesting things about Kanna’s past. It seems that he spent a part of his childhood in Japan, in which children kept picking on him. I’m suspecting that he originally was English, and he came to Japan as a child, along with his mother. The children didn’t exactly like outsiders, so they picked on him, probably with his mother as his only comfort. Then, at a certain time, some bastard took her away from him, and he ended up with Parkes.
The biggest mystery of this episode, though, was what Enomoto was up to. It seems that he ordered some kind of battle to be executed, but what does France have to do with this? Seeing as they sailed away on French ships at the end of the episode. In any case, it’s something that Soutetsu is after. Also, why did Kanna and his chess pieces raid the French ship, near the end of the episode?
There also were some interesting developments in the troupe. Juubei is dead once again, so they’re posed to the same question as episode 9. This time, however, Kakunojou does something interesting: she leaves the troupe and goes to Akizuki. I’m not sure of the exact reason, but I think she wants to be with him. When she’s left, the rest of the troupe gets an interesting message from Soutetsu. Unfortunately, we have to wait for the contents of that message till next week. 😉
Judging by the rules set by this anime, the next episode should be another great one, after this episode. Sounds interesting. :)]]>