Star Crossed Anime

The Third – 23 – Interesting Final Arc

November 26, 2006 by psgels, posted in The Third

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Oh god… The Third has once again been kidnapped by the evil animation company of episode 13. Luckily, it’s not as bad as before, but still, it’d be better off if this episode was left in the hands of the usual animation companies.

Still, if you ignore that little detail, this episode was good stuff. Really good stuff. Due to the fact that this is the conclusive arc of the series, AND that it’ll only be two episodes long, the pacing has been increased with a considerable factor. This episode did the preparing, while the next episode will probably end with a huge bang.

Especially the second half of the episode was as awesome as usual, when Ikus threatens to leave Honoka for good, on a mission he doesn’t want to involve her in. He’s heading for a place called the Steel Valley, a place under the highest level of the technos taboo. Filla Marique has also surpassed herself when she tries to take measures against this, sending a huge army of autonomous soldiers in order to guard the place.

The best part of the episode really was when Honoka opens herself up to Ikus, in order to keep him from leaving her. The first half of the episode also seems to suggest that Joey will be playing a role in this arc, but it seems that Honoka left him behind when she found out about Ikus. Still, the guy’s got a good heart. He broke the technos taboo in order to install new parts on Bogie.

Endings have always been one thing that’s hard to do good. It’ll be interesting to see whether The Third can pull this one off. It’ll be an action-packed ending, in any case. Will it be able to deliver? I do hope so, as this magnificent anime deserves a great ending.

Otogi Juushi Akazukin – 22 – Baru-chan

November 25, 2006 by psgels, posted in Otogi Juushi Akazukin

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This episode focused on three different characters. The amount keeps growing. We haven’t seen any episodes lately which were focusing towards one specific character, and only that character. Of the protagonists, the episode focused on Baru. Of the antagonists, the episode focused on Hansel. Of the guest characters, the episode focused on Rapunzel.

Baru was really meant to be fleshed out a bit in this episode, and the creators do this to actually make him fall in love with Rapunzel. Not only was this outright hilarious, we get more and more clues that he actually has a human form as well. He just refuses to show it. I just loved it when Rapunzel called Baru “Baru-chan”, after which he took out two Nightmarians at once. ^^

Hansel’s case is a bit more serious. He’s finally ready again to move to the battlefield, and on top of that he received a power-up from Cendrion. Still, that didn’t make him strong enough to defeat Akazukin in princess-mode. I’d say they’re about equally as strong now, though it does seem that Cendrion has taken a liking to him. I’m suspecting that she’s going to keep feeding him power-ups like that, until it goes wrong at one time. Randagio’s and Gretel’s role also is becoming interesting. They’re becoming quite useless, now that everyone is growing, while they aren’t. Still, something tells me that they both have their own role to play.

Though most of the episode’s focus went to Rapunzel, and her story. Akazukin, Ibara, and especially Shirayuki and Ringo keep fangirling over her desire to see the prince she loves return. Because of this, Souta rather remains in the background. In any case, Rapunzel does have a great character design. In the end, it appeared that she worked together with Hansel, so that he’d return her prince to her. In the end, it seems that the creators combined the story of the prince, who turned into a frog with the story of Rapunzel. As Souta has read this fairy-tale, he actually knows that with a kiss, the prince will return back to normal.

Overall, this was a very good episode, but after seeing the preview of the next episode, I’m actually looking forward more and more to it, as it’ll continue with the mirror-arc. We see the girl from the mirror return again, and with a bit of luck, we’ll get some more clues about Souta’s father, and what exactly he is. The Hansel and Gretel-arc will also continue, now that Turude has been put out of the picture for a while, being defeated by Akazukin and all. I love it how every episode is so diverse, but still the same.

Asatte no Houkou – 08 – Can this truly get any better?

November 25, 2006 by psgels, posted in Uncategorized

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That was truly excellent. This really has been one of the more awesome episodes of Asatte no Houkou, and that has to say something, with such a high-quality series. It mostly follows Karada, who has run away from home, because she discovered a picture of Hiro and Shoko together. Therefore she figured that she’s a hindrance in their relationship. I also must warn you. The next paragraph contains a spoiler you do not want to find out before watching the episode. If you haven’t seen episode eight of Asatte no Houkou, close this window NOW. Seriously.

The plot twist in the middle of the episode was a beauty. At one point, Karada also thinks back of the time when she was still living with her parents, and this shows us something very interesting. Karada KNEW that Hiro wasn’t her real brother, she just never told him that she knew. The reason she was crying when she saw Hiro for the first time also isn’t because she was extremely scared or sad that her parents died, like Hiro suspects. It’s because she knew she had nobody left, and then suddenly, a person who isn’t related to her in every way arrives and plans to take care of her. This also SO explains why she’s trying to be so independant. There’s this guy, who she isn’t related to in every way who sacrificed everything in order to take care of her. He has no obligation to do so, so she felt like she was a huge bother to him. That’s why she started to do the housework on her own. Brilliance. 🙂

The actions which take in present time also were a great to see. As Karada is now on her own, she has to find a job and a house, though as she never solicited before, she has no idea how things go, and she’s probably extremely scared of talking to random people. I can indeed imagine how scary it must be, especially when you don’t have any house or telephone, or you have to lie about your date of birth.

In the end, Karada spends the night in a child’s playground. But then the cliffhanger comes. You’d think that Hiro would be able to get Karada back without any problems, though then the opposite appears to be true. Karada may be scared and inexperienced, but when she makes a decision, it really becomes clear that she’s not backing down from that decision easily, instead of running around in circles indecisive.

Also, what about the next episode? The cliff-hanger definitely focused on Karada, and it only made the problem bigger. Still, by the rules of Asatte no Houkou, the next episode will be another Shoko-episode. What will it focus at? Will Shoko get angry at Hiro, at his constant desire to chase after Karada? Will she help him? And what will become of Karada? Will she turn better, or will she turn worse? This definitely was an awesome episode. It’s very rare for me to really like a slice-of-life series, though somehow, Asatte no Houkou is currently leaving a huge impression on me.

Death Note – 08 – Weirdness

November 24, 2006 by psgels, posted in Death Note

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When I accidentally read a few facts about this episode, it seemed that this episode would feature some potato-chips-bag-opening-action. I didn’t think much behind it, though it’s almost scary how Light ripped open that bag and started eating. Death Note surely has some of the more creative “action”-scenes I’ve seen in a while.

In any case, this was a fun episode. As the previous episode featured a big climax, the current episode takes a step back again, and the creators start to introduce even more strange quirks in the characters. This episode was really meant in order to flesh out all of the different characters. For starters, Watari treats every member of the investigation to a cone of strangely coloured ice-cream. After a lot of searching, L finally found something suspicious with the surveillance tapes where Ray Penbar was captured: the envelope. Therefore, the ones who were investigated by Ray Penbar have gotten cameras installed in their house.

Then, back at Light’s side, it seems that Ryuk starts acting very weird when he suffers from a lack of apples. Very weird, though very funny as well. Because of this, Light has found a good way to manipulate him and now knows the location of every camera in the house. Light meanwhile displays his extreme chips-eating skills and Light´s father shows some interesting reactions when it seems that his family might be under suspicion. Quite good. After seeing the surveillance on Light, L also gets his first suspicions on Light himself. It seems he’s reminded of himself. ^^;

Also, this episode also showed a good example of lazy animators. It’s been a strange episode this time, in contrast with the previous ones. A very good one as well, mainly due to the weirdness and L’s reaction to Light’s behaviour.

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto – 08 – Interesting twists

November 24, 2006 by psgels, posted in Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto

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Ooh, this was a very exiting episode: Akizuki vs Kanna, Nakaiya Juubei shows himself and tries to manipulate Katsu with the lord’s head, Soutetsu attempts to seal the lord’s head at the same time and the troupe infiltrates the same mansion in which all of this happens. Basically, 90% for the episode was one big action scene. But was it a good episode?

I’d say it is. I really enjoyed all parts except when Nakaiya manipulated Katsu and his companion. I’m not sure why, but I never really liked the brainwashing scenes in Bakumatsu. The background music also asks a bit too much from the viewer. Still, the other parts were excellent. It’s clear that Akizuki and Kanna have about the same amount of fighting experience, which really results in a battle of speed, stealth and strategy. Really enjoyable to see. Finally we have a fight with a villain who actually has a personality and a bit of a developed character. 🙂

It also seems that the troupe knew that Nakaiya Juubei was about to make his move. I’m suspecting Soutetsu told them, in order to turn them into a diversion. Their role isn’t too big. They spend most of the episode searching for Nakaiya’s location. Apparently, he hid himself well in a rather large building. At one point, Kanna also runs into Kakunojou, and he has some kind of strange deja vu. It seems like he recognized her from somewhere. Whether this is good or bad, I’m still not sure off.

The episode also takes a strange turn when suddenly, the main villain gets killed. I didn’t pick up the exact details, though I’m suspecting that Soutetsu now has turned into the main antagonist, unless Juubei has some kind of way to get back from the dead, like he did ten years ago. You’d wonder what those around him will do from now on. Will Glover be out of the picture as well, or will he start making his own moves now? And what will Kanna do afterwards, now that his employer is dead?

Jigoku Shoujo – 31 – A Helmet, a Phone and a Wallet

November 24, 2006 by psgels, posted in Jigoku Shoujo

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Ooh! An episode which deviates from the standard Jigoku Shoujo-episodes. As usual with these kinds of episodes, it offers a very nice perspective. For the first time in the second season, we’ve got a cast of male characters, instead of the usual females. The victim this time is an otaku, who’s being bullied by the resident streetpunk. Still, for the first time, we actually see someone refusing the straw doll. He hates the guy, but he actually isn’t willing to go to hell for it.

Then it seems that the streetpunk has troubles of his own. There’s this high school girl he’s fallen in love with, though his superiors have taken her hostage, planning to rape her. Because of this, he sends the guy to hell. Still, the fact remains that he’s an idiot. The twist of the episode was a bit forced, though. He had to die right after his revenge was carried out.

Wanyuudo also got his moment in the spotlight, though in a different way from Ichimoku-ren and Hone Onna in the second and third episode. Wanyuudo behaves more like the resident old guy, who keeps complaining how people nowadays lack any sort of respect and dignity. While he is right about one point – some humans really need to get a smack in the head – he doesn’t look at the normal people, or the fact that evil in humanity has always existed.

Night Head Genesis – 17 – Sayonara

November 24, 2006 by psgels, posted in Night Head Genesis

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Quite a fast pacing. In one episode, the creators ended the parents-arc, eliminated Sonezaki from the main storyline and introduced two new arcs: The Ark-arc and the Futama Yoshiki-arc.

The episode starts like it’s turning back to episode 12 and 13, and it seems like the series returned towards mediocrity again. Sonezaki plays mind games with Naoto, Naoto gets angry, and Sonezaki basically has Naoto in the palm of his hand, the usual stuff. Luckily, Naoya changes this, when he accidentally calls his father “father”, which makes him suspect that he really is her son. Sonezaki then gets interesting when he uses his powers to do something again, but is engulfed by them before he can actually use them. Inside his mind, he gets confronted by a number of people important to him: his mother, his father and even Kariya. In the end, he sees Shouko, before he turns mad.

Still, the damage is done. Naoto and Naoya’s parents have seen Naoto use his powers, and had the same look in their eyes as when they were young. I think that this will be the last we’ll see of them. What follows is a small note from Shouko, passed on through Naoya’s dream. “Men hate conflict, men love conflict. But if you don’t experience either one of them, you won’t be able to overcome the warlike instinct.” An interesting message, though what symbolizes it? What is Ark trying to do?

Then we finally see mastermind behind Ark. It’s an old woman in a wheelchair. She seems to be incredibly powerful. And just when you think that we’ve found our main villain, she claims that a certain “they” will make their move tonight. Does she refer to Naoto and Naoya, or another, third party? The events which followed suggested that the latter, as Naoto and Naoya don’t really have plans for that night.

Night Head Genesis – 16 – Plot Twist Galore

November 24, 2006 by psgels, posted in Night Head Genesis

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I started watching episode 17, only to realize that I had yet to see episode 16. Must’ve missed it. In any case, I’m glad I did check out this episode, as it’s a really excellent one. 🙂

The cross-references this time now take a focus to three very interesting cases: Shoko, Sonezaki and Naoto and Naoya’s parents. The first half of the episode is dedicated to Naoya, who is starting to become like Shouko. When the series started, I remember noting that Naoya’s powers were very similar to Shouko’s, but I never imagined that they’d be this similar. It showed us a good contrast between Naoto and Naoya. Naoya is actually evolving: he’s getting stronger with each experience. Naoto, however, doesn’t have this. Because he’s always protected his little brother, he’s extremely worried about him when something happens to him. Now that Naoya is growing more and more, he’ll face this problem more and more. Interesting. 🙂

Naoto also tells a bit about the background story of the world. It seems that Atlantis, Mu and Lemuria actually existed, and during those times (102.000 years ago) psychic powers were absolutely normal. Then, these civilizations destroyed themselves, and the world actually got flooded, suggesting that Noah’s Ark really existed. This also can’t be a coincidence: Ark has got to do something with Noah’s Ark. When the Upheaval comes, are they actually planning to do the same thing Noah did when the world flooded?

Part two of the episode takes another strange turn: Naoya reveals that he knows the location of their parents. The first part already was good, though this is even better. Seeing children reunite with their parents almost always works good, though Night Head Genesis goes even further: reality has been altered, which caused Naoto and Naoya to die fifteen years ago, saving a little girl.

Though the best moment of the episode arrived when Sonezaki appeared. The element of surprise is tricky to achieve in anime, especially in the mystery-genre, as you’re already suspecting that there’ll be some twist, though when Sonezaki suddenly walked into the clock store of Naoto and Naoya’s parents, I really was surprised. It seems he’s plotting something again, but what? 🙂

The past three episodes have really been excellent. Let’s hope that Night Head Genesis can keep this pace up. 🙂

Serial Experiments Lain Review – 85/100

November 24, 2006 by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

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This is one for the computer geeks among us. It’s a psychological drama, focusing on the barrier between the real world, and the internet (the Wired). It features a girl, Lain, who gets obsessed with it, and eventually this goes out of control. As this anime was made in the year 1998, you could call it science-fiction, to some degree.

I’ve been wanting to check out this anime for a while now. I wonder why it took so long for me to try it out. In any case, I’m glad that I did. Not necessarily because this anime is incredibly good, but because it made me realize one thing about modern anime: the desire for production values. Serial Experiments Lain definitely is an anime that has a different style from all of the newer shows that have been coming out in the 21st century. This is mostly due to the background sounds. There’s almost no background music, and the few tracks that are present are very basic. The creators filled most of the screen time with various sound effects, ranging from electricity wires to a large crowd and the sounds of a train. You’d never hear things like that in today’s anime, where everything revolves around production values.

After watching this anime, I have to say that the creators spent a lot of time on the story. There’s almost no filler, and every episode has a meaning and develops Lain a bit further. Also, if there ever was a non-episodic anime, it’d be Lain. It’s nearly impossible to really define the themes of the different episodes, as they all flow surprisingly well. I also noticed that other 13-episodes anime start off with a quiet pacing, and then at one point, the tension suddenly skyrockets at one climax. This isn’t the case with Lain. The tension really has been very consistent, and it’s been building up perfectly to the final two episodes.

One thing that also becomes clear after only the first episode is that this anime is trying to play mind games with its viewer. We see a lot of psychedelic shots and pans, and sometimes, people don’t even talk for half an episode. Overall, I had a good time watching this anime, though it really seems to be missing something. It really misses an element to make it awesome. What we have here is a solid title, a lot of time was spent on it, though it misses a certain X-factor to make it really stand out.

Ghost Hunt – 03 – And the Case is Solved?

November 23, 2006 by psgels, posted in Ghost Hunt

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Ah, it seems that Ghost Hunt will be another one of those anime which only get released twice a month, or so. Not that that’s a problem, or anything. After all, two of the best shows which aired during the Spring Season, Tsubasa Chronicle and The Third, also got subbed slowly. The current arc has been a strange one. Most shows which deal with ghosts can be divided into two parts:
– Ghosts exist
– Ghosts don’t exist.

Ghost Hunt adds a third category: ghosts exist, though this time they’re not really involved. The episode starts with a strange twist, as Mai wakes up, and suddenly, the priest, the monk and the exorcist suddenly start laughing alongside of her. Overall, the tone of the episode also has been very different from the previous one. The conflicts from the previous episode were almost totally gone, and the current episode actually focused on Mai, Naru-chan and Kuroda. The Monk, the Priest and the others were actually placed in the background.

I actually liked this episode. It all seemed to be Kuroda’s fault. Her desires that something might happen caused a poltergeist to blow up various parts of the abandoned school building. The ending of the episode was a very nice one. Naru-chan tries to please all the cute girls again, so he agrees to tell nothing to the principal about Kuroda-san’s involvement with the ghosts. Still, at the end of the episode, the building still collapses. The peculiar thing is that we never get to see Kuroda’s reaction. We never see how she reacts to the fact that she still kept believing that she was right.

I’m really interested about what’s going on inside of Naru-chan’s head. Sure, Mai had a good reason to accept his offer to work for him. He’s a bishounen, and a huge player as well. But I’m wondering about his reason to actually employ Mai. Is it because she’s a woman, or is there another reason for this? Another thing I’m wondering about: will the Monk, the Priest, the Exorcist and the Psychic return after this episode? It seems that everyone has gone home after the case was solved, which means that we won’t see them together anymore, seeing as they all work separately. But will Naru-chan have to work with another one of them at another case?