Tsubasa Chronicle – 49 – Awesomeness

by psgels, posted in Tsubasa Chronicle

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Seriously, this was such an excellent episode. Thank goodness Chaos turned out differently from the subtle love rival. In fact, he wasn’t subtle at all during this episode. Apart from that, there was lots of more goodness, both from Sakura, Syaoran, Fay and Kurogane, as this episode delves a bit into the past of each of them. Definitely awesomely executed.

So, here’s the case: Chaos ran into Sakura when she was young, when he sought an audience with the king of Clow as the king of his world. At that time, he promised Sakura to accompany her in her travels some day, when she was allowed to travel. Apparently, over the years, this promise turned into an obsession. Like I said, he wasn’t very subtle in this. When he confronted Sakura with the truth, he just assumed that Sakura felt the same way about the matters as he did, and would go with him no matter what.

Syaoran, Fay and Kurogane, meanwhile, are confronted with a bit of illusion magic, which takes the form of a person, dear to them. In Syaoran’s case, it’s Seishiro. I think we’ve seen him at the end of the first season. Though his case is the least interesting of the three. Kurogane meets up with his father again while Fay actually sees King Ashura. Both their reactions were so awesome, and the background music really gave a helping hand in these scenes. ^_^

Well then, when Sakura refuses, Chaos reveals that all this is his doing. He calls Syaoran, Fay and Kurogane back, in order to show Sakura how powerless the three of them are, and thus how pointless it is to continue travelling with the three of them. And he actually takes out both Fay and Kurogane. Something that doesn’t happen often. Especially the cliff-hanger was very, very powerful.

Then, there’s also the case of Wei Fong. Apparently, they’ve located a huge source of power. At first, I thought it was the bird, though when Xing Huo (apparently Fei Wong’s assistant’s name) enters the world in person, she actually heads for a strange tower, instead of the bird’s liar. Furthermore, they also don’t know that Syaoran and Sakura are in that very world, do they? The question then also remains whether this bird actually exists or not. It could be a creation of Chaos, in order to trick Sakura and find a good excuse for Syaoran to be busy for a couple of hours. After all, Mokona never felt the huge amount of feathers on the bird. Rather strange, don’t you think?

I’m seeing a lot of people get turned off by the second season because of the huge amount of ‘pointless fillers’. But these fillers are actually far from pointless. They dedicate a great deal of time in fleshing out our main characters. In fact, I actually think that the entire second season of Tsubasa Chronicle was dedicated for fleshing out its characters. Wei Fong was put out of the picture for a while because of Yuuko’s work, and because of this, Syaoran and the others were free to choose the worlds they could travel to.

During these travels, each of the members of the main cast changed. Especially Sakura got a lot of attention, as she changed from the girl who couldn’t do anything to a girl who can make her own decisions, and think for herself. Fay changed in a more subtle way. He’s actually getting more involved with Sakura and Syaoran, and I actually think that he’s slowly beginning to show things of his real self. Kurogane got a full arc dedicated to his past, fully explaining the way he lived, and why he lived the way he did. Syaoran changed more subtly, though I could swear that he’s more talkative than that he was at the beginning of the series. And Mokona also showed his worth, in the couple of episodes in which the fate of our protagonists rested on his… erm… paws.

The fact also remains that there’s quite an amount of manga-material left in order to fill the third series. I’ve never read anything of the manga, so I’m not exactly sure, but things would have to move very strange if the third season would follow the same format of the second season. From the few things I’ve read, the manga is actually nearing its closure, which means that with a bit of luck, it’ll be over when the third season starts. This means that if all the second season has been doing is building up for the third season, the third season will probably be awesome, from beginning to end.

I SO hope I’m right, as this series is too awesome to ruin.

Some quick first impressions: Nerima Daikon Brothers, Shibawanko’s Spirit of Tradition and Souko no Strain

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

An unusual batch this time. Again, consisting of shows with both good and bad parts.

Nerima Daikon Brothers

Seriously. WHAT exactly have I just been watching? This show is wrong, so totally WRONG! Really, it’s still got me twitching. Okay, remember your standard harem in which we’ve got a random overconfident arrogant bastard who gets all the girls without any proper reason? Good. Now imagine him being gay. (Really, I’ve got nothing against gay people, but what this show featured was just not healthy). When Nabeshin suddenly appeared out of nowhere, I also wasn’t surprised at all. What we’ve got here is a musical comedy. I can imagine why nobody subbed it, as it looks like a living hell to typeset, seeing that the entire episode was just basically one big song. In any case, I’m very reluctant to say it, but I actually enjoyed this episode. It may not be the funniest comedy ever, but most of the jokes used didn’t miss their mark. But still… the pain… the horrible pain. I’ll continue watching this, if I can survive it. Oh, and in case you missed this on tokyo toshokan: the fansubbers labelled the torrent “Episode 1 – Released”. I’m not yet sure whether this was intentional.

Shibawanko’s Spirit of Tradition

Okay, if there ever comes a time in which you need to be brain-dead for two minutes, this series is the thing you need to grab. It’s really a series for little children, which teaches them a few things about the Japanese culture (like how to clean properly, but also how to decorate a guest room). It most definitely isn’t anything special, but it has an incredibly quiet atmosphere. And with only 2 minutes each episode, this anime doesn’t become boring either. But, if you do decide to check out this anime, let me warn you to skip the OP. Even though it’s just 5 seconds, it’s most definitely the worst part of this anime.

Souko no Strain
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So, this anime takes place in a future age, with mechas, space travel and everything, and people are still being transported by horse carriers? There had better be a very good explanation for this. In any case, this anime makes the mistake of trying to induce sympathy on a one-dimensional character. We see a bit of the life of Seira, our main-character-and-mecha-pilot-in-training, but before she can be fully fleshed out, her brother arrives and kills her three best friends. It’s a pity, because only afterwards, she starts to get interesting. Overall, the first episode was garbage, but the second episode gave a few sparks of potential. The plot also doesn’t really make sense so far. Why would a school for future mecha-pilots be the perfect place to literally store girl who’s special in some sort of way? Isn’t it better to send her to a place with more protection, and away from underage people? Also, there’s just too many unnecessary fanservice.

Night Head Genesis – 14 – Mikuriya-sensei

by psgels, posted in Night Head Genesis

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And with this, the second half of Night Head Genesis has begun. And it’s an appropriate start, as it introduces three new antagonists, gives some background about both Naoto and Naoya as Mikuriya and Misaki. It’s a really interesting episode. I really liked it, it’s a very nice contrast with the rather fastly-paced episodes that preceded this one.

I especially loved Mikuriya-sensei. So far, he didn’t really have background, but this episode really looked at him through multiple dimensions. We both see the current him, as the him from fifteen years ago. And finally, changes between his two versions appear. I just loved how natural he changed, especially after what happened with the research institute burning down and all. Naoya also looked scarier than ever when he was freaked out when he touched Mikuriya’s assistant.

Now, the question remains, why did Mikuriya have to be locked up? It’s clear why the research institute was targeted: it’s located in a place where a lot of energy gathers. Because of this, Misaki could synchronize with it, and he was able to erect a large barrier. Right now, the three new antagonists are trying to do the same, but they’re failing. Still, they’re keeping Mikuriya in this hut, right next to the former building. Why is this important? Another interesting fact is that Misaki released Sonezaki, right after he took Naoto and Naoya in. Afterwards, Sonezaki joined up with the main antagonist of this anime. If Misaki knew this, then why did he release Sonezaki in the first place?

As noted above, it’s fairly possible that this episode introduced the third part of this anime. The first part was fairly episodic, introducing a lot of cases to build up the story, combined with lots of angst and drama. Then, when Naoto and Naoya reached Shoko’s place, the second part started, the cases focused more to Naoto and Naoya, and their secrets and mysteries. The drama and heavy scenes made way for mystery and manipulative scenes. It makes you wonder what the current part will focus at. It all depends on the powers of the new antagonists, I think.

Jigoku Shoujo – 28 – An umbrella, a food stand and a trunk

by psgels, posted in Jigoku Shoujo

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When the first season started, there wasn’t really a main character in this series. We just had Ai, her dolls and the main character of the case. Then, when Hajime and Tsugumi appeared, they sortof became main characters, as a lot of the series was followed through their eyes. Now that the second season has started, and Hajime and Tsugumi have disappeared, the focus suddenly shifts towards Ai’s dolls: Hone Onna, Ichimoku Ren and the other guy (what was his name again?). A nice focus, and with a bit of luck, we’ll be able to find out about their backgrounds a bit.

This episode deals with the relatives of someone who’s been kidnapped, raped, killed, thrown in a trunk and thrown at the bottom of the lake. A great touch of realism, as cases like these occasionally happen in real life as well. The focus entirely stands at the victim’s older sister, and I think the creators decided to dedicate the time they had on this girl, and not on the culprit. I wonder if the episode would be too fastly paced if his background was explained. Ah well, it’s the creators’ decision, and the results remain awesome.

Because we only follow the victim’s sister, we can really follow and try to understand how she feels after something like that happened to her, not knowing what really went on. Sumire(her sister)’s spirit tries to tell her this, and in the end gets the message through. I especially loved the ending. The bastard has been sent to hell, she knows that Sumire’s death, but she still continues to search for people who might’ve seen or heard something about her.

Tsubasa Chronicle – 48 – A New Manga Arc

by psgels, posted in Tsubasa Chronicle

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Ugh… this is annoying. Almost all of the good shows I’m watching come out on Friday and Saturday, while the other days are really quiet. So, yeah. Expect me to be really prolific on some days while rather absent on other days. ^^;

Anyway, I could be wrong, but I think we’ve struck another manga-arc. And it’s a very unusual as well, as there’s a huge amount of feathers at stake. It does make sense, though. Such a large amount of feathers will probably be enough to fill a huge gap in Sakura’s memories. And if the arc takes up four or five episodes, it’s also a nice way for Sakura to start the third season with nearly all of her feathers recovered. I’m really looking out for the third season, as it will mean the conclusion of this series, and it seems that things have yet to get serious.

I’m just a bit worried about Chaos. It seems that he met Sakura when she was young. As things stand now, he’s going to become a love-rival for Syaoran. I’m so hoping that the creators will either refrain from this, or develop this relationship in an extremely good way, as there’s nothing which can ruin a relationship as much as a suddenly-introduced love rival, who never made a chance of acquiring his loved one in the first place.

Yuuko also came with an interesting message for White Day. In return for eating Watanuki’s cake for Valentine’s day, she returns some advice for both Syaoran as Fay as Kurogane. Everything in this world has a beginning and an end. A good deed will lead to a good outcome. A bad outcome will await a bad deed. Why did Kurogane and Fay look so suspicious after hearing this? This will definitely be an important message for in the future. After all, it’s got to have the same value as a nice cake.

Otogi Juushi Akazukin – 18 – I Never Knew Song Could Be This Awesome ^_^

by psgels, posted in Otogi Juushi Akazukin

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Okay. That was AWESOME!

I can’t believe how incredibly cute this episode turned out. It was just one huge chunk of randomness. Basically, what happens is that the City Musicians of Bremen appear again and use their music-magic to create a huge pumpkin monster who feeds on musical energy. What follows is almost an entire episode, filled with songs, songs and even more songs. The way this turned out was so incredibly awesome. Best episode thus far!

And Hameln was just brilliant! He also arrives in an attempt to slay the huge pumpkin monster, until it appears that he’s got a huge pumpkin-phobia. XD This was because when they were young, Akazukin kept chasing him with a large pumpkin on her head. The way he eventually took care of the monster was just hilarious. XD

Though on a more serious note, I’ve complained before about Akazukin. Even though she’s supposed to be the main character of this show, she isn’t really fleshed out. We know nothing of her background, and she didn’t have a real episode dedicated to her. But now we finally saw a scene of her past. It seems that she lived together with Hameln, and that the two were on rather “friendly” terms. ^_^

Overall, I just can’t stop mentioning how awesome this episode was. Both the three musketeers as the four City Musicians of Bremen as Hameln played their parts perfectly. And both Akazukin, Shirayuki and Ibara were SO cute in their own songs! *fanboys*

Next episode will probably be the entire opposite: both Jedo-sama as Turude will be returning. Exciting!

Saiunkoku Monogatari – 20 – Background, Background and even more Background

by psgels, posted in Saiunkoku Monogatari

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Holy god, I am SO late. Why the heck did I put off watching this awesome series? Ah well, the good thing is that Shadow seems to have made a three-week trip to Japan, so only the translation of episode 20 has been released yet, which means that I haven’t missed anything. I’m not going to attempt to watch the raws without any translation anymore. This really is a series at which you need to fully understand what’s happening in order to enjoy it. Luckily, Shadow’s back from Japan now, and I’m now eagerly awaiting her new translations. ^_^

This episode was mostly meant for background information. Both about Seiran as about the history of Saiunkoku, and the civil war. But that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a great episode. I really enjoyed it. It seems that both Seiran and Ryuuki were unwanted children. Ryuuki was hated by all his brothers, while Seiran was hated by his mother. She kept telling him that she’d been so much better off if he hadn’t been born.

Out of all the princes, Seiran was the most talented. At the age of twelve, he already was an excellent swordsman, he won the royal tournament and was presented by the royal twin swords Kanshuu and Bakuya by his father. He gave Bakuya to Ryuuki. I’m not sure how, but at some point, Kanshuu also came in Ryuuki’s possession, which he then gave back to Seiran again during the previous episode. So, what happened to Bakuya? *kicks memory*

Seiran was exiled because of his mother and grandfather. They were planning to make Seiran Emperor. That’s something which his four eldest brothers didn’t like, so they used this fact to arrest Seiran, and exile him. (Small note: who were the women, standing right beside them?). It was because of the current king’s influence that Seiran just became exiled, rather than executed.

Seiran was exiled to the Sa-province. During his journey, his mother was killed by assassins, sent after him by his brothers. Seiran then vanished fourteen years ago. At the end of that year, Shouka found him, and took him in. Between those times, it’s unknown what he’s been doing, though if I had to guess, it wasn’t pretty. All we know is that he’s picked up by a strange man, with long, dark-red hair.

Then, the episode focuses on the history of Saiunkoku. After prince Seien was exiled, things went well for five years. Ryuuki was taken in by Shouka and the four other princes continued to fight on the inside. Then, nine years ago, the emperor turned sick. When the princes found this out, the conflict between them took a serious turn, and the entire palace lost its balance. Therefore, civil war started. When you combine this with a heavy drought, the population suffered heavily. I just loved how the creators showed a quick shot of Shuurei, playing on her instrument in front of the dead people.

Shou Taishi didn’t do anything about this. It seems that he was waiting for a person, worthy to be called the emperor of Saiunkoku. When he finally found someone like that in Ryuuki, he solved the crisis like it was nothing, he fed the hungry and executed the four fighting princes (at least, this is implied. They’re all dead, aren’t they?). Then, two years ago, the previous emperor died, and Ryuuki got the throne. What happened afterwards, we already know.

Really an excellent background episode. Why did I ever start to ignore this series?

Asatte no Houkou – 04 – Yukata’s, Summer Festivals and Fireworks

by psgels, posted in Asatte no Houkou

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Seriously, there were a lot of garbage-shows in the autumn season, though the anime that actually were good, really turned out extremely well. Asatte no Houkou is no exception to this rule, and this episode only strengthened this. It focuses on Karada this time, and her relationship with Hiro. It was in one word, beautiful.

Last episode, we left off with Shoko telling Hiro about the new Karada. It takes about half an episode for this message to sink down into his mind, much to the annoyance of Shoko and sadness of Karada. The second half of the episode takes place during the summer festival, at which Shoko attempts to bring Karada and Hiro back together. She lets the two of them be alone for a while, and Karada starts to cry in front of Hiro. So sad. Ah well, it did bring the two closer together, and it seems that they’ll be living together again.

Shoko, also definitely changed. You can definitely see this when she’s alone with Karada. In the first episode, all we see of her is her cold side, as she’s constantly reminded of the sad memories Hiro left her. But she’s so cute when she attempts to calm down and comfort Karada.

The question now remains: how will this anime continue? There will probably be some time dedicated to allow Karada’s classmate to accept what happened (dammit… what was his name again?), and the next episode will probably also focus on Karada and Shoko, picking up their lives again. But then what? There’s still lots of time that has to be filled. And remember that the “however…”-part from the description of this anime has yet to happen. =)

Also, notice Karada’s ribbon on her Yukata? That was so cute. ^_^

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto – 04 – Using your own history in plays

by psgels, posted in Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto

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Seriously, that was such an awesome episode. Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto makes a good chance of becoming this season’s best anime if this quality remains at the same level. This episode focused on Akizuki’s past a bit, but mostly on Saigo Magozou’s (not Takamori, apparently, the two of them have the same last name. Does that mean that they’re related?) attempts to assassinate Yuyama. I’m not sure why, tough. Apparently, Yuyama stands in Nakaiya Juubei’s way in some kind of manner.

But first, another name. Ever since the previous episode, the official site has been updated to include Katsu’s bodyguard. His name is Kanna Sakyou no Suke.

We start the episode where we left off the previous time. Magozou has been surrounded by both Akizuki and the troupe. Now, he uses some kind of explosive to create a smokescreen and escape. Benimaru and Kobako then arrive, and thank Akizuki for what he did in the previous episode. The latter, however, just walks away.

We then switch to the next day, in which the troupe is performing a play in front of an audience. And seriously… they’re good. Akizuki and Soutetsu have a little talk, which forces Akizuki to remember his old master, Sakamoto Ryouma again. At least, I think that’s him. Ryouma also mentions Katsu for a bit.

We then switch to Nakaiya Juubei and Magozou. It seems that the former has acquired the building plans for the theatre, which will prove to be a great advantage for Magozou. Back to Akizuki, he’s training for a bit until Kobako arrives with an invitation of some sort. I think that Katsu asked him to deliver this, which would suggest some connection between the two. It seems that Katsu also is getting worried about the fact that Akizuki’s still living on his memories of Ryouma. We see the flashback of his assassination again as well.

We then switch to the troupe again, performing a play about Hario Genba. It’s very interesting to see that Soutetsu actually wrote a play about the history of the members of the troupe. Ah well, it’s a good source of inspiration (^_^). Magozou, meanwhile, is wrapping some cloth around his gun, while eating a bit. I’m not sure for what purpose that is. To conceal his weapon? To add extra firepower? In any case, it seems that he’s already sneaked into the theatre, waiting for the right opportunity.

A conversation between Nakaiya Juubei and TB Glover later, we switch to the next day, where it seems that the troupe will be performing for a huge play. It is here where Magozou will be attempting to try his luck, as everyone will probably be too busy with making the show run in order to pay any attention to other things. Akizuki, however, also seems to be present. An interesting note: either the troupe has hired extra actors, or it consists out of more than just the characters, important to the story. I’m guessing the former, as at one point, the stage is filled with lots of people at the same time.

Both Akizuki and Soutetsu are keeping an eye out, while Magozou waits for the right moment, at a spot right above the stage. Unfortunately, he waits too long, so Akizuki finds him first. And this is where things really turn awesome. Especially because the play below is just continuing like nothing happened. Magozou attempts to escape, but then runs into Soutetsu and shoots Kakashi no Keishin’s shoulder in the process. He eventually ends up right next to the stage with no sign of his pursuers and a clear shot of Kakunojou, when suddenly the stage gets filled with numerous extras, playing for government officials and other people, who all obstruct his view of Kakunojou.

He then turns desperate, and he runs on the stage himself, putting on an act of his own. Akizuki then rushes in and kills the guy, and the audience loves this, thinking it’s all part of the act. Magozou, however, has one trick left up his sleeve: a number of bombs, hanging from the ceiling. He attempts to shoot them, though Kanna no Sakyou Suke prevents this.

Kkunojou attempts to thank Akizuki, though he walks away again. Once more, he wasn’t able to protect the ones who hired him. I think his problem is that he doesn’t know the meaning of teamwork. For as far as I know, he’s been doing everything on his own, and he never considered the help of others. The fact that they actually did try to help him didn’t appear in his mind.

Another thing: the supernatural elements. For the past two episodes, there has been absolutely nothing supernatural appearing, even though this forms a large part of the story (the red star, the unsealed demon). I’m suspecting that this will turn into an important focus later in the story. I actually like how the creators did this.