Ergo Proxy – 22 – Great Episode :)

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The first half of the finale has started, and it really was awesome. You really can classify this as the answer-episode, as lots of revelations are made. This is going to be a rather short entry, as I already have episode 23 on my computer, just waiting to be played.

So,
– Ergo Proxy/Vincent escapes his death by ripping his arm off.
– Ergo Proxy/Vincent created Romdeau.
– Each Proxy created its own dome.
– Fake Real thinks only about Vincent.
– Daedalus only wants Fake Real to think about him, and he gets pissed off by her actions.
– Pino isn’t captured like I thought. She just ran into Raul’s home, drew a couple of pictures and left. She’s still roaming in Romdeau.
– Raul attempted to shoot Daedalus, but something happens which makes him shoot himself instead.
– When Raul reaches his house, he sees Pino’s pictures. One of these pictures shows the two of them, happily holding balloons.
– Raul meets his end when he roams around Romdeau, trips and falls on a shard of glass.
– Ergo created Vincent in the hope of forgetting about his sufferings as a Proxy.
– Finally it becomes clear why Proxy One and Vincent are different beings: he controls both Vincent AND Ergo Proxy! He’s the true creator of Romdeau.

This was a great episode. The next episode also promises to be awesome: how to kill someone who always wins? Pino wanders further through Romdeau (what were the creators planning to do with her?). And Daedalus has to either accept that Fake Real is interested in Vincent, or he has to take physical actions. Something tells me it’s going to be the latter.

(on a side-note: Ergo Proxy always is a bitch when trying to take screenshots. They always turn out too dark -_-)

.Hack//Roots – 25 – One more to go

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I’m glad to see that .Hack//Roots has gotten better when the final episodes came along. Things finally become a bit interesting again. Especially Phyllo and Touta were great this episode, even though it’s still unknown what they exactly did. The next episode could actually promise to be a great one, if things go right. Seeing Haseo at the end of the episode, back in his original form also was very interesting. We also finally have another reference towards real life. Tabby did some investigations on her own, and found Shino. She also met Haseo in real life. He seems to be visiting her every day.

Still, there’s one thing I dislike.

Why does Haseo have “the element”? What makes him so special?

Some quick first impressions: Galaxy Ange-lune, Tokimeki Memorial and Love Dol: Lovely Idol

Yeah, I’m planning to through the garbage of the season first by watching the raws. It’s not like shows of this nature were known for their incredibly difficult language anyway.

Galaxy Ange-lune
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This is another one of those failed attempts at comedy. We’ve got a cast of stereotypes, who try to be as random as possible, but aren’t really funny. It’s basically an excuse to give some cute girls a chance to drive space-ships, without any explanation for their huge skills. Thrown in a couple of fanservice-references, the standard cute pet (who seems to have the same voice actor as Randagio) who gets abused for the most standard reasons ever and the only guy in the show who moans when he speaks and you have a recipe for failure. The only moderately funny part was the red-haired girl, sleeping through the explosion.

Tokimeki Memorial
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This anime takes place in a high school. Guess who our main character is? Yup, a transfer student. How original. In any case, the school president has come up with a “clever” idea for the school event. Coincidentally, it took place right on the day our main character joined the school. Because of that, our main character gets labelled with a pair of nekomimi-ears, and the one who catches him will get a date with the most popular girl in school. And yes, believe it or not, but our main character manages to outrun the ENTIRE male population of this school. In the meantime, he helps another cute girl in the library, reaching a book on the top shelf (seriously, couldn’t she have grabbed a chair or something?). I guess she’s in love with him now. The next episode will probably feature our main character, flirting with the top female athlete of the school. Seriously, this anime is another piece of garbage. The only good points came from the range of weird teachers this school inhibits. They were actually quite hilarious.

Love Dol: Lovely Idol
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Surprisingly good, if you compare it to the two above. Still, that doesn’t really say anything. This show is mostly bad, though it does have its potentially promising moments, unlike the two mentioned above. First of all, it’s got a huge cast: 18 idols, one manager and one boss. Especially the four main characters actually try to move away from the stereotypes. If these are used well, things can become very interesting, though I’m not expecting that to happen. At this point, the show mostly looks like it intends to focus on cute girls and your occasional moment of fanservice. Still, the fact that the debut-concert was cancelled does show that things don’t always go as planned in this anime. That might be a good point. Still, my verdict is that this anime will lose itself in its huge amount of cute girls, directed to fanservice. And am I the only one disturbed by the fact that they were performing in front of a herd of wild otaku? Aren’t these idol-things mostly meant for young children and pubescent girls?

Popolocrois 2003 – 15 – Arrrr

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A very interesting view on the life at sea. I haven’t really seen the concept of the entire crew being one big family before. Overall, it was interesting. The creators spent a lot of details on the different roles of the different crew members. The crew of a ship no longer consists out of captain, cook and random people. I like this touch.

This episode was mostly light-hearted, meant to introduce the eleven new characters and the life aboard the Dakart. A short story about a baby kraken-like thingy also was inserted. I liked that one, as it actually featured our three main characters making their own choices, and taking responsibility for them afterwards. Still, even this was very light-hearted. But there was one point at which the subject reverted back to Pietoro’s and Marco’s parents, being turned to stone. That was a surprisingly heavy part. Pinon wakes up after having a nightmare regarding his parents, and after he sees that Marco’s crying in his sleep for his mother, he suddenly starts crying. That was such a good scene.

Anyway, it seems that the current arc will mostly play on the Dakart. This means that we’ll probably get to know the crew over the course of the episodes. A quick rundown on the different members:

Boss: I’m ashamed to say that I couldn’t remember her name. I knew I should’ve written it down somewhere. In any case, she’s Pietoro’s sister, and Pinon’s aunt. She’s indeed someone you’d expect to be the daughter of Paolo. Does she happen to posses any dragon powers as well, by the way?

Donovan: the captain of the Dakart. He probably handles everything concerning the Dakart as a ship. He looks quite experienced.

Gooley: the boatswain of the Dakart. He’s indeed quite cute with his small tail. He seems to be skilled with bow and arrow.

Billy: One of the deck mates (or however you call them). He likes to get annoyed fast.

Toad: One of the deck mates (or however you call them). He’s got a strange talent which can tell whenever there’s a storm coming. He doesn’t like to talk much, though, and when he does, he does it in an almost inaudible way.

Momba: The strange lizard we saw already in the previous episode. He probably has the lowest rank on the Dakert, working even under Billy and Toad, though he does take initiative in everything, making his character stand out a lot. He also doesn’t like people thinking bad of him. ^^;

Edgar: he’s the helmsman. I’m a bit worried about the fact that while he’s supposed to be steering a ship, he likes drinking and dancing… He also talks in a very polite, old-fashioned way.

Curtis: the operations officer. He seems quite the lady-man, though he does have a laid-back attitude. He’s got an interesting personality.

Lambert: the ship’s doctor. One of the few sane people on the ship. Therefore, the most likely one to commit suicide, betray Pinon or get paranoid, if we have to follow the rules of common anime.

Dike: he’s a wandering merchant, though I’m not exactly sure about his role on the Dakart. He seems to be a geeky-type.

Gaston: takes care of the ship’s engine. He seems very experienced, he’s a huge cat with one eye missing. I like him. ^^;

Aina: takes care of the Seirei stone and the food for the crew. She seems to have an eye on Marco. Perhaps because she finally saw someone of her own age again. She’s Gaston’s granddaughter. It seems that the guy either married a human, or had a son or daughter who married a human.

The Third – 19 – Very Nice

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As this seems to be a four-episode-arc, the final five episodes will probably feature the closing arc, which will probably feature Ikus in some major way. The episode itself was very enjoyable to see. Basically, it features Honoka and Blue Breaker getting inside Rona Fauna’s base. In the meantime, Bogie, Paife and Ikus try to catch up with them and Rona Fauna herself shows that she’s more than just a 1-dimensional antagonist.

Each of these parts was well worth seeing. Honoka and Blue breaker fight together, even though they’re former enemies. Blue breaker saves Honoka from a moment of carelessness while Honoka amazes Blue Breaker when she takes care of a very powerful anti-mechanical soldier. He actually asks her how she’s able to cut through such thick steel, though she can’t really give him an answer for that. It’s also very awkward to see the two of them having conversations in such a normal matter.

The plane from the previous episode got crashed, dropping Bogie about five kilometres away from Rona Fauna’s hideout. Both Bogie and Paife show their best sides when they eliminate all of the lurking autonomous soldiers. It was actually quite amusing to see Bogie abandoning Paife. ^^; Rona Fauna also sent her assistant to eliminate the two of them, so the next episode should promise to be something special.

I’m also really beginning to like Rona Fauna. She’s just full of mysteries. What exactly is she? How is she connected to the nanomachines in her hideout? What’s her goal? Why does she want to see Honoka? Why did she kidnap Joganki? Why are her forces so unprofessional? Why is her assistant giving Honoka visions? Joganki also was very interesting. His reaction when he found out that Honoka was coming was very surprising. For some reason, he dislikes that Filla Marique involved Honoka in all this. Both Joganki as Rona Fauna seem very uneasy at the end of the episode.

The next episode promises to be a great one. Rona Fauna vs Blue Breaker and Honoka and Rona Fauna’s assistant vs Bogie, Paife and Ikus. I can’t wait. 🙂

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 26 – The End? I Hope Not.

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The final episode was pretty straightforward. Or should I say, everything in this final episode which didn’t involve Rika was pretty straightforward. But I’ll get to that later. First, the conclusion.

Rena didn’t run away, like the previous episode suggested. She went to the school, held all of the students hostage and planned to blow the place up if the Sonozaki-family wasn’t arrested. She doubts all her friends in the process, and delivers some serious injuries to Mion. Oishi also showed yet another side of himself, while he tried to use Keiichi in order to calm down Rena. It was a pretty nice episode, but it did have its flaws.

Flaw #1: Rena set a time bomb, to go off at 7:00 pm. Over the course of the episode, Satoko helps Keiichi to find this bomb, Keiichi rushes to the place and manages to disarm it with only one second left. Seriously, I thought that the creators knew better than this.

Flaw #2: As this is the final episode, it had it coming that it would end up in a clash between the two main characters. Pretty touching, but annoying at the same time.

Anyway, the fact remains that Keiichi didn’t get cured, Shion didn’t get cured, but Rena did get cured. In the first arc, Rena tried to embrace Keiichi, though that didn’t work. During this arc, Keiichi tried to remind Rena of the happy times gone by. And that managed to convince her.

Okay, now to the really good stuff: Rika. She’s finally beginning to see that in order to solve the mysterious tragedy, she has to come in action as well. I think Keiichi really gave her courage. When Keiichi and Rena are fighting, she also reckons that Keiichi might just find an exit. Still, in the end, he didn’t. Rika and her mysterious companion still are stuck in this “endless June”. Though I think that Rika now really is beginning to get serious. The last sentence of the episode really proves this. The seventh arc is promising to be awesome, but in order for that to work, some kind of OVA or second season does need to be announced. But as for now, I’m pretty confident that this’ll happen. After all, the creators did include these scenes at the end of the episode, suggesting that there is more to come. I’m so hoping that I’m not wrong in this.

The TIPS:
Only one tip to come with this episode: The Demon’s Script. It tells about Akasaka, and it also reveals that the fourth arc happened before the sixth arc as well. It reveals exactly what was in Takano’s scrapbooks, and it also reveals that the day after the events of the current episode, the “volcanic gas” appeared again. It indeed is some kind of cover-up story, due to the onigafuchi marsh which has been covered in concrete to supposedly stop the outbreak of volcanic gas, though Takano’s theories also don’t seem that trustworthy.

Oh, and one scene I really liked is when Rena was talking with Oishi on the phone, while Keiichi was contacting another police officer. Very nicely executed.

(Oh, and a small note: I’ve decided to not write a review about this anime yet. Even if there isn’t going to be another OVA, a fan-translation of the seventh arc in the game is going to be made, and I’ll probably end up playing it. As things are now, Higurashi is horribly incomplete, and I don’t want this to negatively influence my views. For now, I’m putting Higurashi on Hiatus, instead of completed.)

Otogi Juushi Akazukin – 14 – Gretel

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This was such a cute episode. And a great one as well. It’s a great one this time, and it really reveals some very interesting things about her past with Hansel. She loves her brother because when they were even smaller than they are now, they used to be very close to each other. Hansel was very kind to his little sister. Then, they ran into the house, made of sweets (was I the only one to love the reference in this one?) and met Cendrion, who then brainwashed Hansel.

This episode, Akazukin and the others are in the same forest as back then. Of course it’s nostalgic to both Hansel and Gretel when they found out. Gretel then finds out that Cendrion has been controlling Hansel, as she quickly drives this nostalgic feeling out of him. She then goes to the sugar-house again, and waits for Akazukin and the others, in order to ask for help. Ringo, however, doesn’t trust her, so she leaves, along with the others. Gretel, however, keeps following them, in a very sad way. I can’t believe how cute she was at that time. ^_^

In any case, Souta decides to trust her. Quite a touching scene follows between the two of them, though just when you think that Gretel has agreed to join him, things move differently as she reports to her brother. She tries to convince him that Akazukin and the others can help the two of them, but he’s only interested in Souta. In the end, Gretel tells him the location of Erde’s key. The next morning, Hansel appears in front of him.

I can’t believe how evil Hansel looked at that time. He just ruthlessly charges, and fires a spell which kills almost the entire forest. Gretel’s reaction to this also was awesome. In the end, Akazukin, Shirayuki and Ibara manage to take him out by combining their powers. I’m not sure how they managed to do this, seems like I failed to understand a few sentences. Anyway, Gretel then chooses Hansel over Souta, threatens the latter with her sword and escapes along with the unconscious former. I quite like her case. Especially because she loves her brother, who’s been brainwashed.

We also met up with a new character: a very old, talking tree. I like him. He behaves just like a very cheerful old man. He also saw Hansel and Gretel when they were still young, and he actually protected Souta and Ringo from Hansel’s poison rain. At the end of the episode, he also provides a nice message, regarding the destroyed forest. Things will just recover. Give it a few years, and the forest will be back again. Ibara also presents him with a magical seed.

Randagio also was as cute as ever. He was needed at the beginning of the episode, in order to tell Hansel and Gretel about Souta’s location. Afterwards, he rushes off to find them, though the creators found a very nice way of keeping him out of the main events of this episode. ^_^

Anyway, I think that this episode marked the end of another part of this anime. The next part will probably be even darker, as during the next episode, Raikan will be coming into action. Be sure not to miss it.

(On a side-note: did anybody else notice that when Ibara was sleeping, she had Kyupi wrapped up in her vines?)

Some quick first impressions: Black Blood Brothers, Sci-Fi Harry and _Summer

And the fall season has started. So far, it’s promising to be a load of garbage with a few good shows. I SO hope that the coming month will prove me wrong, though the current batch hasn’t really managed to change my opinion.

Black Blood Brothers

It’s got hate, it’s got angst, it’s got despair, but it’s also got a main character with absolutely no sense of fashion and an annoying little brat who is annoying for the sake of being annoying. The anime also plays in a world in which hundreds of bullets can be stopped by a single swing of a sword. Not really that realistic. Even though the angst was nice to see, I decided to drop this show. The decisive reason for this happened at the end of the first episode. We first see our main character on a ship, moving things (including the annoying brat) with just the power of his mind. Then, the brat falls into the water, and suddenly his power stopped working, and he actually jumped after him, sustaining significant damage as the water seems to dissolve him. Why couldn’t he just zap the brat back to the ship?

Sci-Fi Harry

Yeah, I know. This series aired in 2000. But as this section is called “some quick first impressions”, and not “newly aired anime”, I might slip in an old one once in a while. And this one was just a tad too good to ignore. The anime plays around Harry. He’s been alienated from society, and he’s an extremely shy boy. Then, it seems that he’s a psychic who can’t fully control his powers. People are now obviously after his powers, and the few people who did spend time with him then will probably get entangled in this. The series immediately starts out very intense. And by the third episode Harry already killed about fifty people at once. Overall, it’s a very good, but the series does have its own annoying moments. The main female character’s feelings towards Harry are nothing short of obnoxious, and a lot of scenes show some facial expressions which just don’t work. It does give something unique to this anime, though the fact that looking at these characters’ faces is annoying.

_Summer
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Okay, things can’t be good when this anime immediately starts with a perverted onsen-peeking-scene. And indeed. This anime has one of the most WORST. SETTINGS. EVER. A male who’s been copied and pasted right from any other random harem is surrounded by a huge load of “beautiful” girls. Of course, each of these girls absolutely loves our main character and they all perfectly fit the stereotypes. The anime is about a very difficult choice: which girl does the main character want to spend the rest of his life with. Seriously, I hope that this isn’t some kind of sign, regarding the overall quality of the rest of the season. Anyway, thankfully some small details prevented this anime from becoming a total disaster. There were some funny moments (the teacher and the evil girl were rather funny) and also, at times whenever we see characters talk, you can see rather random things go on in the background. I do admit that it was a nice touch. Still, I’m not really recommending this to anyone. (Oh yes, and in case you were wondering, I watched this one raw. You need to wait a bit before the subs appear, but you’re better off forgetting about this series)

Night Head Genesis – 10 – Playing with Premonitions

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Hmm, this case is beginning to get more interesting by the minute. I was sceptical at first, as I thought that each arc in Night Head Genesis would be full of hate and suffering, but the concept they used for this arc also worked out very nice.

First of all, the vision of Kamiya shows a bit more of itself. We have a golden elephant who flies away. Then we have a black glove, in which a silver snake appears. This snake dissolves into a flour-like substance.

Also, if the visions keep coming, this anime can do some very interesting things. I think it’s going to try and play with the future. As things stand now, the woman who attacked Naoya will kill someone other than Naoto, Naoya and Kurahashi and end up in jail. Naoya will end up touching someone and have the worst shock of his life, making him unable to recover. Then, an airplane disaster occurs in which a young pilot takes his parents along with him and afterwards, about fifteen, twenty years into the future, the disease will kill humanity. The question remains, how much of this will come true?

Remember the first prediction we saw from Kariya? Naoto and Naoya were looking at a street full of corpses. As this will happen about twenty years into the future, it has to be a symbol, instead of a realistic vision (just like the elephant and the snake). What if their own meddling was the actual reason for Kurahashi to develop the virus? Was it their meddling that caused Kurahashi to become nervous, and messing up so much that the virus was set loose? At the end of the episode, we also see Kurahashi’s assistant in a very unhealthy condition, dumping a few strange flour-like medicines and dropping them in the drinks he was supposed to be getting. What could it mean?

September Summary

Why did so little anime change their OP or ED after their first half ended? For as far as I know, only xxxHolic showed us a new ED after episode 14. I like it when a series does this. It symbolizes change. Anyway, now that that random comment is out of the way, here’s once again the summary of the past month. I still can’t seem to come up with good names for these things.
Continue reading “September Summary”