Muteki Kanban Musume Review – 84/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

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Muteki Kanban Musume is a comedy-anime. And a pretty successful one as well. Where most other comedies fail, this anime actually dos things right. The story follows Onimaru Miki. She’s a 20-year old girl who works as a waitress at her mother’s ramen restaurant. The only problem is that she’s an extremely violent girl. She likes to randomly attack people whenever she sees the chance, which doesn’t really make her the perfect employee. Apart from that, whenever she messes up, her mother smacks her knock-out, she keeps getting bothered by a sadistic girl who works across the street in a baker-shop and seems to have some kind of grudge against her, and by a hyperactive guy who keeps challenging her, only to lose after one hit.

I think that the biggest problem with this anime is that it takes a few episodes to get used to the characters. Not that that’s a bad thing, but it will drive potential watchers away. Still, the fact remains that most of the jokes used in this anime are character-based. You need to know the characters a bit for the jokes to really become effective. But once you’re familiarized with the characters, this show picks up steam, and delivers hilarious scenes.

The characters work very well with each other. It’s not like each character is extremely violent either. Right next to the ramen restaurant Miki works is a vegetable shop. In there, another main character works, who isn’t good with fighting at all. He offers a more sarcastic look at things. And there are more non-violent characters like these who balance the violent ones very well.

The show consists out of twelve episodes, each divided into two standalone parts. If I had to make a guess, then more than half of these parts worked out very successful, while the others missed the mark a bit (at times, the creators use the same concepts a bit too much, other times, the jokes don’t fall well, etc). Still, this is much better than any average comedy can achieve. While it’s not the best comedy ever, Muteki Kanban Musume definitely was worth the laughs it provided. I really recommend it if you need something light to laugh at.

Ouran High School Host Club Review – 73/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews


Ouran is a high-school comedy-drama with a twist: the school this anime takes place in is only for the children of the richest parents in Japan. It’s meant for those children who are able to spend a huge amount of money. The only way for non-rich people to get in the school is to have exceptionally good grades.

Well then, for some reason, rich people don’t have to do any homework, so they huge amounts of time to spend. This anime is about the Host Club of this school. It’s basically a way for the rich people to spend their time. The club consists out of a group of bishounen, who all entertain the ladies who come to the host club. Then, a female, pretending to be a male joins the club, and the anime starts.

Ouran’s strength is its novelty. The bad thing is that it doesn’t seem to realize this. I’m afraid to say it, but most of the episodes, this anime just keeps milking on old concepts they already tried, up to the point at which things just become incredibly boring. An example of this is our main character’s sarcasm. When this gets used in the first episode, it’s funny. Same in the second episode. But when she reacts the same way in over twenty episodes, the fun quickly dies. It’s a darn shame, as the episodes which introduce new things really worked out. Both in comedy as in drama.

You can really see this in the episodes in which one or two particular characters stand in the spotlights. All these episodes basically to is retell things from other episodes, only a bit changed and twisted in order to make them look unique. It’s also strange that the annoying characters get three or four episodes for themselves, while another character doesn’t get even half of an episode. Still, this made the latter one of the better characters.

Still, I have to admit, in terms of character development, the characters of Ouran are very fleshed out. The episodes do give characters the chance of showing their unique cases, and later in the series, you can spot the changes. While this does look boring the moment when you see it, the overall picture that this gives is impressive.

Like I said, some of the characters are unique. Others, however, do not fit in this anime. The image of a small, cute, cuddly child who happens to be the strongest master of martial arts on the planet was just too forced. I also didn’t like the fact that being the richest also automatically means being the strongest, smartest, best, or any other superior element. The creators also didn’t really attempt to deviate from this, apart from having a main character who’s poor. But even then there’s no emphasis put on this, which is a shame, as it’s an interesting subject.

Overall, Ouran did have its very good moments. Some episodes were just hilarious. It’s just too bad that these good episodes were surrounded by bad episodes. Still, it remains a fairly good comedy, and the drama aspects were fine. It’ll be a fine watch, although boring at times.

Ayatsuri Sakon – 13 – The Case is Solved

by psgels, posted in Ayatsuri Sakon

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It’s great to see that even though the criminal is known, it doesn’t automatically end the case. Like Sakon said, you need solid proof. And that’s what this episode was about: getting the proof out of the culprit: Oki. Ayatsuri Sakon really knows how to play with human emotions and feelings. Sakon knew that if he mimicked the dead, and made them act the way he thought they would, Oki would suspect that they were onto him, and he would try to move the body as soon as he thought that everyone’s gone. This also played a major part in the first arc.

The reason for murder was a simple one: Oki was simply obsessed with Byakko. He wanted to have the sword, no matter what, and he killed Kyouichi when it appeared that the sword was going to be sold. He killed Akazuki because there had to be a time in which he had to find out that the sword didn’t end up on the black market. Though that reason confuses me a bit. After all, didn’t everyone think that Kyouichi took the blade and kept it as his own? If that’s the case, how would it end up in the black market of all places?

Saiunkoku Monogatari – 19 – Poor Ryuuki ;)

by psgels, posted in Saiunkoku Monogatari

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This episode was much like the transition episode between arc 3 and arc 4. It’s mostly meant to introduce Shuurei’s next task, but also to strengthen the position of women in the imperial court, even if it does mean that Ryuuki had to abuse his powers a bit.

In the first arc, Shuurei was assigned as Ryuuki’s temporary wife, in the second arc, she was studying hard in order to become a government official. In the third arc, she had to prove herself as shinshi, by having to endure a number of challenging trials and in the fourth arc, she gets assigned as the co-governor of the Sa-province. As the ring is still gone, and all of the ones found are fake, the Sa-province is in desperate need of a governor. If, after a year of the previous governor’s death, nobody is found, people can create a new ring. Ryuuki wanted to prevent some random guy to rise as the governor, so he assigned Shuurei and Eigetsu as temporary governors. By giving them flower buds, it means that he has absolute trust in them. This would prevent people from creating a new ring, as that would be going against the emperor himself, which they want to prevent. Still, this does mean that Shuurei is going to have a tough time from now on. Same as Eigetsu. There will probably be a number of people who don’t like her there.

Still no Kourin. I think that she’ll be able to meet Shuurei in the next episode. Interesting note: Shuurei still doesn’t know the things Kourin did to her. Also, there seem to be some serious plans about making Shuurei as Kouyuu’s wife. Signs are pointing more and more to the direction where Shuurei and Ryuuki will never really be together. After all, if Shuurei would marry Ryuuki, she’d be a princess, which is not something she’s aiming for. Another interesting fact is that when Kurou mentioned that when Kouyuu marries Shuurei, he’ll be taking over the Kou clan. But what if Shuurei ends up taking over the Kou clan?

I think I now know what Ten meant by the fact that the next episodes will be focusing a lot on Seiran’s background. After all, his history with Ensei has been rather unexplained. I think that that’ll be a major focus in the next arc.

I’ve just been wondering, if Wontaek’s prediction is right, and the fifth book will end around episode 25, then will there be enough time for all of the ten books to be shown?

.Hack//Roots – 24 – Okay. Didn’t See That One Coming.

by psgels, posted in .Hack//Roots

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Seriously, I never, NEVER thought I’d say this about .Hack//Roots, but OMG that was a great episode!

Only now, two episodes before everything ends we finally get to see the fruits of all these episodes in which Haseo just rampaged around the world, without basically anything happening. Everything has just been building up! Only now, when the end is near, the creators suddenly turned five gears higher, and they finally show us some action.

First of all, Ovan comes back. He tells Haseo that Tri-Edge is about to return. If I recall correctly, he was away for so long because of his fight with Ovan. I think he had to recover, according to one of the commenters. When he hears this, Haseo’s face turns into a big evil grin. Afterwards, when he’s in the church, his face actually turns normal again! (Seriously, I could barely recognize him at that time). Then, Tri-Edge appears and he gets data-drained! Talk about surprise!

What’s more, something tells me that Ovan has been wanting this to happen all along. After all, he told him that they’d together fight Tri-Edge, but Ovan just was nowhere to be found. I never thought that he would be the bad guy of this series.

Especially the reaction of those around Haseo was amazing. Not only Yata, Pai and Kuhn, but especially Saburou and Touta’s reaction was great to see. I wonder how Tabby will react.

Of course, I highly doubt that Haseo will disappear forever, as there’s still a .Hack//GU game which follows afterwards, but if the creators manage to keep the same level up for the final two episodes, things could promise to be very interesting. And after so many episodes of building up, it would almost be blasphemy if this series doesn’t end with a bang.

Simoun Review – 95/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Simoun


In my more recent reviews, I always tried to classify the anime I reviewed in some kind of genre. Strangely enough, I can’t seem to do this with Simoun. There is just not one typical category it fits in. It’s got some yuri-romance, it’s got action, it’s a character study, it deals with heavy themes, it’s got all of these tiny elements which somehow form this beautiful result.

I really mean it when I say that Simoun is an awesome anime. Probably one of the best who aired during the spring season. It’s mostly because of the characters. These characters are so incredibly fleshed out that as the anime progresses, it’s able to invoke their deepest emotions. The anime, however, starts out a bit fragile. The first episode is not necessarily a bad one, but it did turn many viewers away. After this first episode, the anime picks up in a steady pace, already giving the viewer small tastes of the awesomeness which is about to come.

The best of this series appears in episodes 14, 15 and 16. Seriously, at those episodes, this anime will have you clinging to the screen in order not to miss even a single millisecond. These scenes are just too good to be described. Afterwards, the series continues with an excellent average level, until another very good climax comes at episode nineteen and twenty.

From that point, the anime takes an incredibly original turn. It’s something only very few anime attempt. The overall theme suddenly gets shifted from the action and tension towards a more thought-provoking one: saying goodbye and living on. A great deal of time is spent on this, in comparison to other anime, and if I have to say so myself, the last episodes give Simoun a very fitting ending.

This anime shines because of its characters. Each and every single one of them is unique. Each has her own struggles, and when you combine these struggles, tensions can rise incredibly high. It’s also one of the very few anime who doesn’t mess up with the love-theme, and this makes the romance-aspect also one huge success, significantly contributing to the overall mood of the show.

The soundtrack which comes with this anime also is superb. There are certain tracks which will really help bring the best out of the scenes. In the graphical department, this series also shines. Especially with the character design. Each character looks absolutely gorgeous. The battles also are a very nice watch.

Still, like I said, the character-driven episodes are awesome. But they do make the story-driven episodes rather bland in comparison. That’s about the only down part of this anime. The characters are far more interesting that the general story behind all of this. That’s about the only bad point.

Simoun – 26 – Paraietta is a true artist

by psgels, posted in Simoun

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And so, I’m afraid to say it, but Simoun has come to an end. And it certainly has been one of the most unique endings ever. It was nothing that could have blown me off my chair, but instead, this ending did leave me with a warm, fuzzy feeling. I can happily say that this ending succeeded. Still, the ending was puzzling, and there are a small number of questions left unanswered.

Anyway, the episode takes place a few years in the future, in order to show what happened to each of the members of the chor tempest. Extra focus is put on Limone and we also see a flashback of what happened with Aaeru and Neviriru before they got to perform their Emerald Ri Maajon.

What happened to Aaeru and Neviriru afterwards wasn’t really spectacular. They headed off, a spokesman of the Highlands sends some Simoun to retrieve them, though the priestesses have no intention of capturing them. They perform the Emerald Ri Maajon, and disappear. It’s not the huge spectacle with Limone and Dominüra. Still, the fact that the only scenes we see of them is at the end of the episode, in which they’re dancing in the debris of the Arcus Prima does make you wonder what happened with them afterwards. It’s one of the few unanswered questions. I’m suspecting that they travelled a lot of different worlds.

Surprisingly, we never get to see Amuria. We never know what happened to her. Same with Mamiina’s body. She’s been shot down. What happened to it? Those are the only bad points of this episode.

Limone was awesome in this episode. She looks beautiful when she’s grown up, and it seems that her arrival triggered other people of her age to try flying with the Simoun as well. We never find out whether she’s in the future, or in the past. If I had to guess, it’s the future. Don’t know why. Dominüra hasn’t been willing to fly the Simoun ever since she arrived in this timezone. Limone, however, wants to fly again, though not if it means forcing her will onto Dominüra. She’s been bothered by quite an amitious Sybilla, who aims to be paired with Limone, but Limone refuses to fly with anyone other than her beloved pair. How cute. The last scene we see of them is Dominüra, who finally agrees to fly again. She and Limone happily walk off, while Limone casted off the same strange stuff Onashia did. Does this mean what I think it means?

Next up, the characters who remained in the current world. First up: Morinasu. She now works as a female employee under Wauf. She’s been married with Waporifu, and she’s pregnant of her second child now.

Wauf also got a little daughter. The identity of mother is never mentioned. But it does seem clear that he has a very strong bond with both Morinasu and his daughter. He was very cute to see. I also loved him as a minor character in the series.

Remember Eri? Well, of course, he had to end up somewhere as well. He renamed himself to Erifu, and works at the same place as Morinasu and Wauf. It seems that he pilots Simire, in order to transport goods from one place to another. He’s been exceptionally busy, as it seems that the highlands and the archipelago are going into war.

Next up, Paraietta. Talk about character growth. I think that she, along with Dominüra and Mamiina changed the most, out of all of the characters in the series. She’s just so laid back now. She has really learned not to worry so much. She also put her time into a very noble job: providing a home for children who have lost their parents. Surprisingly enough, she ended up along with Rodoreamon.

Rodoreamon seems to have decided to take the management of Paraietta’s orphan home. It seems that they’ve got some problems with the upcoming war. She’s a bit worried, but determined as well. Also a HUGE difference with the way she was before.

Kaimu and Aruti decided to live together after all. After they grew up, they just returned to their original home, in order to spend their days quietly. Cute, very cute. ^_^

Yun still is at the spring, though she did decide to choose her gender. In the end, she became a female. Right now, she’s still standing at the spring, devoting her entire life to changing genders. In a way, that’s really sad. But she did choose for it. I remember noting that Jun was a tough nut to crack, back when she was just 100% objectivity. Well, in the end, she definitely had her moment of glory.

Furoe changed the most in terms of appearance. But that’s only logical, as she had the most feminine looks of the entire cast, and she suddenly switched to being a male. He named himself Furoefu. He’s been working as a farmer, right next to the debris that was once the mighty Arcus Prima. I can imagine that it works quite nostalgic. He even visits it some times, on a Helios Motores-powered boat.

Vyura (or Vyurafu) looks so cool as a man. He’s got a really laid-back attitude. And it seems that he’ll be fighting on the side of the enemy. I think that’s one of the messages of this final episode. “Ah well, that’s life.”

Anubitufu and Guraghief look so totally badass, in their new outfits. ^^;

And of course, I knew it was coming when around the final moments of the episode, the creators decided to show a few last shot of the ruins of the Arcus Prima. It really had it coming, and indeed. It’s a perfect way for a finale. We first see Aaeru and Neviriru dancing a bit, symbolizing the journeys they made. Then we switch to one of the hallways, in which Paraietta was doodling on the walls, two episodes ago.

Really, she was more enthusiastic than I thought she was. She made an incredibly cute chibi-drawing of every single Simoun Sybilla. That was so cute to see. A fitting ending for such an awesome series.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 25 – Whoa, Never Thought it Would be This Deep of a Story

by psgels, posted in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

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Only when this episode started, I finally realized what the meaning was of Rena, being put in Keiichi’s place in the first arc. In the first arc, Keiichi doubted his friends, and killed them. In the sixth arc, Rena doubted her friends, and she’ll probably start killing them if it weren’t for Keiichi and the rumoured “good ending” that this arc is supposed to have.

In any case, if you haven’t read the tips (like I almost did): what Rena told Keiichi last time doesn’t necessarily have to be true. She’s suffering from a disease in which she thinks that she’s being infected by parasites. Takano’s other scrapbooks, who get shown this episode, seem to symbolize this.

We start with Rena makes a phone call with Oishi, in which she tells him her suspicions. This makes Oishi suspect the Sonozaki-family. Oishi then tells Rena about the fact that Takano was supposed to be dead at the Watanagashi. She could have used a fake body, or she could have a twin sister. Either way, it remains strange. Rena hangs up, and a police officer tells Oishi that Kasai is supposed to be looking for Rena. You’d wonder why he was with Shion during the previous arc when it seems that he’s such an important person in the Sonozaki-family. The officer also tells that Rena has disappeared. Oishi is quite pissed because of this delay of information.

Back to Mion and Keiichi, Mion tells him that she moved the body parts from two episodes ago, as there seemed to be a big plan to deforest the mountain. The body parts quite probably ended up right at the bottom of the well. Then, we switch to Rena, and it indeed becomes clear that victims of the mysterious disease have hallucinations. Rena apparently has been scratching her neck too often, and parasites are coming out. Once again, this looks so incredibly fake that it almost becomes scary.

Rena spots a couple of officers, looking for her, so she decides to head to a place where nobody can find her. Even Keiichi, who just happens to run into her right when she plans to leave. Convenient timing. Anyway, the way Keiichi mistrusted Rena in the first arc, right now Rena mistrusts Keiichi. Rena has labelled Mion as the main suspect. She also reveals that she did some research on him, and then it turns out that even Keiichi has sinned in his past. There’s just more than being bullied, like the things shown in the third arc. The dialogue is a bit fuzzy, but if I understood it correctly, he hit little children with plastic guns. Then, when things turned out of hand, he alerted his parents, they cleared things for him and they moved to Hinamizawa. Strange, I never knew that Keiichi’s parents were that rich.

Because of this, Keiichi starts thinking. He’s really doesn’t want to lose his friends in this arc. Even more than in the third one. The day afterwards, he thinks it’s best for him to tell about his past to Rika, Satoko and Mion. Strangely enough, he keeps quiet about Rena. In any case, quite an emotional scene follows. It would have been extremely good, weren’t for the fact that Keiichi’s voice-acting was incredibly garbage. Because of that, the scene was very good, though it could have been so much better.

Rika, Mion and Satoko manage to convince Keiichi that there’s nothing wrong with keeping secrets you don’t want to speak about. Then a very interesting event happens. Keiichi seems to remember his life from the first arc! And what’s more, Rika seems to know about it too! With this, most of the first arc also is revealed, although it’s something that has been clear for a long while. At that time, Rena had the same feeling towards Keiichi as Keiichi has towards his friends right now. The syringe was just an ordinary pen, which seemed to have been the cure for the strange disease. (On a side-note: was Rika carrying a pen as well in the fifth arc? If she was, this mystery would be getting a whole new dimension).

Rika decides to forgive Keiichi for this. But it does raise a strange question. How is she able to remember this, if the cause is not supernatural? In any case, Rika decides to help Keiichi save Rena. Quite an embarrassing scene occurs when Keiichi starts hugging Mion out of the blue. His voice acting turns down, which makes that scene quite touching indeed.

Next up, quite a humorous scene in which Oishi and three other policemen are questioning Mion, her mother and Kasai. What happened to Obaba? Anyway, it really seems now that Oishi and the Sonozaki-family are not on good terms, confirming the fight that Mion and Oishi once had. It seems that the Sonozaki-family never had their eyes on Rena in the first place. Also, none of the murders where the victims were found were committed by them. After all, if they were, the bodies were hidden in the well. It’s also one of the first time to see Mion’s mother actually talk. On a side-note: what happened to her in the fifth arc? Shouldn’t she have noticed Shion?

We close the episode with Rena, leaving town.

Next up, the TIPS for this episode:

Them:
It’s a pretty straightforward one, explaining a bit about Rena’s Alien-theory. She thinks she’s being watched by strange beings, aliens. She runs away, and she starts to scratch. Seriously, the anime shouldn’t attempt to visualize this gore. For some reason, the creators seem to think that showing everything in full detail has the most impact, though there are way better techniques for doing this.

Rena’s Hideout:
Still being translated

Keiichi’s past:
Ah, of course. It was a bit strange that Keiichi’s past wasn’t told in full detail, but apparently, the creators had to cut this part in order to compensate from the horribly long fifth arc. It’s quite a sad and shocking story. You’d wonder why the anime cut that part out. After all, especially the part where the girl was shot in the eye could have been great bait for them to turn into another horribly animated scene. Still, it entirely explains his reaction. It’s probably one of the reasons that he’s so mature for his age. He’s already had the time in which he goofed off like a monkey, and he was so shocked by this that he suddenly started looking differently at life. I wonder what happened to the little girl.

The Reason to Move to Hinamizawa:
This explains Keiichi’s father’s reason to come to Hinamizawa. Wait a minute. Two little girls with long, straight hair? I think we’re missing something here. Just who the heck was playing along with Rika!? And what does this “Arg ouch gaf” mean? Rika!!!!

Last Night:
Wait… what the heck is Rika hiding!? Right here, she’s seen with someone who’ll die along with her. I think that she and her mysterious friend are actually part of the bottom of this mystery. It’s great to hear, as she’s my favourite character. For some reason, this TIP also really begins to make me question whether there aren’t any bits of supernatural events present in Higurashi. It’s also a sneaky anime. It focuses on Keiichi, Rena and Mion, while Rika’s meanwhile doing her own things, waiting to be killed.

It seems that the two of them are actually re-experiencing every single one of the arcs. And every arc, different events happen. Because of this, they hope to run into one arc, which will solve everything. I’m suspecting this to be arc 7. What’s even more surprising is that Keiichi’s performance of today actually inspired Rika, in order to believe that there actually can be an arc, in which things will be solved. Oh god, I am SO hoping for the final arcs to be animated. It won’t seem that the sixth arc will be long enough to solve this problem. I think it’ll only solve the things on the surface, not below. Ah well, this show may have done a lot of things wrong, it did make me want Rika to be saved. Rika!!!!!

In any case, back to the anime. Let’s take a look at the good parts of the individual arcs. The first arc was amazing when Keiichi told a lie, and Rena doubted him. Or at least, Keiichi thought that Rena doubted him. When you’re anxious, and you tell a lie, it’s easy to believe you’re not being trusted. The second arc didn’t really have a great part. It rather had some amusing moments, but nothing amazing came. The good part of the third arc was Keiichi again, who first tried to assassinate Satoko’s uncle in a very amateurish way, making you hope for him not to be discovered and afterwards, he found out nothing really happened. The huge strength of the fourth arc was probably because it delved so incredibly deep in the mystery of Higurashi. Deeper than any of the arcs so far. And I have to admit, so far, the story behind Higurashi seems awesome. The fifth arc had no good points. The strength of the sixth arc was quite possibly the level of maturity, coming from all of the characters.

The moment I started writing the above paragraph, I tried to make some kind of point. Unfortunately, I forgot. And with that, I’m off, hoping for the OVA to be announced soon.

xxxHolic – 23 – Awesomeness

by psgels, posted in xxxHolic

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I think we may have caught our first real Tsubasa Chronicle-reference. At least, if you ignore Fye’s staff who keeps showing up at random places. Remember last episode, in which Yuuko was away for a long trip? This episode shows a small shot of her, while on a boat, heading for a strange, rocky island, wearing her Tsubasa Chronicle-dress. This probably means that somewhere in the future of Tsubasa Chronicle, Yuuko and black Mokona will be coming in action, to help Syaoran and Sakura. I can’t wait for it. ^^

Anyway, about the real meat of the episode. I’m very delighted to say that this was the best xxxHolic episode yet! The previous episode has been building up for this perfectly. It’s just so sad. I think the creators saved so much time for this on purpose, and it works out awesomely. I really thought that Watanuki would listen to Yuuko, and stop seeing the woman. Instead, it gets even better. Watanuki feels so much for the woman that he actually goes to meet her, even when he knows that he’s going to die if he keeps seeing her! Talk about awesomeness!

Maru and Moro also were exceptionally cute when it seemed that even though they were soulless bodies, they id feel sympathy for Watanuki. They actually tried to take care of him, and at the end of the episode, when Watanuki was resting, they actually tried to be very quiet, in order to not wake him up. This episode also was meant in order to bring Watanuki and Doumeki closer together. After all, when Domeki shot the woman, he did it on his own. Yuuko didn’t tell him anything that time.

This also was one of the few times in which Yuuko decided not to explain certain events to Watanuki. It also happened with the snowball fight, though that was because of different reasons than during this episode. I’ve actually got a small, totally speculated theory about the identity of the woman. What if she was Watanuki’s mother, who took on a different form in order to meet him, and somehow swore not to give away her identity? Still, I’ll say it again: this is just something that came up in my head for some strange reason.

Now that this, and most other series I’m watching are coming to an end, I can’t help but wonder how this series will end. I wonder whether xxxHolic’s ending will be able to stand out in some kind of way. I think that there are two possible options: Watanuki stays with Yuuko, or Watanuki gets cured and cuts ties with Yuuko. Regarding Himawari and Doumeki, I don’t think that their relationship towards Watanuki will change much. They likely continue to be friends. The Vestal Sprite could go all kinds of directions, though. That’s why I think that she’ll be a major actor in the actual ending.

Blood+ Review – 82/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews


Blood+ is a 50-episode action drama. It follows the battle between two vampire-like girls: Saya and Diva. It’s a rather epic tale, Diva is almost the equal of a killing machine, and Saya made it her life-goal to kill her once and for all. They both have their own allies, Saya has the friends she spent happy times with, while Diva turned a number of people in monsters, making them completely devoted to each her.

This anime definitely is worth watching. The episodes 26-36 are so incredibly good. They even had me crying at times, which does not happen often. The first half of the series, or episodes 1 to 25 are interesting to watch, though they might be a pain to get through due to their huge length. They do, however, build up perfectly for the sheer awesomeness that follows afterwards.

Though I’m afraid I have to say it, but after episode 36, the overall quality of the anime gradually drops. From that point, it’s like a straight line to the finish. There are some entertaining moments, but it’s clear that the creators already played all of their trump cards in episodes 26-36. Still, it does remain enjoyable. My complaint, however, is the last two episodes, in which the series ends. They really work anticlimactic, as they somehow manage to destroy everything the series has been building up for.

The characters are very enjoyable to watch. As this anime has 50 episodes, there are lots of opportunities to really flesh out each of the characters, and the creators gave a very good attempt in doing so. The character development in this anime really worked out. The characters are also very interesting to watch in all of their struggles. Whenever an important character dies, (that does happen at certain points in this anime) the effects this has are great to see. Except, perhaps, when the ending comes near. By that time, these deaths become rather predictable.

As this is an action-series, be sure to expect lots of battles. The creators also made sure that our heroine Saya stayed alive through all this by giving her the ability to regenerate her wounds, so that if she’s slashed once, she isn’t really killed. Even though I can see why the creators chose to do this, I find it also a bit weak. The battles themselves also don’t really try to be original, or something. While they are exciting, they’re nothing special. Still, the normal humans do not have the ability to regenerate. The battles in which humans play a role are mostly the most creative ones.

In terms of music, this anime also tries to be epic. At some times, it really works, but when you compare it to other anime, then the soundtrack of Blood+ isn’t really anything special. It doesn’t really try to stand out. Same with the graphics. They’re good, they really work, but they don’t try to stand out. Only Lewis and the Schiff ended up with memorable character designs.

Overall, Blood+ really is a series with its ups and downs. It’s got some totally amazing moments, but at the same time, some elements are doomed for mediocrity. Still, the awesome moments were definitely worth it.