Ergo Proxy – 14 – Pino = God

by psgels, posted in Ergo Proxy



This episode was totally messed up. Not in terms of quality, but in terms of storytelling. We have this Proxy who can change his appearance at will, and he keeps bothering Real, Vincent and Pino with this ability. Pino probably featured her best performance up till now. ^_^

The episode begins with a teaser of what happens at the end of the episode. Real phylosophizes a bit. She believes that the world doesn’t end once she dies, though she used to believe this as a child. She’s a true realist, though I’m dying to see her as a child. Then it seems that Vincent seems to have done something stupid, though he seems to blame Real and Pino for this. Then they approach the dome, which probably will be Moscow, Vincent’s homeland.

We then switch to a lake, in which a dead Real is floating, with Vincent and Pino standing right next to her. At this time, I was beginning to scratch my head, and then to think that that only was the beginning.

The OP rolls, and we switch to Pino and Vincent doing some groceries. It seems that they ran into another abandoned city. This time, not even robots or autoraves are active. Real walks around a bit, and gets some visions of Iggy. The city has a strange shape. Much like a huge crater, entirely populated with houses and with a small lake and lots of trees in the middle. She walks around a bit, takes a look at the ship they traveled with and then she arrives at the lake. At that time, she could’ve sworn she saw something. That’s the first clue we get of the Proxy.

Real then goes back to the supermarket, at which Vincent and Pino just finished shopping. While Pino has fun with cans, Real’s as cold as usual. Vincent wants to stay for a while, though Real scolds him, for not being determined. Then, Pino gets cuter than ever when she tries to present her own assembled meal to her. It looks absolutely disgusting. Real immediately turns this down and leaves, with the excuse of keeping a lookout. Vincent, however, doesn’t. Seeing Pino smile like that was just absolutely hilarious. She’s an autorave, so she doesn’t have the slightest ideas about taste. I don’t think the Proxy was at this scene. Both characters acted natural and said things that an outsider wasn’t supposed to know. (Like Real who drinks a lot of Ginger Ale and Vincent’s goal to reach Moscow) Though it would have been too funny if he actually was pretending to be one of them. ^^

We then switch to Real, complaining about how Vincent and Pino bring her in a bad mood. Back to Vincent, he’s packing and runs into the Proxy, pretenting to be Real, eating the pea soup from before. When he tells her to hurry, she tells him that she’s eating at the moment. Vincent gives her some ginger ale and then goes to get some water, along with Pino (she looked too awesome carrying that big can like that ^^).

Back to Real, the fake proxy gives her a visit, pretending to be Vincent. He brings her the same ginger ale as he just got from the real Vincent. He then suggests to stay here for a while. When you see this, and don’t know about the Proxy, the scene turns hilarious: first, Real tells Vincent to pack things up and leave as soon as possible. Vincent packs, but then he sees Real, taking it easy. Then Vincent comes back to Real, and he is the one again to suggest to stay and Real is the one to suggest to leave fast. Still, when you know about the Proxy, this scene makes perfect sense. The Proxy is lonely, and he hopes for the two of them to stay.

In any case, when the face Vincent set up an incredibly fake speech, asking Real in a very sad tone whether she didn’t love him anymore, I began to suspect something. These feelings only got confirmed when the real Real pushed the fake Vincent off the roof of the supermarket, only to disappear into nothingness afterwards. The fact remains that the Proxy didn’t know about the two of them. He just thought that they were a couple with a child. He also thought they were still lovey-dovey, so that’s why he set up the act he did. He also let himself get pushed off, in order to try and test how Real would react to this.

Vincent, meanwhile managed to get enough water. Then he runs into the fake Real. She sets up an angry voice, and she asks for the autorave. Then she attempts to kill Pino and Vincent locks her in a storage room. When he hears her reasons, it appears that Pino wanted to kill her. Vincent doubts this, of course, though he still asks Pino in a very kind way. Out of her explanation, it seems that Vincent believes that this was because of the food that Pino made. He indeed reckons that Real overexaggerated a bit. What follows is the fake Real, falling off the roof of the supermarket, right in front of Vincent’s eyes. He then sees a figure on top of the roof, and heads there. While he does, he notices that the storage room from before is open again.

When he gets to the top of the roof, the fake Real is gone, only to appear behind him. She then asks him a few questions, which Vincent can’t answer and runs away. Pino, meanwhile, gets visited by the fake Vincent, carrying the real Real’s unconcious body. They head for the lake, and the fake Vincent drops the body of the real Real in the lake. It sinks, only to rise again. Pino then thinks that Real has died.

When the real Vincent, meanwhile checks up on the Centzon (the ship they came with) he notices that it’s gone. He then thinks that Real and Pino left without him. And that he’s alone again. He then notices that something’s happening at the lake. Back to Pino, she totally manages to pwn the Proxy when she unmasks him. She also mentions something very interesting: there are two real Reals. Does the other Real mean the Proxy, pretending to be Real, or does this mean that Real’s got another appearance? Then, the fake Vincent attempts to strangle Pino, but then he sees that she’s an autorave, who can’t be strangled. Still, when he acted as Real, he did mention the fact that Pino was an autorave. What’s up with that?

The real Vincent meanwhile arrives at the lake, and then he sees the fake Real, sinking into the lake. Vincent dives after her, and manages to save her. She then opens her eyes, and attempts to drown him. This looked pretty amusing. ^^

Pino meanwhile managed to save the real Real from drowning. The two of them realize that both of them aren’t the proxy, though Real realizes that something’s happening. What follows is Vincent and the Proxy, floating in the depths of the lake and finding out about the facts that they both are Proxy. The Proxy then tells Vincent about his loneliness. Everywhere he appeared, people fled. Nobody acknowledged him. He then killed everyone in the city, in the hope of disappearing, though it didn’t work. He hopes to eliminate himself, along with Vincent. He then tries to break Vincents mind, in tricking him to die along with him.

Vincent then surfaces, only to see the fake Real standing before him. She yells at him, and he realizes that she’s the fake one. This scene repeats for a while. During this, the fake Vincent also shows the bodies of all of the former citizens he killed, stored in the middle of the lake. I think this all happens in the head of the Proxy, as Vincent then sees the same scene of Real standing on the shore. He decides to go extreme by strangling her. Though then Pino comes to her. This makes Vincent think that he really killed the real Real, while in fact, they’re just standing on the other side of the lake, watching the two Vincents talk to each other. Real noted exceptionally well that the fake Vincent didn’t have a reflection in the water.

Then, both of the Vincents sink again. Then, Vincent surfaces yet again, as yet again the same scene happens. though this time, the fake real is the real real. We then switch to the ship again, where the episode started. Apparently, Vincent caught a cold after being in the lake for so long (you’d wonder why Real didn’t, as she also was dumped into the lake). The Proxy probably cut the ropes which were holding the Centzon at its place, so it drifed off. Vincent then managed to recover it. Vincent then relates himself to the Proxy. They were both lonely. Though Pino and Real managed to save him. They managed to give his life meaning. We also see Real smile for one of the first times in the series.

Each Proxy’s ability and way of thinking is entirely different from the others. Some of them have a human form, like Ergo and Kazkiz, while others don’t, like the one from episode 12 and Senekis. Some Proxy can really think for themselves, like Kazkiz, Ergo and the one from this episode, while others are just killing machines, like Senekis and others are just savage beasts like the one from episode 12. Some Proxy have two minds, like Ergo, while others have just one mind, like Kazkiz. Some use their hair as weapon, others like to change their appearance to confuse the enemy, others just use their hands in combat. And I can keep going on like that for a while.

Overall, I just love the mind games that this anime is playing. I wonder what’ll happen when the characters reach Moscow.

Simoun – 06 – Paraiette (These characters have difficult names…)

by psgels, posted in Simoun



A Paraietta episode. Aaeru also keeps trying to bug the hell out of Neviriru. Furthermore, we get some info on Guraghief and Anubitufu.

Though the main focus lies on Paraiette. She’s been with Neviriru ever since she was a child, and of course that creates a certain bond. Amuriya, however, was the one that took Neviriru away from her. Still, Paraietta remained loyal to Neviriru. Now that Neviriru is in crisis, she tries to help her, though it doesn’t really work. This episode mainly served to let her see that Neviriru also felt that she betrayed her. She then manages to convince Neviriru that this wasn’t the fact. The episode ends with Paraietta and Aaeru dueling in the Maaju Pool, Aaeru beating Paraietta and Paraietta acknowledging Aaeru as Neviriru’s partner. Kaimu also played an interesing role. She’s obviously in love with Paraiette, though she knows about her feelings towards Neviriru. She also helps Paraiette see the thing that troubles Neviriru.

So, what were the roles of each of the characters in this episode?
Neviriru: Still in her room, locking herself away.
Aaeru: Mostly trying to get Neviriru to come out of her room. I liked the things she painted on her door.
Paraietta: Realized that Neviriru also was worring about her. Came a bit closer to Kaimu.
Kaimu: Tries to get her feelings through to Paraiette. Works a bit.
Furoe: Keeps acting playful now that they haven’t got any meaningful missions.
Aruti: Stays a bit gloomy and spies on Paraietta and Kaimu. Why?
Rödoreamon and Morinasu: Worry about the state of the Chor Tempest.
Dominüra: Attempts to bring a bit of dicipline back into the Chor Tempest, but she isn’t really enthusiastic in it.
Limone: For some reason still does what she likes to, outside of the missions.
Guraghief and Anubitufu: Seemed to be a pair of Sybylla as well, in their early days.

The Third – 07 – Armoured Ants and their Habits

by psgels, posted in The Third



The Third continues to be awesome. Even though there wasn’t a lot of tension in this episode, it was a great one. It focuses on Honoka’s determination to protect something, even if this happens to be an armoured ant.

Honoka and Bogie are alone again. Millie’s been dropped off by her aunt and Ikus temporarily left her, in order to take care of certain things. It seems that it’s got something to do with his mission on earth, but not much is said on this.

We start with Bogie waking Honoka up. I just love the conversations between the two of them. They’ve grown up with each other, and they continue bickering to each other. Honoka also can believe in things with her heart, without having any proof to, while Bogie likes to think as rationally as possible. If you combine these two, you get some awesome results.

In any case, it then seems that an armoured ant (the ones we’ve seen in the first episode) has attached itself to the Sand Tank. The other two are waiting right next to the sand tank. It appears that the one who attached itself to the sand tank is the queen of this colony. Armoured ants always work in groups of three. One of them might sprout wings and becomes a queen. When it does, it flies off, and attempts to start a new colony somewhere else. It’s not known what happens to the other two ants after this. Thanks to the narrator for this info, once more. I really like this guy.

Shaking an ant like that off isn’t such a problem. After all, the sand tank is big and fast, Bogie can probably do it while activating the battle acceleration. The problem is, however, that Honoka’s taken a pity towards this ant. The queen is using the sand tank becuase she believes that it’s a safer place to sprout her wings (during which she’s extremely vulnerable). The other two ants are protecting her. Bogie uses the argument that they’ve got a job in Emporium, and they furthermore have to pay Millie a visit. If they don’t go, they might not have time to visit Millie. Still, Honoka wants the ant to fly, and she wants to protect it.

Things get bad when Honoka sees another group of armoured ants approaching. They probably see that this queen is a threat to their own colony in some way. Otherwise, they wouldn’t even dare to come near the territory of others, as armoured ants are highly territorial creatures. The other two ants, who serve as the bodyguards of the queen, then close in on them. What follows is a bloodbath between these two groups, from which we only get to hear the sound-effects. The awesome background tune turned this into a great scene. What follows is the death of all five of those ants.

Still, more ants seem to approach. It’s likely that whenever an attacking group of ants die, another group of ants charges. Honoka then decides to not stand by any longer, and hold off the ants herself. She has to stop three ants from reaching the queen, until dawn hits. Apparently, the ants aren’t active when the sun shines, so they’ll back off. The only problem is that dawn’s two hours away. Bogie advices her not to, though he gives in at the end. Travelling with Honoka for so long, he really learned a few things about her character.

Honoka then spends two whole hours using suspended animation (the same technique she used in the previous episode) to blow away the group of approaching ants. Yes, the timing was too convenient: right before dawn, suspended animation doesn’t work anymore and then the queen manages to lift off. But that’s not the point of this fight. This fight was meant to show the determination of Honoka, the things she’s willing to do when she sets her mind to something. And that she’s even able to continue fighting after two whole hours. You need a lot of patience and willpower in order to be able to do such a thing. I also liked the fact that she got incredibly calm at the moment when the ants closed in on her and the suspended animation stopped working. She was about to try out something though the queen flying off stopped her from doing this.

One of the things I absolutely loved about this episode is that this anime is one of the first to actually show the lifestyles and habits of the monsters who keep attacking people. You have to remember that they are also just creatures, trying to survive and get a meal. Though this anime even goes further, by explaining how the hierarchy works with the armoured ants, and how their territories work. Even what they’re thinking. This is turning them into living beings, and not just some random dolls who only can attack and have to be defeated.

Suspended animation. First, I thought that this was another part of Honoka’s power, but now. It’s actually Walken’s (the guy who took care of Honoka) speciality. Honoka learned this technique from him. It’s actually tricking the mind of the enemy, in order to make it think that it’s hit. This all was illustrated by a flashback of Honoka when she was young. Apparently, she had a little fight with Walken and Bogie kept bothering her. She then ran into a desert hare, who was about to walk into the trap of one of the carnivorous sand creatures. Even then, she wanted to save the hare. Walken eventually did this by using suspended animation. It’s so great to see that Honoka actually worked extremely hard in order to be so talented with fighting.

Finally: Millie. First of all, I’m wondering whether Honoka’ll have enough time to visit her, after wasting so much time with the armoured ants. Millie looked so enthusiastic the day before Honoka was supposed to come. Still, her aunt did not like this. At all. Every time Millie mentioned Honoka she began looking serious. There’s got to be something about Honoka that’s on her mind. I think that she knows about Honoka’s eye, and that she hasn’t accepted Honoka for what she is. This should prove for some great scenes in the future.

Overall, of all the series which aired in the spring, The Third does by far the best job of introducing itself to its characters and setting. I like this, I really do.

Popolocrois Story 1998 – 16 – Selfish Hyuu

by psgels, posted in Popolocrois Story 1998



This episode was another brilliant one. It’s major focus was around Gamigami Maou-sama. For one episode, he loses the effects of the love potion. The result was absolutely hilarious.

We start with Gamigami, Ston and Sanda in their eccentric zeppelin. Apparently, Hyuu has run off again, and they’re still searching for her. Gamigami’s getting all giddly over a badly-drawn picture, while Ston and Sanda are making some sarcatical comments. The flight comes to an abrupt halt when they fly above a field full pollen-producing plants, which make the zeppelin crash.

Pietoro meanwhile sets off to tht same area, leaving Narcia behind. Narcia then blames herself for not being able to ask to join him. She scolds herself for not having the courage to do the things she wants to do. Hyuu, meanwhile enjoys being alone, and flying free in the air. Until Pietoro’s memories hit her.

Meanwhile, Ston and Sanda suddenly realize that Gamigami’s love potion has worn off, as he suddenly seems to have no interest in Hyuu at all. He’s meanwhile planning his ideas for world conquest. ^^ When Ston and Sanda start to get annoying, Gamigami kicks them far away. He still hasn’t lost his “Man’s Romance”, though. ^^

He then managed to turn the zeppelin into a weird crossing between a car and a zeppelin, though it can’t fly yet. Meanwhile, his love for Narcia has fully returned. What follows is Gamigami getting his own theme-song (guess the title ^^), in which he goes berserk in a nearby village, destroying all kinds of homes in order to collect enough material to fix his vehicle. After this plan has been carried out succesfully, he keeps raving about how good and awesome he is. He’s even great enough to have the sun kneeling for him. I laughed so hard when it actually did. ^_^

Gamigami spends the rest of the evening fixing his vehicle. Meanwhile, he’s still sneezing. Then he runs into Hyuu. The combination of the pain in her heart with the pollen has made her very sick. And this is where Gamigami really gets awesome. He’s lost his love for Hyuu, so he just leaves her for dying. Hyuu also finds out that the love potion has worn off. Gamigami also mentions the difference between her and Narcia: Narcia is selfless, while Hyuu is selfish. Hyuu then finally realizes her problem. Gamigami really gets his doubts when he leaves her. You can tell that he’s getting embarrased. Especially when he has to explain Hyuu the meaning of “Love”. ^_^;

Gamigami really begins to get annoyed when Hyuu attempts to dring the dew of a poisonous plant. He spends a couple of more hours fixing his vehicle, and once it is finished, Hyuu’s health gets worse and worse. All that’s left is to put one of the jewels he stole in his rampage inside the generator, in order to deliver enough power to fly. Though, he can’t get Hyuu out of his head. He finally ends up bringing her to a nearby house, and trading this very jewel for the antidote of the poison. He uses the excuse that he forgot his wallet. He was so cute at that time. ^_^

Ston and Sanda, meanwhile, have a great idea: stop looking after Gamigami Maou. The love potion has worn off, so he’ll treat them like trash, instead of listening to him. They then realize that the two of them are free at last. I wonder how the two of them will end up.

Gamigami, meanwhile, runs into a strange situation when Pietoro runs into him and Hyuu. Gamigami now has to make Pietoro believe that he was the one who hurt Hyuu, as it wouldn’t be good for his reputation when it came out that he actually did something nice. What follows is a huge wave of pollen blown his way by an enthisiastic Ston, which causes the love potion to get active again.

Overall, this episode was great. It’s the standard “bad guy sees good guy in trouble and helps”, though Gamigami manages to turn this into something awesome.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 13 – Even More Questions

by psgels, posted in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni



Too bad. Keiichi’s voice-acting so did not match with his facial constortions. He looked so fake in this. On the other hand, Satoko was awesome when she started yelling. About the episode: I liked it. It wasn’t as good as the previous two, though it was very enjoyable indeed.

The game, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni consisted of eight arcs, if I’m not wrong. Four question-arcs and four answer-arcs. Right now, we’re being treated with the four question arcs. We’ve only got one of them left, in which Rika will stand in the attention. This’ll probably take till episode seventeen. What follows are the four answer-arcs. I’m wondering whether the creators will decide to show all of them, or just two.

Anyway, about the episode. We start with Keiichi, lyin in his bed. He’s obviously extremely confused, after what happened in the previous episode. He then grabs a hand axe, and heads for Satoko’s place. When he heads out, he thinks he sees something behind him, though there’s nobody there. He himself thinks that it’s Satoko’s work.

He heads for Satoko’s house, and then notices that Satoko’s uncle’s bike isn’t there. The door is left open, and the tv is left on. Keiichi then searches for Satoko, and he hears something in the shower. It then seems that she’s been in the shower since the entire night, counting till 10000. When Keiichi asks for the reason, she mentions something about her uncle. Then Keiichi goes berserk in a few very fake scenes. That’s the problem when you’re low-budget. Scenes like these don’t work. Still, I have to say that Satoko was just too sad.

Keiichi then attempts to bring Satoko to the clinic. She’s getting better and better, one thing I liked about this. When Keiichi goes to investigate, he sees that Irie’s killed himself. Oishi’s also vanished without a trace. When Satoko hears this, she’s terribly shocked. Though, she manages to recover after this. These scenes were greatly excecuted. Satoko then asks Keiichi to bring her to Rika’s house, in order to borrow some clothes. Keiichi manages to get more paranoid by the minute, by the way. The fact remains that both Takano as Oishi as Irie died, after Keiichi wished thim dead. This makes him think that he’s the reason behind these deaths. He then also confesses Satoko about what he did to her uncle. Satoko tells him not to mention it, though the disease has spread enough for Keiichi to not notice it. Satoko then leaves, in order to pick up her stuff.

What follows is Keiichi, who notices Rika’s dead body behind the shrine. It’s being eaten by crows, so he screams in a very fake way, and attempts to chase the crows away with the axe he’s wielding. This axe then gets covered in blood. When Satoko sees Keiichi wielding a bloody axe right next to Rika’s dead body, she breaks. She then runs away and Keiichi follows her. They end up at a bridge narrow drawbridge.

Satoko mentions that she used to see Keiichi as her new Nii-nii. Keiichi tries to convince Satoko, but this doesn’t really work, since the idiot forgot to throw his axe away. When he finally realizes this, Satoko calms down a bit. Though, she still thinks that he murdered Keiichi. She gives Oyashiro the blame, as she knows that Keiichi wouldn’t hurt anyone.

She then tells about something that happened when she was young. She used to play along with Rika, and then she ended up inside the shrine on accident. While trying to get out, she broke Oyashiro0s statue, though Rika was seen as the one who did it and punished severely. This has made a huge impact on Satoko, especially her parents disappearing, her aunt dying and her brother running away only strenghtened this. She now views those as a devine retribution for the things she did back in the shrine. This was a great moment, though I’m wondering something… what the heck was a chibified-Keiichi doing right next to Rika? And why the heck did they look of the same age? O_o

Satoko then tells Keiichi that she really was glad that Keiichi got transferred, and now she breaks when she finds out that the only hope she had left has als obeen posessed by Oyashiro. She then pushes him off the bridge, and he falls a loooong way down in the river which lies behind the bridge. What follows is the usual conclusion of the arc. In the first arc, this was Oishi who read the report about the things Keiichi had been doing. In the second arc, it was Keiichi who recovered along with Rena after what happened in Mion’s basement. The third arc shows a couple of unknown people, watching the local news about something that happened in Hinamizawa. Guess what? Poisonous vulcanic gass erupted from somewhere, killing off the entire Hinamizawa Population. Except for one person: Keiichi.

Did you see that one coming? Keiichi, ending up as the only survivor of Hinamizawa? It makes perfect sense, though. A fall from a bridge like that hurts a lot, though you don’t nessecarily die from it. Because Keiichi was unconcious at the time when the gas erupted, so he didn’t breathe in as much as the other residents of Hinamizawa. That’s why he stayed alive.

So, let’s take a look at the total death count:
Keiichi: 1,5 (We don’t know if he really died at the end of the second arc. It was probably the disease again, though he could have killed himself at that time. Only time will tell).
Rena: 2
Mion: 3
Shion: 2
Rika: 2
Satoko: 2

Isn’t this interesting? If it turns out that Keiichi didn’t die at the end of the second arc, he’s been the main character with the least number of deaths on his name. You might wonder whose body it was which appeared at the beginning of this arc. It’s simple. It’s Satoshi. It seems that Mion somehow ran into him after he killed his aunt, and gave him some treatmens he didn’t really like. It seems that Satoshi indeed had every intention to run away, though Mion had other plans.

The best thing about this episode is probably the huge amount of questions it managed to introduce. It seems that there’s so much more than just the disease which is claiming its victims. Poisonous gas roams around, people are killing each other, people are disappearing, and all these events have been influenced by the things that Keiichi did, with the only exception of Tomitake and Takano’s deaths.

For example, what caused Irie’s death? Was he so much in love with Satoko that he couldn’t bear it and committed suicide? Or does it have something to do with his part as a director? And how did Oishi disappear? Are their deaths linked in some way? Ddi they both have something to do with Satoko? Or could Oishi have been the one to set the vulcanic gas free? After all, this all happened two days after the Watanagashi. In the first arc, Keiichi was busy fleeing from Rena and Mion at that time, while in the second arc, Keiichi was having strange phone calls with Shion.

Another thing that remains a mystery is the following: what happened to Satoko’s uncle? There are two possiblilties: Keiichi did kill the guy, though Satoko’s disease imagines that he’s still with her, or Keiichi never killed the guy, and he suddenly went out on his scooter, leaving the tv on. Both of these theories have got their holes.

Also, what happened to Mion and Rena? Weren’t they supposed to go on a treasure hunt? What happened afterwards? What did they find? Or were they the ones who set off the vulcanic gas? And why did Mion kill Satoshi in the first place (I’m assuming now that she’s the only one who can perform the Watanagashi). And who was the one who killed Rika? And why? Why did the murderer put Rika in such an obvious place?

Rika was just too sad in this episode. She’s an incredibly strong character, as she manages to recover fastly after what happened to her in the shower. She also gets shocked when she hears that Irie’s dead, though she behaves normally afterwards. Though when she realizes that Keiichi has been posessed by Oyashiro, she breaks. It seems that when he transferred, she clinged to him, and she turned him into her raison d’être. When such a thing betrayed her, she broke.

Differences with previous arcs:
– The vulcanic gas never escaped in the previous episodes.
– In the first arc, Keiichi wanted to flee. In the second arc, Keiichi wanted to understand. In the third arc, Keiichi wanted to protect.
– Keiichi isn’t going to move.
– It’s the first time Oishi disappears.
– We see the drawbridge for the first time in the third arc.
– Mion and Rena didn’t attempt to cure Keiichi from his disease, like they did in the first arc. In fact, their part in this arc was very small.
– For the first time, Keiichi wields an axe, instead of a bat.
– The second arc is so far the only arc in which Keiichi actually got help. It seemed like Mion would be helping Keiichi during this arc, though she gets out of the picture after the second episode.
– Each arc also focuses around one side-character. In the first arc, this was Oishi. In the second, this was Shion, and the third had Irie.
– In the first arc, Rika stays alive. In the second arc, she commits suicide. In the third arc, she gets killed.

Another thing I’m curious about is Rena. And more importantly her behavior in the first episode of the third arc. At that time, it was clear that she was under the disease. Though it stopped there. The Watanagashi-murders were mentioned, and she went berserk. Though after this episode, these never were mentioned again. It’s like she got cured. Why and how did she get cured?

.Hack//Roots – 13 – What will be happening next?

by psgels, posted in .Hack//Roots



This surely was an interesting episode. But at the same time, I really wonder where this show is going. It’s going to run out of characters if this keeps continuing. Still, if the anime doesn’t fall during the next episode, we could be in for an extremely awesome second half of the show.

This episode featured a perfect buildup once more. It starts out really slow, only to whack the player down with some amazing scenes during the second half.

Ovan’s case keeps getting stranger. Last episode, we see the lock on his arm being broken, and something came out of it. This episode, it appears that he just disappeared into thin air after this, without leaving any trace. Naobi and Ender meanwhile continue to analyze the data he left behind. And their PC’s… I’m sure that I’ve seen those bodies somewhere before. I’m almost certain that they already appeared on the show, but when?

Shino also was just awesome. At the beginning of the episode, she keeps getting closer to Haseo. The two of them exchange phones. These were some very nice scenes. Later, the guy called Tri-Edge gives her a call, and tells her to come to the cathedral, after which she gets data-drained by him. Still, she looked awefully relieved when she got the mesage. Could it be that she thought that Tri-Edge was actually Ovan? But that can’t be, as Tri-Edge already was around before Ovan got captured. The look she also had on her face when she saw Haseo at that time was awesome. And not to mention the fact that we get to see our first scene of the outside world. It took awfully long, but it was worth it.

Also, after the previous episode, I think I knew about Tabby’s feeling a bit, though right now, I realize I was wrong. She actually wanted to be with Shino, though Haseo kept her away from her. She didn’t dare to interfere with the two of them, as she was too afraid to lose them both, so she decided to give them some subtle messages. Well, that plan backfired when Shino got data-drained. The then realized that Haseo went straight after Shino when he heard about where she was going. Something Tabby was not able to.

I’m also wondering what’s up with Tri-Edge. For the first time in the series, he actually does something, which involves travelling through the world, and fixing bugs at certain places. But why did he attack Shino?

So, what’s happened with each of the characters:
Goad: Left, because Ovan was his raison d’être. At least, in the game.
B-Set: Left, because Ovan was the person who made her keep playing.
Tawaraya: Left, account suspended.
Ender: Account suspended, returned in a new PC.
Naobi: Account suspended, returned in a new PC.
Shino: Data-drained.
Ovan: Vanished into thin air.
Tabby: About to leave, because Shino was her raison d’être.
Sakisaka: Left, because the game reminded him too much of the Twillight Brigade.
Phyllo: Stays.
Haseo: Stays.

Overall, .Hack//Roots keeps getting better and better. I’m really curious how the anime will continue after this. The second half will probably be totally awesome.

xxxHolic – 12 – Asking for help

by psgels, posted in xxxHolic



This episode was a special one. It was specifically aimed at the relationship between Watanuki’s relationship with Hinata and Domeki. To top everything, the creators tried to implement some really scary scenes, combined with some awesome comedy. Guess what? It actually worked. This episode was probably one of the best yet.

We start with Yuuko, Watanuki, Domeki and Himawari arriving at a beach house. Meanwhile, Watanuki continues rambling to Domeki, and a ghost keeps writing blue letters on a wall. One thing I really can appreciate in anime is when all kinds of things happen in the background. It shows that the creators really have been planning. Watanuki was just too great. He really hates Domeki with passion.

They enter the house, and a creepy tune keeps playing. Watanuki checks out the kitchen, and notices a strange vase with a blue flower. Lots of Watanukis getting giddly over Himawari and bickering towards Domeki later (too funny, by the way), evening falls and all of the characters go to sleep. Watanuki then wakes up, in the middle of the night because he hears some scratching on the walls, coming from the room next to him. The only problem is, the corridor shows no sign of a room being there. He checks out more carefully, and then notices that the wall on the corridor was a fake one. He then sees a door, and walks into the room. What then follows is a great attempt at a scary scene. It had great backgrounds, and Watanuki really made me believe that something really scary was going on.

This episode also had just a perfect build-up. Even though the ghost appeared to be just Mokona, the preparation was just perfect. During the entire episode, letters kept appearing on the wall, a very creepy tune played, and Watanuki’s ramblings were enough to make the viewer not notice about the small details which might have given this away (for example, the cardboard wall). The blue vase at the end, of course, was a standard thing with ghost stories. People are pulling a prank about some kind of ghost, they make the main character believe that there really is one by dropping lots of clues. But one of these clues doesn’t belong to them, and actually is a real ghost. Still, this episode had something which most of the other shows who attempt this don’t have: the fact that ghosts are common. Watanuki sees them everyday. Most other shows just use ghosts once, without a real explanation. Another thing is Watanuki’s reaction to this. He became scared at the moment when he saw the real ghost. Really scared. This was an aweosme sight.

These things may have been awesome. The ghost story was probably one of the best in xxxHolic yet, and Watanuki and Domeki were just too funny at times (you’d think that jokes like these would bore after a while, but surprisingly, they don’t. Seeing Domeki making use of Watanuki’s imaginary merry-go-round was just hilarous), the truly awesome part lies in Himawari, and Watanuki’s reluctance to call to Domeki for help. Himawari actually felt sorry for Watanuki, as he wasn’t able to swim because the sea seemed like a very popular place for spirits. So she thought she’d do something for him, which involved getting Watanuki to call Domeki for help. If he managed to do that, Yuuko would lift Watanuki’s curse for one full day, so that he could go swimming with Himawari. (Watanuki’s right about one thing: Himawari’s just too cute)

Watanuki, however, was not able to call for help. He still hates Domeki for the things he did, and he doesn’t realize that he actually likes being with him (just refer to any episode at which the two of them were together and had to solve a mystery. Watanuki’s mind was just too occupied with the thing which were happening, that he took Domeki’s existance for granted). Though when it comes to calling for help, Watanuki’s mind interferes too much for him to be able to say it. Despite the fact that Domeki’s saved his life many times before (heck, he even stood in the rain for ten hours in order to save him).

Overall, I loved this episode. Himawari was just too cute, not per se because of her looks, but because of the plan she had.The ghost story really made a good attempt at being scary. This really was xxxHolic at its best.

Tsubasa Chronicle – 35 – Main Plot Progression

by psgels, posted in Tsubasa Chronicle



Last season, the pacing was slow. You’d expect the show to continue this slow pacing in the first season, but instead, it suddenly speeds up. So many things happened during this episode. And even the main plot plays a huge role in this. I haven’t read the manga, though I doubt that things were the same at the manga-arc. Hopeless also noted that Fei Wong did not have a great role int he manga at this point, though right here, his role gets bigger and bigger.

Okay, so what happened during this episode regarding the main plot? First of all: Sakura kissing Syaoran on his glass eye. The two of them were just so cute at that moment! The thing I do like about Tsubasa Chronicle is that the relationship between the two of them gets tighter during every manga arc.

Second of all, it appears that Syaoran indeed is special in some kind of way. We probably won’t hear in what way he is until the second half of the third season has passed, but it indeed has something to do with the fake Syaoran with his eye concealed. This fake Syaoran can control the real Syaoran’s movements, it seems. It seems that the two of them are like mirrors. The anime seems to be giving some very obvious hints towards this.

Third of all, we also learn that Yuuko contacted Ashura, and then she informed her about Syaoran and Sakura. This explains her hospitality. It was her who then offered Yuuko the elixir of eternal life, which gave Yuuko the opportunity to make Mokona do a forced transfer. For some reason, this also caused Fei Wong’s control of the worlds which are to be visited to stop. For some reason, Yuuko really wants to stop him.

Fourth of all, we finally learns some of Fei Wong’s intentions. There is this thing, buried in the ruins of the Clow-Country. That’s what they’re after. For some reason, Syaoran and Sakura have to work for this. The last episode of the first season showed that they don’t want them to find all of the feathers at once. Still, I don’t think that we’ll ever find the reasons for this. Unless the creators decide to end this anime after the third season.

In any case, Fei Wong realized that the Dimensional Witch is the culprit behind the fact that he can’t direct the worlds that Syaoran & co visit, so he’s taken preparations to defeat her. (Interesting note: will this come back in xxxHolic? I suspect not, but it’d be awesome if it were). What follows is his statement that Yuuko is the only woman who managed to use the magic that Clow Reed accepted. Clow Reed appears to be Fei Wong’s lineage. Does that make Fei Wong and Sakura family? This statement was a bit fuzzy, though I think this means that Fei Wong, his minions and Yuuko are the only ones who can travel dimensions. Though then Fei Wong claims that he’ll be the one to grab the power to cross dimensions. But why does he want to do that when he already has the power to do so? (Interesting note: this is the first time we see his assistant smiling).

About the arc: it didn’t make any sense. Why the heck have Ashura and Yasha been fighting, and why did they both show up without an army? Ah well, in any case, it seems that in the past, the two of them were dueling in the castle, and Ashura gave Yasha a scar on his eye. Later, the Yasha appeared in front of Ashura, outside of the castle. Then she realizes that something has happened to Yasha. They end up kissing, and a feather flies by. My theory is that this feather then attached itself to Yasha, in order to keep him alive. At the end of the episode, Ashura kisses Yasha once more, the feather separates and he disappears. Still, it was just a wound on his eye. That’s nothing you’d die from…

Some other unanswered questions about this arc:
– Where are Kurogane and Fye?
– When Mokona pointed out the strongest power source, she pointed towards the castle. Yasha wasn’t there at that time, while he posessed the feather. What could there be stronger than one of Sakura’s feathers?
– Why was Yasha’s statue crying, while Ashura’s wasn’t?

I kept telling myself not to post about this

by psgels, posted in Special Articles

I kept telling myself not to get involved with this drama, though I have to say the following. As you all know, DrmsChr0 started a whole fad of bashing Jason. I have to admit, when I first read it, I felt very inclined to agree with him. But then I started to think. And I thought back about the post I made back in May, when I got kicked off blogsuki.

Basically (correct me if I’m wrong), all people are saying is that Jason sucks because his opinions are horrible, and he doesn’t contribute to the community. I have to admit, my opinion is the total opposite from his. He also isn’t involved in the Anime Nano-community, and doesn’t comment too often. Still, he runs his own forums, and I have had one comment on my blog made by him. Still, I certainly know more people are active when it comes to posting.

Does this make him suck? Of course not. People are forgetting one thing: it’s his site. He can do what he wants with it. The fact is, he isn’t looking for customers. He just wants to show his opinions. What does he get back? Opinions like “you suck”. Honestly, if you don’t want to read his articles, then why do you?

I see people noting that all of the anime bloggers out there are part of a community. Because they are, they have to comment a lot, and be active. This would indeed be true, if we were dealing with some forum. This is not the case, however. I can’t see why people who start a blog are automatically required to comment on other blogs and act like active parts of the community. That’s not the reason to start an anime blog, in my opinion. You should be able to choose this for yourself.