.Hack//Roots – 09 – So Many Things Happen at the Same Time

by psgels, posted in .Hack//Roots


Okay, I was wrong in my prediction. The big thing didn’t happen this episode, it’ll happen next episode. I hope. In any case, we haven’t seen any major plot development which will be able to provide material for 24 episodes. At this moment, you’d almost say that we’re dealing with a 13-episode anime if you didn’t know about the fact that there’ll be 24 of them.

I’ve got some issues with the goons, summoned by Ender. If it wasn’t for them, this episode would’ve been totally and incredibly amazing. Ender summons them in order to try and stop The Twillight Brigade for a bit, as they wait for the last virus cores to arrive. But these goons have been horribly executed. They’re just like a bunch of emotionless zombies, who attack one by one, have no skills at all, and just let our main characters have all kinds of conversations. I mean, they were meant to provide some challenge for the Ovan, but they all look like some bunch of pathetic idiots who don’t have any opinion or emotion and who only manage to be convenient for the plot.

Like I said: apart from this little flaw, the episode was just amazing. This time, not because of Haseo, but because of all of the different characters interacting and fighting each other. Haseo himself was more of a side-character in this episode. It’s shown that Ovan’s the only one he looks up to and respects, and that he really wants to make Ovan content. It’s also very good to see that he isn’t an emotionless fighting machine, as after he defeats Goad, he shows some sympathy.

Ender herself also was great. She’s the one who fights Ovan, and he indeed is stronger than she is. Though it is her task to lure him into some kind of trap on the top level. This brings up some interesting issues, when you take a look at the end of the episode. At that point, the virus cores were activated and the Twillight Brigade gets teleported to the castle up in the air at that field. This means that the trap has still to come, which means that the trap is in this castle, which means that TaN knew about the secrets of the virus cores all along, and may even have access to the secret inside of it.

Naobi indeed plans to do something at the time that the other characters are fighting each other. He’s accessing some strange place, which certainly has got something to do with the castle up in the sky. So if you combine these things together, this means that if this was a simple quest about who gets his hands on the Key of the Twillight first, there still is a step left for both parties to perform. It could be something inside of Ovan. After all, the entire purpose of TaN is capturing Ovan’s character data. This means that both parties have each other’s remaining piece of a duplicate puzzle, and it’s just a matter who can get their missing part first, without sacrificing their own part.

Tabby also had a great, though minor role. As she’s just new, and apparently hasn’t trained as much as Haseo, she indeed has trouble with the zombie-goons. But she still is determined to pay Shino back for her kindness. Shino also showed that she can do more than just talk and heal, as she’s able to hold off the zombie-goons as well without getting injured. Still, the focus didn’t fall too much on the two of them on this episode.

B-Set had a small, yet awesome role in this episode. She first tries to stop Goad from interfering with Ovan, though she fails. For a large part of the remaining episode, she spends her time on the bridge wondering whether to go or not. It’s been on her face for the entire anime that she had her doubts when she left the Twillight Brigade, and these doubts only increase as time goes further. Phyllo then finally manages to convince her to go.

Goad also was amazing. After ignoring B-Set, he set off to get revenge on Ovan, but Ender&co manage to beat him to it. He watches from a distance for a while, but then he decides to turn Haseo into a victim. After a small fight at which Haseo’s barely able to hold Goad back (still, Haseo must’ve trained for a whole damn lot if he’s able to do that with Goad), though Goad flinches when he sees that B-Set has come back. Haseo then manages to get him back on the side of the Twillight Brigade.

Ovan was acting as strange as always, but we really saw him smile at times. When he was fighting Ender, for example. it also seems that he knew that Goad and Sakisaka were to deliver him the last two of the Virus Cores. During his fight against Ender, for some strange reason Ender hides, and he, instead of helping his comerades, he stands in the circle of glowing towers and waits while all of them start glowing for no apparent reason. Ender seems to be really happy with this. In any case, it seems that he’ll play a huge role in the next episode, at which his plans most probably go wrong in some way.

Though the real stars of this episode were Sakisaka and Tawaraya. Sakisaka wants Ovan to acknowledge him as well, so he finally decides to go back to Tawaraya to get the Virus Core. Tawaraya isn’t the same optimist as he was at the beginning of the series, so he gets a bit gloomy when he sees that Tawaraya plans to PK him in order to get back the Virus Core. This plan turns into at total failure when it seems Tawaraya’s incredibly strong. Though he gets really unconfortable when he sees Sakisaka struggle to keep going. After all, what would you do when you were suddenly attacked by something incredibly weak about a thing you don’t even care about? Tawaraya indeed did the same thing I’d do in such a situation, I think. I SO like the direction the two of them are going: Sakisaka begins to open up more and more, while Tawaraya begins to get more and more gloomy by the minute. I’m so curious about how the two of them will be ending up in the end.

Those individual characters may indeed not seem so worthwile. But remember: all of this happened in just 20 minutes. Everything just almost happened at once, turning this into a near-amazing episode. The already amazing music also was used perfectly, and not to mention the amazing graphics. It seems that the mystery-department also got a nice dose, with a bit of help from Naobi and the strange dude who appeared at the beginning of the episode.

Ergo Proxy – 10 – Raoul vs Daedalus, yay!

by psgels, posted in Ergo Proxy



Ergo Proxy returns, and it returns with another great episode. No Vincent and Pino this time, but the story focuses mostly on two side-characters: Raoul and Daedalus, along with a little bit of Real. (Yes, my way of spelling these names keeps changing. I like Ril and Dedars more than Real and Deadalus, but it seems that we’re dealing with a couple of official names here).

Even though the episode wasn’t as action-packed as the previous one, I still loved it. Especially Deadalus was great. The episode starts with Raoul and Kristeva (his autorave) checking up on him. Ever since that accident from episode seven, Real has been viewed as dead and he’s been labeled as the murderer. He’s been stripped from all his authority and just remains in his apartment doing nothing. Raoul also mentions that he’s finally gotten over Tasha’s death. It’s here where my memory left me a bit. Tasha either is one of the people who was killed while Monad Proxy chased Vincent in the second episode, or she is a yet to be introduced character who now is dead.

Raoul mentions the fact that Daedalus has lost his Raison d’Être, or reason to live. A term which will be showing up more in this episode and probably make a few more comebacks during the rest of the entire anime. Daedalus threw away both Real and Proxy, which were the only things he lived for. Then we get to see the scene we’ve been suspecting ever since Real got killed: Real being alive. It couldn’t have been avoided. I mean, she’s the main characters. Main characters only die at the last episode. Anyway, I’m glad that the creators realize this and just show the scene immediately.

Raoul then pays a visit to the city-council. It seems that Monad Proxy was some kind of important energy source for Romdeau. Now that she’s gone (I’m calling Monad a she because of one of my theories about something that happened later in the episode, look below), the city might face danger. Not only that, but Raoul is also blamed on this by the council. Something that doesn’t make him very happy, as he later punches his reflection in a mirror to pieces (the mirror, I mean). He also brings up a famous quote from Descartes, which fits the scene perfectly (“I think, therefore I am”, though he lets out the last word).

Later, when he leaves the council’s tower in an elevator along with Kristeva, The two of them talk a bit, Kristeva mentions Raoul’s wound as a result of his fight with the mirror, and suddenly, the power falls out, locking the two of them up inside the elevator. Later, when he’s leading a team to discover the meaning behind this power outage, he discovers something interesting. The power outage took 2 minutes and 17 seconds, which is indeed Daedalus’ trademark. Raoul’s been talking about this before, though I never knew what it was. But apparently, they were referring to Daedalus. Before the long power outage, there also a large number of small outages. Most of them took just a few seconds. It seems that Daedalus had been using these outages as testings, and he clearly used the last one as something to get attention. In any case, Raoul decides to go and pay Daedalus a visit.

Daedalus, starts by pulling up an act, but then again Raoul does as well. Raoul wants Daedalus to check up on the wound he got, while Daedalus keeps telling him that he doesn’t examine anymore. Though Daedalus does reveal something interesting: his life indeed was devoted to taking care of Real. This has been suggested before, though it has never been directly comfirmed like this. Though why was Real so important?

In any case, Raoul and Daedalus find themselves a spot to talk, at which they won’t be overheard, and their conversation turns less cryptic by the minute. Still, it remains cryptic. The thing Raoul was after (Daedalus’ research) is gone, hidden somewhere. Raoul then reveals that he knows that Daedalus used Monad in order to hide the existance of Ergo by forcing all of the council’s attention on the former. He also reveals that he knows that Real is alive somewhere. Daedalus wanted to use Real in order to lure out Ergo, but at the last minute, he got his doubts, as this would obviously mean Real not surviving it. Because of this, he seemed to have sent Raoul the cryptical message. I don’t understand the reasoning behind this, though I think that Raoul thinks that Daedalus planned to ask him to team up with him.

Still, Daedalus denies. He doesn’t want to partner up with the one who tried to kill him. Then, Raoul reveals another interesting fact. It wasn’t him who sent the autoraves to kill Real, it was the Council. The major is even wiling to kill his own granddaughter who indeed committed a crime, in order to keep up the law of Romdeau. Then things really get interesting when Raoul reveals that he knows that the power outage had another purpose. Daedalus replies that he was trying to resurrect Monad (after all, by causing a power outage, you can use a tremendous amount of energy). Raoul then offers to let Daedalus work for him again, in order to resurrect Monad. Daedalus hasn’t got much of a choice, so he agrees.

When everything is settled, Raoul really is in a good mood. He’s apparently hiding what he’s doing from the council. He also tries to burn some fear into Daedalus by intimidating him. At first sight this works. But then, when Raoul left, Daedalus has a very interesting monologue. He talks to the dead body of Monad as if it was Real. Raoul also has no idea what his real goals are, and Daedalus really gets exited. This is where I got an interesting theory. Real, of course, couldn’t be Monad Proxy. But what if the two are linked somehow? What if she originally was Monad Proxy, but the two split apart at some certain time and space. Remember Senekis? We also saw a weirdly behaving woman, locked up inside that fort. Then the infected autoraves from Kazkiz came, and freed her. Then this woman died at about the same time as Senekis. What if the two of them were linked in the same way that Real and Monad are? In any case, Real is someone special. Otherwise, Daedalus wouldn’t have devoted his life to her and Monad.

Real, meanwhile, has an interesting experience. It doesn’t really contribute to the plot, but it introduces some very interesting phylosophical questions. She ends up in a town, abandoned by people, but with robots seemingly left behing, doing their ordinary work as if there actually were some people around. For what purpose do these machines work? I mean, there aren’t any people left, so it would seem that they are obsolete. She also has a dream about a younger version of herself, who tries to warn her, I guess. Ergo Proxy indeed is cruel. And yes, Real is indeed chasing something extremely dangerous. But still, she believes that Vincent holds the truth. The episode ends with the strangest cliffhanger ever. Something you indeed did not see coming, let alone understand. Real and Iggy leave the humanless city. The robots perform their work as usual, until one of them break from its routine and walks off.

The Third – 05 – Millie

by psgels, posted in The Third



The Third continues its amazingness once more. After the eventfullness of the previous episode, this episode features the aftermaths, mostly focusing about they way Milly reacts to her father’s death and Honoka’s reaction to this, though we also get a bit of info about Honoka’s past, and The Third also get a bit of development. Ikus served as a third party: not directly involved with the storyline, though he starts playing his own part in it. Still, Honoka and Millie were really shining in this episode. I totally loved it.

I’m also surprised that I’m one of the few people who actually likes the narrator. Yes, okay, he may be stating the obvious. Still, I really feel that I have trouble at times to really understand how she feels. Others may be having no problems with this, alas. Another thing is that he can really strengthen a scene at times. For example, when Millie regains her conciousness again. Of course it’s clear that Honoka forgot to put her headband back on. I really think that that scene would have been annoying if the narrator wasn’t there, but somehow, he managed to help and turn that scene into a an awesome one.

The scene starts with Honoka and Ikus seeing the dead body of Zanka (that appeared to be Oyaji’s name), after which we switch towards an important woman of The Third, who seems to recognize Honoka’s eye as “The Blue Space Eye”. The next morning, Millie still hasn’t regained conciousness. Bogie wants to move away, but Honoka believes that Millie deserves to see her father one more time. Honoka and Ikus then search Zanka’s desert tank in order to pick up all of the valuable items that were left in it. It also became clear that Millie’s mother was killed by the Surveillance Force (you know, the ones who kidnapped that guy at the beginning of the fourth episode because he used too much technology).

Then, while the two of them are digging a grave for Zanka, Honoka tells a few things about her own past. She still hasn’t bothered to put her headband back on, by the way. She was indeed born as a The Third, though the color of her eye differs from the red color that The Third have. This means that she was classified as a defective item, and sent towards the earth. The capital of The Third appears to be named Hyperius. Honoka was sent there, and immediately she was sent back again because of her eye. When she was born in the human world, the villagers among her hoped that a being from The Third could actually help to easen up their lives, though this was false hope. Her parents then put her in the care of her “grandfather” (I’m just calling him grandfather for now as Honoka seems to do this as well. He’s not her real grandfather), who was boarding a caravan. In this way, Honoka grew up in this travelling caravan, travelling to all kinds of different places with him.

It also appears that every one of her old friends from the caravan seemed to know about her secret. Only Millie didn’t. Then Bogie contacts Honka with the message that Millie regained conciousness. She really is gloomy at this period. She doesn’t want to talk or socialize, and Honoka really doesn’t know what to do in order to help her.

The Blue Breaker is meanwhile put under a surveillance, about the reason why he abandoned his mission. It seems that one of the officials from The Third (something tells me that this is the same guy from the second episode) ordered him to retreat. The woman, who also sounds important, is not too happy with this. Still, if she’s so important and makes decisions on planetary base, then why are Millie, Honoka and Ikus such a threat to her, to make her view these individual cases like that?

Honoka, by the way, also decided to blow up Zanka’s sand tank. She probably had the same reasons as Roux when he burned the books in Astraea Testament. Millie continues to be gloomy. Honoka plans to bring her to one of her aunts, so that she can take care of her. An interesting development. We all know, of course, that the two are going to remain together, but how will they manage to do this in the end without making it look unrealistic? Honoka’s eye meanwhile manages to discover a rare sight in the desert: a field of flowers. She goes to pick one of them, in an attempt to cheer up Millie. She also reveals to Ikus that she indeed has some kind of power, as she displayed in the third and fourth episode. She gives him a little demonstration.

Back at The Third, meanwhile, the woman from The Third that we saw earlier this episode holds a small talk with Jouganki (the guy who paid Honoka a visit in the second episode), in order to prevent him from intervening again. It seems that he indeed is not after Honoka after all, but after her powers. The woman manages to convince him that there’s no reason in order to let Blue Breaker back away, and he begins to get a bit worried.

Millie, meanwhile woke up, and she broke down. She couldn’t find Honoka in the sand tank, so the act of holding herself strong fades away. What follows is a brilliant scene, of the two making up together. But then, the Blue Breaker arrives again. Somehow, Ikus feels his prescense as well. The episode ends. I really loved this one. Zanka’s death really had a huge impact on our cast. Something you can’t say every anime can just accomplish.

Good Witch of the West – Astraea Testament – 06 – Roux’ Rival

by psgels, posted in Good Witch of the West - Astraea Testament



Good Witch of the West continues its tale of elegance. And yes, Firiel’s indeed kindof slow. She’s smarter than most characters in anime, though she does get thrown into more exreme situations, that really force her to think on her own, which is an element that most anime’d rather abandon. The overall tone of the episode was kindof light again, as it didn’t focus on Roux that much.

The episode begins with Roux asking Eusis whether he can teach him some swordfighting skills. Eusis laughs, and ends up being attacked by an angry Roux, wielding a chess-board. He then drops by on Firiel and Adele, who are drinking a bit of tea, while the latter makes a couple of comments on her brother. Eusis then explains that he wants Roux to be focusing on the things he’s good, instead of learning how to swordfight. This makes sense, after all. Roux remains a genius, it would be a waste for him to focus on fighting rather than knowledge.

Firiel, indeed, is quite angry at Roux about the chess-board he threw at Eusis. And indeed, what Firiel lacks in common sense, he lacks in social skills. The two of them indeed make a good couple. Roux also believed the whole time that Firiel wanted to go back to the astrological observatory as soon as possible, but then Firiel reminds him that she doesn’t. She’d cause Eusis, Adale and the others unneccessary trouble, so she tells him that returning to the observatory can wait. They first have to head for a place named Hyragurion, for some reason. She promises to go back with him to Sellafield once Hyragurion is visited, and attempts to seal this promise with a kiss. Roux is a bit bewildered, but he agrees, though right before we get to see some action, the two of them are spotted by one of the court ladies.

Firiel then gets scolded for attempting to kiss a male. A person named Lady Margot has something about this, so the court lady from before takes her to this woman, assuming that Lady Margot will be teaching her a bit of proper etiquette. Firiel then arrives in a beautiful rose garden, covered in blue roses. It’s great to see that different anime all have such different views of blue Roses. Utena treats them like they’re nothing special at all, something like “all roses are equal”. Good Witch also doesn’t find these unnatural, but rather elegant. Blood+, however associates the blue roses as something incredibly special, associated with Diva, while Paradise Kiss’s method of aquiring blue roses is simply by painting red roses with blue paint. Anyway, this Lady Margot seems to have something on her mind with Firiel, though we never get to see what that might be. In any case Lady Margot comes from Hyragurion, in which Firiel can’t be that easily forgiven for her naivety.

Eusis, meanwhile, gets another visit from his good friend. It then becomes clear that Euris still loves Firiel, which is supposed to bring a bit of a challenge into Firiel and Roux’s relationship. Still, a lot of rumours have been floating around about the two of them from out of Toras Academy, which will really prove to be a threat to our dear Eusis. Lady Margot meanwhile asks Firiel about her reason to go to Hyragurion, Firiel answers with the fact that she needs power to protect Roux and the doctor, and why she must understand why the two of them are heathens. There’s still no clue why Hyragurion will be the place to find out about these things, though.

The next day, Firiel and the others travel to Hyragurion, and then it seems to be hosting a large-scale ball amongst the nobles. Firiel and Adale are of course guests of honor. Adale gives Firiel a few tips on how to be as beautiful as possible, attracting as many people as possible. When they enter the ballroom, this initially works, until Leandra shows up and calls for all attention. Still, there’s little focus on Leandra during this episode. Anyway, Adale splits up with Firiel, though she forgets one important thing: as this is Firiel’s first appearance in an event like this, she has no idea how to behave. Firiel then ends up standing in a corner, all alone, until Eusis saves her. The two of them dance a bit, catching a lot of attention. Then the guy who tortured Roux in the second episode appears on the screen in an instant, exchanging suspicious looks with a bishop-like dressed old man.

Then Firiel’s naivety gets proven once more as the two of them walk outside for a bit, and the Eusis ends up embracing Firiel. When she wakes up the next morning, however, rumours of how Euris proposed to her are floating around. (^^;) The episode ends. This episode again was very enjoyable. It was probably mostly meant as an intermezzo after the Secret Gardenarc, but still, a lot of things happened. I’m surprised that Good Witch of the West takes its time in telling its story, despite its length of just thirteen episodes. So far, it’s going into a great direction. This episode definately wasn’t the best that Good Witch of the West had to show us, though it was pretty darn solid, providing good material for future episodes.

PopoloCrois Story 1998 – 12 – Continuing the Amazingness

by psgels, posted in Popolocrois Story 1998



Once again, PopoloCrois manages to produce a horribly creative episode. The entire combination of Pietoro, Narcia, Gamigami, Ston, Sanda, Hyuu, Pablo, Hilda, the advisor and a newly introduced character turned this episode into a great intermezzo. Still, it remains an intermezzo, mostly focused on Narcia joining up with Pietoro, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

We start with Narcia trying to find where Pietoro went, though she can’t seem to find him. That’s of course logical, as he left the castle at the previous episode. She gets joined by the advisor and a matter of very good timing in her search of the prince, until they both run towards Pablo, who explains the situation. Pietoro, meanwhile, ended up in some kind of port town. Because he’s travelling incognito, he hears various gossip about Pablo, Gamigami and himself. This, of course, isn’t too good for his overall mood. Then he meets a very excentric old guy, dressed in mexican influences, who keeps staring at his lunch as it if was dropped from the heaven. Pietoro tries to flee from him, but the guy keeps following him, and he keeps staring at such a brilliant way, that Pietoro eventually gives in and shares one of his sandwiches with the guy.

When the guy manages to get yet another sandwich out of Pietoro, he begins to get a bit mad at him, though the guy tells him a valuable lesson. Pietoro won’t become one of the big shots if he frets over something small like a stolen sandwich. This person then claims that he’s a hero. We never get to know whether this is true or not, but it does make Pietoro think about himself. After all, the guy doesn’t act like a hero at all, more like the village idiot, and of course Pietoro sees this too, and asks the guy to prove it. Then the guy begins to question whether Pietoro’s the real prince or not. And of course, Pietoro never really thought about this. He has as many ways to prove that he’s the prince as the guy has to prove that he’s a hero.

Gamigami, meanwhile, decided to lock himself up in his chamber while waiting for his robots to have found Pietoro. Hyuu comes to scold him again for slacking off, and then he uses an extremely ingenious way to send Ston and Sanda out in order to search for him. I won’t tell what, as you have to see this for your self, but it does involve a very big rocket. (^^;) His robots are meanwhile out in order to put up wanted-posters for Pietoro, and Narcia manages to see this. She then decides to help Pietoro in his quest, so the goes to Hilda in order to use her mirror in order to find him. Hilda’s nowhere to be found, so she uses Hilda’s cauldron to make something, what on first sight looks like the potion needed to activate the mirror.

Gamigami, meanwhile, took a little trip into the Popolocrois forest, in order for a bit of mocking, self-pity and a small nap. Narcia is meanwhile horribly messing up the potion, in her opinion at least. Through some miracle, she manages to get the potion working, but it was actually a desperate idea of her in order to prevent Pietoro from getting caught: change every single being in Popolocrois into Pietoro! Not only does this make Narcia look too cute when she finds the flaw in her plan, but Ston and Sanda also mistake Gamigami for Pietoro and take him to Hyuu, and Pietoro himself really has to think about why he is the real Pietoro, and the others impostors.

Hilda then manages to eventually correct Narcia’s mistake and turn everyone back, but not before Ston and Sanda carried Gamigami to his castle and the strange old man (who also got turned into Pietoro) managed to teach Pietoro a few valuable lessons. What follows is a Pietoro who really believes that this man is a hero, and Hyuu recognizing that Gamigami isn’t the real Pietoro. Ston and Sanda, still not knowing that they’re dealing with Gamigami, then attempt to get rid of him through the same method Gamigami used at them at the beginning of the episode, though he manages to change back right in the middle of the process. Ston’s reaction at that time was just absolutely priceless.

Anyway, in the end, Hilda lets Narcia use her mirror in order to find Pietoro’s location, so she manages to find him easily, and the two are together again, and the episode ends. This episode really was another masterpiece. Especially Narcia was too cute, though Ston and Sanda were also really shining as bad guys. Another thing I just love about Popolocrois is that everything just can go wrong. And when it goes wrong, it goes wrong at extremely creative ways. The most memorable examples are, of course Gamigami trying to get his inventions to work, though this episode also showed a great example of Narcia not thinking about some of the problems regarding her plan to change everyone into Pietoro.

The Third – 04 – Awesomeness

by psgels, posted in The Third



Yes, The Third is great. Most likely one of the best series of the season. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Honoka is an amazing character. The anime really delves in her mind. It shows exactly what kind of person she is, all of her different sides, how she reacts at the things thrown at her and how these affect her. I have yet to see an anime who featured a character at whom the creators spent so much time and details. It’s just brilliant.

The episode begins with another example of the strictness of The Third. If you live a good life, you’re fine. Though when you break the law, they sometimes send their ultimate weapon to take care of them, which mostly means that you won’t be able to live much longer. It’s never mentioned, but I’m quite certain that this “ultimate weapon” is the Blue Breaker, who was mentioned at the previous episode.

Honoka’s right hand, meanwhile, still hasn’t fully healed. She really notices this when she practices swordfighting a bit. She and Ikus are in the desert again, heading for Oyaji in order to collect the PSP she ordered. We also see a little flasback of the one who taught her her fighting-skills. At least, the silhouette of the one who taught her her fighting skills. It appears to be a tall, long-haired person. It would’t surprise me if this guy is with The Third now. Then Ikus arrives, and the two of them talk a bit about each other’s special powers. Ikus holds a little speech, about things Honoka never really thought about. She begins to feel a bit lonely at that time (thanks to the narrator, again).

The next day, they arrive at Oyaji, and we get to meet another one of Honoka’s personalities: her immensely enthusiastic one. At the sight of her PSP, which seems to be an armoured suit, she immediately gets all giddly, wanting to check it out. However, she’s not exactly happy with the suit she has to wear in order to be able to use this PSP, though it appears that she needs to wear it anyway. She spends the rest of the day trying out all of the different functions, and playing a bit with Millie.

That evening, Bogie and Oyaji talk a bit about Joey, and his maintenance-work. It seems that he needs a lot of work, though he has potential. Millie and Honoka also talk a bit, and Honoka reveals that Oyaji’s the one responsible for fixing her Sand Tank, after she bought it, and she really owes him for all the work he’s done for her.

I like Bogie. Even though he’s just artificial intelligence with a voice, I just love his sarcastical comments. This personality seems to fit him perfectly. It’s so much better than just the same recorded tape which gets played over and over again. Anyway, during the night, the two parties break up again. After a couple of minutes have passed, Honoka suddenly realizes that the Blue Breaker’s heading towards Oyaji’s vehicle, in invisible-mode. She speeds up in order to be able to save them, but she arrives too late, and Oyaji’s vehicle catches fire. She then attempts to use the PSP, and thank goodness, she can’t operate it to its full extend yet. That only adds up to the awesomeness of these scenes. Eventually, she manages to hit the Blue Breaker, and manages to send it crashing to some place about a mile away.

It then seems that Millie managed to survive the attack, though Oyaji’s nowhere to be found. And to think that the best of the episode had yet to be shown. Honoka dashes out of her PSP, in order to meet up with Millie, who seems to bewildered to notice what actually happened. Then, it seems that Blue Breaker managed to survive the crash, and attempts to attack them again. Still invisible. During these attempts, Honoka’s headband falls off, and reveals some kind of third eye on her forehead. With this, she disables Blue Breaker’s invisibility mode, who flees afterwards, only laughing at her. On a side-note: Honoka looked really beautiful at these moments. This really was an amazing fight.

The goodness only continues when Millie sees the thing on Honoka’s forehead. For some reason, she gets incredibly paranoid, and faints. Ikus manages to catch up to them, and the episode ends. I’m really curious about what will happen in the rest of the series. It’s getting so amazing now.

Tsubasa Chronicle – 31 – So Many Wasted Opportunities

by psgels, posted in Tsubasa Chronicle



Tsubasa Chronicle seems to be reluctant to introduce new characters or something. During the entire season, all we’ve seen is either the same characters as in the first season, or copies of those characters, wearing the same soul but existing in a different world. Especially now, that it has been carried over the top, it’s beginning to bother me more and more. It’s a great concept, though the creators really need to look at series like Noein and Higurashi.

Why? Because they seem to have the strange idea that a person remains the same person, and that certain occurrences in his life don’t have any effect on this person, and he or she will just continue living on like he or she was destined to. They made a good attempt at fixing this with the magician, who appeared as a friendly captain on a ship, but he really has been the only copied character who experienced such a change. All other characters just share the same personalities, while they all have experienced different things, which turned them into the characters they are. When you see people like the king and his advisor in the desert world walking right next to each other in another world, then you could blame this on the fact that these were destined together, but what if the two grew up in an entirely different neighborhood? Then they never met each other in the first place. How would they act when a thing like that happens? And I haven’t even started about the physical appearances of the characters. Why does everyone have the same haircut, in all of his or hers different bodies with the same souls? And how about some scars that some characters might have encountered, while their counterparts have not?

This episode also showed me another flaw in this concept. Apparently, characters in different worlds with the same soul can differ from age. What we have here, is a genious concept. But why the heck is Syaoran’s father the only one whose age is different? The creators’d better have a very good reason for this, because at the moment, I’m blaming it on laziness. Another thing is: why haven’t we seen any copies of Syaoran? Or Sakura? Kurogane? Fye? The bad guys? The guys associated with Fye? Clow Reed? The creators can blame this on luck for a single season, though it’s beginning to bother me that they haven’t shown up yet.

Tsubasa Chronicle remains an entertaining anime, despite this. This is mostly because of the individual stories to be told, the great looking art (whenever it’s not suffering from low budgets) and some great characters and character interaction. Still, the fact remains that there’s extremely little time spent on the main storyline, which seems to be the most worthwile story of all. It’s great to see different worlds like that, I’m enjoying the creativity put in it, but I’d also love to see some more time being put into the main story. And I’m also hoping that this show will actually end at with the third season. Obviously, it’s been building up, though I wonder if you can build up too much.

Anyway, rants aside, the episode was an intermezzo again, in which Syaoran meets up with a child-version of his father. Despite their predictable reactions, the rest of the episode was enjoyable to watch. Especially Kurogane played a great part again. No bad guys this time, though. It seems they took a coffee break. The only thing is that the creators wasted yet another potentially good scene. The fact that Syaoran’s father isn’t really Syaoran’s father never gets questioned. I would’ve loved some interesting debates about this. After all, Syaoran is getting all hopeful on just an illusion. His father remains dead, though during the episode, he seems to have forgotten this. Is it really true that you can just replace an important person with someone from another world, who just happens to share the same soul? Then what value does this important person have? Interesting questions, which never seem to surface.

Saiunkoku Monogatari – 08 – Shiurei’s Back in the Castle

by psgels, posted in Saiunkoku Monogatari

As predicted, Shiurei doesn’t stay away from the palace for long. It begins with Ryuuki sending her all sorts of ridiculous gifts, like three chunks of ice, a pile of flowers, a pile of boiled eggs, and one straw doll. Shiurei is of course totally freaked out by this. Ryuuki also keeps having dreams of Shiurei, running away with Seiran, which aren’t too good for his sleep, as Ran and Kouyuu find out later. ^^

We also have the introduction of a new character. He seems to have come to the castle for some reason, but permission to enter is refused. Then, Shiurei runs into him, offering a bit of food and a place to rest. It then appears that this guy, who’s apparently named Ensei, is an aquaintance of Seiran. Though the latter isn’t too fond of the former, which leads to interesting discussions. Ensei used to have a big function, though I couldn’t understand what kind of function, unfortunately.

That evening, Kouyuu and Ran pay Shiurei’s family a small visit, in the name of the emperor in order to ask her to come back. I couldn’t catch the reason behind this, though I wonder what excuse the emperor tried to use. Shiurei eventually gives in, while Seiran sends Ensei along with her, probably in order to protect her.

Ensei isn’t the only new character to be introduced, as we also get to meet with a masked guy, at the end of the episode. We see some quick flashes of him during the entire episode, though we really get to see him introduced by the end of it, near the cliffhanger. I’ve no idea what this guy is, but apparently, he has an important function.

Kourin also moved away from the royal castle, as Shiusui tells Shiurei’s father. She seems to be doing well, wherever she is, and the two of them hope that she’ll become okay again. Shou Taijin (apparently, that’s the name of the advisor-old guy) also behaves weird in this episode, but that’s probably because he carries a little pot, which contains the ashes of the other old guy who perished in the last episode.

Overall, this episode was fun to watch, especially the emperor doing silly things again. But still, the show remains a bit boring. But that can also be because I couldn’t understand half of the things which happened.

.Hack//Roots – 08 – Some Thing’s About to Happen…

by psgels, posted in .Hack//Roots



.Hack//Roots really is the king of the anti-climaxes. At the climax of the last episode, Haseo, Tabby and Sakisaka are about to be teleported towards some unknown areas when the cliffhanger set in. What do you think happened at the beginning of this episode? Yes, they ended up in the lost grounds which Shino and Ovan seem to have labeled as their favourite place. Still, this doesn’t make this episode bad. In fact, apart from episode three, this was the best .Hack//Roots episode yet.

So many different thing happened, so many unexpected events played. So many questions introduced and so many questions answered. This episode really was a roller-coaster ride. And then to think that this was just an intermezzo, an introduction to the ninth episode! I can’t wait to find out what might happen then.

Haseo was great once more. It really seems now that he wants to please Shino in some way, and he wants to be with Ovan. That’s why he got the idea of what the function of the pillars might be, and that’s why he listened to Shino when she asked him to continue searching for the Virus Cores. I guess he doesn’t like Tabby and Sakisaka too much, which only makes him more adorible. He really doesn’t know how to deal with people, that’s clear now.

Ender also has the worst timing in the world, that also became clear after this episode, though I’m loving her evil character more and more. Especially now that she’s beginning to show more and more weaknesses. I just loved the fact that she just appeared after Sakisaka vanished, and then kept wondering where they went. This means that even she doesn’t know about these bugs. For the rest of the episode, she got assigned to watch Haseo, as Shino decided that the three of them were better to be moving alone, after she heard that Ender showed up again at the church. She then really gets surprised when Haseo suddenly disappears in front of a marking again, and you can see that on her face for the rest of the episode.

Goad also is planning something. He wants to prove Ovan that he’s better than him, and gets one of the virus cores which was in the posession of another PK-guild, named Kestrel. Phyllo calls him with a little brat because of this, with some good reasons. Still, I like Goad. He’ll definately play some great roles in the next episodes. I also loved the fight he had this time. It was short, and some strategy was included in it. And why does he think he can beat Ovan when he can’t even beat a guy like Phyllo? ^^

Tabby was adorible this time, especially in combination with the rapid succession of the different scenes. She really is determined to find out about the Virus Cores, so she decides to check out the church a bit, in order to find another one of those teleporting markings. When Haseo and Sakisaka are talking a bit, she’s busy checking the wall in order to find some secret entrances. Instead, she finds a doorway into a bug which doesn’t let her move at all. It takes her a while in order to find out she’s dealing with a bug and teleport away. (Yes, I absolutely loved the scene in the church. Roller-coaster rides at its best!)

Sakisaka remains in his sceptic and sarcastical self. When Tabby suggests them to take a look at the church, he finds that they’d better look for the virus cores instead of the markings, though he gets taken along against his will. Inside the church, he has no idea where to look for, and makes a couple of sarcastical comments about this. Though, when Tabby has her accident, he reacts to this, faster than Haseo. Only to wind up getting blocked as well. He, however, gets out faster than Tabby does, he meets up with Shino faster and fulfills goes to take care of one of her requests before the other two arrive.

Tawaraya had a bit of a sad role in this episode. He has a Virus Core, and for some reason, he’s supposed to give it to the members of the Twillight Brigade. His earlier attempts failed, and he can’t seem to think of another way to do it. But why does TaN want to give some of the Virus Cores to the Twillight Brigade? I mean, can’t they just take them from Haseo, Ovan and Shino and use them themselves? I mean, they seem smart enough to do it.

Naobi has another cryptic discussion with Ender. Apparently, their plan is about to enter a certain “Phase One”, and they need Haseo for it for some strange reason. Tawaraya doesn’t need to know anything again, despite him having one of the Virus Cores. Apparently, the thing he wants is Ovan’s character data. Once Ovan is caught, their mission will be lots easier. Their plan to do this seems to be all set up, though Ender is not sure whether it will work. Naobi’s silouette also appears when Ovan starts talking about the fact that the Key of the Twillight might already be near them. Does that mean that Naobi has got something to do with the Key of the Twillight itself?

Shino also seems very keen on being the one to break the good news to Ovan. She has another cryptic discussion with him as well. It seems that Ovan might disappear for a while once the Key of the Twillight is found. She also reveals that she knows Ovan in real life somehow, though she makes it seem that there’s more than just that. Though, why is she reluctant to let Haseo show his own findings to Ovan?

Ovan seems to be getting energetic at the end of the episode, up to the point at which he even priorizes the Key of the Twillight above his own job. It really seems to be his plan to go and get the Key of the Twillight in the next episode. But still. Haseo has two Virus Cores. One he got from Shino and the other one he got in the strange space he visited during this episode. Shino also has one, and he has the fourth one of the Twillight Brigade. Then there is one in the hands of Goad, and Tawaraya posesses the last one. But how was he planning to go there without having the last two of the Virus Cores? Or could it be that Haseo just managed to discover the seventh Virus Core? After all, it was found in an unknown area. In any case, his little pep-talk at the end of the episode really managed to make Haseo enthusiastic.

Sakisaka also states a nice point: everything seems to happen a bit too convenient. And it’s true. The Key of the Twillight is about to be found, and we’re only at episode eight. This must mean that there’s something about to happen which will turn over the entire plot of the anime, like a giant pancake. It probably has got something to do with Haseo’s strange ability. It would be too great if all the different parties manage to break up afterwards, making the Twillight Brigade and TaN to be disbanded.

The brilliance of .Hack//Roots? The fact that there are so many different characters, with each and every one of them acting independantly. Because of this, there are so many different opportunities for different kinds of conversations, which makes each character different. And not just once, but during the entire airtime of the anime. Each of the different characters has his or her own meetings with other ones of the different characters, and it’s executed perfectly.