Saiunkoku Monogatari – 04

by psgels, posted in Saiunkoku Monogatari



Good anime get you hooked at one certain point of the show. In shows like Good Witch of the West or Noein, this point was right at the first episode. In shows like Blood+ and Eureka7, this moment happens around episode 10. In Saiunkoku Monogatari, this moment came at episode four. This really was the episode which motivated me to actively follow this anime.

We start of with Shiurei almost quitting her function, until she realizes that she’ll lose her huge payment as well. We then switch to Ran Shiuei and the emperor, who talk a bit, and the emperor realizes he might’ve used the wrong methods to get Shiurei’s attention. Ran cheers him up a bit.

We then switch to the three old men, and for the first time ever, I understood what they were talking about: who was the one that tried to poison Shiurei? They don’t really find an answer. We switch to Shiurei and her father, who talk a bit, and Shiurei’s father tells a bit about how the emperor was when he was a little kid. It seems to be a sad tale, I think it has got something to do with him being bullied.

Back to Ran Shiuei and Koyu, they talk a bit, about how Shiurei seems to know. I think that was referring to her finding out that the emperor really is smart, and has been playing dumb. They split up, and Ran sees Seiran walk alone, so he heads for him. Seiran looks kindof worried, so he tries to cheer him up, which includes making a couple of strange but very assumptions. Then one of the old guys, who appears to be the head of the palace guards, suddenly sees the two of them. He challenges Seiran for a sparring match, because he sees him in an armor. Seiran loses, and the old guy teaches him a few lessons.

This, by the way, was the very first action-scene of the show, and I have to say, I like it. Although subtle, I could see some sword techniques being used, instead of the usual shash-long-enough-until-you-hit-something. Anyway, that evening, Seiran and Shiurei sit at a table, having a small dinner, which consists of a couple of bread-buns. Shiurei begins to feel a bit worried, so Seiran comforts her.

Ran Shiuei and Koyu, meanwhile, talk again about the poisoning, and we get our very first hint of a very interesting plotline to come. Koyu reckons some legendary evil guy tried to poison Shiurei. We get to see his outlines, and it appears that he has lots of followers. He may have done it, he may not have done it, though one thing is certain: he will be appearing at some point of the series.

The next day, a little tournament is hosted between the knights of the palace. Koyu gets to be the referee (I know there’s a better word for this, I just can’t think of it), and it appears that Ran Shiuei’s a palace guard as well. Surprisingly. Shiurei gets to sit next to the emperor, but then she sees her father who’s giving the audience cups of tea. She’s very worried, because her father is extremely clumsy. A loud scream only comfirms that, so Shiurei decides to take over his work. That was a very amusing scene, I couldn’t help but laugh, especially after seeing a lonely father alone in his room afterwards.

The tournament begins with Koyu reading a very long, and apparently embarrasing piece of parchment. We only get so see two fights: Ran Shiuei vs a random giant, and the emperor vs Seiran. Ran manages to beat the giant with ease, with a pretty funny aftermath. In the fight between the emperor and Seiran, Seiran seems to be on the offensive side, though the emperor manages to win in the end.

We turn to the evening, and apparently Ran came out as a winner. The emperor apologizes to Shiurei because he lost. He then sees Seiran walk, and follows him. When he meets up with him, he confesses how Seiran reminds him of his older brother, and how he apparently wants to be with him. Seiran replies with that he’s not the emperor’s brother, and that he shouldn’t confuse the two of them. The two of them get a bit emotional, and then Shiurei runs into them. The way they’re holding each other makes her think that the two of them have a secret love-relationship. Hehe.

Now with the subs out, I think I’m still going to continue with the raws. Besides, I’m having too much fun with this to be abandoning it for a couple of weeks until the fansubs finally manage to catch up. And it’ll also be a nice kind of experiment as well. Even though some parts may be extremely difficult to understand, I still like this series, and as I stated above, this episode just got me hooked.

Saiunkoku Monogatari – 03

by psgels, posted in Saiunkoku Monogatari



Thanks to a couple of helpful commenters, the story of Saiunkoku Monogatari became a bit clear. Shiujou actually is an emperor, and Siurei was hired as a tutor for him. As women can’t be officers, she currently works as a concubine. Seiran was taken in by Shiurei-s family thirteen years ago, when he had nowhere to go, and ever since he’s been wanting to pay them back for their kindness. A couple of things indeed begin to make sense now…

Anyway, this episode, the emperor has a strange dream about his older brother, who bears suspiciously close resemblances to Seiran. Then he wakes up, with Seiran in front of him. The two have a strange discussion, I didn’t understand it, but it gave some ‘interesting’ impressions. Anyway, after that, the emperor admits that he’s a bit jealous of Shiurei and Seiran while they’re together, and he sees them being so close.

We then switch to that night, at which Shiurei has a small conversation with the little girl and an woman, probably both of them are concubines as well. The girl leaves, and returns with the message that the emperor really wants to speak with her. She looked pretty serious, though when Shiurei arrives at the emperor, it only appears that he went out and picked up a couple of wild roses. His hands, of course, weren’t used to the needles, so they’re full of scratches. Shiurei tends these, the two talk a bit, and somehow, Shiurei mentions Seiran’s name. Suddenly, the emperor demands her not to talk about Seiran, or something similar. Shiurei agrees, but she finds this kindof weird. The emperor then makes her tell a little story, at which he immediately falls asleep.

Apparently, he fell asleep in Shiurei’s bed, so she has no choice but to divide the bed into two with what looks like a role of carpet, and both of them sleep at one side. This makes for an interesting scene on the next morning, as the girl from before comes to wake them, and sees the role of carpet gone, and the emperor embracing Shiurei in his sleep. Needless to say that Shiurei doesn’t wake up in a pleasant manner. That was a nice moment. It also shows what an idiot the emperor actually is, he needs someone for everything, and just thinks he can do as he pleases.

The next evening, he again stands in front of her door in his bedgown, apparently planning to sleep next to her again. The two talk a bit, and she gives him a self-made hankerchief. I don’t know whether I picked up the next thing right, but if I understood it correctly, Shiurei didn’t give Seiran a hankerchief, which makes the emperor happy.

The next evening, there seems to be some kind of party at the palace. The emperor and Shiurei get offered some sake, but before Shiurei gets to even touch hers, the emperor snatches it away and drinks it himself. Later, it appeared that the sake wasn’t good anymore, giving the emperor a nice stomache-ache, so Shiurei carries him to his bed. When she finds out about the emperor knowing the sake was poisoned, she begins yelling at him, though he tells her to be quiet, or something in that direction.

Shiurei sits next to him for the next couple of hours, and suddenly, he begins a speach about how he’s afraid of the dark, mostly at his mother’s fault. It also appears that he was crying for some reason when he was young, and he was being comforted by none other than Shiurei’s father. The next morning, the emperor seems to be fine again, and he’s playing a bit with Shiurei’s hair as she wakes up. She’s a bit embarrased, though the two of them make up.

Then we switch to a scene at which Ran and Koyu meet up with a delivery-boy, which comes to deliver two flowers which the emperor sent them. I have no idea about the meaning of this scene… I mean… why would he even do such a thing?

The episode ends with Shiurei realizing something, and then getting angry at the emperor, to the point of yelling at and hitting him. I think that he wasn’t really sick in the first place, and that he’d just been acting all the time. After all, you don’t recover from food-poisoning in one simple night. And I can understand why Shiurei’s ticked off when discovering this. This really shows what an easy-going idiot the emperor is, he just does as he pleases.

Makai Senki Disgaea – 04

by psgels, posted in Makai Senki Disgaea



This anime definately could have been executed better. The first two episodes showed potential, though the third and fourth episode clearly show that this is an anime for little kids. Still, I have to say that this episode featured parts that I really enjoyed.

One thing that this anime does exceptionally well, are the running jokes, or however you call the jokes that keep returning. I’m referring to Etna’s struggles to keep Laharl away from his wanted-poster. Occasionally, our group runs into one of these things, and each time she has to make up some kind of excuse in order to keep him away from these posters, with some very funny and enjoyable results.

In this episode, it became clear that Laharl’s father’s butler took over while he was asleep, though Laharl’s father’s butler’s son has reached a rebellious age, and wants more attention from his father. Thus, he sells the book which is sortof like the symbol of being king, to an old junk-seller, who sells it again to our space-adventures. I don’t think they’ll be keeping it for long, but still. This storytelling kindof reminds me of the troubadours in the medieval period. They were travelling storytellers, who lived by telling stories to important people. Each day, he’d tell one part of the story, and meanwhile, he got to stay in the castle. So, in order to be smart, the troubadours kept extending their stories. The first day, the brave knight had to rescue a princess. The second day, it became clear that in order to save the princess, he had to rescue a dragon, but the third night told of a sword which was needed to defeat the dragon, and so on, and so on. When the tensions began to rise, or the story just began to take too long so that people began to get tired of him, the troubadour would quickly end all of these sub-stories, and leave the castle.

Somehow, I was reminded of this concept while watching Disgaea. Laharl wants to become king, but in order to become king, he has to defeat the current king, now this current king is defeated, it suddenly appears that he needs a book. I see that it’s not exactly the same as described above, but it certainly bears resemblances. I think this cat-and-mouse-game will continue untill the end of the series. Still, with a bit of luck, I’m going to be finishing it. I know that once this anime tries, it can do good, and I still love the art.

The Law of Ueki Review – 90/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Law of Ueki



Say hello to the anime with the most creative battles ever. We finally have a series which understands that strategy-based battles are so much better than power-based battles. At least, most of the time.

The premisse is simple: we have this God, who organizes a tournament in order to decide his successor. 100 middle schoolers are picked, and given a power. Then they have to fight each other, and the last one standing wins. The good part: most of these powers make no sense at all. They’re certainly not the thing you’d expect. I’m referring to the power to change trash into trees, tomatoes into magma, bamboo into scissors and a ring into a rocket. And these are just the least original of the bunch. There also is a limit to each of these powers, as in a condition that has to be fulfilled before you can use it. Think of the ability of changing water into fire if you put it in your mouth, the ability to change towels into steel if you hold your breath and many more. When these are used in battle, the results become incredible.

It was really clear that the creators put all of their creativity in these battles. Some of them truly turned into something memorable, as you will have no idea what’s going to happen, or how the antagonists will be defeated. It’s also great that a great deal of humor was put into these battles, and somehow the creators managed to find the perfect combination between comedy and action.

The first thirteen episodes of the series contain either amazingly funny battles, or just a couple of scenes you just need to sit through a bit. Though that may be tedious, the awesome episodes are definately worth it. The six episodes afterwards, are horribly creative, and touching as well. In these episodes, Ueki shows his best side, and the bad guys just keep getting better and better.

The next six episodes, especially the first bunch, are amazing. We get to see some great duels, which contain the best strategies of the series, as the side-characters of the show show off their best. The six episodes afterwards (27-32, if you lost count) follow with a short intermezzo. Nothing special or worthwile happens here, though. There are some funny moments, but these were certainly not as good as the previous ones.

The series suffers a huge blow around episode 32 and 33. These were horrible examples of directions at which you should never go, and the se/ries went there. At this point, it almost made me give up the show. Luckily, in the episodes following, the show manages to steadily pick up, until episode 38. From this point on, The Law of Ueki really begins to shine. We get to see the best fights ever, perfectly combining comedy and action into one gigantic heap of awesomeness. Especially when the side-characters come into the spotlight, the show just switches from one amazing scene to another.

The awesomeness continues until episode 43. After this, the show loses its shine, and eventually manages to produce a decent ending. These last episodes were better than you expect, though they just weren’t on the same level as the previous episodes.

The art of the characters looks a bit different than usual. The unevennes of the faces is heavily accentuated, and every scratch becomes visible. I like this, it’s also what originally turned me on to keep watching the series, although as the series progresses, you become used to this. The backgrounds are a very good piece of art. Although the same ones are used for a couple of episodes after each other, this doesn’t really destroy that effect, it only makes it better. The music, although nothing extraordinary, it used to its full extend. It makes the dramatic scenes so worthwile, and adds even more to the great battles.

Overall, any action fan will surely just love this anime, or if you’re just in for a couple of good laughs, then I really recommend this anime.

Final Rating: 90/100

.Hack//Roots – 04

by psgels, posted in .Hack//Roots



After last episode, it was only natural that this would be more like an intermezzo. Still, plenty of things happen. Sakisaka gets amazed at the lack of reasons why Haseo and Tabby joined the guild, though he’s being a huge hyporcrite by doing so. He later gets to train with Tabby, while Shino shows Haseo a familiar place: the church from .Hack//Sign.

Sakisaka gets a bit bored with Tabby, and begins to ask himself questions about Haseo, who’s meanwhile levelling up along with Shino and Ovan. Later, in the guild-building, he meets up with Haseo. Haseo’s being overly nonchalant, and Sakisaka begins to lose his temper. Right before they end up fighting, Shino arrives with the message that Tabby was PK’d.

The members of TaN also have their busy times. The large merchant is involved in some kind of shady business, while the female thief visits the girl from episode two, who left the Twillight Brigade. Most of it still doesn’t make any sense, though.

As this was an intermezzo, it wasn’t as good as the previous episode. Still, the next episode looks promising.

The Law of Ueki – 51 (ending)

by psgels, posted in Law of Ueki



And it has ended! Based on my expectations of the last episode, it could have been done better, but it also could have been done. Still, I am SO glad that the creators managed to include one final piece of Ueki-goodness into the series before it ended. I thought it got lost after episode 43. It really was the best reason ever to keep the hero alive after a seeming death, and you so DO NOT see it coming, though it makes perfect sense, except for the coincidence that those two objects just happened to meet with each other.

Anyway, I’d have loved to see some more side-characters in the climax, though I’m satisfied. The usual part about what happens afterwards also was enjoyable to see, though nothing special.

Makai Senki Disgaea – 03

by psgels, posted in Makai Senki Disgaea



Eh…. what?

Okay, this episode didn’t make any sense at all… I’m still figuring out whether this was in a good way, or a bad way. On one hand, it’s just total randomness. And when I mean total-randomness, I really mean TOTAL-randomness. On the other hand, the prinny squad annoyed me a bit too much this episode.

See, the case is our ‘protagonists’ end up at a strange castle, which eventually ends up switching Etna and Flonne’s personality. Like most shows which attempt this, it really gives an interesting and different look to these characters. Still, like I said above, I still have no idea whether this ‘interesting’ and ‘different’ were any good… This episode was so incredibly impuslive. We get visited by a number of side-characters for no apparent reason. They disappear as fast and unexplainable as they appeared. The characters are just freaky in this episode, and it looks like some parts have been cut-out.

Still, the beginning of the episode, in which Flonne tals about pretty flowers in front of Laharl is without a doubt memorable.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 04

by psgels, posted in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni



Ah, we’re dealing with a second Ayakashi here. I kept wondering how a show like this would be able to keep going for 26 episodes. Well, this explains why. This episode was better than the third one, though it won’t be able to beat the sheer awesomeness of the first two episodes.

I just loved the Rena at the start of the episode. Keiichi lies to her again, and she quickly kills of this comment by her remarks. It was totally scary. Her apologizing only made this feeling better. The day after that, with Mion’s conversation with Keiichi was also beautifully scary. For a minute, I really felt sorry for her.

Then, however, at the second part of the episode, the awesomeness turned down a bit. I guess I shouldn’t have watched this after seeing Bake Neko, as I’m really starting to notice a few flaws in Higurashi. Where Bake Neko succeeded, Higurashi kindof fails, especially when creating over-the-top chaotic scenes, and characters freaking out. Especially Rena with her axe seems too much directed, her scary laugh just didn’t do the trick, I’m much more fan of the subtle changes in her personality, like in the first two episodes. That made her a great character. Keiichi, however, made up for it a bit, as it felt that he genuinely was scared.

Keiichi then gets assaulted by a few mysterious men, who still remain a mystery after the episode, he gets hit on the head, and recovers right next to Rena. The both of them plan to inject him with some strange liquid, after which we see the first scene of the first episode. Another part well-executed. Afterwards, Keiichi goes berserk, and kills himself in a phone booth. Another part badly executed.

I’m wondering whether this will go Ayakashi, or Jigoku Shoujo. At one side, there are just a lot of unexplained questions, like who was this director? What happened to the other two girls? What happened during those murders? What happened to the piece of the note which went missing? What is Oyashiro-Sama? On the other hand, the creators could decide to keep these things a complete mystery, and just continue with a total different story, as this material doesn’t seem too sufficient for 26 whole episodes. But still, each of these options has its own potential. I’ll be looking forward to either one of them.

Saiunkoku Monogatari – 02

by psgels, posted in Saiunkoku Monogatari



I’ve probably picked up one of the worst series to be experimenting with the raws, as most of the series consists of people talking. Still, I need a better reason to drop this series, as I actually enjoyed this episode, despite only understanding 25% of it.

We start the episode with the fake Ran Shiuei (I hope that that’s how you spell it) meeting up with Shiurei’s father. I later learned that his real name is Shiujou. Seiren meanwhile gets a talk with the real Ran Shiuei and his friend, whose name I forgot. Apparently, they’ve known each other from before. They talk about something involving Shiujou.

Back to Shiurei and Shiujou, the former gives the latter a bit of tea, and the latter gets a bit embarrased at something which the former said. Then we switch back to a conversation between the two of them and Shiurei’s father. It then seems that she’s some kind of princess, though I think it means daughter of someone who owns a large building as a house, which I understood later in the episode. Shiujou then notices how uneven Shiurei’s fingers are. This is because her family is so poor, she has to do all of the cleaning, which gives her such rough hands. She then begins treating Shiujou as a little kid, which was fairly amusing to see.

We then switch to the next day. Apparently, Shiurei asked Ran Shiuei to study with her together, as she names a few historical buildings/people/eras/whatever, and Ran seems very impressed. After all, Shiurei was a teacher, so she knows a fair amount of facts. Then Ran’s ‘good’ friend enters the room as well. If I heard his name well, I think you could type it as Koyu, or something in that direction. It now becomes clear that the three are studying together, for some unknown purpose. Koyu then begins yelling at Ran, as usual, but he says something that makes Shiurei think. What he said… well, God knows.

Then we turn to a busy shopping street, as Shiujou and Shiurei take a small walk outside. Shiurei then meets up with some of her former students, and then finds out that one of them is in sortof trouble. Her parents own a shop which deals in hair ornaments, and left her alone to take care of it while they went out for something. Then she gets bothered by an annoying customer, which apparently just plans to take things without paying. Shiurei scares him off, and both she and Shiujou spend the rest of the day taking care of the shop, while the child looks for her parents. Shiujou obviously has trouble, and is a bit too shy, but after it’s over, he feels content.

At this point of the episode, I had a bit of a meh-feeling about this show. The characters were living their normal life, though nothing special happened. What happened afterwards, changed my opinion. And I have to say, that this anime has a lot of hidden potential, and it’s just taking its time building up. Anyway, the two of them arrive at Shiurei’s home. It’s very big, though it looks horribly worn-out. Shiurei then begins telling Shiujou about the history of the land. Apparently, the people here used to be extremely poor. Nothing would grow. Thanks to Shiurei’s father and Seiren, the ground became a bit fertilizable again, but the poverty still isn’t completely gone. Shiurei speaks a couple of inspiring words, which really manage to impress Shiujou. I have no idea what she said, but it did sound impressive.

Afterwards, when Shiujou left, Shiurei and Seiren have a small talk, at which the latter ends up crying. The next day, Shiujou has been invited to study along with Shiurei, Ran and Koyu, and especially the last two plan to make this time quite difficult for him (after all, he did steal Ran’s name), including some scary faces.

And what the heck is Shiurei’s relationship with Seiren? I’ve ran down to three options: her uncle, her older brother or her servant. Though, he can’t be her uncle, as they’re way too close for a niece-and uncle-relationship. This has more something of a older-brother-younger-sister-relationship, but he can’t be her older brother, as he refers to her as Ojou-sama, and I never heard any onee-san, onii-sama, ani-ue, or anything similar. He also can’t be her servant, as they’re incredibly poor already. They’d have no money in order to pay for him.

So far, there are only two things I didn’t like about Saiunkoku Monogatari. The first is Shiujou. He’s just a bit too standard and boring. His personality just isn’t very interesting. The second is the front of each character’s hair. No offence, but it looks just fake. And it seems that they used the same reference with both Ran as Shiujou as Seiren.

Ayakashi ~ Japanese Classic Horror Review – 87/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Ayakashi ~Japanese Classic Horror~



Ayakashi ~ Japanese Classic Horror is divided in three individual stories. Each of them stands alone and has nothing to do with the other two. They also share a totally different art style, atmosphere, motives and characters for each of these tales.

Ayakashi begins with the story called Yotsuya Kaidan. The first episode is horrible, it starts just so boring, and keeps this on until the end of it. But then again, that was easily the worst episode of Ayakashi. The good part starts at the second episode, when some great deaths come past the screen, ending at the fourth episode with a satisfying climax. The art style is really old-fashoned, though it remains ugly. Though I guess that that was meant to be that way, as the theme of this story is ugly as well. It’s about the evil that humans can accomplish, and these humans eventually get punished. The characters are all horrible bastards, with a few exception, which only makes it more enjoyable to watch when these characters go berserk. Still, even though it was an enjoyable tale, the story itself is mostly one-layered, with a small exception in the second and third episode.

Then comes the tale Ten Shu Mono Gatari, and if it wasn’t for the fact that they share both the name Ayakashi, I would’ve been unable to identify it with Yotsuya Kaidan. Ten Shu Mono Gatari is suddenly a love story, the total opposite of its predecessor. The Horror-part of Ayakashi is also nowhere to be found in this story, it’s just a normal human and a supernatural being falling in love with each other. The art looks really nice this time, especially when compared to Yotsuya Kaidan. The first three episodes build up perfectly, and end into a very satisfying climax. Though, I have to say that Yotsuya Kaidan is the better one of these two, as it featured some memorable scenes, and it has chaos included which Ten Shu Mono Gatari misses.

Then the third story, Bake Neko, comes. And without a doubt it’s the highlight of the series. The art turns into something really unique, I can only say that I loved it, though it takes some time getting used to. The Horror-part is finally clearly distinctable, and the entire three episodes it consists of turn into an amazing roller-coaster ride with a couple of amazing quiet moments. The characters are each wonderful, and I haven’t even began about the story, which was truly one of the best ones I’ve yet to see.

Overall, I’m recommending Ayakashi ~ Japanese Classic Horror. Especially to the ones who love great deaths, though the fans of love-stories will also be satisfied, and even if you’re not one of these people, just give this series a chance. The first episode is what turned most people off, though it you manage to survive that one, you get treated to some brilliant scenes. You can also just skip the first eight episodes, and immediately turn to Bake Neko if you wish, as each of the stories have no relationships with each other.

Yotsuya Kaidan Rating: 85/100
Ten Shu Mono Gatari Rating: 81/100
Bake Neko Rating: 94/100
Final Rating: 87/100