Tag: Versus

The Versus Show: Haibane Renmei vs. From the New World

by SuperMario, posted in Other:, Uncategorized

[slideshow_deploy id=’18935′]

It’s party time again. Time for another round of The Versus Show. This time though, I’m not content with limit myself with shows with the same rating so I bend the rules a bit (Heck, even though I was the one who made that rule to begin with). After all, rest assured that my utmost intention is to pick a tight matchup for you guys here. This time it’s a match between Haibane Renmei (94/100) and From the New World (90/100).

While these two shows at first seem like a weird match, there are many elements that these two shows share more than meets the eyes here. While I always consider Haibane Renmei to be bright and From the New World to be dark, this is not always the case as well, as if you would remember the last few episodes of Haibane Renmei is as dark and twisted as any From the New World’s moments. Both world depicted in the two shows is a closed society that have walls, barriers that meant to protect our group of characters, but actually hints that these barriers are meant to shield those characters away from the rest of the world. Within that society, there are many rules that should not be broken. Both series follow the group of characters with “special abilities” and how they live in their world. They share many themes together as well: how to cope with the loss of a friend, the identity of themselves, the well define but always mysterious world they inhabit (and most famously they trust the audience enough to not spill out everything, instead letting us slowly realize that world by ourselves), the notion of God; religion and the living race. Now without any further ado, let’s run them down:

Habaine Renmei

Haibane Renmei

Studio: Radix

Season: Fall 2002

Episodes: 13

Source: Other

MAL Rating: 8.08

All Rakka remembers before emerging from her cocoon is the sensation of falling. Confused, she is welcomed into this new world as one of the Haibane, a group of youth with small gray wings and bright halos. Together, they live in the Old Home on the outskirts of Grie, a quiet town where wingless, halo-less people live. (from MAL)

Psgel said in his original review:

“Haibane Renmei truly is one of the best slice-of-life series I have ever seen! It first takes four episodes of building up, introducing its unique setting and its characters, and then it waltzes the viewer down with one of the most amazing storylines, perfectly fitted for 13 episodes.

The thing is, that I’m having a lot of trouble finding anything bad to say about this series. Most series have obvious flaws, like dragging on too much, spending little time on their settings, making no sense, but Haibane seems to have done everything right. The only thing you should note is that you need to get through the first four episodes, which are nice to watch, but nowhere near as emotional as the rest of the series.”

 

Versus

 

From the New World

From the New World

Studio: A-1 Pictures

Season: Fall 2012

Episodes: 25

Source: Novel

MAL Rating: 8.53

Following a sudden outbreak of psychokinesis in 0.1% of the population, a rapid transformation swept the world. The godlike ability to manipulate matter remotely turned many power wielders to violence, inciting a long period of upheaval. Finally, after a chaotic era shaped by the rise and fall of oppressive regimes, the psychic humans were able to achieve a fragile peace by isolating their society, creating a new world bound by complex rules. In the town of Kamisu 66, 12-year-old Saki Watanabe has just awakened to her powers and is relieved to rejoin her friends—the mischievous Satoru Asahina, the shy Mamoru Itou, the cheerful Maria Akizuki, and Shun Aonuma, a mysterious boy whom Saki admires—at Sage Academy, a special school for psychics. However, unease looms as Saki begins to question the fate of those unable to awaken to their powers, and the children begin to get involved with secretive matters such as the rumored Tainted Cats said to abduct children. (from MAL)

psgels wrote that:

“It’s hard to really talk about the story without spoiling, but let’s just say that you should not think that even though there are kids in this series, it’s kid-friendly. Shin Sekai Yori is DARK. It uses a lot of build-up to get to where it’s going, but when it’s there it makes one hell of an impact. It has created this unique setting for itself, and it takes a while to set everything up, but that also makes this series quite varied in its mood. The setting has got a lot of depth to it, and the creators actually managed to pull a ton of potential out of it.

It’s definitely not a show for everyone. Let alone the dark parts, this is a show for people who are looking for something experimental. A show that isn’t afraid to trip itself up over and over for its vision. And believe me: the vision that this series has is amazing.”

 

From the New World seems to have a slightly bit of advantage, being 25 episodes and just aired from the last few years. But our blog always has had a big veteran crowd and people who watched Habaine Renmei really do love it. So I think this is a tighter match than you would think.

 

Now to the result of the last poll, while Steins;Gate had always maintained a very comfy lead, the end result here is actually tight. As of this writing, there are 191 people who anticipated (I will keep the poll open for any late-comer, so if you missed it, don’t worry). Well 54.5% to 45.5% is not bad at all, huh?

poll

As zeroyuki92 nicely summarize it: “This time I quite decisively pick Steins;Gate, though. Madoka quality overall is more balanced, and yeah S;G early part (and side arcs) is rather weak. However, the ultimate payoff of S;G is much more rewarding compared to Madoka.”

el-psy-congroo

Shout out what you think on the comment section below, and we’re welcome to any suggestion as well. The last thing that I want to stress we’re here to provide a positive atmosphere as much as possible, so please respect other reader’s comments.

That’s all for now, HAPPY VOTING!

The Versus Show: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica vs. Steins;Gate

by SuperMario, posted in Other:, Uncategorized

[slideshow_deploy id=’18236′]

Time for something completely new for a change. In my opinion, one of the most unique feature here in psgels is always the scoring system, which goes all the way up to 100. This allows much more range in rating a series, compared to the usual 5-star or 10 rating scale. However, the truth is that rating’s highly subjective. We score some shows higher because we think that they are “better” than other shows, and we score them evenly because we believe they have the same quality. But we know that you will always have different opinions than us. Which brings me to this very poll.

Now it’s your turn. The premise of this Versus Show is simple: Take any 2 shows that have the same rating here in psgels, and YOU vote for the one that you think is better. Sounds like fun? Let’s begin.

Here come the first pair, arguably two of the best shows out of 2011, which shared the same score of 87.5. Let’s run them down:

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica

(AKA: Girls have to save themselves)

Studio: Shaft

Season: Winter 2011

Episodes: 12

MAL Rating: 8.52

Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki are regular middle school girls with regular lives, but all that changes when they encounter Kyuubey, a cat-like magical familiar, and Homura Akemi, the new transfer student. Kyuubey offers them a proposition: he will grant one of their wishes and in exchange, they will each become a magical girl, gaining enough power to fulfill their dreams. (from MAL)

Here’s an excerpt from an original review by our truly psgels:

“Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica finally shows us another deconstruction of the Mahou shoujo genre, and it is glorious… The thing that’s especially amazing about this series is how well everything fits together. It’s twelve episodes long, but it makes excellent use of its time, the characters all fit the story perfectly and everyone serves his own purpose to the points that this series is trying to make. The show really makes sure that it doesn’t waste its time and just about every episode adds something to the overall story and characters. This creates quite a bit of nice development for such a short series.”

 

Versus

 
 

Steins;Gate

(AKA: Boy saves girl, by letting another girl die)

Studio: White Fox

Season: Spring 2011

Episodes: 24

MAL Rating: 9.17

The self-proclaimed mad scientist Rintarou Okabe rents out a room in a rickety old building in Akihabara, where he indulges himself in his hobby of inventing prospective “future gadgets” with fellow lab members: Mayuri Shiina, his air-headed childhood friend, and Hashida Itaru, a perverted hacker nicknamed “Daru.” The three pass the time by tinkering with their most promising contraption yet, a machine dubbed the “Phone Microwave,” which the phenomenon doesn’t provide anything concrete in Okabe’s search for a scientific breakthrough; that is, until the lab members are spurred into action by a string of mysterious happenings before stumbling upon an unexpected success—the Phone Microwave can send emails to the past, altering the flow of history. (from MAL)

psgels said:

“There is one thing at which Steins;Gate is unrivaled at compared to anything else that aired this year: its plot. If it’s originality, creative twists and multi layers that you want, then this is a must-watch. This has a bit of a slow start, but as the series goes on its intricately woven plot about time travel shines like no other and this show is masterful at combining seemingly insignificant hooks into gripping plot twist… The lead characters’ monologues in particular are well written, but on top of that this is a series that really did its research into time travel. It may not present the most logical way that time travel might be possible (I mean, there are still parts where you’re going to have to suspend your disbelief), but it’s very well researched.”

 

This poll is no longer accepting votes

What will you be watching this fall?
VoteResults

 

There are some rules, though

RULE #1:  NO MIDDLE GROUND. You can’t vote for both. It has to be either Madoka or Steins;Gate. After all this is an objective of the poll.

RULE #2: NO MULTIPLE VOTE. One vote per person only.

RULE #3: NO INSULTS. It’s perfectly fine that people have different opinions and we respect that. Don’t ruin the fun by berating, harassing or taking it too personally.

Apart from those rules, anything goes. As this is just purely an experiment to see if you viewers find it interesting, there is no time limit for this first boxing match. Please vote and if you like, tell us more about your choice in the comment below. Also, any recommendation how you would prefer us to do, content-wise and format-wise (even if you want to tell us to stop this) would be very welcome as well. If you think of any interesting pairs for the next show-down, drop us a line as well. For now, HAPPY VOTING!