Friday, May 29, 2009

Pandora Hearts: Unnecessary Pauses


Currently finished: Episode 8

The plot so far has enough going to keep it semi-interesting. But there is one thing that starts to bug me more and more: the unnecessary pauses during conversations. It seems that every time a plot related conversation starts, people involved in the conversation start doing this awkward pauses between sentences. When they pause, the camera usually zooms out and makes a scenery shot. A couple of seconds later, the conversation resumes. Maybe they're trying to make the audiences to pay attention to the conversion or give some time for audiences to digest some important information that is in the conversion. But the pause is just too long and appears too often. Not only it didn't help me to digest the conversation, it disrupts the flow of the conversation that actually makes it harder to follow.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Eden of the East: Um...


Currently finished: Episode 7

Up till now, everything that is happening can still be somewhat explained with reasoning from our reality. The end of episode 7, however, breaks that barrier. I thought I was slowing figuring out what is going on and what is it about. But now I'm not so sure any more.

With only 4 episodes to go, I don't see how it could possibly explain everything and put an end to it in such a short time. Or maybe that's exactly where the author intended to go...

Monday, May 18, 2009

Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~: Irrational Behavior


Currently finished: Episode 7

In fictions, irrational behaviors of certain kind usually get by with a free pass because it is a work of fiction. However, problem arises when there is a conflict exists in the among those irrational behaviors themselves. And that's what happened in episode 7 of Phantom.

I don't have much problem with all the irrational choices of actions in the past episodes, because they're consistent and things work that way. But, driving recklessly on a freeway soon after being told they don't want to be exposed just doesn't seem to be something a rational personal would do. Though ultimately there is no consequences of these actions, I just think story writers really need to pay attention to them because even though this is not the case, sometime details like these could make or break an otherwise brilliant story.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Queen's Blade: Holy...Milk?!


Spilled "Holy Milk"? It looks more like certain other type of "liquid" that is rich in protein...or maybe that's what "Holy Milk" really is...

[Poll] Top five...Seriously?

Though there are still many days left for the poll to close, I've already noticed certain trend in it. For one, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood has been the undisputed winner for this season's best anime according to the poll ever since the beginning, just as I expected.

But ther's also something else in the poll I'm not quite understanding. As of now, the top five animes according to the poll are: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Eden of the East, 07-Ghost, Sangoku BASARA, and Tayutama -Kiss on my Deity-. The first four I can understand, but the last one, Tayutama -Kiss on my Deity-, how is this receiving so many votes for top five animes of the season? Sure it's cute and pretty, but there are way too many problems with the plot and too many decisions made by the characters are just plain illogical. Though I don't think it is a bad anime (yet), I just don't see it as top five material.

So, people who voted for Tayutama -Kiss on my Deity-, do you mind sharing why you think it should be the top five anime from this season?

[Edit 05/18/09] Since the original post of this entry, more people has voted and Tayutama -Kiss on my Deity- is no longer in the top five. Also there has been a quick surge on Hatsukoi Limited and K-On!. At the time of this edit, K-On! has surpassed Eden of the East to clinch the No. 2 spot.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

[Ended] [OVA] Candy Boy: Errr...



This is one of the oddest topic I've seen any anime to cover: Incest Yuri; put it in plain words: lesbian love between the twin sisters. As I mentioned in previous posts, though I never quite understood them, I knew Japanese pop culture has this fascination for incest and lesbianism. This, however, I think is the first time I see them being presented together.

I'm a pretty open minded person, so I'm not really bother by it. I'm just awed that these two topics can actually be put together and they go along quite well. Some parts of the story, I think is actually quite touching if you can get into the mood.

At this moment, I really don't know how or whether I would recommend this to anybody because I'm still a bit baffled by it at the moment. Howerver, what I could say is that if you have any strong negative opinions against either one of those topics (incest and yuri), I would urge you to stay away from this one.

Final score: ... (too baffled to think...)

BTW, anybody know why is this anime named "Candy Boy"? There is no reference in the story to either candy or boy.

If you are interested in watching it, you can find the torrents here: http://www.animesuki.com/series.php/1135.html. At the time of posting this, the final episode is not available yet, but I don't think it'll take long before someone finish subbing it and put it out...

Friday, May 15, 2009

[OVA] Higurashi no Naku Koroni Rei


Currently finished: Episode 3

With some very interesting turn of events, the episode 3 of Higurashi no Naku Koroni Rei threw a huge curve ball at us. Not only it presented the problem that needs to be solve in this arc, it also suggested a solution, a cruel and potentially disastrous one.

On top of that, the sudden out-of-nowhere violence which we have seen so many time in the first series but somehow omitted by the second series made a return to this episode. That was greatly satisfying.

On a side note, I think their attempt on the explaining of the "science" behind these events is a bit cheesy. In my opinion, they really didn't have to go into the details as they did in this episode. A rough explanation would be better as they probably wouldn't sound as cheesy.

Overall, this is the best episode in this OVA series so far. Hopefully we'll get an equally satisfying wrap-up to this arc in the next episode as well.

New score: 88 (Previous: 85) ~ Intense

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Sengoku Basara: How ridiculous can it get?


Currently finished: Episode 6

Remember I said in the last post about this anime that the characters are "dramatized, modernized, and fantasized people that were actually in Japanese history"? Well, it seems that they are taking that concept way above the conventional level.

The high jumping and flaming throwing fights are actually pretty common in animes of this type, but giant robotic human with jet packs, Gatling gun, along with what looked like an explosion of small tactical nuke all seemed to be just a little bit out of tune with the story. It's the 1500's, not the 1900's.

Nevertheless, even with all these outrageous nonsense, I still find this anime quite entertaining.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Asura Cryin: Wha...


Currently finished: Episode 6

Although it's a bit confusing at the beginning, it never struck me as a "WTF" anime. But the recent turn of events suggests that it wants to become a "WTF" of the season award contender. I guess the difference in the WTF'ness between Asura Cryin' and Sora Kake Girl is that when something weird happens, the characters in Asura Cryin' also questions "WTF?", whereas in Sora Kake Girl, everybody seems to just accept it as something that happens in an ordinary day.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: Ultra Compact


Currently finished: Episode 5

One reason that I wasn't a big fan of the original Fullmetal Alchemist is that I felt it was lack of pace. I'm sure many would disagree with me on this, but that's just how I felt. This new series, definitely does not have that problem. It's ultra compact and super fast in pace, where it packed twice amount of contents in the first five episodes than the original series. I don't know if it'll eventually slow down, but if they do keep up the pace like this throughout the series, they could compress the whole original series into a single long season.

07-Ghost: Chain Fetish?


Currently finished: Episode 5

It's been four episodes since he escaped, and at least three day and nights within the story, does anybody there just not seeing the cuffs and chains on him? Nobody around him said anything about them nor has anybody offered any help on trying to take them off. As for him, it seems that he doesn't really care about he's still with cuffs and chains nor do they seem to cause him any discomfort. What's up with these people?!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Tayutama -Kiss on my Deity-: Can it be more retarded than this?


Currently finished: Episode 4

I know animes of this type usually don't bear any intelligent content, but this, is just too retarded. This ought to be the most retarded anime for the season. Having said that, because I'm not short on time, being retarded usually isn't enough reason by itself for me to drop it. But if you have a low tolerance level on retarded animes and somehow thinking of picking this one up, take my advise: don't.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

[New OVA] Spice and Wolf II OVA


Official website: http://www.spicy-wolf.com/
Download: by BSSubs http://www.bssubs.net/ [edit 05/07/09] also by ASR http://asrkurou.wordpress.com/

When I first heart about Spice and Wolf II, I was excited. Then I found out that the company that is in charge of producing animation for Spice and Wolf II is different than the original, I was a bit concerned. Because I have seen anime sequels that have big change in art style when it was produced by a different studio. Sometimes they change it so much it become almost unbearable. I really loved the art work of the original Spice and Wolf, any change to that would make me very unhappy. I got especially nervious when I saw the new front page of Spice and Wolf's web site because Horo just looks way too different.

This OVA, however, indicates that the production studio change didn't quite affect the art style the anime was done in. That was a relief.

The story of the OVA is mostly about how Horo is handling her jealousy against Nora over Lawrence. Although most are fillers, there are a couple of scenes that seem to foreshadow the events to come in the second series.

P.S. I missed it back when they have the limited time Christmas special wallpaper for Spice and Wolf II on there website for download. I would greatly appreciate it if anybody could tell me where I can find them now.

[edit 05/07/09]
A user named "ASR" left a comment on this post that points out ASR also released a English subbed version of this OVA.