I do wish that the creators would show more of Chiko, improving her 1337-skills. Walking on a tight rope isn’t something you just learn overnight, and while I can understand that it’s perfectly possible for Chiko to learn this within a year, I’d much rather see her gradually mastering this skill, instead of vaguely hinting at this in the ED and assuming that the viewers will assume that she has been practicing a lot in the gaps between the episodes. I’m not asking for Dragon Ball Z-length training arcs (that would be pretty bad, actually), but right now this is the big (but also the only) weakness of this series.

Having said that, this series is really picking up steam now, though it does so very subtly. This episode finally introduces a pair of enemies that actually have the potential to cause Nijuu Mensou and Chiko some serious trouble, as they demonstrate by poking Ken’s eye out. That’s a twist I totally didn’t see coming at this stage of the series.

In this episode, Nijuu Mensou attempts to steal a large strange statue, under the cover of a circus troupe. He really demonstrates again how he’s an attention-whore, because he tries to create an as big spectacle as possible whenever he appears. In that way, he’s really different from Chiko, who’s a much more straightforward person.

One thing I like about watching a classic anime is to recognize the different anime that would pay homage to it in later years. Hayao Miyazaki’s Laputa: Castle in the Sky is another example of this. Mobile Suit Gundam (0079) brought the mecha-genre away from the cheesy giant robot-shows of Go Nagai to a more serious and realistic side, and traces of its influence can still be seen in today’s anime. Haro from Gundam 00 actually turns out to be one such example, and the three kids in Eureka7 have also been taken from the original Gundam.

After watching this series, I finally understand a bit why the post Universal Century-Gundam series are so shunned by the UC-fanboys, and at the same time I came to appreciate a series like Gundam 00 a whole lot more, but more on that below. The battles in Mobile Suit Gundam are indeed extremely realistic, and there’s one key element that made this possible: the great focus on logistics. With this, military bases suddenly don’t have limitless supplies anymore, and the fact that this series is mostly about just one battleship, instead of an entire fleet makes this one war-series that features some intense battles. It also never loses steam: every episode has at least one battle that fits in the story, rather than filling the audience’s need of action. And this intense attention to detail indeed seems to be missing in the other Gundam series I’ve seen so far (Gundam Wing and 00)

The second great strength of this series is the amount of attention it gives to the enemy forces. It’s not like they develop every single enemy soldier into a likable character, but this series gives a terrific overview of all the different kinds of enemies that you can run into the battlefield. All have their own priorities and agendas, ranging from low-ranked soldiers to high officials, none of them is ignored.

Still, the thing is that this series hasn’t been perfect. Based on the stories of the fans of UC, I expected Mobile Suit Gundam to be something like the epitome of realism, but this doesn’t turn out to be true, as it has a lot of points where it could have done better. The most obvious being of course Amuro, the lead hero. The guy just looks at a manual, and within three days he’s able to pilot a complex mobile suit like an expert and he also turns into a master tactician. Something that would take ordinary soldiers years of training. The reason this series gives for these abilities later on in the series is rather weak. If you want to god-mode your characters, you’ve got some good explanation to do, and the thing about Newtypes feels just like a lazy excuse to let a teenaged boy be the centre of attention.

Probably because of this, Mobile Suit Gundam also has a really weird difficulty-curve. In regular anime, the different enemies get tougher and harder to defeat as the series goes on, but here it’s just the opposite: during the first half, the enemies are all really tough and hard to beat. They come with interesting tactics and don’t let themselves get killed that easily. Then the second half hits and even though the enemies seem to get their hands on a more advanced mobile suit with every single episode, they also become a lot more stupid. At one point, they just become sitting ducks for Amuro to hit. I was rather disappointed by that, to be honest. When you realize that the enemies aren’t a threat anymore, the series does lose a bit of its tension. I think this is also the reason why the ending screwed up so badly.

Don’t get me wrong: Mobile Suit Gundam is a great series, but these flaws do remain. Of course, the following paragraph will be just speculation as I haven’t seen Zeta nor Victory Gundam, but I suspect that these two, despite whatever greatnesses they may hold, weren’t completely perfect either. The thing is that every Gundam-series seems to have its own strengths and weaknesses, and there’s no way you can be perfect at everything at such a large-scale series. Mobile Suit Gundam focused more on low-scale battles with a focus on logistics, while Gundam Wing on the other hand focused more at philosophy and large-scale politics. If you keep expecting the same thing as the originals, then you indeed will be disappointed.

That’s also what I find so interesting about Gundam 00, as only now I realize that it was partially an attempt to flesh out the areas in which Mobile Suit Gundam didn’t do so well. While the original series had a clear good and evil side with the Earth Federation and Zeon, Gundam 00 never depicts anyone as truly good or evil. Gundam 00 also never bothered to god-mode its characters, and instead only focused on upgrading its technology, and the closest things that resemble Newtypes have actually been explained well and don’t stand out too much. There also wasn’t really an explanation behind the huge level of technology of the White Base and Gundam on Mobile Suit Gundam, and Gundam 00 managed to find a pretty good explanation of a plot that took 200 years to prepare.

On the other hand, Mobile Suit Gundam shows more how the different battles affect the mentality of the pilots, it’s cast of characters is more dynamic. It also doesn’t have any characters that sit in their rooms for episodes after each other being emo, and whenever a character’s angsting, you’ll know that in the next episode that person will have already progressed past this angsting-stage. In this way, you can see that these two series complement each other pretty nicely. What you miss in Mobile Suit Gundam, you can find in Gundam 00 and vice versa.

Normally my reviews are geared towards readers that haven’t seen the anime in question yet, but in this case, I had too many thoughts I wanted to share. I tried to avoid spoilers as much as possible, but apologies if I ended up spoiling something. Despite its age, Mobile Suit Gundam is worth your time if you like war-stories. As it turns out, every war-anime is different and focuses at something different. Simoun had the religious influence, and showed what really happens if your technology is miles above that of your enemy; Heroic Age had space-battles of the highest possible epic-scale; series as Toward the Terra focused more on their characters and Flag was all about realism. I must say, that it’s a really diverse genre that you can’t possibly stuff into just one series.

Well, we can already see the results of 92JeyRfcya, YS2YSUOe1cLtf, and YnXmHqtxqS being arrested. It’s been 24 hours, and there’s still no Amatsuki 06 on Share to be found. I can only guess (and thank) where the person who uploaded a version on Tokyo Toshokan got his from, but it seems that all other share-uploaders have become scared of being arrested themselves.

I’m not claiming that the illegal file-sharing is right. The reason why I still use programs as Share and Bittorrent is simply because they’re the easiest and most consistent ways to get anime. Once anime companies come with a way that can beat these, I’ll most likely switch to them. The thing is, however, that there are still people who don’t realize the irony of trying to solve illegal file-sharing with violence. Take this analogy: suppose you have a dog that doesn’t behave, and you kick it every time it does something it’s not supposed to do. Obviously, the poor thing won’t instantly turn tame, and instead you’re turning it into a wild beast.

There’s more to that than just that analogy, though. To quote Alafista, the three share-uploaders have been charged of uploading “anime like Macross, Gundam and Code Geass”. In other words, the well-known series. The thing with these shows, however, is that there’s a large enough fanbase for these shows for fans to find some kind of way to watch them in a safe, though slightly more troublesome way. Remember when that cease and desist-letter was sent to the fansubbers of Death Note? Well, I’ve never seen Death Note episodes being subbed as fast as those final two.

And indeed, Kanokon, a wildly popular show (gee, I wonder why…) arrived today on Tokyo Toshokan just as scheduled, while Amatsuki had to wait a day. And I guess that waiting a day isn’t that bad, but what about the series that are even less popular than Amatsuki? I don’t want to imagine how long the raws for Himitsu or Crystal Blaze will show up. Or the worst of all: Porfy no Nagai Tabi and Kaiba.

So, basically what the anime executives are trying to do right now is destroying a major source of international promotion for the more obscure and less mainstream series, who actually NEED this kind of attention, while the popular series are hardly affected at all and just sell themselves anyway. Imagine if the Japanese authorities would continue to smash down the illegal file-sharing circuit: all we’d get to see then are Code Geass and Kanokon, while all the other series die a slow death without ever getting the chance of being recognized. (no offence to those who love Code Geass and Kanokon, of course)

Anyway, please excuse this rambling. About this episode: Amatsuki has just kicked xxxHolic out of my top-3 of this season, and that doesn’t say that xxxHolic has become bad by all means. I don’t know exactly what it is with this series, but it consistently has me edged at the screen. There are hardly any weak moments. I really feel that the dialogue draws me in like no other, even though I only understand 50% of it. Amatsuki realizes full well that its main character is an idiot, and makes perfect use of that.

This episode was surreal, even for a Kaiba-episode. I think it has to do with a guy named “Jamie Vickers”, who was listed in the end-credits. His previous work includes a few episodes of Kemonozume, and the animation of the ED of Tokyo Tribe 2. This guy’s sense of style is even messier than that of Masaaki Yuasa.

This episode was all about bodies, and how they’re discarded once they die. The previous episodes have never really shown what happens to a person if he or she dies from a natural reason, but I suspect that the mind and body die together, and the body can’t be used anymore by another mind, so it is discarded and destroyed. In this way, Kai’s body also gets destroyed accidentally. Oh, and Hyo-Hyo mysteriously disappears in this episode without any clue whatsoever as to where… “it” went, apart from the fact that it saw a huge load of Neiro-like bodies with “Neiro” written on them.

Kaiba this time runs into a designer of bodies, who has become quite famous. He’s of the opinion that people shouldn’t walk around with dull bodies, and his vision seems to catch on rather well. Nearly everyone walks around with some kind of strange body. His own body seems to be actually powered by electricity, and his servant, in the body of a dog, just needs to be re-winded once in a while. This dog seems to be a former woman who took care of the… “cat”, though she got too old at one point and separated her mind from her body, just as she was about to die. The two of them also share the same eyes: the designer can only see what the dog sees, and nothing more, and therefore he’s really dependant on the dog, and they’re always together. The dog also takes care of powering this designer.

In this episode, I also noticed a huge difference between this series and Himitsu ~The Revelation in terms of privacy. In Himitsu, Aoki is very much bothered by the fact that he’s intruding the privacy of others, and yet Kaiba just peeks into the minds of others without any second thoughts, in order to find out their stories.

I also have a theory. In this episode, we learn that Kaiba’s original body was some sort of hero, famous enough to warrant his own statue, though at the same time, nobody knows who this guy actually was. I didn’t totally understand the explanation, but it seems that we’re dealing with a king here. My theory is that Kaiba and Warp are two different persons, and Kaiba was just meant to protect Warp’s body as something happened to him, involving the terrorists and Popo. That still makes me wonder what Hyo-Hyo’s purpose was, because the mission of protecting Kaiba’s body clearly failed. Heck, we have no idea where it is now. Or is there more about the locket that it just being a pretty picture?

Okay. That was awesome!

I really admire the balls of the director to cast voice-actors who can’t sing to save their lives, and then force them to put down a passionate song multiple times. At this episode, I was nearly disappointed when the piano started playing and the voices started sounding like they were recorded in a studio, just when the characters were having the time of their lives, singing their lungs out, but as it turns out, this never ruined any of the genuine-ness of the song. Those were probably some of the worst performances to ever have been recorded in such a studio, but it really fun to listen to. :)

Those who’ve been reading some of my entries for Macross Frontier probably know how I kept whining about how the singing-performances in that series have felt too forced. It’s episodes like these that are exactly the reason why. Plays and musicals have always been a double-edged sword: in the hands of a lazy staff they’re terribly predictable and an absolute cheese-fest, but talented writers can turn these things into gold and this episode yet again proves that. There wasn’t much in terms of storyline, and yet this episode was one of the most fun episodes to watch, and at the same time it did a terrific job in fleshing out the characters.

What I also loved was how Kurenai was able to tell Yamie that her singing was a bit off, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to say the same to Yuuno (who sung just as bad, if not worse). Even Murasaki was scared of her. :P

Okay, here’s something I didn’t expect: instead of developing Kohane, this episode decides to ignore her for now and instead focuses on taking care of the spirit we saw in the previous episode that came to live in Doumeki’s sakura trees. It’s basically one big Mah-jong-game (with obvious references to Akagi). While it doesn’t beat the epic snowball-fight of season one, it was quite fun to watch.

There’s nothing much to say, really. This is one of these episodes you need to watch for yourself. While the rain and vestal sprite came rather from out of nowhere, their chemistry with Watanuki was really enjoyable. This is really the beauty of xxxHolic: you’ll never know when it’s going to be serious or laid-back, and it’ll be enjoyable either way.

I do want to use this opportunity to say something about the nature of parodies, though, because I felt that the appearances of Akagi were rather useless. I personally really lke parodies, but they only work when they make the thing they parody look ridiculous. Just including a reference to another series here and there gets boring, especially when overused (yes, I’m talking to you, Lucky Star). Take Master of Epic for example: it did an excellent job in creating an entire setting out of a parody. Or take Ooedo rocket with its FMA-references. It’s quite humorous to see the voice-actors of FMA playing completely different roles, and that’s why these “Nii-san!”-references worked so well. Watanuki’s Akagi-face was actually one of the least funny jokes in this episode, and I see more series that try to just include a reference in an attempt to be funny.

Another rather boring episode, but at least you can see that it’s building up for something. The next episode should prove to be interesting. And is it me, or was Ozma bothered by a rather bad case of constipation this time?

In any case, this episode was mainly meant to develop the love-triangle a bit more, and it was meant to send the Macross crew into space to a place called “Galaxy”, because it was attacked in a recent Varja-assault (it’s going to be pretty bad if Ranka starts singing while that entire fleet is gone :P).

I’m also getting more and more the impression that Ranka saw her parents or other loved ones get killed in front of her eyes. She was even too scared to move when they were just featured on an ordinary video-screen. At the moment, her love-triangle with Alto and Sheryl is more annoying than it is touching, but I do wonder what the creators will be able to do with it once this series hits its second half.

I didn’t quite like Sheryl’s song at the end since I’ve never been a real fan of the ED-song, although I admit that the animation-budget was rock-solid.

So, this series is never going to become a classic; it’s a bit too sloppy for that (remember that girl from the last episode? Well, she happens to be a princess). Still, it knows how to tell a story and it’s got a charming cast. That’s enough for me. :)

This episode concludes the angry village-arc. I didn’t quite catch why they were so hostile in the first place, but the most likely reason seems to be that they just hate outsiders. A lot of secluded villages seem to have something against people from the outside, and this is apparently just a very extreme case.

So, basically Allison and Will escape and run into Benedict. They then get saved by that princess and Benedict’s smooth talking. Inside her house, the princess reveals her identity and says how she’s been living with her grandfather, though he died a number of months ago. The next day, as they try to escape (interesting tactic, by the way) they are found out, and the princess saves everyone by protecting Benedict, Allison and Will against the guns of the villagers.

This just shows how easily the villagers can trust someone they know. They just throw down their guns like it’s nothing. Ah well, I guess that it does mirror villages in real life in a way, though I wish that the creators would have spent a bit more attention to fleshing out these villagers. The thing I especially liked in this episode, though, was when the princess noticed Benedict’s gun, and asks him to teach her to use it. Benedict, however, refuses like the gentleman he is. Afterwards, when Benedict and the princess started arguing over the use of beds (there were only three of them for four persons), and Allison and Will just ended up sharing their bed was pretty fun as well.

I also only realized this with this episode, but the OP actually foreshadows the different arcs of the first half. The next arc will take place in a large city, probably where Will is studying. The final arc will then deal with some kind of train (am I the only one getting Baccano!-vibes from this?)

There’s one big pitfall that strikes quite a lot of comedy-series: getting increasingly less interesting as the end nears. Generally, there are two causes for this: the insertion of forced drama at the last minute and a refusal to develop the cast of characters. The second season of Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei manages to avoid the former, though I wish I could say the same for the latter.

It’s a shame, because Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei starts out better than ever. In the first half, there are a number of priceless episodes that really deserve to be watched (my favourites were the art-one and the gibberish-one). Episodes have also been divided into three parts to prevent them from getting boring, and for a while, this series overflows with laughs. But as is goes on, it becomes increasingly apparent that the creators shot themselves in the foot with their cast of stereotypes.

The thing with stereotypes is that they may be funny when they’re introduced, but there’s no way for them to remain funny for 26 full episodes without some development. In this series, it takes longer than usual, but the final six or seven episodes just lack the spark that made the rest of the series so great. Only two or three characters receive minimal development, and that just isn’t enough for such a huge cast. The social commentary that was once so interesting degrades into “social commentary of the week”, and ends up getting dull.

It’s a shame, I really thought that Shinbou had seen the light, but he still has a bunch of weaknesses, despite his unique style that made Shaft stand out. The second half of Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei is still funny, but nowhere near the standards that were set by the rest of the series. Still, if you finished the first season, then you at least need to watch the first half of the second season.

Let me start this review by stating the following: I did manage to finish watching Neon Genesis Evangelion a couple of years ago, before starting this blog. I ended up really liking the second half, though the first half of the series was a pain to get through. So yeah, after watching a movie that does nothing other than recapping episodes 1 to 5 (or 6), of course I’m in a bad mood. I want those 90 minutes of my life back!

Really, I fail to see the point behind this movie. All it does is follow the exact same storyline as the series did, with perhaps better graphics. To make matters worse, the only scene I was looking forward to (Unit 01’s little “itadakimasu!”-moment) ended up being cut out, for goodness’ sake! At least Death and Rebirth had a clear purpose: to silence the angry fanboys who were upset with the ending of the original series.

If you were planning to watch this movie, and you already saw both Neon Genesis Evangelion and Death and Rebirth, then don’t. In that case, this movie is just the same as a recap-episode. In fact, it’s even worse, because it’s freaking five times longer than your regular recap-episode, making you sit through scenes you’ve already seen for an eternity. I guess that if you’re one of the few who hasn’t seen the original Evangelion, you might give this movie a try, but I don’t see why you should pick this movie above the original series, apart from flashier graphics and a slightly shorter length. Gainax: stop trying to milk your dead cow!