Short Synopsis: We pass one month, Shuurei heads back to the capital and presents her plans.
Good: Great to see such a large pacing.
Bad: This had to happen, though very exciting it wasn’t.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10

This was a surprisingly focused episode, as pretty much everything is about Shuurei’s proposal about the future of the Sa-province. Pretty straightforward everything. Shuurei presents her plans in front of a huge amount of important people and gets a bit nervous, but of course there’d be no way that Ryuuki didn’t accept her proposal. I did like Kokujun, though. He really needs to struggle now as the head of the Sa-clan. But what was that quote of Shuurei that she plans to use the transfer of the rights of the Seven-Coloured Paint of Luminescence from the Kou clan in order to take care of the funding? I didn’t quite understand that line.

Still, I’m afraid to say it, but Saiunkoku hasn’t been as good as it once was. The first half of this series shined so much, because it featured a woman, climbing up in a male-dominated society. Now that she has reached a high position, Shuurei has been doing other things. And I don’t mean that the second half didn’t have its memorable moments (Sakujun’s death was amazing), I still like the episodes in which I was cheering for Shuurei not to give up more enjoyable than her mission to restore the Sa-clan. While her plan to restore the Sa-clan definitely is insteresting, I do hope that in the second season she gets put in another situation, with all odds against her, and nobody to help her. That’s where she shines the most. There’s also the matter that the first half of the show featured a nice combination between seriousness and quirky scenes. I’ve been missing these quirky scenes a bit, mostly due to the fact that the funniest characters and combinations of characters were written out of the main plot.

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto takes place in the Meiji-era, where supernatural events can occur. It follows Akizuki Youjiro, a very talented swordsman who has been tasked to seal an item called “the Lord’s Head”. This item is able to fully control others, and has to be sealed no matter what. A theatre-troupe, meanwhile is out on revenge.

One thing that immediately strikes with this series: its awesome production-values. Seriously, this series showcases some of the highest-quality art and animation for a tv-series. Characters move extremely fluid, the CG is terrific, and especially the background art is extremely detailed. The graphics just ooze with realism like no other series has managed to do before. And if that wasn’t good enough, this anime comes with an absolutely smashing soundtrack, which doesn’t lose focus for even an episode.

On top of that, it comes with a very detailed storyline, featuring both historical as fictional characters, based around Enomoto Takeaki’s mission to found the republic of Ezo, on what is now known as Hokkaido. Be warned, though, as the storyline does require some afford in order to actually understand it. A lot of references are made to the Meiji-period of Japan, and without sufficient knowledge, you’ll need to look up things a lot in order to get all the references.

Still, as the anime moves on, the story will become clearer and clearer, and it results in one of the more solid storylines I’ve seen in anime. Still, with that, perhaps one of the few problems with this anime lies. Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto may be a really solid story, it also lacks plot-twists. Most of the series is pretty straightforward, and only episodes 13 and 18 provide a number of very juicy plot twists (which, in the end, turned out to be the best episodes of the anime).

Overall, though, it may be a bit too straightforward, but it’s one hell of an entertaining series. The solid plot and great production-values more than make up for this flaw, and Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto has been one great watch.

Short Synopsis: This was definitely an Akizuki-episode, as he closes the story by defeating Kakunojou, Soutetsu and the Lord’s Head.
Good: Akizuki vs Kakunojou was so sweet.
Bad: What exactly was the role of the troupe in the later half of this anime again?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

And thus ends Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto, one of the best series to hit last year’s fall-season. Again, the ending was as solid as ever. I loved the confrontation between Akizuki and Kakunojou, while Soutetsu’s fight was a bit predictable, though. The epilogue itself was nice enough, and I was surprised to hear that Kakunojou actually is using a fake name for herself. Soutetsu also reveals a final part of his background before he dies, which involves his meeting with Sakamoto Ryouma. It seems that Soutetsu told Sakamoto about the plans he had, though Sakamoto disapproved of them. I’m not sure what kind of effect this had.

Like I said, Bakumatsu has been a really solid series, but ever since Rook died, this solidness did show one disadvantage: the rather straightforward plot. Rook’s death, and Kakunojou’s cutting of Akizuki were the last major plot twists in this anime. After that, it’s been a straight race towards the finish, in which Akizuki catches up with Enomoto, all unimportant side-characters die, while the Lord’s Head and Soutetsu are taken care of in the final episode. While this does make for some very solid storytelling, it could have been more exciting. I would have loved a few major twists towards the end, like in episode 13 or 18, but alas.

Overall, I’m glad I watched and blogged this series. There’s no denying that for me, this was one of the highlights of the Fall-season. It’s not the best series of that season (that title goes to Red Garden), but it’s definitely been lots of fun watching this. Thanks w, for explaining some of the more difficult parts of the storyline.

One thing that strikes me with this season is that the blogging-community is way more active than usual, especially the raw-watchers. During the fall-season, for example, there were series (most notably Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto) about which I was the only one to mention it for more than a week. That’s really different when compared to the current season, where especially Cinnamon Ass is on a roll.

Kotetsushin Jeeg

Short Synopsis: A typical loser gets to pilot a big mecha.
Good: Rocking OP.
Bad: Sadly, the OP was the only exciting part; horrible main character.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 4/10
The umpth attempt to remake a mecha-classic. While most of them turn out good, or at least decent enough, Kotetsushin Jeeg, turned out to be pure garbage. It features characters with a way-too high testosterone-level, the main character being the worst case of this. Basically, it’s just an excuse to show flashy action, while attempting to make its characters look cool (which, let’s face it, obviously failed). Such a waste of a good OP.

Darker than Black

Short Synopsis: In a strange city, people can make contracts, in order to gain strange powers.
Good: Has potential… I guess.
Bad: The main character.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 5,5/10
Bones may have hit the spot during the fall-season with Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi, I doubt that Darker than Black will become just as entertaining. So far, it had a few interesting points, but nothing really stood out. Yoko Kanno also disappointed, in my opinion. The main character also just doesn’t suit my tastes, like I mentioned before. First of all, he’s perfect, and second of all, he acts like a wimp. The broken fingers at the beginning of the episode also were a bit too much. I don’t feel like watching any more of this.

Koutetsu Sangokushi

Short Synopsis: It’s a war-anime, focusing on a guy whose parents have been killed, and is now under the care of an important person.
Good: Great combination of fights, characters and emotions.
Bad: I’d like to know how the main character was the chosen one.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Now this is more like it! Koutetsu Sangokushi was one of those anime I knew next to nothing about before I watched it, and it immediately comes with a very strong first episode. It wasn’t without its flaws, though, as the main character gets great powers while it isn’t explained exactly why he got them, but apart from that, I liked this episode a lot. Finally we’ve got a bit of a good main character, who’s really struggling with his own morals at the moment. He’s fairly young, but he’s already learning in this first episode. I was also fairly surprised when he saw his father’s killer. With a first episode like this, the rest of the series either has to be incredibly good, or incredibly bad. I definitely hope it’s the former. Oh, and also thumbs high up for the background music. Beautifully orchestrated it is. :)