I already had some sort of vague feeling that the climax for this series would turn out worthwhile, and indeed: the second half of this episode was just awesome. One of the advantages of having so many characters in a series is that you can show many fights at the same time, and as it seems: the creators of Baccano are masters at this. Seriously, if you haven’t given Baccano a try, you really should consider. I can’t think of many other anime that have better writing than this series.

Only few anime realize that if you want to have a great fight, the inclusion of comedy can be a great addition, and Baccano finally made me understand why. The combination of excitement with Isaac and Miria’s quirks was just awesome. Some creativity in the choreography also helps, like how Isaac, Miria and Chezlaw just came flying by, while Jaccuzi was busy trying to fight off the leader of the guys in black suits. ^^;

Rachel also surprised me with some actions I honestly didn’t see coming, even though the reason for her leg to be in bandages hadn’t been explained yet. She basically freed both the Nathalie, Merry, Nick and Nice, and got hurt in the process. Then she tried to save Isaac and Miria, were nearly falling off the train in an attempt to save Czeslaw, who had just about given up hope of trusting someone (it seems that the companion he was with went crazy, making Czeslaw eat him).

Meanwhile, Rail Tracer kicks Ladd’s ass, while suddenly Lua shows up (finally!), and Rail Tracer threatens to kill her, a task that Ladd assigned to himself, though I really think that he feels something for the girl. It’s a strange kind of feeling, considering how he’s insane and all, but he basically tries to save her, but jumps off the train along with her in the process.

Back in 1930, it seems that Isaac and Miria have been sharing the two bottles of “sake” with Firo, Luck, Berga and Keith, as we see them get shot by Dallas around the middle of the episode. Meanwhile, Maiza manages to escape from Szilard by jumping through a window. Szilard follows him and bumps into his own car, driven by none other than Isaac and Miria, who just ran over Dallas and his two companions, who happened to stand there as well. Obviously, Szilard doesn’t like this, but he decides to go after Maiza first, and orders Ennis, who happened to be nearby as well to kill Isaac and Miria.

Surprisingly, there was nothing about Eve this episode. Jaccuzi rocked, though, as he showed himself to be something much more than just the coward of the first few episodes. I also laughed at the passion Nice seems to have for her bombs. The people inside the dining car also surprised me when they took up guns to defend themselves. ^^

There’s one episode left, and I’m pretty interested in how this series is planning to end.

Okay, if this episode didn’t remind you of Serial Experiments Lain, then I don’t know anymore. There is just no other director who relies so much on creepy sound-effects to create an atmosphere as Ryutaro Nakamura. It does work, though, and I liked this episode a lot. It’s still mostly a case of building up, but things are getting more intriguing as we learn new information about the characters.

It seems that the main character’s sister was his older sister. The two of them were in a fight when they were kidnapped. The face of the kidnapper was also revealed in this episode, and the freaky thing is that he looks like just an ordinary guy. He was killed by a truck afterwards, though. The guy in suit, who we saw in the previous episode, seems to be some kind of detective or psychologist, who hopes to find out more about what happens through hypnosis. It seems that the case still isn’t solved after all these years, but I wonder why… could it be that the body of the main character’s sister still hasn’t been found yet?

Overall, I was able to follow most of this episode, though I’m going to need to watch the subs later when they come out to fill in a few things I didn’t pick up, especially regarding the reasons why the brown-haired guy is so curious and likes to investigate. It could be in his nature, but I’d like to know that for sure.

This episode also sees the main character (I really need to find out his name), discovering the place he’s been seeing in his dreams. It seems to be beyond a shrine, where the girl who managed to see him in his dream-state in the previous episode lives. Apparently, he had no idea where he had been kidnapped before, and he the shock of the kidnapping probably made his sub-consciousness to lock out some of these experiences, like the kidnapper’s face. When he also tried to enter the area, he suddenly entered a dream-state, which seems to back this up.

Then the final main character seems to have had a similar experience when his father(?) ended up dead, right in front of his eyes. We don’t get much info about him, though. Either that, or I failed to pick it up. Regarding the animation, this is et another one of these shows that couldn’t keep up with the high quality of the first episode, and the animation quality has gone down. Despite this though, it still looks very good, but there may have been a bit too much recycled scenes.

What also intrigues me is the OP. It somehow reminded me of xxxHolic, and I feel that once the characters are established, the creators are going to treat us to the stories of these different beings. Or it could be that this series is just like El Cazador, where the OP and ED have nothing to do with the show itself. :P

Take any other anime, which involves fighting huge monsters. In nine out of ten cases, these monsters are just screaming and attacking with just no particular purpose, only waiting for the hero to defeat them. I love how Deltora Quest manages to avoid this often-made mistake by giving every single monster on the show the ability to talk and think on its own. Seriously, at the moment, the Shadow-Lord and Thaegan are the only ones who still feel like pure evil, but it isn’t like their stories are over, and I’m expecting their background along the way.

The king of Rat City, a huge three-headed dragon, may not have been the best boss this series had to offer (the fight with Thaegan was much better), it was refreshing to watch, when compared to the dozens of other series with villains who can’t think for themselves. Okay, Lief won in the end, but the storytelling was good enough for me not to mind. I also like how the end of the episode subverted the “Disney-ending”-trope, with the elixir of life that Jasmine got from the forest in the first arc.

Jasmine’s story for this episode may have been a bit too forced, and it could have gotten a bit more detail, but it does give a bit more depth to her character. Her reasons to join Lief were quite fragile to begin with, and with this episode, they were quite a bit strengthened. It seems that she just can’t leave Lief and Barda, who like to do first, think later (especially the former), alone. The three of them make a nice team: Lief’s courage, combined with Barda’s experience and Jasmine’s alertness.

One thing I didn’t like about this episode is the rats-part. I didn’t like how some parts of the castle were full of them, while in other parts they were nowhere to be found. There are a few clichés here and there in the storytelling, but the rest of it definitely makes up for them.

EDIT: I’ve decided to drop this series. Even if new episodes do get subbed, I’ll still watch them, but at this point I have no real intention to blog them.

Now that two episodes have been devoted to giving Takano some background, it’s time for two more episodes of building up, which fill in the final pieces of the mysteries of this show, even though the mystery has long since stopped being a central focus in this show. I suspect that in the next episode, we’ll finally know the only thing I’m still curious about: how did Satoshi die?

This episode… it wasn’t really anything special. The only thing I liked was that Satoshi wasn’t as pure as you’d think he was: Satoko was actually a huge burden on the guy. Takano herself was a bit disappointing, though. She feels too much like a stereotypical villain, even after getting background. Tomitake, who was supposed to visit Hinamizawa once every few months shows up damn often, and I’m also quite confused that Satoko, Mion and Rika of four years younger look almost exactly like their older versions. Things become a bit unbelievable when four, perhaps even five years pass and there is no single noticeable difference in appearance for any of the different characters.

I would have liked the writers to integrate all these revelations a bit with the storytelling as well. Right now, it just feels that they’re going through a checklist of things that still need explanation. Compare that to the first season, where you knew the exact same that the different characters knew. It would have been so much better if we saw Rika investigate on Takano’s past to find out these things, for example.

Ayatsuri Sakon is another one of these unknown series that nearly nobody has heard of, and which still is quite good. It’s an arc-based series, tackling murder mysteries. The main character is a pretty interesting one: he’s a puppeteer (Sakon). On his own, he’s really shy, but when he wields his favourite and most cherished puppet (Ukon), he becomes quiet, serious and quite cool. To make matters even better, he’s so good at ventriloquism that his puppet looks just too much like a person. Ukon is loud-mouthed, rude and nearly the opposite of Sakon’s personality, but together they form a solid base for this series to work with.

Basically, the arcs in this series consist out of three or four episodes, and in each of them, a person is killed and Sakon, who happens to be in the neighbourhood, has to solve them. These mysteries go far beyond the “Scooby-Doo”-murders, they’re committed quite carefully, and it’s very often that only the smallest details will give them away. The murderers themselves also often have quite some interesting reasons for their actions. As an added extra, because Sakon is a ventriloquist, the entire series is deeply rooted in the ancient Japanese puppetry, giving this series a unique look.

There is, however, one problem with the set-up. I’m personally a huge fan of arc-based series, but they’ve got one major drawback: the quality between the different arcs can fluctuate heavily. With Ayatsuri Sakon, it’s the arcs in the middle of the series that are a bit lacklustre, and not that interesting when compared to the other ones. It’s often obvious who did it, and they do a bit too little to really stand out.

Still, to make up for this, there are a number of astonishing arcs around the beginning and end. Especially the second and the final arc are true masterpieces in storytelling, and just about everything went right for them. These two arcs managed to become very emotionally charged, with great results.

There are a number of recurring characters here and there, and I’m glad to see that all of them get sufficient development to be more than just a two-dimensional one, and nearly all of them have an entire arc dedicated to them. Sakon is also an excellent main characters, who can, together with Ukon, perfectly carry the weight of the series. He may seem like a static character in the beginning, but don’t worry: as the show goes on, he’ll get enough development.

Overall, if you’re a fan of murder mysteries, you just have to give this series a chance. Don’t be scared away by the lesser middle part, both the beginning and the end contain some remarkable stories. It’s a shame nobody talks about this, because Sakon is definitely getting less attention than it deserves, and it’s a real underrated series.

This episode was… just amazing. I’ve been hoping so much that this arc would finally be able to trump the second arc of this series, but I can’t believe that the creators actually did it! This episode was quite possibly the best episode of the entire series, something which is what every series should aspire. The true villain of this arc had a really deep backstory, and this was combined with excellent writing to an ending that just couldn’t have been any better. I’m SO glad that this series turned out in an awesome way in the end.

While some arcs of this series focused at “who did it?”, this was already clear in this one: Ayano Shinozaki. The “how did it happen?” also wasn’t important: this was explained in just one minute. This really was an arc about the “why?”. Ayano is the sister of Sakon’s father. They, however, used to be members of a rivalling puppetry-school of the Tachibanas. This ended when the Tachibana-family spread bad rumours about Ayano’s family. Her father committed suicide because of his worries, while her mother went insane. Ayano and her brother then went different ways, while they both tried to end up, back with the Tachibanas, in order to take revenge.

Then Sakon’s father married, and had Sakon. Seven years later, though he committed suicide as well. It’s still not clear why, but I can imagine how he was terrified because of all the mistakes he made. Considering his family and their genes, it’s possible. In any case, because of this, Ayano decided to one day kill Sakon. His sudden promotion to successor of the Tachibana-school probably was the final straw for this. As for the reason why she didn’t just try to kill Saemon, the one who was really responsible for her parents’ deaths, with a lot of help from the media, I’m surprised that she didn’t have a clear answer for this. But I think that that’s exactly what makes a good antagonist: reasons that can’t be explained in one or two lines, but still make sense somehow.

So yes, I cried during this episode. It’s sad to see this series finally go. I’ve been blogging it for nearly two years now (to be exact, I started blogging this at November 30, 2005), and there has been no other show that I blogged for a longer time than this one, even Popolocrois. It’s obvious that it’s been a really fun time, despite the lesser parts of this series.

In this episode, there were quite some flaws in the storytelling, though I do admit that it was nice to watch. The way the heat-seeking wax zombies moved was a bit unbelievable, Minori was also a tad too helpless even though she hurt her ankle, and the way the dog found the Tokyo Tower-figure in the end also didn’t strike well with me. Still, Mayuki and Kouta were fun enough to watch. In the previous spring-season, I’ve watched so many truly believable series, that it takes a bit of time to get used to this series, which is more like a glorified children’s adventure. One thing I do appreciate of this season is that, despite the fact that it’s nowhere near as promising as the previous ones, it is refreshingly different. There are quite a lot of children’s adventures (Shugo Chara, Maple Story, Labyrinth, perhaps Ghost Hound) and competition-series (Shion no Ou, Kaiji), compared to the Spring and Summer-season, which were more about fantasy, sci-fi and historical series.

One thing that surprised me in this episode was the soundtrack. It worked out pretty nicely, if I say so myself. It did a fine job to create a bit of tension during the eventful scenes.

And regarding the mystery: there’s definitely something strange about Mayuki. Does he have hidden powers? Is he himself important? All we know is that the bad guy wants to have this, which he can’t get by simply kidnapping the guy. It’s probably Seiran’s job to prevent him from doing that, and I think that he didn’t account that Mayuki would run off on his own for this episode.

For now, this series isn’t anything special yet, but I’m curious enough for the second half. The first major climax of the series is now over, and it’s now up to the creators to develop this into an engaging series. After all, Night Head Genesis also had a rather mundane middle part, though it turned into a mighty fine series in the end. I’m hoping for the same with Suteki Tantei Labyrinth.

Pom Poko belongs to the collection of animations and movies, meant to raise awareness about environmental problems. In this case: raccoons, who see their territories shrink by the minute, due to humans and their need of new homes. The links to studio Ghibli are obvious: they take the myths about how Raccoons are able to transform and change their shape, and create a unique culture for these little animals, who try to do something against the humans, despite their carefree nature.

The thing is, though, that the environmental messages may be good for children and others new to these kinds of problems, but for me, I felt like I’ve seen things like these a bit too many times in other movies, commercials and documentaries. The true reason you should watch this anime is because of the raccoons themselves. They’re quite hilarious with their short attention-spans, and it’s especially interesting how they’re portrayed in a human-like way. I especially loved how the newbies tried to practice transforming.

Because of this, the first half of the movie is a lot of fun to watch. There’s a lot of detail put in the dialogue, and a nice balance of comedy and drama. I wish I could say the same about the second half, though. Incidentally, the one who directed this movie was Isao Takahata, who also did Only Yesterday. Both movies felt like they’ve gone on for a tad too long. It’s a shame: the guy clearly has lots of talent, and his eye for realism is astonishing, but his direction really drags on a bit too much at times.

The second half of Pom Poko falls victim to this. It’s just too… one-sided, and feels like I’ve seen it many times before. Granted, this movie is already about fifteen years old, but I don’t really think that the issue at hand was very new at the premiere-date either. There are also a few story-inconsistencies here and there: at one time when a raccoon is injured from a small accident, he remains in bondages for a full year. Then when he’s hit the next time, he stands up and goes on like nothing happened.

One thing that I do have to praise this movie for is that it isn’t afraid to address death. Despite the fact that this movie is aimed at children, with its carefree nature, both humans and raccoons end up losing their lives. Overall, this really is a Ghibli-movie. The animation is very detailed and full of creativity, a lot of attention has been put into the dialogue. It’s just a pity that the lacklustre second half prevented this to become a classic.

For now, I’m happy enough with this series. My biggest fear was that it would go down the same path of Code Geass, though at this point I’ve yet to find any hints that that would be the case. There isn’t one party that’s just pure evil, hundreds of innocent citizens aren’t killed in an attempt to evoke sympathy, the fights are short and sweet and there are no hints that two childhood friends will end up against each other. The director of Full Metal Alchemist and Ooedo Rocket hasn’t disappointed so far.

Right now, this series is just building up. The Celestial Beings first need to build up some kind of success before the real meat of the series can come. I’m also dying to know some of the background behind the different characters. How did they end up where they ended up? How come the Celestial Beings waited 200 years before acting? What I like so far is how all the four Gundam Pilots have different opinions about the war. Not bad, for only three episodes.

Ireland may have gotten a bit more development before the declaration of peace, though. It’s a bit of a pity that the creators only used wars that have been going on for more than hundreds of years, and it would have been more interesting to see the leaders of the terrorists, to make their actions a bit more believable.

This episode also explains why the two students we’ve been seeing occasionally will be important: the guy is Setsuna’s next-door neighbour and the girl is this guy’s girlfriend. The guy furthermore lives with his sister, who is investigating the Celestial Beings. The guy especially will without a doubt be responsible for a large amount of character-development on Setsuna’s side. It’s a bit predictable, but if the creators carry this a bit further, things could become quite interesting.

Then there’s also the old Gundam Models which were left behind. The Celestial Beings must be very confident to just leave clues like that behind, which could give the enemy more advantages in battles.

Omoide Poro Poro, better known as Only Yesterday is a story of reminiscence. It features a twenty-seven year old woman who works in Tokyo, and heads into the countryside during her vacation. It is here where she starts getting nostalgic about her ten-year old self. It’s another Ghibli-production, directed not by Hayao Miyazaki, but by his best friend: Isao Takahata. While I haven’t seen much of his works, the guy seems to be famous because of his huge focus on realism.

And with Only Yesterday, this shows. Now that I’m writing this review, I can’t recall any other anime that had a higher degree of realism than Only Yesterday. Everything just feels so real, and if you’ve lived in Japan, this effect will probably be even clearer. The character-designs are simple, yet people really look lie Japanese people, instead of some crossover between Asians and Europeans, like you usually see. The voice-acting is terrific; you can actually hear that the characters are voiced by real people, instead of actors. Children are also children, and not thirty-year old adult who try to sound like children, something I’ve only seen a handful anime do as well.

But the thing that really shines is the dialogue. No matter who you are, there’ll almost certainly be at least one scene in the movie you can completely identify with, and the amount of detail it comes with is almost scary. Still, therein also lays a problem. I myself got lost a bit when the characters started talking about periods (you know… with women and all), and the main character’s father, who may be a normal person in Japan, was a bit hard to swallow for me, who grew up in Holland, which has probably an entirely opposite culture when compared to Japan.

Those who’ve been reading my blog probably know by now that I don’t really mind slow pacing, but with Only Yesterday, even I have to admit that the entire thing goes a bit too slow. Realism often comes at prices, and because of this, certain scenes just drag on forever in order to make them look as real as possible.

There’s also the lack of emotional tension. While I found it easy to identify with the main characters, I had difficulties sympathizing with her. That’s because there’s hardly any need for them to get emotional, not until the final few scenes of the movie. But with a total length of nearly two hours, the length of it may have been a bit too long. When the characters do get emotional in the end though, the scenes work out great.

I’m also surprised at the lack of background for the side-characters. They get fleshed out enough, but I would have loved to see how the old classmates of the main characters grew up after going to high-school and beyond, because they were quite interesting to watch. The main male side-character does also get a few lines of background, but it just doesn’t feel like it’s enough.