Hayao Miyazaki may not be as good at realism as his good friend Isao Takahata, but for that he makes up with an excellent sense of storytelling. While Takahata’s movies often consist out of random sketches that don’t really have much to do with each other, Miyazaki creates wonderful coherent stories, that make full use of their airtime, and so far, Kiki’s Delivery-service is one of the best examples of this.

While the concept of a small witch who runs a delivery-service may sound boring, it’s everything but that. Kiki is probably one of the most likable characters that I’ve seen in a Ghibli-movie, and this movie makes sure we see all sides of her, whenever she’s happy, sad, cheerful, determined or down-hearted; she turns into a wonderful character. The themes range from the airplanes, which sort-of became Hayao’s signature, to independence and accepting the different sides of people. This is another gem that’s right for every age that ha the guts to admit to like cute characters.

One downside of this movie is basically the opposite of what you’d expect from a Takahata-movie: it’s too short. I feel like there’s so much more potential left in this story, even though the length is nearly two hours. There are many side-characters that could have easily gotten more development, and Hayao could easily have created more interesting jobs for Kiki to do.

The dialogue for this movie is great and life-like, though some of the plot-twists feel a bit forced. I’m especially referring to the climax, which got introduced in a Deus ex Machina-like way. Also, this being a Ghibli-movie and all, I don’t think I have to elaborate much on the graphics: they rock, especially for a movie that was produced in 1989, the same can be said for the soundtrack.

While I admit that Howl’s Moving Castle had its issues, and Nausicaa may have been a bit too preachy, the other movies from Miyazaki so far have been really excellent. While Kiki’s Delivery Service wasn’t as imaginative as Laputa or Spirited Away, it makes up with an addictive storytelling that really should be regarded as an example.

Yes, I’m proud to announce that Star Crossed is officially two years old now. Last year, I celebrated it with a new lay-out, though I’m not going to do this this year, as I like the current lay-out too much for that. Instead, some statistics, with the help of Google Analytics. I only installed it since March this year, so it might be a bit inaccurate, but it gives a fair overview, I think.

Top-10 Most Accessed Series
10. Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto
9. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
8. Bokura no
7. Toward the Terra
6. Death Note
5. Seriei no Moribito
4. Les Miserables - Shoujo Cosette
3. Claymore
2. Dennou Coil
1. Saiunkoku Monogatari

Top-10 Most Accessed Posts (unfortunately, not all of which I’m proud of):
10. Some quick first impressions: Kotetsushin Jeeg, Darker than Black and Koutetsu Sangokushi (Really, I have no idea why this one made it to the top-10. This also is one of those examples of how wrong my first impressions can be at times.)
9. Claymore - 20
8. Death Note - 37
7. Tsubasa Chronicle 52 (This one turned into a mini-bbs over time, about the potential third season ^^;)
6. Dennou Coil - 01
5. Death Note - 36 (Ironic how such a small posts generates that many pageviews)
4. Autumn Season Preview
3. Some quick first impressions: OverDrive, Fuyu no Semi and Saint Beast (That’s one post I’m trying to forget. Even six months after writing it still got comments)
2. Some quick first impressions: Kaze no Stigma, Ookiku Furikabutte and Kaibutsu Oujo (Same here. These two posts taught me how you shouldn’t rant without giving valid arguments)
1. Top-10 Anime

Top-10 Google Keywords (aside from the obvious ones as “psgels” and “star crossed”):
10. Death Note 37
9. Claymore 20
8. Death Note 36
7. Toward the Terra
6. Overdrive Anime
5. Top 10 Anime
4. Seirei no Moribito
3. Dennou Coil
2. Saiunkoku Monogatari
1. Kaze no Stigma (Seriously, I have no friggin’ idea why this one became #1. I only made one single post about it, for goodness’ sake!)

Amusing search-terms
.hack//roots trainwreck - Yes, it is.

coughing site:http://psgels.blogsome.com

cold site:http://psgels.blogsome.com - Why would someone call my site cold and coughing? O_o

ergo proxy all men learned toilet - I know for which episode this guy was searching, but it’s funny when taken out of context.

higurashi keiichi episode dead body - Erm… you need to be a bit more specific than that. ;)

psgels.blogsome.com sex scenes - Good to see that people who come to this site search for sensible things.

psgels is gay - No, I’m not. And if I find out where this came from, I’ll gladly show the one behind it a taste of hell.

what is at the bottom of a tornado - Err… strong winds?

“anime show” +diapers - It disturbs me that people are searching for this…

“best snowball” - Sure.

“beans” anime little girl - Why would someone want to associate beans with little girls?

“crush them now giant robo” - This one made me laugh. ^^;

“his earrings” / “i like rose ” / “smell her feet” - A few examples of which I have no freaking idea how they ended up here.

“your back looks just as graceful as stars” - Not exactly my choice of the ultimate pickup-line, but what do I know about it?

“who invited dynamite - Nice Holystone, perhaps?

Whoa, talk about a sudden increase in quality. This episode was much, much better than the previous ones of this series, strangely enough. While the previous episode with the director was kindof cute and interesting, it was also a bit too silly and unbelievable whenever the word “tea” was mentioned. The storytelling in this episode was quite effective and the climax right before the eye-catch worked really well for me.

But really, someone needs to replace Mayuki with a paper bag. While it would be a bit strange for Hatsumi to be in love with a paper bag, it would solve about 75% of the issues I have with this series. The only thing I can hope for is that he’ll develop into someone more interesting in the second half of this series, but I’m not getting my hopes up.

I was also surprised how Hatsumi actually got some major development for this episode. She indeed is just a high-school girl, just like Sanae, and she isn’t just working full-time as Mayuki’s maid. If I had to guess, then she came to live with Mayuki and Seiran after her parents died(?). Apparently, Mayuki was so cute that she quickly became attached to him. It was probably after this that Seiran transformed her into her uber-form.

The case for this episode, I admit, started off a bit mundane. We have a classmate of Hatsumi who is in love with her teacher, but this teacher was just using the girl to get money. Then everything changed when the music-teacher suddenly appeared and killed him with a bunch of scissors. I admit that I laughed, but the timing for this was exactly right, same with how Hatsumi arrived afterwards and got labelled as the #1 suspect.

The next episode should delve into why exactly the music-teacher became crazy enough to kill the guy. All we know is that she was the one who taught the teacher to play the violin, and he’s become quite good at it. Strangely enough, there’s no Byakko in this episode either… perhaps that’s why it was so interesting as well. At the moment, I just see her and her boss as annoying plot-devices to involve Mayuki in exciting cases.

Now this is more what I’m talking about. The pacing of this episode was quite a bit faster than the previous episodes and the amount of times where this series kept repeating itself has greatly decreased. On the other hand, though, the creators have somehow managed to stretch turn 8 minutes into twenty of them, but it’s not like we couldn’t expect this.

I also liked the arrival of Mr. X. I’ve got a faint idea of who he is: the guy who tricked the old man in the beginning, though why the heck he didn’t do anything with his three scissors is beyond me. Was he perhaps hoping for when only three other cards are left? It indeed seems like this arc will be over in two episodes. If I had to guess, then the first half of the next episode takes care of Funai, while there still is an episode and a half left for the mysterious Mr. X.

And I really liked Funai in this episode. He really developed, and we got to see another side of his now that his plans have failed. I really wonder how Kaiji is going to come up with a sure-fire way to win. Surely he can’t rely just on the 50/50 chance, can’t he? Then there’s also the matter that he and his companions need to end with an even amount of cards. And I do wonder… if Kaiji wins he should have the right amount of stars left. How will Mr. X fit into this picture?