Oh for Christ’s sake!

Episode twelve is, for most 26-episode series, the designated time to work towards their first minor climax. So what does Suteki Tantei Labyrinth bring us? A freaking pool episode.

The most annoying thing is that I’m just unable to say anything bad about it. Heck, it was hilarious, and even Mayuki got himself a bit of development. There was a lot of foreshadowing in this episode and for once, Byakko did actually nothing. Really, the only bad thing was the excessive fanservice, but I would be lying if I didn’t laugh at the pool-pervert who dressed himself up as a Santa-Clause. Everything was just so silly and exaggerated that it gave a nice contrast with the rest of the series.

Really, I still have no idea where this series is getting at, but the second half of this series is about to start. Perhaps that will shed some light on this rather peculiar series.

Okay, it’s time for me to catch up with all the series I’ve missed for the past two weeks. Obviously, my posts are going to be a bit shorter than usual until I manage to catch up with everything I missed. First up: Suteki Tantei Labyrinth.

Thankfully, this episode was much better than the last one. It was a surprisingly quiet one, and nothing much happened. If I had to guess, then the story of the manga was a tad too long for two episodes, so it had to be stretched. Still, the result turns out quite nicely. There were no annoying moments, no abuses of tea. And for once, Byakko’s interference didn’t make me want to punch a hole in the wall.

So, it seems that there was an accomplice: the chief of police, who assigned the two detectives to the case. He too is manipulated by Byakko and the bad guy, and at the end of the episode, he too gets silenced. Really, I’m getting quite curious as to why Byakko would go through such extreme lengths. It’s obvious now that she’s provoking Mayuki, with the violin-music and all, but who in her right mind would go around and kill people in the process, just for this?

Ah, my exams are finally over and what better way to start the Christmas Holiday than with the conclusion of Neon Genesis Evangelion? ^^; Those who watched the original series probably already know that it went way over-budget, resulting in the two infamous final episodes, which caused a public outrage. In response, Gainax came with two movies: Death and Rebirth and the End of Evangelion. I myself saw the original Evangelion a few years ago, but I never had the chance to watch these movies until now.

It’s no news that Evangelion has turned into a cash-cow. Therefore, it isn’t such a big surprise to me that Death and Rebirth wasn’t really meant to be a movie. Its only role is to fix a few mistakes of the final episodes of the series, and put the chess-pieces in the right place for the End of Evangelion. A TV-special, like with Code Geass, would have been enough.

Because of this, the creators had to fill up time for the rest of the movie. The result? A giant recap-sequence that takes up around two-thirds of the entire airtime. While I admit that it was nice to see the characters back and all, I can’t really imagine how this is better than any recap-episode to someone who just saw the series, where the sequences are still fresh on his or her mind. The only new thing in this part is some added classical music, a very few new frames where characters are playing various instruments and a bit of angsty dialogue. The latter is the only positive thing I can say about the glorified-recap-episode part.

Luckily, there is enough new content once the recap is done, and it becomes clear that Gainax is going for the shock-value. Still, it works, and I can say that I’m eager to see what’s in store for the End of Evangelion, so at least the movie served its purpose. The massive slaughter that went on in the process may have been a bit too much, though, and I’m also a bit disappointed how we never saw any of the intentions of the bad guys, and why they chose such a bloody method to get their way. I hope that the End of Evangelion will clear this up, but this really should have been the purpose of Death and Rebirth.

Obviously, if you haven’t seen the series, then don’t even bother to try and watch this one. Even with the recap, it’s way too confusing, and you need the knowledge of the first 24 episodes. And obviously, making this one into a movie was a bit too much. Still, it does serve as a nice build-up, but on its own, it’s nothing special.