Whoa, it’s really her!? Or does this episode show the mysterious “Drei” that the fans of the original game have been talking about? Anyway, this was another excellent episode from this series, even ignoring that final plot twist in the end. It was all about seeing the relationship between Reiji and Cal, and just watching the two of them grow closer together is worth the watch.

It’s interesting how episodes like these show how much the creators know about marksmanship, and the correct way of using a gun, even though in El Cazador they simply glossed over it. In any case, it’s really charming that Reiji recognizes Cal’s talents, and is planning her to get as far away from Inferno as possible when everything is over, so that she isn’t going to end up the same as him. You can really see in this episode that Cal is opening up his shell, even though she was completely different from Ein.

I also liked the references to well known actors (deNiro, etc). I guess that the creators can’t use titles of movies due to copyright, but this works as well, especially since action movies are a major part of the American culture. It would have been weirder for these movie references to not pop up.

It’s just a shame that this episode again got the shorter end of the budget. There again were lots of far away shots that makes the characters easier to animate. Ah well, at least it’s better than showing lots and lots of still frames. Overall I do think that the graphics budget is handled pretty nicely: there’s no money wasted on “cool” shots like hair and clothes moving in the wind, and instead the animation is focused to making the characters come alive.

One thing I noticed is that this series has gotten quite a bit lighter since Cal arrived, but that of course can also be attributed to the very cold relationship between Ein and Zwei: they hardly talked, and were constantly trying to figure out each other. Reiji and Cal are much more open to each other, but their excellent characterization still remains.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Cal + Reiji = awesome. Very nice build-up episode.

What an amazing episode. It may have had a bad episode director, but even he couldn’t stop the awesomeness of this episode. The build-up in this episode was just perfect, and the revelations that were pulled were stunning. This series has a bit of a lull after Oz came back from the Abyss, but it’s really been getting better and better ever since!

So the Jack Bezarius of the previous episode was just a fragment of Alice’s memories; we have yet to find out what happened to the real bugger. I really thought that he was going to be one of the major bad guys in this series, but the complete opposite seems to be true, and he seemed pretty genuine in this episode.

But damn… to think that the tragedy at … was caused by Break, of all people. And Gil was there too?! For some reason, that tragedy caused them to plunge into the abyss, and return 100 years later (if I assume correctly, Break appeared 10 years before Gilbert; at the moment I can’t remember whether we saw him along with Sharon in episode 1). To make things even worse, one of them killed Alice, when she still was A NORMAL PERSON. Something then happened that not only turned Alice into B-Rabbit, but also created white Alice, and possibly even that Dark Alice that we saw in one of these shots… Alice then got plunged into the Abyss and remained there until Oz came along for who knows how many years.

Damn, I have to say that I’m impressed. Pandora Hearts is turning into a really well-crafted mystery-series. I really hope that Xebec is going to be smart enough to make a second season of this one, because it truly deserves it.
Rating: *** (Awesome)
An awesome string of new developments and revelations.

I haven’t been looking forward to the Eureka7 movie, for the following reason: the series was pretty conclusive, wasn’t it? Why ruin it with a movie. I therefore just assumed that it was going to be one of those recap movies like with Gurren Lagann, but as it turns out it takes place in an alternative universe. Alternative universe movies are always a bit tricky to do, as they tend to be completely different from their original source material. When inspired of course, this can lead to awesome stuff as the Utena movie. Now, did the same happen with Eureka7?

Errm, no.

While not entirely bad, this movie certainly isn’t a good one. It’s mediocre: it entertains but its content is flawed and often nonsensical. The best way I’d describe it is “shallow”. This is the sort of story that I’d label as pretentious. There is A LOT of dialogue throughout the movie, but you quickly realize that it’s not really about anything.

There’s a lot of talking spent on explaining the setting for the movie, but hardly anything is done to develop it or go in-depth. The movie also has its share of symbolism and moralism, but the symbolism either is overly obvious or doesn’t make any sense (especially Anemone’s ramblings are part of the latter), while in terms of morals this series never really gets further than saying “killing is bad” over and over, being a hypocrite in the process when Renton kills a bunch of enemies while he didn’t really need to do so.

But the biggest offender is the relationship between Renton and Eureka, because BOY has it turned cheesy. 99% of the lines between the two are directly copied from any other romance story. The lines they use are so incredibly ambiguous that they fit in any sort of situation. When they’re not angsting and repeating these lines over and over, they behave totally incomprehensible; their actions make no bloody sense and feel like they have been thought up on the spot by the creators.

Since this is a movie, it does have a number of kickass action scenes, whenever the characters aren’t talking. But here’s the deal: this is Bones. When you compare the animation in this movie to what they showed in Eureka 7 and especially Bonen no Xamdou the animation actually feels inferior. It really makes you wonder where the budget for this movie went, if the TV-episodes were animated so beautifully.

So yeah, when the story is supposed to come together in the end… it doesn’t. the plot twists, revelations and insights don’t make any bloody sense and the movie falls flat on its face. I usually like anime with lots and lots of dialogue (see Amatsuki and especially Mouryou no Hako), but this was just… shallow and rushed. Do yourself a favour, watch the amazing series, skip the movie.

Okay, so while this episode itself wasn’t that special, and just another basketball match, it did pique my interest again. This series was really into a bit of a mid-season lull for the past few episodes, with the plot really at a standstill because of that tournament, but this episode showed hints that this series is going to pick itself back up again.

Looking back, the only thing that the tournament arc was good for was the character-development: the actual matches themselves weren’t that interesting, but if you can see this as a way of character-building, then it did accomplish its task. In this episode, Dan matured up, he finally passed a ball to Sera so that he wouldn’t be the one to score and take the credit. Sera herself wanted to take revenge on her father, but in this episode some random dude comes up and kills the guy, and with this episode Iceman’s worries about his past have also been solved and we know that he has a fake arm. So yeah, while this episode itself wasn’t that interesting, it did create a lot of potential for the future. I’m glad that this arc is over, though. Aside from episode 12, it was a bit tiring to have to sit through it.

What this show needs to do now is make this second half interesting. This is also where the new director comes in when he’s going to take over: he needs to understand what this series is good at, and needs to make a storyline that brings out the best of this, instead of simply degenerating the series into “Dan’s quest to save his beloved Rouge”. It’s going to be really boring if that turns into the main focus for the rest of the series.

On a side-note: this episode showed a new OP and ED. To be honest though, they weren’t as good as the first ones. The OP is a cheesy j-rock song, and especially the new ED isn’t as catchy as the old ED, and simply became a generic j-pop song. Reeeaaaally not my taste.
Rating: (Enjoyable)
Rather dull basketball match, but lots of character-development

Okay, so I have decided to change the format of these quick first impressions a bit. Instead of waiting for three episodes to air before posting them, I’m just going to post what I have, and edit in the remaining ones when they air.

Taishou Yakyuu Musume

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets invited to play baseball by one of her friends.
Chance of me Blogging: 10% (With such a strong season it’s unlikely)
I really have to say that this has to be one of the best starts of a season in a long while. Of the seven shows I’ve seen so far, only two of them weren’t interesting and fun to watch. There hardly have been any annoyances so far. Anyway, Taishou Yakyuu Musume is the winner of this season’s WTF-moment when the lead character starts singing and dancing rather badly from out of nowhere (those poor typesetters, by the way). It’s a really nice series, though. It’s a slice of life shows about a bunch of girls, living around eighty years ago who plan to start up a baseball club. It’s an interesting premise, and while the slice of life hasn’t been as good as in Aoi Hana, it’s still enjoyable and relaxing. The lead characters are naturally charming without being forced or overly moe, so overall I’m quite pleased with this show so far.

Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou

Short Synopsis: Our lead characters know magic.
Chance of me Blogging: 0% (There are too many good shows this season)
The only thing that sucks in this season is the character-designs: all so far are bland, don’t try anything new and lack a visual identity. Apart from that, nearly every series has been enjoyable for me (and besides, the character-design problem will probably go away once I watch Bakemonogatari). I think that that’s a prime for me. Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou granted is the second-worst TV-show this season, and yet I enjoyed this episode. It’s strange: it’s a premise that I usually hate with passion. Here we have a bunch of teenagers who happen to know magic and do… stuff. But strangely this episode really amused me. At first sight we do have a bunch of stereotypes, but they work well together and I liked the chemistry between them a lot. What made this series better than the average moe comedy for me is that it never felt forced: it was the characters who wrote this series, not the scriptwriters. It’s a series that doesn’t pretend to be anything more than it already is: it’s just a bunch of girls having fun with magic, nothing more. Granted, the hot spring part at the end was a bit too much, but heck; I liked the rest of this episode. What’s happening to me!?

Bakemonogatari

Short Synopsis: Our lead character meets a girl who has no weight.
Chance of me Blogging: 70% (I’m impressed)
Whoa, people weren’t kidding that Bakemonogatari was going to rock this season. This episode only gave a small taste of what is to come, and yet I’m very intrigued already. It has pretty much the best OP of the season. Horror series have always had downright excellent first episodes, and this episode really proved the same, as this episode was my second to only Aoi Hana this season so far. It’s great to see that Shinbo still has enough inspiration to try out new kinds of animation and visuals, so this series doesn’t feel like a rehash of one of his previous shows. It’s also great to see that he has planned out this series very well, and is even willing to extend the amount of episodes beyond the amount that can be broadcast, simply to avoid this show getting rushed. Seriously, more series should do that.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni

Short Synopsis: Our lead character visits an island owned by his grandfather, along with the rest of his mysterious family.
Chance of me Blogging: 70% (It’s from the creators of Higurashi, so yeah)
Well, the series with the biggest amount of hype around it has finally aired. First of all I have to ask: out of all possible lead characters, could the creators have chosen one that is even more bland than “Battler”? He may be eighteen years old, but he still acts like an immature teenager and keeps making boob-jokes. In all seriousness though, this first episode was a bit of a disappointment, and well for the following reason: the acting. This episode suffered from a cast of bad voice actors that hardly know to use any subtlety in their voices. This goes for the lead character, but also for just about the entire rest of the cast. These kinds of stories require the characters to be able to switch to a lot of emotions, but the change from one of these emotions in the others feels woody at best. Ok, sure there could be a chance that everyone in the family is infected with the “hopelessly bad acting virus”, but the voice acting cast really needs to do a better job in the rest of the episodes if they want to do justice to this excellent storyline.

Aoi Hana

Short Synopsis: Our lead character enters high-school and meets with an old childhood friend.
Chance of me Blogging: 80% (Lots of potential)
Now this is more like it. Noise has done it again, as this seems likely to be the third hit in a row for the time-slot. It’s obviously not going to be for those who want a fast-paced storyline, but I personally loved the subtle yet poignant drama between the two lead characters who meet each other again after having been separated when they were kids. The tall girl is a bit of a crybaby, but she definitely has her charms. The rest of the cast also feels alive, rather than being a bunch of 2D Stereotypes. There wasn’t any annoyance about this episode, aside from the fact that I just know that the rich and detailed animation of this episode is probably going to disappear after the next episode.

Needless

Short Synopsis: Our lead character loses his sister and meets a weird priest with strange powers.
Chance of me Blogging: 20% (With so many other great shows this season? Not likely)
It’s strange: the character-designs in this series are abysmal; their style is uninspired and too similar to most other anime and the costumes make EVERONE look like an incredibly ridiculous fashion-victim. The rest of the visuals however, are really sweet. The animation was really good, the gun-designs rocked, and the shots in which the characters weren’t doing bland things really rocked with their visual style. Overall, this was a typical first episode in which the creators go all out to make it as exciting as possible, and for me they did a pretty good job: this episode was a lot of fun to watch, with a lot of adrenaline-pumping action and an interesting cast of characters so far. This series feels the most like the next Koukaku no Regios, so let’s hope that this time the creators do know how to handle the rest of the story, as it definitely has the potential for a fast-paced action story. I liked how the main characters are of all kinds of different ages: we have a kid, a teenager, a guy in his thirties and an old guy. Definitely makes the series varied.