Anime did not do well on the Dutch television. When I was in elementary school, we hardly had any of it on, which sucked. However, when I entered high school there actually was a period when the TV-stations were seriously experimenting with it. It started with Pokemon, and probably reached its height during Dragonball Z. I think that the best we got out of it was about half a year of Cardcaptor Sakura in a really bad time-slot (you know, the time at which everyone already is supposed to be at school). Eventually though, all the anime was gradually cancelled until nothing really remained apart from the really crappy stuff.

Among the shows that also made it over here were the first two seasons of Digimon. The second season sucked pretty badly, and was nothing more than a one-sided emo-fest rip-off, but I liked the first season. Its story was cliched, but the characters were pretty charming. There are two thing that always bugged me. The first is the mysterious reason why the Dutch broadcasting company refused to show the episodes that took place in foreign countries. Seriously… wtf? The second is that at times characters kept referring to strange events that happened in the past, but we never got to see them. So when I later found out that they were supposed to be movies but that those bastards never showed them, I was pissed off. Now that I finally ended up watching the first movie, I’m pissed off even more because it’s by far one of the best episodes of the series. It would have been a terrific eye-catcher to get people interested.

It took me this long to watch this movie because, hey: it’s a movie based on a kids show. I couldn’t imagine how they can’t be something other than silly side-stories that add nothing to the franchise whatsoever. This movie is different, though. It first of all shows how some of the characters were when they were just tiny kids, but it’s also a damn good movie in itself. Its story is simple yet effective, and it doesn’t try to be anything that it isn’t. There’s enough time for that in the TV-series. Plus, for the background music the creators used the bolero. Can it get any more awesome than that? If you have somehow sat through the first season of Digimon, you owe it to yourself to check out this 20-minute prequel.

For the past five years, movies that are based on TV-series have hit a bit of a slump. They’re either lazy recap movies, or take too little risks, probably in fear of angering the fanbase. I’d say screw that. Before that time we’ve had tons of those movies which really went with their own ideas and visions. There were the big ones like Patlabor and Utena, but even the small movies like this show that you don’t always have to be epic or incredibly complex to work. Still, there is hope. Let’s hope that the upcoming Evangelion, Eden of the East and Haruhi movies will be able to break through this trend for the next decade.

There are a few things you must know about Kuchuu Buranko. It’s being directed by the director of Mononoke and Bake Neko, which were deep horror-mindscrews with deep stories and characters. Kuchuu Buranko, while you might think otherwise at first, is completely different.

It’s a series about psychology: a weird doctor and discusses 11 of his patients throughout its run. Instead of trying to surpass Mononoke in terms of depth, the creators decided to focus on something completely different: entertainment. The patients in this series really aren’t that complex: most suffer from some sort of Obsessive Compulsive disorder, and each conclusion often just requires them to realize one small thing. However, seeing this show explore their issues and struggles is where this series’ strength lies.

The characters in this serise don’t shine through their depth, but their simplicity. While they’re all exaggerated, they’re also down to earth. Just random people from all sorts of walks of life, and their problems are very easy to relate to. Especially in the second half of the series, where the creators take more and more chances, this results into a number of hilarious and charming situations.

While the depth in this series doesn’t come from the individual stories, it’s more layered when you look at the big picture. This series loves to put in easter eggs or references to past (and in some cases even future episodes), but the general message that it in the end wants to convey is genuine and yet simple.

Ah, screw it. I originally started to follow the subs because I couldn’t pick up all of the details with just the raws, but I’ve gotten impatient now. Besides, this episode wasn’t really that difficult.

But boy, what an episode the creators decided to end this series with. You can see that the creators put their last bits of creativity here in the direction. I really liked it, and I’d rank this as my third favourite ending this season (after White Album and Aoi Bungaku). It’s basically a follow-up to the cellphone kid episode, where this time we see that his father also has issues.

It’s hard to describe exactly what was so good about this episode, and I think it was a combination of many things that created its charms. The way this episode completely broke away from the formula that it had previously built up, the weird tantrum scenes of this doctor inside the toilet. I also liked the characterization of that doctor for some reason. He’s very much one of those dads who is a workaholic and neglects his family, but the personality this episode gave him was a bit more than most of these stereotypes. And really, that’s the thing with Kuchuu Buranko: its characters don’t try to be unique or multi-sided, and yet they’re entertaining because they’re so down to earth.

As for the Christmas episode, well, the creators indeed stuffed the Christmas party into the final minutes of this episode. The morals at the end of this episode were a bit cheesy, but it’s also interesting how well the creators really managed to summarize this show with just three words: nobody is perfect. That really is Kuchuu Buranko in a nutshell. Whether you’re a student, journalist, writer, doctor or famous baseball player, everyone has something that he doesn’t like. And sure, in Kuchuu Buranko they were very exaggerated, but the series also tended to be spot-on at times.

As for the next Noitamina-show, it’s going to be another Nodame Cantabile. Because I’m searching for eight shows that are going to be interesting to blog, there’s a really good chance that I’m going to end up covering it, however my big worry for it is Chiaki Kon. With a show like this one, will she really be able to match the brilliance of Kenichi Kasai’s first season, or will it just be another quirky romantic comedy that, while nice to watch, isn’t anything special?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Well, so next week there’s unfortunately going to be a hiatus, but as if to make up for it the creators tried extra hard this episode. The direction was really among the best we’ve seen from this show in a long while, which made for a really entertaining episode.

I like how the creators decided to tell Yoki’s story through a quick flashback. It allowed them to rush through a story that wasn’t really that good or important, and yet it finally explained where this guy came from. Very clever. This also brings up hope that the creators are saving the Ishbal background for later. In any case, that flashback scene was utterly hilarious. In fact, nearly all the facial expressions of Ed were brilliant, and Al also had his moments of greatness.

And I admit. Twenty episodes ago I rather disliked Winry and her uselessness, but at least it built up her character for this episode very nicely, and this episode used it very nicely in her development. And sure, at the end she just got kidnapped again, but something tells me that she’s not going to be a damsel in distress in the next episode. I mean, Scar kills a lot, but Winry’s parents were the only ones he killed without a reason. Let’s see him make up for that in that next episode.

Then, the Chimera. It shows that Father has been working on them for quite a while. which begs the question: what about Shou Tucker? Why was he special for making a chimera that understood words? Why did he become a state alchemist for it even though Father could achieve much more? Or was this simply used as a cover? Something like “making chimeras is very hard, so don’t bother with it”.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Yeah, at this point it’s pretty clear that Cross Game’s final quarter is going to focus at the baseball again. Now that the third quarter has ended, I really label it as the best quarter of Cross Game so far, but my fear also is that it will remain this way: I don’t see this show surpass itself anymore at this rate.

Nevertheless, it’s a good thing to see that the creators don’t want to abandon the girls’ baseball storyline that easily. In fact, it’s going to make the upcoming matches a lot more interesting, to actually see Aoba play. What I really like about her is that she really is a balanced pitcher: she’s talented, she works hard and she knows what she’s talking about, and yet her powers aren’t exaggerated or just too incredible, like with Kou. It was the same with Tatsuya in Touch, in a way.

But, that’s really for later. This episode really was as fun and charming as ever. I loved how the new club members mistook Aoba as the manager. It’s nice to see her gradually recover from her injury throughout this episode. Akane took a part-time job at the Clover-Bar, Kou bought a really ugly shirt for Aoba which she just accepted and Kou had his own moment of embarrassment when he ended up posing for Akane’s sketch. This really was an episode for tons of characters to be able to show off their quirks and charms. It was kindof adorable.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

My favourite show of the season? Definitely. Aoi Bungaku provides an awesome closure to this decade in anime with a collection of six beautifully told stories. Every single one with its own director, style, atmosphere, focus, graphics, soundtrack, themes and stories. It’s a really big experiment, that worked out wonderfully well.

No Longer Human is a wonderful character-study with a powerful and well developed main character. The visuals look like a non-action version of Kurozuka in a way, but with even more detailed art. In the Woods, Under the Cherries in Full Bloom proved to be a great combination between comedy and mindscrew, and it really had the director of Death Note and Kurozuka in its element with its Bleach-like character-designs. Kokoro is probably the least impressive of the six shorts. It’s based on a very nice idea of varied perspectives, but it’s a bit cheesy in its execution. It’s certainly not bad, though.

Hashire, Melos! Is just incredible. It’s done by the director of Mouryou no Hako, and the dialogue is just as deep and detailed as it was there. On top of that, the animation is utterly fantastic. Characters move wildly and even the slightest movements are incredibly detailed, and it gives the characters so many powerful emotions. A Spider’s Thread in its turn is a simple but all around enjoyable and tense story with great screenplay. Hell Screen then continues to close off with a huge bang with a great and powerful mindscrew, combined with a really strong direction, soundtrack and visuals.

And seriously, it’s amazing how much talent Madhouse managed to stuff into this series. It has a total of five directors, and four of them are absolutely brilliant in what they do, and have their own styles and their own brilliance. The animation is just amazing, especially in Hashire, Melos!, and definitely the best of this season, and not to mention that every single story looks unique with its own distinct set of graphics. Even Hi no Tori (which had a similar formula) had at least similar character-designs!

The depth of the characters varies from simple (Spider’s Thread) to elaborate (Melos, No Longer Human), but nearly all of them make impact. And heck, even if you don’t like one story, there’s always the next one that turns out to have a completely different focus. As much as the fansubbers will hate it, I’d love to see more series like this (imagine for example if other studios would attempt this as well). This collection of adaptations of literary works manage to fit in the stories pretty nicely in these relatively short amounts of episodes: some of the stories have been changed here and there, but it’s been done with conviction.

Wow. What a way to end this series. What an incredible mindscrew of a final episode. Seriously, the visual direction of this episode was the best out of all the Aoi Bungaku episodes, even as the soundtrack. I commented a few weeks ago the the director of the final two episodes was a completely new guy, so it really could get anywhere. During A Spider’s Thread, he already showed that he’s solid as a storyteller, and it was very entertaining and intense to watch. But seriously, with this episode he really showed that Madhouse has yet again struck gold.

The setting for Hell Screen is actually the same as with A Spider’s Thread, only the mood, atmosphere, direction and soundtrack are completely different. This episode was much, much darker, despite the at first misleading dark colours. I like how this episode uses a part of the build-up of the previous episode: in there, the king was shown as a bit cocky, but basically as the good guy. In this episode however, it just turns out that he’s a huge bastard. It’s the same that Kokoro used, although with less cheese.

The main focus of this episode was on the lead painter for the king, who is tasked to draw a chamber that has the essence of the city. He ends up wanting to show his anguish at the king’s actions that he decides to draw hell itself, however he he just can’t seem to get the right inspiration. Eventually this spirals so much out of control that the king burns his daughter, which in turn gives him the right inspiration. It’s a bit hard to believe, but then again, it was written by a guy who apparently afterwards committed suicide.

I personally loved how the build-up throughout the episode eventually culminated into that climax. I wouldn’t call this as good as Hashire Melos, but I’d definitely count it among the highlights of this series.

Overall, there should be more anime like this. This series has been utterly amazing in so many different ways. I’d rank the six stories of Aoi Bungaku like this (from least favourite to most favourite):
6. Kokoro
5. Spider’s Thread
4. In The Woods…
3. Hell Screen
2. No Longer Human
1. Hashire, Melos!
But more on that in the actual review.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

This post is going to be short, since I’ve got a certain episode 12 that I’m really looking forward to, but damn, that was intense. The fifth story, The Spider’s Thread had only one episode to work with, but it used it really well and turned it into not just a visual feast, but also one heck of an intense experience.

For the most part of the episode, I was wondering where it wanted to go, but the final minute everything made sense. Throughout the episode, you really get the idea what’s going on inside the mind of a killer, someone who has no regards for human life, and is just out there to have fun and kill people. He’s very much a person who’s sick in his head.

The main point about this story is that after he dies, he gets one chance to get out of a hell that will probably mean an eternal time of torture for him. And yet he blows it, both by the weight of his sins and because he still doesn’t want to repent for his sins. It’s obvious that the original writer was a devoted christian, but it’s nonetheless an interesting story.

What I liked most about this episode was the screenplay, though. It’s done by a guy who didn’t do anything before this, but the way that the visuals and the music, the poses and the art enhance the story is really well done. It’s that what really impressed me about this episode and made it so powerful for me. It’s not the best instalment of Aoi Bungaku, but really: I don’t have any complaints whatsoever.
Rating: ** (Excellent)