Monthly ArchiveDecember 2007
Anime & Gundam 00 30 Dec 2007 03:34 pm
Gundam 00 - Episode Twelve
As Setsuna’s homeland Azadistian is the backbone of his character background, this episode gives the viewer a deeper look at the problems facing Azadistian. The character Rassah is introduced in this episode, though as religion seems to be a driving point in Azadistian, it would be nice to get a background of what guidelines that some of the Azadistian live by, to understand the split of factions in this country, to give the characters of the show some backup to their beliefs, instead of it just being empty words.
This episode opens with Massad Rafmadi being kidnapped by Reformationists. As this episode showed Shirin and Marina in the palace, I don’t think that Marina is roughing it, by the size of the palace that she is living in.
As this episode is split between time in Japan and Azadistian I thought that the scenes involving Saji, Louise and her mother were interesting, as it was interesting to learn Saji’s background, and that Louise’s father is still alive. Hopefully in episodes to come we will see Louise’s father. In the scene where Louise’s mother is resting her shoulder against Saji, and feeling familiar with Saji, that I’m betting that scenery will provide some doujin’s writers with some ideas.
This episode was also good to learn that Marina’s last name is Ishmael, and that Setsuna is a Kurd. The main draw card for me in this episode would have to be that Graham Arce fought Lockon in his Gundam Dynames, and pushed him fairly hard, despite him having an inferior machine.
During Graham’s fight with Gundam Dynames, it was good to learn that Gundam Dynames has a beam sword, for close range fights, as I felt that without a short range weapon, like a beam sword, that Gundam Dyames has a weakness in its offense. I thought that Setsuna’s character development at the end of the episode felt a bit forced to me because, I don’t really understand the beliefs that the various factions in Azadistian have.
Overall, I felt that this episode could have been very good, but it just felt average at best. I think that Graham’s actions in this episode saved it from being bad. At present I just have too many questions about Azadistian, like where are Marina Ishmael’s parents? Why was she elected by her county men and women? Why does she have a weak character, as most leaders are meant to be strong individuals, which enjoy the power they wield? Etc.
The next episode of Gundam 00 should be interesting, and hopefully the new opening and closing themes will be good also.
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Episode Rating: B
Anime & Articles 30 Dec 2007 03:33 pm
2007: Year in Review
2007 IMO was a interesting year for anime IMO, as I felt that it didn’t reach the heights of 06. Despite this, I thought that there was a return to anime that were based on manga, then anime being original.
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Best Male Lead: Lelouch Lamperouge (Code Geass)
Runner Up: Li Sheng Shun aka Hei (Darker then Black)
Honourable mentions: Johy (Toward the Terra), Keith (Toward the Terra),
The battle for this title was hard, but I gave Lulu (Lelouch Lamperouge) the nod, because of his abality to lead a rebellion, and do it with style. Li Sheng Shun was also worthy of this title, due to him putting up a facade in public about being kind and caring, but when he became BK-201, he was cold, and ruthless. The Toward the Terra guys were great at their roles, but didn’t rank up at the top for me.
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Best Female Lead of the Year: Nodame (Nodame Cantabile)
Runner Up: Balsa (Guardian of the Sacred Spirit)
Honourable mentions: Shuurei (Saiunkoku Monogatari 2), Shana (Shakugan no Shana 2), Clare (Claymore), Juliet (Romeo x Juliet), Emma ( Emma - A Victorian Romance Act Second Act 2), Shion (Shion no Ou)
2007 provide heaps of female leads, but I had to go with Nodame of Nodame Cantabile, becuase she made music very enjoyable. Also it was interesting to see a female lead display a wide range of emotions throughout the series. Balsa from Guradian of the Scared Spirits,was my second favourite female lead of the year, as it was a pleasure to watch a intelligent female lead strut her stuff. I’m not a big fan of Shougi, but Shion makes the sport of Shougi interesting, due to her being mostly mute during the series. The back up male and female cast of Shion no Ou also help make the show likeable.
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Best Opening Theme of the Year: Howling by Abingdon Boys School (Darker then Black)
Runner Up: Hero’s Come back by ? (Naruto Shippuuden)
Honourable mentions: Doubt & Trust by Access (D.Gray Man), Hitomi no Tsubasa by Access (Code Geass 24+25), DayBreakers Bell by L’Arc-en-Ciel (Gundam 00), You Raise me Up by Lena Park (Romeo x Juliet), Synchronicity by Makuni Yui (Tabusaa Chroncile OVA), Raison D’etre by Nightmare (Claymore), Lady Love by Rize (Shion no Ou), Endscape by UverWorld (Toward the Terra).
With 2007 having lots of anime produced, one of the things I look forward to of a show are there OP + ED themes. I thought that the Spring and Winter seasons provide some weak openings, though their where some gems also in the seasons also. Like the previous year in review, I give this award based on the song, the animation, and most of all if the opening them makes me what to watch that particular show.
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Best Ending Theme of the Year: Beautiful World by Utada Hikara (Evangelion Movie 1)
Runner Up: Saigo no Kajitsu by Sakamoto Maaya (Tabusa Chroncile)
Honourable mentions: This Night by Chemistry (Toward the Terra), Danzai no Hanan-Guilty Sky- by Kosaka Riyu (Claymore),
As much as I like Saigo no Kajitsu by Sakamoto Maaya, I like the song Beautiful World even more, so I sneeked this song in this category, despite it being the theme song of Evangelion Movie 1.
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Best Comedy of the Year: Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
Runner Up: Lucky Star
Honourable mentions: Gitma
I didn’t think 07 provide many comedy shows I liked, so this category was fairly thin for me.
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Best Drama show of the Year: Toward the Terra
Runner Up: Baccano
Honourable mentions: Shion no Ou, Emma - A Victorian Romance Act Second Act 2, Saiunkoku Monogatari 2, Your Under Arrest: Full Throttle
I thought that this year provide some good surprises of good drama shows. Toward the Terra was simply amazing in the story telling of the Mu, and it was one of a few shows this year, that made me want to rewatch some episodes of it again.
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Best Action show of the Year: Darker then Black
Runner Up: Guardian of the Scared Spirit.
Honourable mentions: Bleach, D.Gray Man, El Cazador de la Bruja, Claymore
2007 provide some good action show this year, but I felt that the overall Darker than Black proivde good regular action. Production I.G’s proivde IMO the best action scene of the year with episode three of Guardian of the Scared Spirit.
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Best Anime show of the year: Code Geass
Runner up: Toward the Terra
Honourable anime shows of the Year: Romeo x Juliet, Emma - A Victorian Romance Act Second Act, Darker Then Black, Bokurano, Baccano, Guardian of the Scared Spirit
Picking the best anime show of the year is one of the hardest things to do, as there’s many shows that could take this title. I went with Code Geass becuase it was one of the few shows of the year that captivated me with it’s story, music and characters. The shows that I mentioned being runner up and having an honourable mention are very good shows of 2007, but Code Geass IMO was a show that was a level above the rest.
2007 Anime Thoughts
Overall I felt 2007 had been an interesting year for anime, as there was plenty of variety of shows produced. 2008 looks like it’s going to be a very good for anime with the second season of Code Geass, and Macross Frontier being released in Spring. The Winter season of 08 also looks like it has potential, with a few shows I will watch.
Anime & Rose of Versailles 30 Dec 2007 03:32 pm
Rose of Versailles - Episode Twenty Five
This episode of Rose of Versailles is entitled “A Minuet of Unrequited Love”, and this episode has Fersen returning back to France. As the characters of this show have developed emotionally, this episode IMO has the characters of this show having broader shoulder, and their hair also changing.
I thought that action scene where Oscar saves Marine Antoinette from a group of assassins, was well choreographed. I thought that this episode was interesting as there’s a fair bit of unrequited love going on in this episode.
Seeing Oscar in a dress at the ball was highlight for me of this episode. The dance sequence between Oscar and Fersen wasn’t that well animated, but the episode was still good.
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Episode Rating: A-
Anime & Rose of Versailles 30 Dec 2007 03:32 pm
Rose of Versailles - Episode Twenty Four
This episode starts off with Jeanne being broken out of her cell by a mysterious individual. As Jeanne’s relationship with her real mother Madame Polignac, has been an interesting rollercoaster, it was interesting to learn that Madame Polignac wants Rosalie to live with her at the Polignac estate.
While Jeanne is on the run, it was interesting that she published a book called the “secret publication” which tells her truth about the necklace scandal.
As this episode is entitled “Adieu, My Youth”, this episode concludes Jeanne’s and Nicolas story in this series. It was interesting to learn that the Jeanne and Nicolas were able to live some sort of life in the Severne Monastery.
Despite Jeanne and Nicolas end up dying in this episode, I thought that it was kind of nice that Jeanne would send back her adoptive mother’s ring to Rosalie, and that even though in the letter she tells Rosalie that she is happy, Rosalie knows that she isn’t happy since they were kids.
Despite the tragic nature of this episode, I thought that Ms Polignac returned back to some of her evil form, is how she convinced Rosalie to live with her, that if Rosalie didn’t live with her that she would tell the parliament that Jeanne’s husband, Nicolas was a member of the Royal Guard Regiment, which Oscar heads. Also that Madame Poligmac would also be happy to reveal that Oscar adopted the sister of Jeanne, thus making it easy to say that it was easy to say that Oscar had criminals among her.
Overall, I thought that this episode this episode was very, very good. Despite most episodes just having a nice episode dedicated to the death of some characters, it was good that this episode also contained some deceit.
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Episode Rating: A+
Anime & La Corda D'Oro ~primo passo~ 30 Dec 2007 03:32 pm
La Corda D’Oro ~primo passo~ - Episode Eight
As the previous episode ended on Tsukimori X Hino moment, after Hino wakes up, she realizes that she has Tsukimori’s coat, Hino decides to visit Tsukimori’s home, to return his coat. While Hino is on the way to Tsukimori’s house, Hino meets Tsukimori and Hihara, so the three of them decided to visit Tsukimori’s house.
While the trio are at Tsukimori, Hino and Tsukimori are interested in Tsukimori’s photo’s displayed in his home. While Hino is at school, it was interesting to see her school friends (Mio and Nao) concerned about Hino.
I thought it was nice to see Hino being concerned about her musical box that she accidentally broke, that her friends gave her as a present. I thought that the scene where the musical concours group help out the student council to get other students to get their responses for a survey.
Despite Hino landing on a possible land mine by bringing up the topic of Tsukimori’s parents coming to the second selection, I thought that this episode was interesting.
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Episode Rating: B+
Anime & Your Under Arrest: Full Throttle 27 Dec 2007 11:29 pm
Your Under Arrest: Full Throttle - Episode Eleven
This episode of Your Under Arrest: Full Throttle deals with the Bokuto police station workers becoming obsessed with the Korean TV drama “The 99th Love Letter”. Even Nakajima is not immune to this popular Korean TV drama. As this episode is entitled “To the most important person in the entire world”, this episode deals with Nakajimi getting an idea from the popular Korean TV drama “The 99th Love Letter” to write a love letter to Miyuki.
This episode is filled is some Miyuki cute shots, and the super deformed Nakajima scenes were pretty funny IMO. Nakajima’s plan to give Miyuki his love letter, doesn’t go to plan, as he loses it when on top of the roof of Bokuto police station. This episode gets a thumbs from me, as we get another insert song, when Nakajima tries to find his love letter, which he lost.
Despite this episode ending in stereotypical fashion, it was good to see an episode sort of showing the Miyuki X Nakajima relationship.
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Episode Rating: B+
Anime & La Corda D'Oro ~primo passo~ 27 Dec 2007 11:26 pm
La Corda D’Oro ~primo passo~ - Episode Seven
This episode of PP starts off with Kanazawa – sensei taking Hino, Fuyuumi, Shimizu and Tomidoa-san to do some food shopping. With Tsukimori, Hihara, Yunoki and Tsuchiuru are alone minding the place. Tsuchiuru ends up mistaking the oven for the stove and ends up burning lunch. With lunch destroyed, Tsuchiuru uses his cooking skills to make fried rice for lunch.
As there’s a bit happening in this episode, we learn the following in this episode:
- That Tsukimori’s mother is named Hamai Misa-san, and that she is a pianist.
- Hihara has a surprised moment in this episode, as he has an indirect kiss with Hino, by taking a slip from Hino’s juice bottle.
- There’s a Tsukimori x Hino moment in this episode, as the two play a piece together, with Tsukimori playing on the small balcony of his room.
- The 2nd selection theme is “Something to believe in.”
- There’s a Hihara sort of fan service scene, when Tsukimori and Hino play the violin together.
- There’s a Tsukimori sort of fan service shower scene.
- Amou tries to get information from Tsukimori about any comments about being the victor of the first selection, and about his family. As Amou can’t get any comments from Tsukimori, Hino becomes her next victim.
- If you’re a Tsukimori X Hino fan, then you will enjoy the last several minutes of this episode.
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Episode Rating: B+
Anime & Your Under Arrest: Full Throttle 26 Dec 2007 02:13 am
Your Under Arrest: Full Throttle - Episode Ten
My first thought of this episode, was that this episode was a tribute to all the small robotic goods that is available today, but this episode is about a rescue disaster package, that Natsumi and Miyuki get the opportunity to promote. Miyuki is asked by the creators of HAL K-2 to operate the rescue robot, and she displays the delicate touch the robot has by handling sugar cubes, and building a robot model kit. I thought that Natsumi looked great in the Fitter R-1 suit, and that the Fitter R-1 suit enhances the abilities of the user.
Natsumi and Miyuki are asked to display the HAL K-2 and at a robotic convention, and I liked how Nakijami acted like a little wanting to ride the robot motor cycle.
Natsumi and Miyuki’s display of the latest disaster rescue by the Research Institute and the High Bridge Molecular Group goes to plan, until Miyuki’s remote control doesn’t, by radio interference.
Tarou Suzuki is responsible for the interference, and he has a grudge against the Research Institute and the High Bridge Molecular Group, because he didn’t get to design the robot.
Natsumi in the Fitter R-1 suit easily takes care of Scar Zero (his crappy robot) and Tarou Suzuki.
I thought that Tarou Suzuki looked like a poor man’s Mysterio (one of Spiderman’s villains) because of him having a fish bowl head. I thought that this episode was good because we got to see Natsumi and Miyuki being promotion models for some product. I wouldn’t have minded if Natsumi or Miyuki did some acrobatics and posers while doing their gig at the convention, but as this didn’t happen, one can still dream.
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Episode Rating: B+
Anime & Your Under Arrest: Full Throttle 26 Dec 2007 02:12 am
Your Under Arrest: Full Throttle - Episode Nine
This episode is entitled “Yoriko’s Nikaidou’s Age”, and it deals with Yoriko trying to coming to terms about her current situation about being single, and wanting to probably settle down in the near future.
What I liked about this episode was that the problem that Yoriko faces, it pretty common for most people in society, so it’s easy to relate to. In a bid to help find her knight in shining armor, Yoriko visits Naaya Kira, a Fortune Telling Shop. I thought that the sequences that Yoriko thinks about possibly marring Aoi, Nakajima and the chief where funny.
I found the scene were Yoriko is talking to the other female officers in the police station was interesting, as it was interesting to see how the characters react and interact with one another in the police station. I thought that the scene were the school kids are picking on Yoriko for being single was interesting, but I thought that the scene where I Aoi uses fear to stop the school kids picking on Yoriko, reminded me of Captain Yamato using fear to control Naruto in the recent episodes of Shippuuden.
I thought it was nice of Yoriko to save the school kid that teased her in the class, by rescuing her by some men, which tried to beat the kid to a pulp, for scratching his car by his bike. I thought that the episode ended nicely with Yoriko getting a strike, when she encounters the school teacher, of the child that she saved.
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Episode Rating: B+
Anime & Gundam 00 26 Dec 2007 02:11 am
Gundam 00 - Episode Eleven
This episode is a Hallelijah or Allelijah depending on which one you prefer. This episode has Allelijah working with the other Gundam Misters, to rid himself of his painful past.
Below is a quick run down of my thoughts on some scenes of this episode:
-I thought that the scene at the Azadistian Monarchy involving Ambassador Corner, Shirin and Marina was interesting, as despite Shirin trying to probe at Ambassador Corner for information about why he is helping Azadistian, he just sits in his chair with a confident, cool, calm presence.
-Back in the Japesnes economic zone, Louise tries to impress her mother about Saji, by having him cook some food for her, but she still doesn’t approve of her seeing her daughter. On the subject of Saji Crossroad, his elder’s sister (Kinue’s Crossroad) plan to investigate Aeolia Schenberg, has started to get a little interesting, with her noticing some Union NSA people visit a former scientist that worked with Aeolia Schenberg.
-We get to see the launch sequences of Gundam Exia and Dynames from the Ptolemaius.
-We learn that Sumeragi’s full name is Sumeragi Lee Noriega.
-I thought that Gundam Kyrios attack on the facility that held the super solider program was tame, in that the destruction of the super solider program building wasn’t that exciting.
-In the Super solider organization testee list, Allelijah is subject E – 0057. While in the super solider program Allelijah had modifications to create high level brain waves, which result in a violent personality.
Despite the key scientist that lead the super solider program ends up being caught by the end of this episode, by the Colonel, I thought that Allelijah’s past was a big let down. I’m let down because it could have been something good, as the viewer doesn’t learn why the program was started in the first place, or why it continued up until this episode.
If there was a big politics conspiracy about the super solider program, then I felt that it could have been more engaging and interesting (like in the Marvel comics with Captain America and the Red Skull), but sadly the story writers thought that this plot element was not worth their time and effort, to become something bigger.
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Episode Rating: B




































































































































































































