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Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Zetman – 08

After the hectic first episodes, I’m pretty surprised how slow the pacing in this episode was: it really took its time to show the aftermath of the previous episodes without feeling rushed, and the payoff at the end where Kanzaki’s story was resolved was short but very effective. There was some very good interplay between Jin and the rest of the cast here. Most rushed series don’t take the time for episodes like this, and when they do the result usually is a lot messier.
And apparently this episode also included parts that are only a year old in the original manga. Well, with this it’s confirmed then: the creators have no intention of making a second season: these 13 episodes are all we’re going to get, and they’re just trying to put the right content into them, rather than just animating this series up to one point and just stopping. Whether or not this approach works will depend on whether they actually plan to make it end…
The following paragraph has very vague spoilers about some of Atsuhiro Tomioka ‘s adaptations because this brings me to him again. Taking a look at his adaptations (that I watched anyway): Disgaea was full of filler but ended well, Nishi no Yoki Majo also had a solid ending, albeit really rushed, Samurai Seven had a great ending, Trinity Blood’s ending was crap and a complete rush-job that left way too many holes open and Zombie Loan ended before it even got started. Yes, this guy has done the entire spectrum of endings. He always liked to take a lot of liberties, much more than most other writers. Sometimes this is good, at others this is bad. Let’s hope that Zetman will remain among the good side of the spectrum.
Rating: (OMG!)

Zetman – 07

The conclusion of this arc is fairly straight-forward. After all of the tension created in the previous episodes, this episode is all dedicated to a big fight against the remaining Player Brothers,in order to balance things out. The main point that this episode tried to make was probably restoring the bond between Jin and Kouga, andpushing Zetman’s factors to a new level, to the point where his Zet factors don’t drop.
The fight was up to Zetman’s standards, though not the best of the series. After all of the rush in the early episodes, I’m pretty surprised how straight-forward and fairly slow-paced this episode was. It’s interesting how this show is the most interesting when it’s building up.
Rating: (Good)

Zetman – 06

Holy crap, this episode was intense. This show actually got even better with this episode. I don’t care how butchered the last episode was with the three murdered high school girls. This episode made some awesome use of it by continuing that path of sacrifices and toying with how hard it is to save everyone. There was a lot of stuff going on at the same time here, combined with some awesome action scenes.
And yeah, I just can’t help but praise the visuals of this\ series. This animation is just so incredibly expressive. This is an effect that you can’t get no matter how big of a budget you have, how well it plays together with the music and the storytelling. Really, TMS Entertainment has shown some wonderful stuff this season.
There are only two really bad decisions that they made. By far the worst was the decision for this series to only have 13 episodes this show really deserves more. The problem probably is that they couldn’t get enough sponsors to really get to 26 episodes, hoping for good DVD sales. Now this was a very big production error that unfortunately happens way too often. The second big mistake was hiring Atsuhiro Tomioka to compile the scripts. This wasn’t all bad: like with his other series, he really managed to add that something extra and succeeded in making this a standalone series. But someone needed to oversee the content that he cut away to do it because he really tends to do that. Then again though, I haven’t read the manga, but having the restriction of only 13 episodes to work with, I can also very much understand to skip certain parts in order to get further into the manga at the end.
Rating: (Super Swag)

Zetman – 05

I disagree that the faces in Zetman are ugly. In fact, I find them very refreshing, and I love this show for how much emotion it has managed to put into its drawings. What I am hoping for the most right now however, is the kind of animation that we saw in the first episode of this series. It’s clear that it blew a lot of budget on that, but even there you can see that people really spent thought into trying to make the visuals in this series as expressive as possible. Granted though: this was the episode that had that effect the least so far.
One annoyance about this episode was how incredibly clingy Tanaka ended up being. She knew him for like, one day or something? The interplay between her and Jin at least was nice… until the love triangle appeared. Apart from that the girls in this episode were only good for being kidnapped. That’s the problem with keeping Konoha in the dark about everything that’s going on: if you don’t provide her with a good reason, she’s going to try and look for someone she obviously cares about. Just try to tell her the truth and she’s far more likely to at least be on the lookout.
In the meantime, I really liked Kouga and that old guy who started playing that moral dilemma with him, contrasting with his random outburst on what a hero should look like.
Rating: (Too Good)

Monday, February 9, 2015

Bleach 67 - Review!!




Hey guys welcome back to another review on bleach today is bleach 67 this episode was great they had good time and was interesting lots of action and mystery they still have that annoying little girls that wont stop coming and is like LETS PLAY A GAME! and ichigo is like RELLY BRHU!
i just want my dang friends back what cant you understand!

THE GOOD:

The good in this episode is that they are fianly having chad more into the anime because slowly hes fading away and know one cares about him but! hes COME BACK!! so yay im happy about that! also me they have 2 more ppl come from the soul society and now its getting even better can wait to watch the next episode of bleach! they are also back at the hishschool which is good because everything goes wrong at that high school with makes it interesting!

THE BAD:

THE MAIN THING BAD IS THAT GIRL HER LAUGH THO!
Ok so the bad this about this episode is that all the students were dissapreing and they took for ever to find the person that was hiding in the gigy so yea that's about it this episode was alsome!!

100/100 (TOO GOOD)

Bleach 66 - Review!!


Hey guys welcome back to my blog in this episode of bleach its kinda annoying the girls who captures Odaheme and chad is really annoying little girl but in all its still bleach its awesome! the people that attack them were mod souls so he used the soul reaper badge to get the mod soul ball out and get the red head under control!

Everything was pretty good this episode accept for the annoying little girl she pissed me off. but i hope you guys go check this episode out its a great anime!

THE GOOD:

The good in this episode is that they showed the stuffed mod soul in this episode and i am guessing that they will have more back story on the mod souls the mod souls seem interesting!
also i am glad that Reggie came to the human world we needed someone from the soul society to replace the girl that was here before that! they also have gotten better at the voice acting different and more fell to the voices lately in these episodes!

THE BAD:

THE LITTLE GIRL AND HER LAUGH IS SO ANNOYING!! But you know she will probly get cut into many pieces when ichigo comes around lol!
but in this episode it was veryyyy repetive with the whole maze thing it kinda bored me out sometimes but its still good!

COMPLAINT! - THAT INTRO DOE! 


86/100 (GOOD)

Parasyte episode 17 Review!!

I have a huge time shortage. I never thought I’d been keeping a single Parasyte post short, but time is not on my side this day. Things are slowly making sense again. Last week’s twist a tad bit unexpected, but things are slowly moving in the old direction once more.
[HorribleSubs] Parasyte - the maxim - 17 [720p].mkv_snapshot_03.35_[2015.02.05_22.52.31]So that woman is finally getting what she deserves, huh? She has been playing Shinichi ever since they met and although I somehow don’t think she’s evil like most of them, I think she still needs to go due to the fact that she poses a threat to Shinichi. She knows too much and she is too dangerous. She is starting to get smarter than the other parasites and it shows. She defeated three of them on her own.
It’s funny that she defeated three of them and that Shinichi couldn’t do a darn thing against a one body with five parasites. I suppose it’s easier when you have a chance to fight parasites one on one. Nevertheless, she is definitely going to die next week. Those cops are right behind her and Migi won’t act up with that many people around. I can only hope that the baby doesn’t become just another victim.

Cowboy Bebop Review!!

I delved into the world of Japanese Anime a few years back, trying to broaden my horizon if you will. I started with Cowboy Bebop, considered by many to be one of the best.  Cowboy Bebop first aired in 1998 on TV Tokyo, only to be aborted a couple months in. It didn’t really help that the episodes were shown out of order. Fortunately, in October of 99, Japanese viewers were re-introduced to the show and were finally able to see the series in its wonderful entirety. Cowboy Bebop went on to great success, including the Seion Award in 2000 for best Anime.  Some of you may ask, “Was the show actually deserving of all that success?” Well, let me answer you with a resounding “Yes!!!” 
First of all, Keiko Nobumato should feel proud for creating such a wonderful cast of characters.  The show is set in the distant future and follows the many exploits of a crew of bounty hunters.  The show’s central character is Spike Spiegel, a young man who’s slow to exhibit emotion yet quick to rush into danger.  His partner is Jet Black, an x-cop who seems to be the wiser of the two.   Faye Valentine, a strong, confident female bounty hunter, joins the crew a few episodes in, followed several episodes later by a young, energetic kid named Ed, who at first I thought would just end up being an utter annoyance.  Instead, she succeeded on many occasions to bring a smile to my face.  What Nobumato did here was give his viewers a cast of  characters they will never forget.  Whether it be their constant arguing, incessant bantering, or occasional sympathizing, seeing these misfits interact with one another is reason enough to watch.                            
Though there isn’t much in terms of an overlying plot, most of Cowboy Bebop’s 26 episodes won’t fail to satisfy, with plotlines ranging from truly heart-warming to downright dark and dreary.  Instead of bombarding viewers with plot twist after plot twist, Nobumato decided to utilize a different kind of twist.  Throughout the series, he reveals bits and pieces about the characters’ lives before becoming bounty hunters, stuff that the other characters didn’t even know.  It’s these episodes where Cowboy Bebop really shines, especially the ones dealing with Spike and a mysterious man by the name of Viscous, the only truly recurring villain in the show.  Though not much concrete is provided about their past relations, their scenes together are some of the highest emotional points of the series.
Unfortunately, I have little  time left to tell you about Bebop’s slick, stylish fight scenes as well as its robust soundtrack, a great mix of country, jazz, and rock n’ roll.  Because of all this and the show’s wonderfully endearing cast, I see no reason why you shouldn’t check it out.  I honestly think it's one of the most broadly appealing Anime around.
Visual Style- A great example of just how amazing a Japanese Anime can look, all the while never letting the animations get too ridiculous.
Sound- The Japanese voice-acting is superb, and the soundtrack’s mix of country, jazz, and rock works surprisingly well.
Characters- The amazing cast and their many scenes together make the entire experience well worth it.
Plot- There’s really no overlying plot, but most of the episodes still manage to pull you in, especially the ones dealing with the characters’ pasts.  Some of the episodes do end quite abruptly though.
Lasting Appeal- A wonderful accomplishment that will stick with you for years to come.  Truly one of the best.

Aku no Hana Review!!

Short Review: Aku no Hana, brilliantly brutal, dark and capitvating


Full Review: Teenage angst, love triangles, and melodrama are all really tacky aspects for a series to handle, but if there’s one series that does a near impeccable job handling these aspects, it’s Aku no Hana.

The pacing is slow. It’s really, really, really slow, but it works. It works brilliantly. It was a little jarring at first with how slow events were taking place, but then it became clear that this show just would have never worked if it paced itself faster. Aku no Hana takes its time building up the atmosphere, beautifully fleshing out the characters and bringing them to life. Aku no Hana doesn’t like to make scenes snappy, instead it takes as much time as it wants drawing them out.

While watching Aku no Hana, I didn’t feel like I was watching ordinary anime anymore, but real life events unfolding right in front of my eyes. I felt like I was actually a passerby standing right in the scene, observing everything that was going on. I wasn’t in my room anymore, I was there. That’s how immersed I was with the whole experience.

And an ugly experience it was.  A beautifully ugly experience.

Aku no Hana never once showcases the beauty of human nature, society or the world we live in. It doesn’t even end on a hopeful note. Aku no Hana throws you out of your comfort zone and blatantly tells you how cruel and cynical our world can really be at times, that sometimes there really is no hope.

Aku no Hana achieves this bleak theme with the main cast who no longer feel merely as characters, but as actual human beings. They’re fantastically well-acted and far from likeable in a believable way. Kasuga isn’t a terrible person, but he makes rash decisions and digs himself deeper and deeper into a hole by running away from his problems. Nakamura is so insecure and broken down inside, that she instills this narrow mindset where people are either deviants or not. Saeki is foolish and completely driven by her infatuation for Kasuga.

By the end, all three characters wore me down so much that I was yelling at their naivety and ultimately putting my face in the palms of my hands, but not because the decisions they made were poorly written and delivered, but  quite the opposite. Every character mirrors reality perfectly, so much that’s it’s almost terrifying.

Aku no Hana screwed with my perspective on life the same brilliant way Aoi Bungaku and Welcome to the NHKdid as I watched it. But alas, there are just a few flaws with the series. Yes, it was a little uneventful at first, the series ends on a major cliffhanger, but more importantly the series just became so abrasively dark that I eventually grimaced through the final episodes.

Final Verdict:

Story – Brutally realistic and captivating
Characters – Terrifying and frustratingly realistic. Fantastically well-acted and all relatable in some way or another
Setting – Completely immersive and lifelike
Production Values – The rotoscope and character designs were jarring at first sight, but I eventually grew used to them and realized this show wouldn’t have worked any other way. Both the background art and soundtrack are beautifully ugly.

Do I recommend?: Aku no Hana is a rare anime that captures the atrocious side of life perfectly, but it’s hard for me to recommend a series like this. The fact that the show is so downright cynical will turn people away as well as the incredibly slow pacing. If you like dark psychological drama, give this one a chance and see for yourself.

94/100 (Fantastic)

Code Geass Review!!

Dex's Review: Code Geass
Sprung from the mind of the same man as Valvrave the LiberatorCode Geass is an alternate history show with absurdly awesome plots, mind-destroying black comedy, and some reallyfabulous main characters. Sound bad? It's not, it's amazingly insane.
At the storytelling level though, the shows are definitely different. Code Geass takes place in an alternate modern day timeline where the world is split between three superpowers: the Holy Britannian Empire, the Chinese Federation, and the European Union. But wait, this sounds too normal and modern, this is a Sunrise show!
Dex's Review: Code Geass
You'd be right, since Britannia just introduced the Knightmare frame (oh ho!Good one Sunrise!), which is essentially a giant mecha. Alright, now it's a Sunrise show!
Back on topic: the story follows a Britannian named Lelouch living in Japan. This isn't just any Britannian though, this is the former prince of Britannia Lelouch vi Britannia! He's out to get his hands on some sweet revenge on his social Darwinist father Charles vi Britannia (the emperor) for abandoning him and his blind sister Nunnally in Japan when it was invaded.
Oh yeah and did I mention that Lelouch is a flawless strategist?

The Good:

Much like the aforementioned Valvrave the Liberator, Code Geass has some absolutely fabulouscharacters. It piles on intentional hilarity on top of what seems like serious subject matter. I mean, let's be honest, the emperor of the biggest country on Earth went on international television and basically said, "All of you are terrible humans. You're weak and pathetic! You should be more like me and less pathetic!". There was no way that it wouldn't be hilarious in some capacity. Adding to this was the over-the-top way he delivers it.
Dex's Review: Code Geass
This thought would not be complete without mentioning the character that spawned an entire meme: Lelouch. From his ridiculously dramatic international broadcasts to his extremely elaborate hand movements, he willnever miss an opportunity to rocket the show past absurd and into "this is awesomely terrible!" territory. No wonder everyone in the world loves him, he could practically replace the television industry with his televised antics. You are truly the Prince of Fabulous Lelouch.
The rest of the cast is pretty well put together too, although they aren't nearly as... erm...flamboyant as Lelouch is.
That all aside, Sunrise shows off a surprisingly strong animation style in Code Geass. Everything is crisp and looks pretty (especially Fabulous Lelouch). The action scenes in the show are definitely up there with some of the best that I've seen in practice.
Maybe we should just have FLOW do the theme songs for everything. It would save us some time.
The Great:Code Geass gets some credit for swapping out the usual "white knight" hero character (see Lancelot and Suzaku for massive irony) with a massive jerkass with good intentions. Yes, the main character is the cool and manipulative Lelouch and not some cool hero character that's going to save everyone. He will use anyone (but Nunnally) to get to his goal and it doesn't matter if they die or not. He's a gigantic jerk of epic proportions and it is awesome to watch.
Dex's Review: Code Geass
Speaking of Suzaku, it bears mentioning that whenever him and Lelouch team up in any sort of capacity, the result is absolutelyawesome. They are the best frenemies ever.
In the same train of thought, Code Geass is practically overflowing with awesome. From the amazing dynamic entrances to the insanely awesome strategic Xanatos Speed Chess that Lelouch has as a hobby, you'll never be at a loss for moments that ooze awesome in bulk.
While we're on a roll, let's talk about those totally insane plans that Lelouch has that drive the plot. He's just too damn good at making this crap up as he goes along and he's fabulous when he's doing it (have I mentioned this yet?). This should be firing off every warning flag in my analytical mind but it isn't. They managed to pack so much awesome into it that my relatively high rule of cool threshold is actually being met.
Lastly, Code Geass' ending managed to connect with me on a level that I really haven't seen in this marathon so far. It was the logical conclusion to the series, but it was pretty emotional and both heartwarming and sad at the same time. It was really well done.

The Bad:

The biggest problem I have is probably that the second season's plot barely makes any sense up until the finale arc (which is considerably better). It goes pretty firmly into crazy territory and I'm not sure that was a particularly good idea.
This isn't too bad on the first viewing since the show is awesome, but I can see it being a big problem on subsequent viewings since that awesome factor will be considerably lower.
Dex's Review: Code Geass
I feel a very specific need to point out that the last few episodes of the first season will screw you up badly. They are chocked full of craziness and black comedy that will leave you staring at the screen in complete disbelief and horror. I had the unfortunate accident of watching both these episodes and Valvrave's very similarly styled episode in the same night and it ruined me. The image accompanying this text is basically how I probably looked at the end of that night.
Get something very happy ready to watch after you get into the season one finale to offset it. I think every Code Geass watcher is going to agree with me here, you need something happy.

The Verdict:

I could probably copy and paste some of the text of Valvrave's review in here if I wanted to since the reasons you should be watching it are similar. I'll make it original just for kicks.
Code Geass is a solid show that has just enough awesome on its side to offset its over-the-top craziness. It's pretty crazy at times, there's a little campiness here and there, and it is definitely hilarious. The hilarity is magnified by the fabulous characters like Lelouch.
It experiences a few of the same mood swings that Valvrave has. There several times in the series where the episodes will be absolutely mind-screwing crazy and slowly rip you to pieces. The plot goes along with this by being pretty insane and over-the-top on more than one occasion. It is mostly covered for by the overt awesomeness that the series exhibits though.
The main character is a complete aversion of the usual hero character because he exhibits far more traits of an anti-hero. This was an entertaining exploitation of this plot device because his jerkness completely blindsides you sometimes. It mixed up the formula and I liked it.
This is good for someone looking for a series that bleeds craziness and awesomeness into a mecha show at the same time. This means that if you liked Valvrave the Liberator, you'll probably like this. It digs a bit deeper than Valvrave and the ending is better. Generally speaking, everything in Code Geass comes across more seriously (but more flamboyantly) than it did in Valvrave.
Pretty good mecha show overall. Thanks Sunrise.

Silver Spoon Review – 86/100


When Noitamina started airing two series per season, it was amazing. It’s a timeslot that on average tends to be aimed at a much older audience than usual, and having two series with the same mentality definitely helped to bring more diversity to anime overall. Unfortunately it’s a schedule that could not be kept up forever: last season saw a rerun, and this time there only is one new anime, with the name of Silver Spoon. But it’s worth the watch!
The series you can compare this to the most easily is probably Moyashimon. Both series are about agricultural college with an oddball entering. Where Moyashimon focused on plants and germs, Silver Spoon focuses mostly on actual farming, and farm animals. The big differences come in the way the series are laid out: Moyashimon is random, silly, and overall rather shallow, compared to Silver Spoon being very meticulously constructed, and deep. And don’t get me wrong, it can get silly at times, but even that is very well plotted out. Compare it to how precise the comedy in Full Metal Alchemist always was.
Watch this show for the depth though: this series takes a look at the less pleasant sides of farming. And it does so with such grace! It doesn’t shy away from showing the fact that the animals in this series are destined for the slaughterhouse. It managed to create these very sympathetic characters who all have different roles and views on it, and they’re all affected by each other’s actions: some people accept it like it’s normal, others really need to take more time. The main character in this series is actually a really good one, because he challenges that view in nearly all of the characters. Of his age, in any case.
Beyond that it’s just an all around fun series to watch that goes into a lot of detail in some of the other aspects of working on a farm. There’s a second season coming up, but you can just as easily view this series standalone. There are a few episodes that perhaps break a it of the flow, or go on for a bit too long with the drama, but overall it’s a series that’s well worth the watch.
One-Sentence Review: This show is about farming, and it shows this in depth.
Suggestions:
– Moyashimon
– Nodame Cantabile

Ore no Nounai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Lovecome o Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru Review – 80/100

Noucome! You do not want to know how long I have been waiting for a series like this. More than half a decade, at the very least. Finally a series comes along and puts the incredibly overused harem genre in its place. And it actually does it well. Thank you!
So to elaborate: the harem genre is one of the worst genres in anime, and it has been so for about a decade now. The worst part is the sheer amount of series that have been made of it. They give anime a bad name and the vast majority of them just completely sucks. Over the years of course, enough attempts at parodies have appeared.
The problem with these parodies was that they weren’t really parodies. They’re just harem shows with their tongue in their cheek. When you have this mentality though, you only make things worse: you’re not funny, and the tongue in the cheek is just an excuse to put in even less effort into your writing because any flaws can be overlooked this way. A lot of parodies make this mistake and just adhere to the things they’re trying to make fun of, and with the harem genre this resulted into one giant mess. The only successful series so far probably was Ben-To, but that was just a really well executed series first and foremost.
Noucome though, goes all the way. This series finally aims to highlight the stupidity in the harem genre, and it finally aims to really make everything about it look ridiculous to show what so many series nowadays are getting away with. It finally takes the usual tropes like the quiet girl, the ditzy girl, the energetic girl, the student council, and with some great jokes and its premise shows how bad these things are. The protagonist is wonderful in fully acknowledging what a horrible person he is while this show keeps finding ways for him to enact generic harem scenes, and take them to the ridiculous. For that effort alone, I applaud this series. Because it has a lot of flaws, unfortunately.
Like most series, this series does lack an editor. The writers have great ideas, but other ideas are just plain bad. For example, everything about the main female lead (the one who falls from the sky) just doesn’t work: where all other characters are meant to highlight the flaws of their stereotypes, she’s just the generic dog-like girl with no brains and a huge appetite that we’ve seen millions of times before. She gets old really fast.
Second, it’s unfortunate to see that the writers can’t keep up their wit for the entire run of the series. With only 10 episodes, this is delightfully short (a comedy really does not need to be long!), but even then the second half has a few bad episodes, and especially the last arc is a pool episode that, while still containing some good jokes, is also full of pointless repeated boob-jokes that don’t go anywhere and an incredibly rushed and hacked ending that doesn’t really resolve anything. It’s a really clear example of the creators not knowing whether there is going to be a sequel, and therefore they try to include a bit of both, resulting in a really big mess of a final episode. It’s a shame, because there really is comedic gold in good endings, yet the amount of comedies that actually go for this can be counted on two hands. Another problem this series has is that everyone and his dog conveniently gets anmnesia when the writers need it the most. It’s passable when done once, but the writers just keep relying on it.
Nevertheless, Noucome first looked to be a series with the worst premise you could imagine. It turned out to be the biggest surprise of the year for me, and especially the first half was pretty much the best way in which such a bad-sounding storyline could ever have been animated. Can we now kill the harem genre. Please?
One-Sentence Review: The first harem parody that actually is a parody. Terrible ending though.
Suggestions:
– Ben-To
– Touka Gettan (Also not really a parody, but another great example of how to spice up the harem genre)
– Aquarion Evol

Kick Heart

Okay, so I didn’t want to exit 2013 without having seen Masaaki Yuasa’s Kick Heart. It’s only twelve minutes anyway, and I consider him to be one of the best anime directors out there.
The story here is pretty silly and mostly serves as a backdrop, so I mostly want to talk about the nature of this little short: how it was crowd-funded and they actually got Masaaki Yuasa to direct it, Mamoru Oshii served as the consultant to make it happen, and They got a lot of talented animators involved. Because of this I love it. The creative team here attempted something really ambitious, and they actually succeeded in it.
Because of that, it’s also not surprising that Masaaki Yuasa got full creative control over the animation, and this probably is his most personal work since Mind Game. Especially with Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei you could see that it wasn’t just his work, albeit it still was really well executed, Kaiba was probably also forced into at least a normal storyline (for very good reasons by the way, because it turned out amazing), and even Kemonozume looked like some compromises had to be made. Here, the only compromise was the short length of only 12 minutes. He could really goof off as much as he wanted here, and the result is incredibly trippy. The animation is utterly gorgeous because of it.
This short made me learn a lot about Yuasa’s style, and I’m even more amazed at how well he works together with other people. This guy, when he is on his own, he can create completely unique stuff like Mind Game, but when he’s more under control he actually manages to get the best out of everyone, leading to the masterpieces that were Kaiba and Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei. He really is one of the most talented directors out there.
Kick Heart was incredibly silly, so don’t expect the same emotional intensity of is other works, but still his talents really show here and it was a great watch, and it serves as an example of how to do anime right.

Zetman – 04

Interesting: someone actually saw a bunch of thugs beating up someone, and did the most sensible thing: run away. Unfortunately this was nullified a bit when she headed outside again afterwards, but at least this was for a better reason than the usual “I want to help too!”
In any case, what also was interesting about this episode: all of the people observing Jin. They feel different from your average support crew. For one they feel like having actual characters and worries beyond their professionalism. It doesn’t feel like they exist solely to support Jin, but have a more complex job.
With the players, the creators also made random thugs better than your average thugs you see in anime. What I mostly like about these characters when they’re used is how they’re devoid of any sort of character. It’s like, “we need drama! throw in some random thugs with just one line!” These guys actually had a personality though. And they were actually a bit smart in when to run away. Two of them, at least.
Rating: +* (Great)