Mysterious disappearances have been happening all over Tatsumi town, and the student council of St. Ruminus Academy decides to look into it themselves when students at their school start going missing. Souma doesn’t believe that students actually can just disappear, but the others in the council aren’t discounting something supernatural. They speculate that it might be a monster, and decide that Kiriye’s kendo skills are more than enough to protect them, although Kiriye thinks that he’s not as good as they say. Saionji, who seems to be the class president, knows more about it than he lets on. He seems to know about the existence of another world, and comes across a book that he feels should explain how to get to it.

On his way out of the school, Souma notices windows rattling in the student council room. It makes him stop long enough to remember that he left his cellphone in the room, and he goes back in to get it. While he’s inside, the rattling window opens on its own, and the wind that it lets in opens the book that Saionji had earlier. Souma notices, says something about a “Dream Continent”, and looks out the window again. He may or may not have notices the boy standing in the tree outside the window. The boy has wings, one white and one black.

In the next scene, it is revealed that Saionji has gone missing now, too. Later that night, amidst an odd glow in the park, a strange girl appears and jumps away, much farther than a normal person should be able to. She lands on a telephone pole, musing about the fact that Zero must be in this world somewhere. This suggests that she is from the other world that Saionji was reading about before he disappeared. The girl keeps moving, and meanwhile a monster appears in light similar to her’s from earlier.

The scene shifts to the next day in the student council room. Kiriye is talking about an odd dream he had, in which a girl appeared and said to him “When the tree that links with this world blooms, the illusory door which leads to the continent will open. The red moon of the heavens will reflect upon the mirror-like spring and will be the door to the other world.” He thinks it has something to do with the disappearances, and Souma passes it off as a coincidence, still thinking that there must be a logical explanation for everything. Kureha, one of the girls in the council, asks for more information. Kiriye tells her that the girl had strange, long ears, but that she was very pretty. Shiina, the other girl there, says to forget about the dream because there was a wolf-like howl heard last night.

Outside, waiting by the gate, Souma decides to confess to Kureha. Before she can answer, they are attacked by a werewolf type monster. The strange girl from earlier shows up and begins immediately fighting with the werewolf. Souma catches her when the werewolf sends her flying, and her hat falls off to reveal that she has cat ears. They both act embarassed, and the cat girl introduces herself as Mao. She explains that the monster is a beastman that got through the gate from the other world. With the help of Souma and Kureha, Mao captures the beastman. She then explains about the other world, End Earth, and its relation to the normal world, Elde. It seems she’s there looking for the boy with the wings, Zero. Before much more explanation, the beastman breaks free and attacks Mao. He manages to break a mirror she was holding that she refers to as the mirror of dimensions. It starts releasing a green light, and everyone there is transported to the other world. Souma and Kureha wind up in what looks like a void. There, they meet with Zero. Zero says that he watches over the world, and then seems to entrust that responsibility to Souma. They are transported again.

Meanwhile, Kiriye and Shiina notice that the sakura tree that hasn’t blossomed in years is in full bloom. Kiriye remembers the dream he had.

Back to Souma and Kureha, they find themselves in a large field. They decide to look around for the mirror of dimensions when Kureha somehow senses that something is coming. A goblin type monster attacks them, and Souma stops it. Then, a bunch more show up. They run for a bit, but Souma decides to hold them off and let Kureha escape. After the obligatory “I can’t do that!”, Kureha runs off while Souma stays to fight. That doesn’t last long, as Kureha is attacked and conveniently has her clothes ripped in such a way that her undergarments are easily visible.

Just after Souma notices this, they are attacked by a large cyclops. Kureha gets in the way of a thrust from the cyclops’ sword so that it hits her instead of Souma. When it does, an eruption of purple light sends the cyclops flying. Souma rushes toward Kureha, who seems to have felt the effects of the stab even though she’s glowing rather than bleeding. She stops responding to anything, and Souma notices the hilt of a sword coming out of the light around her chest.

Souma hears Kureha’s voice, telling him to take her heart. Visuals make it obvious that she means the sword. He pulls the sword of out her, and looks at it while the camera shows it off. Kureha wakes up, wondering where he got the sword from. He tells Kureha that it is her heart and promptly cuts the cyclops in half with it. The other monsters run away, and Souma says that with that sword he feels like he can’t lose.

Characters

Souma

Eurkos: To be honest, I didn’t think he was the main character at first. He doesn’t seem like the likely candidate, especially with someone like Kiriye there. Not that it’s a problem, really. I like that a non-likely person is the main character. He’s realistic in his thinking… he seems to have some skill fighting and isn’t worried about thinking that he does. He’s probably still gonna try to deny the things around him now that he’s in End Earth. It’ll be interesting seeing where they take his character from here.

Kureha

Eurkos: Kureha is the sweet, quiet type. It’s no wonder that Souma likes her. She used a bow for a bit while they were fighting with the beastman, and it looked good on her. I hope that she becomes less needy as the show goes on. Right now she’s just the normal “Oh, save me Souma-kun!” and I’m hoping she learns to take care of herself.

Kiriye

Eurkos: Even though he and Shiina didn’t go with Souma and Kureha to End Earth, I’m sure they’ll show up there at some point. They wouldn’t have been in the episode as much as they have. Plus, they wouldn’t have mentioned that both of them are really good at kendo. Anyway, Kiriye is more the main-character type than Souma. He seems fairly average in everything. He’s obviously modest to a fault. At this point, I’m not very interested in him, which makes me glad that he’s not the main character.

Shiina

Eurkos: Like Kiriye, I’m sure Shiina will be in End Earth at some point. She gets bonus points for being a redhead, but I haven’t seen enough of her to have much interest at this point. Hopefully more will come later.

Saionji

Eurkos: Maybe it’s just me, but this guy is obviously up to no good. He just spills evil out, and his interest in End Earth is very suspicious. I’d bet that him trying to find ways to get to End Earth is why people are disappearing. He’ll probably be a main struggle point for the other characters.

Hiruda

Eurkos: Hiruda is Saionji’s lapdog. Or rather, I’m sure she’d like to be. He probably doesn’t pay much attention to her when she’s not doing something for him. Like Kiriye and Shiina, she’ll probably be around later but I haven’t seen enough to be interested.

Mao

Eurkos: Mao seems fun, so far. She’s fairly light-spirited, as she was fairly happy with things up until her mirror broke. I wonder what the thing she wants to ask Zero is, and why it’s so important. I also wanna see more of what she can do, since it seems like she has special attacks and whatnot.

Zero

Eurkos: He’s all over the place in the opener and closer, and he got a decent amount of screen time for someone with only two lines. He’s obviously very important, and I wanna know why. What’s up with the rings, and why are his wings two different colors?

Storyline Thoughts

Eurkos: So far, it seems like things that have been done before. I guess that’s because it’s based on an old j-rpg. It’ll probably turn out to be good because of that, as well. If you’re looking for something completely original, this probably isn’t it. I’m curious to see what the deal with Kureha is, and why she got all glowy and swordy when she got stabbed by the cyclops. I also wanna know more about End Earth in general.

Final Verdict

Eurkos: This one makes it into the 6 ep test. Admittedly, it’s not one of my favorites right now, but it has potential. That’s the main reason why it took me so long to write this review. I’d been busy watching other stuff, aside of having life issues to deal with. But I picked it back up. I like the animation in it, except for the over-use of washed colors due to bright light. It seems like the outdoors in Japan are exceptionally bright according to the animators. All in all, it’s decent. I look forward to more.

Koizumi is a girl who is always made fun of because she is tall, and Ootani is a boy who is always made fun of because he’s short. The two are very alike in personality and interests, and bicker to the point where they’re like a comedy duo. The two of them end up in summer school - Koizumi because she fell asleep and screamed aloud during an assembly, and Ootani because he failed.

The day before summer school Koizumi tells her friends, Nobu-chan and Chihara, that she’d be able to better get through the experience if she had someone she liked. Lo and behold, the next day in class a boy named Suzuki from another class is also in summer school and Koizumi instantly gets a crush on him. Ootani realizes this immediately and gets “evil” plans.

After class, Ootani tells Koizumi that he knows she likes Suzuki, and he’ll help her get together with him if she helps him get together with Chihara, and she agrees. Later on, the four of them, plus Nobu-chan and her boyfriend Nakao-kun, go to the pool. Things are going well, if a bit awkward, as Ootani and Koizumi get to know their interests. When Nobu and Nakao go on the waterslide, Ootani and Koizumi want to go also, but Suzuki and Chihara are both afraid, so they go on it together. When they come back, Suzuki has disappeared and Koizumi panics, but it turns out he was buying drinks.

As everyone leaves, Koizumi tells Ootani she’s worried because Suzuki and Chihara went home together. He tells her not to worry. However, the next day Ootani is crushed because Chihara doesn’t think of him as a boy because he’s short, and likewise for Kotani - because she’s tall, Suzuki doesn’t see her as a girl. The two help each other out and decide to invite their interests to the summer festival.

Ootani initially blushes when Koizumi shows up in a yukata, but plays it off as thinking she was someone else. When Chihara and Suzuki show up together, it becomes apparent to Koizumi and Ootani that the two like each other, so they give up and go off by themselves. They both have a lot of fun, and Koizumi later ends up blushing because of Ootani.

The next day at school, the two are back to fighting again, and initiate a contest to see who can get a significant other first.

Characters

Koizumi Risa

Koizumi is headstrong and snarky, and has a bit of a complex because she’s so tall. It seems that she is a tad shy around people she likes and is initially unable to converse properly with Suzuki, or even act like her normal self around him. Although she’s a little tomboyish it’s clear that she still wants romance in her life. I wonder if she’ll realize she likes Ootani before he realizes the same, but she seems to be a little less observant than he is.

Ootani

Ootani has a personality similar to Koizumi’s, but he’s a bit more outgoing and it seems to be easier for him to relax and chat with people he likes than it is for Koizumi. He’s fairly observant - at least when it comes to Koizumi, and he’s mostly optimistic. I imagine that he’ll be the less difficult of the two when they get together.

Tanaka Chihara

Chihara is very shy and reserved, and initially has a fear of boys. After her visit at the pool, she is pretty much cured of that fear, as she realizes how nice Suzuki is - and maybe even because of Ootani although she said he doesn’t feel like a boy to her. I wouldn’t be surprised if she becomes a better friend to Ootani later on in the series as his feelings for Koizumi develop.

Suzuki

Suzuki initially seems like he is the cold and silent type, but it unexpectedly turns out that he’s just really shy, and he blushes a beat red when he’s embarrassed. He’s afraid that Chihara hates him and confides in Koizumi, who he finds easy to talk to, and she reassures him. Like I said with Chihara, I can see Suzuki becoming a better friend to Koizumi later in the series.

Nobo and Nakao

Neither of these two had a lot of screen time or got their own close up shot. I think they’re sort of there to balance out the wild and quiet types of their respective groups. I really only include them here because they’ll be showing up more often, and I don’t have much else to say.

Storyline Thoughts

I’m not usually a sucker for slice-of-life types, but the characters are interesting enough that I already want to see how Koizumi and Ootani get together, because it’s inevitable at this point. At least, I think so. I’m also interested in how relationships between the other characters will play out and how everything will affect the group dynamic they had in this episode.

Final Verdict

Besides the characters being a bit silly, there’s also a lot of weird slapstick in this and some fun wordplay (as Koi means little and Oo means big when put in names). I also like the manga-ish style of the piece and I’m interested in seeing a bit of the manga to see how much of the artist’s original designs came through. It’s a nice difference from some of the other things I’ve been watching - which is mostly shounen - so I’ll be keeping an eye out on this for a bit to see if it satisfies the fangirl in me!

After a brief shot of a girl standing in water, we’re moved to a city, where a man is running on rooftops. He comes to a stop on a building that police have gathered, and he’s asked to stop. Not only does he not stop, but he turns around and causes one of the police officers to go flying into the air. Then he himself goes flying into the air, and escapes. One of the policemen refers to him as a Contractor while he’s escaping.

He stops on another rooftop some distance away. He sees a black cat run by, and is almost immediately ambushed by a man in black wearing a mask. He makes the man fly away like he did to the cop earlier, but the man is prepared with a grappling hook, which he uses to tether himself to the building and to subdue the Contractor. He asks him questions about a woman and the “stuff”, while getting recon info from a young-looking mysterious girl. What almost sounds like a voice in his head (different voice effect than the girl over the radio) stops him from killing the Contractor, and he leaves. The police show up, and find him seemingly dead from shock anyway.

The police discuss the matter, and the fact that they know nothing about the masked man that was there. It seems as though they are part of a division on the police force that specifically cater to these sorts of cases. They also talk about a missing girl who has studied the effects of Hell’s Gate. A follow-up internal monologue from the female cop conveniently explains that some unknown catastrophic event lead authorities to have built a wall around the city. They call the wall Hell’s Gate.

Meanwhile, a guy with hair that looks suspiciously like the masked man’s hair makes his way to the house of the landlady at the apartment complex that he’s moving into. After being mistaken for a tv repair man and somehow fixing the woman’s LCD tv by smacking the side of it, the guy identifies himself as Lee Shanshun, an exchange student from China. On the way into the apartment, he briefly meets a woman that the landlady introduces as Haraguchi-san. The woman doesn’t say anything, and just walks away looking kind of sad.

The scene switches to a gentleman’s club, and two of the policemen from earlier are talking to two of the girls that work at the club. One of the two girls, who is referred to as Ayame-chan, is Haraguchi from the apartments. After her shift is over, the policemen reveal that they’re there to look for the woman they were talking about earlier. They spot Haraguchi leaving while looking at them suspiciously, and give chase.

Haraguchi runs to a nearby park to try to lose them, and meets up with Lee, who is looking at the stars through a telescope. Lee sees the two cops chasing her, and decides to help her. He drapes his coat around her, holds her against a tree, and kisses her. The cops see them, but can’t tell that the woman is her and move on. Lee then realizes what he just did, and apologizes in an embarrassed manner. They talk briefly about his telescope, and Haraguchi asks why he looks at the stars even though all the ones that can be seen from the city are fake. Lee doesn’t answer. They both realise that they met each other earlier that day, and Haraguchi runs off again after thanking Lee for his help.

Haraguchi runs into an alley, and hides behind a box to let the cops run past again. Obviously they found her again. After the cops run past, someone comes up to her from behind and scares her. He says “It’s Jean,” and that seems to be enough to calm her down. It seems she knows Jean. It also seems they both knew Louis, the contractor from earlier in the episode. They talk about Haraguchi having something that they only refer to as “it”, and that Haraguchi isn’t supposed to tell anyone other than Louis where it is. When she says this, Jean gets angry and tries to drug her, but he gets hit in the back of the head by Lee. Lee grabs her hand and runs away.

They run to a railroad bridge, where Haraguchi tells Lee to leave her and run. He doesn’t, and Jean shows up through a glowing portal in a stone pillar. Haraguchi says something about light from the Russel Effect. Seems she knows a little bit about contractors. Jean attacks Lee, and manages to throw him over the railing just as a train passes by. Thinking that he’s dead, he attacks Haraguchi again, drugging her.

After showing a quick scene with the mystery girl from earlier in the episode, we see Haraguchi waking up in a room. Also in the room is Jean and two other men. They tell her that Louis is dead, and that he was a Contractor. Jean asks about Lee, and she assures him that she just met him that day. She then tries to escape, but there’s an electric lock on the door.

The scene quickly cuts to the mystery girl again, her feet dangling in water. There are ripples around her ankles, as though something’s moving. Back in the room, a drop from the sink into water makes one of the men “feel something.” Just after, the power goes out and the lock on the door shorts out, allowing Haraguchi to escape. The men give chase, but the alley is narrow and they can only go one at a time. A black cat conveniently attacks the first man out, slowing all three of them down. They decide that her escape was not an accident, because of the level of security on the lock. Haraguchi gets away, and meets up with Lee again by chance. Lee smiles at her, seemingly glad that she’s ok. She nearly faints, and Lee catches her. She hugs him, starts to cry, and the ending starts.

Characters

Lee Shashun and Hei

Eurkos: Lee Shanshun seems like a normal person. He’s a little shy, he’s polite, and he likes looking at the stars. Hei is a typical anit-hero type of character. He doesn’t mince words, and isn’t afraid to rough people up in order to get answers. It seems that seeing Contractors makes him angry, and he has to be all but physically restrained to keep from killing Rui. While the show hasn’t come out and say it just yet, I’m all but positive that Lee Shanshun and Hei are the same person. It seemed more than coincidental that he was in the right place at the right time three times in a row while he was helping Haraguchi escape. There are also links to the watcher spirit the Jean mentioned when they heard the water drip, because there was something watching Rui from a bucket of water on the rooftop. There was also the cat on the roof and the cat in the alley. I’m interested to see what his deal is. I wonder why he hates Contractors so much.

Chiaki Shinoda and Ayame Haraguchi

Eurkos: It’s even more obvious to me that these two are the same person. She was the one that suggested that the guys in the club were detectives, which they were. She also was quick to run when they asked her to stop. And then there was the comment about the Russel Effect. She seems to me like someone who would’ve been researching Contractors and Hell’s Gate. I’m interested in knowing what got her from the girl in the picture to the girl she is now, and why she went into hiding. I’m also interested in what information she has. I think that the woman Louis and Hei were talking about in the beginning is her, and I wonder why Hei and Jean both seem to want whatever information she’s got.

Yin

Eurkos: The only thing we know about Yin is that she has something to do with Hei, really. I want to know more about her. I don’t think she’s a normal person, but I dunno if she’s a Contractor or not. I’m sure we’ll find out eventually. She seems to be quiet and subdued. I’d be willing to bet that she will act cold to people other than Hei, if she doesn’t act cold to Hei, too.

Misaki Kirihara

Eurkos: She seems like a strong person. She doesn’t like the fact that they have no information on the person that attacked Louis, and probably likes even less that someone got to him before they could catch him. I’m not as interested in her at this point, but hopefully she and the rest of her department will play more into it later.

Jean

Eurkos: We don’t really know a lot about Jean, except that he’s got some sort of plan for something and that it requires information that Haraguchi knows. It seems that he was keeping the fact that he is a Contractor from Haraguchi, and was only pretending to be her friend until he knew that she wouldn’t willingly tell him what he wants to know. I’m more interested in Hei and Yin at this point, but I’m sure Jean will be important as the series goes on.

Storyline Thoughts

Eurkos: There are a lot of possible ways this series can go, and I like that. This is one of the few shows I’ve watched so far this season where I can’t predict what’s coming. It seems like it’ll have a decent level of mystery, which is something this season is lacking. I’m looking forward to finding out more about the setting, as well as more about the characters. I am very much interested in why the wall is there, and why it made Contractors.

Final Verdict

Eurkos: This one is easily into the 6 episode test. The animation is top-notch, the action scenes are done well, and they did a great job making an atmosphere in my opinion. I’m interested in the story as well, which is a definite plus. I’m looking forward to more.

In 2012, the world was ravaged by a climactic change that came to be called the Equatorial Winter. In 2035, the United Nations sought to control a war-ravaged world by suggesting the Wisest World War. The idea was passed unanimously, and the world started a war that was unlike any it had ever seen. A war with Giant Robots.

A boy visits his parents grave, telling them that he won’t be able to visit as often since he has to move to Tokyo. He is interrupted by a voice from behind him. As he turns around, he finds that the voice belongs to a cute girl, and he doesn’t hesitate to comment on that. After the girl gets embarrassed, he explains that he has a bad habit of blurting out things that he thinks. He speculates that the girl might be lost, and offers to help her with whatever problem she might have. After seeing a vision of a Giant Robot’s head, the girl asks of him: “Please, fight… and win.” He responds easily by saying that’s not a problem, since it’s better to win than to lose. The girl smiles and thanks him, which causes him to turn around in his own embarrassment. She’s even cuter when she smiles. He ponders about what she meant, thinking about the Gigantic Formula finals that he’s taking part in soon. When he turns around again, the girl is gone.

After being seen off by his teacher (?), the boy (now identified as Shingo) heads for Tokyo. Meanwhile, people scramble to make preparations for the fact that the next Wisest War is about to start. Even though some people didn’t believe it, it seems that Japan has a Gigantic to fight with this time. As a result, when Shingo gets off his train, he is greeted by a rather empty street. After visiting city hall, Shingo muses about how it doesn’t seem like a metropolis on his way to visit his new school. He realises that he probably should’ve gone to the stadium first, and decides to take part in the Gigantic Formula finals from a remote location at the school, even though he will be at a disadvantage due to lag.

The cute girl from earlier heads into a back part of the stadium, shows a guard her id (her name on the id is Kamashiro Mana), and is saluted on her way through the door. Inside, we see the scrambling people from before. It seems that they’re in a hangar. A younger girl taps away at a keyboard and tells her that since they’re in the middle of pilot compatibility testing, it’s not the time for her to be infatuated and wander so far away. Mana denies her infatuation with Shingo, and the younger girl says that she meant it in a general sense, talking more about wanderlust than anything else. Mana is appropriately embarrassed.

The Gigantic Formula finals begin, and elsewhere someone is planning an attack with a Gigantic of their own. While they deploy their robot, time skips ahead a bit to the end of the finals. It seems that Shingo has won it, even though he was at a disadvantage because of his location. The people in the hangar seem pleased with this, and change their tune when a warning buzzer goes off. It seems that the attack is coming. As the enemy attacks, the Gigantic in the hangar, identified as Susanoo, gets up on its own. On the way up, Mana deftly jumps into its open cockpit, ready to go and fight. She comments to herself that this has never happened before, and wonders what is going on.

Susanoo still acts on its own, running away from the enemy Gigantic. It runs to the school that Shingo is at, and is stopped just outside. Fighting happens between Susanoo and the enemy Gigantic, and Susanoo loses one of his arms. Even still, Susanoo stops fighting long enough to save Shingo from would-be assassins who know he’s the chosen pilot. Susanoo then brings Shingo into the second cockpit. After seemingly synching, Susanoo and Shingo take the fight to the enemy. Susanoo rips off the enemy’s right arm and uses it to replace the one it lost. At the sight of that, the enemy Gigantic makes a full retreat. Just after it does, the enemy’s arm (that is attached to Susanoo now) glows and takes the shape of Susanoo’s arm, and the repair job is complete. It is then revealed that the enemy was from China, and that the Wisest World War has officially begun. Shingo then finds out that the other cockpit was occupied by the girl he met in the cemetery before he came to Tokyo.

Characters

Suwa Shingo

Eurkos: Shingo seems at first like a normal everyday kid. And he is, for the most part. I’m seeing more and more characters in mecha anime that are in their element in the cockpit, and I like it. Shingo might not have the battle experience necessary to be the best, but he seems to have a lot of talent, and he’s had training experience. He also seems to like the idea of piloting, which is also good. I actually wonder what sort of hurdle he’s gonna have to get over as the series goes on.

Calophi: I pretty much agree with Eurkos on this one - I suppose someone’s realized that angsty somehow-they’re-good pilots are…well, boring, for the most part. We don’t know what family Shingo has left, though it’s obvious he’s lost someone. I think the hurdles will start when someone actually dies in this Wisest War thing, and maybe he won’t be so keen to pilot anymore if he needs to kill people.

Kamishiro Mana

Eurkos: I bet she’s gonna have more hurdles to get over than Shingo is. She seems to have mixed feelings about Shingo, but I might be wrong there. She didn’t seem too upset that Shingo said she was cute, and was embarrassed by the suggestion that she’s infatuated with him just enough to suggest that she is to an extent. But then, she seemed to not like the fact that she wasn’t able to bring Susanoo’s full power out by herself, and she doesn’t seem terribly happy to see Shingo at the end of the episode. I’m not sure if I like her or not yet, but I’m sure there’ll be more of her as the series goes on.

Calophi: With Shingo being the basically happy character, Mana is probably going to be the one having more of the issues in this series, at least earlier on, and maybe has a bit of low self esteem. That’s based on the things Eurkos said, really. She’ll probably switch on and off with being friendly and sniping at Shingo for a while, and get irritated when he protects her and such. Though, since Shingo isn’t the stereotypical pilot, Mana may not be the stereotypical tsundere, either.

Younger girl

Eurkos: I might’ve missed her name in the episode, but I don’t know what it is. She seems to be the whiz kid type. Really good with machines and computers, and far too young to normally be that skilled. She’s the cute part of the show, I guess. Better than a little mascot that says the same word over and over, really. Don’t have an opinion of her otherwise. She’s highlighted because she’s probably important.

Calophi: I don’t have an opinion on this girl. She’s there so someone actually has information on something, though Eurkos is right about her being way too young for her skill to be normal.

Storyline Thoughts

Eurkos: I am very intrigued by this shows storyline. The Wisest World War is a neat idea, and I really wanna see how it plays out. Aside of the fact that Susanoo looks like a Gundam, the storyline of this show could shape up to be very different than what I’ve seen in mecha anime before.

Calophi: I also liked the Wisest War thing. What a great way to make giant robots fight each other without it being a space war or aliens! Fight a war to save the economy. Nice. This will bring in a lot of fun elements too, such as how other countries handle the war, when it will inevitably go sour, who will become allies, things like that. I also think we’ll be seeing Susanoo “evolving” more like he did with the arm, and hopefully won’t look quite so Gundam-ish at the end.

Final Verdict

Eurkos: I actually watched the first episode about a week ago, and I found myself finishing off this review so that I could watch the next ones. I predict that this one will be involved in my 3rd ep post later. Easily makes it through to the 6 ep test. I’m looking forward to more of it.

Calophi: After I got past the abnormally large eyeballs, I really got into this series. The only reason I haven’t watched more yet was because I didn’t do the review, and the reason I didn’t do the review is because Pokemon came out last week! Anyway, story and characters are unique enough for a mecha series to keep my interest. Definitely in my 6 episode test!

There are 7 series covered in this post.

Claymore

I’m still really into Claymore’s universe. Although Clare is supposed to have her emotions tampered down, she’s proving to be a very interesting character and possibly very different from how the rest of the Claymore are. Episode two early on addressed how Claymore need to be slain after they can’t control their yoma powers anymore, which was way earlier than I thought it would happen. Episode 3 was a monster-of-the-week type, but showed us a bit of Clare’s skills that I didn’t even stop to think that she had, though it’s obvious in hindsight. Definitely still in my 6-episode test stage.

Hayate no Gotoku

This story is still crack-tacular after episode 3. Though I was disappointed at the lack of Santa in that episode, the white tiger easily made up for his absence. The “can’t show” censor continues to be used, which completely cracks me up, and other strange words are also censored for our amusement, such as “Gundam” and “Sony”, though in context we can still easily tell what they are. This series is in my top priority at the moment!

Heroic Age

I’m really enjoying this a lot more than I thought I would. The princess is much more interested than I originally found her to be, and Age continues to be a refreshing mecha hero with habits and a personality not often found in a mecha pilot. I’d really like to know why the Silver and Bronze tribes want to wipe out the humans so badly, and I also wonder how long Age has been alive and what he’ll do once he’s told the Iron Tribe’s 12 whatevers and finds out how snobby and take-over-the-world-ish they are.

Idolmaster Xenoglossia

Well, I turned out to be wrong about Haruka accepting the piloting gig better than Yukiho. However, she did eventually join and is better at the actual piloting than Yukiho is due to her skill in video games (though Yukiho is better at the school-type knowledge they need to know about drops). Haruka’s faith and personality are really shining through, and I like her a lot as the “hero”. I’m still extremely interested in everything I mentioned in the first review, and now I really want to know why Imber is so special, seeing as how everyone else wanted to be the one to make it move.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS

I’m a huge Nanoha fangirl so it shouldn’t be surprising that I’m completely on board with this one. Is there even any need for me to 6 episode test it? We now have a plot, too. There is an ancient missing Lost Logia piece that causes destruction wherever it is found and is associated with high-tech illegal magic research. Hayate has put together a new unit primarily to search for it, and Nanoha is the one training the new recruits (of which there are four). The cast just keeps growing and growing, but with all the diversity in the magic it’s so fun to watch!

Reideen

Right now I’m on episode 5 of this series, mostly because it started in March and not April - an oopsie on my part. It moves much more slowly than some of the other things I’m watching, but the beast mecha are really neat, and the atmosphere is appropriately creepy that I want to know what’s going on. Also, Reideen is a pervert. He really is! He steals Saiga’s clothes when he beams him up, makes Saiga pilot him naked, then deposits him back to earth still naked! Saiga better have a lot of damn money, because he’ll be spending it on new clothes throughout the series. Reideen no Hentai! o.O

Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann

I’m surprised I’m still into as this one as I am. The show has it’s serious moments while still being light. Apparently the giant faces we mentioned before are piloted by beastmen or something, though we don’t know why they hate humans. The mecha is both cool and retarded at the same time. The action is awesome and the music that goes along with it is fantastic. And sometimes Kamina will do something completely idiotic (and it’ll look like it’s making fun of the mecha genre), but then it for some reason still comes out okay. So far this one’s turning out better than I thought!

Hiro’s sister, Suwawa, has finally obtained a job as a live-in maid and has written to Hiro so he can come stay with her. Hiro arrives in town and finds that the mansion at the address he has is boarded up and has a creepy atmosphere. He decides to go into town to look for his sister.

While in town, he sees a gigantically-loaded cart pulled by a little kid. On top of the stack is a throne, and on the throne is a blond woman with red eyes. One of the wheels on the cart breaks and she gets down to take a look at it. The wind blows, and above the blond’s head a pulley holding steel beams breaks and is about to fall on her. Hiro sees it and manages to push the blond out of the way, only to get crushed under the beams himself. The blond remarks on what a nice corpse he is as he falls unconscious. The pair get to the house, along with Suwawa, and start moving everything in.

Hiro is pronounced dead during his surgery, and the blond arrives at his corpse and performs some sort of spell that resurrects him. She’s gone when he gets up and he realizes he’s in the morgue. He stumbles out onto the street and sees that the lights are on at the mansion, so he walks towards it. On the way, he notices a pack of wild dogs going there also, and follows them.

The wild dogs - or maybe wolves, arrive at the mansion and it turns out they are being led by a werewolf. The werewolf used to work for the blond, but now works for her brother. The wolves attack the blond but the strong little girl - who we find out is an android of some sort - defends her. As the werewolf himself decides to attack, Hiro arrives on the scene and finds himself running in front of the blond to take the blow again. The blond takes this opportunity to kill the werewolf.

The blond grants Hiro life again and tells him that he’s lucky he’d make a good servant and therefore can stay with her forever. The spell wears off after a few days so she’d need to renew it constantly. She introduces herself as Hime, princess of the monsters.

Characters

Hiro

Calophi: Hiro really was a normal sort of guy before he met Hime. He didn’t have any interesting qualities and really the only thing that stood out about him was his willingness to put himself in danger to save someone else - though that someone was Hime both times, and the second time he reflected that it was like he was a different person. It could just be that he somehow feels an inspiration from Hime that causes him to do this. I don’t really see his personality getting more interesting, but I’m sure he’ll be “dying” more as the series goes on.

Hime

The princess of the monsters and in general a mysterious person. Although she resurrected Hiro, she didn’t do it because she needs servants (which she does) and he isn’t contracted to her either - she is higher up than a vampire and does not need to use their methods. It’s more likely she resurrected him because she was amused or because she knew he was her maid’s brother. She is very regal and rational, but also definitely strong, dangerous, and creepy. Assuredly both times she was saved by Hiro she could have taken care of herself.

Sawawa

Calophi: We have here your typical ditzy maid with big boobies, except she seems more off in the clouds instead of actually stupid, and she doesn’t seem to be clumsy either. Hime once said she wants Sawawa to stay as she is because she doesn’t ask questions like other humans. I think there’s a good chance she is more observant than she lets on and doesn’t need to ask questions. She definitely loves her brother - I wonder if she will ever be around to see him “die”.

Flandre

Calophi: We start off thinking Flandre is a supernatural child with obscene strength, but when the wolves break their teeth on her skin the werewolf comments that she is “another robot”. She doesn’t seem to have emotions, but is not unexpressive - she always has a wide-eyed-wonder sort of expression. She also understands human language but only speaks in gibberish - normally just stuff like “huga” over and over again. Only Hime can understand her. She’s probably just around to be a defender and won’t get much development.

Storyline Thoughts

Calophi: It seems pretty interesting - the angle of the “you’re resurrected now you get to stay with me” thing has been done, but not quite like this, with a monster princess and a younger boy. I’d definitely like to know more about the war that Hime is having with her brother and how exactly Hiro will fit into Hime’s life.

Eurkos: There isn’t a whole lot that interests me about this one. I’m not really a traditional monster fan. The stuff that I think is supposed to be interesting points aren’t really for me. Seeing what Hime is capable of is, for me, being covered by Murder Princess. War between Monsters and Humans has been done before, and always needs a catalyst like a resurrected human under the care of the princess of monsters in order to make changes and show that humans and monsters can coexist or what have you.

Final Verdict

Calophi: The animation is meh, but the opening and ending songs are both excellent and fitting to the series. I immediately recognized the ender as being done by the Ali Project, who also did the music in Avenger. There are elements in the storyline and characters I’m interested in as well, as I mentioned before. The 6 episode test has begun!

Eurkos: I didn’t like the animation. As I said with the storyline thing, I’m not very interested in that. Based on the fact that there’s a bunch of other stuff that I’ve decided to keep watching, I don’t think this one is making the cut. Just doesn’t do it for me, I guess. The only real reason that I’d keep watching it is to see Hime being hot. But, like I said, Murder Princess has that covered.

A seemingly desctructive interstellar war is errupting as it probably has been for some time. On the bridge of a certain warship, a frantic crew desperately tries to keep the systems online. An obvious hotshot member of the crew simply sneers, clutching a small object that looks like a drill. “Don’t lose your cool. C’mon… let’s show them just who they’re messing with!” The hotshot moves outside the ship (I’m not sure how he was breathing in space. Maybe it’s not in space, but at night?) and shouts “Gurren Lagann! Spin on!” Afterward the warship transforms into a giant robot. We are then left with the title screen.

After the energetic opening, we’re moved to a less energetic underground town, Jiiha Village, where a digger named Simon does a voice over to explain his situation. His job is to dig with a drill and expand the town, but he really does it because you can find treasures in there. He finds such a treasure, and it looks remarkably like the drill object that the hotshot guy on the battleship had. While he makes a necklace out of it, a group of girls comments on the fact that he’s a dirty loser.

While walking, he bumps into someone he knows. A guy named Kamina. Kamina tells him that the drill object looks good on him, as the drill is his soul. He then announces with exhuberance that his drill is a drill that will pierce the heavens. It quickly becomes obvious through antics that Kamina and his group, the Gurren-dan, dream of reaching the surface. It seems that others do not share their goals.

The Elder winds up locking Kamina in confinement after his failed attempt at getting to the surface, warning him that there’s nothing up there anyway. Kamina claims that he’s already seen it with his father, but is met with accusations of lying. They think his dad was crazy.

After an earthquake scares the townspeople, except for Kamina and Simon, into hiding, we get a feel for the situation in this town. They live in constant fear of earthquakes, because of cave-ins. Simon’s parents were both killed by an earthquake, and it seems that most of the people in the town are orphans of similar circumstances.

Simon seems to like digging enough that he digs for fun. On one such occasion, he finds another treasure glowing in a tunnel. He rushes off to find Kamina, and helps him escape from his confinement so that he can show him the “really huge face” that he found. They are caught by the elder, however, who gives Kamina a brutal lashing with the scabbard of the katana he carries around. Kamina takes it without flinching, even when hit in the face. The last hit of the lashing falls short when a big earthquake jostles everyone off of their feet. The town is flooded with light as a large object breaks through the ceiling of the town. The large object proves to be a monster.

After a huge display of bravado from Kamina, gunshots are heard hitting the monster. Upon looking up, Kamina and Simon see a woman sliding down a rope. She has a huge gun that she’s firing at the monster, and wears little clothing. After a fight and bickering between Kamina and the woman, Simon leads them to the “really huge face” that he found in the tunnel. They find out that the big face is some sort of vehicle, and that it seems to respond to the drill object that Simon found earlier. Simon uses the drill object as a key, and the big face sprouts arms and legs, and is immediately off. Kamina proves once again that he has a big mouth, and announced that Lagann, the big face which he just named, will destroy the monster. Through more antics and flailing around, they accidentally make the monster hit itself in the head. Then, through sheer chance, they discover that Lagann has a drill weapon. With this, Simon successfully defeats the big monster and flies it out of the town. They then realise that they themselves are out of the town. The woman identifies herself as Yoko, and the introduction is official.

After Lagann comes crashing down, Simon winds up with his face buried in Yoko’s chest. Not only does she not mind, but she pulls him back in when he gets up. It’s then shown that this is because she saw the other monsters behind them. It seems the surface world is infested with giant face-monsters.

Characters

Simon

Eurkos: Simon is the typical loser-kid-turns-hero. He’s shy and quiet, and is a perfect match for the accidentally-found mecha. I’m glad he’s not angsty or anything. He seems more innocent and open-minded than other protagonists, which will either make him fall farther when he does fall, or make him strong enough to not fall at all.

Calophi: It’s weird that Simon is a loser-kid, seeing as how without the job he does there would be no city expansion. He seems really young, though it could be that he has a growth thing going on and that’s why he was made a digger. He’s definitely innocent and a little skittish, but once he got the mecha started he was ready to rock, which was great. I hope he stays like this instead of becoming all angsty.

Kamina

Eurkos: Kamina acts like a guy who’s bark is worse than his bite. Something tells me that he’ll be able to back stuff up, though. He seems like he’s not afraid of anything, and fails to see the gravity of whatever situation he’s in. He also seems like a good person for Simon to be around. He’ll most likely back Simon up well.

Calophi: Kamina is full of testosterone and has a huge ego, but like Eurkos says I’m not all that sure that his statements about himself are as exaggerated as it seems. He’s a very fun-loving and optimistic sort of guy, and an older-brother type for Simon, which seems to be what Simon needs right now.

Yoko

Eurkos: Yoko is tough and smart, but still has her fair share of girlish-ness. She blushes and gets upset when Kamina calls her fatass, but then doesn’t seem to mind when Simon winds up buried in her chest. She and Kamina bickered for most of the episode, which leads me to think that they are similar people. She will also probably prove to be a good friend to Simon.

Calophi: “Doesn’t seem to mind” is putting it lightly - Yoko smiles up at Simon when he lands in her chest, and then squashes him there to protect him at the end of the episode. She’s a kick-ass sort of girl who dislikes being insulted but isn’t the type to beat someone up for an accident like other tomboy types. I liked the bickering between her and Kamina, and I’m thinking she’ll become an older sister type to Simon.

Storyline Thoughts

Eurkos: I’m a sucker for the post-apocalyptic stuff, which this seems to be. I’m already curious as to what happened to the planet, and why the big-face things are around. I also wanna know more about Lagann, and what his deal is. Knowing more about the war thing in the beginning and the transforming ship wouldn’t hurt, either.

Calophi: I’m actually not that curious about the storyline at all here. I enjoyed this show because it was, well, retarded. There is one point that I’m interested in though - why were these people underground? Did they go under while the planet was still thriving? Was the big-face-things the reason or some other thing that left the faces behind? Why did all the underground communities lose contact with each other?

Final Verdict

Eurkos: Not the top of my list, but not the bottom. Easily makes it into the 6-episode test. I very much hope, should it past the 6 test, that the ending isn’t bad. Gainax tends to not manage budget properly, and then flake out on the ending because of it. Here’s hoping they have it planned out.

Calophi: This is actually nearer to the bottom of my list. After watching so many series this season, I’ve been growing less and less interested in it. It still makes it into the 6 episode test of course, and as long as it stays as light and fun as it is now and doesn’t drive deep into angst, it’ll pass.

Yorito has left his home while it’s still dark out so he can take a picture of the sky as the sun is rising. As he sets up, he notices a girl kicking a drink machine as it has ate her change. He tells her why he’s out so late as he tries to get her drink from the machine, but by the time he gets it out, she’s disappeared and he misses his picture, and is left holding her tomato bean-paste drink.

That day he relays the events to his friend, Mana, and tells her he can’t give up taking pictures of the sky because the sky is always changing. After school, they both go out to buy a cake and a gift, and visit his sister, Aono, who is sick in the hospital. Mana’s sister, Koyori, is also there. In the middle of their get-together, Yorito peeks out of the blinds and runs outside to take a picture of the setting sun against the church.

Later, Mana scolds Yorito for abandoning his sister and sends him to the store to buy ginger. On the way there, he gets caught in the rain and encounters the same girl as the night before. Her money is stuck in the machine once again, and they get the drink out once again. She gets him to taste the weird drink and as it thought it tastes awful, though she thinks it’s good. She gets him talking about the sky again when she shows him a picture, and as he does she really gets into it.

Suddenly it seems as though the girl is transported into a clear, sunny field instead of the rainy night that it is, though it seems to just be her imagination. As it fades away she’s left crying. She tells him her name is Matsuri and she leaves her sky-print umbrella with him as she runs off.

The next day, a middle-aged man, who we see looking for someone earlier in the episode and found her (a little girl) curled up in a box, has returned from a convenience store with food. She asks if he found their target, and when he says yes she asks if she can meet it this time, to which he replies, “Probably”. Yorito scans his own picture collection and realizes that the picture he took of the sunset and the church the other day is a close match to Matsuri’s from last night.

The scene shifts to the church, where Matsuri is sleeping, and someone has obviously just entered it. It’s the man we saw earlier, and he draws a sword on Matsuri and attacks, though she manages to keep dodging. Outside, Yorito hears the commotion and runs to the church. As the man is about to kill Matsuri, Yorito enters the church and sees the scene, recognizing Matsuri immediately.

Characters

Yorito

Calophi: Yorito seems barely functional in the real world, being constantly distracted by the sky to the point where he neglects his own ill sister. It isn’t that he’s a bad guy, just a bit obsessed and fixated on the sky. He doesn’t seem to have any family besides his sister. I think that the reason he was worried about Matsuri enough to check out the church to begin with is because he had associated her with the sky during their last conversation. I also think that he doesn’t have any particular powers, and just happens to have managed to input himself in a strange situation that he now needs to learn to deal with.

Will It Work: I still don’t have a good opinion of this guy. He seems entirely disconnected with life an the universe. He tries, but obviously seems to have an eye that is different than everyone else. Note the doll in the beginning of the episode. He thinks it’s cute. On the other hand, is is observant enough, and thorough when he is sufficiently motivated. Hopefully, the experience with Matsuri will shake him up and connect him with ‘reality’. My prediction: look for him to be a combination of the absent-minded professor and the artist goes to war. With a new focus in life he will attack it in the same way he does his photography, while at the same time providing dramatic scenes angsting about how he just Wants To Go Back To His Art. As an (apparently) main character, expect him to be a plot point.

Matsuri

Calophi: Though she seems to be very kind and dynamic, I think Matsuri is very lonely and maybe depressed. I also have suspicions that she is a vampire, as she has never seen the sky - or at least not since she was very young - and has a very strange sense of taste. She only appears at night, too, which is suspicious in conjunction with the other evidence, and then it’s apparent she’s being hunted. However, there isn’t much more we know about her at all.

Will It Work: Well, we’re given to believe she also has the artist’s eye, and she is able to pick up and remember abstract information quickly (the clouds). She seems to have an attraction to beautiful things, note the amount of time she spends looking at the stained glass windows of her church. Are all anime females either brawlers, protected pacifists, or trained in Olympic level gymnastics? Oh well. Actually, the first thing I thought when I saw her is ‘What a great outfit!’ She has youthful style and a very young approach to life sometimes (like her arguments with the vending machine). It reminds me of a certain famous Captain (later Major) Misato. Like Calophi, I believe she is some sort of supernatural being, likely a vampire, and not a yuan-ti. Further, I think Yorito is going to trade on his relationship with her to introduce her to his sister. Lastly, I think despite what I said earlier about her youthful style, I think she is desperately unhappy, and puts up a façade of cheer, like so many other sensitive anime girls, but I’d especially like to point to Mai at this point. Watch for her to ‘adopt’ Yorito and argue with Mana (the hot vs. cold personality conflict).

Mana

Calophi: Mana is the girl-next-door type of girl, and has graciously taken Yorito into her home, which they seem to be sharing alone, and has possibly also taken charge of the care of Koyori, who is supposed to call her Onee-san. She doesn’t seem to have parents either - or if she does they’re rarely home, as she seems to do the cooking. There’s a possibility that Mana has some feelings for Yorito other than friendship, but then again she may also just see him as close family.

Will It Work: Why does she look out for him? Somewhere in the back of my mind I’m thinking step-sibs. Who knows? Like so many other youth shows, the Parents are Absent. We know at least some of them are dead. Mana to me is a cypher right now, she’s little more than her junior mother stereotype, but without the peace and traditionalism of a Yamato Nadesico. She also has a younger outlook on life: she seems to be popular at school, and cannot articulate social mores to Yorito. Maybe the grown-up artist with the Chinese sword will chop her in two.

Aono

Calophi: Aono is sick in the hospital and we aren’t told with what, though it could be that it’s related to why Yorito is currently living with Mana (as in, her parents died from the same cause). She is very quiet and soft-spoken, and seems to hold her emotions inside. I think there’s a good chance that she is a vampire or will become a vampire through the course of the series.

Will It Work: For the most part, she is presented as the Emotionless Girl, with slightly dark overtones. She’s repressing, there seem to maybe be some winces of abandonment or long held pain in her scene. If she were happier, I’d call her a Hotaru Tomoe clone, but she’s not happy, and isn’t that the point of her character? We know she’s fairly intelligent, but also perceptive. Remember the scene with the drapes being closed? Is this a sign of rebellion against Yorito? Does she have porphyria and be hurt by sunlight? Or, my guess, she knew not to let her brother see the sky. Forethought people. She has an entire basket full of discarded toys to learn how to deal with her brother. Prediction: she’s not going to become crucial until past ep 8, but watch for her to be part of, or make herself, the grand revelation.

Koyori

Calophi: Mana tells Koyori to call her “onee-chan”, but Koyori feels uncomfortable doing so, possibly because they aren’t blood related and Koyori is being taken care of by Mana (though there is no proof of this as of yet). She’s very polite - almost to a fault - and cheerful. She spends a lot of her time visiting Aono in the hospital.

Will It Work: Shinobu anyone? She’s the cute little girl. Watch her either be a pawn of Artist-with-Sword, or to makes friends with his little Hunter Girl (I wonder what her creed is, anyway?) to stop the whole countdown to zero. We haven’t seen a lot of her, but it’s kinda obvious her character type. She’s the nice kind girly girl who has the traditional genre roles, and politeness. Merge her with Mana and you’d have a Yamato Nadesico. Usually this kind of character exists to be solely the cute kid, or as a contrast to a tomboy or tsundere main character. I’m hoping that won’t be the case here.

Hunter Guy

Calophi: This guy is probably totally badass, but a nice guy when he needs to be, as evidenced by the little girl he seems to be taking care of. We don’t know exactly what he is hunting or why, but it’s sure to be an interesting discovery.

Will It Work: He’s obviously a caretaker of the little girl, and possibly a servant of someone else. Usually this character type doesn’t start wars, they just very, very efficiently finish them on someone else’s orders. Look at the glasses, and yakuta. Those are the signs of a gentle man, and an intellectual, artists and doctors wear those in anime. Honestly, when I first saw him, I thought he was a nice guy doctor. In my Ranma-centric world, if Koyori is the future Kasumi Tendo, this guy is Dr. Tofu. If he doesn’t end up becoming a recurring threat (see the Dragon) watch him mentor yorito, and leave him a sword. Not likely to happen though.

Hunter Girl

Calophi: This girl seems to be a bit of a rich brat, but at least she’s a quiet one and not a loud one. I don’t think she’s related to the Hunter Guy at all, so her origins should be interesting, and I predict some sort of special powers for her as well.

Will It Work: If she’s not a mage, she’s a token. Sorry, Cal. I doubt she’s a mage. She also game me the ojou brat feelings. She might be teasing, but there is certainly a feeling of… shall we say entitlement? The whole Foie gras scene though shouldn’t be taken to seriously as a character indicator. It has all the smoothness of a frequently and well played conversation. My guess is she’s another orphan, possibly the daughter of Artist-with-Sword’s boss. I do see her future association with Koyori to have some mellowing effects on her.

Storyline Thoughts

Calophi: I was actually afraid for a bit that there wasn’t going to BE a storyline, so when the hunter stuff came up at the end I was pleasantly surprised and no longer disappointed in the series. We don’t really know what the storyline really IS, but at least we know there’s a hint of one and that it won’t be a boring romance/slice of life thing.

Will It Work: I totally thought this was going to be a slice of life drama like Aria the Animation, but it wasn’t! Most of my predictions are listed above. It could go one of two ways. Hopefully I’m wrong. This happily follows the trend of having a completely written story before they animate, they don’t seem to be floundering or reaching for gags to carry the ep. That might just be the genre though.

Final Verdict

Calophi: I was on the verge of ditching this until the very end of the episode. The art is great, but the characters on their own were…mediocre at best. This is passing to my 6-episode test due to intrigue alone, and I have no idea how far it will get if it doesn’t keep up with the supernatural stuff.

Will It Work: We already know there will be more supernatural stuff, they just have to set it up. Since I’m not allowed to comment on production quality or values, I’ll watching this, it’ll be interesting, and I’ll be seeing what our Defender does with his life. Not on my top list, but…I’ll follow up on it. If for no other reason than to see what else Matsuri has besides that great hat.

Ikuto runs away from home due to relationship issues with his father, and while on a boat during a storm he falls overboard and is given up on by the crew. It seems like he is drowning, but then he wakes up on an island where a cute girl - Suzu - is trying to “save” him. She ends up making him worse and bringing him back to her grandmother’s house. Suzu’s Grandmother tells a story of how a boat of Japanese people were shipwrecked on that island and named the island Airantou after the ship.

Ikuto is put in Suzu’s care and the two travel back to her place where they are attacked by Ayane, who wants Ikuto for herself. Suzu thwarts Ayane’s efforts and the two arrive at Suzu’s, where Ikuto takes a bath and she joins him, causing him more than a little discomfort. When his pervert-induced nosebleeds subside, Ayane kidnaps Ikuto and runs away from him, only to be tripped by a waiting Rin, who gets all shy when she tries to talk to Ikuto about going back to her place. Yukino shows up with Kuma Kuma and tries to get Ikuto to go on a date with her. This irritates Rin and Ikuto escapes as Rin and Yukino fight.

As Ikuto passes through the village he thinks about how he needs to escape as soon as possible, and is very wary of women at this point. He runs into Chikage, who he thinks is a nice girl at first, but then she gets close to him with a scary expression and he runs away from her, only to almost be shot by a miko-girl hiding in the bushes.

At this point Ikuto is now running away from pretty much the entire village, but before he is caught Suzu jumps out and stops their advance. Her grandmother shows up and explains that he’s the only man on the island. Appalled by the notion of man-hungry women, he runs away again.

Ikuto tries to escape the island over and over again, driven by memories of his father’s taunts, but the whirlpools surrounding the island are too much for him. He finds a gap between two whirlpools, but is blocked by a whale and eventually learns that beyond that gap is the biggest whirlpool around the island. Saved by Suzu, he lays on the back of the whale and accepts he can’t leave the island, and then gets a nosebleed as he realizes how little Suzu is wearing.

Characters

Ikuto

Calophi: He’s a really nice and determined kid, and I guess the series wouldn’t even be happening if he wasn’t sort of innocent-ish. Any playboy in this situation would have let himself be passed from woman to woman, but it’s funnier to watch a guy struggle, I guess. I’m surprised he isn’t dead with how much blood he lost in this episode. Someone get this boy some nose-tampons!

Suzu

Calophi: Suzu must be the most innocent, ignorant girl in the village. Even the main girls younger than her know what a date is, and the difference between boys and girls. I have no idea why her grandmother would raise her this way, but it will turn out to be her advantage, because she will be the only girl that doesn’t want to, well, possess Ikuto, which will make him be in her company more often. As the series goes on, she will almost assuredly end up being jealous and not know why.

Suzu’s Grandmother

Calophi: Suzu’s Grandmother is taking the role of the mentor or overseer here. She will most likely keep herself out of the “unique” situations that Ikuto will get himself into and just observe what’s going on. She probably hasn’t had this much entertainment in years.

Ayane

Calophi: I don’t like Ayane. I think she’s annoying, and sort of reminds me of a combination of the Shiho’s from Mai HiME/Mai Otome. What will she do once she has Ikuto? I bet she has no idea. She probably just doesn’t want Suzu to have him, and possibly considers herself a rival to Suzu in general. She’ll probably be the first to realize she loves Ikuto further on in the series.

Rin

Calophi: Rin is strange. She started off looking like she was the stoic tough-girl type, but she got all blushy and giggly and weird when she was trying to get Ikuto to go back to her place. She’ll have funky mood swings like that throughout the series, most likely.

Yukino and Kuma Kuma

Calophi: How old is this girl, like, seven? Which mother is letting this kid run around terrorizing a boy with a bear? She’s much too young to even consider having Ikuto as hers, though at least it seems that she only knows what dates are and not what being with a boy could eventually lead to, which is good. I’m sure later we’ll be told how she met Kuma Kuma (I’m almost positive Kuma means bear in Japanese), but I don’t really care about her.

Chikage

Calophi: Now Chikage is an interesting character. Usually girls that look like her are really sweet, and she seems that way at first, but then she goes all mad-scientist and wants to use Ikuto for research, and that’s just hilarious. I totally dig the evil glasses-girl thing she has going on. I’m sure we’ll be seeing weird inventions from her later.

Miko Girl

Calophi: Although Ayane is wearing more traditional clothing, this girl wearing red seems to be more miko-ish. They haven’t given her name yet, but since in all the group shots she’s one of the people that gets to be clearly drawn, she’ll have more of a role to play in the future.

Storyline Thoughts

Calophi: The storyline…meh. I don’t see much happening really - he’ll end up spending time with each girl one by one and making them fall in love with him somehow. That’s how this sort of thing works. What would make this series good or bad is how he does it, and how the characters develop because of their interactions with him. Also, I feel the need to predict… the first girl wins.

Eurkos: I didn’t really have anything to add to the character thoughts (again). As a first episode in a series like this, we didn’t really get to see a whole lot of character personality except for Ikuto and Suzu. Like Calophi said, storyline probably won’t be the main drive here. It’ll be mostly back story of things about the island, and character development.

Final Verdict

Calophi: Even though it seems like it will be fairly predictable, my interest in how relationships will develop lets it pass to the 6-episode test. It better be damn good for me to keep up with it though, because besides character development I can’t think of anything else in particular it has going for it at this point.

Eurkos The fact that its as light as it is might be what gets me to keep watching. It was kind of amusing for the most part. It’ll have to pick up some slack to keep it going, but it could be a refresher series, so the other ones I’m watching that are story heavy don’t make me feel burnt out.

Amami Haruka auditions to be an idol singer, and even though she was extremely nervous and her voice was scratchy, she made was accepted to go to Tokyo to become an idol. As she cheers, a silver and gold trinket flies out of her envelope into the air. In Tokyo, a blue-haired woman lays flowers on a grave, and another blue-haired woman similar in appearance to the first is riding on a boat with a small blond girl. The second blue-haired woman has Haruka’s profile on her cell phone, and frowns at it.

At the train station, Haruka has a phone conversation with her friend, Yayoi, because her Yayoi can’t come pick her up in Tokyo. The reception goes out because of the interference from the asteroid belt surrounding Earth, and in her haste to catch her train she drops her Trinket. A girl by the name of Hagimara Yukiho returns it on the train, and has the same trinket. The two decide to go to their dormitory together. Haruka notices her trinket glowing, but gets distracted from mentioning it.

In Tokyo, Ritsuko, apparently an Idol pilot, cajoles another purple-haired Idol pilot into meeting Haruka at the station. Yayoi also shows up at the station wearing a penguin costume for Haruka, but when they call each call Haruka they find out that Haruka has already left the station and is pretty much lost in Tokyo. Yukiho is with her.

In some sort of base, an alarm is going off and they confirm that a “drop” is happening - when an asteroid from the belt surrounding Earth is going to crash into Earth. They send out a giant mecha (known as an Idol), Nebule, piloted by Makoto, to destroy it. Haruka and Yukiho are in that area and run to see it. Haruka is fairly impressed, and notices her trinket glowing again. In the background is the first blue-haired woman from earlier, watching them fondly. Elsewhere, the other blue-haired girl, now known as Chihaya, and the blond child are coming ashore.

Haruka and Yukiho’s crude map has led them to the sea, where they see the beautiful aftermath of the meteor being destroyed. The first blue-haired girl is still watching them. Haruka notices her trinket glowing again, and Yukiho says hers hasn’t glowed at all. We also learn that the asteroid belt used to be known as “the moon”. As she talks, we see her on a video screen inside another giant mecha, who begins to move on its own. The sealed Prometheus 1 escapes, breaks through all the doors, and leaves the base.

The blond girl from earlier appears on the railing by the sea and tells Haruka and Yukiho she wants to play. Chihaya holds a laser knife to the other blue-haired girl’s throat. Chihaya says she never thought the other woman would come in person. The blond says she wants Haruka to come with her and proceeds to jump off the railing with Haruka in tow.

The earthquake from Prometheus’s escape allows the blue-haired woman to escape Chihaya’s grasp. They both witness Prometheus surfacing out of the sea, and the mecha’s gravity field is making debris float in the air. Both women refer to it is “Imber”. Blue-haired woman seems happy to see Imber, while Chihaya is not. The blond escapes, leaving Haruka in midair. Imber looks at her, and when she starts to fall it catches her in its cockpit. Chihaya has called her own Idol, Prometheus 3 - Nubilum, to the scene, while Haruka sits bewildered by the images of herself in Imber’s cockpit.

Characters

Amami Haruka

Calophi: Haruka seems to be a really simple girl who gets nervous easily and worries about silly things, such as wearing penguin panties instead of nice panties to Tokyo. In fact she seems to be associated with penguins a lot - her phone is a penguin and Yayoi dresses as a penguin to meet her at the station, and the episode is called “Penguin Going to Tokyo”. Haruka seems to be very cheerful and tries to keep her cool even when she’s afraid. We don’t really know how talented she is as a singer, but it’s clear that as a pilot she will be the center of things.

Hagimara Yukiho

Calophi: Yukiho is built to be the quiet and understanding girl of the series. She also may be a narcoleptic or something, as she falls asleep at random times, in the middle of conversations, though it also may just be a quirk for her character. She’s got a very kind personality and I’m not sure she will be able to easily adjust to piloting an Idol.

Blue-haired Woman

Calophi: Even though we don’t get her name, it’s clear that this woman is very important to the series. She seems like an officer or something for the Idol people, and will probably take a roll similar to that of Misato from Evangelion, like a guardian figure. She doesn’t seem to be a very dynamic character, but is fairly cool and collected, and able to really get around in high heels, which is always impressive.

Chihaya

Calophi: Chihaya seems to be a very unhappy person, or at least unsatisfied. She looks an awful lot like the blue-haired girl, and I’d be surprised if they weren’t sisters that ended up on different sides of…whatever’s going on with the Idols. Chihaya pilots an Idol herself, so maybe the original organization ended up splitting due to conflicting views.

Blond Girl

Calophi: This girl is a brat, and she has some really weird skills. She can jump really high and far, and she’s got a lot of strength too, to be able to jump with another girl twice her size in tow (or to even be able to pick up Haruka at that age is unnatural). Chihaya told her to back her up, so she must have more skills, and perhaps an Idol of her own.

Purple Haired Girl

Calophi: This girl is also a brat, but more along the lines of stubborn than a rich brat like the blond girl. She probably is living in the dormitory that Haruka is heading to, making her an Idol pilot also. She’s also probably fairly strong, since we see her training with weights.

Ritsuko

Calophi: Ritsuko also lives in the dormitory and is a lot more happy-go-lucky than the purple-haired girl. Probably also an Idol pilot, she is the inventor type of character. She’d managed to rig up purple-haired girl’s room without her knowing it so that when a cord is pulled, the bed tilts down and a tunnel dumps whoever’s on the bed outside the dorm. She’ll probably be pulling out comic-relief situations like that throughout the series.

Makoto

Calophi: Makoto is the pilot of Nebule who destroys the meteor in this episode. We only get a brief glimpse of Makoto, but from that I can deduce that she is the wild girl of the series. She’s very confident in herself and seems to really enjoy piloting her Idol.

Yayoi

Calophi: Though she seemed like a minor character of this episode, as Haruka’s friend I’m sure we’ll be seeing Yayoi around every so often. She’s also a cheerful girl and cares about Haruka a lot, suffering stares at the train station in order to wear a penguin costume to greet Haruka in. She’s involved with acting and it’s possible that she may be a normal-idol herself, if not an Idol pilot or an eventual Idol pilot.

Storyline Thoughts

Calophi: We now know that the moon has been blown to bits, and those bits are crashing to Earth. How did this happen? I’d really like to know! It’s also clear that there are two different organizations with Idols at odds with each other. I’d like to know what sort of major difference would cause that sort of contention since as of now we haven’t been shown anything deeper to be going on other than destroying moon-pieces. Finally, what is up with Imber being sealed, and what are the requirements to be compatible with an Idol? I’m VERY interested in the storyline of this series!

Eurkos: Like Calophi said, I’m interested in this series as a whole. There’s a lot of questions that will probably have interesting answers, like the moon being destroyed, or the compatibility things with the Idols, or why Imber is sealed, or why he’s a stalker mecha. Interesting stuff.

Final Verdict

Calophi: This series has definitely captured my interest and passes to the 6-episode test. I really wasn’t sure how much I’d like it at first, but having girls doing the piloting really appeals to me, and the art is great, and the storyline, though maybe it’s been done before, is still interesting enough that I want to know how this world got the way it is today. Now that I’m done writing this review I can finally watch episode two!

Eurkos: Definitely gonna keep watching. This one’s closer to the top part of my list, though not one of the top three. I really don’t have anything more to add that Calophi didn’t already say, which is why I didn’t do character comments. I may have more for the episode 3 review. We’ll see.