July 2008 Archives

The Daughter of Twenty Faces Episode 11

Summary: Shunka joins Chiko and Tome for fun and sun at the summer resort. Chiko can't keep her mind off Ken and the strange person who attacked her at the island. While walking along the beach, Shunka spots another girl who could almost be her twin. While up in the middle of the night, she hears someone running around the cottage and follows the sound of the footsteps. When she investigates, she's confronted with a mirror that frightens her. The others find out that she had a twin sister who passed away by drowning. Shunka believes her sister holds a grudge because Shunka didn't do enough to save her. The next day Chiko attempts to explain away Shunka's fears, since she doesn't believe in ghosts. While running to retrieve her sister's favorite candy, Shunka hears an odd voice in her head. The voice belongs to the white-haired individual who nearly hurt Chiko, someone out to kill Twenty Face's men one-by-one.

The next day, Chiko's Aunt attempts to kill her by dropping a flower pot on her head, and Chiko scoffs at her increasingly sloppy methods. When she arrives at school, she finds Shunka acting strangely. In the meantime, Akine gets a visit from the "white-haired devil", who asks if he would like to find his little sister who was lost in the war. He becomes hypnotized by the person's words. He arrives at Chiko's house, and Tome seems to have fallen under the spell as well. Later, Tome, Shunka and Akine arrive in Chiko's room and force feed her pills. Tome pricks her finger and this breaks the trance, realizing that the pills are poison. Chiko runs off, attempts to go to her Uncle's house (he's out of the country), and then continues on to town, intent on continuing her search.

Thoughts: Well, I was silly to think that the creepy white-haired person would stay away, since it now seems that he/she (still can't tell!) is going to become the next "villain" of the series. It's funny, now Chiko's Aunt's half-hearted attempts at killing Chiko almost seem quaint and amusing. Chiko is so well-trained in the thieving arts that she can dodge flower pots that are pushed at her, so it's almost like a game. In any case, need more info on this creepy character now plz. All we really know is that he/she is related to Twenty Faces in some way and is now out to kill members of his gang (most of whom are dead already anyway, at least as far as we know). Perhaps some fleshing-out will occur later on.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about the whole weird hypnosis deal that he/she uses, though. It's creepy and all, which is a plus, but on the other hand it seems really kind of corny. In a really "Bwa ha ha! Now do my bidding!" kind of way. This enemy is skirting the line between threatening and goofy, though the show has done a good job so far of maintaining the drama, so I guess I'll hope for the best and hope the baddy has a bit more up his/her sleeve.

I also have to just note - lol prerequisite beach episode. Granted, it could have been much more silly and fanservicey than it actually was, but I always have a chuckle at these anime cliches, since they seem to show up in even some of the best shows. Heck, if Kaiba had a beach episode, I don't know how surprised I'd actually be (though that would probably be one really screwed-up beach...)

Well, this'll be the last episode of Twenty Faces for a while, at least until more get subbed. It's been very entertaining so far, and I'm definitely around for the long haul. Or at least the other half of the season :)

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The Daughter of Twenty Faces Episode 10

Summary: Chiko, her aunt, and Tome arrive at the island. Ken is already there, attempting to get information about the jewel out of a local thug. Tome uncharacteristically tells Chiko that she has a bad feeling about the island, and that Chiko shouldn't go anywhere alone. Ken happens to walk past them going the other way, but signals Chiko to say nothing. She's happy at least to know that he's ok. Suddenly a member of the crew filming there rushes up and tells him that the producer was murdered and the jewel stolen. At the island house the remaining members of the crew all start to accuse each-other, and Chiko's Aunt considers this a perfect opportunity to get rid of Chiko. Staring out the window, Chiko sees a light and goes to investigate - it's the ember on the end of Ken's cigarette. Ken is suffering with his loss and doesn't really want to hear what Chiko has to say. That night, Chiko decides to share a futon with Tome, but leaves during the night to search for clues to the whereabouts of Twenty Faces and to look for Ken.

While in the woods, she sees the glow of the gemstone and follows it until she finds a hill that's hollow. There's a cave which looks similar to Twenty Face's hideout, though when she enters the inner portion, the place is a shambles. However, there's a voice and the glow of the gemstone. It turns out that there are two stones - Twenty Faces had one, and this person has the other. The mysterious woman attacks Chiko and ties her down to a dissection table before being stabbed in the back by one of Ken's knives. Chiko eventually gains the upper hand, but once defeated, the nameless person falls apart into pieces, like a doll. Chiko faints, and Ken leaves her where Tome will find her. As they're leaving on the ferry back, Chiko's aunt tries to push her overboard, but Chiko notices before she can attempt it.

Thoughts: I have to say that this episode was rather creepy. First of all, with Ken sneaking around and acting all bitter, it was hard to keep from wondering if maybe he was responsible for the producer's murder and the subsequent theft of the jewel. Secondly, that doll person was just unsettling. I'm really kind of disappointed that she kind of broke into a bunch of lifeless pieces, though, because I think she might have been an interesting recurring character. Though that isn't to say she isn't still alive and that the whole "death" thing was just some illusion to distract Ken and Chiko. Considering that she seems to have some previous connection to Twenty Faces, I suppose I wouldn't be surprised if she turned up again. Actually, I couldn't really tell for sure if she was female or not - the character was very androgynous, with a mid-range voice, so who knows? Now I really want to know more.

I hope things don't become "Chiko's Aunt's murder plot of the week". I'd just as well like to see Chiko out of there somewhere else with Tome and Shunka, like in the credits, but I couldn't say how accurate a depiction of the story those scenes are. I'm really just getting sick of the Aunt and her plotting. I mean I actually expected her to be out of the picture by the time the first episode was over, but she just keeps coming back. Gyah, DIAF already.

I'm kind of hoping for a Ken-centric episode in the future. Like I'm sure I've mentioned, it would be good to learn his background more completely and see how he's a counterpart to Chiko, especially since they're really the only two left from the gang and they're both probably going to have to work together to locate Twenty Faces. I love Chiko, to be sure, but let's show some love to the other characters, too. Especially when they're hot and mysterious :)

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The Daughter of Twenty Faces Episode 9

Summary: Chiko's Aunt invites her out during her school holiday, but Chiko refuses, somehow just knowing that her Aunt would use the opportunity to try and kill her in some manner. Instead she goes to visit Shunka at her home, and Shunka appears to have some juicy information about the true identity of Twenty Faces. Shunka has gotten a crush on Twenty Faces, so is willing to search the world over for him. Shunka decides that they should form the "Detective Girls", and they wander around town "looking for clues". What they're really doing is looking for info on an actor named Koheiji, the man Shunka believes might be Twenty Faces. Sadly, a crazy old man working at the theater and suffering from post traumatic stress disorder from the war is the mysterious Koheiji, and the girls leave. On the way back, they're cornered by two thugs looking for the daughter of Twenty Faces, and using their "seven tools of the trade" (really just some trinkets) they manage to make their escape. However, there's another man on their tail.

Meanwhile, in the city, a much older-looking Ken remembers the night of the train fire and how he watched Chiko be taken away on an ambulance. An ambulance he believed was driven by the boss. The next day he follows the two detective girls. Once again he remembers back to the aftermath of the accident and how he first learned the news of Chiko's return to Japan, alone in a room. While the two girls are in a movie house, a movie preview featuring a radiant jeweled necklace reminds Chiko of a gemstone that Twenty Faces had, which happens to be the same jewel. Chiko learns about the location of the filming of the movie, and decides that she just might want to go on that trip with her aunt after all.

Thoughts: Considering that it's still so early in the series, I never really expect Chiko to locate Twenty Faces right away, but I always sort of hope that he's not really gone or that he might actually be watching over her from closeby. Looks like that role will have to go to Ken for a while, since he spent most of his time in this episode sneaking around and being emo about feeling abandoned by the boss. I would have been interested to learn a little bit more about his past than just the very short glimpse given of the time his mother left him, because it looks like he's going to be around and I'd like for him to be fleshed out a bit more. Not to mention he's become kind of attractive :) What can I say? I'm weak from time-to-time.

I'm glad that Chiko has found a friend in Shunka, but I do find her a bit irritating. On the one hand I'm sympathetic to her situation and being forced to marry early is pretty depressing. But holy crap does she do just about everything to cause trouble and ruin their detective work. I suppose this kind of characterization might be "charming" to some people, but I would really just like for her to shape up and learn a bit from Chiko rather than barging right in to dangerous situations. Something tells me that it's going to take some major disaster for her to get a clue in her head.

Of course, that's to the wayside for the time being considering that Chiko is essentially using her Aunt's desire to off her in order to get to the island where she believes Twenty Faces might be hiding out. How much you want to bet that the jewel being used in the filming is a fake? I hate to say it, but I don't think finding the man will be that easy. I'm hoping that Tome realizes that the Aunt is teh evilz though. It would be nice for her to not have to remain naive of the situation for much longer. I'm wondering what sort of evil scheme the Aunt will try to pull, which I'm sure we'll find out next episode.
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The Daughter of Twenty Faces Episode 8

Summary: It appears that the woman who was following Chiko is a reasearcher, and her subject is the person in the robotic suit, someone who was in an accident who she is helping to keep alive. Twenty Faces seems to be the only one who can contribute further to her research, and she feels that getting to Chiko is the key. At home, Chiko gets a visit from her uncle who asks for detective Akine's help in a matter. They go to visit a pharmeceutical company president, who in turn asks for help locating two of his researchers, Kayama Nozomi and Tsuya Takashi. Chiko believes that Twenty Faces had a connection to this project. At school Chiko receives a note, signed with Twenty Faces' mark, to meet him outside at 10pm. She believes it to be a fake, but Shunka also gets a hold of it. Shunka waits ouside and is picked up by Kayama, the researcher, who claims to be a messenger from Twenty Faces. Shunka is found out almost right away, but claims that she wants to have as much fun as she can before she turns 16 and has to enter into an arranged marriage. Chiko finds Akine and they chase after them.

Faced with police patrol cars, Kayama gives herself up and releases Shunka. While being questioned about the bank robbery, the man in the robot suit, Tsuya Takashi, bursts from the hideout and attacks, aiming to get Chiko. Kayama believed that their research was on the verge of creating something that could have won the war, so she continued it to get results even after the war ended. When Chiko is at a dead end and Tsuya is out of control, Kayama releases her hidden strength (having experimented on herself as well) and thwarts him. All he wanted to know was how to turn his body back to normal, which is something Chiko doesn't know. He passes away after speaking of something called "Twenty Faces' Legacy". Shunka decides her life will never be boring with Chiko around.

Thoughts: The "mecha suit" in this episode really could have made things laughable, but I think it did a good job of focusing on the tragedy of the situation rather than the fact that there was a Gigantor in their midst. Not to mention that it seemed like a real threat rather than a joke or just an excuse to show some neat fighting (which they did anyway, it was pretty cool). I'm liking how this is leading more into the mystery surrounding Twenty Faces. It seems like he had his hands in all sorts of different things and that there really was a purpose behind his thievery. I don't know if this makes him seem less benevolent or not, but his intelligence, which was already pretty apparent, shines through in spite of his absence. And I think this is a trait which he passed on to Chiko.

I often find myself so captivated by this show that I forget to take screencaps until the second half of the episode. I'm not quite sure what it is that intrigues me. The stories themselves aren't particularly complicated, but maybe that's part of the appeal. Each episode, new layers seem to be uncovered in the life of a very mysterious man, and Chiko, by choice more than anything, finds herself caught in the middle, pulled in different directions by people who want to find Twenty Faces for their own purposes.

I'm curious as to why Twenty Faces would have invested in research to create super soldiers in the first place, though, since he seems like a guy who doesn't really use violence to achieve his goals (as evidenced by the lack of firearms in his group). Maybe this attitude was a reaction to something else, but I still find it a bit incongruous and I hope there'll be more explanation on it later.

I knew that Shunka wouldn't remain a true adversary for long, and her situation is actually kind of sad - in her eyes, her life pretty much ends at 16, when she'll have to become a young wife in an arranged marriage. I'm wondering if hanging out with Chiko will help her to escape that fate and go off on her own, but it's too early to tell at this point. I'm interested to see how their relationship develops and whether maybe Chiko will end up taking her on as a protege, though I'm curious as to what skills Shunka may have already developed on her own.
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The Daughter of Twenty Faces Episode 7

Summary: One of the only survivors left on the train is Akine, the detective hired to track down Chiko and return her to her aunt. When she returns, her aunt puts on a good show of crying and being happy about her return, and Chiko is so depressed about the apparent death of Twenty Faces that she willingly eats the soup she's given, even though she knows that it contains her Aunt' poison. One of the maids, named Tome, takes special interest in Chiko's well being. While having breakfast in the garden, she's approached by a detective named Akechi who's searching for Twenty Faces, who he believes is still alive in spite of the train fire. This gives Chiko new hope and once again she refuses to eat the poisoned soup.

Chiko makes the decision to go to school as well. Most of the other girls are kind of weirded-out having a famous kidnapping victim amongst them. One day at lunch she's approached by a girl named Shunka, who seems to have a bullying streak in her. On her way home, Shunka's car splashes her with mud, which causes her to not notice a woman following her. At home, she spots Akechi in the garden and meets with him. When she agrees to take on the task of searching for Twenty Faces, Akechi produces a strange token - the family jewel which Twenty Faces stole from her Aunt. It had been laying in the garden in an easily-retrievable spot. Somewhere else, a giant robot breaks into a bank vault, then returns to meet the woman who was following Chiko.

Thoughts: After the dramatic end to the previous episode, we're thrust headfirst into a new mystery - what has become of Twenty Faces? It was almost certain from the nature of his "death" that he wasn't truly gone for good, and now that Chiko has gotten over her depression, she has a new purpose in life. It'll be interesting to see how she utilizes the teachings she received while living with the gang to find her mentor once again.

I find the thought of her going to school kind of amusing. I mean, I know this won't turn into some daily school life anime, but as evidenced by the fact that she dodged a volleyball that was heading right for her, she's quite different from the other students there. And of course we know by the end theme of the show that the bully character Shunka will end up being a comrade in the end, so any element of surprise was spoiled by that. Of course there are still mysteries to be discovered, like how the two will end up working together, who the mysterious that followed Chiko is, and what was up with the person in the robotic armor. While this show is very straightforward, it still does a good job of keeping things intriguing.

I'm still kind of irritated that we're seing more of the Aunt, since she's a completely unsympathetic character in my mind. Especially since she knows that Chiko is aware of her poisoning the soup, yet she keeps it up anyway. I'm wondering what's going to happen to her, though I hope it involves some really satisfying and ironic punishment. Burning to death in a giant tub of poisoned soup perhaps?
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The Daughter of Twenty Faces Episode 6

Summary: The airship is escaping with the Clock of the Three Magi, with the townspeople and police in ground pursuit. Luckily for the thieves, it's a decoy and the real clock is in a safe hiding place (it turns out that Twenty Faces stole the clock on behalf of the town's Mayor, keeping it from being sold at the end of the exhibition). In exchange, Twenty Faces is given some information that he requested. When Twenty Faces speaks of fashioning a successor to accomplish his plans, Chiko, who's eavesdropping on the conversation, wishes that it were her. As the train carrying the thieves leaves the platform, another group of sinister looking folks with guns hops on, and shoots Yasu-san right in front of Chiko. She's surprised to learn that Angie is a part of this group, along with Tiger, the man responsible for blinding Ken's eye. Angie corners Chiko in one of the compartments.

It seems Angie had been observing Chiko all along, and the two begin to battle it out. In the dining car, the rest of the gang, led by Tiger, begin to massacre the thieves. Skipper, having been shot, sacrifices himself by jumping out of the train with two enemies in tow. Outside the train, Angie makes a misstep and is swept away in the show and wind. When Chiko enters the train car, she discovers the carnage and the fact that most of her comrades are dead at the hands of Tiger's gang. Tiger confronts Twenty Faces about his bigger plan, while Chiko finds Muta-san dying in the corridor. Twenty Faces declines Tiger's offer to join forces. Just as Tiger is about to die from a gunshot wound, he sets the train car on fire and it drifts away, Twenty Faces still aboard. Chiko is left alone to watch in horror.

Thoughts: Hmm, well I got just about what I wanted here. First of all, Angie made her return, though in reality she wasn't really the cute young girl she appeared to be, but an agent of the only real major "villain" so far. It was a surprise, to be sure, but quite implausible. Of course, considering Chiko's skill with disguises and operating undercover, it's not really out of the question that another girl might share that skill and cunning, but the setup almost seemed a bit silly. I'm glad the story was in two parts since the direct continuity has been lacking so far in this series. To go right from episodic almost light-hearted into something so drama-laden, however, was a surprising and dramatic adjustment to have to make.

And good grief, boy was this a good lead-in to the rest of the series. Twenty Faces is now essentially out of the picture, so now Chiko, and Ken who I believe is still also alive, are the only ones left from the thieving group, and I assume that they'll have to continue where Twenty Faces was forced to leave off in his big "master scheme" that was alluded to. There's not enough info to speculate on what that scheme is for right now, but I'm betting that this is the subject that will consume the rest of the series. Now they just have to introduce the rest of the characters, and maybe give a little info on what Chiko's aunt is up to. Initially I thought that she'd be a minor character, but since she's shown up a few times since Chiko escaped, my hope is that there'll be more to tell with her.

I'm very excited to watch subsequent episodes now that I know there's an actual plot to be had. Thieving is one thing, but thieving with a purpose in mind is something that interests me to no end. Sadly, I'm fighting sleep right now so I don't think I can really discuss much further than this until next time.
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The Daughter of Twenty Faces Episode 5

Summary: Chiko and the gang are posing as a group of circus performers in order to get near to a U.K. city's treasure - the Clock of the Three Magi. Chiko gives a great performance as the tightrope act, but the real star of course is Twenty Faces, posing as the magician Baron Doyle. Chiko sneaks into the museum to catch a glimpse of the clock and meets a girl named Angie, daughter of the museum's security officer. They promise to meet again the next day. At dinner, Chiko shows Twenty Faces a map she's drawn of the museum, and becomes troubled realizing that the information she's giving to the thieves might in some way hurt her friend.

The next day she meets with Angie and they sneak in the museum a back way. Angie innocently reveals that it would be easy for a thief to sneak in that way, but if that happened her dad would probably lose his job. Chiko is troubled by the prospect.

While walking in town, Ken is attacked in an alley by a man named Tiger and loses the use of his left eye. Though Chiko is given the option of sitting out the job due to her feelings, with Ken out of the picture for the time being she feels compelled to take his place. During the circus troupe's final performance, Chiko leads her comrades into the museum. While the rest of the town is captivated by the acts, the theft of the Clock goes off without a hitch. Even though Twenty Faces says she did well, though, Chiko seems to feel a twinge of doubt in her mind while looking back at the museum. A final, haunting shot of Angie's face seems to indicate things to come.

Thoughts: I like how quickly things are progressing in this show. While it's interesting to see Chiko growing up and becoming more competent at her thieving job, I'm glad the writers don't seem to be dwelling on things for too long either. In the last episode she turned 12 years old, and now she's nearly 13, which leads me to believe that the real meat of the story is going to begin soon. Considering the huge deal with Ken's eye as well, I feel like the cozy atmosphere is about to be thrown for a loop. And dang, that last shot was one of the freakiest things I've seen in a long while (check it out here if you want to see - I warn you, though, it'll give you nightmares). If this betrayal doesn't lead to something more, I'm going to be very disappointed.

I'm glad the story went in this direction, however, because I think it's beginning to allow us to question the ethics of what Twenty Faces has been doing. Sure, it's all fun and games stealing stuff from rich aristocrats, but here we learn that people's livelihoods might be at stake and Chiko, for her part, seems to be feeling very torn about her actions. Twenty Faces isn't an evil man by any means, but all the same what he's doing is illegal and is affecting other people. It's still kind of hard to tell what his overall motives are, but if that's clarified in the future it might help to explain what's going on. Or complicate things further, who knows?

I'm curious if there'll be another major time-skip next episode, or what. I'd like to see more about Ken dealing with his injury and how it affects his job as a knife-thrower, if at all. To lose an eye would be a dramatic injury for anyone, but especially so for someone so dependant on having decent depth perception. Tiger, who I believe showed up briefly in an earlier episode, might become more important as well, so I'm wondering if there'll be a story arc coving some sort of conflict between him and Twenty Faces. Hopefully future episodes will have more to reveal.

Getting this one in a little late this time, oops.

Summary: A young man and his parents are awaiting the arrival of an egg. An egg which might contain some kind of monster, though Mom doesn't like to think so. The egg arrives in a clear case, and its nature is unknown. Jean heads off to bed, but sees a light streaking through the sky, which he follows until it hits the ground near a dead-looking tree. Peering around the corner, he sees a girl with butterfly wings for hair. It appears that she's being eaten by a lion, but it turns out that he asked her to extract its tooth. She says that she's a witch, and her name is Yadamon. Jean invites her back to his house since it's late. Outside she attempts to fly, though fails because she doesn't have a broom to use. The closest thing they have is an electric floor-scrubber, which she drags to the edge of a cliff and sits atop as she and Jean fall like a rock towards the water below.

Thoughts: Well, I have to say that Yadamon sure has a unique character design. For a little ten-minute episode, it was relatively charming, though a lot of the humor fell a bit flat. I get the impression that the show is aimed at a much younger audience than me, though, so I can't really fault it for being silly. Of course the question of "what's inside the egg" wasn't answered in this segment, though admittedly I'm not too torn up about not getting the answer.

Sometimes I wonder how I end up with this stuff, and it's a wonder that the majority of it isn't porny, because there are just times where I don't feel like looking up information on random shows. I guess I have too much faith that I won't end up with something like Kanokon.

In any case, I'll try to look at something a bit more substantial next week. Assuming I remember to do the writeup, that is.

Golgo 13 Episode 9-10

Summary: Golgo arrives as a prisoner in a prison from which no one has escaped. Golgo is there as a convicted criminal, though the charges certainly seem drummed-up. His purpose there isn't readily apparent, in any case. The warden is an easily-irritated little man who nearly shoots Golgo for making a smart remark. In the mess hall, he's approached by a man named Mouse, but their conversation is cut short when the guard shows up. Golgo punches the guy out, and gets sentenced to death for his insolence, which also means he gets transferred to the rougher death-row section of the prison. The man in the cell next to him, Blue Eyes Zalas, tells him about failed escape attempts by other prisoners, but Golgo asks him to pick up some auto parts from the in-house factory because he's going to attempt it anyway. After the pieces are in place, they plan to attempt their escape that night. Using home-made string-and-metal files they get the bars out of their windows and escape into the court yard and up a water pipe. Waiting at the top is Mouse, and behind him the warden. Mouse helps to create a distraction, and the two men escape, reach the mainland, and find Golgo's stash of clothes and his gun. He assembles the gun and kills the other man, his target from the start. His client couldn't wait for him to be executed at prison.

In the next episode, Golgo takes out a drug lord named Gabole via a quick shot to the head, along with his FBI escort. He then takes a flight to Hong Kong for his next assignment. Once he arrives he goes to meet the client, and he's a dead ringer for the man he so recently killed. It turns out that the man he shot was an imposter, and his real target is right here, trying to hire him for another job, which he refuses. Once he hears from his first client that the first hit was a setup to distract the FBI, he takes on the second job. What he guesses and then eventually confirms is that Spike Jordan, the man posing as Gabole, actually switched spots with him and was the one left alive. Golgo manages to reach the roof of the building where Spike Jordan is waiting, stealths his way in and manages to kill his target while the henchment all assume he's hiding out in an air-conditioning room.

Thoughts: This pair of episodes have started to at least take things in a more interesting direction. While they still essentially follow the same formula of Golgo taking out his target, the elaborate lengths to which Golgo goes to accomplish his mission have become more interesting, especially in episode 9. To get thrown in prison and then upgraded to death row, only to accomplish an impossible escape with the target and then shoot him after they've reached dry land is not only convoluted, it's damned dedicated if you ask me. Even if you don't really like him, you have to give the man props for never giving up (on his dreams!) and sticking with it until the bitter end. Still holding out for some more variety in the stories, but I think the show as a whole has improved quite a bit and has begun to showcase more interesting stories.

Episode 10 may not have been as successful, however, because the amount of going back and forth and trying to figure out who was the real Gambole became moot once you realize that Golgo had it figured out already. I mean, whether or not he'll kill his target is never really the question, but if there's a mystery going on I think the experience is cheapened if the main character doesn't have to figure out what's going on at all.

While I certainly wouldn't call this show the pinnacle of greatness, it's hit a rhythm that I can deal with and I don't feel any longer that I'm merely keeping up with it out of duty to its history as a long-running manga. I occasionally have to try and ignore some really insulting content (while I realize his womanizing ways are part of Golgo's character, I don't have to like or appreciate it) but overall at this point I don't feel like I've been wasting my time at all.
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Golgo 13 Episode 8 - Action 4/24

Summary: A man named Bentona, being tortured to reveal his knowledge of the location of a lot of money, still laughs because he's hired a famous skilled sniper to get rid of the man torturing him. The Don of the New York family took over Bentona's hard-earned territory, leaving his group in a shambles.

In order to discover Golgo's secret, a group of New York Family thugs follows him into an alley. One of the guys following him in a car takes video of his quick draw, as three lackeys are quickly killed. Even though his boss, the Target, has installed special bullet-proof glass in his residence, he still values his video tape data. When Bentona turns up dead, his wife urges Golgo to leave New York and forget the obligations. Golgo informs her and her drivers that, once he accepts a job, he follows through.

Three assassins are hired to take out Golgo, and they review the video, realizing that it only takes him about .17 seconds to draw his gun, and then .04 seconds to aim and shoot each man. Knowing this, they tail him and realize the vantage point from which he'll shoot. Even though the 700 meter shot is nigh impossible, what's more impossible is the bulletproof glass guarding the Don. The men assume he's failed his mission, and wait to ambush Golgo as he leaves. Amazingly enough, a messenger arrives to inform the men that the Don was shot. The answer lies in Golgo's skill as a shot and his M16 that was able to penetrate the glass after shooting the same point multiple times.

Thoughts: I have to admit, at this point I'm mostly just amused at how often random thugs underestimate Golgo's godly skills and the ways in which Golgo goes beyond everyone's expectations to totally pwn his targets and everyone who tries to get in his way. He has such a fearsome reputation that if I were an assassin hired to try to kill him, you can bet I'd leave the money and run as far away from the situation as I could get.

This episode introduces another of Golgo's ground rules. He won't let you stand behind him, of course, but he also doesn't give up on a job, either. He's there whether you want him or not - or whether the hiring client is still living or not. Even a killer has principles (and they must be working, because the man's been around for quite a while).

As usual, not much constructive commenting to do here. Golgo is what he is, whether you like it or hate it.
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Golgo 13 Episode 5 - 7

Summary: A man taken under the wing of a famous producer hires a talented sniper to kill the producer and take his place at an important business meeting. What he doesn't know is that his father has hired none other than Golgo 13 to kill him - at the same moment. Golgo meets his adversary, a Polish olympian turned sniper-for-hire, at a bar, then does video analysis on his shooting habits. Golgo uses this information to deflect the shot into the underling's head and take out the rival sniper before disappearing without a trace.

The next episode finds Golgo in a city during a political convention. When a "toy" gun of his is confiscated, he goes to retrieve it at the police station only to be followed by a man who seems to know who he is. They keep trying to catch Golgo doing something suspicious, but he manages to enter the convention and not be carrying any sort of firearm so there isn't much the police can do. However, he makes his kill and the investigators on his tail take him in, only after he punches one of them in the face and is arrested for assault. Try as they might, however, they can't find the evidence to convict him of the crime. The gun is long gone and there's an alternate answer for every detail the investigators try to pin on him.

Episode 7 takes place in London. Simpson, a violinist for the London Symphony orchestra, breaks a string while performing a solo and is booed off the stage. From that point on, he's unable to perform in front of others and his life begins to fall apart. He's replaced at a charity concert by Kerensky, a Russian rival, and this causes him so much anger that he fills a suitcase with cash and hires Golgo to shoot the G string from the man's violin so that he'll experience the embarrassment that Simpson felt. Golgo uses a modified rifle and is of course successful, but what no one could have suspected was Kerensky's ingenuity and talent could help him overcome the hurdle that Simpson could not.

Thoughts: While I still found episode 5 to be too formulaic, parts of 6 and 7 started to break the mold a bit which is something I think could help this show improve a lot. I actually enjoy this show more than a lot of other people I know because can sort of separate the classic aesthetic and iconic character from the, well, mysogyny and overall bland personality of the "hero". Essentially, though, the less the story focuses on Golgo and his antics, generally the more successful the episode is. I maintain that his behavior is excusable as a tool to revealing the story surrounding the supporting characters, but doesn't really make sense as the focus. I've probably mentioned this before, but I think it's helpful to compare this show to Akagi, another anime with an invincible protagonist. The difference between the two is that Akagi Shigeru was written to be an interesting, disgusting and fascinating character in addition to possessing talents that, frankly, frightened those around him with their ungodliness. Golgo is not an interesting guy, and until there's some backstory (which won't happen) or something else that'll make him more than just this unsmiling thug, I'd rather he just stay in the background. Heck, he has little to no dialogue most of the time anyway.

I think my favorite episode out of this trio was the last one, since it was the first one I can think of where the sniping hasn't been about just shooting some random dude in the forehead. The mission actually required some finesse, and the reasoning was set up beforehand through the eyes of the client, rather than as a setup being reported to Golgo after the fact. And it wasn't really about whether Golgo could accomplish the feat of severing the violin string or not, we all know he's superhuman and never fails a mission, but the best part of the episode was seeing the horror on Simpson's face as his rival rises gracefully from the ashes of the horrible situation that defeated Simpson.

Episode 6 also had its moments, including Golgo holding balloons with his normal grim-looking face. I wouldn't let my kids near him, that's for sure. It's unrealisting but terribly amusing to watch how he systematically outsmarts the police and continually evades arrest even though everyone knows full well that he just shot a guy. The plastic gun concept was interesting, though I wonder if that's actually based on any real-life item or whether it's just something made-up for the show. I'm tempted to bank on the latter, but the other firearm information presented in the show has seemed pretty believable, at least to this untrained eye, so who knows?

Conclusion so far: Golgo is a douche and your enjoyment of the show will probably ride on your ability to ignore him. It's good for some lulz and occasionally goes for something a little beyond that.
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Golgo 13 Episode 4 - Pretty Woman

Summary: A prostitute-turned-mob-wife named Linda is getting tired of her husband's borderline abusive treatment. With the knowledge in hand that her age will eventually make her unappealing to him and he'll probably "get rid" of her, she hires Golgo 13 to shoot him so that she can take what she has of his money and move to Florida to live out her life in peace and luxury. Of course, things become complicated when she becomes attracted to Golgo. When her husband Marty's assistant discovers that she rented a hotel room under an assumed name, and her husband suspects one of his subordinates of having an affair with Linda, so he tosses the guy out the window. He's obviously a jealous man.

Some surveillance footage from the hotel confirms to Marty's assisstant that the man in the hotel was Golgo, and when he brings the bad news to Marty, he's enraged. Marty asks him to kill Golgo in front of Linda, but an attempted coup by some other members of the mob interferes with things and Golgo gets his chance to shoot Marty between the eyes. There's a standoff between the assistant and Golgo in a parking lot, with Golgo the victor. He begins to leave and Linda is angry that he doesn't seem to want to be part of her luxury escape, and pulls a gun on Golgo, forcing him to shoot her as well.

Thoughts: I'm not quite sure what to make of this episode. It trended towards showing less of Golgo himself which is what I had been hoping for, but that sort of removed any opportunity for much sweet gun play, so it was kind of a tradeoff. Also the main character of this episode was a little iffy in my opinion. The prostitute raised up from nothing to become a mob woman seems like a character cliche to me, but I can't think of where I might have seen anything similar before. They keep referring to the film "Pretty Woman", since Linda's ambitions are to become the young wife of a rich man, but that's a movie I've never seen so I'll leave any comparisons to someone else.

I was also kind of WTF about the fact that she was so horny for Golgo. It was suggested by Marty in one scene that even if she thought of herself as a high class woman, her body would always betray her, suggesting that sex was just part of her existence as a former sex worker. So I guess her fantasizing was a continuation of that idea, but that's something I don't think is really true. I don't think a man coming up and squeezing boobies in public would make the owner of the boobs all that aroused even if she were a former prostitute.

With kind of an obnoxious character, I can't say that this episode really tread any interesting ground. Every show has its missteps, so I'll chalk this episode as one for this show. It's no deal-breaker, but it was overall pretty bland and kind of irritating. There weren't even any cool gun facts to speak of, which was one of the things that drew me to the show in the first place. My desire still stands for some multi-part episodes in the future, as well.
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Golgo 13 Episode 3 - Masterpiece Assault Rifle

Summary: The best mercenaries in France, the Savine Brothers, are testing out assault rifles with a new kind of laser sight - one which factors in distance to a target and air resistance, allowing previously impossible shots to be made. Using these new rifles, the Savines intend to get rid of Golgo 13 and become the best snipers in the world. In the meantime, Golgo is hired by a French auto maker to take out some Japanese cars in a rally race in Niger. The Japanese cars are favored to win, but if that happens the French auto industry might be in danger. Golgo invites his favorite gunsmith to Niger to help him fit his rifle with a custom barrel with the job, and they talk about Kaiser, the developer of the new assault rifles being used by the Savines.

Golgo takes out his first target, but is nearly shot by some adversaries hiding amongst the desert rocks. Adversaries who happen to be the Savine Brothers. They believe they're at the advantage because the super sights on their guns are meant to work in the dark as well, and the sun is nearly setting. Golgo gets his enemies to shoot at him, from that he learns how many adversaries he's facing, where they're located, and the capabilities of their firearms. Standing with his back to the rally course which bathes him in headlights, he takes out the first brother. The second is defeated by his gun's weakness - the fact that the super sight isn't calibrated to fire on a gradient. With Golgo having slid down a ravine, he's able to pick off the second brother.

Thoughts: I always want to finish these Golgo summaries with the phrase "another job well done", which may reveal one of the this series' weaknesses - Golgo always gets the job done, no exceptions. So, knowing this, there has to be something compelling to keep the viewer watching other than the main character always winning. I can't judge just on three episodes, but so far the stories involving the incidental characters have been hit-or-miss. While I'd love to see more of the police inspector from episode 2, maybe holding a major grudge against Golgo and gathering as much evidence as possible to finally convict him, all of the other characters in this episode, save the weapon smith, end up dead. I'm not going to bash a show for setting up the abilities of a character with a few stand-alone episodic episodes, but I can pretty much sum up Golgo already: He's a super-human shot, he likes to have relations with hot women, and he always gets the job done. Maybe it's time for the stories to revolve around him a bit less.

I make a big deal about this complaint, but for the most part I enjoy watching the show and getting to see people shoot at each-other with neat guns. While Golgo is more or less just an empty shell of masculinity, there's something nice about a man who's always on time and finishes what he starts. And who apparently has a large... gun. I've got to wonder, though... does the expression on his face ever change? It's kind of creepy. Even when he's getting it on, he's still got a scowl on his face. Maybe halfway through there'll be a chibi episode or a fanservice beach episode where he can let his hair down and possibly crack a smile. On the other hand, that might be creepy.

Not that I'm going to get on someone's case for having sex, but I was kind of relieved that this episode, as well as the last, didn't have any goofy sex scenes in it, both for the aforementioned reason involving Golgo's emotionless mug, and for the fact that, much like in James Bond (to which this series often seems to be compared), I don't usually see the point since, more often than not, the women he sleeps with aren't really characters in the "well-written-and-interesting" sense of the word. I'd like to see a woman who's his match in some sort of skill. But that might be too wishful on my part.
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Golgo 13 Episode 2 - Room Number 909

Summary: Golgo is hired to murder a member of the Mafia whose actions are threatening to affect some key financial markets. Though a routine job for him, things are thrown for a loop when he accidentally allows the used bullet shell to fall to the road below, where it's found during the murder investigation. That and some other clues from the crime scene lead the investigators to the building in which Golgo was staying, in spite of the fact that it is over 500 meters away and thus a highly improbable location from which to shoot.

Though the detective finds the gun that was used in the trash chute and truly believes that he's found the culprit when he pieces together a lot of other circumstantial evidence, others refuse to believe that the killing shot could have been pulled-off with the distance and weather conditions taken into consideration. Only a monster among men could shoot with such accuracy.

Thoughts: Once again, Golgo defies all odds and demonstrates shooting skills that shouldn't exist. While he's around for most of the episode, it seems as though the focus wasn't so much on Golgo this time around and was pointed towards the investigators. The hit is committed early in the episode, and Golgo spends most of the time he's on screen the rest of the episode sitting silently while the investigation team works to try and find damning evidence of his crime. This alternative perspective livens things up a bit like I hoped it would, since Golgo in all honesty isn't really that interesting of a character. He's there to provide a catalyst - to get the story moving, but if it's depth you want you're more likely to get that from the secondary cast.

This will be a plus for some and a minus for others, but Golgo doesn't get into any sexual escapades this time around. The sexual content in the show doesn't bother me personally, but if Golgo were just doing an endless stream of women it might become a little annoying. Along those lines, if all the female characters in the show are nothing but sexual partners for our well-endowed hero, I'll get tired of the show pretty quickly as well. There hasn't really been an interesting female character so far, which isn't necessarily good or bad either since shows like Akagi do just fine without any female characters in the show whatsoever, but since we've already seen a couple of women (a prostitute in episode 1, and a secretary and an investigator in this one), it's not like I can pretend they just don't exist in this show's universe.

Don't get me wrong, though. I enjoy this show and most of my criticisms are more like minor quibbles. It's certainly not for everyone, though. I'm still holding out for some two part stories, because I think it would be way more interesting to have a situation where most of the story unfolds and then we only see Golgo long enough for him to take out whoever it is he's supposed to kill. I hear the manga's like that more often than not.

Allison and Lillia Episode 11 - Shoot at the Armored Car

Summary: Mr. Stork suspects that they're being shot at because Mr. Terol, the supposed Target, is from Roxche. They attempt to keep the enemies from boarding by lighting the bar on fire and disconnecting the burning car. Ker is suspicious that Stork has been carrying around explosives, which they use to disconnect the car. Later, they look out the window across the water and spy a tank riding the rails across the way. Stork radios the authorities, and they say that the tank is there to prevent an assassination attempt, but Stork asks that they fire on it, and draws a gun on them. It seems extremely suspicious, but Stork says that their lives will depend on immobilizing the armored vehicle. When Stork relays this to Terol, however, he explains that he'll be avoiding discovery and arrest if they can destory the armored car. Wil, the best shot in the group, gets the job of firing weaponry at it.

They slow down the train under false circumstances. While Stork and Wil are alone, he reveals that his real duty is to arrest Terol for smuggling firearms and attempting to re-start the war. Stork is after his testimony and to prevent this from happening, even though his military comrades feel otherwise. He reveals his reasons for detatching the train cars to increase the speed. When they come to a stop, Wil shoots, but he shot just grazes it. They begin moving and Wil attempts another shot, and manages to put it out of commission. Terol and his assistant begin to suspect treachery on Stork's part. When the assistant comes to attack them, Wil helps Allison fire a gun to put him down, though it's Stork who fires the blow that drops him. They find Terol dead in his quarters, having committed suicide. Wil still wonders about Stork.

Thoughts: I can't quite tell if this episode resolved anything, or if now we're actually getting to the center of the matter. I kind of feel like the conflict with Terol was a red herring of sorts, and that Stork might have something to do with Allison's deceased father, as has been suggested more than once throughout this arc. I must say the "is he or isn't he" feeling that Stork brought to the table has been kind of fun, especially since we still don't know his exact motivations, even though he's stated the reasoning for his actions on the train. It'll be interesting to see what awaits the characters in the capital city of Sou Beil. Of course, it'll have to wait a few weeks, since this is the last episode released of this show and I'm now waiting for more.

With two episodes left before reaching the halfway point, my prediction is that a whole lot is going to happen in those episodes, though I can't imagine what. I suspect Allison will be able to reveal her feelings to Wil and that ball will finally get rolling. It was cute to see him help her steady herself with the gun in this episode, though it's hard to tell what Wil's feeling was while doing it. Was he simply helping her so that they could defeat their enemy, or could there finally have been something a bit more substantial in the feelings department? *shifty eyes* We'll see.

I was glad to get caught up on this show because, in spite of the fact that it doesn't have quite the depth of its author's other animated work, it's been very entertaining and fun so far, and it makes a nice break from some of the heavier offerings this season.

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Allison and Lillia Episode 10 - The Train Known as Conspiracy

Summary: When Allison gets frustrated about Wil's cluelessness, she goes to an observation area to be alone, and meets Major Stork there. He counsels her a bit on her problems, being a military member like her. He seems to have a job to do, and also appears to have known Allison's father. The next morning, Allison and Wil go to the observation deck and witness a fight going on between a disguised man and Mr. Welch, a member of the train crew. When Welch goes off the end of the train, Allison chases after the man, but he's gone by the time they exit a mountain tunnel. They assemble all the crew members and find Ker and Fiona to go to the dining car. On the way they pick up Stork, whose job as a bodyguard is in jeopardy now that his master won't allow anyone into the room.

Upon meeting in the dining car, they decide that searching for the suspect aboard the train might be folly, since searching through everyone's belongings would take longer than their trip. Stork suggests stopping at a nearby military depot and using the phone to call the authorities. Unfortunately, the phone lines have been out, so they can't contact anyone. A steel magnate gives them a threatening letter he received, and claims that he's the one being targeted and that he'd rather be separated from the rest of the passengers, for their safety. they disconnect the other passengers from the train, and our heroes, along with Stork and the target, proceed to the bottom of the mountain. It seems he has a few things of his own to hide, and Wil seems to suspect that he's not telling the whole truth. Suddenly they realize they're being chased by a military train, and Stork goes to defend them.

Thoughts: So the mystery seems to be unfolding here in the second episode. Many people have things to hide, and it's turning out to be a great train mystery. And I'm sure it'll make tons more sense than whatever the heck was going on in Baccano. Just saying.

This is the type of show that really keeps you guessing about unfamiliar characters until the very end. This time around the obvious mystery is Stork. He seems like a friendly guy, but it's hard to tell if he's up to something more behind the scenes. My first instinct was to peg him as the man dressed all in black. It still seems like kind of the obvious choice, though I must say the flashback to the "murder" makes it look more like an accident than anything else, so we'll have to see if the crime is really a crime. I don't want to end up disliking the character, since there's barely been anything to suggest that he really has malevolent intent.

Allison seems to be moping about the fact that Ker is more of a take-charge kind of man in his relationship with Fiona, where as Wil is clueless and doesn't seem to be giving Allison the kind of attention she so desperately needs. She needs to just kiss him or ask him out or something really soon or I'm going to begin to feel even more frustrated.

Now that the fight is on, I'm interested to see what kind of weaponry will arrive in the next episode. The preview seems to show a tank that rides on the rails, which actually seems a bit silly to me, but whatever. I really want to know why the train is under attack, since it seemed to crop up so randomly.
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Allison and Lillia Episode 9 - The Bridge on the Former Battlefield

Summary: Over his Spring Break, Wil gets an invitation from Ker to ride the newly-completed Transcontinental Express. When an official sees him and tries to kick him out of the station (for looking too poor to ride the train) Allison, who boarded at the previous station, has a thing or two to say to that. The train is full of rich folks, and a poor student like Wil certainly stands out. Fiona is disguised as a journalist. The rooms inside the train are beautiful and well-furnished. Along the way, they view a field full of artillery looming there, and ill omen. They stop at an island in between the two continets to pay tribute to fallen members of the army, one of them Allison's father, who was betrayed by a subordinate.

A military man named Major Stork deduces that the high-ranking officer named Hellman boarding the train is none other than the hero, Ker, but decided not to blow his cover. He also notices that Fiona, the heir of Iks, is one of the youths leaving the train for the platform. He seems like a rather suspicious man. Wil seems to have a surprise for Allison when they arrive at their destination, and she's thwarted at her attempts to be alone with him.

Thoughts: Well, this episode started off on a relatively chill note, though it appears there are a few elements setting up what will probably amount to a conflict, including the introduction of Major Stork and the suggestion that there might be more than just a pleasurable vacation as the reasoning behind Ker's invitation to his friends. I'm wondering if the backstory behind Allison's father and his death will have more to do with the story also, though it's difficult to say at this point.

Once again, Allison fails at getting Wil to notice her. It's hard to decide if he's just completely clueless to her feelings, or if he shares them but is keeping to himself, but I'm getting to the point where I think she ought to quit being subtle and start voicing what she wants, as embarrassing as it might feel for her to do it. Remember Allison, the show's almost halfway done ;)

I don't have many other thoughts yet, this being mostly a setup episode. I'll have to see how things begin to develop before there'll be more to talk about, I think. Allison looks cute in a dress, though :)
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Allison and Lillia Episode 8 - The Princess and the Hero

Summary: Nihito asks that Ker and Fiona leave before they embarrass themselves any further, but Fiona offers to show proof of her heritage. From within her dress she produces a pendant - a token of a royal family member. The guard there, who used to guard the royal family, verifies the authenticity of the pendant, and Nihito is displaced. Adding to that, Nihito is about to be arrested for holding the princess hostage years ago, but manages to kidnap and run off with her again.

Ker is in pursuit, and Allison and Wil start their plane's engines. Ker catches up and manages to punch Nihito and rescue Fiona. Nihito meets his end due to carelessness. When the group meets together later on, Wil accuses Fiona of not being Francesca, but rather a twin of the princess. She explains that the one and only time she ever met her sister Francesca, she received the pendant from her. Because of the country's law that only one child is allowed, Fiona was taken away from the palace and protected by the villagers, really people provided by the royal family, explaining their suspicions about outsiders.

Thoughts: I'm actually sort of amazed at how this episode wrapped up this story arc while also explaining a few of the really nitpicky issues I had with how the story was going. One thing that I never mentioned was that I had kind of wondered how Fiona remembered being kidnapped from the palace during the fire if she wasn't a real princess in the first place. The answer, of course, was that she was a real princess, just one whose existence couldn't be revealed due to laws about the number of births per family. She was never in the limelight because of that, but of course that didn't affect her true lineage or the fact that she had memories of things only a princess would know. I also got my questions answered about the weird behavior of the villagers surrounding Fiona. Their suspicious and protective nature was explained by their secret mission, which made perfect sense even though it couldn't be revealed (for dramatic reasons) at the time. Good job, show :)

The romantic tension between both Ker and Fiona and Allison and Wil is far from being resolved at this point, but with about one more arc to go before the halfway mark, I'm sure I'll get some payoff in the coming episodes. I can't be sure if things will go through a time skip or what, but I'm sort of hoping there'll be a good amount of character development to balance out any general story twists and acts of derring-do. I mean, I like the characters, no doubt about it, but I think it would be nice to learn a bit more about their emotions. I'd like Allison to be more than just a bumbling idiot when it comes to her feelings for Wil, and I'd like Wil to become a bit more perceptive. It might be wishful thinking, but I don't think it's really too much to ask.

I was initally sort of disappointed in Owen Nihito, who turned out to be yet another corrupt politicion with an evil backstory. But then again, he turned out to be much less important that initially suggested by the way the plot was progressing, so I suppose it's not such a huge issue.

Well, new story next episode, so I hope I'll have at least some of my wishes come true.
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Allison and Lillia Episode 7 - The Entrusted Ones

Summary: Wil, Ker, Allison and Fiona stop at the local base to "borrow" a couple of planes to take to the capital city. When Ker goes to take off with Fiona, he feigns engine problems to give Allison and Wil a chance to make off with another plane. After a harrowing ride through the town, they use the local bottomless cliff as a launch point and manage to take off.

While riding in the plane, Fiona reveals a secret about herself that calls into question the nature of their mission - she's not the real princess, who died ten years previously. She means to lie in front of the assembly at the capital. Of course Ker is able to trade blows with her - he's of course not the real hero behind finding the mural. They start to make eyes at each-other in the plane cabin, which throws Allison for a tizzy. Ker makes a grand entrance, and introduces the "princess" in front of the assembly. Her address is cut short by objections from Nihito.

Thoughts: In the words of filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, what a twist! While I could have guessed that there was more going on with Fiona than she let on, the double surprise of her being the lost princess and then actually not being her was kind of a playful surprise. And what a nice way for her and Ker to find closeness, since they both know the difficulty that comes with filling a role that doesn't actually belong to them. Could this playboy finally be tamed? I suppose we'll have to wait until next time.

Of course you had to know that their plan wouldn't go off without a hitch, and that a politician like Nihito wouldn't just stand around quietly while someone else stole his glory. I was at first wondering if this story arc would stretch past three episodes, but with the character interation and now this sudden obstacle at the end, I'm not feeling like things are dragging. I'm hoping that Nihito will be given the chance to prove that he's not just some out-of-touch politician. Either that, or he'll be really corrupt or something, but I suppose either way could make for some satisfying conflict.

Poor Allison. For a girl who can fly fighter planes, it's sad that she has so much trouble trying to tell Wil about her feelings and that she wants them to have a future together. Will the end of this arc see any progress in that department? Who knows. But it has to happen sometime, since the second half of the series deals with a later generation of characters, and after this arc we'll be over halfway done with the first part of the series.
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Allison and Lillia Episode 6 - Fiona's Valley

Summary: Allison and Will are detained in an underground cell, from which they promptly attempt to escape (a relatively simple task for Allison). They decide to wait until sunset to run away. Ker, who's still searching for them, watches them run past, and finds them hiding out in a storage shed. Suddenly all three are hiding from the locals. They meet up with Fi again in town and she takes them to her home. She demands that they take her to the capital, so that she can attend Owen Nihito's speech there. As it turns out, her name isn't really Fiona - she claims to be Princess Francesca of Ikstova, living in exile, and she wants to tell as many people as possible. Things get a bit suspicious when she starts asking about how to shoot a gun. Instead, Ker offers to punch anyone in the face who Fiona has a problem with.

They escape in the morning by hiding underneath a white sheet, which blends in with the snow. A guard discovers them and sounds the alarm, though Fiona guards them with her body. The villagers confront them, but when Fiona claims to be the princess, the chieftan allows them to go. Fiona is an adult of twenty, after all. After the sendoff, Wil decides to skip school and accompany them to the capital.

Thoughts: So, have you ever had those moments where you feel like you can predict exactly what's going to happen in a movie or a show? Was Fiona being the lost princess not obvious? Oh well, it wasn't something that necessarily bothered me, but now I'm very curious to meet this politician guy and see how the impending conflict is going to turn out. Thus far the only clue we have on him is a picture and a name. He could be a real jerk or a perfectly nice man (though I'd guess the former if I had to stick to just one).

I thought the Allison and Wil moments here were pretty cute, especially when they end up (innocently) in bed together again. I'm thinking they've got to end up together by the midpoint of the series, considering that Lillia, the other namesake of the show, has yet to appear. *cough* anyway, I'll try not to get so sidetracked. I also think there may be a little thing going on between Ker and Fiona, but I can't predict whether or not her role will go beyond this little encapsulated story, so who knows if it'll just remain an attraction, or whether maybe Ker will end up staying with her or what. He is kind of a ladies' man, so his nature just might be showing itself a little more than usual.

Did anyone kind of think that maybe the villagers became friendly just a little too quickly? They went from being completely suspicious of the outsiders and locking them up, to helping them prepare for their journey, in about two minutes of conversation. I was kind of irritated that it happened in that fashion. Though that makes me wonder if they're planning to spend more time on the upcoming conflict that I know is going to happen. I don't know which episode is going to wrap up this story arc, so it's hard to judge.
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Allison and Lillia Episode 5 - The Closed Forest

Summary: It's winter break, and Wil is on a special trip thanks to Allison helping to pay for it. While he and a friend are at a lookout point, some men in dark coats put Wil in a car. A car driven by Allison, who planned the "kidnapping". She's in the area due to her work in the Air Force - a joint evacuation drill with the military of Sou-Beil. At Allison's camp, they meet with Ker Benedict, promoted to major after the actions uniting their two countries. On their way back, the two get caught in a snowstorm and try to seek shelter in a nearby village. Ker, realizing this, decides to search for Allison and Wil using a new snowmobile-type vehicle.

Allison and Wil finally come to the village, and a woman directs them to an assembly hall where they can get tea and warm up. The woman isn't who she seems, however, and rushes to her hidden basement to warn others about their presence. While drinking tea, Wil tells Allison about the death of the local royal family in a fire, and how the bodies were also found to have gunshot wounds. They discover that the tea was laced with something to make them sleep, and both fall under its influenced. While Ker is searching for them, he finds a woman named Fi who seems very interested in the picture of the politician on his memo.

Thoughts. Oh Allison, you're such a tomboy. Even though the episode ends on a relatively serious and mysterious note, there's still quite a bit of humor in the fact that Allison needs to build up the courage to ask Wil to live with her in the capitol after he graduates from school. Sure, she's kind of a stock character in that respect - the scrappy female lead who can do anything but gets all flustered when feelings are involved - but it's pretty cute.

Already this episode is intriguing enough to make me want to know what's up with the hidden village and why they're so suspicious of outsiders. Judging from Fi's reaction to Ker's poster, the politician seems to have some connection, as does the death of the royal family. The old woman who served them tea seemed to become extra-uncomfortable when Wil showed uncommon knowledge of the local royals. Could the people in the village be the same that were involved in the "accident" that took the lives of their local royalty? There are plenty of scenarios running through my mind right now, but it's probably best to settle down and just wait and see.

One must wonder what part Fi has to play in all this. I can tell by her more interesting Allison and Lillia Episode 4 - A World for Twoclothing and the fact that she met with Ker that she'll be at least a somewhat major player (oh anime, you're so predictable). I've learned from watching Himitsu that everyone is just harboring all sorts of secrets within them, so her connection to the politician (whose name just isn't coming to mind at the moment) is probably something really juicy. Or tragic. Or I suppose it could be both.
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Allison and Lillia Episode 4 - A World for Two

Summary: Allison and Wil fly towards their goal of treasure with Ker Benedict in hot pursuit, only to realize that he's really on their side and helping to defend them against other members of the Sou Beil Air Force out for blood. The three manage to evade their pursuers for the time being and reach the cave said to contain the treasure. It's not gold or jewels that wait inside, however, but something much more precious that dates back to the dawn of humanity.

It turns out that the old man wasn't lying, and was in fact Colonel Walter McMillan of his tall tale, a man who killed his own squad to preserve the secret of the treasure. After a minor threat from some baddies, they're able to escape and news spreads about the treasure, causing an end to the war. Allison and Wil return home, and remember the old man as they ride across the pristine countryside.

Thoughts: I'm sort of torn about how this story arc ended. On the one hand, I feel like things wrapped up way too quickly. I don't feel like the characters, especially the old man who plays a pretty integral part in the whole thing, were given a chance to develop to the point where the climax reached any sort of emotional peak. On the other hand, I don't see how this particular story could have supported a greater number of episodes. I guess I feel like this story would have worked well as a mid-season climax, but as it is I'm kind of left wondering what Allison and Wil have left to do now that they've saved their society from a nearly-endless war. Go to Disneyland? As soon as I get some subs for the next few episodes, we'll see.

All-in-all, though, not a bad set of episodes. Even though I could tell what the "treasure" was from a mile away, getting there was fun and this last episode lived up to the show's promise of rip-roaring dogfight action in the skies. It's still not enough for me to really brand this an action series, but it rescued itself from being "sleepy-time while looking at pretty countryside scenery".

Minor fail on Wil's little mental montage of memories of the old man, though. He wasn't around long enough to warrant any sort of montage, and it just felt like filler to me. Scenes that happened one and two episodes ago are fresh enough that they don't need rehashing. /rant
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Allison and Lilia Episode 3 - Walter's Fight

Summary: Allison and Wil, dressed in Sou Beil military garb, infiltrate the base in which the old man is being held. They discover him locked in a basement dungeon, and try to help him break out. As they make their way out, they run into an acquaintance of Allison's - Second Lieutenant from the air force, the man who wrote her a love letter that she never answered. The old man manages to open his cell door and the alarms across the base start to go off.

They meet back up with the old man and make a break for a plane hangar. As they're running, he tells Allison and Wil directions on how to get to the treasure, and tells them to borrow one of the sea planes in order to fly there. As they're flying away, the old man meets his end and Second Lieutenant Ker is given orders to capture them or shoot them down before they cross back over the border.

Thoughts: Well, anyone who was disappointed in the lack of epic action in the previous episode can take heart in the fact that this episode contained quite a bit. Not only that, but now Allison and Wil are in a race to get to the treasure before they're dispatched in some way. The old man's death wasn't entirely unpredictable, but at least he got a decent send-off and managed to blow some stuff up before succumbing to an enemy bullet.

The biggest point of interest in this episode was probably Second Lieutenant Ker. So he's a "friend" of Allison's... just what is he doing hanging out in enemy territory and being a part of the enemy army? I'm wondering if he's either after the treasure himself and in the area incognito, or whether he was always a native of this land and his stint with Allison in the Roxche Air Force was just a sham. Either way, this has intrigued me and I'm waiting to find out just what the real situation is.

Otherwise, not a whole lot was introduced in this episode that was worth touching on, though the suggestions of just what the treasure is has left me speculating about what we're going to find out in episode 4. My prediction? Based on clues I'm thinking it must be some archaeological evidence that the two continental civilizations originated from one place, and that their war over who's the real origin of humanity will be made moot once this evidence is uncovered. "Look, we're all the same so there's really no reason to fight amongst ourselves."
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Allison and Lillia Episode 2

Summary: We meet back up with Allison and Wil as they fly their "borrowed" training plain in pursuit of the kidnapped old man. They find themselves crossing the river that divides their continent in half and suddenly they're in enemy territory, where they're shot down. Their plane destroyed, they live off of rations and reminisce about their shared childhood at an orphanage run by an old woman named Moot. Then, Wil is kicked in the head by an angry mother deer, and has to be dragged to a local woman's house to rest. The woman, named Travas, threatens to take them to the police the following day, but asks Allison why they're there. Allison answers her truthfully about the old man and the supposed treasure that exists.

That night, Travas hears the two muttering about Grandma Moot in their sleep. Grandma Moot was originally from the West country of Sou Beil, but moved to Roxche to open the orphanage where Allison and Wil met as children. Travas realizes that the war, which took the lives of her two children and also Allison's father, affects families on both sides equally. This causes a change of heart and she decides to help the two by offering up her sons' military uniforms as disguises so Allison and Wil don't get caught during their mission.

Thoughts: This episode isn't quite as action-oriented as the first. Instead, it focuses more on the characters and provides a little bit of back story for Allison and Wil. I can understand how this could be off-putting to people expecting some more rip-roaring high-flying fighter plane action with our heroes, but in this case the more important aspect of the episode is the "lesson" about how war affects both sides and that neither side is all good or bad. It's sort of a simplistic thing to mention, but one that's often forgotten in our particular era.

There's really not a whole lot else that's not completely straightforward about the episode. It seems like a little intake of breath before other more dramatic things start to happen, though I haven't gathered how well the show is paced yet so I could be wrong.

One thing that I was discussing with my comrade-in-arms Boris is how similar/not similar the show is to the author's other work, the wonderful Kino's Journey. His opinion was that he hoped this show might turn out to be more psychological like Kino was. After considering that, I'm not sure that I completely agree. While the good name of Kino was what originally got me hyped up for this show, I'm not sure if this type of adventure story really lends itself well to the more psychological, episodic tone that was featured in that particular series. Simply put, I'm not disappointed that the two are different types of stories. Boris, any thoughts?

Kaiba Episode 9 - Shoot Warp!

Summary: Fake Warp is alerted to the birth of another Warp heir, one which has the proper genetic makeup. He's also contacted by Popo, who claims to be on his side. In the meantime, there are people searching for the memory dealer, who has gone to a secret location with Kaiba and Hyou-Hyou. Kaiba's body contains memories locked away, more numerous than any normal person could contain. Neiro, told that she's acting like a different person by her childhood friend Cheki, begins to examine her memories and realizes the man in them isn't Popo, as he'd like for her to believe. When she asks Cheki about the conversation later, she seems to have been brainwashed. And when Popo tells her that the real Warp has been found, rage and determination for revenge wells up inside her.

When Kaiba, the real Warp, wakes up, he's face-to-face with Popo. Popo tries to manipulate him into killing Neiro, who is on her way to kill him. Deep inside Neiro feels that she's doing something wrong, and Kichi, the memory dealer, explains that her hatred was implanted in her by Popo. Warp was responsible for tyranny, but he was also changed by her love for him. Just as Neiro is about to embrace Kaiba, Popo speaks again about the death of her parents and this triggers her to shoot her weapon. She finds his body at the bottom of a pit, and Kichi explains that Hyo-Hyo houses her true memories - the ones about how she and Kaiba met.

Thoughts: Gyah! So many answers! So much more that I can't wait to find out! I'm sort of glad to have some of my suspicions confirmed, like the fact that Hyo-Hyo was in fact a vessel for Neiro's true memories, untouched by Popo. And that Popo was responsible for fudging up Neiro's memories and pasting himself into all the really good ones. I'm having a very difficult time waiting for the next episode since it sounds like we'll finally get to hear about Neiro and Kaiba's past together. I think this show, originally purported to be a sci-fi romance story, will finally be fulfilling that description, and I'm not ashamed to say that my soul is nearly in extreme "squee" mode because of it. No, I'm not saying that I'm a mindless fangirl, but this show is so good and I'm just extremely excited to see how things turn out.

I'm still not clear on what the kaiba plant represents or what role it's going to play in how things unfold. Considering that the protagonist shares his name with it, there's obviously some connection between the two, but it's hard to say what that is at this point. The kaiba plant eats memories, so I'm wondering if Kaiba himself has done something similar. Absorbing the memories of others somehow (we know that it can be done, and that good memories can be bought and sold).

I'm still wondering if Popo will become a more sympathetic character. I mean, they're trying. He's got his sad past that he'd love to keep hidden (a revolutionary against the use of memory chips having been given a healthy body to replace his sickly one is a contradiction if there ever was one) and he really seems to want to convince Neiro to love him. I'll be irritated if there isn't some form or redemption, but I'm definitely a sucker from baddies who are really just misunderstood. It's a weakness of mine.

Man, every new episode I see, I think, "this is one of the reasons I still watch anime". Sure, I stay for the fun stuff, but when experimental pieces like this are just this good, it's truly inspiring to me.
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Kaiba Episode 8 - Disguise

Summary: The Issoudan, the terrorist group insistent on returning to the natural process of aging and death by eliminating the memory banks and use of memory chips, is celebrating its recent destruction of the memory tanks on Lolo. Judgment by Dada-sama, the leader, is harsh and quick when members disobey. Popo is visited by a robot bearing his favorite treat who claims to be his mother. He sends her off to the scrap heap while trying to keep part of his past a secret.

In the meantime, a man named Jackchew meets with Warp, the king, and shows him his "collection" - a room full of bodies, copies of the king. The centerpiece is the body that Kaiba once inhabited - a special version which contains the actual powers of the king. The Warp posing as King isn't the true successor, fraudulently etching the king's symbol on his abdomen. Any attempt to steal the body goes completely awry, and the memory dealer swoops in to retrieve it.

Popo, realizing that people know the secret of his replacement body and coming to terms with the fact that Dada-sama finds him too powerful and threatening, he initiates a coup, where he realizes that the leaders of his cult are all failed Warp copies. Kaiba is given his memories back by the memory dealer and Hyo-Hyo's true nature is revealed.

Thoughts: There's so much to talk about in this episode, I don't really even know where to start. However, after re-watching the episode and lurking around some discussions on message boards about the episode, a few things became clearer. At the end of the episode, the memory dealer/manipulator speaks to Hyo-Hyo while he feeds some memories into the "true" Warp body and tells it that now the body and mind of her boyfriend are back together. So Hyo-Hyo unexpectedly (depending on how much one's been paying attention) has been Neiro in disguise. And supposedly not the Neiro with her memories altered, considering that she's been guiding him along the way this whole time.

Now that we know the Warp who's been enthroned as king all this time has been a fraud, it calls into question the memories that Neiro had about being shot by Warp. Not necessarily the fidelity of the memories, but one has to wonder which Warp version is the one in the memories. Considering the alterations of many of Neiro's memories, especially those having to do with Warp/Kaiba, the Neiro who still inhabits her recognizable body may be confusing the two, or fusing the two into one idea. Yikes, this is getting complicated.

One thing that occurred to me while I was watching this episode in particular was something that was introduced in episode 2 - the idea of double-loading memories for one reason or another, and the illegality of the act. Also the fact that the copy realizes its own mortality, causing it to want to kill the original. Assuming that Hyo-Hyo is a copy, I'm anticipating some sort of confrontation with the altered Neiro at some point in the future that might reintroduce this concept. And another thing; if it's such a horrible thing, according to the Issoudan, to go against nature and body-swap to attain immortality, how was Neiro able to place her memories into the Gel body without consequence? I'm assuming it's just due to a double-standard - all bets are off when it comes to attaining a "greater" goal (like blowing up those memory banks). I just found it curious. Doubly so because Popo, inhabiting a second body due to his sickliness as a child, is dead-set on keeping the fact hidden out of fear of punishment by the leaders of the cult to which he belongs.

I think I could talk all day about this and not really be able to wrap my head completely around this episode, so it may be more valuable to wait and view later ones, then re-visit when I look at the series overall.

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Kaiba Episode 7 - The Man Who Doesn't Stay in Memories

Summary: Kaiba and Vanilla land on Nene, an ocean planet where floating orbs of water are pumped back onto the surface of the planet. The two take a transport to Libera, the planet's moon - a place said to be a great date spot, but which is also a suspected hotbed for extremist activity. While there, Vanilla finds out that his Sheriff's license has been revoked due to his being suspected as an accomplice to terrorist activity (essentially aiding Gel, the suspected terrorist who destroyed the memory tanks on their previous planetary stop), and Kaiba looks through the memories he copied from Gel's body. He finds things that confirm his suspicions, and also some things which raise more questions.

Later on, Vanilla and Kaiba attend a party that turns sour due to Vanilla's clumsiness. Things get worse when the police come to take him away. Vanilla leads them on a chase through the planet's waterways as he bleeds out from a shot that hit its mark. Before the ship explodes, he places Kaiba's memory chip and his mother's in the dashboard of the ship. As the ship is destroyed, he clutches Chroniko's body to him and imagines her smiling at him lovingly.

Thoughts: Just one thing to say right now... Vanillaaaaaaaaa! Who would have thought a character who's basically been a lovestruck thug to this point would end up redeeming himself in the last five minutes of the episode? Talk about tragic deaths, too. Having learned that he's been trying to save up enough money to provide his beloved mother, now only a chip, with a body gives him just that touch of humanity that lends tragedy to his demise. And of course now things are a mystery again; where are Kaiba's memories now and will he be able to somehow get back into a body and become whole again? It wasn't clear, at least to me, what ultimately happened to his memory chip, so I'm anxious to know if he's all right or not.

We find out some really juicy little facts about some things I'm sure we've all been curious about for a while, including confirmation that Gel was in fact Neiro in a male body, and things about Popo that would lead us to conclude that he's probably a pretty bad person. What's suggested from the condition of Neiro's memory room is that Popo has manipulated her memories in such a way as to make her feel negatively towards Kaiba and to compel her to obey his commands more readily. It's hard to decide whether the images of Kaiba/Warp doing harmful things (even shooting and killing her body) are real or manipulations of reality to induce certain behaviors. Whenever Kaiba appears in her memories his face is shielded by a mask resembling Popo. What this all means isn't clear at this point, but it's certainly fodder for speculation.

The buildup towards the finale has certainly been very evident over the last couple of episodes. I like how the writing has been introducing things gradually - quickly enough to remind the viewer that there's a big mystery aching to be solved, but slowly enough to keep things at a satisfactory level of interest and not blow the show's entire load at one time. Looks like the next episode is going to be very "Warp-heavy", which ought to shed some light on a few things.

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Kaiba Episode 6 - A Muscular Woman

Summary: The ship lands on planet Lolo, the place where the memory stream ends up and is collected. While they're landing, another ship collides with them. Going to help, Kaiba discovers an old couple, and a giant man with no hands who appears to be helping them repair their damaged ship. He leaves suddenly, and Kaiba accompanies the old couple in exploring the different aspects of the plantet, including a searchable memory bank (sadly, there are no entries for "Warp"). When the large man, Gel, appears again, Kaiba discovers that they're more alike than he would have realized.

They join the old couple for dinner and relate their woes about existing in other bodies. A cute ambulatory plant comes into the room, and without warning sucks the memories out of the old woman and displays a particularly upsetting one to the others in the room. The next morning, Vanilla is confronted by another member of the police and warned about harboring people who might have committed crimes. Gel and Kaiba part ways, and Kaiba realizes that they've met before.

Thoughts: Even though we don't realize it until probably the very end of the episode, it seems that this is where the real meaty part of the story tentatively begins to reveal itself. The episode deals with an issue that's been in my mind for a while now, which is the strange idea of gender identity when given the ability to place ones own memories and personality into any type of body imaginable. It's dealt with rather humorously at the outset of the episode, with Kaiba having to wrestle with Chroniko's body having a menstrual period, and Gel, in actuality a female inhabiting a male's body (that doesn't have real hands to boot), trying to urinate and needing Kaiba to help her/him. Of course when Gel starts to talk about one losing one's self in an incongruous body type, I got to thinking how serious of a problem it could be to exist in a body that just doesn't "feel right".

I'm not sure if the writers were going so far as to try and gently touch on the subject of gender dysphoria or not, but I think it could be interpreted that way. It's always been one of the strengths of Sci-fi to be able to write stories about subjects that are very sensitive to society while wrapping them up in a package that makes it seem, at least initially, more innocuous to casual viewers. Of course, I think this episode is way more subtle than, say, the episode of the original Star Trek dealing with racism, but I think it's along the same lines in terms of using characters in a fantastic world to talk about touchy subjects that affect us in the real world.

There are a couple more interesting tidbits of information here, including the name of the memory-sucking plant: Kaiba. I'm very anxious to learn how this relates to our protagonist who shares that name. Even though his real name has never been stated in the context of the show, it's been in every intro bit since episode 02, so I'm positive there's some importance to it. Most likely we'll know more once Kaiba actually retrieves some significant memories. Also, Gel=Neiro. I had kind of guessed it partway through the episode, when Gel tells Kaiba that he looks familiar, like someone she once knew. It's actually kind of tragic to think how close he was to meeting the woman he's kept so close to his heart all this time, though I'm sure this won't be their last meeting.

In case you couldn't tell, I love taking screencaps of this show. Whereas I have a lot of problems finding nice shots of some shows, this one is so rich with style, excellent composition and striking moments that I have to stop myself sometimes from taking more than I'll actually use.

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Kaiba Episode 5 - Abipa, The Utopian Planet

Summary: Kaiba and Vanilla travel to Abipa, a planet known for its plentiful bodies and free food. When His Kaba body is picked up by a junk collector, a friendly man in an infant body brings him to the factory of the eccentric and secretive designer, a man in a cat body named Patch, assisted by a tiny dog named Quilt. After observing the design process for a while, Kaiba tries to retrieve his body, but loses it to a reclamation machine. He also learns a secret about the endless free food provided by the planet.

Following Patch and Quilt back to a workshop (when Patch's batteries run out), Kaiba discovers whose mind is inside Quilt's body, and that Quilt's eyes are shared by Patch. When robbers try to steal gold from the workshop, Quilt's body is injured, leaving Patch to fumble around blindly, leaving him open to assault. Patch, now in a body resembling her original one, pledges to fix him. As Kaiba and Vanilla are about to leave, they see a statue of the prince, Warp, who invented the memory tanks. The statue closely resembles the body Kaiba woke up with.

Thoughts: Soylent Green is people! Seriously though, the lesson here is to never trust a so-called utopian planet/county/whatever. You'll probably end up doing something you'll regret.

This episode mainly seemed like filler to me. After the emotional climaxes of the last two episodes I didn't find this one quite as effective at conveying a concrete idea. In essence, it was just a more subtle story about a scientist who falls in love with her creation and wants to remain by his side forever, no matter what body she might be in or whether her creation actually realizes who she is or how much she helps him every day. It was effective, however, at being vaguely creepy and sickening, due to the background information Kaiba finds out about how things are run. Sure, the food is free... because it's made from recycling the many junk bodies that are left on the planet. Mmm, delicious empty bodies.

The animation in this episode deserves mention (not that the fantastic style was anything less in previous episodes) because there's a distinct switch in style from the "party" atmosphere of the tourist-y parts of the planet, to the more subdued and dark parts in the background. I read somewhere, and forgive me because I doubt that I could find the comment again if I wanted to, that the animation style was meant to vary between the different planets featured in each episode. This is definitely one of the time where that's very noticeable. The tourist parts of the planet seem to be animated in a way that really emphasizes the movement of the characters rather than consistency in the drawings, whereas when Kaiba is in the factory and the workshop, the movement is much less dramatic and the palette visibly shifts from bright neons and nonsensical color combinations to more subdued blues and grays.

Though the main story was enjoyable, I think the highlight of the episode occurred right at the end, with that statue of Warp. It re-introduced some things that I think many of us probably forgot about for a bit, including the body Kaiba had to leave behind, and what his identity might be. I think this might serve as a good lead-in to the main story which I assume will become more and more prevalent as the show goes on from this point. I want to know about Kaiba's past just as much as he does, I suspect.
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Kaiba Episode 4 - Grandma's Room of Memories

Summary: Kaiba lands on a tiny planet with minimal gravity, and manages to lose Vanilla by entering into his plushie body for the time being. He finds a lighthouse manned by two young men and their grandmother. The grandma repairs the gaping hole in kaiba's side. Vanilla finds the home and zaps Kaiba with the memory-viewer. What he finds inside startles him, as it's filled with hallway upon hallway of what appear to be large metal doors. An avatar of Kaiba in his original body is running around carrying a small stack of new books. Just as Vanilla is about to confront him, he's thrown from his mind and Hyo-hyo freezes him in place with his own weapon. A verbal slip by a returning grandson about the death of their grandfather causes grandmother to fall into a deep sleep to cope.

This old lady holds the secret of some valuable treasure, so the greedy grandsons ask Kaiba to enter her mind and find out where it's hidden. Inside, Kaiba searches through an entire shelf of books until he finds the secret entrance to her vast shelves of knowledge and memories. There's also a copy of their humble house inside where grandma's mental avatar is seated, waiting for grandpa to return. The memory of his death, which is a book that's been clamped shut, is thrust open when a mental image of granpa shows up and explains he fell from the top of the lighthouse attempting to pick her favorite flowers which were growing there. In her mind, grandma crosses over to the other side with grandpa, meaning that she's passed away and Kaiba has to get out fast. He leaves with the knowledge that the treasure is stored in the top section of the light house. When the greedy grandsons go up there, all they find is a box of old photographs and memorabilia, a treasure which has no value to them.

Thoughts: While not quite at outright sad as the previous episode, this one still had its twist ending which spelled out a harsh message about placing value in the wrong places. On the one hand, the grandsons got what they deserved by ignoring their responsibilities and trying to enter into a world they weren't ready for, but what a painful lesson to learn. Maybe I like this show because it really works to draw those emotions out for me.

I have to admit that Vanilla is growing on me. He started off as this lusty unpredictable bastard who seemed to be focused on shooting first and maybe asking questions later, but he seems to really have fallen for Chroniko, which is kind of creepy but sort of sweet at the same time. I mean, we all know that it's really Kaiba in there, so it's kind of icky to think about, but Vanilla doesn't know that. It's situations like that which really get one to thinking about what it would be like to live in a world (or set of worlds, anyway) where you could never really be sure that the person you were associating with was who they appeared to be on the outside. Nevermind if you start switching between bodies of different sexes, which in addition to Kaiba/Chroniko will most likely show up again, at least I hope.

I hope that this planet-hopping doesn't turn too much into "depressing planet episode of the week", especially since there's a lot we still have left to learn about Kaiba and his relationship to some of the characters we met in the first episode. I'm wondering what the nature of his memory loss is, though. If he truly had more memories that would have made his body about as functional as a corpse, yet he wakes up and can function well enough. This leads me to believe that his memories are merely locked away somehow, which would make sense considering that Vanilla found himself in hallway upon hallway of metallic vault-looking structures while inside Kaiba's mind. I don't think I want to speculate much more right now, though, since I'm hoping to learn more from watching the show.
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Kaiba Episode 3 - Chroniko's Boots

Summary: After escaping from the ship, Kaiba lands on a rather bland little planet, and is rescued from capture by a young, beautiful girl named Chroniko. It's her last day in her body, which she's selling to provide money for her stepmother and step brothers. Her memories are going to be saved and given back to her family so that they can give her a new body in the future, or so she believes. The doctor doing the procedure removes Chroniko's memories and sends them off into space so that he can sell her body to someone else for a high price. Luckily, Kaiba finds Chroniko's empty body after the losers transporting it get lazy, and so transfers his own consciousness to it, allowing him the ability to speak again.

In this new body, Kaiba returns to Chroniko's house and spies on her Aunt, who seems to be all too happy to get rid of Chroniko. With the money she received she's able to buy all sorts of treats for her own children, and also buy back some of the memories she herself sold in order to make ends meet. Kaiba enters the mind of the Aunt while she's sleeping and uses the thought device he stole from Vanilla to enter her mind and experience the memories that are returning to her mind. Ironically, the memories that she bought back using the money from Chroniko's stolen body remind her of the wonderful memories that she shared with Chroniko and her mother.

Kaiba attracts Vanilla's attention with his attractive borrowed body and gains somewhat more legitimate passage on the ship as it leaves planet.

Thoughts: Wow... this is one of those anime episodes that reminds me why I love anime in the first place. Whereas the first two episodes of the series provided a lot of setup for the workings of the anime's world, this episode took those concepts and revealed the particular tragedy of a world where one's memories can be bought, sold, and stolen, and where bodies don't quite belong to oneself if someone else really wants them.

I have to admit that I've watched this episode in particular about four or five times now. This is one of those shows that I have to watch just about the minute it's finished downloading, though often at that point I don't feel fit to write about it since there's just so much going on that I need to absorb it all. Sometimes I'll go and read some forum posts about it to see what other people's thoughts are on the episode, and I'll re-watch after that to see if I really agree or not. I've seen it once with Boris and I watched it again right before making this post. Considering how little time I have and how difficult it is to keep up with all my anime watching as it is, I think it says a lot that I make the time for multiple viewings of this series. I find it just so... compelling, I suppose.

I know there are people out there who are going to say that I enjoy this show just because it looks weird. I can honestly say that I don't necessarily notice the character designs as being the main draw to the show following this episode. The writing is so good that they could portray the show with animated feces and it would still be amongst the best of the year so far. Unfortunately, the writing, which I think is uncomplicated but still sophisticated and multi-layered, isn't for everyone either. Much like shows such as Denno Coil, which is well-written but comes across initially as being aimed at children due to age of its characters, and Mononoke which tends to resolve its stories in a rather ambiguous or esoteric way, Kaiba is a show which is bound to be misunderstood by many people who might give an episode a try.

As for this episode's specifics, I particularly liked how the characterization of the Aunt was handled. She could so easily have been portrayed as the "evil" character, selling off her adopted daughter for some momentary cash. However, any sentiment didn't last long once the truth of the situation was revealed and the Aunt became a truly tragic character. I also enjoyed the symbolism of the Aunt's memories being restored, like shelves and shelves of books filling up to full capacity. I think it's a simple and elegant way to represent that.

This is definitely a gem of a show, and if it can be this emotionally involving only three episodes in, it's really surpassed all my very high expectations.
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Kaiba Episode 2

Summary: Kaiba escapes off-planet on a transport ship Neuron, his true memories stored inside a body which looks like a giant stuffed animal, and his real body in the custody of Paam, the woman who smuggled him aboard the ship. Paam copies her own consciousness into Kaiba's body and uses it for sexual pleasure (masturbation?) while, in the meantime, Kaiba meets a stowaway and her boyfriend in the cargo hold. It turns out that this boyfriend, a guy named Butter, is actually a memory chip smuggler who's duped quite a few women into helping him out. A confrontation between his "girlfriend" and a huge-busted lover of his ends up revealing Butter's plan and their bodies get vaporized by Vanilla, the ship's security officer.

Paam's sexual exploits turn sour when her body is overloaded and then explodes, leaving the copy of her personality in Kaiba's body. This calls Vanilla's attention, leaves the real Kaiba in danger, and forces him to escape in his borrowed body aboard an escape pod.

Thoughts: Have I mentioned just how much I love this show yet?

And if you didn't believe me before, then it should be apparent by now that this is no show for kids. I personally haven't been able to decide yet whether the odd character designs help, hinder, or do nothing in particular for the writing, but I'm positive that it was a very bold choice that put the show on my radar even before the first episode was released. A lot of people might take a look at the first episode, see the childlike figures and creatures, and assume that the show wasn't sophisticated, but it's truly a gem. And looking at the actual animation, well, it's plain to see that simple characters don't necessarily mean skimping on the action or movement.

Once again I'm enjoying the way each episode unfolds, since I find myself learning new and different things about the universe in which the story takes place, though there's very minimal if any actual exposition being given. At the beginning of this episode (and I assume each following episode) there's a brief explanation of memory-storing and that sort of thing, and it put me off because I thought that it was kind of a cop-out to spell everything straight out like that, but that's the only portion presented in that way. "Show, don't tell" has been a real strength of this show so far and I'm hoping that it stays that way.

There's a bit of humor in the episode, mostly revolving around Vanilla being a bit over-the-top, and I'm not sure yet how I feel about how the humor and minor instances of wackiness are incorporated. Granted, even in funny moments the show has been fairly subtle and subdued, and I'm hoping that it stays that way, since going the wacky route would really be playing into people's expectations based on the show's look and I would be sad if that happened.

So far I've found myself anticipating every episode of this show because it offers me something that I haven't been able to get from other shows this season - a mature story set in a beautiful, strange world that gives me something to think about every time that I watch it. I can't wait for Episode 3!

Soul Eater 9, 10, 11

Summary: Soul Eater has been having very dark nightmares, a fact which Medusa secretly attributes to his blending with the blood of Ragnarok. Meanwhile, Sid-sensei makes Black Star clean up all the books in the library. Instead he ends up reading manga until Kid shows up to get a book about a legendary sword called Excalibur. Maka and her father have an awkward moment out on the balcony, while Black Star and Kid go in search of the sword. Inside the cave they find a moody fairy who flies off when they ask about the sword, but they find it anyway. Both Black Star and Kid are able to remove the sword, but then it turns into a weird little creature. A very egotistical little creature. Who makes very little sense. In fact, he has such a crummy irritating attitude that the boys end up just leaving him behind.

In the next episode, Shinigami-sama gives Tsubaki the task of defeating the demon sword Masamune, which is in danger of becoming a kishin. She and Black Star go to the village of Hari to look for it. The villagers see Black Star's tattoo and believe that he's part of a clan sent to kill them all. Black Star is the last remaining member of his clan, a group that ended up taking human souls and being destroyed by Shibusen. The demon blade shows up in the village and attacks a young boy, taking him over. Black Star fights him, demonstrating all sorts of weird techniques like controlling his victim's shadow. When Black Star gains the upper hand and detaches the Demon Blade from the kid, Tsubaki takes it and melds with it. She ends up inside the weird world of the Blade, an entity who is actually her older brother.

While Tsubaki battles her brother in his own world, the villagers, seeing the damage done, blame Black Star and begin to beat on him with sticks. Tsubaki ends up in a tough position, her soul being absorbed by the minute, but Black Star begins to remember how they met. The Demon Blade manages to stab her through the heart and nearly absorbs her soul, until she stops being so agreeable and thinks of Black Star, releasing her inner self and getting her desire to fight back. Though she's stabbed, her brother's soul is released. Finally she exits the sword, and though she tries to hide her troubled feelings, Black Star won't let her. When they return, they reveal Tsubaki's new sword form, though Black Star isn't powerful enough to weild it yet and faints.

Thoughts: The first episode of this batch was really just a comedic interlude, so there's not much to say about it other than it introduced an annoying mascot character who I'm sure is going to end up showing up from time-to-time to annoy us all.

I have to admit, though, I was really very surprised at how good the latter two episodes were. I noticed that Black Star was the technician of choice for these episodes and I was expecting something extremely obnoxious that I was going to have to force myself to watch, but he was, I must say, pretty tolerable in his own way here. It really was Tsubaki's "stage", though, as Black Star would say. The episodes focused on her and the aspect of her personality which has always kind of bothered me - the fact that she doesn't seem to harbor any conflicting opinions of her own. I dislike a pushover (probably because I'm kind of a pushover, funny how that works), and so it was kind of interesting to see that character trait almost become her downfall while Black Star's "big" personality was partly what saved her. While I still don't like him as much as the other characters, it's interesting to see how well the two balance each other out and make it into a major plot point.

In general, I think what this show has been doing well is creating comraderie between the leads. Whereas a lot of shows along the same vein tend to create a lot more competativeness and tend to get a battle tournament vibe after a while, I'm hoping that won't happen here. It seems like any time another member of the Shibusen "team" is in trouble, the others are all rooting for them to do well which I think is really nice to see.

Once again, I'm pleasantly surprised at how the more recent episodes have been very entertaining, and I'm hoping that this is a show that'll do its story and then not fall into the filler trap. I'm not looking to watch a Bleach, and with 51 episodes I think the story can stick to a few core arcs and maybe culminate into something really good. And hey, if it can make me at least tolerate a character that I once completely loathed, something must be going right.
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Soul Eater Episode 7-8

Summary: Maka and Soul travel to Italy for an extra-curricular activity - taking out an assassin. Within minutes, Soul finds himself threatened by a huge street gang, though they're taken out easily. There's a frightening woman flying in the night sky, and she seems to be controlling someone - or something - inhabiting the body of a strange boy named Chrona in a cathedral on the surface. After dispatching the assassin, Maka senses a group of agitated souls coming from said cathedral - the gang from earlier. They go to investigate, and find that the humans have all vanished. Only Chrona is there, and Maka realizes the other soul, the soul of his weapon, is inside his body. It reveals itself and then becomes a sword. Maka's blows can't pierce his body, however, because the weapon is in his blood, which is able to solidify. Soul defends his technician against the blows, which turns out to hurt his physical body quite a bit.

Just as Maka is about to receive a blow from the evil sword, Dr. Stein, weidling Death Scythe, her father, knocks Chrona back. The battle resumes, and Stein reveals why he's called the best technician ever to graduate from Shibusen. He needs to be careful, since ever drop of blood shed by his enemy can turn into a weapon. Stein is able to use his superior technique to get rid of Chrona, but then the real person behind the whole matter is revealed - a witch with a colossally-evil soul who hid that soul with a special protection technique. After collecting Chrona's body, she flies off, leaving the others to collect Soul and bring him to the infirmary. Stein reveals to Death Scythe that Soul Eater's injury might be cursed with the black blood of Ragnarok. When the doctor comes in to check on Soul, we find out that she's none other than Medusa, the witch, who's posing at a teacher at the school.

Thoughts: Now this is the type of thing that I've been waiting for from this show. This two-episode arc was not only creepy, the animation was again top-notch and even the music, some gothic choir, was appropriate and really added to the mood of fighting in the cathedral. And, though I'm not going to fault our main characters, it was also really nice to see some experienced adults in on the fighting this time around. Now we know just how powerful an experienced technician can be when coupled with a weapon with whom he shares a good soul resonance.

Admittedly I was a little surprised to find out that there's a very powerful enemy in their midst, but I suppose what better place for a witch to hide than right out in the open where no one would suspect her. I think she'll really be a force to be reckoned with as the series progresses, though all we really know about her so far is that she seems bent on reviving this particular evil weapon. A fine goal for any baddy, but I'd like to know what her particular motivation is, if there is one (which there should be unless the writing's a real piece of crap).

I peeped ahead and noticed that the next few episodes appear to be Black-Star-centric, which is not really the best news I could hear, but I understand that not every arc can be Maka-centric, even though all the best ones seem to be.
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Soul Eater Episode 5-6

Summary: Our heroes are forced into having a supplementary lesson, which entails facing Dr. Stein, the best technician ever to graduate from Shibusen. While he initially comes across as being rather incompetent, he's truly a force to be reckoned with, since he can amplify the wavelength of his soul without carrying a weapon. Death the Kid watches as the other technicians get pummeled, and goes to help, though he can only do so by adding himself to the roster of Shibusen students. It turns out that Stein was only just testing them, and once Maka uses her special technique. Stein is actually pretty amused, in a sadistic way about being able to play with them. To add insult to injury, Stein returns as their new homeroom teacher.

Then, it's Death the Kid's first day at school, but because of his OCD he's late by three hours. When he, Liz and Patty arrive, they find themselves face-to-face with the team of Soul and Black Star. When Black Star destroys the lateral symmetry of the school, the fight is on. Tsubaki, Maka, and Dr. Stein go outside to observe the fight. Stein uses the opportunity to teach Maka more about soul wavelengths. DtK demonstrates his considerable power, but is taken down when he realizes that Soul was able to cut his hair a bit, causing his body to lose symmetry. Maka is troubled that she's unable to see Shinigami-sama's soul.

Thoughts: These two episodes have probably been the most "shounen" so far, at least in that they're both very battle-focused and they've been introducing new characters from what will probably end up being a fairly massive cast. I have to admit I was a little bored with them, but I think it mostly had to do with the fact that neither fight ended up being particularly serious, especially the fight between the male characters in episode 6. If I'm watching a fight, I prefer for there to be an actual, palpable sense of danger, rather than feeling like a bunch of silly boys are rough-housing in the backyard where their mommy can't yell at them to stop. Again, it's a shounen genre show, and so it's to be expected, but the least I could ask for would be a little more drama.

A useful thing provided by these episodes was the explanation of soul compatibilty and how that affects the partnership between a weapon and technician. Something like this had to be expected - it would be kind of fail if the characters could easily pull off all sorts of complicated attacks right away in the series. As we saw in episode 4, the bond between Maka and Soul can be a little touchy, and they still have trouble pulling off more powerful moves. What I'm hoping is that they'll cover her difficulty in trusting him (since her father's actions have made it difficult for her to trust men, obviously) and how they work to mend that bond and grow into a great team. Not all dudes are ecchi perverts, after all (just many of them - jk).

I hate to say this, but Black Star has a long way to go before I can give a damn about him as a character. Right now I could definitely live without him. He's like my little shounen nightmare, and the reason I don't watch more of these shows because he fits into the archetype of "brash, stupid, loud wannabe hero", which makes the hair on my neck stand up. I'm not really saying get rid of him, but give the boy some dramatic development so that he can settle down and grow up. Just saying.
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Soul Eater Episode 4

Summary: Soul starts off his "cool" day by being caught in a compromising position with Blair. At school, their substitute teacher is Maka's womanizing father, Death Scythe. And to top it all off, Soul, Maka, Black Star, and Tsubaki are all called to Shinigami-sama's office, where he lets them know that they're in for some special lessons, due to their seeming inability to collect souls. They need to go to the cemetery and deal with a bit of a zombie problem - one of the former Shibusen teachers has been turned into a zombie and has been attacking students. If they don't manage to get the job done, they'll have to drop out of school.

They encounter Sid-sensei in the local graveyard and battle it out. He insists that they'd all enjoy their lives more as zombies, since the fear of death is no longer an issue. The technicians of course all disagree and fight for their lives. Maka and Soul attempt to use a special soul wavelength technique which fails mostly due to their inability to stop bickering for more than a few minutes. Black star is finally able to trap Sid using Tsubaki as a snare, and the technicians proceed to find the man responsible for this - a certain Doctor Frankenstein, the strongest technician ever to graduate from Shibusen.

Thoughts: Since the intros are now complete, we begin to get to what may be the real meat of the story. And of course it's decidedly shounen, but with the special ingredient that has made this show fairly refreshing for the most part so far - unique design and at least one set of central characters who don't completely suck. I can take or leave Black Star since he's probably the most annoying of the main characters and has a decidedly stupid flaw (not being able to shut the hell up), but his companion, Tsubaki, and the duo of Maka and Soul have enough potential that they'll carry me at least a few more episodes in before I ramp up my (probably unreasonable) expectations of where this show should go. You know what I would like? I would really like for Maka's daddy betrayal issues to become an actual issue in the show. Which they very well might, considering that they touched on them quite vividly in episode 1 and I feel like they should have an effect on the soul-wavelength stuff that seems to control the big attacks the technicians can do.

Though I'm sure at the very least all of them will learn how to be themselves and ganbarimasu and learn the meaning of true friendship in the end. Yes, I'm cynical. Your point?

I noticed a slight drop in animation quality this episode, which isn't surprising considering how high the standards were in the previous episodes (especially episode 1, which I've re-watched probably three or four times already). Not that this says a whole lot because the fight scenes, which are really the centerpiece of the show, were still nice-looking and all. I noticed a couple of repeated shots, though, which is something that I haven't noticed for a while in anime. Probably because I haven't watched a show like this in a very long time. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.

Looks like the mysterious Doctor Frankenstein gets his intro next time, so I'll look forward to that. Also, more Death the Kid, spreading is OCD love across the world.
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Toshokan Sensou Episode 12 [END]

Summary: Miraculously, Dojo and Genda survive the conflict and end up in the hospital. Dojo is more the worse for wear, since the shock of the explosion has caused him to be temporarily unable speak or recognize the presence of others. To add to the fire, prominent members of the media are criticising the Library Force for the injuries incurred during the conflict. Iku intensifies her training while waiting for Dojo to recover, while Shibasaki entertains her own ambitions. Commander Inamine announces his intention to resign, and the public image of the Library corps seems bleak.

Upon leaving the hospital one day after a visit to Dojo, Iku is ambushed by a reporter and nearly flips when he steps on her book. However, she remembers Dojo's words about not losing her cool and explains her convictions rationally but with passion. Though her comrades don't expect her words to make much of a difference, Iku begins to receive letters from many people who share her sentiments. She also received boxes of chamomile flowers, which she takes to Dojo's hospital room. These, and her words, finally allow him to revive.

Thoughts: Darn you, show, for making me all worried last episode! As you've probably figured out, any reports of character deaths were greatly exaggerated, and though Dojo spends most of the episode as a vegetable, he does eventually recover. You'd have to be a cold, cold person to escape the grasps of this finale without shedding at least a tear (or maybe I'm just sensitive, who knows?), although one thing I would like to note is that the emotional climax happens in a bit too short a period. I would have preferred a bit less of the rest of the episode and a bit more payoff at the end, but that's an extremely small nitpicky complaint at this point. The way the show would end could have been predicted episodes ago, but the journey there was certainly great. The ability to make a cliche little romance interesting and exciting is really the mark of something wonderful, in my opinion.

Enough Iku and Dojo squeeing, though. While I had initially been a little sad that the show didn't delve very deep into the more political aspects of the story, I think that it managed to strike a good balance without becoming too much of a downer or boring. While I think I could have handled a dryer version of the show, I'm kind of thinking that it would put me in the majority, and frankly, the bigger an audience there is for a show like this, the better.

One way I've come to describe this show is a "toned-down version of Full Metal Panic", and I think that description is fitting. It takes what FMP is known for, namely the combination of military drama with comedy and a bit of romantic entanglement, and ages it out of adolescence, appealing to those of us who can't always wrap their heads around the intricacies and follies of your typical Japanese romance-teenage-battle-school-dramedy genre. While I think the show could potentially keep most of the audience for shows like that around, I personally believe it appeals more to those of us who no longer have the energy to keep up with such kinetic subject matter.

What I find most appealing, though, are the characters, who don't seem to really fall into many of the stereotypical character cliches, or if they do, it's very subtle rather than overt. Strangely enough, Iku tends to remind me most of characters I've met previously, although I find her completely charming and relatable anyway. As someone who's felt like a failure more times than I can count, she certainly has my sympathy. Anyway, if my recommendation means anything, then please check out this show.

Looking towards the future, the next show in the Noitamina programming block is something called Antique Bakery, which is apparently based on a Boy Love manga. While Noitamina has rarely done me wrong, I'm apprehensive a bit because I've never really seen or read a BL story that hasn't been completely contrived, boring, and silly. I sincerely hope that my fears are proven wrong.
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Toshokan Sensou Episode 11

Summary: The Kanto Task Force is gearing up for the defense of the Ibaraki Art Exhibition. While they are to defend the entire exhibition, the real target for the Media Enhancement Force is the controversial piece called "Freedom", and so this piece is isolated from the rest in bulletproof vest. The Defense Force learns that their attackers are only planning a strike on the first day, which is helpful due to the inexperience of the local force. The night beforehand, Iku shows Dojo a greenhouse full of chamomile flowers, while Komaki finds an Enhancement Force member in an unexpected place.

The next morning dawns and the Defense Force is in position to defend the artwork. Their enemies waste little time in breaking through their barriers and attacking. When only thirty minutes remain until the opening of the art exhibit, they become desperate and begin to storm the Defense Force's barriers. Iku faces her fears and fends off the attackers until the alarm sounds for the battle to cease. Suspicious activity by the Ibaraki Library Commander Sugawara draws Dojo's attention, while a stray member of the Media Cleansing Force takes matters into his own hands, with tragic results. With Iku and Dojo caught in the burning embers of Sugawara's regrets, it's hard to tell if either will be able to make it out alive.

Thoughts: ASLDKjfasdfoasjdf;aoiejlkj!

Ok, now that I've got that out of my system, I should probably note that I left the description purposely vague for spoiler reasons, but I will say that this episode ended on a particularly brutal cliffhanger. After taking a week or so off from this show (since I suspected that I might need to watch the last couple of episodes back-to-back) I couldn't remember if the reason for the Ibaraki Commander's desire to send a warehouse up in flames was made clear or not, but the portrayal of the character is such that you could almost see her snap. In fact, the few scenes of her walking towards her destination with what is clearly a gas can could almost be called creepy.

Truly it's difficult to form a coherent thought at this point since so much is left up in the air to be taken care of in the next episode. It's hard to decide if any of the suggested character deaths will actually come to pass, or if the director is just attempting to fool us and make us poor fans flip out while anticipating the concluding episode. Judging from how things have been handled so far, I have a bleak feeling about the people who've been shot and taken down other ways, but I hope at least in some instances I'll end up to be very wrong. I don't generally watch the next episode previews that roll during the credits, but I noticed a distinct absence of certain characters, so we'll see (and you'd better believe that, even if I set the entry to post at a later date, I'm darn well going to watch the next episode right after I publish this one).

Well, there have been plenty of anime that have done a good job at making this cynical anime fan cry like a little baby, so it's not like it's a foreign feeling to me. And as long as the main character doesn't get cheated in the finale, I'll be pretty happy with the show, even if it takes a few characters away from me.
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Toshokan Sensou Episode 10

Summary: The Kanto Defense Force travels to another area to help guard an exibition of modern art that will open in a couple of weeks. What they find there is a library chairperson who has abandoned all weapon defense for the promise of dialogue, so the local Defense Force is severely lacking. Not only that, but the female Defense Force members are the frequent victims of harrassment by the large and (in this case) more highly-ranked Affairs department. Iku grins and bears it for the time being, because of the urging of the local Defense members. After they slide a harrassing letter under her dormitory door at night, she's kept awake trying to balance Dojo's orders to take note and adapt to the atmosphere with her desire to help out her local Defense comrades.

The next day, the ringleaders from the Affairs department do something that cuts to the bone - they alert Iku's mother to the true nature of her job, and her mother shows up to try and drag her back home. The incident turns out to be a blessing in disguise, as this finally opens up a dialogue between Iku and both her parents, and it turns out that her father is very encouraging of her work. She gains the drive to face her problems with the Affairs Department head on.

Thoughts: *cries* I get the cliffhanger I want and I don't have the next episode yet to watch, so I'm stuck waiting until I can get my hands on the next episode. It's almost depressing how much I've gotten used to watching a huge chunk of a show at one time.

I really like how the show has handled the situation with Iku's parents. I especially like how they didn't just resolve it right away in episode 5. There was no happy ending with her mother automatically respecting her choices. Iku hid her job and faced the consequences for not coming clean in this episode, and ended up growing a bit from having to deal with the aftermath. She and her parents are all stronger for it in the end, but the whole matter was handled very realistically. I still get irritated by the way her mother cries all the time, though.

I think it was interesting to be presented with a Library Force that has a different philosophy, however misguided, than that of the protagonists. From the end of the episode I could tell that there was going to be some disciplinary action against the local administrator for basically neglecting her duties and putting the exhibition at risk because of it, but it'll be interesting to see if the locals can be whipped into shape by the time they're almost certainly under attack from the Cleansing Force.

Anyway, with the local Defense Force demanding some respect, it'll be interesting to see what unfolds during the next episode.
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Toshokan Sensou Episode 9

Summary: Iku is stressing, both about her Prince Charming's identity, and the fact that a promotion test for Librarians is coming up, and the passing rate is only 50%. Dojo agrees to help Iku, and Shibasaki helps Tezuka, who is faced with the prospect of reading books to children as part of the practical test, something which he doesn't really like. Iku's situation turns more and more disastrous when Dojo tries to read the letter Iku received from the older Tezuka brother and she ends up giving him a concussion. The embarrassment is almost too much for her.

After a bit of dramatic avoidance and misunderstood feelings, Dojo sneaks into her dorm area meaning to drop off a specially-prepared notebook of notes for the test. Iku finds him, and they get on good terms again. Using Dojo's notes, Iku is able to scrape by the written portion of the test, and places tops during the practical portion. In appreciation, she gives Dojo a bottle of Chamomile essential oil - a flower that represents perseverance through hardships. He invites her out to get chamomile tea - at the thought of what might end up being a date, her heart is about to burst.

Thoughts: So all that stuff I said about having a climax to the story and continuing on its dramatic turn... I don't care anymore. This episode had so much squee in it that they could completely avoid any sort of major conflict and I would only be mildly irritated. Call me an old softy, but I was nearly in (very happy) tears at the end of this episode right along with Iku who, having given up on looking for her Prince Charming, pledged to focus on working on making Dojo happy with her work performance and was then faced with the thought of there being more to their relationship than just professional interaction.

Talk about character development service, too. This show has really done a spectacular job of showcasing most of the main cast, and this is no exception. While Iku's story takes the main spot, Tezuka and his issues with learning to interact with children is definitely handled well too. While I love a good main story, little episodes like this which are low-key and play to the strengths of the characters are often my favorites. Kind of like the "Last Plesiosaur" episode of Denno Coil which, coincidentally, also makes me cry like a little baby.

In any case, I get the distinct inkling that this is the calm before the storm and that the last few episodes will stir up things a bit. Hey, if they resolve the romantic tension I'll be happy enough with that, too. But a sweet action piece where Iku can finally prove her true worth would make me a very happy fan. Damn, I almost wish that I had waited to plow through these episodes. I only have up to 10 right now, and after that I'll have to wait along with everyone else.
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Toshokan Sensou Episode 8

Summary: The episode begins with Iku's questioning session, where she's grilled about her supposed involvement in an unauthorized book-destruction session with another member of the Force. Things start to go downhill when she realizes she was involved, but without her knowledge (she helped move packages but didn't know what they contained). Tezuka wonders why he wasn't also named, then realizes his brother's influence may have had something to do with it. Once confronted by Shibasaki, he reveals his brother's intentions to Dojo, indicating that he feels his brother may be targeting people around him. Tezuka Satoshi calls Iku and sets up a trap for his younger brother.

Satoshi wines and dines Iku in order to try and convince her of his opinion. It turns sour when he reveals he's really trying to get to his brother, and if Iku passes a message to him that convinces him to join, he'll clear her of all charges. She's rescued by Dojo after she tells him off. In spite of what Satoshi claimed, the questioning abruptly comes to an end and, thanks to Shibasaki, the rumors around the base slowly dissipate. In the end, Iku finds out an... interesting fact about Dojo.

Thoughts: While the particular conflict introduced last time was resolved for the most part in this episode, I'm still holding out some hope that it may be the setup for the remainder of the series. I won't be too disappointed if it's not and if things end well with a solid 2 or 3 episode arc, but it's fairly late in the game at this point, so if things don't get brought together pretty quickly, it might end up being too open-ended (though if that means a sequel I can't say I'd be unhappy about that).

I'd like to know more about Tezuka Satoshi's motivation. I'm wondering why he's so insistent on getting his younger brother, Tezuka Hikaru, to join his cause. He seems to be going about things in a very sinister way, eventually trying to manipulate others into the scheme. I can't quite decide if it's because he truly wants to have some sort of familial connection, or if he just wants a doorway into the Library Defense Force for his own means. It's a bit confusing, at least to me. Maybe he's just a Really Nice Guy who has misguided intentions... but I don't think so.

Of course, in returning the money that Dojo left on the table after whisking Iku away from the rather creepy dinner date, Satoshi reveals the big "secret" about Iku's Prince Charming, the Defense Force member who rescued her when she was a high school student. Anyone who didn't see this coming a mile away, make some noise right now.

*crickets chirp*

All right, all right, I could tell episodes ago that Dojo was the mysterious prince, especially since Iku hasn't really gotten along with him at all throughout the whole of the series so far. This is like shoujo/josei cardinal romance rule #1 - the more two characters don't get along at the outset, the likelier they are to end up in a relationship by the end of the series. Of course now that this secret has gotten out in the open, now it's time to anticipate the culmination of the relationship. Sometimes I depress myself with how easily manipulated I can be.
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Toshokan Sensou Episode 6

Summary: Iku and her superior, Komaki, are sent on a mission to retrieve an extremely rare book - one called the "Book of Prophecy", named as such because the scenario in the book seems to have closely predicted their current social situation many years previously. On the way back, their van is blocked and they're forced to go on the run. Komaki is shot in the leg by a Cleansing Force member, an illegal act in the residential area they're in. The two find an empty train car and hide out there until they can be rescued. While they wait, Komaki regales her with a story about a past mission with Dojo.

The Cleansing Force gets permission to search the train yard, and Iku and Komaki offer themselves freely in order to keep the precious book hidden. The CF realizes the book is on a train on its way out of the yard, and nearly goes to pursue it, until they're called off by the Department of Justice due to resident complaints about gunfire. Complaints filed under dubious circumstances, of course. If one side can play dirty, than the other can too.

Thoughts: Hah! So we get a little allusion to the novel that immediately sprung to my mind once hearing the premise of this show, Fahrenheit 451. And to top it off, it's held up almost as some sort of sacred tome, a book so rare and revealing a prophecy so true that it's nearly been censored into nonexistence by the time this story takes place. While I've been enjoying the anime on its own merits already, I can't lie - this small item really pleased me. It's nice to feel smart, sometimes.

The connection between Dojo and Iku deepens this episode when Komaki offers a tale of their earlier days in the force, and Iku learns that Dojo was once a rash and quick-acting recruit like herself. Since then he's learned to control himself (and not start brawls in the street), so maybe there's hope for her to shape up and become a very respectable member of the Defense Force. This episode was definitely successful in the character development area, and the balance of action and dialogue really worked well.

It was interesting to learn about some of the dirty dealings that both sides use to get their way. The Cleansing Force breaks the law by firing a gunshot in a no-fire zone in a residential area. The Defence Force eventually gets their way by pretending to be a resident of the area and reporting gunshots, something which wouldn't actually have happened due to the fact that a silenced gun was used. In war I suppose creative bending of the rules might be necessary.

I can't wait until next time, though since the series is essentially half-way done at this point, I'm hoping some larger more consuming conflict will arise. At least something that'll wrap the series up in a satisfactory way. I do hate to be left hanging.
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Toshokan Sensou Episode 5

Summary: Iku is the only female member of the Kanto Library Task Force, a fact that she wishes to keep secret from her ultra-conservative parents when they come to visit her at work. She does a fairly decent job of hiding her real responsibilities from there (with the help of Dojo and Shibasaki, of course), but it's obvious that they're beginning to suspect something is awry.

The next day, Iku's mother nearly reads a news report of the recent hostage situation in which she was involved, so she does everything in her power to distract her. Her father accuses her of being a poor librarian, when Dojo is able to answer a question promptly that she had trouble with. Any illusions are gone when a thief attempts to get away with a book and Iku uses her considerable running power and martial arts skill to capture him. Luckily her passion convinces them both to warm up to her work in the end.

Thoughts: Well, every show has a few filler episodes. And if they're inevitable, I'd rather they be like this, with a little bit of drama and a little bit of heart, than just a waste of time. And this is far from a waste of time, since we get a glimpse into Iku's background, and also a few nice character moments with Dojo and Iku's father (and did I mention mostly-nude Dojo in the bath? HOTT. Shut up, I can fangirl every once-in-a-while too). Anyway, the whole thing is mostly played for comedy, with Iku trying to hide how dangerous her real job in the Task Force is while simultaneously nearly being thwarted in the effort at every turn.

Being the person I am I can't help but be completely annoyed at Iku's mother for being so old-fashioned. I mean seriously, the story takes place in the future and you'd think at least some social progression would have happened in the 11 years between now and then. Oh Japan, with your traditional attitudes. I suppose coming at this show from an American standpoint, it's not all that unusual to think of women participating in the military and so I don't really know what her mother's problem is (though I suppose any parent would be apprehensive about their child being put in a situation where he or she might get shot or otherwise hurt in some way). Still, though, the crying... grrr.

Gotta love Dojo, though. His conflicting emotions are what really makes him shine, I think. When he's in the bath with Iku's father, you can tell that he's being honest about her lackluster performance at work, but he's so quick to amend that sentiment with how valuable she is to his team that you can tell the truth about the feelings he's trying to keep to himself. The only other thing I can really say is <3 <3 <3
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Toshokan Sensou Episode 4

Summary: Recap! During a sensitive operation, Iku was given the less-glamorous job of escorting a VIP instead of helping to usher books to safety. Instead she ends up in the thick of things when she and her charge are cornered by some suspicious individuals.

Iku and the Commander are taken hostage by these individuals, members of a group called Bakushuukai who are in league with the Media Cleansing Force. Their terms of release for the hostages are that the Library Defense Force dispose of all materials they removed that day. Of course, Iku, pledging to do things the right way rather than blow her top and potentially get herself and the Commander killed, slips in a clue in the short phone conversations she's allowed by the terrorist group. This gives the Library troops on the other end enough to go on to get a search started, which is helped by the fact that the Commander has a transmitter in his artificial leg which he activates by removing it in a certain way. The Defense Force concocts a clever plan to buy the land in which the hostages are being held as the site of a future library, thus putting the area under their jurisdiction rather than the local police.

The Defense Force descends upon the building and puts down the Bakushuukai without too much trouble, and Dojo is forced to acknowledge that Iku isn't as useless as he had said earlier. The Commander even promises her a good recommendation after he's back on his feet. Then of course there's the problem with Tezuka asking to date her, which turns out to be not much of a problem once she refuses - he didn't like her romantically, Dojo just told him that he could learn a lot from her. Later Iku decided to finally write to her parents and tell them some specifics about her job, but she's too late - they're already planning to visit her at work to see in person.

Thoughts: Squee! I've thus far managed to overcome my guilt and just enjoy the potential romantic situations in this show and the cute, funny character moments. Not that I'm ignoring the meat of the story, just... I think my previous trepidation had to do with the fact that I was feeling that Toshokan Sensou might descend into some Full Metal Panic-type mediocrity from which it might never return. I mean, the two are kind of similar in a way. They're both a mesh of comedy and military drama with some relationship stuff thrown in for good measure. I think the difference is that this show is what I imagine FMP might be like if told from a more mature and/or female-centric perspective. The whole thing is toned-down in all aspects too - the violence is much less gory and the comedy is less slapstick and zero pantsu. I guess that could be a turnoff for some, but I feel the whole package is blended really well and the characters don't annoy me.

Iku reminds me a bit of a less-autistic Nodame from Nodame Cantabile in that she's talented but it takes certain things to get her to want to try to succeed. Dojo is kind of her "Chiaki-sama" in a way as well, what with the mild verbal abuse and all. I'm hoping that they'll do more to balance each-other out rather than being growly at each-other for most of the show and then suddenly becoming all rabu-rabu at the end. Actually, if they got too kissy-faced I might be kind of scared.

It'll be interesting to see what type of people her parents are in the next episode. She might either be worrying too much about what they'll think of her job, or they might really be overly-worried about her being in the Task Force, I haven't decided what my prediction will be yet. Definitely drama!
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Toshokan Sensou Episode 3

Summary: While Iku is still reeling over the unexpected confession of love she received from her superior officer, Tezuka, she's assigned as the special escort for Commander Inamine during a special transfer of books from the private collection of a man who recently died. She's perplexed as to why she alone is assigned to this duty when everyone else will be a part of the actual transferral operation. Dojo is straight with her - he doesn't feel that she's capable of it. While she mopes her friend explains that she's seen as an immature baby who can't even manage to break it to her parents that she's in the Library Task Force. So she asks once again for help, this time in training her to do her very best at the escort mission, even though she'd rather be in potential combat than anything else.

While she's practicing pushing her friend in a wheelchair, a photographer manages to take a picture of the two of them not looking quite their best. She's a member of the media there to cover the big event. The next day, the Cleansing Force arrives as expected outside the information museum which is closing. A battle breaks out almost instantly. After defending their helicopter and allowing it to remove a crate of materials from the building, the Defense Force abandons a second container to the cleansing force, though this container has materials inside that the Kanto Library has backups for. Just as they're pulling out, Iku and her elderly charge are confronted.

Thoughts: This episode was definitely a bit heavier on the drama than the previous couple, which was refreshing. It's also the beginning of a multi-part (I assume 2) story, which is something that might drive a lot of people nuts, but I enjoy since it usually means more in-depth stories (and since I'm a bit behind on most of the releases I'm watching, if I really need to know what happens I can just pop in the next episode, hehehe). Ahem, well in any case, I was assuming from the setup that this would be just another chance for Iku to learn a little humilty and impress her superiors even while doing a decidedly less prestigious job than physically defending the premises, but considering the ending of the episode I feel like things are heading towards a more dramatic resolution which might provide a little more character growth for Iku.

Speaking of which, the previous episode's confession from Tezuka was briefly brought up this time, with a bit of poignant reference to it just as he's prepared to go off to defend the Information Museum. I find myself almost disturbingly focused on how this relationship situation will pan out, even though I'd prefer to be more interested in the overall world of the story and the conflict that's occurring. Should I feel guilty to want to know how the sort-of love triangle will resolve? It's not like I don't want to know how the conflict over media will turn out, but I'm beginning to think that's something which won't be completely resolved over this 12 or 13 episode series and so I don't want to expect too much from the show and end up disappointed like I have in similar situations.

One thing I've noticed about this show is that I just don't really have a whole lot to say about it after I finish watching it. It's good but it's fairly straightforward so far and so I find that I can't just dive in and talk about the minutiae like I can with, say, Kaiba or Kurenai. I think it's something a lot of people would enjoy, though, which is partly due to the fact that it isn't too heavy. I had expected something that dealt more with media censorship but got something with some good action and character interaction that was better than expected. As long as I don't think too long about how ridiculous the premise is at times (would Japan really allow that kind of censorship to occur in the first place? Didn't they kind of have to be convinced to outlaw child porn back in 1999?). It's not like they're in the Middle East or highly religious or something. Well, I just have to turn off that little part of my brain, now don't I?
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Toshokan Sensou Episode 2

Summary: After being unexpectedly transferred to the Library Special Forces, Iku is sent to a training camp in the forest where, amongst other things, she inadvertently demonstrates her laziness by not being able to properly finish the group hike without help (she's very good at tripping and falling). However, she's excellent at repelling down a rope and manages to punch a bear right in the face - a bear that happens to be one of her superior officers in a bear suit playing an unfortunate joke on the new recruits.

Back at the library, Iku's lack of studying is painfully obvious - while retrieving books for customers, she can never remember how the aisles are numbered and where each subject is located. After another humiliating scolding, she gets down to business by asking her friend to help her study up. Her dedication from that point on is obvious. When the library is attacked by the enemy who tricked them into providing some controversial books for review, Iku becomes the star when she realizes that the enemy isn't heading for the book vault and climbs down the side of the library to grab the duffel back with the books in it. Afterwards she receives an unexpected confession from Tezuka, her superior officer.

Thoughts: Well, after the buildup in the first episode and this one that seemed to be leading to lovey feelings with Dojo, Iku's "nemesis", it was pretty surprising to get a love confession from a character newly-introduced this time around. Though thinking about it, a lot of time seemed to pass in this episode between the training camp and Iku's feverish studying sessions, so it's not quite as unrealistic as it seemed to me on first viewing it. I feel kind of guilty focusing so much on the romantic comedy aspect of the show when it's dealing with serious subjects like media censorship, but darn it, that little core of shoujo/josei entertainment enjoyment inside my normally icy heart just can't get enough.

Speaking of dual-personalities of this show, at first I wasn't sure I was going to like it because I tend to dislike the mix of wacky comedy with something that's supposed to be serious and dramatic, you know, like war and all. But I find that this series so far has struck the delicate balance it needs to make both sides work. Iku's humorous exploits are funny but not too over-the-top. Even though it's funny when we realize she slept through the applicable lecture that would have her understanding the serious things the other members of her military force are talking about, it's quite clear that the other characters consider this an extremely serious oversight on her part, and she makes efforts right away to remedy the problem. It's more about growing up and learning to take responsibility for one's actions than it is to be all about the lulz. And for the most part, the seriousness of the censorship issues is made apparent quite frequently, so even though there are comedic parts of the show, the main issue at hand isn't made light of or diminished to the background for very long.

One thing I'm not sure what to think of at the moment is something which may very well have been a throwaway comment in the show. When Iku's group finishes their hike, the person in charge congratulates them for only taking a day, even with a woman on their squad. Normally I feel like this kind of comment would be used as something to light a fire within a character like Iku. I truly expected her to hear it and get angry, but instead nothing really happened and the story just went right on by it. So I'm sort of torn as to whether I as a viewer was supposed to pay that much attention to it or whether it wasn't supposed to be a huge issue, and it's a bit confusing.

In any case, this was a solid episode that kept the quality of the animation high and provided a good balance of not-too-zany humor, action and drama, something that many shows try to do but too often fail at. I'm excited to watch some more.

Summary: A ferret named Okojo-san is bound and determined to live free. While roaming the streets, a student named Tsuchiya Haruka finds him laying face up in a dumpster, so he takes him back to his apartment. Okojo reminisces about his great escape, and meets a mouse that lives with the next-door neighbors. It turns out that Okojo's natural preditory instincts make their friendship a little difficult. But there's better food around, and Okojo manages to procure a piece of Tsuchiya's fried chicken and declare himself leader of the household. Not knowing animal-speak, Tsuchiya decides to keep him around to entertain his younger neighbor.

A failed escape attempt lands Okojo in the animal hospital. The doctor there is obsessed with the idea of meeting an "okojo", and today is his lucky day. Of course, Okojo (whose name ends up being "Kojopi" due to the neighbor kid's desire) keeps scratching the doctor in the face. Some more fried chicken as a distraction does the trick, and they're able to bandage him up. In spite of his injuries, the doctor is still extremely happy about having met an okojo in his clinic.

Thoughts: This series hails from the distant year of 2001, right around the time I discovered what digital fansubs were, and when it was a less than sure thing that the majority of anime for a season would be fansubbed by the various groups in existence (a number which was much smaller back then). In a way I can see why the show didn't garner much interest - it's a comedy where the main character is kind of a snarky animal, and it admittedly isn't funny enough to distinguish itself from other comedies. The humor is such that it might elicit a chuckle now and then, but it definitely stands as more of a novelty that really wouldn't have done well in the US. In any case, that's probably why the first fansub I got for this series appeared on the scene mere months ago, a good 6-7 years after the show's broadcast.

Once again, though, we have a show where we're meant to laugh at and love an animal that behaves poorly, simply because those of us who are pet owners can relate to it. Sadly, I have no experience at all with ferrets, so while I can really enjoy Chi's Sweet Home due to my familiarity with kittens/cats, I look at this show and I'm just sort of mildly amused with no idea how accurate a portrayal it is. Yes, I'm arguing for accuracy in a silly animal comedy. It's serious business.

In any case, I'm not particularly motivated to seek out more episodes of this, but I would probably recommend it to fans of this kind of low-key, non-raunchy comedy. The animals are cute, anyway.