Haha! This is the episode where we’ve all been waiting for, and it SO does deliver! It’s a very slow-paced episode, but the build-up was so incredibly good that it had me on the edge of my seat for the entire twenty minutes. Not only did this episode have some incredibly subtly emotional scenes, but it also created some awesome potential for this series finale (heck, we still have eight episodes to go and this episode had plot twists that you’d usually include in episode 24 or something).
Helen really had me fooled. Ack, I should have known that we were only shown the story from Reiji’s perspective. While it looked like she transformed into the emotionless doll that Scythe wanted her to be, it was far from the case and instead she too had as many internal conflicts as Reiji. Heck, if Cal wasn’t there, the fight in this episode would have ended rather nasty, because I suspect that without her, Reiji would have been a little too obsessed over Helen to think straight. Now that he thinks she’s dead he only has Helen left, and that’s what made him convinced that he wasn’t going to seriously fight Ein.
But Cal sure as heck ain’t dead! We just don’t have a bloody clue as to what happened to her: all this episode showed were a surprisingly clean gun and watch: signs that she indeed was away when it happened. Still: why did she go back to that place? Where is she now? What made her go away right at the moment of the bombing? What is she thinking of doing next. And how the heck is she going to react to Helen being back!?
Amidst this awesomeness, it almost feels like second fodder that Claudia freaking died! It turns out that her biggest reason to join Inferno was to get her revenge on her brother, and she’d get this revenge even if it meant betraying her friend Lizzie (who looked awesome when she was younger, by the way)
Rating: *** (Awesome)
With this episode Phantom should have ended up as no1 on your monthly rankings though I have to agree tokyo magnitude 8.0 is something special.
Heck Elen got all of us fooled. best part is when Elen told Reiji that she doesn’t want to live in a world without Reiji (>_
Not many shows keep getting better from the first episode and just keep getting better every episode.
Yea, Cal is alive it looks. Now when or how will Reij found out, I just hope that nothing bad happens to Cal in the mean time.
What was Reiji saying to Elen at the end of their fight scene?
Next week we have an half-recap episode featuring Cal, and after that the final part starts… the most emotional and exciting part of teh series (at least those were my impressions after playing the VN).
I have to agree with devr: “…Not many shows keep getting better from the first episode and just keep getting better every episode….”
Awesome indeed. Most anime, even good anime, have down weeks. Not this one.
This was possbly my favorite part of the game and the show has done an excellent job in its own right.
Strictly speaking, the anime is taking a couple of creative liberties here and there, but it’s clearly stayed true to the core of the source material (the characters plus their interactions/relationships) and that makes me quite glad.
Btw, I don’t really want to spoil things, which explains my usual hesitation when talking about this series…but I’m wondering whether the Bee-Train staff will choose to use an original ending after all. Maybe, maybe not.
The third part of the show should open up some interesting possibilities, even if one outcome is far more likely than the others.
I just started to catch up on this one. I watched the first episode, but it didn’t really appeal to me all that much. I’m glad, it looks to be keeping up with its potential.
Had to watch it raw then… Didn’t understand much what they were talking about so that’s why the episode didn’t feel that spectacular (have to rewatch it later). The scene where Claudia might have died (only if I understood right) seemed to be wasted. If they just had made that helicopter chase scene, it would have been the best. At least I was surprised when I saw that in the game in Claudia’s ending path.
It still remains a mystery which ending they will choose. Probably it will be Ein’s ending considering this is a TV show.
This has definitely gotten very emotional, but Bee Train pulls the strings lightly so it doesn’t turn into pure gushy angst. Well played Ein! I never thought of that either. This show has definitely become one of my favorites. Not only has it gotten better with each episode, but I haven’t been able to see any huge flaws since the beginning. The twists and turns are unpredictable, and I’m really excited to see how this anime finished off. Touche!
As for Cal, she can’t be dead. But I wonder how she’ll react when Reiji and Ein go off to Mexico….hmm. As for Scythe…well, that guy is one creepy scientist. I knew Claudia was going to die sooner or later, but the way she did really caught me by suprise. I wonder what Lizzie will do now. Will she stay with Inferno? Or will she part ways and perhaps help Reiji?
Thank goodness that ugly dress Cal had got assassinated That needed to happen 5 eps ago.
Mann it seems that Phantom never gets the top spot for the best anime of the month….sheez i mean this anime really rocks and should seriously be at least number 1 for once
not to say that tokyo magnitude 8.0 is bad, i enjoy it but i reckon Phantom should be ur number one anime…: )
Is Claudia really dead? I have my doubts because in anime if the character wasn’t seen dead or dying they come back to life. Ein is a good example.
I had the same thought as you panaghoy88. Even if the atmosphere then made it seem like Claudia was going to be killed by Lizzy, I have some doubts, the grave Lizzy visited near the end of the episode may be the grave of Claudia’s brother ( looked like it, by the way),anyway, it is way too early to conclude she’s dead. She could have fled with Lizzy’s help who would deliberately make it seem like Claudia was dead, but her death may be actually fainted, just like Cal’s death, the atmosphere was tragic back then too, anyway , I hope that Claudia is still alive, I loved her character way too much!