The chemistry between the characters is really good in this series. This was supposed to be just a dull building up episode, but thanks to that chemistry I didn’t mind that at all. These characters are very funny when they’re together, and I’m not just referring to the main characters. The side-cast also is full of characters who are great to watch and who love to make quips towards each other.
One of my biggest fears for this series was the third main character. The last thing that this series needed was another ditzy stupid female. And yet, surprisingly she turned out to be a completely different character, using her traces of ditziness actually to her own advantage. I also like how this series didn’t try to glorify how she was using CPR. It’s been a while since I didn’t see someone freak out and link saving lives to randomly kissing.
Unfortunately, one very annoying cliche slipped by. Two, actually. The first is the lead character suddenly living together with a bunch of cute girls. The main one though was the “waitress scene”. That’s something I’ve seen dozens of times before and it was only saved because of the good characterization.
And again: this episode showed the damages of the last episode being rebuilt, both for the main characters and the aliens. Another thing that this series does well is that the town that this is set in feels alive. This show is very good at putting in small details that flesh out the characters, but it’s doing the same thing with the setting. I like that.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
This director seems to put a lot of importance on the connection of people to places. It was a major part of “Shingu,” and it’s even already apparent in “Moretsu Pirates.”
The waitress scene also made me roll my eyes. The three characters rooming together didn’t strike me as bad since it got executed in a reasonable manner.
Your comment about the CPR scene highlighted one reason why this series has run so smoothly. Part of Rinne’s charm is how the characters feel real and a major component of that is how they don’t raise lame drama over stupid crap like CPR.
That and the waitress scene showcased how Lan and Muginami approach things. Lan does stuff to try fitting in and bonding, while Mugi does stuff that suits her whims.
It seems simple enough but it feels like Rinne’s solid all around execution is a rare quality amongst shows.
Now, this is where I’m out. The fanservice was irritating before in how blatant it was and the plot pretty cliched but Madoka is what made me continue to watch.
But this episode was worthy of crap harems like Zero no Tsukaima. When an anime starts dedicating episodes to fanservice (beach, maid), it’s simply not worth watching anymore. Plot took the backseat so you see where their priority lies.
Dunno how you watched the same thing and thought it was excellent.
Blatant fanservice? In fanservice terms this is relatively tame. My friend if you want a true example of blatant fanservice then watch the first episode of High school DXD.
This week’s episode slowly (but surely) drained me out of any patience or hope that things could miraculous lift the script from more plot device recyling and resorting to fanservice. I really do wish I could find the series as good as you do…
Agree with you that the characterization and charms of the three girls really saved this from being a pedestrian buildup episode. As did the bookends with the guys. I wonder why they decided to go with all-female core of good guys and an all-male core of bad guys? We’ll see, but obviously this isn’t Aquarion, so no ‘union’ silliness.
We were a bit surprised how much of a clutz Lan suddenly became in this episode. I mean we know she wasn’t able to achieve warrior mode in her Vox until recently, but she always struck us as graceful and composed; I suppose it was the anxiety of having to step up and perform on the same level as Muginami. While it seemed out of character at first, we like the added depth Lan got this week.
But yeah, Madoka’s school must be very lax indeed to just let random people enroll in the middle of the term. 😉
The waitress thing bothered me at first, but by the end they were laying it on thick enough (with Lan’s clumsiness) that my impression is they were intentionally poking fun at the trope. Still, it was the weakest episode so far. There are enough things going on here that I’m still interested in seeing where the series goes, but shark-jumpage is definitely a possibility.