Keith’s story now also begins to draw to its climax. This episode again was better than the previous one, and it featured quite some important plot events. Still, I think that this anime will really kick off in its second half, when all the characters are fleshed out properly. As of now, I can’t really connect to Keith yet, due to the fact that his character just isn’t as interesting as Jomie’s yet. But that could change when he finds out about his secret. I’m not sure what it is, but Shiroe’s words last time, about how he’s like a robot may have held some kind of truth.
During this episode, Shiroe hacks into the database of the ship, in order to find out about Keith, and eventually, he runs into a strange room full of strange test-tubes with humans in it. He believes that Keith was raised in the same way. And if he did, then it does make sense. Nobody from the place he grew up remembers him, not because their memories have been erased, these memories never existed to begin with. He needed a birthplace for administrational records, so he just got assigned a random city/planet. It also explains why Mother Eliza looks the way she did, in combination with some other information given in this episode: she looks like the woman closest to the person she talks to. Some people see their girlfriend, while others see their mothers. When Keith woke up, he never had a woman close to him to begin with, so I assume that she was taking on a random form.
In the end, Shiroe gets caught, though. I’m not sure whether him, being a Myu is being found out, but he does manage to escape. He hides in a park somewhere, looking to tell Keith his secret. He’s looking pretty bad, by the way. It’ll be very interesting to see how Keith will react to this. And how the heck is Shiroe going to survive this? And when will we see Swena back again, if she does return in the first place?
Sam also went through quite a bit of development when Jomie hacks into a practice plane he was flying in to send a message of peace. He now knows that Jomie is the leader of the Myu, and he really shows this. We never really see this explicitly, but I think that deep inside, everyone on the crew has negative feelings for the Myu. Otherwise, Sam wouldn’t have reacted the way he did. We also see him, at one point, admit that he just isn’t good enough to become a member, unlike Keith. This again shows how insensitive Keith can be.
It’s great to see Jomie back, by the way, even though it only was for a few seconds. I’m looking forward to the next episode, it’s promising to become a major one. :)]]>
Category: Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction
Saiunkoku Monogatari – 47
The current episode closes another chapter in the story. Shuurei is finally done with all her tasks that she set out to do in the capital. She collected the permissions to turn the Sa-province into the centre of intellect for the country, and she gathered enough doctors to cure the disease that’s been plaguing in the Sa-clan. All that’s left? Get Ryuuki’s permission. The largest part of the episode focused on this.
Yet again a huge dialogue, though fortunately this one was a bit easier to understand (emphasis on “bit”). Ryuuki was gathered along with all his advisors, and especially the advisors were angry at her for spending so much money (see previous episode) on the medics. Shuurei’s speech blew these guys away, though. At least, for a short while, they then started blaming Shuurei for the reason the disease spread.
Ryuuki then silences everyone, but who was that person he turned into for a short while? He had the same glow as Sho Taishi’s younger form and Sa Enjun’s spirit-form. We never see any trace of him again, though. The rest of the conversation was a bit fuzzy, though in the end, it came down to Ryuuki giving his permission.
The rest of the episode was more character-based, when Shuurei rests after her hard work, she says goodbye to Ryuuki and leaves towards the Sa-province again. Reishin and Kouyuu were hilarious as well, whey they stand besides a sleeping Shuurei and have to flee when she wakes up. ^^; Still, it seems that nearly everyone in the palace was worried about her, since she encounters lots of acquaintances who seem to have fallen asleep on their chairs in the library, where she was sleeping herself. Kouyuu found an interesting way to hide himself as well. ^^;
Also: what happened to Eigetsu? He wasn’t featured at all during the episode, even though he’s about to die. He should be getting some spotlights in the next episode, though. I really wonder whether Shuurei will be able to see him again. Like I said before, Eigetsu at one point had less than a month to live, while it’d take Shuurei at least a month to get to the Sa-province. But then again, right now she’s in a hurry to go there with the doctors as fast as possible, so I can imagine that the journey would only take half the time when she puts some speed in it.]]>
Seirei no Moribito – 08
Whoa… this probably was the hardest to understand episode yet! Anime like Seirei no Moribito and Saiunkoku, who already feature lots of talking, sometimes have a tendency to show entire episodes who just focus on a bunch of people talking, with nothing more. This was one of these episodes. Eighteen minutes just play inside a small blacksmith’s house, nothing else. No flashbacks, other characters, nothing.
Well then, there was one thing I did understand: Barsa’s spear had been quite damaged, so she goes to a famous blacksmith in order to get a new one. At the end of the episode, we see her happily practicing with her spear. What happened between these scenes was extremely different to grasp.
I do suspect that the blacksmith wasn’t keen on helping Barsa at first. This is probably because of her past, and judging by the fact that Tanda had to heal her quite often, she probably frequented his place as well. Either that or he’s seen her wanted-posters. Then, after a while, two of the hunters enter the shop, picking up some swords that they ordered.
What follows is a long discussion, between the blacksmith and the hunters, while Barsa and Chaggumu hide out in a different room. The blacksmith nearly betrays them when he tells the hunters that their swords are in the same room where they’re hiding out in. At the last moment, though, he changes his mind, and puts up a discussion, so that it’ll be natural for him to pick up the swords himself. At least, that’s what I suspect.
To find out the subject of this discussion, I’m probably going to have to wait till Wrex posts his summary, but I suspect he was telling them about Barsa’s history with her father. The way Barsa looked seems to suggest this. The hunters then compare this story with probably Chaggumu’s.
This really was a discussion you’d expect in a novel, not in an anime like that. But still, I liked it, even though I didn’t understand a word of it. The music also was amazing, near the end of the episode. I was surprised we saw nothing of Shuga. You’d suspect that this episode would show him talk to various people, to convince them that the drought isn’t over, but we saw nothing of him. Torogai-shi also was absent.]]>
Wellber no Monogatari ~ Sisters of Wellber – 08
The doubts I had about this series, I take them all back after this episode. For three episodes in a row, Wellber no Monogatari has continuously pushed forward excellent episodes, one after another. While that by itself already is a feat that only few other anime from the current spring-season have accomplished, Wellber no Monogatari goes even further, by making each of these three episodes unique, and very different from the other. The title for “most diverse series” definitely goes to Wellber no Monogatari at this point.
Wellber no Monogatari and Kaze no Shoujo Emily really prove that the underdogs rock yet again! The current episode definitely was the best yet, when it features a huge amount of plot and character-development, with some great effects! With that, though, comes probably the only lesser part of the episode: some parts featured lots of dialogue, and were very hard to understand. xD
Anyway, most of the developments were focused on Galahad. We learn that Jamill is actually his girlfriend, and *gasp* Guernia is still alive!! For a moment, I was afraid that Galahad would turn good just because of the sixth episode, but I had no reason to worry. Near the end of the episode, he did betray his comrades, but he had every reason to, after Guernia told him that he’d been killing his own people (to test out his sword skills?), and that he indeed was the culprit, instead of the victim back in the first episode.
Still, that Guernia is quite a bastard, he really seems to be after Rita’s head, so that he’d be able to get the throne of both Wellber and Sangatras. It’s interesting to see that Galahad just betrayed the guy like that, and I’d love to see what he’s going to do next. (Jamill’s reaction to his betrayal, by the way, was excellent!). I had my doubts about his character at first, but during this episode, I really started to like the guy.
Tina, meanwhile, also reveals quite some interesting information about herself: she can’t write! It would be perfectly plausible for a thief like her, though. And I’m surprised that similar characters like her don’t show the same problems. She turns rather cute when she has to spell out a letter to send back home so that Rita can write it down. ^^;
I really, really, really hope that I can continue to praise Wellber no Monogatari for the rest of the series. Production I.G. is really showing its best side in the current season, with Seirei no Moribito as well. Now all that’s left is to hope that this won’t pull a .Hack//Roots, so that my enthusiasm has been for naught, but for now, I’m quite confident.
It’s a shame, really. A series like Claymore, who had a mediocre start as well has enough people watching it, because the manga turns better and better as it progresses. For an original story like Wellber no Monogatari, though, you can’t know whether it’ll turn out good or bad, just from first impressions.]]>
Toward the Terra – 07
When the episode started, it took a while before I got used to the time-leap that took place between this episode and the previous one. I’m not sure how many years passed, but probably two or three of them. Those who paid attention during the OP noticed that next to Keith, Sam and Sweena there’s another person. This guy gets introduced in the current episode, sortof. He appears to be the kid that Jomie failed to rescue, back in episode five.
Keith has grown out to become the most elite student of the academy, still befriended with Sam and Swena. Shiroe turned into a rather cocky brat, totally opposite from his younger version. An interesting detail is that somehow, nobody detected that he’s a Myu. It’s interesting, but in a way, he’s quite similar to Jomie.
And whoa, Swena just left like that, getting married to a random guy! I never expected her to disappear from the plot again after just less than two episodes. At this point, I was really wondering whether I missed an episode, or something. Still, I must commend the creators to come up with a twist like that.
The episode gets really interesting, though, when Shiroe starts investigating on Keith’s past. At the previous episode, I thought the fact that he lost his memories meant that he failed the growing-up test. But in fact, this was because he knew something that shouldn’t become known. And judging by the fact that his entire memory has been removed, including that of all the people he grew up with, he must have done or been something pretty important or dangerous. Seeing Keith punch Shiroe at the end of the episode also surprised me, after being called a cold robot without any emotions (for sending his “girlfriend” off like that).
I do wonder what Jomie has been doing for the past few episodes, though. I originally thought that he’d be heading straight for Terra, but now it seems that it’s either very far away, or the coordinates are gone. He’s currently probably looking for a way to get there, I believe. It’s interesting, though, that the main character doesn’t appear for more than two episodes. It’s not often that you see such a thing happen in an anime.]]>
Seirei no Moribito – 07
Heh, after actually watching the previous episode with subtitles, and with the help of a few commenters (especially minhngoc and wrex) I finally understood what happened back there. The whole chase was put in scene, and the Barsa and Chaggumu we saw tumbling down the cliff were actually fake bodies, created by Torogai-shi. Barsa, Chaggumu and Tanda, meanwhile headed on foot to the west, and they passed that big rock. Barsa continues to surprise me with her plans.
While watching the episode, I kept wondering how the heck the story would continue next. I mean, everyone thinks that Chaggumu is dead, Barsa is smart enough not to screw up somehow, and we still have twenty episodes left for this anime. But after I looked up what Shuga tried to say at the end of the episode, I understood. He was looking at the machine that made the prediction of the upcoming drought. I’m not yet sure how, but after Chaggumu’s death it should return to a more peaceful prediction. Shuga, however, notices that it still indicates that a drought is going to happen. When the warriors are going to find out about this, they’ll probably figure out that Barsa went west, and they start chasing her again.
This does provide quite a challenge for Barsa: how to hide Chaggumu, while everyone can see the guy’s still alive. She’s going to have to come up with an impossible hiding place. Also, what was Torogai-shi up to? It seems that she did head north, after fooling the two warriors, but to what purpose, what does she carry in that bag of hers?
Most of the episode was quiet, though, when it focused on Barsa and Tanda, who can finally have it easy again. Chaggumu acts kindof cute when he tries to figure out how to spend the rest of his life, and then it seems that Barsa’s actually planning to reunite him with his mother (I might have misunderstood that part).]]>
Saiunkoku Monogatari – 46
Once again, Saiunkoku continues to stun me with some amazing episodes and plot developments. I do admit that the struggles within the Sa-clan dragged on a bit, but the current arc more than makes up for it. I can’t believe how awesome Shuurei is when she’s determined. (On a side-note: only now I noticed that Shuurei still wears the make-up that she received from Kochou).
So, in the last episode, it seemed that the cause was somehow spread through the snow foxes into the water-system, and the disease wasn’t contagious. In this episode, we finally get to know the truth about the disease: it’s caused by the bugs that live on the snow-fox. People swallow them while drinking the water, and the bugs start to take over the human body.
The only cure: manually removing it by cutting into the human body. This is where the problem lies, though: nobody of the palace-medical team knows how to do this. And this is where the strange guy we’ve been seeing with Sho Taishi comes into the picture: he actually was the doctor who took care of Shuurei when she was sick, and he turns out to be a legendary medic who knows how to properly cut into the human body. He then agrees to go with Shuurei to the Sa-province, along with the medical staff from the palace, with whom he spends the rest of the episode teaching how to properly cut into the human body (I know there has to be some kind of special word for this, but I just can’t seem to remember it), by practicing on a pig.
If this wasn’t already enough, we also get to know why Doushu’s death means Eigetsu’s death: Doushu died once already. Yougetsu then put half of Eigetsu’s soul inside Doushu, so that he could remain alive. Apparently, this only kept him alive for about six or seven years, before this part of the soul died along with Doushu. Now that Eigetsu has lost half of his soul, I can imagine that he can’t live without it.
I’m glad to say that I actually understood the first half of the episode quite clearly. The second half… however, was a different story. I know that Shuurei went to a department to ask permission for something, but which department that was, and what she needed from them still remain a big mystery to me. Shuurei also exits the episode with the message that she only has one job left to do, and I do wonder what that job might be…
It’s interesting how you can compare the pacing of Saiunkoku Monogatari with Les Miserables. With both shows, you just know some things are definitely going to happen. With Les Miserables, it’s for example Fantine’s death and Jean, revealing his own identity, while for Saiunkoku Monogatari it’s for example the scene where Eigetsu either dies or gets saved somehow, and the revelation of who the mysterious Li Senya actually is. With both shows, these scenes are definitely going to happen, and with both shows, you won’t be able to predict exactly when these moments will come. It can be the next episode; it can also take five more episodes. That’s another thing I love about both of these series.]]>
Wellber no Monogatari ~ Sisters of Wellber – 07
You know, I’m really beginning to warm up to Wellber no Monogatari, as strange as it may seem and despite its obvious flaws. The current episode was extremely silly, probably the silliest of the entire series so far, but I just loved it. I don’t know why, but every week I’m really anxious to check out the next episode of this series.
The episode starts out serious enough when Rita’s brother confronts his father about how he doesn’t do anything to ensure his daughter’s safety. He then starts carrying out a strange magical ritual, if I’m not mistaken it’s to find out the future of the country of Wellber.
The rest of the episode is basically one big treasure hunt when Rita’s scroll gets stolen. To give a short summary, a thief first tricks Rita and Tina into thinking he’s from the border-guard and steals their money and the scroll. He sees the scroll as useless so he throws it away into a hay carriage. A crow then comes and picks it up. After a fierce battle between this crow and Sherry, it drops it in a tree. Rita then gets it, but the branch she’s standing on breaks and she falls into a post office, onto a pile of letters and scroll-tubes. Then villagers who mistook their treasure-hunt to be a real treasure hunt rampage, but they eventually get scared away by Bergerac. In the end, it appears that Rita put the scroll in her suitcase, so the whole chase had been for naught.
This hunt by itself wasn’t the thing that made this episode great; it was the reaction of the different characters to all of it that I absolutely loved. Tina was just awesome; you just have to love her facial expressions and gestures during the entire episode.
Also, Sherri finally is a bit useful for something when she starts chasing the crow. It was quite awesome though, seeing a fight between two such small creatures. Tina also missed with her gun, when she tried to shoot this crow down. I loved it how this came back later in the episode when the scroll-case is stuck in the tree and Rita doesn’t trust her shooting-skills anymore. ^^;
The episode ends with Rita’s brother, realizing that Sangatras is planning to invade Wellber. This scene definitely shows promise for the future episodes, as I do suspect that now Rita is out of Wellber, her journey didn’t suddenly become a lot easier. The next episode should get back on track when Galahad returns, but that doesn’t mean that this episode was useless. While the plot went nowhere fast, some good character-development and fleshing out did happen. I do hope that some fansubbers start actively subbing this series, as it really deserves it in my opinion.]]>
Toward the Terra – 06
Whoa, a whole episode without Jomie? Interesting. This episode was really meant to introduce Keesu (how the heck do you spell his name correctly) and bring Sam and Swena back into the story. I’m surprised that I’m actually the only one who remained blogging this series by the way. Ah well, that never stopped me from blogging. ^^;
Anyway, it seems that the children who turned 14 and passed the coming-of-age test are sent to a space-station. Sam, Swena and Keesu all ended up on the same station, but for a strange reason, Keesu lost his memory in the process, while Sam and Swena got to keep it. If I had to guess, then he failed his coming-of-age test.
The episode itself wasn’t really special, a ship carrying new recruits accidentally crashed into the space-station, and Sam and Keesu, who became friends fast, were just to embark on an exercise outside of the space-station, so they were the first who’d be able to reach them. Swena appeared to be among these new recruits, and they were safely rescued. Keesu, however, ended up in danger and Sam saved him. Swena afterwards started to fall in love with Keesu, and their rivals looked rather pissed. Still, there is potential for the future, especially since they’re going to have to be connected to Jomie, some way in the future.]]>
Saiunkoku Monogatari – 45
Whoa… this episode was basically just one huge dialogue. It’s hard to find a moment in which people actually didn’t talk about something. Unfortunately, that made things difficult to understand, but I can feel that this episode was building up to something great. We start with Shuurei’s meeting with the governor of the Koku-province, Kai. Kai shows her the books that Doushu gave him, and it seems that they’re all highly advanced medical books. Why did Doushu tell Kai to give these books to Shuurei and not to Eigetsu? Why was it so important for him to deliver these books?
Kai also informs Shuurei that Eigetsu will be dying soon. The reaction of Shuurei was marvellous, and I do wonder whether Eigetsu will she be alive when she gets back to the Sa-province (remember, the journey does take thirty days). Kai also tells him that when Doushu was about to die, he tried to get a doctor to look at him, though when he got back, Doushu already was gone. If my memory doesn’t fool me, he then went outside to die, under the shades of a tree. I think he wanted to have a bit of time for himself. Also, he gives Shuurei the final permission she needs to carry out her plans. ^^
The rest of the episode was a big puzzle for me, though, and I’m eagerly waiting for Impz and Usagijen to post their views on it. Eigetsu arrived in the town I assume was plagued by the disease. In there, he meets up with some kind of official. Shuurei shows the books to the medical staff of the palace, and they realize that they were written by some kind of legendary figure, who was supposed to be dead. And that’s about all I picked up.
Like mentioned above, I feel that this episode was building up to something amazing. The episode was very focused and detailed, and really took its time explaining. The next episode should prove to be a beauty. :)]]>