I like it when Seirei no Moribito comes with an eventful episode. Not necessarily because of the action, but episodes like these are much easier to understand. The previous episodes were just nearly impossible to grasp for me, without looking at summaries by other people, but with this episode, I at least got the main points.
Still, that doesn’t mean that I understood everything. Shuga and his role still are one big mystery to me. Why is he so important? What kinds of books is he reading? And what relevance do these books have to the story? Even after reading the summaries from others, I still can’t understand this.
Anyway, the episode itself is about a failed attempt to run away by Barsa and Chaggumu. Chaggumu first gets his hair cut, and his earrings are removed. It pains him to lose the few items he still holds that remind him of his mother, so Barsa turns one of these earrings into a necklace. We meanwhile see all of the warriors from episode three, who are planning their next move. One of them still is wounded on his eye (courtesy of Barsa), another still has a cut on his face. Their boss was merely hit unconscious, so he has been able to recover. He takes the fourth guy with him, to go after Barsa.
Barsa, meanwhile takes off with Chaggumu and Torogai-shi. I also finally understood why she involved herself with Chaggumu in the first place. She foresaw a great drought, and this egg inside of Chaggumu seemed to be the source. The question now remains: what will she be doing in order to prevent this? I haven’t been able to find that one out. In any case, Torogai-shi splits up from Barsa and Chaggumu, probably to check and make sure nobody follows them.
The two assassins, meanwhile, demonstrate again that they’re superb trackers. I’m not sure what kind of reasoning they used, but they found Barsa and Chaggumu quite fast. If I’m not mistaken, then they noticed some horse’s hoofs which didn’t belong to a horse from the military. A chase follows, and Chaggumu notices that Barsa’s wound still hasn’t fully healed, and it actually starts bleeding again when Barsa starts pushing herself.
The purpose of the wolf also finally becomes clear: it’s with Torogai-shi. Just before Barsa is overtaken, it pushes the horse they’re riding on off a cliff, and through some kind of poisonous gas. Because it happened so fast, they didn’t breathe any of it, but if the assassins were to try and get them, they’d end up dead. At least, that’s what I figure, as they just let the two of them go. It’s strange that they didn’t just wait and see where they would be going, though.
Afterwards, we see that Barsa has gone back to Tanda, in order to rest again. I guess that’s her weakness: she’s so much focused on her goal that she thinks she can handle things, while she actually can’t. The fact that the prince cut his hair also made a lot more impact than I suspected. Or did these assassins actually think he died when he was attacked by the wolf? Ah well, they’ll find out soon he didn’t when they’re going to pick up his body and it ends up missing.
Finally, I remember noting that the music isn’t that special after watching the first episode, and I couldn’t have been more wrong. The music has been excellent so far, especially during the chase it consisted out of some great tunes. :)]]>
Category: Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction
Wellber no Monogatari ~ Sisters of Wellber – 06
I don’t know about others, but I greatly enjoyed this episode. It was definitely the best one in this series so far, when it focuses on Galahad and Rita, instead of a random case. I’m so glad that this episode avoided the pitfalls that strike so many other anime when they attempt an episode like this one. The graphics also just looked stunning in this one. The combination of fire, snow and some excellent animation made this episode really worthwhile to see. 🙂
The episode starts, though, with the guard we saw in the first episode arriving on an island, introducing yet another character: the female knight. If I had to guess, then she too is from Sangatras. Then the episode starts when Rita and Tina are in the middle of a snowy mountain, they talk about how the area is infamous for housing a rather poisonous spider, and then it seems that Tina has been afraid of spiders since she was young, after one unfortunate incident. ^^
One small detail I loved is how Rita’s fears aren’t used in this episode. Another thing is that this means that Sherry has known Tina for a very long time now. I still wonder how the two of them met each other. In any case, a blizzard shows up, and Rita first gets separated from Tina, and then runs into none other than Galahad. She manages to get away from him when she falls off a cliff. Apparently, this cliff wasn’t very large, and due to the snow, she had a soft landing, after which she fled into a convenient wooden shed.
Galahad, however, sees the wooden shed as well, and what follows is some considerable development between the two of them. One of the spiders mentioned above managed to get hold of Galahad, and Rita just isn’t someone to leave someone like him just to die. Then an interesting discussion follows, where it seems that Guernia acted really strange in the night when Rita murdered him. I’m glad to see that she finally reveals what really happened to her.
I didn’t understand this part too well, but it seems that Guernia wanted to kill Rita for his own gain. If I had to guess, then he first wanted to kill her, in order to blame others afterwards. It was probably so that he could get both Sangatras and Wellber for himself in the future. That’s why he kept bothering Rita with marriage requests. Strangely enough, though, he was extremely nice to Galahad. The two of them grew up together, and Galahad never noticed anything strange with him.
Still, the best part of the episode comes when Galahad actually poisons Rita’s drink when she’s not looking, with the venom of the same spider when she’s not looking. I hate it when episodes like these bring rivals together, only for the two of them to make friends and act like nothing happened. That definitely wasn’t the case here, when even after hearing Rita’s story, Galahad still wants to kill her.
Luckily, she managed to hit over an oil lamp in her struggles, so that the house catches fire and Tina would be able to find her. It’s quite interesting to see what the creators have already put Rita through. I’d love to know what’s going to happen in the rest of this series.]]>
Toward the Terra – 05
It’s strange. Jomie is a brat. And I still like him. I don’t know exactly what it is, but he doesn’t feel as annoying as all those hundreds of other teenage heroes. It’s probably because he actually has a set of responsibilities. As the leader of the Myu, he’s going to be responsible for their safety. I may be mistaken, but this is an element that most of these shows fail to represent well.
This episode also gives a bit more insight about the powers of the Myu and Blue himself, when Jomie finds himself able to do the same thing we’ve seen Blue doing for the past few episodes, when he finds another kid with rather large powers. The different soldiers on the ship also still haven’t really accepted him as their leader, since he’s the reason Blue has been in an even worse state than he already was. The kids love him, though. ^^
This episode also shows that he may be a leader, he’s also inexperienced. And he shows this when he tries to save the kid (Shiroi) as well, who is surprisingly similar to his own ten-year old version: large dreams, loves his parents, etc. Jomie, however, fails to see this, and tries to force him to go along with him, when he doesn’t even have a reason to leave his parents anyway. Shiroi then releases a huge wave of energy, so that even Jomie gets pushed back. If he wasn’t so young, you’d think that he’d be the antagonist we’ve been seeing in the OP. There’s also a nice Peter Pan reference, the boy who wouldn’t grow up. It does fit Jomie perfectly, as he too didn’t grow up, and he can fly as well.
The people from the military (one being Shiroi’s father), meanwhile have found a way to detect the Myu-ship, after the previous episode, and attack it with a satellite. Because of this, the Myu are forced to leave the planet, even if this means leaving Shiroi behind. I really keep thinking that he’s going to be the antagonist for this series, but he’s just way too young. In any case, this marks the start of Jomie’s journey to guide the Myu to Terra.]]>
Saiunkoku Monogatari – 44
This episode probably was more than enough to please all the Saiunkoku fanboys and fangirls. Not only does it start with Shuurei, getting saved by none other than her father, but the kissing-scene between Eigetsu and Kourin was just BEAUTIFUL. This definitely was one of the best Saiunkoku-episodes so far!
Seeing Shouka save Shuurei really surprised me, as I nearly forgot that he was, in fact, the leader of a highly successful assassin group once. He’s got a very interesting conversation with the white-haired immortal (apparently named Riou), after he ordered Shuurei to leave, as it seems that the two of them have met each other before. Shusui also shows her face again, in what feels like an absence of thirty episodes.
Riou mentions the name of Bara-hime. If I had to guess, then this Bara-hime was a very special person to the guy, and somehow Shuurei resembles her. That’s why he’s after her, even though he knows that the two of them aren’t the same person. We’re definitely going to see more of him in the future episodes. Shuurei, meanwhile, runs into Seiran, who finally gets a bit of screen-time again when he notices Shuurei, obviously in trouble.
She tells him about what happened, and he seems to get worried as well. That’s the strange part about this. I can imagine Shouka having some kind of history with the guy, but I believed that Seiran’s past already was wrapped up. If that’s the case, then why did he react so worried when Shuurei described the guy?
The next part: Kouyuu finally spends a bit of time again with Shuurei, when she saves him from getting lost in the middle of snowy weather. After a while, he forgets his worries about marriage a bit, and calms down a bit. That is, until Tei Yuushun shows up, with the news that the governor of the Koku-province will be arriving on the next day. I do wonder what’ll happen with the two of them, and whether we’ll have some kind of climax between the two of them, before Shuurei leaves to the Sa-province again.
Seiran, meanwhile, informs Ryuuki about the things Shuurei told him, but Ran and Ryuuki don’t really take this seriously. I still don’t know why he’s so worried, simply because of her description, and he also didn’t freak out like he did when the Satsujinzoku was mentioned.
Still, the definite highlight of the episode was the scene between Kourin and Eigetsu. I originally believed that Yougetsu created Eigetsu, but this was a lie. At one point, Eigetsu was nearly dying, so Yougetsu offered him his body, so that he’d live. I’m not sure why Yougetsu did this. Perhaps it was out of compassion, perhaps there was a deeper reason behind it. But still, Eigetsu’s soul could only remain in Yougetsu’s body for a limited amount of time, it seems. And that time is now running out. That probably also explains why he didn’t chose to be a doctor. People like them take at least twenty years to become really good, while he knew that if he studied enough, he’d have more chances becoming a government official. That’s also the reason he became a child prodigy, and managed to pass the national exams in first place: he just wanted to be useful more than anyone else participating in it.
By the way, does anyone know how much episodes the second season will consist of? If I’m not mistaking, we’re currently at novel eight of eleven or twelve (?). This probably means that there’s enough material for about twenty-six episodes. Any opinions about this?]]>
Saiunkoku Monogatari – 43
I just realized that from now on, my Saturdays are going to be really busy, with Seirei no Moribito, Kaze no Shoujo Emily, Toward the Terra, Saiunkoku Monogatari and starting from next week, Dennou Coil as well, all airing on that very same day. This is going to be interesting, as these four series already are top-quality, and I’m suspecting Dennou Coil to be great as well. ^^;
Anyway, back to the episode, it starts off by refreshing our memories about the eight immortals that supported the first king. After the first king did, they disappeared, and legend told that when there was a king, fitted for them to serve, they would return to the building we always see Sho Taishi in and watch over this king. With this bit of information conveniently passing right after we get a proper introduction of the white bishie, this really confirms that he is one of these immortals. This also explains why Sho Taishi did what he did in the first season. As it’s for sure that he’s an immortal as well, he just got a bit impatient and instead of waiting for a good king, he decided to take matters in his own hands, and pull some strings behind the scenes, in order to make this happen a bit faster.
Still, I nearly forgot it, but there has to be a reason why the silhouette of each of these immortals is different, and actually very detailed. Something tells me that each of them is going to make some kind of appearance in Saiunkoku Monogatari. I do wonder when the other six arrive. Back to the white bishie, he does know Shuuri from something, but how and where did he learn her name. At the end of the episode, he approaches her, and she is so stunned that she’s not even able to move. Is there a deeper meaning behind this, or was this a variation of the “Kijin-effect”?
Surprisingly, a majority of the episode is about Reishin. While he was as funny as usual (especially Kurou, noticing the prospect of Reishin becoming Shuurei’s father-in-law), the guy really is getting worrisome. He really doesn’t want Shuurei to know his name, and when he finds out that Kurou presented Shuurei a bag of tangerines, he just had to do the same thing. Hakumen also nearly spoils his secret, making Shuurei at least aware of the existence of a guy named Kou Reishin who keeps giving his subordinates too much work.
Eigetsu also surprised me even more when the disease gets even worse, and it is confirmed that a snow-fox has been spotted in the autumn. This does suggest that we’re dealing with a disease which travels along with foxes. Anyway, Eigetsu only has a feint hope that there is some kind of cure discovered, and he actually begs Yougetsu to give him a bit more time. This suggests that he really doesn’t have that much time left, and he knows it.
Also, Tei Yuushun finally tells Ryuuki that he’s a good emperor, and pledges his trust into him. Ryuuren, meanwhile, first looks for something called the Phoenix Wind, after which he disappears from Kokujun. The fact that Shouka noticed this must mean that this will play some kind of role in the future episodes.
Finally, what the heck happened to Seiran? If I’m not mistaken, this episode only saw one shot of him, eating, while the previous episode only mentioned him once, about how he fled the house because of Ryuuren’s presence. What has he been doing for the past few episodes?]]>
Seirei no Moribito – 05
I must be crazy to blog a show with as much dialogue as this one, but then again, I managed to blog Bakumatsu as well, with its obscure historical references, so I think that somehow I’ll manage, if I just keep reading summaries from other blogs.
This episode yet again spent its time building up. First, Torogaishi arrives and she explains a few things about the egg, left in Chaggumu’s body. I’m not exactly sure what she tells him, but they were some pretty nasty things she said to Chaggumu. She also drops the title of this anime as well “Seirei no Moribito”. Could it be that Chaggumu is this Seirei no Moribito (guardian of the sacred spirit) because he has the egg inside of him? After all, it had to be implanted for a reason.
Later, it seems that the king even contacted the commoners into finding Barsa and Chaggumu for him. Luckily, Tanda finds out about this in time. Shuga, meanwhile finds out about even more mysteries when he enters some kind of carefully hidden secret library. At this time, I’m not yet sure what the purpose of these books is, but that’ll probably be explained in the next episodes.
Thankfully, I did understand the last part of the episode. ^^; Barsa decides to put the jewels she recieved from the second queen to good use when she sends Tanda to retrieve them, and give them to some old acquaintances of her, in exchange for support, supplies and a horse.
I can really see Seirei no Moribito to really take off in its second season. The episodes so far have been building up and building up. It’s really taking its time to tell its story, and it’ll be very interesting to see the results of this. I loved how the guy first was reluctant to give up his horse, though when you see Barsa smile confidently, you just know she’s going to get it. ^^; Still, Tanda did get angry at her, right before the climax set in. Probably because these acquaintances of her were a shady bunch, and he figures that she shouldn’t take such huge risks. I think I can understand his worries. After all, he’s had to take care of Barsa for twenty years now, and in that period, she’s had lots of wounds. Of course he’d be worried about her.]]>
Saiunkoku Monogatari – 42
Whoa, talk about a change of focus when compared to the first season. I don’t know exactly what it is, but so far, the second season has felt refreshingly different from the first one. Shuurei surprisingly isn’t the centre of attention at all. Heck she does what she needs to do in the capital: get a bunch of permissions, while the other characters now are turning far more interesting.
Especially Eigetsu got fleshed out even more, and I never expected that the guy actually doesn’t have any longer to live. Up to this point, it’s still unclear exactly what his relationship with Yougetsu is, but if I had to guess, then we first had a person called “Getsu”. Getsu then became Yougetsu, because of the influence of his parents. When he was taken in by Doushu, he probably created Eigetsu as his alter-ego, due to the guy’s influence.
And Kourin was just great. After the previous episode, I noted how the relationship between her and Eigetsu had rather stagnated, but with this episode, it just skyrocketed forwards, when Eigetsu gets more and more absorbed in his work, and Kourin finds out about his shortened life-span.
We also see Kokujun back, though things didn’t go as you’d expect, as he’s following Ran Ryuuren now. I’ve got no idea what the two of them are planning, but Kokujun regards Ryuuren very highly. Reishin pays a visit to Shouka’s house, and still is too scared to reveal that he’s her uncle. In fact, he reveals that he’s actually willing to marry her. Still, I do wonder whether Shuurei is going to marry in the first place.
Also, quite a bit of characters were introduced or mentioned through the course of the episode: a white wolf, a fox, the leader of a strange cult who goes by the name of “Li Senya”, and some kind of acquaintance of Sho Taishi. What is their role going to be in the future episodes, and where did they come from? I personally believe that Sakujun wouldn’t be stupid enough to just say to everyone that he’s back. If he was somehow alive somewhere, he’d use his methods a bit more subtle, in order to meet Shuurei.
We also get a confirmation that the white bishie will be the antagonist for the coming arcs, when Ryuuren warns Shuurei for a silver-haired man. Obviously, this has to be this guy. Or spirit. I have high reasons to believe that he’s one of the seven sages, just like Sho Taishi.]]>
Saiunkoku Monogatari – 41
Unfortunately, what I’ve feared has finally happened: Saiunkoku Monogatari got licensed. While that alone isn’t such a bad thing, it does mean that both We Suck and Shadow Dreams are going to stop distributing their fansubs. This just forces me to start watching the raws again, simply because:
– Being Dutch, I could care less about what shows America licenses.
– I really don’t think I can wait that long till the English DVDs appear anyway.
Still, I switched from raws to subs once for a reason, as this series is very difficult to understand without subtitles. I remember when the show first started, and I completely missed the main points (if you don’t believe me, then check out the entries I made of them, they’re really full of non-sense ^^;), so I’m going to be heavily depending on Usagijen’s and Impz’s episode summaries. Especially Usagijen deserves credit, with the huge summaries she writes. 🙂
Anyway, this episode had two major focuses: Ensei and Kouyuu. Eigetsu reveals his past in the episode. It seems that when he was small, his parents attempted to kill him once, in order to solve their poverty. A kind man named Doushu then took him in. And with “kind” I mean really kind. Whatever happened to him, he just continued to smile, and he taught Eigetsu to do so as well. Even when people would steal all his medicines, he would still not mind a thing. In fact, he was glad that people would actually find his medicines useful. Because of this, Eigetsu probably got the idea of getting a job to help people. His first idea was to become a doctor, though he then figured that he could do way more as a government official.
Kouyuu, meanwhile, continues to get pressured by Kurou when he finds out that the Ran-clan has future plans to marry Shuurei off to Ran Ryuuren. Obviously, he fancies her, and the people from the Ran-clan would love to use her as a leech to control the guy a bit. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when Shuurei finds out about this.
Shuurei, meanwhile, has been busy to collect permissions from different chamberlains and governors. At the beginning of the episode, all she needs left are Kijin, Reishin and the governor of the Koku-province. At the end of the episode only the Koku-province governor is left, with the help of Tei Yuushun, Sai Rin, and amusingly, Kouyuu as well. ^^;
This probably was the first time the Koku Province was mentioned. I also don’t recall having seen anyone from the Koku-family as well. I wonder what kind of role it will play in the future episode, especially its governor. We aren’t shown what his relation to Doushu exactly was, but the fact remains that the two of them are at least acquaintances, when Doushu trusts the guy with a bunch of books that he really wanted to give to Eigetsu, after which he dies. Could it be that Eigetsu grew up in the Koku-province? That death-scene, by the way, was a great one. It seems that Eigetsu told him all about Shuurei in his letters, and it was great to see him thank her for taking care of Eigetsu.
I think we’ve also got our first glimpse of the new antagonist for this season. The way he was presented really screams “hey, look at me being mysterious. I’m evil and pretty”. Still, he somehow knows Shuurei, or he heard her name somewhere. Where did he come from, and what’s going to be his goal or purpose?
I also do wonder, when are the creators planning to further develop the relationship between Eigetsu and Kourin? For quite a number of episodes, all they’ve been doing together is look embarrassed and cute after their eyes or hands meet each other. While this is nice once or twice, I want to see the two of them get on with it. :P]]>
Saiunkoku Monogatari – 40
Ah, Saiunkoku Monogatari is finally back! The episode really reminded me of the first half of the first season again, when Shuurei still finds herself very busy in the main capital. The OP-animation has changed, there’s a new ED and I’m back in love with this series! Another thing I noticed: the OP and especially the ED never really focused on the people, back in the Sa-province. This does suggest that the current arc will be focusing on the old characters, instead of the new ones, and I’m SO glad about this. The characters from the first half definitely are more interesting than the new ones.
The most important development in this episode definitely came from Kouyuu. His uncle decides to visit him (Kou Kurou) and finally carries out his plan to get Kouyuu as the head of the Kou-clan if he accepts Shuurei as his wife. Obviously, he’s going to become very interesting in the future, as it’s probably clear now that he’s in love with her.
Shuurei was AWESOME. The episode focuses on Tei Yuushun and Sai Rin, asking to come and visit Shuurei’s house, when Shuurei suddenly realizes that nobody has cleaned there for ages. ^^; The male characters have gone to the “demon’s banquet”, or a place where everyone can drink his sorrows away alongside each other, and they decide to go to Shuurei’s place after that too place. Obviously, Shuurei demonstrates how dangerous she can be when Seiran, Shouka, Shuuei and Kouyuu keep getting in her way, time after time, because they’re all so drunk (or in Shouka’s case, just clumsy). She looked so cute when her efforts weren’t enough, and Tei Yuushun had to see giving a tantrum. ^_^:
Seiran begins to realize more and more that Shuurei actually doesn’t need him. In fact, he actually needs her, and it’s like that for Shouka as well. He goes to the Demon’s Banquet as well, because of this (and almost ends up shooting Ran after drinking a bit ^^;). I can imagine that it’s difficult for him. Shuurei and Shouka have done so much for him, and he can’t even repay her. In fact, he never really saved her, and the only times she actually needed to be saved (when she was kidnapped and when Sakujun kissed her), either Ryuuki was the one to take up this role, or he wasn’t able to do anything at all, even though he stood right before it happening.
Shuuei also attends the Demon’s Banquet, but it seems that he’s been avoiding it for quite a few years. I wonder why, as the previous episodes did show that he quite often visits the red-lights district. He’s quite interesting when he’s drunk, by the way. He’s very silent, and his usual witty remarks are gone.
Still, rule number one: NEVER make Shuurei angry. Never. ^^;]]>
Wellber no Monogatari ~ Sisters of Wellber – 05
Heh, I’m beginning to like Wellber no Monogatari more and more with each episode progressing. This episode was surprisingly good, with far less annoying elements than the episodes before. It’s also got a nice sense of humour, which I really appreciate.
The beginning of the episode was the best part, in my opinion, where another couple of bounty-hunters have found Rita and Tina. In order to draw their attention away from the princess, Tina shamelessly hijacks a carriage that happened to be near them, belonging to two lovers. She gets shot down while fleeing, but the princess is safe when the bounty-hunters find out that they’ve been tricked.
This scene definitely showed that this show is also perfectly able to display the more serious scenes, as Tina looked great, when she was shot down. This makes me have high hopes for the future of this series. In the rest of the episode, Tina gets saved by a guy who notices her body lying around. She wakes up again, but she did leave Rita waiting for quite a while.
This part of the episode was definitely meant to give Tina a bit more confidence in Rita. After all, as a princess, Tina figures that Rita will probably go without her, assuming that she died or stopped caring at that point. Rita, however, really isn’t that irresponsible, and she does go out to look for her. Eventually, the two parties reunite.
The rest of the episode then deals with getting rid of Galahad, who seems to have followed the princes up to this point, and knows that she’s heading for Greedam. The guy who rescued Tina (and has fallen in love with her a bit ^^;) and his friends also help a bit. They’re travelling merchants, who travel from city to city with big horse-carriages, which are perfect to hide a large horse and talking tank in. Unfortunately, there is one person who also recognized Rita, and he goes off to tell Galahad that he saw Rita enter a red carriage.
Rita, though, comes with the idea to secretly switch carriages, just in case such a thing happens. The fake carriage then drives away from the other carriages, in order to really draw Galahad’s attention to it to that the others can get away. She really is smarter than she looks, based on this. The plan works, and Galahad is helplessly left, watching Rita and Tina get away.
Galahad, meanwhile, shows that he’s quite impulsive, and that his wishes to find the princess do make him lose sight of the important things. He could have easily gotten past the guards if he was a bit more calm, and then overtaking a mere horse carriage was a piece of cake. I could be wrong on this, but I think his reason to go after Rita isn’t the money, but the fact that she killed his superior. He probably looked up to him a lot, which makes the shock of seeing the guy get killed by his future wife.
I liked this case, by the way. It was nothing special, when compared to the others, but they do show that people still have a lot of hospitality. In some cases, they’re not interested in the money on Rita’s head, and in other cases, they are. This episode also already showed how much Rita has grown, as she was far less commanding than in the previous episode. I like where this is going.]]>