Category: Pandora Hearts

Okay, so this episode explains what the heck happened in those first three episodes, although most of it consisted of things that we already were able to guess: ten years indeed have passed, and Raven indeed is Gilbert. The reason why Gilbert betrayed Oz turned out to be simple brainwashing: in this episode we meet the one who did it, inside Oz’s house that has aged ten years and all. That still leaves the question of why Sharon didn’t age one bit, though.

My problem with this episode was that it may have been a bit too cheesy in the end. Brainwashing is very hard to do well, simply because it’s so easy for the characters to break the spell of brainwashing through the power of love, and for a moment it really looked like this was going to be the case when Oz yet again had to face a brainwashed Gilbert.

I didn’t expect him to pull the trigger, though. Obviously something is going to happen that’s going to prevent Oz from dying instantly, but I’m intrigued as to what exactly it is. We’ve now seen that this is a show where people don’t necessarily die when they’re killed, but the matter is going to be whether they can explain it well. For example the latest subbed episodes of Gintama have had Gintoki penetrated by swords, bullets and god knows what, only for all of these wounds to completely disappear a day later. That’s obviously not how to do this. But in Pandora Hearts, if there indeed is some sort of link between the Abyss and dying, I’ll buy it.

Either that or the gun just missed; that’s also of course a possibility. But then again, this show doesn’t strike me as the type to use those kinds of anti-climaxes.

Rating: (Enjoyable)
Really evil antagonist, good to see a bit more of the past of Oz and Gilbert, though a bit too cheesy in the end.

In this episode, we get some more clues as to what exactly happens when a monster from the abyss makes a contract with a human. It’s basically a method for both of them to get out of the Abyss, but it’s not going to last forever: at one point both of them will be dragged back into the Abyss. And at the same time, there was quite a bit of banter between the characters out there. While it’s not quite the funniest banter out there, Oz calling Raven “father” was priceless.

It was mostly a building up episode, but still it made a lot of impact and at the same time this episode also used its time to flesh out the characters quite a bit and increase the trust between the lead characters. It’s of course strange that Oz would simply trust someone he just met (as signified by this episode in which a seemingly innocent flower-selling girl turns out to be possessed by a demon), but then again: there’s nobody else that he can trust, is there? Alice was Oz’s ticket out of the Abyss, and I think that that’s why he’s not suspicious of her, and I think that that’s why he was more shocked at seeing the flower-girl disappear, compared to the thought that he himself would also return to the abyss that way unless a countermeasure is found.

Still, the animation this episode was strange. Throughout most of the episode, it looked as good as ever… apart from that flower-girl whose face looked horribly distorted at times. Usually a bad drawing can just be attributed to either a limited budget or an incompetent chief animation director, but why do only the drawings for that girl look ugly? My guess would be that there was just one guy responsible for drawing her, and he screwed up big time.

Short Synopsis: When Oz wakes up from the Abyss, he’s greeted by a certain threesome.
Episode Rating: 7,5/10 (Good)
Okay, so this episode was mostly meant as a build-up, to close off the introduction for this series and introduce the rest of the main cast of characters that it’s going to work with: Break, Sharon and Reibun. Obviously not the most exciting episode of this excellent series, but still a really good one.

Here’s one thing that I don’t get though: why the heck does Reibun look like a grown up Gilbert? And if it indeed is Gilbert (hinted at everywhere by the promo art) and lots of years must have passed since Oz was cast into the Abyss, then why hasn’t Sharon grown up as well?

In any case, it’s interesting how Oz and Allies aren’t exactly allies of Break, Sharon and Reibun, but instead they’re just two parties with the same goals, and they were actually nearly enemies if things would have gone a little different. There’s going to be an interesting tension between them for the rest of the series this way.

We learn quite a few things in this episode, including what Alice has been hiding: the fact that she lost her memory. This is why she couldn’t remember strangling Oz when he found the locker, since that memory of her seems to have been erased. It’s interesting how she never wondered why she ended up right with Oz of all people: it’s because he met her before when she was in the abyss, through that watch of his. After that point, something must have happened to wipe out her memories that way.

At the same time, Oz also proves that he’s quite a bright kid in this episode: he’s observant and quickly draws conclusions based on the things around him. That could prove to be interesting in the next couple of episodes, and as an added bonus he seems to move more and more away from your average wimpy lead this way.

Oh, and on a side-note: why exactly is the animation of this show so hated? I mean, I know that it isn’t the best animation out there and all, but I see no reason to dislike this show based on the animation: there are no distorted faces due to inaccuracies, there aren’t many still frames, the character-designs are distinctive and not copy-pasted. What more could you want? What makes the artwork in this show so “atrocious”?

Short Synopsis: Oz ends up at the abyss, otherwise known as a VERY WEIRD PLACE.
Episode Rating: 8/10 (Excellent)
Right now, I find it really hard to establish a Top 3 of the season so far: there is no show that stands far above the others yet, but at the same time this season does have a selection of excellent shows, so I’ll just stick with a top 5 shows for now, in random order: Phantom, Eden, Cross Game, Guin Saga and of course Pandora Hearts. The first three episodes so far have been nothing short of excellence.

The whole mindfuck of this series continues even in this episode, in which Oz ends up in the abyss that is filled with disturbing living toys, half-broken houses, doors and things that you usually find inside a doll house, but this time surrounded into a strange black goo and surrounded by strange black clouds. I believe that this is one of the first times I’ve seen horror combined with fantasy in anime, and it works really well, considering all of the weird stuff that this episode threw to the viewer.

And at the same time it doesn’t forget to flesh out the characters. I personally really like the combination of Oz and Alice, and how it’s impossible to know at this point what exactly Alice’s goals are: all that we know is that she needs someone like Oz in order to be able to escape the Abyss (which to be honest is really not an enjoyable place to live), but why she ended up there in the first place, or what she was before she arrived there are still huge mysteries. And at the same time she also could simply have ended up there like Oz: an innocent victim. Although I doubt that she’s going to remain innocent, with the ability to transform into a huge black rabbit and all.

Short Synopsis: Oz attends his coming-of-age ceremony
Episode Rating: 8/10 (Excellent)
Well, well; it’s been a while since I accidentally deleted my own post before publishing it. At the moment I don’t feel like retyping everything again for a second time, but I do want to say that Pandora Hearts is promising to be good stuff, especially since the second episode was even better than the first. The thing it reminds me of the most is a 20th century fairy tale gone really dark.

It’s good to finally see another potentially great show from Xebec. They’re a strange production company: quite a few of their shows… fail to really impress (Heroic Age never really went anywhere, not to mention last year’s To Love-Ru and Kanokon), but at the same time they really hit the right marks for me with The Third, and some other excellent shows.