Yes! This episode headed into the right direction! These are the episodes I want to see! Screw the politics of this series, the finale of this show needs to be about its characters. This episode really added a lot of depth to them, especially to Ferris and her brother. With this episode, I at least got a glimpse of why the second half of this show is supposed to be awesome.
This episode pretty much didn’t touch the story of the warring nations, and instead it showed some of Ferris’ background, her relationship with her brother, and it developed Ryner’s relationship with her as he found out more about her. This is the kind of character development that I’ve been waiting for for what feels like ages now. I also really liked how this episode cemented Ferris’ brother as one heck of a sunovabitch here. And to make matters even better, the creators are also really making Milk more bearable. She was just as annoying in this episode, but the few bits of drama around her felt much more genuine than in those earlier episodes.
Still, this episode in no way fixes all of the problems of this series: its politics still are uninteresting, and the reason why this episode was so good was because it didn’t put any attention to it. Now that I mention it, the reason the first four episodes were so good was because they also didn’t have much of a focus on the politics. It’s usually a genre I really like, because of the many different directions you can go in, and how it can provide pretty deep insights on its setting, though Denyuuden never really felt like that. I’m also missing creativity.
On top of that, I still don’t trust the anime creators, and whether they’re going to be able to stuff the good parts in the nine remaining episodes. They did take an awful lot of time for the boring stuff and the introductions, not to mention that I have seen the previous works of the director, which were all badly planned out. And I know that directors are accompanied by writers who do the series composition and all, but that doesn’t make me less worried here when we’re talking about the guy who wrote the anime adaptation of Kurogane no Linebarrels…
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Yay!! Tiia is appearing next episode!
This episode was awesome. Reminded me of how this series was before all these introduction episodes started
Woo! Very interesting. What’s Miran going to do with Milk? Or did she just happen to be in the wrong (right) place at the wrong (right) time?
Meh, I think you’re just a bit too hard on Densetsu psgls. Some will find the political backdrop interesting, and others like yourself find it tedious. For the sake of Sion’s development though, it doesn’t matter whether or not you find it interesting: he’s a king in a precarious position, so there’s going to be political machinations and stuff like that. Deal with it.
However, based on what I know about the light novels, this is a fairly complex fantasy setting that needs the fleshing out in order for all the exciting, magical stuff to hold any relevance later on. I’m assuming a second season is inevitable at this point though, considering how many episodes are left…
Houlgrave: that last thing is what I’m worried about the most here: I’m not sure whether you’ve seen Koukaku no Regios. That was also a series by the same director, also produced by ZEXCS, and it also desperately needs a second season to explain all of the plotholes and the incredibly rushed and unbalanced ending, yet looks like it’s never going to get one. That’s pretty much my big fear of this series, and the reason why I’m so negative and cautious about it: I don’t think at all that it’s certain that Denyuuden will end up with a second season.
I’m really hoping Daidensetsu gets animated, since that’s where the main plot actually begins. The entire first series is just a giant prequel – the author didn’t plan on it, but the settings he thought of simply became too complex to be explained in simple flashbacks, hence, Denyuuden.
Although I do agree with psgels that the series shines the most when the characters take the spotlight. I’d love for the politics to take a backseat, but the way they’re building up the political background and explaining the precarious position Sion is in makes for quite believable character development…especially if my guesses on Sion in the finale are correct. But, we’ll see.
Lelou-I mean, Tiia in the next episode? I’ve been looking forward to his appearance ever since the OP change.
T– who?
The Lelouch lookalike in the second opening. Y’know, the one mowing down all those mooks and giving us a crazy awesome grin? I’m guessing the shadowy figure in the preview is him, but we’ll see.
Don’t ask me why he’s named like that though. This series loves its gender-bender names, I guess.
yea its tiia rumiblue. you can definitely tell he’s making an appearence next episode just from the name of it. the inou doune or whatever its called is his magic eyes
I love Ferris. It’s not that she’s incredibly powerful, but how well she represents the female persona. When her backstory came to life, I understand what it is with the whole perverted thing. Girls do that a lot…trying to make a joke of something often painful rather than keeping a tight lip about it (or extremely sensitive). Being one myself, I know.