The great thing is that only now have we passed the halfway point of this series! While just about every other series is nearing it’s end, we still have 19 delightful episodes of Hyouge Mono left. If I hadn’t done it yet, Bee-Train, I applaud you on such a consistent job you’ve done on this series.
This episode was as excellent as any other Hyouge Mono episode. It wasn’t a major episode, but still stuffed with some interesting developments. The best part was seeing it all play out though. The first half had Sasuke visit a friend of Soueki, who seems to also be a master of aesthetics, despite being incredibly poor. After that, it was the time for the bald monk assistant of Soueki to go a bit berserk over his own sense of aesthetics after he heard Soueki comment on Hashiba Hideyoshi’s sense of style (which indeed is pretty awful). I’m really interested in what he’s still planning to use him for.
Overall, halfway though, Hyouge Mono turned into a series that I really could not have predicted. The way at which it looks at aesthetics still is amazing, and at this point the characters also have developed or grown quite interestingly.
As for the music: this definitely has the most mundane soundtrack ouf of any Bee-Train series yet, aside from perhaps .Hack//Dusk, but I’ve mentioned before that I consider that show to be by far Bee-Train’s worst production. The thing is though, that with this music, it is able to create one heck of an atmosphere. It’s still amongst the most original and unique soundtracks of the year, although I do feel like they lost out to Dororon Enma-Kun this year.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
I keep hoping someone will finish subbing it.