Like expected, this episode was somewhat hampered by the stereotypical and badly acted evil circus directors. What I didn’t expect was that this episode would make up for it with the “Forest of Broccoli”. How awesome is that?
In all seriousness though, I didn’t expect much of this episode because of those circus directors. I really feared for some clichéd storyline in which Lag has to save his damsel in distress from these evil people. Nevertheless, the creators seemed to realize this as well, so they quickly abandoned the circus-plot, in favour of focusing on the growing relationship between Lag and Nichi, along with their newly acquired friend, a small animal called “Steak” (yeah, Nichi named him that way; it really seems like names in this series are quite a bit different from normal ones. Both their sound, their meaning and their symbolism).
The thing with this episode was that it was a very mixed bag, but I actually found lots of stuff that I liked. It was a bit messy for the creators to suddenly abandon two story-lines (the circus and we also never see the people whose camel Lag blatantly stole), but the scene in which Nichi sat next to Lag just shot up his memory in order to protect her was definitely charming. She’s a damsel in distress, but a very un-typical damsel in distress at that: she didn’t really need to be saved, but nevertheless, when Lag who is completely useless in fights aside from that godmode beam of his, tried to save her, this wasn’t meant to show how weak she was, but rather how she never has been treated kindly due to her powers. It is cliché, but also well enough executed to work.
Also, it took me a while in noticing this, but Letter Bee has a surprisingly good soundtrack. It’s not exactly the best of this season, but nevertheless it’s varied, simple and yet effective and powerful when it needs to. The composer up till now did the soundtracks for… Saiunkoku Monogatari, Juuni Kokuki and Victorian Romance Emma. Talk about difference…
Rating: * (Good)
Lag maybe a crybaby but he actually do things instead of just whining. Overall an enjoyable episode.
Two scenes made me chuckle-The Forest of Broccoli and the grinning camel (8:31)
The sound track of this anime is indeed great. Listening to the OP in youtube made me decide to give this adaptation a try. I’ve read the manga but still, I’m enjoying the hell out of it. The way the animation made the setting, characters come alive is wonderful to see.