Spirited Away Review – 90/100



Gin-Iro no Kami no Agito almost made me lose faith in original anime movies. I decided to check out Spirited Away, just in case (yeah, I know. Late). And thank goodness it showed that you can have incredibly bad movies, and incredibly good movies. Spirited Away definately belongs in the latter category.

What we have here is a beautiful piece of art, in which a young girl, along with her parents, ends up carelessly in another world. In this world, humans are extremely rare. Every citizen is some kind of animal and the humans that do arrive get turned into animals by the ruler of the world. The girl(Chihiro)’s parents get turned to pigs this way and she barely manages to escape this fate herself because of a boy she runs into (Haku). To be able to survive in that world, the only chance the girl has is to work for the ruler, in a very popular bathing resort.

The element which turns this movie into an astonishing one is definately the character development. The fact remains that Chihiro remains a little girl. She’s extremely scared, and this anime portrays this magnificently. Then, as the anime progresses, you’ll see that she’s an amazing person. She has to do the most terrible jobs. She is a clutz, but she puts hard work into it. Because of that, she managed to grow tremendously. The real highlight of the show lies in the middle of the movie, in which Chihiro showed that she isn’t afraid to do the most terrible jobs.

After these scenes, the movie decides to develop Chihiro’s and Haku’s relationship. While not as totally incredible as the previous scenes, the second half of the movie remains enjoyable. It’s so brilliantly written. The ending, even though rather cheesy, manages to be portrayed in a really enjoyable way.

The art also is top notch, but what really excels is the animation. At countless of times, this movie’s animation can even make Gin-Iro no Kami no Agito drool. The scenes really looked stunning at these moments. This effect only gets strenghtened by an amazing soundtrack included.

Overall, if you have yet to see this movie: Watch it! The first half is absolutely stunning, while the anime concludes with a very nice second half. It’s definately a must see.

Simoun – 11 – From Legends to Humans



I LOVE the direction in which tis anime is going. At the beginning of the first episode, the Chor Tempest had an incredibly high status. They were seen as the best of the best, most people probably thought that they were above humans. After the fiasco at the end of the first episode, the Chor Tempest began to collide. Slowly but surely, they lost their status. They weren’t the top Chor anymore. They were inches away from being disbanded. They had to move to a small, second-rate ship. And now, they have to share their ship with about one hundred common soldiers. If this line keeps going down, it’ll have some amazing results for the second half of the series.

She show is patially about the reactions of members of the Chor Tempest to these events. Both the ones who were in the original Chor Tempest (Neviriru, Paraietta, Kaimu, Aruti, Furoe, Rödoreamon) and the new ones (Aaeru, Limone, Morinasu, Yun, Mamiina, Dominüra). The old ones have to say goodbye to their lifestyle of luxury. The new ones have to get used to the fact that they won’t be flying for the best team anymore. It’s great that everyone seems so have a different reaction in this.

This episode was once again a great one. A bunch of soldiers has joined the Messis because of the plans of Dominüra. Now the Sybilla have to live with the soldiers, and the soldiers have to live with the Simoun. Dominüra seems to have taken command over the Messis, to the displeasurement of Neviriru, and decided that the Simoun were to be used as transport carriers, in order to help the soldiers win a town back which has been occupied by the enemy. Once again, it shows that the enemies aren’t just a bunch of pigs, as they have been planning for this to happen all along. Because of this, the Simoun are forced to aid the soldiers.

The character who gets the attention in this episode is Furoe. She’s fallen in love with one of the soldiers. A young man, he probably went to the spring not too long ago. This man will be the first outsider to see what the Sybilla are in reality. At first, he’s freaked out by Furoe and her cheerfulness, though I think they both felt a bit for each other. When Furoe gets scolded for the things she’s doing, she even goes as far as saying that she’ll go to the spring.

The town to be won back is the hometown of this particular man. During the operation, he managed to see the Simoun perform their Ri Maajons, and destroy half of the town, along with the enemies who had the bad luck to be in their range. This was the first time in which we see a citizen of Simulacrum freaked out by the Ri Maajons. He’s the first one to see what kind of killing machines the Simoun he always looked up to are. More people will probably follow him soon. I can’t wait for it. 🙂

There were two Sybilla who weren’t able to kill the enemy soldiers: Furoe and Kaimu. The former was too busy searching for the man she loved. She indeed was one of the Simoun who didn’t take her job too seriously, and doesn’t put flying the Simoun above everything. In Kaimu’s case, she just was scared. She saw the faces of the soldiers, and she wasn’t able to kill them. Much like Neviriru in the first episode.

Another thing I realized during this episode is the use of the background music. It may be more than just a tune to strenghten the overall atmosphere and tension. At the beginning of the mission, Neviriru had forbidden the use of Ri Maajons. This results in hte soldiers fighting the enemy, with the Simoun assisting them with the help of their guns. The background tune which plays is heavily tension-based. It just builds up and up. Then at a certain point (as there are only four Simoun who can actually do something) Aaeru convinces Neviriru to do a Ri Maajon. Right after the Ri Maajon hits, the tune switches to the standard accordeon-music that’s played every time during these scenes. The point is, that there’s no tension in this tune AT ALL. In fact, I think it’s meant to be some kind of symbol, to the devastating power of the Simoun.

I just can’t seem to figure out what’s up with Dominüra. Especially because of the way she talked to Limone. I think that Limone’s the only one who Dominüra treats kindly. It also seems that she was pretty enthusiastic with both the fact that she had to play as carrier and Limone’s steering. You’d think that, as a Simoun Sybilla, she’d want to do a job which doesn’t dirten the name of the Simoun. She’s clearly up to something, but what?

Rödoreamon and Mamiina have become a lot closer since the previous episode. Rödoreamon is still shy (heck, she got really scared when the soldiers arrived) and spoiled, Mamiina is still cold, though you can see that they really have become friends now. Paraietta also was interesting during this episode. It seems that she doesn’t have the perfect qualities of a leader, as she started yelling once the soldiers arrived. Neviriru and Yun were the ones to recover her mistakes.

Overall, if you ignore the little inconsistencies, you have to admit that the soldiers and the Sybilla delivered some effective teamwork. All of the grudges which were displayed at the beginning of the episode were gone at the end of it. I really like the way this is going. The Chor Tempest will be losing their status more and more. The episode was great as well. This show just gets better and better.

Memorable moment: The commander of the soldiers motivating the others by telling them that it’s their war, not the Sybilla’s.

Simoun – 10 – Gloomy



Holy god, this really was a gloomy episode. The atmosphere was so thick, you could almost cut it with a knife. As the Arcus Prima is still in repairs, the Chor Tempest has been transferred to a temporary battleship: the Messis. While the Arcus Prima provided our Sybilla with all kinds of luxuries, the Messis is just an ordinary ship with no luxuries at all. Some members don’t have problems with this (Aaeru, Neviriru, Yun), some members love it (Mamiina) but most of the members are a bit unconfortable with it (Furoe, Kaimu). The latter part really accomplished a great atmosphere in this episode.

Apart from the Messis, this episode had two main focuses. The first was Dominüra, who’s been the one who got them into the Messis. She acts a lot different than when she was in the Arcus Prima. She also begins to get more bossy by the minute. Still, Neviriru trusts her. I don’t know whether this trust is real, or whether Neviriru doesn’t want to cause any unnessecary problems, though.

Another major point of the episode was the relationship between Mamiina and Rodoreamon. Mamiina still acts cold towards Rodoreamon, who still doesn’t have the courage to say something about it. She does make attempts though. She manages to ask Mamiina to talk to her, but again, her shyness stops her from actually saying the right things. In the end, she cuts one of her braids. It seems that Mamiina was always yealous of them. It also seems that there’s an actual story behind Rodoreamon’s braids, as she didn’t wear them just because her parents told her to. In any case, I liked this scene. I almost always like it when a character changes hairstyle. It suggests change.

Apart from that, lots of small things happened during this episode yet again. We finally get a bit more info on the strange windmill that Aaeru keeps carrying along with her. It’s a memento of her grandfather, who also used to be a Sybilla in his (her?) younger days. I’d love to get to know a bit more about the village Aaeru grew up in. I also loved it when I saw that Limone put all kinds of candy in her suitcase. ^^

There also seem to be mice aboard the ship. Furoe, Yun and Limone seem to be quite scared of it, though Neviriru remains neutral and Aaeru’s been used to mice in her village. Still, Limone was able to appreciate a joke Aaeru made about this.

Overall, the great part about this episode was the atmosphere. It’s been mostly meant to introduce the life on the Messis, and develop a few relationships.

Memorable moments:
– The expression on Rodoreamon’s stuffed toy. She really had a strange taste when she was young. ^^
– Rodoreamon cutting her braid off. It had it coming, though it remained awesome.

Giniro no Kami no Agito Review – 45/100



What we have here is Gonzo’s attempt at making a movie. Bad idea. The only good part was that it featured some fancy graphics, but even that couldn’t save it from the horrible storyline it features. The characters are all extremely dull, not to mention that the voice-actors never put any feelings in their work. Add that to the fact that the main characters are a bunch of twelve-year-old brats, and you have a recipe for a yawnfest.

The best part of this movie was the opening tune. It really makes you excited about the movie. Especially if you combine it with the pretty graphics. At that time, I still had a good feeling about this movie. It starts out okay, our main character is just living his life on a post-apocalyptic world, in which water is scarce and the forest turned hostile. It really reminded me of Nausicaa, though Nausicaa succeeded where Gin-Iro no Kami no Agito fails.

You see, what follows is one of the most horrible storylines ever. It starts out innocent when our main character runs into a girl who’s been sleeping for ages. The girl then gets to play for a damsel in distress, our main character gets superpowers for no reason at all in order to save her and the entire planet. All of this ends in an extremely cheesy and extremely convenient ending.

The graphics indeed are great, though you can see that the creators didn’t put any thoughts in the laws of nature. For example, the moon has been blown to pieces in the past. If that would be the case, it would send every piece of debris in a random direction. In this case, however, the pieces just conveniently stay together without any explanation at all. It’s also interesting to see that when girl jumps in the water, her clothes get wet, though whenever a guy does this, his clothes seem to be drying instantly. Yay for consistency.

Overall, if you want fancy graphics, you might try this one out. If you don’t, then stay far away from this movie. Far, far away.

Mushishi – 22 – Awesome Themes



I’ve got one fundamental problem with the Mushishi OVA. The budget has been increased, in order to be able to display some nifty action-scenes in which Ginko also plays a big role.

NOT. A. GOOD. IDEA. Mushishi’s strength lies in its atmosphere and the heavy drama it introduces. Action doesn’t belong in it, as it also introduces one nasty little bugger: the Deus ex Machina. Why the heck did the storm clear up just in time to save Ginko?! The series at least understood how to put Ginko in at least a bit of a struggle, like letting him drown in quicksand in order to come out of it on his own strength a couple of hours later. Or letting him fall asleep for an entire winter. Ginko’s brilliance lies in the fact that he’s the medium between the Mushi and the real main characters of each story.

That aside, the theme of this episode was once again magnificent. We have this island. Right next to this island, there’s a strange rock formation. Inside that rock lives a Mushi who feeds on the time, lived by creatures. So, let’s say that a dying person gets dumped near that Mushi, the Mushi catches it, and turns it back into the embryo. This way, that person can live his or her life once again.

The people on the island know this. It’s very common to see a person being reborn and people often let family members who are about to die be dumped near the Mushi. Same story with the main character, Mio. She’s given birth of her own mother. She’s probably one of the few people who has troubles with the system on the island. She already said goodbye to her mother, and now she refuses to raise someone who’s already dead. She therefore decided not to see this girl as her mother, but as her daughter.

Still, she’s struggling with this. As she grew up, her daughter began to look more and more as her mother, which really make her think about who she had been raising all this time. Her daughter (she’s too cute, by the way), however, talks about this like it’s nothing at all. When she explains about other cases which happened on the island, you really start to think about what it means to live. After all, you won’t have to be afraid of dying, as you return any time.

But then again, the only thing that remains the same is the embryo. People do get raised differently. People have different memories. The fact that the child looked so much like the mother was just Mio overreacting. She begin to look at every tiny little detail, and then she noticed similarities. So, what if you do get sick, and what if you do decide to go to the Mushi before you die. Can you with 100% certainty say that you will be the one who’s reborn? This is a thing that most of the islanders seem to forget. We even have a guy, who lost his wife in the sea. He then waited for ten years in order to remarry her, and now they’ve been living together for quite a long time. It’s just like Disgaea, in a certain way.

I liked the relationship that the Mio had with her daughter. The daughter was very bright and cheerful. At times, she would be able to talk with her mother on equal level. She was raised very well, as she did seem to understand that she wasn’t the same as her grandmother. The reaction of Mio’s mother when she was about to die also was quite interesting. It seems that she had decided to be reborn again. That she didn’t want to disappear. I wonder, if Mio’s daughter is put in the same situation when she gets old. Would she also react the same way? It totally depends on the things she experienced in her life.

Overall, the theme in this episode was exceptionally well done. Mushishi surely delivers in that aspect. Mio was awesome, her daughter was even more awesome. The only speck on the window was the climax.

Memorable moment: When the daughter jumped recklessly after Mio. It only showed more of her awesomeness. 🙂

Bleach – 87 – Yawn



This week finishes where last week left off. As episode 86 was surprisingly interesting, you’d think that this episode would be enjoyable as well. Well, no. This episode was just boring.

Why? First of all: no Ururu. Why does she need to be a damsel in distress? She’s too awesome for such a thing!

Second of all: in episode 86, Sado struggled with his reasons to fight. No clue of this appeared in this episode.

Third of all: the art. During its climax, episode 86 featured some brilliant art. The old guy really looked freaky in this. No clue of this in episode 87.

Though the major factor remains that episode 86 had so many things happening at once. The pacing was incredible. Episode 87 just featured a plan which got carried out and worked with the help of some conveniently unexplained powers. Exciting.

I also had the urge to smash my screen when the guy just retreated like every other villain. I mean, what exactly was the point of this fight!?

In any case, what follows is a mysterious invisible intruder who has the guts of invading the soul society. You wonder how he got in in the first place. The 12th squad captain also discovers the “big secret” of the bounto, and he realizes why they needed a quincy, as he’s the only one who can gather and materialize spirit particles.

The only worthwile moment of this episode was Ishida. He loves to do at least something, but as he lost his powers, this doesn’t quite turn out well.

Popolocrois Story 1998 – 18 – A Really Unique Episode



This episode was totally unique. It takes another break from the usual storyline to develop each of the characters a bit more. Each of the characters encounters a travelling circus, and a juggling clown, balancing on top of a big balloon points each of the characters towards a strange-looking forest. The thing they’re looking for is supposed to be there. Well, it isn’t. Instead, they get confronted by their unconcious thoughts and worries, and some of them get healed.

Each of the characters get transported to their own setting. In Hyuu’s case is this a flashback from when she was still with the other wind-kind. Her case was the simplest of the five which were shown. But it also gave some info regarding the nature of the wind-kind, and what Hyuu was like when she was young. It seems that she continued to struggle forward on her own powers, instead of letting her be guided by others. A past case illustrates this: Hyuu wanted to prove herself, so she attempted to fly from a very high point, only to end up being blown away by the strong wind which rages on at the high places. She was trying to force herself through the air, instead of letting the wind carry her. We also see a couple of shots of her father, probably the one who appeared at the previous episode. The wind-kind appeared to be travellers. They were always in search of something, but they never knew what it was.

Shirokishi also surprisingly took part in this play. He got a little test, to see if he really was determined to obtain the King Knight Sword. In the end, he really proved he was, after getting motivation from a single growing flower. It really seems like this guy has a goal, and he won’t stop living till he obtained that goal. He also didn’t get angry when he found out that a fake sword had been used in order to test him, he was rather content that he managed to succeed in the test. This really gets interesting when you compare it to the wind-kind. Both the wind-kind and Shirokishi are travellers, and both are searching for something. In fact, the only difference between them is that Shirokishi knows what he’s looking for. The Wind-kind don’t. Does that automatically make the Wind-kind’s search fruitless? Does the reason they died out in the current world have something to do with it?

Gamigami Maou gets some heavy smacks in the face when he gets confronted with the fact that he’s leading a country without any people. He gets transported to a setting which plays in about thirty years into the future. He’s still king, though he still hasn’t got any citizens who support him. And then he openly yells that he doesn’t want to be leading a country without any citizens to worship him. He finally realizes that he’s been doing the wrong things. I’d love to see his attempts into getting the people obey him. ^_^

The shy Narcia gets confronted by the outspoken Kai. As we’ve seen, Narcia has huge troubles telling her feelings to others. Especially when these involve important decisions. This way, she mostly ends up at the shorter end of the rope, she always ends up in a miserable state afterwards. She knows that she has this problem, but she’s too scared to do something about it. But now, she really has to say something, otherwise Kai will leave her, forever. Kai’s had enough of Narcia, and decides to go her own way. In the end, Narcia managed to throw away her fears, and she’s able to beg Kai to stay. I think she’s gotten a little stronger out of this. ^_^

Pietoro’s case is rather unique among these five. He doesn’t really learn anything himself, but he does manage to teach his seventy-year-old self a couple of things about not giving up. It seems that the seventy year-old Pietoro has traveled for his entire life, without finding anything. Eventually, he gave up, and came to live inside a castle made out of candy. The young Pietoro, however, has yet to have these feelings. Still, it this really is how Pietoro will end up to be, with a broken anemoritos, things can become quite interesting in the last part of the anime. 🙂

I’m still having trouble finding out what really happened and what didn’t. After all, Hyuu had been taken away by the Wind-kind. If she was, then why would she end up at that circus? The clown also appeared to be a straw doll in the end. Were these just visions? Were they real? Do each of the characters remember what happened?

Overall, this episode achieved a very rare effect. While I watched the episode, it seemed like a decent episode. It had some nice character development, but it was nothing special. But now that I look back at it, I’m really beginning to see its brilliance. In fact, the more I look back at it, the more brilliant it becomes. Everything seems to fit. Everything seems so perfect now. There’s a good chance that I’ll be remembering this episode as one of the best of the series. This really was an episode which makes you think. And I’m loving it more and more!

Popolocrois Story 1998 – 17 – Cute



Not a lot of major thing happen during this episode. Still the major things that do happen will have a huge influence on the rest of the anime. This episode introduced us to the third, and probably final part of this show. The first was in which Hyuu appeared and got to know Pietoro. In the second part Gamigami was infected with the love-potion and Hyuu joined up with him in an attempt to discover about the Wind-kind. The third part will probably feature Pietoro getting Hyuu back from the Wind-kind, who took her away at the ending of the episode.

Preceeding this event, Pietoro and Hyyuu finally have some time alone, which they use to have fun with each other at a beach. The two of them looked like they really enjoyed themselves while playing with each other. They also acted more and more like a couple in this way (I loved it when Hyuu adressed Pietoro with “Anata” ^^). Then at the evening, the problems began. Hyuu has been struggling with her feelings for a long time now. When she finally met up with Pietoro again, it was like a dream come true. She was finally happy again, though she lost her ability of rational thinking this way. Add this to the fact that Pietoro’s rather thick-headed, and the two come into a bit of a fight. Hyuu just can’t accept that Pietoro doesn’t plan to continue to stay on the beach forever, and Pietoro doesn’t bother to think about what’s going on in Hyuu’s mind. Though before this conflict can be resolved, the other wind-kind blows away everything when he takes Hyuu along. (Interesting note: wasn’t Pietoro the one who gave Hyuu her name? How come the wind-kind addressed her in that way?).

I’m curious about what’ll happen in the next episodes. After all, Hyuu wanted to return home from the beginning. The only thing trying to stop her was a certain cheerful little prince. Now that the Wind-kind have finally found her, she can return home again. This is, of course a painful decision. In the end, her desire to come back home won. At least, there could also have been some other factor playing. A factor which would probably make things worse if Hyuu didn’t go along with the wind-kind.

Narcia, meanwhile, spends the episode excercising her magical skills. Hilda gives her a couple of tips on condentration, and she also encourages her to go after Pietoro. Gamigami keeps looking for Hyuu, though the both of them are kept away from the major events of this episode. It was really meant to focus on Pietoro and Narcia, and nobody else. Overall, when I have to give a one-word summary on this episode, I’d say: “cute”. That’s the best way to describe how Pietoro and Hyuu looked, together with each other. Especially at the beginning of the episode.

(On a side-note: I loved Ston and Sanda once more. They’re just so horribly indecisive. ^^).

Simoun – 09 – To what extend is a person willing to believe in god?



Yup, it’s as predicted. The Chor Tempest will go on. This episode was nothing rather special in terms of action and drama, but it did provide a huge load of interesting material for future episodes.

The most important part of this episode was Neviriru, who traveled to the temple in which Onashia rules. (I think this is called “The Centre”, not sure though. And what kindof place is the “Grand Temple”?) In there, she demonstrates her leadership, as she’s able to give a very nice speech, in order to make Onashia not disband the Chor Tempest. She was quite the heretic in this. All the priests around Onashia shivered and outraged when Neviriru compared flying in the Simoun to faring war and doing Ri Maajons to killing people. When she mentions that she doesn’t care about God’s will, people really got ticked off. Onashia, however, has the total opposite opinion. It has yet to be explained why she has. She’s quite the excentric person, and I’d love to get a bit more info on her. So far, we only know that she’s the one who oversees the gender-changing ceremonies at the Shrine, she rules the country of Simulacrum, she has a different opinion when compared to most of the high priests and she has a rather good memory.

Still, this also shows us more insight about the highly placed people in Simulacrum. It reminds me a lot of the medieval christianity. They believe in their god, and because they believe in the god they do, they think themselves more highly than anyone else. It’s a surprise that they haven’t attempted to shove their beliefs down the throat of others, like the cristians liked to do during the colonization-era.

About Dominüra, I was wrong. She’s evil. At least, she works for evil people. But at the same time, she sympathizes with the members of the Chor Tempest. Though I think that she got scolded enough to not care about this anymore, and carry out the assignment of her superiors. The last scene in the episode suggests this, in any case. Her superiors seem to be highly places officials. Oh, and they also let the Plumbum Priests invade the Arcus Prima.

The third and last major point in this episode came from the enemy. It seems that they’ve also been enlisting for suicide pilots. And now, their crafts don’t just shoot back, but they also explode when they hit something. It’s a good thing that these things have no accuracy at all. But this does show that the enemy’s getting more technically advanced by the minute. And more desperate as well. But then again, if you know that all of the soldiers you’re going to send to the battlefield will end up dying, why not turn them into suicide pilot, huh?

Harukonfu also had an interesting role. He’s been extremely shocked about what happened, which made him lose his own determined personality. He still does what his previous ideals told him, though with far less enthusiasm. We can see this when he attempts to apologize to Neviriru. His struggles with his ideals and memory turned this into a really weak attempt.

Rödoreamon is getting more pityful by the minute. The thing is that she’s shy. And when she does say something, she says the wrong thing. I suspect that this will move her away more and more from the others, unless she can get some kind of help froma good friend.

I LOVED how Limone was holding Aaeru’s hand at the end of the episode (when the Chor Tempest was introduced to its new, temporary battleship: The Messis). She’s just so adorable. She acts like a cool and cold girl all the time, though she can do this without too much suffering because she knows that she can rely on Aaeru. I never imagined how great the impact of episode four could have been.

Morinasu again demonstrates that her laid-back personality can work quite strong when it needs to. She’s easily able to comfort Limone. She also has a sharp eye when she’s the first to notice the enemy’s motives.

Aruti wanted the funeral ceremony to be over as soon as possible. Why?

Furoe really doesn’t care about the little details. We can see that in the way she attempted to pack her suitcase. ^^;

Yun has a high sense of duty. She likes to act serious, and she also attempted to protect Mamiina from the others.

Vyüra looks up to Neviriru, that’s for sure. Though she hasn’t got any respect for the other members of the Chor Tempest. I’m not sure about her opinion on Aaeru, however…

Anubitufu is a strong captain. You could really hear the enthusiasm in his voice when he spoke.

I also liked the way that, in the seventh episode, Mamiina was willing to sit in the back of the Simoun and operate the weapons, so that Neviriru would be able to sit in the front and fly the Simoun. It now turns out that she doesn’t care about this at all, when she let Aaeru sit in the front.

xxxHolic – 13 – Pidgeons



xxxHolic returns with a normal case again, this episode. This time, we have a fallen angel. It’s a strange creature who can attach itself to a person who wants to be stronger so badly, that he doesn’t care if he loses control of himself. The fallen angel then lives as a parasite on its host, while this host loses its mind’s ability of self-control. In exchange, the host is freed from any burdens it suffers from. When the fallen angel has done its work, it detaches from its host, leaving it behind as an empty shell, and just goes and searches for a new host to leech from. The previous host has lost all critical thinking at that time. Only through active nurturing, the host body can be able to recover.

This time, the host body belonged to a girl named Rie. Everyone sees her as a very nice and quiet girl. Though when the fallen angel chooses to reside in her body, it seems that she’s been acting that way. She probably felt incomplete, she probably wanted to be free (hence the pigeons who kept flying across the screen during the episode). I alos like the fact that we never know what happened to her in the end, or whether she got saved or not.

Apart from that, some further information about Maru and Moro is given. Watanuki tries to invite the two of them to a festival, but then their cheery self disappears, and they explain that they can’t ever leave Yuuko’s shop. They’re both soulless bodies, only able to live inside. When they go outside, they wouldn’t survive. I loved the way the pipe fox broke the tension in this. ^^

It could also have been me, but Watanuki and Himawari seemed much closer than before. The two of them talk much more to each other than at the beginning of the scene. Even with Domeki near. I think that this is supposed to be a subtle hint for the relationship between the two of them. Either that, or Watanuki’s mind’s playing tricks on him again.

Surprisingly, Domeki didn’t choose for art class, while Watanuki and Himawari did. Still, that doesn’t mean that Watanuki hasn’t got enough time to yell at him. The two of them have (Watanuki’s) lunch together (At this point, Watanuki’s given up on trying to stop him), and they walk homewards together as well. Another interesting fact is that Domeki got some nasty cuts in his hands while he tried to save Watanuki from being stabbed by a small knife. I also loved how Domeki and Watanuki ended up together at the fishing game during the festival. ^^

There wasn’t any tension in this episode. The climax was badly deus ex machina-ed away by the pipe fox. Yuuko also was a bit too serious for her own good. Normally, she’s much more playful. And why did she go out? I was also a bit disappointed when the creators decided not to show Watanuki’s and Himawari’s self portraits. I’d like to have seen what they managed to draw.

The art style also was extra messy this episode, and I loved it. I can really appreciate it when an anime differs from the standard art style.

(On a side-note: you would think that the creators would do something about the number thirteen in this episode, but then again, this is japanese animation, not european).