Phantom already was one of my favourites this series… and with this episode it became even better. Seriously, what an amazing episode. This is EXACTLY why I’m such a big Bee-Train fan.
This really is the episode where the plot takes a complete shirt, and how well it works! We first start out with McCunnen showing Zwei the passport of his pre-mindwipe self, allowing him to remember some vague parts about who he was. He even goes as far as making a phone call to his former family! The reason why she’s doing this is also revealed: Mad Professor betrays Inferno! He has enough confidence in Ein in order to defy such a powerful organization.
Since Ein was a bit of a puppet to the guy, McCunnen tried to make Zwei make his own decisions, in the hope that he’d return to her on his own will. And yet she didn’t take into account how close Ein and Zwei have grown for the past number of episodes, and so Zwei instead decides to run away. So much potential for character-development!
But oh god, the scene that really hit me was the one in which Zwei (or Reiji, as his real name turns out to be) stood next to a badly shot Ein and was forced to take out the bullet that launched itself inside her hip, with only primitive tools and no anaesthetic whatsoever. That really was fantastically executed and SO full of emotions.
Really, this series just continues to amaze me. You’d think that this would be a simple assassin series in which the characters kill a bunch of people as ordered by their organization, and then WHAM: it comes with this episode. With this, it has really set itself apart from Noir, which was much more episodic, and had completely different themes from what Phantom has developed into.
Rating: **** (Fantastic)
Utterly amazing, this episode completely exceeded my expectations.
Awesome conversion of an awesome game, and oh so underrated by the public. Thank you very much for blogging this, may it help spreading the word.
Still, we’re currently in the weakest of 3 chapters. If you like it now, you’ll love it soon, when the sh*t _really_ hits the fan and the major drama unfolds.
This show does, on the surface, seem like just another girl-with-a-gun spin-off, but the characters…! So many other shows have “emotionless” characters in them, but NONE I’ve seen have managed to give them real depth, with the exception of Phantom.
I love this show’s care to establish each character as a unique individual. It doesn’t just settle with rigid stereotypes – the bad guys aren’t always bad and the good guys are few and far between. There are ulterior motives and reasons why the characters have them, and all our main characters so far are villains in society. It’s so atypical, and so well-planned.
Love it!
So where are Reiji and Ein at now? Are they still with Scythe Master, or did they run away from him too (and let him deal with his own shit)?
You’re right, Phantom turned out to be so different from Noir and so intense, everything seems to be more real too , maybe because the graphics are extremely good. Anyway, this episode seems like a climax, “Zweig and Ein against the world”, they’re on their own now, can they really escape, sounds improbable, but whaoh, everything in this episode was awesome, I loved it !!!The darkness of the night filled with fear and distress. And miss McCunnen seemed so sure Zweig would come back to her of his own will, but there he is escaping with Ein. With this episode of pure awesomeness, it makes clear that my favorite shows this season are Phantom and shangri la.
I agree! This is such a fantastic episode full of emotions and nicely executed.
And how I love how the romance is developing. Makes me glee so much. Haha!
Agreed. Only this show is entertaining me now.
It’s been great so far. I only hope it holds out ’til the end 😀
did you stop blogging Higurashi Rei?
it’s been a few weeks or something since the new episode came .
Actually remember those fellows that Claudia met up with and how they were driving away with the truck as Ein covered them with sniper fire? And don’t forget, Ein being there in the first place was a job that Claudia had asked Scythe to arrange. And on top of that, she conveniently made sure Zwei was away during that whole fire fight.
Doesn’t it seem more like Claudia set Sycthe up?
EINNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are only two show that stimulate me this season Eden and Phantom
This show deserve more attention
People were such a fool for passing on this great show
Thestation: nope, I’m just rather lazy when it comes to blogging these OVAs, especially now that I’m rather busy in real life.
I think that it was`nt the Mad Professor idea to attack inferno. in the start of the episode we see that McCunnen talked with him and convinced him that they will attack inferno together and he of course agree.
McCunnen know he will do it and her plan was that his attack will get him and Ein Out from inferno and then she will have Zwei to herself.
Was it just me and my deranged imagination that saw the scene where Zwei takes the bullet of Ein’s leg as a parallel for them having sex (as strange as it sounds)?
Also, it is pretty clear that it was McCunnen who put all these events in motion, trying to snatch Zwei for herself and setting the Professor up. I’m curious to see what his reaction will be.
Lastly, this episode was so full of emotion that I could not help myself but to keep screaming at the tv, trying to make Zwei drop McCunnen and go help Zwei.
Phantom is THE anime of this season.