Whoa, it’s really her!? Or does this episode show the mysterious “Drei” that the fans of the original game have been talking about? Anyway, this was another excellent episode from this series, even ignoring that final plot twist in the end. It was all about seeing the relationship between Reiji and Cal, and just watching the two of them grow closer together is worth the watch.
It’s interesting how episodes like these show how much the creators know about marksmanship, and the correct way of using a gun, even though in El Cazador they simply glossed over it. In any case, it’s really charming that Reiji recognizes Cal’s talents, and is planning her to get as far away from Inferno as possible when everything is over, so that she isn’t going to end up the same as him. You can really see in this episode that Cal is opening up his shell, even though she was completely different from Ein.
I also liked the references to well known actors (deNiro, etc). I guess that the creators can’t use titles of movies due to copyright, but this works as well, especially since action movies are a major part of the American culture. It would have been weirder for these movie references to not pop up.
It’s just a shame that this episode again got the shorter end of the budget. There again were lots of far away shots that makes the characters easier to animate. Ah well, at least it’s better than showing lots and lots of still frames. Overall I do think that the graphics budget is handled pretty nicely: there’s no money wasted on “cool” shots like hair and clothes moving in the wind, and instead the animation is focused to making the characters come alive.
One thing I noticed is that this series has gotten quite a bit lighter since Cal arrived, but that of course can also be attributed to the very cold relationship between Ein and Zwei: they hardly talked, and were constantly trying to figure out each other. Reiji and Cal are much more open to each other, but their excellent characterization still remains.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Cal + Reiji = awesome. Very nice build-up episode.
Cal’s probably my favorite girl probably because she brings out the best in Reiji. Her ending in the game is probably the most fun imo. It’s a shame, but I doubt they’re going to go for her end.
Hmm Cal most certainly delicious (^_^) But I just can’t shake this odd feeling about her somehow. Oh about the animation some people that playing the game said that they’re saving for some big event that will happen soon.
Well, I would expect some expensive animation next episode 😉
They’re hurrying along quite a bit now…
What I miss from this episode is Cal shooting the gun with a sideways grip. Reiji would have been impressed with how well she shoots with such an impractical grip, but it’s been simplified to just a quick draw.
One thing I have been most fearing for some time is that Drei might turn out to be a redhead. At least Drei won’t have any amnesia if this part of the game is followed … (I will neither confirm nor deny whether Cal is Drei. 😛 )
Kanao, I suggest you STFU. Honestly. What the hell are you doing?
I thankfully managed to avoid looking at whatever spoiler was in there before deleting it, but Kanao: please refer from posting spoilers about this series.
I don’t even think people should be talking about future, unrevealed characters at this point. Won’t comment on that any further.
With some luck, next week’s episode (or maybe even the next two, I’m not good at making estimates) should have a couple of my favorite scenes from this arc, depending on how they handle it.
What the hell? I didn’t post any spoilers, I simply theorised something blatantly obvious because unlike you assumed from previous comments, there’s no reason to believe Cal and Drei are different people. It’s more likely you just misunderstood the person who said ‘don’t mistake Cal as being the same as Drei’.
Considering I have the visual novel game case right in front of me (and how can you consider that a spoiler…?) and the cover shows Ein and a blonde girl that ‘looks’ like a teenage Cal holding weapons I don’t see any reason it wouldn’t be Cal, especially since Reiji is training her…
You’re the one being rude by deleting a comment because you assumed I posted spoilers without actually reading it. I may have glanced at the wiki but all it does is give brief descriptions of the many endings (and this will only have one) and some other bits of not very important info. I’m not the kind of person that would post something that people would consider a spoiler.