This show is really getting more excited by the minute. Now that all of the Seirei are present, the story moves forward with huge leaps. Ever since the previous episode, the world has been engulfed by darkness. It’s interesting to see what happens when it does. I like the fact that this anime actually tries to make its magic system believable. Darkness is taking over, making light from both the sun and the moon stop reaching the surface. This means that only man-made light sources can provide a bit of visibility, and even these are restricted. This darkness makes people feel uneasy and worried. This actually is the first anime ever to associate darkness with a feeling of uneasiness and worry.
Luna was great in her worries. The fansubbers also provided an some interesting fact about general Japanese citizens. They’re extremely xenophobic. They just can’t stand anyone who stands out, mostly foreigners. Luna feels the same. She thinks that nobody would accept her if they knew her true form, that’s why she tried to hide it, while she in fact, like Pinon mentioned, looks beautiful.
Narcia also comes with a huge revelation: she’s a forest SPRITE instead of a forest WITCH. With this, Popolocrois Story 1998 also becomes a lot clearer. I always wondered why she was able to fly. It also explains why she has her two-point hat. It’d be perfect to hide her two antennas. She seems to be the daughter of the queen of the forest sprites. It’s also very ironic for Luna to think that Pinon would be totally different from her. After all, he’s 25% human, 25% dragon and 50% forest sprite himself. ^^
At the beginning of the episode, Pinon also admits that he’s scared of the darkness. Marco then begins yelling at him, as a real man should never admit to be scared. Still, he’s shaking while he says this. It’s interesting to see that both of them react differently to the sudden events. Pinon’s more of a honest person. Too honest, perhaps. That’s why he’s so quick to admit he’s scared. Marco, on the meanwhile, has been raised by his mother. No wonder that he’d like to look cool in situations like these. ^^
Also, I like the small detail the creators put in the Water-Seirei’s eyes. As it’s the Seirei of water, its eyes are very quick to get watery, making it cry over absolutely nothing. Very creative. Pinon’s character development also became evident during this episode. He actually proposed to go along with Pietoro on his own. He seems to have gained a lot of courage.
Still, overall, at the same point, Popolocrois Story 1998 as featuring an insane Gamigami who was having difficulties stealing Paolo’s crown. Even though Popolocrois 2003 has been amusing, it has yet to reach the level of amazingness its predecessor did. Unfortunately.
