You’ve got to admit one thing about this anime: the music rocks. Every tune seems to fit, and the ED really is breathtaking. Still, it’s got a long way before it can reach the awesomeness of the 1998-series.
For one, it’s got annoying characters. Pinon and Papu aren’t exactly the best characters ever. Their voice acting is a bit off, especially when they kept calling for each other, it really got on my nerves. Still, Pinon’s got some good points, mostly his struggles to get away from his father’s shadow, though I haven’t seen any good points about Papu.
Basically, in this episode, Papu gets lost and ends up in a lone island offshore. It’s basically meant to show how much Pinon’s willing to do for his new friend. It’s interesting that he’s able to make friends with Papu so easily, while he has troubles with ordinary humans. I guess it’s because Papu was the first who didn’t see him as Pietoro’s son. (Star Ocean Ex, anyone?)
Three new characters are introduced this episode, and we get some signs that Gamigami’s still alive! Woo! We get to meet his children during this episode. This, of course, brings up a very interesting issue: who is the mother? Who would be crazy enough to give a guy such as Gamigami two children? In any case, they do have some antics, though they haven’t reached the brilliance of their father yet. Gamigami was just 100% chaos, while the two of them try to be like him.
The final character to be introduced is Luna. She somehow reminds me of Hyuu in a way. She’s an extremely good swimmer, and the ED seems to suggest that she indeed has affinity with water. It seems that she’s really surprised when she finds out the lengths Pinon’s willing to go through in order to save his friends. The episdoe ends with her, Pinon, Papu and Gamigami’s children being sucked into some kind of portal. Star Ocean Ex all the way.
Still, 2003 did make me see one thing. 1998 doesn’t have any animals or monsters at all! It’s just a character study of each of the different characters, nothing more. The RPG-elements are almost nearly gone. This is totally different in 2003. Last episode, we ran into Papu, a walking skeleton and a big huge monster, and this episode we get treated by some angry horned penguins. I guess the creators were trying to create a better RPG-feel out of it.
Overall, I’m still waiting for the awesomeness. But then again, 1998 also started out slow, so I’m suspecting that this one’s also building up perfectly. After all, we still have a huge amount of characters left to be introduced. And did Shirokishi ever find his Great Knight Sword?
Memorable moment: Punpun and Kogoto waiting for hours for Pinon to return from the cave. ^^
