Whoa, I admire the balls that the creators have with this series. This episode was really heavy, and pretty much showed that this isn’t going to be a happy adventure. They really went as far as actually having the bad guys possess little girls in order to deceive Yuki? I give my thumbs up for that.
There were a few things about this episode that were kind of cheesy, like the point in which Yuki claimed that Hotsuma saved him because he cared about him. Hello, you know him for what? Twenty minutes? Hotsuma’s motivation also is a bit weird. I mean, if I were to run into a guy who would be able to heal any wound, I’d be pretty happy with it. The only thing that I can think of here is that he had some kind of really big grudge against Yuki when he still was a girl. This episode actually hinted at how the current Yuki is completely different from how he used to be, which… does pique my interest seeing of how a goodness-loving flower-child he is right now. But yeah, I can imagine that the person that Zess fell in love with to be as socially inept as he is.
In any case I wasn’t sure about the orphanage to start this series off with, however the emphasis on little children in this series has been surprising, to say the least. Most shows of this kind usually have the protagonist wandering stupidly into dangerous situations to get some action going on, but these girls give this a completely different dimension here.
And as for the action… it again was surprisingly good. This show isn’t particularly well animated, but the art itself and the CG around it are really good. It’s also interesting that Zess doesn’t know the meaning of “overkill”, especially when summoning that enormous dragon (or… um… salamander…) of his. It looked awesome in any case.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Re: Zess and overkill
Lulz. They try to portray Zess as so bad ass, and actually to a degree they accomplish it because most of his attacks HAVE been bad ass… but he’s such a shallow, boring character. He does nothing except look pretty and be bad ass and mutter stuff about not ever betraying Yuki.
I truly hate Yuki’s voice, but I don’t totally hate his character. He’s willing to put himself at risk to help the innocent and although he often needs to be saved, he’s not totally helpless or stupidly putting himself in harm’s way for no reason.
Since the anime is over all dark, I find the attempts at humor to be weird and out of place (all the super deformed sequences just seemed forced).
I would say this anime has managed to hold my interest but only just barely. It’s the few bright points, music/direction/fun action sequences/certain character’s interactions… the plot I could take it or leave it.
“the point in which Yuki claimed that Hotsuma saved him because he cared about him. Hello, you know him for what?”
—> I think it’s just the “you save ‘coz you care” assumption. That or the reincarnation excuse: Yuki somewhat remembers Hotsuma’s personality but just didn’t realize that. Like with Luka, hehe.
“Hotsuma’s motivation also is a bit weird. I mean, if I were to run into a guy who would be able to heal any wound, I’d be pretty happy with it.”
—> He has a reason for it and I think it would be revealed pretty soon. Though in my opinion he’s just being pretty angsty over his *spoilery to continue*
@ lane
“Since the anime is over all dark, I find the attempts at humor to be weird and out of place”
—> I think it’s a cute/nice combination though, to lessen the dark and gloomy/horrific atmosphere. Pandora Hearts and Kuroshitsuji does the same~
@Sapphire
I am in agreement with you that lighthearted moments help alleviate some of the doom and gloom. I loved the comedy in Pandora Hearts! I just don’t think the super-deformed buts in Uraboku work… could just be me though!
I rewatched a scene just now to confirm to myself that the music composer for this series is awesome. I wonder if he put his all into this anime to get noticed?
This is pretty good so far… I wish they didnt use this lame “Yuki becomes a guy” crap though, specially since hes so huh, I guess “flower child” fits, lol I hate it, and I also hate his VA
It would be much more interesting if Yuki was still a girl, theres already plenty of bishounens here, we dont say yaoi on top of that
@Frost, this is totally a shounen ai series… It’s created by an artist who has almost exclusively produced shounen ai works throughout her career. The romance is intended to titillate those who would be interested in two boys hooking up, and not a guy and a girl.