This episode mostly focused on the differences between adults and children. Especially Kooriyama and Uchida are put in the spotlight. They’re both struggling to survive in the grown-up world, and against that total idiot of a boss of Haruka’s father. It doesn’t really work out the way they wanted. Haruka struggles with the topic of remembering. She realizes that precious memories will be forgotten once you get older, and already starts to notice that this is happening with herself as well. Overall, it was nice to see, although it could’ve been a bit less time-consuming.

The plot developments in this episode were awesome. Even though this was just an intermezzo, we get to see a very nice cliffhanger for next week. I expected Noein to hit first, but Kuina strangely hasn’t given up yet, and is as stubborn as ever. In the current timespace, Atori also gets involved in a huge plot twist. Of course, we don’t get to see what it means, as the cliffhanger prevented us from finding out.

I’m hoping that the next episode will feature a bit more music. Noein’s got the most awesome music ever, the scenes really get an extra boost out of it. It’s just that it doensn’t use it often enough.

I managed to get my hands on the first bunch of the upcoming spring season. So far, I’m not disappointed. Among these three, there isn’t anything awesome, but I did see all three of them using some very creative ideas. Apart from that, I also managed to get my hands on a promo for Good Witch Of The West - Astrea Testament. From what I’ve seen, I totally loved it. I’m going to have a great time with this series. I can’t wait till it comes out. Anyway, onto the previews:

Dai Mahou Touge
When I first saw this, I had a very cute mahou-shoujo-series in my mind. In which everyone was happy and the main characters were all having fun. Well… it IS cute. And it is a mahou-shoujo-series. But apart from that, my expectations were so totally wrong. For starters: the main focus of this anime is comedy and parody. And when I say comedy, I mean morbid comedy. This anime is so full of the most demisingly jokes ever. For example, our main character is extremely evil when she enters in a battle. Add that to the fact that she’s extremely strong, and you can start praying for the antagonists. These are, by the way, absolutely hilarious: a group of punk girls. And yes, they look horribly funny, almost literally. Oh, and did I already mention that the main character’s main weapon involves talking vegetables? Overall, I think I’ll watch this. I kindof like this morbid humor. There aren’t any boys in the OP so it can’t be ruined by some kind of romance, so I’m positive about the next episodes.

Kiba
I’m into fantasy series, so I kindof was looking forward to this. So far, it has some interesting concepts. I so love the main character’s mother, and the fantasy world looks very interesting to be in. The side characters also show potential, from the three seconds of airtime that they managed to get. I think I’ll keep watching this. However, I’m a bit scared. The fact remains that the main character is a pubescent male. The fact remains that he’s violent and impulsive. The fact remains that he just ended up in a fantasy world. The fact remains that there was a woman near him when he did. I hope this will turn out right.

I also managed to stumble upon an anime called Denshin Mamotte Shugogetten. The anime aired five years ago (thanks to Scott for this information ^^;). At first glance, this is a harem-show with two main characters destined to be together. What’s more, one character is a moon princess who just happened to pass by on our main character. The character art also looks a bit weird at times. I’m glad that this managed to turn into something kindof right. The episode ended with me feeling that this wasn’t a total failure after all. This was probably because, even though we have to distinctive main characters, the focus didn’t totally land on them for this episode. There are several side-characters who get explained and featured. The setting for this episode is a play in which our main characters play a part. It was so surprising that they were just a couple of side-parts, and the main roles were played by side-characters. The comedy also really worked. Especially when the play is actually going, and our characters are just having fun performing.

Mai Otome is the successor of the popular Mai-Hime. It’s not like a sequel, more like a remake in a different setting and with a different plot. The setting is more fantasy-like, and each of the characters got a new outfit, a new personality and a new role to play. Does this also mean that it’ll be as good as Mai-Hime?

Well, it actually doesn’t. The two main characters (Arika and Nina) are just plain and uninteresting characters. Especially Arika was a pain to watch. The first fifteen episodes are mostly just boring scenes with a couple of amusing moments thrown in (the best one being a certain kissing scene). Apart from that, the comedy doesn’t really work, and most of the drama just doesn’t mean anything. Then the sixteenth episode begins, and it is awesome. The awesomeness continues in the seventeenth episode. I could really see the Mai-Hime-influences, and it was great. Especially Mashiro’s struggle. Afterwards, however, the awesomeness completely disappears, and somehow the creators managed to choose the cheesiest plotline of all possible plotlines to continue. They never manage to fix this afterwards.

It’s not like this series can’t be good if it wants to. For example, the first half of the final episode was just great to see, with finally successful comedy thrown in. (then again, that may also be because the main character didn’t appear that much) There are some drama scenes which are totally worth it, and some characters are great. The only problem is that this series just tries too hard in order to be good, which, of course, is never a good thing.

In some cases, the characters managed to get an improvement when compared to Mai-Hime. Haruka, for example, was always fun to see. In most cases, however, the make-overs members of the wonderful cast of Mai-Hime totally ended up wrong. Natsuki, for example, or Mashiro. I haven’t even started about the main characters. These were original characters which somehow reminded me of Mai and Natsuki. At least, on the outside. Their personalities are just boring, like stated above.

The music overall isn’t really special. But, there are one or two tracks that are simply awesome. I can just forever listen to these soprano’s without getting bored. Graphically, the show has some nice effects, but still, it’s nothing special.

Overall, this was a series that wanted to be too much, and kindof failed. Still, it might be a nice watch if you’re bored.

Final Rating: 63/100