This episode focused mostly at Ueki’s mother, and the impact she had on the present. Well, I have to say, it was a pretty huge impact. But then again, she’s an awesome character. Her personality was just as forcing as Haruhi Suzumiya, while she just too innocent. It’s so sad to hear that she died. But that only makes the show more awesome.

Anyway, this episode consisted of three parts. Ueki&co celebrate their achievements and either his mother’s birthday, or her day of death. Kami-sama, meanwhile, reveals his intentions of why exactly he decided to host the tournament. I have to say, that this is a good reason. Showing the Hellions to look to the future, instead of the past, is a very good reason indeed. The third part consists of a battle between Kamisama and Margaret. Yes, the one the OP has been hinting at. It’s a pretty nice fight, but it was based a bit too much on power instead of strategy. The cliffhanger ends with a bang. Literally.

Blah blah blah, Ichigo fights shinigami. Blah blah. Ichigo fights shinigami blah blah. Then Kuriya decides to finish it off himself, and of course, he’s uber-powerful and Ichigo doesn’t stand a chance. I guess only a ‘certain’ bankai will be strong enough to defeat him (*wink wink* *nudge nudge*). Thank you Ururu for not making this a total waste of time after all.

These range from incredibly good to incredibly bad. I had a good time watching the last two, but the first one is just horrible.

Joshikosei

When I first read the premisse, I hoped that this would become an awesome series. I was wrong. Totally wrong. This is just an excuse to display as many pantyshots as possible in as less time as possible. The comedy doesn’t work, and it isn’t so bad that it becomes funny either.

Simoun

The main characters here fly with some weird machines which somehow remind me of Noein’s minions. Apparently, only girls up to the age of 15 can fly them, a la Evangelion. The character designs somehow reminded me of Gundam Seed Destiny meets Utena with a little dose of Paradise Kiss. When I first saw a picture of the main character, I was somehow reminded of the main character of Fate/Stay Night. After watching her in the anime, I’d have to say that she bears some resemblances, but mostly her character design is different. Her personality, however, totally reminds me of the main character of Mai Otome. The storytelling itself somehow reminded me of the complex dialogue in Trinity Blood. So. These were all the shows I managed to recognize. It appears that Simoun takes a little something out of a couple of good shows, mixes these together and adds a couple original elements. Fifteen minutes in the microwave, and it’s done. The results is pretty good. The music is just awesome, you can barely follow what’s going on, which forces you to pay attention, and the characters look just awesome (not to mention their kissing scenes). Though there are a couple of bad points about this anime. First of all, it’s nowhere explained that the persons in this world are all born female, and then get to choose to their sex at their fifteenth. If I hadn’t read this beforehand, I really would have been confused. The grown-up males with female voices are also a nice idea, but they don’t really work. It’s also a bit strange to just pick up a fallen comerade, her them talk, and then just ‘ throw’ them away again. I also didn’t really feel for the characters who died this episode. I guess that’s the toll of having complex storytelling.

.Hack//Roots

The main character is shy! Holy god, I kept hoping for a main character to be different from all of those enthusiastic, talented and loudmouthed common main characters. I can´t believe it!! The creators just took a large amount of the awesome points of .Hack//Sign (one of the best anime ever, in my opinion) and turned that into their own storyline. The results so far are AWESOME!! I recognized the special and freaky voice acting whenever a character is in pain. The style of the character designs is as awesome as ever. The dialogues are deep. I so love the different characters The music is just totally awesome, and I could keep on rambling for a while. The major difference with .Hack//Sign is that .Hack//Roots seems to focus more on the MMORPG-element than .Hack//Sign does. I’ll definately be blogging this. This was by far the best one out of the first episodes of the spring season.