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.

This was probably one of the most neglected shows to air in the fall 2005-season. It’s imaginable why. After all, it’s a shounen-series featuring dogs battle each other. Most people wouldn’t even bother checking out such a stupid concept. Still, this anime definitely didn’t deserve this incredible lack of attention. Because yes, believe it or not, but it’s actually quite good. Some of the scenes it featured were amazing.

I have to admit, I laughed myself through the first couple of episodes. I just kept comparing it to Excel Saga, with hilarious results. The scenes were just too incredibly overdramatic to be taken seriously. We’ve got the son of the legendary leader of a pack of dogs, who’s been living with his mother ever since their homeplace was invaded by a huge bear. Now, one year later, Weed, our main character (appropriately named after a patch of weed), must go back to this homeplace, as another huge monster has invaded it. It indeed seemed like the standard pattern of a shounen-series, in which our main character would fight enemy by enemy.

But then I suddenly caught myself actually enjoying some of the scenes which were shown. The prediction at the previous paragraph was smattered as the series progressed. You see, this is an anime about fighting a war, with our main character as leader. Weed actually assembles an entire army of dogs, creating a huge cast of side-characters. All with their different story and motivation. We get to see some very interesting war tactics, which show that it isn’t that simple to just win a war. The creators also managed to create a number of very interesting bad guys. Who not only have interesting backgrounds, but also look scary at certain times.

There is one aspect in which Ginga Densetsu Weed really shines. Whenever a character dies, this anime is just incredible. The scenes are turned into an incredible spectacle, all dedicated to give the end of this protagonist or antagonist an as large impact as possible, and it works perfectly. At times, these really make you think about war ethics. If you combine this with the fact that this show’s got lots of characters, and lots of them die, then you’re in for something special.

Like I said, this anime has lots of characters. Surprisingly, most of them are just adults. Weed is one of the few kids among them. Another interesting fact it that the story likes to focus on characters other than Weed. There are plenty of chances in which he takes a step back, so that the story can focus at some of the interesting side-characters. Because of the huge quantity of diverse side-characters, this works great.

Still, this anime remains a shounen-series. Even though it breaks away from some clichés, it still follows others. We’ve got a young male in the lead. He’s got superpowers. He survives. Characters fight each other for too long. Weed’s whining and desire not to kill anyone can also get annoying at times, just like other parts of episodes, in which the characters are just having some fun.

The creators have tried an attempt to try and draw the dogs at a serious way, though it’s clear that they never tried to be realistic. After all, dogs would never do what was being shown in this anime. Dogs also don’t pant or do other things which is typical for dogs to do. When characters talk, their mouths don’t exactly move synchronic with the voices. Still, the background music does deliver. It contributes greatly to the overall mood.

Overall, the show’s got bad points, though the good and creative points totally make up for it. If you like anime centred around wars, you’ll probably like this, though you have to get used to the fact that the main characters are a bunch of dogs. ^^

A Shirayuki-episode. And a great one. The group runs into a boy, who offers them a free ride. He also seems to be running a restaurant, so the group decides to eat there. In the end, it turns out that they don’t have any money. Ringo then asks the boy (Hansu) to let them work for their meal. Especially Shirayuki doesn’t like this.

She keeps complaining that she’s one of the best graduates of the magic school, and that she’s not fit to do a job like this. She then start to use magic to do her chores, though Hansu begins to yell at her when she does that. In the end, it seems that Nightmarians once attacked his town, killing his parents with magic. Ever since he hates it. Shirayuki then tries to make it up by doing her chores by hand, including carrying a heavy bucket of water. She was SO cute at that moment. ^_^

Then, a couple of Nightmarians attack. This time, they’re a bunch of frogs. They easily die, and they make Hansu and Shirayuki on friendly terms. Furthermore, Fernando indeed was captured by Cendrillion and he let his pet, Kyupi, escape in order to find the three musketeers. The tale Souta was told by his mother also seems to be common knowledge for everyone, and at the end of the episode, Souta gets a strange card, which makes him glow. When it’s put on those strange devices of the Musketeers, it displays part of this story. I’m not sure why it happened, as I didn’t understand it too well.

An interesting scene happened when Kyupi was being chased and about to be caughed. Right before it happens, the screen switches and the creators decide to show a roasted chicken, Souta was about to feast on. Do you think that would be some sort of sign for Kyupi’s future? ^^

Shirayuki seems to be eager to fight with others if she’s given a reason. She’s already on bad terms with Ringo, and this episode showed the same behaviour with Hansu. Still, when she realizes her mistakes, she’s incredibly cute.

Randagio, meanwhile, got scolded by a scary-looking Hansel, while Gretel seems to have decided to stay out of the action for a while. Cendrillion seems to be excited that Erde’s Key has arrived. I think she’s actually glad that Kyupi’s leading Souta to her.

Seriously… this is the first anime in which I feel that a deaths or disappearance of a character was a huge mistake to do. Apart from Wolf’s Rain, perhaps. Goad, B-Set and Sakisaka really could have been able to contribute to the horrible mess which was episode 20.

Tabby still doesn’t do anything, Phyllo still stands at the same spot, Ovan and Shino are still missing and Haseo is still going berserk. This time, however, not to get stronger, but to find Tri-Edge. He seems to have turned into an all-devouring zombie. Tri-Edge meanwhile has been kidnapped by god-knows-what and Yata and Pai are planning to test Haseo’s power with a strong opponent. Oh, and Pai seems to have awakened just as Haseo did.

Still, there is hope! Touta finally does something useful, ever since his comeback, by trying to get through to Haseo. If the following episodes will feature Haseo, getting back to earth, I’ll be happy. If that’s the case, then this anime won’t be a total waste either. It seems that during the next episode, Haseo’ll also be defeated by some stranger, so who knows.

Phyllo also made an interesting analogy about Haseo. Even if you try to force open a shellfish, it’ll shut itself close instead. But seagulls have an interesting method of opening these: by dropping the shellfish on a rock. Will that have the same effect on Haseo, I wonder? What happens if you just break him. Will he open?

Still, what is this awakening? Why is it so important? And why is Yata after someone who awakened when he can just use his subordinate? And why does it just happen to certain people? And what causes it? What is the connection between Haseo and Pai’s awakening? After all, Pai awakened in a normal field. It also seems that different people react differently when being awakened. Pai seemed to be in pain, though Haseo began to look even more as an undead zombie.