Short Synopsis: A rather persistent ghost has been hunting the local park, splashing couples with water.
Good: A great moment for a light-hearted episode, away from the usual seriousness.
Bad: What was up with Mai’s hands. Did she wear some strange gloves or something? If she did, they don’t suit her, as it looks like her hand got stuck between a very fast-closing door.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10

Some shows decide at times to include a wtf-episode. It doesn’t have any meaning to the main story, it’s usually very strange and very funny, and it’s mostly meant to flesh out the characters a bit. Soukou no Strain did this the wrong way, but I have to say that Ghost Hunt succeeded. Not only did this episode crack me up majorly, it also offered some nice insights in the different characters. And were the couples some signs for in the future? :3

While the ghosts have been extremely scary for the past number of episode, this episode also shows that you can have crazy ghosts. This one came in the form of a girl who got emo after her idiotic boyfriend cheated on her. Probably the major focus of the episode was Naru-chan’s relationship with Masako. He’s getting a bit too clingy to her, seeing as he gives everyone else the cold shoulder. It could be like John suggested, that some kind of patron is involved.

Mai also was getting very interesting. It’s been half a year already since she started working with him, and she still hasn’t made her move on him. Yet she’s still incredibly jealous of anyone going near him. Like I said above, I loved it when she went on a date with Bou-san at the end of the episode. The two of them make a great couple, just like Matsuzaki and John. I’d love to see these couples developed. ^_^

Also, I’m starting to notice similarities between the different arcs and other anime. The third arc had surprising resemblances to Ayatsuri Sakon, while this episode was like a strange episode of Jigoku Shoujo. Is this coincidence, or did the creators mean to do this?

(P.s. What I really loved about this one is how the cheating boyfriend looked just like your standard male main character from a harem-show. It’s really good to see characters like these finally getting what they deserve. ^^)

Short Synopsis: Cosette and Gavroche find a small puppy and decide to take it home, where it causes quite a bit of trouble. Jean meanwhile gets visited by someone from his past.
Good: Already extremely touching, this early in the series.
Bad: No bad points so far. Let’s hope it stays this way.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

So far, the winter-season has been excellent. My two favourite series of the season so far have to be Les Miserables and Master of Epic. While the latter is more than enough for my weekly comedy-fix, the former so far has delivered an extremely toughing tale about Cosette. I SO like her character right now. Even though she’s being bullied by almost everyone, she still shows that she can be strong. I love strong characters like her. ^_^

Still, I’m surprised at the lack of interest about this series. I expected lots of people to talk about this one, but only one other blogger has picked it up. Apart from that, two others talked about the first episode, and that’s it! The fansubbers also are surprisingly slow, despite the Japanese being not very hard (seeing as we mostly hear children talk). I’m really hoping that this show is going to get a bit more attention when the subs start to arrive, as it doesn’t deserve this much negligence.

This show has also proved to draw me in its atmosphere faster than almost every other show. I’m not sure what it is, but each episode has such an incredible atmosphere from start to finish. This episode was definitely no exception, it probably was the best episode yet. Especially the ending was amazing, when Cosette got beaten by Thénadier for messing up her sheets, right in front of her children.

Also, who’s that guy who’s after Jean Valjean? It would seem that he’s someone from the police, who’s chasing him even now. Still, is there really this much need to hunt down a simple bread thief? I can understand why he wants to hide his identity, as you wouldn’t get far with everyone knowing that you’re a former thief, but I don’t see why people would still be looking for him.

Short Synopsis: Now that everyone has reached Kinka, they rejoin with each other. Lin Senya, meanwhile, reveals his true name and makes his move.
Good: Great fight, thanks to Ran Ryuuren. The scene between “Senya” and Shuurei had an amazing impact.
Bad: Too bad I saw “Senya”’s identity coming.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

Haha! I knew it! Senya had to be Sakujun, he’s the only character who’s been mentioned a few times, but refused to show his face. Still, luckily his revealing-scene went way further than that, when he actually starts to seduce Shuurei. The thing that made the impact so huge was that Sakujun and Ryuuki have a scaring amount of similarities, and whether he’s aware of this, Sakujun uses the same sentences that Ryuuki used for Shuurei. Still, there’s one major difference between the two of them: Sakujun liked Shuurei with her hair down, while Ryuuki never even mentioned it.

Sakujun also is quite the bastard. He was the one who introduced Seiran to the Satsujinzoku, he killed a large number of family-members in the past, he killed his older brother, he’s after Shuurei, he’s planning to make a second ring of the Sa-clan, and he’s probably up to a lot more nasty things. He was quite fearsome this episode. Still, he’s going down in the end. Here’s why:

- We still have Sho Taishi who is on his way to the Sa-province with the real ring of the Sa-clan. I doubt that Sakujun’s aware of this. ^^
- He’s trying to go against Shuurei. Come on, she came all this way by herself for a reason. She’s not going to let such an idiot take advantage of her once more. ^^
- At one point, he’s going to have to deal with Ran Ryuuren. Seeing as Sakujun is the enemy of Bosom Friend Number 1, Ryuuren isn’t going to be easy on him.
- Is Sa Chuushou really just going to just forgive Sakujun for killing his grandson?

This also was the first time that We Suck got a sub out sooner than Shadow Dreams did. It’s a good moment to compare the two. Overall, I like Shadow Dreams better. I like how she left certain terms untranslated. “Tale of Saiunkoku” just doesn’t sound right, in some way. The Satsujinzoku also sounds much more fearsome than “The band of murderous thieves”.

Short Synopsis: The search for true love! Warage Five Versus Groups of Punks II! What the heck is up with the main character?!
Good: Is incredibly cheesy, knows this, and fully utilizes this. Probably the best episode so far
Bad: Gonzo… animation…
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

Seriously, this show uses its main character in one of the most original ways I’ve seen in a while. Over the past few episodes, we’ve seen lots of different characters, the orange-haired Newtar actually looks like an extra right now, even though she’s on the top spot in the promo-art and the OP. During the first episode, we saw a girl who looked like her, just with pink hair. In the second episode, we saw a very small flash of her, falling down a castle, and right now, we get to see even more of her when she runs past the screen for about one second, wearing black angel-like wings. Oh, and she also appears later in the show, and she actually has a short line, after disappearing again, as fast as she appeared. ^^;

Also, after watching this episode, I’m starting to notice more and more patterns. Apart from the Waragetcha sketch, the fishing scenes, the news and the introduction, the major part of the first half of the episode focuses on some girl who has some kind of problem, with the silver-haired bishie-Cognite appearing in some way. We also have a scene in which the Pandemos tries to impress Warage Pink (or Chuu), and she ends up doing something entirely uncute afterwards, which in turn, makes that such a cute scene. ^_^ There’s also this very strange scene, in which we go back to real life and see some weird man/men do something ordinary in a very, very, very strange way. I still don’t understand it.

Still, I’m having more and more problems figuring out who is who. Not only because of their lack of names, but because some characters show up in different clothes or hair. The Warages only made this more confusing when it seems that they’ve all got a second identity (Warage Black OMG O_o). And it indeed seems that Chuu is Warage Pink. But the Elmony newscaster, is he the same as the one who does the introduction? But I’ve also seen a green-haired male Elmony. He must be someone else. I think. A copy of the silver-haired male Cognite with blue hair didn’t make this easier. ^^;

Anyway, this episode yet again was loads of fun. Some of the jokes were incredibly creative, other were just too cheesy that they became funny, while other scenes were just too stupid for words. I’m also a huge fan of the smileys this show uses. ^_^ (Also, is it me, or was the female newscaster working on her accent during this episode? ^^;)

Short Synopsis: Inside a valley full of giant strawberry bushes, Souta and Gretel end up together.
Good: Gretel; Gretel; have I already mentioned Gretel?
Bad: Why didn’t Hansel chase them while he could fly?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10

Ooh, I’ve been waiting for this! This episode was all about Gretel. Not only was she incredibly CUTE during the entire length of the episode (I especially loved it when Souta tried to protect her just like the young Hansel), she’s also getting very interesting for the future episodes. I really liked how she still didn’t end up joining Souta in his travels, but instead, she’ll be acting independently, just like Hameln. I wonder when she’ll make her move. ^^

Randagio also is turning into an interesting character. He’s stepped away from your usual criminal goon long ago. That became clear when he unconsciously spoke a bit to casual when Ibara caught him. He’s adorable, even though he’s generally an idiot. ^^; I also loved how he opened the episode so forcefully for the past two episodes.

Also, something’s telling me that we’re about to get a good dose of development from Akazukin’s side. That expression on her face when she saw the road to the Village of Mist (?) was just too suspicious. Also, what will Turude’s role be in the rest of this anime? Has she become that scared of Akazukin in princess-mode that she doesn’t want to face her directly?