Short Synopsis: A Kikuri-episode. A former actor is determined to get revenge on his neighbours.
Good: Great killing scene; nice twist in the ending.
Bad: A bit of a boring antagonist this time
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10

Hmm, dammit. This time, it wasn’t the usual formula which was the worst thing about the episode, it’s the antagonist this time. He just lacks a bit of depth, comparing to the other ones we’ve seen so far. I never really understood his reason, even after reading Memento’s summary. Okay, he’s pretty evil, though he doesn’t grab me like the most other antagonists of Jigoku Shoujo did.

Still, that doesn’t mean that this episode didn’t have some very juicy bits. The background music was as good as ever, and Kikuri gets some development as well. I’m still not sure what the little brat is trying to do. And why does Ai approve of her so much? Could the spider have ordered her to take care of Kikuri during her missions? And what is Kikuri after? Does she want to take Ai’s place?

It’s also a good thing that in this episode, people actually died. You don’t get to see that often in Jigoku Shoujo. People either die outside of the episode, they get sent to hell, or they just end up living, though badly hurt. The deaths in this episode made quite the impact. Especially the one of the mother. The death of the father had an especially nice after-effect, seeing as the antagonist suddenly disappeared, leaving the main character, the son of the mother and the father, with the blame of the murder. I just would have liked to see a bit more of what happened after this, though. We see the boy in a police car, but that’s all.

Short Synopsis: The journey from Kinka to Koren. And Ryuuki, Kouyuu and Shuuei are back!
Good: Ryuuki, Kouyuu and Shuuei are funnier than ever, they cleverly decide to remain in the shadows, instead of the stage
Bad: Their timing was a bit too perfect.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

The focus of this episode was entirely different from the previous one, due to the addition of Ryuuki and his two companions. It seems that he couldn’t resist to come after Shuurei after all, with the excuse of inspecting the Sa Province. They really were hilarious, and I’m wondering what their part will be in the upcoming arc. Also, I might be wrong, but could Kouyuu have the same voice-actor as Baru from Otogi Juushi Akazukin? The way they yell is just too similar. ^^

I also loved how Shuurei still doesn’t know about Ryuuki’s plans. She never knows that she has an emperor behind her. Because of this, she’ll be forced to rely on her own strength, instead of Ryuuki’s. And that’s where she shines most. Her mother also gets mentioned again in this episode, just as the story of the Rose Princess. It seems to be a tale Shuurei’s mother told to her, and now Shuurei keeps telling to others, to help the story remain alive. It’s interesting, though. The story seems to suggest that her mother knew that she’d be taking over Shuurei’s sickness beforehand.

Sho Taishi, meanwhile, gives us the first opportunity to see Eiki outside of a flashback. It seems that she’s going to be the first person he’ll be visiting with the ring. For some strange reason, he took on his young-form, instead going like an old-man. I think he’s going to test out all the possible candidates for the ring before letting Sa Enjun decide who is to take it. Speaking of which, it’ll be interesting to see how Eiki will react when she sees her deceased husband again.

I’m actually curious whether the subbers will succeed in subbing the rest of the first season before the second season starts in April. After this, there are ten episodes left. In theory, it should be possible, especially if you look at the rate they’ve been distributing the past few episodes. Though let’s hope they don’t go into a sudden hiatus.

Short Synopsis: The second part of the intermezzo. While the previous episode was rather gloomy, this one was more laid-back.
Good: The scenes were either incredibly cute, or incredibly inspiring. There is no third.
Bad: Like mentioned before, intermezzos don’t have too much tension.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10

Sorry about the lateness, but I was waiting for Shadow’s subs to appear, though it seems that We Suck has overtaken her. I still like Shadow’s subs better, but the fact also remains that I’m inpatient with these kinds of things. After the climax of episode 26, we’ve got ourselves an intermezzo again, preparing for the episodes to come.

We also see Shunki for the first time, outside of a flash-back. Ensei has asked a couple of ex-mountain-thieves to take care of her. It’s indeed a great hiding-place for her. Nobody would think to look at their place, since they’re rather goofy. You wouldn’t expect them to hide such an important person. I’m suspecting that the two thieves did something in the past to warrant Ensei’s trust. I also like how Shunki lost her voice.

Kourin and Eigetsu also were way too cute this episode when they were together. Kokujun, meanwhile, has set out to Koren, in order to stop his brother and grandfather. I’m not sure what he can do against the two of them, but I’m suspecting that it’ll be something significant. Shuurei also confesses to Seiran that he’s the second person she loves most. That’s indeed quite a strange thing to say, though it appears that the number-one person for Shuurei is her father. ^_^

Short Synopsis: Ralph’s story gets continued, and preparations are made for the finale of this show.
Good: A very interesting plot twist over at the Deague-ship. Even though this episode mostly showed preparations, it was well worth watching.
Bad: The first half of the episode was extremely dialogue-based, which meant a whole lot of trouble for me to understand it.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10

Ah, finally Souko no Strain is back. And with this episode, I totally understand why the explanation of the previous episode felt so incomplete: it was meant to be continued into this episode. When Ralph held the dying Emily, who begged him to save her sisters, she showed him something like the back-star gate. I have no idea what that might be, but she also showed him the story behind the Emilies. Afterwards, a piece of stray debris hit his eye, causing the scar he bears now.

Also, if I’m not mistaking, it was Deague who first discovered the Emilies and started experimenting on them. That’s probably why Ralph ended up working with them. At one point in time, a majority of the Emilies blew themselves up, leaving only the ones in the Strains who fought Ralph, the doll-Emily and the Emily who was stored in the academy of the first episode. Deague wanted to retrieve the only two Emilies they had left, and that’s why they needed Ralph, because they recognized his talent. This story still sounds a bit vague to me, though at least it makes a bit more sense.

Meanwhile, over at the Deague-ship, an interesting development happens. The purple-haired lady actually manages to escape from Ralph, who seems to have a heart-attack. I’m not sure where this came from, though it did give her the chance to push the self-destruction-button of the ship, and flee along with Emily, in order to reach the space-ship Sara is on. This can become very interesting for the final two episodes. :)

Oh, and on a side-note: the background music is starting to get more addictive every time I hear it. The use of violins and cellos really worked well in this episode.

Short Synopsis: The second episode of Taiyou no Mokushiroku focuses on Japanese who fled from the Japanese camps in Taiwan. Obviously, when a select number of Japanese starts killing others, the entire number of 80000 refugees who have nowhere left to go will be kicked out of the country.
Good: An amazing amount of morals and values as expected.
Bad: While it was a great episode, the first episode was better.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

It’s been quite a wait, but finally the second part of Taiyou no Mokushiroku has been released. This one really brought Gen forward as a guru, following people like Ghandi. During the previous episode, we got to know his ideals. In this episode, he has to make them true. In order to stop the Japanese-turned-to-terrorists, he starts a silent march, of no less than 80000 people.

The terrorists would have been convinced to stop in the end, if it weren’t for the Taiwanese government which was sent out to kill the terrorists, against the president’s orders. Apparently, these orders were issued by the ones who were behind the terrorist attack in the first place. During an announcement by the president in order to take responsibility of the things that happened and which has about 200000 Taiwanese gathered, Gen finally manages get the guys behind it arrested.

Gen being a messiah-like person and all may have been nice, it isn’t really what makes this anime great. In my opinion, his purpose is just to be the main character of the story, centred around what’s really important: the relations between the Japanese refugees and the native Taiwanese. This anime depicts civilians of a nation, who have never really had the need to seek major refuge elsewhere, to turn to other countries, in request for help. They stood above the poor Asian countries for a huge amount of years, though with the earthquakes, the tables have suddenly turned. Because of this, the Japanese and Taiwanese have turned so nationalistic that they just can’t seem to understand that nothing’s wrong with living together. Only the people as individuals can realize this. This part of the anime has been done magnificently. Definitely something to remember.

So why was this episode worse than the first one? Probably because of its impact, and that it didn’t deliver as much to the before mentioned themes as the first episode, and focused a bit too much on Gen, instead of what’s really important. It’s not that Gen isn’t a good character or anything, but he pales in comparison to the struggle between the Japanese and Taiwanese.

I’m also not too sure what to thing of the ending. The atmosphere was perfect. It’s great as a conclusive, yet open ending. But at the same time, it was so horribly cheesy. Especially when the threesome stands side-by-side, smiling on top of their boat. I’m also not even sure why the third guy ended up going. He could have used a bit more development for this.

Despite these flaws, I really recommend this episode, because it’s first episode just was pure win.