Short Synopsis: Angelica falls in love with a male Elmony; Chuu is being cute again; Deep in a dungeon, two brave*cough* adventurers struggle for their lives.
Good: Hilarious, probably the funniest episode I’ve seen this year; even more characters are returning; the two adventurers were SO INCREDIBLY CUTE; Actually good animation!
Bad: Some Gonzo-advertising managed to slip in at the video-file I watched (from Saiyaman). Usually, this wouldn’t be a problem, but please chose some better series than Garasu no Kantai and Witchblade.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10

First of all, I finally found out a few more names of the characters in this show. Very handy, especially in this show, which has the nasty tendency to recycle most of its characters into other ones with different hair-colours and outfits (but what else did you expect? This IS an mmorpg-based anime, after all ^^). A quick rundown:
- Angelica: she’s the blonde Newtar in a pink school uniform. It seems to be quite a popular costume. ^^; Anyway, I’m glad to see her return. It’s better to see recurring characters than new ones at this point.
- Karen seems to be the Warage Green clone with Warage Pink uniform. I’m not sure why she keeps following Angelica, though. They’re probably two very good friends.
- Fuu-chan is the monster that keeps accompanying Karen. I’m not sure if this Fuu-chan is the same monster that’s accompanying Chuu when she’s in Warage Pink-mode.
- The Pandemos in traveller’s clothes we always see with Chuu appears to be named Pukotsu.
- The white-haired Cognite seems to be called Phillipe, though that’s his chibi-form. I’m not sure whether Philippe also plays the role of the other white-haired Cognites we’ve seen.
- Philippe’s Newtar companion gets called by Syozo (I bet that’s spelled differently).

On a whole different note, I loved this episode! First of all, it finally has a bit of decent animation. People move fluently, there are lots of close-ups and we see a few high-quality drawings, and some actual CG is used with the submarines to simulate the particles in the “ocean”. It definitely makes the characters look a lot better. I also appreciated that the unimportant bystanders actually had some original character designs this time, instead of being recycled versions of main characters. I knew this anime could do well if it tried.

The first sketch: Angelica and Karen return, like mentioned above. In this episode, she finds a new obsession: making clothes for the boy she has a crush on. She yet again gets a bit carried away, scaring this boy in the process, when she manages to create a huge pile of different clothes for the two of them to wear. I really liked Karen’s role in this, as the bystander who watches and tells the story a bit. And who eventually gets chased because Fuu-chan ate Angelique’s wallet. ^^;

The second sketch: yet another adult in the real life acting funny. I think I finally know the meaning behind these scenes. They’re supposed to be real-life events, with a mmorpg-element added to them. This time, a shop. I loved it how the shop-menu was opened when the guy tried to buy something. ^^

The third sketch: Pukotsu and Chuu again. This time, his backpack is broken, and Chuu managed to find a new one for him. Obviously, it’s an extremely cute elephant rucksack, not fitting his character AT ALL. It would be funny if he’d be wearing the same backpack in the next episode as well. ^^:

The fourth sketch is about two male Elmony. I’m really not sure whether we’ve seen these two figures yet, seeing as their particular character design gets recycled in many, many other characters. The only difference is the outfit, hair colour and the colour of their cheeks. In any case, in this time, we see a red-haired Elmony do all kinds of cool stuff and blow up enemies, and there’s a green-haired one who wants to either copy him, or hit him with the same method that the red-haired one uses. Obviously, he fails. ^^

The fifth and last sketch is the funniest of the episode. And the cutest. We return to Philippe and Syoso in chibi-form. They’re inside a scary dungeon, trying to get to the centre. Obviously, they fail in a horribly cute way. They first have to beat the dangers of travelling underwater, which is followed by a highly amusing talk under water. This really makes for the funniest accent. XD Next up, they reach the lair of the boss of the dungeon, who’s been sealed in a very eerie place and who gives off some very strange voices. Obviously, Philippe and Syozo ignore him and go for some more challenging enemies: the ordinary bats. They’re quite fearsome, as they weren’t even hurt by Syozo’s Miner Burst, lv1! This calls for Philippe to put on his super invincible armour! It gives him unfathomable strength, but it has one major disadvantage: he’s unable to move. XD

I’m not sure whether someone who has never played an mmorpg would get some of the jokes, but for the people who do have played their share of them, this anime is pure gold. It’s so full of the most hilarious parodies. A definite recommend.

Short Synopsis: A school is being haunted by lots and lots and lots of spirits.
Good: New OP! It’s even better than the first one; This case has lots of potential.
Bad: A bit too much comedy at times.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10

The new OP looks SO cool. It’s definitely something else than the usual OPs in which you see characters running around, trying to be cool with a semi-smart look. This one just looks freaky. A great way to start the series.

Let’s first start with the bad part of the episode: the comedy. It’s not that I don’t really enjoy it or anything, this show is actually extremely funny. But these small moments of comedy do sortof ruin the overall atmosphere, not only in this episode, but also in the entire anime. Now that I think about it, episode five didn’t have that much comedy. That’s probably why it turned so great, it was nearly non-stop tension. The comedy may be great, what this show really excels in is its tension and mystery.

Anyway, now the good part. This arc is filled with lots of potential. We’ve got a really evil ghost this time, who’s been luring spirits inside the school. Some of these spirits have even taken up the form of a huge dog, attacking and actually hurting students. He’s the ghost of a boy who committed suicide, because the teachers in his school were extremely oppressive. Especially when students keep playing Kokkuri-san, this effect only gets strengthened.

Also, what role does Yasuhara have in this story. The fact that he’s being put in the spotlight must mean more than just him being eager to work. He must have had some relation to the guy who committed suicide. I suspect that they were in the same class, seeing that not everyone knows such detailed knowledge about him such as what he wrote down on his very first career assessment. I’m suspecting that Yasuhara had some kind of role in his suicide, he just doesn’t mention this.

Short Synopsis: In order to avoid getting killed by Rem, Light must save Misa. In this episode, he executes his brilliant plan.
Good: Definitely a unique episode; I love it when my favourite anime start using memory loss as a plot device.
Bad: Didn’t Light write down the names of criminals for four weeks in advance in case he’d end up in the hospital for some reason? Did he stop doing that?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10

Before I start, I’m sorry for the delays I’ve been having. My studies came with a pretty obnoxious deadline, so I haven’t been blogging as much as I’d like to. Right now, I’m going to try to catch up with my backlog, though I’m fearing that some shows are going to have to be dropped.

Anyway, about the episode, I loved it! Light’s plan: turn yourself in, pretend to be Kira subconsciously, and get locked up. Beforehand, bury the Death Note somewhere where nobody can go, and leave some hints that only you can understand, so that only you can find it back, also give Rem’s Death Note back. Once in prison, wait a few days, and then forfeit ownership of your own Death Note. Because of this, you’ll lose your memory and start blabbering nonsense because of the situation. Get released, find clues and get back your Death Note.

Still, there still remain a few questions, which will have to wait till the next episode to get answered. How will Light get out of prison? The end of the episode showed a nice twist, but will it really be enough for L to release him? Also, why did he have to go through such huge lengths to save Misa? Why is him being confined necessary to free her?

Still, this plan may have been nice, the really good parts were the mind games the characters played with each other. This episode was one of the most emotional Death Note episodes yet, and it made great use of the memory loss to confuse the heck out of L, while L turned the Light without his memories crazy in his turn, by confining him for two weeks. Light’s father also was brilliant in his worries about his son.