Short Synopsis: The new head of the Sa Clan has been chosen. Seiran, meanwhile shows how determined he is to get Sakujun out of the way.
Good: The game between Seiran and Sakujun.
Bad: To be honest, I expected Kokujun’s craziness to have a larger impact.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

The major part of the episode focused on the new head of the Sa-clan. Ensei and Eigetsu attend the meeting, while Shunki and Shuurei free Kokujun. It’s a pity he didn’t really turn crazy and followed Enjun’s example. In the end, Shunki talked him out of it by forcing him to take up the position of head of the Sa-Clan. Him, in combination with Shunki and Eiki will prove to be a good head of the clan, while the other stuffed-up bastards who have been causing so many troubles to the Sa-Province have been pushed back.

Still, the really interesting part of the episode came with Seiran and Sakujun. In the end, Seiran desperately wants to put an end to Sakujun. We still don’t really know what caused all his grief in the period he spent with the Satsujinzoku, but he’s seeing Sakujun as a huge threat to Shuurei because of it. He’s even willing to wage his own life to mere luck, in order to get rid of him. And then still it’s a matter of 50% chance of success. The next episode will probably focus on this little game of them, which really makes me look forward to it.

It’s interesting, with this, there are still five episodes left of the first season. I wonder what kind of ending the creators are having in mind. For only five episodes remaining, just having Sakujun as an antagonist probably won’t be enough to provide a challenge to Shuurei. There will probably be time devoted for Shuurei to get used to her position of the governor of the Sa Clan, but that’s not what you’d consider a climax, would you?

Short Synopsis: Kakunojou finally performs in a play again. Akizuki meanwhile catches up with Enomoto and Soutetsu carries on with his own plans.
Good: Great climax, excellent episode.
Bad: The episode started a bit slow, perhaps.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

Ah, you could call this episode the beginning of the ending. First of all, Akizuki manages to return, in an attempt to cut down the head once again, instead of sealing it. Soutetsu brings Kakunojou to the scene of fighting, and she once again protects Enomoto from being harmed by Akizuki. With this, Soutetsu hoped that he could show her that she needs to guide Akizuki, in order for his mission to succeed. After Akizuki retreated, he tells her this in person. I’m still not sure what he’s after. Apparently, he wants something to happen between Akizuki’s sword and the lord’s head. but what woould be worth going through so much trouble, just for that?

The supporters of the new government (at least, I assume it was them) also arrived in Hakodate during this episode. Their first attack failed, due to the clash between Akizuki and Kakunojou, but they’ll probably be back for a second attempts. I wonder what they’ve still got to add to the storyline. The Englishmen, by the way, also returned at the end of the episode. They’re probably assigned to stop the Lord’s Head at all costs, but I suspect that there’s also a great desire of revenge in them, for what happened with Rook. Especially Queen should have quite a grudge.

Tetsunosuke (that was his name, wasn’t it), meanwhile, start to develop feelings for Kakunojou. I’m not sure why the creators suddenly decided to introduce another love rival for her at this point of the anime. I mean, they’ve already got a huge story, why introduce yet another love-triangle which will probably end up either useless or forced?

Anyway, I really liked Kakunojou’s play. I’m not yet sure what it was meant to symbolize, but it definitely made her think about her mission.

Short Synopsis: Earth has become completely uninhabitable due to the fall of a huge space station down the atmosphere. At least, that’s what people want the citizens of Eden to believe.
Good: The ending of the episode.
Bad: Okay, it wasn’t too realistic, though.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

Ah, why not. I’m going to blog this OVA. It’s only coming out once a season, and it could definitely use a bit of extra attention, as the setting is really interesting so far. I like how this anime uses the technique of cell-shading. It definitely works as an art style, though the creators still haven’t figured out how to synchronize mouth movement properly apparently.

This anime basically tells two stories: that of Takeru and his surroundings, his friends and his rivals, and his search for the mysterious girl in the picture. The first part may be nice and all, but what really caught my interest was the second part, ever since the ending of the previous episode. Me likes the mystery. This episode basically shows Takeru, trying to find the girl on the picture, and eventually discovering that she’s from earth. For some reason, however, the authorities of Eden are determined to keep this a secret from their citizens.

I loved the ending of this episode. Okay, it’s a bit overglorified, only when Takeru climbs a not-so-large mountain, he sees the earth very clearly, instead of on the horizon, and he just happens to run into the messages from earth, but I’m willing to forgive this to the creators. It seems this anime is going to focus on Takeru, as he tries to go against the government of Eden and return to earth. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the end. So far, there are a lot of bad OVA’s around here, but FREEDOM definitely is worth watching.