Short Synopsis: Now that L is gone, the second half of Death Note starts. But first: recap!
Good: Hmm…I guess the punishment-scene.
Bad: Obviously, the recap-part.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 6.5/10

Ah, of course. The recap-episode. Thankfully the final part of the episode did show plot progression, the majority of the episode was just boring. I also noticed an inconsistency with the fansubbers, who suddenly shortened the fifty days that Light spent in confinement to a much more bearable fifteen. If you still haven’t seen this episode: skip to the second part, as there’s nothing new in the first one.

The second part of the episode closes L’s story, while it lightly introduces the second half of Death Note, considered by manga-fans as much weaker than we’ve seen up till now. If I had to guess, then the grown-up Light will have no personality at all, making him boring. And yes, I do hope that the five years that have been skipped did develop Light more than just making him more insane.

The next two “antagonists” also are introduced in this episode. Eleven episodes remain after this, which means that they’ll have less opportunity for fleshing out than in L’s case. They look interesting, though their voices are annoying, from what I’ve heard. I also have no idea why it took this long for them to get alerted about L’s death, and why Light never noticed that timer.

I’m also disappointed in one thing: that for five years, nobody ever got the idea of going after Kira. Someone who watched the tv-programs regarding Kira could easily have obtained quite a few clues about what went on. I mean, I was surprised that nobody tried to send him messages after this and to try and manipulate him. It’s also a wonder of heaven that Misa never once screwed up in all these five years. I dislike how the new antagonists just have to be L’s acquaintances. But we’ll see if these new guys can actually become interesting.

Short Synopsis: Raki experiences Claymore killing each other for the first time.
Good: Interesting climax.
Bad: Raki does have his annoying moments.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10

While El Cazador and Wellber no Monogatari advanced their plot in the second episode, Claymore used this to provide more explanation of the concept. It’s quite logical, as you can’t just explain everything about the Claymores in just one episode. It’s clear now why … was added in the story, because the viewer will be able to learn the same about the Claymores as he does. He also couldn’t have had another personality, otherwise he wouldn’t just have followed Clare, but the fact does remain that he’s annoying.

Okay, let’s sum things up a bit:
- Claymores have been infused with Youma flesh.
- They can go without eating for more than a week, though they do need to eat occasionally.
- Claymores get their powers by awakening their Youma blood.
- Eventually, Claymores turn into Youmas themselves. They will then be killed by other Claymores.
- When a Claymore has to kill another Claymore, she gets a black card, probably specifying the identity of that Claymore.

We also see the introduction of one new major character: Clare’s boss. He comes to her to deliver some new clothes for her, which got themselves a nasty hole in the previous episode. He uses that opportunity to give Clare a black card. The Claymore that has to be killed seems to be an old friend of Clare, which is why she’s shocked when she sees it. I’m not sure why the guy told Raki about all of this, though. What is he hoping to achieve by letting him see Clare killing a friend of hers? Sure, he’ll cry and stuff, though it won’t make him leave Clare or anything.

I quite liked the Climax, though. The clash between Raki’s and Clare’s morals was quite interesting, and still they both mourn afterwards.

Short Synopsis: A princess who has lived inside a castle for her entire life obviously has to get used to not living in luxury anymore.
Good: Rita’s got a surprisingly versatile character, the OP still is brilliant.
Bad: Rather unrealistic horse movement.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10

For Wednesday and Thursday, my shows to blog will be Wellber no Monogatari and Claymore. Even though they’re both Wednesday-shows, there just isn’t anything blogworthy on Thursday, while Wednesday has an excellent line-up. This will probably one of the more laid-back shows, when compared to a series like Claymore. One thing I liked in this episode was Rita. We’ve often seen people of high stature embarrass themselves when they try to live as normal people, though not often does this happen with the main characters of a series. At the beginning of the episode, Rita is obviously clueless, she keeps standing out too much, she has to act on her own morals, no matter what and she doesn’t quite care about anything other than herself.

Obviously, this had to be annoying to some extend, but I like how her cluelessness is just one part of her personality. She knows quite well what she has to do, and at the end of the episode, we also see her take appropriate methods of altering her appearance. Still, I wonder what she’s going to do once people realize that she’s travelling with a talking tank. ^^;

Tina has shown her different sides a bit more subtle, though. Right now, she’s still a rather one-sided character, though she never really had a moment to shine yet, unlike Rita. Regarding the talking tank, he reminds me of Bogie, though a bit more clueless, energetic and random. I like how he actually has a part in this story. And I’d love to see how Sherry and Tina met each other. I’ve yet to see another thing like Sherry, which means that it’s got to be quite a special story.

There’s one thing awkward about this anime, though. The animation is good, the background art is terrific, but some of the CG is rather bad. Especially the horses. They look like a one-minute job with random galloping sounds added which don’t match their movements at all.