Short Synopsis: Melo carries out his plan, and what does Light do? Well, nothing.
Good: Not sure how to describe it. See below.
Bad: Please, someone, kill Misa.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

You know what, my opinion of Death Note wasn’t that high after the previous episode, and I expected it to fall apart any minute now during this episode. Still, this episode turned surprisingly good, but not in the way that we’ve come to know Death Note. This episode definitely was different from all other episodes yet, perhaps the Naomi-arc has been the closest. For so many episodes, the main reason why I liked Death Note was to see Light trump his opponents over and over. At only two times, Light was the one being trumped: by Naomi and in the second episode, when L first showed himself. Yes, it’s a bit strange, but apart from that, L never really was that big of a threat to him. Okay, his move at the university did make Light angry, but it didn’t really bring him closer to catching Light.

This episode was really meant to bash Light in the ground, over and over. Remember what L liked to say early in the series? Kira hates to lose. I expected this episode to be really annoying, and indeed, certain parts in this episode really got on my nerves. But for some reason, the episode itself left me with a really good feeling.

The thing is, Light shines when he can prepare. This time, he really had no chance of preparing. It’ll be interesting to see what Light can do when he’s got a proper plan prepared to get rid of Melo. Still, Melo know has a Death Note, and he’s not afraid to use it. I do wonder how he found out about Light’s father, being part of the investigation-team, or the different members of Near’s investigation-team.

Also, I demand to see some scenes of L’s childhood. The current amount of background on both Near and Melo is just way too little, I want to know what kind of influence L had on the two of them, how they met him, and why they don’t even know each other’s names. The shinigami are also going to play some kind of role in the coming episodes. They’re promising to be interesting, but will nine episodes be enough to develop them well?

Short Synopsis: When assaulted by people after her head, Rita flees into a brothel-city.
Good: Great themes, serious undertones, some hilarious moments.
Bad: Could take itself a tad more seriously. Way too much fanservice.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10
Seriously, this episode reminded me a lot of Jigoku Shoujo 19: A good episode, but why so much fanservice? The fanservice definitely wasn’t useless, and it did make sense, unlike most other anime. But really, especially at the end, the creators may have been a little too enthusiastic.

I think what strikes me about Wellber no Monogatari is that it’s got a lot of things I like, and also a lot of things I don’t like. Still, the potential is definitely there. The individual cases may goof off a bit at times; there definitely are some serious undertones. The fact does remain that these prostitutes did join the brothel because they had no choice, and this anime effectively uses it. One person in particular got introduced to the business because the war destroyed her village.

Rita also has quite a few annoying moments, but on the other side, this anime is quite busy developing her from the ignorant little princess to someone who actually knows what she’s doing. She’s currently rash and impulsive, but after all, she grew up as a princess (which reminds me, I’d love to see some scenes of her when she was little). It’ll be interesting to see her at a later stage of this anime.

I also have to say that for the first time, this anime really cracked me up when Rita ran into Sherry.

Short Synopsis: The Youma in the church is finally found. Now all that’s left is to defeat it.
Good: The final part of the episode was touching…
Bad: …but also cheesy and predictable.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10

The current arc of Claymore has definitely been interesting, but it’s been nothing special. This episode was mostly meant to bring Raki and Claire a bit more together, but they did this through a rather cheesy scene. Claire is about to permanently transform to a Youma when Raki comes to her and… well, I think you can guess what happens next. The fight itself also wasn’t really interesting. Okay, it did have a lot of blood, but I’d very rather much have the fights of Seirei no Moribito or Deltora Quest.

So, what was good about this episode? Well, the relationship between Claire and the two guards. At the end of the previous episode, I saw them as a bunch of idiots, but in fact, they’re just trying to protect their city, and don’t care whether they die or not. Claire was just as thoughtless as the two of them, by refusing to accept their help. I liked this. I also liked how the Youma turned out to be a corpse, instead of a monk. This just shows that they’re able to take any kind of form they please. Could they perhaps transform themselves to inanimate objects (like flowerpots, for example) as well? I doubt that, though.

Claymore definitely has potential, and I’m really looking forward to the arrival of Teresa, the rumoured turning-point for the manga. The current episode was nice, but when compared to the other episodes to have been showcased this season, it isn’t the best. I wonder if the rest of the series will change this.

Short Synopsis: This time, we find Ellis and Nadie in a local monastery, where the two cross-dressers from last time are out for revenge.
Good: Ellis was too cute.
Bad: The climax was a bit unbelievable.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

Okay, so this episode was a bit silly, but it definitely was fun! The episode starts by throwing us right into the action, when the two cross-dressers from last episode have finally caught up with Ellis and Nadie. They don’t know about LA, so they blame the twosome for messing with their car. The three nuns who live in the monastery prove to be another very interesting case this time, solely because they take a step away from what you’d expect from a bunch of nuns. Ellis, armed with a pair of forks was also hilarious to see. ^^;

Obviously, there are many similarities between Noir and El Cazador, but there’s one fundamental difference: Noir started off mysteriously, and it took a very long while before the first mysteries started to get solved. El Cazador, on the other hand, has already answered a lot of questions in its first four episodes. This episode, for example, shows a lot of things about Blue-Eyes, while Rozenberg is also seen doing a few things here and there. Those scenes were a tad difficult to understand, though.

What is clear now is that Blue-Eyes and Rozenberg don’t have the same intentions or goals. It seems to me that Blue-Eyes is trying to find out what Ellis actually is, either that, or she already knows this, and tells this to the viewers. Ellis is some kind of witch, I’m not yet sure whether she was born one, or that she gained her abilities from the professor. What we also learned was that some strange experiments were performed on her, till she at one point begged the professor not to do them anymore. The professor promised he wouldn’t, which could suggest why Ellis killed the guy: he broke his promise, and she couldn’t take it anymore.

Blue-Eyes seems to be trying to figure out what Rozenberg is after, as she continues to spy on him. Lilio’s father, meanwhile, is seen to have made a phone call with Rozenberg, which suggests that they’re on his side. I kept wondering why LA didn’t appear in this episode, but it seems that he’s been trailing the other twosome. I suspect that the next episode will bring them a bit more in the spotlight.

Finally, what was up with that final sentence in this episode? Ellis isn’t god’s child? What could be the meaning after this?

Short Synopsis: Cosette and Jean arrive in Paris. There, Cosette recalls memories of her mother.
Good: SUCH a sweet song.
Bad: The episode was a tad slow at times, when compared to the previous ones.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

This episode spends again most of its time building up. Paris is reached, and Jean moves into a house, somewhere in the suburbs. Cosette now has her own room, and she’s surprised to see the city in which she spent the first three years of her life again. Obviously, she’d only remember the happy times, and she didn’t care much about the poverty in the city.

This episode was one of the quieter episodes of the series, but that song still made it well worth watching. I suddenly realize why Cosette started singing when she found out that her mother died, as it’s the same song she used to sing when Cosette was still small. I was surprised that she just yelled at Jean when she tried to find the same tree where her mother used to measure her size with.

Javell, meanwhile, went to the commander of the police in Paris, who offered his help in catching Jean, so that Javell could return to Montreul-sur-Mer. I suspect that the landowner who went to spy on Jean’s stuff also is going to have a role in this. If I had to guess, then she’ll report this to the police and Jean’s and Cosette’s hiding place will be discovered.

It’ll also be interesting to see when Jean’s money will run out. No doubt it is a lot, but it’s not an endless amount. I wonder what kind of job he’ll find.

Short Synopsis: This episode features the children returning to their home, and attend Takashi’s funeral.
Good: Only now, Takashi’s death really sinks in.
Bad: I couldn’t understand the people who talked about his autopsy.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

Remember a random anime in which lots of buildings get destroyed? Chances are that during the aftermath, you won’t see anything that hinted about this. This definitely is different in Bokurano, as we still see the damages that Zearth caused. I’ll call it Zearth for now, as I have no idea whether Jiaasu really is a Japanese word, or a horrible katakanification of the word Zearth.

This is probably the first time for an anime to actually kill of its main character, especially so early in the show. Takashi does leave his traces, as the children are now beginning to realize that this game can really be able to kill them. In the current episode, we also get to meet the parents and the homes of the now fourteen children.

Masaru’s father is what you’d expect of him: cold and uncaring. With a father like that, I can imagine how he picked up that personality trait. I wonder what happened to his mother, as his father picking him up that his mother wasn’t able to (otherwise he wouldn’t have taken the initiative). He’s going to be the next one to pilot Zearth, which makes me really anticipate the next episode, as it’ll probably cause more and more conflicts.

Moji’s are shown only briefly, they seem to work at some kind of restaurant. I wonder what will happen once he gets to be the pilot. Takashi wanted to pilot Zearth because it’s new to him, and Masaru will probably not care about life or death at this point, but what will happen when someone who doesn’t actually want to pilot gets to pilot it?

Isao’s mother likes to scold him, but that’s only natural, as I can imagine him getting in more sorts of trouble. He doesn’t have that big of a role, but right after Zearth has disappeared, he did release his frustrations by yelling at everyone. I don’t think he’ll really be an antagonist. He’s just a bit too playful and likes to speak his mind.

Daiichi didn’t have a big role this time. We do see a bit of his father, but that’s everything. So far, he doesn’t seem to have any problems with his parents, but we’ve yet to see where he lives.

Kanji took things surprisingly well. Even after Takashi died, he still was able to still lie to the police without a worry on his face. He seems to live in the same building as Jun and Kana, and this episode showed that he’s got a “don’t worry too much”-personality. I wonder how long that lasts.

Jun doesn’t seem to have any parents, they’re either dead or they’re away for a long while. I’m not sure which of the two it is, but if I had to guess, then it’s the second. He spends the episode thinking about Takashi. He and Kana live in a really strange apartment, by the way. Even the beds are piled up strangely.

Yosuki also doesn’t have a big role. The only time we see a bit of him individually is during the interrogations, where he has trouble speaking, and when his mother comes to pick him up, from which the only new thing we get to see is his way too large backpack.

Mako gets a bit more screentime than last episode, but it still isn’t much. It appears that she’s more of a shy girl, like Yosuki perhaps. But unlike Yosuki, she doesn’t try to be more talkative.

Aiko has it the most difficult in this episode. She clearly is the most shocked by Takashi’s death, and she shows it when she starts crying, and avoiding her favourite chair when she gets home. I really wonder how her character will evolve, as she may be the first one to freak out, this also may cause her to be the first one to calm down again.

Chizuru Honda actually turns out a little sadistic. She also doesn’t seem to care too much about Takashi’s death, and talks a bit freaky. When her mother tries to comfort her, she just pushes her away.

I’m quite surprised that Takami actually told the police and her parents about Zearth. Obviously, nobody believed her, but this does show that she likes to be the goodie two-shoe. I wonder what will happen once the others find out that she tried to give away their secrets.

Maki’s father is just as energetic as she is. She had a small role in this episode, though. Not much news apart from this was given about her.

I’m still wondering about Yoko. Yet again did she have nearly no screentime for this episode. She only got one line for the entire episode. The only thing I figured out was that she likes to take care of Kana.

Speaking of Kana, I really like her, with a brother like that. She hardly ever talks, so it’s very hard to understand how she actually sees her brother. Does she hate him? Does she care for him? Does she find him annoying? Is it also me, or has she never spoken during this entire anime?

Anyway, this episode was really nice. The action-junkies will probably not find it that exciting, but the different characters were very interesting to see. :)

Short Synopsis: It’s now clear why the shopkeeper warned Lief not to take that road, it leads to the city of a very strange and strict religious civilization.
Good: If you’re looking for a fantasy-adventure anime: go for Deltora Quest.
Bad: Rather bad animation this time, but that can also be because of sloppy encoding or fansubbers.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

It’s interesting. The new season brought us a lot of goodness, but none have been able to beat Deltora Quest on the fantasy-adventure part so far. I may have said this before, but I love how much thought has been put behind the different cases of the anime. This time, after having fallen off their “horses”, Lief, Barda and Jasmine are taken in by the Yurunai, who throw in a number of Kino no Tabi-vibes. They’re the perfect example of people clinging way too much to their religion. They believe everything should be clean, they abhor animals (bad news for Jasmine), and they keep repeating the same rituals over and over again. Especially the first part of the episode moves very slow, as they keep repeating “clean yurunai” over and over again.

This has been a regular pattern for Deltora quest. The first half of he case shows how the people behave, without showing any kind of bias, except from the different characters. That’s another thing I like about this anime. Even though you know who are going to be the good guys and the bad guys, the director doesn’t choose sides, unlike other anime, in which you can see a bad guy with an evil grin when nobody’s looking. Now that I mention it, I’ve always found such a plot event a bit lazy. It’s better than to give no sign of this at all, but when you see a character with such an evil smile, most often than not it’s included because it has to be included, and not because it fits in the storyline. Deltora Quest does a perfectly good job of merging these events with the storyline, so that it doesn’t need to send off lazy hints.

And another thing: chocolate. I was surprised to find out that the creators even added such a detail to this storyline. I never thought about it, but it does make sense that Lief has never had chocolate before in his life. Barda recognized it, because he once was in the palace, where it would have been perfectly possible to get the chance to eat some. It’s details like these that make this anime even better.

Short Synopsis: Jomie returns to his house, only to find that it’s been emptied. He can’t return to his former home.
Good: It’s been a long time since I saw an anime play with its characters’ mind like this.
Bad: The question, of course, remains: will this anime give a reason why Jomie is a Myu?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

In situations where a main character has to join a certain group, or fight in a specific way out of the blue, there are roughly two ways an anime can go: accept, or decline at first, get second thoughts and accept later. The first can either be done well (Bokura no), or bad (insert shounen title X). The second also doesn’t have many options, as there wouldn’t be much of an anime if the main character doesn’t even get involved in the anime.

Mai in Mai Hime, for example, first is very reluctant, but then she realizes she has to protect her brother so she fights. Mai in Ghost Hunt complains because she’s been rather forced in helping Naru, but she stays because she’s attracted to Naru. These reasons all look like each other, and Toward the Terra also had to deal with it, and I have to say that it could have gone a lot worse.

One thing I dislike about usual anime is how it displays Japanese as the good guys. Overall, most Japanese are extremely xenophobic, and in some anime it shows. Code Geass, Gigantic Formula are the best examples of this, and let’s not forget the countless number of anime situated in some kind of Japanese school. That’s why I love the more international anime (although some samurai stories are also appreciated), and the kind of anime who try to break the stereotypes around xenophobia, as Toward the Terra demonstrated in this episode.

At first sight, you can consider Jomie an arrogant brat, but on the other hand, what would you do if people tell you over and over that the Myo are bad, and that there’s nothing good about them. Especially when these very Myu ruin the entire future you had planned for yourself, obviously you’d be mad, and not open to suggestions.

This episode really wanted to go into the mind of Jomie. I only noticed this now, but this episode has probably the first time I’ve seen mind games in anime since Ergo Proxy. I quite liked this, to be honest. And if we already get to see scenes like these in the third episode, I really wonder what the rest of this anime will be about.

Well, for starters, by looking at the OP, there’s a lot that still has to happen. Jomie’s friends don’t have a detailed character-design for no reason, as it seems that they’ll play some kind of role in the rest of this anime as well. If I had to guess, then they do end up growing up, and get enlisted for the military. There’s also another guy who appears in the OP that we haven’t seen yet, I suspect that he’ll be the major antagonist.

Two final things I liked about this episode: Leo and the music. Even though Jomie said horrible things at him, he still supports the guy. And holy god… he’d better not have died at only episode three!

Short Synopsis: And the foursome is complete when Teddy gets introduced at the end of the episode. Emily, meanwhile, gets herself in quite a number of fights.
Good: Characters that are far, far away from stereotypes.
Bad: Some annoying moments.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

One thing I like about Kaze no Shoujo is that Emily really is a unique character. She’s especially different from all shoujo heroines, in the fact that she just keeps involving herself in fights. She’s new at her school, she tries to make friends, but she just can’t keep quiet when the different students try to pull jokes on her. This started the previous episode with Ilse, and this episode shows that first impressions aren’t always right. It’s surprisingly realistic, as I can imagine that especially children have problems with judging people and are often naive.

Ilse turns out to be a very similar girl to Emily, in the fact that she just likes to get into fights, but while Emily doesn’t forget or forgive people, she just doesn’t care that much, and actually acts nice just half an hour later. Obviously, the two of them become friends quickly. ^^;

I suspect that the next episode will be the introduction of Teddy, so that the fifth episode can really set this anime off, and introduce the different stories and backgrounds of the four children. I’ll be waiting for that, as they’re definitely interesting. The past few episodes have already showed that the tension in this anime can become pretty dense, especially in the fight between Emily and Ilse, and when Emily found out that her classmates have been deceiving her. There is no way for the later episodes to just stop getting interesting. :)

Short Synopsis: The first big battle in the series ends with both sides getting hurt. A lot.
Good: Excellent fight, even better aftermath.
Bad: Nope. No bad points.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10

This episode convinced me. Seirei no Moribito is going to be a real treat. That fight was just excellent, both in its tension and choreography. I loved how Barsa actually managed to take on four elite fighters, if it only weren’t for her spear, breaking down, causing a nasty wound to her, and forcing her to retreat in a nearby forest. Chaggumu also showed that he isn’t an annoying brat at all. Thank goodness for that. I found myself really liking him this episode.

Another thing I loved: the fact that these guards have actual personalities, and aren’t just clones of each other, like you see in so many other anime. My favourite is the guy who offered to take Chaggumu, after he had been captured, to a certain place (not sure exactly what place that was, though), as it seems that the prince, when he was still young, made a huge impression to this guy.

But things really got interesting when Barsa appeared again. We never really see her after she ran into the forest, but we just know that she isn’t going to keep still. It seems that she first temporarily mended her wounds, to go after Chaggumu afterwards. The only problem: the point of her spear was gone, and the wound was too deep to just magically fix itself. When Chaggumu wakes up, she sends him to a number of acquaintances of her. If I’m not mistaken, it’s the place she grew up in, as they’re all using the same kind of spear that she uses. I really like how Chaggumu isn’t your average spoiled brat.

In the end, help arrived just after Barsa passed out. Obviously, she’ll live, otherwise it wouldn’t be much of an anime, but I do find myself really caring about the two main characters of Seirei no Moribito, and that already at the third episode. I just wonder… why did these two guys end up fighting each other right next to an immobilized Barsa? And what was with that wolf? Something tells me that that’s not an ordinary wolf…