Yes! An Eponine-episode! This episode was mainly meant to develop the love-triangle between her, Marius and Cosette. And god, Marius is such an idiot. Eponine finally runs into him, she’s really happy to finally see him, she’s clearly in love with the guy, and what does he do? He asks where his Ursulle is! *headdesks*

Still, this episode was pure win, as it’s because of this that Eponine finally learns the identity of Ursulle: Cosette. Eponine decides to find out her identity, in an attempt to make Marius happy, even though that will totally ruin her chances with him. She then reaches their house, and spots the infamous doll, that Jean gave to Cosette when he came to get her. And even though she knows that, she still decides to tell Marius!

Still, Jean has yet to find out about this. He still believes that Marius works for Javert, and something tells me he’s going to freak out unless Marius approaches him in the correct way. Let’s hope that Eponine can make her move after that.

About the other characters: Jean has finally managed to find a job, answering a question I’ve been wondering about for about twenty episodes. Thenardier and his companions have indeed been imprisoned, though they’re very busy with thinking up an escape-plan. No sign yet of Thenardiere or Azelma, though. Javert meanwhile, is on fire after he finally received a new clue about Jean’s whereabouts. He’ll probably get closer and closer to him in the next couple of episodes.

I also had to laugh when Thenardier’s former house-owner lashed out at the policeman, blaming him for taking away her source of income, and of course at the rather cheesy scene of Eponine, watering the flowers. ^^;

Ah, this episode was much better than the previous one. It didn’t come without flaws, though. I’m especially critical because Tales of Phantasia probably is my most favourite OVA ever, so this series has a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, Tales of Symphonia won’t be taking over that title, though it’s definitely fun to watch.

The most obvious bad point for this episode has to be the ending: they have yet to reach Tethe’Alla, which means less time for my two favourite characters, Presea and Regal. Their cases had better receive enough time in the final two episodes. And especially now tat Lloyd and Colette are getting so much development, I just WANT to see Genis and Presea together.

My second point of critique was about the stuff that was left out. In this area, where Tales of Phantasia succeeded, Tales of Symphonia fails. The great thing about Tales of Phantasia was that it allowed the viewer to fantasize for himself about what happened during the parts that weren’t shown, without it feeling incomplete. The best example has to be the line “and you had to burn our villages for that?!” It gives just enough information to perfectly explain that situation, and leave the rest up to the imagination of the viewers.

Tales of Symphonia acts like the left-out pars never happened. Take Marble, for example. Her case is essential to explain why Lloyd and Genis embarked on their journey in the first place. In this episode, it seems that the Renegades have been completely left out as well, which were supposd to be the explanation of why Lloyd and Colette managed to rejoin with each other. The explanation the anime used is just bad. I mean, how often do you run into each other, in the middle of the DESERT?! The Expheres have also been left out for both Genis and Raine. The reason why they can use magic is also beyond me.

Palmacosta was also left out, but that was inevitable,, as it had absolutely nothing to do with the main story. It is a pity to see the destruction of the town of Luin missing, which was supposed to have given Sheena some valuable character-development. Either that, or that’s going to happen in the next episode. It would be really bad if she’d just ended up joining Lloyd, just because he spared her life.

Which brings me to my third point of criticism: Lloyd. His translation into anime just didn’t go well, and he ended up looking like all other carefree, ambitious shounen-heroes out there. Again, Tales of Phantasia also managed to avoid this with Cless. The guy is determined, he knows what he wants, he’s struggling inside, and he doesn’t try to be a hero in front of others, only to fail horribly.

Okay, enough with the bad points, now the good points. Apart from Lloyd, all other characters were AWESOME in this episode. While Tales of Phantasia put more emphasis on its story, Tales of Symphonia is definitely about the characters. I loved how the creators managed to keep in Rain’s ruin-mode and seasickness, and her and Genis’s reaction when Lloyd started bashing the half-elves also was really interesting.

Colette, while I hated her in the game, also turned out really cute. I like how she broke some clichés throughout the episode, when she indeed didn’t have to fight much, and didn’t get to save Lloyd at the last possible moments. Kratos also was much better than he was in the game, where he sometimes was like a wimp. He’s much more mature, and he really shows his strength this time. Thanks to him, the fights are also interesting, with the tactics inserted. The highlight was his fight against Sheena.

It’s a bit of a shame that Sheena’s entry at the Ossa Trail was left out, but apart from that, she looked awesome in this episode. Zelos surprised me. He’s not the lovable idiot I remember from the game, but I think we’ll get to know that side in the next episode.

Another thing that really took a turn for the better in this episode: the music. I think that this is the only part where Tales of Symphonia can call itself equal to Tales of Phantasia, as they sound really beautiful, and they give the perfect mood to the entire episode.

Overall, this episode really was fanboy-worthy, though again, it’ll never beat Tales of Phantasia. I’ll never forget Klarth’s triumphant laugh after he slaughtered the army full of flying beasts.

And finally the second season can really get started! Even though the previous arc was not very exciting, the time that focused on Rika’s despair built up perfectly for the current arc. The main focus of this episode was to give Rika hope again to keep trying to change her fate, and it works out greatly. :)

The episode begins with the confirmation that Rika indeed has been reborn in the same timeline over and over, and there’s also a new revelation: the Oyashiro-sama in Rika uses Hanyuu in order switch back time. She also isn’t in Rika’s body throughout her life, but only appears at a certain period of time. In this arc it was two weeks before the Watanagashi, in the fourth arc it was at least five years before the current time-period.

Rika also doesn’t know who is after her, though he or she indeed is partially the reason why every arc ends up different. Interestingly enough, Rika also claims that on the night of the Watanagashi, a third person will die, along with Tomitake and Takano. Did she refer to herself, and was it just a bad translation, or does a third, unrelated person really die along with them?

Anyway, the main character of this arc: Rika. The co-main character is Keiichi. We also see Hanyuu for the first time, and she’s just like a little kid, despite being hundreds of years old. Rika is surprised that she only has two weeks left before the Watanagashi, which is just too little time to prepare. She tests whether Keiichi remembers, but it fails again. I suspect that Hanyuu will be the important side-character for this arc.

Interestingly enough, Hanyuu claims that nobody has noticed her, which is in contrast with the tips, where Keiichi’s father did see her. Could it be that Hanyuu only is visible for the first X years of her life?

We then switch to the local hospital, where Satoko has just received an injection. She seems to be sick, suffering from a disease. Irie has been working on it to cure her, but it’s likely that she’ll never be healed. Takano is also helping in this.

Then we switch to the game at the toy-store, from arc 2. It seems that Rika has been playing this one for every arc, though we just didn’t get to see it. I do wonder, though, why the doll didn’t trigger Shion to freak out in the other arcs. Anyway, something interesting happens here: Rika tells Keiichi that she can predict the future, just like she did with Akisaka. Interestingly enough, Keiichi actually takes her seriously, and tries to help her. He forces the game that has been played to be changed, and he gives the doll to Mion, instead of Rena. This gives Rika enough motivation to try and change her fate again, unlike what she did in the previous arc.

Well then, the biggest question of the episode: is the disease Satoko is suffering from THE disease, or another rather nasty one. If we can get the answer about this one, and it turns out to be true that Irie really is trying to cure THE disease, then a lot of questions will be answered. In that case, Irie most definitely knows something, and he has indeed been trying to cure people, and he was killed because he knew too much. This also hints that Takano is somehow involved with him, and that she knows about his research.

This episode also yet again shows how close Keiichi is with his friends. H never even questions Rika’s story for a bit, and he actually believes her, just like how everyone was so supportive to Rena when she committed her murder. (By the way, did she still do it in this arc? Sh did it in the third arc, so perhaps she’s been doing it for every arc, though I think that that woman is just like Satoko’s uncle and Shion: sometimes they’re there, and other times, they’re not. I suspect that the real killer has been controlling this. The question remains: why?).

One thing I do hope for in this arc is a bigger role for Rena. Both she and Rika are currently my favourite characters in this series, and I’d love to see the mysteries that surround her being solved. Especially the one of why she was being chased in the previous arc, and why she freaked out in the third arc, and turned perfectly normal after that.