Haha! It has finally started! For episodes, I’ve felt that the bomb was about to burst and this is the episode where it happens: the revolution has finally started! That’s one of the beauties of this series: you know things are about to happen, you’ll just never know the exact time.

In this episode, it was the side-characters who really shined, as they made their first steps into the revolution by building barricades everywhere. Even the elders like Mabru(spelling!?) and the youngsters like Gavroche helped a hand, which was so sweet to see. There’s also a pretty sad story behind Mabru: his wife dies in this episode, and he finally lost all of his books. In response, he doesn’t decide to mourn silently, but join the revolution. Quite a unique behaviour, though I loved it. Gavroche meanwhile leaves his little “brothers” at some kind of mansion, at a safe place.

And Javert! He finally catches his first glimpse of Jean after all those years, and at the end of the episode, we also see him disguised as one of the commoners. I’m not sure whether that was in the hope of seeing Jean back again, or a tactical manoeuvre to collect information about the enemy. I’m surprised he didn’t use any of his subordinates for this.

Meanwhile, Cosette and Marius keep getting more distanced from each other by the revolution and Eponine’s meddling. I wonder whether the two will be able to meet again, actually. The only thing that’s possibly going to stop Jean from going to England is a lack of boats to take them out of the country. Still, this could be a possibility. with such an unstable Paris at the time, I can imagine that most nobles would try and flee the country to England as well.

I’d also love to see Thenardier in this situation. Obviously, he won’t really play a huge role, since there’s nothing in the revolution for him, but it’ll be interesting to see him, trying to save himself amidst the chaos. It would also be awesome if the prison was somehow broken into during the revolution, releasing Azelma and Thenardiére.

Seriously, something tells me that the final quarter of this series will be the best of the entire series. I’m so looking forward to it!

+ September 2007 Rankings +
And finally the Spring- and Summer-seasons have ended. Last month, I received the comment that my ratings have been a tad too high, though I must say that they’ve possibly become even higher. But then again, September has been the best month in terms of anime for me for this year, and the ratings will probably plummet down for October, when the new season starts, since there are only very few anime which can be awesome right from the start (Night Head Genesis and Asatte no Houkou were probably some of the few who actually did it).

Anyway, in case this is the first time you see this, the series are ranked from worst to best, the number between the ( and ) indicates the place where that series was on last month, the rating is out of 10, with average being a 6,0 (and yes, I’m using the decimal comma).

#38(new): Saishu Shiken Kujira - (4,3/10) - Garbage also comes in episodes of five minutes.
#37(39): School Days - (4,8/10) - Finally Final Fantasy 7 has been beaten in terms of a character-death that’s hardest to avoid being spoiled about. The final episodes were quite possibly even worse than the rest of the series combined. The final episode itself was okay, but the ending was horrible. I mean, no police?
#36(new): Kodomo no Jikan - (6,2/10) - Better than I expected, but the useless fanservice has to stop. If this is an omen for the series…
#35(38): Romeo X Juliet - (6,4/10) - In addition to bowmen, it now also looks like there isn’t a good stone-thrower in the entire kingdom. Anyway, this story is now about to get closed off. I’m going to be disappointed if Romeo and Juliet don’t end up committing suicide!
#34(37): Lucky Star - (6,6/10) - Like I said before: episode 24 was one of the best episodes of this series yet, but that may also be because of the relief that the boredom was finally over. The episode with Konata’s mother was artificial at best, though.
#33(19): Reideen - (6,7/10) - The final episode was garbage. Seriously, it ruined a major part of the continuity the show had been building up.
#32(35): Sky Girls - (7/10) - Sky Girls seriously needs to develop its setting now. At the moment, I have no idea how many bases on earth remain. Why was Western Europe the only place where new sonic-divers were made? And if they’re so easy to maintain (after all, a team of four people is enough for three of them) then why aren’t they more available?
#31(14): Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha - (7/10) - Whoa, what happened here? Nanoha, with cookie-cutter villains? Oh my god, scriptwriters: what the heck are you doing?!
#30(13): Claymore - (7/10) - You’ll either hate the final episodes of this series, or you’ll love them. I’m close to the former, even though I haven’t read the manga. Diverting from the manga is okay, but please use a sensible storyline and not the… “thing” we saw here.
#29(???): Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula - (7,1/10) - I finally realize what’s wrong with this show: the sheer predictability and the lack of cultural references. Seriously, why the heck did the creators have to make the United States of all possible countries special? Why the heck is Europe so unimportant that it’s already killed off entirely at this point? Why don’t we see any sort of accurate cultural references from the different countries?
#28(33): Nanatsuiro Drops - (7,2/10) - Any attempts at a deep story backfire horribly for this series, but the love-relationship between the two main characters is cute, I really have to admit that.
#27(31): Potemayo - (7,5/10) - The final episode did evoke some emotion, but it would have been so much better if Sunao’s background was moved to the beginning of the series.
#26(34): Kenko Zenrakei Sueibu Umisho - (7,7/10) - The added drama is surprisingly good for a comedy. This month hasn’t been better for Umisho, but it also didn’t turn worse, and there were some funny moments. But that still gives no excuse for the excessive fanservice!
#25(28): Murder Princess - (7,8/10) - Okay, the finale was cheesy, but at least it was entertaining enough.
#24(24): Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - (7,8/10) - I liked Kittan’s end, and Yoko turned much more enjoyable now that she’s a mere side-character, instead of a main one. I liked the spiral-guy as well. It’s just too bad that the predictability in this show is back again.
#23(18): Zombie Loan - (7,9/10) - Two words: Too Short!!!
#22(26): Saiunkoku Monogatari - (7,9/10) - Yes! After a nearly endless amount of recaps, Saiunkoku Monogatari finally returned. This month ha been mostly introductions, but things are looking promising.
#21(23): Tetsuko no Tabi - (8/10) - One thing I didn’t like about the past few episodes is that there haven’t been any guests on the trips. Still, you just have to love Kikuchi’s reaction to Yokomi’s wild fantasies, and it’s also nice to see that the final episode was one of the best of the entire series. Such a thing doesn’t happen often for comedy-anime.
#20(30): Mushiuta - (8/10) - Nice, but it’s got a bit too much angst for my liking. The creators seemed to have written themselves into a corner when they came up with the idea that only downhearted people can get possessed by Mushi. I mean, it’s an easy way to write a sad storyline, but not only does this limit the storyline a lot, seeing every single character in the show turn angsty can become annoying.
#19(9): Code-E - (8,2/10) - The finale wasn’t as fun as the rest of the series, though seeing Chinami’s power gone was quite interesting to watch. I’m looking forward to the next anime the staff is going to tackle.
#18(???): Perrine Monogatari - (8,4/10) - I’ve decided to include this series in the rankings as well from now on, even though it aired more than twenty years ago. Plus, this is probably the only anime that shows a realistic life in Eastern Europe of two centuries ago. I’m at episode six now, and so far, this series has earned its title of World Masterpiece Theatre
#17(27): Heroic Age - (8,4/10) - Surprise surprise, Heroic Age is getting good. Now that it actually started to progress its storyline, unlike what it did in the major part of the series, the series has been getting more enjoyable by the minute. Sure, the discovery of the Golden Tribe was cheesy, but at least it felt good.
#16(32): Shigurui - (8,4/10) - I’ve actually been watching Shigurui double: with and without subs, due to my impatience. The strange thing is that even with subs, episode four didn’t make any sense at all. How did Irako and the woman get together? What did he do with Mie? The latest episodes have been getting better by the way. The bizarre rituals are gone and now that the storyline is more focused, Shigurui’s turning tenser with every episode.
#15(29): Gintama - (8,5/10) - Christmas episodes have always been worthwhile, but Gintama brings this to a totally new level with episode 37. The episodes have been utterly brilliant, though it’s a shame this series falls into clichés with its endings. This was especially noticeable for the two stories of episode 37. They’re hilarious, but their endings lacked steam.
#14(17): Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei - (8,6/10) - There are only very few comedies which can milk out a joke and turn better because of it, but Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei is one of them. It starts out with a mundane joke and it keeps making it more and more ridiculous. That’s one of the reasons I like this series so much, though there is one major annoyance about this series: the useless and frequent eye-catches become annoying quite soon.
#13(20): Demashitaa!! Power Puff Girls Z - (8,7/10) - Episodes 42 and 43 were utterly brilliant. I keep getting surprised at the bizarre sense of humour of this series.
#12(22): Kekkaishi - (8,7/10) - Kekkaishi has been getting stronger than ever with Gen’s development, BUT (and there’s a huge but here) Yoshimori has hidden powers. If there’s anything that can ruin a series, it’s hidden powers that can be conveniently used to power up the main character due to laziness of the writers!
#11(16): Dennou Coil - (8,7/10) - This month has been a month of building up for Dennou Coil. While it has been better, I’m definitely curious as to where it’ll go from now. Especially episode 18 was really intriguing

#10(11): Darker than Black - (8,8/10)

Okay, so the ending was rushed. In this case, a 26th episode would have been better for this series, but the pre-ending episodes were really good. I especially liked Mao and November 11.

#9(3): Les Miserables - Shoujo Cosette - (8,9/10)

While it wasn’t as good as at other points in the anime, the past month has been building up for the story and the upcoming revolution. Things are promising to become awesome.

#8(6): Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - (9/10)

Now that most of the mysteries are cleared up, Higurashi is no longer the chaotic paranoid mystery-series it used to be in its first season, but in return, the characters have stepped up to become this series’ highlight, and the bond that’s developing between them is fascinating to say the least.

#7(5): El Cazador de la Bruja - (9/10)

Ellis and Nadie showed that you can even become extremely cheesy if the character-development is excellent. This month, El Cazador has finally decided to focus on its storyline, and the result, when combined with the characters was nothing short of awesome.

#6(10): Baccano! - (9,2/10)

Now this is a well-written storyline! Every single character seems to have his or her own story, and the amount of development it achieves is something most other series can even dream of.

#5(8): Ooedo Rocket - (9,3/10)

The final episodes rocked! I was expecting that the drama would totally overshadow the comedy, and I’m so glad I was proven wrong.

#4(7): Toward the Terra - (9,3/10)

Episodes 21 and 22 were all kinds of epic and awesome, and while it wasn’t the best ending, it still was satisfying enough. It’s sad to see this series go, and we can only hope that it set the standard for other science-fiction series.

#3(3): Seirei no Moribito - (9,4/10)

And finally everything the series has build up for has come together perfectly! The fight against Rarunga was quite possibly the best multi-episoded fight I’ve seen this year.

#2(1): Kaze no Shoujo Emily - (9,5/10)

Seriously, making Emily grow up in the final part of the series was a masterful decision, as the final episodes have been nothing but tear-jerking awesomeness. The way Emily and her friends have developed throughout the years are magnificent.

#1(4): Bokura no - (9,6/10)

I seriously couldn’t have expected a better finale for this series. Everything worked out perfectly, there was no rush and the fights were awesome to watch.

+ Top 5 Episodes +
#5: Seirei no Moribito - 26
In these kinds of endings, everything comes together and works out perfectly, despite the predictability.

#4: Toward the Terra - 21
I really cried during the several plot twists of this episode. Toward the Terra may not have had the best ending, but it does have the best pre-ending episodes of the spring-season.

#3: Ooedo Rocket - 26
*grins* I’m nog going to tell you why~ Muahaha!
TAMAYA!!!!

#2: Bokura no - 24
A truly magnificent ending that closes off the series perfectly for me. While others will disagree, Bokura no has been one of the best series of the year for me.

#1: Toward the Terra - 22
It’s not often that a series takes up two spaces in this top-five, but Toward the Terra deserves it with two magnificently epic and tragedic ones.

Darker than Black is an arc-based series, much like Studio Bones’ previous production of Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi. The setting is quite different, though. Instead of the Tenpou-era, this one plays in modern-day Tokyo in an alternate universe, where strange humans with supernatural powers, calling themselves contractors live amongst humans. For once, their purpose isn’t to destroy mankind, but to just carry out their job. And that’s the beauty of this series.

Darker than Black is about the relationship between your job and your own instincts. All the characters in this series are adults who are just trying to survive in a dark and gritty environment, with pressure coming from both enemies and superiors. The interesting thing about the contractors is how they’re able to make rational decisions, regardless of their emotions, making this quite an intelligent series. Organizations have many layers and characters have often subtle motives.

The powers of these contractors are just like the setting: full of creativity. In this series, the people with the strongest powers are actually the weakest, because these don’t leave any room for strategies. The story also knows how to use its characters, where every major character gets at an arc dedicated to him or her for development and background information. There is just one issue with the ending: the creators got too ambitions and tried to stuff too much in the final episode, making it end up rushed.

There’s one more problem, one that many other arc-based series suffer from as well (for example Ghost Hunt, Ayatsuri Sakon): the quality of the different arcs fluctuates heavily, and you’ll never know when an arc will turn out great or just good. The best episodes of the series are because of this not among the final ones, but episodes 13 and 14. These were simply perfect, with some of the best minor villains I’ve seen in a long while. The successive arcs were good as well, but none of them really lived up to the same quality, unfortunately.

Still, despite this, Darker than Black is a definite recommendation for anyone, looking for a story aimed at adults. There’s enough action, and yet the action is not of the brainless kind you see in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. It knows how to build up the individual stories for each arc very well with nearly all of them having satisfying climaxes, and this is definitely one of the more intelligent series that came out in the past spring-season. And let’s not forget Yoko Kanno, who composed the soundtrack for this series. Her style may be a bit more subtle than say, Yuki Kajiura, but it fits the series perfectly.

Okay, I know I had my doubts about the past few episodes. I know that they somehow didn’t feel right, and I know that I felt a bit disappointed by them.

With this episode, I take all of that back. Seriously, it was an amazing one, and the exact reason why I’m such a fan of mystery-series. It’s not the revelations that make them great, it’s how the storyline uses the questions as effectively as possible.

This episode basically has three major storylines. The first one is Haraken’s. In exchange for the access-code for the Sacchis, Isako has to show him how to get to the cyber-world, though Haraken gets carried away, and when he sees a giant keyhole like in the pictures, he just enters it without thinking. A girl looking like Kanna is in there, though Yasako manages to get him back before it’s too late. His cyber-body and real body may have separated a bit, he manages to fix it. Later, Tamako punishes him for giving the Sacchi-access-code, and takes away his glasses.

The second storyline that gets developed is Isako’s. The person she was in contact with turns out to be Nekome, of all people. It seems that he joined Tamako in order to provide coverage for her, and make Isako be able to do what she wants. I wonder what’s in it for him, though. Why is he so interested in getting 4423 back? Or is he just using Isako to get valuable information? We also see him confirm that it’s going to take a while longer to get the guy back, and I’d almost think that he’s manipulating her.

But the thing I really loved was the third storyline: Kyoko gets taken to “the other side”! I have no idea why, but right after Isako tried to open a gate to the cyber-world, whit fog started appearing, and now that same illegal that we saw gobbling up 4423 took Kyoko’s cyber-body away. It’s not sure whether she’ll be away for good (we’ll see that in the next episode), but this has so much potential.

I also wonder… why Kyoko of all people? Why now, of all times? (perhaps Isako’s opening of the gate made the Illegals from there able to enter the human world?) I remember that Wao once said that there was a possibility that the humanoid illegal was Yasako’s grandfather, and it’s starting to look more likely. After all, I can imagine the guy to be longing to see his granddaughter. I can imagine that both Kanna and 4423 were taken away because they got too close to this illegal for their own good.

The question also remains: if Kanna’s and 4423’s spirit really are with the humanoid illegal, how come they haven’t attempted to escape? Do they still have the same personalities? And if they were somehow able to return, would they be completely all-right?

Kaze no Shoujo Emily, or Emily of the New Moon as its English title, is the third of what I’d like to call the “big three” of the spring-season 2007, along with Toward the Terra and Bokura no. These three form the cream of the crop of the series that have been released for the past half year, perhaps even for the past year.

The problem is, though that there’s a good chance that many people haven’t even heard of this series. It’s a sad thing, but in addition to being one of the best series of the season, it’s also one of the most neglected ones. Seriously, only the kiddie-shows like Bakugan Battle Brawlers have gotten less coverage than this one. I’ve often said that popularity is no way to determine the quality of an anime, and Kaze no Shoujo Emily is the perfect example of this.

The biggest problem with this is probably the fact that this is a Shoujo-series. I have no idea why, but the fansubbers have always tended to neglect the Shoujo-series. Only half of them ever gets subbed, while there are some true gems among the genre, beyond this series as well.

Okay, enough blabber, what about the content of this series? Well, it consists out of standalone episodes that tell the story of Emily Byrd Starr, a eleven-year-old girl who lives in Canada, about a century ago, and her three friends Perry Miller, Teddy Kent and Ilse Barnley. It’s loosely based on the life of Lucy Maud Montgomery, who wrote it and who some might recognize as the author of Anne of Green Gables.

The series is basically a slice-of-life series with lots and lots of drama, and this formula turns out to work so well. Emily is a wonderful character; she differs from the usual Shoujo-lead by acting rude and energetic. She longs to be a writer someday, and she often fantasizes in her own world in an extremely poetic mood, and this personality of her often clashes with those of others, resulting in some amazing dramatic climaxes.

The side-characters of Perry, Teddy and Ilse provide wonderful support for it. They’ve all got their own story as well, and throughout the series, we can see the four of them clash, grow and interact. A major theme of the series is living towards your dreams, and some of the episodes are just incredibly inspirational.

One of the things I loved about this series is how it’s so delightfully consistent. There are maybe four or five lesser episodes, but apart from that, you just know that nearly every episode you’ll watch will leave you with a heart-warming feeling, unlike many other anime, which often need episodes for introductions and aftermaths.

When this already is quite amazing, this series turns even better once the characters actually start growing up. The majority of the series shows Emily as an eleven-year-old girl, but starting with episode 20, we actually see her time in high-school, and the final episodes show the major events of the last years of her youth, ending with Emily being around twenty. During this, this series becomes a real tear-jerker, delivering one awesome episode after the other.

The character-designs will take a bit to get used to, though. Emily is drawn in a really shoujo way, and it’s hard to not label this series as some kiddie-series (trust me, it’s not). The colours used in both the backgrounds and the character-designs are bright and colourful, though the production-values are quite high, and this series ends up looking beautiful, as soon as you get used to it. The soundtrack also consists out of a collection of beautiful classical tunes, which strengthen the series even more.

Overall, if there ever was a series that deserves to get subbed, it’d be this one. Not only does it deliver memorable characters, it’s also a valuable chance to see anime tackle the Canadian culture of a century ago, and I must say that it does a pretty good job. The differences between the Japanese culture are definitely there, probably influenced by the books of Lucy Maud Montgomery. If you ever have the chance to watch this series, I recommend you to take it, unless you really need action.

Yup, the dramatic climax of the series was with the previous episode. This episode closes off her story, with the final important events of her childhood: a small accident of Elizabeth, her first book and of course her marriage with Teddy, which formed the highlight of this episode. While it wasn’t as downright awesome as the previous episode, and while other series have had endings that felt better than this one, it still was satisfying enough as an end.

And Lorna (or however you spell her name) also deserves credit in this episode. I remember noting how she should get some more development, right before Emily went to Ruth to study, and that’s exactly what she got. It seems that the two of them haven’t been interacting too much ever since Emily came back, but with Emly’s new book, the rivalry between the two of them finally disappeared. They looked so awesome during Emily’s wedding. Even though things looked pretty hopeless only a few episodes ago, I must say that this episode shows yet another side of this: if people say goodbye to each other, it doesn’t mean goodbye forever.

Ah well, it’s finally time to say goodbye to this wonderful series. Let’s just hope that a generous person with enough Japanese skills will come one day and sub this series, beyond the first two episodes. I know it’s false hope (Sasami Mahou shoujo Club still didn’t get any subs at all, despite its gripping middle part), but seriously, this Kaze no Shoujo Emily is too awesome to be neglected.

The introductions for the upcoming arc are progressing quite nicely, if I have to say so myself. I’m not going to even bother writing a summary, due do my limited Japanese, and the fact remains that Impz is so much better at it.

It looks like the main antagonists of the coming arc are counterfeiters, both with paintings and money. If I had to guess, then Riou isn’t behind it (after all, what would he gain from counterfeiting? It’s not like Shuurei is directly involved in it, so it’s not a good way to get her to where he wants), but I think that it’ll serve a nice purpose of setting the chess-pieces ready for his story.

It’s also a bit awkward to see the comedy back again. The first season of this series was masterful in combining comedy with the main storyline, and it’s getting back again, especially with that new character (I’ll call him Tantan-kun for now, until I can confirm the guy’s name). Though I’m afraid to say it, but Ryuuki’s and Kouyuu’s quirks are starting to get old, especially since they’re mostly used for comic relief. I was hoping that these episodes would focus more on the relationship of Ryuuki and Shuurei, but it really looks like Ryuuki tries to avoid Shuurei at all costs.

Spring 2007 came with many excellent and unique series, and Seirei no Moribito is one of them. Produced by Production IG with extremely solid production-values, this series is a true gem for those, looking for substance.

Let me first start with the following statement: Seirei no Moribito does not have an overall genre. While the first three episodes might suggest that we’re dealing with an action or martial-arts anime, you’ll be proven wrong by the middle part of the series, which takes a more slice-of-life approach. A drama also doesn’t quite cut it because it’s got quite a few light-hearted moments, and while some episodes fall in the adventure-category, other episodes just show characters standing and talking. To be honest, apart from any World Masterpiece Production, I haven’t seen any anime that feels more like a novel than Seirei no Moribito.

The big key behind the success of this anime is the immense amount of detail that went in nearly every department of this series. The animation is truly gorgeous and detailed. Characters move more than necessary, they leave footprints on rough, terrain, random bypassers move realistic. It’s almost as if you were in a Ghibli-movie without all the over-the-top fantasy-elements. And to top things: the fight-coordination is among the best I’ve seen, even though there are only four or five of them in the entire series.

And then the characters. Don’t expect any flat characters here, nearly all of them have complex motives that can’t be described in one or two lines, they can think like normal human beings and some of them are quite smart, development is realistic and yet, as the series nears its conclusion you really begin to feel sympathy for them.

The storyline also finally doesn’t want to create the worst-case scenario in the end. All the plot-twists in the series favour realism over sensation. This series knows how to build up a good base for it, and it doesn’t want to ruin this by excessive amounts of forced drama and plot twists like we saw taken to the extreme in Code Geass. The storyline becomes so incredibly solid because of this, and because it moves relatively slow, it makes sure to put enough time to flesh out both the plotline and the characters to an excellent degree, so that it’s able to finish with an excellent finale that doesn’t feel rushed in any way.

There’s one major problem with this series, though. It may have been a tad too long, and many of the middle episodes, while they serve as a way to flesh out the characters, they also border on filler, and the story doesn’t get anywhere for about seven or eight episodes. It’s series like this one that make you pity that series can’t pick the option to take on the length of 1,5 seasons, as this would have been perfect for this series.

The first half may feel a bit tedious because of this, but everything comes together in the end like a charm. The music also fits this series perfectly and easily deserves a place in my top-3 of best soundtracks of the season. If you like series with lots and LOTS of detail, you should definitely check out this series, though you need patience to be able to enjoy it.

In the middle of this season, I didn’t think that the current Spring Season of 2007 could live up to the awesomeness of the previous Spring Season of 2006, but now that nearly all of the major series have finished apart from Kaze no Shoujo Emily and Dennou Coil, my mind has changed. The major difference in both seasons is that while most series of spring 2006 had their highlight in the middle of their run, the shows of the current season all have their final episodes as their highlights.

It’s awesome to see a season with so many quality endings. Usually, I’m extremely picky about them, but in one week, El Cazador, Bokura no, Ooedo Rocket and Seirei no Moribito all managed to provide a satisfying closure that left absolutely no bad taste in my mouth. While in terms of individual episodes, none of them really became as good as one of my favourite episodes of all time (Simoun 16), the better series of this season were much more consistent and thought-out when compared to Spring last year (Tsubasa Chronicle, the first season of Higurashi, xxxHolic and The Third all were awesome in their own way, but they did have pacing issues). Overall, Spring 2007 will go down for me as one of the top-tier seasons I’ve seen, ever since I started actively following the latest anime (which is since Summer 2005).

The current episode provides an excellent closure for Seirei no Moribito, where Chaggumu and Barsa say goodbye. There’s nothing much to say, apart from that the sentimental and nostalgic values were immense. At this point, enough room has been left for a second season, and yet it’s perfectly fine to end the series at that point as well. I guess it’s only a matter of waiting before we find out.

This episode was definitely the funniest episode yet, with even more screen-time for Isaac and Miria than in the second episode. Apart from that, we’re back in the regular timeline, and this episode’s sole purpose was to develop the different couples in this show: Isaac and Miria, Dallas and Eve and Jacuzzi and Nice.

Yes, you read that last part right, because surprise surprise: this happens. Jacuzzi, you’re a true man after all. ;)

Anyway, this episode was also surprisingly focused and surprisingly few characters appear. No Ladd, no guys in black suits, no Gandor, no Quates, no Chezlaw, no Firo and no Maiza. Basically only the storylines involving Isaac and Miria were shown. Seriously, the two of them have been everywhere.

It seems that they’ve even robbed the Genoard-household at one time, tough with this episode, I kindof lost my sense of time with her story. I originally thought that she was kidnapped in 1931, and that the Runoratas were looking for her at the same time that they assaulted the Gandors, but now it seems that this all took place in 1932. The only assumption I can make is that Dallas only later decided to go and cause trouble for the Runoratas. I also now know why Dallas was so pissed when he ran into Isaac and Miria. This may be just a guess, but I think that he ran into Barnes, right after Isaac and Miria robbed his home. This is also why Eve feels so bad. Perhaps that the angry face of her brother when he found out about the robbery was the last thing she saw of him?

I’m having a theory here, by the way: what if Dallas is Rail Tracer? What if the liquid Quates injected went horribly wrong and turned the guy into that horrible form? Anyway, the end of the episode also shows something interesting: the Runorata-family member who keeps eating chocolates lets Eve just escape. Why?

Then there’s Ennis’s storyline, as Isaac and Miria help her move Dallas’s body into her car, which looks suspiciously much like the one that hit them. ^^; It’s really clear now how the three of them became friends.

Jacuzzi and Donnie also meet up with Isaac and Miria on the Flying Pussyfoot, and make sure that the others are safe. He tells them a few things about his background, but I didn’t quite catch those. I think he’s supposed to be extremely dangerous when brandishing a gun, but I’m going to wait for the subs to arrive before confirming this.

So, there are five episodes left now, and they’ve got their work cut out for them. Chane and Chezlaw still need to receive their backgrounds and development, Firo, Luck and Maiza still have to do something to get involved with the story, the story between Szilard and Dallas still needs development, and let’s not forget that Ladd and the mysterious Vino also have their roles to play. And will Huey come into action again, or is he just reason for the guys in black suits to be involved? I’m looking forward to it. :)