Short Synopsis: There was indeed someone behind the phenomena in the village, but who?
Highlights: Huge pacing, and yet nothing was rushed.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
Whoa! Since when was this series this good? It’s still got the same problems as before: some plot-twists are a bit too coincidental and Ran has a few too elements of a Mary Sue, but damn, this episode had me pumped. It was like a roller-coaster ride from start to finish. In one episode, this series manages to reveal all the mysteries behind the village, and develop both the main characters, side characters and villains a bit.

I also really liked the amount of thought that was put into the “emahikusa”-flowers: they bloom whenever someone laughs, and they seem to be something left behind by a curse of the 13th century. The only strange thing was that the ultimate villain was the same teacher again, who had been messing with the villagers’ memories through mind-control, though at the same time, this episode turned her into more than just a bad guy, and showed a human side to her.

What’s also interesting in this episode was the different ways at which Midori and Rui look at death. Midori is very much straight to the point, and Rui seems to hate that part of her. They’re like two polar opposites, hold together by Ran.

I must say, that Telepathy Shoujo has successfully gone where Allison to Lillia failed. It’s obvious that a lot had to be cut out of the original storyline: the past two episodes contained 270 pages of the original novel. And strangely enough, the creators knew exactly what needed to stay and what needed to be cut out, and left to the viewer’s imagination. I can imagine how the whole story in the 13th century also was described in detail, but I’m perfectly fine of just having to guess what happened back then, and the creators captured the essence of this story: Midori kept acting so indifferent to death, but at the same time she would have died if it wasn’t for Ran’s powers and strong emotions when witnessing her death.

At the same time, there are seven volumes of the original children’s novels that still need to be animated through 21 episodes, meaning three episodes for each arc, which should be a perfect number with this pacing. It’ll allow the creators to take their time, and yet continue with this same addictive pacing.

Short Synopsis: The death-count of this series keeps rising as Giga launches an attack at Birdy.
Highlights: A few overused plot-devices here and there, but the plot has turned out to be very fast-paced so far.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10
It seems that Giga was indeed just an introduction-villain for this series. Now that he’s gone, this series seems to be starting for real. I must say that I didn’t expect the creators to kill off Tuto so early, considering how he was one of the major characters of the first three episodes. I admire the guts of the creators, making this a Anyone Can Die-show, á la Souko no Strain.

And of course, I should have seen those hints at romance between Nakasugi and Senkawa. It’s a typical plot-device, especially since Senkawa isn’t interested in his child-hood friend. I do hope that she’ll become more than just a damsel in distress… I’m interested whether the creators can make these schoolgirls develop a bit by the end of the series, considering the huge cast that they seem to be planning to work with. It’s been subtle, but the first three episodes have continued to slip in introductions to a huge cast of characters: we have the rival who stands on a rooftop, that idol, those press-figures, Giga’s friend, the teacher, the scary old woman, and judging by the preview, the next episode is going to introduce even more of these guys.

In any case, the most important thing that this series needs to do is to properly develop the understanding between Birdy and Senkawa. The two have been and will be going through a lot, and this series will get boring fast if they just stay the same. The creators made a good start, though. This episode too had the two of them arguing a lot. First, Senkawa was still being upset about all the things that happened to him, but very soon when Birdy got into a fight with Tuto, Birdy suddenly became the complaining one.

Short Synopsis: Popo continues his plans to overthrow the heavens.
Highlights: This is what you get if you build up properly…
Overall Enjoyment Value: 9,5/10
Holy crap! This episode was utterly utterly incredible. The best episode of Kaiba yet, and with an already incredible series, that HAS TO SAY SOMETHING. I’m still baffled at all the plot-twists that bombarded the screen for the past twenty minutes. Obviously MAJOR spoilers follow. DO NOT read this entry if you haven’t watched this episode yet.

Oh my god, I’m still pretty speechless about this episode. The entire first half of the episode develops Popo further into insanity: the strange purple mist first caused Cheki to lose most of her memories, and he then lost his mother’s memory-chip. He already thinks that he defeated Warp, so he didn’t even bother to confirm whether or not Kaiba was really dead. He first claims to love Sate, but then betrays her by showing his affections for Cheki, and with the prospect of soon ruling the entire universe, his personality keeps moving out of control.

This guy was an excellent example of a great villain. He clearly is the villain in this series, but at the same time his desires kept spiralling out of control.

But the craziest thing about this episode was definitely the domino-effect-killing scene. I repeat: MAJOR SPOILERS IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH:

Inside the main control room of Popo’s ship, Sate kills Popo. Then the body-collector kills Sate, who turns out to be a cyborg. The three older Kaibas then gloat over their victories. Fake Warp (who turns out to be alive) then kills the body-collector and the three older Warps. As an added bonus, we also learn that the memory-guy and Sate were sisters, and they grew up watching Neiro, Popo and Cheki play together.

There were a few things I didn’t understand, though. What was up with the fans, wiping out the purple fog? Who activated them? Why did fake Warp erase the collection of all the memories, which basically meant the entire history of the world?

In any case, it’s amazing to see how much Masaaki Yuasa has learned from his mistakes. I remember how the pre-ending episodes of Kemonozume were a big mistake because the huge contrast between the light and extremely serious final episodes was way too big. For Kaiba, he made sure to build up as much as he can, he kept throwing in flashbacks, foreshadowing and different hints that all came together in this episode. This episode was dramatic, sure. But it WAS SO WORTH THE WAIT. It’s a definite candidate of the best episode of the year for me, along with episode 21 of Shion no Ou. I’m really curious as to how he plans to end this series. Kemonozume’s final episode was absolutely nothing like its other episodes, but on the other hand, Kaiba is absolutely nothing like Kemonozome, so I’m very interested, and at the same time very sad that the goodness will only last one more episode.

I just finished watching episode fifteen of this series, and I’ve got too many thoughts about this series and I don’t feel like waiting for this series to end to share them. It’s just too much of a shame to see that a series that I once loved for its witty humour degraded so much in only two months. The first seven episodes of Itazura na Kiss, where Irie and Kotoko were both into high-school. My favourite moment was that kiss in episode 7. Strangely enough, as soon as the two hit university and started to develop, the problems began piling up and this series went South.

It’s a shame, since this series did manage to avoid the standard pitfall for such a series: it’s nice to see the characters develop, and Irie and Kotoko realize what they want to do later. The two of them becoming a couple of a doctor and a nurse may be a bit conservative (that wedding also came way too fast), but then again, this may feel awkward because I’ve watched too much anime, which seems to hate modern conservatism like this.

The smaller problem in this series are of course annoying, like the horrible Engrish (I can understand how Irie’s English is bad, but people who are supposedly English yet again speak with a horrible accent. I really wonder, in these days of outsourcing, why nobody got the idea to hire a bunch of English voice-actors to fill in for the English parts…). The inconsistent animation at times is also rather grating, especially in that new ED. It feels like a bunch of entirely different people made it.

But the biggest problem is that the writers suddenly seem to have given up… it’s strange, but their wit that made me fall in love with the first few episodes is entirely gone now. One thing I liked about these first few episodes is the fast transition from funny to dramatic, when either Kotoko or Irie’s pranks went a bit too far, for example. That’s what made that drama work. Ever since university, the creators seemed to have increased the drama in this series, but the problem is that… they just can’t write decent drama.

For the past eight episodes, the creators just kept throwing love-rivals and random illnesses at our couple, as an attempt to test their relationship. I mean, come on, think of something bloody different! Have a bit of faith in your characters. They’re funny as they are, without these contrived plot-twist. The creators keep hanging at the boring parts and skip the potentially interesting parts. I mean, that sex-scene really came from nowhere. There was no build-up, absolutely nothing, even though it was supposed to be a moment to bring Kotoko and Irie closer together…

I think that indeed the big mistake of the creators, was that during the development of the characters, they never developed their characters, or built up for that matter. There’s hardly any foreshadowing, storylines aren’t wrapped up properly, there is such a thing as getting over your love… why hasn’t that black-haired tennis-woman whose name I forgot found herself a new guy? This series hardly feels connected at all, and it feels like the writers are struggling to find something interesting for their main characters to do.

I’m really trying to like these romantic comedies, but they really make it harder and harder by continuing to disappoint me. I really hope that this series finds its groove back in its final third, because I genuinely liked this series when it first started. It feels like nearly every one of these love comedies I watch gets dull as it goes on and loses inspiration. I believe that the only pure love comedies that I genuinely liked so far are the ones who added something extra, so that they weren’t just about the adventures of a brand new couple. Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge had lots of gothic horror references and bishounen-parodies; Moyashimon had its references to bacteria and in Umisho we got to see the chronicles of a local swimming-club. They may feel like plot-devices, but at least they provide the creators with enough inspiration to keep their series interesting until the end.