Short Synopsis: Natsume meets a person who used to be able to see Youkai.
Highlights: That feeling of separation.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 9/10
Oh my god… just when I thought that this series couldn’t get much better than it already was, it surpasses itself. This episode was downright heart-wrenchingly awesome. I remember how, when this series first started, the biggest criticism against it was that its format or returning names could get old very easily. Well, let me tell you that this series has PLENTY of inspiration for its stories. Heck, this episode wasn’t about returning names at all.

Nearly everything about this episode was perfect. For starters, it makes Natsume think about something he never could have imagined: that his ability to see youkai would disappear as he’d become an adult. After all, when we see Reiko in a flashback, she always appears as a child of the same age, hinting that she compiled the yuujin-chou when she was a high-school girl. There’s a very good possibility that she didn’t lose interest afterwards, but just became unable to see youkai. Otherwise, you’d think that she’d leave Natsume with more than just a yuujin-chou.

But the real star of this episode was the ayakashi that Natsume meets. It once was a firefly, and she made friends with that person when he still could see Youkai. His ability suddenly disappeared in one night, even though their bond couldn’t have been closer. Like all other Ayakashi in this series, the firefly just patiently kept waiting beside him, even though he couldn’t see her anymore. They always used to meet at one particular lake, and even though they can’t see each other, they still kept returning to this lake. At the time of this episode, this is about to change, though, when the guy is about to get married, and plans to not return to the lake.

The firefly isn’t able to do anything about it, and would rather return to a firefly, just so he could see her one more time (which she does at the end of this episode). It was really sad to see the two of them apart like that, with no chance to get back. The climax, where the sky was filled with fireflies, was a beautiful conclusion.

Oh and on a side-note: I loved Nyako’s suggestion to name her after a bunch of noodles. ^^;

Beck is a lot like the younger rebellious brother of Nodame Cantabile. While the latter is about students, classical music and orchestras, the former is about a bunch of middle and high-school kids who try to start a rock band. Nodame Cantabile was very much up-beat and a positive series, while Beck is much darker, more down-to-earth and loved playing with the darker sides of humanity. Still, both series are about a passion for music and the chemistry between the people you play with.

In terms of music, Beck draws on the shorter end, though. Don’t get me wrong, the rock-music that the creators selected for this series is excellent, but it doesn’t feel as part of the series in the way that Nodame Cantabile did. There seems to be no difference in a song when one of the band-members is missing, and that’s a bit sloppy. Koyuki, the lead character in this series was supposed to be an awesome singer, but I could never really see why. Sure, he was good at singing, but his singing was full of Engrish, which hardly anybody (even the Americans) seemed to notice. Okay, perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to watch Beck right after Nodame Cantabile (which paid attention to even the slightest mistakes), but this was a rather annoying flaw.

Thankfully, there’s more than enough to make up for that. Beck has a cast of downright excellent characters, with an almost haunting chemistry between them, due to the realistic approach it chooses to portray the Japanese Indie band scene. There are so many good amateur rock bands out there, that it’s going to be very hard to stand apart from them, and even as this series nears its end, it’s still a huge mystery whether the guys from Beck are actually going to get famous or not.

Koyuki may not have had the best voice-actor, but apart from that, he’s an excellent character, who grows a lot through the series. He starts out as an insecure little kid, and he gradually loses his insecurities, to become more outspoken. Nearly the entire cast is also well-defined and has its clear purpose in the series.

Then there’s the romance, which was actually pretty good. There was this strange sort of realism that actually made the bits of romance in this series engaging, rather than annoying, which is where most teenaged romances seem to head for, especially when they’re not the main focus of a series. There’s something memorable in the bond that develops between Koyuki and Maho, in the way that the creators keep teasing the viewer, although the creators may have spent a bit too little time on it in the series’ second half. They could have played with it a bit more, I feel.

Certain parts of the series are a bit unbelievable, though. Ryuusuke’s age of sixteen years old feels a bit unbelievable, considering the things he’s already done, or certain plot-twists seem to come from nowhere, which will raise some eyebrows at the realistic nature of this series. Nevertheless, though, Beck is a very memorable series that combines slice of life and the struggles to form a successful rock band excellently.

Short Synopsis: Rin visits an old teacher of her to request assistance.
Highlights: Bee-Train hasn’t forgotten how to make great action-scenes at all, despite this series’ limited budget.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
Well, so it really seems that this series is going to air every two weeks, instead of the weekly schedule of 99% of all other anime. Ah well, it may take a long time to wait for the next consecutive episode, but this does allow the creators to take their time, and produce a very solid series, rather than trying to rush it. Blade of the Immortal has been consistently awesome for me so far, so I don’t mind waiting an extra week for each episode. It’s much better than those random unexpected hiatuses that come from nowhere that plagued gems as Kaiba, Saiunkoku Monogatari and Dennou Coil.

I just love the style of this series, and this episode was the most enjoyable so far. It may not catch the specific style of the manga, but the creators nevertheless have enough ideas to make the action-scenes more than just a few slashes of blades. Sure, the budget is very limited in this series, but to make up for it the fight coordination is really enjoyable, and it almost turns the fight scenes here into a work of art. The fight in this series made excellent use of the characters’ various traits and personalities. It’s really something I kept missing at Soul Eater: the fights were there, but they never were anything special. But then again, this comes from the guy who loved the fight scenes in Gunslinger Girl - Il Teatrino, so it may just be my strange taste. ^^;

The flashback of Rin’s parents getting killed is also typical Bee-Train: every episode so far has seen that shot, and you see the same technique in many of their best series: Noir, .Hack//Sign and El Cazador. At first sight, it doesn’t make any sense: repetition in storytelling can very easily get annoying. At first sight, it seems rather uninspired. However, it does make sense: Rin’s parents were killed in front of her eyes. Of course this made a huge impact on her, and she’ll very often recall that moment. Those flashbacks merely try to mimic what’s happening in Rin’s mind. They don’t seem to add anything to the story, but they’re excellent for fleshing out characters.

It’s strange, but Blade of the Immortal is shaping up to be my favourite series of the season, along with Natsume Yuujin-chou. It definitely doesn’t shine in terms of realism, but it’s so much fun to watch the series and characters, and this is just after episode 4, with a second season already in the works.