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September 2, 2008

Mission-E - 09

Filed under: Finished Series: Storybook/Mission-E



Short Synopsis: A calm-before-the-storm episode, mostly aimed at Maori.
Highlights: Maori’s development.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Aah! It’s been too long since I’ve watched Code-E. To think that Maori actually made a small appearance there. It was hardly a moment that stood out: a dog ran into Chinami and she freaked out, but now that this series has mentioned it, I do vaguely remember how Chinami once zapped a strange building behind fences. It’s nice to see that the creators managed to put such a cross-reference in this series. It makes the series feel more complete.

In any case, I’m glad to see that the creators clearly knew what they were doing with this series, because Maori finally starts to develop. The past few episodes have really pushed her character in a different direction, and she finally has the ability to let go of her doubts. At the same time, Adol’s doubts only increase. I’m glad to see that the foundation is also suffering from inner struggles, by the way. Even Adol’s boss has trouble with his superiors, which is a nice little touch.

As it turns out, Mission-E is only going to have 12 episodes, which means that there are three episodes left. It’s here where this series needs to prove itself. I think that the reason why the ending of Code-E felt so weird (apart from the questions it left behind) was that it went into a completely different direction from what it had been building up for. After watching Mission-E, it makes perfect sense, but I wonder whether the creators are going to pull the same for Mission-E. I think the best way to end this would be straight-forward action, though.

Overall, I must say that Code-E and Mission-E both have their great points and weaknesses. Code-E’s climaxes were much better than in Mission-E, but at the same time, Mission-E has much more solid characters and it doesn’t get held back by annoying romance. Overall, I admire the guts of the creators to go with something entirely different for Mission-E. It’s often tried, and I really like it when a series does attempt this, but it does have a nasty tendency to fail (with the most notable case Nanoha StrikerS), but it worked out pretty well here.

Natsume Yuujin-Chou - 09

Filed under: Finished Series: Slice of Life/Drama/Natsume Yuujin-Chou



Short Synopsis: Natsume meets a famous TV-star, who grew up in the same town as he did.
Highlights: Natsume learns that not everyone deals with the problem of seeing spirits in the same way.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
A quiet little episode, which mostly focuses at Natsume as he finally meets someone who can see spirits as well. The TV-star (Natori) turns out that forgetting about youkai when you grow up isn’t the only option. He’s become a lot more confident when compared to Natsume, and I guess that Natsume wasn’t the first person he met who could also see youkai.

If I understood correctly, he came back to finish a job to get rid of a youkai he met twelve years ago. There’s an interesting bond between the two. At first sight, it seems that he’s forgotten that meeting, but it turns out that he does remember her, but his attempts to get rid of her rather failed, and he was forced to forcefully exorcise her. He did care about youkai somewhat, he just didn’t show it at first. And as a result, when the youkai is freed, she keeps following Natori.

I’ve been noticing about this series: a lot of the youkai and ayakashi that appear in it and look like humans have masks. Episodes often end with this mask partially or fully shattered. In this episode too: we don’t even get to see the youkai’s face in this episode. An interesting use of symbolism, if you ask me.