Short Synopsis: This episode features the climax of Nijuu Mensou no Musume.
Highlights: Blegh. Just blegh.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 6.5/10
Wait? That’s it? We’ve had all this build-up, and the creators just end with such an ending? Talk about disappointing. There was this whole world open for this series, and yet it goes with the most predictable route. There were so many things that this series could have done, and yet it ends with such a dull finale. Such a bloody shame.

You know, I think it would have actually been better for this series to go with the “detective girls”-route. It would have fitted this series perfectly; it would have been unpredictable and allowed for many chances for the cast to develop further. Now that I really think about it, I believe I actually looked forward to that point when this series had just started.

The big problem with this series is that after the doll arc, the creators somehow found it a good idea to just get rid of the fast and unpredictable pacing of this show, and end the series with a solid continuous story. Unfortunately, the entire scientist-arc has just been one big rip-off of the doll-arc. There’s hardly anything original. And what’s worse: there was hardly any character-development at all. We’ve already established that Chiko can think for herself. All this arc did was confirm it.

Agh, what a bloody shame. My sole salvation is that there’s one episode left before this thing ends. Let’s hope that the creators manage to find something interesting to fill it with. Bones, you really disappoint me with this. I really hope that their next work is going to be more like Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi, and less like… this. This is why it’s so important to have a solid conclusion. The series may have had an awesome middle-part, but in the end I am going to be left with a sour aftertaste. I noticed the same with Wellber no Monogatari: solid series + baaaad ending = memorable in a bad way.

Short Synopsis: Krauser II learns more about the capitalistic pig and visits his hoe during the holidays.
Highlights: Negishi really does have no sense of shame…
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
This is probably the last episodic entry I’m going to write for this show. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice series and all, but I hardly have any inspiration about it. Once you’re done with the premise, there really isn’t much left to say about this series. I’m still going to write an overall review, but the other 7(?) episodes aren’t going to be covered. This series gets enough publicity already anyway, and it’s not as underrated as Studio 4C’s other series, so I don’t really see what my entries can add anyway. Besides, taking screenshots is a bitch with this series, because there’s hardly ANY decent frame that doesn’t have subtitles on it. (Especially this episode was extreme, which you can probably see for yourself).

Having said that, the second half of this episode was probably the funniest one ever since the introduction. It’s both Negishi’s surprise at how his brother changed, but also the way he used Krauser II in order to teach him a lesson. It’s indeed like he said: the guy (and as it seems most other of Krauser’s fans) are incredible idiots.

And really, “Death Penis” probably is the worst title you can think for a song ever. And that’s why it fits this series so well. ^^;

Short Synopsis: Syamalan + Ryunka = Destruction.
Highlights: Awesome animation and music and a less annoying Senkawa. What more could you want?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
Now this is more like it! Senkawa acted much less of a teenager in this episode, which made him much more enjoyable to watch. It’s really such a pity that this series has to work with a typical loser as the lead character, because there aren’t many roads you can go to with such a guy, and he’s already overplayed a lot. I think it would have been better to make Senkawa more like the male lead of True Tears.

And the twist, where Syamalan died so easily after executing his plans was a pretty nice one. It also shows that the finale of the first season will be between its three main characters: Birdy, Senkawa and Nakasugi. It’s really a finale that can go anywhere: it can become utter crap, where Senkawa spends the entire episode in a pointless argument with Birdy over whether or not to kill Nakasugi, or it can become amazing, like the director has shown many times before with Noein and Escaflowne with the help of some heavy-hitting character-development.

I also love the use of music in this series. The director is very much like Bee-Train, in the way that he puts a lot of emphasis on the music, but the difference between the two is that the music here is at its best when the tension is slowly rising, instead of the actual climaxes in Bee-Train’s case. The composer, Yuugo Kanno, is relatively unknown, and he’s only composed the music of a small amount of series, among which Hataraki Man and Library War. It’s interesting, because I remember noting in the first episode of Library Wars how great the music was, and then strangely enough the music dulled out afterwards. Now that the guy has teamed up with such an excellent director, it’s great to hear what he can really do for a soundtrack.