Short Synopsis: Natsume gets a very nasty curse put on his arm.
Highlights: ZOMG Second Season!
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
Ah, thank goodness this series is getting its second season. The show is nice and all, but there’s so much potential left that still needs to be touched. This concept is just way too short for a mere 13 episodes, so it’s awesome to see that this series is getting 13 more to work with. The next winter-season is going to be a pretty interesting one, with both Birdy the Mighty and Natsume Yuujin-chou getting their continuations. Now all that’s left is that second season-announcement for Amatsuki, the series that needs a continuation even more badly than this one.

Just scrap my comments from the previous episode. When talking about 26 episode, that was indeed the perfect tme to introduce a lighter episode to flesh out one of the characters. This episode too eliminated any chance that this series would only last for one season as it introduces what seems to be two recurring characters. It’s the woman and big goat ayakashi from the OP, and they’ve got a lot of potential to shine in that second season.

Wat was especially funny about this episode was that the curse that struck Natsume also had a very interesting effect on Nyanko-sensei: he kept switching between an incredibly tiny and incredibly big version of himself, both with hilarious results.

I’m also glad to see that the book of friends played another role in this episode. My only problem with this series is how it has been ignored so much, even though it’s the central item in this series. This episode showed that you can do more with it than just collect a bunch of names, and Natsume uses it in this episode to summon the goat ayakashi.

A major theme of the past season is fooling the viewer: going into an entirely different direction than what would be normally expected. Mission-E definitely has these themes: its predecessor (Code-E) was a cute little love-triangle set in a high school, so naturally you’d expect something similar for its sequel. As it turns out: I can’t remember a direct sequel that was more different from its predecessor than what Mission-E showed us.

Mission-E takes place five years after the end of Code-E: every character has grown up, and changed and matured significantly. Annoying love-triangle? Gone. High-school-antics? Gone. Lots of quiet moments? Gone. Instead, Mission-E focuses much more on action, and much less on slice-of-life. The pacing is much, much faster, and the overall storyline has a much larger focus, now that the characters are openly fighting the bad guys.

And therein lays the problem, though. Because five years have passed, the characters have developed tremendously. And because Code-E has already fleshed them out, they become really fun to watch. If it weren’t for those bloody bad guys that keep GETTING IN THEIR WAY. These guys lack so much in terms of development, they are evil because this series simply needs a villain, but they’re uninspired, stereotypical and generally useless.

The characters are at their best when they’re just interacting with each other, but too often they’re just busy fighting against this useless organization of bad guys. As a result, a lot of potential that was in them is never really realized, because the series is too damn busy in a desperate attempt to flesh out its story a bit. In addition, the new main character of Mission-E is someone who only appeared once or twice in Code-E, thus she doesn’t really live up to the others in terms of development.

Thankfully, the production-values are still solid, and the creators know how to make fun action-scenes. The graphics are typical Studio-Deen, with nice poses and simple but very stylish character-designs and nice poses. Everything gets accompanied by a spunky and energetic soundtrack, and the ED is probably the best ED of the past summer-season.

Overall, if you liked Code-E, like myself, then Mission-E is going to disappoint, because it takes the focus away a bit from the character that were so much fun to watch in the first season. However, if you hated Code-E, then you’ll have much less reasons to hate Mission-E, because it’s a lot more accessible than its predecessor with an increased pacing, no silly teenaged love or angst, and enough fun action-scenes to last through 12 episodes. This really is a franchise with a lot of potential, but due to its crappy villains, not all that potential got realized.

Short Synopsis: Mission-E ends as Oz rushes in to prevent the foundation to carry out its plans.
Highlights: Predictable, plot-holes, but overall better than expected.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10
And so it has ended. I wasn’t expecting too much of this episode, because there isn’t much you can do with the underdeveloped villains of this series. There was a plot-hole here and there (who would actually buy that random television-broadcast of that foundation-guy? Why was nobody arrested?) and in the end, this was just a typical “Here she comes, to save the daaaaaaaaaay”-ending.

Still, there were quite a few things I did like. Especially the ones who were just watching and didn’t do anything: Kirik, Keiko and Akane, who just watched television and never had anything to do with the action. Especially Keiko, sulking because her Christmas date ran off was very enjoyable. I also really liked that the creators chose to not revive Mils, and instead keep her in the state she is. Yuma’s boyfriend also was a nice little twist, which I appreciated a lot. And finally, the few small references to Code-E also fitted nicely, and gave this series at least a decent closure.

Overall, the past season wasn’t the best for Studio Deen. Ever since Amatsuki ended, they’ve been in the background. Thankfully, they seem to be getting back on track for the fall-season with the start of the third season of Jigoku Shoujo. Mission-E overall was fun, but I still find it strange that it was the result of when the studio’s best directors came together to create a series. I dunno, but you’d expect something a bit more epic and well-written…