Short Synopsis: Um… yeah. To put it without spoilers: Ouri and Minai become friends.
Highlights: Not going to put that here for spoilers’ sake.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10 (Good)
At times like this, I really feel out of touch with the rest of the anime blogging community. What really is so boring about this series? When I read posts like this one, I keep wondering why nearly everyone finds this series so boring. Annoying I can understand. Even though he’s got a bigger role and purpose than your average male lead, I can see Ouri getting on people’s nerves. But boring?

In any case, this episode was… unpredictable to say the least. Here I thought that the previous episode was busy introducing a new important couple for this series, and then this episode kills them off, for goodness’ sake. It also was a pretty pathetic and unorthodox death: the monk dies after he gets too carried away in a fight against a bunch of punks he upset a few episodes ago, which makes Minai turn into an ordinary Shikabane, needing to be killed.

Ouri was of course a bit annoying and gave me some Senkawa-flashbacks. But just like his counterpart, this all remains within acceptable boundaries. The two of them have enough other traits and purposes. The thing I hate about typical male leads is not their archetypes, but rather that most of them are simple, pointless and uninspired stereotypes. As long as they’re fleshed out sufficiently and the show around them provides enough interesting other material, they’re fine by me. Either that, or I’ve just gotten tired of complaining about them. ^^;

In any case, this episode was definitely meant to show that this is an Anyone Can Die-series. Combine that with the fact that this is Gainax, coupled with the foreshadowing of the previous episodes and yes, I think we should fear for Keisei’s life here. Could it be that Gainax choose such a show with a Kamina-like-character to adapt on purpose? It’d really be something I’d imagine them do.

Although do me one favour and introduce some more guys in this series. They’re really starting to run out this way, and this is the criticism I agree with: a lot of anime somehow feature way more girls then guys. But then again, as soon as more guys start getting introduced, people start screaming “YAOI! DO NOT WANT!”, et cetera, so that also isn’t the optimal solution.

Short Synopsis: Michiko tries to get Hatchin back.
Highlights: No, don’t ask me why two episodes aired on the same day.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10 (Awesome)
While the strange broadcast schedule of this series is beyond me, I’m definitely not the one to complain at this point. This episode ranked among the best of the series so far, along with episode 4. It’s ironic: just when I labelled this series as a mostly serious one, it comes with such a fun yet exciting climax. I must say though, that this series knows exactly when it needs to be serious and funny, although it’s a bit unorthodox in this aspect. Most series that have a bit of comedy feature a fun build-up and a dark climax, but instead this series has a dark build-up and a fun climax. That’s something you really don’t see very often, but it works like a charm.

In this episode, we get confirmed that Atsuko and Michiko grew up at the same orphanage as where Michiko tried to dump Hatchin at in the previous episode. What I especially like is the relationship between the caretaker and Michiko right now. Michiko used to fight all the time, but right now they’ve got a strange sort of hate/friends relationship that’s interesting to watch. The caretaker was surprisingly well developed in such a short time. I really like her.

But yeah, the highlight of this episode was really the climax. The previous episode seemed to suggest that the fat guy was someone to take into consideration, but instead he’s just one big loser who happens to have a bit of power and eats too much. It was fun to see Michiko dress up as a matador and chasing him. It was awesome to see Hatchin escape from him, and trying to fight the bull with a ladle. The reunion also was really cute.

This series has proven to not only be well written, but also very diverse. Next week had better not be a hiatus, but either way: I’m sold.

Short Synopsis: Michiko tells Hatchin a few things about her past.
Highlights: It becomes more and more apparent how misleading that OP is…
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
That OP… it definitely belongs in the category of misleading. It’s a very colourful and cheerful piece of art, that makes you think that this series would have the same fun factor as Samurai Champloo…

Well… no. I feel that this is the episode where this series shows its true colours. As it turns out, Michiko was involved into a huge gang-fight and power-struggles before she got locked up. This episode seems to suggest that she ended up in prison because she once made a wrong move and provoked the wrong kinds of people. This episode really showed that there’s much, much more to her character than she originally showed.

I mean, she remains an irresponsible woman. In this episode however, we can see that she’s starting to regret what she did, as she suddenly realizes that the gang-fights are still out there. I’m still not exactly sure what she did to invoke the wrath of a gang for twelve years, but hopefully the future episodes will shed light on that. Anyway, because she finally starts realizing that Hatchin could get in trouble, she drops her off at a local orphanage for safety. Obviously, she didn’t take into account that it costs money to do that, so Hatchin ends up getting kidnapped at the end of the episode.

And the whole mystery around what happened with Hiroshi still isn’t much clearer. First I thought that he was the fat guy, but that turns out to be somebody else (who I guess was the one who made sure that Michiko ended up in jail). This episode still doesn’t explain why Hiroshi abandoned Hatchin, though, or who was Hatchin’s mother, but I do now understand why Michiko is so keen on Hatchin. She probably sees Hiroshi in her, and the good times they had together. And this episode also confirms: Hatchin has the tattoo on her belly.

Seriously, here I thought that this series would be a fun-filled travel adventure, in the same veins as El Cazador. Boy, was I wrong, but this series makes optimal use of its setting this way. That’s why I’m so annoyed that 90% of all anime takes place in Japan. The samurai-period is nice and all, and it has produced some awesome series, but there are many more interesting settings with potential all over the world, in lots of different time settings. You just have to have the guts to find them and base a story around them. Gunslinger Girl is also a good example of this: it took the political power struggles of the country, added a bit of science fiction, and voilá: an excellent set-up for a story.

Short Synopsis: Nakiami meets a young Tessik Xam’d boy.
Highlights: Solid aftermath.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10 (Good)
Okay, so it had it coming that this episode would just be a mere aftermath after the huge events of the previous episode, but it still was a very solid and good episode. Akiyuki seems to be taken in by slave traders, Haru gets locked up for her behavior in the previous episode, so that just leaves Nakiami for this episode, as she meets a Xam’d boy who managed to live on his own after being implanted by a Hiruko. He and Furuichi show that you don’t necessarily need someone qualified to survive as a Xam’d, although it definitely helps.

The most important part of this episode was the point where Nakiami used her Kajak to buy off the trouble that the boy (who is called Yango, by the way), and I was surprised at the ease at which she just gave it up. Although I guess that it’d indeed stand out too much in the Northern lands. I’m interested in what the young boy can offer for the rest of the story.

Apart from this, the episode also provided small developments on several subplots, most importantly the strange eye-ball that’s been hanging around Akiyuki for a reason that’ll probably become clear in a number of episodes. I couldn’t quite understand what the conversation between the white-haired people were talking about (I ended up watching this episode raw), but I guess that they’re able to feel whether their comrades have died or not, and they must have gotten pretty surprised to find out that the one who infected Akiyuki and Furuichi is still kept alive. It also seems that those strange mask-caped people are their comrades. Does that also mean that the ones who attacked the Zanbani a bunch of episodes ago are their comrades as well?

Short Synopsis: Casshern meets a female singer.
Highlights: Beautiful climax.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10 (Awesome)
Oh, this was such an sweet episode. It again classifies as “filler”, but I don’t care! Hah! Casshern this time meets a singer, whose songs have an interesting effect on robots: they annoy the hell out of the berserked ones (by lack of a better term for it), but they the ones who aren’t interested in fighting forget about their despair about the destruction. I believe that the berserked ones actually felt the same power of her songs, although they refuse to accept it, which is why they want to destroy her. The irony in this episode was of course that the symbol of hope and destruction end up travelling together for a short while.

And I must say that those songs were really well done: not just in terms of audio, but the visuals also matched the songs perfectly. The engrish was surprisingly well done, and especially the song at the climax of the episode was just wonderful. This episode also showed that Casshern is most definitely made out of metal, so there has to be something inside him that makes him able to shed tears and heal his “wounds”.

My guess is that this show is going to go for the “Bee-Train”-pattern, meaning a first half of mostly unrelated stories and a few hints at an overall story, with a second half where the story takes over the main focus. I must say that I’m a big fan of this approach, because it really allows the viewer to get accustomed to the different characters and the setting before the big stuff starts to happen. And of course, the fact that the creators have made every random episode an excellent showcase in terms of writing, visuals and audio only contributes to that.