Short Synopsis: Kiba’s had enough and starts going after who he thinks is the culprit.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
Whoa, to think that this series actually managed to squeeze in some romance, and manages to get away with it! At this point, it really is clear that both the limbs in boxes and Yoriko’s death were simply red herrings in order to keep the viewer busy, and distract him from the one who really is at the centre of everything: Kanako. This episode, with the announcement of the death of Kubo, finally gets back to her own story.

I’m not exactly sure whether Kiba really picked out the real culprit, but someone in the research facility at least has to be involved with the whole mess. This someone used Kubo as a way to get female bodies and cut those up and used them in his experiments to create the ultimate human being: when it dies, just replace its limbs and it’s up and running again. This guy also murdered one of his colleagues, probably because he either found out too much, or was involved with the project, but tried to chicken out at that time.

Central is also Youko. If this is the case, then it would explain why the movie director knew about the human experiments. I’m still not exactly sure why she found Kiba her biggest threat, but I guess that we’re going to find that out in one or two episodes. I also wonder, what was the point of showing that poisoning-murder case at the beginning of the episode. It didn’t seem related in anyway, or did it?

I also keep getting impressed by this series’ idea of “action”. Most of the action here lies in its subtle but very powerful emotions. Like with Kiba in this episode: the creators know exactly how to create tension, and make the viewer hope that Eno’s going to be able to stop Kiba in time.

Regarding the cliffhanger, if this was a regular anime, it’d mean that the scientist didn’t die yet. However, this is Mouryou no Hako we’re talking about. Everything can happen from this point, and I’m really anticipating to see what kind of ending the creators have chosen.

(Oh, and on a side-note: Atsuko looked scary as a teenager O.o)

Short Synopsis: Casshern meets a painter who wants to leave his mark on the world.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
Well, if it’s indeed true what CasshernXLyuze said, then this was the last of the “filler” episodes of Casshern Sins, and as usual it was a really interesting one. It’s about another aspect of a future of certain death: being remembered by others, and artists are of course the perfect example of this, hoping that even though their bodies will die, their art will live on forever.

Since the story takes place at a city that was once ruled by Braiking Boss, it shows another way of how robots have decided to live with the destruction: simply wait for it and kick the hell out of everyone who disturbs this order (ie: the painter).

I also like how the past two episodes brought an end to “Casshern the chick magnet”. It’s good to see that another episode is dedicated to a male robot. It really makes the series feel like less of a harem series because the creators favour females over males.

Short Synopsis: Casshern gets himself stuck in trouble, and Frender needs to find help to save him.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
I remember noting that there weren’t enough males in this series that Casshern would run into. Well, somewhere along the line the creators seem to have listened, because this episode exactly offers the demographic that has been missing so far: male humans and robots, human children and human woman. It’s really one of those episodes that restore the balance in this series. It’s not among the best episodes of the series, but yet I really liked it.

I also love how Casshern only has two or three lines through the entire episode: this really was an episode where he was just someone who watched from the sidelines, and it was about the group of humans and robots who travelled together, in search of Luna. We learn that despite the upcoming destruction, there’s still a large amount of trust among them.

It also becomes clear that robots with strong wills are able to survive longer than most other ones. Well, that explains why Dio is still in one piece: he really is set on defeating Casshern.

Interestingly, this was another one of these episodes that surprised me about how long its airtime really is. I only felt like I’ve watched this episode for just ten minutes, instead of twenty.

Short Synopsis: Haru buys a flying jetbike and searches for Akiyuki.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 6,5/10 (Lacking)
Ah, COME ON! Things went so well! The past few episodes followed so naturally on each other, and then the series comes with this. How did Haru know the exact place Akiyuki would be at? Why the heck did she appear on the exact moment that he reached his limit and jumped to his death. I really expected better from this series at this point.

I mean, what’s wrong with just Haru, arriving at the village, searching around a bit and finally finding Akiyuki? They could have still used the failing flying motorbike as an excuse to explain Akiyuki’s flying powers. I think that the producers here made a slight error. This episode was a clear ending to the third quarter of the series (the next episode looks like the start of the return of the storyline!), and the creators realized too late that they reserved too little time for the reunion between Akiyuki and Haru in the final episode of that quarter.

Thankfully it’s doesn’t seem that this error is going to snowball itself into the rest of the series, it’s only the reunion between Haru and Akiyuki that felt really rushed, nothing more. The next episode looks like it’s going to be just as good as the rest of the series, but it really remains annoying. It breaks flow, in a way to have such a blemish at such a late point of a thus far perfect series. Ack, such a shame!

Short Synopsis: Haru heads off to find Akiyuki.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10 (Good)
I must say that this has turned into a really emancipated series. While there are enough male characters, and this definitely isn’t a shoujo or josei-series, it’s nevertheless the females who do most of the work in this case. I originally thought that Haru would end up being the damsel in distress, but in the end this honour was for Akiyuki. In fact, he really has been atypical of your typical lead character. He’s not someone who’s out there to change the world, but he’s just a victim himself. Instead, it’s up to Nakiami to prevent the destruction of the Tessik people, although I do suspect that Akiyuki once he wakes up isn’t going to sit still and let the northern empire just do as it pleases.

So in the end, Nakiami’s sister (half-sister, I guess, based on her skin colour) has also started making Xam’d, and plans to head into war as well. I already suspected that something was not kosher about her, and I guess that that’s it. In the meantime, Akiyuki’s Hiruko (or at least, that’s what I suspect it is) does seem to be interested in Akiyuki getting his name back. I believe that it’s in the interest for both of them surviving, and I think that it knocking away the teacup is a sign that it’s going into berserk-mode if Akiyuki doesn’t hurry up and remembers his own name.

Short Synopsis: Satoshi plans to hand Michiko over to the police.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10 (Awesome)
Wow.

I must say, that I’m really impressed by this episode. The huge intensity of this episode was amazing, considering it’s finally showing the development of the past nine episodes. The entire episode was really intense, and formed a huge contrast with the heart-warming previous Hatchin-episode. On top of that, the art looked better than ever in this episode.

I also really appreciated the bit of background about the time when Hiroshi and Satoshi met each other. They’re really fleshing out these characters, and I can’t wait to see the second half of this series. According to MyAnimelist, this series is going to be only 22 episodes, but I want to wait for other sources to confirm that before believing it. The problem with MyAnimelist and especially its episode numbers is that they just take any rumour, without checking whether it comes from a valid source.

Heh, I remember how I compared this series to El Cazador when I first saw it. How wrong I was to assume that. The beatings that Michiko received in this episode were downright gruesome, and nowhere near the cheerful tone that El Cazador brought us. I’ve probably said this before, but damn, that OP is misleading!

Atsuko’s change of heart may have been a bit too sudden, but at least I can understand it, having been betrayed by her superiors like that. I just think that she was a bit too burned on catching Michiko in order to just forgive her and let her escape.

I also think that there’s much more to Hatchin than her being a simple random girl. On top of that, we’re still not sure whether Hiroshi lives or not. Satoshi is convinced that the guy died at the bus accident, and yet Michiko seems convinced that he’s still alive somewhere. But then again, that could also be simple lovesickness.

Short Synopsis: Hana meets a circus girl of her age.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
Oh, this series makes writing random stories seem so easy, even though there are plenty of anime who suffer from being unable to put in a satisfying filler episode, or fill up their airtime. This was a wonderful episode, and the creators really managed to bring Rita (the circus girl) to life, along with her love for the person who raised her, even though he’s in love with someone else.

And at the same time this episode also made sure of some good development for Hatchin. She really is a strange character in Brazil, being raised in such an uptight family. She’s incredibly polite, and this episode really helped her to open up to someone, and loose up a bit. It feels to me that she’s finally found someone she can trust. How the heck is Michiko going to get her back like this?

What also caught my attention is that Hana isn’t quite able to get rid of her real name like that, since she introduced herself to Rita as Hana, rather than Hatchin. At first she began using Hatchin to forget about her foster parents, now ironically she stopped using it to forget about Michiko.

Short Synopsis: Michiko arrives at a city where Satoshi might be.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10 (Good)
This series has a really strange broadcasting protocol. I’m away for less than two weeks and suddenly there are three new episodes… I really wonder where that third one came from…

In any case, this episode was mostly building up, although it featured some interesting chase scenes through the trams of a Brazilian city. Michiko and Hatchin’s relationship is really different from most other series where a strong character takes care of a weak one, since Hatchin really seems to hate Michiko. Only when she’s really in danger and is scared for her life, she forgets about her anger and accepts Michiko as her guardian.

We also finally get to see more of Atsuko, who seems to have chased after Michiko for the time that she was away from the screen. I like that: when she’s away from the screen, she just continues with her own agenda instead of randomly sitting somewhere until the storyline focuses on her again.

Short Synopsis: Saji and Louise angst about each other.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 6,5/10 (Lacking)
So, yeah. As the synopsis does suspect: this wasn’t the most exciting episode. I really hoped that Saji and Louise grew up during the past twelve episodes, but they still kept angsting like there was no tomorrow. The concept between the two of them really is fine: two former lovers who end up at opposing sides; it really has potential. If only the two of them weren’t such immature brats. What actually gets me the most is the huge amount of airtime that’s spent on the two of them, while the series really has so many better uses for that.

Anyway, what I did like was the one-sidedness of the war against Kataron. These guys really don’t stand a chance against the super-weapons, especially now that their main space fleet has been wiped out. After they’re taken care of, Kataron is going to run out of opponents aside from the celestial beings, so it’s about time that we’re introduced to the final party in this series. With all the references to past Gundam Franchises, I’m almost positive that the creators are also going to use a few Gundam Wing references, where the Roquefeller foundation was simply brought down by inner conflict. We’ve already seen that a lot of the members of A-Laws don’t agree with their extreme measures, so who knows?

It’s also interesting that finally Ribbons is running into something that he didn’t expect. Finally we see more sides of the guy, which is a good thing.