Every single episode, this series continues to remind me why I consider it among the top of this season along Darker than Black and Aoi Bungaku. Unlike those two however, it looks like Armed Librarians is going to cover up 26 episodes. And it’s already this good. The question of course is going to be whether the creators can keep this up. I’ve seen a lot of series that started out awesome but disappointed near the end, but oh, if the creators can keep this kind of quality up for the rest of the season we could be dealing with a potential classic here.

Okay, so what the hell happened here in this episode? On the foreground, it mainly told about the battle between Hamyuts Meseta and Segal. Segal prepared well: with divination he predicted when the next typhoon would hit. He’d then poison Hamyuts with a deadly disease, and got his hands on Shlamuffen, a sword that automatically parries all attacks thrown at it. To make matters worse, Hamyuts eventually disarms Segal, but Schlamuffen then takes on a mind of its own as if it really wants to kill Hamyuts. Eventually, she gets saved by Colio who was warned by Shiron that this was going to happen because it was the very first divination she had. So in the end, Hamyuts is saved… and Colio dies anyway?

That’s something that wasn’t expected, and it also gave a bit of an extra dimension to the books when you combine them with Shiron’s divination: at the end of her life, she knew that Colio would read her books, and therefore warned him about what he needed to do through divination, in order to recreate the vision she had. Now, the question remains why it was so important for Colio to do this, or was this just a symbolic event? And are we ever going to see both of them back? I mean, their books still exist, but what? They were really built up to be the main characters for the past four episodes…

Also, David Production may not be the best at eye-candy, but these people sure know how to choreograph a good action-scene. The fight scenes in this episode really rocked, and really weren’t what you’d expect after the mediocre animation quality of the first episode.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Well, so I don’t think it’s much of a surprise that this is going to be the final series I’m going to blog this season, making my blogging schedule:
Monday: Konnichiwa Anne
Tuesday: none
Wednesday: Kimi ni Todoke
Thursday: Umineko no Naku Koro ni
Friday: Darker than Black, Kuchuu Buranko, Armed Librarians
Saturday: Letter Bee, White Album, Kemono no Souja Erin
Sunday: Full Metal Alchemist, Cross Game, Aoi Bungaku
In other words, I’m going to have busy weekends.

In any case, I’m a pretty big fan of Kuchuu Buranko. Not necessarily because of the depth (we’ve got Aoi Bungaku for that), but rather for the entertainment value. The cases in this series are often easily solved: the protagonist just needs to realize something and his troubles are over. However, the fun comes with the presentation, and the majority of the episode which explores all of the problems that are generated from the ailment that he has.

The weird graphics may seem quite random, but I’ve discovered that there’s at least a shred of logic in them: the calendars for example signify that a day has passed. The nurse-injection scene seems to be there in order to change the lead character in a weirdly coloured animal (this time, a rhino). Also notice how there are now two syringes in the waste-basket (nice reference to the previous episode), and how the guy’s horn got smaller, right before he got healed.

This time, if I understood correctly we have a guy who injures his penis, and therefore can’t stand straight and cringes down in pain whenever he gets turned on. Yeah, you just have to think about it. Cue an episode full of awkward moments of intimidation in which the lead character in this episode fails completely and gets increasingly stressed out by the women around him.

I’m often not into sex-jokes. Not because I’m that allergic to them, but 95% of them are so uninspired, cheap, unsubtle and corny that they stopped being funny for me ages ago. This episode however was a nice exception. This was a pretty funny episode, and especially the loser of a lead character was pretty likable and fun to watch.

Also, I already thought that the OP and ED sounded familiar: they’re done by Denki Groove, who also did Hakaba Kitarou’s awesome OP. They’re a bit less impressive, but still among the best OPs and EDs this season.
Rating: * (Good)

Holy crap, this episode was better than I could have expected. Bones really is on fire in 2009. Seriously, this was probably one of the best orchestrated action-scenes of the entire series so far. While that might just be my memory playing tricks on me, but I really like how the new series has gone into a completely new direction when compared to the first season: it really shows that this is more than just an attempt to milk out the franchise,

Darker than Black has always been known for its absolutely brutal fight scenes that spared nobody. That’s one thing so unlike 90% of all other anime, and it returns so well during the slaughter in this episode. There seem to be three parties after Shion: the organization that employed Hei, those old guys who turned Tanya into a contractor, and that other group of contractors. Because of that, there were so many things that happened at the same time : from Suou getting chased by a group of armed men to Nika getting killed off by Tanya, to that golem-guy suddenly launching a train at Hei.

This episode was also full of new plot twists. I’m not exactly what’s up with Suou going Utena, but her alternative personality really fits this series. It was also a big surprise to see July suddenly appear again, and basically provide the right coordinates for her to fire at. Mao indeed turns out to be the flying squirrel, like some people suspected already.

Also, the new soundtrack is very impressive, and it might even surpass the old one if this goes on!
Rating: *** (Awesome)