Seriously, are there no bounds to this series’ awesomeness? In this episode, Aoi Bungaku yet again surpassed my expectations, it was nothing like any other series of this show so far, it was full of the most awesome graphics, and the direction was just incredible. And then to think that there still remain four stories left! What the bloody hell do the creators have in store for those?

This episode was just crazy. But when I say crazy, I mean that in a Madhouse sort of way. This ranged from those small jokes as the cow people enslaving the humans and the old lady who thought she smelled her old husband, to the lead character cutting off even more heads, so that the lead female could play with them like dolls. What the hell?1 the final scene, in which the lead character runs into his feared cherry blossoms, freaks out and strangles her to death was incredibly intense. No Longer Human was very subtle in showing the mental decay of the lead character, but here it’s totally different. The mental delusions of this guy are in your face, but also absolutely beautiful and full of eye-candy.

This story really strikes me as a very critical look at the traditional roles of the male and females. It’s overblown of course, but the lead character just keeps killing people for the woman he loves, until the past finally gets the chance to bite back. It portrays these values as utterly ridiculous.

What also makes this series pretty unique is that the longest stories aren’t saved for last. If this already was a mindfuck, then I really don’t know what the creators have in store for the final two episodes, which if I’m not mistaken are going to be two stories of just 20 minutes.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Ah, thankfully the inconsistent animation of the previous episode was just a one-of-a-kind thing. This episode made up for it with pretty nice animation and a number of very creative shots and camera-angles (you especially have to love the Armstrong-scene in this episode).

Anyway, there’s lots of interesting stuff going on in this episode that introduces even more side-plots. We finally get our fist glimpse of the strange blond-haired woman we’ve been seeing in the OP. She’s the head of the Armstrong family. One particular filler episode from the first season suddenly gets an entirely different dimension. ^^;

Kimbley also waste no time to go after Scar, although his subordinates desperately need a lesson in the art of ambushing (seriously, did they really think that it was a good idea to corner Scar, a man who is known to fight back, on a bridge, from two sides? It’s like saying; “go ahead; escape. We’ll just shoot ourselves.”). The creators are also hinting a bit too much that Scar is travelling with that moustached guy that’s been hanging around him. they’re trying way too hard to hide his face.

In the meantime, Ed and Al also meet Bradley’s son and Grumman has taken up cross-dressing. A very eventful episode overall, I’d say.
Rating: * (Good)

Now that Akane has been introduced, Kou and Aoba have started their usual bickering again. nevertheless, the addition of Akane really gave an extra dimension to it, especially since they’re also starting to bicker around her. This really was the episode in which Akane got to know the two of them. Along with the fact that she looks just like Wakaba thanks to the blabbermouth of Senda.

This episode also ended with a baseball match, but unfortunately Akane didn’t manage to give that one an extra spark. As usual, everything around the match was awesome: Aoba getting angry, the way the creators made it seem at first that Aoba poisoned Azuma, it all rocked. But the match itself… it gave me deja vus. I’m not exactly sure where, but I could have sworn that the creators have ended a match in the EXACT SAME WAY once before.

In any case, with this Akane also demonstrates how she’s a very keen observer: she has a great eye for detail in her sketches, but she also critically looks at her environment (in the way she asked who the “Wakaba” on Aoba’s door was. This episode never showed how she reacted when she found out that she looked like Wakaba, but I suspect that there’s a whole lot going on inside her head that the creators haven’t shown us yet.
Rating: ** (Good)

This episode really shows the power of long and slow-paced series. While Erin indeed lacks the excitement of series with an erratic pacing like the Armed Librarians, at the same time it’s got a story that’s so well built up that it can really take an in-depth look at it. The power of the story of Erin lies in the fact that Erin sees things that everyone else sees, and just keeps taking daring conclusions and actions that nobody else in the setting sees. Thanks to the slow pacing, we’re really given an insight into how this happens.

This series is full of things that are bound to happen: in this episode, Damya finally threatens Erin with the safety of the students and teachers at the academy. It’s something that was bound to happen, the moment Erin started to take care of Lilan. And yet this episode showed her as she comes with a solution that I never even thought of: what if the Grand Duke became king? That would mean that the Beast Kings would lose their function as war machines. We’ve seen people claim before that the country would fall apart when its two half get unbalanced, but I realize that we’re also supposed to take that with a grain of salt: I mean, with Damya at the head, the country is bound for destruction anyways.

The only thing that I dislike about this series is the great amount of flashbacks in this series. This series just keeps recycling the same frames under these flashbacks, when a character is talking, and it’s about to get a bit overused. Ah well, at least it’s not the worst way to save budget. The drawings still look as solid as ever.

I think that at this point, I still consider Seirei no Moribito as superior to Kemono no Souja Erin. While Erin has better developed characters and a longer length, it still beats Erin for me in terms of the awesome production-values and its huge attention to detail in just about everything. Still, I do have to say that Erin is getting closer and closer to the height of SnM.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

The thing I have with Letter Bee is that for every scene of cheese, it also has something nice to make up for it, like for example the Broccoli forest, a cute moment between the characters or a surprisingly genuine scene of Lag. That’s what’s keeping me going with this series.

And yeah, apart from that there’s not a lot of other stuff to say about this series at this point: you can see that it’s obviously building up and taking its time. While a bit boring, it’s a good thing. I’m seeing enough hints that this show knows what it’s doing, so the only thing we can do at the moment is wait.

This episode was nothing special, but I enjoyed it. I think the things I liked best were the stories of how all of the other bees managed to get past the giant centipede-ish Gaichuu. And after all, a Dingo like Nichi that can launch you into the air does make it a lot easier to attack that bugger. I also liked how Nichi kept acting in the background when Lag was busy with something.

Anyway, next episode should spice things up a bit. Gauche suddenly stopped being a Letter Bee? This could get interesting.
Rating: (Enjoyable)

Wait, he does it again? Holy crap, that bastard actually did it again! As if the situation he’s in isn’t bad enough already he decided to give the devil yet another one of his limbs. How much further is this going to escalate?

But yeah: screw the flawed first season. The second season did carry out many improvements. Especially the scene with Eiji and the paintings was just superbly directed, both in terms of art and direction. It definitely was the highlight for this series for me so far, and it really went out of its way to portray the insanity that’s going on inside Eiji’s mind, without cutting any corners.

But yeah, Touya. I’m starting to see where this series is trying to go to. In this episode, he hooks up with YET ANOTHER girl. Not only that, but he also stands her up in the middle of a date for Yayoi. I really hate Touya right now, but for once it’s in a good way: the way he’s portrayed as such an incredible bastard who just keeps running away from Yuki, fooling with every woman he can find. THIS is what School Days should have been. There were so many problems with School Days, but my biggest problem with it was that it didn’t seem to understand its characters: characters just randomly fell in love with Makoto without any possible reason. They acted conveniently like what the script wanted them to do. With White Album however, everything is well built up, and fits within the whole story. Or at least, that’s the case for the second season.

Also, that piano piece that plays during Eiji’s scene when he’s alone. Absolutely beautiful.
Rating: ** (Excellent)