I do not know who animated this episode, but whoever they are, they surely rocked. Take a look at the huge frame-rate of some of the scenes in this episode. I never really considered A-1 Pictures as a top-notch animation studio, mostly because they produced a number of series that I really wanted to like… but couldn’t (Fiary Tail, Kannagi, Persona and Valkyria Chronicles… hmm, they should stay away from video game adaptations…). But really: after Birdy the Mighty and series like this, who am I kidding? These guys rock in terms of graphics and powerful animation.

This episode was very interesting. On the surface, it was perhaps a bit of a standard set of two adventures, but there were many subtle details thrown into it that made it into a very touching and enjoyable episode. Basically, Kanata spends time away from the other four main characters. In the first half, we follow these four. In the second half, we follow Kanata. Some events that happen in the first half can only be explained if you know what happened with Kanata. Nice touch.

regarding the setting: Vingt. This episode was all about showing that, while war might be bad, it’s not the only thing that is. That monster who killed a bunch of people in City number 20: who was it? Where did it come from? And where is it now? Also, the financial issues of the corps: to think that they were secretly and illegally distilling wine. That takes about care of their predictable and generic stereotypes, doesn’t it? It does make me wonder: can you really recognize whether a character is stereotypical or not, right from the first one or two episodes? I still believe that it’s possible. It’s series like this that remind me instead of trying to spot stereotypes in first episodes, you should try to spot what makes characters move away from these stereotypes. Even the slightest hints could promise something interesting for the future.

This episode was also a great tease. I mean, we all know from the director what he has done in the past. We know that he can write these disturbing scenes and he he has gone for something completely different with this series. Right at the point at which the series seems to take a darker twist, it all turns out to have been an act that fully makes sense within the setting of this series.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Heart Catch Precure

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is the umpth incarnation of the legendary mahou shoujo.
Holy crap! Pretty Cure has always been a franchise of cheap mahou shoujo series; that’s why I initially dismissed this series. But oh my god. This episode was just awesome: it was everything a mahou shoujo should be! Just one look at that opening scene should tell enough: the utterly gorgeous character-designs, the animation, the music and the tension. Everything was just wonderfully done in this episode. The humour was really funny and adorable. But the best part were the facial expressions: just look at how many different and expressive emotions they managed to convey in just one episode! Seriously, this episode took me by an utter surprise. The question now is: does it also have a good plan for the next 49 episodes. Precure has been… notorious for its repetition, however if it’s really the intention of the creators to finally come up with a good series, then I’m in!
OP: Fun and catchy.
ED: The ugliest part of this show.
Potential: 80%

One feature of anime that I’m glad has mostly disappeared over the past ten years is the obligatory summary of the previous episode. This episode was one of those examples in which this got taken too far as it spent its first five minutes recapping what happened in the previous episode.

The rest of the episode however more than made up for it. In this episode we get our first taste of the space battles in this series, and the creators have really shown that they know how to write one. It takes the approach of the unidentified enemy: we know that there are a bunch of enemies out there, we just have no idea who they are. If you can make these enemies still behave like real people, even though you never show them, you can get some amazing effects. Later, series as Starship Operators and Bokura no would improve even more on this formula. And in a way, I feel that the former took its inspiration from this series: taking the very technical style of space-battles, and making them even more realistic and believable, rather than just have a bunch of spaceships fire at each other.

The destruction of the Gosroth also is extra bad for Lafiel, since her mother just died. It turns out that one of the reason why the captain was so harsh on Lafiel was because she was partially trying to raise the girl she “provided her genes for”. She tells Jinto this in their escape. Even though they’re travelling together again, just like a few episodes ago, the mood between the two is completely different and gloomy, and yet you can see that they’ve gotten already more used to each other.
Rating: ** (Excellent)