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ローゼンメイデン 
September 15, 2008 | 
14 Comments
I really hate Furuichi that the part of the episodes which contain his character is almost unbearable. On the positive side, Raigyou turns out to be a good character so that kind of even things out. Speaking of the guy, for some reason he sounds a little bit like Shuuji from Honey and Clover so I wonder if they have the same VA. Anyway, the series still feel directionless but at least more details finally emerge. Like I said before, we finally find out more about Raigyou and judging from the photo on episode 9, we'll find out about Kujireika. One thing that I'm having problem with is the amount of terms that are being used in the series. It's really hard to keep up with all of the new words the show invented, especially since they all sound the same to one another. For example, there was an Ongoro-user but as it turns out, the thing that they control doesn't look like the Ongoro that Nakiami has in the postal ship (the translucent creature).
The music in this series is just sublime. I think I've said this before but I'll said it again: the soundtrack can't come out soon enough. On that note, I've been checking several Japan online retailers and I haven't seen the Blu-ray listed at all. What I hate is that when I don't check them, all of a sudden, the title will appear on the listing. Then everyone else will pre-order the disc and get the first-pressing edition while I miss out on it. I know this because I've missed out on several discs like Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo although I did get Perfect Blue special edition (with a rather embarrassing boxset). Shame about the transfer quality of the later one though. Anyway, this is another one of those transition episodes where there isn't much progress or development. If I interpret the episode correctly, it seems the writers have decided to give bigger focus on the romantic entanglements between the characters. It remains to be seen if this is a good idea or not.
The plot is finally becoming a bit clearer here. I always thought that the Hiruko used in Xam'd and the ones used in Humanform weapon are similar but this episode suggests that they are actually different. I wonder what's different about the two though and if this is the reason why Akiyuki manages to control his transformation better than the humans who turn into humanform weapons. This episode also shows that both Haru and Furuichi are not going to be a mere bystander while Akiyuki goes on travelling with the postal ship. Even a supporting character like Akiyuki's father seem to have more role in the story than how he first appeared in the series. The animation is a bit inconsistent this week, which is rather disappointing considering BONES' track record with other series such as Soul Eater. Having said that, the episode does not look horrible at all. It's just that sometimes the characters don't look like the way they suppose to look.
It looks like the plot is finally going to move somewhere. I always feel that both Haru and Furuichi don't have much of a role beyond that of Akiyuki's classmates. From here on forward, however, it looks like they both are going to join the army to fight the humanform weapon. However, considering the fact that this will be the same army that is spearheaded by Kakisu and his crazy professor, I'm not sure if this is such a good idea. Kakisu seems to be working to fight the northern invader at the moment but given the right situation, I can see him turning around and want to become a dictator. There is a chance that Kakisu will become the main villain that Akiyuki and his postal ship crews have to fight later on in the story. Speaking of batshit insane villains, it's good to know that Nakiami's own little tribe is equally dysfunctional in this regard. This episode confirms that the one who's been sending humanform weapons is a Tessik-origin character who thinks that causing world chaos is a spiritual mandate. I suppose the writers want to draw comparison to real-life batshit insane terrorists.
The animation quality of the series remains good which bodes well for the rest of the series. I'm especially impressed with how the character design works so well with the color scheme of the series. If there's one thing that I hope the series will improve is the ship designs. I think it's been said before that this series has some of the most ridiculous ship design ever. I don't actually mind the design of the human-form weapons and its associated Xam'd-like creatures because I get the impression that they are meant to have the animal-like quality, or rather, they look like the animal Gods from Egypt. What I want to know, however, is if these creatures come from the same source or if they come from different origin. It's kind of hard to tell who's fighting who and on whose side a particular human-form weapon is at this point in the story. On that note, do we actually know the name of the postal ship? Because I've been having difficulty distinguishing one ship from another.
I haven't paid much attention to the BGM of this series prior to this episode but they're really nice and reminds me of some Ghibli BGM for some reason. The piece that plays as Akiyuki realizes that they're no longer above Sentan is a good example of this. It's a quiet yet melancholic piece that is perfect to describe Akiyuki's mood at that point. Speaking of mood, I noticed in this episode that the series go through a great detail to describe a person's emotion. For some reason, despite Kakisu's calm answer at the meeting shown at the start of this episode, his body language suggests something else. Throughout the meeting, he is shown tapping his feet to the ground like he's enjoying the situation or he's impatient with how the things proceed. I'm impressed how BONES put so much focus on what is actually a minor scene. At this point in the story, Kakisu's characterisation is kind of dubious. It's hard to see if he'll become one of the heroes or if he'll be the villain piece of the story. But at least now we know why there's a tapping feet in the opening scene.
This show is hot. It's been a while since I have a desire to purchase anime on disc and the last series I purchased on disc were Honey and Clover and Suzumiya Haruhi. However, I think I'll at least get the first few episodes of this show on Blu-ray. I just think the combination of the character design, story, and animation are top notch here. It's probably a personal taste but I like this one better than Code Geass's first few episodes mostly because it feels more adventurous than political. It helps that the opening gives me a Cowboy Bebop kind of feel but the thing that impresses me the most about the series is its character design. Character design is my main reason for watching anime. I know it's not a really good criteria to judge an anime but I have the tendency to dislike series that doesn't have good character design. On the other hand, it doesn't take much to make me interested in an anime than a set of well-design characters. It can't be helped since I'm a graphic designer and looking at pretty graphics is something that I love to do.
OP Theme: 「SHUT UP AND EXPLODE」by BOOM BOOM SATELLITES
Download: AVI version (72.1MB, correct ratio/no black-bars) | PSP version (16.3MB)
Otherwise known as Bounen no Xamdou, this series is an absolute delight in this otherwise dry summer anime season. I'd have paid the $2.99 for SD version or $3.99 for HD version, if only I can actually access the US movie store on PS3. See Sony, this is why you keep getting screwed by other companies. Stop doing this stupid zone restriction. I appreciate that you allow everyone to access any PSN game store. But ideally, it'd also be nice if I can access any PSN movie store as well. Otherwise, then please provide similar contents across PSN stores in different countries. I have enough credits on my European, Japanese, and US PSN account so if you want money, then let me see the show in HD. Anyway, at a first glance, this show looks like a combination of Rahxephon, Eureka 7, Nausicaa, Escaflowne and Last Exile. It's a pretty exciting series that deserves to be the highlight of Bones' 20th Anniversary.