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ローゼンメイデン 
October 17, 2006 | 
26 Comments
This series gets some surprisingly nice art style, cinematography, and direction. Maybe it's just specific to this episode but I noticed that a lot of thoughts have gone into framing each scenes so that they look unique and unusual. It also helps that the music is atmospheric and reminds me of Danny Elfman compositions. The animation studio responsible for this series is TMS Entertainment, a company which I've never heard of before. Having said that, I think they've done a great job so far and I hope this will continue in future episodes. The only complains that I have about the episode is that in some scenes, the dark scenes are too dark and I can barely see anything. Maybe I simply have a bad monitor setup but I had to strain my eyes to figure out several objects in the episode and at times I can't see anything. This is going to be a major problem next week since the bulk of the story will be a fight scene. It'll be hard to enjoy if I can't see a thing.
The episode itself begins with Allen heading to the cafetaria where the chef is in the middle of preparing foods for everyone. Upon seeing Allen, the chef becomes excited and promises to make him anything. Much to his shock, Allen turns out to be a big eater and orders a lot of food ranging from Beef stew to Tom Yang Gung. Before Allen can get his order, however, he hears commotion from one of the table. It appears that Kanda has been offending another member called Pazu by saying that his meal taste horrible when someone talks about dead people. Pazu is angry because he and the others, who are classified as 'Finder' always support Exorcist with their lives and yet all Kanda is concerned about is his meal tasting bad. In his anger, the guy tries to hit Kanda but Kanda manages to strangle the guy and tells him that all that he can do is support the Exorcist since he was not an Exorcist who got chosen to carry the 'Innocence'.
Kanda also tells the guy that he can run away if he doesn't want to die since a 'Finder' can be replaced at any time. Kanda's word makes the other Finders angry and they are prepare to attack him. Before they can do so, however, Allen appears and attempts to stop Kanda from strangling the guy. Kanda, however, ignores him and calls him 「萌やし」- Moyashi (beansprout) instead. Allen is annoyed about this especially after Kanda tells him that he'll remember his real name if he's still alive next month. He grabs Kanda's hand and applies pressure to it. Kanda becomes angry and tells Allen that he's going to die soon since he hates people like Allen. Their confrontation, however, comes to a halt when they are told to come to the commander's office. In order to wake Komui up, his colleague tries various method from hitting the guy's head to the most successful one: telling Komui that his sister Lenalee is getting married.
Allen and Kanda are informed by Komui that they will be working together. He then goes on to brief them about the existence of an Innocence in South Italy. However, there is a possibility that it may get taken by an Akuma. Because of this, their job is to destroy the Akuma and secure the Innocence. Before Allen and Kanda departs, Allen gets a new uniform and is surprised when he finds Timcanpy hiding inside of it. Just as the Gondola left the area, Komui tells Allen that Timcanpy has the ability to projet someone's past. In order to catch up with the train, Allen, Kanda, and their Finder jump on top of a moving train. Allen and Kanda then get a first class cabin while their Finder waits outside. During the journey, Allen finds out that their target is the Ghost or Materand wonders what this has to do with Innocence. According to the Finder, an Innocence is a substance which has changed over the yeas from the time of great flood.
The power of the stone attracts people to it but its appearance changes over time and can appear in any form. Although the reason is unknown, the stones have the tendency to cause mysterious illusions. When Allen wonders if this Ghost of Matermight have to do with Innocence, the Finder confirms this by saying that in mysterious place, there usually lies an innocence. This is why the Order investigates these kind of places and when they think that there is a high probability of an Innocence, they send finder to the place. At this point Allen exits his room and introduces himself to the Finder, whose name is Toma. Toma then asks Allen if he's heard the Legend of Martel, an ancient city which has turned into an abandoned city where a ghost dwells. It is believed that the ghost is a deceased Matercitizen who drags those who get too close to the city. Some Finders went there to investigate. Once the Innocence if found, it's time for the Exorcist make their appearance.
Meanwhile in Southern Italy, two Finders managed to trap a group of Akumas inside barriers. They believe that this should give them enough time but unfortunately an Akuma then appears out of nowhere and kills both of them. Inside a building, a group of Finders find out about the fate of those stationed outside. They realise that sooner or later, they'll be caught as well. In a corner, a strange doll asks a little girl called Lala to run but Lala refuses to do this since the doll, Guzoru, is the only one who'll accept her. At the same time, Allen, Kanda, and Toma are in a hurry to reach the area. By using his left eyes, Allen can see three Akumas in the distance. After Allen explains the eyes to Toma and Kanda, Kanda tells him that he'll leave Allen behind if he turns out to be a problem for him. Because of this, he asks Allen not to think of them as partners. Allen is annoyed to hear this and tells Kanda that he doesn't like Kanda's way of thinking.
Inside the city, the Finders try their best to defeat the Akumas but their attack is in vain and the Akumas managed to find the doll and the little girl. Not long after this, Allen, Kanda, and Toma arrive in the city and notice a giant barrier placed surrounding the doll and the girl. It appears that the Finders have done this in order to protect the Innocence until the Exorcist arrive. Allen notices an explosion in the distance and realises that some Finders are still alive so he goes off to save them. Kanda, however, is more concerned about obtaining the Innocence. From a distance, Allen can see the Finder stretching his hand trying to ask for help but since Allen is too far from him, the guy is already killed by Akuma before Allen can get to him. Overcome with anger, Allen unleashes his Innocence and kills the Akuma with one hit. Kanda who notices the explosion from afar is annoyed that Allen went into battle without thinking much about it.
Kanda, however, chooses to focus on the Innocence. Because of this, he powers up his sword, Mugen, and summons a technique which unleashes a bunch of underworld insects which pierce through an Akuma. Kanda then approaches a dying Finder and asks for a deactivation code for the talisman used on the barrier. Kanda urges him to answer him quickly if he wants to avenge his comrades' death. Because of this, the Finder tells Kanda that the code is "Hope". Kanda uses the code on the barrier and approaches the doll and the girl. Meanwhile, Allen is in the middle of using Timcanpy to bait an Akuma. However, the effort didn't turn out well since the Akuma manages to fire a shot at Allen before he can harm it. From afar, Allen is confused to see the soul within the Akuma fading slowly. Eventually, however, he realises that this Akuma has evolved into a humanoid-like Akuma. Kanda then appears with the Innocence and tells Allen that he'll have to fight the Akuma on his own. Allen, however, doesn't mind since Kanda has the Innocence to protect.
Because of this Kanda left with the doll and the girl while Allen face off with the Akuma. The Akuma is excited with the idea of killing Allen but Allen tells it that the one who's going to get defeated is the Akuma himself. Allen tries to hit the Akuma but the creature seems to be quite powerful and able to block the attack using its own hand. In retaliation, the creature kicks Allen back, sending him hurtling towards another building. Not wanting to be outdone, Allen sends a huge rock towards the Akuma but unfortunately, it manages to destroy the rock quite easily. In frustration, Allen slices the Akuma but he realises that what he sliced wasn't an Akuma but a fake. The actual Akuma is now behind him, having the same face and body as Allen. A claw like hand, similar to Allen then proceeds to stab Allen from behind. Allen is confused when he realises that the person who's been stabbing him looks exactly just like him.
Impression:
Kanda's attitude really annoys me here. I always dislike this kind of character and have no idea why shounen series always end up incorporating someone like this. His lack of respect for his comrades was bordering on offensive. And he's probably the kind of character who won't hesitate to use the Finders as a shield if necessary. I am just glad that unlike that other Shounen Jump series, the lead female character is not fawning over him. In addition to this, the series does not give his character too much focus. If anything, his appearance only makes me feel sorry for the Finders and want to see more of them instead of him. I hope somewhere in the future there will be an arc which focuses on the adventures of the Finders. It'll be interesting to see someone in this position trying to defend himself from the Akuma. It's unfortunate that at the moment they are nothing more than a bunch of non-characters who get to be wasted by the Akuma.
The transformation of the Akuma into something more advanced (seemingly possesing an intelligence) is another interesting aspect of this episode. I wish the series has gone deeper into explaining as to why certain Akuma can do this. The biggest mystery of the episode is of course the Legend of MaterGhost and its correlation to the Innocence. I think this implies that Innocence possesses a chaotic element. It can be used for good but it also can be used to do evil deeds or to create problem for those around it. It'll be interesting if it turns out that there are evil elements within an Innocence itself. Especially since Allen himself possesses a power which is related to Akuma. Speaking of Allen, I'm surprised the series hasn't gone into explaining his past. I always think that it's an important part of the story and one which explains his desire to fight Akuma. I really hope that this will get addressed soon before the series get into other major arcs.
Preview
On next week's episode: The obligatory shounen fight scenes.
YAY chapter 3! The animation looks great! can't wait for the conclusion of this adeventure. XD
holy..Garten, I'm amazed by your stamina... and I just woke up...^^;; Anyways, looks like D-gray man is moving really fast which is good. Are they doing those pan & scan action scenes again?
LOL, to be honest, I just woke up and finished writing this summary. I was going to do it a few hours ago but the temptation of getting a good sleep was too good to resist.
I seriously got hooked on this series (Anime and Manga) when the first ep came out, but it bothers the hell outta me that I really can't see most of the scene which takes place at night
I agree with you about the dark colors - most of the time I just couldn't figure out much. I probably wouldn't see anything at all in dark scenes if I haven't read the manga before.
Speaking of the manga, the anime is starting to show more obvious differences with the manga. I'm still not pleased with the fact that they skipped the Jean arc after the first chapter, which explains Allen's past. Maybe they're going to put it in as an aftermath of this arc? I never really get these stuff.
O_O I think it's like, the first time I've seen a Kanda hater. But I strongly agree. Kanda is really annoying and I always end up hating those prideful characters like him in every shounen series. But I am also relieved that we don't see any girls whooing over him or else I'll whack my own head.
On the Third Episode, there's a lot of improvement. I love the OST on this one unlike the last two. It seems they were gradually improving. I just hope this is not the last of it.
Kanda is also done by the same voice actor as Cloud Strife from FF7 who really has the strong sense of being emo. So I guess hearing his voice coming from Kanda doesn't surprise me with despite the sadistic expression. So I don't have that MUCH hate for Kanda on the anime. But I can't say much for the manga's Kanda. There's surely a reason for him being a bastard.
I think the Akuma Level 2's voice was the most suitable one in my opinion. It match that wicked yet insane personality. I'm ashame of myself for nominating him.
wait! hold on for a sec. i thought that lil flying thing's name is timcanpy and the girl's called Rinali not Lenalee????
i'm following timcanpy's scanlated ver. of the manga, and that was the name that they translated...
kanda personality can't be a friend with all people because of his stuborn and didn't care people
but i like him same with allen ^_^
this time was good chapter
i hope i can see more actions
I actually started out using Rinali but I found out from Wikipedia (warning: may contain spoilers) that the author of the series has formally romanised 「リナリ・リ」 as "Leenalee Lee" in volume 6 of the series. As for "Timcanpy", I simply unintentionally seperate Tim and Canpy. It's just my faulty reflex but I've fixed that one.
As a fan of the manga, I'm also disappointed about the 'I Can't See a Thing!' syndrome this series suffers from. I was only able to tell what happened because I've read the manga beforehand. Maybe the DVD's will be of better quality...?
I've never really come across a Kanda hater until now either. :o I guess his looks redeem him in fangirls' eyes. Heh, but I can definately get where you're coming from. He can really push your limits sometimes with his nasty attiude. I think he's a good contrast for Allen's personality, though. I like how Allen doesn't just sit there and take his snide comments. The jerk seriously needs to be kicked off his high horse.
Anyway, I'll be looking forward to as how the anime will go about Allen's past, too. I'm sure they won't just skip over it, though, since Allen's already made a short reference to the character 'Mana' in episode 2.
They did skip over Allen's little flashback in the second story as they didn't animate it. Hopefully they'll find the time to put that in somewhere. Maybe before the conclusion of this arc?
Kanda's attitude can be annoyig, but hopefully they'll stick to the manga and flesh him out a little bit in the second part of this story. You get an inkling of why he's so pissy and also learn an unsettling fact about him and his abilities.
I personally really like Kanda. After a little fleshing out he's less annoying and more funny cause he's so grumpy.
"Maybe I simply have a bad monitor setup but I had to strain my eyes to figure out several objects in the episode and at times I can't see anything."
If you use VLC media player, you can go to Settings > Extended GUI to adjust the brightness/contrast of the video. =)
Hmm I don't seem to mind the dark setup in this episode (I can see things just fine). If anything, it kind of adds to the whole eerie atmosphere.
Satsuki wrote:
"After a little fleshing out he's less annoying and more funny cause he's so grumpy."
Yes, Kanda can be a prissy bastard at times XD. Honestly, when he first appeared in the manga I found him really annoying. But yeah, as the story progressed, I ended up finding his attitude to be quite cute because of his grumpiness^^. Such a big baby!
Anyhoo, eagerly waiting for Rabi to make his debut!!! >
Yeah... i agree on the usual incorporation of "cool" and angst characters and i'm relieved that the female characters aren't all over him (yet anyway). These characters are so typical... bad history, wanna become strong for some reason like revenge or what (naruto watchers... sound familiar?) and the most irritating thing is that they attract girls (though of course the girls aren't real... it still irritates us) Reflects real life in some way, maybe? The good looking, talented people get noticed, revered, showered with attention no matter how bad their characters are while the "normal guy" gets unnoticed even if what they do is of greater risk and requires more from them. *sigh* Anyway, finally a good anime. I'm relieved... need good action anime... anyway, looking forward to your review of NHK! I'd like to read your opinions on ep 14. Dun let that stress you up though dood... know you are busy and all
Hey, I hate Sasuke but I adore Kanda.
Maybe its the TINY difference between them, where Sasuke is no doubt arrogant and self-pitying Kanda just seems so grumpy. His intro was done much better too, especially in the manga with the 'scary glare' and then yelling at the gatekeeper before getting hit on the head by Linali. When reading Naruto I felt annoyed at how EVERYTHING was about Sasuke, the girls adore him and the enemies know his name, why didn't they just make Sasuke the main character then? I mean UGH I liked Neji over him, at least there was some originality with his obsession of fate.
Kanda is funnier too ^^ I mean *SPOILERS* getting mad for strange reasons, complaining about his teacher, having that glare like a cat's, getting annoyed when Rabi called him by the first name, and being squashed by the other exorcists XD *SPOILER END* He's funny in his own unique way
So you just have to play around the Brightness and Contrast control - even so - it is annoying that you have to do that in order to see the scenes...I mean for those who watch it on TV ...you have to adjust it every time you are watching this series
Hey Garten...do you read the manga for this? Because after reading all your summaries/reviews/impressions, you seem to somewhat know what's going to happen and yet at the same time you're posing questions that should have been answered in the manga.
And I agree with your annoyance with Kanda, but at least he's less annoying then the 'other shounen character'. Thanks for the big screenshots!
Josh, I've read the manga up to chapter 20, IIRC. So that's why I don't know some of the answers to the questions that I've asked. Maybe I should read more but I haven't had a chance to do that lately.
It also helps that the music is atmospheric and reminds me of Danny Elfman compositions >>
OST is supposed to be done by Kaoru Wada (KH2 OST)
i want to ask smething. for the opening in shinsen subs, at the end of the opening song it says "ever never end" and in sdproject it says "every man on earth" which is the right one? im asking to see which fansub it better at translating. some differences are in the show too.
OST is supposed to be done by Kaoru Wada (KH2 OST)
Is his style similar to Danny Elfman's songs? I've never played Kingdom Hearts 2 so that's why I used Danny Elfman as comparison.
i want to ask smething. for the opening in shinsen subs, at the end of the opening song it says "ever never end" and in sdproject it says "every man on earth" which is the right one? im asking to see which fansub it better at translating. some differences are in the show too.
LOL. To be honest, I can't really tell either because that part of the lyric is in English and Japanese singers usually composed the least sensical words. It's especially hard with rock song like this.
Having said that, I did notice that the the last part of that sentence is a lot closer to 'nd' instead of 'rth'. Also, since the previous sentence is "Boku ni furete" (sway to me), "ever never end" sounds more appropriate (even if it's grammatically incorrect). But that's just my guess. Until the official lyric is out this is the only thing we can do.
soltaire_rev wrote:
OST is supposed to be done by Kaoru Wada (KH2 OST)
Garten wrote:
Is his style similar to Danny Elfman's songs? I've never played Kingdom Hearts 2 so that's why I used Danny Elfman as comparison.
Kaoru Wada's a woman iirc. I think that her sound varies. She can do anything from bright and hopeful to dark and sinister. :D
Satsuki wrote:
"After a little fleshing out he's less annoying and more funny cause he's so grumpy."
Yes, Kanda can be a prissy bastard at times XD. Honestly, when he first appeared in the manga I found him really annoying. But yeah, as the story progressed, I ended up finding his attitude to be quite cute because of his grumpiness^^. Such a big baby!
Anyhoo, eagerly waiting for Rabi to make his debut!!! >
I agree with everything your wrote. Kanda is adorable . XD And Lavi FTW.
mmm... anyone know if they relased the single for the opening by any chance? it's been a while >.> still looking for that song
I don't have VLC player, but I had my own solution to the CAN'T SEE problem: I had a light source beside/behind me, then I watched the episode with the computer screen lowered VERY slightly. At that angle, I could clearly see the fight scenes.
Lol, I think that unlike all the Lavi fans, I'm looking forward to Rhode's appearence the most.
*SPOILERS* I adored the scene where she hugged Allen when its so obvious she'll try to kill him, Linali, and Miranda. Her comment (Depending on your translator) "Warm, am I not? Is this not what it feels like, to touch another human being?" really made me smile, for some strange reason. *END SPOILERS*
And Tiki with that homework scene XD "Looks like another all nighter" by the Earl
Kanda might turn out to softer after all. He did ask the finder who accompanied them to look after the akuma, and the finder thought he was referring to Allen. But we might all know better.
The fight scene between Allen and the Clown akuma was kinda hard to see. Like what you said everything is too dark, it might not be the computer's screen problem.
i love kanda sia he so cool n i agree with you
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