This site is designed for accessibility. Content is obtainable and functional to any browser or Internet device. This site's full visual experience is available in a modern browser that supports web standards. Please consider upgrading your browser.
ローゼンメイデン 
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.
Up in the postal ship, the crews are lining up to get their wages. Akiyuki is surprised that he too gets paid considering all of the problems that he's caused Nakiami and the other crew members. Meanwhile, Haru and Furuichi continue their training to be an ASP pilot and has to defeat the resurrected Xam'd. After chasing the creature for a while, Haru quickly realizes that the creature is not harming anything. Instead, it focuses its attention on a tower with a large eyes etched on it. Unfortunately for the Xam'd, Furuichi doesn't give two hoots and kills it with a few shots from his ASP. Back inside the ship, Akiyuki is surprised when he gets a bucketload of letters coming from Haru. Haru explains how she's taking an ASP exam with the hope that she can get out of Sentan island to see Akiyuki again. Speaking of Haru, she's spotted by Prois who decides to take her on a car ride. Haru tries to bring up the point that the Xam'd that they killed had a baby but Prois think she has a "Stockholm Syndrome" and that Xam'd is just like humanform weapon if not more dangerous. At the same time, Akiyuki begs to borrow Beat Kayak so he can meet Haru at Tsumebara Pass. Ishuu doesn't mind if he leaves but he can't borrow Beat Kayak.
After promising that he'll come back, Nakiami agrees to let him leave on the condition that he brings Nekomata (the rabbit/pig creature) with him. After this, Akiyuki jumps off the plane using parachute and lands on a nearby island. He quickly gets to a point where he sees a large stone resembling humanform weapon. All of a sudden, however, Roppa the Nekomata hisses. It seems the target of the creature's suspicion is an elderly man. Akiyuki decides to ask for direction but ends up setting off the man and turns him into a humanform. Akiyuki decides to let his arm transform and proceeds to cut one of the creature's hands. He is eventually saved by a little girl and his father who are on their way to bring offerings for their dead mother/wife. It seems the father also has a case of Hiruko infused into his hand. Back in the ship, Nakiami becomes concerned when she finds out that the reading on Nekomata's status becomes faint. In the island, Akiyuki wonders how people turned into humanform but the little girl can only explain that it happens after an air raid by the North government. The father of the girl introduces himself as Zuizo. Back in the ship, Nakiami decides to check on Akiyuki and Roppa just to make sure that they're okay.
Impression
Ever since I saw the character, I knew I'm going to hate Furuichi since he looks like the kind of douchebags I've met in real life. It's kind of amusing to see this episode confirms that suspicion. This episode makes it clear that this particular Xam'd didn't want to create destruction. It simply wanted to escape with its baby. Even knowing this fact, Furuichi decided to ignore it and just blasted it. Anyway, it's obvious by now that he likes Haru but she's not even aware of it. I can just see him trying to kill Akiyuki next week on the pretense that he's no longer human. Moving along, I'm glad the show decides to address the reason why some humans turned into humanform. I always get the impression that these humans were experimented by the North government. After watching this episode, however, I got the impression that even those who were not part of the experiments starts experiencing transformation. On that note, I think they need to start differentiating between the ones who have Xam'd and the ones who turned into humanform weapons. It's rather hard to distinguish the two since they almost have similar shape. All I can tell is that Xam'd has human-like physical attributes (ie. walking on two legs) while humanform tends to be more animal-like (walking using their hands/legs).
Well I think that there is some plot developement this episode and things are slightly making more sense.
I suppose the Xam'd can be more powerful than the humanform, considering it's ability to leap and swing around like a pro. But from what I recall in a previous episode, it seems like there is a human inside the humanform, rather than him/her transforming into a humanform. I wonder if there's a difference between the two?
I'm also interested to know more about the white hair people and their connection with either the Northern government or Nakiami's tribe.
Easy way to distinguish Xam'd form Humanform: Xam'd don't have spores.
Just wanted to point out that you wrote Last instead of Lost for Xam'd under Current Series.
On the mech-fight at the start, I thought the Humanform went down too easy, as there was all this fuss about it being the "Origin" or the "mother" one, and it goes down from a few shots.
Some of the events of next weeks episode seem a little straight forward, namely the Haru/Akiyuki reunion, and Furuichi with a gun... Having said that, I'd like it to be something different, or for their to be some sort of 'twist' on it.
Focusing on the romance angle seems like the logical thing to do right now, as the Xam'd, Humanform, north government plot needs time to progress before it can start going places, so a little bit of teen-drama wafting around helps to kill time.
Off hand, I'd say the biggest difference between the Humanform weapons and the Xam'd seems to be the question of mass production.
Somehow, the forces creating the Humanforms has found some way to standardize production. There are a few types that we've seen, but there are multiple copies of almost all of them. Therefore, there is a distinction between the pilot and the weapon because the weapon is something that is customized.
Xam'd on the other hand, seems to be a more organic process, based on the user, rather than a pattern. The Mother Xam'd has some very different abilities and stats than the Akiyuki Xam'd. Because the Xam'd is tailored to it's host, there is no distinction between Xam'd and user.
Of course, we've only seen two Xam'd so far, so there's a lot of room for error in my hypothesis. It could also be that Akiyuki's Xam'd has yet to mature, and he will end up like Momma Xam'd, which would shoot my argument out of the sky.
It's a shame that not many people watch this series. Especially since it's better than other series currently on air.
hey garten, I don't know if this is valid but I am leaving this link here in case anybody is looking for a fansubbed version of this anime:
http://xnao.wordpress.com/category/bonen-no-xamdou/
these people have the links (megaupload) of the episodes of this anime posted weekly. I don't know the name of the fansub but it's in english. hope this helps since I know how difficult it is to find ripped & subbed on time versions of this anime.
Furuichi have been showing the douchebag-signs ever since the series began, IMHO... but it isn't before now that we're getting our suspicions confirmed.
Hmm, pity that Xam'd doesn't seem to be all that well-watched yet indeed, considering that it's for sure one of the better ongoing series out there now...
she put up ep 13 http://xnao.daijoubu.org/?cat=13
Note:
Please be aware that the following type of comments will be deleted from now on: spams, comments containing l33t talk or rudeness. Check Animesuki, Tokyo Toshokan, or D-Addicts before asking where to find a series. If you want to post spoiler, please use <spoiler>write your spoiler here</spoiler> tags.
The comment area allows post without email address. However, all posters have to fill out the name field. If you have a question unrelated to the particular entry, please email: designchronicle@NOSPAMgmail.com. Make sure you remove the NOSPAM part of the email.