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Rating: 8.8/10 (quality drop)

Impressions:

After that refreshing filler that was episode 7, Code Geass returns with some more intensive action and tasty plotting. Only this time, Lelouch gets his ass whooped, saved by none other than C.C., who has become my favourite girl of the series. She is incredibly unpredictable, with her pizza fetish, lazy attitude, yet secretive motive, which is pretty strange for aspects of one person. The way she saved Lelouch also demonstrates how anyone can become Zero. The special mask has become an icon of heresy against the Britannians, and it is clearly shown how unfair their leaders are. It’s hard to believe that Lelouch’s father had felt such little remorse for him and Nanaly, though his actions does help enforce the idea that he’s an evil tyrant. Lelouch has gained more respect from me now, even though I new he wasn’t actually malevolent. Anyway, it would be awesome if C.C. and Lelouch worked together more, since a relationship developing between them is close to zero percent. There’s more of a chance that they deceive each other and try to kill each other near the end, though that would be flashy too. Frankly, I don’t care what happens to the other girls now, but they should definitely be getting more screen time – especially Karen.

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Popularity: 12% [?]

Rating: 8.3/10

Impressions:

Another enjoyable episode; a lead up to the first battle with Sara in her new red Strain. Of course, we all knew it was going to happen, but it still is nevertheless exciting to watch. Just the feeling you get when watching the characters get geared up is stirring. I have really fallen in love with this show, and the quality is improving as well. Regardless of the normal animation, the computer generated animation is fairly high quality and pleasant to look at. I was hoping that the sub-lightspeed battle would actually take place, having Sara own everyone of course, before being invaded. That way, she’d get much more awe than the way how this episode played out. However, her being a reisner would allow people to track down her past pretty easily I’d assume, which is why this would want to be kept a secret. There’s no doubt that Sara and the ‘princess’ will meet and both try to kill Ralph, and they’ll probably both be angry and desperate instead of friendly toward each other. Sara’s abilities will become revealed to her of course, though I wonder how she’ll react. I think the fact that they are both Reisners will allow them to be close friends, and Sara will probably not be picked on as much anymore. By the way, yes I am being very slack with only six screenshots this episode, but I promise I’ll start blogging normally again by the weekend and onwards, since then I will be on holidays!

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Popularity: 8% [?]

Rating: 6.5/10

Impressions:

I don’t know why I still blog this show. And I also don’t know why there are so many other bloggers doing this show as well. I really feel have no interest in the show, and it is just barely good enough to make it not a chore to watch. This episode is better, but not by much, than most of the preceding ones. I don’t know about you guys but I hate it when a romantic interest becomes public and everyone starts supporting it. I also hate it when both sides admit their feelings so easily and confidently, especially to people other than each other. I really feel like indulging myself in a shoujo romance like Aishiteruze Baby or something (the manga of course) since Yoake is just too childish and silly for me. The sense of relief and happiness that emanates from this episode is quite refreshing, since everyone is in high spirits throughout the entire episode. I wish the series would just end on this episode, though there’s still some unfinished business to complete. Tatsuya’s and Feena’s relationship has by no means been resolved. They still have Feena’s fiancée and Wreathlit to overcome, though I somehow think they are related since they both have similar hair. I’m still wondering who the voice is that’s been communicating with Wreathlit and whether it’s a technological phenomenon or a fantastical one.

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Popularity: 10% [?]

Rating: 7.2/10

Impressions:

Ok, so I am really far behind on a lot of the things I’m blogging, since there’s this big speech night thing at my school, but I promise I’ll catch up after that’s over, which will be soon. As for now, I guess I have to just do short, low quality entries, but only for the not-so-good shows like Pumpkin Scissors at the moment. Well, I’ve already practically forgotten what this ep is about and whether I liked it or not, since I watched it when it came out. However, I do know that it has gotten a lot better (not compared with the last episode but with a few of the earlier ones) with more action now. The snowy mountain setting is a very refreshing change, and feels far more wild and adventurous. You might call this a filler for no plot progression, but these shows usually do random episodes about random things for maybe the first half of the series, before things become serious and start to flow along nicely. Which means, we’ll probably have to put up with another month or so of these filler-like episodes before the real fun starts. That thought is what keeps me watching. I have found a few irritating things in the show know, which is a shame. I don’t like Alice’s attitude. I did, but it’s gotten old and annoying. I also don’t like Orlando when he’s being soft. The only character I enjoy watching right now is Oreld (he’s the tall pimp right?) Apart from that everything is pretty much fine, so I won’t be dropping this show or anything.

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Popularity: 6% [?]

Rating: 9.2/10

Impressions:

The mood has suitably changed to a light and cheerful one after the initial shock that arises from the age swap phenomenon. The watercolour backgrounds, bright settings and constant use of streaming sunrays turns this slice-of-life/drama into a fantastic feel-good episode. It was vastly enjoyable, though this new mood is bound to deteriorate back into drama before long. I suspect it will start falling in terms of mood in the next few episodes, falling into a deeply depressing tragedy, before rising again for the finale. At least, that’s what I hope will happen. This happy-type of episode is good and all, but it can’t sustain interest if this is all that happens for the rest of the series; following the main characters around, cycling through their different lifestyles and such. A romance should also develop, and I’m really hoping for Tetsu and Karada, despite their large age difference. They’re the same height anyway, and you wouldn’t be able to tell that they’re probably 10 years apart in age. Currently, my feelings are inconveniently tangled regarding whether or not Karada and Shouko should return to their initial lives. Karada would turn out for the better that way, having experienced adulthood and matured vastly, though Shouko would be plunged back into her depression and hard life (or so it seems). Since last episode, Shouko has accustomed to her new life and finally made some friends (though she denies this, I’m sure the kids she played with would allow her to join in again).

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Popularity: 10% [?]

Rating: 9/10

Impressions:

I think a lot of people would be impressed with both L and Light after watching this episode. It shows just how cunning and capable they are, and even though they don’t know each other, they are going at it like the kids they are. Light explaining how the 1500 agents report is a bluff is like telling L ‘I just owned your ass n00b!’ Light does that all the time, and the thing is, he never feels threatened by doing things like that. He loves mocking L, while the masterful detective is more reserved but equally competitive. Ryuk’s performance this episode is also quite humorous, as well as several other moments such as the ice cream part near the start of the episode (which wasn’t in the manga). Speaking of that, I’m surprised at the pace of this episode, since it covers three chapters, though it skipped some bits, such as the police taking calls from the public. Nothing important was left out though. I also said last time that the pace of the anime would have to increase soon if it wants to include all the manga in 37 episodes. It looks like the producers can speed things up when they need to. However, they did a pretty bad job on the animation, as it is worse than last episode’s. Still, there are some pretty detailed and well-drawn close ups. Oh and just as a side note, the informant, for whoever doesn’t know, is Naomi’s mother.

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Popularity: 39% [?]

Rating: 9.4/10 (slight quality drop but better story)

Impressions:

Yup, Makoto was once a fox. I believe Yuuichi helped her in some way all those years ago, which made her attached to him. However, he was forced to abandon it when he left town. Sadly, I strongly believe that Makoto will die, as the only other Key game I know, Air, manages to kill of everyone with no trouble, so there shouldn’t be any problem with her death this time. Except ONE thing: it’s TOO early! They can’t kill off such a main character so early in the show! Well, actually they can since they did it with Air, but there will be a vast emptiness to replace Makoto, and I don’t want to accept that. Even if she doesn’t die and returns to being a fox or something, the show would still be missing her. This is why they should’ve merged the stories together more to destroy the threshold that will be her death. At least involve some other characters so that the climax to her story would happen in the beginning of another. But then again, I love drama and I can’t wait until these sad things unfold. Even if a whole episode is spent on showing Yuuichi and the others crying or something, I wouldn’t mind. However, I hope everyone doesn’t lose their memories of Makoto or something, since that happens a lot in fantastical storylines where some mystical being dies.

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Popularity: 8% [?]

Rating: 7.5/10

Impressions:

I guess this means Chouno’s reign as enemy ends, thus also concluding the first arc of the series. There is nothing spectacular and it lacks uniqueness, as quite a few scenes a fairly cheesy and overused. Overall though, it’s not a bad start. It seems that Tokiko had been saved by another alchemical warrior, so I hope many more characters are introduced soon. The ‘community’ within the show needs to grow, and it has limited time to do that with the planned twenty-six episodes. However, as an opposite to that, Kazuki and Tokiko are becoming more attached to each other faster now, which makes me wonder whether one of them will confess or something to the other halfway through the series. What I can definitely say is that Busou Renkin is an action-shounen and I watch it purely because of that. The best way to improve this series is to better the action scenes, since they are currently quite lacking and dull. However if that’s not possible, blossoming some love-interests could make the show more enjoyable. Anyway, the other thing I feel compelled to mention, as anyone probably would, Chouno is disgusting. However, he does provide the basis for the enemies to come. The typical scaling factor is used for when it comes to power/strength levels. Everyone gets stronger as the show progresses (enemies, allies etc), and each time the strongest guy of that ‘phase’ is made to look extremely significant. But then a few episodes later, that guy is forgotten when something much stronger appears. In this case, it seems like a lot of human type Homunculi are going to appear soon.

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Popularity: 11% [?]