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Rating: 8/10

Impressions:

The momentary Grimjaww vs Ulquiorra has been superbly animated. Unfortunately, you can’t say the same for the initiating of Grimjaww vs Ichigo. Regardless, this episode has been largely exciting and suspenseful, and I’d say even for manga readers, as battles usually are. Unfortunately, there is no Bleach for the next two weeks, so the continuation of this fight will have to wait a while. It looks like a large filler arc is coming as well, which makes me wonder how it will be integrated, and what kind of plot it will have. It can’t be that hard to come up with a decent story to suit the flow of the manga, unless the budget is rather low or the scriptwriters are just lazy…

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Popularity: 4% [?]

Rating: 9/10

Impressions:

I definitely wasn’t expecting Lockon to die, but it’s for good effect that he did. I’m not being a heartless person, but his death gives the show that much more substance, something which I fully endorse. This show really does just continue on with the same battle-after-battle pattern, but at least they throw in different variables each time to diversify things and make the show more interesting as a whole. There’s still no real mindbender twist in the plot or anything of the nature, but perhaps they can pull something out of their sleeves before the season is over. One thing’s for sure though; Gundam 00 has been more than just a pleasant ride.

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Popularity: 4% [?]

Rating: 9/10

Impressions:

Uh oh, the part I’m most worried about now is Hiromi’s vengeful glare after informing Shin about Noe’s disappearance. I definitely hope the story doesn’t become highly unrealistic, like School Days, though a bit of fighting or angst wouldn’t hurt. I still have doubts that Hiromi will end up with Shin, but of course this is the path I would like the show to take. Perhaps the uncertainty at the moment is what’s creating a large portion of the excitement—even the well executed kiss-on-beach scene doesn’t wrap anything up. Ai making up with Nobuse was a quick and efficient way of concluding the two up, but also shows that they were never really in the heat of things.

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Popularity: 5% [?]

Rating: 8/10

Impressions:

An excellently executed in my opinion—I love the first OP insert during the climax of the episode. I said I didn’t like the song as an OP, which holds true, but when used as an accompanying piece to such a battle scene, the effect is glamorous. It definitely hypes the entire ordeal up by a lot. They also placed a nice Shana-almost-confessing scene in the midst of things, which almost makes it seem like the season doesn’t need any further development between the two (which would suck, but it works I admit). However, I have a feeling this is just the calm before the storm in terms of the relationship between Shana and Yuuji.

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Popularity: 3% [?]

Rating: 8.5/10

Impressions:

Finally, Setsuna gets the spotlight (though unfortunately not through his own prowess, but some function in the Gundams). It’s quite surprising that the Trinity siblings have been wiped out almost completely so shortly, as I had expected them to play a larger part in the overall plot. With the turn of events now, it doesn’t look like Nena is going to be representing the Thrones anymore, and I can see her either dying in an act of revenge, or siding with Setsuna and becoming more or less ‘good’. We’ll have to see though, and I wonder how this first season is going to end (obviously, it has to be pretty big).

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Popularity: 4% [?]

Rating: 7.8/10

Impressions:

I’m surprised that this episode actually covers three chapters of the manga (ch275 to 277), as it seems really slow, with all the explanatory talk and quirky gags. But regardless, it looks like the next few episodes will be solid fighting, and if the anime really does begin a new arc in April, it would have to be after the completion of Ichigo’s fight with Grimmjaw. I have to commend Kubo Tite for making the awesome cliff hanger for this part of the show, and the animators for executing it well (although all they have to do is really just follow the manga). It would be a whole lot more fun if I didn’t know the result of this new encounter, but it will be fun to watch anyway.

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Popularity: 4% [?]

Rating: 8/10

Impressions:

Haha, it almost seems like KyoAni is ‘forcing’ Nagisa and Tomoya together, with all the references to their love for each other, but it’s a nice and welcome change from Air and Kanon. I really hope they actually get somewhere before the end of things, and not have anything TOO sappy, like confessing to each other and embracing or something. Anyway though, I wonder if the other world sequences are merely just part of Nagisa’s play, or if there’s some supernatural elements to it. Although ridiculous, maybe something like, the little robot is Tomoya from some other dimension, or something like that.

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Popularity: 4% [?]

Rating: 9.2/10

Impressions:

Hiromi is love! Aiko has definitely lost what little chance she had with Shinichiro, while it doesn’t seem like Noe is having much luck either. I guess the next few episodes are either gonna have Shin break up with Noe, or re-realise his love for her. I like the former idea much better, as you would imagine. Shin still has to confess to Hiromi, who I’m sure he is now hot on the trail for after discovering they really aren’t related (though in a real situation, there’s always the possibility that the parents are lying, or have been deceived themselves). I really hope they finish this awesome series well.

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Popularity: 4% [?]