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Impressions:

Ahh, I finally see Hirano Aya’s voice in Mahiro. It’s so different that I didn’t realise until I read it somewhere. Anyway, this episode is better than the first mainly because there was more action and it was faster paced; just how a shounen anime should be. The real villain is also introduced, but I can’t help but think he’s not one of the big ones and will die pretty soon, thus the OP will be replaced by a more appropriate one that includes shots of the new villain. Okay, I honestly don’t know about that theory but I want it to happen because the evil dude right now looks so ridiculously gay that it’s worse than the Millennium Earl from D.Gray-man. Why can’t the bad guys in shounen anime just look like normal people? These days people try to spice up generic looking characters but they end up wrecking it and making them look worse. Think of Aizen from Bleach; sure he’s bland with no striking features, but at least he looks better than this butterfly dude. Speaking of villains, why do the homunculus have to be mechanical? Is there a rule that says anything relating to alchemy must be robotic? Where’s all the blood and guts flying everywhere?!

Despite those things which I find quite disappointing, I still find the show to be quite good for a shounen series. The protagonist is advancing his powers fairly quickly which is good, although I hope his attacks don’t remain limited to powerhouse attacks for too long. Some fancy sword work would be awesome but since Kazuki’s weapon is a spear, that doesn’t seem too realistic. However, the episode definitely gives the impression that Kazuki will develop faster reflexes (I mean a lot faster) and the strength to wield his spear with exceptional speeds. But for now, I’m satisfied with seeing moves like the finishing attack at the end of the series, as it is spectacular enough. By the way, the OP has been shown now and as usual, it is far better quality than the actual episodes themselves. The animation would be good enough to tempt me to watch the series if I hadn’t already seen it (unlike the first time I watched Bleach – the OP put me off a lot, and it wasn’t until many episodes later that I got to really appreciate the awesomeness of the first OP). The tune was outstanding or anything but did give the usual shounen/action feel.

Now to fill in some space for this third paragraph…Tokiko’s scar still annoys me. Why wreak a perfectly fine face with a massive ugly brown streak across the bridge of the nose? Still, I am getting used to it (as well as her low voice which I hate). And another thing, what’s with her school uniform? And I don’t mean why is she wearing one, but it looks like some massively obese person tried to put her shirt on and stretched the bottom part to 5 times it’s width without breaking it somehow…I also find Kazuki’s obviously emerging crush on Tokiko a bit early. He blushes far too much for my liking and Tokiko, being the mature warrior she is, doesn’t notice at all. I’m glad Kazuki’s school and classmates are involved as well (his sister too) as otherwise it would seem too isolated, especially with Kazuki going red over Tokiko every moment he can, which could probably result in a relationship pretty soon. *Sigh* you probably think I’m being very picky and such, but the problems I have listed are only minor and I don’t really care that much about them. So, overall I still rate the show pretty high…for a shounen at least.

Plot Outline:

- Tokiko gives Kazuki her phone number so they can contact each other when the need arises
- Kazuki’s friend discovers this and everyone immediately suspects him of having a girlfriend
- Tokiko calls Kazuki and tells him to meet her at the abandoned warehouse to take a look at an embryo producing thing
- They are interrupted by the butterfly guy on a homunculus
- They try to convert Tokiko into a homunculus by trying to attach an embryo on her but she swats it away
- The masked man flees
- Kazuki’s friends and sister find him with Tokiko

- They decide to go out for a drink together, but as Tokiko and Kazuki are walking behind everyone else, they see the embryo clinging onto Kazuki’s hair
- Tokiko tries to get rid of it but it strikes at her
- Kazuki pushes her out of the way and roles down a ravine with her
- The embryo ends up attached to Tokiko’s skin and she estimates it’ll take a week for it to get to her brain, which will be the end
- The only way to stop this is to kill the person who made the embryo
- The two are attacked by frog like homunculus things sent by the masked guy
- Kazuki gets rid of them with relative ease as Tokiko is being restrained from using her alchemy by the embryo
- Kazuki promises to get strong enough within a week to save Tokiko

OP:

Preview:

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