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Rating: 9/10

Impressions:

Clannad’s return after the new year was meh. I reckon it got worse. Shana’s return was very nicely done, though it was something I had been expecting. Gundam 00’s return was nothing special, though I did feel that it’s story had become somewhat deeper than the usual. BUT, wow, this episode sure changes things. It has now begun the second half of this first season, fresh with a new OP and ED, which I will get to later. The animation keeps up as expected, but with a serious turn in the story, one which seems to set the main and eventual plot in motion. If I have any complaints though, it would be the lack of character development—but I can see a lot of that coming soon.

With the world moving, and the Gundam Meisters in somewhat of a pinch, and the awesome new OP and ED, I can’t help but feel tremendously excited for this show. The enormity of the scale of this show also affects it, if you want to compare it to other current shows like Clannad and Shakugan no Shana II. From now, the story is certainly going to have a more obvious focal point and purpose, and you can expect anything to happen to have a deeper meaning than you would think. It’s about time we find out whether Saji and Louise really are important or not—though I suspect them to only participate in some heavy character development in Setsuna.

Aside from the episode itself, I’m amazed at the new OP and ED. I had completely forgotten that there would be a change in songs this episode, which made it all the more surprising (in a good way of course). Compared to the first OP, I have to say Ash Like Snow does a much better job in starting the series. The animation also synchs to a greater extent, while the song itself, IMO, is better anyway. If you must know, I never liked the first OP anyway. It looks like I’m actually going to sit through the OP each time from now. It really is quite addicting if you ask me.

As for the ED, I’m really impressed at the animation, if anything (though the ED as a song is great as well). The cheerful beach scene seems out of place at first, but the real meaning emerges when the water suddenly turns red and everyone starts looking depressed. Leaving aside the symbolism in such an ED, it really is stunning from just an artistic point of view. The song suits it nicely as well. However, it’s harder to toss up between the first and current ED, as both suit the show, but are light-years apart in similarity, so I’m not going to say which the better creation is. For the song by itself though, I have to say I like the current ED the most.

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