Well, it seems my predictions from the last episode has proven to be incorrect since Ichiko and Suzume did end up joining up with Yumemi. I personally found the ordeal a little weird although I really enjoyed the part preceding it.

From what Gntarl said in this episode, it seems as though he might be off to give Munto a hand. I had initially thought that he would have some troops with him on that airship but it seems it’s just a one-seater.

Well, with only one episode of this show left, I hope things aren’t going to be too rushed in episode nine. Yeah, I know, nine episodes only, it’s pretty whacked up I guess. Although the first and second OVAs wrapped themselves up neatly, they did leave room for future developments. I’m not sure what they’re going to do here. I mean, while the first OVA made it seem as though everything was swimming, that wasn’t the case with the events of the second OVA. I guess, at the end of the day, they can always expand on the story or the universe more if they felt like it.

So it seems that my hopes of finding out more about Gridori from the last episode has been dashed. I know that people usually say that people aren’t dead if you don’t see their bodies but I think we’ve seen the last of Gridori if you ask me.

I’m not sure about everyone else but I myself am a little doubtful as to whether I got everything that Munto said to Yumemi during the second half of the episode. Watching it again would probably help though I’m hoping more will be revealed in the coming episodes. Perhaps more context will be provided in the upcoming movie?

The next episode’s preview seemed to hint at Ichiko and Suzume’s appearance but I’m not going to count on it coming true as I just can’t think of any plausible reason as to why they would suddenly get beamed up to where Yumemi is.

Ah, this was truly an epic episode. I really liked the conversation that Yumemi and Munto had in the beginning of the episode. I think both voice actors did a very good job in that scene. Reusing the same music that they played during the end of the third episode also nets this episode major brownie points on my part.

With regards to the change in animation, I’m sure everyone can notice the difference in the amount of lines in the hair. I don’t really have a problem with Yumemi’s new design but I think Leica suffered quite a bit with the switch. I hope she’ll look better in the next couple of episodes.

Things aren’t looking too good for Munto although we can see he’s alive and well in the previews. I presume Gass is the one that’s going to save him although I don’t know how that’s going to turn out since Gridori was able to capture Gass. And speaking of which, since Gridori was flinging those black lines around, is he also an Outsider? He also put on a Munto face, so is he of the same dynasty/family or something? And what about the armour that he put on? I mean, the armour looks just like the two yellow and grey robots we’ve seen in the past. So many questions surrounding this guy, I sure hope that at least some of them gets answered.

Contrary to what’s going on in the skies above, the events unfolded in this episode quite steadily in a sensible manner. There wasn’t anything that was confusing about the plot and the viewer is certainly not thrown into a world of disarray like what happened in episode four.

I really liked the phone conversation that Ichiko and Yumemi had when I saw it in the second OVA and this feeling surfaced again when I viewed the same scene in this episode. Suzuka asking Ichiko to let Yumemi go was awesome too although I had completely forgotten about that scene and it caught me by surprise with a smile on my face.

Given where we are in the second OVA, it seems like the small amount of material we have left is probably not going to be enough to cover the entire air time for the sixth episode. Does that mean they’ll switch things up half way through the episode or something?

I’m sure anyone who watched this episode could tell that there was a major shift here from the previous third episodes (besides the obvious change in visuals). A lot went on in this episode, so much that you could almost argue that more happened in this one episode than the last three combined.

To me I think the pacing may have been a little too fast in this episode although the next two episodes should bring things back to normal from what I remember of the second OVA. I think this episode wouldn’t have been so bad if they had just tried to provide some more context to the battles. I guess they didn’t see a need to change much while adapting this portion of the second OVA.

Besides the pacing problem, I don’t really have any other qualms with this episode. The animation is really well done and I’m really looking forward to the new material that’s (probably) going to show up after episode six.

Now I won’t pretend that the whole “swimming” deal with people cheering them on wasn’t a little weird but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like this episode. There were quite a few good parts in this episode that more than made up for the weirdness of the swim.

For starters, I really liked the part where Yumemi talked about Suzume’s visit on the day she was sick back in grade school. I know it didn’t add anything to the main plot but I just found the tale really touching. Eh, what can I say? I’m weak against these kinds of things. The other part I enjoyed was when Yumemi finally came to terms with herself. The short speech she made to Ichiko and her mother was really awesome if you ask me. Finally, I absolutely loved the part where she starts looking for Munto. I really, really liked the music here and the lines she was saying. I think part of the credit here has to go to Aizawa Mai for a job well done in portraying Yumemi.

All in all, I think Kyoto Animation has done a great job in bringing the OVA to the TV screen. I’ll be looking forward to the next few episodes when they bring the second OVA to the table and the episodes after those which will continue the story.

If the last episode seemed like it was rushing things too much, then this one probably felt a little bit too slow. I should note that I did appreciate the additions they made to Kazuya’s segment which helped expand on his relationship with Suzume. I guess the problem here really is that it’s split into episodes so you note to yourself that a particular episode was slow and a frowny face materializes on your face. Whereas, in an OVA, there are no pauses so you can gauge the entire thing as a whole so pacing issues kind of end up balancing themselves out (if done right).

I have to say that I was a little disappointed that they didn’t inject the comedy bit from the first episode’s preview into this episode. It was obvious to me as it just wouldn’t have fit in with the OVA’s plot but I guess I still held on to a thin strand of hope until the end of this episode.

From the look of things, they’re definitely going to require the entirety of episode three to conclude the first OVA. The same will probably apply for the second OVA. This will mean there will be six or seven episodes to finish things up for this series. I’m not sure if there’s been any concrete proof as to whether this series will last for one season or two but I’m putting my money down for a one season-er here.

It’s been a while since I last blogged about a series but I’m sure no one ever missed these entries so I guess there are no hard feelings here, right? Anyway, to put my entries for this series into perspective here, I saw the two OVAs after I watched the raw for this episode so I already know the general idea of what’s going to happen for the next couple of episodes. Of course, I will be keeping these entries free of spoilers so you don’t have to worry about anything of that sort.

The first thing that’s going to catch everyone’s attention about the series is how dated the drawings in this show are. You can really see a big difference between the opening and ending animation sequences and the show itself. This will last for a couple of episodes while they retell the events of the two OVAs (with additional content). The “new art” will be introduced afterwards.

I’ve read some comments online noting some distastes towards Kyoto Animation’s music department although I can’t say I had any problems with this episode’s score myself. I particularly enjoyed the track that was played at the beginning of the episode and I’m looking forward to hearing more.

If you feel that everything seemed quite rushed in this episode then let it be known that I felt the same too when I was watching the first OVA. The additional content that they plan to add to the retelling should hopefully help with the pacing of the story in addition to adding some comedic value if the preview for the next episode is any indication of what’s to come.