But it doesn’t matter if the show’s as good as this.
Summary:

A large number of what turn out to be “Humanform Weapons” are dropped upon Sentan Island in the middle of the invasion. They change from huge brown objects into  blue, turtle like creatures and begin attacking the island with lasers that cause implosions. Outside of the school after the bus explosion, Haru knocks out the guard that’s pointing a gun at the transformed Akiyuki. As a Humanform Weapon attacks them inside the bus, her schoolfriend tries to get her away from the danger zone but Akiyuki holds her back. The Weapon’s attack seperates them from each other, and it charges into Akiyuki, smashing through buildings in the process.

Akiyuki lands in the middle of a waterway and proceeds to battle the creature. During this time, Haru chases after them, and Akiyuki saves her from a fall. Then, Nakiami (the girl from the plane with her own miniature flying machine) spies Akiyuki, who she calls “Xam’d”, and heads towards the scene. Akiyuki defeats the monster, while still holding Haru, and is then confronted by Nakiami, who is wondering what a “completed Xam’d” is doing there says he should come with her if he wants to live. Akiyuki says so and then passes out, transforming back to normal and being carried away by Nakiami. Haru passes out as well, and when she wakes up, her schoolfriend is next to her and Akiyuki is gone. Nakiami returns to the ship and she and the crew take off. She places some sort of rod in the jewel on Akiyuki’s arm which turns into an X shaped strap. A guy named Akushiba comes to check on her but Nakiami tells him to be quiet as “the Hiruko” fallen asleep. He leaves and then gets punched in the balls for not calling a little girl’s pet the right name. Nakiami laments the fact that that no-one was there to celebrate the “Xam’d’s birth”.

The casualties are reported over the radio to the survivors in the shelter, where Haru and her schoolfriend are. Haru say that she didn’t keep her promise with Akiyuki’s mother, who is at that moment walking to her husband’s house. Ryuzo is helping people recover at his house, and when he meets Fusa (the mother) he initially believes she’s here about the divorce. Fusa and he argue as he didn’t know what had happened to Akiyuki, and we see the reason that the two are undergoing divorce proceedings.

At this time, some random man in a Humanform Weapon blows himself up, while praying to get closer to the “true Hiruko”. We then see a military man being accompanied by an assistant who reports the state of the island to him. The man, Commander Kakisu (through recent promotion it seem) meets a disabled scientist, who shows Kakisu what he calls a Xam’d, which seems dead or at least inactive and is much larger than Akiyuki was. Apparently, the scientist believes it to be a mother in the middle of protecting its child.

Next Time:

Attack of the Flying Humanform Weapon.

Thoughts:

First off, I may shorten my summaries to be more concise depending on what people would like, as because though this one is quite long, it’s still missing small things, such as certain parts of character dialogue that I would pretty much need to copy to convey the meaning of. So it could be ridiculously detailed or just the main points from the episode.

But overall, this was an even better episode than the first. I wasn’t overly attached to the whole school life thing, but the short amount of time spent on it in the first episode contrasts well and does a good job of establishing that those days won’t return for Akiyuki and his friends. The action wasn’t that detailed at some points but really flowed well and the fight was quite entertaining. There was yet another rush of information in the episide, including new characters/ names to remember (I still keep forgeting the name of the guy who was with Akiyuki and Haru), new terms like “Hiruko” and “Hiruken”, and the nature of the war’s still a bit fuzzy but the pieces will fall into place eventually (hopefully). The mystical/ sci-fi element’s much more interesting; the bio-chemical nature of a lot of weaponry makes a lot of the action seem weird and warped, especially the implosion causing lasers. There’s also the nature of “spirits” which was thrown into the mix by something that Nakiami said, so that could develop well. I like Kakisu already and I can already see him becoming an ally of somesort later in the show.

There’s a lot of variety in the show as well. It’s not only focusing in the bigger picture (Xam’d and the war) but also the relationships between the characters, most prominently Ryuzo and Fusa. The schoolfriend just bores me, though, and I hope he disappears to never be seen again very soon. The interaction of the ship’s crew was fun to watch as well. But there’s still a lot of history, concerning everyone and everything, to be heard in this story, and I’m eagerly anticipating the next episode.

(Good quality video ftw).

Everytime you don’t watch Xam’d, a man gets punched in the crotch.

Have some compassion. Watch Xam’d.