But it always seems to happen./Like AMAZING TRACKING DEVICES.

Episode 6

Thoughts:

In the words of Ibrevis, there’s no point in saying that “this was a good episode” anymore with this show, as they’ve all been good so far and barring some sort of horrible trainwreck of an installment, they’ll probably continue to be good. Anyway, plot theorisation time!

Akushiba, grow a pair and do something if you like Nakiami you perv, don’t just push your competition of the deck. Unless he takes an active approach to dealing with this it’s just going to be pathetic to watch.

The further we get into looking at the nature of the bio-weapons in the show, the more we seem to learn that they’re more bio than weapon. I thought that the case with Shidara was just an experiment gone wrong, but it seems all Humanforms are made by using living creatures. This highlights such questions of it being right to kill them (I’d say no), do they themselves have a will (how much control do the pilots really have?) and what’s the real relation between their nature and that of the Xam’d, if any. There’s also the existence of the ASP’s which depend on the psychological state of the user to be any sort of use; it’s a risky weapon, loss of the “Mainsoul’s” sanity/coherence/calmness (if that’s a word) on the battlefield could lead to tragic occurences. As such, ithink something of the like may happen to Furuichi at some point, he doesn’t seem to be the most well adjusted of characters, something shown by the relationship between him and Haru. Which is irrelevant for the moment as it’s all about HaruXAkiyuki(XNakiami) ^_^.

Speaking of the other two, it’s interesting to see how Nakiami viewed Akiyuki saving her. It shows how, though she may seem cold on the outside, she does have a soft spot for all living things in general, or at the very least things that aren’t human. Her reaction to seeing the Ongoro sprouting from the Ututu seed is priceless ^_^. I’m not sure what she meant when she said that Akiyuki lost himself. He looked pretty in control to me, but maybe there’s a deeper meaning to the colours the jewel on his arm changes than just “Not Fighting” and “Fighting”. Could Blue mean Akiyuki’s in control and Red mean just the HIruko’s battle instincts? Then there’s the whole “dismantaling” thing, wondering how that would be any different from just killing the Humanform and putting it out of its misery. On a side note, it’s great to see some action in the series again, Bones’ animation skills should be put too good use.

Furuichi will probably fail in the race for Haru’s heart, or at least I think he’ll have a hard time getting there. He hasn’t had enough developement/screentime to be seen as a major character yet, even when he was shown at the end of the episode he seemed to be largely second place next to Haru’s awesomeness. But lol at how he thought Haru was taking the exam to stay with him, and she just said “I’m going after Akiyuki” poor guy. At least they’ll be sharing getting that chocolate roll together.

The entire scene with Haru was just so heartwarming, so many letters in reply to Akiyuki’s single one that she seems like a stalker. She’s strong-willed (the opposite of Furuichi at the moment) and her actions are truly heartfelt (the way she unwittingly(?) tries to help Akiyuki’s parents is sweet)and itll be a pleasure to see her continue to grow through the series, as she gets closer to meeting Akiyuki and continues kicking major ass.

With parents who are divorced, there’s always the (mostly irrational) hope that they’ll get back together, and the scene between Ryuzo and Fusa demonstrates the fact that she’s still there for him, if only to listen to things he has to get of his chest. How must he feel knowing he participated in experiments that would lead to the creation of such things as the Humanforms, turning human soldiers who had fought and almost died for their Government into mindless weapons? What a weight on his conscience…

Incidentally, the image of the cell he was examining looks strangely similar to the series’ logo, to me at least. Perhaps a hint at links between the numerous bioweapons in the show?

That doctor is so crazy. Kanba’ll probably end up dying screaming something about his experiments while being crushed mid-sentence by a gigantic foot. Or at least I hope so. It’s impossible not to draw Evangelion vibes from the scene where the artificial Xam’d went crazy, though similarities end around the point you see a baby with it and giant exploding soap bubbles of death appeared. Does this mean that the Xam’d are/ once were an actual race of beings?

Anyway, this hopefully sets up for a ZOMG AWESOME battle next week, though there are absolutely no scenes from the would-be fight in the preview.

The one who has a sniper rifle.

Episode 7

Thoughts:

Why does this show keep raising questions? More importantly, why don’t I care that it keeps raising questions?

Anyway, it’s now affirmed that Haru’s connection to the Humanforms/Xam’d isn’t something limited to Akiyuki as she’s heard the voice of the test-type mother Xam’d as well. There’s also that WTF huge tower with an eye that showed up out of nowhere, but of course those genius’ at BONES (and several other studios) decide to not explain anthing about that either. Whta’s interesting is that both times Haru heard the voice of the Xam’d, it was saying “I want to live” and also in both cases the Xam’d was trying to protect something (Akiyuki – Haru, Mother Xam’d – Baby) so perhaps there’s something in that as well. Furuichi continues to be seen in a negative light (at least in my eyes), I can understand him wanting to defeat the Xam’d, due to the atrocities that happened on Sentan island, but the fact he showed not an ounce of hesitation, even when Haru asked him to stop, kind of bothers me. Haru is still the warm and loving person she’s been portrayed as in the show, even as she’s battling the Humanform, and this just leads to her character growing on me even more. (I have a feeling it’ll be my dislike of Furuichi will increase with my love of Haru throughout the show).

It’s nice to see that we’re continuing to learn about the crew even with the slightly confusing developement of the main story; the small girl with the green shirt (I forget her name) probably represetns a large portion of children who have lost their parents in the wars between the governments, and it was both saddenming and sweet to see her sending letter to her dead mother. Akiyuki and Haru seem to be getting much closer through their exchange of letters than one would have initially thought in the 1st episode of the series. The dynamic between the two suggested nothing but friendship, but then again that was only around 1/2 an episode. In any case, the significance of letters in a world without an easier form of communication continue to be on eof the strong points in the show, and always makes me wish that the two will be re-united soon. (Also, W00T at Akiyuki’s parents starting to show signs of reconciliation ^_^).

It seems that Tsumebara Pass will be the point where things really get moving, with the convergence of Akiyuki, Haru and Furuichi at the location (and possibly Nakiami, as she’s gone to search for him). There’s also the question of the soldier who turned into a Humanform with the mere mention of Tsumebara (though the little girl, Kio, said it was the Netsukodama flowers that set him off) which suggests that the Nothern Government were probably performing experiments there as well, or something happened in the air raid a month before which caused the inhabitants in the area to get some sort of Humanform infection.

Furuichi’s definitely looks like he’s going to be a problem, though I hope that he doesn’t just think Akiyuki’s “like them” and become hellbent on keeping Haru away from him, as that would be slightly cliche (and would give the poor guy almost a zero chance of redemption in my eyes).

(Side Note: Noticed how Haru throws the letter at the start of the OP and Akiyuki catches it at the end. Nice touch.)