We are now in weeks 6-7 for this season of anime and it’s easy to see which ones are my favorite and which ones are losing steam. I really believe that Last Exile, Fam the Silver Wing is the best show so far, followed by UN-GO and Fate/Zero. Chihayafuru gets a special mention for being quite good as well, but I have a soft spot for action, and that show isn’t really about that.
Horizon, Episode 6
Politics!…and lots of fanservice. *sigh* The whole episode was about politics between the different factions (it felt more like introducing new characters, in a way). There was also a sub-plot about the school kids deciding if they were going to go save Horizon or not. Hopefully the action starts in the next episode.
Chihayafuru, Episode 6
“Club in vain.” Not a lot of people like Karuta. This episode introduces a new character: Oe-chan. She is such a romantic (and old fashioned). She loves old Japanese clothing, knows the meaning of all the Hundred poems in the karuta game, and isn’t into competitive karuta. And Chihaya is an idiot. Slow episode overall.
Gundam AGE, Episode 5
Off-model! The 2D art was quite uneven this episode. Might actually beat Gonzo here. Emily wants to stop Flit from fighting. *sigh* I’m really wondering who Grodek is working for. EA Software? Ads in my Gundam? New character, another Newtype or a UE? He also has a funky name: Desil Galette. He’s also a good Mobile Suit pilot and belongs to some funky group.
UN-GO, Episode 5
So, Sasa Kazamori, the RAI from the last two episodes, is hanging out with our main duo. And “her” dress is showing a lot of artificial skin. *sigh* She appears in the opening and ending sequences, so I guess she will be involved from now on in the plot. So this week, the conspiracy is that a rich military dude allied himself with other countries to make money while Japan suffered. It was another nice episode. We learn a bit more about Inga and his/her relationship to the Defeated Detective and get to see more of human bad side and good side.
Persona 4, Episode 5
Nanako-chan now has three more fans. That felt a bit forced to me; she’s not that cute. Most of the episode was about finding who was going to be the next person to be killed. It ends up to be the school’s biggest bully. I’m starting to find this show boring because the pace has slowed down a lot lately.
Last Exile
Gag episode! Sort of. We get more character development for Milia, more awesomeness from Giselle, and lots of amusing little scenes. The episode is used to present the Silvius crew that our main character boarded in the previous episode. We get to meet the mechanic crew (a bunch of teenage boys and one older man), the cooks (all manly men), and to see a bit more of Tatiana, Alister, and Dio. I’m still not sure what exactly the Silvius have to do with the plot, but it looks like Tatiana was planning to make peace with the Ades federation, but now that they used an Exile as weapon, she and Dio are unsure if that’s going to work. She also wants 15 Ades battleships and said something rather cryptic in this episode as well. Hopefully, future episodes will give us more information about what is going on.
The episode was split into two sub-plots. The first one was Fam and Giselle stealing a ship by the inside. They disguised themselves as Ades soldiers and tell a ship captain his mom wants to see him. It sounds really stupid, but the captain was the one from the first episode, and he’s not the brightest person around. This sequence really showed how awesome Giselle is. She totally stole the show from Fam here.
The next sub-plot is Millia trying to find land for a new Turan. She disguises herself as a maid to try to impress Tatiana (or something like that). It’s a fanservice sequence, but considering nobody in the ship cared, it was rather funny, too. Although, I agree with Tatiana: it looked good on her.
We also get to see the back of another returned character: the Silvana chief engineer, Recuise Dagobert, taking care of the Silvius Claudia Engine and playing chess with Dio.
Fate/Zero, Episode 7
So everybody will go after Caster now, the prize is worth it. Also, more Rider and Velvet. They are so awesome and funny. Saber isn’t happy about her master. Caster is crazy and just plain evil, I’m happy they censured that scene with the kids.
I’m surprised that Lancer came to Saber’s help here. Although, Archibald showing up to kill Iri wasn’t that surprising. The episode ended with a really nice start to a mage duel! I can’t wait for more.