I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was a little disappointed with this episode. They made the series seem like it had some potential to become pretty entertaining. My expectations for this series may have been set too high after watching the first episode. With the way they presented the first episode, I thought they would focus more on comedy. Although things do turn for the better right at the end, I don’t know if it will be enough to save the series. I don’t want to give up on the series just due to one mediocre episode. I’m going to give this series another episode before I decide if I will drop it or not. If I do drop it, I don’t know if I will replace its reviews with another series or not.

I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat once Lelouch started taking command. There’s no denying that he’s one good tactician. It looked like the allegiences were already decided for the major characters from the first episode. After watching this episode though, it doesn’t seem so clear-cut anymore. I see it as a good thing for the time being since it adds that much more flavour to the series. We get an idea of where the story is headed, but how things will begin to unravel remains a mystery. The use of pure cg for mechs are all too common these days. I’m glad they stuck with cel shading to make the movements look much more fluid. With Lancelot’s quick maneuvering, using cg would probably make this series less entertaining. If the rest of the series is as good as the first two episodes, then this series is definately going to leave a good impression on me.

We now have a better understanding of how the homunculus are created. The person responsible for at least the first episode’s homunculus made an appearance in this episode. I can’t say he’s the most sinister looking villain I’ve seen. For the time being I have absolutely no idea why Watsuki Nobuhiro would create a villain wearing such a comical mask. I understand the benefits of including humour into a series like this at the appropriate moments, but I highly doubt the villain was created for comedic purposes. The story already introduces a crisis. With limited time we may start to feel a sense of urgency over the next couple of episodes. I see it as a good thing since it would mean they’ll progress with the story quickly with hopefully minimal filler episodes.

So starting from right where we left off, the search continues for the culprit behind the supposed poltergeist phenomenon. I’ve been suspecting Kuroda was behind every incident from the first episode, but now I’m not so sure anymore. The events in this episode seems too elaborate for one “living” person to pull off. Kazuya’s explanation for all the occurrences made sense at the time, but it doesn’t explain the severe activity seen towards the end of the episode. The series has an interesting mix of different professions to provide different answers. I still don’t know whether or not the series will end up actually revealing the existance of ghosts or solve every case with a logical explanation. I’m pretty excited to see the conclusion of the first file in the next episode.

Light’s actions have sparked international attention; resulting in the world referring to him as Kira. This episode officially begins the intense cat and mouse game between L and Kira. I was kind of skeptical when I found out that Yamaguchi Kappei was to be the voice of L. After watching this episode however, I think it works well. It was quite fitting to use the seiyuu for Kudo Shinichi from “Detective Conan”. We get to see some of the other prominent characters of the series in this episode. I can’t think of anything I had an issue with. The art was top notch from beginning to end. Without question the best part of this episode was during the whole Lind L. Tailor incident. Even though everything was taken right out of the manga, it still gave me chills just from watching it in anime form.

This episode was less exciting than the first episode, but it provided a lot of useful information. Viewers get a better grasp of the background story regarding Innocence and the Millenium Earl. This is also the first time we’re introduced to some of the other main characters as well. Just as expected, Linali turned out great in terms of her seiyuu. Kanda’s voice surprised me at first. It’s not a bad voice for the character, it’s just quite different than what I had imagined. I’m sure I’ll get used to his voice within another episode or two. As for Komui and the others, their casting seems to be spot on. It appears they’re going to follow the manga pretty closely from looking at the first two episodes. I think that’s a good thing, at least for the time being.

I thought Tsukasa would have a bigger part in this episode. The majority of it once again revolved around Riku. It wasn’t a bad thing since we did get to learn about some of the other characters in the process. I was just a little disappointed that not more time was spent on Tsukasa. At least it looks like they’ll make up for it in the next episode. The story has started to move in a definate direction now. With three heroines in the series it’s just a matter of time before trouble involving the main characters’ relationships will evoke drama. Based on the very limited knowledge I have regarding the three heroines, I’m guessing I will most likely end up rooting for Tsukasa or Sayuri. Things could definately change of course, once we get a better understanding of Sayuri, Tsukasa, and Mina. What I do know for sure is sooner or later I will favour one character more than the other two.

Season two of “Jigoku Shoujo” has officially started. Instead of throwing us right into the usual one-shot stories, we get to see just how Ai became known as Enma Ai. Taking into account what was shown in the first season, this scene definately made things more clear. The rest of the episode was pretty much like the other one-shot episodes from the first season. At least it appeared that way until the end. I thought the addition of the twist at the end made the story a lot more interesting overall, albeit kind of depressing. Discovering that Hirohashi Ryou was this week’s guest seiyuu was a pleasant surprise. To top things off, we also get a glimpse of a mysterious girl in a kimono as well. It gives us an idea of what the story concerning Enma Ai is going to revolve around. Without a doubt I thought this episode was a nice start to the series’ second season.

The thought of possibly reviewing this series never crossed my mind when I read up on the upcoming series this season. I didn’t think I would have enjoy this series much at all. I try to follow the proverb, “don’t judge a book by its cover”. Regardless of how bad a series may appear to be just from looking at its website or whatnot, I’ll at least give the first episode a try. This is one such case where I’m glad I gave the series a chance. I definately didn’t enjoy this more than some of the other series this season, but it was still pretty entertaining. Ayako suddenly falling for Mamoru opens up lots of potential for some good comedy. The story itself is quite different from the usual series within this genre. I may have enjoyed the first episode, but there’s always a chance things could fall apart over the next few weeks. Hopefully the majority of the series will end up being worthwhile to watch.

I knew I had to check this series out when I saw the character design was by CLAMP in one of the issues of “Newtype Magazine”. The episode had me interested as soon as I finished the prologue. It’s an entertaining twist to a common theme of this genre. We sort of have an idea of what Lelouch, the main character, is like by the end of the episode. He somewhat reminds me of Light from “Death Note”, but I highly doubt they’ll ever develop his character as much. As for the other characters, we get minimal information on them so I can’t really say what I think of them. There’s definately potential for them to become interesting characters. The first episode got me hooked for more. There’s no doubt I will check out future episodes of this series. Hopefully it will continue to improve as we learn more about the story and the other major characters.