I had very high expectations for this episode. I may have set them too high since I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the series finale. Asagi turned out to be a completely useless character. The same could almost be said for Aoi as well. The episode wouldn’t have changed much if they had left both Asagi and Aoi out. The biggest flaw in my opinion was the fact that there really was no epilogue to speak of. I guess it wasn’t absolutely necessary, but it would have been nice to see Rihoko’s new life without Masane. Regardless of the issues I had with this episode, I still had a good time watching it. The ending itself was pretty well done. It wasn’t exactly your cliché happy ending where everyone comes out alive and well, which was refreshing. All the signs indicated that Masane would not survive so it gave Rihoko as well as the viewers an easier time to accept her death. Masane was able to fulfill her wish of protecting Rihoko, so in that sense it can also be viewed as a happy ending.

From the beginning, most of the episodes have been pretty good. It was a pretty action-packed series topped with some heart-warming mother and daughter moments. Noto Mamiko did a good job providing the voice of Masane. That goes for most of the other characters in the series as well. In terms of music for the series, I thought it was kind of lacking. I didn’t find the music in the series to be particularly good. The art for the series, on the other hand, deserves a compliment. Even though it wasn’t perfect all the way through, on the whole it stayed fairly consistent. This isn’t the best action series ever, but it’s also far from being the worst. In my opinion it was one of the better series from the previous and current season. It was a very worthwhile series to watch from start to finish.

I was somehow able to get this episode. As for the other reviews that I would normally do, they may just have to wait until I return so stay tuned. I will keep trying to get the other anime I review, but I can’t guarentee anything considering the unpredictability of the hotel Internet connection. This series went by pretty fast in my opinion. We’re already at the episode before the finale. I thought the build-up to the final episode was nicely done. We get more and more indications that Masane is really nearing her limit and her chance of survival is close to zero. The inhabitants of Marry’s Gallery finally learn about Masane and the witchblade. I must say they’re all pretty understanding people to not have any fear towards Masane after seeing something so out of the ordinary. The last episode should be quite action packed with Masane having to deal with the 3800 rogue I-Weapons as well as Maria and Asagi. I’m fairly interested in seeing how the ending will turn out.

Maybe it’s just me, but it feels a little late in the series to be introducing another character. Although this may not have been the ideal time to bring in a new character, I think Asagi fits the role of a villain quite nicely. Masane gave Rihoko hints that she wasn’t going to be around much longer. I was kind of expecting Masane to show more of her real feelings at the time. Either way it played out pretty well in my opinion. After that whole scene I wanted Masane to pull through even more than before. There are only two episodes left for this series. I still don’t have any well-supported guesses as to what is exactly going to happen. One thing is certain though; I’m excited to watch the rest of the series.

This episode basically focused on building up towards the climax of the series. Masane had never wanted to live so badly after realizing herself that chances are she doesn’t have much longer to live. Although by the end of the episode it felt like she had accepted her fate and wanted to make the most of her remaining time with Rihoko. If the data Takayama and Rena collected are correct, then it seems like Masane’s death in the very near future is inevitable. The writers will either somehow keep her alive or go through with killing her off. I can see good endings for both scenarios, so hopefully they won’t end up giving us a disappointing ending. I’m rooting for a happy ending, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out to be a sad ending.

I find things in this series get better and better as time goes on. Lots of stuff happened since my last review of this series. The previous episode was probably the most significant out of the last couple of episodes. Besides the advancement of Takayama and Masane’s relationship, we also got to see Masane’s new Witchblade form. I personally think it looks pretty awesome. I like the look more than the original form, but I’m not sure if I like the new colour scheme as much. As comedic as Rihoko’s date with Takayama was supposed to be, it was kind of hard to watch because both of them had trouble enjoying their time. Although by the end we get to see some real improvement between the two. With the way the episode was progressing, I thought it was going to be a fairly laid back episode. At least that was the case until they got assaulted. This episode may not be as great as the previous one, but it was still very worthwhile to watch. The more episodes I watch, the more I wonder if Masane will survive in the end. They’re dropping signs all over the place that her time is limited and she may not pull through. I’m rooting for her to survive, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t.

NSWF is trying to create a Clone Blade that is stronger than the real Witchblade. I’m in no position to say whether or not that should be possible, but if Masane doesn’t stand a chance against Norah right now then it seems pretty hopeless for her. As crazy as Maria is, even she wasn’t able to have her way with Norah around. During the scene where Masane was escaping from NSWF, we see her transform half-way and maintain it. I thought that looked pretty cool. Just when everything seemed to be back to normal, Masane and Rihoko are told they aren’t genetically related. It’s definately going to cause some problems at first, but in the end it will probably work out. At least I would want to see them end up staying together.

I thought we would get to see a bit more of Maria in this episode based on how the previous episode ended. Instead, we only get to see her in the beginning of the episode. We do get to see a lot more of Norah, however. Just as one would expect, Norah turns out to be really strong. Masane didn’t really even stand a chance against her. Now that she has been captured by Norah, I wonder what they plan on doing with her. At the end of the episode we get to see Reina by Rihoko’s hospital bed. I kind of doubt she would reveal the truth to her at this point in time, but I could be wrong. Even after 11 episodes, many things still remain a mystery. I’m not too sure where they want to go with this series.

In a sense this episode turned out to be quite unexpected. This was pretty close to a filler episode with bits of new information. Looking at what happened in the previous episode, I thought we would end up getting more information than what this episode provided. From what was given to us though, we’re told just exactly what the Excons are after Masane confronts Takayama Reiji. I actually like the idea that the enemies are “man-made” and not some diabolical race from space that threatens the existence of mankind like so many other series. Being that this episode wasn’t heavy on plot development, we were treated to a little bit of comedy. During the scene where we see Masane trying on different outfit, we clearly see that one of them was Shiori’s Cloneblade outfit. This episode hints at a possible relationship in development between Masane and Reiji. Even the preview for the next episode suggests something may happen between the two. At the moment I can’t say I’m a fan of this pairing. Masane will likely get involved in a confrontation with someone stronger than Shirori using an upgraded Cloneblade within the next two episodes.

We haven’t moved much closer to the truth about the Excons. Masane does find out that Muraki had committed suicide before somehow becoming an Excon. It’s difficult to make any sort of conclusion with so little information to work with at this point in time. I can’t really figure out what Reina wants with Rihoko right now. Whenever she’s around Rihoko she doesn’t say much and never stays with her for extended periods of time. Rihoko will be told or find out the truth about her real mother at some point. If we’re to apply similar situations in other series to this one we will likely see Rihoko stay with Masane even after everything is out in the open. I didn’t think this was a boring episode, but I would have liked it to move a little faster. We’re not that much better off than we were from the previous episode in terms of plot.

Reina seems to have her eye on Rihoko now. I guess it’s quite possible she realizes Rihoko may be her daughter. Masane has no clue who Rihoko’s father is. She reiterates that she has no memory from before the incident in Tokyo, which further provides support for the theory. The enemy this time around appears to be different from the others we’ve seen thus far. This is purely speculation, but maybe the person was experimented on against his will and ended up the way we see him in this episode. This may lead Masane to really rethink what she is doing and it might make her hesitant to fight. Many things remain a mystery, but as long as they can keep it entertaining I don’t mind waiting longer for the answers.