Hello everyone,
Today we'll talk about the fifth episode of the nice action/fanservice anime series Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi that is currently airing in this packed summer season 2011.
The story continues from where it was left off last episode with "Saitohimea" trying to actively seduce our protagonist. After some long (at times boring honestly) dream world talk between protagonist and the fake Himea, they finally explain that she's only being controlled by a spell that she created in the past to protect herself called "happiness".
This program behaviour and way of talking looked a lot like a computer program with rational thinking and a series of gimmicks on the voice to sound more like a robot. (Especially when the spell was in distress)
This whole "spell" plot device was likely put here to have a chance to explain better and develop Himea/Taito relationship with the escalation of a deep kiss right at the end of the episode that mark her official entry in the Taito's harem. (I wonder if Haruka is going to get a kiss too sooner or later)
They also finally introduced Himea's nemesis in the gigantic Tenma that Gekkou and Mirai faced in the cave. Honestly, the voice, behaviour and appearance of this bad guy reeked of clichè and the whole boring introduction was saved only by the great personality of Gekkou showing off his self-confidence even to an almost invulnerable enemy (as both Spell-Error and Mirai were uneffective against it).
This is also the reason of the title as the pair Mirai Andou and Gekkou Kurenai are alone capable to keep this series in the interesting level. Because let's be honest, from the main pair I hate Taito and can barely bear Himea. (By the way I love Haruka, but she still have a very small importance in the storyline)
I wonder if there will ever be some hint of romance in the future between Mirai and Gekkou as they make a nice pair together. (and its definitely more interesting than the i-lose-but-still-fight triangle relationship between Haruka, Himea and Taito that we all know is going to be end with Himea's victory)
From the graphical side, this fifth episode was quite strange to be honest, as it was almost entirely composed of two locations (the dream world of Saitohimea and the Tenma lair) and both of them were quite desolate in details compared to the previous episodes good-looking city backgrounds.
No complains on the fanservice as we can safely say that Himea was naked for 75% of the episode...but I have one question to the animation production. How Himea managed to get back her clothes after they were destroyed by the slimy thing?! Magic?
The next episode looks interesting as we'll finally get to see Hinata (Jun Fukuyama) in action again. I'm not sure if he's going to help or kidnap Haruka, but judging from the two silhouette shown right at the end he's in for some tough fight...
See you soon,
feal87