Finally, someone is subbing this series and actually doing a reasonable job. I was sort of hoping one of the bigger groups would pick it up, such as AnimeYuki, but Nanashi’s done a pretty good job. To boot, they’ve managed to get HDTV raws, as the frame is roughly twice the size of the raws I was watching. Visual sex, even for a series like this which doesn’t have incredibly detailed character animation.
A lot of people have been bitching about the ‘low-budget’ animation. Certainly it’s simple, but watching it in better quality like this makes a huge difference. There’s a lot of CG effects here, and they’re much better done than other similar stuff, for example Gundam Seed Destiny. In addition, the backgrounds are extremely nice, and the animation itself is actually pretty fluid. Take a look at this screen and see if you can still say the series has no animation budget:
Anyway, I’ve pretty much already talked about episode 1 here earlier, so I won’t repeat myself except to clarify one thing. They are fighting not in South Africa but in a part of Venezuela, which also has a pile of table mountains. Meh. Doesn’t really change anything.
It turns out that, as expected, the plan all along was to have Aoba pilot the Jinki (Moribito). Turns out that the person who had her brought there was her mother, who she hates (Evangelion reference?). Her mother is voiced by Satsuki Yukino. I <3 Satsuki Yukino, wish she'd get more roles. Anyway, she says she just wants Aoba for her inheritance (I'm thinking obviously Aoba's father was special) but it's pretty obvious that was just an excuse. Aoba is a 'cognate' and her mother wants that ability so that Aoba can pilot.
Aoba ends up living with the techies as she refuses to live with her mother. One of them suggests that she cleans up the documents room, and she just happens to encounter the Jinki operating manual. She takes to reading this like a fish to water. The old dude notices this, and notes that she has managed to master the startup procedure for the leg operator without ever even touching the controls, which is very impressive. I guess she's a Newtype. 
Another Ancient Jinki appears, and Aoba sneaks aboard Moribito again. This time though the old guy gets badly injured and she is forced to take his place controlling the legs. We're left on a cliffhanger. I've actually seen a bit of ep 3 already so I know what happens, but I won't spoil.
We also got a bit more with this other girl and the guy who was strangling her at the end of episode one. I was reading a blurb on the series on ANN, and noticed this sentence: “In Tokyo, there was a girl named Akao, who didn’t have memories before 3 years ago. She made up her mind to become a Jinki pilot to save Tokyo. The stories of Aoba in Venezuela and Akao in Tokyo will gradually meet together.” I guess this girl must be Akao. Probably gets some more major time in ep 4. She’s pretty cute too. The odd thing is that the guy in her scenes appears to be Ryouhei, the guy who is with Aoba. Also, there was that little snippet at the very beginning of the first episode with two girls fighting in Tokyo… and upon second watch, I noticed that it was Aoba and what looked like this girl Akao. It was hard to follow completely, but it almost looked like Aoba was the bad guy.
I’m also still confused about the blue-haired girl in the Tokyo scenes. She’s like the bastard offspring of Aoba and Hazuki from Tsukuyomi.
Overall Jinki is looking to be an excellent series. If you enjoyed the first season of Full Metal Panic then this will be right up your alley.
Torrents for [url=http://www.point-blank.cc:6969/torrents/%5BNanashi%5DJinki_Extend_-_01_(1024x576)_%5B8752208E%5D.avi.torrent?info_hash=08062f3b983da676d253f16f5fe7188fcb32c994]Episode 1[/url] and [url=http://www.point-blank.cc:6969/torrents/%5BNanashi%5DJinki_Extend_-_02_(1024x576)_%5BC78BEBF5%5D.avi.torrent?info_hash=d887d8f3cf910033e7d58f4de3f7784ede643f9f]Episode 2[/url].
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
“I’m also still confused about the blue-haired girl in the Tokyo scenes”
This is actually Aoba…yeah I know, “WTH?!” I have all of the original Jinki manga, and have read the first 2 volumes of the Jinki: Extend manga (the anime is a coimbination of both, Jinki being Aoba’s story and Jinki: Extend being Akao’s story) Extend takes place 3 years after original Jinki, and somehow, Aoba has turned into a bad guy. O.o I think she might even be the leader of the bad guys. (She’s at least a higher-up member. She even fought against Ryouhei in Extend volume 2 and almost killed him.) Although the anime is taking a slightly different turn from the manga, for the most part, it’s holding true. And about Akao, she’s a part-bad guy too. (”Part” because her memory of herself as a bad guy was wiped out from amnesia.) This I know from watching up to episode 5.
Anyway, I thought I’d just clear up the thing about the blue-haired girl in the last pic above. Yes I know her hair is a slightly different color, but it is Aoba. 100% certainty.
Also, Cognates are basically Jinki’s version of Newtypes and humans with super powers. Cognates can senses things like Newtypes. They can also make energy fields and shoot off energy beams and stuff. (Thankfully, not on the level of DBZ, just weak, electifying little things, nothing that would help them beat a Jinki bare-handed or anything ^^;) Aoba, Akao, and Rui are Cognates, and you can tell by that glowing thing Ryouhei was holding at the end of episode 1 when he was choking Akao. Usally, Cognates carry those around with them, unless they simply don’t have one.
This is pretty interesting. I’ll take your word for it on Not-Hazuki being Aoba, but her voice seems to be different along with her appearance. Maybe Fumiko Orikasa is more versitile than I’m giving her credit for.
I’d guessed that the Cognates were something along the lines of Gundam’s Newtypes, it’s a pretty common concept in Mecha anime.
The swapping between plotlines is a little annoying actually. I’m really hoping they’re going to do this in 26 eps, not 13, because it’s setting up for an extremely rushed ending at the moment.
Actually, neither Jinki nor Jinki: Extend manga series are that long, Jinki being 9 volumes and Extend being 6. The anime is already at the end of the original Jinki manga stroyline, so it won’t be rushed and we should be going full int Extend in an episode or two. I really want to see why Aoba is a bad guy though.
Asked around a bit and it seems that the Hazuki-esque girl is not Aoba, but another character called Shiba, that being a pun (Aoba means blue leaf, shiba means purple leaf).
They’ve already done all the Jinki plot? I’m assuming you’re meaning at episode 5, not episode 3… that still doesn’t make sense though. Nine volumes covered in 5 episodes?
*spoilers*
Actually, Shiba is Aoba. In the Jinki: Extend manga volume 2 when Aoba fights Ryouhei to save Akao, Aoba kisses him then tells him to call her Shiba before blasting him with Cognate energy. (ouch >.< )
The Jinki manga was 4 volumes long (from Blade comics) and Extend was at least 6 volumes (from Blade, I’m pretty sure it ended at 6). The anime is at about partway through volume 4 of original Jinki.
I say “from Blade Comics” because Jinki and Extend were originally released from Gan Gan Comics. Gan Gan comics had fewer pages per volume (so more volumes) but were released sooner. Blade Comics with Mag Garden took over Jinki and Extend, along with several other manga released by Gan Gan, making the volumes longer.
Yeah, my typo in saying Jinki is 9 volumes. ^^; it’s 4 (from Blade).
And In the post about Aoba and Ryouhei fighting, I mean that _Ryouhei_ is trying to save Akao from _Aoba/Shiba_.