PinkuBentoBox

Nanashi are awesome for actually subbing this series. I’m not sure what’s up with all the other subbers, but they seem to be too busy subbing shit, stuff they started last month, or Air (why is everyone subbing Air?)

If you’ve seen episode 2 you’ll know that we left off right in the middle of a battle. Aoba had been forced to take over the legs of the Moribito after the old guy who usually fills in that position took a massive shard of glass to the shoulder. She and Ryohei fight off the two Ancient Jinki (Jinkies? :D) which are attacking them in quick succession. But they are being watched by another Jinki.

When they get back to base, the injured Genta is quickly rushed to the base’s doctor. His wound is not fatal, but the glass badly damaged the muscles and nerves in his arm. The doctor says he will probably never regain full movement. After first one of the old scientist guys who I assume are responsible for the Jinki and Ryohei both scold her, Aoba runs off into the rain.

Now we switch over to Akao’s storyline for a bit, developing it further. A Jinki appears, piloted by two girls, both of whom feature prominently in this episode. Akao is taken by the jinki to a temple, which she surprisedly remarks is her ‘house’. Given her red and white getup and staff, she’s obviously supposed to be some manner of priestess. The two girls introduce Akao to another few, and ask her to fight alongside them. Evidently they want her powers as a Cognate. An Ancient Jinki appears in the city (do these things always look like clockwork parts that have broken appart?) and the evil Hazuki-esque chick (who I’ve been told is Aoba, though I still can’t see how that could be given the different hair and eye colour and different voice) says something cryptic.

Cut back to Aoba again. This time it’s Aoba’s turn to bump into this new Jinki. The same two girls are piloting it. The extremely exuberant Minami jumps down and talks to Aoba, who bursts into tears. We are also briefly introduced to Rui, who handles the arms the new Jinki, Nana-2. Meanwhile, we cut back to an extremely important thing. Ryohei is looking for Aoba and goes to see if she’s with the Moribito. He is informed that Aoba’s initial moving Moribito, despire the fact that it lead to injury, was exactly the right thing to do - had she not, they would have all died.

Minami and Rui take Aoba to a lake in the forest. The lake fills with water via several waterfalls whenever there’s rain, sort of like a big container for floodwaters. They all talk a bit, and we are informed that Aoba is only supposed to be 13. Only in anime could they pull this off. Rui (who I’m assuming must be a cognate like Aoba and Akao) is supposed to be 11. Pretty developed for an 11-year-old.

Anyway, I can’t help but like Rui. She’s sarcastic, cynical and overall seems to me like she’ll be an awesome character. Interestingly, she’s voiced by Yukari Tamura, and whenever I hear that voice I cannot help but hear either Ranpha or Ichigo. Rui is more along the Ichigo lines, which fits better with her character anyway. She doesn’t do the creepy ‘fufufu’ laugh though.

Rui announces that Aoba has a fatal flaw, and challenges her to a fight. This turns out to be somewhat akin to two Jinki playing Halo’s Oddball gametype. Moribito and Nana-2 fight over a jinki-sized ball. Whenever they gain posession of the ball, they get a point, and whenever they hold it for a full minute they get a point. Most points in 30 minutes wins. What is this, a videogame? While Aoba shows a lot of skill at first, she tires quickly due to Rui deliberately going after her, rather than the ball. Aoba’s problem is that she gets scared, and loses focus.

All is not lost however. In the final few seconds, Rui loses posession of the ball. Whoever can make it to the ball and reclaim it will win. Nana-2 is the faster machine, but Aoba somehow does the Jinki: Extend equivalent of Gundam Seed’s ‘Seed Mode’ and manages to make the Moribito accelerate to incredible speeds. Aoba wins, and Rui gets owned.

This was an interesting episode, and this series just gets more and more interesting with each episode. I have eps 4 and 5 raw, and I might end up watching ahead of the subs just so I can get an idea of what’s coming up. Once again I really recommend picking this series up. It’s made a very small splash, mainly due to it being drowned out by Air and Ah! My Goddess, but it’s well worth a look.