Figure 17 DVD #2

The 2nd Figure 17 DVD got here today, so here are my impressions of the 4th & 5th episode. And dang it, why didn't they correct the mistakes in the opening song translation? I might have to send a not-so-nice e-mail if it isn't fixed next DVD ;)

Episode 4 - Habataku kokoro wo motte imasu ka? (Do You Have A Heart that Soars?)

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Lots of screencaps this time, ne? The show is 45 minutes long, you know ;) Anyways, in this episode school is letting out for the summer holidays and Tsubasa and Hikaru are with their class to camp out behind the school for a night... Wish I could've done stuff like that when I was in 4th grade... During the camping trip they do all kinds of fun things: making curry, watching fireworks, and snooping around the school at night when they're supposed to be asleep :)

On DD's side, his backup has arrived in the form of Oldeena, another officer, who seems to have a bit of an attitude. She wants the Maguar taken of her way, and doesn't want DD to have Tsubasa and Hikaru come along to help as Figure 17. It seems the Maguar have evolved very quickly in Earth's environment and have become more powerful than they've ever been before. Soon, DD finds the next Maguar, so he and Oldeena go off to take care of it.

But, the main thing that happens in this episode is that Tsubasa begins to open up a little bit more than before. She actually talks a bit more to her friends and also to a classmate, Sho-kun. At first, when she and Sho-kun are both getting the rice ready for the curry (yummy!), she doesn't really talk, only responding with "uh-huh"'s and such, not making for a very lively conversation (sounds a lot like me when I was that age). After that, Sho suggests that they take a look around the empty school, so they go to the music room and Sho plays a bit on the piano (A lot of anime characters can play piano!). He then asks Tsubasa if she's ever had a dream where she's flying (she says no). But near the end of the episode (after her and Hikaru have gotten rid of the Maguar as Figure 17) she sees Sho-kun and actually speaks up (yay Tusbasa!) to tell him that she had a dream that she was flying. To which Sho-kun responds with a smile and Tsubasa smiles, too. Hee, hee, hee, I think I know where this is going if you know what I mean :) We shall see if I'm correct.

I really have to praise Tsubasa's voice actor, Akiko Yajima, for her excellent performance so far. Acting a shy character is pretty tough, I would think, but she makes it come through very well. And believe you me, I know shy since I was pretty much like Tsubasa-chan when I was that age. All around, this was another excellent episode that kept my attention for the entire 45 minutes.

Episode 5 - Taisetsu na hito wa imasu ka? (Do You Have Someone Important to You?)
This episode focused more on another character on the farm where Tsubasa and Hikaru live, Sakura. She's your usual rebellious 8th-grader and refuses to help out and just wants to play around all the time. She really wants to go to a concert in Sapporo but her mother won't let her so they have a fight. Her mother then gets sick, so Sakura has to help out and cover all of her mother's duties at the farm. She does so very reluctantly and complains most of the time.

Tsubasa and Hikaru aren't really the main characters in this episode, so we mostly see them helping out around the farm with the cows and having fun, which is, actually, pretty fun to watch :) They also see Sakura's troubles and want to help out a bit and mostly just hope that she'll do better. In the end, Sakura does come around and realize that she's made a mistake and apologizes to her mother, and decides not to go to the concert anyways.

Figure 17 only shows up for a bit in this episode since Oldeena and DD were able to take care of the Maguar themselves this time with their upgraded weapons, which is a bit of a disappointment.. After that, Tsubasa and Hikaru go to see one of the cows give birth, and now they're in charge of the baby calf. And that's the end of this episode. I was kinda tired when I watched this episode so I almost dozed off about halfway through it (I should prolly watch it again). This was probably the slowest-moving episode of the bunch so far, but it was still pretty good. The next episode looks a bit more interesting. I'll have that one for y'all in the next day or two when the DVD gets here :)

This DVD had a nice extra with interviews with the staff of the show and a bit about how it was made, and how the director tried to make something different with an hour-long anime that only ran once a month. It was pretty interesting. And the promo commercial was pretty funny in a way. "Real SF Battle Action!" (SF = "science fiction").. Eeeeeehhh, not really. Yes, the action sequences are nice when they happen, but most of the time of each episode is devoted to character-building. And that blend has succeeded quite well so far :)