Wow... just finished watching the second episode (had to tape it as I went out last night) and boy was I suprised! While the first episode was almost a direct copy of the manga to the point that some shots were basically animated stills of the manga, the second episode, while still maintaining the authentic style of the manga source, completely changes several of the major plot points! i.e. the guest cameos of Sorata and Arashi from CLAMP's other work, X1999, and the potrayal of the Kudans!
While Rayearth still cameos as Saoran's Kudan, he is reduced to a howling dog... completely speachless! Saoran's rival also has his Kudan in tact but all the supporting characters (the gang members) simply have balls of energy above their fists which act like mystic shotguns.
However the Hanshin Republic arc of the story was crammed into the second half of the episode (the first being a word for word from the manga conversation with Yuko [love her!]) so there will obviously be more time in episode 3 and perhaps 4 for Kudan expansion and the inclusion of missed characters and characterisation.
The music was great this week, and seemed to be more suited to each scene. I especially loved the music for the first minute or so, recapping the transporting of the 4 main characters to Yuko. Speaking of which, it seems that the reasons as to why they were sent/went to Yuko are being saved for later episodes (next episode looks like a Kurogane focused one) to help stretch the story out and form more of an episodic style.
Mokona is great. No disapointment there!
Overall I would give this a 3.5 / 5
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