Sorry about the 2 day late posting, I was out all night Saturday and all day Sunday and internet was too slow this morning. Anyway, wow, was Episode 3 cool!
I noticed several things while watching this episode, one being that they seem to be downplaying a lot of the cutsie factor and amping up the action and epicness (if that's not a word, it is now) of the story. There's still pleanty of characterisation (EVERYTHING dialogue wise from the manga featuring our main characters is in here) but some small subtle cutie nods have been left out. i.e. less longing looks from Saoran.
The transition from the manga has also brought other changes besides the "feel". While all the plot points are included, several of them have been resorted in a different order. Sorata and Arashi, for example, while they are in the anime, appear
after the group meet the two kudan gangs and Sakura, while she gets her first feather back as soon as they enter Hanshin in the manga, has to wait until after Rayearth battles the water kudan (apparently Sakura is slower at dying in the anime... just kidding!)
To fit with the episodic storytelling of the average anime series, this episode was a single character developement episode (i.e. mainly focuses on one character while the main story continues in the background) featuring Kurogane. Several changes were made to accomodate this. One of which being the inclusion of a Tomoyo in the anime Hanshin dimension! Speaking of which, it's worth noting that Kurogane's attitude towards her is subtly different in the anime. In the manga he seemed to be annoyed that Princess Tomoyo sent him away but still maintained a sense of honor and respect towards her. In the anime, Kurogane seems to be on a revenge trip. At times it seems like he would take out Tomoyo if he had the chance! This adds an extra element to the story and doesn't seem to change anything major.... yet. It'll be curious to see where this goes.
Anyway, Kurogane chases after "Tomoyo" which seperates him from the others and leads him to battle the fat guy and discover he has a kudan of his own, straight out of Magic Knights Rayearth!
I'm begining to think 25 minutes isn't long enough for this show. I guess that's what we get for knowing the story before hand via the manga. It'll be interesting what happens when the anime will overtake the manga storyline. Can't wait!
p.s. Still no Miyuki!
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