I just finished watching Episode 27 also known as the season 2 premiere and let me say that if this is an example of what season 2 we're all going to be in for a treat! Almost every problem that existed in the first season has been fixed. The pace of this episode is super fast. I was amazed at how much they fit into one episode! We get Syaoran's vision with the other Syaoran, a conversation with Yuko, Tomoyo's introduction, a whole space race from start to finish as well as character moments in between!
The animation appears to have been upgraded with Syaoran in particular looking the best he's looked in the series. Sakura looks great though very different from the last season. Kurogane has been perfected and Faye is Faye. Mokona, who suffered from some terrible renderings last season looks great here as does Yuko who looks like her manga counterpart.
As the volumes of the English manga featuring Piffle havn't been released yet I can't really compare story points but I can say that the story here simply worked very well.
The music style from the first season has been kept (thank God as that rocked) and several new tracks have been included which means we'll be getting a few more soundtracks released in the future. Woo Hoo!
Now what about the opening and closing credits? Both a HUGE improvement over the first seasons! While I liked Blaze, I found several aspects of it like Sakura biting and apple and waving to be terribly cliche and annoying. The same with Loop which while the song was amazing the visual just seemed like a combination of all the ending credits from Bee Trains other series (most notably the .hack ones). IT'S (the new opening) is fresh and fastly paced and shows us an interesting concept of the gang fighting themselves. Well their shadows anyway. There's lots off cool fashion shots and... I find this really shows us what the show is about. It's spirit anyway.
The new ending, Kazemachi Jet is also an improvement and shows us an inspired look into the past off all the characters! I was amazed at the quality of animation in the Sakura and Syaoran shots and then they show us chibi flashbacks of Kurogane and Faye! What a bonus! I thought it was a bit strange that Mokona's flashback had him sitting next to a cat on Yuko's lap instead of Larg (the black Mokona). Especially since Larg was shown in
Episode 2. Still, it looked amazing!
This whole episode just felt so...
fresh.
Let's hope the rest of the season (and the third season!) lives up to this one!
This update was brought to you by Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles #10 out on the 25th of July 2006! Preorder Now!
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