Wow, what a good episode. The two major plot lines finally converged, if only for a brief moment.
Not unexpectedly, Furuichi completely ruined Haru and Akiyuki’s meeting. This episode upgraded him from a minor third wheel character into a class A asshole and rival. He spent this episode abusing Haru…
and betraying his former friend first by trying to shoot Akiyuki and then by telling Kakisu about him.
While Furuichi has become pretty despicable I like that the writers clearly showed his rationale. He blames, not entirely without reason, Xam’d and the Humanforms for the death and destruction on Sentan Island. The fact that Akiyuki accidentally triggered the bus incident, became a Xam’d and then apparently abandoned them is to Furuichi a personal betrayal. Add to that a simmering resentment over Haru and it’s pretty easy to see why he’s misdirecting all his anger towards Akiyuki. Not that it makes his actions excusable, though.
The fight between Akiyuki and the Mainsoul Humanform was over in a few seconds but still fantastically done. Screencaps really don’t do Xam’d justice because it works so much better in motion. There were a few moments when the characters seemed off-model but I was too pleased with the animation to care.
Besides the discovery that the green soulstone turns people into Humanforms the other major devlopment this episode was the introduction of Raigyo, the Xam’d who used to live onboard the Zanbani. This guy is awesome for a few reasons.
1. He can completely control his power, turning from a camel into Xam’d at will.
2. He rides a hoverbike (pic snagged from the official website).
3. He’s sporting a hobo beard, probably because he’s been hiking around the wilderness slaying grizzlies with his bare hands.
I’m going to have nightmares about that face.
There were some other great moments in this episode: Nakiami befriending Zuizo and his daughter, Ishu punishing the crew by forcing them to sit on their knees for hours on end, and Roppa sacrificing his squishy vital organs for the sake of Akiyuki.
R.I.P. brave Nekomata.
This guy was pretty cool. Once again I find myself drawing parallels to Nausicaa, this time to the worm handlers. Whereas in Xam’d he uses his worms to search for Humanforms the worm handlers in Nausicaa find corpses and strip them of loot. Both are shunned, the worm handlers for their profession and this guy for being a Humanform user from the north.
Next episode we learn about the Captain’s beard fetish.
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Raigyo = BADASS.
What omisyth said. ^_^
I noticed a similarity with the Wormhandlers too – it’s an over-simplification I know, but this is shaping up to be a cross between Nausicaa and Eureka Seven, which to my mind is awesome to the power of awesome (I’m assuming you’ve read the manga then…possibly my all-time favourite graphic novel).
I like the way that we end up loving to hate Furuichi – he is built up as an anti-hero but a well-written one. It’s a good portrayal of what these sort of circumstances can do to someone who was otherwise an honorable and decent person. The irony in Furuichi calling Akiyuki the coward says a lot about how clueless and misguided he is about the whole situation.
It’s also one of the nicest looking shows at the moment. That screencap of the mine and harbour for instance is actually quite beautiful, and the action-packed moments are remarkably well animated. I’ve yet to come up with a significant criticism of the series at all, actually.