Crystal Tokyo Anime Blog

         This episode begins with Marika and Madame Curie enjoying the warm relaxing waters of her onsen (hot spring), she tells Marika that the waters contain Radium, a radioactive isotope that she and her late husband discovered. Madame Curie than gives Marika a little lesson about radiation and radioactivity, and she explains to Marika the three basic types of radiation, alpha, beta, and gamma.

         While Marika and Madame Curie are enjoying the onsen, Gali is up in his observatory making important observations like checking out Marika & Madame Curie, and trying to use Flemming to scam Archimedes out of his unpaid oden tab. While Marika & Madame Curie are sitting spa-side, Marika gets the feeling that they’re being watched, Madame Curie sees a glint coming from Gali’s observation area and she sends Pet alone with a cucumber power attack to punish him for peeping. The attack strikes Gali and destroys his telescope in the process, Madame Curie eventually tells Gali that she’s didn’t know he was using his telescope to cheat at chess, and when Archimedes finds out he doubles Gali’s tab.

         Gali goes in to a depressed mode over his newly increased food tab until Marika and Madame Curie invite him to join them in the onsen. While they’re in the spa Marika asks Gali what she has to do to return home, and he tells her that she needs to grow to like science. All poor Marika can do is sigh, saying that she might be here forever, but Madame Curie tells her that this town was created to help children like science. She asks Marika what interests her? Marika says that Gali interests her because she can’s understand why a old man like him can be so famous. Madame Curie says that’s easy, all Marika needs to do is to start observing him, so today’s lesson is that science is the observation of things.

       Well, Marie & Gali has has always been a pretty strange little series taking place in a weird European-like town that is inhabited by quirky versions of famous historical scientists and inventors. This series takes on a surreal and dreamlike quality when you consider that Marika hangs out with a living plush doll, and other than the people Marika directly interacts with are all drawn as some version of a cardboard cutout. But, when Marika finally asked Gali how she can get home we get some answers about her situation and the whole series. Gali tells Marika that the way she can get home is to grow to like science, and Madame Curie also says that this city is created for children who don’t like science to learn to like science. So, I’m assuming that the city and all the characters were created out of Marika’s mind because maybe our girl is failing or at least not doing well in her school’s science classes. Maybe this series should have been named “the city of lost scientifically challenged loligoth girls” , but either way, I’ll take Marika in her loligoth swimsuit over her Lolita look any-day.

        This episode picks up at the shed with George finding out that Shannon was wearing his ring on her ring finger, and he’s told that he shouldn’t look at her face. Later, back inside the house, Maria is told about the killings, and Natsuhi leaves to tell Kinzo about the killings with Eva insisting that she come too. As they’re walking out of the room, Chiyo calls them to the dining hall where it looks like some of the murders took place. When Jessica, Battler, and George are alone, Jessica asks Battler how he’s doing? He tells her that his anger is greater than his sadness, and George agrees with Battler.

        Later, the doctor shows Maria a symbol and he asks her if she knows about this, Maria gets a crazed look on her face and she finishes drawing the symbol and tells them that it stand for release from bondage and gaining freedom. Maria continues to slip between little girl mode and crazy mode. Natsuhi, Eva, and Genji enter the room and Genji tells them that the radio is out and they have no contact with the mainland until the boat returns to the island. Battle thinks that means the killer will still be stuck here but Maria says the killer isn’t human.  Then Natsuhi and Eva tells them that Kinzo is missing and they should search for him. At around 10:30 AM the group still hasn’t located Kinzo, Battler and Eva have a discussion about who could have killed the group, and Eva casts suspicion on one or more of the servants working together or with a family member. She tells Battler that she had the most to gain because all the money now belongs to her, but if she did it, the crime wouldn’t have been so messy or suspicious.

        While the remaining family members are eating lunch the servants are discussing the murders, Kanon asks why Beatrice had to kill Shannon? Genji says that it had to be fate, then Kanon asks why the madame (Natsuhi) wasn’t also killed? Genji says that the madame’s door was marked, then Kanon says that if the madame was chosen but not killed than Shannon was killed in her place, and at that very moment Battler walks in and says that this is an interesting conversation. When Batter walks in they tell him that Beatrice really exists, she lives in the forest but she has no body, she sometimes moves around in the form of a golden butterfly, and that picture of her was from when she possessed a human body. Maria walks in and says that Beatrice is here now, and the only reason Battler is still alive is that he still has the charm. Battler says that’s BS, because he lost the charm and didn’t have it last night, so the talk of witches and magic is a lie.

       Later, Natsuhi breaks out one of Kinzo’s guns saying that it’s now her job to protect the family, and George, Jessica, and Battler discuss the whole Beatrice issue. Battler says that someone desperately wants them to think that the witch is doing this, and George agrees by saying that if the crime was made to look supernatural than everyone would blame the witch. George also speculates that part of the gold’s interest that has to be returned to the witch might include the lives of Kinzo’s children and grand children.

       As all the remaining living people discuss the missing Kinzo, Eva begins to cast suspicion on Natsuhi saying that she killed him, dumped the body out the window, and later hid the body. Eva says that if Kinzo was missing for seven years he’d be declared dead and the money would be hers, this really pisses Jessica off. Natsuhi gets so pissed off that she points the gun at Eva, and Eva dares her to shoot her right now.

       Right at that moment, Battler breaks the tension by saying that it’s too early to point guilt towards Natsuhi, and he suggests that Kinzo hid inside the room and slipped outside after Natsuhi and Eva left the room. Eva goes off on Battler’s theory, and Battler throws some suspicion back at Eva suggesting that she might have killed all the others. Back in Eva’s room, her husband asks why she always rides Natsuhi? Well, she says that she’s always hated being behind Krauss, and she wants to pass up Krauss as the head of the family for the sake of her family. When dinner time arrives, Genji and Kanon call Eva and her husband to dinner but they’re not answering the door, Genji uses his pass key and finds the security chain locked from the inside, and he tells Kanon that he’ll inform Natsuhi, so Kanon should get Chiyo and the bolt cutters.

       When Kanon and Chiyo arrive with the cutters they find the door marked with another blood symbol/seal. When Kanon and Chiyo enter the room they find Eva murdered by the bed, and they find her husband murdered in the bathtub. Well, that’s all for this episode.

       Well, this episode pretty much had me guessing about who would be killed next and who the possible killer was. Does the evil and vengeful witch Beatrice really exist as Maria and the servants insist? Or is the killer really a living person like Battler suggests? Or does Battler really think that Beatrice does exist and he’s playing a little game theory with Maria by telling her he lost the charm when he really has it all along.

      What I really found interesting is the use of the Bible passage that Maria referred to while she was working on the symbol that the doctor had shown her.

         O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant; you have freed me from my chains.

Well, this passage could really mean something in terms of the storyline, or the writers could just be using the simplest interpretation of the passage, but after doing a little looking I found about 8 different versions of this passage. I might me reading this wrong but it seems to suggest that maybe Kinzo had a child with one of his female servants, and this unknown son (at least unknown to the rest of Kinzo’s family) is now carrying out is bidding or orders. For the many different translations and interpretations of this passage click here.

        Overall, I found this episode to be very suspenseful and engrossing, I just wish they’d tone down the Maria is a creepy little girl thing a bit. If I had to guess at who’s doing the killings I have to say that I think that Kinzo and some bastard son of his are making the blood flow, but all I know is that I’m looking forward to next week’s episode.

        This episode begins with Kanon waking up and thinking that she just wants to forget about the other day. She looks at the ring that Urin and Marin returned to her and doesn’t seem as angry as before, and as Kanon walks past her living room she’s shocked to see Marin, Urin, the turtle elder, and her mother hanging out in front of the TV. She yells about what the meaning of all this is? The turtle elder tells her that she has to become a true pure priestess of the sky so she and Marin can defeat Sedna, Kanon yells about how she doesn’t want this, and how she hates the town, the sea, and how she just want to leave for the city. As Kanon takes a bath, her mother finds out that Kanon was dumped by her boyfriend, and Kanon’s mother says that Kanon’s evil aura must have caused this.

      When the sound of running water hits the sisters’ ears they perk up and mention water, and Kanon’s mother tells them to go and join her in the bath. Kanon is surprised and annoyed by the sisters’ playful attitude inside the “warm mini-ocean”, she soon leaves them alone in the bath. Back inside her room, Kanon gets a call from her friend Suzuki inviting her to a get-together with some of the girls from her class, Kanon blows off Suzuki and the get-together in a pretty rude manner.

       While Kanon is in her room, we see Kanon’s mother giving the turtle elder’s shell a nice wash, and it’s pretty funny when she asks him if something goes wrong can she have his shell? Then we see that Marin looks very cute wearing some of Kanon’s clothes, and Urin also looks really cute wearing of Kanon’s old clothes. As Kanon heads off to the fortune telling booth because todays her day to work, Marin and Urin go with her but the turtle elder is detained for a little while by Kanon’s mother (Miyako). As all three girls are outside the booth trying to get some customers, Kanon’s foul mood contributes to a lack of work. Then Kanon spots Suzuki walking towards to shop, so she hands Marin the fortune telling stuff and takes off and hides behind the booth. Well, Marin ends inside with Suzuki in front of her, and instead of reading Suzuki’s fortune she gets information about what Kanon was like as a child, Suzuki has known Kanon since childhood. 

       She tells Marin that since childhood, Kanon had her dark aura going, she scared the other children, but she always did the jobs that no one else wanted to do. Suzuki tells Marin that she thinks that Kanon did that stuff because she didn’t want to see others quarrel, and she says that she thinks that Kanon is a nice person. Kanon and Urin are able to hear the entire conversation from their hiding spot. Marin tells Kanon that she thinks that Suzuki wants to be her friend, but Kanon says that she and friends don’t mix. Kanon says that as soon as people get to know her they start distancing themselves from her, and they leave her alone. Marin tells Kanon that she’ll be her friend, but Kanon says that she’ll be no different than the others, and Kanon runs off.

         While Kanon is running off, we see another evil red glow stirring in the sea. Damn, Kanon attracts evil like bees to honey. Urin catches up with Kanon and demands to know why she says nothing but evil things? Urin breaks down in tears saying that she wants to fight along side her sister so they can return to the sea, but she has no power, so why did it have to be you? Just then, two strange girls appear next to Kanon saying they’ve found a evil soul and one of them begins to attack her. Just as the second girl is about to attack Urin, Marin transforms and saves her sister, and she tells Urin to take cover and hide.

         Marin then attacks the creature who’s attacking Kanon, she tells Kanon to hide and that she’ll handle this battle alone, and as Marin begins to fight the two creatures Kanon walks off saying that this is none of her concern. While Marin is having a hard go against the two creatures, Kanon begins to do some introspection. Kanon says that Suzuki had it wrong because she only did all that stuff because she didn’t want people to hate her. Kanon rushes back to the battle and says that she’ll do the job that no one wants; she says that she just wants to have a friend. Kanon transforms and enters the battle, Kanon calls to the turtle elder to give her some fire, and using the fire she launches an attack to wounds the two girls. Marin hugs the two injured girls while telling them it’s alright to return to the sea, and Marin’s hug transforms the two girls back into fish who return to the sea.

        After the battle, we see that Kanon paying a visit to Suzuki’s house where she gives Suzuki a discount coupon for a fortune reading, and she says that her readings are better than her mother’s, so stop by sometime. Kanon then tells Suzuki that she won’t be attending university but will instead work on being purer. Later, Marin gives Kanon a hug telling her that she loves her, and this time Kanon seems to accept and enjoy Marin’s affection. Well, that’s all for this episode.

       Well, this episode focused on Kanon’s nature and gave us a little insight into how Kanon got to be the way she is. Basically, Kanon has been a very serious person since her early childhood, and she thought that doing the unwanted stuff would make the others not hate her, but Kanon’s very serious nature tended to scare others away from her. So, Kanon began to close herself off from others because she was afraid of getting her hopes up only to be rejected. After some soul searching, Kanon comes to the conclusion that she doesn’t want to be not hated, what she really wants is a friend. Yes, with this realization I think that Kanon now understands that she has to open herself up to other people and take a chance on friendship.

       One thing that I noticed about this episode was that the attention to detail and the animation quality of this episode’s battle scene seems to have dropped off greatly compared to the last episode’s battle scene. I hope that battle scenes in future episodes will be done with the same quality as the second episode. Overall, this episode did its job in developing and fleshing out some details of Kanon and her past.