Crystal Tokyo Anime Blog

       This episode begins with Touya waking up in a hotel room from a dream of his childhood, Yayoi has left him a note saying she’s in the lobby’s cafe. Touya joins Yayoi who’s already eaten, and Touya thanks her for not destroying Yuki’s letter to him (I thought it was destroyed). Soon, Yayoi tells Touya about the upcoming Venus music festival hosted by Touou TV, only young female singers can enter, and the festival decides the future singing stars. Touya asks Yayoi about Rina and the festival, she says that Rina had two chances to enter but she was always scheduled for other jobs. Eiji’s doing? Yayoi says that’s probably right. And this year? Yayoi says who knows.

       Touya and Yayoi continue to talk about the festival and he finds out that only one singer can enter from each production company, so it’s Yuki or Rina. She tells Touya that Yuki doesn’t know about this, and she goes on to tell Touya that he should realise that his should be the end of his & Yuki’s love.

       Next, we see that Misaki and Akira had to take Touya’s dad back to the hospital and they left him a message on his answering machine. Then we see Touya walking home after he refuses to let Yayoi drive him home, and we see him buying another copy of Yuki’s single from a music store. When Touya finally gets home he listens to Akira message telling him to hurry to the hospital because his father has gotten worse.

       Later, we see Yayoi picking up Yuki at her apartment, and Yuki notices that something is bothering Yayoi. Then we see Touya finally arriving at the hospital, and then we see him telling Misaki that his father just had a blood pressure spike and that he’s going to be alright. Misaki then tells Touya that she knows that Yayoi has been picking him up at Echoes, and does Yuki know? He, says it was just once, and Misaki says, so Yayoi takes care of Yuki and him? Touya just leaves it at that.

       Later, as Misaki is leaving the hospital she overhears Touya talking with his uncle, she finds out that his father is much worse off than Touya’s been telling everyone, and she also hears that if his tests don’t come out OK they might not be able to operate. Misaki goes back to visit Touya’s father, he thanks her for the nice time he had, and he also tells her to get along with Akira. He goes on to tell her to forget about his son, and she says she’s sorry.

       Later, we see Mana and Haruka still hanging out, Haruka asks Mana about Touya, and she dodges the question. Then we see Yuki trying to get in contact with Touya asks about his father and so forth. But, as time passe, we see that Touya’s is spending all his time at the hospital, and he’s even doing all his college studying there.

       Then we see a meeting at the production office that includes Eiji, Rina, Yuki, and their managers. Well, the topic of the meeting is the Venus festival, and Rina says she knew this would come up. Eiji says, so you don’t want to enter, and Rina says you know that I’ve always wanted to enter. Well, as Eiji is trying to say that Yuki will be chosen Rina says she’ll save him the trouble by saying that she’s quiting her brother’s  production  company and going solo.

       After Rina says this and leaves the meeting Yuki goes into shock, Yuki tries to stop Rina from leaving the room but Rina walks out the door. Yuki goes to chase Rina down, she catches Rina, but Rina separates herself from Yuki, and says she’s sorry. Yuki tries to get Eiji and Yayoi to stop Rina from quitting, and Yayoi tells Yuki to wait in the car, and she’ll drive her to Rina’s house.

       When Eiji and Yayoi are finally alone, she tells him that it’s Hiraki who’s been following her and taking picture. Eiji says he’ll handle it by telling him he’ll not notice his activities or he’ll take legal action. He asks Yayoi is she’s OK? Yes. And the youngster? There’s nothing between us. Eiji tells Yayoi that if Yuki’s hurt he won’t forgive her.

       Then the scene switches to Echoes where we see that Misaki is now working there, and we see Mana and Haruka stopping by for a visit. Then we see Eiji thinking about all the things that have happen with Yuki and Rina when he gets a call from Kanzaki asking for a meeting. Then we see Yayoi and Yuki stopping Rina’s car because Yuki wants to talk with her, but we also see that Rina is avoiding the meeting with Yuki. The episode finishes with Touya hearing Yuki’s voice on the answering machine saying she wants to hear from him, and he seems like he’s almost in tears after hearing her call.

       Well, this was one hell of an episode, and the shits really hitting the fan now. So, we find out the stalker wasn’t Eiji but Hiraki, and now Eiji will look the other way, but if Hiraki doesn’t quit his activities he’ll sue him. But, what was really interesting is trying to figure out what the hells up with Eiji’s and Rina’s relationship; why did Eiji stop Rina from entering Venus in the past, why is Eiji using Rina as a stepping stone of Yuki, and why the hell doesn’t Eiji have any loyalty towards his sister after all the years they’re been together?

       I really liked how Rina finally decided to break with Eiji after she comes to the conclusion that he really doesn’t care about her career, she’s got more balls than all the men in this series put together. It was also quite interesting to see that Touya knew all along that his father was in much worse shape than anyone knew, and as his father’s condition worsens he’s right by his side. Also, it’s quite funny seeing how all the girls still want Touya including Yuki, Misaki, Mana, Haruka, and even Yayoi seems to like his magic stick more than would have been necessary to expose the stalker. I continue to find Eiji to be really strange, while he doesn’t want Yuki hurt, he knows about Yayoi and Touya. Well, it’ll be really interesting to see Yuki’s reactions when she finally realises that she’s just a plaything in Eiji’s game, maybe she’ll quit and join Rina’s new production company.

      Well, this episode starts out with a narrator giving us the geographic and social lay out of Amberground. Then we see a Letter Bee heading towards town to pick up Lag for interview with the postal service, and then we see his aunt having flashbacks of the five years that have passed since Lag came to live with her. After the Letter Bee (Connor) drops off letters and packages he tells Lag to say all his goodbyes. Lag says his goodbyes, accepts parting gifts from friends, and has a tearful parting with Aunt Sabrina who tells him to find his real mother, Anne.

      When Connor and Lag get to the next stop, Connor asks Lag about his dingo, and Lag tells him that he wouldn’t listen to him so he doesn’t have one. Connor tells Lag that he has to be tough underneath his soft exterior. Connor goes on to tell Lag that a Letter Bee’s abilities are based on what kind of dingo they have. As they’re walking down a corridor, Lag asks Connor if a Letter Bee can have something other than a dog, and he says that a trained lion or panther might do. Just then, Lag steps on a piece of broken masonry and notices a little girl chained to a pillar.

      Well, Connor looks over the girl and tells Lag the she’s a letter. No, after he looks over the postage slip more carefully, he tells Lag that her address isn’t complete and she has insufficient postage with no return address, so she can’t be recognized as a letter and will be destroyed. Lag begins to freak out, but Connor tells Lag that what he means by being destroyed is that after a few days the girl’s chains will be cut and she’s on her own. Lag goes back to the girl and looks over her address tag again and asks Connor if she really can’t be delivered, and Connor tells him no way as they rush to meet the train.

      Inside the train, Lag tells Connor that the town of rent is only 30 units away and he thinks that he can deliver the girl and make it to the interview in time. Connor tries to talk Lag out of the idea, but Lag tells Connor that the girl was in the same situation that he was in when Gauche came along and if Gauche had left him he would have……… Lag starts to leave the train but Connor stops him, and gives him a note and says that if you show this to the station master he’ll help you, he also gives Lag a temporary crossing pass.

      As the train is pulling away, Connor sees a flier advertising a freak show at Love Someone Down in the town of Rent which is part of the girl’s delivery address. As Lag begins to escort the girl to Rent, he introduces himself and asks her name, Maka, then she goes on to tell him she has many names. Lag asks her for her real name and she says that she doesn’t have one.  So, Lag gives her the temporary name of Niche, meaning a small gap that holds flowers or other thing in honor of the place he found her. Soon, they’re attacked by a rock snake and before Lag can get out his gun Niche takes down the snake and tells Lag that he’s weak.

      Niche is quick and nimble and is almost able to fly from rock to rock making Lag wonder if she’s really a boy. Just as Lag is thinking about that idea, Niche goes flying by him and he sees that she’s really a girl because she’s not wearing any underwear. Well, Lag tries to get her to put on some pants but she refuses. Lag tells her that she needs them because she’s a girl, but Niche tells Lag that since he seems like a person who doesn’t do bad things she doesn’t need them.

      Lag goes on to tell her that even though she’s a nice girl she needs to wear something to make a good first impression. Lag goes on to tell her she’s beautiful and Niche jumps down from her rock and asks Lag if he really called her beautiful? Yes, and you have really pretty eyes. Niche jumps into the air and lands perfectly in the pants that Lag was holding, and she tells him that he’s the first man who has ever gotten her to wear pants, damn.

      Well, Lag starts laughing at her comment and he begins to lick a wound on his hand. When Niche sees this she jumps back up on a rock and tells Lag that since he also licks his wounds she’s decided to use the name he gave her, Niche. Well, that’s all for this episode.

     This was a very interesting and entertaining episode, and I felt that the pacing was spot on. I thought that getting some background information on the social and geographic landscape of Amberground was pretty informative. So, it seems that we have a world that exists in an enclosed  underground space with an artificial sun shining over the center most portion which is called Akatsuki (of course this is the capital and only the rich live there),  then Akatsuki is surrounded by a ring sea separating it from the next ring of land, Yuusari. The ring of land called Yuusari is the home of the middle class and another ring sea separates Yuusari from the outermost ring of land called, Yodoka. So, what do you know, poor Yodoka, the area furthest for the sun, is the home of the lowest members of Amberground’s society. 

     A lot of things have changed in the past five years for both Lag and the town of Cambel, Lag is now 12 years old and has been working hard to pass the entrance exam for the National Postal Service, and the town of Cambel is now more connected to the rest of the world thanks to it becoming an established delivery stop by the Letter Bees. Cambel had been out rightly hostile towards the government and the Letter Bees, but now that the Letter Bees have been picking up and delivering stuff to the town they’re now very friendly towards their Bee, Connor. 

      Well, we now find out that Lag has passed his entrance exam and has to leave with Connor to take the next step towards becoming a Letter Bee, and everything hinges on his interview, meeting Gauche again, and getting a crossing pass so he can locate his real mother. What was enlightening about this episode was that Lag behavior towards Niche establishes his future strengths and future weaknesses. Unlike Gauche who was all business while on the job, Connor points out to Lag that he needs to be tougher underneath his kind exterior. 

      You can see how Lag’s experiences on his journey with Gauche really formed his idea of how a Letter Bee should act and behave; his introduction to Niche was almost a carbon copy of how Gauche acted with him.  The only problem that Lag has with Niche is that she’s much more powerful than him, and most likely non- human. Niche practically flies from rock to rock, she also defies the very notion of gravity, and after seeing Lag lick his wound she also says she does the same.

      Another reason for suspecting that Niche is non-human or only part human is when she tells Lag that he’s the first man who’s ever gotten her to wear underwear.  So, this has to mean that Niche has either grown up away from normal humans, or she is so powerful that she needs not worry if who she shows her stuff to, either way, her line to Lag is an instant classic and will find its way into one of my motivational posters sooner, or later.

     Overall, this is another nice episode in a fairly interesting shonen anime series, and I look forward to watching Lag become a Letter Bee enabling him to continue his search for Gauche and his mother.

      Well, today is the big day, Ichigo leaves home and heads off to the St. Marie Academy. After a long bus ride into the country side, Ichigo makes it to the entrance of the academy and takes a long walk down a path leading to the school. When Ichigo finally makes it to the main building she’s amazed at the size and beauty of the school, and she spots a large statue of a woman. While Ichigo looks at the statue, a fellow student tells her that the statue is the queen of the sweets spirits, and if a student can see a sweets spirit their dreams will come true.

       Ichigo finds out that the girl is Rumi Katou, and she’s gonna be Ichigo’s roommate. After Rumi shows Ichigo to their room, she has to rush off for class prep leaving Ichigo to make her way to class where she runs into pretty boy Hanabusa from class 2-a. He tells Ichigo that they’re in the same class and he presents her with a welcome gift of roses made of candy, so he escorts her to class. Hanabusa tries to take his lady’s hand but Ichigo says she’s not that lady like. On their way to class, Ichigo runs into two other male students Kashino & Kashino “>Andou, and Kashino isn’t very friendly to Ichigo.

       When Ichigo finally makes it to class, the other girls are impressed that she arrived with the three princes. Soon, Ichigo changes into cooking uniform and is assigned to the same group as the three princes, and soon all the girls get jealous. The class get assigned a project of making crepes, and soon Ichigo finds out that she’s way over her head.

       Well, when the groups are finished with their crepes, the three princes all get passing marks but Ichigo’s creation is a total mess and they recieve -10 points. Ichigo apologises and tells everyone that this is her first time making crepes and she’s a complete novice at making sweets.

       After tasting her creation Kashino goes off on Ichigo telling her that if she isn’t serious about sweets she should just go home, and Ichigo starts crying. Later, that night, the other students notice that Ichigo is missing and we see her sitting outside in the rain near the bus stop. After a little bit of thinking, Ichigo returns to the school’s kitchen and begins to practice on her own.

       After several failed attempts, Ichigo looks towards the painting of the queen of the sweets spirits and asks for her wish to come true. Soon, a small fairy named Vanilla appears and says her dreams will come true. Well, Ichigo thought it would be easy getting her wish, but what Vanilla is really doing is teaching Ichigo how to cook.

       When Ichigo finally gets the hang of it, Vanilla makes a recipe card and sends it back to the queen, whenever a sweets spirit makes a dish with humans they have to send back a card. Vanilla tells Ichigo that sweets spirits are born to make sweets delicious, they’re born in the sweets realm, and when they reach a certain age they come here for training. They must find a human partner and train with them and if they do good enough they can become patissiere in the royal court, now Vanilla’s chosen Ichigo as her partner.

       After Vanilla and Ichigo talk about stuff, Ichigo vows to work hard and take everything in small steps. Ichigo and Vanilla then enjoy snacking on her crepe dish late into the night. After the closing song we get shown a little clip of Aoki Sadaharu, a real Paris trained patissier, who helped in the creation of the sweets for this show. Well, that’s all for this episode.

       Well, this was a pretty nice episode that establishes the tone for the rest of the series, Ichigo must work very hard and overcome many obstacles in order to reach her dream of becoming patissiere like her grandmother. Many bloggers had compared this series to Full Moon but I think they’re a little off the mark, while the character designs might be similar to Full Moon , this is not a magic girl show, and there will be no transformation scenes other than Ichigo working hard and transforming in to a good cook. While this episode introduces Vanilla, a sweets spirit, Vanilla will function like Fool from Kaleido Star did. Vanilla will give Ichigo advice and encouragement, and that’s her magic.

       I also see a pretty cute “love/infatuation” triangle developing, while Henri caught Ichigo’s eye in the first episode, he too old for her, and while she might pine of him, that’s all it’ll be. I think the infatuation triangle will be with Ichigo at the top and Hanabusa/Andou fighting for her attention. Hanabusa is nice and kind to Ichigo, so she already likes him, but I think that the cold and serious Andou will eventually want some of the sugary sweet Ichigo. You know that the line between love and hate is very fine indeed. Well, until next week’s episode I’ll have a piece of cake, and keep thinking of sweet girls and cute boys.