The All-New, All-Different Bore Anime & Manga Thread!

[Don Flamenco]

Watching Full Metal Alchemist on netflix.  Got the Samurai X OVAs, the rest of Angel Cop, and High School of the Dead lined up. 
Not sure why, I'm on a big anime kick lately.  Guess I'm enjoying some "turn your brain off" entertainment! 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Make sure you watch the English dub. It's amazing.

[close]

I think you were the one who brought my attention to that show!  

and the first few eps didn't disappoint (I'm watching the ridiculous english swearing dub.)  I'm gonna have to watch them again for the anti-semitic shit    I didn't notice that at all (and being raised jewish, I usually notice those kinds of themes.)  I was paying more attention to the robocop and blade runner fan service, I guess.  Not that I care, it just adds to the show's craziness.

[Don Flamenco]

and I guess I'm late to the party, but the first few eps of High School of the Dead are fucking awesome.  Tons of Resident Evil, and 28 Days Later fan service (namely the burning bus separating the surviving humans and some of the music that sounds like it's straight from 28 days later.)  And the otaku guy's name is Kouta Hirano!!

[Great Rumbler]

Watching Full Metal Alchemist on netflix.  Got the Samurai X OVAs, the rest of Angel Cop, and High School of the Dead lined up. 
Not sure why, I'm on a big anime kick lately.  Guess I'm enjoying some "turn your brain off" entertainment! 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Make sure you watch the English dub. It's amazing.

[close]

I think you were the one who brought my attention to that show!  

and the first few eps didn't disappoint (I'm watching the ridiculous english swearing dub.)  I'm gonna have to watch them again for the anti-semitic shit    I didn't notice that at all (and being raised jewish, I usually notice those kinds of themes.)  I was paying more attention to the robocop and blade runner fan service, I guess.  Not that I care, it just adds to the show's craziness.

The English version cut out pretty much all the anti-semitic stuff, changed it to some generic, evil corporation instead.

[Bebpo]

Fractale was nice.  If they had made this a decade ago it would have been a nice show with worldwide appeal.  But made in todays market where it's been infused to the top with moemoe it's an only-in-Japan thing.

[Great Rumbler]

It's sad that a show like Fractale [light-hearted adventure series] is the exception to the rule these days.

[Great Rumbler]

Freezing - Episode 2

This is a series overflowing with brutal violence [towards girls] and pointless fanservice, but neither of those things are the problem. So what's the problem? The dough-faced little twit-burger that acts as the main male character. He's the biggest dull-eyed little punk I've ever seen. In almost every scene he stands with his mouth agape like friggen goldfish and so far has done nothing even remotely worthy of note except turning the awesomely-cool main female character into a blushing pile of goo. I guess I'll watch the second half of this episode anyway, but I can't imagine anything's going to happen to salvage either of these two hopelessly infuriating characters.

Fake Edit: Oh, totally didn't see this coming: the dough-faced boy is lightly slapped, causing the one girl to Hulk-out and totally trash this other chick. What a surprising twist!

spoiler (click to show/hide)

QOEWIRUJWOERIHJEORUTHAERITUHWEROUWHEROWUIEHRWH  Delete and forget. I never want to watch another episode of this trash ever again.

[close]

[Purple Filth]

Freezing - Episode 2

This is a series overflowing with brutal violence [towards girls] and pointless fanservice, but neither of those things are the problem. So what's the problem? The dough-faced little twit-burger that acts as the main male character. He's the biggest dull-eyed little punk I've ever seen. In almost every scene he stands with his mouth agape like friggen goldfish and so far has done nothing even remotely worthy of note except turning the awesomely-cool main female character into a blushing pile of goo. I guess I'll watch the second half of this episode anyway, but I can't imagine anything's going to happen to salvage either of these two hopelessly infuriating characters.

Fake Edit: Oh, totally didn't see this coming: the dough-faced boy is lightly slapped, causing the one girl to Hulk-out and totally trash this other chick. What a surprising twist!

spoiler (click to show/hide)

QOEWIRUJWOERIHJEORUTHAERITUHWEROUWHEROWUIEHRWH  Delete and forget. I never want to watch another episode of this trash ever again.

[close]

Need to see how much fanservice they added this time 


Yea hes not much of a action MC since hes more of a pacifist type dude and is surprised at how such bullshit is tolerated at the place.

The other thing he has going is his godlike freezing ability and his "talk no jutsu" powers. 


The main stars are the girls though, no doubt about that. 

[Himu]

why the fuck do you guys watch shitty anime

god

glad i only watch anime films/ovas now

[Himu]

btw haruhi movie owns and this is coming from someone who felt the tv series while novel, was absolutely average defined.

[Great Rumbler]

why the fuck do you guys watch shitty anime

god

glad i only watch anime films/ovas now

I watched three great series last season. Deal with it.

btw haruhi movie owns

Best movie of 2010.

[Purple Filth]

why the fuck do you guys watch shitty anime

god

glad i only watch anime films/ovas now

yea because anime films and OVAs can't be shit also   

[Purple Filth]

Just checked Freezing and they did it again 

They even changed Pandora mode's appearance (since its a powersuit/bodysuit in the manga). Almost like an excuse to show them tattered.

Plus i really hope that "sister" translation is off...

Next Ep is gonna be hilarious since the MO is now confirmed 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

smh

[close]

[Bebpo]

Level E was entertaining.  Feels totally different than HxH.

I turned off Infinite Stratos after 10 mins.  People-mechs are the worst thing ever.  It's like they want to make a mech show but they want to have SUPER MOE GIRLS as well.  Grossss.  people-mechs better not ever make it into super robot wars.

Horyou Musuko/Wandering Boy was really nice.  The watercolor style didn't work as well as I thought it would, but the music and the way the show is written were fantastic.  The writing is kind of abstract and you can't really follow what is going on 100%, but it actually works really well with the show's theme of non being locked into a standard format.  I actually think this would have been better has a movie than a TV show, but it'll be interesting so see where the show goes.  I definitely want to see more.


So now that all the eps have aired, I think my anime watching roster for this season is:
-Madoka Magika
-Fractale
-Horyou Musuko
-Gosick (might drop depending on the quality over the next few eps)
-Star Driver cont'd
-SRW OG2 cont'd
-Level E (maaaaybe, will give it another couple eps)

Season turned out better than I thought, Madoka/Fractacle/Horyou are all stylish original shows that seem worth watching.

[Great Rumbler]

I'll be watching Fractale, Madoka Magika, Level-E, Kore wa Zombie desu ka, and maybe Beelzebub. Haven't watched Wandering Son yet, but it doesn't seem like something I'd really get into it.

[Mr. Gundam]

I decided to rewatch the Five Star Stories film the other day. It's absolutely beautiful, but still massively fragmented and convoluted.

[cool breeze]

For me it is Level E only right now.  I have to check out Wandering Boy, Madoka and Fractale still. 

Beelzebub seems like straight gag show; if I really wanted that, I'd start Gintama already.  The zombie show is funny but it might fall into the Hayate no Gotoku area where it wears thin after a few episodes.  No chance of Freezing aka an example of why I took a break from modern anime, and less of Infinite Stratos since I too stopped after a few miinutes.

Oh, and I'm still watching Bakuman.  I'll probably drop it since an anime version is a bit pointless and I'm caught up with the manga.

I haven't read the Level E manga but I wonder if it does become a battle manga like the OP suggests.  It didn't last very long so it could end up just being a hilarious comedy show with an interesting sci-fi premise.

and talking about manga, I read the first volume of Shingeki no Kyojin.  Only the first volume is translated so far, but so far it has been great.  It's like Evangelion plus SotC plus a shounen battle manga that takes conventions and plays them against you.  In the end if the first volume you see

spoiler (click to show/hide)

all these people savagely eaten by the titans.  The main character rushes in to stop one, but another pops up and bites off his leg.  He gets up once more to save his friend from inside one's mouth and you think it's going to be a big moment...until the titan bites down and you see his detached arm flying out of the titan's teeth.

[close]

[Bebpo]

Star Driver reminds me a lot of Rahxephon at this point.  Mainly in the character interactions which are really human and well done.  Makes sense since it's the same writer, but a lot of the time it feels like something more than your average anime cast.  I went into Star Driver expecting a light silly show like Ouran, but more and more I'm getting the feeling by the end this will be major Bones dramatic series like RX, Scrapped Princess, and such.  Wish the rest of the eps were out already 

Also Gosick ep2 was pretty good but it was also weird how it was a completely different show than ep1.  Ep1 is this light-hearted pheonix wright mystery comedy show and then suddenly Ep2 is like END OF SERIES DRAMATIC SERIOUS DEATH AND DESPAIR.  Kind of wtf and now I really have no idea what kind of show this is going to be.  I really like the art, animation, directing though.  Whenever I watch a Bones show I feel like I've warped back in time and I'm watching a show from 1995-1999's golden era.  Where every other studio has kind of morphed their styles into the 00 modern style of anime, The ex-Sunrise staff now at Bones refuses to change and their style feels like they're doing their damnedest to retain that "Sunrise 90s" feel. 

Maybe it's just because I got into anime during that time period when Sunrise was king, but there's something really nostalgic that hits the spot with Bones shows on a presentation level.  They have this air about them that refuses to buck to the modern otaku-trends destroying anime.  Definitely my favorite studio even if some of their stuff slips up (E7 movie UGH).

[Great Rumbler]

If you need any kind of indication of just how creatively-bankrupt the anime industry has become, look no further than Vandread. It's a typical fanservice/harem action series from the early days of the 00's, filled with mecha actions, hijinks, and lots of cute girls in revealing outfits. It's terrible, right? WRONG. It's actually a pretty fun show. And THAT is what's wrong with anime 10 years later. Shows like that these days a terrible. The main male character is pathetic, the female characters are brainless and uninteresting, and the fanservice is jammed into every crevice and featured prominently whenever the animators get the chance.

Freezing? Terrible. Infinite Stratos? Terrible. Vandread? Somehow it's actually a decent series! Is ten years really that long?

[cool breeze]

Level E episode 2 was as good if not better than the first

best anime in a while

[Great Rumbler]

Not really feeling the second episode of Beelzebub, just feels like a lot of the same jokes as the first episode repeated [and repeated]. Unless episode 3 is really good, I'll probably drop it.

[Himu]

I decided to rewatch the Five Star Stories film the other day. It's absolutely beautiful, but still massively fragmented and convoluted.

there's an anime for this? I've read the manga.

[Great Rumbler]

I decided to rewatch the Five Star Stories film the other day. It's absolutely beautiful, but still massively fragmented and convoluted.

there's an anime for this? I've read the manga.

It's pretty awesome, but totally disjointed, incomprehensible, and way, WAY too short.

[youtube=560,345]e8Qoh5dJ50Q[/youtube]

[Himu]

I miss that type of anime character design. I miss liking anime period. You guys are so enthusiastic and shit when the only thing I like are films and ova's.

[bork]

I miss that type of anime character design. I miss liking anime period. You guys are so enthusiastic and shit when the only thing I like are films and ova's.

I agree that most of the shit out now sucks, but a lot of shit back then sucked too.  There's still been a few good series here and there as of late.

But to me, the high point for anime was the 80s and 90s.  Still plenty of fun manga to read out there, though.

[Bebpo]

I miss that type of anime character design. I miss liking anime period. You guys are so enthusiastic and shit when the only thing I like are films and ova's.

There's good stuff still.  In fact I feel like the last year or so has begun the comeback of anime.  For about a 5 year period between '05-'09 I felt like anime went in the gutter outside a few shows.  Lately it's starting to come back and every season there have been a 1-3 quality shows.

Did you ever watch Tatami Galaxy himuro?  It's probably the best anime in the last few years.

[Bebpo]

The only thing I really miss is Sunrise.  Sunrise was the best studio ever until everyone talented left in the early 00s.  I remember when I used to get super excited everytime a new Sunrise show was announced.  They had great animation, cool stories, lots of mecha shows, the Sunrise logo meant quality.  80s/90s Gundam, Infinite Ryvius, Planetes, Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne, Crest of the Stars, Inuyasha, Patlabor.  Sunrise was the best.  Now they're like modern day konami...a ghost town.  Everyone took off to Bones, Manglobe, and Studio Deen.  What's sad is that Sunrise still has exclusive rights to everything Gundam, so no Gundam will ever be like they were before Turn A.  Turn A was literally the end of quality Gundam (at least from a visual animation point of view), which is kind of fitting considering the plot of the show  

Although I've heard Sunrise might be willing to outsource a Gundam to Bones in the future since Bones is most of their ex-Gundam animators from the 80s/90s.  I'd love for it to happen.  Get the 08th Team staff to do it plz.

[cool breeze]

I think Bones is really inconsistent for the most part, even within the same series.  Jyu Oh Sei and Chiko both had great starts and middles, then they just had a huge drop.  The same is true for Eureka Seven, Xam'd, FMA, etc. but the decline is slower there.  Then there is Heroman and the Eureka Seven movie


oh, and rahxephon put me to sleep faster than when I washed down an ambien with some nyquil.

[Joe Molotov]

Soul Eater was awesome until the last few episodes, which were doo-doo.

[Purple Filth]

For me it is Level E only right now.  I have to check out Wandering Boy, Madoka and Fractale still. 

Beelzebub seems like straight gag show; if I really wanted that, I'd start Gintama already.  The zombie show is funny but it might fall into the Hayate no Gotoku area where it wears thin after a few episodes. 
Oh, and I'm still watching Bakuman.  I'll probably drop it since an anime version is a bit pointless and I'm caught up with the manga.

Not exactly, but the author tends to have more jokes compared to other shounens.

Not really feeling the second episode of Beelzebub, just feels like a lot of the same jokes as the first episode repeated [and repeated]. Unless episode 3 is really good, I'll probably drop it.

kinda ironic since you like P & S 


List right now is Beelzebub and Freezing (to see how much fanservice they add to degrade whatever story it had from the manga  ).

others are "more episodes till i check them out" mode.

[Bebpo]

Soul Eater was awesome until the last few episodes, which were doo-doo.

I couldn't stick with Soul Eater.  I liked the art/animation, but the pacing was SO SLOW which is what happens when you stretch out a manga to a 40-50 ep anime  

So I read the manga instead.

I think Bones is really inconsistent for the most part, even within the same series.  Jyu Oh Sei and Chiko both had great starts and middles, then they just had a huge drop.  The same is true for Eureka Seven, Xam'd, FMA, etc. but the decline is slower there.  Then there is Heroman and the Eureka Seven movie


oh, and rahxephon put me to sleep faster than when I washed down an ambien with some nyquil.

RX is good.  I'm not a huge fan, but it's very well done and some of the eps are awesome.  The ending for both the TV show and the Movie are really good.

Plus you enjoy RX more when you find out it's a remake/homage to Raideen.

[Great Rumbler]

Not really feeling the second episode of Beelzebub, just feels like a lot of the same jokes as the first episode repeated [and repeated]. Unless episode 3 is really good, I'll probably drop it.

kinda ironic since you like P & S 

Panty and Stocking repeated several basic jokes, but it also had manic energy, great music, and wild animation. Neither of which Beelzebub has to distract me from the repeated jokes. Better luck next time.

I miss liking anime period. You guys are so enthusiastic and shit when the only thing I like are films and ova's.

Durarara!!, Cobra the Animation, House of Five Leaves, Tatami Galaxy, Panty and Stocking, Angel Beats, Shiki, Senkou no Night Raid, Star Driver, Occult Academy [until the ending], Soredemo Machi, Jellyfish Princess, and Level E from this season. All those came out in the past year, all those are pretty good. Don't get distracted by all the trash that gets the most exposure, there are actually good anime series being made.

[Great Rumbler]

Episode 2 of Level E was GREAT. Best show of the season by far!!

[Bebpo]

Level E ep2 was pretty funny.  The show feels like Men in Black x GTO.

[Great Rumbler]

The North American anime distributor Funimation has informed ANN that the Fractale Production Committee — the Japanese copyright holders of the Fractale television anime series — has forced the company to halt its simulcast of Fractale after only one episode. According to Funimation representatives, the committee requested that Funimation eliminates unauthorized videos of the anime on the Internet — including streaming sites, file-sharing networks, and file servers — before its simulcast will be allowed to continue. As a result, there will not be a simulcast of the second Fractale episode tomorrow, and the rest of the series' simulcast is on indefinite hold.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-01-19/fractale-production-committee-halts-n-american-simulcast
 

[MCD]

http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=281371

There was this the other day too.

[Vizzys]

the rip I watched of fractale was such shit quality that if I was a paying customer id be pretty pissed

[Great Rumbler]

http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=281371

There was this the other day too.

One's a drama about transgendered kids and the other is about a scifi world where a kid goes on an adventure in search of a mysterious girl. Yeah...not really the same kind of thing.

the rip I watched of fractale was such shit quality that if I was a paying customer id be pretty pissed

Well, you wouldn't be because everything on Hulu is free.

[Vizzys]

ok good I (clearly) did not know that

[Great Rumbler]

Hulu has lower quality streams [480p] but is completely free.

CrunchyRoll has higher quality streams [720p] but requires a monthly fee for the HD resolutions.

[Bebpo]

http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=281371

There was this the other day too.

Azuma Hiroki said:
We cannot beat the perfect combination of the original manga and Okada Mari as the series composer, not to mention the water colored arts. You bullshit producer! This makes our anime an underdog. I think it's all over.

Yamamoto Yutaka, the director of Fractale, declared at the press conference that he is ready to retire when Fractale fails.

This made my day 

[Bebpo]

The North American anime distributor Funimation has informed ANN that the Fractale Production Committee — the Japanese copyright holders of the Fractale television anime series — has forced the company to halt its simulcast of Fractale after only one episode. According to Funimation representatives, the committee requested that Funimation eliminates unauthorized videos of the anime on the Internet — including streaming sites, file-sharing networks, and file servers — before its simulcast will be allowed to continue. As a result, there will not be a simulcast of the second Fractale episode tomorrow, and the rest of the series' simulcast is on indefinite hold.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-01-19/fractale-production-committee-halts-n-american-simulcast
 

Japanese distrobuter is clueless about how the internet and the world outside of Japan works and blames it on dirty foreigners

 

[Great Rumbler]

http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=281371

There was this the other day too.

Azuma Hiroki said:
We cannot beat the perfect combination of the original manga and Okada Mari as the series composer, not to mention the water colored arts. You bullshit producer! This makes our anime an underdog. I think it's all over.

Yamamoto Yutaka, the director of Fractale, declared at the press conference that he is ready to retire when Fractale fails.

This made my day 

Isn't Okada Mari working on both shows though? 

[Great Rumbler]

Comiket 28 from 1985:

*Mildly stuff*

[youtube=560,345]e-rbyjCgLJ0[/youtube]

[youtube=560,345]-LGdTvipudI[/youtube]

[Phoenix Dark]

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

this looks cool

[Bebpo]

Madoka ep3

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Didn't expect that 

I kind of wonder if the series is going to go GANTZ style and the wishes will be used to revive people who die in line of duty

[close]

[Great Rumbler]

Madoka ep3

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Didn't expect that 

I kind of wonder if the series is going to go GANTZ style and the wishes will be used to revive people who die in line of duty

[close]

Man, you should have expected that. Shinbo don't play no games, Bebpo!

spoiler (click to show/hide)

But, yeah, it did surprise me that it took such a dark turn. Although it was telegraphed a few minutes in advanced that something was gonna go really wrong during that battle.

[close]

[Vizzys]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

well at least she wasnt evil like I thought they were hinting at for a while

kyube might be though

still that was a pretty jarring death scene

heres hoping for more!

[close]

[Himu]

Is the story about transgendered kids, something I could relate to, serious or is it LOL cheeseburger SHENANIGANS?

what is madoka

[Joe Molotov]

Well, it's Japan, so I'm sure it's handled with the utmost sensitivity and maturity.

[Bebpo]

what is madoka

Persona x CCS

[brob]

Watched Tales of the Earthsea last night. People had been saying it was bad, but I thought it was alright. Not up to what people expect from Ghibli I suppose; the plot and pacing were quite messy, but it was pretty enough and had that 'omg nature so pretty' theme that Ghibli does really well.

I straight up did not understand the dragon stuff though. I mean, the film is book-ended with appearances from the dragons and that's basically all there is to that. They briefly mention that dragons and men originated from the same being and that they now co-exist, but what the fuck is the dealio with the dragon at the end?

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Was she a dragon all along? Were her parents (who abused her and burned her face) dragons? Or maybe she was a witch? I dunno.

[close]

Apparently it's based on a series of books, so maybe it's similar to Akira in that there is too much stuff to fit into a single film and have it be understandable for people who are new to it...

I did enjoy the sense of there being more to the world than we got to see though, but Ghibli has done that much better in the past with Nausicaa and whatnot.

Gonna watch Kiki's Delivery Service tomorrow I think.

[Bebpo]

It gets beat up on because of Ghibli standards, but yeah it's an alright film.  Main problem is lack of budget so the whole thing had this low-budget "looks worse than TV anime" feel.

[Great Rumbler]

Watched Tales of the Earthsea last night. People had been saying it was bad, but I thought it was alright. Not up to what people expect from Ghibli I suppose; the plot and pacing were quite messy, but it was pretty enough and had that 'omg nature so pretty' theme that Ghibli does really well.

I straight up did not understand the dragon stuff though. I mean, the film is book-ended with appearances from the dragons and that's basically all there is to that. They briefly mention that dragons and men originated from the same being and that they now co-exist, but what the fuck is the dealio with the dragon at the end?

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Was she a dragon all along? Were her parents (who abused her and burned her face) dragons? Or maybe she was a witch? I dunno.

[close]

Apparently it's based on a series of books, so maybe it's similar to Akira in that there is too much stuff to fit into a single film and have it be understandable for people who are new to it...

I did enjoy the sense of there being more to the world than we got to see though, but Ghibli has done that much better in the past with Nausicaa and whatnot.

It's based on the third and fourth books of the Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin, with the Scifi Channel miniseries being [roughly] based on books one and two. I don't think you'd get much more from reading the books though, as the movie is a departure from the storylines of the those two books.

The first two books in the Earthsea seriea are great fantasy stories. The third is okay, but not as good as the first two. The fourth is poopie and should be avoided, much like the Scifi Channel miniseries.

[brob]

so everybody was as confused as me regarding the dragon bit at the end? because my friend who I watched it with didn't get it either. we aren't luminaries in any particular field though, so it might just be us being thick as fuck.

[Great Rumbler]

so everybody was as confused as me regarding the dragon bit at the end? because my friend who I watched it with didn't get it either. we aren't luminaries in any particular field though, so it might just be us being thick as fuck.

I think the explanation is that the storyline is a bit of a mess.

[MCD]

Darker than BLACK – Shikkoku no Hana #28

We really need OVA/Manga/Movie/Whatever for the Heaven's Gate war in South America.

Not sure where this chapter is going but it better mean we see more Abigail, DAMMIT!

[Bebpo]

so everybody was as confused as me regarding the dragon bit at the end? because my friend who I watched it with didn't get it either. we aren't luminaries in any particular field though, so it might just be us being thick as fuck.

I don't remember the storyline   Didn't leave much of an impression, but yeah I think the script had issues.

Darker than BLACK – Shikkoku no Hana #28

We really need OVA/Manga/Movie/Whatever for the Heaven's Gate war in South America.

Not sure where this chapter is going but it better mean we see more Abigail, DAMMIT!

You and junpei need to let me know when this ends.  Will definitely read it to get some more DtB before the next season.

[Great Rumbler]

so everybody was as confused as me regarding the dragon bit at the end? because my friend who I watched it with didn't get it either. we aren't luminaries in any particular field though, so it might just be us being thick as fuck.

I don't remember the storyline   Didn't leave much of an impression, but yeah I think the script had issues.

Tales of Earthsea thrust a museum curator into the role of director, writer, and storyboard artist. Yeah, he's Hayao Miyazaki's son, but that's not a substitute for real-world experience. Hopefully his next movie turns out better.

[MCD]

Darker than BLACK – Shikkoku no Hana #28

We really need OVA/Manga/Movie/Whatever for the Heaven's Gate war in South America.

Not sure where this chapter is going but it better mean we see more Abigail, DAMMIT!

You and junpei need to let me know when this ends.  Will definitely read it to get some more DtB before the next season.

Sure.

[Bebpo]

Weekly Bones hour:
Gosick ep3 had a LARGE CHUNK OF EXPLANATION MISSING so ummm...yeah ep2/3 still doesn't really make any sense!  Not the best start to a mystery show 
Hope ep4 is a better mystery!  I like the Kujo/Victorique dynamic though.

Star Driver 16...fight was nice looking, but didn't really care about the rest of the ep :X  Sad that my waifu has left the show