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「水晶の少女 egy lány -ban kristály」 (Suishou no Shoujo)
“The Girl in the Crystal”
With her Raikiri (not Kakashi‘s), Misuzu shows up to save the day.
Unfortunately, she doesn’t know much about the Red Night either, other than the fact that it exists in a different time and space. Despite being chosen ones like her, Kakeru and Yuka don’t seem to have any powers at this point. With no way of escaping the Red Night, the three of them decide to head to the crystal tower at the center of this alternate reality in hopes of finding a clue as to what’s going on. On their way, they run into a Black Knight who impedes them, making Misuzu even more anxious to see what’s at the tower. Much to their surprise, they find a girl entrapped in a crystal named Lisette, who asks for their help getting out of there. Understandably cautious of the situation, Misuzu chooses not to do anything. Five more Black Knights then appear and the supposed leader of the group refuses to answer Misuzu’s questions, claiming that he doesn’t need to explain anything to soon-to-be-gone “fragments” like them. He goes on and says they shouldn’t exist anyway, especially Kakeru.
Much like we’ve seen before, Misuzu, Kakeru, and Yuka are all inexplicably transported back to the normal world as soon as they’re attacked. Discussing the situation together, Misuzu reveals there are at least three others in the area like them — two girls and one guy from their school — whom she’s seen fighting demons in the Red Night as well. As a sort of Buddhist priest/sorcerer herself, Misuzu suspects that these Black Knights are some sort of spiritual existence or dark spirits. As for her powers, she feels that it’s something Kakeru and Yuka should possess as well, but probably hasn’t awaken within them yet. The theory crafting is left there for now, but on their way home, Kakeru and Yuka catch sight of what looks like Kakeru’s deceased sister again. They stop by the store where Kakeru works to ask for the day off, but are surprised to run into a new, spirited, nickname-loving, part-timer named Hirohara Yukiko (a.k.a. Yuki-pon). Unbeknownst to the two of them, Yuki-pon appears to have some sort of regenerative ability.
After a strange dream, Kakeru decides to look things up at the library the next day where he catches sight of his sister again. This time though, he finds a note saying the demons were awoken by him. As often the case in the Red Night, Kakeru’s right eye starts causing him pain again while a black moon looms overhead in the sky.
Seeing as the first episode left a lot of open-ended questions, I felt a little bit of a summary would help piece some thoughts together (if for me and no one else). Admittedly, I’m still not 100% sure if I’m understanding everything correctly, so please feel free to (kindly) correct me if you are familiar with the game and see any glaring mistakes. While I’m okay with deferring the explanation behind the recurring appearance of Kakeru’s deceased sister for now, I’m curious about the presence of the Black Knights in the Red Night and how they referred to our protagonists as “fragments” 「欠片」. As it turns out, these Black Knights 「黒騎士」 are named after six of the Seven Deadly Sins in Latin (minus Lust).
While I’m far from being very knowledgeable about Buddhism, Shinto, and just religious beliefs in general, my interest has piqued a fair bit because of this. In addition, I want to see why these Black Knights seem to be guarding Lisette when she wants to be freed from her crystal palace. I’d imagine it’s to use her for some greater purpose, but I have no idea what that might be at this point. Remember what I was saying about visual novels having surprisingly good plots at times? Well so far, it looks like 11eyes is one of those cases. Despite presenting even more questions with this second showing, I felt they’ve done a good job capturing viewer interest. And to think, I was going to pass on this show without checking out the first episode…
P.S. Based on the opening sequence, it should come as no surprise who the three remaining “chosen ones” are.
Preview
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I also enjoyed this episode, the way they introduced the characters and how they still kept the mysterious vibe without giving too much away was also good. Can’t wait till the next episode.
Have you and Omni decided what you\’re covering for the season yet?
I still can’t unsee Tsuruya-san in Kukuri.
IMO this show really reminds me of Night Wizard, I mean with the red dark moon and all. As well as the parallel world settings, although I think that Night Wizard is better for its comedy or humor, but the plot was only okay. I heard that this show had an incredible, plot I hope that the storyline and action scenes would make up for the lack of comedy.
Looks like Rental Magika, which sucked.
Phoenix:
I agree. I really like how the characters are pretty mysterious right now. We still have a lot to learn about each of them, in addition to the actual story. This makes for a good watch.
Sario:
We’re not entirely sure yet. Personally, I don’t plan to drop any of the shows I’m currently watching. However, I was only planning to cover one show this season. After the season started, I thought I’d go with two and now possibly even three.
At the moment, I’m thinking Kampfer, Letter Bee, and Sora no Otoshimono. They seem to be the most enjoyable to write about. This leaves out the seemingly popular Nyan Koi and 11eyes though. At this point, I’m not so concerned about Seitokai no Ichizon, Natsu no Arashi, Nogizaka Haruka, and Sasameki Koto, but I’ll listen to any “protests”.
X:
Yeah, it’s that dark moon and red sky I swear! 🙂
the first ep was way too predictable…hope this ep changes it
those 11 eyes… whose eyes are they?
looks like a deja vu of chaos head 😛
RED
It is interesting to note they are introducing some differences compared to the game in to the story, some seemingly not so minor (though will likely not change that much in the long run) – an attempt to keep things fresh for the VN players i would guess. The most glaring change is the treatment of Kukuri (aka the “dead sister”) – in game a ghostlike version of herself never stalked Kakeru and Yuka like she did in anime in episode1, and there were no “mysterious appearances” from her either – after Misuzu rescues Kakeru and Yuka during the second red night, she later reveals that she has indeed met other people in the red night as her (aka with special abilities), and seeing she has made friends (sort of) with one, agrees to introduce the two to this other person next time they are all in school – and this person turns out to be no one other than Kukuri. What comes afterwards i won’t say, but this is the treatment Kukuri is getting now is a bit different from that of the game, seems they are trying to fuel her “mysteriousness” factor here. Other differences are somewhat minor, and my memory of the story is not that clear as it has been a fairly long time since i played it, but this one stands out the most.
I, for one am glad there’s no comedy in this. The plot is already twisted enough to where you don’t know what the hell is going on. This is basically what happens when they try to create a mindfuck scenario. But it was a H-visual novel so what do you expect. As long as its not some BS like chaos head where you are left hanging plot-wise until the last 10 minutes of the last episode, it should be OK.
I have started playing the game and I am now really curious as to how close they are going to stick to the story in the anime.
Well, I only have one question… What’s with the hungarian intro? (maybe i only find it weird becouse I’m hungarianXD)
well, I LOL’d at the hungarian intro 🙂 (btw I’m hungarian too)
My mouth was agape when I hear the intro. I couldn’t identify what language it was in. So it’s Hungarian huh…
The scene at the library was scary, for me anyways. Not actually scary but I did jumped when I saw his sister there. It’s like she’s really staring at you >.<
Btw, izzat blood on the guy in image 18?
LOOOOOL “egy lány -ban kristály” Anime creator’s hungarian = FAIL!
It would be correct as “A kristály lány”
@divine
Do Nyankoi over shitty Kampfer. At least its funny.
Dawn:
Thanks for the information from a VN perspective.
Now that you mention it, Misuzu actually said she knows one of the girls this episode and that she’d introduce her to Kakeru and Yuka later on. I guess this means it’s Kukuri…?
Chaos:
It looked like blood to me, so I guess he was in the Red Night as well.
Kreskin:
While I’m pretty sure it’ll fall well below my expectations, Kampfer was the show I was looking forward to the most this season. I don’t really want to drop it because of that. :\
@divine
agree here, Kampfer is going to be great, not the best of the season but its very entertaining and has relatively big novel fanbase in asia, unlike Nyankoi or so on.
Kampfer, Letter Bee, and Sora no Otoshimono are definitive best choices, while Kampfer is my favorite of these, I got to say Sora no Otoshimono seems promising as well. Im not very fond of Letter Bee so havent checkd it out yet, but I’ve heard positive things about it from people who understand anime.
ps: blue lit seems to have very interesting story but may not appeal to all due to the art-style.
I think, this “egy lány -ban kristály” means “Egy lány a kristályban” in english that would be “A girl in crystal” or something along these lines. I wonder when will they translate this first part into englishXD
Interesting how the Hungarian title will help me translate the Japanese one better, so I think you’re onto something there.
“Suishou no Shoujo” can mean “The Crystal Girl” or “The Girl of the Crystal”, the latter of which could be loosely interpreted as “The Girl in the Crystal”.
egy lány -ban kristály means “crystal in a girl”, in english, but the hungarian grammar isn’t correct either, so something like “A girl in a crystal” is probably more logical…
Az éjszaka hirtelen vöröses fénybe öltözik. Időn és téren túl a valóság és a valótlanság közötti világ. A fiú és a lány nyomában a kérlelhetetlen fekete nap(?). Mi szél sodorta erre a baljós helyre őket? Vajon felébrednek-e valaha ebből a rémálomból?
The night suddenly change into red. Beyond time and space the world between reality and unreality. After the girl and the boy is the rigorous black sun(?). What wind drifted them into this omnious place? Will they ever wake up from this nightmare?
(?): I think they meant Moon (Hold in hungarian… wonder if I misheard it)
ps.: Sorry if I had some errors, but I rarely translate.
It should have been the “Black Knights” according to what the Japanese subtitles said. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was some epic Hungarian fail though, much like how we see epic English fail all the time in anime.
Well, the narrator was a hungarian voice actor (Faragó András, I think), so at least the articulation was perfect, though I am surprised that they hired a hungarian “seiyuu”. Btw he said “fekete urak” which literally means “black lords”.
And yeah, conqueur the world, hungarians! HAHAHAHA! 🙂
The Hungarians are taking over the anime websphere!
11 eyes referring to all the characters’ eyes: 6*2-1=11eyes.
lame character design. eye patch looks stupid. it doesn’t transition well. and above all, wtf is this. all these wasted animation and it doesn’t even start to compare with the game. it doesn’t do any justice yet, and it’s unlikely for future episodes too. fanservice is still below average. if pantsu screens were more appealing then maybe i’ll give it some shiny stars.
“P.S. Based on the opening sequence, it should come as no surprise who the three remaining “chosen ones” are.”
No wai?
Anyway, I’ve rather been enjoying the plot so if you could, pleae, please don’t drop this. I rather like reading your opinions on it.
(And you didn’t get enough pantsu shots? You feeling off today? :P)
garfield15:
Now that you mention it, I have been feeling kind of light-headed. My apologies for not having enough shots of Yuka’s pantsu. orz
On a more serious note, I didn’t really want to be labeled as “that” kind of person (it’s not too late is it? -_-;), plus I felt that these shots showed what happened better. (I’m sure one could argue that Yuka’s butt showed what happened better though…)
That said, I agree 11eyes is pretty good so far, so I’m really considering continued coverage on it. The first episode had a lot of people talking (more so than the other new shows at least), plus it attracts our Hungarian readers too it seems!
@Divine
As to what you’re blogging this season: I like it. Letter Bee is all kinds of neat, and I can’t decide if the episodes or your commentary on Sora no Otoshimono are better. I’d prefer Nyan koi to Kampfer, but I’ll take either.
“On a more serious note, I didn’t really want to be labeled as “that” kind of person (it’s not too late is it? -_-;)”
…..Would you perfer a lie or the truth?
Delwack:
I’m glad to hear that. I’m thinking about squeezing in Nyan Koi as well, but we’ll see.
garfield15:
Let’s just leave it as, “what I know to be true is the truth” shall we?
I don’t want to dig myself into a hole I can’t get out of. I’m a very nice person IRL, I swear!
Saya wants her sword back 😛
Now, I might be reading too much into it but…is the reason why there’s a hole in her skirt because of the….tentacle monsters or…..
Well this show has captured my interest. I wish they stop showing those annoying and distracting pantsu shots though. Feels like they chose that camera angle just for that shot (which they probably did).
I finally got to watch this! The 2nd episode is so much better than the 1st. The story-telling was more interesting/engaging. But anyway, Divine, if you decide on covering only 2-3 shows, I hope you’ll at least do Sora no Otoshimono and Letter Bee. Thanks for the hard work!
The narrator is a Hungarian actor.
Faragó András is his name.
He this says it:
“Az éjszaka hirtelen vöröses fénybe öltözik.
Időn és téren túl a valóság és a valótlanság közötti világ.
A fiú és lány nyomában a kérlelhetetlen fekete nap.
Mi szél sodorta erre a baljós helyre őket?
Vajon felébrednek-e valaha ebből a rémálomból?”
I keep expecting someone shouting “Persona” here…
So who is he the reincarnation of, that’s the question and who is the girl we see the hand of in the recurring dream? Along with other questions, whose the girl in the crystal, how is the hero responsible, when is his power going to awaken.
It reminds me a lot of Chaos Head although that could be down to the “keep out” type yellow tape that appears.
Huh, so many hungarians here? Guess what: I’m too! But just one half. Exactly am german-hungarian. I was kinda shocked while hearing the hungarian text the first time XD
Also would like to know WHY hungarian…
It’s just in the anime “Kämpfer”! In that anime many words are german ones… Even the name.
Oh, and @ viral:
I think ““A lány kristályban ” is better 😉 But you are the expert, I’m not so good in speaking hungarian…