First Impressions / Sora no Otoshimono

「逃るること叶わぬ螺旋回廊(クサリ)」 (Nogaruru Koto Kanawanu Rasen Kairou (Kusari))
“The Spiraling Cloister (Chain) of No Escape”

It’s almost as if AIC ASTA’s just flaunting their capabilities now. In addition to having a new ending theme/sequence each week, they’ve gone and tweaked the opening with some extra sound effects. When a studio has time to do all that, it sure gives me the impression they have this project in the bag. The story is well on track too, with Nymph’s whole collar situation nearing its climax.

Eishirou and Mikako’s New World Discovery talk at the beginning on slavery probably best describes Nymph’s relationship with her master. With the episode opening up with that and Nymph’s nearly depleted collar, it wasn’t too surprising to finally learn that she has a ticking timebomb around her neck. However, I did feel more compassionate towards her situation after hearing her give up on bringing Ikaros back and seeing her try to enjoy her remaining time instead. This led to a three-person date between Nymph, Ikaros, and Tomoki, where our blue-haired Angeloid felt profound feelings of sadness and love for the first time. Holding hands with Tomoki for a bit made her quickly realize how lonely it feels to let go, plus got her to admit she wishes Tomoki was her master. This was later followed up by Nymph giving kissing a try, but she ends up pulling back at the last moment. In both cases, Nymph made Ikaros experience feelings of jealousy that she had no idea how to cope with. I don’t hold it against her though, since she felt bad about doing so at the end.

With the new ending “Red Flowers, White Flowers”, followed by Nymph flying off to a remote area to die alone, I was pretty impressed by how well they brought her overarching story to the forefront. The scenes in the new ending sequence in particular came off as her death flag in disguise. Since no one’s been aware of Nymph’s situation and tried to help her for the past while, it looked like she was going got a die a lonely and forgotten death after seeing them. As such, I was actually relieved to see the Angeloid Gammas arrive and cause a ruckus. If it’s explosions we need to get Tomoki and the others to notice what’s happening, then bring on the explosions!

As a parallel to all this, I liked how they had Ikaros going through some emotional problems of her own, which includes being unable to smile. Seeing her eyes turn red for a system scan was somewhat alarming, as well as destroying the zoo and freeing all the animals under the assumption that it would make Tomoki happy. Thus far, Ikaros has been shown to be pure and naive, so new feelings of jealousy obviously don’t sit well with a weapon of mass destruction. It looks like Ikaros’ worries are mostly put to rest though, leaving us with a finale that should involve saving Nymph from her horrible fate and Tomoki learning of Ikaros’ secret in the process. That’s my take on it anyway. I get the feeling Tomoki will have Ikaros’ save Nymph after learning of her combat abilities, and not hate her for it because she was able to do so. Whatever the case, I’m looking forward to the conclusion next week.

While I’m rather focused on the plot portions this episode, it did have its fair share of comedy throughout. My personal favorites were Sohara’s evil version of Goku’s Genki Dama (a.k.a. Spirit Bomb) after Tomoki got overzealous tickling her, Ikaros’ permanent smile from Nymph’s idea to use glue, and Tomoki throwing up after Ikaros went crazy on the spinning teacups ride. Some other notables were the Pink Panther movie poster and the Watermelon Man The Movie display. I also got a good laugh out of a lot of Tomoki’s outbursts, especially after the mayhem at the zoo resulted in the police, airforce, and army being sent out after him.

Finally, if you’re interested in hearing the sound effects-filled version of the opening theme, please see below. I’ve also uploaded a copy of the opening theme from the previous episode, which had Hayami Saori singing lead.

Show 「Ring My Bell (Saori main)」 ▼

Show 「Ring My Bell (sound effects)」 ▼

 

ED12 Sequence

ED12: 「赤い花 白い花」 (Akai Hana Shiroi Hana) by イカロス（早見沙織） Ikaros (Hayami Saori)
Watch the 12th ED!: Download, Streaming ▼

Preview

37 Comments

  7. This is another seris that should run to 24 episodes!!!!!! It had a blast when Mikako was asking for death penalty for Tomoki ! Then we get to see Nymph trying to die alone 🙁
    I shed manly tears

    Island Esper
    Reply

  14. Judging from where they are ending this, there should definitely be another season. There’s enough material in the manga currently for another season. They also show a teaser shot of Astraea (the Delta Angelroid) at the end of the preview too.

    Ascii
    Reply

  16. How are they going to throw in Delta at the end of the series? They’ve gotta have another season in the bag, otherwise the ending’s not going to make much sense. It wouldn’t surprise me, considering how the show has only improved over time.

    And I was saddened to not see Obama directing the melodramatic troops in their mission to find peace. That was a fantastic scene from the manga.

    Nothingseen
    Reply

  19. Yes!! I was looking for confirmation that it really was Astraea in the preview. My all time favorite character in the Otoshimono universe. I’m actually hoping she doesn’t turn up in the episode unless its just a glimpse of her at the end which pretty much confirms there will be a second season. Since the part they’re getting to Delta wasn’t apart of. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see. I’m excited though to see Astraea animated. Anyways action is guaranteed in the next episode. ^^

    Hyosuke
    Reply

  21. Well that was kind of a weird way to end this. They chopped up the story a but butch more my taste. (check the manga and you’ll probably agree.)

    Any way they kinda switched gears at the last second on us. Changing from happy-funny to sad-depressing, in a rather short amount of time.

    I’m still like the way they did this in the manga, since the story seems to make more since. (Ie Ikaros sudden obsession to hold Tomo’s hand, Nymph’s charm spell incident, and the appearance of the ‘other’ androids. Just to name a few)

    Over all it was a good series (season), other then the switches in the main story.

    Azar
    Reply

  22. Actually, I kind of enjoy that they made their own version of the storyline a bit.

    Nymph wasn’t meant to be the bad guy, and while the manga has the time to show this the anime does not. So the way they made nymph show up as a bystander first, instead of an attacker, works well. And they followed it up expertly.

    All in all, I can see why they chop-shop’d some parts together, but so long as they do it right and it makes sense and flows well it’s all good from my point of view.

    Intent
    Reply

  23. They didnt show Obama dispatch the whole us military to take care of Tomoki? Oh man! That was hilarious in the manga!

    Sora no Otoshimono never fails to amuse me every episode (only a few series can do that to me like Seto no Hanayome and Full Metal Panic Fummofu). I really want a second season for this amazing show!

    X
    Reply

  24. Oh … About the kiss scene (from Ikaros & Tomoki), it’s not in the manga no ?
    I don’t remember that.
    For this episode, loved all the part.
    The no-Obama thing it’s not a real problem but it’s a little sad, yes.
    But it’s not “that” important. 🙂

    ShiroiRyu
    Reply

  26. IMO, they did a good job on developing Nymph, perhaps even better than the manga, but at the expense of Ikaros. They changed the Ikaros’s most important climax (the lying/bond-profession/christmas-party/battle episodes) to a lesser emotion impact and worse continuity, in order to invest in Nymph. Considering Ikaros’s the main lead and the one I like more, I dislike this change, but I can understand Nymph probably has a wider appeal to the audience population.

    Bamoqi
    Reply

  27. I hope they do a flashback that will show how Nymph appeared. Randomly showing up at the house in the morning watching TV and eating snacks was “WTF?”. That would make Nymph’s story more complete. Those were such sad scenes, Nymph saying farewell to the bird she freed, then Tomoki and Ikaros, and talking how no one will notice she’s gone. The ending song sounds like goodbye too. Those Gamma angelroids look cruel. Hope they don’t hurt Nymph too much, or the collar blows up, before Ikaros can save her. Seems the sound effects in the opening are AIC’s way of preparing for some serious battle action next episode. I can’t wait! And another angelroid like Ikaros is going to appear? Maybe I should read the manga and find out.
    Tomoki’s pervertedness still makes it through (although stopped by spirit bomb Sohara!). The glued smile thing was funny(freakin’ Eishirou doesn’t smile at all, and Mikako’s smiles are with evil intents!), and the date showed Ikaros getting jealous and Nymph getting bold(almost!) was good too. It’s an amazing feat how they crammed so much in the episode yet it doesn’t feel rushed.

    samu
    Reply

  32. I’m guessing they’re going to do a climax for both Ikaros and Nymph in 13.They’re probably going to show a glimpse or 2 of delta to indicate a second season.An omake compilation should be the extra episode then.Very well planed AIC….

    God~Knows~
    Reply

  33. Just your typical peaceful and weirdly weird day until Nymph is tracked down. Is this gonna be one of those 13-episode shorts or much longer?

    Nymph’s master reminds me of FF2’s Emperor with a distinct sound of Urahara in it. 😀

    razgriz
    Reply

  34. Divine,

    FYI… That image you linked saying they activated the “Air Force” is actually a Navy fighter. You can tell because of the raised blast wall, the LSE (man in yellow) and the two aircraft maintenance (in green) personnel. The Air Force wouldn’t stand a chance taking off or landing on a carrier.

    -Just another sailor getting his anime fix underway.

    Joshua
    Reply

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