I’ve really tried to think of a witty phrase without involving Haru’s boobs…..but I can’t.

Akiyuki tries to deal with the Hiruko on his arm, even if that means listening to a old lady high on drugs or working to death on the Zanbani. Poor guy, he really has a weakness for blue eyed girls. Nakiami and Bekinawa have a small cat-fight which leads to one of the most moe scenes so far (that is, if you dig drunken chicks). Good episode indeed.

Update: Opps. Screwed up the names and called our big momma Ahm instead of Yunbo…fixed the names now.

Soulstealers
A Humanform Weapon is attacking anoter random town and we get a view inside the pod controlling it. The Humanform User inside is able to control the orbs that each HFW has, which they act as remote cameras and as weapons. But a squad of ships arrive, deploying troops of armored suits called Soultealers (ever played Warhammer 40k? They are the clones of Tau Battlesuits, Jump Packs included).

Thinking with Portals.

This Tau Battlesuit Squad is worth 150 points.

With a coordinated attack, they’ve managed to destroy several of the orbs and proceed to a close attack, managing to pull the ring on the HFW’s “head”. That disables it, turning it into our familiar purple stone state. Their next objective is to prevent the suicide of the HFU. Now, what’s up with the ring? Every HFW seems to use it to stabilize their form; without it they destabilize and become stone. If you remember episode one, you can see Nakiami using a similar ring in ove of her experiments.

One ring to rule them all.

Meanwhile, a group of albino kids are getting ready for some sort of travel. They present themselves to Lady Sannova, geared up and ready to leave. they state they are ready to leave to the “lost land of souls”, which Lady Sannova replies to “return the Hiruko, for the sake of Raikon”. These words seem enigmatic now, but they become clearer by the end of the ep.

“Hmm, we should demolish this and build a Mcdonald’s here.”

Training

Akiyuki gets used to the hard work life onf the Zanbani ship, up to the point of exhaustion. Nakiami decides it’s time for him to have his Xam’d training, so she leads him to meet someone in the deepest parts of the ship. In a room filled with spirit calling incense (aka, opium) , he meets Madame Tenshin, a grumpy old lady with more bumps than a pickled prum. She asks him several question, but the main one was “what does the Xam’d seeks?”. Akiyuki asked if she could remove the Hiruko but she states only Lady Sannova, the leader of Ruikonism has the power to do it and she’s been exiled by the NG. Tenshin then asks Nakiami to start Akiyuki’s training drills.

20 bucks if you can guess the song.

five words: I am stoned.

Bekinawa and Yunbo are in the captain’s cabin discussing their flight routes. They are a bit constrained since both sides are tightening the securict, so they can’t deliver as fast as before. While counting her boxes of money (and I mean it litteraly; greedy megane girl …), Ishu comments she would be happier if they could dispatch the kid out of there, referencing Akiyuki, but he’s a Xam’d, so they can’t just leave him. Yunbo replies she would have been honoured if Hinokumaru was a Xam’d instead of Akiyuki (if you haven’t noticed, the lil’ punk is Yunbo’s kid).

Two women in front of a map? No wonder they are always lost.

Work on the Ship & Despair in the Island

Akiyuki’s training seems to be making some ordinary work like using a rubber stamp on a series of documents the fastest possible, but Akishiba and the kids use his drills to make bets between each other, which kinda annoys Akiyuki for being used as a diversion. When he questions Nakiami about the purpose of the drills, she replies they will keep him alive.

At least pay me a salary!.

In Sentan Island, there is no more school since it was destroyed in the last attack. Using their current free time, Haru, Furiuchi and Midori meet together to watch the arrival of a Southern Continent Free Zone ship, which marks the creation of a militia in the island to reenforce their defenses. Haru notices one of her schoolmates, Shidara, still in her school uniform, all dirty and without shoes. Seems her familay was entirely killed in the last air raid. Haru tries to cheer her up but she replies to not wait for anyone, because they are all dead. Meanwhile, Kakisu boards out of the ship and is received by our Moustache Guy (cmo’n, noone knows his fucking name?).

Anyone knows the Suiciders Help Hotline? Also….nice boat.

Lost Letters

Back to the smoking weed lady chamber, he replies Madame Tenshin he still doesn’t have an answer for what the Xam’d seeks. At lunch, Akiyuki is still working and Yunbo is ready to spank Akushiba for making him work so much, which Akushiba replies he did his job already. He’s actually replacing the stamps of undeliverable letters. But those letters are all adressed to Sentan Island, so he won’t give up on them, even if it costs part of his salary. Yunbo joins in to help, followed by the kids and even Akushiba (mainly because he didn’t wanted to look like a bastard).

Save the trees! Don’t waste good paper!

The Nekotama was found later humping a Pikachu doll and drooling like a doberman.

At night, Akiyuki tries to write a latter to Haru, but his mind is blank. Akushiba teases him a bit and calls him a wuss. Ironical, since he does it while oogling a pic of Nakiami that Raigyo took with only a speck of him (Akushiba) in the background. Poor Nakiami and Bekinawa, they must be harassed all day. Oh wait, nevermind, they probably just kick Akushiba in the balls and ignore him…But the picture kinda hints that Raigyo was a photographer. Go back to the opening, right at 1:00. Do you see a guy with a camera there? Is that Raigyo?

LOSER.

Akushiba does his impression of Pedro Domingo from Excel Saga.

Those Without Homeland or Soul

While Akiyuki is outside the ship helping Kiselji in the repairs (mainly by dropping tools and panicking for being kilometers away from the ground), a strange postal ship approaches the Zanbani. They come from the above at great speed, do a close tangent to the ship, positioning themselves in fornt of the Zanbani and drop a smokescreen on them, with little care for the safety of the crew. Benikawa seem to know who’s responsible for the reckless ship and calls Akushiba to prevent Nakiami to go out in the Beat Kayak because that’s a Tessik ship, but the warning was too late.

Pipehugger.

While crawling back to te ship, Akiyuki asks Kiselji if Nakiami knows the people on the Tessik ship. Kiselji replies they are NG pawns; casted away from their homelands and spread around the world. Akiyuki wonders what’s the diference from them and refugees, which is promtly called ignorant by Kiselji; the point is wheter they have a homeland to return to.

…If that isn’t the face of a bad guy, I don’t know what the fuck it is.

In the captain’s cabin, Nakiami and Bekinawa have an argument. Nakiaki wants to meet with Zeygend, the captain of the Tessik ship, so she can get info about the NG but Bekinawa rejects it. Nakiami asks if it’s because they are Tessik, which Bekinawa angrly replies if that’s her real reason to meet them, she can be considered out of the ship. Bekinawa states the Tessik betrayed the anti-government army and now they are making easy money in the south, even resorting to human traffic; people who’ve lost their past and home and sold their souls, nothing better than crap now. Nakiami asks if that statement includes her, since she’s no different from them. A shocked Bekinawa slaps her in the face, ending the discussion there.

Wheee, Biatchslap, everyone likes seeing them.

While sopping up on her cabin, Nakiami has a knock on her door. She expected Bekinawa but it’s Akiyuki instead. He was expecting her for the metting with Madame Tenshin but he’s worried with her condition, which she replies to not worry. Akiyuki states that she is always worried about him, but Nakiami says it’s because he’s Xam’d. At the chambers, Madame Tenshin asks again the same question: what does Xam’d seek? Altough still not sure, Akiyuki has an opinion: that the Xam’d is just looking to live alongside people. He still needs the help of Nakiami and the people of the ship. Madame Tenshin states that the Hiruki is a lost soul for now, thoughts that can’t be given live and unsure of what they seek. She asks akiyuki to keep meditating in the answer and gives permission to remove the restraints on Akiyuki’s arm.

Moe pic of the ep.

I would say Porn.

Meanwhile, Bekinawa get’s drunk alongside Yunbo for having slapped Nakiami. No more words needed, just see the pic below.

Second moe pic of the ep.

Jibashiri

Back to Sentan Island, Dr. Ryuzo is coming back home when he’s approached by Prois Sukakki, the secretary of Commander Kakkiku (or his aide, whatever you call it). She states there’s an anti-humanform research lab being assembled in the island and they wanted his expertise on the team. Problem is, Ryuzo hates soldies and doesn’t want anything to do with the military. but prois uses her trump: she mentions that she’s on behalf of Tojiro Kakisu, the man he saved at the battle of Barador. Again at night, Akiyuki tries to write a letter in his cabin but without luck. Asushiba teases him again, but since Akiyuki gently ignores him, he just gives up on him.

I hope the anime doesn’t reveal he was a former lover -.-y

This is the most important scene of the episode. A strange cilinder shaped ship comes from a hole in the ground (not really certain, it’s dark as hell). They land nearby, and it’s crewmembers come out. It’s the albino kids, fully geared in a suit resembling Skeksis from the Dark Crystal or the gear that Plague Doctors would use in the times of the Black Plague, one of the earliest appearances of a hazmat suit. Meanwhile, a guy is running away from some soldiers. The Albino Kids walk some ruins until they find the corpse of a pregnant woman. Sensing something, they remove what appears to be a Hiruko from the woman’s belly and collect it on their staves. The runaway man finds them and says they are the ones that remove the Hiruko from the deceased, the Jibashiri. The soldiers find the runaway and shoot him in the head.

*Insert tune from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” here*

Soylent Green is PEOPLE!

Conclusions

Okay, this episode so many questions, I’m not even sure where to start. First of all, the Hiruko. What the hell is it afterall? I would speculate it’s some sort of memories or even counscience from the deceased, but it can be from anyone or newborns like we have seen on the ep? Second of all, how the hell it’s related with Lady Sannova plans? I suppose she’s part of the good guys, but these animes tend to have thin frontiers on what’s morally good or evil.

Nakiami’s a Tessik then, with their trademark tattoos. But the albino kids are Tessik too, since they have them on the ankles? There is one bigger issue, why they are albinos? A theory I have is because of the place they live in. In the ep, it was said that Lady Sannova was exiled, but never stated to where. Another fact is that the Jibashiri ship seems co come from a hole in the ground. So I speculate they live underground, and the idillic paradise we see on their scenes is man-made. It would also explain the abnormal pale colour of their skins and hairs.

Zeygend spells troubles and isn’t hard to guess he will be the first “villian” the crew will face. I just hope someone smashes his nose, I don’t like the due even one bit and we’ve only seen his goddamn face…

And it’s just me or Akushiba is a loser for having a pic of Nakiami with the rest of the guys there crossed out? And let’s not mention Raigyo, I’ve already commented about that above.

…Where are you looking at?

Akiyuki wakes up in Gekkostate, has a giant swelling on his right arm and he’s miles away from home. Besides, he’s ungrateful to our sweet Nakiami! Luckily, Captain Ishu Bekinawa stuns him with her assets and punches him silly, as the mangy dog he is. Oh, there’s also some HFW after Akiyuki and such, but that’s kinda irrelevant compared with the above picture…

…What, me exploiting the image of our dear Captain Bekinawa? Nah, it’s just your impression and neither Crusader forced me to print a 3 meter height poster of the pic so he can worship her. I told him I had dib rights.

Nazuna and Kakisu

The ep starts with Haru idling aroung the hospital at night (who the hell walks around A HOSPITAL AT NIGHT?). Suddenly, a door close by opens, letting her see what’s inside (See? Doors that open by itself? I would shit my pants there.) Inside is Nazuna, our recurring albino girl, laying ona a bed and hooked up to some machines which seem to be processing (or extracting?) her green blood. She whispers Haru that her Xam’d is still alive. What this supposed to mean? Nakiami said a similar thing on ep 2. And the reports in ep 2 didn’t mention Nazuna as dead? This seems to be a key subject that indicates someone is covering up Nazuna’s existance, as we see in the next scene.

If they set up a a floating black monolith and and an orange astronaut, I’m dropping it.

This time we see some kind of meeting of high ranking officers and members of the government of SC, discussing the events of Sentan Island. The Moustache Fat Officer from ep 1 is there, reporting that the “white-haired girl has died, and all that they determined was the was a follower of Ruikonism”. More data is revealed during the meeting, like that there was was 6 explosions involving white-haired children and the existance of 2 Xam’d (these incidents seem to be all around the Free Zone, not only about Sentan Island). During the meeting it’s also announced that Commander Kakisu will take charge of Sentan Island. Kakisu, the only survivor of the Battle of Barador and acclaimed as a hero for it, a clear reference to the Battle of Ramree Island. The Battle of Barador was the first encounter with the Humanform Weapons, so it’s no wonder that the end result was a massacre.

Is that a HFW prototype at your right? It sure is ugly as one.

International Post Ship Zanbani

The next scenes are spent mostly in the airship we have been seeing since ep one, which is named Zanbani (it’s way better than Nebuchadnezzar). Let’s first make a small list of names of Zanbani’s Crew:

• Captain – Ishu Bekinawa
• Dreadlocks – Akushiba
• Nakiami – …duh, Nakiami
• Mom/Cook – Yunbo
• Hawaiian Pilot – Ahm
• Trap looking kid- Kobako
• Falcon Punch kid -Hinokimaru
• Conehead Engineer – Kiselji
• Nekotama – Roppa

Ungrateful Boy

Ahm and Akushiba are in the cabin, discussing the paths to take to divert from the nearby patrols while Bekinawa is happily polishing out phallic looking one meter long ammunitions. We also find out that their next destination is Shirahama Yard (whatever it is…). Akiyuki is being taken care by Nakiami and he’s given “Spirit Tea”, which supposely calms down the Hiruko. He refuses it (mainly because it stinks as dead raccoons) and tries to fiddle with the strange strips surrounding his right arm, just to get his hand slapped by Nakiami, the same way you would do with a naughty kid. She tells him that the Exsanguination Needle is keeping him alive, by inhibiting his Xam’d awareness.

She likes rubbing it…

Akashiba interrupts them and warns Nakiami that the Captain wants to see her. He also asks her to take the Captain’s breakfast, which she does if Akashiba takes care of Akiyuki. Akashiba gives some clothes to Akiyuki. Akiyuki wonders what’s the strange claw marks in the ceiling…

Life goes on

Haru is in the hospital lobby with his sister Midori and talking about the past, hinting to the accident that inflicted Midori’s legs (I believe they are refugees like most of the islanders). Finaly their dad arrives, which was busy talking with patients ( it seems he’s a doctor). Haru asked if he heard anything about the white haired girl but he had forgotten to ask. While they walk away of the hospital , they find Akiyuki’s father, Dr. Ryuzo, in a stone bench. It seems he walked around all hospitals in search for Akiyuki, and all he has managed to made was bust out the sole of his shoe.

Economy crisis reaches Sentan Island

Meanwhile, Akiyuki is having lunch together with Yanbo, Akishiba and Hinokimaru (which still is as violent as a rabid bulldog). He notices the crew are Ruikonist, fact that surprises him, because he though they were wiped out. Were the Ruikonists persecuted by the government and military? Or there is another explanation for the extintion? I bet it’s the first choice, since the words “wiped out” were used, which points to a violent ending. Akashiba say to Akiyuki to be ready for for after lunch: the crew are postal workers and a half year period would be enough to make Akiyuki used to the job. Both of them bring Ahm’s lunch to the cockpit and Akashiba starts betting with Ahm how long Akiyuki would last on the ship. Ahm replies the boy is too shaky and that even doubted if he would “beat that Humanform” (I think he meant the Hiruko on his arm). Akiyuki remarks that he never said he would work on the ship and wants to return to Sentan Island. Both of the crew members say that only the Captain would have the power to do that and Ahm sends Akushiba escourt Akiyiko to her. He descrives her as a “sweet, raven-haired beauty with glasses”.

This smells funny.

Women and Traps

Bekinawa discuss with Nakiami about Akiyuki’s stay on the Zanbani. Bekinawa states this isn’t the first time that something similar happens and that no matter how much support Nakiami gives, Akiyuki will turn into stone (this seems to be a common fate for those with the Hiruko). Bekinawa also gives one of her killer sayings (check pic below).

But what happens if you lose the keys?

During his trip across the ship to meet the captain, Akiyuki meets Kobako, the trap looking boy (Yes, its a boy…) which shows that he treats his new Nekotama pet, Roppa, better than Akiyuki. Incidentally, this is the same Nekotama that was almost ran over by his bike in Sentan Island. They also meet Hinokimaru (still with murdering eyes) and Kiselji, the ship’s engineer.

You can fap at will, but be warned. It has a dick.

CEILING CAT is watching you masturbate to Kobako

Never argue with your elders

Ishu Bekinawa

Akiyuki finally reaches the captains cabin, from where Nakiami and the captain are leaving. There is a small deck between the cabin and the rest of the ship, and the characters are standing there. In spite of Nakiami’s warning, he rudely asks the captain to get back to Sentan Island, only to get a punch in the noggin by Bekinawa herself. She asks why he haven’t thanked yet Nakiami for saving his life, Xam’d or not. The issue of Xam’d pisses Akiyuki, which states he’s himself, not Xam’d and he haven’t askked for noone’s help. Bekinawa laughs and states if he doesn’t mind being a monster, why doesn’t he remove the needle on his arm, which he does in a act of stupidity. This causes the Hiruko on his arm to activate and begin changing his arm (in a rather painful way; stupid Akiyuki he deserves that). Nakiami tries to help Akiyuki control it before the activated Hiruko attracts HFW’s, but the ship alarm is sound.

My eyes are higher from where you are staring, kiddo.

Guess why I’m punching you?

RAEG!

OHSh….that was dumb, wasn’t it?

Flying Humanform Weapon

A NG ship is leaving the war zone to approach the Zanbani, which makes the crew assume their posts, while Nakiami and Akiyuki stay in the deck. Bekinawa decides set the engines into full speed (even if that costs more fuel). Meanwhile, Nakiami is visually tracking the NG ship and it’s reactions. Her worst suspicions are confirmed: the ship drops a HWF, this time a flying HWF kind, green in coloration. Nakiami tries to get Akiyuki into inside the ship. Unfortunely, Akiyuki denies the help, stating that he was always fine by himself and that he would manage it (don’t forget he was in pain and with a disabled arm due to the activated Hiruko). His small tamtrum gave enough time for the HWF to reach the Zanbani, where he proceeds to grab Akiyuki with his tail and embed him in the HWF’s back. Then it leaves, with his prize already taken.

…Another Pokèmon?

Her Support

The rest of the crew is oblivious to what happened and wonder why the war ship is leaving the perimeter, when they notice Nakiami outside in her scout ship, the Beat Kayak (urgh, been calling it Cloud Rider in the previous eps…) She warns the Zanbani that Akiyuki was taken and then zooms in into the HWF. She shoots stone inducing darts onto the HFW, which ptovokes a energy beam atack by it (the same kind of attack the previous HFW used). After reaching the beast’s back, she uses the darts around the place where Akiyuki’s embebbed and tries to dig him out and at the same time dodging the HFW’s tail. At this point Ahm asks Akusbiba if he still wants to make his bet about Akiyuki’s stay in the ship. Ahm remarks that the kid may have a chance if Nakiami support him as much as she showing now. Meanwhile, Bekinawa’s planning something…

She’s up to no good.

Nakiami gets hold of Akiyuki’s arm and liquefies the area around him with her cane, but Akiyuki’s unconscious state makes him a dead weight. Nakiami shouts for him to wake up and think, which wakes him up, allowing him to leave the hole (altough in a comical way). They manage to get into the Beat Kayak and return to the ship, since the Humanforms only target the Hiruko when he’s active. We now see what Bekinawa was planning all along, which was fetching the huge gun she’s been polishing up the whole ep. A bit rusty, “but it’s a better purchase than more boots”.

Allez oop!

CLICK

She looks great, even covered in monster gibs.

Apologies>

Nakiami takes care of Akiyuki’s arm, while he talks about the white haired girl which gave him the Hiruko. Her advice is to keep thinking, because that’s the only way that he can gain Symbiosis with the Hiruko. He then apologizes and thanks Nakiami for saving him for the second time. He even drinks the nasty Spirit Tean she made for him. She says he would be better writing a letter to Sentan Island.

Nakiami=CUUUUUUTE

Several scenes happen next: Haru talks with Akiyuki’s mom, Fusa, and takes Akiyuki’s arm bracelet so she can give to Akiyuki when she meets him. Dr Ryuzo searches among his old stuff and finds a diary and a seed from the time he was involved with the battle of Barador (interesting info, the seed is equal to the same seeds Nakiami was handling in ep 1). Kakisu is speaking with her secretary about his mom birthplace (Sentan Island) and his lucky boots, which he wore since Barador, while they are supervising the transfer of the research team and their Xam’d. But while checking the name of the only missing person person from the Sentan Island attack, he gets surprised it’s Akiyuki Takehara. I wonder what’s the relation between Kakisu and Dr. Ryuzo.

“I wish. It’s Machine Code.”

In the last scene Akiyuki gets ready to sleep while a cocky Akushiba makes some revelations: The ship used to have a Xam’d before, a man named Raigyo Tsukomata. He’s the one that made the claw marks on Nakiami’s room and the previous owner of the clothes Akiyuki’s wearing, but the stress of having the Hiruko was too much for him and drove him over the edge. When Akiyuki asks for his whereabouts, Akushiba replies with a snore…

Raigy Tsukomata, what happened to him?

Conclusions

Hmm, more mysteries arise. Raigyo was a Xam’d in the ship before, but is the end result the Xam’d Kakisu has? And what relation had Nakiami with him? Because she tries her best to help Akiyuki, maybe derived from the fact she couldn’t help Raigyo. We also have more info about the Hiruki; it’s a symbiotic entity and he can take over the user. The crystal on Akiyuki’s arm changes colour according to the Hiruko’s own conscience(blue for inactive/asleep and red for active/awaken). One thing we can predict already is that Haru will meet Akiyuki again (considering she fills the role of “girl next door” romantic interest), but how long until we see some results?

And I want a Nekotama too, they look so fluffy

It’s time for the episode 2 of Xam’d, which brings us epicness with the BONES seal of quality. Akiyuki shows his skills at taming Pokemaws, we have more Nakiami Moeness and someone is Falcon Punched in the gonads. Really, nutsack boxing…I squirm each time I see it.

The Birth of Xam’d

We start with a small recap of the last scenes of episode one: Akiyuki tries to save the albino girl but gets transformed into a humanoid creature called Xam’d. Oh, and a soldier nearby makes target practice with his head in front of a shocked Haru.

The Northern Government (let’s shorten it to NG) ships start their bombardment but their payload isn’t typical bombs. Instead, they drop huge organical…er….hmmm…well, they are huge organical pods, so to speak, dropped all around town. And they start to steam out, spewing vapour by several hatches in the pod’s walls.

The tea is ready.

Meanwhile, Akiyuki/Xam’d regenerates his bullet wounds and recovers in an instant. The soldier tries to shoot him again but he’s intercepted by a 2-hit backhand/jumping kick combo from Haru. Really, what’s her issue with males? She really likes to kick the crap out of guys….Anyway, she’s not even sure why she did or why she’s not afraid of that phallic looking white monster. Meanwhile, another soldier and Furiuchi appears inside the schoolbus.

Someone is going to get his ass kicked.

No matter how many times you rewind the scene, you won’t see her panties.

Destructive Power

The pods stop steaming and and spew out a giant two-legged version of Metagross. called a Humanform Weapon. They seem to be incredibly sturdy, since they regenerate easily even from shot wounds caused by artilhery rounds from a nearby Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Interesting detail, the wound revealed a kind of armour under the Humanform Weapon similar to the green cocoons from episode one. The HFW (short for Humanform Weapon). Another thing is the orbital green ball they use to discharge a kind of beam attack with also has the added effect of creating vacuum explosions for increased damage. But why the hell HFW’s only use one orbital ball? Technically they seem to have 4 orbital balls but we only see them use one at a time. Energy constraints?

Push! Push! I can already see the head!

While the HFW who’ve landed nearest the school is wreaking havoc, Furiuchi and Haru try to run for safety, but Xam’d (let’s use this name for Akiyuki’s phallic-man form) grabs Haru’s arm softly. But they are split apart by one of the HFW’s energy beams. That HFW then proceeds to tackle Xam’d, dragging them both outside the shool’s area. While recovering from the events, Furiuchi says one interrestig thing: “The war started again”. Does it means they were in the middle of war before? I think Sentan Island’s villagers were mostly refugees from areas where the NG and the SC had conflitcs (SC as short for Southern Continent). But when Furiuchi mentions Akiyuki, Haru decides to go after Xam’d and the HFW

Go, Humanform Weapon, use HYPER BEAM attack! What? What do you mean you only know SPLASH?

Both Xam’d and the HFW get to a nearby flood canal and the HFW shoots a energy beam onto Xam’d. This is where Xam’s reveals one of his skills; he morphs his arm into a shield, deflecting the energy beam. They keep fighting down the canal, and when they were tackilng each other, Xam’d morphs his arm this time into a giant blade. Haru finally reaches them and shouts: “Hurry, getu out of there, Akiyuki!”. Haru suddenly realizes the thing that she knew already subconscienly, which was that Xam’d is Akiyuki. The water pipe where she was standing breaks apart, dropping her into the canal but Xam’d grabs her with his free arm, preventing any injuries.

I’m getting wet, if you know what I mean…

End of the Fight

Nakiami notices Xam’d and Haru with her binoculars and rushes to them. Meanwhile, Xam’d cuts the HWF legs and proceeds to finish him, pummeling it’s “head”. From it’s dead body, a sort of purple crystal starts to grow (although the characters later refers to it as a stone). Nakiami parks her Cloud Rider in a nearby tower, shoots a rope from it into the canal, which fixates into it with some kind of liquid metal, then she proceeds to descend using a small foot platform attached to the rope. Then she stabs Xam’d’s arm with her cane, detaches the cane’s head and asks why a complete Xam’d doing there. She also asks Haru if the original form of the Xam’d is human (which implies that Xam’d can be formed from other animals), which Haru says yes. Haru looses herself a bit then, crying that Akiyuki can’t be dead. Xam’d is getting devoured by the same purple stone that the HFW was, but this time is Nakiami which is controlling it, with her cane. She makes Xam’d a proposition: stay there and die comsumed by the stone or come with her and live. Xam’d says “I want to live” (Xam’d’s voice seem to be heard only by Nakiami and Haru so far). Nakiami accepts and destroy the rock and touches the crystal in Xam’d’s forehead, making him slowly transform back into human again.

Nakiami says that the HFW’s soul will be transfered to him and that was the purpose of Xam’d. She also talks to Haru, noticing the fact that Haru heard Xam’d’s voice and gives to her the spiritl Haru saved.I need some confirmation, but she says “Nakiami” to Haru, which can mean her own name or “No more tears”. Then she proceeds to Vulcan Nerve Pinch Haru, leaving her half-uncounscious time enough to see Nakiami take Akiyuki with her. Haru is later woken up by Furiuchi, who was looking for her.

Meanwhile, the courier ship is docked and the crew is ressupplying or idling around. The Captain is waiting for Nakiami (mainly to beat the shit out of her for not following orders.) The 2 kids from the crew find a Nekotama and ask the Captain if they can have it, which she denies. The kids then argue with her, since she let’s Nakiami do similar things, then they point to Nakiami, which was arriving and argue she can’t have that too (”that” refering to the uncounscious Akiyuki). The Captain makes a lovely “Pissed OFF” smile…..

Insert random joke about Asians here.

The ship finally leaves. In her room, Nakiami treats Akiyuki’s arm, sealing it with the help of a Fsking giant needle (ouch!”), which helps control Akiyuki’s transformation. After it’s done, one of the crew members rushes in (let’s refer to him as Dreadlocks), worried about Nakiami. But she seems to have things under control and says the Hiruko is under control. What is Hiruko? She refers to Akiyuki or to the thing inside Akiyuki’s arm?

Stab time.

One of the best scenes on this episode happens now: while Dreadlocks leaves the room, he gets bitten by Roppa, the new Nekotama pet the kids have. A bit pissed off, he teases the kids a bit, but they didn’t liked it, so they punch Dreadlocks in the balls…..One hit K.O.

NOM!

“OUCH!”

FALCON PUUUUUUNNNCCH!

“*CRY*”

The episode gets back to Nakiami’s room, which wonders why Xam’d says he wants to live, even when nobody celebrated his birth. The camera focus on a wall of the room where we can see claw marks on it, hinting that Akiyuki’s isn’t the first Xam’d to be in that ship.

Recovery

Sentan Island is recovering from the attack, which seemed aimed at the military structures. Even so, there was a lot of casualties. Haru and Furiuchi are in a shelter, wondering about Akiyuki’s fate. The same thing happens in Akiyuki’s father office, where his mother tells his father that he’s missing and argue about what to do next.

Serious moment.

Remember the pods which spew out the HFWs ? The camera focus into the inside of one of them, revealing that a human is inside, with a helmet connecting him to the pod. He blabbers about getting closer to Hiruko, takes a pill and proceeds to kill himself, using a bio-organic version of the explosive pack used by the albino girl of episode one. Are the HFW controlled by humans? And what’s this Hiruko than they seem to worship? Don’t forget Hiruko was referenced when Nakiami was treating Akiyuki.

STICK

BOOM…wait, Deja Vu?

Now we focus into the metro of a unknown town, where a lady officer reads a report to some commander called Kakisu. She says all 11 pods and HumanForm Users were killed and a unknown white haired girl was among the casualties. It also seems Commander Kakisu is walking to a place on the subway where was a accident 10 days ago.

Cool.

There he meets Dr. Kanba, a old man in a wheel chair with similar facial marks to the old lady from episode 1. They argue about several things, like the transfer of the research facility to Sentan Island and one huge monster in front of them, which they call Xam’d. They also refer to it as Tessik’s God. This Xam’d looks more as the HFW than Akiyuki’s Xam’d. Another thing they comment is that if the research fails, the one who will be blamed is Kakisu.

The other Xam’d.

This Episode’s Comments

There seems to exist several factions around: The Northen Government, the Southern Continent, the old lady’s faction, the Hiruken HFW users, Dr Kanda research faction and the courier ship crew. They seem to have several degrees of relationship between them.

Another main thing is Hiruko, which is referenced several times. I bet this will be main factor of conflict around, considering one of the factions is based around it.

About the crew: Argh, this is really inspired on Gekkostate, they have counterparts of all of the characters, even the old man. Next ep is focused on the crew, so I can reveal more about them in my next post.

Commander Kakisu is another character which was copy-pasted from Eureka Seven. Who doesn’t remember our psycho Colonel Dewey Novak? Well, Kakisu seems a bit more sane. But he sure does look as a main villian.

I wonder what Haru will do now, now that Akiyuki is away from her. Will this lead into a romantical development? Another side note, her sister’s name is referenced as Midore, for those who’ve missed it.

Dr Kanba seems know a lot about Xam’d, but is his role as a neutral or will he have a more dynamic presence on the events? And what’s his connection with the old lady….

“…What? Do I have something in my face?”

Gentlemen, I like BONES.

Gentlemen, I like BONES.

Gentlemen, I love BONES.

Everything that BONES studio did in the past is godly for me (well, all except the plot of Full Metal Alchemist but that’s another story.) I mean, having the BONES logo on it it’s the same as saying it will have a suberb quality and a great plot. I’ve been following BONES works since RahXephon , so it’s not surprising I’m drooling over their new anime, Xam’d: Lost Memories.

Another thing that only adds up to the hype is this was a secret project from BONES, with only some elusive posters refering to a “Bonen no Xamdou” anime. Only on this year’s E3 it was revealed it was a anime release for the Playstation Network (or to be short, PSN), meaning that Xam’d is only avaliable for owners of a PS3 currently. Will this be aired on television channels someday? I hope so.

Prologue of War

The episode starts with scenes of some kind of ruins, with a fountain filled of green glowing cocoons and a old woman with blue eyes and pale complexion filling condoms with them and giving them to albino kids with ligh purple eyes…Yes, the first scene portrays drug mules…

She’s too handy with those condoms.

I wonder what’s the street market price of it.

Meanwhile, we skip to a flying aircraft where we see a girl doing some plant cloning/cultivation in test tubes on her cabin. This girl, Nakiami, has a resemblance to Nausicaa, like most of the stuff relating to her. Another thing to notice is her blue eyes and similar eyemarks to the old lady in the ruins.

All this time, the off voice was from the ship’s captain, a skimp cloth wearing megane ponytail mature woman (aka, MILF) which was reading some sort of diary, which I suppose it was Nakiami’s. Then, she notice through her binoculars a bunch of Government airships. The anime imply there is a ongoing conflict between the Northen Government and the Southern Continent, the two main military factions and this crew is a neutral ship that acts as a sort of couriers (you can see them carrying letters in the OP and the captain refer to a Postal Law).

Nausicaa?

The ship goes into alert and everyone get’s into their position, since the number of Government ships is bigger than 20, implying a bombardment attack. At this time, we can check the delicious steampunk technology like light-sign communication, a oldschool radar, the hoses used to speak with the crew usually found in old steamships.

To avoid the bombardment, they search for the nearest dock so they can be shielded. And that would be Sentan Island, so they send Nakiami as a scout in a small single jet engine aircraft which I dubbed Cloud Rider. I’m not sure if this was on purpose, but Nakiami looks even more like Nausicaa while riding her ship…

It isn’t old tech, it’s Steampunk!

The Opening

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“Shut Up and Explode” by Boom Boom Sattellites.

Whoa….impressive track from this Japanese Rock and Electronica band, which also contributed to the soundtrack of 2004’s Appleseed movie. The animation of the OP is actually synched with the song sucessfully, which is an area where most OP’s fail. I enjoy how they depict the travel of that latter from the hands of a unknown female character (if you check closely, she has tits.) to the hands of Akiyuki, the main character of the anime. Another great moment is the scene where they portray the small fight with the Humanform Weapon (the big huge red thing, I’ll explain about them on the next post) and the small rewinds which are synched with the song.

Peaceful Island’s Life

so, now we finally see the main character, Akiyuki, and his life on Sentan Island. And like any typical student, he’s late for school (Asians don’t know to buy good alarm clocks or what?). And worse, he skips breakfast (which is a crazy mix of Ocidental and Japanese breakfast; maybe it hints his parents are from different places?) AND he tries to ditch having to take his father’s bento to his clinic. Too bad his bycicle chain pops out in the worse possible moment so his mom gets him and demands him to take his father’s bento. nice detail; his father and mom are making a small time-out from each other; possibly cause his father is just as lazy as Akiyuki.

Mr. Sleepyhead.

Next we have Furuichi, a glass dude and a friend of Akiyuki teaching Aikido to a bunch of kids ( I think it is Aikido….). Next, he spars a bit with Haru, a girl which is also a friend of Akiyuki. Furuichi is tottaly owned by Haru. Even I would want to be floored by those blue eyes of Haru. Which lead us to an interesting detail: the main girls, Naikiami and Haru have both blue eyes. Does this hints something, besides the obvious romantic developments every anime have? After the beating down they decide to finish the training, leaving away with Haru’s younger sister, which is wearing a crutch.

I know Kung-Fu

Pwned.

…but who cares? You can floor me anytime, baby.

Akiyuki, late as always, is speeding down the road on his bike when he almost runs over a Nekomata, a kind of cat/rabbit animal native to the island. So, he decides to take a shortcut, leaving his bike near some stairs while he goes on foot following some back roads and small hills. Moments later, his friends furuichi and Haru spot his bike and pity Akiyuki’s poor fate as middle-man between his parent. Adding to the injury, they make bets if he will be late or not. Nice friends, heh?

Akiyuki reaches his father’s clinic,which already has a poor lady waiting outside for the lazy doc to wake up. He wakes up dad rather violently, delivers the bento and grumbles with him for being a pig then rushes again, this time to the shool bus.

I only need 30 m to make my room like that.

The Fated Girl

From this scene onwards, we now realize that Sentan Island isn’t just a regular village and it has a quite strong military presence, namely the Southern Continent forces. Even the bus has a soldier there, counting and checking the students entering it. I’ve noticed a bit of clash between modern design and steampunk, like Akiyuki’s high-tech bike and the schoolbus hard edged old design. Poor Akiyuki finally reaches the bus on time, which will cost Furuichi’s some ice cream (he lost the bet with Haru.)

So, as a good boy he is (and because Furuichi is pissed with him), Akiyuki goes to the end of the line for the bus. But wait, who’s there too? It’s the albino girl which was being given the green cocoon at the start of the episode, wearing some old-fashioned schoolgirl suit. Akiyuki, being the good samaritan he is (aka, ladies man), notices she doesn’t have a armband and assumes she’s a foreign student, so he gives her his own and smooth talks the guard out. A funny detail is that the guard seemed to be expecting 38 students. Also, I’ve noticed the look Haru had after this incident…The bus has it’s own radio speakers and earphones to better listen, but like any military service it transmits military news. Akiyuki notices outside that there is an increase of Inquiry Ships, which seems to be the name given to the standard battle airships.

“Hmm, new student…kinda short, but has a cute ass.

The Insemination

This time , we see the inside of the tower which seems to act as a military dock and base. More specifically, the Command Room with the typical moustache general/commander/boss. They notice the upcoming fleet from the Northern Government and worse, it’s new models and not included in any official flight plan. Let me explain a bit about some things: these two faction, Northern Government and the Southern Continent seem to be placed at the North and South…and in the middle there is the Free Zone, a kind of neutral ground with a undefined border. Sentan Island has some military presence, sure, but it’s mainly civilian territory and the North is attacking it now. No fair play in war, it seems.

Meanwhile the schoolbus reaches the school (where else would he go?) and the students leave the bus. The mysterious girl lags behind on purpose, picks the school bag she was carrying, grabs a sort of knife/pen and sticks it on the bag. Then , BOOM! A huge explosion which opens up the bus like a tin can and splits the students all around with the shockwave. Akiyuki, which was the first to recover from the blast, sees a floating light over the remains of the bus and dashes for Akiyuki, lodging itself on Akiyuki’s right arm, causing extreme pain on him. Furuichi, who hasn’t seen nothing of it, also appears to recover and goes comfort Haru, which is still in shock from what happened. Furuichi fears that they may be purged. This is an important detail; does this mean the military purges the civilian zones that are affected by war? So that means the Free Zone gets smaller and smaller?

STICK.

BOOM!!!

Akiyuki notices that the strange albino girl is still in the bus and goes rescue her, in spite of Furuichi’s warnings. He notices that the bus has some strange green goo inside and a pain on his arm makes him notice that a blue crystal is embebbed on the arm and moving around. Nevertheless, he tries to help the girl and notice that the green goo actually came from a wound the girl has on her abdomen. While dying, she apologizes for involving him, that her name is Nazuna and insures that he will be fine, along “with our lost memory: Xam’d”. She touches his forehead, making a small red crystal appear, similar to hindu’s tilaka mark which then evolves to a mask covering his face and smothering him . That place in the forehead is also associated with the Third Eye, and a mark on that place normally represents a state of enlightment. Meanwhile, some troops arrive and start checking the place and the students.

OUCH!

Sure! I was just inseminated in my arm by an alien green light! I was still a virgin!

Xam’d

The courier airship I’ve mentioned in the first parts finally arrrives near Sentan Island. Nakiami leaves the proximity of the ship to check the island for herself, which gives origins to some “less than friendly” words by the captain. Akiyuki’s still transforming, along with a kickass melodic song, and the end result is something I would describe as a “human white missile man”. Furiuchi, which has been patching up the students with some first aids enters the wreck of the bus along with a soldier, only to find the transformed Akiyuki. Furiuchi runs with his tail between his legs while Haru herself enters the wreck too and the soldier readies to fire. He shoots 4 bullets into the strange being body, but Haru listen to Akiyuki’s voice saying “I want to live…”. The Northern Government fleet arrives and begins to drop it’s mysterious cargo into the town…

HEADSHOT.

The Ending

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“Vacancy” by Kylee

Another great song on this anime, which makes me extremely happy as the audiophile I am. The fact both the Op and the ED are in English is consistant with the intended internationalization of the anime for the PSN. The best part of the ED is near the end, where we see Nakiami riding her Cloud Rider and smiling. MOE!!!

Some Early Conclusions

One thing I’ve noticed is the several influences this anime seems to have: the mysterious “cult” has some RahXephon feeling, along with Eureka Seven and Nausicaa’s kind of heroin. Sentan Island could be a small hidden hommage to Renton, and the courier crew is remniscent of Gekkostate. The soundtrack was a bit absent on this ep, but to compensate, the song on Akiyuki’s transformation was epic enough to make me rip it for my cellphone. But I’ll be short and end it here, because I’ve got hold of the episode one along with episode two, so I can speak with better detail in the next post.