[drobertbaker]

Wow!!

That's the best anime 1st episode I've seen since Dennou Coil. Although Dennou Coil was able to keep it up for 26 episodes.

I.G. certainly delivers quality. I enjoyed RD Sennou Chosashitsu very much and would have loved Ghost Hound if it had turned out to be about anything.

The first episode being in America was really great. I know that part of D.C. intimately and I must say they really captured the flavor of the area perfectly. Although of course some details were flawed.

Spoiler for American venues:

- His "home" on the map was located in the National Sculpture Garden across Constitution from the National Archive. Of course there are no homes there, just a sculpture garden with a big fountain. The street he ran up with the CVS (8th street) to go home is actually in the other direction (north) where there are apartments (scummy as shown), but it was accurately portrayed.

- The omnipresent street stalls were almost perfect. Even the prices were about right, though I've never seen one selling "avocado burgers".

- The outside of Dulles airport was spot on although the inside was a generic American airport. The Air and Space Museum ad was a nice touch.

- Jerseykid was right that "Naked guy would have been tackled by 50 agents in the first 10 seconds", but I would add that "Girl throwing something at the White House would have been tackled by 50 agents in the first 10 seconds first". And of course 2 policeman running after a truck would not then leave the White House unguarded. But it makes a better story.

-Interesting that the photo of Manhattan with the schoolmates shows the new World Trade Center which isn't scheduled for completion until 2010.

Would even a Disney version of Ousaka be as accurate?

This is also the first anime I've ever seen that used real American voices!!!

Spoiler for Japanese gesture:

Although it was funny when the black lady policewoman used a Japanese gesture (kinishinai).

I also enjoyed the little discussion in the airport about the differences between American and Japanese values.

Spoiler for American vs Japanese values:

"People on this side of the world always crack jokes like that"
"The gun was a toy, but it was still a gun"

And their current perceived places in the world.

Spoiler for national positions:

"Small problems can become world issues, but they start here."

Very enlightening.

Strangely, 世界の中心 (center of the world) was the same phrase I used the first time I stood in front of the White House, too.

The interesting Americana aside, this is a great show (so far).

The music is fabulous, including OP, ED, and BGM. The plot is intriguing, the characters involving, the animation cutting edge, and the whole production first rate. But all that was true about the 1st episode of Ghost Hound too.

Spoiler for plot speculation:

Who was he going to shoot (naked) just before his memory was reset? And why was it reset just then? Stay tuned!