Seriousness is okay by me. I thought of this as a set-up episode for however they decide to find a conclusion. I'm still hoping those idol scenes from the OP will appear in the actual show. There was plenty of Nagi this week, which is a good thing. There was still some comedy, and there were great expressions on people's faces.
The ED artist this week is
YUUKI Shinichi 結城心一. I didn't know him; perhaps someone else does. He is a mangaka, and has done a number of manga that I also didn't know. Right now he has something in Comic Rex called "Space-Slave Gotouta Risako," and other titles are: "
Mato-chan," "
Magical Comic Heart," "
Hime na Kamena," etc.
Here is his
home page. The year-links at the top lead to posts with drawings in them.
The animation director of this episode was
Nakaji Keiko, who did Ramen Fighter Miki (Muteki Kanban Musume). Storyboard by
Kagurazaka Tokiichi, who did storyboards for Blood+, Zoids Genesis, and Persona. The director was
Natori Takahiro, who directed numerous episodes of various ARIA shows, as well Sketchbook episodes.