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The OP is just outstanding. And is it my imagination that the character design seems a bit different, maybe a bit closer to the original novel? Maybe this point has been discussed before; if so, I'm sorry to repeat it. I see from ANN and the official site that the staff appears to be the same.
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Not your imagination, I also thought the same. And I'm sure a lot of other people think the same. It doesn't look >that< different, but its definitely not 100% consistent with season one.
And here's my first take at the first episode. I just watched it raw and couldn't make much of it, but obviously there are somethings that you can point out just by watching the scenes and all.
First, the OP song is really good and I really enjoyed it. For the first couple seconds there, I thought it would go the Zombie Loan way and it made me quite nervous, but after Kawada Mami's voice kicked in, I was overflowing with joy. Great song and great Opening sequence. Second thing I have to point out is the animation quality, which is still very consistent. Even some less-important scenes have a high frame count and are really well done, which is something I appreciate. Obviously, the little modifications they've done to the character design take their toll in my overall experience, since I think that Shana is looking way Kagome-like to my taste. I've discussed this back many pages ago and I won't bring it up again, but I would certainly like that they fixed this minor "bug". Ending sequence was very nice and I enjoyed the song. Not on the same level as Yowake Umarekuru Shoujo, since I think that song was really exceptional, but still very good. It also follows about the same ending sequence as the first series, so I was really pleased by that.
Spoiler for First episode impressions and rants:
Well, first off... Shana's first appearance was a MOE STRIKE, telling Whilhelmina off because she walked with her all the way to school. She was just so cute I yelled "YES!" like a crazy hobo who's just won a chillidog at Checkers. Another thing that I've noticed is that Yuji is still being well represented in the mature field, as he quickly realized that he was alone in the whole mess and that he had to tackle it by himself. Personally I liked this focus on him for a change. However, one thing that I certainly hated is the fact that he didn't hear the end of the "I really like you, Yuji" phrase said by Shana right before releasing Alastor. That has nothing to do with Yuji himself, and for storyline purposes, I think it fits rather well... I mean, if he had heard that, I wouldn't think he would have stayed quiet for so long. But still, it bothers me to a great extent... YOSHIDA KAZUMI, HEAR MY WORDS, THOU SHALL NOT TAKE SHANA-SAMA'S PLACE! And with that said, moving on...
As much as this episode served as a head-start into the new series, it also revisited some of the critical points of the last episodes in a sort of "Recap" way... It was done quite nicely and I don't complain much about it, since for those who haven't touched SnS in a while, its nice to rememeber about our old Tomogara friends. But I think the story is showing promise from episode one, and I think the focus of the story will move away from Marle for a little while now that she has been introduced. She'll probably come back later, so no worries. And of course, Shana's moetastic display of frustration when Yuji asked her about what she had said was just so cute to watch that it in itself has made my day. "Urusai! Urusai! Urusai!" was well placed as well, even though I kind of feel let-down by her lack of courage to say it again. But in due time, in due time...
Now waiting for a subbed release! Oh boy, oh boy.