Ah! excellent episode ... This summer is really something else, too many good shows
The only minor problem I have is that Horo's got
lolified ... I preferred the more mature character design from the first season.
On all other fronts the first episode was between good and perfect; especially what I loved in the first series remained the same, the alchemy between the two main characters and their witty dialog! The whole damn episode is a shinning example of good writing, quite rare these days.
Also music was really good and most importantly fitting the show's atmosphere. Animation was OK, without some actions scenes it's hard to rate it, but none-the-less it was not just "moving mouths"
VAs also did a great job to convey the feelings of their characters.
Overall as I said it lived up to my high expectations despite the changes. Nice work!
It entered also my list to transcode for a certain mobile platform that I use