I am going to be agreeing with relentless as well - i wasn't quite as wow-ed by the episode as i was hoping i would be, but that probably does have something to do with my rather high expectations. Still, the pacing was definitely fast - not quite so much as to say rushed, but the episode certainly covered a lot of different events all over the place, enough to make them feel somewhat "flat". I guess they wanted to get the setup out of the way from the get go while ending the episode on that specific cliffhanger (totally expected it
), so they had to find a way to fit all of the mandatory events and character introductions up to that point.
That is not to say i didn't enjoy the episode, i certainly did, and the character introductions weren't half bad, but it feels like some feeling was lost in the pacing. Ah well, i am having decent hopes the pace will slow down now that the groundwork have been set, allowing for more emotion to seep through.
Haruna's and Kanade's dynamics are as amusing as always - you certainly wouldn't peg Kanade as the older one of the two, without being told it is the case. Haruna is certainly the more mature one in that pair.
The OP didn't seem like anything special to me, but i rather liked the style of the ED. The artwork for the series is mightily fine as well - i find both the scenery and the characters visually appealing, they have captured the character looks and the grandiose school (can you imagine what the fees to attend the place must look like
) quite well. The series certainly is pretty to look at. One thing i did find a bit over the top though was the red aura surrounding Iori as he was busy sucking blood of the female in the chapel - do vampires normally start glowing red when doing so ?
(Or maybe that wasn't meant to be taken literally).
All in all, while not quite as exciting as i would have hoped it to be, it was a decent watch regardless. It was one of the shows i was looking towards the most, and that hasn't really changed, though i do hope following episodes settle down some and allow for greater immersion while watching them.