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For those who might’ve been wondering whether the ear and eye candy would continue past the first episode, the answer is a resounding YES! I think the music and the graphics continue to be my favourite things about this season. We have an opening and an ending theme now, and while I’m not nuts about the ending song, I am head over heels with the opening track. {◕ ◡ ◕}

Episode 2 continued to divulge small pieces of information, continuing some of the plotpoints raised in the first episode. We saw through a conversation with Neko and Anna that Shiro might not be as “missing” as initially portrayed. And from a conversation between Awashima and fellow Sceptre 4 member Zenjo Goki, we learned a smidge more about Munakata’s current well-being. The final scene, with Neko visiting Anna in HOMRA’s home base, gave us a peek at a moment from HOMRA’s past. This flashback solidified Anna’s understanding that as the new Red King she will be alright because now she has people to protect.

 

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Guess what else was a welcome addition to this episode? Not only did we get less fanservice from Awashima (just ignore her moment during the ending theme), but Yata actually showed some character development! A-mazing! I mean yeah, Neko kinda took Awashima’s place in the fanservice role this time around, but her character is slightly annoying at times so I just tried not to pay her much attention. ^^;;  I was also really pleased with the moral dilemma raised by Awashima, and how Zenjo was able to turn her observation right around and show it to her from another angle. That she may be the one to end Munakata’s life if his health continues to decline is something she clearly hasn’t thought of up to this point, and I have a suspicion that that issue might make a reappearance later in the season.

The other thing that stood out for me in this episode are the COLOURS! This show is just so damn pretty! Many of the shots are bathed in two or three colours, each covering a half or third of a frame, although I am not sure if this is meant to be a subliminal emotional thing or something else entirely. The one thing I have noticed with the colour scheme is that the colours used are often opposite to each other on the colour wheel. For example when there’s a scene in the Blue Clan, we see lots of blues and yellows; in a HOMRA scene, there are several shades of red and green blended together.

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 However in this shot they’re just messing with us.

 

The title of the episode is “Kindness”, and we saw such gestures from two clans in this episode. From the Blue Clan, Kuroh is offered the use of Sceptre 4’s base as the Silver Clan’s new center of operations; from the Red Clan Anna extends an invitation to Neko and Kuroh to stay at HOMRA’s home base until Shiro returns. Both Silver clansmen turned down the offers, saying that while they appreciated those gestures, they already had a home – someplace to return to. And we see in the final moments of the episode that they are referring to Shiro’s dorm room. Awww!

I’m very happy with the improvements made between the first and second episodes, and as long as nothing drastic happens to make me change my mind, I think it’s safe to say I will be blogging this show for the remainder of the season.