Ric: Well, the new season has officially started, so here’s the first of “my reviews” for 2009 (Gundam doesn’t count as it was late). I know Lisa is meant to be the primary for this, but I wanted to help so you’ll have to deal with me for a little while. May Haruhi have mercy on your souls.

Ric: Well, to begin we have something of a “Chaos Head” beginning, with the main character summing things up while lying in pool of his own blood, a girl who I assume to be important later on running from a mob of suits…with sunglasses! Now those aren’t cliche’d at all, not in the slightest! I mean, how often does someone get chased by Horatio Kane and Agent K, at the same time?!

Anyway, they chase her across train tracks, through a park and even through the gaze of Mr. Evil Scientist man, all while [Main character] lies there being philosophical in a pool of his own blood.

Wait, what? We’re in a city now? Apparently all of the first part was a dream that the main character was having, him waking up to a call from who I assume is his mother; who reveals his name to Keita. Good, I’m getting tired of calling him “[Main Character]“.

Anyway, the miraculously alive Keita is apparently late for school. As he leaves, we come across death #1, the mother of the friend of a loli. The mother of said loli invites Keita for dinner, being told that he has dinner with someone else tonight. (Oh? Keita, you stud.)

On his way to school; Keita muses about the nature of relationships and so on and OOH NEW CHARACTER! Apparently she’s late as well and wants to use Keita as a way of sneaking back into school.

Woah! Someone just walked into a shop, only to be analysed by a camera and matched up against several others by someone in a room that looks like something out of the Matrix.

What makes it even weirder is that he has a photo of Keita’s friend as well! Who is this man and what does he want?!

Anyway, back to Keita and Risa. Risa shows off tickets to…something. Keita initially thinks that she’s trying to invite him, only to be shut down, Risa telling him that she’s invited someone else. They then get to school and apparently, they have a teacher with eyes in the back of his head. I honestly don’t know how he noticed Risa, but somehow he did.

Screw Morpheus, I want to know more about how teachers suddenly became omniscient. >=(

Leaving behind the school for now we see…A puppy? Oh! It’s attached to the girl from before. Who happens to be…walking away from a car accident…

…Wha?

Anyway, as Keita apparently has far, far too much free time on his hands he goes to the arcades, the movies and to a CD shop before finally ending up window shopping magazines, but wait! He gets caught by Mayu, our adorable loli from earlier who warns him against the evils of browsing and not buying. And when it comes from a loli, you should listen. We…don’t want another Hinamizawa on our hands here.

Apparently, the reason that Keita had all this free time was because his date was cancelled, poor guy. So I guess this means more shots of his day, pointless or otherwise until he eventually gets to an unfinished bridge, where he watches the streetlights turn on. I never expected something so relaxing to come from this. I’m…shocked.

On his way back from the bridge, Keita sees a woman standing at the train station who looks exactly like the woman who died earlier, while Risa who is at the concert with her friend, is made aware of someone who looks exactly like her. Risa initially just passes it off as coincidence and continues watching the concert, while Keita chases after the woman that was supposed to be dead and the ominous evil guy from earlier on watches the concert from above!

What on earth is going on dammit?!

It turns out that the woman that Keita saw on the train was the exact replica of his deceased mother and as we know from FMA, that’s never a good thing. On the plus side, when he wakes up the next day, we get some fanservice while he talks to his sister over the phone.

Well, now I’m reminded that this show is from Sunrise at least?

When Keita gets into school, Risa tells him about how she met her clone at the concert yesterday, which scares Keita so much that he warns her to make sure she stays safe. Risa tries to tease him about him being worried about her, only to be teased herself by their other friend.

Anyway, we jump again to a ramen stand that Keita apparently is a regular at. But wait, guess who’s coming to dinner!

A lovable little loli and her little dog too! <3

Anyway, she doesn’t have enough money to buy ramen, so, using her immense cuteness she manages to get Keita to buy her a bowl of ramen, which she viciously assaults while still managing to be completely adorable. You guys figured out that I think she’s cute now? You have. Good.

We also learn that Keita lives alone while he talks to the shop owner. I give them one episode before the loli moves in with him. You can write that down if you want, I guarantee it!

Anyway, I’ve talked long enough, so it’s time for the mystical, the magical…

…WRITER SWIIIIIITCH!

Minnie: Urm. Hi? XD Because Ric is busy (sleeping) and Angel is also busy (writing essays), I will take over the rest of the episode. Hopefully, it’s not going to be too confusing. Our writing styles are not too different. The owner of the ramen shop manages to steer the conversation about Keita living alone. This conversation brings up an interesting story about his mother. This tells us that the owner and Keita must have known each other for quite some time for Keita to tell such a personal story or maybe it’s just for our knowledge. Anyways, right when he’s on about his mother meeting her twin, our loli dismisses it as a myth and tells him the real story. How does she know? We don’t know.

The real story is about the “one in three” concept. In summary, three lookalikes with three different destinies are created in the world. The minute two of them meet, they no longer belong to this world and the third one who is the original will absorb both their destinies. In other words, Keita’s mother is not the original, just filler. Ouch. Right then, a man with a bat comes and smacks the loli out of her seat. How often do you see that? A jealous boyfriend? A hater? Someone who likes to walk around and beat up loli’s? Yeah. I’m as lost as the owner and Keita. But the thing is… when a guy appears out of nowhere to hit a loli in the head and assuming she’s a normal human girl, they must do something. The owner tries. He fails. Keita tries with a stool. He fails. Yeah. Not good.

Actually, the two of them did not expect the loli to rise and kick ass? Yes, absolutely not. Even though she’s bleeding from the head, she manages to wake up at the sight of her spilled ramen. Fighting with the man, she shows that not only is she strong physically but she’s not afraid to get hurt. At the end of a fight (the only real damage is a random car), our lovely heroine simply walks up to Keita and apologizes for involving him and wasting his ramen. By the way, she’s not too happy to see her ramen on the ground either. Leaving to kill her brother, Keita notices that the insane dude with the bat is gone and that the police come a minute too later. Did I mention that polices are useless in most animes? Look at Super Gals.

Back at his home, we learn that Akane or the lady with the single shot of fanservice earlier is NOT his sister. She’s actually his childhood friend that ends up cooking and taking care of him. However, Keita doesn’t want that and he makes sure she knows about it. Looking at a photo album, Akane becomes slightly nostalgic, more so at the sight of his mother and childhood friend. That boy probably died already. More shockingly, Yamada who had seen her twin earlier in the episode is now dead. All the classmates are crying and Keita of all people is very shocked. He is the one who warned her to be careful remember? People are dying around here. That sucks big time.

To add to his misfortune, his neighbor’s daughter under the name of Mayu-chan meets him at a crossroad that afternoon and tells him excitedly that she met her twin earlier. Before he can stop her, she runs out into the streets at the change of light. Right in front of his eyes, she is hit by a truck. While in shock, the loli comes up to him and says it’s pitiful that she’s not the original. Before now, he has always accepted fate but when fate is this twisted… this cruel… he has to do something. What will he do? Next episode: A lot of action. Will our hero loses his arm then? FMA all over again? XD I love this episode. A nice start to a cool series. I’ll write my thoughts in my first impression review. See you all then!

Minnie’s Overall Rating for Episode: 9/10

Minnie’s Anticipation for Next Episode: 7/10

Tags: Keita, Kuro, Kurokami, Kurokami Episode 1, Winter 09

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