And not in a good way. I guess that they ran out of obscure cultural references for books and decided to go for music instead? Once again, the episode focuses around an artificial human being, this time a puppet that was created by a music box maker for the sole purpose of playing a violin piece that acts as a brain-washer and a drug all in one so that the unexplained villains can take over the country and then THE WORLD! or something like that. And, once again, Huey and Dalian serve as bystanders in the plot who have no effect on the events that occur. At least in the last episode they managed to do something. Here, they get involved through a coincidence, then are captured, then escape with a little bit of reflection on how sad the outcome is. That's it. While I've accepted that this show really likes its episodic format, the way that it almost never deviates from it's basic plot structure of Huey and Dalian meeting someone, hearing their story and then watching everything fall apart with no bearing on the events that happen is getting really old. But I guess it's too late to hope for a structure change now. No wonder the original author wants to end the series; they must be getting bored too. Also, the end of this episode shows that Gainax is up to their old tricks. The climax of the episode was just a bunch of still frames, and the animation after that point was mostly character mouths moving, a little smoke and some head turning. I guess that once again Gainax went over budget, which makes me a little concerned about the last two episodes, since the animation is one of the major reasons why I'm still watching this show. However, it does look like the focus is going to turn towards some of the bigger questions that the series has been hinting about all along, since the bit after the credits and before the preview focused on the girl who is trapped in the library. Hopefully we'll get some of Huey's backstory next week and maybe an answer about why he always wears that glove? If there's anything close to a wrap-up for the finale of this series, I'll be satisfied. Images from NicoNico.com.
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