Opening Theme: 「蒼き炎」 - Aoki Flame by Takahashi Youko Download: AVI format (28.4MB) | Download PSP format (coming soon) This is a pretty good first episode. Animation-wise, this seems to be GONZO's better effort. The story itself is quite dark mostly because of the mysterious background that surrounds the main character, Randel Oland. People have been comparing this to Full Metal Panic but I think story-wise, it's a lot closer to Kenshin in the sense that the focus is on a character who tries to move on with his new life but his dark past continues to catch up with him. The Pumpkin Scissors group essentially functions as Oland's link to humanity which he occasionally loses. The opening theme itself is pretty good but then again I've always been a fan of Takahashi Youko's songs like Cruel Angel Thesis. The ending theme is rather humourous which feels kind of strange since this episode has a dark tone to it. Voice acting wise, Shizuka Itou (Himawari in xxxHOLiC) and Kenta Miyake did a god job as their respective characters, Alice and Oland.
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