The third episode is more about being off the train then being on it. We learn about Eve looking for her brother. Oh, and her brother is being hunted by mafia. He plays no real part in the series yet. Eve visits some information brokers but none are willing to help her with her search. This is a silly chase where everywhere they go, no one has heard of where her brother is located. No point to the story and overly long.
Meanwhile an old alchemist apparently makes a formula to create immortals. This character is a rather sudden introduction the spells “gonna dies soon with very little screen time.” A fire started by two incompetent henchmen burns into the lab, requiring the alchemist to flee with two bottles of his elixir. Why someone would pack up something important in a container they cannot move baffles me. Instead, maybe he could have fewer bottles in smaller containers? While escape he is accosted by four thugs looking for an easy mark. Firo shows up because he is casing a woman and a nice little fight occurs. Firo continues to chase a woman who lost a button. When the alchemist is leaving, one of the thugs assumed to be unconscious overpowers them taking the bottles and muttering “Firo” in an ominous sort of way.
Finally we learn that on the train two different groups plan on hijacking the train. One group in white is looking to take everyone hostage for money and another in black plans on killing everyone. The group in white is led by Ladd Russo who has all the earmarks of a sociopath.
This is an episode that gets into the meat of the series. More story is being told and it is starting to gain a real sense of continuity from the first episode, which was atrocious. We start to see clearly how the characters interact with each other. And the fun character quirks appear. The guys in black are clearly the bad guys we will root against and the guys in white actually have character. For kicks and giggles one can rewatch the first episode and start to make assumptions and connecting those dots.
I really wonder, now that this serie is over, why animediet dropped it… Perhaps, one of the best series of the last two years. A great plot, huge number of characters in only 13 episodes, jazz as soundtrack, a beautiful design, and a experiment in narrative, not so unusual, but for a anime, very innovative… If I wrong about dropping, correct me…
No, you may not be wrong, but the thing is, we seem to have caught the “missing good series” virus, and also unfortunately, I’m a lazy ass, Mike is studying in a grad school, and our write for this one, Matt? Well, he’s now busy, too.
Only if we were high schoolers…we’d have time to post more often.