Click pictures to enlarge them. Spoilers ahead so please be cautious.
Seriously? ;;; I know animation quality isn't everything... but I can't help but to get excited to see such beautiful animation. This is by far the best looking animation I've seen for TV series. I think animation quality is up there with Ghibli movies. Background artworks just stunning, details of objects and mecha beyond imagination, dynamic movement, you name it. Just simply jaw-dropping. Other than character design, overall style of the series reminds me a lot of Ghibli movies. Also, Nakiami (seems like the heroine of this series) looks very similar to Nausicaa.
I liked both OP and ED. I was especially fond with OP. Catchy melody and very stylish OP animation. BGM didn't really stand out most of the time but BGM they used at the very end where Akiyuki was transforming was very appealing.
Pacing seemed relaxed at first. More like an introduction of characters and setting of the world. It seems like the World is divided into North and South and is in the middle of the war. Security seems pretty tight probably due to the war. Main character Akiyuki's parents are living separately, but his mother clearly shows interest to the father. This episode ends with Akiyuki turning into a monster-like creature Xam'd.
The white hair girl who set-up the explosion seems like she is from some kind of religious group and selected from group of girls to perform the task. In the beginning, the old lady who gives the white hair girl some kind of candy-like object has a purple triangle tattoo on her face. I noticed that Nakiami has the same tattoo on her face, so there is definitely a ceonnection between them.
Anyways, first episode definitely got me interested. I have to admit that the first episode didn't really give me that "wow, that was an awesome episode" impression(mostly because episode 1 ended at a weird place. It feels as if it got cut off in the middle;;) but I was already blown away by the animation quality and setting, so I'll be keeping my eye on this series. Can't wait to watch this show when it airs.
*p.s1: When is the actual airing date?*p.s2: This show kind of reminds me of Eureka 7...
*p.s3: This was PSN (PS3 downloadable media) for US region only. I'm sorry Sony, but I don't own PS3...
*UPDATE1: The show will be 26 episodes total and start to air on PSN only this September in Japan.
*UPDATE2: Not sure if the episode 2 will be available on PSN (US region) next week. ~_~ I'm a bit confused at the moment.
