I like to make things sound so dramatic, when obviously they are not such.

Well, maybe not to you anyway; certainly you will groan when you find out the true premise of this post, which I am obscuring for just a -few- paragraphs longer so that you will be compelled to read on past whatever preview is showing up on Anime Nano or AB.net Antenna or any of those great sites.

But I’m sure as anime fans we are all familiar with that passion of fandom that burns like no other, that beyond all rational reason and logic, continues to drive one possibly beyond the edge of sanity – but that’s how we’d like it.

Saimoe – yes, go ahead, shout “I called it!” – has always been one of those things to me.

Despite all the signs to the contrary that it’s just a mere popularity contest, that J-Saimoe is xenophobic, that there’s no merit to ‘winning’ such a contest when it’s inevitably a KyoAni character or whomever, Saimoe is still something that can get that blood pumping and that wild grin on my face when I least expect it.

You saw it happen just a few months ago. That one campaign, in the 5th preliminaries of ISML, that probably cemented my place as That Shiori Guy (look out, Guncannon). That one campaign that just might have helped give Shiori enough votes, to come back from being the very last girl eligible in nominations to become one of the selected 64 that are fighting on the world stage as I type.

It’s something I look back upon fondly. If there’s one rule I like to live by, it’s to never let ration or sanity hold you back. Maybe this is why I’ve become such an ardent anime fan, because I don’t ever worry about being labeled as That Shiori Guy or That Moe Addict, and so I will fight to the ends of the earth for something that may be insignificant to some, but fires up the blood of many.

And so I don’t mind putting myself on the line, again and again, writing these posts that bring out courage and passion I didn’t know I had – maybe this is, as they say, truly how I remember love. My love for not just these girls, these series, but for this passion, this fandom of mine as a whole.

But as interesting as it is to write about myself and how I’m inspired to write, I feel I should be waxing much more poetic for the one I’m devoting myself to for J-Saimoe 2009, Chinami Ebihara of the Code-E / Mission-E series.

Now how to write a campaign post for a character is a bit tricky. The Shiori post was a bit less serious than my usual fare, more infomercial and less paean; it was a bit purposely exaggerated, in an effort to cover as much ground as possible, eventually ending on the note of ‘maybe they’ll just vote for her because they enjoyed my post’.

It seems inefficient to go the route of “she’s just everything, seriously guys” because in the end someone will point out they don’t go for dojikko meganekkos with electric powers, at which point my entire argument falls through the floor like the engine dropping out of a rusty car.

Equally I’d kind of like to beg, say that I’ll watch whatever anime you want, write on whatever topic you want, swap J-Saimoe or ISML votes with you. trade you some currency on some of the online games I play (mostly Pangya and Kingdom of Loathing) – and this is true! I’m not unwilling to strike a deal for this one preliminary. I abstain about 5 times each ISML round. I’m sure that could be fixed. And Owen, I heard you still want people to watch Mononoke.

But of course naturally those of you with less to gain and more sense of moral will already be scoffing at me, laughing as to what lows this man will sink for some 2D girl. And I answer you: pretty deep lows.

So I’ll try to avoid both those routes, and tell you a story: this is the story of the Boy Who Had Too Much Moe.

Once upon a time, there was an anime fan. He liked moe. He enjoyed all his favorite moe anime and all his favorite moe girls. He had his moe figures and his moe posters and his moe computer background and his moe everything!

He wasn’t particular: he would accept any character as long as it gave him the urge to ‘take them home’, as Rena would put it. He was pure-hearted and unjudging in that regard.

And you would think such a die-hard moe fan would have no social life, right? But you would be wrong? Despite always carrying around a moe cell phone strap on his cell phone (with a moe ring tone), he had friends (who weren’t moe, but that was OK) and even a girlfriend! He was well-respected in real life and the internet, and everyone laughed whenever he interjected a moe catchphrase into his conversation. All was well for The Boy Who Had Too Much Moe.

But one day, The Boy Who Had Too Much Moe was killed by a hammer that a construction worker dropped while building a skyscraper. And that’s why you shouldn’t have too much moe.

Don’t worry; this story is entirely fictional. Naturally, I am not The Boy Who Had Too Much Moe, because otherwise I would be dead right now. And I am not dead. You have my word.

But it’s important to keep The Tale of The Boy Who Had Too Much Moe in mind, as no one wants to be killed by a freak accident unrelated to having too much moe. Nor do you want to end up like the Boy Who Had Too Little Moe, who ended up growing a nose about six inches long before going on a cruise ship, losing 10 million yen, and having his fingers chopped off. Among other things.

So the moral of these stories is obviously that you want to have the right intake of moe, and I feel I can argue that much, at least, for Chinami Ebihara, who provides 95% of your daily intake, and not a penny more. (the other 5% you’ll absorb from the atmosphere as you gloss over K-ON posts)

Chinami looks at first to come from of a long line of ‘entirely ordinary transfer students’, such as Shiki Tohno, Hanyuu, everyone in Shuffle, so on so forth; at first glance her description looks like it could have been pulled out of a bag.

“A glasses girl who is shy, a bit clumsy, and has the power to emit electromagnetic waves falls in love with a guy who is interested in studying her power as they fight …”

Actually, there’s no fighting in the first season of Code-E. Well, they fake some ominous pretense, but really it drops almost to Aria levels of conflict at times. And that’s kind of nice.

And maybe I have sold some of you already with just that two-line description. Her design isn’t too bad. I feel those characteristics are a plus (you may imagine why). But y’know, Studio Deen decided to go out on a limb and develop their characters, and Chinami’s a fantastic example of it.

And that’s really why she won my vote, and deserves yours.

So let’s say you have the mysterious, magical power to control EM waves. Fantastic, right? Now you can blow up the cell phones of people who won’t shut up in public.

Somehow that’s a bit off the mark, as you’re too busy accidentally blowing up your own cell phone whenever you get flustered. When emotional spikes are all it takes to level an entire block’s power system, it makes life mildly difficult.

And so Chinami spends a large part of the beginning of Code-E attempting to be desperately boring, avoiding people and generally being a complete walkover. Now the anime fandom has proven to like walkovers before, but of course the story gets better.

As she meets other people who are like her and have her powers, naturally she opens up, starts talking more to others, makes new friends, starts some love triangles, so on so forth. It’s a nice development, as we go from utterly adorable shy clumsy meganekko to utterly adorable mildly confident clumsy meganekko.

And with the tone of Code-E as it is, always managing to feel relaxed and heartwarming despite containing a few action elements, I found it really difficult not to like Chinami as a character.

Well, the ending to Code-E, or more explicitly, the lack thereof, left a bad taste in my mouth, but then Mission-E came around to continue the fun, except now with more of an action twist and … it was incredible.

The show was a bit faster-paced, with a few chase scenes, some high-powered-electric-body-suit-lightning-shooting antics, but somehow, it still has that same light feel to it, avoiding what many imagine is the grimdark trap. It still has that same warm feel as Code-E and I love it for that, and Chinami is entirely to credit.

After a few scenes in Mission-E, you would probably double-take twice when seeing her again - well, aside from those trippy visors the Type-E’s wear – for the personality shift she’s gone over in the meantime between the two series.

The confidence development within Code-E was one thing, but from Code-E to Mission-E, it’s like seeing a childhood friend again after years of separation. You know it’s the same person, but the change is just astounding.


She still has that same soft side to her, that you saw from the first season. That slight clumsiness, a bit spacey without being completely airheaded (like so many lambast from typical Key games). That heaven-piercing happiness mode when she thinks of her lover Kotarou; it’s almost like seeing into a mirror of one’s own moe overload.

But in the heat of combat and in crunch time, suddenly Chinami’s the cool-headed, genki girl. It’s that almost Akari-like ability to keep a positive spin on things at all times, combined with the confidence of a general with years of experience, it’s really something to admire, not just as a development of character but as a personality that I wouldn’t mind emulating myself.

That’s the kind of character I appreciate. Chinami does not demand constant attention, nor does she fold like a house of cards at the slightest gust of wind. She’s the kind of person you wouldn’t just like to be with (in either sense of the word), but would flat outright want to be. That kind of charm. And isn’t that the strongest moe of all?

Well, that’s the sort of definition of ‘moe’ that I’ve evolved over my years, forming into something that is even less sensible than the typical definition of ‘urge to protect’. For me, it’s become things that moves my emotions and flutters my heart, whether it’s to give me a warm smile across my face or a shy blush … that’s my sort of moe.

Hopefully I’ve been able to convey that to you as well. It’s hard to explain such a moe with just still pictures and words; if you can watch Code-E or Mission-E for your own, that would naturally be best. It may not be the best series all-around, but it’s definitely an underviewed gem that I think is a nice warm show. If the storyline does not make it, I feel the character interactions should.

Well, that’s my 2000 words of the day. If a picture is worth a thousand words … how many pictures are worth a vote? It would turn into a complex math problem more than a bad wordplay pun at this rate; I should just hope that it was enough to stir your emotions too, enough for you to support Chinami with a little bit of your time in J-Saimoe.

I’ll be posting instructions on how to vote in J-Saimoe, if you do not recall or are having trouble, later in the morning, when polls open in about 7 hours from the time of this posting (2 AM PST). I shall hope you will still be there then.

-CCY

Luckily for those of us who wanted to see a bit smoother end to the show, it was later revealed that Code-E had a second season planned for it (instead of the original “go read the manga now” ending), and just recently the AnimeSuki forums have gotten the first details on it…

Ehhhhhhhhhh?

For some reason the show has taken on a wildly futuristic look from its first preview image. The first season was set a bit into the future, but didn’t have a lot to show for it; it was a future much like today’s, except with more things powered by electricity (to complicate the main heroine’s ability to generate electromagnetic pulses when she is flustered). And that setting, admittedly, worked with the laid-back style of the show.

This funny body armor stuff just feels like it was culled out of a random shonen action or mecha show, and honestly doesn’t fit with me at all. Here’s the rest of the preview image from the page in an online magazine…

According to serenade_beta in the AnimeSuki forums, the main character is Maori Kimizuka, a side character from the original season which I can’t even find at the moment. I think she’s the face on the left of the four character shots outside of the preview image: the second one is Chinami, the original main character, the third is probably Sonomi, the childhood friend love interest, and the fourth is wicked awesome Yuma, the other character with an ability like Chinami’s, and now sporting some awesome frames and hair.

Additionally, the series has undergone a five-year time jump, tame compared to some shows but still a sizeable amount of time.

The radical change that the series has undergone is something that I’m currently seriously questioning, from what looks like a style-shift, a character shift, and a time shift. The previous season worked well for me, and the one thing I wished had changed the most in it would not be the setting or the characters but simply how long the season was. If Mission-E could just be an extension of Code-E, kind of like Minami-ke and Minami-ke Okawari, I would be plenty satisfied.

Hopefully this is not what it seems, but I’m still happy that Chinami and friends are getting a time extension in some form, and now it’s time to wait until July – the airdate of the show – or until information is next released, to find out just how this will turn out…

-CCY

(Just in case you were wondering how under the radar Code-E was…Danbooru gives me exactly zero images on it. Isn’t it sad, Chinami?)

“In your body…in your body…I have a great deal of interest!!”

Code-E was the little one that couldn’t.

It certainly was a hopeful to be the underdog show of the summer, a little secret known only to a few that could enjoy the slow yet purposeful motion of the show, and the endearing yet not overly moe characters.

It was a solid entry into the common field of romance slash comedy shows that managed to get a good piece of slice of life into the mix as well.

Code-E centered around a girl named Chinami Ebihara who, aside from being a mysterious transfer student, had the uncontrollable power to release electromagnetic waves when she was flustered. It was a relatively novel premise and with a mysterious cast including a Quiet Girl, two comically inept German spies and some guy with a pocketwatch, Code-E certainly had the chance to impress.

And it did.

For the first few episodes, perhaps. Then it hit a sophomore slump that nearly every romance anime has to get tangled with; the falling of the main characters for each other, a tricky task to pull off in a believable and refreshing manner.

Nevertheless, Code-E worked out of the hole in the closing stages, introducing an overarching plot and building up to a thrilling climax.

And then, in a sense, it stopped. Because it was over…

(Disclaimer: Hot drinks are hot, and spoiler-filled recap posts contain spoilers after the jump.)

Many anime leave us clamoring at the ending credits for just a few more minutes, a few more episodes. This is usually because we are particularly in love with the series and we don’t want to see it end. In Code-E, we need more because it’s not over.

Well, it was. But not with any closure at all. The final episode felt like it should have been the penultimate one, or maybe the 3rd from the end. But certainly not the LAST one.

Code-E has always been called kind of an old-style anime and I suppose in the conclusion that’s true more than ever. Remember back in the days of romance shows like Cardcaptor Sakura where you’d have to wait the whole series (~40 hours) just to FINALLY get the confession from the girl?

Well, as you may have surmised from actually watching the series, Code-E true to description does save both confessions for almost the very end, splitting them with a fake death sequence, which, amazingly, also smacks of the end of Cardcaptor Sakura (2nd movie).

And then some music plays, the helicopter comes in, the credits roll and we skip forward to the usual Normal Life After sequence. Which isn’t too horrific yet.

Until you realize that, outside of Chinami x Kotaro, nothing really was resolved.

(At least I felt the confessions were done well. I enjoyed Kotaro’s confident-as-ever look)

First: Mils, crushed by random falling rocks. Is she dead? Injured? Out without a scratch? For the comedic, barely serious duo of Mils and Adol, it seems almost cruel to have actual Bad Things happen to them.

Second: Guy with pocketwatch. What was he researching on? What was his goal? What is his name?

Back to the Brinbergs: I’m sure they had some evil motive as well, y’know.

And what about Yuma? Her past? Her backstory? Her powers coming back?

Why did the powers come back?

All sorts of questions. Supposedly the story was to continue in the Code-EX manga, which I assume would resolve some of the holes, but that’s a cop-out of epic proportions. I prefer my stories resolved in the current form they’re in, thank you very much.

The ending episode, in a sense, hurt the series a lot mainly because it didn’t “end” very much at all. The series was really kicking into gear with all the buildup, introducing Guy With Pocketwatch, the head of the Brinbergs, and evolving the characters of Yuma and Chinami. And then it sort of cuts off. I feel like I should be writing about The Sopranos.

Other than that, Code-E really had promise. I’ve said time and time again that I like the characters, and it’s still true. They feel like they could be somewhat believable characters as opposed to 1D sheets.

Chinami is a meganekko of the clumsy regard, and while she does clout into things a lot, it’s not so much of a comedic afterthought as a genuine trait. She’s shy and has low self-esteem but you can certainly see her warm up to the people around her.

Yuma is your typical Quiet Girl Who Learns to Like People, but I can’t really find too many complaints with her character. Maybe it’s because I have a soft spot for this type, but also because of the inferring that one can do on Yuma’s past – how she locked herself away and is finally learning to really show emotion again.

Kotaro was annoying for the first few episodes, but when he stopped using the phrase “your body” every other sentence he seemed like an above-standard protagonist. His socially naive yet energetic/confident personality felt more at home in a shonen anime but having it transplanted here worked fine as well. Maybe it’s the backlash from months and months of spineless characters.

Sonomi was somewhere between a childhood friend and a tsundere, two dangerous personality tropes to get stuck in. As such I regard her as one of the less interesting characters. She certainly has the heartwarming, if not typical, development of stepping aside to let the main couple through, but sometimes I wish she just tried a bit harder at the end. I’m always an advocate for A Confession in Every Person.

And as a plus, Chinami’s parents decidedly exist, and even have most of an episode to themselves, along with dedicated screentime. Adults are a race quickly becoming extinct in anime, but Code-E manages to hit all age groups relatively well.

There are a few other hitches with Code-E aside from the ending, though.

Continuity and confusion are two of the more harming ones, although they’re not horrific.

Some of the plot twists at the end didn’t make much sense, such as Kotaro’s explaining to Sonomi that he only spends time with Chinami for her body (i.e. EM powers). He doesn’t seem like Makoto the type that would stretch the truth to placate people.

Or how about the fact that in 2017 (20 years later? Someone can’t do math.) nothing has changed except for the fact that everything conveniently uses electricity.

Also, near the end, despite all the stuff that was getting pulled on Chinami, somehow we’d start out the next day with her being perfectly normal, at least for a little bit.

More holistically, the music and graphics in Code-E were average, for the lack of a better word.

The electrical effects (both the static and the funny slow-motion things at the end of the first few episodes) were pretty nifty looking but otherwise nothing stood out graphically, aside from the fact that people had no noses from the front. Not a major detractor, anyway.

The music had some memorable pieces, if only because oddly enough some of the background music was recycled from the OP and from the eyecatch (or vice versa). But again, nothing spectacular. The OP, I must admit, grew on me after a while though. Instrumental pieces, they never disappoint.

In the end Code-E feels like it’d be one of those shows that embodies the phrase “budget ran out,” taking a big piece out of the storyline pie and only finishing about half of it. Which is strange, because as mentioned on AnimeSuki it was slotted for 12 episodes the whole way.

It can’t possibly be too bright of a move to have a totally original story take two forms of media to complete. It’s just not established enough to make a backwards jump, especially given the underdog status of Code-E. Even sola, which is getting a visual novel produced for it (can someone confirm this? I remember hearing it but can’t find the proof), managed to have some decent closure on it’s story.

Code-E is still what can be called a good romance show, and certainly a great throwback to those tired of the moefests and harem shows of today, who want a simple yet surprising story. It’s just that it could have been so much more, could have worked so much better if there was just another 25 minutes to it.

Maybe it’s that we complain the most about what we love best. In that regard, my dissapointment with Code-E should be a compliment.

-CCY

The last title I remember that works like that was the legendary (and quite old) Cardcaptor Sakura, and as such how fitting that one of the shows that has captured my attention is almost a spiritual successor to it, Nanatsuiro Drops.

Although, to tell the truth, they’re similar more on the exterior than on the interior; but magical girl shows in general all feel and act the same in the magical regard; the relationship aspects of Nanatsuiro Drops are what are boding to be quite interesting.

On the other side of the spectrum, we have a show that about three people have heard of, or at least blogged about – Code-E. Code-E is billed as a comedy/romance show which is a promising if not well-traveled road but with an original story and without any big names behind it Code-E is a really difficult show to come across.

Both of these shows, from at least a romance fan’s perspective, are quite enjoyable in their own regards and have their own merits; despite being from the same genre they aren’t exactly fighting over the same audience and they both have widely different approaches to the main topic of today: first loves.

(Spoilers through episode 7 of both series)

First love is pretty much the theme of a lot of shows with romance and romance aspects. While it may be an interesting concept to follow the path of, say, a hazed and disillusioned character who has vowed never to love again, or a sleep-around player who finally learns the meaning of true love, it’s easier and simpler to write the story around a naive, innocent high schooler who is just learning for the first time how to properly flood-fill her face red.

The problem is predictably that easy != entertaining and we come to the predicament of Code-E.

Code-E really is a charming show, with what many call it an old-school flavor to it. The characters are adorable without being overly moe, and the slice-of-life feel to it is relaxing while still entertaining. It’s largely a show that can be enjoyed without not much per se actually happening plot-wise; maybe because it’s a show that revolves more around the characters than any doomsday plot or anything. Sure, there are hints of a Greater Evil (whether it be the inept German spies or the mafia guy with a pocketwatch), and sure, many of the characters do have supernatural abilities, but these don’t steal the show at all, rather just being touched upon at times, with the main focus being Chinami’s attempts to fit in and make friends in her new school.

Unfortunately since this is a romance show “make friends” essentially is code for “get to know all the female characters and spend a long long time falling for the one guy,” and as such the show is taking a distinct direction towards playing out Chinami’s development of feelings for the main character, Kotaro.

Which is great. Fine. Except, they do it the way every girl in anime has fallen in love since the history of mankind.

Denial is boring. Denial for two episodes is boring. Denial while shorting out the electrical system to a somewhat James-Bondy soundtrack is cute and innovative, but still boring. What is that feeling when you think of Kotaro, Chinami? I wonder. I really do. It couldn’t be that you like him, because that would be too easy to admit.

Perhaps it’s a result of what I watch but having characters deny their feelings at every opportunity gets repetitive fast.

This is precisely the reason why Nanatsuiro Drops is hitting its stride, because right before the three-quarters mark we’ve already got The Confession over with between the obvious love interests of Sumomo and Haru, and now we can get on to more interesting things.

Nanatsuiro Drops may have lost a bit of charm as it’s magical girl story admittedly grows more cliched by the week (I’m missing the fun that they’re supposed poking at the cliches) but the important part of the story is in full gear, and that is the developing relationship between the two main characters.

Now I’m only up to episode 7 and so I’m in the post-confession stage by about five seconds, but the promise of Getting On With It (admittedly, in more ways than one) and not lollygagging on the What Is This Love? factor is really engaging, almost too much for a show that seems to renounce it’s eroge roots so soundly.

Although, the second interesting thing about NanaDrops is that, being based on an eroge, has it’s focus primarly on the male lead, unlike most romance shows which follow the female lead around. It’s nice to see things from the other side of the spectrum. Despite that being my side of the spectrum.

Of course at the three-fourths mark there are plenty of things that can change at this point; Code-E’s clearing or stumbling into the confession bar, and NanaDrops’s handling of the What To Do Now That We’re Together sticky point will be pivotal. We will see at the end of these shows whether the romance show can still work in a day and age of moes and lolis.

-CCY

Code-E is first up on a list packed with comedy and magical girl shows, and so for once the romantic show stands out in a typically harem crowd. I won’t deny my tastes. This show practically defines the word “overlooked”, as its presence is next to none with only 3 pages on Animesuki and little to no blogs following it.

Why? A few reasons. Code-E is another original concept and so it can’t easily draw in people who were fans of corresponding visual novels or manga. Many people don’t have time to watch the trailer for everything, so usually the only possible hook for shows like this are word-of-mouth and summaries.

The plot summary seemed passable, if not a bit basic. The genre’s put down as “comedy and romance”, which really almost seems to be code for “show is like everything else.” If you think about it, there’s a LOT of comedy shows. Romance shows are dime a dozen as well, although the non-harem variety seem to be slimming as well.

The supernatural premise of the heroine, Chinami, being able to emit electronical pulses – although it’s not under her control – seems novel and different.

And, well, for overly moe judgemental people like me, all they needed to say was “meganekko + dojikko + romance”. Sold.

But is this one that should be returned to sender?

Code-E made it’s debut with the roaring sound of a pin dropping on the floor. Most of the people who watched the first episode and blogged it thought it a rather forgettable show, with a slow first episode with not much content.

Or noses.

As usual, being Eternally Optomistic Blogger Man, I find it hard to pan the series so hard based on the first 25 minutes of it. It’s not world shaking by any regard, but it can definitely be classified under “watchable.”

Although, it is true that really, nothing happens. 90% of the episode is watching Mysterious Transfer Student Chinami panic her way around school while trying not to short out the entire place.

Not to mention, apparently the only thing different about being twenty years in future is that everything’s convienently electronic. C’mon, where’s my teleportation, flying cars, and telepathy? Perhaps this isn’t a show that’s that sci-fi, and as such the setting and funny powers like that won’t be overly important.

On the plus side, what we saw in the other 10% of the episode introduced some interesting premises that I haven’t seen in a bit. There’s plenty of characters show n in the story and the intro, and I look forward to seeing how they set up the ‘conflict’ in this show, if any. It might not be a ‘good vs evil’ thing but more a ‘girl vs herself’ type thing.

Chinami is a character with, as a stockbroker would put it, a lot of growth potential (not like that!). She seems like the type with very little self-confidence, probably stemming from her uncontrollable ability. The secret to taming her electric potential appears to be controlling her surprise, as she seems to let off more current the more gets unnerved, such as at the end of the show when pretty much all panic broke loose. I look forward to hopefully seeing her mature over the episodes into an assured, self-confident character.

The techy guy who, uh, ‘confessed’, to Chinami at the end seems to be the main male protagonist and an interesting character. His personality is tough to pin down, unlike most of the male leads I’ve followed recently. He seems like a kind of genius delinquent, skipping class to go work in his awesome computer shelter place. All that technology seems to have gone to his head as he clearly isn’t one of those ‘good with people’ things, ignoring both Random Tsundere-Type’s obvious hint dropping and ignoring the fact that “being interested in someone’s body” just might not come across in the right way.

I’ll admit, I laughed at that line. He’s not horribly out-of-touch with social life like a lot of geeky types (swirly glasses, you know the kind) in anime, but more of the good-intentions-gone-bad type. Socially naive, maybe. I like that. He does seem to have at least a passing curiosity in Chinami outside of her power – shown when he sneaked a glance at her when they got off the bus. Nice that he cares – or at least wonders about – the well-being of her.

Speaking of Random Tsundere-Type Girl With Crush On Main Protagonist, I’m not sure how she’s going to factor in yet. The focus of the story seems to be more on Chinami than the male lead, and so it doesn’t quite fit to have presumably two girls (you can probably count Chinami in, eventually) going after the same guy. The whole situation seems like it would be one of those Misunderstandings Happen things, which hopefully will get pulled off well for once.

There’s Mysterious Quiet/Strong and Silent Girl who is always an interesting archetype, especially since from the intro’s look she doubles as a shrine maiden with a bow (hopefully I’m not getting her confused with that one girl from DCSS). She seems the type to know more than she leads on.

Then there’s the blonde characters in the intro, the parents who probably won’t play a major role (but you never know), and Sakura Kinomoto.

No, seriously. Photoshop those eyes green and you’ll know what I mean.

And that whole bit with the meteor thing seems to almost be setting up for a bunch of other characters with strange powers…

On the negative side the music was one of the duller things I’ve listened to in a while. None of the soundtrack really seemed that memorable – although we’ll see later on when they start reusing pieces – but the OP just doesn’t seem to click at all. I’m all for an instrumental piece like Tsukihime’s but the one for Code-E feels like it’s trying to give off more of a 007 secret agent feel when really the anime seems to be nothing of the type. It just feels sort of disjointed with the rest of the show, which is more relaxed and amusing.

Not to mention, in the OP, why don’t we see the main characters…or anything interesting…for the first twenty seconds? Commuter…bus…stoplight…oh, there’s the title. Finally. Strange choice, that.

The show doesn’t seem to have a lot of direction at the moment, which is why I keep saying above how “it seems to be…” or “it will be interesting to find out…”; what this means is that if things are executed well Code-E could be a bit of a hidden gem, but if not, it’s a lot of meh material.

I don’t expect it to be another sola (which was a great if not mildly flawed show), but I hope Code-E can be an interesting original concept in a pile of adaptations. While there is always a place for great conversions of heavy-harem eroge, or amusing manga or 4-komas, something it’s appealing just to have a show where you really can’t cheat and find out what’s around the corner.
-CCY