Since it had Gainax attatched to it, I had to give it a shot.  And I was pleasantly surprised, but I’m not quite sold on the whole thing just yet.  Read on.

So to start with, we’re introduced to Kaworu.  I mean, Ouri.  He lives in a temple, where one night he’s awakened by a mysterious cat.  He walks into the room with the Buddha in it (no, I’m not looking up what it’s called), and he sees a girl there who’s pretty tore up.  Soon after, his “brother,” Keisei, enters the room and revives her.  They’re brothers in the same sense that Kamina and Simon were brothers in TTGL.

Since that day, he’s been trying to get away, and he’s finally succeeded.  Unfortunately, the supernatural seems to be following him around.  It seems a new Shikabane, or living corpse, has been born, and it’s got no qualms with killing humans.  So it falls to previously said girl to hunt him down, as she’s a Shikabane Hime.  In this process, we see that not only is Ouri fearless of death (significant for some reason), but he can also revive the girl, who’s named Makina.  Anyway, Makina kills the villain, the day is saved, and we can go on with our lives.  For now…

The animation is stunning, typical of Gainax, and the action is very over the top.  The story, however, is lacking.  I don’t really see the immediate motivation here, like we did in TTGL.  Hopefully it’s revealed pretty soon, because I really don’t want this to become an episodic series.  There’s comedy interlaced here and there, not as much as the first part of TTGL, but it’s enough to remind us that this isn’t going to be your typical dark, undead killing story.

And as for why I keep comparing things to Gurren Lagann?  Honestly, how can you not at this point?

Episode score: 9/10 Schoolgirls

Objectionable content: Let’s get this straight right now, the main character is dead.  So if you don’t like the supernatural, jump off this train now.  Outside of that, Makina’s preferred weapon is guns (like Yoko…), she shoots, things eventually die and bleed a lot.

Note: Jedko will be blogging this series to it’s conclusion.