Carmen almost runs over Van, and Van’s gang bums a ride with Carmen to Trinolia. It turns out that the Findrey that they are looking for (to analyze the board) was Pablo’s partner; and naturally, Pablo was Carmen’s dad. When they reach Carmen’s hometown, everyone is nice to her and the town looks beautiful, much to Carmen’s surprise. Carmen’s old best friend (and Findrey’s daughter), Haeta, doesn’t seem that pleased to see her, however. Haeta and Carmen used to be best friends, and hid from bullying in a secret garden all the time.
Haeta behaves pretty suspiciously, and Joshua eventually overhears Haeta making a deal with some mysterious woman to have the flowers (which Haeta now grows in the secret garden) sent to the Clawed Man. They have a funky paralysis/fit effect on Wendy, and Van bullies Findrey for information. Findrey doesn’t know much, and gives them the board back, having only been able to crack the protection scheme. Somehow Haeta’s house burns down then, and Findrey chooses to go down with it so that he won’t be a burden on Haeta anymore. As Carmen takes the board to Jonet’s Junction for analysis, she sees Haeta standing in the field burning down all the flowers.
Carmen’s backstory is rather interesting, although we only got a taste this time. Ender mentions that Gun X Sword is one of those journey-centric shows like Samurai Champloo, and while I agree, I think Gun X Sword does it so much better. The backstories are very tight, and you can feel the web starting to really come up around you as more and more connections are made. Moreover, there is just enough plot movement to keep you interested in the main storyline. That Clawed Man really seems like quite a dastardly fellow.
Too bad we didn’t get a closeup of what Carmen looked like with long hair. It’s odd that everyone calls her “Carl” because they are incapable of pronouncing the “r” correctly at the end. I noticed in one shot that Carmen wears some really low pants that show off her butt cleavage. Plus, all her outfits are exactly the same, but with palette swaps! Meanwhile, it seems that Wendy is getting a little bit of a crush on Joshua. It was funny watching Van sit in the back of Carmen’s goofy 99 bike.
This post was written by...
Kabitzin – who has written 1970 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the founders of Sea Slugs, I handle most of the blog admin tasks while wearing my I AM BOSS shirt. I like my action series well choreographed, and my romance series extra trashy. I also have a soft spot for puns.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Seeing Van scrunched up in the tiny trunk of Carmen’s tricycle was definitely the high point of the episode in my book. But wait, was Carmen known as 99 back when she was a tricycle tot??!!
I get the feeling that she is only “Carmen 99″ in her own mind…