Summary:
It’s the last day of Morimi Saki’s graduation trip to NYC, and she takes a solo trip to see the White House. Saki has this idea that the White House is the center of the world, and so she tries to toss some coins through the gate and into the fountain for good luck. As the guards start harassing her, suddenly a naked man wielding a revolver and a mysterious new Noblesse Oblige cellphone (scrolling a Shakespeare quote) causes a scene and gets the guards off her back. What Saki doesn’t realize is that the streaker had just received a strange phone call that wiped his memory while a mysterious man in a nearby car mused about how Number 9 was unique and yet disappointing.
A grateful Saki gives the streaker her scarf, hat, and jacket but later realizes her wallet and passport were in the jacket. Meanwhile, the streaker uses the phone to call his “concierge” Juiz, who tells him that this is the first time he was memory wiped and gives him the location of his home. There, he finds numerous fake passports and a significant arsenal of weapons. When Saki stops by to retrieve her coat, the streaker decides to use the Japanese passport and takes on the identity Takizawa Akira. It’s the perfect cover story and Akira and Saki get back to the airport and begin to bond. However, the happy conversations are cut short as Akira turns to a big TV screen to see that Japan has been hit by a missile attack.
Reaction:
This show feels like Phantom sans Bee Train, and that is a very good thing. Saki and Akira have a really nice chemistry, and Akira’s past has already been infused with some heavy mystery. The fact that the show starts in media res makes it sound like Akira eventually had to sacrifice himself, but I bet he will pop up unharmed later as Saki cries happy tears. It’s like Akira is her brother from another mother, especially since they were born only one day apart (1/6/89 and 1/7/89). This is somewhat more believable than the scene where the policewoman determines that Akira was not the streaker because the streaker’s shriveled, cold weenie did not match Akira’s Toasty Torpedo subway penis.
The OP was alright, but I felt like I was watching the Zune software on my desktop more than anything. The paper ED was very clever, and I liked the stop motion idea a lot, even if I was afraid that a creepy paper shrimp hand could bust out at any moment. The series also had surprisingly good English, although I was confounded when Akira was speaking Japanese and various Americans could understand him. Also, did he use all of Saki’s money to buy the pants off that happy man in front of the CVS?
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20 Comments
Penis Hat.
Damned be you and your wit, sir, for how am I now going to watch even the first episode without snickering stupidly every two minutes…? XD
I think this is the most exciting show of the season. I’ve been a big fan of Kenji Kamiyama since GITS though, so there is a bit of fanboyism in my calculations.
Was a bit confused about the date of this episode. Since it’s Saki’s graduation trip, and she was born in 1989, then are these events actually taking place last year? (so that she’d be 18 years old). But then apparently in the ANN show description it says that the missile attack happened in 2010. So does this mean her graduation was actually a while ago, and she returned a few years later to see DC, or perhaps she took forever to finish high school, or was this a university graduation?
Was also interesting seeing the new Freedom Tower in NYC fully constructed in Saki’s photos (something tells me it won’t be finished by next year though!). The timing of the missile attack also doesn’t coincide with ANN’s show description. Either way this series looks pretty awesome, can’t wait for the next episode.
What concerns me the most is the lady asking him to show her his tallywhacker very nonchalantly, and him complying as if she had asked him to show her his license, as if it was no big deal. Do they really think our cooperation with law enforcement is that smooth?
Plus, Akira figured showing his wiener would actually implicate him as the streaker in the picture, yet he complied anyway. I can only assume he figured the burning passports would quickly give him a diversion to run away.
So between the DCPD and the Bruhl Town Watch, who earns the fail whale?
The Gallian militia aren’t American cops, so one is allowed to expect some standards…
I vote for the latter.
Hey, fat girls need love too, they just have to use their job/authority to get it.
Oh man, I really hate… well, I guess I don’t “hate” it, but I really feel that the whole “whoosh-Helvetica-letters-OHMAIGAWD-GRAPHIC-DESIGN” thing is overplayed. It just doesn’t seem very attractive to me, and its not because I hate Helvetica (if that typeface isn’t Helvetica, my bad, but they do look very similar). These graphic designers need to think of something better!
Other than that, the ep was great! I find it funny that the police woman only asked if he was Japanese after she saw the pic of his Johnny
… wish my tinker was named Johnny 
and LOL @ the Elda Taluta caption! Darn, I barely remember how Madlax ended… thats what you were referencing, right?
Yup, and the end was basically that Show ▼
I’d be more inclined to call it Show ▼
or somesuch.
But it’s not like that show much bothered to explain its weirder supernatural aspects, anyway…
I thought it was an out-of-place element in asking to see someone’s privates rather than their passport but I let it slide as being part of the show’s comedy (as opposed to its serious political side, which I’m cautiously optimistic about).
Apart from that there wasn’t anything I didn’t like about this episode. Even the text flood in the OP…although I wish it was moving slow enough for me to read.
Great song though (maybe I ought to get into Oasis again).
I just loved the interplay between Saki and Akira, as odd as their initial meeting was – the dynamic between them is both fascinating and hilarious! I’m now convinced that this show is going to be downright awesome.
There best be uncensored penis in the DVD version
They actually had non-Japanese VAs playing the Americans, so that explains one half of the equation but who the hell knows how some guys with cop IQs understood Akira. I noticed Saki spoke Engrish in order to be understood so maybe there’s significance to it but again… who knows.
I just assumed he used some manner of yet-unexplained Jedi Mind Shit on the guy.
I felt uncomfortable about Saki leaving her luggage in the middle of the street like that. I forget, was she able to get it back?
Akira reported it as stolen I believe, so maybe it will be mailed to her.
Right that’s how they were able to score a cab/fare and… tickets back to Japan? Thanks.
lol, I remember watching that scene, shaking my head and thinking, I hope she doesn’t expect to see her stuff again. Silly tourists.
I absolutely loved this episode and can’t wait to see more. The art style is awesome and kind of reminds me of Honey&Clover. The English-speaking characters actually speak English instead of Engrish, and the OP song is proper too!
The anime seemed very light despite Akira losing all his memory and past life, until the very end of the episode where they showed the attack. Still there were some weird things like that guy giving Akira his pants happily – but I assumed it was comedy instead of “mind tricks” like someone here mentioned. Remember Akira showed him his “Johny” as well? I just thought his penis has that kind of effect on people
OMG I cannot unsee this image now…
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[...] Reiji is a Japanese tourist chilling in America, hoping to have a fun time and maybe run into some mysterious naked people. Before Reiji can whip out his Johnny, however, he runs into a reporter who begs him to take some [...]