Xebek:

Did you honestly expect any other episode would get Episode of the Week? First off, there weren’t that many great other series going on. Even still, this was a great episode for this great series. It finished it off beautifully. I admit, I cried at the end. This series captivated me and this episode was a beautiful end to it.

I really did find this a great end to this series. The OP at the end was done great, the way they showed it slightly modified with small changes made a HUGE impact as it showed how much things had changed. Mizuki and Yuuko no longer being alone and lost, Himura not restrained by his past.

Kuze’s story ended great I thought, it’s very under rated I think. Him living or dying isn’t the issue in his story. It’s the fact that he chose to go though the surgery, something he wouldn’t likely survive that’s important. It’s the fact that he admitted he didn’t want to die and it was an important part of his character.

Himura’s story ended fine I thought. It’s pretty much exactly what I thought it would be, him talking to Yuuko’s spirit and effectively admitting his true feelings. Still, it was very emotional. The fact that it was predictable doesn’t make what happened to Yuuko any less sad and I thought it was a nice end showing movement and development.

FlareKnight:

Final episodes for series usually have a good chance of being good episodes. So it’s no surprise that the final ef episode won this week. There were just too many nice moments within it. Really liked how they gave Himura and Yuuko one more meeting before she had to leave. Oddly while it wasn’t what you’d call a happy ending I still left it feeling comfortable.

Kuze’s story was finished nicely with him getting extended time with a new outlook. But at the same time he’s not perfectly fine and will only live on a few more years. So it’s a happy ending that’s tempered by not being perfect. Knowing that characters like Mizuki and Himura aren’t alone even without the ones they loved the most is a good message. Their bond was rediscovered and they’ll be just fine at the end of it. So for showing us the other characters one more time and leaving with a pleasant feeling, I had to go with this as the top episode for this week.

Xebek:

I have to say, that even though ef has won the previous weeks and I on some level want to give this award to other series so it’s not so much of a blow out, I can’t help it. This episode was huge. The style of the episode was interesting, all black and white, but obviously the big thing about it was Yuuko’s death. What really struck me was I knew this was coming, yet I still felt somehow shocked and just screamed for it not to happen. All throughout the series they had been hinting at her being dead in the present but even so when it happened it didn’t make it any less important of an event.

What struck me about this episode and what it meant for the rest of the series was that now we have pretty much the whole picture of Himura’s story. It’s not over, but a majority of his story has been about explaining what happened. Now, we pretty much know. There may be some quick scenes or something but Yuuko dying is pretty big by itself. Now they just really have Kuze’s story left and then some predictable Himura talking to Yuuko’s spirit and forgiving himself about what happened

FlareKnight:

This one definitely had to win for being the most emotional episode of the week. Most of it was a nice time seeing developments with the trio of Himura, Yuuko, and Mizuki. It was kind of funny to see how they interacted in the past and how Himura and Mizuki didn’t recognize each other in the present. Naturally the biggest part of this episode was at the very end. Really was a tragic sight even if you believed that Yuuko wasn’t going to survive. But even still when it happens you can’t help but be hit hard by the thing. Perhaps though, getting hit by a car like that actually makes sense. Since that death links Yuuko to Chihiro in a way. It’s already revealed she had met the sisters, but a similar incident creates a strange link. Really when you have such an event in an episode it’s hard to give any other series the win for the week.

Now it’s a series starting to move near the end. The death of Yuuko really just was part of that. Still have to reach the end of the Kuze saga and see if there are any happy endings to be found. Sure you got a reuniting of the twins, but you’d hope the other major players at least got something out of this. Think it will be hard to see anything bigger than that accident coming in the next episodes. But still expect they will finish this off just fine.

Xebek:

Even if the other shows this week had great episodes, which a lot of them didn’t really, there would still be no contest for ef winning this week. The episode meant so much for the rest of the series and was engrossing itself. Powerful scenes filled with emotion like Amamiya’s death and Himura confronting him were enough. That tied with Kuze’s story further emphasizing in an almost eerie way about how his life has turned around in a bad way was simply captivating.

Of course, one of the biggest parts of this episode was what it meant for the future of this series. The bit at the end that connected Mizuki to Yuuko is one of the most important things that has happened. Although it may not have been the biggest, it’s not as jarring as Yuuko’s dark revelation and so on but it’s a major step in explaining what happened between these two time periods. She is obviously involved in that and no matter how much we see of this past, we still don’t have a clear idea of how it will effect the future and even if learning that, if they are going to do anything in the present to make things better.

FlareKnight:

Have to say it doesn’t get much better than this one for the week. After all Amamiya actually died and in a way I didn’t quite expect. Wasn’t sure how they were going to resolve it but having him kill himself in a fire was pretty good. Just showed how crazy the guy was to go and do that after seeing his sister’s expression one more time. You include things like the emotional thoughts flying from Yuuko and Himura during the beginning to Kuze’s dramatic breakdown at the end and you have one incredible episode. Just to top it off they decide to toss in the connection between Mizuki and Yuuko. Who would have guessed Himura would have been right in that he knew the person? Overall this was a great episode I thought.Once again the series really hits you with the visual symbolism.

At this point I’m not quite sure what is going to happen with the Yuuko side of it. Honestly thought the guy would kill Yuuko or something and now she’s alright. But I’m sure there will be something that goes down. But Kuze as well is in a rough spot. There does seem to be a chance Mizuki will stay in his heart until it gives out. Hopefully those keys can work their magic one more time. When you include dramatic moments like we got in this episode not hart to pick this one for episode of the week

Well, this feature is back. It’s been a LOOONG time since I did an Episode of the Week post but I just got swamped with things to do and kept putting it off. Put since I’ve caught up a bit more with some of the stuff I was behind in blogging, this seems as good of a chance as ever to restart. This just says what episode me and FlareKnight who writes here collaboratively think is the best episode that aired this week. This doesn’t necessarily mean what the best series is at this point, just the specific episode. So here it goes:

Xebek:

I think that hands down this was the best episode this week. So far Clanand has had some mediocre episodes. It’s focused on side characters, and while bring forth very emotional arcs and deep stories with this, it still was just focusing on the side characters. Little two episode arcs that were almost completely episodic. Take them out and nothing really would change overall. However here we have an episode that deals directly with the main plot. I was stunned. I thought that this episode could have easily been just about Nagisa falling sick. They could have made a whole episode out of that but then BOOM a whole month passes, she is still sick. Ok, that’s fine, the episode probably ends there. BOOM more time goes by, Tomoya GRADUATES and without Nagisa and there is this huge emotional scene about what his future holds and wanting to have experienced it with Nagisa. It just went from almost nothing in terms of overall plot and main character development to the biggest event in both seasons.

I’m curious as to what other kind of time skips we’ll see. Although a month isn’t too terribly long, seeing s they pulled it off like it was nothing they could easily do more. The series has moved on almost to a different kind entirely. No more is it fun old high school times. He’s in the real world and they can’t really handle episodes the same way now. This episode changing the course of this series so drastically like that is why this is Episode of the Week.

FlareKnight:

Really felt it was no contest for Clannad to take this week. Really was just a hugely emotional episode. Honestly can relate to the characters in this when it comes to considering the future. It was an important episode in showing how time moves forward and things change. One of the best things of this episode was just the ending. This episode really opens things up for the rest of the series though. I mean Tomoya has graduated and now has to start moving into the next stage of his life. But he also has to balance that with his relationship to Nagisa who will be staying another year. I’m looking forward to the coming episodes from this series for that reason alone.

Episode of the Week:

Macross Frontier – 13

Although there were several great episodes this week, especially with the new season there are going to be a lot of contenders, I feel Macross stood out again above the rest. It seems a bit unfair to me even as I’m making these decisions that Macross would get the awards, but week after week it’s proved to be one of the more gripping series.

This episode was really great. It had big romantic progress with Ranka and Altoh while at the same time pulling them apart from each other, giving Altoh something to really fight for in order to save. We have a MAJOR movement of the plot seeing as how a planet was destroyed, Michael and Sheryl are with the enemy mothership, Ranka is kidnapped, and Altoh is kind of stranded in space. All of these things in one episode definitely made it deserve this week’s award.

Episode of the Week:

Macross Frontier – 07

I’m almost a bit reluctant to do this yet again, but Macross has just blown me away with its quality. It truly is the one show I look forward to the most. While several other series have their high points, and have great episodes, there is no where near the consistency that this show has. At least for now, this show still deserves the award, even with it being several times in a row which would actually hurt its chances because id be more inclined to give it to others, it still end sup getting it.

This episode was great. It had some great romance development with Ranka finding out she wasn’t informed of Altoh going off and Sheryl was, great action with Altoh diving headfirst into the enemy fortress, and big plot development with the appearance of supernatural aspects coming from the songs Ranka and Sheryl were singing.

Episode of the Week:

Macross Frontier – 05

This ended up being a bit of a hard choice between Macross and Druaga. On one hand Macross has been developing amazingly but Druaga also had a hilarious episode this week, deviating a bit from the more serious focus. However in the end I had to choose Macross. Even given Druaga’s hilarity there was something about the Macross episode that just had me sucked into the show.

The Macross episode not only gave some great development to Sheryl, making her much more of a likable character it gave some rather serious deep character development to Ranka as well as more romance focus on the both of them. All of that added with some overall action-plot development made this episode great.

Episode of the Week:

Itazura na Kiss – 03

This was a bit of a hard choice mainly because none of the shows are at any super critical amazing points. A lot of them are at points that are just…there. Nothing super exciting yet, and they are past the introduction. I think for a while a lot of shows will be in this kind of rut.

This episode was one of the more interesting ones lately. Although the show still has a character that I really dislike in it, it manages to keep my interest. It’s the problem of getting over that character or just dealing with the way that character is, and I think this episode was one of the best examples of that. It had a lot of emotion in it and really did stand out more then others.

Episode of the Week:

D. Gray-Man – 79

This was a pretty obvious choice. It’s not that the other shows that are starting this new season aren’t really bad, they just haven’t reached a big critical point in their story so early on and D. Gray-Man is right in the middle of one.

This episode really was incredible. I’m not going to spoil anything here, you can read the full post about it, but it just had me in absolute shock. I was speechless for a while after seeing it. It was amazing. The episode itself had some great scenes in it and the overall result of the episode seems like it will be vitally important to the rest of the series. Not only was it a great episode but it really continues the show on a serious and dark path which continues to be interesting.

Episode of the Week:

Druaga no To – The Aegis of Uruk – 01

This was a bit of a hard choice this week since for the most part it was a competition between which new show had the best first episode. Now, I’ll remind you that this isn’t an award for what show I’m looking forward to watching the most or what show I think I’ll end up liking the most, but which had the best first episode.

I felt that Druaga deserved this. When it first came out there were so many people just ranting about how hilarious and awesome of a first episode this had. Now, it’s unsure of whether or not this kind of greatness will carry on to the rest of the series, and it’s a bit doubtful it will but as far as an individual episode goes, this was amazing. I still loved the tentacle bit….JUST KEEP WATCHING!