Episode 09 –
Well, I would personally describe this episode as one that simply follows through on what we already knew would eventually happen. We already were aware of the notion that Nezumi and Shion would be sneaking into the correctional facility, and we knew that it was going to be risky. This episode pretty much let whatever we knew would occur to actually occur. There were a few little twists in there, but for the most part this episode was fairly predictable. The true mystery is everything that will happen from here on, where this episode felt like “the calm before the storm”. It seems that all hell will break loose in the final two upcoming episodes, which will deal with everything from Safu to No6 to those pesky bees.
That being said, even though we knew what would happen here in this episode, the tension building was actually fairly intense. The side-plot with Karan and crazed revolutionary adds a unique perspective to the situation at hand, which wildly differs from the troubles that Shion and Nezumi are going through. At the same time, the sudden destruction of the west side and the capture of Shion and Nezumi by No6 were also very hectic events.
What caught the most attention though was a simple 1-2 minute scene where it appears that Safu made contact with the illustrious Elyurias. It seems the contact was accompanied with some sort of awakening from Safu, but No6 still has not revealed anything significant about the current situation Safu is in aside from the fact that she was being used as a guinea pig. All the major details are still shrouded in mystery, and we are still not quite sure how they all relate to each other. How do those killer bees relate to No6, and how does Elyurias play into the bigger picture here? All those details will probably all be revealed within the upcoming final episodes, but as of now it’s rather difficult to get a clear view of the scale of this current conflict that everybody is involved in.
That being said, this was in a way a standard buildup episode with the episode ratcheting up some tension. The meat to the actual story will be coming up, and I’m really hoping that it doesn’t disappoint. Bones is staying marvelously consistent with this series, and it’s really paid off here with a curiously captivating story. There are flaws to the characters themselves here, which I would attribute to the lack of time to properly develop them, but nevertheless we have a solid main cast at this point. As to how all of these characters and plot points tie in to a conclusion, it’s certainly something to look forward to.
Overall Enjoyment: 3.5/5
Screenshots are later in the post.
Distant Paradise 
I liked how Shion recoiled in disgust when he noticed that the dogkeeper character was a girl. Brokeback#6, so over the top gay that it’s awesome.
Well, I don’t know if that was recoiling “in disgust”. Rather, it seems that he was genuinely surprised. I had always thought that inukashi was a girl, so I found the revelation kind of weird. I mean, it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise. Did Shion really think of her as a guy until that point…? o_o;