A Certain Magical Grimoire

That’s got to hurt.

Well, I didn’t really that many expectations in the first place when I decided to watch Pandora Hearts. It’s good to see those expectations were right. While the trailer did grab my attention initially, I didn’t really think that it looked as good as it could have been, and the actual episode itself caught me off guard with a distinct lack of animation quality. Sad indeed.

Interrogation at work.

What screamed out most was the poor way they tried to make the episode ‘creepy’. A lot of eyes paving the way to Oz’s inevitable encounter with a murderous Alice in his dreams (perhaps?) as well as Gilbert’s possession by a evil grinning thing at the end - while they could have had a better impression than they did, the animation didn’t really help with the atmosphere. Sometimes, the characters seemed faint in colour and their movements stilted to the point that their situations seemed so unbelievable you couldn’t really feel what you were suppose to feel. It also felt that the dialogue was disjointed at times. Gilbert in particularly - his voice didn’t really match his character…though I’ve got to admit that he has it tough, since apparently everyone likes picking on him.

On a small note, Oz’s uncle Oscar is also someone I would look out for. He seems the type to betray and do it was a smile on his face. But I’m not quite too familiar with whether that does happen or not.

Be quiet little girl~~~

The opening and ending weren’t particularly noteworthy this time around either. I’m rather disappointed with both the animation and the music - neither were catchy nor were they original in anyway. The opening is rather interesting though, and while showing us the slew of characters that would be appearing, a giant scythe wielding killer rabbit pops up. I’m quite certain it’s important for later but a giant rabbit isn’t what I would say awesome. The ending is mainly focused on Alice, and the animation is mainly centered around her and the gears of a watch. Boring and unimaginative, and the song doesn’t help.

He finally went insane from all the teasing.

So in the end, I can’t say I felt that the studio did a good job with Pandora Hearts. What was first thought to be something old school but cool, turned out to be even less cool and more old school. Corny dialogue, badly animated scenes and a strange plot centered around the ‘Chain of the Abyss’ - as I’ve mentioned before, It could have been done better. Chances are I might drop it unless something pops up that catches my interest long enough for me to abandon the thought.

Gallery link here.

Opening Theme ~ Parallel Hearts by FictionJunction

Ending Theme ~ Maze by Savage Genius

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