Anime Review - The Third - The Girl with the Blue Eye

The Third - The Girl with the Blue Eye is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi anime series focusing on the adventures of Honoka, a teenage girl known as the Sword Dancer. She and her tank-riding AI partner wander the desert working odd jobs, with occasional interference from The Third, the ruling class. The Third get their name from the red astral 3rd eye that each possesses, and it turns out that Honoka has a blue version of the eye. Complete the character mix with a mysterious alien boy, an adopted little sister, and a ex-mercenary teacher.

The characters in this series are very likable and interesting - despite a moderately weak storyline, they carry the show. Honoka is very likable, showing plenty of human weaknesses to go along with her special abilities, and the other characters are just as good. (Although the teacher is a bit over the top with her jealousy and teasing.) There's even some attempt to explain why these characters have extraordinary abilities, which you don't always get in these types of anime series.

The story itself is decent but not particularly special; I'd even go so far as to say it seems unfinished. There's lots of little sidelines that never get resolved, and the big finish in the last episode seemed very anti-climactic to me. But this series is worth watching just to get to know the characters.

Anime Review - E's Otherwise

E's Otherwise has lots of potential as a near-future sci-fi story, but ultimately falls short. It starts out promisingly enough, with a small squad of psychics being trained as a sort of special ops unit. Over time it becomes clear that this is part of a research corporation specializing in the psychics, who are a new breed of advanced human. Conflicts between normal humans and the psychics have been going on for years, and the story comes to a head with a plot by one side to wipe out the other.

The problem with E's is that it doesn't have focus. It starts with the quasi-military research corporation, but then for several episodes it wanders off into a sort of journey of discovery for Kai, one of the psychics. There's a lot of time spent uncovering that the corporations are messing with the memories and minds of the psychics, with various attempts to uncover the past, but in the end very little of it is revealed. Several of the main characters - Maria, Asuka, Maxim - show up a lot, but don't contribute anything to the overall story.

In the end, I wouldn't recommend E's Otherwise. Spend your time on something that has focus and resolves a few of the questions that it raises.