天下制覇

I don't think that's how it works. I don't think that's how any of this works.

Impressions:

Oh thank god. An episode that isn't another perfunctory introduction with no aspirations other than establishing that some characters exist and what the gimmicks of the setting are. Not that it was handled deftly, mind you, what with people explaining to each other how things always happens and how we all know why they all happen and how common they are, but let's explain them in depth to each other anyway in case there's an invisible audience member who doesn't. And then there's the manic pixie girl, who fits into the show about as well as an elephant does into a teacup.

It's Guilty Crown/Geass's writer, so a little nonsense is to be expected, but I think this probably abused that a bit too much. I have my questions about how humanity has survived this long when apparently the trains are attacked constantly, and their security is so bad that when one is lost, the entire fortress is screwed. I'm also not really sure how strangling yourself makes the magic virus disappear. Oh, and little girls possess the strength to behead them, killing them instantly, but otherwise, you need to shoot them in the heart where they're strongest. Mostly, it's kind of just what you'd expect if you made a show from a Madlibesque combination of feudal Japanese steampunk zombie apocalypse. I don't think you should dig too deeply into anything it does. Lord knows the show doesn't, which helps things keep moving forward. And if I'm focusing on the nonsense of what it did and what it showed, it's because it did and showed things in ways that were not boring or obnoxious, and none of these were demands for it to try to explain them because that would just make things worse.

I would like to see more action though, and a bit less obtrusive about how the manic pixie girl is totally special and totally great, guys. You just don't know yet. But it avoided the cardinal sins by not being boring, irritating, filled with stills/speedlines, or acting like it was funny when no jokes had been made. What lofty aspirations we strive for indeed.