That was a good episode. It handled the pacing and the concept really well. Some of the backgrounds were really detailed too. I love the look of the empty town and the metal workshop. Solid art setting and props all round. The mechs were a MASSIVE troll, but it worked well too in playing with expectations. I could do with a bit less of the 4th wall breaking stuff with the narrative, but still, good stuff. Maybe that stuff will feel better in Japanese, because as much as I like the dub here, the narrator doesn't have the same presence as the Japanese one. It's probably an intentional choice in voice direction, but I like a narrative voice with more punch personally.
Next week looks like it's going to be another major art departure from the series norm. It's going to be crazy anyway because it's the first episode scripted by Toh Enjoe. Lol. Animator Hiroyuki Okuno is directing the episode with a storyboard by Atsushi Takahashi (Blue Exorcist movie). Okuno is also handling the animation direction along with his buddy Hisashi Mori. The two animators are known for their collaboration during the Samurai 7 series, with Mori animating key scenes in all the episodes Okuno directed. The best known one is probably episode 7 which was animated entirely by Mori and Okuno alone.
