This series has several strengths: great acting, great music, great directing and imaginative script writing. Sato Hiroaki has put together a great story line, with enough substance to keep your interest, and he spoon-feeds this material at a carefully planned rate as not to spoil the end. Take particular notice of the way you're shown the picture taken from Key's room: you're given brief, panned glimpses of the picture, providing you with tantalizing snippets of an image, but not quite enough to ascertain its significance. The net result is that you feel the frustration facing Tataki as he tries to comprehend what really happened in the Mamio valley. It's a highly effective and innovative technique which really deserves notice.

On the other hand, the animation itself has not been stellar in this series, and in this particular episode. Take note of the scene in which Tataki, wandering aimlessly through the streets, accidentally knocks himself into some garbage. Where did his lower extremeties go, and is all the debris levitating? Or did the animation director just miss this entirely?

Tsurugi Hikaru's role in the show continues to be a bit of a mystery. We discover that he's the conceptual artist for the upcoming Miho concert, and we also discover why he's so interested in Key. But what is driving his emotional instability? It's remarkably like Sergei's reaction to gel withdrawl... could it be that... And speaking of unknowns, just what is the Priest's role in this series? He continues to show up in some key scenes, but how everything is to come together is still unclear. Remarkably, even after 12 episodes, I find myself anxiously waiting for the next.
- AN, 98.05.07