Some great music in this episode. The wonderfully haunting ballade, Lullaby is sung by Shibahara Chiyako, who does the voices for both Utsuse Miho and Komori Beniko. While Shibahara may not be a great singing talent (like many singers with limited training, she tends to sing a bit flat), her voice is perfectly suited for this song. Do yourself a favour and pick up the CD (Original Soundtrack Vol. 1), it's worth the price.

We now know why Ajo has been using the PPOR drones for the concerts: unfettered by human physical limitations, directors are able to choreograph events and special effects impossible for mere humans. Beniko's debut, short-lived as it may have been, was a nice change of pace. But all this pales in comparison to what happens on stage when Key takes over: the destruction of the performance drones, followed by her uttering a single pure note; unwavering and just long enough to be uncomfortable. Once again, Sato presents to the screen a wonderful montage of reactions, presented as a series of windows as if opened on a computer... and just as quickly, the windows are closed. As inspired as this may have been, Sato succumbs to temptation, and throws in a rather trite ending - the very familar and too-often used 'close the door' scene, coupled with Wakagi delivering a line that's much too cliché. This is an episode where everything begins to come together, and is written and directed almost to perfection -- but just falls short at the end.
- AN, 98.05.07