Figure 17 — Episode 2
It took a little while for me to get to it due to an exhausting and kind of weird week, but my husband and I finally watched the second episode of Figure 17 tonight. Needless to say, our love for the series deepened.
I loved the way this episode started (after the recap ended, that is). Tsubasa laying there, thinking it must have been a dream, etc. I was expecting her to turn her head and find Hikaru, but instead there was the fun movement, and suddenly she’s got a foot in her face as Hikaru’s laying at the wrong end of the bed. This was so reminiscent of Usagi and Chibiusa in Sailor Moon! Love, love…
The majority of the episode was simply those two playing off one another, and it was absolutely wonderful to watch. Seeing Tsubasa smile a real smile for the first time in the series when Hikaru was going on and on about the pretty flowers was heartening. Their makeover of DD (I really like that character as well) was so fun, and I enjoyed the cut away from the room when he got his haircut (pun not intended, but my husband’s groaning since I said that one out loud to confirm my memory of the scene). It was one of those things that just works best being heard, “Hand me the scissors!” rather than actually scene.
An idea that struck me as I watched Hikaru and Tsubasa join to fight the monster of the week is that this quite simply a sci-fi mahou shoujo series. Transformation sequence and everything. And I love it for it. It takes the good the best mahou shoujo series (the focus on character interaction over story) and the best of sci-fi (nifty tech and a sturdier plot) and melds them together for a series where 3/4 of the episode is character development, and 1/4 is action. Given how long the episodes are, that just plain works.
The plan is to watch episode 3 tomorrow night. Given how much my husband is enjoying this series as well, I don’t think there will be so much of a delay between 2 and 3 as there was between 1 and 2. And I already have the second disc from Netflix, so we’ll be able to swing right into the next batch on Sunday if we so choose.
