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Posted by Tom:
This Ugly and Beautiful World #7

   Well, we're now roughly 7 weeks into the spring/summer anime season,
   so I think it's time to take another look at the series I've been
   watching.

   With episode 7, This Ugly and Beautiful world looks like it's finally
   getting out of a character exposition mode, and perhaps beginning to
   start a story. (Although the next episode preview shows a festival
   episode) In this episode, the gang goes to work at a beach restaurant.
   This places them in a position for fan-service and aquatic monster
   attacks. Unlike the pervert crab from Mahoromatic, however, this
   monster is really nasty. Evil Hikari makes another appearance, and
   Takeru finally gets around to transforming again. There is also much
   kissing, both direct, indirect, and lesbian play-acting.

   I'm still wating for this series to turn. We're getting quite a few
   episodes, showing the characters in their happy, vaguely normal lives,
   which I expect to be shaken up any time now. One thing I've realized
   is how important it is to get the audience to sympathize with the
   characters before the series darkens up.

   This series has a mix of interesting characters and interchangable
   ones. It's interesting to see what's up with the core cast of Hikari,
   Takeru, Akari, and Ryou, and I like the antics of Takeru's cousin and
   Ryou's sister as they sorta mess with the happy couples. I'm still not
   sure what the deal is with the drunk scientist Jennifer Portman or the
   unwittingly drunk robot Ioneous. The cast is rounded out by a few
   undistinct characters, including four classmates (two male and two
   female) and two parent characters.

   My favorite episode so far has been episode five, when Hikari goes to
   school and causes summer vacation to start a few weeks early.

   I'm looking forwart to see how this series goes, to see what happens
   to the core cast as the plot begins to twist. Of course, since it's a
   GAINAX series, I'll probably dislike the ending... but getting there
   will probably be worth it.