How clever that the opening sequence adds in the characters of this series as they are introduced into the plot!  Very neat to see here! So we get an understanding of Shiela the woman Livius loved and from how different the ending left us last time, it was a good idea for the writers to have Bard not hate Livius but feel incapable of helping him get over his loss of Shiela.  Nike and Bard are two sides of the same coin here– they both love and want to protect Livius but for different reasons.  Nike is slowly starting to love him more and more while Bard wanted to protect him out of respect of Livius’ hatred that filled his heart.  He needed to cope somehow, and Bard believe this was the way to do by giving him the throne.  It was interesting how Bard he said to Livius couldn’t see the beauty in flowers anymore when Nike said something somewhat similar to him quite a few episodes ago– love the similarities between the prince and princess.  It’s also intriguing to note how much of an impact Nike’s rain power affects the people of this show as well– it overturned Reines

I am liking the direction this show is going as it has changed what I had initially thought– the series should be 2-cour. With the light pacing these episodes have had a 1-cour is very suitable for this kind of show. Too many episodes might have derailed what Kamegaki was wanting to do an adapting the manga and being somewhat faithful to it.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: 7/10

—