Waiting for an update? Well, nothing yet.

I know some of you are on the edge of your seats waiting for the first episode of Meine Liebe to show up. And unfortunately I can't help you. It's almost unfair that I've already seen the initial translation of episode 2 in context with the show. Almost. Heh. But like I said, there's a place to keep your eye on to make sure you can be the first on your block to get it!

Unless you're on my block. But I suspect you're not. (I'm really rubbing it in tonight, aren't I? *grin*)

Last night I rewatched Madlax episodes 21 & 22. My good friends (who are now hooked on the show) got to #20 and are about to go careening down that particular rollercoaster that all you Madlax fans know so well. So I figured I would refresh my memory.

And when I did, I realized that my earlier statement about Madlax being better animation overall than Meine Liebe was pretty much out-and-out bunk! An interesting phenomenon: when something completely has you in it's spell, it can do no wrong, you can see no flaw -- it is the essence of perfection. Replace "something" with "a certain woman" and "it" with "her/she", and you'll probably see the resemblance to that most peculiar of human responses: The "crush". I had (well, have) such a crush on Madlax that I ascribed a number of qualities to it that really aren't there.

And anyone following along these pages all along is probably saying "well, duh!! I could have told you that!"

So the summary is, the animation quality of "Meine Liebe" is just as good as Madlax!

That's not to say that it's somehow poor or substandard. It's just that the shortcuts and methods used that I was a little oversensitive to are normal and to be expected, and that there are other elements that make up for it overall. Hell, even Noir took a lot of shortcuts!

(What am I saying?? Me, finding fault with Noir?! *Gasp*)

Seriously, though. The second episode of Meine Liebe is packed with character exposistion and dramatic tension. It tells a whole Russian novel's worth of intrigue and betrayal in it's short 23 minutes.

And, here's the big spoiler: There is now a female love interest! Who doesn't die within 15 minutes! Huzzah!

(And she kind of looks like Margaret...)

Oh, sorry, I forgot, some of you haven't even seen episode 1 yet, and here I am spoiling episode 2. Heh. Heh. Heh.

Well, I've got some rented DVDs of more series to go watch. "Twelve Kingdoms" and "Now and Then, Here and There". I don't have the slightest idea what to expect, but you can expect a review sometime soon.