I continue to work my way through Figure 17. It's not terribly exciting. The backdrop of the nature is present, and I have to admit that it looks better than anything I saw. The Tunka valley comes quite close in the summer (it even has hot springs), but unfortunately it's very far from the ocean and its winters are far harsher than whatever Hokkaido offers. In any event, the natural beauty offers no respite from the oppressive story, as far as I am concerned.

I am past the ep.10 and I do not quite know what scene Jeff was talking about (I recognize the screencap... but is it a hint?). I only penciled 2 notes for the episode:

• The ... (bold boy) noticed, but didn't go beyond admonishement.
  Interesting that Sho's mother knew about the handkerchief
  Weird Japanese fascination with "making memories".
• Anti-ganbatte revolt of Tsubasa

The second note was added post-factum, I meant that the rejection of "ganbatte" reminded me about those "if you are not suffering, you're not Japanese" anecdotes by Azrael. I thought that Tsubasa was spot-on with an indictment of the "ganbatte" culture.

Steven's Future Series list says "gizmo obsession, dead girls", which seems very odd now. Maybe he had difficult time pigeonholing it. There are gizmos, but they are even less prominent than in Vandread and the characters pay gadgets no more mind than they deserve. As for dead girls, there's not much of that either, strictly speaking. It's just that a 10 year old is made (or suckered) to fight by the circumstances and has to face mortal danger every other day. Unfortunately for her, she's not quite as dumb as that high-jumping skirt-wearing thing in Xenoglossia and realizes her predicament. She also is not getting much of an R&R, much like German pilots in WWII. That's the real meat of the story.

Not much screen time is left, so I am just going to tough out the two remaining episodes and then watch something comparatively upbeat and funny, like Evangelion.