Sacred Seven - Episode 3

As episode three of Sacred Seven opens, so we join Ruri on the hunt for some more important stones to aid with her (and perhaps more importantly Arma's) mission - regardless of how important said stone is, remind me never to let Ruri borrow my eBay account....

Anyway, we're soon introduced to this story arc's major players - a doctor who goes by the name of Kenmi who is being assisted and escorted by the Aiba Foundation as we first meet him, and a Darkstone known as Knight Kijima.   Cue a scrap between these two that Kagami is powerless to prevent; a fight that Arma ends up wandering into as he senses their powers, even if he has little to do in the ensuing chaos himself other than collapse in a heap.  Still, the battle ends with no casualties, allowing us to learn Kenmi's role in proceedings as the head of a research institute that deals with trying to prevent Darkstones from becoming irrevocably changed into their powerful form while generally keeping them away from the public and the chance of causing danger or harm.


It soon transpires that Kijima is a former "patient" of Kenmi's - a Darkstone with power that matches Arma's, and a human existence only kept in check by drugs provided by Kenmi's lab until his escape from their clutches.  While Kijima might be out "in the wild", it's inevitable that he will return for more of the vaccine he needs to survive in his current state - knowledge that leaves Arma and company laying in wait for his return in the hope of apprehending him.

Overall, this is probably the most solid episode of Sacred Seven so far - it still doesn't do anything particularly unique in terms of its story or characters, but it's entertaining enough and there are sufficient points of moral reasoning and room for conspiracy to keep things interesting as well.  The animation quality has slipped a little already by this juncture (or rather, it simply avoids animating anything too taxing in what should have been the most intense action scene of the episode), but to my mind there's enough going on here to keep my interest beyond Megumi Nakajima's voice alone - perhaps now my expectations for the series have been sufficiently lowered it's easier to enjoy the series as a slightly cheesy chunk of action fare that isn't going to wow anyone but yet still manages to hold my attention.