Devil Survivor 2: The Animation - Episode 3

Having decided to sign up to this whole "saving the world" business along with his friends, it's off to Osaka for Hibiki and company for their first real mission as Summoners.

Here, they meet up with another pair of fellow newbies, Hinako and Keita - not that there's much time for introductions, as first one of them goes wandering off to do a little demon slaying in preference to searching for Professor Kanno, before Osaka's JP bureau comes under a concerted cyber-attack by an unknown entity.

With the organisation's firewall crumbling like a Cadbury's Flake and the magical barrier which protects the entire city reliant upon it, finding the source of this cyber-attack is the order of the day, and although early signs point to attacks coming in from across Japan some smart thinking by Hibiki soon tracks down the real source of the culprit, which just so happens to be close by.  With Keita's life also in danger by this point, it's a race against time to save him and stop the cracker before Osaka's defences are laid bare, although sometimes even the best laid plans aren't enough to challenge fate...

Now that we're three episodes in, Devil Survivor 2 certainly seems to be a solid and confident video game to anime adaptation - it lacks the character of Persona 4 certainly, but this instalment shows the series' willingness to pull the rug from under the viewer rather than becoming overly repetitive, and the entire package is delivered swiftly and slickly, complete with a suitably nifty soundtrack to drive it along.  It might not be shaping up as one of the spring's most talked about series, but that doesn't prevent Devil Survivor 2 from being an entertaining show in its own right so far.