Sooner or later, Akari's going to return one of Hiroyuki's forehead flicks with a swift knee to the groin. One can hope, at least.

Anyway, it's a shame the Great Hanshin Earthquake was responsible for breaking up Hoshina's family. Those earthquakes are awful home wreckers, you know.

She doesn't run on steam, Akari!

Or does she? Hmm...

Ayaka needs to lay off the testosterone supplements, though. Not like they helped. She won't be remembering her memories.

Anyway, now I know why the animation has been so lacking in previous episodes: the production team has been sitting around playing Queen of Heart to all hours of the night. Their burning passion for extreme, girl-on-girl fighting shows in their work, however. The animation actually showed some improvement with this episode.

The animation just gets worse and worse.

But, at least the writers have taken the time to address important questions.

There's finally a true OP animation sequence. It's nice - not quite as nice as the first season's, but close. The final moments make me dizzy, though.

The story continues to wander aimlessly. Meanwhile, Hiroyuki continues to be an abusive jerk. Akari should dump his ass and hook up with Masashi. Or have a drunken lesbian fling with Shiho - preferably in old character design form.

There really should be a true OP sequence. The song deserves it.

I think I'm finally used to the character designs. And even though diehard fans of the franchise may be disappointed with how much drama this sequel has, I kind of like it. If it were poorly done, I'd complain, but so far, it's been enjoyable.

Sometimes, a little change is good.

I'm tempted to say the animation quality went downhill in this episode, but with these character designs, it's really hard to tell.

OK, now that the obligatory character design comment is out of the way...

Multi is definitely the star of the show for now, which shouldn't come as much of a surprise given the "Remember My Memories" subtitle. I just hope the whole series isn't devoted to helping Multi remember her memories. That would get really old, really fast. It's not like she had that many memories, anyway.

Rio didn't show up in this episode. That makes me sad.

As is the popular opinion, I always felt the character designs for the first To Heart TV series were a vast improvement on those of the original game. Yet, even though the inferior game designs have returned for the sequel, they don't bother me as much as I thought they would. Perhaps I'm just happy to see more To Heart - even if the show feels different. And that's not simply due to the different look.

For the most part, we pick up where we left off. Some characters, however, seem to have undergone some noticeable changes in personality - presumably the result of character development that took place in the first series. Kotone is perhaps the most dramatic example, as she doesn't really seem like her shy, quiet self anymore. It's not a bad change, but it took me by surprise. And, yes, Multi is back, but - well, I won't spoil what looks to be a major plot point early on.

And since I mention plot, I should say I'm left with the impression there'll be more of just that this time around. Whereas the first series was primarily occupied with introducing each character, the sequel appears more likely to use their combined presence to tell a larger story. The potential for drama seems much greater.

On the production side, the animation is fairly standard, but looks nice. The music sounds more game-influenced compared to the first series' pleasant orchestral score. The OP theme has a nice old school feel, although a true OP animation is lacking for now (is it just me, or is this happening more often lately?). The ED is standard fare.

Despite there being some changes I'm not all that happy with, there are a few changes that I think may allow the sequel to be an improvement on the first series in the long run. I'm anxious to see, of course.