Episode 2

The last bits of the original oneshot (and the early installment weirdness), with most of chapter three inserted into it.

Notes

• The early-installment-weirdness-related notes, just to get it out of the way:
  • Kirio's ring-destroying magic orb.
    • Kirihiko destroying Karin's ring for real way out in the finale seems to be a callback to this in both the anime and the manga. Also, various characters later demonstrate more general energy powers (like the cushion of energy Kirio stands on early in ep 14; don't think anything like that was in the manga?), so this may not actually be out of the ordinary.
  • A handwave for what goes on with Karin: "Since it was your first time using the ring, your powers probably got out of control a little", says Kazune. Eh, good enough. And her powers really do go out of control when she transforms later, in both this episode and ep 8.
  • "It'll drain your powers" as an explanation for Kirio and later Nyx's attacks seems rather weird as well; it's never really explained or followed up on. It also puts Himeka's "powers" (her stored kamika research data or whatever) in the same context as Kazune and Karin's powers, which doesn't make much sense either. (This one applies to the next couple of episodes as well.)

That being said, there are additional callbacks to this stuff in the anime that weren't in the manga, vaguely integrating it better into the rest of the series.

• Ep 6- the raffle-drawing scene calls back the weather-controlling scene as well as the ring's apparently more general powers, though it apparently didn't do anything.
• Ep 8- Karin loses control of the Aphrodite ring and compares it to the first time she transformed with the Athena ring.

Anyway.

• Kazune telling Karin you can't bring back the dead... is even weirder once you know a certain few things about the main characters. It's technically still true, but...
• I just noticed that the tree Shii-chan's buried under is very prominently dead, in contrast to the very live trees all around it that've all been shedding volumes of petals whenever a scene needs spicing up.
• These episodes now take place at the same time of year as ch 3- early spring, right before graduation, so right before when the show started airing.
• School's full name is apparently Seiei Sakuragaoka. The manga switches from Sakuragaoka to Seiei a bit into Chu, if memory serves, so either the full name was the case in the manga the whole time, or this is a handwave.
• Kazune's lines about gods:
  • What a god is- (no picture unlike in the manga) "It depends on your race and religion, but it's someone with power. Someone who's merciful and absolute. Someone who rules. Someone who protects." (Himeka shot)
  • What purpose? "Well, for us, our purpose is to protect."
    • Ep 8 implies that the Aphrodite ring at least has a different purpose(/meaning).
• Kirio's crow seems to be circling the building the entire time... caw caw.
• Now Karin's first transformation is over wanting to protect Kazune and Himeka to be consistent with the rest of the series; "that's not what I want" is gone. Also, no "I am God" yet- Karin transforms without comment.
• During the last scenes, with Karin talking to Kazune and Himeka and finding out she's going to be living and going to school with them, the streetlights are all very definitely on.

Also, this has nothing to do with anything, but I remember back in the day some anime reviewer who hadn't seen the manga saying the preview made it "obvious" Himeka's secret was she was that evil magical girl (Nyx)... lol