Pumpkin Scissors Vol. 2: The Enemy Within Review

            At the start of the volume, Randel is in the hospital with a foot injury. Back at HQ, Alice’s subordinates has decided that they need to know about Roland’s history for the good of the unit while a mysterious woman from the science department of the military has made herself known to the captain.

            Pumpkin Scissors has got more issues to deal with though including finding an abandoned baby that takes a liking to Randel right away. Then after Oreldo is put in charge of an investigation into a noble stealing food and supplies while Alice is escorted to a fancy dress party by the man her family wants her to marry, Pumpkin Scissors is sent into the snowy mountains to delivery supplies only to be attacked and put into a survivor situation.

Good and the Bad

            The humor in this volume makes absolutely no qualms about taking immature humor and finding a way to seamlessly integrate it into a mature plot. The penis jokes in the first episode absolutely took me off guard. Even if there was a nurse involved… just, wow. Even I was shocked by this one.

            The comedy in this volume is really well written though in that it doesn’t use comedy that audiences are used to seeing in these types of series. Instead of just using either sharp jabs or bad puns, the series goes somewhere new letting the dialogue go dry and self deprecating.  By letting characters point out obvious flaws in each other’s speeches and logic this series really opens itself up. The rooftop scene of the first episode has a perfect example of this.

            The progression of the primary story is going really slowly however. This volume was a great chance for audiences to get know Alice’s subordinates and learn some great things including backgrounds. Randel is still something of a mystery but the appearance of a third tier character proves to be very nice bait to lead audiences into the third volume.

            The animation in this series continues to be well done. Randel’s lantern scenes remain absolutely chilling to watch though it is really interesting to see how they have changed from the first volume.  

Music

            The string track that closes out the volume was very nicely done. Other than that, there weren’t any particularly strong background tracks that stood out from the animation. None of the music ever sounded out of place but there just wasn’t much substance.

Dub vs. Sub

            In the first episode, Amanda Hanawa did such a great job with the role of the nurse Rosetta. Yes it is unusual to give the stand out performance nod to a one time character but she was hilarious in those scenes though the animation went a long way towards making that scene a bit more memorable.

            The issue that I had with switching back and forth between the two language tracks was that the Japanese track came through much more clearly for me. The English track sounded muffled and quiet. In terms of preference though, this series sounds and feels so much more natural to me in the English dub. Perhaps it’s the European setting but the Japanese track just didn’t feel quite right.

Extras

            Just clean animations.              

Overall

            This series continues to intrigue me and make me want to learn more. While Alice can sometimes be a little trying, the cast of characters continues to be an interesting mix that plays well off each other. The story is still moving a bit slow but I’m finding the journey towards a story to be worthwhile so far. While I’d like to know where we’re ultimately headed, the series does a great job of keeping the plot hooks coming to keep things smoothly rolling along. This continues to be a smart series worth picking up.