with TOME reaching its 7th instalment i thought things would have gotten into full swing by now, but the plot is plodding along at a snail's pace. for a 200 episode anime series i guess it would be acceptable for the story to be where it is now, but this is a web series; i was expecting something more distilled. the mansion in episode 2 has yet to be revisited, and the tournament has been held off for yet another 'character episode'. you could have started the tourney in this one, even. tease the audience by revealing a hacker from stephanie/flamegirl's past (because that was the only significant thing that happened really), and then get straight to the tournament after alpha talks with flamegirl. alpha going berserk AGAIN didn't really do anything for me. it felt really out of place, like you couldn't come up with a more interesting source of conflict so you pulled out the 'alpha goes nuts' thing again. there is still far too much talking - a problem that has been apparent through the entire series especially those nauseating 'quest' segments where someone talks for 2 minutes and all we see is a bunch of sketches.
the 'd-bug org' CONTINUES to just send out random cronies and is still a cliche 'faceless' organization. i think you actually revealed their presence a little too early, as every time they show up i'm reminded that all they do is send out their 'gimmick villain of the week'. i don't like how you keep making the badguys hackers as if they're the ONLY bad people playing the game, although zetto may turn out to be an exception. on a side note, what are these hackers trying to gain by hacking an online video game? the most i can think of is peoples' personal details/credit card information.
i'm not sure what the hellbenders were doing there, but whatever.
nylocke's episode was pretty great (and the one that actually REMINDS the viewer that the characters are playing a video game!) but this particular chapter of TOME didn't really change things up or reveal anything important. it gave flamegirl a haircut (for no reason) and some weird deus ex machina power that allows her to stop alpha whenever he turns into an internet werewolf; a power that wasn't previously established or foreshadowed at all. she just stops him because that's what the plot calls for. however, kirb being the one 'left out' of the tourney pairings was a nice touch and adds to the recent theme of the group slowly breaking up. i did see that coming a mile away though as soon as nylocke and purple man teamed up.
the romance of alpha and flamegirl is executed decently (by that i mean it could have gone FAR WORSE). it's not very interesting though because they are the least interesting characters (even the purple guy at least has that aura of mystery to him). i'm hoping the tournament spices things up a bit, because tome is in serious need of a 'shift in gear'. everyone's been introduced, you've got plot elements perfectly set up, i really want to see things HAPPEN in the next few episodes.
let's see the team face a BIG threat, something that feels like they've achieved something when they've beaten it instead of a same old d-bug hacker of the week that shows up, gets their ass kicked, and then goes away within one episode. let's have the characters journey to NEW areas instead of the same 3 places (that was the only thing i liked about the mansion episode, it was a good change of scenery). let's see twists on par with nylocke revealing his 'real' personality (that was the BEST moment of the series). this is the perfect opportunity for the series to get really interesting.
there is still a huge problem with the writing that stops me from suspending my disbelief. the characters are all real life people playing a video game yet act like the threats in the game are lethal/serious. not even 6 year old kids do that. like another reviewer mentioned, why don't the characters uninstall TOME and get something like Skype instead if they can only contact each other via the internet? i simply cannot invest myself in the plot because of this aspect. if the characters are all hooked up to a machine matrix style then sure, but they have been established since the very first episode to be able to log on/off at will.
production wise this is MUCH nicer than previous episodes. good voice acting, great music and a decent amount of frame by frame animation. the colors are still rather dull though, and the color scheme of the spanish guy was atrocious to be honest. the battles are much more interesting to watch now that you're choosing dynamic angles rather than those flat, mega man battle network 'grids'. the style is a little boring to say this is meant to be a colorful internet world. i think you should look at the film 'summer wars' for inspiration, because that manages to pull off the 'this is a virtual experience' thing very well.
TOME 7 also felt shorter and more concise than other episodes (this is a good thing), especially the DREADFULLY long episode 4 which just meandered from one insignificant event to the next. the last 3 episodes have shown growth however, but i still feel like i'm waiting for a plot to kick in.