Mou Hitori: Asura Cryin' EX 001:Asura Machina 『機巧魔神（アスラ・マキーナ）』

Based on a light novel series written by Gakuto Mikumo, at first glance this series has robots, magic, and girls as its main theme. Throw in a boy with amnesia, this sounds a lot like many other anime/RPG already out there. The first episode does hint that the story might become quite interesting, though.

The episode starts with a boy laying in a hospital, with a girl ghost watching over him, reassuring him everything will be ok. 3 years later, the same boy, whose name is Tomoharu Natsume, is about to enter high school. However, one day before the entrance ceremony, his mom let/makes him stay on his own in a large house! Reason? She just re-married (and wants time alone with her new husband:b). While his friend who is supposed to help him move in likes the idea, Tomoharu is more realistic as he is not too excited in responsibilities attached, such as cooking and washing clothes.

Instead of helping Tomoharu, his friend is more interested in looking for ghosts, without knowing there is one right in front of them all along. Surprisingly, Tomoharu actually knows the girl ghost, which is the same one as the one at the start of the episode.

Suddenly, a woman who knows Tomoharu's brother, who is studying in India, appears with a heavy suitcase and gives it to Tomoharu. The surprise is that she seems to be able to see Misao, the ghost!

The day does not end there. At night, a miko breaks into the house and demands something from Tomo, who has no clue what she wants. While she claims the item is dangerous, she does not seem to be the bad girl here, as she quickly retreats when she saw Misao.

First day at school, Tomoharu discovers what all anime fans would know by now, both the mysterious girl with suitcase and the miko are both in the same school:b
When he confronts the girl who looks like the intruder the night before, she denies any knowledge of him. As Tomoharu wonders whether she has a twin, the whole male population of the school does not seem to like his "too familiar approach with the girl". The girl actually has different eye colors to the intruder, so its either the twin theory is correct, or she must be able to transform. Of course, colored contact lenses is all the rage, it could be that too...:b

After school, Tomoharu goes to the science club to meet the briefcase girl, whose name is Kurosaki Shuri. She seems happy as she thinks Tomoharu wants to join, which is not the case at all here. However, by claiming that the club is started by Tomoharu's brother and promising to explain everything, the girl tries to coerce Tomoharu to join the club. Tomoharu declines though, asking for some time to think.

That night, his house become a battle ground for two opposing groups who wants the briefcase (and Shuri, who does not want Tomoharu to hand it over). In the end, she says the briefcase it Tomoharu's and ask him to open the briefcase by simply commanding it. While at first the briefcase seem to have nothing but dark liquid in it, a big robot appears out of the liquid, to the surprise of Tomoharu. The miko girl, who really likes to sneak out at night, seems to recognize it, and calls it Asura Machina...

Impression:
The first episode is quite good. There are lots of events covered and lots of things which are not explained yet, but it only adds to the mystery. As long this does not become a monster of the week kind of series or let the harem aspect dominates the story, this looks like a series worth following. In addition, the music is pretty good, and the main character seems likeable enough. While he does have amnesia, at least he can she Misao, the ghost.