Random Curiosity

Summary:

On the way back from Narita aboard a train, Lelouch questions if C.C. is his enemy or ally since he now knows that Mao has a GEASS power that allows him to read minds. C.C. reveals that Mao’s power has a range of 500 meters and she contracted with him eleven years ago. She thinks that his objective is only her, but Lelouch is worried because Mao knows he is Zero. Since Lelouch wants to know more about it, C.C. explains that Mao’s GEASS doesn’t have the eye contact limitation that his has. The problem with Mao’s power is that he can’t turn it off, so he can always hear the minds of the people around him whether he wants to or not. This is actually why Mao wears earphones that repeat C.C.’s voice over and over. Lelouch is now afraid that Mao might go after his biggest weak point: Nunnally. C.C. recognizes how important protecting Nunnally is to Lelouch, but she thinks that searching the city for Mao with the Black Knights is a waste of time. Instead, she suggests that he should use her as a decoy since she’s Mao’s goal. Lelouch cuts her off before she can finish speaking and asks her if he’d become like that if he continued using the GEASS power or if becoming like that was the result of not fulfilling the contract with her. C.C. admits that using the GEASS increases its power, and so a person could be swallowed up by their own power. Lelouch then gets angry that she knew that yet still proposed contracts with him and Mao. He calls her cruel because of how she didn’t clean up after herself once she abandoned Mao since he wasn’t able to fulfill their contract. Lelouch thinks that she should have taken away Mao’s powers or his life and blames her for what happened to Shirley. In response, C.C. decides to move to the place next door that’s currently being used for the school council and the cultural department.

Meanwhile, Suzaku learns from Cecile that he’s obligated to get a medical check-up as a Knightmare pilot. He agrees to get one after school tomorrow, and then inquires if there’s a way he can meet Euphemia. Lloyd doesn’t think that it’s possible for Suzaku, but Cecile points out that a person with the position of Earl could. It is here that Suzaku is shocked to find out that Lloyd is actually an Earl. The next day, Lelouch asks Milly to make the clubhouse off limits for a few days because of C.C. Milly reveals that she’s got another marriage interview coming up and asks him what she should do. Before Lelouch can really answer, Shirley comes running up and recognizes Lelouch from last time, but doesn’t know who he is. After Shirley’s friends call her away, Lelouch explains to a confused Milly that he and Shirley are having a fight, and she assumes that they’re pretending to be strangers. Later that night, Shirley finds her diary missing, not knowing that Lelouch actually has it and is burning it. During all this, C.C. is out in the city looking for Mao, as are Zero’s Black Knights. Not with the other Knights is Kaname, who has taken in Villetta. He still remembers how she had muttered about Zero when he rescued her, but when she wakes up and he tries to question her, he finds out that she’s forgotten all her memories. Villetta accidentally exposes herself and then covers herself back up, but she’s glad that a good person – Kaname – found her. At the clubhouse, Lelouch runs into C.C. and then gets a phone call from Mao, but Mao wants to speak with C.C. She takes the call and then informs Lelouch that she’s parting with him because she’ll be starting over with Mao. When Lelouch asks if she’s betraying him, C.C. says that she didn’t intend to be partners with him – they were only accomplices. He tries to stop her by using his GEASS power, but it doesn’t have an effect on her. As she leaves, she promises that she has no intention of talking about him with Mao and that Mao would not appear in front of him ever again.

At the hospital, the doctor has good test results, but asks Suzaku if he unconsciously compares himself with his father and notes that Kururugi Genbu was a great prime minister of Japan. By this time, C.C. has arrived at an amusement part and is greeted by Mao riding a carousel. She sees that he’s still a kid and tries to tell him something, but he’s still caught up with how C.C. supposedly loves him, and displays the recording that playing on his headphones as proof. She yells for him to stop and remembers how she had taken care of him when he was young. The voices were too much for him, so she had calmed him down with her voice and promised to be always by him. However, as Mao approaches her now, C.C. pulls out a gun on him. A gunshot rings out, but it’s not from C.C.’s gun – Mao actually drew his gun and shot her in the arm before she could do anything. What’s more, he interprets her not shooting him as a sign that she likes him. C.C. denies it and declares that she only used him, but Mao doesn’t believe it and starts shooting her repeatedly in her arms and legs. He then rambles about how he built a white house in Australia, and that C.C. is too big to take on an airplane there. That’s why he’s going to make her compact, which he plans to do so with a chainsaw. As he approaches her again, C.C. wonders if this is punishment, but Mao calls it gratitude. It is at this point that Lelouch appears on the video screen nearby. He had learned that they were at Clovis Land from the phone recording from earlier and is now broadcasting from Tokyo Tower – out of Mao’s mind-reading range. Playing his trump card, Lelouch raises the subject of C.C.’s name and reveals that he knows her real one. Mao can’t believe that she revealed it to Lelouch yet she never told him, and he’s made even angrier when Lelouch asserts that C.C. belongs to him. Lelouch keeps going, saying that he’s obtained all of C.C., including the parts that Mao hasn’t seen. As Mao starts to destroy the television screens, Lelouch declares that Mao has lost.

However, Mao then starts to hear voices approaching. These are the thoughts of the police who soon surround Mao completely. With them is Lelouch, who is also dressed as a policeman, and he rescues C.C. Mao can’t believe that Lelouch is here since he was just on the screen at Tokyo Tower, but it turns out that that was just a recording. In fact, Lelouch had anticipated all of Mao’s answers and had pretended to be conversing with him. Mao claims that he still has a way to defeat Lelouch, but Lelouch isn’t about to let anything go to chance. He has put the police squad under the control of his GEASS, and they now execute Mao in a hail of gunfire. In the aftermath, C.C. explains that Mao was only a six-year-old orphan when she formed a contract with him. At the time, he didn’t know how to read or write, didn’t know his parent’s love, and didn’t know good or evil. The GEASS power that she gave Mao kept other people away from him, and that’s why she was Mao’s friend and lover – she was everything to him. Having been brought to the roof of a building by a police helicopter, Lelouch now tells C.C. that he doesn’t want to be defeated by the GEASS. Lelouch vows to control and master this power and declares that he will change the world. He will collectively grant her wish and his – he will fulfill the contract that Mao was not able to. Hearing all this, C.C. wonders if Lelouch is comforting her, pitying her, or feeling an attachment to her. Not answering, Lelouch suggests that they form a contract, but this time from him to her. Stretching out her hand, C.C. agrees to bind this contract, and the two shake on it.

Preview:

As usual, there a lot of stuff to talk about. I would say that the big surprise this episode was seeing Villetta’s breasts, but taken in context of Kallen’s shower scene and Nina’s masturbation scene, that’s not that big of a deal. If nothing else though, it once again shows how much they’re pushing the limits. I still think that we might see a sex scene before this is all over. Focusing more on Villetta herself, it would seem at first that they took the easy way out by giving her amnesia. Still, I’m curious to see where they go with it, and there definitely seems to be grounds for a KanameXVilletta relationship now.
However, that was only a minor part, and most of the episode was about Lelouch, C.C., and Mao. In a way, I do hold C.C. responsible for how Mao developed into a crazy nut job, though it’s arguable whether she gave him a better life than he might have had as an orphan on the streets. That probably wasn’t her intention though, and she’s still got a job to accomplish that Lelouch has taken on. Actually, when they contracted again at the end of the episode, I thought Lelouch and C.C. would do something more than just a handshake – like a kiss or something – but that didn’t happen.
As for Shirley, they more or less seem to have wrapped up her involvement completely, and she seems destined to become a background character again. It’s still frustrating to see such an end to her part of the story, though I’m keeping a little hope that this isn’t the end. Maybe they were just trying to conclude things, but it seemed slightly odd that they would go to the lengths to show Lelouch burning Shirley’s diary. In any case, next week seems to be about Nunnally and there seems to be a chance that Mao isn’t actually dead. Perhaps that’s his sleeve in the corner there.

Summary:

Yuuichi is greeted back home by Ayu, who notices that he’s not looking so well. Going to his room, he thinks about how Kaori told him about informing Shiori that she won’t live to her next birthday. Even if she did live until then, it wouldn’t be much longer than that. Kaori hadn’t told anyone else except Yuuichi since he became friends with Shiori, and she notes that Shiori smiles when she’s with him. Ayu interrupts Yuuichi’s thoughts by coming into his room because she felt that it’d be better to be by his side, but the two don’t really say anything to each other. The next day at school, Yuuichi notices that both Kaori and Shiori are absent. Afterwards, he finds himself atop Monomi Hill thinking to himself that he can help search for a lost item, and he can help fight against demons, but he can’t do anything similar in Shiori’s case. Addressing Makoto, Yuuichi asks what it’s like to be her and wonders what he can do for a girl with only a little time left. By chance, he runs into Shiori by the fountain on his way home. She explains that she used to come here to play with her family when she was young. Back then, she had eaten ice cream with her sister, and she now wishes to do that again. Shiori then tells Yuuichi that with more time, she probably would have liked him more and more, even though she shouldn’t like anyone. When Yuuichi asks her about her sickness, Shiori says that it’s not something medicine will make better, so she doesn’t remember the since it has no significance.

Shiori eventually admits to avoiding Kaori because she feels that that’s all she can do for her sister. She also has one request for Yuuichi: to treat her like a normal girl. This is because when she’s with him, she can return to the happy times in her memories. After he agrees to be like a brother to her, and the two are ready to part ways for the night, she reveals that she’ll have something surprising for him tomorrow at school. As she starts to walk away, Yuuichi calls out to her and asks if it’s really too late to do anything and if she could possibly recover. Shiori’s answer is that it’s possible with a miracle, but they’re called miracles because they don’t happen. At home, Yuuichi finds everyone already asleep, including Ayu in his room. He realizes she was waiting for him, so he carries her back to her own room and puts her to bed. The next morning, Ayu is still sleepy because of a scary dream she had during the night. Yuuichi notices later at lunchtime that Shiori isn’t waiting for him outside, and he’s very surprised when she shows up at his classroom door wearing her school uniform instead. Although Kaori walks out at the sight of her sister, Yuuichi goes with Shiori to the cafeteria for lunch. Shiori explains that she got her doctor’s permission to come to school until next Saturday – the day before her birthday. In any case, she tries the curry even though she can’t handle spicy food because she wanted to eat the same thing as Yuuichi. Afterwards, she suggests that she bring a bento tomorrow for both of them.

Kaori returns home later that night and is greeted by Shiori, but Kaori ignores her sister. She silently goes back to her own room and falls to the floor with her back against the door. The following day at lunch, Yuuichi finds that Shiori made two big boxes of food just for him and only has a small portion for herself. The two go out together for some ice cream after class, and Shiori notices the odd stuffed animals in the window of a store. She’s wants to go inside, but Yuuichi catches sight of Kaori first and chases after the elder sister. He tries to persuade her to have tea with him and Shiori, but Kaori claims that she doesn’t know a girl by the name of Shiori and then walks away. While he was away, Shiori went inside the toy store and talked to the old man who ran it, but she didn’t have enough money to buy anything. This is actually the same store that Sayuri bought the stuffed giant anteater from, and thinking about this reminds Yuuichi of how Mai told him that the person who is turning away from the painful things is someone close to him. After getting Shiori’s preference for stuffed animals, Yuuichi goes home and counts how much cash he has. Ayu interrupts him to tell him that the bath is open now and notices the wallet he’s holding. Yuuichi meanwhile comments on how Ayu put on her hair band right after she took a shower, and Ayu reveals that she got it from a person very important to her. Getting back to Shiori’s birthday, Yuuichi tries to get present ideas from Ayu, but they all revolve around taiyaki. In the end, Ayu suggests that Yuuichi do something that’ll make Shiori happy, making Yuuichi realizes that being with Kaori would accomplish this. He feels that this is the one thing that he can do for Shiori.

Preview:

My general sentiments toward this episode are that it was ok, but nothing terribly exciting or dramatic. There’s plenty of cute Shiori moments, but I still don’t feel very attached in any way to the character. I’d even say that I feel more sympathetic towards Kaori than Shiori. Maybe that’ll change next episode or the episode after (I’m not sure how long this arc is supposed to go). I did find it interesting that Yuuichi visited Monomi Hill to do some thinking and “visit” Makoto. If nothing else, it shows that Yuuichi still keeps her in his mind even though she’s been gone for a little while now. There was also the talk of miracles not happening that Shiori had with Yuuichi, and it reminded me of and contrasts to the talk he had with Mishio at the end of the Makoto arc. Perhaps Shiori will indeed get a miracle…
Next week is Shiori’s birthday. The piano piece in the preview and that clock striking midnight make me think that Shiori’s time might be up.

Summary:
In the middle of the night, Asuna and Konoka find someone unexpected in the bath: Nekane Springfield. Negi wakes up the next morning after a dream about Nekane to find her watching over him. But this Nekane seems to be real and so he introduces her as his sister to all the girls. When Negi tells Nekane about the Black Rose Baron, she informs him that it’s the Thousand Master, but he realizes that she’s actually joking. He then rests his head in her lap and doesn’t notice when she uses her magic to destroy a patch of emerging darkness. Only Zazie sees this, and she reports it to the other girls in the exploration group afterwards. Konoka and Setsuna decide to follow Nekane, and although the things she does appear at first to be suspicious, nothing actually turns up strange. Even when Nekane seems to sneak up on Satsuki with a sword, she’s actually just after some of the oden being cooked.

When Kaede, Ku Fei, Fuuka, and Fumika tell Negi about how Nekane is strange and what she did earlier, Negi feels that she just didn’t want to worry him. Later, Ako opens a window and finds a blob of darkness outside. The girls call Negi and tell him about it, but by the time he arrives, Ako is about to get sucked into the darkness. Negi decides to activate Ku Fei’s contract, but she kicks his hand during the process and Negi ends up pulling out the bad card. All seems lost until the Black Rose Baron appears and powers up a wind that pulls Ako back in. Negi finishes the job by destroying the darkness, but the Baron is gone by the time he finishes. After the battle, Konoka tells Negi that the Black Rose Baron is really Nekane because she recognized the Baron’s sword and the oden ingredients that were on it. Negi can hardly believe it, but in fact, at that very moment, Nekane is taking off the disguise in the restroom.

They changed the OP sequence a tiny bit this week by adding some color and a few frames. I think I prefer the darker, less colored version though because it looked a lot cleaner and more stylish.
Anyway, this episode actually surprised me with how funny and unexpected it was. I never would have thought Nekane would have appeared for real, nor did I suspect that she was the Black Rose Baron. I’m still suspicious of this new development and am expecting them to pull something else, though I’m not sure what. As for the funny, Motsu was the main source of laughter with how he was the Black Rose Baron and how he cried in Eva’s tea.

Summary:

With the battle over, Urahara appears and wonders if Isshin had his revenge. He asks how Isshin feels being in a Shinigami body after 20 years and if Isshin was able to clear his mind. Isshin admits that he didn’t have as big a grudge as he said against the Hollow, but if he had a regret for the past 20 years, it’d be his own powerlessness in being unable to save his wife Masaki on that night. When Urahara then raises the subject of Ichigo, Isshin already knows that the Vizards came in contact with his son. He also knows that the Vizard are a group of ex-Shinigami who try to gain the power of a Hollow. Both Urahara and Isshin realize that since the Vizard contacted Ichigo, that must mean they are preparing for some sort of battle – just like them.

The topic then turns to the Grand Fisher, and Isshin notes that the Hollow was different from the pseudo-Arrancar they’ve encountered before. The pseudo-Arrancar hadn’t developed much these past decades, yet since they suddenly went up so much in power level, the person responsible must be Aizen Sousuke. After coming in contact with the pseudo-Arrancar, Aizen is now trying to create real Arrancar with the power of the Hougyoku. Isshin thinks that Aizen sent out an incomplete Arrancar to collect data on how well it can fight, and once Aizen finishes his research, he’ll bring true Arrancar along the forces of Menos to destroy the world. As for what they will do, Urahara thinks that it’ll be something – in this situation both friend and foe will be on the move. This includes the Vizard, them, and even Soul Society. In fact, at that moment in Soul Society, Commander Yamamoto has convened a meeting with all the captains.

The next day at school, Ichigo is thinking about how Shinji wanted him to join the Vizard, unaware that Ishida is sitting nearby thinking about his father’s offer. Shinji and Inoue come in at the same time to greet Ichigo, and former starts quite a scene when he hugs Inoue good morning. Before his classmates can do anything to Shinji, Ichigo drags him out to have a talk. Ichigo thinks that Shinji came to school to recruit him, so there should be no more reason for Shinji to come anymore. Shinji, however, isn’t going to give up so easily and promises to keep bugging Ichigo. In fact, he claims that Ichigo is already a Vizard, whether he likes it or not. Shinji thinks that Ichigo’s inner Hollow will devour him and end up destroying everything, including his friends and himself. Ichigo’s inner Hollow is rapidly getting much stronger, and Shinji is offering a way for him to control it.

On his way home after school, Shinji gets kicked into a telephone pole by a girl with a sword. This girl, who Shinji identifies as Hiyori, starts knocking him around for being too slow with recruiting Ichigo. While she’s assaulting him, the pair are approached by Inoue and Sado. Inoue knows that Ichigo wouldn’t have told her what was going on, so she came to ask what Shinji and Hiyori are and what they want with Ichigo. Hiyori introduces herself as Sarugaki Hiyori and learns who Inoue and Sado are, but she then prepares to kill them. Before this can happen, Shinji carries her away and Sado keeps Inoue from chasing because he feels that they could really get killed if they did. Shinji ends up running through the sky with Hiyori as they argue, but they both eventually quiet down. When Hiyori admits that she hates humans and Shinigami, Shinji says that that’s why he wanted her to wait. Meanwhile, Ishida arrives at Ryuuken’s hospital and informs his father that he wants his powers back. Because of this, he swears that he won’t have anything more to do with the Shinigami or their friends.

Previews

I’m kind of impressed that they managed to stretch a little over two chapters into an entire episode. Granted, I’m sure it helped that there was a lot more talking and a lot less action compared to last week. And they still managed to involve Ririn and company in the form of Nova writing out the Japanese spellings for Vizard and Arrancar.
Hiyori was about what I expected her to be in terms of how her seiyuu (Takagi Reiko) voiced her. I actually don’t remember closely reading the part in this episode where Shinji carried her off (even though it was all in the manga), so the end of the episode actually felt new to me. I got a rather poignant feeling from that scene, something that I definitely don’t remember feeling when I first read it. The part where Shinji stuck his finger up Hiyori’s ass was pretty funny too.
Next week, the arrival of Ulquiorra and Yammy! I knew Ulquiorra’s eyes were green, but that’s a much different shade than I originally thought – not that I’m complaining though.

Summary:

Light at first wants Rem to kill L as soon as possible, but he then decides on waiting until after he sees L tomorrow so he can think about it a bit more. He specifically instructs Rem not to kill L unless he gives the order. Light also borrows one of Misa’s cell phones so that he can communicate with her, and then he tells her to go home. Since she still wants to go on a date with him, Light shuts her up and sends her on her way by kissing her. After Misa leaves, Light admits to Ryuk that he’s not sure if L is really L and is worried that L’s death would put suspicion on him. He decides that the L he knows is the one leading the investigation, so taking him out would make everything ok. Planning to use Misa and Rem, Light declares that tomorrow is the last day of L’s life. It is on this next day that L is thinking to himself that the only people who know his identity are the Watari, the investigators, and Light. He decides to tell Light’s father Souichirou that if he dies soon, then Light must be Kira. Even though L’s suspicions of Light being Kira are low, they have no other suspects at the moment, so L has latched onto him. Mogi, the cop who’s been trailing Light, brought L some new information about Light’s dating habits, so L is ready to try something.

At school, Light is with one of his girls when he runs into L. After he dismisses the girl, Light wonders if it’s ok for L to be out in public with his life potentially in danger. L, however, says that only Light knows who he is, so if he dies, every L will know that Light is Kira. According to him, there are a group of people like him called L. Just as Light starts to think that perhaps today isn’t the right time to kill L, he suddenly hears Misa call out to him. Light panics at first, but then realizes that he’s won because Misa can see L’s real name. In fact, Misa notices that L’s name isn’t really Ryuuga Hideki, but Light stops her before she can tip off L that she knows. L surprises Light by knowing about Misa’s modeling work, though it turns out that she’s rather popular throughout the school and soon attracts a crowd. When Misa’s manager comes to take her away, Light decides that he’s got to kill L fast, so he plans to call Misa on the phone to get L’s real name. But when he does so, it is the phone in L’s pocket that starts ringing. L claims to have found it in the crowd earlier, but Light figures out that L must have stolen the phone and thus must suspect Misa to be the second Kira.

Light takes the phone back, but then L’s own cell phone starts ringing. After taking the call, L reveals that Misa has been arrested because she’s suspected to be the second Kira. They’ve already searched her room and found matching cat hair to what was on one of the videotapes. Light realizes that the plan he had of calling Misa backfired and now L suspects him even more of being Kira. With Misa bound up, blindfolded, and under surveillance in an isolation chamber, L returns to the hotel where the investigators run through all the evidence they now have connecting Misa to the second Kira, leaving no doubt that it’s her. L authorizes Watari to do whatever is necessary to get Misa to talk – even torture. He explains to Light’s father that Light is no longer allowed to come here since the signs point to Light being Kira. L thinks that Light would probably kill Misa to keep her from talking, but he also suspects that Light is worried about attracting even more attention. Indeed, at that moment, Light is at home trying to figure out what to do. One of the reasons he can’t kill Misa is because Rem will then kill him, so Light really needs to find a way to speak with Rem.

Sometime later, L finds out that Misa is talking, but what she’s saying is that she wants to die. She still claims not to know anything about the second Kira, but what L doesn’t know is that her pleas for death are actually directed at Rem. Although Misa really seems to want to die, Rem is unable to kill her and instead makes her relinquish her ownership of the Death Note. Rem then returns to Light’s home and explains that this means Misa loses everything related to Note, including her knowledge of L’s real name and Light’s identity, her Shinigami eyes, and her ability to see Shinigami. The only thing that remains is her love for Light. Rem had figured out that the best course of action for Light would be to have Misa willingly transferred over control of her Death Note to him, but the Shinigami is also ready to kill Light if he doesn’t go save Misa. Light, fortunately, has come up with a plan, and surprises Ryuk by saying that this is good-bye.

Preview:

I still find it really amazing how the author was able to turn the tables around like this so quickly. On minute we’re led to believe that Light has L’s life within his grasp, and the next minute L has captured Misa. It felt like Light got too cocky and enthusiastic about killing L that he acted a bit too quickly. Of course, it makes for a more entertaining story this way. I also thought that Misa’s tears and Rem’s moving of the lock of Misa’s hair was a nice touch since it was something that wasn’t in the manga.
As the preview hints, next week Light is going to jail.

I’m gonna keep this short because I have plenty of catching up to do:

Summary:

In the land of Roma 1000 years ago, there was a beautiful princess named Sandra. Though she got many marriage proposals, Sandra had said that she wanted to be the wife of the strongest man in the world, and so she had her suitors tested in a fight against the gladiator Vittorio. Nobody could defeat him, and it’s said that the fights continue to even today. It is on this rainy day that Kanda faces off against a swordsman in the ruins of a coliseum. Meanwhile, back at the Black Order headquarters, Allen is learning from Komui that Kanda has gone missing. To make things worse, there are lots of Akuma in the area, so Komui is sending Allen to investigate. He is joined by Lenalee, but she still seems to be angry at him for what happened during the Road battle. Since they haven’t had a chance to talk since then, Allen lowers his head and apologizes to her in the middle of the train station. Lenalee places her groceries on her head and tells him that he can’t raise his head because she hasn’t forgiven him yet. She feels that he’s selfish for sacrificing only himself in battle, and questions why he won’t fight together with her. It is because his left eye allows only him to see Akuma’s souls that she hates it. When Allen thanks her for helping him, the now-crying Lenalee tells him that she’ll always help him.

On the train, Lenalee tells Allen about a gladiator in Roma who has supposedly lived for 1000 years and the potential connection to an Innocence. The reports indicate that the area around the arena has become infested with Akuma, but any Akuma who go inside don’t ever come back out. This would seem to mean that the gladiator who has Innocence is defeating them. When they arrive in town, the pair find plenty of men with guns – bounty hunters. They are gathered here to get back the daughter of the Sardinia family Claudia who was kidnapped by Vittorio. That night, Claudia’s fiancé make an announcement that the bounty hunters who get back Claudia will receive a reward of 10% of the Sardinia fortune. The father isn’t too happy with the fiancé deciding this, but he also wants his daughter back. He tells Allen and Lenalee that Vittorio came one night and reported to Claudia that the strongest man in the world has not shown up yet. The fiancé meanwhile feels that they don’t need the bounty hunters if they have the help of the Black Order, but Allen flat out refuses him. Having noticed them talk about money and position and property, Allen question what’s most important to these men. He feels that it’s because the father and the fiancé are like this that Claudia ran away.

The next day, all the bounty hunters head to the arena in search of Vittorio and Claudia. However, a large group of Akuma also arrives and starts killing them. While Allen and Lenalee are trying to fight the Akuma, the fiancé has meanwhile raised the reward to 1/5 of the Sardinia fortune in order to attract more men. Inside the arena, another group wheels in a machine gun, but it does no damage against the Akuma. Instead, Vittorio appears and slices one open. The men target him with the gun, but the bullets are once again ineffective. Allen is about to go down to face the swordsman when Kanda appears and says that Vittorio is his catch. He doesn’t want Allen to interfere and starts fighting with Vittorio as his Finder comes over to explain that the sword is Vittorio’s Innocence. Kanda eventually is able to land a blow that causes large amounts of blood to spurt from Vittorio’s shoulder, but the swordsman heals it with the power of his Innocence. Vittorio then responds by slicing into Kanda’s side with his sword, causing Kanda to lose a large amount of blood in a short period of time.

Preview

Since this is the first time since Lenalee recovered that Allen’s been back with her, they added the parts from the manga where the two make up. I think it’s good that they’re at least trying for some sort of continuity even as they’re straying from the main manga storyline. It still remains to be seen how they resolve the eye thing later, but that’s still a ways off.
For the most part though, this episode didn’t really get that interesting until the action started. Because of some of the previous censoring-type changes, I was surprised by how much blood they put in during the Kanda vs. Vittorio fight. Maybe that’s not considered quite as violent as stabbing someone in the eye.
Next episode should finish this mini-arc, and then we have an episode titled Lenalee’s Love that will supposedly mark the return of the Komurin robot. After that, we’re going to get back to the manga with Arystar’s arc starting episode 19.

Summary:

Although he is afraid of the masked man, Mione speaks up when the man largely ignores him and instead checks up on how Hans is doing. Mione feels that he’s more useful than Hans because he was the one who distributed the drugs and got a set of documents that the masked man wanted. The masked man, however, just takes the papers, gives Mione the next shipment of drugs, and tells Hans to protect Mione. Pissed off, Mione pulls out a gun and tries to shoot the masked man, but he misses. By this time, Alice, Machs, and Oland have neared the location, and Alice decides to let Oland do what he wants in terms of fighting Hans. Still, she wonders if he can really shoot Hans after how he hesitated in the sewers.

Mione meanwhile has surrounded the masked men with his own loyal troops. He wants the masked man to recommend him for the Society of the Silver Wheel, but the man addresses Hans instead and apologizes for leaving him in such a place for so long. Since he’s being ignored, Mione tries to get Hans to obey him, but Hans actually finds the masked man’s orders more important. The masked man then pulls out two small blades from his sleeves that are attached to strings, and he throws them outward, killing most of Mione’s men in one attack. Terrified by what just happened, Mione starts to grovel and is surprised when the masked man spares his life.

Back at 3rd Section headquarters, Hunks is asking Metz about some documents, so Metz shows the captain a book that he’s carrying. Hunks finds something disturbing inside, but is interrupted when Oreld comes back with news that the 1st Section has mobilized. In fact, the 1st Section has already arrived in search of the missing documents. The masked man makes his escape, leaving Hans behind to protect Mione from the military. Alice and company also arrive on the scene and drive their way through the 1st Section forces. Seeing flames coming from one of the back rooms, Oland heads out alone, though Alice tells Machs to go with him. As for her, she’s staying behind to face the 1st Section. Machs leaves only after Alice says that, for the first time, Oland seems to have faith in her.

Alice then pulls out a large double-bladed sword from the case she was carrying it in and starts fighting the 1st Section men. Machs manages to find Oland in the passageways behind the house and the two continue on searching for Mione. Oland is worried about Alice, but Machs knows that it’ll take at least an hour for the 1st Section to get the paperwork done so that they can open fire on a noble like her. However, Machs also thinks to himself that Alice can’t last fighting alone for an hour. Back at base, word reaches Hunks that Connelly of the 1st Section is talking with the higher-ups, which means that it must be about Alice. Because of this, he decides that he needs to go have a chat with Connelly.

At the same time that Alice is thinking about how Oland has given her a battlefield, Muse Kauplan has returned to her assistant with a suitcase full of parts of an experiment – blood, skin, hair, and nail samples she took from Oland when she examined him earlier. She also believes that by tomorrow morning, they’ll be getting a full sample of either the 901 or the 908.

Preview

A good chunk of action this episode, and it was pretty nicely animated too. They’re not following the manga exactly, but close enough so that Alice still got all her cool moments. She gave off the same aura as a jedi, except without the Force. Or maybe that was just the double-bladed weapon talking. In any case, this Society of the Silver Wheel seems like a worthy opponent for Alice and the 3rd Section, assuming that they all survive their encounter with Hans and the 1st Section. We’re finally getting more and more about what the bad guys are doing, though at this point I’m also not sure whose side Muse Kauplan is on…maybe her own side.
Next week, Hans and Oland look like they’ll fight, and I’m putting my money on Oland.

Summary:

At Aikou Academy, the student council president receives a hand-drawn notice from Manabi concerning a dodgeball tournament. Finding it interesting, she decides to go. Over at Seiou Academy, it has been two weeks since the renewal of the student council room, and the girls are getting a steady stream of visitors from various clubs. It eventually comes time for Mei to take the lead and explain to Manabi and Mikan the game of dodgeball, but she’s interrupted by the arrival of Mucchii. Unfortunately, Mucchii informs them that they’ll be short a member, so the girls turn to Mei as the replacement. When the time for the tournament comes, Mei spends all her time on the field lecturing the other players until she’s eventually pegged in the face with a ball. Even after she’s out, Mei yells at Mikan, who ends up panicking and getting in the way of her own team. Mei manages to get hit in the face again, but this time the ball was accidentally thrown by Manabi. When Manabi is washing her hair afterwards, she’s surprised to find Aikou’s president Kakuzawa Takako handing her the towel to dry herself. Sitting down together, Manabi first apologizes for when Takako showed up before and found no one in the room. Takako then compliments Manabi for her idea of requiring student council members on each dodgeball team so that they could have a get-together afterwards. She makes a big deal out of it, but Manabi explains that all this was simply so that everyone would have fun with close relations. When Manabi gets called away, she tells Takako to refer to her as Manabi and starts using the name “Taka-chan.”

Later that evening, with the dodgeball tournament over, the various student council members gather and hear about Manabi’s agenda of how to make school life more exciting. The other girls don’t seem to understand until Takako raises her hand and turns the topic to school festivals as a common agenda. The girls start discussing this, and Mikan notes that in the end, Manabi wasn’t able to say any of the stuff she wanted to because the discussion was by Takako’s lead. Manabi seems depressed when the girls are eating afterwards, but she suddenly yells loudly and asks the cook for an order of shouyu ramen. Alone in her room later, Manabi thinks about Takako and reaches a decision. The next morning, she drags the entire group to go see Takako about Aikou’s school festival. Takako apologizes to Manabi for yesterday, but Manabi actually feels thankful. In any case, the girls get a bit discouraged because how great the Aikou festival is. As they get up to leave, Mikan – who has grown fond of Takako – promises to work hard on their festival and invites Takako to come see it. Takako stops them as if she has something to say, but then claims that it’s nothing and tells them goodbye. The girls wonder about this later as they’re heading back, but Manabi stays silent on the subject. At home, she shocks her brother by not wanting any dinner and goes straight for her room. With the memory of how Takako looked when they left, Manabi soon gets back out of bed and goes to her desk. As she creates a school festival idea notebook and starts decorating it, she gets happier and happier until she decides to call everyone to school. Though the girls are reluctant to come at this late hour, they all end up there anyway. Manabi explains to them that she now understands that they can create a school festival that doesn’t have to be like Aikou’s, so they don’t have to aim for something like that. They can instead think of something that only they can do, and they have a white canvas on which anything is possible. They can fill their white notebook with ideas so that they can become a one-of-a-kind festival. Seeing Manabi’s enthusiasm, Mucchii, Mei, Momo, and Mikan now feel that they can do it.

Well they continue to surprise me with this show. Manabi spent a lot of this episode not her usual self until she made her realization and speech at the end. I say I was surprised because of how abstract they went in portraying the white canvas and the redrawing of the school, including having Manabi grow wings and fly. It’s a unique style that’s really growing on me, and a big part of it is still the very strong soundtrack. I even found myself tapping along with the beat that was playing when the girls first got to Aikou (the same song in each week’s preview).
The funniest part of the episode for me was watching Mei get hit in the face by a ball as she’s going on and on about dodgeball technique. I was also amused at how some of the noises Manabi/Horie Yui made almost sounded like she was going uguu~. On that note though, I do have to say that I’ve gotten used to these characters, so I no longer have my first episode complaint about the voice actresses in these roles.

Asa OP:

Asa OP: 「High Tension Dreamer」 by 伊藤美紀 (Itou Miki)
Watch the OP! Mirror 1 (24.8MB, XviD)

Summary:

Although she received a confession from the popular athlete Takizawa, Asa hasn’t given him a reply and her thoughts continue to go back to Rin. After she injures her foot doing the high jump, she has Rin take her home instead of Takizawa, and the two end up talking about how they met when Rin brought Kaede to Asa to learn cooking. Asa admits to being envious of Kaede because Rin waited for her every day until the cooking club ended. Since Asa mentions that she wished she had someone like that, Rin points out how worried Takizawa was for her earlier, but she feels he’s not right for her. When she gets up to get some tea, Asa trips because of her foot and falls right onto Rin in bed. But by the time her mother Ama comes home and comes to check on Asa, the pair have straightened themselves out. It is on the next day that Asa rejects Takizawa and gives him back his gift.

Sometime later, Asa is the one who talks some sense into Rin when he feels guilty for forcing Primula to return to the Ma world with Forbesii after she gets sick. Rin becomes determined to go after Primula, but because Nerine and Sia resist the idea, Asa yells at them for not acting like candidates to be Rin’s lover by not considering his pained feelings. Saying that she didn’t want to lose someone else precious to her, Nerine had run out, and Rin chased after her. Asa meanwhile collapses after all the excitement, and Rin goes to see her the next day. He tells her what Nerine revealed to him, and Asa then admits that Primula is similar to how Asa was a long time ago – always sick and angry at her mother. Asa had blamed Ama for her weak body and had wished that she hadn’t been born, but Ama had always kept her smile until Asa herself decided to become a strong person like her mother. It was thanks to Ama’s love that Asa got healthy again and is the person she is now. From this, Rin realizes that he was a fool to have hesitated so much before deciding to go see Primula.

Asa ED:

Asa ED: 「wish」 by 伊藤美紀 (Itou Miki)
Watch the ED! Mirror 1 (37.3MB, XviD)
Asa’s OP and ED songs were ok, but the last shot of the otherwise-good OP sequence felt a bit too spoilerish, and the ED sequence wasn’t quite as amusing to watch as Kaede’s because it was made up of mostly still shots. That OP also raised questions of if they’re gonna go with mannequin nudity for this show along with the fog effect.

This episode was half made up of Asa’s story from episode seven and half made up of Asa’s involvement in the Primula/Nerine story of episodes twelve through fourteen. Oddly enough, the episode ended before Asa gave Rin her hair ribbon for his trip to see Primula, which I felt was a rather important symbol for him to have, especially since this was supposed to be Asa-focused.
Anyway, for whatever reason, I had been under the impression that they were going to do one girl at a time, but looking at the schedule now, it seems that they’re doing all of the initial stories at once, and then going onto the second half. This seems to mean that there will be a new OP every week for at least the next month as they continue going through all five girls. Unfortunately, this would also seem to mean that any original story we’re going to get is going to be saved for the second half of the show, likely towards the end. In any case, next week is Nerine.

Summary:

Having witnessed the kiss between Shigeru and Tsukasa, Tsukushi walks away from the meeting spot and doesn’t see Tsukasa push Shigeru onto the ground. Although Tsukasa is furious about the kiss, Shigeru just teases him as if he’s shy. She thinks that after having spent a year in America, he wouldn’t be opposed to a kiss in public, but Tsukasa tells her that they don’t have that kind of relationship. In fact, he called her here to make her understand his point of view and now wants her to go home. She pretends to leave, but actually stays and keeps watch over him to see who he’s waiting for. Meanwhile, Tsukushi goes to work, but gets paid a visit by Rui who heard about the meeting from Soujirou and Akira. Tsukushi wonders if he came just to see her, and is surprised when he says he did. Rui figures out that she went to meet Tsukasa, something was said, and she came back, but Tsukushi tells him that she actually stopped midway. What’s more, she says that her relationship with Tsukasa is already over. Rui, however, thinks that Tsukasa will wait and wonders if it’s ok for her to stand him up. Tsukushi is reminded of how Tsukasa waited in the rain for her previously, but she still doesn’t go back to their meeting place. Nevertheless, Tsukasa continues to wait there, just like Rui thought he would, until Nishida finds him and tells him that his mother is waiting for him. Nishida suggests that Tsukushi won’t show up even if he waits longer, and although Tsukasa feels that Nishida doesn’t know anything, he reluctantly leaves. Back at home, Tsukushi is trying to do her homework, but the memory of the kiss still lingers in her mind. When she suddenly hears the Imperial March ring tone of the golden cell phone, she chooses to ignore it and buries herself in bed instead. She’s surprised when a voice tells her that her cell phone is ringing and finds out that this voice belongs to Shigeru, who came bearing all sorts of good dishes for the Makino family to eat. Meanwhile, Tsukasa heads to his mother’s office and accuses her of being responsible for Tsukushi not showing up. Kaede however knows that Tsukushi did indeed come and then went home on her own volition. More importantly, Shigeru’s parents are coming to Japan next week, and Kaede sees it as an opportunity to formalize the engagement and make a big announcement to the media.

At school the next day, Tsukushi tells Soujirou and Akira about how Shigeru revealed that Tsukasa called her out and then wanted her to go home. Shigeru had ended up staying the night and had hoped to Tsukushi that they could be friends for a long time before she fell asleep. Soujirou thinks that Tsukushi should have gone to the meeting place so that Shigeru would have noticed that Tsukasa still had an attachment to Tsukushi, but Tsukushi feels that Tsukasa doesn’t have any feelings for her. She starts to bad-mouth him and doesn’t notice that he has actually arrived until he’s standing behind her. The two then get into a big fight, and Tsukushi ends up heading to her favorite spot on the stairs. Because of her angry yelling, Rui finds out that she saw the kiss and left, but he wonders aloud why Tsukasa told Shigeru to go home afterwards. After this, Tsukushi decides to stop talking about Tsukasa and instead asks Rui to help her study. The two head for the library where she tells him about wanting to become a lawyer. She confirms his suspicion that Shizuka had an influence and admits to wanting to become a person like her. When Rui reveals that Shizuka is actually coming back to Japan the week after next, Tsukushi feels that she wants to meet her. During all this, Tsukasa has left school and is having more flashbacks after seeing a homeless man, but this is interrupted when his car abruptly stops. The reason for this is because Shigeru found him and is blocking the car’s way. Since she gets in the car with him, Tsukasa gets out and tries to get away from her. When she proceeds to chase after him, he tells her that he doesn’t recognize her as his fiancée even though Shigeru tries to call it fate. Tsukasa wonders if she understands what expectations exist on the other side of this marriage, but it seems that she does indeed know that that the Doumyouji group has no future if they don’t cooperate with the Ookawahara zaibatsu. He then tells her that he doesn’t want to be with her and that he’ll think of a way to open up a future for the company. Above all, he wants his fate to be with a woman who’s not Shigeru. With what he said in mind, Shigeru visits the dango shop where Tsukushi and Yuuki work and hears Okami-san’s theory of how fate needs to be forced open. Because of this speech, Yuuki wistfully thinks about how Soujirou hasn’t called her, so Okami-san phones Akira and finds out that Soujirou is going to Akira’s place tomorrow. While Okami-san is setting things up, Shigeru asks if Tsukushi has a destined person and suggests that Rui likes her.

The next day, Tsukushi and Yuuki show up at Akira’s house and are greeted by a woman they think is his sister. As it turns out, she’s actually his mother, and he has a pair of sisters too that closely resemble her. When Soujirou shows up, he sees Yuuki and almost immediately turns back around towards the door. Running after him, Yuuki greets and passes by Tsukasa right as he’s arriving. Tsukushi also runs into Tsukasa, and by the time Rui gets there, the two of them have gone outside to talk privately. She reveals that she saw his kiss with Shigeru, but before he can explain, Tsukushi starts praising Shigeru. Not wanting to hear what Tsukasa has to say, she tells him that she can’t be friends with him after separating. She apologizes for calling him the other day and says that she won’t do it any more. With a simple “bye-bye,” Tsukushi leaves Akira’s mansion in tears. Rui sees her leave and initially chases after, but he eventually decides not to go after her this once. That night, Tsukasa opens the box containing the now-broken cookie that Tsukushi gave him way back then. Tsukushi had actually made him several more cookies in the shape of his face as a present for his most recent birthday, but she now dumps them in the trash can. Her studying is interrupted by her father’s announcement that his project at work ended in failure and he attempted to play the stock market with the company’s money. He needs their help, so Tsukushi finds herself looking for a late night second job. Yuuki warns her to be careful about her health since Tsukushi needs to study too, but Tsukushi is more interested in what happened with Soujirou. He and Yuuki had actually gone to a café the day before, but there were plenty of awkward moments in the conversation, so Yuuki has decided to join a group in learning the tea ceremony that Soujirou knows so well. Yuuki had recognized one of the women there, but couldn’t identify her. In any case, Okami-san thinks that Yuuki’s desire will force open the door of fate. Meanwhile, Tsukasa has gone to see his mother to talk about Tsukushi again, but she stops him and reminds him of the confusion he can cause with his careless words. The consequences of his actions would be a shadow descending onto the people related to their group, and it would be impossible for the company to succeed.

While walking through the streets thinking about what both his mother and Tsukushi said, Tsukasa is made fun of by a bunch of Americans, so he proceeds to beat them up. Across town, Tsukushi has taken a job directing traffic around a construction site, and finally gets off work late into the night. Returning homing, she finds Shigeru waiting in front of her apartment building, and Shigeru immediately gives her a hug. She reveals that she met with Tsukasa and he asked her to go out with him – he would make an effort to like her. Because of this, she’s now so happy that she can’t stop crying since she likes him so much. With Shigeru so emotional, Tsukushi simply congratulates her and starts to get teary-eyed herself. When Tsukushi confides all this to Yuuki and Okami-san the next day, Okami-san wonders if she’s really ok with it. She answers that she’s completely fine with it and even feels refreshed. Tsukasa also tells of what happened to the other members of the F4, and they want to know what he’s going to do about Tsukushi. He considers his relationship with her over and claims that he’s not a kid anymore. Since Tsukasa feels that he’s grown up, Rui gives him his blessing and congratulations. His own mother also congratulates him when she hears the news, though Tsukasa looks less than happy. The day of the meeting with Shigeru’s parents soon arrives, and on that day, Tsukasa takes another look at the now-broken cookie that Tsukushi made him. He finally takes a bite of it, but then throws out the entire box when Nishida comes to tell him that it’s time to go. Nishida suggests that Tsukasa not regret anything, causing Tsukasa to wonder whose ally Nishida really is. The private secretary calls himself an ally of justice, but Tsukasa doesn’t take that very well. Tsukushi meanwhile has been pushing herself with her jobs and her studies. It is on this night that she finally reaches her limit and faints on the construction site job. Tsukasa is having dinner with Shigeru and her family when Nishida passes him a note saying that Tsukushi had been taken to the Sanraku Hospital and that details are unknown. After thinking about what to do for a moment, Tsukasa excuses himself from the table and runs out, heading towards the hospital on foot.

Preview:

Well it felt like the episode didn’t really get interesting until the final 5 or 10 minutes. I actually even groaned when Flavor of Life -Ballad Version- came on even though I really like the song. Anyway, as I had suspected and feared, they’re splitting Tsukushi and Tsukasa further and further apart so that they can bring them back together in some grand fashion at a later date. I guess it’s just very frustrating that they’re doing this, particularly when both Tsukushi and Tsukasa are obviously not stating their true feelings. I also found it odd that Nishida somehow knew that Tsukushi was taken to the hospital, almost as soon as she was. Nishida in general was not a character who I thought would get much development, but this episode shows that he cares at least a little.
Next week looks like fun though. The preview shows Rui kissing Tsukushi and the return of Shizuka among other things.

Summary:

Ryuutarou Mine is a violin student who favors the electric violin and whose father owns the Uraken Chinese food restaurant near school. However, his friend warns him about his upcoming violin juries and potentially being held back. The problem is that Mine’s accompanist was going to be Chiaki, but Chiaki walked out on him after hearing him play. Mine is further interrupted when Nodame trips over the power cord, but when he finds out that she is actually a pianist, he wants her to be his accompanist. That night, Chiaki finds himself feeding Nodame again, just like he’s been doing for the past two weeks. After eating, she asks him if he knows Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 5, which he recognizes as “Spring.” Nodame reveals that she’s going to be accompanying someone, so Chiaki helps her learn it. The following day, Nodame and Mine’s practice goes so well that he tells her she has soul. He brings her to the Uraken and has his father feed her, though unbeknownst to both of them, Chiaki sees them there. Chiaki ends up eating alone and feeling pissed off that Nodame would go anywhere she’s fed. To calm himself, he listens to his mentor Sebastiano Vieira conducting the Vienna Philharmonic, but gets interrupted by the doorbell. The person at the door turns out to be Saiko, and Chiaki brings her into his apartment.

Unfortunately, Nodame saw Chiaki and Saiko together and assumed that she was his girlfriend. Because of this, she’s completely lifeless during her practice with Mine the next day. She tells Mine about her love and how she saw Saiko leaving with Chiaki this morning, meaning that Saiko stayed the night with him. Upon figuring out that she is in love with Chiaki and that she is competing with Saiko, Mine suggests Nodame give up and practice instead. What they don’t know is that Saiko is spending all her time with Chiaki complaining about how she lost a part to a girl she didn’t consider her rival. But when Saiko starts coming on to Chiaki, he leaves her and says the same thing that she said to him last time: he hates losers. Nodame doesn’t know this and is still out of it later that night, so Mine suggests she steal Chiaki away. By the time Chiaki comes back and hears them making a commotion, Nodame has put on a dress and a ton of makeup. After knocking Nodame down with a box, Chiaki asks Mine if he truly feels that he’s good. Mine does feel this way and backs it up by saying that he placed third in the national junior competition. In response, Chiaki picks up Mine’s violin and plays a part of “Spring,” afterwards revealing that he won a junior competition in Vienna. Mine, however, hates classical music and leaves. Chiaki then has Nodame listen to how “Spring” is supposed to sound, and practices it with her. He’s both impressed and frightened by the fact that she can play the piece so well after listening to it only once on a CD.

Since Nodame was wondering why Mine said their playing together felt good even though they didn’t match very well, Chiaki tells her what he thinks. Nodame in turn goes and reveals to Mine the next day what Chiaki said: it’s because Mine plays like he’s masturbating, meaning that it’s just to satisfy himself. She also lists off all the other problems that Chiaki saw in Mine, but adds that he had a few good things to say too. With Nodame urging him to play “Spring” like a field of flowers, Mine decides that he sees it instead as the shining joys of youth and lightning. The two continue practicing together, but when the day of Mine’s jury arrives, he finds that Nodame is too sick with a cold to play. Chiaki ends up volunteering to accompany Mine, and while they’re waiting for their turn, Chiaki reveals that he’s been playing violin and piano since he was three years old, particularly the violin which he practiced until he bled. Because of that, his piano skills weren’t that great, and therefore he entered the piano department in college. Chiaki’s dream is to become a conductor, so he studied various things, but he feels that he still doesn’t have anything to show for it. When it comes time for Mine’s turn, Chiaki tells him not to worry about technique and instead to listen to Chiaki’s playing. Aside from that, Mine can play however he likes. During the violin jury, Chiaki finds Mine as reckless in his playing the violin as Nodame is with the piano. Nevertheless, Chiaki matches Mine and gives Mine incredible feelings with how Chiaki is there when Mine wants him to be. Reminded of a field of flowers, Mine enjoys the feeling so much that he breaks up his band and decides to focus on classical music.

Preview:

I got the same feeling this episode that I got from the premiere: despite knowing the story, it still made me laugh and entertained me quite a bit. In fact, I’d even say I’m laughing more watching it than I did reading it. Though Mine was the focus here, Nodame (and Kawasumi Ayako) stole the show. What did surprise me though was how fast they’re going through the manga material. In just two episodes, they’ve covered all of volume one, though they have skipped some parts of the dialogue and a few scenes. This anime is scheduled for 23 episodes, so that conceivably takes us to around volume eleven or twelve of the manga, assuming they don’t do something original to finish out the anime.
Next week is the introduction of the afro-haired Masumi.

Summary:

When the Crimson Lotus makes its escape, Suzaku wants to chase it in the Lancelot but gets an order telling him not to. Kaname meanwhile gets a radio transmission from C.C. informing him that Zero is safe and relaying an order to retreat. By now, Lelouch has woken up from the crash, but he’s worried about his gun being gone and figures out that someone must have taken it while he was unconscious. And his face had to have been seen by at least two people – one shooter and one person who got shot – because there is a large splatter of blood at his feet. Although he doesn’t think of it immediately, one of those people is Shirley, and she brought his gun back to her room. She’s now writing and crying, causing her roommate to wake up. The next day, Suzaku and the others learn that Nina wants to meet Euphemia. The group then gets a phone call from Lelouch asking if anything has changed. Suzaku says that there is indeed something and cites Lelouch not being there, but he then tells Lelouch about Shirley not showing up either. Lelouch asks Suzaku to tell Nunnally that he’ll be late today, and soon after, Suzaku is forced to hang up because Arthur the cat started playing with the phone cord.

With Suzaku not apparently knowing anything, C.C. tells Lelouch that she doesn’t think anyone else would have been there aside from the military and the Black Knights. Lelouch remembers seeing Shirley there, and C.C. identifies her as the girl who Lelouch kissed. Meanwhile, Darlton is reporting to Cornelia and Euphemia that it’s clear that this incident and the Narita one were both targeted at the princesses. He thinks that there’s a possibility that Zero has a grudge against the imperial family, which reminds Euphemia of what Zero said to her during the hotel hijacking incident. After Cornelia asks her sister to be careful, Gilbert suggests Euphemia get a full-time knight as a bodyguard. Back at school, Lelouch and C.C. are going through Shirley’s room looking for the gun while they have her GEASS-influenced roommate guard the entrance. C.C. notices that Shirley’s diary only goes up to the 14th of the month, which Lelouch realizes is the same day her father died. He then opens a shoebox filled with photos of himself and also finds a book of train schedules with a bookmark for the page that has Narita circled.

Shirley has actually gone to a memorial monument in Narita and is thinking about Lelouch when a mysterious man interrupts her. He knows her name and seems to admire the monument as he claps his hands in the air. Around this time, Kaname is aboard the Black Knights van with the other members, and he’s thinking about why the Japan Liberation Front ship exploded. Tamaki reminds him that it was a self-destruction and then Kallen asks if he doubts Zero. Joining in the conversation, Diethard wonders if Kaname thinks it was too timely and asks what he intends to do if the explosion was indeed caused by Zero. The person in question is at that moment on a train to Narita with C.C. She asks him if he likes or hates Shirley, but Lelouch doesn’t give her a straight answer. When she then asks why he’s going to Narita, Lelouch points out that Shirley might know his true identity. In response, C.C. wonders if he’s going to deal with Shirley if she knows, and she also comments that the person that you really don’t want to lose is the person you keep furthest away from. Lelouch questions if that’s her experience talking, but C.C. claims that it’s a way of living.

Back at the monument, the mysterious man calls Lelouch cruel and seems to know everything about him, including that he’s Zero. The man points out that Lelouch ordered the killing of Shirley’s father and stole a kiss from her with those same lips. He feels that both she and Lelouch need to be punished – the reason for Shirley is because he knows what happened that night she found out about Lelouch. Back then, when Shirley had been staring at the unmasked Zero, Villetta had come up and laughed about how she would be made into a noble for presenting him to Cornelia. But when Villetta turned back around, Shirley was pointing the gun at her and fired as Villetta rushed forward. The mysterious man now calls Shirley a murderer guilty of the same crime as Zero. In fact, he even feels that she got compensation for her father’s death in the form of her kiss with Lelouch. Despite Shirley’s denials, he suggests that she behaved with grief because she had expected Lelouch to be kind to her. He then wonders if she intended to be the heroine in a tragedy, but he calls her a disgusting witch instead because she killed people. Under pressure from all the psychological attacks, Shirley eventually crumbles to her knees in tears as he calls her and Lelouch pathetic.

By the time Lelouch arrives at the monument, Shirley and the mysterious man are gone. After he and C.C. split up, Lelouch is thinking about the other person who was at the scene that night when he gets a phone call from Shirley. However, the person on the phone isn’t her – it’s a male. The mysterious man then appears in front of Lelouch and tosses Shirley’s phone to him. Since Lelouch demands to know where Shirley is, the man pulls out a chess piece and challenges Lelouch to a game. Lelouch accepts and boards a tram with the man, but the two are spotted by C.C. who identifies the man as Mao. Starting the game of chess, Lelouch wonders to himself if Mao is the other witness. As he tries to think through things, Mao suggests that he focus on the game. Lelouch actually is about to lose, but the tram arrives at the station with a jolt that shakes off all the chess pieces. Mao then reveals that he has the GEASS power too, which Lelouch realizes is the power to read minds. Lelouch gets furious at the thought that Mao did something to Shirley, but she appears outside the tram and points his gun inward. Mao decides that the punishment game will start now.

On the docks, Kaname is thinking to himself that Zero yesterday didn’t seem like himself. when he notices a trail of blood and a body nearby. The person he saves is actually Villetta, and she mutters in pain something about Zero. Back at the tram station, Shirley is pointing Lelouch’s own gun at him. She feels that they should die together and atone for their crimes. Since Lelouch doesn’t understand, Mao reveals that Shirley shot the other witness in order to protect Lelouch’s secret. Lelouch tries to tell Shirley that Mao is deceiving her, but Mao notes that Lelouch was too. With all that Lelouch and Mao are trying to say to her, Shirley fires her gun and narrowly misses Lelouch’s head, but the force of the blast still sends him falling backwards. Out of his jacket come all the pictures he got from her room, including several of them together. When Mao raises his gun at Lelouch, Shirley fires again and misses Mao. She then falls forward into Lelouch’s arms as Mao goes back into the tram to get a bigger gun. Much to Mao’s surprise, the tram doors suddenly close and it starts moving back down the mountainside. He realizes that C.C. is the one to blame, but he’s actually very excited to see her. In fact, his headphones had a recording of her voice going in a loop. As the tram pulls away, Mao yells that he’ll definitely come to see C.C.

With Mao gone, Lelouch tries to comfort Shirley and blames himself for everything. Seeing how distraught she is with everything that happened, he decides to make her forget it all by using his GEASS powers. After apologizing for what he did to her father, Lelouch activates his eye over Shirley’s cry telling him not to. It is later that night that Shirley faces Lelouch at the monument and asks if he also lost his family. Lelouch tells her that it’s not his family, but rather a friend – probably an important friend. He says that there are things you understand for the first time after you lose someone – how much has he been saved by her smile? Shirley thinks that he must have liked this person, but Lelouch says that he doesn’t know. Hearing this, Shirley tells him that morning will come and admits that she thinks she probably came up here to put and end to something. She’s forgotten what, so she’ll never be able to do it, and she feels full of sadness. However, she believes that morning will come. Agreeing with her, Lelouch thanks Shirley for everything up until now and then turns his back to walk away.

Preview:

This episode is the perfect example of why there’s such an excitement for me every week when it comes time for GEASS. There are just so many twists and turns, some expected, but most not. This is why I love this show.

The beginning was a bit frustrating because I wanted to know what happened with Shirley in that battle, but they cut to C.C. finding Lelouch afterwards. We don’t learn what occurred until Mao talks about Shirley’s crime later at the monument. I didn’t think that Shirley would shoot Lelouch – and she didn’t – but I wouldn’t have predicted that she’d shoot Villetta. Since they didn’t show Villetta’s body afterwards, it was pretty apparent that she was still alive, and now Kaname has found her. This is made even more interesting because Kaname has growing doubts about Zero, meaning that Villetta could potentially win him over to her side or something.

The real focus of the episode, and the reason why it was called GEASS vs. GEASS, is Mao. His ability is to read people’s minds, though his own sanity is called into question by his infatuation with C.C. I would definitely classify him as an enemy to Lelouch and his goals given all the things that Mao did and said to mess up Shirley. Perhaps without Mao egging Shirley on, her confrontation with Lelouch about knowing his alter ego and reconciling the fact that he was responsible for her father’s death would have gone much differently. Instead of wiping her memory – which was quite frustrating for me to watch – he might have been able to win her over or something. As you might be able to tell, I feel really sympathetic for both of them, and I hope Shirley doesn’t get written out of the story.

The other thing I wanted to point out was Gilbert’s suggestion that Euphemia take on a knight as a bodyguard. Gee, I wonder who she’ll choose… I’d be shocked if it didn’t end up being Suzaku. Anyway, next week’s episode looks like it’ll be more Mao and C.C. I can’t wait to see it :)

Summary:

When Yuuichi and Ayu visit this hospital, Sayuri explains that she heard everything from Mai. Yuuichi tells her that the damage to the school building is thought by everyone to be a prank by some ill-natured group. Since Sayuri is talking about thinking of the future instead of the past, Mai reveals that she’ll get out in the spring, but she probably won’t be able to make graduation. When she thanks Yuuichi, he tells her that she was the one who accepted all the painful things without turning away from them. Mai, however, feels that the person who is turning away from the painful things is someone beside Yuuichi, someone who needs his help. Afterwards, Yuuichi apologizes to Ayu for bringing her along, and although she’s ok with it, she does mention that she doesn’t like it here. By chance, the pair run into Shiori and she and Ayu get a chance to formally introduce themselves to each other. A doctor interrupts them to take Shiori to her mother, and she seems to recognize Ayu, but apologizes and dismisses it as nothing.

The next morning, Kaori wakes up and goes down to breakfast, but when her mother notices that she’s not looking too well, Kaori excuses herself from the table. Her mother tries to ask her to talk to Shiori a bit more, but Kaori ignores the suggestion. Over at the Minase household, Akiko is still sleeping, so Ayu prepares a burnt breakfast for Yuuichi. He ends up going to school without eating, but he doesn’t get very far before Ayu comes running in a panic. She claims that Akiko is becoming like her own mother, but when Yuuichi goes back home, he finds Akiko with just a fever. Since Ayu wants to take care of Akiko today, Yuuichi leaves her there and goes to school. Both Nayuki and Yuuichi are worried, so they call back home during a break between classes. Ayu has realized that there’s no medicine and is looking for a place to buy some, so Nayuki tells her where. After they hang up the phone, Yuuichi explains that Ayu is over-reacting a bit because she doesn’t have a mother. Nayuki realizes this means that when Ayu was talking about her parents being away on travel, she was just talking about her father.

The two of them call home again later and find out that Ayu got the medicine, but since it requires you eat something first, Nayuki instructs Ayu on how to make zousui. When Nayuki calls home a third time, Yuuichi feels that he can’t do much, so he goes out for a walk with Shiori and fills her in on what’s going on. Since tomorrow is Sunday, he asks her out just like he had mentioned previously. When he returns home, Yuuichi is greeted at the door by Piro and finds the kitchen a mess. A tired Ayu is actually sleeping on Akiko’s lap upstairs in her room, and it’s in that comfort that she’s calling out to her mother in her dreams. The next day, Yuuichi takes Shiori to a game center to play whack-a-mole

, though she manages somehow to score no points. They then go to the place where he and Ayu first met her, which Shiori explains is a precious memory to her. Yuuichi feels that it wasn’t long ago enough to call a memory, but Shiori thinks that memories have nothing to do with time; what matters is how important that memory was to the person.

The two then get into a snowball fight and have a lot of fun throwing them and building snowmen. Shiori also draws a sketch of Yuuichi, but after seeing it, he comments that she isn’t suited to draw portraits. Nevertheless, Yuuichi wants to keep it, and that makes Shiori very happy. Since he says that he’ll stay with her today as long as he can, she asks him to take her to school. There, they head to her classroom and she shows him her old seat. Shiori then reveals that she collapsed on the first day of the first semester, but Yuuichi already knew that from her classmate. Shiori is surprised to hear this, but continues on, explaining that the doctor didn’t want her to go, but she was determined to fulfill her dream of going to the same school as her sister. With Yuuichi confirming that it wasn’t just a cold, Shiori explains that she’s had a weak body since she was born, so she can’t come to daily lessons. For lying to him about that, she apologizes. Later that night, Yuuichi returns home and finds Nayuki cooking. Before he can do anything else, he answers the ringing phone. The voice on the other end belongs to Kaori, and she asks to meet him at school.

With snow gently falling down all around, Yuuichi finds Kaori standing in a patch of darkness by the school building. He’s figured out that this is about Shiori, and Kaori eventually admits that Shiori is her younger sister who’s been weak ever since she was born. She remembers that Shiori was looking forward to attending the same school, eating lunch with her, and going home together – for a long time, it’s been Shiori’s dream to do those things that everyone else does. Kaori then reveals that Shiori’s birthday is in one week, but this next birthday is the one she’s not supposed to be able to live until because she’s going to die soon. Kaori tried not to look at Shiori getting weaker because she knew that soon Shiori would be gone. That’s why she avoided Shiori and said that she had no sister. In fact, if it meant this much pain, she wishes that she never had a sister from the very beginning. Bawling by this point, Kaori runs to Yuuichi and asks him what Shiori was born for.

Preview:

I thought this would be a transitional episode, but it felt like it died right into Shiori’s story. Maybe it was because Kaori was already crying by the end of it. It makes me again wonder how long this arc will last and how much time will be given to Ayu and Nayuki. Speaking of Ayu, they seemed to drop more hints about her past with the hospital, the doctor, and the talk of her mother.

I did find it amusing that Yuuichi is becoming wary of the supernatural stuff, as shown by his kitsune comment when Shiori wanted to go to the arcade. Shiori seems to be the most normal of the girls so far, but I suspect that could change at any moment. Incidentally, the song played during the date scene was Last regrets – X’mas Floor Style.

Summary:

After having a dream of a memory she shared with Asuna, Ayaka wakes up in her Negi-themed room, still stuck inside the magic world with everyone else. Meanwhile, the exploration group has noticed that Asuna isn’t present for their meeting. In fact, a still sleepy and very hungry Asuna has gone to the kitchen to get something to eat. Satsuki gives her an omusubi, but this gets consumed by Motsu while Asuna is trying to sell Chupacabra t-shirts to the girls. Outside, the research group is looking through magic books when Negi comes to check up on them. Ayaka makes him sit down for some tea, and that’s how Asuna finds him a little later. She wants to take him to the exploration group, but Ayaka refuses to let Negi go. They end up getting into a fight, and in trying to diffuse the situation, Negi falls down and bumps his head on a book. Seeing him hurt, the girls bring him to the school infirmary where Ako gives him a large bandage. Kamo then suggests that Negi gets an injection to make him more energetic, and it so happens that Ako has a giant needle prepared. However, she loses her balance and accidentally sticks it into Kamo instead. The injection causes Kamo to gain superpowers and fly out of the window, disappearing into the distance.

Angry that Asuna was the one who supported Negi getting the injection, Ayaka proposes a challenge. Asuna accepts, and the first match tests the two girls’ abilities to hold their breath with their face in a bowl of water. Both of them come up for air at the same time, so this ends up a tie. Next is a competition that attaches a clothespin to the lips of each girl and has them try to pull off the opponent’s clothespin via a connecting string. Asuna and Ayaka struggle against each other so much that the pins pop off at the exact same time, resulting in another draw. For the third challenge, both girls stick their heads in a tank with a lizard, but both panic and pull their heads at the same time. Afterwards, Ayaka is ready for another round, but Nodoka notices that the lizard is now covered in darkness. Asuna decides to fight, so Negi pulls out and activates a cosplay card from her. Unfortunately, this is not enough to stop the darkness, and it captures Asuna, forcing her to drop her harisen. Seeing the weapon scatter dandelion filaments into the wind when it lands, Ayaka asks Negi to transform her. Since he manages to pull out her armor card, Ayaka gains a dress with a crown and a whip. She uses that whip to get through the darkness and free Asuna, allowing Negi to blast the darkness with his magic. As it turns out, the reason dandelions are so significant to Ayaka is because she has a memory of happily blowing them together with Asuna. Ayaka now blows another one into the wind, and she and Asuna watch the filaments fly off, standing together as friends.

Well, the plot still hasn’t advanced, but the Asuna and Ayaka story wasn’t that bad. I guess it could be described as another perspective into the friendship between the two girls that neither really wants to admit. Still, I think that if there’s one thing this show does impressively, its transformation sequences and action, and there was plenty of that at the end of the episode. Ayaka’s armor card costume wasn’t quite what I expected, but the card itself seems to convey her attitude perfectly. Other than that, the Kamo part was pretty funny, and this reminded me of Gokujou Seitokai.