Random Curiosity

The ugliest animals make the hottest chicks. Is it bad to lust over a whale and an elephant? Airantou sez – anything goes!

It all starts with Chikage stumbling over the mess of books in her room and finding a rather unique looking one – turns out to be some crazy magic book (not named Deathly Hallows) which she learns how to use… that night, when everybody was asleep, Chikage casts her spell over the whole island…

Ikuto wakes up to find that Suzu has turned into… a cat. A smallish one, at that, complete with the tail and paws and the trademark nekomimi. Ikuto himself has turned into a dog, with the big bushy tail and ears, but everything else seems fine. Tonkatsu… well, he’s turned into what looks like a pig. From the real world.

The two venture out to check out what happened, and run into a little girl carrying a big ass bear on her back… it’s Kuma Kuma and Yukino – guess who’s carrying who?

The circus continues as the two hit up Meimei’s pad – she’s turned into a monkey, while the kappa has turned into a younger Yoruichi-san… with a turtle shell on her back but every bit as naked. That monkey is so not cute though, I expected a lot more. Besides a panda, is there any other generic Chinese animal?

As they continue down the path, they meet up with Rin (small dog) and Mikoto (oversized squirrel). They also become aware that everybody else on the island doesn’t seem to realize they have turned into animals, and just go about their daily business as if nothing is different. It’s a good thing there’s only girls on the island, or “daily business” might get a bit troublesome at night.

After meeting up with some more odd people, a blonde hottie with a pink dress walks by, and bids them a good day. Ikuto and Suzu can’t figure out who she is, even though she acts real familiar with them… either way, Ikuto starts getting lusty eyes while Suzu pulls his ears in jealousy.

Who else do they bump into?

- The chicken family has turned into people
- Those roundish sheep are all kids with white fro’s
- Sashimi has turned into a topless bombshell mermaid – CUTE
- Chikage has turned into… Chikage?

Chikage dons her magician cosplay and her evil laugh – she’s the one responsible! Seems like her spell turned all the animals to people and all the people to animals. But, she has no time to turn everyone back, she has to continue with her experiments. What’s this, our first Airantou bad guy? While showing off her power, she pulls a rabbit (Ayane) out of a her hat – turns out that Ikuto and Suzu didn’t turn into full-blown animals because they live on the outskirts of town, and Ayane was able to defend against most of the magic herself by lobbing Machi in front of her like a shield. Machi skies in as a flying squirrel – but at least now she lacks the opposable thumbs necessary to operate a voodoo doll.

More craziness – The three plus Monjiro (who is inexplicably intact) break into Chikage’s house to try to find some way to stop her, and find their own magic book. Some roundish manju genie pops out and says she’ll (I think it’s a she…) grant them 7 wishes. Well, knowing these shows, the first six get wasted, leaving one left. While we’re on the subject, how did the six get used?
- Suzu: mame daifuku!
- Ayane: stfu and hang on a sec! (OTL)
- Ayane: hey!!! That one didn’t count!!
- Monjiro: squawk squawk! (chestnut jelly)
- Suzu: I wanna catch Chikage!
- Chikage (while tied up): set me free!

Yea, the genie will take a wish from anybody. One of those new school “equal opportunity” genies, replacing those affirmative action ones of the past. So who gets the last wish? A big battle royale commences for the rights to use the last wish… when a little flying squirrel flies in and asks for a cup of tea.

Don’t you just hate it when that happens? Duking it out fairly, then some nutjob comes in and snipes it with two seconds left. Freakin’ ebay… if only I had some scripts…

So now, with nobody to stop her, Chikage turns everyone to Pez dispensers and gets ready to show off her saw-you-in-half trick. That is, until the pink dress blondie throws a boulder on top of her. Oh, it’s Panako – I guess Suzu wasn’t kidding when she said Panako was the hottest girl on the island >.>

Chikage’s magic book is in tatters, and the magic spells dissipate. Everyone’s back to normal… including Sashimi :\

Thoughts

Don’t know what it is, but I’ve always liked these episodes where the animals turn into hot girls (remember the cat in Keroro?). There’s always some cutish quality to them too, and Nagasarete pulls it off pretty well. It was cool how so many characters got at least some screen time to show the results of the transformation, but I would have liked to see even more… namely Suzu’s master, and maybe that huge ass yellow master cat. Too bad they weren’t in the vicinity of the village!

I’m assuming this episode was significantly more enjoyable because it was based around Chikage, but if the rest of the series can maintain this upbeat spirit, there just might be hope! At least it’s pretty consistent… which is much more than I can say about Umisho… tragedy that one is.

-jaalin

Summary:

When Kon and Rangiku see a girl fall into the river after trying to retrieve her stuffed animal from the water, Rangiku brings out Kon’s modsoul and throws it into that stuffed animal so that he can save her. Kon succeeds, but afterwards, the combination of the young girl not letting go of him and a crowd gathering to see what happens prevents him from returning to his normal body. With Rangiku leaving him behind, Kon is taken to the girl’s home, and the fact that he is alive is soon given away when she tries to blow-dry him through his mouth. However, the girl, whose name is Miyuki, is delighted rather than surprised because she had been wishing for Shintarou – her dog stuffed animal – to come alive. Kon then notices that Miyuki appears to be living alone in a relatively large and well-furnish apartment, so she explains that her mother is at work and that they left their father because her mother that felt he wasn’t good for anything. When Miyuki wants to play, Kon has no choice but to let her put a dress on him and feed him rubber dolls because he doesn’t want her to cry.

Afterwards, Kon suggests that they go outside to play with friends, but Miyuki refuses because she doesn’t have or need any friends. The only reason she had been outside earlier is because she had wanted to see her old house where she had lived with her parents and a real dog named Shintarou. Unfortunately, the real Shintarou had gotten hit by a car around the time Miyuki and her mother left her father. Seeing how lonely Miyuki is, Kon decides that they should go to this house, and the two have relatively little difficulty getting there. However, no one seems to be living there anymore, and across the street, Miyuki finds the flower and vase that mark the spot where Shintarou got hit by a car. When Miyuki touches the vase, Kon suddenly senses something bad and says that they should leave. The roar of a Hollow causes the electricity poles around them to topple over, cutting off their escape and giving them no choice but to enter the grounds to the house. Before they can get very far though, a two-headed Hollow appears before them.

Kon attempts to kick a bucket at the Hollow and then run away with Miyuki, but the Hollow heads the other way around the house and cuts them off. Saying that he’ll protect Miyuki, Kon attacks the Hollow, however his stuffed-animal kicks have no effect and he gets batted around instead. Still, with the Hollow going after Miyuki, Kon gets back up and continues trying to fight, even as his body is getting ripped up and smashed into the ground. What ultimately stops the Hollow from advancing towards Miyuki is her calling out Shintarou’s name to come save her, and it causes one of the heads to bite the other. It is at this moment that Rangiku enters the battle to slay the Hollow, and Kon sees the souls of two dogs emerge from it afterwards, one of them being the real Shintarou. When Miyuki comes over to hug his battered body, Kon tells her that she was saved by the real Shintarou, but he also makes it clear that she can’t rely on him and should make other friends. Recalling his own past as a modified soul and how his friends have helped him, Kon tells her that she should make friends if she’s lonely. Since he has to go now, Kon promises Miyuki that he and the real Shintarou are always watching over her, and he urges her to do her best.

In the aftermath, Miyuki gets reunited with her mother, and Rangiku returns Kon to his normal body. When she asks Kon about why he supported Miyuki so much, he proudly says that it’s because he’s an idol to children.

Preview

I think this type of episode defines filler, but Kon always manages to be at least a little amusing, so I wouldn’t call it horrible. By itself, I might even say the episode was a bit endearing for how Kon helps Miyuki, but taken in the context of the overall series, this was relatively unexciting. In any case, there’s no Bleach next week, but perhaps we’re coming back towards the manga story when episode 136 airs on August 8th. At the very least Ulquiorra and Aizen will be showing up, so it can’t be all bad…or so I hope.

Summary:

In the dungeon below the ruins, Clare is shocked to find that Jean has already Awakened, but even more surprising is that Jean has managed to keep her human consciousness intact and now wants Clare to kill her. Clare, however, recognizes that there’s a chance that Jean can still return to being human, so she urges Jean to turn back and activates her own power. By trying something similar to what she saw Galatea do, Clare succeeds in changing Jean back into a human. Back upstairs, Galatea is having a lot of trouble with Dauf when the other two finally make their way back. Jean offers to hold their opponents back so that the other two can escape and gives her life to Clare to do whatever she wants with it, but Galatea prefers instead that they all work together to bring down Dauf. While Galatea and Clare hold him off, Jean prepares to use her attack which is the fastest and most powerful of all the Claymores by winding up her arm.

However, just as Jean is about to strike, Dauf slams Clare and Galatea together and protects his own face with his hand. Jean’s spiraling attack has no problem breaking through the hand, but it’s not enough to reach Dauf’s face, and he responds by punching her into the ground. Riful thinks that this means the battle is over, but when Clare stands up again, Riful makes it clear that she really doesn’t want to kill Clare – she just wants to make them Awaken. Clare meanwhile asks Jean to repeat her special attack and to entrust her life to her. After instructing Jean to go for Dauf’s throat, Clare attacks Dauf by herself until Jean can wind up her arm again. Seeing how Clare is able to keep Dauf busy, Riful notes that how much Clare is swinging her borrowed arm. Dauf doesn’t notice what Jean is doing until after she’s finished, and Clare is able to stop his subsequent projectile attacks from hitting her new ally.

Promising to create a path, Clare has Jean attack first while she herself focuses her Quick Sword technique to Dauf’s Yoma energy so that her sword only hits his arms and not Jean too. When this succeeds, Dauf tries to shoot more rods out of his mouth, but that mouth gets closed by a weakened Galatea using her powers, allowing Jean to drill through his throat. Unfortunately, Jean doesn’t get the opportunity to turn around and finish Dauf off because Riful then enters the battle and throws Jean into the ground. With Riful seemingly open, Clare suddenly attacks and manages to slice her sword down Riful’s head, but the young girl’s body then explodes into dark-colored strips that expand in every direction. It completely reduces the ruins to rubble, and Riful reforms her body in the open area that she’s created.

Riful’s not thrilled that things didn’t end before becoming like this, and she apologizes to Dauf for neglecting him. Turning her attention back to Galatea and Clare, Riful remembers her promise to Clare to tell her about the man of the north if Clare could cut her, so she reveals that the man’s name is Isley and that he rules the northern lands as the Silver King. She feels that if they want to defeat him, they should become her comrades – that’s the one and only way. Saying that she’ll be waiting until then, Riful takes Dauf and disappears in a swirl. With the fight now over, Clare falls to her knees because of how far away everything seems to her, but Galatea gets back to her original mission immediately and is ready to force Clare to return to the Organization. Clare, however, refuses to go because she still has something that she prioritizes over everything else.

Galatea takes that to mean Clare has chosen to return to the Organization as a corpse, but Jean then steps in to defend Clare. Jean has decided to use her life for the sake of the person who saved her, and she doesn’t care if she’s targeted by the Organization because she considers her life to have already been lost. Hearing this, Galatea turns her back towards them and suggests that lowly ranked Claymores like them wouldn’t have survived an encounter with an Abyssal One. She’s letting them go for now, and while she warns that she doesn’t know if they’ll be allies or enemies the next time they meet, she also tells them to stay alive until then. Meanwhile, marching in a snowstorm to the north, four Claymores come face to face with a small army of Awakened Beings, and two of them are immediately killed.

Preview

I was a little surprised that none of the major players in this arc died at the end of it. At the very least, I thought that Jean or Dauf wouldn’t make it, but they all pulled through and the story appears to be shifting towards something of a grander scale with the three Abyssal Ones, Priscilla, and a whole lot of Awakened Beings. Raki has been all but excluded from this, particularly since Clare’s new focus seems to be going after Priscilla rather than finding him, but I don’t mind too much since it’s much more exciting thinking about the possibility of a three or four-way conflict than about Clare searching for Raki.
The end of this episode and the preview for next episode show a snowy landscape, so the Claymores – a lot of them – are headed north against Isley, Priscilla, and his forces, and it looks like Miria will be showing up again.

Summary:

One night, Kokoro finds her older sister doing research with books on love, and she asks if Kotonoha has kissed Makoto. When Kotonoha doesn’t deny it, Kokoro realizes that she has. At school the next day, Makoto tells Sekai about how fun he thought it’d be to get a girlfriend, and when he doesn’t say anything after she tries to get him to mention some fun times, she scolds him for being half-hearted about it all. During lunchtime, the conversation between her friends about how far Nanami’s gotten in her relationship with an older boy causes Sekai to look upwards towards the rooftop. At that moment, Makoto is kissing Kotonoha, but when he gropes her breast, she pulls herself away. He reminds her that she had said that she’d try her best, so she tells him that she is, however her heart’s still not ready yet. Kotonoha then excuses herself saying that she has things to do, and that night, she calls Sekai to talk about it. Since Kotonoha is feeling a little guilty, Sekai blames Makoto for rushing too quickly, however Sekai also asks her about not wanting to do ecchi things with Makoto in the future, so Kotonoha mentions men who ride horses and describes an idealized situation of being together in a mountain lodge in Europe.

Kotonoha later finds out that her father got two tickets to the water park, so she decides to invite Makoto. However, her chance to ask him on the train the next day is ruined when a bump causes her to fall towards him and him to accidentally grope her breast. Kotonoha instinctively turns away from him because of this, but when she faces him to apologize, he stares out the window and says that it serves him right. His distant attitude prevents her from inviting him, and this is all seen by Hikari who tells Sekai about it later. During lunch, Sekai asks Makoto about how his relationship with Kotonoha is going and mentions being worried about him being impatient with ecchi things. When he yells at her, she drags him out into the hallway and has him tell her about what’s going on. Since it boils down to Makoto wanting to do ecchi things to Kotonoha, Sekai says that wanting such things for someone you love isn’t wrong, but the way he’s doing it is. She decides to help him out with some special training, and during class, Makoto writes her a note asking what that means. Sekai replies that she’s going to teach him about girls’ feelings, and after class, she takes him to the park.

After finding a relatively quiet place, Sekai tells Makoto about the ideal situations Kotonoha had said it would be okay to do ecchi things, and she brought him here because of how much Kotonoha seems to like nature. As for their actual training, she offers to teach him how to kiss, but before they can, they get discovered by a bunch of younger kids. Their next destination is a karaoke box, but Makoto points out that they don’t any privacy here either because of the surveillance camera. With no other choice, Sekai and Makoto return to school and head to the rooftop where it’s just the two of them. Sekai first has Makoto link his fingers with hers and then has him touch her hair before getting him to gently embrace her. When she wants him to whisper into her ear that he likes her, Makoto uses her name instead of Kotonoha’s, so she corrects him. However, Sekai isn’t quite sure about him touching her chest next because she doesn’t have experience with something like this, so she suggests he gently caress her breasts. While he’s touching them, she accuses him of thinking that they’re smaller than Kotonoha’s, and he admits that he did.

After a little more caressing, Makoto suddenly tells Sekai that he wants her, and he soon pushes her down onto the bench. Sekai struggles at first, but she eventually stops and lets him continue because this is special training. However, right as Makoto takes off her ribbon and starts unbuttoning her shirt, his cell phone beeps with a text message from Kotonoha asking for forgiveness for what happened this morning. In the end, Sekai and Makoto go home, and when they part ways, Makoto asks Sekai about continuing their special training. Sekai, however, refuses him and says that he should do it with Kotonoha. By chance, Makoto then runs into Kotonoha, and she asks him if he read his mail. He hadn’t, so Kotonoha apologizes for this morning and invites him to the pool. Still nearby, Sekai watches the two with a sad look in her eyes.

ED Sequence

ED4: 「記憶の海」 (Kioku no Umi) by yozuca*

That entire scene between Makoto and Sekai was pretty intense in the sexual tension department, approaching what I’d call a softcore tease. He actually got a lot further with her than I thought he would in his “special training,” and the two of them didn’t get caught either – I kept expecting Kotonoha to discover them up there any minute, but it never happened. In terms of long term drama potential, it’s probably better that she doesn’t find out about any type of relationship between Makoto and Sekai until her own relationship with him is further along, in which case such a revelation would become devastating, to say the least.
However you look at it though, Makoto cheated on Kotonoha with Sekai. I could be convinced that it might have started out as Sekai genuinely wanting to help Makoto (even though the phrase “special training” raised all sorts of warning flags in my head when she first mentioned it), but it definitely ended as something more than that. Still, I didn’t find myself blaming Sekai until she stopped struggling after Makoto pushed her onto the bench. She technically gave him consent to do a lot of foreplay-type things before that, but that seemed like the point where she was willing to go all the way. In short, I think Sekai is just as responsible for all this as Makoto is (if not more), but since I’m not a huge Kotonoha fan, I don’t feel particularly bad for her either. Right now, I’m just curious to see what happens from here because it’s clear that Sekai has a ton of feelings for Makoto, and he might even prefer her to Kotonoha.

Time for the July rankings – the new summer shows have been given a couple episodes to prove themselves, and for now, here’s how they stand. Needless to say, the new season isn’t looking too strong, but there are several shows that could surprise – although I doubt they are going to displace any of the top 5. How about combining some shows, like having Kotonoha finally pop a vein, and chopping down Pink Supervisor with a string of baka baka baka USODA!

Ranking notes at the bottom!

July 2007	Rank (LM)	Title	Comment
	1 (1)	Gurren Lagann	No surprises here – even after an incredible “final battle” with Lord Genome, the peaceful, time jump episode turns out to be adrenaline filled, except this time a little more of my adrenaline went to a different place after seeing grown up Darry. The new character dynamics are intriguing and seem more real and developed; the characters look great and the new impending conflict seems oddly believable – something even Death Note couldn’t really pull off. Will GEASS be here next time?
	2 (9)	Seirei no Moribito	Get used to seeing this here, as it’s coming out of the filler episodes and back into the story. Balsa’s continued struggle to uphold her values against her warrior’s heart is not only fascinating but also inspiring. Seirei also excels in providing a constant viewpoint from a “wise” authority, whether it be the shaman, the blacksmith, or the traveling teacher – one who can really bring the depths of the characters to the surface.
	3 (2)	Lucky Star	You can nitpick at the Haruhi exploitation all you want, but in the end, Lucky Star continues to deliver week after week with its own unique brand of humor. One could even make the argument that the clever execution of the more elaborate references is what pushed the show to the next level. Not to mention Shiraishi’s performances, and now Akira’s “live performance” are gems in themselves.
	4 (5)	Darker than BLACK	An original story that continues to use the dual episode mini-arc format – and leaves us drooling for more, more, more. The thread of plot running through the two arcs is really starting to come together… not to mention we’re getting a lot more of Amber. Or…less, as it seems that she gets younger with every use of her ability – a few more times and we could have a new loli on our hands -_-
	5 (3)	Claymore	So Clare continues to suck, but at least she’s sucking less these days. Still, she’s nowhere in the same stratosphere as the other girls she’s constantly hanging out with – but that doesn’t really matter, does it? There really isn’t much of a coherent story going on, and the whole idea of Claymores and their individual skills probably will never make much sense, but the fact is, this show remains damn fun to watch.
	6 (4)	Dennou Coil	The two sisters are getting kind of annoying in that they’re in way over their heads, but the show would probably be way too serious without them. Isako’s plans to nab herself an illegal once again showed off what a cool character she was, and episode 7 gave us some more in the way of a developing relationship between the girls. It’s cute, it’s cool, and it’s full of imagination – a color palette change away from a Ghibli production!
	7 (6)	Romeo x Juliet	So why exactly did Juliet throw herself into the clutches of the evil regime? So we could have a rescue episode, of course. The show took an odd turn into semi-filler territory with Romeo’s relocation to the mines, and without a constant back and forth between R and J, it feels a bit odd. It’s hard to strike a balance with the source material and original adaptation, and I’m not sure if RxJ has found it yet.
	8 (NEW)	Zero no Tsukaima ~Futatsuki no Kishi~	Ah, good ol’ Louise returns with the first summer show on this list. It’s going as well as anyone could hope – the first episode reintroduced us to the textbook tsundere for the ages, and the second episode wasted no time and got straight back into the story. I do hope season 2 can retain the balance of comedy, drama, and adventure that was so well done previously, and maybe even add something extra to the mix.
	9 (NEW)	Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei	Real unique show which I probably wouldn’t enjoy as much if it wasn’t for a.f.k.’s amazing subs. I’m still not convinced if this quirky style works that well for something like Zetsubou Sensei as it did for Negima, but with that said, it’s been a consistently solid show with flashes of brilliance more often than not. The character dynamics are a riot – they are so far away from the norm and contrast so much with each other, it’s hard not to laugh!
	10 (14)	Terra e…	Similar to Darker than Black, Terra e has more than enough plot to go around so there’s no need to waste time or employ cheap tricks to fill any gaps – it’s maintained a strong continuous beat that keeps the story moving. It’s stayed away from being generic all this time, and later episodes really look like they’ll have some major impact.
	11 (18)	Heroic Age	I’m not usually a fan of big robot looking monster creatures fighting each other, but these recent eps do a strangely good job of it. The douchebag brothers finally got replaced and DNA-ra finally stepped up, so without anything more slackers to hold this show back, it really took off. Too bad all that seemed to end so soon, with the war now won (?) and earth left for the taking. How much longer can this show last?
	12 (NEW)	School Days	The true colors of this show likely won’t show up until much later, where it’ll either jump way up (well, not that up), or completely tank. Up to now, the intentional frustration and sexual tension (some MAJOR TENSION) has been enough to keep this show here, but if the acclaimed “most pathetic male lead of all time” doesn’t start manning up, not even those frivolous fanservice scenes will be enough to hold this spot.
	13 (NEW)	Moetan	It’s way too loli, but that just plays into the whole parody aspect of this “fake” mahou shoujo show. And well, the parody makes all the difference, and catapults what would otherwise be a bottom-5 show all the way up here. The jokes are hilarious, the English phrases a blast, and that freakin’ duck just never lets up. Pretty sure it’s gonna get old real fast, though, especially with that Kuroi loli as competition. Still, I’m open to surprises.
	14 (NEW)	Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai	Yes, it’s ranked under Moetan (!), but do not fear, it’s likely to only be temporary once Higurashi enters its element and starts butchering people again. Having Rika remain the central character in this arc seems to make more sense, and it’s a real bummer (in a good way) to have to watch her suffer through her endless cycle of death. Can Horie Yui’s character take this show to new heights? Stay tuned…
	15 (NEW)	Potemayo	It’s hard to rank this show, as that really goes against the point of it. It’s impossible to rationalize something that is inherently irrational, but for the sake of discussion, I’ll just say that it’s one of those things that needs to be experienced – sort of like how Teletubbies is like visual crack to babies, Potemayo has got to be something similar for the 16+ crowd, or whoever has the time to waste on twenty minutes of honya honya.
	16 (10)	Hayate no Gotoku!	Getting some more Hinagiku was nice, and the introduction of the new butlers was interesting. But (uh oh), the freshness factor seems to have worn off, which means that the jokes either need some serious revitalization, or the loose, loose plot needs some tightening up. No matter what happens, though, it’s still a fun watch, as long as you’re not expecting too much.
	17 (12)	Seto no Hanayome	Its place is pretty much cemented now, as the same jokes are being used continuously; thing is, they’re still funny. It seemed to lose a bit of control during the climax of the Runa v San arc (wtf singing competition?), but then again, has this show ever had a hold on things? Maybe its success is just because of the fact that everything has been allowed to just go crazy.
	18 (13)	Lovely Complex	If it could be more consistent and give us some more of those great moments that pop up oh so seldom, this would be ranked much higher. 16 episodes in, and the chase still continues, and frankly, I’m exhausted from just watching. Is this a comedy? A romance? Drama? It’s got elements of all three, but it really seems to lack focus and an understanding of what it’s trying to accomplish.
	19 (16)	Kaze no Stigma	The Tsuwabuki arc was much more interesting than the earlier one, but the show still suffers greatly from just not being thought out well enough. A giant turtle, sealed by a sacred ritual hundreds of years old, who gets defeated by an outcast, a schoolgirl, a bishi, and a useless doll? It’s an entertaining show, but its glaring errors give it a huge smell of “cheapness.”
	20 (17)	Nagasarete Airantou	I’m rather surprised that it’s managed to survive this far while still providing the weekly harem load – it’s amazing how far some nice colors and animation can go these days. The introduction of Meimei breathed some life back into the stagnating characters, or at least made it seem more watchable compared to the summer offering.
	21 (NEW)	Sky Girls	It’s either going to stay here if things don’t start blowing up, or could make a move up the rankings if the action really turns out to be worthwhile. So far, it really hasn’t given anyone anything to be excited about (other than those epic plug suits), but here’s to hoping that the lackadaisical mood and shallow themes take a more legitimate turn.
	22 (NEW)	Doujin Work	As enjoyable as it is, the 15 minute block is just too short and too simple to really make any sort of impact in the rankings. It does a good job with using the scraps for material it has, and captures a relatively innocent yet “risky” side of a subject matter that could otherwise be considered taboo. Quick to watch, and quick to forget. The live action seiyuu bit during the 2nd half is pretty stupid.
	23 (20)	Ookiku Furikabutte	A total of one (1) subbed episode was released since the last rankings, and it pretty much stayed the course of what could be considered an intriguing and unconventional approach to a sports anime. The prognosis for the lead character to experience any sort of radical personality change to the point of being considered an “acceptable” character is pretty bleak… but that’s not what this show is about, only what I wish it could have been.
	24 (NEW)	Kenko Zenrakei Suieibu Umisho	The first episode really had some potential to be a wholesome (busty too) romantic comedy with a lot of fanservice on the side, but it seems to have taken the low road and just gone with the fanservice. Well, nobody’s complaining, but then again, nobody’s gonna take this show seriously at the same time. Sounds like a girl I know…
	25 (NEW)	Shigurui	The animation quality is sky high (nearing Seirei territory), and for now, it reminds me of the legendary 4-part Kenshin OVA. Still, the first episode was pretty much all introduction and historical acquaintance, so it’s hard to give it any definitive rank. If the story is worthy of the introduction, and the animation really gets put to work, look for Shigurui to make a huge jump the next time…
	26 (28)	Devil May Cry	The episodes have pretty much been standalone eps involving Dante picking up some job and kicking some demon ass, but doesn’t that seem like the easy way out? The animation quality remains good, but the show is lacking continuity, a real story, some true action sequences, and it tossed all credibility out the window with the addition of the loli. There’s still a lot of potential for this show to move up, if only it would stop wasting time and get on with it.
	27 (NEW)	Mushi-uta	Starts out like a slow, Mushishi type intrigue show, but then introduces giant insects that fight, kind of like a glorified Yu-gi-oh battle, or maybe just Pokemon on steroids. That’s all this is, right? Just a more acceptable, more “mature” version? I’m hoping it will prove me wrong – it just might, as long as it doesn’t try to do too much.
	28 (NEW)	Nanatsuiro Drops	I’ve half an eyeball left and my mouth is gushing blood after watching this, but personal biases aside, this is your run-of-the-mill magical girl show with all the trimmings. It’s got the cute chick, a rather different looking mascot character, and some dorky guy, not to mention a very unique magical wand/staff thing – all the necessary ingredients in an age-old formula that always seems to have its faithful viewers.
	29 (NEW)	Code-E	Didn’t get much out of the first episode, other than its distinctive slice-of-life feel. The concept is interesting, with the lead girl’s ability to affect electronics, but she really isn’t all that likeable, which would be a much bigger problem if it didn’t work contextually. Well, it seems to work, and there seems to be some bigger things at work here, so it’s possible this show is headed north.
	30 (NEW)	Tetsuko no Tabi	Really no value of any sort if you’re not a train otaku, but it’s worth a watch if you’re curious about their world. It’s a lighthearted show and remains focused on its purpose… train porn. While I’m left completely clueless, I can definitely feel the spirit and enthusiasm of the show in bringing as much train material to the audience.
	31 (NEW)	Zombie Loan	This show isn’t all that bad, but there’s too much attention whoring and not enough actual quality to be taken seriously. The yaoi twins raise an interesting question – who exactly is the intended audience? Girls who like zombies and dead things? Guys looking for “something new?” Guys who like girls who like zombies and need a conversation starter? Confusing.

Notes:

There’s inevitably some large shifts (mostly down) from last month’s rankings in several shows – while some of this is attributed to changes in the show itself, most of it is due to the insertion of new shows.

I’ve found that comedies rarely experience much shifting in the rankings as the brand of humor is generally pretty consistent – it’s the dramas that are the big movers, depending on how well the story builds.

I’ve removed all the shows that really don’t matter / don’t have a chance / I’ve completely given up on for whatever reason – Bokurano (sorry), Touka (too fillery), Idolmaster (tragedy), Gigantic Formula (lost interest), Nanoha (train wreck), Wangan (I take the bus).

This also means that while shows like Code-E and Zombie Loan might be at the bottom of this list, rest assured as there are plenty of other shows that are much worse. At present, there are over 80 anime being aired in Japan.

Mononoke – watched the first episode, and yes I realize its glory but why oh why does it have to look like that… I’m shallow and I need my nice art and character designs. At any rate, it’s a show that sits completely distant from “mainstream,” making it one of those love/hate shows that’s impossible to rank.

If I didn’t have a sense of humor, none of the other shows would be remotely close to the top 2 of Gurren Lagann and Seirei no Moribito…

Ink and THE DUCK are watching a scary movie – perfect opportunity for some loli-hiding-head-under-pillow-with-ass-sticking-out moments. Dude, they even drew in the imprint from her pantsu through the pajamas.

The next day, after Ink gets a thorough teasing from her friends and Sumi, we switch over to a scene of Sumi asking Nao to join her at her summer crib for the weekend. As all anime-based summer trips go, naturally the clueless guy invites Ink and her two friends, and also his own sister, after much nagging encouragement.

Double take – let’s do that again. Itsuki invites Haruhi and her three other club members, and also Kyon’s sister, who came neatly packed and ready to go in a duffle bag. Huh? Nevermind, it’s late and I’m tired -_-

The night before the trip, Pastel Ink makes another house call to generic lead’s home – our gem of the week is something that flew right over my head: “TV stations get angry when deliveries are late.” Maybe DHL didn’t make good on their promise that morning or something. Anyways, Ink spends the rest of the session trying to coax some love talk out of Nao. Hard to tell – Nao gives one of those romantically depressing yet beneficial for his reputation answers that doesn’t really answer anything. Oh well, Ink still likes him.

Next morning, the gang has all gathered – with the exception of Sumi, who’s actually still sleeping… until her vicious maid gets a hold of her and manhandles her into the back of the limo. She’s still sleeping when they arrive at the school to pick the others up >.>

Once at the house (mansion, rather), the girls immediately shed their clothes and give us… well, less skin than those transformation sequences, that’s for sure. That’s the problem of giving it all up too early – there’s really nothing to look forward to or leave anything for the imagination. Reminds me of that one Gurren beach episode where the guys weren’t too ecstatic about Yoko’s swimsuit…

After the frolic in the pool (which involved a slight incident with something strange in the water), the group is treated to a huge turkey dinner with fillet mignon for appetizer. After dinner, Ink’s friends get a little scare from a ghost (one of those cutish ghosts like the one in Keroro), which gets written off by Ink as she heads off to the bath with Sumi.

If you didn’t think Ink and Sumi were loli enough, we’re given a flashback scene of Ink and Sumi the loli^2 edition, scrubbing each other in the bath. If they’re still parodying the loli aspect at this point, it’s really freakin hard to tell… these guys seem completely earnest in their desire to flaunt loli upon loli.

After the bath, which included some cat and duck peeking and subsequent counterattack, the girls are called upon to do some ghostbusting – cue the split screen nudie henshin sequence, while I whistle the DoubleMint theme song in the background… double your pleasure… double your fun… doubleloli~

On the way, a squad of flying pigs pass them (?? – does Mr. Burns need any more reasons to donate to charity?), and they eventually come upon a room with mountains of golden treasure. They set off a booby trap and are about to be turned into pancakeloli, until that traveling pervert guy saves them… and runs off with the policeman hot on his tail.

Wtf is going on??

Open another door, and now we have the vicious maid hitting her third bottle of sake and chatting it up with the ghost. Huh? Either way, they all head home the next day, and Ink goes right back to watching that scary movie… except this time, it’s with her new roommate, the cutie ghost.


Thoughts

Well, the first two episodes seemed much tighter in terms of layout and focus, but this third episode was all over the freakin place. Is this the point in which the show stops being a parody, and starts being a retarded mahou shoujo show with generic humor? I refuse to believe that Moetan could sell out like that, considering the strong showing in the first two episodes. Then again, Umisho completely tanked after its first episode… so something like that isn’t unprecedented…

-jaalin

For those who have brought up the excessive use of Haruhi materials in Lucky Star – remember, KyoAni is always listening. As if a slap to the face for the naysayers and a divine gift for the fanboys (and girls… all four of them), episode 16 presents us with quite possibly the most blatant, the most complete, and definitely the most memorable of all Haruhi references. Read on if you dare… (or just look at those screenshots right above)

Konata kicks things off by showing off her new cell phone – its got one of those swiveling screens, which prominently displays her Haruhi wallpaper and has “Koi no Mikuru Densetsu” as her ringtone. Fast work – her priorities are indeed straight! Thing is, songs as ringtones rarely work out all that well, considering you pick up the call within a few seconds…

The next few minutes involve some random chatter about Miyuki and her mom, including a few flashbacks to little Miyuki – cute! Mom did quite a fine job raising Miyuki, but at times she can be a little lazy too. The conversation then shifts to talk about being a single child versus having siblings… after Miyuki shares her side of the story, we switch over to the Hiiragi family, where Tsukasa is yapping away about something Konata did, while everybody else is eating all the meat in the sukiyaki -_-

Back to some more Miyuki tidbits, where we find out her incredible concentration makes her neglect some of the most basic of things… such as opening the door before walking in a room, or remembering to get her drink from the microwave. Konata then asks her when she started wearing glasses – turns out it was some time during elementary school, when her mom used to read to her before going to sleep… but Miyuki would keep staying up reading under the flashlight after her mom fell asleep.

I’d say that’s the reason I started wearing glasses too, but I’m not a walking moe like Miyuki so it lacks any sort of impact.

Well, ok – that was interesting to talk about and cute and all, but let’s get to the real meat of this episode. It’s Konata’s one year anniversary working at the cosplay café – Kagami jokes that she’s going to go visit, but Konata happily invites her.

(Has it been a whole year already? I’m guessing their graduation will be one of the last episodes then.)

Wasting no time, it’s time to go see Konata in action. As per Konata’s instructions, the 3 girls are to go to the manga store first and pick up some Lelou*** and Code Ge*ss materials. On the way, Tsukasa gets cornered by some otaku asking for photos – too bad street-savvy Kagami is there to bail her out.

Aaaand they finally find the café. At the door, they’re greeted by none other than Konata, sporting a full blown pre-haircut Haruhi costume, with the line “okaerinasai mase, goshujin-sama!” (welcome home, master) Ohhh boy, it begins. After sitting down, Kagami notices some suspicious characters at another table… it’s some dude that looks just like Kyon and a waitress that looks just like Yuki… and sound just like them too… and say the exact things (Yuki busts out the line from the video game episode).

Haruh…er… Konata comes back to take their order, except this time Hirano Aya is doing her aggressive Haruhi voice and telling them to hurry up and decide. “I have no interesting in ordinary menus!” “Danchou’s orders – wait right here!” Oh Aya, you make me feel all fuzzy inside.

Konata comes out once again and tells them to check out her stage performance. Yeap, you knew this was coming… it’s Hare Hare Yukai the Lucky Star cosplay version. Konata has those dance steps DOWN! Miyuki and Tsukasa cheer her on, while Kagami remains as disgusted and horrified as always, especially seeing that the other customers (Kyon included) have gotten up to do the dance themselves…

The first twenty times I watched this scene I was totally into it, but after that I started sympathizing with Kagami… yea, it would be pretty goosebump-inducing to be in that room. Whew.

Afterwards, Konata introduces the Mikuru-cosplayer, a transfer freshman from their school named Patricia Martin. Her voice is damn cute! The following conversation goes something like this:

Miyuki: Can I order a cup of tea please?
Patty: Hot, yes?
Tsukasa: I want a melon soda please!
Patty: O-kay!
Kagami: Hey, what’s this “omakase” juice on the menu here?
Patty: That’s classified information!

Whoo… that had me on the floor for a while.

The rest of the episode included a sighting from Yutaka and her friend after the physical exam (she didn’t get any taller), another episode of Legendary Girl A usurping anime tenchou’s (and this time also generic Kyon store clerk), a scene from the girls’ home ec class, a study session between Kagami and her two classmates, and some failed English translation attempts by the two Hiiragi onee-sans.

Lucky Channel 16: Yes indeed, it’s time for the Kogami Akira live event! …Which turns out to be a sign on the wall of a karaoke box. Ah, nothing short of my expectations. Needless to say, Akira isn’t too happy, but she takes what she can get and sings anyways. It’s one of those forlorn enka songs, and she looks absolutely hilarious with all her facial expressions.

Akira ED

ED: 「三十路岬」 (Misoji Misaki) by 今野宏美 (Konno Hiromi)

Akira’s seiyuu continues to sing the same song, and it sounds pretty legit for most of the way… until she starts grinding her voice like a pissed off bipolar idol. lol.

Preview

Man oh man, where do I begin. Remember how I said before that Lucky Star seemed to be alternating between episodes where they just talk, and episodes where something happens? It seems like that’s been redone in a condensed form, where half the episode has talking parts and the other half involves the girls going somewhere or doing something.

That’s all fine and dandy, but how do we address the recent explosion of Haruhi references in Lucky Star? I’ve always held my ground on the point that Lucky Star is able to tackle several different sources of humor – one of them being reference-based, and juggle them around masterfully. It’s just that the majority of the referential humor is easy to pick up on relative to the other humor (you know, where you actually have to watch the episode to get it), thereby giving Lucky Star detractors the false impression that all the humor is as a result of Keroro, Haruhi, or Da Capo. Recent Haruhi references have tipped the scales a bit, but let’s not forget, the concert scene of episode 15 was less than a minute, and the cosplay café deal in this episode wasn’t even three minutes. The rest of the episode? Honest to goodness Lucky Star exclusive fun.

Quite simply, these references give the doubters something to point the finger at, because it is the easiest source of humor to identify. Remember the early criticism before the Haruhi explosion? “It’s not funny.” Well, it was never intended to be the slapstick humor you would find in the likes of Seto no Hanayome or Moetan, but rather a sheer amusement and sense of fun when you hang out with friends that are completely on the same page as you. We see this in Lucky Star every time a new character is introduced – there’s no need for an adjustment period, they jump right in and feel completely natural. It’s the kind of humor that takes time to get used to, but also the kind one doesn’t just laugh at and forgets – but cherishes as the weeks go on.

If there’s anything people should be saying about the references, it’s how well done they are – from the Initial D bit to the Haruhi performances, or even that little nyoro~n bit, KyoAni has shown the lengths they are willing to go to please their audience – a large population of them being the otaku population who titillate at every mention of some extra-curricular material.

After all, what’s the point of a comedy? To entertain its audience by making them laugh, or maybe just put a smile on their face. One thing Lucky Star excels at in particular is its ability to take everyday situations and overanalyze them to the point that we say “I’ve never really paid attention to it, but it’s SO TRUE!” It possesses an innate ability to make me appreciate these moments in my own life – which is a much deeper, more profound, and more purposeful sort of humor than anything I’ve really seen in anime.

I’m totally in love with Lucky Star.

-jaalin

Summary:

Because of the coming war with Albion, all the male mages of the magic school are leaving to join the army, making Saito realize that he’ll be the only guy left. This turns out to be untrue, however, because a new male transfer student soon arrives from Romalia on his dragon and introduces himself as Julio Cesare. Saito immediately takes a disliking to him, particularly because all the girls can’t keep their eyes off him. During class time later, Agnès and her troops suddenly burst in and order all the students out into the schoolyard to do some military drills. When Colbert is adamant about not ending class and about not bringing the war into the school, Agnès draws her sword on him and declares that she hates mages, especially those who use fire. With his life being threatened, Colbert has no choice but to back down and let her force the students into the schoolyard for training. More resistance to these drills comes in the form of Montmorency once they’re all outside. She feels that since they’re mages, they don’t need to be training with wooden poles but should instead be practicing magic. To prove that Montmorency does need this training, Agnès snatches away Montmorency’s wand and puts her into a hold, showing that she’s useless without the wand.

Watching from the sidelines, Saito notices how the girls are trying to cozy up Julio even during training, but Julio wants his opponent to be Louise. When she charges him, he sidesteps and catches her in his arm, causing her to blush and causing Saito to get angry. However, Saito has his own problem to deal with because Agnès’ subordinate Michelle suddenly attacks him with a wooden sword. She wants to see how skilled he is, but after she soundly defeats him, Saito explains that he can’t use his Familiar powers without a real weapon. Julio finds this very interesting and decides to challenge Saito to a match where Saito is allowed to use Derfflinger. The winner gets to kiss Louise, and while Saito doesn’t care about as much, he does really want to go through with this match. Louise, however, doesn’t want Saito to use Derfflinger because he could end up killing Julio, so she orders him not to participate in a match with real swords. Saito interprets this as a go-ahead to use wooden swords instead, so that’s what he agrees to with Julio. That afternoon, Saito goes to Agnès to ask her to give him some formal sword training. Up until now, he’s just been using on the Gandalfr power to move his body when he had a weapon, but he doesn’t want to rely on only that. When she hears Saito say that he won’t be able to protect Louise if he doesn’t get stronger, Agnès decides to help.

Louise meanwhile is searching for Saito and accuses Siesta of hiding him. Since Siesta really doesn’t know, Louise then asks Kirche who reveals that she saw him with Agnès. Unfortunately for Saito, Louise finds him at the very moment he accidentally falls on Agnès, so she blows him up. The next day, a bruised Saito shows up for the fight against Julio, but he’s nevertheless ready to fight. Kirche is surprised to see Montmorency actually cheering for Saito instead of Julio, but the truth is that Montmorency doesn’t want Julio kissing Louise. Against Julio’s strength though, Derfflinger doesn’t think Saito will be able to win, and the signs of fatigue soon start showing in him. However, when Julio charges to attack, it’s Saito who succeeded in batting away Julio’s wooden sword. Knowing that Julio lost on purpose, Saito isn’t pleased with the win and doesn’t want the kiss. Louise and Saito then get called by Michelle and are brought before Henrietta. Julio is also there, and when Saito asks him about the fight, he admits that he wasn’t interested in winning or losing – he was just trying to gauge his comrade’s strength.

Before anything else, Henrietta thanks Louise and Saito for what they did last time. As for why Julio will be joining them, it seems that Romalia’s Pope also has misgivings about what Albion is doing, so Julio was sent to help. Henrietta now tells Agnès, Julio, Saito, and Louise that they are the only ones she can rely on. Saito realizes that this means she’s gathered her men here at the school, but he also remembers how Colbert didn’t want to bring war to the school. To this, Henrietta says that she doesn’t intend to involve the school in war and that she want to borrow everyone’s strength for the sake of peace. After Saito agrees to help, he gets angry at Louise for blushing when Julio kisses her hand. Unbeknownst to them, a woman named Sheffield is at this time using Cromwell’s execution to incite her troops in Albion.

Preview:

The pace slowed down a little here, and after how quickly the whole Wales ordeal was over, this left me feeling that a good part of the episode was wasted in terms of advancing the overall plot. Julio appearance introduced his character, but for most of the episode, he was relegated to the role of love rival to get Saito mad. We’ve already gone through something similar back when Waldo was around in the first season, so it felt like there was less need for this. I guess it did make it clear that Saito and Julio don’t get along, but that could have been compressed and more story could have been developed about the impending war.
That war probably isn’t going to get underway until after next week’s episode, which looks to be about Louise’s family, including her two sisters. From the looks of it, Éléonore might be as into S&M as Louise is…

Summary:

Hayate is in the middle of sweeping the mansion grounds when he hears Nagi scream. He rushes to her room to find her furious with how her manga wasn’t selected for a magazine and with how the judge had commented that she didn’t have enough life experiences. Because of this, Nagi asks Hayate about what he did at age 13 so that she can figure out how their experiences differ, and when she realizes how much more he’s done, she decides to raise her experience by doing stuff she wouldn’t usually do. In this case, she wants to help Maria as a maid. Maria isn’t too keen on the idea and directs her anger at Hayate, particularly when Nagi starts breaking things as she attempts to clean. Once Nagi thinks she’s mastered cleaning, she moves on to mastering shopping, which she accomplishes by buying the store. Nagi then heads back to the mansion to clean a storehouse, but after she finds a bunch of Klaus portraits inside and Klaus himself pretending to be Rodin‘s The Thinker, she boards up the entrance and locks him in.

She then asks Hayate what she should do next, and Hayate mentions serving guests. By chance, Nagi finds Isumi on the mansion grounds because Isumi somehow had wandered all the way here after losing her eraser while doing homework. Nagi decides to use the chance to serve Isumi her original brand tea, but Hayate quickly realizes that this isn’t a good thing, so he pretends that the teacup is dirty and runs off with the teapot so that he can replace the tea with something actually palatable. Isumi finds the tea delicious, which makes Nagi really happy and prompts her to invite many more guests so that she can increase her experience further. When Hayate finds out that she’s going to be cooking, he has to step in again and replace all of the food she cooked. This leads to everyone saying that the food is delicious and applauding Nagi, and the only person who immediately figures out the truth is Hinagiku. Unfortunately, Yukiji later stumbles upon the actual pot of Nagi-cooked food that Hayate had hidden away, and her stomach explodes as a result of tasting it. When Nagi figures out what Hayate had done, she’s heartbroken that she was of no use, and she starts thinking that she has no talent.

After Hayate chases a crying Nagi outside and catches her when she trips on a rock, he tells her that she has talent for passion because of how hard she works until the end for what she loves. Hayate also suggests that her manga’s level is too high and that she actually has too much experience, so Nagi decides that she has to drop the level a bit. However, when Nagi shows Hayate her next manga, he sees that the level is still quite high.

Preview:

Let’s see, there were tons of references this episode, and the notables I caught were Nagi mentioning both the SOS-dan from Suzumiya Haruhi and Mobile Suit Gundam in her pre-OP talk with Hayate (she quotes Char Aznable later in the episode too), the Akagi scene during the mahjong part, and the badly-animated cabbage from Yoake Mae yori Ruri Iro na. However, the episode’s humor was more miss than hit for me, and I didn’t find Nagi striving to get life experiences by being a maid all that interesting. I had been hoping that they’d continue the storyline of Hayate trying to acquire a special technique, but maybe they will later. Next week seems to be another anime original episode, this time the requisite beach episode.

OP Sequence

OP: 「空色デイズ」 (Sorairo Days) by 中川翔子 (Nakagawa Shouko)
Watch the OP!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2

Summary:

It has been seven years since the fall of Teppelin, and the new human capital is called Kamina City. Though Lord Genome was defeated long ago and mankind came above ground, some mysteries remain about why he tried to force humanity underground and what the spiral power is. The one mystery they were able to solve was the true identity of old man Coco – he’s a beastman butler who takes care of Nia. They have been enjoying peace for seven years, but Lord Genome’s last words are slowly digging into their chests, and they pretend not to notice. On this particular day, Simon’s new job is as the commander-in-chief is giving him tons of paperwork to sign off on, including citizen complaints about taxes and the sewage. Rossiu considers these selfish things and comments on how the people have completely forgotten their underground lives, but Simon thinks that that’s okay. Nia then shows up at Simon’s office with a boxed lunch, giving Rossiu bad memories of her cooking, but luckily for him, she forgot his share.

Science Bureau Chief Leeron later reports the successful launch of a rocket into space towards the moon, but Legal Affairs Bureau Chief Kittan questions if there really is something on the moon. Simon is of course worried about the one million population warning that Lord Genome left, so he feels that they have to investigate. Rossiu then asks the People’s Bureau Chief Jougan about the population study, but they haven’t made much progress, so Rossiu gets permission from Simon to give orders to that bureau. Dayakka later is feeling down about the one million number, though his concern is more about his own child. His wife, Kiyoh, is near the end of her pregnancy and is currently living at home with the help of Kiyal when Nia pops in for a visit to tell the sisters about Simon proposing to her. Earlier, Simon had talked to her about seeing the same things, hearing the same sounds, and laughing the same way, and he had given her a ring to ask for her hand in marriage. Nia, however, had turned him down because she didn’t think that two people could become the same person. Hearing this, Kiyoh explains to Nia that what’s important is not the meaning of the words, but rather the feelings at the time. She then gives Nia a phone to call Simon and convey her feelings to him.

At that moment, Simon is staring up at the large Kamina monument thinking about back when it was still under construction. Back then, Yoko had left because she felt she wasn’t fit for government or politics, and the last thing she had told Simon was to protect Nia well. Simon now gets a phone call from Nia, and she tells him that she thinks they can live together since they’re different people. After she thanks him for the ring and says how happy she is, Simon hangs up and cheers to the statue. Rossiu, however, interrupts his celebration to report an attack by anti-government guerrillas in the south and shows Simon video of the Enkidu. Realizing that it’s Viral, Simon wants to go out on the Gurren Lagann, but Rossiu refuses to let him because Simon’s job to be the commander-in-chief of the new government. Instead, Viral has to face the Grapal corps that includes pilots Gimmy and Darry, and the Enkidu is quickly overwhelmed and brought down. Afterwards, Simon questions via hologram why Viral is going that far in opposing them, so Viral shows him the trail of humans that he’s protecting. These people want to live underground because they feel it is their home, and Viral is supporting them.

Simon is angry at Rossiu for not telling him about these people that they are bringing above ground by force, but Rossiu says that it’s for the sake of determining the population. He believes that if there are places that their eyes cannot see, then they cannot get an accurate count of the number of people, meaning that the one million mark could be passed right under their noses. Avoiding that is the duty of the government. Hearing this, Simon questions what Rossiu intends to do when they reach that number and if they’re going to kick people off the planet, an act that reminds him of the village Rossiu came from. Rossiu, however, feels that Simon doesn’t understand anything and returns to his own base of operations where his subordinate reports that the Spiral Power Laboratory has succeeded in starting the biocomputer. Rossiu feels that they can know the secrets of the world with this, and when his subordinate claims that Rossiu alone is holding up the government, Rossiu says that it’s not just him, but also all of those in the younger generation working for him. Everyone in the room then salutes him, causing Rossiu to smile a little.

That night, Simon gets a phone call from Nia telling him about Kiyoh giving birth to a baby girl. Unbeknownst to him, this marks the one millionth person on the planet, and a rift in the sky suddenly opens up to reveal a mecha that no one has seen before. It immediately starts destroying the city, so Simon hangs up the phone to deal with the situation. In front of the hospital, Nia notices the moon getting closer, and her body soon becomes covered in reddish markings. Kiyal exits the hospital looking for Nia a little later, but finds only her cell phone on the ground. Meanwhile, the Grapal corps has been sent out to combat the new threat, but their weapons can’t seem to damage it. At the command center, Kittan, Barinbou, and Jougan wish they had their Gunmen, but they are promptly informed by Kinon and Rossiu’s other subordinate that Gunmen are relics of the Helix King that have all been scrapped in this new age. The Grapals are mass production models specialized for combat based on research of the Gurren Lagann. They are, however, having a lot of trouble with the new enemy, and Darry would have gotten hit by a powerful beam if not for Simon arriving in the Gurren Lagann to save her.

Rossiu immediately tries to tell Simon how dangerous it is and how this isn’t his job, but Simon yells back that their number one job protecting the citizens and the town. Simon succeeds in using the Gurren Lagann’s drill to break through the enemy, but when it blows up, it breaks into tiny shapes that fall down and promptly explode on contact, covering the city in destruction. Right as a frustrated Rossiu is talking about how Simon recklessly attacked the enemy without knowing its true identity, Nia appears on all the video screens across the city. In a message to the people of the planet, she says that they, the Anti-Spirals, have determined that the people have reached the second stage of the spiral power’s danger level. Because of this, she announces that the humanity extermination system has been put into operation.

ED Sequence

ED: 「みんなのピース」 (Minna no Peace) byアフロマニア (afromania)
Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2
The new opening sequence, which uses a different verse of Sorairo Days, had me giggling with glee and anticipation when I first saw it, much of it due to the appearance of dark Nia. The shot of someone who appears to be Kamina also made me wonder if he’ll be making some sort of a comeback this season. As for the new ED, the animation is done in a similar black and white style as the first one. Minna no Pace is a little easier on the ears than Underground and quite a bit more upbeat, so I started liking it immediately.

Preview:

After how incredible episode 15 was, I had my worries that this show wouldn’t be able to get up to being that good again. Boy was I wrong. In terms of story and adrenaline, this episode picked up right where we left off, and there’s a ton of new stuff to consider. Simon is actually the character I have the least to say about since little about him has changed in these seven years aside from physical appearance and maturity. Nia’s new role, on the other hand, surprised me quite a bit. I had originally agreed with the theory that she would die at the end of the last story arc, but when that didn’t happen, I assumed she was safe. Instead, Nia has become the face of the Anti-Spirals that have come to exterminate humanity. It’s not clear to me yet why she was chosen, but I suspect it might have something to do with how Lord Genome originally created her.

A bigger part of this episode is focused on Rossiu, who used to be a supporting character and has now become somewhat of an antagonist with his own group of supporters. Antagonist may be too strong a word, but I’m not sure if I should be more worried about the new enemy or about what Rossiu will do. At the very least, there will probably be a lot of friction between him and Simon from now on because of their conflicting approaches to doing things. It also appears that Rossiu has a biocomputer in the works, and in terms of knowing the secrets of the world, it would make sense if that computer were the preserved head and mind of Lord Genome like the preview and OP shot hint at.

And then there’s Viral who has become somewhat of a noble outlaw kind of character, which makes me think that he’ll be joining Simon in the near future (as opposed to being the final boss), especially if Rossiu turns against Simon at some point or if the situation becomes really dire. Yoko is another character who will probably show up again when the going gets really tough, but for now, it’s sad to see her in a minor role that’s basically gone from this episode. At least grown-up Darry made up for it a little. In any case, I see tons of potential in this story, and if they keep delivering these kinds of exciting episodes, then Gurren Lagann will easily remain my favorite show that’s currently airing. I eagerly await next week’s episode.

 

After taking a week off from writing, I realized how hard it is to rank composers for the next category. In fact, I believe it is the hardest of them all. My analysis on these musicians requires lots of research and evaluation. Nonetheless, I managed to get it done. During this process, I did find something interesting…

 

In my very first post, you have seen this quote…

 

‘As for myself, I have numerous amounts of BGM in my iPod shuffle and MD player. I like to add variety in order to prevent hearing the same vocals over and over until I want to rip my ears off’

 

This is why I have not chosen Fujisawa Mamoru a.k.a. Joe Hisaishi as part of my top 20. Before you put me in the electric chair, let me explain.

 

No matter how skilled the performer may be, it will not mean much to anyone if it doesn’t create a personal connection. Having a bond between you and the BGM (or just any music in general) is important. For example, when I listen to a piece or a song, I ask myself one simple question…

 

“Do I enjoy it for its beat or does it offer more than it seems?”

 

This does not mean I am degrading other composers just because they may have not met my standards. I know all composers put their heart and soul into their work. I could never take that away from them. Ever. I put personal correlation as a higher priority than a catchy tune. Memorable beats are nice in the short term. Nevertheless, I’m a guy who focuses on the long run more.

 

Joe Hisaishi is not part of my top 20. For the record, I think he is an excellent composer. However, I feel that his work does not provide anything special for me as an individual. His music works very well with the Ghibli movies but I don’t hear anything that stands out or shows me anything beyond what it represents. There is something about the Ghibli movies that does not give me the urge to re-watch once it’s done but that’s an entirely different issue. In the end, I fail to see anything in his music on the Ghibli films that can recommend me to put it in my iPod shuffle or MD player.

 

There are people who would say…

 

“Wait a damn minute. What about the anime TV series he has worked on?”

 

Even so, I still stand by what I said.

Why? It is so obvious. I am a university student which means I was not old enough to watch any of Hisaishi’s work in the 1980s. In the 1980s, he worked on 8 anime TV series that had at least a minimum of 20 episodes each. Ever since the 80s died, he has never worked on a TV anime series again. I have tried to find any copies or ways to watch an episode from one of the 8 TV series. Unfortunately, finding them is less likely to occur than a snowball surviving in hell. No, I am not going to use Youtube because the quality is terrible. Therefore, I am forced to go with what I have. At least I can say variety does exist in him.

 

Then, there are fans who would counter with…

 

“You could just hear his OSTs instead of watching the anime episodes”

 

I refuse to do so because BGM provide emotion to scenery. BGM always go along side with something whether it’s a happy scene or a tragic moment. In short, it is not the main course of a feast. It is an irreplaceable side-dish. New implications to the BGM are formed AFTER you know its true meaning. Once it is acknowledged, you pay homage to it with your own definition. It ties to the personal connection that I mentioned earlier. Let me remind you that we are focusing on anime or anime-related only. Orchestral pieces (i.e. Mozart, Chopin, Brahms etc.) or anything non-anime related are irrelevant in this issue.

 

Without further delay, here are the bench players.

 

 

The Bench Players

 
 
 

	Asakura Noriyuki (Rurouni Kenshin, MAJOR) He built himself a nice little rut. I don’t know why he keeps a low profile of himself by working on only 4 animes in total despite how he has been involved in the industry for more than a decade. It may be because he is busy managing his own music studio. Anyway, this composer’s greatest strength is transition. I don’t know how he does it, but he has this awesome technique to change the mood in an instant. From happy to sad or vice versa, he can do it within one composition. One of my favorite BGM from Rurouni Kenshin is titled ‘Days to Remember’. It starts off melancholy and ends the piece by providing a glimmer of hope. Asakura is usually known for throwing jazz and rock in his music, but I think his conversion method proved to be more valuable. Masuda Toshio, whom I mention in my previous post, can actually learn a thing or two from him.
	Imahori Tsuneo (Cowboy Bebop [guitar], Hajime no Ippo, Gungrave, Trigun, Wolf’s rain [guitar]) Imahori is a guitarist first and a composer second. Motivation, counter (as in counterattack) and the blues are the themes he uses. I love how he puts full use to the instrument that he cherishes. At this point, he has established what kind of style is applied to his pieces. Don’t expect variety from this man because he will continue to do what he thinks seems fit. Keep shredding your guitar, Imahori, because I highly doubt anyone will get tired of you soon.
	Hirano Yoshihisa (Sensei no Ojikan, Ouran Koukou Host Club, Midori no hibi, Strawberry Panic) Despite how much people like Death Note, that franchise will not be included as part of Hirano’s contribution in this appraisal. Although my hate for the anime and manga is at its fullest extent, it does not justify why it is being excluded. The main reason why it is being banned is because the majority of the Death Note BGMs were composed by Taniuchi Hideki. This is why I detest assessing works that involves multiple composers on the same anime. It is not in equal terms. Hirano participated only 1/10 of the project. Greater part of the animes he has worked on is concentrated towards a high school environment. Hirano has managed to convey atmospheres differently. For example, he made a tone that is sophisticated yet upbeat in Ouran Koukou Host Club. I believe he is determined to make a name out of himself in the future. For now, this is where he stands. (Note: I do not hate Death Note because L died. I hate it because of HOW L died. Let’s face it. The Near/Melo arc is not the legitimate successor to the previous battle between L and Kira.)
	Hamaguchi Shiroh (Ah! My Goddess TV, Ookiku Furikabutte, Kiddy Grade) Every time I listen to his music, I sense inner peace. The melody is laid back but not completely. The odd thing about his composition is that it works for everybody. Hamaguchi’s tracks are one of a kind because it establishes a direct bond between you and your life. The term, normal life, comes to mind when you take note of his BGM. He has a process of making a pitch simple with the absence of repetition.
	Oshima Michiru (Fullmetal Alchemist, Le Chevalier D’Eon, Hana Yori Dango, Lord of Lords Ryu Knight) It is ironic when I found out that Oshima worked with Sahashi Toshihiko in Lord of the Lords Ryu Knight. Why? It’s because they have the same style. Similar to Sahashi, she shows her compassion for the orchestra in Fullmetal Alchemist. However… If she never worked on FMA, would she be well-known as she is now? I ponder upon that question and decided to research more about her. Recognition for Oshima was seriously overdue when my study concluded that she has been in the industry for approximately 20 years (and still counting). The popularity of the anime may have been a factor. Out of 19 animes she worked in the span of those 20 years, Fullmetal Alchemist was by far the most popular anime. This proves that she is working within her own tempo. I do not believe she does it for the glory or the popularity. I think she truly dedicates her work for the fans no matter how big or small the base may be.

 

During my absence, I notice how testy the RC community has been with a certain post that has taken place within the last couple of weeks. I want to be clear about something before I close.

 

Referring to the Joe Hisaishi argument or any other argument at that matter, people may think I am selfish or even ignorant. In the end, I could not give a damn because I made my point by using all of my resources, information highway and experience. Furthermore, I have never disproved of Hisaishi’s work nor will I ever. I understand there are people who will disagree with my view in various topics. That is fine. If you think what I said is wrong, back it up. Don’t give me a simple stereotypical statement made by some ill-mannered jackass who has an IQ as low as Michael Vick. That’s right, I said it.

 

I write the columns in this blog because of what I learned from Comic Party with this quote I tweaked with my own ideals…

 

“As long as there is one reasonable person who shares your view, you should never give up no matter what others may think or say.”

 

Coming down the home stretch, One-Hit wonders will be next. :P

Summary:

Examining the vegetable garden at home one day, Tarou finds that his eggplants are still quite small and urges them to do their best, vowing that he will too. At school, Takako is being asked by her teacher about any troubles she might be having, and although she thinks of Tarou, she denies having any problems. When asked about her future plans, Takako thinks privately that she wants to marry into a rich family, but she tells her teacher that she doesn’t have anything she wants to do yet, so her teacher suggests that she be more proactive. Takako’s chance comes when her teacher announces in class that the principal is looking for two people to help with the school fields. At first, no one wants to volunteer, but when Tarou raises his hand because he sees the possibility of getting some vegetables out of this, all the girls suddenly want to join him. Their teacher decides to pick the girl by drawing lots, and by chance, Takako gets chosen.

At the greenhouse after school, the principal reveals that he knows why Tarou came and wonders if Tarou would like the tomatoes or the eggplants. As for the actual work, the two students’ first duty involves shoveling from a compost heap, and as they do so, Takako comments on how Tarou seems used to this. When Tarou replies that he’s done this for his own garden at home, Takako interprets that to mean that Tarou’s family has a lot of farmland. She almost faints from her daydream, but Tarou manages to catch her. Tarou then has to leave early so that he can make it to a supermarket sale, and when he gets there, he finds Takako’s mother already fighting for vegetables in the middle of a crowd. He remembers her from the croquette sale, and after she recognizes him too, she shows him the advertisement for a new supermarket. In it is a special for 2 kg of Matsusaka beef for a mere 98 yen, but it’ll only be available to one shopper. Because he wants to be able to have a BBQ for his family, Tarou asks Takako’s mother to make him into her apprentice.

Takako’s mother Maria agrees to become his master, and she tells Takako all about it when she goes home, though Takako can’t believe that there’s someone like that from her school. At school the next day, Tarou tells Takuya about the supermarket master, and to his surprise, Takuya wants to come along too. After class, Tarou gets introduced by the principal to former student Nagahara Makoto who now does research in agriculture. Since he has an interest in this, Tarou sincerely asks how he can grow huge vegetables – enough to feed eight people – which causes both the principal and Nagahara to laugh. Later, when he’s working with Takako, she suddenly asks about his home because of what he had said yesterday, so he tells her that he lives in a house of eight people. Not knowing the truth, Takako thinks that Tarou lives with his father, mother, brother, sister, and three butlers, but by the time she boldly tries to ask him to admit her into his family, he’s already gone.

Together with Takuya, Tarou has arrived at the supermarket for some training with Maria. Today’s lesson involves securing a desired product before it’s bought up and before the afternoon half-price sales begin. That way, they can put it back on the shelf right as the employees are placing the discount stickers, and then grab the item again once it’s been labeled. Takuya, however, gets his discounted fish taken away by another shopper, which earns him a scolding from Maria who thinks of all this as a battle. To Tarou’s surprise, Takuya wants to practice this again, and afterwards he gives Tarou the fish that he bought because he didn’t come wanting fish. When Tarou questions what he did want, Takuya doesn’t answer and heads home instead. That night, Maria praises her student over dinner and suggests that he’d be a great boyfriend for Takako. Since she still doesn’t know that the person in question is Tarou, Takako refuses to date such a commoner, especially since the idealized Tarou she has in her mind is both rich and good looking.

Although she realizes that a prince like Tarou and a commoner like her are mismatched, Takako feels that her prince has a commoner’s sense, so that even people like her can have a sense of familiarity. After going shopping for some gardening supplies with him the next day, Takako asks why he wanted the school gardening duty. Telling her the truth, Tarou says that it’s for his family, and when Takako asks him about what he wants to do in the future, he talks about wanting everyone in his family to smile. With how well she’s getting along with him and how much closer they’ve become, Takako thinks that this could be the start of a relationship. Meanwhile, her mother is quizzing Takuya on the most important part of a printed advertisement. She feels that these advertisements are like love letters from the supermarket – a letter of challenge to housewives.

Tarou soon arrives to join them, so Maria brings out a sheet of paper detailing the floor plan of the new supermarket. When Tarou questions how she got it, Takuya repeats something that she had told him earlier: the person who controls the information controls the war. In fact, not only does Maria have a floor plan, she also had a cardboard model ready too, and the three proceed to plan out the best possible route to the beef. Afterwards, Tarou invites her to his house since his own mother had wanted to meet his teacher. Overwhelmed by the sight of Tarou’s siblings, Maria hugs Tarou’s mother for raising such a great son. She ends up helping them with dinner, and seeing the large family happily eating together makes her determined to get Tarou the Matsusaka beef. Thus, she immediately starts both Tarou and Takuya on a special training regimen that lasts the entire week leading up to the sale.

With her mother busy, Takako finds herself alone with her father who tells her that he doesn’t care if she marries someone rich or poor, good-looking or plain – he just wants her to be happy. Takako doesn’t even stick around to hear him finish what he’s saying, and she runs out instead thinking about how she’s going to confess her feelings tomorrow to Tarou. She approaches him the next day during class to ask him about doing something together, but the way Tarou looks at Takuya makes her realize that he already has something else to do today. Despite this, Tarou promises to come back to see her after his important thing. Today is the day of the store opening sale, and when Tarou and Takuya arrive at the supermarket, Takako’s mother reminds them that they’re each on their own now since there’s only one pack of beef. After muscling their way to the front of the line, Tarou and Takako’s mother lead the charge into the supermarket as soon as they’re allowed in.

However, when Takako’s mother unexpectedly leaves the pack, it’s up to Tarou alone to get the prized pack of beef. He ends up succeeding and brings the beef out to a waiting Takuya and Maria who have secured the other supplies he needs for a BBQ. They had known how much Tarou had wanted to have a party for his family like the one pictured on the advertisement, and they had also wanted to see his sibling’s happy faces, so this was all for him. Before he can go home for the BBQ though, Tarou remembers his promise to Takako and decides to ask her to join them. He arrives back at school right as Takako is thinking about going home, though when he asks her to come to the party, she misinterprets it as a formal dance party. Thus, she is quite shocked when he brings her to his ramshackle home where her mother and the others have already started the BBQ. Tarou’s attention meanwhile is more focused on how happy his family is, but unbeknownst to him, his father is back in town.

Preview

Just like jaalin wrote about earlier this week, this episode had me all smiles again. Takako’s mother Maria came across as a bit of a villain after the first episode where she stole the last croquette out from under Tarou, but this episode portrays her in a much more flattering way. I laughed so much at all her comparisons of shopping to war, and it all culminated in this hilarious scene that was almost like watching an infantry charge in a war movie. And to think, all that preparation was just for a piece of premium quality beef. Going overboard like that is part of what I find so fun with this show, along with all the feel-good moments when Tarou comes through for his family.
The end of this episode brings along two major events, one being Takako finding out the truth about Tarou and the other being the return of Yamada Kazuo. Actually, I’m not even sure if Takako has truly accepted the truth or if she’s going to write this off with another one of her delusions. Next week, however, seems to focus more on Kazuo’s return and the introduction of some foreigners to the Yamada family.

June 11. The fated day is approaching. Rika tears another day off the calendar with a heavy heart and a futile resolve. She tries to keep her spirits up for the sake of her friends, but her emotional fatigue cannot hold up much longer. Maybe a trip to the festival grounds can cheer her up?

Wait, no… I take that back.

At the temple, the townspeople are busy preparing for Watanagashi. Keiichi, Rena, and the Sonozakis are checking out the scene, and are having a good time when the fat cop Ooishi shows up with his uniformed entourage and puts everyone in a crappy mode with his creepy voice and unseemly suspenders. Rika and Satoko show up right then and chase off the cops with their loli innocence.

Supposedly, Rika is doing a miko performance during the festival, so Keiichi pulls his onii-san card and tells her he’s looking forward to Watanagashi. Naturally, this puts her (and the rest of us) in an even worse mood – luckily Rena is there to salvage the mess with another string of “ooh~ Rika in a miko dress~ omochikaeri~”

That night, Rika and Satoko head off to buy some meat for dinner. Apparently, Satoko has some trauma against any adult in the village – her family had vehemently battled the construction of the dam previously, eventually leading to their death / disappearance – seeing her hesitation, Rika puts the verbal smackdown on the meat seller and finishes up her shopping quickly. The forlorn music and dim lights suggest that something tragic is about to happen.

The next day, the Hinamizawa baseball team is getting cleaned out by some ace pitcher from the other team. Satoko decides to take things into her own hands and recites an incantation… into the pay phone, where she’s telling Keiichi to bring his ass on over. Within minutes, he arrives on his bike and brandishes his… golf club. Naturally, worthless K-chan gets K’d in 3 pitches.

During the break, Keiichi finds the pitcher by the water fountain. Their exchange goes something like this:

K: I hear you like desserts, you pussy.
P: No! I like grilled mea…
K: Desserts with colorful cream for those little girls with frilly skirts!!
P: NOOOOOOO I’m a pervert!!
K: Yes, you are. …But what’s wrong with a guy being a pervert?
P: Wha…huh?
K: You must be honest to yourself! Here are two tickets to that dessert store down the street. All you have to do is follow my instructions…
P: Yes master!!

Granted that it was supposedly planned by Satoko, Keiichi’s ability to play both bad cop and the good cop by himself is nothing short of astounding. But how much longer can the imminent tragedy be prolonged?

Elsewhere, Rika continues to foul up the mood with her emoness. After some encouragement from Satoko, she realizes that being down won’t help the situation, and picks herself up and cheers for Keiichi. “At least I can enjoy this fleeting moment…”

Although cheerful on the outside, Satoko is still able to see the conflict that brews within Rika. That night, with Satoko asleep, Rika starts talking again, continuing to lament her powerlessness and the despair of futility. Except this time, a rather familiar voice answers back. It’s Horie Yui, with her optimistic voice trying to push Rika to keep fighting. Have patience. Keep trying. Don’t give up, she says, but the unsteadiness of her own voice understands that all this optimism is likely to be in vain. Something will eventually get us out of this… Rika gets mad and tells her to stfu, “I’ll just be killed off again as always.” Satoko, having been woken up by the last line, confronts Rika about it. Who’s going to get killed off? “I am,” Rika replies, “due to a fate that I cannot escape.”

And just like that, Satoko wakes up, as if it was all a bad dream. It’s morning again, and Rika is in the kitchen as always, her nipaa self cooking up some breakfast. Was it a dream? Did you really say you would be killed off? Rika denies everything, but Satoko’s insight tells her otherwise.

June 12th club activity is something called “survival can kicking,” which involves Satoko and a can in the middle of a courtyard surrounded by traps – first person to kick the can wins. Keiichi claims the traps are all bluffs and runs straight into them… only to get trapped. Then, Rika inexplicably runs into one of the traps herself… and pops up like a gopher with a trademark “mii~”

Satoko gets worried again, and while Rika is out of the room, fesses up her “dream” to everyone else. Who would want to kill Rika? Seems unlikely, Rena points out, considering that some people even consider Rika to be the reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama. Rika comes in and once again denies everything.

That evening, Rika is standing atop the lookout point with the town basked in the orange sunset. Hocchan is talking to her again, but even in the light we are unable to see what she looks like, or if she is even a physical manifestation at all. Rika explains that if she were to get Satoko, or anybody else involved, they would be cast in an unimaginable fate.

Satoko is woken up once more by Rika. “There’s nothing you can do. It’s already too late…”

Thoughts

An odd episode in the tradition Higurashi sense – the previous ep should have taken care of all the happy-go-lucky things, with the second ep delving into the real meat of the situation. Still, Rika’s continued spiral into lonely despair was a tragedy in itself – I’m sure that line about “don’t keep everything to yourself, let your friends help” still echoes in her mind, and she is doing all she can to keep herself from breaking down and crying out for help.

The introduction of Hocchan’s character (those who have played the game can tell you her name, as it has not yet been revealed in the anime) reminds me of that C.C. doppelganger trap character that is sure to play a prominent role in ep 24 and 25 – difference being that the one in Higurashi seems much more helpless, and is seemingly less mature. Perhaps she is something that Rika confided in, in one of her early reincarnations, and in doing so, dragged her into this endless cycle as well. Being one that wanted to help Rika, it’s understandable that she’s going to be the more optimistic one, but her wavering voice suggests that she also knows how foolish her hopes are.

It’s kinda like that movie “Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo” – no matter how many times you redo it, and no matter how many iterations you experience, what is predestined to happen is going to happen. How can one break free? Ashton Kutcher would tell you, just find the point where it all happened and make the ultimate sacrifice – give up the love of the very ones you are trying to protect in order to have them live on. Is Rika able to do this?

-jaalin

Summary:

With the Stargazer still speaking cryptically about the stars, one of the girls in the Astronomy Department wonders if the Stargazer is reading the stars’ Garching wavelengths, and Kanami feels that the Stargazer even speaking is a message in itself. Meanwhile, an announcement is made throughout metropolitan Tokyo of a curfew because of the terrorism threat, and no one on the rainy streets notices or cares about July walking along getting soaked without an umbrella. At the same time, Yin wakes up in Amber’s lap at a shrine with Amber complimenting her on how cute she looks while sleeping. Hei and Mao discover Yin gone from the cigarette shop, and in her place is a pink envelope with Amber’s name on it. Hei runs out after seeing the note, though he gets cut off by Huang who offers him a ride. Back at the Observatory, Kanami violates an order to keep silent and phones Misaki to tell her about the Stargazer. She offers to send Misaki a list later of the stars that sparkled during the building explosions, but Kanami is curious about the Contractor involvement because she had thought that those explosions were retribution attacks by the various intelligence agencies. Misaki doubts this because of how public the incidents were compared to how shadowy those agencies usually move.

As she drives along, Misaki then notices July talking to an officer on the street. When she talks with him, July reveals how November 11 wanted the boy to find her if something happened to him. Since Misaki wants to know where November 11 had been headed, July explains that he tracks his comrades, so Misaki gets him to take her there. November 11 is actually being held in the old bar that Maki and Amagiri are using as a hideout, and at the moment, Maki is practicing his Japanese greetings when Amagiri brings him milk to drink. Maki burns his tongue trying to down the hot milk, and when Amagiri tells him to drink it slowly, Maki points out that cold milk wouldn’t fulfill his price. Their conversation gets interrupted when November 11 suddenly sits up and asks to be allowed a smoke. November 11 claims that he has some in the left pocket of his suit, but Amagiri refuses to touch him because he knows that November 11 is an excellent Contractor by how November 11 had protected himself from Maki’s explosions earlier with a shield of ice. Amagiri then starts lecturing November 11 about the dangers of smoking, though of course November 11 knew all of that already. Realizing that this is November 11′s price, Amagiri wonders what happens to Contractors who don’t pay and jokes that they melt like butter.

After Amagiri heads out, November 11 calls Maki praiseworthy for studying between blowing up buildings. Maki responds by saying that Amber taught him the meaning of words and that she wanted him to practice. He is willing to do anything for her, including destroy the city. Meanwhile, inside Huang’s car as it races down a road, Mao questions why Amber took Yin and what happened in South America all those years ago between her and Hei. Instead of answering the cat, Hei orders Huang to stop since he’s just realized that they’re going the wrong way. Huang then turns into a warehouse and explains that the higher-ups in the Organizations have ordered him not to let Hei and Amber meet. Hei runs out of the car when he hears this, but Huang shoots him in the leg to stop him. In pain, Hei threatens to kill Huang for getting in his way, however Huang feels that it’ll be Hei who gets killed for defying the Organization. When Huang then momentarily gets distracted by Mao telling him to stop this, Hei uses the chance to limp and roll to safety behind a crate. A combination of Hei’s cables and a roof crane crashing down causes Huang to trip onto the ground, giving Hei the opportunity to electrocute him.

Back at the old bar, Maki questions why Contractors are being used by man. Maki feels that they as Contractors are the chosen ones and cites how people who can’t make contracts fear them. He believes that they are the more suitable beings to lead the world of the future. Maki eventually reveals that they’re trying to cause the same tragedy as the one that happened in South America, and although he doesn’t know why, he thinks that because Amber said so, it must be necessary. Amagiri then joins the conversation by saying that November 11 should understand the meaning of their creation and actions. He claims that their group, Evening Primrose, welcomes November 11 and tries to get him to join them, so the MI6 agent asks what privileges he’d get. Amagiri’s simple answer is the future, and he feels that November 11 doesn’t have many other choices in such a situation, so he should decide rationally. Hearing this causes November 11 to laugh because he remembers saying the same thing to a certain Contractor not long ago who he didn’t think had a chance to win. That Contractor had still attacked him, and November 11 had questioned what that person was thinking. In any case, November 11 rejects the offer to join, and at the same moment, a heavily armed SWAT team bursts through the door with Misaki.

After November 11 jokes that Misaki is like a princess riding a white horse, she reveals that his companion – July – informed them of this place. Although he’s being held under gunpoint, Maki uses his powers to blow up parts of the room and create a distraction long enough for himself and Amagiri to escape via a secret passageway. When they reach the street, Maki wants to know where Amber is, but Amagiri still only reveals that she’s waiting for the final key. This causes Maki to question who is so important that Amber would leave him, and he gets angry when Amagiri says that there’s no need to tell him. Amagiri then sends Maki towards the second rendezvous point and gets the boy to comply by claiming that it’s Amber’s order. However, as soon as Amagiri goes out of sight, Maki turns and runs the other direction. Amber is at that time telling Yin about how a certain guy has only truly smiled once. She admits to feeling that she can do anything for this person if she can see just see his smile again, and she thinks that Yin feels this way too. The person she was talking about – Hei – is currently limping in their direction, but he runs into Maki along the way.

Recognizing who Hei really is, Maki reveals that their previous encounter was the first time he had said thank you without thinking about it, and that made him very happy. However, Maki now feels jealousy and throws several exploding rocks at Hei. After dodging behind a car, Hei electrocutes the water puddle that Maki is standing in, but Maki manages to get out of it in time. Maki then throws another rock that blows up the car, and after it explodes, Maki says that Amber had always spoken of Hei and that’s why she didn’t take Maki with her. Hei’s body isn’t beside the car though, so Maki tries to chase him, but the boy doesn’t get very far because his legs get frozen to the ground by November 11. When Maki escapes by using his power to melt the ice, November 11 tells Misaki to go after Hei while he and July go after Maki. November 11 then sees Maki blow his way into a nearby building, and the boy challenges the MI6 agent to come after him because he’s used his handprint as a trap on everything so that November 11 can’t attack him. Feeling that the appropriate Contractor for Amber is himself, Maki wants November 11 to show him something stronger than himself.

Rushing up the stairs to the room that Maki is in, November 11 almost opens a door, but July stops him from touching it shortly before it explodes; July feels that they can do it together. In a semi-delusional state now, Maki wants Amber to tell him that he’s the best, but when he stumbles to the door and opens it, he finds rain pouring through a hole in the ceiling. Standing in the rain is November 11 holding a spear of ice. By now, Amagiri has reached the shrine and Hei eventually limps his way there too. As soon as Amber sees that Hei is hurt, she runs to him in concern, but he slaps away her hand. He isn’t going to forgive the person he thinks is a traitor, though before he kills her, he wants to know what happened back then to his sister Bai. Amber thinks that he should say something else before talking about that, like how it’s been a long time since they’ve seen each other or how she’s still beautiful, but when Hei insists on her answering him, she questions if he wants to meet his sister. She offers to let him meet Bai, though when Hei asks where she is, Amber playfully replies that Bai is very far and very close as she points to his heart. This earns her a slap across the face from Hei, but Amber remains calm and tells Hei that he can meet his sister if he comes with her. However, she questions what Hei would do if the town had to disappear into darkness for the sake of that meeting. This only gets Hei angrier at her, and he starts to activate his Contractor power right as Misaki bursts onto the scene with her gun drawn.

Seeing what Hei is about to do, Yin yells for him to stop and Amagiri activates his power as he yells for Amber to get out of the way. Amber, however, chooses to use her own Contractor power and freezes everything. Though Hei can’t hear her, she tells him that she’s traveled a lot and that she’s wanted to see him for a long, long time. With tears in her eyes, she then kisses him. Afterwards, she flicks Amagiri’s forehead to unfreeze him, and when he realizes what’s going on, he warns her about how there’s a limit to which she can pay her price, so she should think about when to use it. As she passes by Misaki on her way out of the shrine, Amber asserts that this was one of those times. Back at the Observatory, the Stargazer is the only one unfazed by the time stop, and she tells the stars not to be impatient because the full moon is yet to come. When the world returns to normal, the Stargazer has fallen silent once again. Misaki emerges from the time stop to find her glasses on the top of her head instead of on her face, and by the time she puts them back on, there’s no one left at the shrine – only an umbrella.

In the aftermath, Amber and Amagiri head to the rendezvous point and meet with two other women and a man. They are willing to wait for now and feel that a certain man is necessary to make the flower of their Evening Primrose bloom. Amagiri then notes that Maki should have already come here, but Amber knows that the boy isn’t coming. In fact, Maki had been stabbed by November 11 who had been helped out by a bandaged up, but otherwise cheerful April. Huang meanwhile wakes up in the warehouse and realizes that Hei had gone easy on him. As the sun rises, Hei returns to his apartment and checks the inside of a drawer where he keeps the charm Amber gave him.

Preview

Well, this episode gives us plenty of Amber, and she turned out to be quite nice and caring, making her that much harder to hate as a villain (which is probably a good thing in terms of storytelling). It seems pretty clear that she’s in love with Hei, regardless of how he feels about her or abuses her, and she even went as far as to use her Contractor power, which shows how important this was to her. Heck, she even appeared to have pushed up Misaki’s glasses, allowing Hei and Yin those extra few seconds to get away while Misaki was putting the glasses back on. I get the feeling that everything Amber has done, she’s done for his sake, but their past still remains unclear, so that’s just speculation. We also don’t know what Evening Primrose’s ultimate goals are – unless it’s making Contractors the dominant race – and how Amber’s feelings for Hei fit into it, but for now I have a hard time believing that she’s sinister enough to be the final boss type bad guy. That being said, I don’t expect that she’ll survive through the end of the series, especially not if Hei doesn’t either.
As for Maki, his attachment to Amber led to his downfall since he didn’t just do what Amagiri told him to. I didn’t think November 11 would kill Maki since he was only a kid, but he did in fact stab him. Maybe it’s okay since we only saw the before and after and not the actual act. On a related note, I like how they contrasted the MI6 group working together to overcome Maki’s power with how Maki was all alone. Similarly to Yin two episodes ago, July seems to put a lot of importance into being a comrade and companion to November 11 and April.
Overall, I’m beginning to think that we’re at the point where there’s more than enough story for them to completely cover in the remainder of this series. Among other things, we still know relatively little about the organization Hei and Huang belong to, Hei’s past, what happens when Contractors don’t pay their price, and now there are three new characters belonging to Evening Primrose who might complicate matters further. It doesn’t look like Amber will be in this next arc, but regardless, I’m excited about where the story is going.

Summary:

When the news of what happened at the Gradisca mines reaches the capital, Hermione tracks down Mercutio to ask if Romeo is okay. After Mercutio informs her that Romeo is safe, Hermione wants Montague to bring Romeo back since it was originally Juliet’s fault. She then decides to go after Romeo, so she secretly sets out alone by carriage, much to the dismay of her parents who go to Montague about it. Meanwhile, the Capulet group is still on their way to Ariel’s home in Mantua, and when they stop for a break, Antonio asks Juliet if she wants to see Romeo. Juliet does, but she also knows that now isn’t the time for that. At the next town, they find a tavern with some withered roses hanging upside down by the entrance, and Curio and Antonio learn about what happened at the Gradisca mines. Noticing how concerned Juliet is, Francisco suggests that something happening to Romeo is a big deal, so he’s likely to be safe. They eventually arrive at Ariel’s house where there is also a wreath of withered roses hanging upside down by the door, and they are greeted by the elder butler Balthazar and his granddaughter Regan.

Hermione meanwhile gets attacked by bandits who take her carriage and leave her on the side of the road. As she lies there on the ground, her hatred grows as she blames Juliet for stealing Romeo from her. She eventually runs into a man driving another carriage towards Mantua and pays him with a ring to take her there. Back at Ariel’s mansion, Curio asks Balthazar about the withered roses hung at the entranceway and learns that roses are on the Montague family crest. Curio later sees Juliet praying for Romeo’s well being, and he decides to go with her when she wants to head out to do some grocery shopping with Regan. It is during this trip to town that they notice a commotion over a girl who has collapsed. When Juliet rushes over to help, she realizes that the girl is none other than Hermione, but when Hermione recognizes Juliet, she starts screaming. Her hatred boils over to the point where she picks up a rock and tries to attack Juliet with it, and even though Curio stops her, Hermione still manages to yell that she can’t become happy as long as Juliet is around. Hermione eventually faints from exhaustion, so they bring her back to the mansion and Juliet cares for her.

When Hermione wakes up, she quickly looks around and finds a knife lying on the nightstand. She attempts to stab Juliet with it, but to her shock, Juliet stops it with her bare hand. Juliet, however, isn’t mad, and after bandaging herself, she tells Hermione that hurting someone hurts yourself. She also admits to being relieved in being able to meet Hermione since they both have feelings for Romeo, but Hermione makes it clear that she was going to see Romeo, not Juliet. Hearing this causes Juliet to start questioning if Romeo is safe, and upon seeing how desperate Juliet is about it, Hermione reveals that she had heard he is. Juliet is so glad to hear this that she starts crying, and Hermione quietly says that it would have been better if Juliet was a worse woman. The next morning, Hermione demands a carriage to take her back to Neo Verona, and to her surprise, Juliet insists on treating her like a guest and wants prompt arrangements to be made. Before she heads off, Hermione tells Juliet that her coming here is going to be a secret because she doesn’t want Romeo to find out, and Juliet smiles as she watches the carriage depart.

Preview

It wasn’t unexpected to see Hermione and Juliet reconcile their differences a little, but I didn’t think that it would happen so quickly in just this one episode. I guess you could say that it shows that Hermione wasn’t a very strong antagonist. I’m not saying that they should have dragged it on further, but with that taken care of in this one episode, I am left wondering what her role is from now on. At worst she’ll treat Juliet as a rival which probably won’t mean anything since Romeo is unlikely to be swayed towards her. At best she’ll now be an ally who helps out Romeo and Juliet at a critical moment. Maybe she’ll be the one who ultimately offs Mercutio or something if he threatens Romeo, though I suspect Tybalt will still get those honors.
By overall standards, this wasn’t so bad, but in comparison to the episodes so far, this is probably the worst animated one. Almost every shot of Hermione looked off, and a few of Juliet’s did too. The preview looks pretty good though, and since Tybalt’s finally appearing again, hopefully the story can get kicked up a notch too since we haven’t exactly gone through the most exciting string of episodes recently.