Random Curiosity

Summary:

Five years ago, the Girouard military tried to perform its own Resonance, but the experiment ended in failure, and Garnet was frustrated at how they couldn’t do what the ISDA could. Back in the present, Jin and Gio arrive at the city on the moon, and Jin is still able to hear her singing. Toa is at that moment crying to herself beside a basketball court where a bunch of kids are playing, though those kids disperse when it starts to rain. She remains out in the rain until a woman comes by and offers her some relief under an umbrella. Gio and Jin arrive in the area soon after, however Toa is gone by then. Jin is nevertheless sure that he heard Toa’s song, but Gio is skeptical and decides to leave Jin since their deal was that he would do so if Toa wasn’t on the moon. Back on Earth, Kiril, Sakaki, and Yuuri tell a room full of reporters the truth about Thanatos and the D Project. Kiril later informs Garnet as she arrives on the moon that Jin is there, and it’s Garnet’s job to capture Gio.

Laina meanwhile tells the rest of his team that they’ll be implementing the D Project and that the search for Gio is being entrusted to the Girouard military. The others object, but Laina says that it’s an order from the brass. Kazuki in particular doesn’t take this very well, and Akira tries to strike up a conversation with him after the meeting. She recalls how Jin had told him that he wanted to know the truth and how he went to the moon onboard Gio, so she thinks that the Album is on the moon. Akira suggests that Gio doesn’t hate Kazuki and just wants to see the Album for whatever reason. Yuuri overhears all this as she passes by, and she ends up asking Akira for the details. On the moon, Jin is still sure that Toa is around there somewhere, however he gets ambushed by Girouard men before he can find her. With Jin in custody, Garnet temporarily takes over the television broadcast across the city so that she can send a secret message directed at Gio that only Dragons can hear, instructing him to surrender if he wants Jin’s release. It turns out that Toa hears this message too and gets alarmed, though Gio himself largely ignores it for now.

When Jin questions what Garnet and the Girouard military is after, she tells him that he’s the bait for them to catch some big game. Jin believes that it’s useless because Gio won’t come, but Garnet laughs at the thought that a Communicator would abandon his Master. She also doesn’t take any crap from Jin when he starts questioning what the Resonance is and smacks him with the hilt of her sword. Gio meanwhile accidentally bumps into the group of kids who were playing by Toa earlier, and one of them drops the video camera that he had been recording with. The camera starts playing back the video that has a shot of Toa in it, making Gio realize that she is indeed here. Back on Earth, Yuuri takes the information about the Album being on the moon and tries to get Sakaki to send the Dragonauts. Sakaki insists that the duty of the Dragonauts is to accomplish the D Project, so Yuuri wonders if Sakaki doesn’t want to capture the culprit of the shuttle accident with his own hands.

While waiting for Gio to show up, Garnet talks to her superior about bringing Gio to their military’s research facility as soon as they capture him. To Jin’s surprise, Gio actually shows up at the designated site soon after and walks right into a trap that embeds small particles into him which prevent him from Actualizing. Garnet tries to have her men capture him, but Gio is still able to move and knocks them all out. This leaves Garnet to challenge Gio personally, and she has an advantage against the weakened Gio. However, Gio continues resisting, and during this time, Jin starts fighting with the guards and manages to fire a shot of one of their rifles into the computer controlling the CSS stuff weakening Gio. When the machine goes down, Gio leaps into the nearby trailer to save Jin and transforms into a Dragon. They then try to escape, but Garnet orders the release of the Agathion, a Dragon-like creature that grapples onto Gio and pulls him back down. Gio is able to overpower the Agathion and drags it along for a ride before slamming it into the ground. This leads to the Agathion going out of control and killing its controller, so Gio destroys it.

Unbeknownst to all of them, Toa saw the entire battle and watches as Gio flies away. Jin and Gio eventually reenter the city, and Jin asks why Gio returned to him. Gio answers by reiterating their original deal of him abandoning Jin if Toa wasn’t on the moon. However, since he knows now that Toa is on the moon, he feels that they can search for her together.

Preview:

The huge breasts haven’t really bothered me…up until now. They seemed even more exaggerated than normal this episode, which probably has a lot to do with how much screen-time Garnet got. Certain shots didn’t have the best animation quality either, and that seemed to lead to some of the inflation. I guess Hirano Aya fans at least get to hear some of her doing her best tough voice. It always impresses me that her range includes a voice like that and also a voice like Konata’s from Lucky Star, though both of them are still very distinctively hers.

Anyway, this episode gave some motivation to Garnet and the Girouard side with their Resonance goal, though I still don’t quite get why Kiril works with them at all. You’d think that with all the commotion they made in the previous episode over Gio, the ISDA would want to handle things themselves instead of handing it off to someone who looks like they’d backstab you in a second. Seems like they’ll all get involved in next week’s episode though, and the preview indicates that Toa and Jin will get reunited too.

Summary:

In order to save the young girl, Ichigo and company beat up on the Hollows chasing her, but to their surprise, the girl yells for them to stop. It turns out that she’s an Arrancar, and this was all just a game for them. She then introduces herself as Nel Tu, her brothers are Pesche and Dondochakka (who aren’t really her brothers), and their pet is Bawabawa. Ichigo questions if they’re really Arrancar since they give a different feeling than the Arrancar who came to the real world, so Nel explains that those were the Números – the Menos Grande and higher who become Arrancar. The Números are identified by their two digits numbers and are under direct control of the Espada. It is at this point that Nel realizes that Ichigo and company are the ones who don’t look like Arrancar, and she panics when they turn out to be Shinigami, Quincy, and human because she thinks they’re the bad guys and are going to kill her.

Unsure of what to do, Nel talks with her brothers and decides to play the endless chasing game, so she steals Ichigo’s zanpaktou and starts running. Bawabawa gets Ishida and Sado running too, and the game doesn’t end until Nel trips over a tree branch. Ichigo saves her from getting buried under the others when they all trip as well, and after checking to see if she’s okay, he turns towards the palace, ready to continue heading towards it again. Nel starts crying because he’s leaving, and it is at this point that a huge Hollow called Lunuganga emerges from the sand. It quickly becomes apparent that Lunuganga is hostile, so Ichigo fires off a Getsuga Tenshou. Although this splits Lunuganga’s head in half, the Hollow is able to reform because he’s made of sand. Lunuganga can also create twisters, and one of them nearly sucks Nel in. Fortunately, Ichigo grabs her hand in time, and he Ishida, and Sado use their special abilities to destroy a twister each.

Their simultaneous attack on the giant Hollow appears at first glance to destroy Lunuganga, but a large sand pit then develops underneath their feet. Ichigo learns from Nel that Lunuganga’s weakness is water, but there is no water in this desert. Nevertheless, a blast of ice suddenly comes out of nowhere, freezes Lunuganga, and shatters him. The culprit is Rukia, and she’s arrived with Renji. The first thing the two of them do when they reach Ichigo is to hit him for coming to Hueco Mundo without waiting for them. Rukia and Renji were determined to come back from Soul Society, and she questions why Ichigo didn’t believe in them since they’re friends. Ichigo realizes that she’s right, and after a botched introduction from Nel, Pesche and Dondochakka, Ichigo and company start to resume their trek towards the palace. However, Nel insists on taking Ichigo to Las Noches, so the group rides Bawabawa through the desert instead of walking.

Along the way, Ichigo asks Rukia about the mantles that she and Renji are wearing, and he’s shocked to learn that were given by Byakuya. Reasoning that he had only been ordered to bring them back to Soul Society and nothing more than that, Byakuya had actually helped them get back to the real world, and Urahara got them to Hueco Mundo. Byakuya had also made a disparaging remark about Ichigo though, and that gets him mad. His attention, however, soon turns back to Lunuganga who has appeared again in front of them.

Preview

Well, Nel sure is something else with the way she talks. Reading her lines in the manga is one thing, but hearing them in the anime is different. Kaneda Tomoko does quite a job voicing her – it fits her voice a lot better than Aoi in Myself; Yourself does. I also didn’t realize that Pesche was voiced by Koyasu Takehito either, and I wouldn’t mention that except for the fact that he’s in M;Y too. Anyway, this episode stretched roughly two chapters worth of manga material into an episode with extra Nel stuff and an extended fight with Lunuganga added. All of the Rukia and Renji scenes were actually kept entirely intact, which surprised me a little because I had assumed that they’d change something given that the upcoming anime original arc has Rukia disappearing (according to the title of next week’s episode). Regardless, they’re still going ahead with that, and it looks like there’ll be anime original episodes until at least the end of November.

Summary:

Hagino is telling Mari about not being from this planet when she gets a transmission from Shivariel about the disappearance of a probe. As Shivariel warns Hagino to err on the side of caution, Tsubael tells Mari how they were supposed to do research and about the accident that Hagino feels responsible for. Hiroko then comes into their room to invite Hagino to her house and sits on Tsubael because she can’t see her. Later, Mari finds out that their teacher Yuuko wants Michiko to write the script for the school festival play. Michiko turned it down because she’s not confident of her abilities, but Mari suggests that Michiko do it. Meanwhile, Shivariel sends the Kelbil after the Blue. The Blue suffers some major damage in the attack, but Tsubael manages to shake off the other ship. She contacts Hagino about the damage, and Hagino wants to assume direct command the next time the Kelbil attacks.

At school, the principal is found collapsed behind his desk sometime after a meeting with Akane to discuss some discipline problems. Hiroko thinks that Akane should visit him at the hospital since he’s her father, but Akane refuses. It seems that her parents are divorced, and Akane couldn’t get close to her mother’s new husband, so she came to live with her real father. She had the kind of relationship with him where they sat around quietly drinking coffee and reading the newspaper, but Mari still thinks that Akane should go see him. After a lot of thinking that includes watching a kitten she had temporarily adopted getting reunited with its mother, Akane tries to sneak out that night and gets caught by Hagino. Hiroko, Mari, and Michiko all try to make up excuses for her, but Akane is personally determined to go and leaves.

While the others eventually sleep, Hagino heads outside and orders the Blue to shift and appear directly above the Kelbil when it attacks, and the explosion from the ships colliding forces the Kelbil to retreat. The next morning, Akane returns from the hospital to find that the girls are cooking breakfast, but they’re being rather slow, and Akane takes charge. In class, Yuuko announces, much to Michiko’s surprise, that they’re going to be performing a play that Michiko writes.

 
 
 
Well, there was some interesting ship vs. ship combat this week, but the focus was mainly on Akane and her father. They’ve been hinting at it for a few episodes, and it was nice and all, but it leaves me wondering if it really fits into the main story or if it’s just a relationship that the writers wanted to explore. I guess the main part to take away from it all is Mari lecturing Hagino about the things important to her. Anyway, I’m still more interested in seeing the development of Hagino and Mari’s relationship and how Hagino deals with her fellow aliens from now on. From the preview, next week sounds like more will be happening in that latter department, and it seems that we’ll find out Yuuko is some sort of secret agent sent to monitor Mari.

Summary:

With the Sakura Festival coming up, Nanaka is in the midst of practicing a dance when her uncle comes to check up on her. He tells her that they’ll be using the bonfire after all, and Nanaka apologizes for her selfishness. She then returns to practicing, and it is due to having to practice that she has to miss out on a chance to go to a karaoke box with her friends. Sana doesn’t actually remember anything about the dance, so Aoi reminds him about what it is and how it hasn’t been done in over 10 years. Nanaka admits that she couldn’t refuse to do it because she feels indebted to her uncle, though she doesn’t give Sana a straight answer when he asks why. Sana is later returning home from shopping when he runs into Asami, and the two of them go to a pet store together. She’s picking out a cat collar, but it’s not for her own cat, it’s for cat of the nursing home where she volunteers. Since they’re talking about it, Asami invites Sana to the nursing home this Saturday, and he agrees to come.

Nanaka just happens to be walking by the pet shop and notices the two inside. She at first gets jealous and starts running off, but right as she relents and turns back around, the two come out. After Sana explains how he met Asami by coincidence and how they’re going to volunteer together, he invites Nanaka to come too. He pauses mid-sentence because he realizes that she has to practice for the dance, but Nanaka insists that she’ll come. When that Saturday comes, the three go to the nursing home together, and it turns out that Shuri is volunteering there too. While Sana gets roped into playing a video game with one of the seniors, Asami notices that the nursing home’s pet java sparrow is missing from its cage, and they think that it might have escaped. Asami also sees that one of the residents, a woman named Kajii, isn’t around, and learns that she’s feeling a little sick. It seems that Kajii has been acting odd since her grandchild died at the beginning of the year, and she recently disappeared for a while only to come back with her hands all muddy.

They decide to all go visit Kajii, but when the old woman sees Nanaka, she thinks she’s seeing her grandchild Motoko. After they make her realize that Nanaka isn’t her grandchild, Kajii calms down and apologizes. Surprisingly, Motoko had also played the violin, and Kajii has her violin in memory of her. Sana suggests that Nanaka play something, but she gets a flashback of flames and apologizes because she can’t. When they’re later walking home together, Sana apologizes to Nanaka, but she doesn’t blame him and tells him not to worry about it. The day of the festival soon arrives, and Sana goes to the festival with Aoi. After having some fun at the various booths with Shuusuke and Shuri, the group passes by Nanaka who is helping to man the shrine’s booth. Nanaka eyes the plushie that Sana won at the shooting booth, and she is right about to ask him for it when Hinako spots them. Hinako is so excited about the plushie that Sana gives it to her instead, and that makes Nanaka a little envious. Since Nanaka is busy at the booth, Sana and Hinako then leave her and rejoin their friends.

As Nanaka prepares for the dance by dousing herself with water, a crowd gathers around the stage where she’ll be performing. Sana and friends have managed to get themselves in the very front, and Shuri starts telling the others about the legend of the twin hills where wishes supposedly get granted when sakura trees bloom on both hills. It seems that in old times, this dance was dedicated to the twin sakura trees to pray for a good harvest. However, if you go even further back, it wasn’t a dance – it was a sacrifice where people were buried alive. This is actually all stuff Shuri learned from Kajii. In any case, Nanaka’s dance soon starts, and it goes very well. Afterwards, Sana finds her alone and compliments her on her performance. As he is suggesting that she join them in walking around the festival, something scampers by Nanaka’s feet and scares her into clinging onto Sana. It turns out to be just a raccoon dog, and Nanaka lets go of Sana in embarrassment. They soon start laughing about it, but right as they’re about to join hands, Hinako finds them and interrupts them.

Preview:

Well, I think it’s safe to say that Nanaka’s secret has to do with fire and why she’s staying at the shrine. Did something happen to her parents? This probably goes back to who that man is surrounded by flames in the OP. Sana should just go privately ask Shuri or Shuusuke since they seem to know what’s going on, but I guess he’s not curious enough yet. Regardless, I imagine that the series will now end with Sana helping Nanaka get over it and her playing the violin again, probably finishing that song.

As for the old lady Kajii stuff this episode, it was all a bit weird and not quite fitting for the series in terms of atmosphere. I’m not sure how or if it relates to the main story (aside from showing that Nanaka refuses to play the violin), but it seems that Kajii might have buried the bird and is planning to bury the cat in an effort to bring her dead grandchild back or something. I don’t know where they’re going with that, or even if they’re going to come back to it since next episode is breaking some of this momentum and switching to another Hinako episode. I question that decision, but hopefully it won’t be a completely wasted episode.

Preview:

Cats – always have been an intriguing animal. Unlike the friendly and familiar dogs, cats are private and mysterious, sometimes here and sometimes not, and always lounging around – sounds like a perfect creature to use in a show about intrigue and serenity.

See, the Sketchbook version of the cat episode uses cats in the same way that Aria did, but the approach is distinctly different. For one, Aria was more focused on learning about the planet of Aqua and its intriguing mysteries and citizens; Sketchbook leans more towards viewing the world through the eyes of different characters. And, well, in this episode, the cats talk.

Which would have totally screwed up the idea of Aria, as the mystery was a huge part of it, but Sketchbook is more about appreciating the little things, like the class structure of the cat world, where the one at a higher vantage point is always the superior one. This is the story of our friend Mike (mee-keh), the stray who wouldn’t flash his paws for Sora long enough for her to sketch, and his encounters with Kuma, the rather large and roundish bear-lookin cat.

Afterwards, Mike and his cat friends try to help Kuma get adopted by going about some odd ways, like advertising. The real beauty behind this episode was how the human world and cat worlds were distinct from each other but so interrelated at the same time, the two sides frequently intersecting and depending on one another. And then there’s the image of Sora through the eyes of a cat… looks more like the crazy cat woman from the Simpsons than a Tsukamoto Tenma…

Captions up

Summary:

After a visit to the music store, Koko is walking past the movie theater and sees an advertisement for a romance film. She hasn’t been to a movie recently and notices all the couples around the theater. At school, Akane and Anzu grill her about her relationship with Yoshiyuki, so Koko reveals that they haven’t even been on a real date yet because of how busy they’ve been with the band. Akane and Anzu thus get to work thinking of how to help Koko, and by chance Nanaka overhears them and gets involved. The following day, they present Koko and Yoshiyuki with movie tickets, and Wataru informs the couple that they won’t be practicing this weekend because Nanaka is busy. With their schedules now open, Koko looks forward to a date with Yoshiyuki, but even calling it that gets both of them embarrassed. The day of the date soon arrives, and the two meet at the park before heading to the theater. Along the way, Koko once again notices all the other couples around them who are arm in arm, and she starts eyeing Yoshiyuki’s arm, but they arrive at the theater before she’s about to do anything.

During the movie, Koko feels Yoshiyuki’s hand on hers, however when she turns to look at him, it appears that he had been just grabbing a snack. He is also crying from the film, and Koko later teases him about it when the two head to a cafe. Unbeknownst to them, they’re being spied on by Wataru, Akane, Anzu, and Nanaka who all happened to have met up by coincidence. The four are unable to remain hidden for long though, and after an Akane and Wataru mishap, they find themselves trying to explain to Yoshiyuki and Koko what they’re all doing there. After they admit the truth, Yoshiyuki pretends to be hurt by all this, but it’s all a ploy so that he can grab Koko and run. This reinvigorates the both of them, though when they finally stop and Yoshiyuki realizes that he’s still holding Koko’s hand, he quickly lets go out of embarrassment. Still, he decides that this will be the true start of their date, and the two spend most of the rest of the day visiting the various downtown shops. They eventually pause while Koko gets some ice cream, and it’s sharing one cone that leads to an indirect kiss between them.

The couple’s attention is then turned to a crying child who’s been separated from his mother, and Koko calms the child until his mother shows up. This impresses Yoshiyuki, and it also causes him both to remember how Koko has always adored children and to think that she’d be a good mother. Their date nears its end later that afternoon, but Koko still hasn’t been able to hold hands with Yoshiyuki. She tries her best to touch his hand, and when Yoshiyuki finally realizes what she’s doing, he takes her hand. The two then walk past a dog that starts barking at a cat, and Yoshiyuki instinctively protects Koko. Koko grabs Yoshiyuki’s arm initially out of fear, but she doesn’t let go after the owner quiets down his dog. Able to hold Yoshiyuki’s arm for a while, Koko says that her dream has been fulfilled. She tells the same thing to Akane and Anzu later at school, though those two are disappointed to learn that Koko’s dream was only to be arm in arm with Yoshiyuki.

 
 
 
This was like the most conventional episode of a romance series I’ve seen in a long time. I mean, they essentially spent an entire episode on a date that ends with the two main characters a little closer after a lot of embarrassment. It’s fine if they’re trying to set us up for a surprise later on in the series by developing Yoshiyuki and Koko here, but surely they can think of a more original way to handle this. And while I don’t hate the small advances every episode, this really hasn’t been the most exciting of series, and it could use a little conflict between characters. Perhaps next week’s Minatsu episode will be a bit more interesting in that regard, though I suspect that it won’t be very related to the main YoshiyukiXKoko story.

“Let’s Be Nice”

One day after school, a man lay sitting,
Outside the Minami-ke door, depressed enough to start wrist slitting.
Chiaki gazed upon him, he quietly greets her,
Who is this guy? And why’s he look so much like a loser?
Kana comes home and sees this loser in the living room,
Thinking “ugh, this guy must be a loser I assume.”
What’s wrong with him? Why’s he look so down?
Hah, I bet he got dumped by his girlfriend, or maybe she left town,
But either way, if we make fun of him too much,
So we must treat him with a gentle touch.
Wait till Haruka-oneesama gets home, she’ll know what to do,
With this loser who can’t get over the fact that he’s so blue.
Haruka gets home, and sees this poor sap,
My, what kind of face is that? Did you get into some bad mishap?
“His girlfriend dumped him!” Kana responds,
“But I think he’s partial to girls like Haruka-oneesama, something about them blondes!”
Haruka blushes as she rushes to prepare dinner,
Working on her trademark curry, one bite and it’ll make you feel like a winner.
While eating, the guy gets a call from his pigeon girlfriend,
She wants to talk! She wants to meet up right now, and maybe on the weekend!
The guy runs off and leaves our three sisters,
Kana tells Chiaki, “oi, don’t let into our house any more weird misters.”
But of course, he comes back the next day,
Seems like his talk with that gf didn’t go quite so ok…

“Best Friends”

One day in class, during the lunch hour
A maiden in love sat there gazing, her face lit up like a flower.
It’s Fujioka-kun! The nice guy that gets all the Kana abuse,
Which is a good segue into the Riko and Keiko debuts.
Riko is trying to figure out why Kana and Fujioka are so close,
Upon eavesdropping, sounds like he enjoyed her cooking and was giving her kudos.
Cooking! What! She even cooks for him?!
If I’m trying to win him over my outlook is grim!
Ah screw it, I’ll just get up in her face to face,
Tell her “hey, get off my man, you’re a total disgrace.”
Somehow, some way, the two ended up jawing,
Grabbing each other’s hair, half an inch from clawing.
Keiko! You’re not going anywhere!
As they grabbed her skirt for no apparent reason and out of nowhere.

“Ninomiya-kun! Sensei!”

Ok, I’m all rhymed out. This next sketch has the two younger sisters pitting their hand-eye coordination skills in a matchup of a PlayGame4 video game adaptation of that drama they watch involving the teacher and his student affair. It’s quite a deep game as there seems to be an endless number of game modes, each parodying one game or another. Check the screenshot captions for more info!

“Join the volleyball club”

The last sketch involves a rather greasy guy, who also happens to be the captain of the volleyball club. He scopes out Haruka in a PE class dominating at volleyball, and vows to get her on the team. Which, as it turns out, is his way of fulfilling some weird fantasy of his, and not because she can actually play volleyball. No, he wants her to become manager of the team, and lovingly wipe his sweat during games!

He’s one of those chauvinist characters too caught up in his own glory to see what’s actually going on around him. In this anime, where all the characters seem to take on some kind of sarcastic persona, he becomes the kind of guy that everybody just plays along with, and afterwards talk about how creepy he is (nope, no horde of fangirls here).

How does this one play out? Eventually, he comes to her class and approaches one of the classmates – get Haruka to join the team! Nope, she can’t – she has to take care of the kids at home. KIDS? The captain completely mistakes this and thinks it over, eventually coming to the conclusion that he will become the father figure to those kids, with his princess Haruka at his side.

“Ano, Hosaka-senpai?”
“Don’t call me senpai!”
”Then, what should we call you?”
“Call me… papa.”

Preview:

Thoughts

Minami-ke continues to be hilarious and continues to deliver the snappy punch lines. It was fun to see the other characters, each of them contributing their own unique role to the mix, and it works real well. It’s a slightly different approach from Ichigo Mashimaro as that show just had the five girls, but Minami-ke seems perfectly adept at integrating many other characters in a one-sketch type deal from time to time.

Which could raise an important issue down the line – how many more characters are we gonna see? Does the addition of all these characters add to the “story” at hand? Will we find out more about the Minami girls through these characters? And most importantly, how many episodes is this gonna have? The fact that this is a TV series tells us it’s going to be at least 12-13 eps (and not the 4 eps of Kyou no 5-2), but the introduction of new characters and such could possibly bump that to 26. Not sure if they’re gonna be able to keep up this consistently high level of humor for so long, but after the success of Lucky Star, who knows?

Yoriko and Aoi are on traffic patrol duty, as they hand a parking ticket to a man who parked his fancy sports car outside the neighborhood park. As the man apologizes and leaves the scene, the two female (well, Aoi is technically a guy) police officers notice a high school-aged girl in considerable distress. She appears to be looking for something, but because the girl wouldn’t respond to their inquiry, Yoriko suggests that they should leave her alone.

The police car heads for their next patrol location, although the two start to panic at *something* that is lurking inside the car. The officer in charge of communications back at the Bokuto Station catches the screams of Yoriko and Aoi – she requests them to respond. The two-way radio catches further shrieks, although Yoriko is able to squeal in the word “monster.” Worried at what might possibly be going on, several officers of the Bokuto Station make their way outside, as Yoriko and Aoi’s patrol car screeches to a halt before them. Natsumi opens the door, as the two run out.

The culprit of all this chaos…turns out to be a giant iguana, Aya-rin (Aya-rin? Should a pet lizard be called that?). The high school girl that appeared earlier emerges from a taxicab that tracked down Yoriko and Aoi’s police car, and heads straight for her scaly friend. As Yoriko and Aoi apologizes to Kachou for their unprofessional conduct that day, Natsumi and Miyuki brings the girl back home, with her precious Aya-rin. The girl here introduces herself as Yuka-pon (she introduces herself with her pet name; she’s really named Yukari), and brings NatsuMiyu to her apartment.

Yuka-pon’s apartment is full of reptilian creatures roaming around – Natsumi is in awe, although Miyuki is scared for her life. She tries to take her mind off from the collection of cold-blooded critters by reading a field guide on snakes, but loses her cool yet again as Yuka-pon’s pet snake, Shou-kun, approaches and makes physical contact. Natsumi and Yuka-pon turn a blind eye to Natsumi’s suffering as they discuss the wonderful qualities of snakes – like their ability to sense movement by detecting heat.

The pair finally leave Yuka-pon’s place, and Miyuki notices that their patrol car seems to be moving sluggishly. She decides to repair it, but not before Yoriko mentions Miyuki’s encounter with Shou-kun (while Nakajima-kun eavesdrops and completely misunderstood Shou-kun for a human).

With Miyuki in the garage of the Bokuto Station, Natsumi and Nakajima-kun hear a woman screaming. They head back inside the building, as Yuka-pon also barges in – Shou-kun seems to have snuck into the police station somehow. Natsumi requests for the entire station to enter a lockdown, as a hectic search for the lost snake takes place. The snake continues to elude them despite their efforts (including Natsumi’s rash decision to topple over rows of equipment shelves in the storage room).

It starts to rain, so Miyuki – who is still in the garage – closes the only garage door she kept open, noting that the garage door doesn’t seem to be functioning well either. Back at the Bokuto Station, Yoriko finds Shou-kun’s shedded skin right before Miyuki’s locker. Yuka-pon suggests that Shou-kun may have followed Miyuki, so the crew rushes downstairs.

As expected, Shou-kun indeed appears before Miyuki inside the garage. She gives out a large kyaaaaa, and tries to open the garage door, but it won’t budge. Nakajima-kun tries to help his damsel in distress, but fails miserably, so Natsumi forces the door open instead. What they see before them is Miyuki squealing, as Shou-kun is wrapped around her, its tongue trying to slither into her face.

A few days later, NatsuMiyu have a laugh over the case with the giant snake, as they serve as receptionists for a discussion meeting for the Traffic Section of the police station. Yuka-pon enters the building, and runs to greet them. She brought a large bag with her, and she opens it to reveal…Shou-kun. Nakajima-kun runs forward to protect Miyuki, but instead faints as the snake’s tongue dabs at his face. Nakajima-kun, at least you tried. :(

Preview:

This season of Taiho Shichauzo was severely lacking in the comedy department, so this episode was a total hoot, and an entertaining one at that too. Seeing and hearing Miyuki screech at the top of her lungs as Shou-kun comes close to her is priceless. It did bother me, though, that the animation quality – especially the character drawings – took a brutal beating this time around. Yoriko and Aoi, especially, were drawn off-center and their faces looked asymmetrical for what felt like half of the episode. I really do hope it won’t get any worse.

Next time: Something about babies, cars and locks. Or car locks. Or cars and rock, even. It’s too bad Japanese syllables do not differentiate between r and l…

Kouichi & Yuumi
So after their first date, which wasn’t really a date considering there were like 10 other people there, their relationship continues to progress at 5 centimeters per hour. He still sucks at talking to her, she still blushes all over the place whenever he does, and it isn’t until the end of the episode that he works up the courage to ask her for some help regarding books and that library stuff she’s good at. Good thing about these kind of relationships – they progress so slowly you never really feel the bumpy ride.
Progression: At a snail’s pace, but at least it seems to be in the right direction

Kouichi & Mao
No more updates on their late-night “gaming” sessions, as she seems to have affirmed her onee-san role and doesn’t seem like she’ll be giving that up anytime soon.
Progression: A complete lockdown cease-fire

Kazuki & Asuka
Our genki soccer chick is getting some major playing time this episode, and she uses it well to flaunt not only her athletic gifts, but her total domination over the weakling known as Kazuki. The two appear to have some history, particularly involving their relative abilities at soccer, but it seems to run deeper than that. How deep? Kazuki has too much else on his mind to remember…
Progression: Until someone drops the bomb, this one isn’t going anywhere

The Imouto Duo
They still seem to be riding that wave of “new friendship” where you’re so happy you made a new friend that’s just like you. Wait until a rift happens! Wait until their love interests overlap! Wait until the blue frog shows up! Well, all three of which will probably never happen – the only clue we really have of anything happening to this plotline is that Naru-chan is one of the girls in the intro lineup of the six girls.
Progression: It’s all going buddy-buddy for now, but if the OP is any indication…

Kai & Mao
Our resident a-hole walks in on Mao cleaning up the millions of love letters that have fallen out of her shoe locker, and offers his stoic apathy for support. And he kinda catches her as she’s wobbling off-balance from not sleeping enough. Then he picks up her bag and takes her to the nurse’s office! Douchebag. Not to mention he asks her out on a date in the last scene – and she accepts!
Progression: No physical action going on here (yet), but this is the only relationship that’s actually moving at a “natural” pace

Kazuki & Eriko
You remember that first girl you ever touched, or the first one who showed half a wink of interest in you? And you couldn’t take your eyes off her in school, couldn’t stop thinking about her, etc. It’s like, you don’t even know her, but some little event triggered off a whole cascade of emotions resembling a crush. I’m sure most of us have experienced something like that, except it was probably around the fifth or sixth grade. How old is Kazuki? Not to mention Eriko probably has the maturity level of a girl much older (or at least tries to), so we’re essentially dealing with a relationship where the guy is obsessing over a girl who not only has an IQ twice as high as his, but also a mental age twice as high as his. She’s clearly mad at him in her own apathetic way, which likely makes her the hardest egg to crack of all the characters in this show, but we all know it’s just a matter of time
Progression: In all seriousness, this is kinda going like the thing between Clannad’s Tomoyo and that blonde guy. Which is to say, nothing will ever happen until he goes completely emo and completely gives in to her.

Other things to watch out for in this ep? Asuka meets the imouto duo, and Mao meets Eriko. Oh, there’s also Kawasumi Ayako sensei as well as Mitsuki (classmate, voiced by Noto Mamiko) getting brushed off by Eriko. She is cooolllddddd.

Preview

Thoughts
I don’t really care anymore, this show is way too generic and requires me to completely suspend all notion of expectation and common sense to appreciate it. Which I don’t have a problem with, it’s just that normally that attitude is exclusive to shows like Ninomiya-kun which is brainless fun for twenty minutes, not Kimikiss, with a pedigree like H&C and Nodame. It’s like the art style and character designs just don’t fit the depth of the show and its characters.

And then there’s the belief that because this show has TWO male leads, that somehow absolves it from being a harem show. Well, it’s definitely not a traditional harem, and not every girl is after the guy(s)’ nuts, but believe it when I say these girls are complete cookie cutter mashups of the tried and true formula of female character dynamics in a traditional harem. It’s a bit different in that all the storylines seem to be progressing at once (in contrast to the sequential progression of each character in traditional harems), but the almost complete independence each relationship has with each other is astounding. With all the different things going on, you’d think their feeble minds and hearts would explode.

But in the end, it’s not THAT bad and ultimately, it’s all a good way of getting your romance fill of the season. I was looking for something to replace the void left by Nodame, but instead I got an upscale version of SHUFFLE. No, I can’t even say that, as shuffle knew exactly what it was and took every necessary means to accomplish what it set out to do (hot characters, above-average plot), but I’m not sure Kimikiss really has a set identity yet. The writing is just too weak for it to make any sort of impression. Four episodes in, I expect some real meat!

But obviously my expectations are misplaced, so I guess I’ll just have to shift them to where they’re obviously supposed to go.

Kimikiss is the best looking, probably the most serious harem anime ever! The drama isn’t cheapened by fanservice, the characters don’t throw themselves at the male leads’ feet (wait, there’s more than one?!), and the level of depth is much greater here than we’ve seen in any other harem! Each relationship takes on a different feeling and a different pace to give each a unique and substantial feel!

Captions up

Today on Kodomo no Jikan, Mimi’s boobs! My entire argument that this show has worthwhile psychological drama just went kaput.

The first scene? Girls changing in the classroom, most of them with their tops off. This is where I try to salvage any dignity by claiming that the scene is symbolic of something like the “naked truth.” Well, maybe it’s not that bad. On one side of the classroom, Rin is sending topless pics of herself to Aoki-sensei. I take that back, this is a travesty. Rin presses the send button much to Kuro’s horror, so Kuro busts out the classroom in her skivvies and tries to intercept the message, fearing that the pictures might… I dunno, corrupt Aoki’s obviously innocent mind.

Course, much of the allure of this show, and subsequently Aoki’s attitude towards his more “engaging” students lays somewhere in the mind, with nostrils flaring and ready to jump out at the first sign of any indication of exposure. Reiji’s reaction in the OVA episode is more “normal” I would imagine (didn’t flinch when he saw all 3 of them naked).

Naturally, Kuro gets there in time, but Aoki had already deleted it, thinking it was spam. Still, he sees her in her underwear (if you can even call it that), so she gives him a resounding kick worthy of Captain Tsubasa right in the crotch. Later on in PE class, Mimi gets her thin white shirt drenched in a conspicuously placed puddle, cueing Kuro to throw a conspicuously placed medicine ball right into his nuts.

While I’m on the subject, let me point out that as an avid basketball player, I have been the recipient of countless bad passes and strays that drift about a foot too low – and really, it doesn’t hurt. Your nuts are under you, not in front, and unless you’re walking around imaging what those hot cheerleaders looked like when they were in 3rd grade, your pole isn’t going to feel it either. What’s bad is a stray bounce pass that goes awry, cuz that one’s going straight for the jewels.

Later, Aoki is trippin about how he’s gonna tell Mimi to go buy a bra, as it’s not something a 23 year old teacher who’s physically attracted to his well-endowed third grade student typically does. Hoin-sensei (which I’ll take a wild stab and say is a play on “boin” – the Japanese slang word for boob) mistakes his rambling (well, not really) and goes into a standing coma as she’s frozen stiff on the spot. Meanwhile, I’ve also gone stiff while staring at her enormous cans.

The fun doesn’t stop. Next we get a scene where Rin is sucking away on a juice box of strawberry milk, then offers it to Kuro. Cue the sappy bloom effect as Kuro gets all hot for the “indirect kiss” with Rin she’s about to get. But never mind that, as Aoki intercepts the imminent transfer and downs the milk himself, soon resulting in a kick to the balls so hard, it gives new meaning to “Aoki Densetsu Shoot.”

There’s some stupid scene involving her giving him candy, which segues into the next day.

Then Mimi and Boin-sensei have a chat about how milk makes your boobs grow, so Mimi refuses to drink milk at lunch. Five years later she hears about how food makes you fat, so she immediately runs to the bathroom and sticks a finger down her throat.

At home, Kuro is daydreaming about Rin, as everything around her seems to remind her of her one love. Abraham “Rin”coln. Doing the “Rin”bo (limbo) dance.

Around this time, the producers remember that the point of this episode is to flaunt Mimi’s tits, so they get right back into it. Mimi goes to the mall to buy a bra, which she conveniently covers up with her see-through shirt the next day at school, which the boys keenly scope out within seconds. Which immediately gets them a beatdown from Rin and Kuro. Ah, role reversal in elementary school, when physical differences have no relation to inconveniences like gender.

Anyways, it turns out that Mimi’s bra is much too small for her size, so Kuro suggests that they go buy another – but using what money? Kuro goes to one of those shops that pay little girls for their used little girl things (like bras) where they’re then inserted into one of those special vending machines that sell special things.

So with thousands of yen in hand, they go to one of those upscale lingerie shops to buy their third grade friend a bra that fits her. By “fit,” I mean sizewise, cuz they sure aren’t getting anything inconspicuous in a store like that. Remember when the Shuffle girls took Primula for her underwear, and they ended up buying that red lacey stocking getup? Yea, something like that. This probably won’t end well.

Well, it actually did. No drama there. Instead, Rin goes back to hang out with Aoki, and tells him that the bra situation has been resolved. They get some huggy huggy action going on, which is supposed to look cute and sexually inappropriate at the same time. Oh, the confusion.

The next day, Aoki walks into a classroom full of 3rd graders changing, and he immediately blushes like hell. I’d also like to point out that when I was in 4th grade, I went to a school that had all of us change in the classroom as well – boys and girls together. I don’t think anybody cared. These Japanese are growing up way too quickly methinks!

Preview:

Thoughts

Understandably from an episode that is based around 3rd grade boobs and buying bras to cover them up, there was a ton of censoring. Which is kinda funny, cuz I was talking to someone about this episode and was saying how it wasn’t half bad, to which he replied “and the other half was censored.” Snap.

Anyways, like I said before, I’ve been completely desensitized to this sort of stuff, so I really don’t think it’s a big deal. Which also means those censor things are really annoying and basically ruins a scene by drawing all the attention to itself, which isn’t funny at all after the 1st time. And the 1st time happened 3 weeks ago.

But yes, this ep was actually kinda entertaining, probably in more ways than I actually mean. Which brings me to my other point of how this show kinda provides a lot of different angles from which to appreciate it – whether you like the “service,” the drama, the suggestive themes, or just the humor, there’s a good amount of all that throughout, put together in a package that altogether doesn’t suck. Which is rare, considering we have stuff like Moetan which completely fell apart after the first episode.

Whatever, you know why you watch this show, you don’t need me to tell you. And if you don’t watch it because of the lolis, there’s no way you’re gonna start watching, and I’m not going to try to convince you otherwise, cuz frankly that’s what this show is about, or at least a big chunk of it. Enjoy!

Captions up

Summary:

Chihiro is waiting again at the station the day after she was sick, and Renji brings her a present in the form of a plushie to apologize for breaking his promise. It turns out that she doesn’t remember what happened very well, but she thanks him anyway. Renji then suggests that she write a novel with him, however Chihiro feels that this is impossible and claims that she doesn’t want to write it. To his surprise, she questions why he would speak so maliciously, so he explains that he wanted to try this for her sake since she had said that it was her dream to write a story. However, Chihiro feels that this was the herself of one week ago, and she angrily leaves after Renji says that she is still herself and that her dream is still her dream. Meanwhile, Kei is moping over what happened with Hiro last time when she gets a call from Mizuki, and she happens to find out that Mizuki is out of money because she lent it to Hiro. Upon learning how Miyako supposedly rejected Hiro and left him at the restaurant even though she was supposed to pay, Kei is actually kind of happy.

Hiro is at that time discovering how little money he has in his bank account, and he’s on his way home from the store when he runs into Miyako. When she notices that he’s got cup ramen in his shopping bag, he confirms his bad financial situation, so she tries to invite him out again. But since Hiro has work to do, Miyako instead opts to have him take her to his apartment. When they get there, Hiro tells her that she’s not being very cautious since he’s a guy who’s living alone, but Miyako feels that she can trust him because he’s nice to her, and she claims to have good judgment for character. She starts to explain why, but then turns her attention to the perverted stuff that Hiro has lying around. Hiro wants to get started on his work and doesn’t want her to see the pre-publication manuscript, so she makes him give him some of his other work. Unbeknownst to Hiro, Kei is at this moment trying out her hand at cooking so that she can make him something, though her test subject Mizuki finds it horrible. Kei blames herself for Hiro working so hard these days because it was she who had originally gotten him into drawing manga when they were young.

As he draws his manga, Hiro remembers being happy with how Kei and Chihiro used to be delighted with what he drew. However, he questions what he wants now and feels that he’s looking for the missing color in his world. When Hiro pauses because his hand starts hurting, Miyako suddenly shows up wanting to read more of his manga since she finds it really interesting. That doesn’t help Hiro’s wallet though, and he soon finds that he’s got only 37 yen left in the bank. What does help is Miyako cooking dinner for him as thanks for the manga, and it turns out to be quite delicious. Watching Hiro eat, she notices that he’s holding his chopsticks wrong, but when she touches his right hand, he winces in pain because of the tendinitis there. This leads to Miyako commenting on the bad state of Hiro’s life, so Hiro wonders if she thinks he’s a fool for forcing himself to do what he can’t. She doesn’t actually feel this way and tells him that him working his hardest is what makes it worthwhile. Miyako then tries to feed him, and it is at this moment that Kei suddenly opens the door. Kei has brought Hiro some food that she made, but the sight of Miyako already feeding Hiro causes her to run out again.

Renji meanwhile has chased Chihiro to the beach and tries to convince her to try writing a story with him. She resists even though she knows that he’s right about it being her dream, and she questions what he expects her do to. Right after she says this, however, she starts to fall backwards as a wave comes crashing onto the beach. Renji catches her, and even though Chihiro wanted his help, she asks why someone other than herself knows her. In truth, she does want to write the story, but she is afraid that she’ll lose everything if even that turns out to be no good. Realizing how she feels, Renji apologizes, and when he sees the tears in her eyes, he asks if he can kiss her and if they can become lovers. She rejects him for today because he was being mean, though she thinks that it would have been better if it were yesterday when she was lonely and wanting to see him. Chihiro admits that she had written that she loved him in her diary yesterday, and she now rushes to him. With Chihiro wanting him to hold her for a little longer, Renji asks her what kind of story she wants to write, and she answers that it’s a story about the sole female survivor of a ruined world.

ED Sequence

ED: 「刻む季節」 Kizamu Kisetsu by 岡田純子 (Okada Junko)
Watch the ED! Mirror 1, Mirror 2

I think the series is finally hitting its stride and getting good with all the progress made in this episode. I haven’t been too interested in Renji and Chihiro’s relationship up until now, but after this, it actually appears to be further along than anyone else’s relationship given that Chihiro’s basically confessed her feelings. Still, I have a sneaking suspicion that something will happen with her memory disorder to screw things up again since it’s too early in the series for them to achieve happiness. Kei meanwhile has lost again to Miyako, but since she’s not standing her ground, tempers really haven’t flared yet. Knowing that she’ll probably end up with Kyousuke takes away some of the fun, but I’m still curious how things will develop.

Summary:

After the events on Ceylon, the leader of the Human Reform League makes a public speech about how they lost 148 soldiers and how Celestial Being has committed nothing less than terrorism despite how the group talks of eradicating war. Hearing the leader challenge their so-called terrorism, one of the Ptolemaios’ crew members think that this is a natural reaction, but Christina points out that the Human Reform League is now increasing their military preparations because of this. Tieria, however, feels that if the Human Reform League does this, then Celestial Being will just continue intervening since the eradication of war is its long-cherished desire. During this time, Setsuna is in his room watching the broadcast and reading a newspaper article about how the founder of Celestial Being is Aeolia Schenberg.

Over in the kingdom of Azadistan that is being rocked by a wave of terrorism, Princess Marina Ismail is talking with her adviser Shirin Bakhtiar about how they have to move ahead with reforms before the moderate faction will ally. Marina understands that because of their reliance on fossil fuels, they now need the help of the nations with solar energy generation systems to get the country back into shape. However, Shirin points out that their country didn’t participate in the orbital elevator’s construction project, so they don’t have a right to the energy supply. And with oil currently being subject to export regulations, she wonders if a country would help them free of charge. Marina knows that looking for that is her duty now that Azadistan’s parliament has restored the monarchy, and so there’s one thing they have to do. Still, Shirin notes that if their domestic problems continue, then Celestial Being will appear before long.

Lockon and Allelujah are meanwhile discussing the Real IRA’s announcement that they are halting activities and how countries fear the military intervention. Allelujah thinks that without them, those countries would soon be back in action, and he knows that eradicating war isn’t something that can be so easily achieved. After Lockon urges him to get some rest, Allelujah looks at the hanger and comments on how the Gundams are for realizing permanent peace. At the Human Reform League’s General Command Center, Sergei is telling his superior that there isn’t a mobile suit in the world that can go against the Gundam. His superior thus orders him to seize a Gundam and to do it before Union or the AEU does. For this, they’re establishing a full-time force under Sergei, and there’s one soldier in particular that his superior wants him to look after.

This soldier is a white-haired girl who introduces herself as Super-Soldier No.1, Soma Peers, from the Superhuman Agency’s Technology Institute. Sergei’s superior explains that this superhuman program is thought of by the brass as a trump card against the Gundams, but Sergei is privately concerned about how she’s too young for this. Back in Tokyo, Setsuna is in a park by eating himself when he suddenly envisions an artillery shell landing in front of him and killing everyone. He is unaffected by the sight of death and destruction all around him, and everything soon returns to normal. By chance, Saji is walking through this park with Louise and recognizes him, though Saji’s forgotten Setsuna’s name. Meanwhile, at a Union base, Professor Eifman is introducing to Graham a customized Flag that has had its backpack and each part strengthened, has gotten an anti-beam coating, and is armed with a prototype rifle. Also joining Graham’s Gundam investigation unit are two pilots named Howard Mason and Daryl Dutch.

At the residence of Union’s president, the leader is talking with his subordinate David about how a television commentator was discussing Celestial Being being designated as the world police. David jokes that it’s a good idea because unlike the United Nations, there are no upkeep costs for them, but the president thinks that no one would cooperate with them. He then receives news about how Taribia is going to be issuing a statement. Up in space, Sumeragi gets her computer’s predictions and finds that it matches her own forecasts. They have 12 plans to deal with the problem, but Sumeragi knows that choosing any of them would jeopardize their position. Christina then informs her that Taribia is making their statement, and being broadcast around the world is Taribia’s leader giving a speech on how, despite Union’s parliament system with over 50 countries, the United States alone controls the solar energy distribution rights. Since Taribia is succeeding from Union, the Union president tells David to call a special assembly with representatives of all the major powers.

Taribia’s leader then talks about the right to use their own energy and finishes his speech with a declaration of adamant opposition to United States control. Watching the broadcast from her palace, Marina is a little surprised that Taribia would go as far as to secede even though it’s always had strongly-rooted anti-American sentiments. Shirin, however, thinks that it might be a strategic move in advance of the next Taribia elections. Marina is worried about the deteriorating situation affecting the operation of the solar energy generation system, but Shirin is confident that Union will launch a military intervention at the request of the United States. That being said, she also thinks that Taribia has predicted this. Over at the Human Reform League’s General Command Center, Sergei asks Soma if she knows why Taribia is pursuing such an extreme plan, and she answers that Taribia thinks that Celestial Being will intervene if Union takes military action.

Shirin tells Marina the same thing about Taribia using Celestial Being, and attributes their ability to use such blackmail with how they are located near the orbital elevator. She’s not sure if Celestial Being will appear, but she feels that how they deal with the Taribia will affect the future of Azadistan. Despite all this though, Wang Liu Mei is at this moment thinking that even though they know they’re being used, Celestial Being will still act. And as planned, a new mission is begun and the Gundam Meisters are contact by the Ptolemaios. Setsuna, Lockon, and Allelujah quickly get to their Gundams – including the Exia which is hidden underwater – and they all proceed to fly towards Taribia. In the meantime, Union succeeds in taking control of Taribian airspace and positions its fleet off the coast. When the Gundams do get there, they each head for one of the three major cities, but nobody is sure what course of action Celestial Being will take. If they intervene against Union, then it’d be helping Taribia’s hard-line stance, but if they don’t intervene and thus permit Union’s military action, then their ideals would fall apart.

Everything begins when Sumeragi orders the start of the mission, and Setsuna starts blasting the Taribia mobile suits despite the fact those forces haven’t acted yet. What the Taribia leaders weren’t counting on is that Celestial Being targets countries that aid and abet war, and it now sees Taribia as such a country. The Taribia forces are soon wiped out, and their leader has no choice but to contact Union President Bryan. When two talk by phone, Bryan notes how Celestial Being regards Taribia as the cause of the dispute and claims that he feels Celestial Being’s actions are regrettable. Since the Taribian leader brings up withdrawing the succession, Bryan agrees to send his army to defend Taribia. And with that, he orders the American forces to attack Celestial Being in order to protect the now friendly Taribia. The crew of the Ptolemaios had been expecting this, and the Gundams start to retreat according to the plan.

However, one particular Union Flag mobile suit is going after the Exia, and it can move twice as fast as a normal. This Flag is Graham’s custom, and not only is it fast enough to dodge all of the Exia’s ranged attacks, it also manages to hit the Exia with its prototype rifle. Unfortunately for Graham, Setsuna elects to take the Exia underwater and out of the fight. With everything now over, Shirin tells Marina how the U.S. military helping Taribia has quieted anti-American sentiments there and allowed American-led policymaking. The current Taribian administration also gets the backing of the America. What’s more, other countries won’t come out with blatantly anti-American policies now in order to avoid what happened with Taribia, and Shirin asks Marina who gained the most from this series of events. Shirin feels that if Marina doesn’t know, then she’s not qualified to save Azadistan.

Having watched the news report on what happened, Saji in Tokyo asks his sister why Celestial Being attacked Taribia if they hadn’t done anything yet. He finds it strange that Celestial Being is causing the battles even though they claim to want to stop them, but his sister tells him that the world isn’t that simple.

Preview:

I didn’t think it was possible, but there seemed to be a lot more political speak (export regulations, distribution rights, policymaking) and maneuvering this week than in past weeks. A lot of that might have to do with how we were basically treated to a foreign policy lesson from Shirin, though it does set the stage for whatever Marina ends up doing for her own country later on. The actual situation with Taribia was interesting because Celestial Being didn’t do what was expected, and you can rationalize it if you say that doing this might prevent future rebellions, and that would lead to less war. However, the flaw is that less war might not be good for humanity in general, especially if situations develop where certain people or countries are being oppressed. That wasn’t quite the case here, but it’s not too much more of a stretch.

I’m still a bit disappointed that the story is focusing so much on what’s going on in the world politically rather than the Gundams and their pilots. Setsuna got a little bit of character development this week with the nightmare-like sequence to show how unaffected he is by the violence, but this was a relatively small portion of the episode. Graham getting a custom Flag and performing well with it is a good sign that the Gundams will have at least some competition, and the supersoldier Soma might be the Human Reform League equivalent. I’m not quite sure what they mean by supersoldier yet (aka. Newtype abilities or what), but I hope it’s not a redux of SEED’s Extended humans. Speaking of Newtypes, it looked like Allelujah was getting a Newtype reaction in the preview, and next week seems like it might be focused on him.

Tarou has a nightmare about his childhood and deceased sister. In the dream we see a young Tarou waiting for his sister outside the elementary school she is attending. For some reason, most of her face is blurred out, and she does not seem too pleased that her little brother is there to meet her. She runs off into a dark alley, with Tarou chasing her desperately behind. When Tarou finally emerges out of the alley, he is horrified to see his sister being strangled by a shadowy giant. He is unable to do anything as his eyes widen as he see his sister suffocate to death. The giant smiles, and the real Tarou wake up.

He grabs his tape recorder, and talks about the dream he just had. He mentions how he wishes to not dream of something like this again, before thinking about what he *does* want to dream about. Unable to find an answer, he hears the tape record click – its content has been filled. Tarou gets up and stores the tape in his shoebox.

Tarou leaves for school, and he notices a visitor talking to his parents. The visitor talks about the incident at the dam, which triggers yet another traumatic eye-twitching for Tarou’s mother. Tarou also stops for a moment when the dam is mentioned, and rides his bike for school. He goes on the school computer in the library during break, but is forced into conversation by the ever-persistent Masayuki. Masayuki attempts to have Tarou talk about his kidnapping 11 years ago. Masayuki tries to achieve this by mentioning that he knows about Tarou’s family being involved in the sake production business, and Tarou’s sister’s name, Mizuka, although Tarou keeps his mouth firmly shut and leaves the library. Masayuki is indifferent at the walkout, and checks the history of the internet browser of the PC Tarou just used. He notices the search queries “out-of-body-experience” and “dreams.”

Masayuki now talks about his findings of the kidnapping Tarou and his sister Mizuka were involved in as he goes over these details (while we see Tarou in class drawing a map to the town’s shrine in the woods out of his OBE)-

(Makoto enters the classroom to his classmates’ surprise, and Masayuki continues with his findings)

(class is dismissed, Tarou gets on his bike to look for the shrine he keeps seeing, and Masayuki follows Makoto to his home)

.
.
Masayuki’s long and thorough explanation is over at this point, and we now see Tarou making his way through the considerably long path to the shrine on the mountain. He finally reaches the top with some effort and takes a look around. He finds an entrance that leads deeper into the woods as he recalled in his OBE, and enters (if his OBE is correct, the path leads to a clearing containing the dam and the hospital where he was held hostage 11 years ago). Inside the residential areas of the shrine, Miyako’s father greets his daughter who came back from shopping. Her father asks Miyako if she bought any sake, but she doesn’t answer his question; instead, she comments that a visitor is probably here because she saw a bicycle on the front steps of the shrine.

A heavy mist spreads throughout the woods and Tarou looks over to find a girl that resembles his sister. He approaches the figure, but stops halfway, telling himself that his sister is no longer alive. The girl meanwhile, shifts in appearance and becomes the tall, shadowy human that appeared before in his nightmare. Tarou panics and runs back in the direction of the shrine. (Note: the forest sequence is an OBE and is not physical, although its not clear as to how Makoto achieved this – it may have been a) related to the forest or b) Tarou’s narcolepsy brought him to sleep just as he enters the woods)

Tarou is about to leave but he sees Miyako and decides to talk to her. He asks what she was staring up at the sky earlier, and Miyako mysteriously answers with the response, “a friend.” Tarou presses on and asks if she has met him before (when Tarou had an OBE in the first ep), and Miyako answers back with an undecided “maybe.” She walks away.

The psychology session with Hirata continues back at school the next day as he tests the EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) approach on Tarou. He asks Tarou to remember any more details in his nightmare from a while back, although Tarou says that he still cannot remember the face of his sister back in the dream. Tarou questions why he doesn’t feel sleepy, although Hirata calmly tells Tarou that what he is doing is not hypnosis but EMDR (he explains that it uses both hemispheres of the brain and may help with recalling memories lost from post-traumatic stress disorder). Tarou is still uneasy – he isn’t sure if recalling his forgotten memories is a good thing. Hirata continues with the EMDR treatment, but Tarou is unable to shake off the giant from his mind and the psychologist ends the day’s session.

Away from school on a bridge, Masayuki is seen chatting with a classmate from school – the same one he bothered into showing his homework back in episode one. Masayuki gains one more important piece of information here – the local who contacted the police about the “possibillity” of Mizuka and Tarou held hostage at the empty hospital was none other than Makoto’s mother, Himeko. Masayuki appears to be delighted, and hands the student a video game (bribing are we, Masayuki?). Satisfied, he stops his *own* recorder (which is obviously more modern than the one Tarou is using), although his face expresses fear when he looks down at the river below. He regains composure as he looks over to the dam. The desolate hospital is not far from the area…

Preview:

Another fascinating episode, with a bucketload of background information given to us again. I appreciate the animators’ decision to have Masayuki’s explanation of the Mizuka/Tarou kidnappings alongside the scenes from class, since having to watch Masayuki talk for ten minutes is not my idea of entertainment. :) Speaking of decisions, the animators also tastefully chosen not to show Mizuka’s face while she was strangled by the giant or Hideo and his slashed eyes. Instead we are given an image of an egg, with a knife running through its center which punctures the yolk as it gushes out – you get the point.

The plot thickens, and by now it really isn’t that surprising as to why the town’s residents suspect that Makoto’s father, Oogami Hideo, may be involved in the kidnappings more than a decade earlier. The psychologist, Hirata, continues to be more creepy than calming – he just reminds me of all the villains and masterminds on Ghost in the Shell: SAC that I can’t help but think he’s a malicious character. I still do not understand Masayuki’s motives, either. He seems a bit too interested in the history of Suitenchou for a mere transfer student, and he gathers information not only from the internet, but bribing local residents as well. The last scene, which Sayna pointed out, also had me thinking – just what was Masayuki freaked out by when he looked down at the river? He just might be scared of heights, although if he was, it wouldn’t make much sense for him to weed out information from his classmate on top of a bridge in the first place. A rather grainy view of the dam and the hospital on the other side follows Masayuki’s scene, so I’m inclined to think that he just had an OBE, but we really don’t know.

I failed to mention it last time, but Ghost Hound does an excellent job associating a particular mood or scene with the use of white/static noise and other sounds – it doesn’t rely on BGM’s whatsoever. If you do watch this episode, you might want to pay some attention to that – the dream sequences, for example, employs the use of rippled water.

Next time: The three male protagonists gather together in front of the long-abandoned hospital together. Makoto also strums the guitar (his way of achieving astral projection), and for some reason all the characters with the exception of Makoto looks scared to death. Mmm…

The dialogue during the preview, for those who are interested, delves further into the details of EMDR, so this probably means that the preview dialogue is an extended discussion of the episode title that was used. This can explain why Miyako was talking about dreams in the first episode, since the title was Lucid Dream.

It’s a brand new day, and Sawaki wakes up in the shabby dorm room of the sophomore students. Misato urges the other two to join him in going down and seeing the students’ notice board for that day and they depart from the dorms. Sawaki notices that Kei still has not returned; it turns out that he was coerced into helping Haruka with her research the entire night.

The notice board has a sign that calls for Sawaki, Kei, Misato, and Kawahama to visit Professor Itsuki’s lab ASAP, so the three reluctantly make their way. They enter the lab, and Haruka greets them rather crudely (“Two pieces of garbage and Sawaki-kun, you’re here already?”). The professor finally enters, and he talks about wanting to celebrate Sawaki’s admittance to the university. He calls out to a freshman he “found randomly,” Oikawa Hazuki. She makes her way into the room, carrying what appears to be a ray (the one that is a fish). Clearly disgusted with what she is holding, she sets it up on the table and starts to cut its flesh into neat, thin strips (Itsuki bribed her with the promise of giving her one unit if she cleans and butchers the meat).

We learn that what Hazuki is preparing against her will is a Korean delicacy known as hongeohoe, which is pretty much a sashimi of a fermented ray. Sawaki learns to his horror that hongeohoe has an atrocious smell – Itsuki explains that it has four times the odor intensity of the bizarre Inuit cuisine, kiviak, which was introduced back in episode one (kiviak, remember, is a dish consisting of decomposed auks and similar seabirds that achieved fermentation by being stuffed in the body of a dead seal). Needless to say, the hongehoe is not well-received by the students, who clearly feel sick at its putrid odor.

(Note: The buying and selling of hongeohoe is illegal in Japan because of the considerable amount of ammonia it releases; the hongeohoe served this episode, however, is given special jurisdiction as part of college “research”)

Sawaki decides to ask here about what Professor Itsuki’s motivation for microbiology could possibly be; it turns out that he is continuing his research in hopes of advancing the hypothetical science of terraforming. He ends his speech on terraforming, which he insists will require Sawaki’s ability, and has Haruka hand out a financial bill to Misato and Kawahama. Misato and Kawahama looks at the bill in horror to find out that they are entrusted with paying for the repairs of the first floor of the microbiology building.

Sawaki has lunch with Hazuki (while the sophomores and Kei are forced into working with Haruka), and he finds out here that Hazuki is a considerable germaphobe. Still, she accompanies Sawaki into Misato and Kawahama’s dorm. She then enters their room, and *loses* it. She goes on a cleaning spree and starts spraying the room with antibacterial spray. All the spraying, unfortunately, kills the culture of cordyceps sinensis that the sophomores were trying to raise in order to pay off their debt – hilarity ensues (“Why are you such a neat freak anyway? Do you know just how many bacteria are inside your body?!”)

Itsuki, Haruka, and Kei join the fray inside the dorm room – Professor Itsuki enthusiastically announces that the construction plans of the first floor of the microbiology building are complete. Misato and Kawahama are further shocked to learn that their debt is paying not only for the repairs, but also for the construction of an expanded lab on the floor as well. Itsuki pays a deaf ear to their plight, and with Haruka, begins a demonstration on how to brew sake – in this case a simple sake known as どぶろく/doburoku (濁酒). (Note 2: As with hongeohoe, non-commercial and non-licensed brewing of sake is illegal in Japan…unless it is part of university research or instruction, of course! ;))

How to Brew Doburoku Sake, by Professor Itsuki

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A discussion about another recipe, 口噛みの酒/kuchikami no sake (lit. “mouth-chewed sake”) takes place amongst the characters. This particular method requires no aspergillus oryzae and instead relies on you to chew rice/chestnuts/acorns. The saliva saccharifies, or converts the starch in these to sugar which you then…spit…into the water with saccharomyces cerevisiae and cooked grain. Sounds a bit unhygienic, yes, but the saccharomyces cerevisiae will convert the sugar into alcohol so it should be safe to drink several days later. Haruka mistakenly drinks this variant of sake and *hates* how it tastes – she goes on to thrash Misato and Kawahama. Professor Itsuki is moved by the two, rather than repulsed, and apologizes for forcing a massive debt on them. He insists that they assist him in his research and bows down. :O
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This week’s Microbe Theater: Aspergillus oryzae, which should be familiar to viewers by this point (I hope) introduces us to their “family”