Random Curiosity

「ハッピー・ラブ・カーニバル」 (Happii Rabu Kaanibaru)
“Happy Love Carnival”

Episode at a Glance:
Being pregnant, Kotoko is thrilled about having the C-cup breast size that she’s always wanted. Later that day, she stops by Kinnosuke’s restaurant to check out his wedding photos, where everyone is surprised to find out that Christine is pregnant too. Back at home, Naoki is busy working on his medical paper, so he neglects the labour pains that Kotoko’s going through. Despite the fact that she’s expecting soon, Kotoko refrains from taking her maternity leave and continues to work for as long as she can. With Naoki busy working on his paper again, he tells Kotoko to go home first, during which she collapses from the pain. Luckily though, a woman passes by and calls an ambulance and everyone rushes off to the hospital to check up on her. With everyone glad that both her and the baby are okay, Naoki starts to feel that he’s failed as a husband for not noticing what Kotoko’s been going through, prompting Yuuki to tell him how much he’s changed—but is still cool in his eyes. Naoki then apologizes to Kotoko, who says she heard him calling out for her.

One month later, Kotoko is invited to maternity classes by Chris, and Naoki surprisingly agrees to accompany her. During class though, Kotoko suffers from labour pains again and is brought to the hospital. With her about to give birth soon, everyone decides to stay with her; however, Yuuko suddenly arrives in a stretcher with Sudou, having collapsed from overworking herself again. With no other doctors around, Naoki takes a look at her and discovers that he needs to operate on her duondenal ulcer immediately. It turns out that Naoki still lacks experience in this operation though, so the nurses frantically try to contact the other doctors who turn to be either busy or several hours away. Kotoko then arrives, asking them to let Naoki perform the operation and save Yuuko, which the head nurses eventually agree to. With Naoki performing the operation, Kotoko is forced to give birth without him, but luckily things go well on both ends.

Four years later, their daughter Kotomi is proving to be a handful for Kotoko, but still likes her father more than the boy she has a crush on.

ED Sequence:

Impressions:
In my attempt to provide more coverage outside our regularly covered series, Omni and I decided that it might be a good idea to bring back Patrik’s Snapshots. Except here, I plan to take a different spin on it by providing posts that follow a format more like my usual ones (e.g. more screenshots). The only thing that really makes it a Snapshot is the fact that it’ll either involve a series introduction or simply a one-off episode that I feel the urge to write about. Having marathoned Itazura na Kiss yesterday in order catch up, this turned out to be a good opportunity to do the latter. So without further ado, here’s Itazura na Kiss 24, which is techinically the finale of the series, despite there being an extra episode next week.

So as many of you may be aware, Itazura na Kiss was written by the female mangaka Tada Kaoru, which was her most successful piece of work by far. However, the manga was never completely due to her unexpected death in 1999, when she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage from hitting her head on a marble table. This most unfortunate accident occured while Kaoru was moving residences with her husband and son. She was 38 years old at the time. With Itazura na Kiss incomplete, the producers of the anime conceptualized the ending in accordance to the notes and memos that Kaoru left behind. Kaoru’s husband, Nishikawa Shigeru, states that this is the intended finale of the manga; therefore, it can probably be seen as a homage to her.

With that said, I’ve always been surprised at how often this series time lapses things, often even in the middle of an episode. Given the time period they wish to cover (i.e. from Kotoko and Naoki in high school until well after they’re married), I can understand why this is necessary, with this episode being no different. In any case, this “finale” had me on the edge of my seat near the end, since the preview from last episode had me thinking miscarriage the entire time. This thought was reiterated when Yuuko was suddenly brought in on a stretcher, making me suspect that either her surgery or things on Kotoko’s end wouldn’t go well. Much to my relief though, both turned out fine and we got to see Sudou marry Yuuko and the birth of Kotomi. The ending sequence also reveals that Kinnosuke and Chris now have a couple of boys, Motoki seems to have found a guy for himself, Keita getting closer to Akiko, Satomi and Jinko starting their own families, Yuuki with his own girlfriend, and Noriko moving on to meddle with her second son’s relationships. In short, it really felt like things have come a long way since they started, so I was happy to see things end on such a good note.

As seen below, we still have an extra episode next week, which is good bonus for those who haven’t had enough Itazura na Kiss, but I would’ve been fine with things ending here.

Next Episode:
「ハロー・アゲイン」 (Haroo Agein)
“Hello Again”

Cast:
- Irie Kotoko (入江 琴子) / Mizuki Nana (水樹奈々)
- Irie Naoki　(入江 直樹) / Hirakawa Daisuke (平川大輔)
- Irie Noriko (入江 紀子) / Matsui Naoko (松井 菜桜子)
- Irie Shigeki (入江 重樹) / Nagasako Takashi (長嶝 高士)
- Irie Yuuki (入江 裕樹) / Paku Romi (朴 璐美)
- Aihara Shigeo (相原 重雄) / Shimada Bin (島田 敏)
- Kaneda Tomoko (入江 琴美) / Kaneda Tomoko (金田 朋子)
- Sudou-senpai (須藤先輩) / Ootsuka Akio (大塚 明夫)
- Matsumoto Yuuko (松本 裕子) / Masuda Yuki (増田 ゆき)
- Ikezawa Kinnosuke (池沢 金之助) / Sakaguchi Shuuhei (阪口 周平)
- Christine Robbins (クリスティーヌ・ロビンス) / Gotou Yuuko (後藤 邑子)
- Ishikawa Satomi (石川 理美) / Hayamizu Risa (早水 リサ)
- Komori Jinko (小森 じん子) / Yamada Kinoko (山田 きのこ)
- Kikyou Motoki (桔梗 幹) / Saiga Mitsuki (斎賀 みつき)
- Kamogari Keita (鴨狩 啓太) / Kanna Nobutoshi (神奈 延年)
- Shinagawa Marina (品川 真里奈) / Inoue Marina (井上 麻里奈)
- Ogura Tomoko (小倉 智子) / Katagai Mako (片貝 まこ)
- Hosoi Sayuri (細井 小百合) / Saitou Kimiko (斉藤 貴美子)
- Shimizu Reiko (清水 玲子) / Akaike Yumiko (赤池 裕美子)
- Nishigaki Touma (西垣 東馬) / Narita Ken (成田 剣)

Summary:

Despite the FLEIJA warheads taking out more and more of his forces, Lelouch orders his men to keep attacking the Damocles and make it continue firing. Unfortunately, its defenses are nearly impenetrable. Lelouch eventually decides to gather his forces around the Avalon to make a charge – with the hostages still on board – because Lloyd and Nina have finally finished what they were working on. Schneizel’s actions against the Britannian forces meanwhile prompts Xingke to question if Schneizel is going to destroy the hostages, and Xingke insists that the Black Knights haven’t been defeated yet, so Schneizel gives them ten minutes to accomplish something. The Shenhu thus leads an assault aimed at punching a hole through the back side of Lelouch’s forces, and Xingke and Toudou both engage Suzaku. When Toudou questions what Suzaku wants, Suzaku claims that he merely hopes for the future, and he then destroys the Zangetsu, forcing Toudou to eject. While Suzaku is occupied, Xingke fires the Shenhu’s main cannon at the Avalon and manages to break through its shield. This damages the Avalon’s Float System, and to make matters worse, the Black Knights board the ship.

Because of these developments, Lelouch decides to let the Avalon land in the Pacific. He tells Lloyd, Cecile, Sayoko, and Arthur to go forward with Mission Apate Aletheia before thanking them and leaving the bridge. Meeting up with Nina, he acknowledges that what he’s doing is his own desire, and when Nina points out that it was Euphemia’s as well, Lelouch asserts that that’s why he has to do it. Nina explains that the final program for what she’s developed requires the input of environmental data or else it won’t work, and so she insists on going with him. Lelouch feels that she’s helped him enough even though he’s Euphemia’s murderer, and although Nina won’t forgive Zero, she has at the same time decided that she has to find her own answer. The two then part ways, and Lelouch proceeds to meet C.C. in the Knightmare hanger. He plans to go out personally with her as an escort, and when she notes that he might have to kill Nunnally, he claims that it can’t be helped if Nunnally is an obstacle to the Zero Requiem. C.C. then asks if he bears a grudge against her for giving him Geass and changing his destiny this much, so Lelouch explains that it was because of the Geass she gave him and because she was there that he was able to begin moving forward. Him taking responsibility for everything that happened from that point on prompts C.C. to say that this is the first time she’s been with a man like him.

The pair’s moment together is interrupted when the Guren suddenly bursts through the wall. Kallen is ready to kill Lelouch, but C.C. stops her using the pink Lancelot and gives Lelouch enough time to make it into the Shinkirou. Lelouch’s concern for her well-being makes C.C. happy, and she tells him to go and then return later and give her a smile. The Shinkirou heading towards the Damocles causes Schneizel to have Nunnally fire the next FLEIJA warhead at it, and Lelouch gets to work inputting environmental data in order to use the counter that Lloyd and Nina developed. He manages to succeed within the tiny window of time that he was given, and he has Suzaku throw the FLEIJA ELIMINATOR at the blast, nullifying it. What’s more, because the Damocles needed to lower part of its shield in order to fire the FLEIJA, Lelouch is able to keep that hole open with the Shinkirou and allow Suzaku and some of his men through. This forces Schneizel to use what he calls his last plan: keep Lelouch inside the Damocles, escape, and then destroy the Damocles with a FLEIJA warhead. Schneizel feels that the Damocles and FLEIJA are merely machines that can be rebuilt, and he’s going to abandon Nunnally because he feels that there’s no comparison between world peace and a single life.

Meanwhile, Lelouch and Suzaku are attacked by Gino in his upgraded Tristan while they are making their way through the Damocles. The Tristan disables the Shinkirou, so Lelouch has to proceed on foot while the Lancelot keeps the Tristan busy. The battle outside the Damocles also rages on, with Jeremiah facing Anya, and Kallen going up against C.C. Kallen feels that people who don’t have reason to fight should withdraw, but C.C. claims that she has a reason – a promise. Kallen thinks that this means she loves Lelouch, however C.C. just says that she wanted to bring an end to the accumulation of her experiences. The Guren ends up demolishing the pink Lancelot, and when C.C. gives Kallen the win, Kallen claims not to care about that. As she ejects in the cockpit and falls toward the ocean, C.C. is surprised that she herself still cares about winning or losing. Over on the Avalon, Xingke has found Kaguya and the young Empress along with all the other hostages. Sayoko, Lloyd, and Cecile are with this group and are pretending that they were only helping Lelouch because he threatened them. At around the same time, far away on Penglai Island, Cornelia is recovering and tells Guilford that Schneizel didn’t kill her. She feels that Schneizel doesn’t have any desires and would have made an excellent king if times had not changed, and she calls herself a fool for not figuring that out.

Back inside the Damocles, Nunnally had dropped the key to the fortress during an earlier explosion and is now on the ground trying to find it. She feels that she has to stop her brother, and she suddenly turns her head to exactly where the key lays on the ground. Elsewhere, Schneizel, Kanon, and Diethard board a shuttle to escape, but they are met by an image of Lelouch on the video screen. Schneizel immediately realizes that this is checkmate for him, and he wonders how Lelouch figured out his plan. Lelouch explains that it wasn’t Schneizel’s plan that he was able to read but rather Schneizel’s true nature. He had observed that Schneizel didn’t play to win but rather so that he couldn’t lose, and so he knew Schneizel would abandon the Damocles. Schneizel thinks that Lelouch is planning to kill him, but Lelouch first asks if Schneizel was going to use the Damocles to seize the world. Schneizel claims that he only wanted to create the peace that everyone wished for, and when Lelouch thinks that he’s ignoring the true nature of people, Schneizel calls it a difference of opinion. Lelouch then notes that Schneizel wanted to lock the world into the present, but he feels that an unchanging life is not living – it’s just an experience.

Lelouch goes on to assert that Charles wanted the past, Schneizel wants the present, and he personally wants the future. Schneizel points out that the future may be worse than the present, but Lelouch insists that it’ll be better because no matter how long it takes, people will continue to seek happiness. The two go back and forth a bit further about happiness and the will of the people before Schneizel has had enough and tells Lelouch to kill him. He knows that Lelouch will die as well via the FLEIJA warhead, and he thinks that peace will be achieved through their two lives, but Lelouch is already one step ahead of him. Despite being on the video screen, Lelouch is actually in the room with Schneizel, and he uses his Geass to make Schneizel serve Zero. He explains afterwards that Schneizel’s assumption that he’d be killed led to this defeat. Refusing to accept this, Diethard kills the guard holding him and tries to kill Lelouch as well, but Schneizel shoots Diethard first. As he lays dying, Diethard asks Lelouch to use Geass on him, but Lelouch feels that it’s not worth it. Lelouch then tells Schneizel to cancel the self-destruct of the Damocles, but Schneizel reveals that the control switch is in Nunnally’s hands.

Suzaku and Gino meanwhile have taken their battle outside the Damocles, and although the Lancelot slices apart the Tristan, Gino succeeds in first bringing down part of the Damocles’ shields. This allows Kallen and the Guren in, and Kallen feels that the time to settle things has come. As this is going on, Lelouch makes his way to Nunnally’s room and finds her back in her chair. She knows that he wants the Damocles’ key, and she feels that she can’t avert her eyes any more, so she opens them. This shocks Lelouch because he realizes that she used her own will to break the Geass on her, and Nunnally then asks him if he intends to use Geass on her as well.

Preview

Now that was an exciting way to end the episode – Schneizel Geass’d, Diethard dead, and Nunnally finally opening her eyes. What was interesting to me was that after all of that time spent on making Schneizel look like a villain, he turned out to not really be one at all – at best he’s just an obstacle who shares Lelouch’s goal of peace but has a different way of doing things. In fact, you could even say that Cornelia being alive is a sign that Schneizel wasn’t really evil since he (at least it’s so implied) got her to Penglai and out of harm’s way. If this series had a real villain, it’s still Charles in my mind, and part of me thinks Charles will appear again before this is all over, particularly since we’ve got some thought-to-be-dead characters showing back up.

As for Nunnally, her opening her eyes isn’t a surprise so much as it is an exciting development given that I’m sure many of us were anticipating that it’d eventually happen. It’s nice to see her acting on her own will and challenging Lelouch head-on, but I still don’t see her as a very big final obstacle – Lelouch probably has something up his sleeve that’ll convince her to let him do what he wants. Thus, the finale becomes less of a question of Lelouch going up against a “final boss” type character and more of a question of whether he and Suzaku can achieve their goal of Zero Requiem, whatever that is. In any case, although I’m not too keen on the fact that some of the cast have been magically brought back for the finale, I’m going to back away from calling this a trainwreck because there appears to be some direction to all this, and I can see how things could get wrapped up nicely next week. I’m sure we’re in for a few more surprises too, especially since the preview doesn’t really give any hints on what’ll happen.

Summary:

Five years ago, when he was in the North, Raigyo had been on a boat with a bunch of Ruikonism followers near a structure called the Diamond Tower. Shortly after Raigyo took a picture of it, a white-haired boy appeared on the deck and blew himself up. Raigyo survived the explosion, but he had a Hiruko seed implanted in his shoulder and began to turn to stone. He had been saved only after a young Nakiami appeared, and although she nearly became covered in stone herself, she brought him back to the Zanbani with Ahm’s help. Ishu had punished Nakiami for this by repeatedly slapping her, but she let Raigyo stay, and the rest is history. After Akushiba explains all of this, Akiyuki wonders why Nakiami is willing to go as far as sacrifice herself in order to save them. Akushiba’s only answer is that Nakiami can’t live normally and disregard the Hiruko’s voice like everyone else. Meanwhile, on Sentan Island, Haru runs into Furuichi again while she’s standing in line getting her military ID picture taken, and he makes a comment about how she should just continue waiting for Akiyuki. Afterwards, Prois approaches Haru as she’s starting at her photo and tells her that her heart doesn’t show up in it.

Later that day, Haru and Furuichi participate in target practice in their ASP Suits, and Furuichi does exceptionally well. When Prois observes that Haru isn’t improving, Kakisu suggests that she lacks resolve and decides to have her come see him. Elsewhere on the island, Ryuuzou goes to see his wife to tell her that the ship that Akiyuki’s letter came from isn’t registered, so they don’t know where it is. He wants her to forgive him, but he doesn’t say it loud enough and backs off from the statement when she claims not to have heard him. Since today happens to be Armistice Day, Ryuuzou then goes to a monument to honor those who died. He runs into an old buddy there, and after the two talk about the past, the other guy suggests that it’s time for them to take action. That night, Haru visits Kakisu in his office, and Kakisu claims that he doesn’t blame her for sticking up for Akiyuki. He thinks that she did the right thing as a woman just as Furuichi did the right thing as a soldier, but he feels that she has to mature. Kakisu then reminds Haru that this is the path she chose and advises her to give up on the past. As she goes to leave, he also tells her to take care of her little sister.

Back on the Zanbani, Raigyo shows the children the pictures he took during his travels, and he decides to take a photo of the crew. While the children go off to tell everyone, Akiyuki wonders if he’ll one day be able to live independently as a Xam’d like Raigyo did. Not directly addressing the question, Raigyo shows Akiyuki a picture of the Diamond Tower and asks if Akiyuki has ever seen it. Akiyuki gets a creepy feeling from just looking at the picture, and Raigyo notes that it’s the place where they were washed ashore. This statement doesn’t make sense to Akiyuki, and Raigyo subsequently takes a picture of him looking confused. When the time comes for the group picture, the guys are surprised to see Nakiami with a different hairstyle, courtesy of Yunbo. While Raigyo is preparing the camera, Nakiami takes the chance to apologize to Ishu for always causing trouble. The group picture goes off without a hitch, and Raigyo and Akiyuki develop the photos together afterwards. Raigyo takes the time to point out that the Hiruko in Akiyuki’s arm and in his own shoulder glow in the pictures, and he uses this to convey the idea that you cannot find yourself if you run away from reality. He wants to live on in order to show the white-haired children that the seed they planted in him grew up splendidly, and that is his tentative answer for what the Xam’d seeks.

Haru meanwhile has dinner with her family, and her father worries about her and mentions how she’s like her mother. This reminds Haru of how, two years ago, she had rushed to the hospital because her mother and little sister had been hit by a military vehicle that had ignored a traffic light. Her mother’s death had left Haru feeling lost about what to do, but she had heard her mother’s voice tell her not to cry because they would always be together. Akiyuki, who had followed her to the hospital, had suggested that even if two people could not see each other, they are connected through their souls. Haru now feels that she doesn’t want to just cry and wait, and she tells her little sister that she enlisted not because she wants to find Akiyuki but because she wants to protect her family and this town. As a result of this, she decides to cut her hair short. Back on the Zanbani, the crew detects a Northern Humanform Dropship approaching, but instead of trying to avoid it, Raigyo has Ahm keep the ship on course so that he can give Akiyuki some training. He instructs Akiyuki to take care of the Humanform Weapon coming as part of a lesson about protecting oneself, and he tells Akiyuki to think for himself instead of looking to him for answers. With no other choice, Akiyuki unwraps his right arm and prepares to fight.

Preview

I realized as I was watching this episode that, in contrast to how I’ve felt about the series up to now, I’ve actually started to like the Akiyuki half of the story more than the Haru half. It probably has everything to do with Raigyo’s appearance making things more exciting on the Zanbani compared to how Haru keeps getting served downers by Furuichi and Kakisu (the latter of whom was rather creepy in the scene where he had his shirt unbuttoned – I kept thinking he was going to make a move on her). I’m not sure about the direction Haru’s character is going either. Her new haircut suggests a new attitude, but I’m not entirely convinced yet that her stated reason for enlisting (to protect) is genuine. Then again, one of the main themes right now on both sides of the story seems to be maturing/growing up, so maybe she really has decided to move on. If so, then it’s likely that she’ll have to face Akiyuki as an enemy the next time their paths cross.

As for Raigyo, he appears to be settling nicely into the mentor role, but part of me is still a little suspicious of him because he’s relatively new and would be perfect to pull off a betrayal. The problem is that we’re ten episodes into the series now, but aside from the generic Northern Government and Furuichi being an asshole, the writers haven’t really established a main villain. One may not necessarily be needed at this point, but I doubt they’d wait too much longer to introduce the character, assuming he or she hasn’t already been shown. I’m curious to see if any bad guys other than the Humanform Weapon show up in the next couple of episodes, and along those same lines, if Raigyo will stick around. The preview for next week suggests some big things could happen on the ship.

「列車大作戦」 (Ressha Daisakusen)
“The Great Train Operation”

Episode at a Glance:
Overhearing the commotion that Lillia is causing because of Treize, Matilda comes by and notices that she has the same eyes as Travas. Matilda then invites Lillia to have tea with her and quickly realizes that she doesn’t know Treize’s real identity, so she introduces herself as Hilda, a trader who stopped by Ikstova to purchase gold and whose father hired Travas and the others as her bodyguards. As for Treize, she explains that he was hired as a guide since he’s familiar with Ikstova, being an heir to an inn there. Hearing this, Lillia tells Treize that he should’ve told her this to begin with, but he simply tries to avoid eye contact during this cover up.

Off in the dining car, Allison talks to Travas about how strange things have turned out, questioning if this is alright with him. Naturally, Travas claims that it isn’t, but he’s happy that Lillia’s around to accompany Matilda, who’s lonely having been raised in isolation. Listening to this prompts Allison to call Travas a softy, but adds that she likes that part of him. With Travas figuring that it’s alright for Lillia to stay with Matilda for now, Treize comes by to get more tea and informs Allison and Travas that the two girls are getting along. Back in Matilda’s train compartment, Lillia explains that Travas is an acquantince of her mother and that she hopes they’ll get married one day so that her mother will be happy. In light of this, Matilda suspects that Lillia doesn’t know that Travas is her father, which she confirms after finding out that Lillia believes her father died in an accident before she was born. Unsettled at the fact that Travas left his family to serve her country, Matilda hugs Lillia, thanks her on behalf of Sou Beil, and prays that she’ll be blessed with happiness. While confused, Lillia doesn’t get a chance to ask what Matilda meant because Treize returns, so Matilda decides to ask Treize to take a picture of her and Lillia.

Off in another car, a male passenger comes running by asking for help because the student passenger appears to have been food poisoned. Due to the commotion caused, Allison questions the man what happened and learns that there were no screams for help. The man then suspects that it was Travas’ group that poisoned them with the lunch boxes they were served, causing everyone to assemble in the dining car. Word of this is passed onto Matilda, so one of Travas’ men escorts Lillia back to her seat. Before leaving though, Lillia and Maltida express how fun it’s been and promise to meet again somewhere. Treize then leaves as well, after Matilda asks him to go with Lillia. In the dining car, Travas is trying to calm the accusations, stating that there’s no reason for them to poison someone. He then receives a report from one of his men that someone’s on the roof of the train, so he sends Izumo out to bring the person back. Having knocked out the person on the roof, Izumo brings the suspect back to the dining room, where everyone discovers that it’s the wife of the man who’s been accusing Travas and his group for poisoning them. Travas then asks to speak to him in the other room, but the man panics and claims that he’s been set up, so he knocks Treize aside and grabs Lillia as a hostage.

With the man demanding that the train be stopped so he can get off, Allison speaks up saying that she’s Lillia’s mother and offers herself as a substitute hostage. The man questions what’ll happen if he refuses though, so Allison fires a gun inches from his head. She then makes a proposal, saying they’ll turn him and his wife over to the police without reporting this hostage incident if he drops the knife. With Allison threatening to end things in ten seconds if he doesn’t agree, the man quickly complies. With Lillia free, Allison insinuates that the man poisoned the student, but he denies having any part in it. However, Allison deduces that he walked through two cars from where the student was poisoned before asking for help, in an attempt to cause as much of a disturbance as possible. She also deduces that the man caused the first train they were on to break down so he could transfer to this one and poisoned the student to cause this commotion so he could get into the cars beyond the dining room. Having been figured out, the man claims that he was lured into doing this after being told that this train is secretly exporting a large quantity of jewels from Ikstova to Sou Beil. He adds that the woman isn’t actually his wife, but someone who was most-likely inticed the same way. As for their current actions on board the train, he reveals that he was following the instructions of another man he’s never met, who called him offering money for the job. He still insists that he didn’t poison the student though, after which both him and the woman suffer from the some convulsions the student did.

With the two of them taken off to another room to be inspected by the supposed doctor on board, Travas figures that they were poisoned via capsules that they were told were medicine. In response to this turn of events, Travas decides to stop at the next available stop and separate the cars so that they’re no longer traveling with the passengers they picked up. Travas then reports this change of plans to Matilda, who wishes she could’ve traveled with Lillia till the last stop. She then asks Travas if she can meet Lillia again sometime, to which he says he’ll make an effort to see it happen. Having separated the trains, Travas informs his men that their cover is probably blown and suspects that the information was leaked out from within Sou Beil. Hearing this, Travas’ men figure that continuing to follow their original plan would only be detrimental at this point. As for the man and woman earlier, Travas concludes that they were simply used for that task, but that they should consider the rest of the occurances as part of someone’s plan. Given how the perpetrator was able to anticipate their decision to restrict access beyond the dining car and use the lunch delivery to his/her advantage, Travas’ men then suspect that it’s one of them, but Travas firmly believes that the real culprit is left behind in the other car. While everyone’s shocked to hear this, Travas goes on to explain that they need to prioritize Matilda’s safety first, so he tells them that they’ll stop at the next station and transfer to a car in order to conceal themselves from the culprit. Axe however senses that something’s still bugging Travas about this decision, so he reveals that he feels he’s still overlooking something.

Back on the separated train, Treize talks to Lillia about the date she believes Allison and Travas were supposed to go on, hoping she was going to say it was a date between them. Having been left behind under the guise of a tour guide, Treize strangely hears from another man how it’s unfortunate that he’s not with Travas’ group. Meanwhile, someone switches the tracks after Matilda’s train crosses a junction and radios another party about how they can’t be trailed now. On the actual train, the conductor informs Travas that he’s taking an emergency stop due to a car on the tracks, but Travas tells him to go through it. The conductor stops the train though, and radios back questioning who’s going to listen to Travas’ orders. With the train stopped, they soon find themselves surrounded by a group of armed men, so Travas tells his team to take up battle formations.

Next Episode:
「犯人は密かに笑う」 (Hannin wa Hisoka ni Warau)
“The Culprit Laughs Secretly”

Impressions:
I find it ironic how Matilda is able to suspect a relationship between Travas and Lillia just by looking at the clueless girl’s eyes once, but Lillia herself can’t fathom a connection for the life of her. It looks like poor Lillia didn’t inherit Wil’s smarts along with his lack of relationship sense, making me think that all she inherited was Allison’s spunk. Anyway, I was a bit surprised at how good of a person Matilda quickly turned out to be. For one, she immediately caught on to the fact that Lillia doesn’t know Treize’s true identity and helped conceal it along with her own. Secondly, she figured out that Travas gave up his family in order to serve her country and prayed for Lillia’s happiness. Because of this, I can’t help but feel bad for her because Treize will almost certainly turn her down in favor of Lillia. Matilda seems like the kind of person who would gracefully respect Treize’s decision though, so I guess things won’t be that bad for her in the end. She only met Treize for the first time last episode too, so I can’t imagine that she’s terribly attached to him already.

With that said, I’m impressed by Allison’s deductive skills nowadays, since she never had a clue as to what was going on when she was younger. Not only that, but she’s shown how much she’s matured in terms of keeping her composure and being the go-to person in a situation. I think she even surprised Travas a bit when she pulled out her gun and fired inches away from guy’s head, subsequently resolving the hostage situation peacefully. Her fast ten second countdown actually made me laugh a bit too, as he basically had the guy in the palm of her hand. Classic case of mother Allison kicking ass again!

Despite how much she’s “grown”, Allison was still unable to blow this conspiracy out in the open completely, but neither was Travas before it was too late. In fact, when Travas decided to separate the trains at the next station in order to avoid the criminal, I couldn’t help but think how ominous that decision was, seeing as nothing good came from a similar incident before. Evidently, everyone thinks that people after Matilda, but I’m still inclined to believe that Treize is the real target according to the photograph shown last time. (The snowy background makes me think it was taken in Ikstova.) Also, the long-haired guy also mentioned that it’s a shame that Treize was left behind from Matilda’s train, making it seem like he was one of the intended targets as well.

Anyway, with Travas and his group separated from Treize now and in deep water themselves, this pretty much leaves the Ikstova prince unguarded and on the same train that Weasal is on. If Weasal’s real target is indeed Treize, I still don’t quite see how he was able to bank on him being left behind after the trains were separated; therefore, I’m looking forward to the next episode to clear up my suspicions. In either case, Allison & Lillia conspiracies! You gotta love them!

Tidbit: Looks like Lillia forgot that she’s not supposed to be Japanese.

Cast:
- Lillia (リリア) / Mizuki Nana (水樹 奈々)
- Trieze (トレイズ) / Yoshino Hiroyuki (吉野 裕行)
- Allison (アリソン) / Kuwashima Houko (桑島 法子)
- Travas (トラヴァス) / Morikawa Toshiyuki (森川 智之)
- Benedict (ベネディクト) / Yamadera Kouichi (山寺 宏一)
- Fiona (フィオナ) / Noto Mamiko (能登 麻美子)
- Matilda (マティルダ) / Fujimura Chika (藤村 知可)
- Axe (アックス) / Toyoguchi Megumi (豊口 めぐみ)
- Ozette (オゼット) / Hoshino Mitsuaki (星野 充昭)
- Izuma (イズマ) / Nishi Rintarou (西凛 太郎)
- Uno (ウーノ) / Kobayashi Toshio (小林 俊夫)
- Ed (エド) / Konno Jun (金野 潤)
- Weasel (ウィーゼル) / Kawashima Tokuyoshi (川島 得愛)
- Man 1 (男1) / Egawa Hisao (江川 央生)
- Long-haired Man (長髪の男) / Kazama Yuuto (風間 勇刀)
- Husband (夫) / Aoki Tsuyoshi (青木 強)
- Wife (妻) / Oomura Kana (大村 歌奈)
- Coen train conductor (コーエン車掌) / Miura Hirokazu (三浦 博和)

「地球最後の夜」 (Chikyuu Saigo no Yoru)
“The Earth’s Final Night”

Episode at a Glance:
Having made his presence known across the globe, Gid is attacked by the local army, so he displays his ability to destroy the planet in a blink of an eye if he wanted to. With the army not wanting to provoke him, they decide to back off. On board his spaceship, Gid reminds Lala of the promise he made with Rito about becoming the universe’s greatest man, but Lala asks him to not bring a normal earthling up to his standards. Gid then sends Zastin out to convey a message to Rito about his test—a game to see if Rito can reach his ship before sunset tomorrow. In support of Rito, Zastin goes on to explain that there will likely be obstacles in Rito’s way, and should he fail, Gid will destroy the Earth. With Rito pondering this predicament and ignoring phone calls, Mikado surprisingly comes by saying that Gid always does what he says he will, and asks Rito to give the test a shot since she likes Earth. After receiving some encouragement from Saruyama and his parents, Rito gets a phone call from Haruna and decides to meet her at the park later on.

Meanwhile, Lala continues to try and talk her father out of this, but he claims he gave Rito a chance to save Earth and that he has to make him take responsiblity for laying a hand on his daughter. Meeting with Haruna, Rito finds out that she believes he’s been charmed by Lala after hearing his confession to her; however, he tells her that’s not the case and tries to confess to Haruna, seeing as tonight might be the last night on Earth. Unable to do so, Rito tells Haruna that he’ll run for everyone’s sake tomorrow and will convey his true feelings to her if he can pass Gid’s trial. Happy to hear this, Haruna encourages Rito, which helps calm his shaken nerves.

The next day, Rito sets out as part of the Gid’s game with everyone in the world looking on. Determined to change, Rito runs towards the Deviluke spaceship. During this time, Yui seeks Mikado’s help after noticing a loophole in Gid’s conditions for the game. While Rito is feeling physically capable in light of Haruna’s encouragement last night, he finds himself under the attack of plants fired from Gid’s ship. Mikado however then comes racing along with Saruyama and Yui, the latter of which reveals that Gid never said Rito couldn’t be helped to the destination. With Rito relieved about the support, the four of them continue onwards through Gid’s obstacles.

Next Episode:
「ララ」 (Rara)
“Lala”

Impressions:
Wow, that was a surprisingly touching episode of To LOVE-Ru. While not overly moving, I would have never expected something like this given how things have gone so far. I couldn’t help but feel bad for Rito literally having the weight of the world on his shoulders, with its destruction pending should he fail to pass Gid’s game. With all the quiet scenes from everyone’s perspectives, I got swept into that depressing feeling going around, so it was nice to see supporters in the form of Mikan and Saruyama give some words of encouragement.

The big scene in this episode though had to be the one between Rito and Haruna. Seeing as they already know how they feel about one another, I find it “frustratingly amusing” that the Rito opted to say that he’ll convey his true feelings if he can pass Gid’s game instead of confessing on what might be the world’s last night. Now is it just me or was that an implicit confession in itself? While it makes the other person want to give more support so that they can hear what they already know, it always bugs me because there’s still the possibility they’ll just end up bottling up their feelings inside. Or in this case, just dying flat out! This bit is used in dramas as well, and always seems to make me want to pull my hair out when I hear it.

Mini rant aside, the ending gave a sense of hope with Yui noticing a loophole in Gid’s challenge and deciding to help Rito since the Deviluke ruler never said it wasn’t allowed. The next episode shows a Ren and Yami getting involved as well, so it looks like all of Rito’s friends will pull together in a hope-filled finale. The preview doesn’t sound very promising though, with Lala bidding farewell to everyone and shown crying, so there’s still a possibility that things won’t go well. With that said, I don’t know how I would take a conclusion where Lala has to leave everyone after the Earth is saved. On one side, it would be good because it’s unexpectedly sad, but on the other side, it would just be a bad ending period. If things do end this way, I’d consider it the most surprisingly ending out of the shows I’m currently covering, but I really don’t think they’d leave us with such a depressing conclusion. In any case, they’ve done a good job with the preview to keep me guessing.

Cast:
- Yuuki Rito (結城 梨斗) / Watanabe Akeno (渡辺 明乃)
- Lala Satalin Deviluke (ララ・サタリン・デビルーク) / Tomatsu Haruka (戸松 遥)
- Gid Lucione Deviluke (ギオ・ルシオン・デビルーク) / Nakamura Hidetoshi (中村 秀利)
- Zastin (ザスティン) / Koyasu Takehito (子安 武人)
- Sairenji Haruna (西連寺 春菜) / Yahagi Sayuri (矢作 紗友里)
- Saruyama (猿山) / Yoshino Hiroyuki (吉野 裕行)
- Kotegawa Yui (古手川 唯) / Nadzuka Kaori (名塚 佳織)
- Mikado Ryouko (御門 涼子) / Jou Masako (城 雅子)
- Momioka Risa (籾岡 里沙) / Yuzuki Ryouka (柚木 涼香)
- Announcer (アナウンサー) / Yuzuki Ryouka (柚木 涼香)
- Yuuki Mikan (結城 美柑) / Hanazawa Kana (花澤 香菜)
- Peke (ペケ) / Arai Satomi (新井 里美)
- Pilot (パイロット) / Konno Jun (金野 潤)
- Pilot (パイロット) / Nakanishi Naoya (中西 尚也)

「…お待たせしました♪」 (…Omataseshimashita ♪)
“…Sorry For Making You Wait ♪”

Episode at a Glance:
On the phone with Mika, Yuuto learns that Haruka’s birthday is on October 20th and is asked to keep that evening open for a party. The next day, Yuuto decides to subtlely ask Haruka if there’s anything that she wants, only to find out they’re things either too basic or too outlandish for him to get her. At school, he notices her talking passionately about Dojikko Aki-chan again and decides to head to Akihabara on Sunday.

There, he’s lost on which figurine to get Haruka, but runs into Nobunage who’s thrilled that Yuuto has come across to his “side” and offers his vast otaku knowledge to help him pick one. After purchasing the latest Dojikko Aki-chan figurine that reminded him of Haruka’s pose, Yuuto is reminded of how he’s changed since they were kids. While he still doesn’t remember clearly, Nobunaga brings up his copy of the first edition of Innocent Smile that Yuuto gave away to a stranger. On his way home, Yuuto recalls how Haruka received the first edition of Innocent Smile a while back, after which he runs into Nanami and Hazuki, who drag him off to an island that Haruka’s father bought and renamed to “Happy Spring Island” just for his daughter’s birthday party. Elsewhere, Shiina is wondering what Yuuto is up to now.

At the Happy Spring Island airport, Yuuto is shocked to see the number of wealthy people attending Haruka’s party and is intimidated by the sheer volume of presents that they’ve brought for her. With some time to kill until the evening party starts, Yuuto heads to the beach as per Haruka’s suggestion, where he runs into a mysterious old man searching for a fishing hook. With Ruko and Yukari getting into their usual drunken habits, Yuuto decides to help the old man out and ends up discussing what his relationship with Haruka is. With Yuuto still unable to say that Haruka’s more than a friend, the old man lets him go when Mika, Nanami, and Hazuki arrive, the latter two who get harrassed into showing some skin. As Yuuto leaves though, the old man finds the fishing hook he was looking for and thinks how he’s run into someone interesting.

With Haruka arriving shortly after, Yuuto finds himself unable to contain his “excitement”. Together, they all then play in the ocean, where Haruka ends up drowning when she accidentally wanders out too far. Checking on her condition, Yukari lies about her needing CPR and gets everyone to go along with making Yuuto resuscitate her. With everyone looking on in great anticipation, Haruka wakes up at the last second much to their disappointment. Unbeknownst to them, Shute Sutherland is spying on them from his boat. At the party, Shute flaunts his status at Yuuto, questioning what he’s giving Haruka when he’s offering five hundred of carats worth of daimonds and rubies, which makes Yuuto question his present even more.

Next Episode:
「秘密です！」 (Himitsu Desu!)
“It’s a Secret!”

Impressions:
So as a prequel to the finale next week, they set things up nicely with Haruka’s birthday party on an exotic island that her father purchased just for this occasion. With the introduction of Shute Sutherland, it looks like he’ll be the final obstacle between Yuuto and Haruka, in a classic case of love triumphing over wealth. Given how Yuuto’s gotten to know Haruka pretty well by now, I was actually surprised to see him so intimidated by the size and value of the presents people were giving her. Perhaps Yuuto simply doesn’t have that much confidence despite always being able to do the right thing, but I thought he would’ve figured that Haruka isn’t a materialistic girl after their first date in Akihabara. Seeing that glimmer in her eyes when she talks about Dojikko Aki-chan should be a pretty clear indication that his gift will be Haruka’s favorite, but I guess they needed to put Yuuto through some angst or it wouldn’t be a very dramatic conclusion.

Speaking of conclusions, I guess this is probably the last we’ve seen of Shiina‘s involvement since Yuuto and Haruka are off on an island that she can’t reach. For someone who was hoping to see a little bit more of a rivalry, I’m a bit disappointed (like Shiina was) that the scene at the school festival was basically the end of something that never even took off. However, there’s still the dire need for Yuuto to realize that it was Haruka who he gave Nobunaga’s first edition of Innocent Smile to five/six years ago, which they’ve been alluding to ever since the second episode, so this unfortunately doesn’t leave much time to see more of Shiina.

Now aside from Hazuki looking really good in her one-piece and Yuuto suffering from severe blood loss at the sight of Haruka’s “goods“, I’m quite interested in who the old man that Yuuto was helping out with is. In accordance to how Nagi’s grandfather made a similar scrubby appearance in front of Hayate in Hayate no Gotoku!, I’m tempted to say that this person is Haruka’s grandfather, but I’ll wait until the next episode to find out for sure. Other than that, it sure must be “rough” for Yuuto having everyone helping him hook up with a girl like this. Right… really rough. I feel so sorry for him, much the same way these people do.

Finally, I should mention that they featured Haruka’s character song “Le Secret” in this episode, which I’ve listened to quite a few times already from the character CDs. I’m not really a fan of Noto Mamiko‘s singing because it sounds kind of raspy, but this song is alright.

Cast:
- Nogizaka Haruka (乃木坂 春香) / Noto Mamiko (能登 麻美子)
- Ayase Yuuto (綾瀬 裕人) / Hatano Wataru (羽多野 渉)
- Nogizaka Mika (乃木坂 美夏) / Gotou Mai (後藤 麻衣)
- Sakurazaka Hadzuki (桜坂 葉月) / Shimizu Kaori (清水 香里)
- Nanashiro Nanami (七城 那波) / Ueda Kana (植田 佳奈)
- Amamiya Shiina (天宮 椎菜) / Satou Rina (佐藤 利奈)
- Asakura Nobunaga (朝倉 信長) / Takagi Reiko (高木 礼子)
- Kamishiro Yukari (上代 由香里) / Matsuki Miyu (松来 未祐)
- Ayase Ruko (綾瀬 ルコ) / Nabatame Hitomi (生天目 仁美)
- Sawamura Yoshika (澤村 良子) / Kitamura Eri (喜多村 英梨)
- Asahina Mai (朝比奈 麻衣) / Toyosaki Aki (豊崎 愛生)
- Shute Sutherland (シュート・サザーランド) / Majima Junji (間島 淳司)
- Old man (老人) / Naya Rokurou (納谷 六郎)
- Castle broadcast (城内放送) / Akashi Kaori (明石 香織)
- Follower (とりまき) / Miki Akira (三木 晃)
- Follower (とりまき) / Horikawa Teruyuki (堀川 輝幸)
- Follower (とりまき) / Motegi Takamitsu (茂木 孝充)
- Follower (とりまき / Yamamoto Shiku (山本 使功)

「ストライクウィッチーズ」 (Sutoraiku Uicchiizu)
“Strike Witches”

Episode at a Glance:
With the Akagi sinking, Yoshika takes to the skies in Mio’s Striker Unit to buy some time for everyone to escape. Spotting Yoshika’s battle from afar, Shirley and Francesca decide to come and help, but realize that they don’t have any weapons. Meanwhile, Minna, Gertrud, and Erica take over Maloney’s command center and discover that he’s been plotting to replace the Witches by using Neuroi technology. Realizing that Yoshika’s contact with the Neuroi caused him to blunder, Gertrud wishes they believed Yoshika earlier. The three of them then notice Yoshika fighting the Warlock outside in Mio’s Striker Unit, so they head to the hanger to retrieve their own units. In the skies, Yoshika hesitates to fire on the Warlock, which even attempts to deceive her by revealing its core, but soon realizes that this isn’t the same unhostile Neuroi she met before. With the Warlock attacking the sinking Akagi further, Mio and Perrine find themselves in quite a pinch, but luckily Shirley and Francesca swoop by in the nick of time to save them both.

Back at the base, Gertrud and the others find Sanya and Eila already there, with Lynne arriving shortly afterwards. Together they head out to help Yoshika and bring her Striker Unit along so that Mio can have hers back. After Lynne lands a direct hit on the Warlock sending it crashing into the Akagi, the battle looks over, but the battleship emerges from the ocean after being fused with the Neuroi-ridden Warlock. Having located the core, Mio volunteers to go inside to destroy it, but Yoshika, Lynne, and Perrine undertake the task instead, thus commencing their counterattack. With the other witches giving them an opening to break through, Yoshika and her team make their way to the engine room where they discover the massive Neuroi core. Having lost all their weapons while breaking in, Yoshika decides to destroy the core with her Striker Unit. Following its destruction, the witches are surprised to see the Neuroi hive over Gallia disappear as well. With the Gallia region free, the Strike Witches are officially disbanded and sent home.

Some time later back in Fuso, Yoshika looks back on the photograph mysteriously sent by her father, thinking that everything started with it. After helping Micchan heal a wounded bird, they run into Suwa Amaki outside, who claims to be member of the Army Air Force’s 47th Squadron and delivers a new letter to Yoshika from her father.

ED Sequence:

Impressions:
You’ll have to bear with me here while I go through some initial reactions to this finale. Don’t take this as me hating the series though, as I really do love it. I promise.

First off, what the hell kind of cop out ending was that? I would’ve been content with just the defeat of the Neuroi-possessed Warlock and leaving the war ongoing, but they decided to magically have the hive disappear afterwards too… FOR NO APPARENT REASON. It was basically, “Oh hey look, we won the war too. Woohoo!” They might as well have flashed the following across the screen while they were at it:

“You have defeated the last boss. All the enemies have died along with him. The world is safe again. Congratulations.”

Granted, one could assume that the Warlock transported the hive core over to the Akagi after fusing with it, but even if that were the case, it comes off as awfully convenient. Anyway, what’s even more questionable is that instead of leaving the issue with the Neuroi understandably open-ended, GONZO decided to reveal to us that Yoshika’s father is still alive. Given how the war just magically ended, I doubt they’ll make a sequel solely based on Yoshika’s pursuit of the truth behind her father, so I can’t really see what the point of revealing that he’s still alive at the end was for. If all they were going for was the “OMG” reaction, fair enough, but it prompted a “WTF, why even bother mentioning this now?” kind of reaction from me.

My last “complaint” (if you will), is that they choose to have the girls explaining the reasons behind Maloney’s action to each other in layman’s terms. While I’m grateful that the writers decided to clear things up for us so that there’s no confusion, I couldn’t help but feel that my intelligence was belittled there and that there must’ve been a better way to get that information across. In fact, Erica’s reaction to Gertrud’s explanation pretty much sums up my thoughts on this.

With that said, there was a lot to like about this finale, with the beginning feeling like the climax of a movie after Yoshika took off. With the music playing to pump you up and Mio directing all of Yoshika’s valiant actions, I couldn’t help but get goosebumps there. GO STRIKE WITCHES! Also, I feel they worked in the reassembling of the witches well, since it gave off that sense of hope that protagonists should exude, without coming off as overly cheesy. On that note, I found it a bit strange how they “sealed” the Strike Witches hanger with a wall of I-beams, but it was amusing watching Gertrud dislodge one with her brute strength. Quite befitting of the tsundere in her.

As for the battle itself, I found it suspenseful even though the whole fusion thing with the Akagi was admittedly random. I guess this is why I couldn’t help but make the “last boss” comment above, since the Neuroi-ridden Akagi really did look like one you’d see in a shooting game. Watching the black battleship ascend above the clouds and coast along the in skies proved to be an awesome setting for the final battle though. Inside the ship, I found it silly how Perrine’s gun couldn’t even destroy a hatch, making you wonder what kind of damage it’s supposed to do to a Neuroi, but very appropriate for Yoshika to destroy the core with her Striker Unit—the device that her father invented to battle them in the first place.

Lastly, they included the all witches version of “Bookmark Ahead” that I was hoping for a while back, so I was quite happy to see them play that version during the credits scroll.

Final Impressions:
While this series has been met with the obvious harsh criticisms due to its young-looking character designs and pantless dress code world, it has never bothered me in the least. In fact, I love the character designs in STRIKE WITCHES and find them absolutely adorable with all their little nuances. This includes Yoshika’s persistent nature, Mio’s semi-fake laugh, Minna’s assertiveness, Lynne’s big breasts, Erica’s nonchalant attitude with the occasional “well done!” (yaru na!) comment, Gertrud’s dishonest tsundere personality, Francesca’s fiestiness, Charlotte’s fiestiness AND big breasts, Sanya’s sleepyhead self, and Eila’s “saying it like it is” sarcasm. Throw in an all-star cast to play all these cute girls, good animation quality (something that GONZO used to be attributed for on a regular basis), mecha action, and the usual fan-service, and you have a recipe that’s perfect for me.

In retrospect, I found this series more enjoyable than Sky Girls, which I liked a lot as well. Being only twelve episodes long, it didn’t feel nearly as stretched out as Sky Girls either; however, I wish they left things open for a sequel instead of ending it the way they did. That way, I could’ve possibly got a dose of STRIKE WITCHES again some time later when it’s a distant but not forgotten memory. Regardless, the series does work well as a standalone production in spite of my qualms with its sudden conclusion, so it’s been fun watching and covering it.

Cast:
- Miyafuji Yoshika (宮藤 芳佳) / Fukuen Misato (福圓 美里)
- Sakamoto Mio (坂本 美緒) / Chiba Saeko (千葉 紗子)
- Minna-Dietlinde Wilke (ミーナ・ディートリンデ・ヴィルケ) / Tanaka Rie (田中 理恵)
- Perrine-H. Clostermann (ぺリーヌ・クロステルマン) / Sawashiro Miyuki (沢城 みゆき)
- Lynette Bishop (リネット・ビショップ) / Nadzuka Kaori (名塚 佳織)
- Erica Hartmann (エーリカ・ハルトマン) / Nogawa Sakura (野川 さくら)
- Gertrud Barkhorn (ゲルトルート・バルクホルン) / Sonozaki Mie (園崎 未恵)
- Francesca Lucchini (フランチェスカ・ルッキーニ) / Saitou Chiwa (斎藤 千和)
- Charlotte E Yeager (シャーロット・E・イェーガー) / Koshimizu Ami (小清水 亜美)
- Sanya V. Litvyak (サーニャ・V・リトヴャク) / Kadowaki Mai (門脇 舞以)
- Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen (エイラ・イルマタル・ユーティライネン) / Nakai Erika (仲井 絵里香)
- General Maloney (マロニー大将) / Akimoto Yousuke (秋元 羊介)
- Adjutant (副官) / Uo Ken (魚 建)
- Captain Sugita (杉田艦長) / Mugihito (麦人)
- Micchan (みっちゃん) / Satou Arise (佐藤 有世)
- Suwa Amaki (諏訪 天姫) / Hanazawa Kana (花澤 香菜)
- Announcer (アナウンス) / Oobayashi Youhei (大林 洋平)
- Driver (運転手) / Ichinowatari Hiroaki (一ノ渡 宏昭)
- Soldier (兵士) / Kobayashi Kousuke (小林 康介)
- Soldier (兵士) / Kamino Yuuki (神野 祐希)
- Soldier (兵士) / Seki Kouji (関 幸司)

Summary:

Many years ago, Ranka had been singing Aimo when a swarm of Vajra suddenly defolded and decimated the 117th research fleet. Brera was the one who put her in an escape pod, and back in the present, Ranka remembers everything to be her fault. An image of Grace appears to confirm that, and she claims that Ranka needs to open her heart and body in order to atone for it. Meanwhile, the Macross Quarter fleet has arrived at the ruins of the 117th research fleet, and Ozma and Cathy are exploring the wreck. As the two discuss how the 117th research fleet managed to capture a Vajra and had started studying it, they find a draft of a paper with Grace’s name on it about the possibility of a super space-time network by means of Fold Quartz and implant technology. Canaria then contacts them with news that she’s found Ranshe Mei’s medical records, and from it, they learn that Ranshe was the first V-Type infection patient. She gave birth to Ranka in that state, and they guess that this is the origin of Ranka’s power.

Once they return back to the Macross Quarter, they analyze Grace’s paper and figure out that it talks about a galactic-scale perfect real time implant network. The theory is to use Fold Quartz as the core of the implant so that there would be no time lag between the corners of the galaxy. This in turn would become a super parallel thought network, but due to the predominance of terminals, it would lead to one superior node over all the others, effectively allowing someone to rule the galaxy. When Cathy points out that it’s impossible to implant all of mankind, Jeffrey realizes that this is what the Vajra are for. The Vajra mean death for those people who oppose the implants and slavery for those who accept it. The key to all this is the person who can communicate with the Vajra – Ranka. They decide to transmit this information back to the Frontier government, but they know that given the transmission time lag and the amount of time it takes to pass a legislative resolution, it’ll be too late. Thus, Jeffrey feels that they have to act.

A short while later, Cathy finds a letter in Dr. Mao’s file that confirmed that she had a granddaughter, and it revealed that a certain pair of earrings were given to this child. The letter causes Cathy to marvel at how the activity of people doesn’t change even in space: people go from love to marriage to childbirth, and the next generation inherits the songs and culture and then passes them on. Ozma suggests that that’s what living is, and he feels that they don’t need a super time-space network. Around this time, the Macross Frontier fleet finally arrives at the Vajra planet, and they prepare for battle. The plan is to break through the Vajra defenses, defeat the Vajra queen, land Island 1 on the planet, and then make that planet their new home, all while Sheryl sings. Kuran is taking part in the assault, and even though she knows Mikhail wouldn’t be happy about it, she feels that as a Zentradi, she can’t be silent and leave after losing the man she loved. Luca, on the other hand, spends his time before the battle at Nanase’s bedside, and despite her still being unconscious, he confesses his feelings for her and promises to protect her even at the cost of his life.

Alto meanwhile pays a visit to Sheryl and vows to her that he’ll survive and return. After Alto explains how he had realized that people can’t fly alone, Sheryl comments on how he’s thickheaded, and she surprises him by saying that they should stop pretending to be lovers. When Alto tries to protest, she kisses him and asks him not to say anything. She knows that if he did, regardless of what he says, then she wouldn’t be able to sing. Sheryl promises to hear him out once everything is over, but for now, she wants him to go save Ranka. As she says this, she gives him her remaining earring and reminds him that such a good woman is rare. After the two part ways, Sheryl tells herself that she has no regrets. She instead puts herself in the mindset to sing and then makes the leap onto the Battle Frontier’s stage. The battle begins with Sheryl singing Iteza*Gogo Kyuuji Don’t be late, and despite heavy losses, the Frontier fleet is able to use the MDE warheads to break through the Vajra defenses.

While the battle continues, Ranka watches from her place of captivity, and Grace tells her that the Frontier fleet is the enemy. Brera convinces her to protect the planet so that she can atone and because that’s what their mother would have wanted. As a result, Ranka starts singing Ai Oboeteimasu ka and rallies the Vajra right after Leon had ordered Island 1 to descend onto the planet. The focused Vajra counterattack devastates the Frontier fleet, and as the battle drags on, Grace secretly descends toward a certain object, declaring that the queen’s throne is hers and commanding a path to be opened. Back above, Alto flies around Ranka’s image and tries to figure out why she’s trying to destroy them. The earring that Sheryl gave him reacts, and he briefly sees an image of Ranka in captivity, but Brera then appears and orders Alto to get away from his sister. Brera declares that his and Ranka’s mission is to defend this planet from invaders, and before Alto can say otherwise, his Valkyrie gets shot. Kuran tries to take Alto’s place, but Brera disables her Queadluun-Rea, and Alto re-enters the scene right as Brera fires his Valkyrie’s rifle. The shot hits the center of Alto’s Valkyrie, and it explodes soon after, right in front of the image of Ranka. Seeing this causes Sheryl to stop singing, and she cries out for Alto.

Preview

Is it bad that my initial reaction to Alto’s death was happiness? I don’t hate him, but as I’ve talked about before, I haven’t been a big fan of his indecisiveness throughout the series. Plus, if he really died, then my suspicions that he’d end up with no one would come true. Having said that though, despite his Valkyrie exploding, I doubt that Alto is actually dead, if for no other reason than the second earring that Sheryl gave him – it could literally save him since it’s made of Fold Quartz, or it could symbolize the fact that he has to survive so that he can give the earring back to her since he already lost the other one. Regardless, I’m sure there’s some convenient explanation for his survival, and his Valkyrie exploding makes for a very nice cliffhanger right before the finale.

As for the rest of this episode, I loved the dueling songstresses part, even more so since it occurred in the midst of a heated battle. I enjoyed the sensory overload, and I think it’s pretty clear that Ranka won this round, though I wouldn’t count Sheryl out just yet. The bigger question is how Grace is going to be stopped now that she’s got access to what appears to be the real Vajra queen. How exactly do you kill Grace anyway? Maybe all it takes is a song. :D Now that I think about it, since Ranka is the key to controlling the Vajra, I can imagine a scenario where Ranka gets knocked out of the half-dead state she’s in (probably by Alto) and joins Sheryl in singing a song that saves the day, kind of like in the OP.

There’s some other miscellaneous questions that need to be answered as well, including who Richard Birla is referring to in the scene before the battle when he talks to himself about being able to see someone soon. I had originally expected him to play a bigger part in all this, and it looks like he may yet do so. In any case, this all adds up to be a lot to cover in the final episode, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens (the preview provides no clues unfortunately). And given all that Sheryl has gone through, I’m keeping my fingers crossed in hopes that she at least gets a happy ending.

「Legacy 決戦セイルーン！」 (Legacy. Kessen Seiruun!)
“Legacy. Decisive Battle at Seyruun!”

Episode at a Glance:
With Ducuris and Zanaffar beginning their attack on Seyruun, Lina, Amelia, and the others arrive just in time to rally the troops and help out. Surprisingly, Ducuris decides to retreat shortly afterwards, which Zanaffar is originally against since he doesn’t fear the Sword of Light, but agrees to do so. Seeing this, Pokota tells Lina and the others to go after them, but quickly finds out that everyone’s starving after rushing all the way here. After a long-winded introduction to Sylphiel, Weiser updates Prince Phil and the Seyruun council about Zanaffar’s impending attack on Seyruun.

Meanwhile, Lina and Gourry are stuffing themselves to recharge, but finally stop for a moment to inform Sylphiel that it’s the legendary evil beast Zanaffar that they’re up against. While she’s scared to hear this, the Seyruun council is blaming Ruvinagald for bringing the beast here and starts passing the blame around. Pokota then arrives, introduces himself to Phil and the others, and asks for their help on behalf of Taforashia. Naturally, everyone doubts his identity believing that Taforashia was annihilated long ago, but Pokota tells them otherwise, saying he’s living proof. Claiming he’s here to bear the responsibility for helping resurrect Zanaffar, Pokota stresses that they need to defeat the beast, but everyone questions if they can even do that. Having heard enough of his council’s refusal to help, Phil tells everyone that they need to defeat Zanaffar to protect the lives of everybody in the world. He then apologizes to Pokota for not helping Taforashia during the epidemic, but swears he’ll do whatever it takes to help defeat Zanaffar. Lina and the others then arrive, offering their services as well, before heading out to engage the beast.

Using the Sword of Light, they eventually locate Ducuris, who claims he’s doing this to see how the world has changed in regards to helping others. Zanaffar then appears from beneath the ground, shocking everyone with how large it’s grown. Surprisingly, the beast reveals that it’s interested in absorbing Lina, after taking notice to Gioconda’s memories of her spells. During this time, Phil continues to coordinate the evacuation of the civilians, while Lina and the others try to keep Zanaffar preoccupied. With Pokota unable to land a blow with the imitation Sword of Light, Lina suggests letting Gourry use it, so Pokota hands it over to him and supports him with magic. With the Sword of Light in hand, Gourry is able to inflict some damage on Zanaffar, but is still far from seriously injuring it. Seeing this, Zelgadis and Amelia also try to attack a wound that Gourry opened up, only to find out that it heals almost instantly. Off on the sidelines, Sylphiel suggests that Lina support them with ‘that’ spell, but Lina claims that she can’t because of the damage it causes. More importantly, Lina says there’s still Ducuris to deal with.

Next Episode:
「Misty 振り下ろされる刃！」 (Misty. Furiorosareru Yaiba!)
“Misty. The Blade Comes Swinging Down!”

Impressions:
Wow Pokota, lend Gourry the imitation Sword of Light earlier! That basically sums up the prominent thought running through my mind after watching this episode. Given how Lina and the others have decided to help Pokota stop Zanaffar, you’d think they’d give the swordsman a real weapon, but nope! Luckily, they did at the end of the episode, reminding us exactly how much Gourry can kick ass with a real sword. “HIKARI WO!” While I’m sure some people will find the opening song playing during that part kind of cheesy, I think it was just damn cool. That’s how we rolled back in the 90s—play the opening song while your protagonists are kicking butt! Seeing as this is Slayers, we have a Hayashibara Megumi song too, so you can’t really go wrong with that.

Anyway, this episode was minimal important talk (i.e. just updating Seyruun on what we already know) and a fair bit of action with Ducuris and Zanaffar attacking Seyruun. Since both Sylphiel and Phil made their first REVOLUTION appearances here, most of the talk revolved around them (…no pun intended), which was nice because it kept even the bickering scene in the council room entertaining. In any case, the next episode should be the last one before the scheduled break in the middle of the series, so it was nice to see the battle with Zanaffar heading right into the ending credits this week. I’m still uncertain whether or not they’ll conclude this season with Zanaffar’s complete defeat, but the preview does hint that something will happen to Durcuris, so it’ll be interesting to see how everything else unfolds. Also, it looks like Ozel is back. At this point, I’m suspecting that this is another doll of her though, because I can’t imagine her surviving a Ragna Blade impaling.

Finally, in light of what’s been going on, I guess it’s safe to assume that the whole issue with Rezo and Taforashia will be left for the second half of the series.

Cast:
- Lina Inverse (リナ・インバース) / Hayashibara Megumi (林原 めぐみ)
- Gourry (ガウリイ) / Matsumoto Yasunori (松本 保典)
- Amelia (アメリア) / Suzuki Masami (鈴木 真仁)
- Zelgadis (ゼルガディス) / Midorikawa Hikaru (緑川 光)
- Pokota (ポコタ) / Kobayashi Yumiko (小林 由美子)
- Weiser (ワイザー) / Ootsuka Akio (大塚 明夫)
- Prince Phil (フィル王子) / Inaba Minoru (稲葉 実)
- Sylphiel (シルフィール) / Touma Yumi (冬馬 由美)
- Ducuris (デュクリス) / Matsuyama Takashi (松山 鷹志)
- Zanaffar (ザナッファー) / Ishii Kouji (石井 康嗣)
- Commander (指揮官) / Hoshino Mitsuaki (星野 充昭)
- Injured soldier (負傷兵) / Kumada Hironari (熊田 裕成)
- Parliament member A (議員A) / Katou Seizou (加藤 精三)
- Parliament member B (議員B) / Tatekabe Kazuya (たてかべ 和也)
- Parliament member C (議員C) / Muramatsu Yasuo (村松 康雄)
- Soldier A (兵士A) / Suzuki Yuuto (鈴木 裕斗)
- Mother (母親) / Okada Sachiko (岡田 幸子)
- Child (子供) / Shintani Ryouko (新谷 良子)

Summary:

In order to fight Amagai, Ichigo initiates bankai, but even with it active, he has a hard time doing battle because of how Amagai’s bakkoutou is able to seal off his spiritual power. Ichigo nevertheless continues fighting for Rurichiyo’s sake, and he surprises his opponent by firing off a Getsuga Tenshou wave. Amagai responds by attacking with pillars of fire, and when Ichigo tries to dodge, Amagai hits him with a fireball. Ichigo refuses to stay down though, and this leads to Amagai powering up further. Amagai then launches a massive wall of fire at Ichigo, but as the smoke clears, he finds that Ichigo is still standing. This is no longer the normal Ichigo – he now has his mask on. The transformation gives Ichigo enough speed and power to start hammering away at Amagai, however Amagai isn’t defeated so easily and gets through the assault with just a few scratches.

During a pause in the fighting, Ichigo questions why Amagai is so obsessed with revenge. Amagai thinks that Ichigo wouldn’t understand the empty feeling and hatred, and he reveals that he had decided that he couldn’t find the answer to his own existence without killing the people responsible for his father’s death. He then attacks Ichigo with a new ferocity and when that doesn’t stop Ichigo, he uses a special attack that traps and burns Ichigo in a prison made up of pillars of flame. Ichigo loses half his mask as a result of this, but he still gets back up and resumes the fight. He eventually catches Amagai off-guard with another Getsuga Tenshou, and Amagai isn’t able to block it. Although this causes him to drop his zanpaktou, Amagai rebounds with the power of his bakkoutou.

Doesn’t Ichigo showing his Hollow mask in front of Yamamoto screw up things up? Letting him know raises awkward questions about how Yamamoto can allow something like this happen right in front of him without doing something. Having a Hollow mask has to be a big no-no in the Soul Society rulebook, especially considering what happened in the Turn Back The Pendulum manga arc. I guess they could “fix” it with a memory wipe or something, but that’d seem cheap and stupid at this point.

As for the battle itself, it was good by anime original arc standards, but nothing really spectacular. It was cool to see Ichigo unleash his powers, however in the end, he barely does any damage to Amagai. It probably means that Amagai won’t be defeated by normal means, and so like almost every other bad guy this arc, he’s going to end up being consumed by his bakkoutou. As I noted last week, the bright side to the fight being over soon is that we’ll get to see something new. The message at the end of this week’s episode announcing the return of Bleach to Tuesdays showed all Hueco Mundo scenes in the background, and that seems like a pretty good indicator that they’ll be going back to the manga story.

「縁の鶺鴒」 (Enishi no Sekirei)
“Sekirei of Fate”

Episode at a Glance:
With Musubi defeated, Minato tearfully clutches her in his arms, but Benitsubasa and Haihane aren’t the slightest bit remorseful. Kuno however manages to contain the two Disciplinary Force Sekirei for a bit by borrowing her Ashikabi’s powers and using her “Funya Funya Song” prayer ability, which drains the strength out of those affected by it. She’s unable to maintain the effect though, so Benitsubasa decides to take out Minato. Tsukiumi arrives in the nick of time though, but is shocked to find Musubi defeated. Angry about not having an opportunity to win against Musubi, Tsukiumi takes her frustration out on the Red and Blue Sekirei, who are shocked to find out that she’s a single number. Two on one proves unfavorable for Tsukiumi though, and she winds up trapped under a rumble caused by Haihane’s attack. Watching from afar, Homura figures things will be difficult now that the Disciplinary Force has shown up, but Kazehana senses Uzume around and decides to go in for a closer look. Nearby the railway bridge, Kazehana stops Uzume from helping them, claiming she still hasn’t been shown anything yet.

Walking through the plants left in Matsu and Kusano’s wake, Yukari and Shiina barely miss running into them and are discovered by Hayato, Mutsu, and Akitsu instead, the first of which questions how Yukari can refrain from making Shiina hers when the urge between them is this hot. Back on the bridge, Minato attacks Benitsubasa back with a headbutt, causing Haihane to laugh and make fun of her. Refusing to run and leave his important Sekirei behind, Minato is about to be killed when Musubi reawakens as Yume after proclaiming that this is love. With everyone around hearing this, Shiina uses this opportunity to form a contract with Yukari, after which he chases off Hayato and his Sekirei with his “World End Garden” attack. Musubi then declares herself as the Sekirei of Fate, Yume, leaving everyone around wondering who that is. “Yume” however questions when the Disciplinary Force started picking on the weak and decides to teach Benitsubasa and Haihane a lesson as their senpai. After Yume scares the hell out of them with a beam attack that destroys a huge portion of the bridge, Matsu arrives with Kusano and explains that the “S. Keikaku” Disciplinary Force that Yume claims to be apart of is the old name for the Sekirei Project. Yume then proceeds to literally throw Benitsubasa and Haihane off into the distance with everyone looking on speechless.

Claiming that his strong feelings for Musubi called her out, Yume stuffs Minato’s head into her chest, much to his other Sekirei’s jealousy. Happy that Yume has returned, Karasuba arrives and greets her, before attacking her head on. Dodging the Black Sekirei’s attack, Yume suggests that she isn’t the one that she should be fighting, thinking there will be someone else standing in her way later on, and allows Musubi’s consciousness to return. Sensing this at the last moment, Karasuba stops herself and decides to leave. Matsu’s hack on the surveillance satellite soon expires, causing a laser beam to be fired upon them from orbit, destroying the bridge. While Minato and his Sekirei are able to get away, Haruka and Kuno end up being saved by Uzume and Kazehana, the latter of which is happy about the young romantic mood in the morning, but feels that the real man inside Minato is still hidden. With Haruka and Kuno well on their way to freedom, Minato decides to stay behind feeling that there’s something here that only he can do after hearing Yume’s voice asking him to teach all the young Sekirei birds what love is. He then tearfully apologizes to his Sekirei for being naive and dragging them into this fight when he can’t do anything himself, but Musubi tells him that being himself gives them the motivation. Sensing the Musubi is capitalizing on the situation, the three other girls then make their own move on Minato.

Epilogue:
Back at Izumo Inn, Hikari and Hibiki apologize frantically to Miya about Kaoru eating over again for the third time in a row, while Musubi, Tsukiumi, and Kusano fight over feeding Minato. At M.B.I. headquarters, Takami is surprised to hear that Musubi reactivated herself and decides to start an investigation into it. Hayato on the other hand is wondering where he can get new Sekirei. Bruised and battered from earlier, Benitsubasa is mad about the big-breasted Yume beating her up, causing Haihane to make fun of her being at most a B-cup. In her defense, Benitsubasa says that Natsuo doesn’t like big breasted girls anyway (which seems to be the case when you look at his Sekirei). As for Natsuo himself, he senses that Karasuba’s having fun, so she reveals that things will only get better from here on. Visiting Chiho in the hospital, Uzume is unaware that Kakizaki is informing Izumi about how she helped Kuno instead of eliminating her and adds that she’s likely to betray him. Izumi however says that there’s still a use for Uzume. Out on the streets elsewhere, Shiina easily defeats another Sekirei, after which Yukari questions the Ashikabi if he knows about No.108. On the roof of Izumo Inn, Kazehana bugs Kagari about not being honest about his feelings when his body is already reacting to meeting his fated person. Out on his usual clock tower, Hiroto declares that the story about the little birds has just begun.

Impressions:
Fear the “Funya Funya Song” (i.e Limp Song), Kuno’s Sekirei prayer ability that saps the power out of you and puts you on cloud nine much like Haihane found out. Given that this is the finale (at least for now…), it was nice to see Kuno do something helpful for a change. Granted, she did inadvertently harm herself in the process somehow, but at least it’s better than her putting on a face like this for the entire episode.

Tsukiumi on the other hand made her grand entrance and got the obligatory “single number!?” reaction from both Benitsubasa and Haihane, which I rather enjoyed because I was hoping she would show the two of them their place. Unfortunately, two-on-one proved to be quite unfavorable, but at least Tsukiumi did put up a really good fight with the sword-like technique she used to counter Haihane’s claws. Water is pretty damn versatile huh?

Fight impressions aside, there sure were a lot of sprouted wings in this episode, with Yukari finally forming a contract with Shiina being one of them. On that note, I was wondering how they’d fit Hayato’s part in this episode given all the other things going on. Much to my surprise though, they managed to do so really well with only a brief confrontation. I figured they’d still have to leave things open-ended for now, but at least something worthwhile came out of it in the form of Yukari and Shiina’s contract. In addition, we also got to see Shiina display his powers with his “World End Garden” attack.

So as the preview and episode title nicely spoiled for us last time, Musubi made her “return” in the form of Yume. While it was hinted that Yume gave her life up in order to save Musubi’s, I was a bit surprised to see that she’s still very much alive. With no clear cut explanation regarding why that is, I’m under the impression that Yume shared her life with Musubi, rather than simply giving it to her. As such, I guess it’s fitting that they’re numbered 08 and 88 respectively. Anyway, I was still curious as to what a Sekirei of Fate’s powers would be, so much to my surprise, it’s firing insanely powerful beams with yin-yang eyes.

Karasuba evidently still has a grudge against Yume, but surprisingly distinguishes her from Musubi. Seeing as they haven’t revealed much about why Karasuba wants to kill Yume in the first place, it’s kind of hard to pinpoint what the Black Sekirei’s motives are, but she did hint at the fact that she’s waiting for Musubi to become stronger. My hunch as things stand now would be that she wants to fight (and defeat) Musubi only when she’s at Yume’s level. Of course, I still can’t fathom what the reason for this might be, but Yume alluded to the fact that she isn’t the one that Karasuba should be fighting. To me, this suggests that Karasuba may change sides some time down the road, so hopefully they’ll make a sequel like they’ve suggested. Otherwise, I may find myself reaching for the manga soon.

Overall, the episode was a climactic ending to the series, but not conclusive in the slightest. Since there’s indication that there’s going to be a sequel, I would say that this is a good way to start things off. (If there isn’t and this ends up being just a tease… Ugh…) I’ve also been told that this anime adaptation follows the manga reasonably well, so I imagine that most people should be happy with this outcome. The epilogue gives us a lot to look forward to as well, with Homura’s metamorphosis into a woman being the most interesting (…or should I say disturbing?). I’m still quite torn between whether having this happen or having Minato get a male Sekirei would be better, but it looks like they’ve already decided for us. In any case, the most surprising thing about this finale is that it didn’t feel rushed in the slightest, despite all the things they had to cover. In fact, they even had time for a fairly lengthy epilogue that continued through the credits.

Aside from the main issues involving Musubi, Karasuba, and the Sekirei “reactivation” via Yume that Takami is investigating, there’s still the whole East Shintou Teito group we haven’t seen much of. However, their scarce involvement in this season in conjunction with the related Uzume/Chiho sub-plot gives us some interesting things to look foward to. Also, Yukari and Shiina still haven’t to run into Minato or Kusano, despite getting pretty close this time.

Final Impressions:
Seeing as there will likely be a sequel down the road, I don’t know if a “final impressions” section is even worthwhile, but I feel the urge to reflect on the series thus far, so here we go.

When I first started watching SEKIREI, I wasn’t really too sure what to expect aside from the cast I read about. After watching the first episode, I made immediate comparisons to Fate/stay night because the Sekirei Project resembled the Holy Grail War. While I feel that this comparison is still valid, the similarities pretty much end there as the setting and level of ecchiness is completely different. Personally, I’m fine with the ecchi flair that SEKIREI has, but I can really do without the oversized breasts since I find characters along the lines of Karasuba and Yukari more attractive. Luckily, this didn’t detract me too much from continuing watching this series, as there’s much more to it than just “big boobs”.

Production-wise, I had some complaints with the animation inconsistencies (usually in distant shots of the characters), but thankfully this final episode looked much better than the previous one. Overall, I would say I’m fairly content with the quality, but I can’t ignore the fact that when it was bad, it was pretty damn bad. The music however was surprisingly good, plus the characters are amusing/interesting enough that I really enjoyed the drama CD a while back. Throw in an interesting plot with a lot of possibilities like they have and I can’t really find much not to like. All that’s left now is to see what they have in store for later on!

Cast:
- Sahashi Minato (佐橋 皆人) / Tachibana Shinnosuke (立花 慎之介)
- Musubi (結) / Hayami Saori (早見 沙織)
- Kusano (草野) / Hanazawa Kana (花澤 香菜)
- Matsu (松) / Endou Aya (遠藤 綾)
- Tsukiumi (月海) / Inoue Marina (井上 麻里奈)
- Uzume (鈿女) / Nabatame Hitomi (生天目 仁美)
- Kazehana (風花) / Yukana (ゆかな)
- Asama Miya (浅間 美哉) / Oohara Sayaka (大原 さやか)
- Homura (焔) / Kagari (篝) / Kaida Yuki (甲斐田 ゆき)
- Seo Kaoru (瀬尾 香) / Konishi Katsuyuki (小西 克幸)
- Hikari (光) / Kaida Yuuko (甲斐田 裕子)
- Hibiki (響) / Neya Michiko (根谷 美智子)
- Sahashi Yukari (佐橋 ユカリ) / Asumi Kana (阿澄 佳奈)
- Shiina (椎菜) / Ishidzuka Sayori (石塚 さより)
- Kuno (久能) / Akesaka Satomi (明坂 聡美)
- Shigi Haruka (鷸 ハルカ) / Okamoto Nobuhiko (岡本 信彦)
- Minaka Hiroto (御中 広人) / Seki Toshihiko (関 俊彦)
- Takami (高美) / Itou Miki (伊藤 美紀)
- Karasuba (鴉羽) / Paku Romi (朴 璐美)
- Natsuo (夏朗) / Toriumi Kousuke (鳥海 浩輔)
- Haihane (灰翅) / Saiga Mitsuki (斎賀 みつき)
- Benitsubasa (紅翼) / Itou Shizuka (伊藤 静)
- Mikogami Hayato (御子上 隼人) / Fukuyama Jun (福山 潤)
- Mutsu (陸奥) / Matsubara Daisuke (松原 大典)
- Akitsu (秋津) / Kobayashi Yuu (小林 ゆう)
- Higa Izumi (泉 氷峨) / Takewaka Takuma (竹若 拓磨)
- Kakizaki (柿崎) / Takahashi Kenji (高橋 研二)
- 冷水 / Shimizu Hiroyuki (清水 博之)
- 朱魏 / Akagi Nao (赤城 奈穂)

「最終回」 (Saishuukai)
“Finale”

Episode at a Glance:
While Yakumo figures that Harima dragged Tenma off to the airport so that she can go to America and see Karasuma, Eri and the others (correctly) suspect that Harima hasn’t thought this through at all, so they send Harry and Tougou out to help. Harima however still questions why he’s doing this, realizing that his former self would call him an idiot, but proclaims that it’s because he likes Tenma, who doesn’t appear to hear it. With Eri taking care of the flight arrangements, Tenma makes it to the airport in time for the departure, only to realize that she doesn’t have her passport. Forced to wait around for the next flight while Itoko and Youko bring Tenma’s things, Harima finds himself describing a “slightly stupid, yet loud girl” as the type of girl he likes. Being clueless as always, Tenma doesn’t realize that he’s describing her, so she asks him why he wants her to see Karasuma so badly. Alluding to himself, Harima explains that Tenma will someday meet a guy that loves her, but is pitiable because of his manly disposition. However, he explains that this guy won’t ever take the Karasuma she loves away from her.

Seeing that Harima has taken off his sunglasses, Tenma figures that she’s been hiding his face from her and starts suspected that they’ve met long before. Harima frantically denies this though and manages to dodge that bullet when Itoko gives him a call. After receiving her passport and belongings, Tenma is taken to the departure gate by Harima, who bids her a genuine farewell in his heart, but is grateful to have been in the same class as her. At the gate, Tenma expresses the same gratefulness and says they’ll meet again, before leaving on her flight. Onboard the plane, Tenma reveals that she heard what Harima screamed out on the bike earlier and that she probably realized his feelings long before, so she quietly thanks him. At home, Yakumo finds it a bit lonely with Tenma gone, but everyone soon comes over for a meal, cheering her up. Harima on the other hand is at a bar and gets into a fight after punching a guy for smoking in his face.

Out on a walk sometime later, Eri discovers Harima bruised and battered at the shrine, so she accuses him of picking a fight with others because he was rejected by a girl. After being insulted further, Harima lashes back at Eri, suspecting that she likes rich guys and proclaiming that he’d never want to be involved with a girl like her because it makes him want to puke. Hearing this, Eri smacks a bandage on Harima’s face, before slowly breaking down in tears. Shocked to see this, Harima questions why she’s crying, prompting Eri to slap him repeatedly saying that she’s not.

Claiming that Harima has no right to tell her that, Eri tearfully explains that finding the one right person is enough, but admits it’s difficult to do. Depressed about being told that she’s cute all the time yet never having a person that actually likes her, Eri eventually lets up on the abuse, stating that she hates all guys. Unconcerned about what Harima thinks, Eri reveals that she’s never really gone out with anyone yet and that she’s tired of falling for people who never return her feelings. Embarrassed, she punches Harima one more time before telling him to forget everything she just said. Amused, Harima thanks her for opening his eyes, after which he discards his cellphone and disappears from everyone’s sight.

In America, Tenma finds out that Karasuma left her due to a degrading mental illness that affects his ability to think properly. Telling Mikoto about this, Eri suspects that Karasuma left because he’d soon be unable to reciprocate Tenma’s feelings and figured she would be better off if he didn’t convey his feelings for her. Despite this, Tenma doesn’t give up hope and stays by Karasuma’s side even while his memories continue to fade. Some time later, Yakumo receives a letter from Tenma, informing her that Karasuma was able to slightly recall some of his memories. Word of this reaches Hanai, who puts together a class reunion in hopes of helping Karasuma recover further.

With everyone gathered, Hanai suggests singing a song together, but a cream pie fight ensues, where Karasuma instinctively protects Tenma. When one pie manages to slip by, Harima suddenly appears to save Tenma from it, questioning why he wasn’t informed about this school reunion when he’s a classmate as well. With everyone shocked to see him again, Karasuma looks like he recognizes Harima for a second, but mistakes him for Hanai, much to his disbelief. Harima then apologizes to Tenma for showing up after all, but she’s so happy to see him that she breaks down in tears. Seeing this, Mikoto blames Harima for making Tenma cry right after showing his face again, so everyone pies him mercilessly. Tenma however quietly welcomes Harima back.

ED2 Sequence:
(A video collage of various scenes from the anime series with a Tsukamoto sisters version of “School Rumble Forever”)

ED2: “School Rumble Forever” by Tsukamoto Tenma (Koshimizu Ami 小清水 亜美), Tsukamoto Yakumo (Noto Mamiko 能登 麻美子)
          featuring Suou Mikoto (Nabatame Hitomi 生天目 仁美), Sawachika Eri (Horie Yui 堀江 由衣), Takano Akira (Shimizu Kaori 清水 香里)

Impressions:
So about two months later, we have the second OVA episode of School Rumble San Gakki. If you haven’t read my post on the first episode, you may be wondering why this is titled episode 26. The reason for this is because the two OVA episodes are meant to represent the last two episodes of the never-going-to-be-produced third season, which concludes the series as a whole in accordance with the manga.

With that said, I heard that a lot of people were disappointed with the manga’s ending, (probably) because it left things pretty inconclusive regarding the love triangle between Tenma, Harima, and Karasuma. If that’s the case, I can see that being farily unsettling, but I actually found this conclusion nice in its own way. For one, the series finally reached the point where Tenma realized Harima’s feelings for her. In addition, it finally allowed Harima and Eri to see eye-to-eye (in a way), even though it didn’t lead to the two of them getting together. The Harima x Eri pairing was actually my favorite thing to watch in the previous two anime adaptations, so seeing them reach a tearful, heartfelt talk here was nice to see (along with all the Harima abuse), given the alternative of leaving things really open-ended from Ni Gakki. And last but not least, there was the actual issue with Karasuma, who’s illness seemed to come from out of nowhere, but gave us that sentimental aspect that’s been missing from Tenma’s feelings for him all this time. So with that said, I’m content with how things ended; however, here’s probably the reason why.

I haven’t read the manga.

Given how things ended in Ni Gakki (i.e. not at all), this is much better than leaving things wide open, even though the story was really disjointed at first. But on the flip side, if I were following the manga and reading 22 volumes of the Tenma, Harima, Karasuma love triangle beating around the bush to no end, spread over a six year publishing run, hell yeah I’d be disappointed with this kind of ending. If anything they should’ve reached this point halfway through the series so that there can be an actual relationship to progress the story forward from. They can hook up, break up, hook up with something else (and whatnot), but some development along these lines should happen at some point.

While I understand that School Rumble is a comedy first and foremost, the relationships do play a fundamental role in things, so ended a long running manga with a cop out ending such as this is going to aggrevate more than a handful of loyal longtime fans. What’s worse, this is only regarding the main plot of the series, meaning that there are various sub-plots that I’m not aware of which may still be unresolved. So for those of you manga readers out there, I can totally understand where you’re coming from. Hopefully the School Rumble Z manga sequel will tie things over though. On that note, didd they really have to pick the letter Z out of all things and make it like Dragon Ball Z?

On the plus side, the quality in these OVAs isn’t actually as bad as I thought it was. Despite not being in widescreen, the screenshots here look A LOT better than the ones I took for episode 25. Because of this, I actually went back and recapped the screenshots for that post, so both look equally as good for anybody checking out that post now. In any case, this concludes my mini coverage of the School Rumble San Gakki OVAs. As always, I encourage you to comment, question, and complain (?) to your heart’s content. =)

As per the PV I posted a little under two weeks ago, here’s a live performance of the second Itazura na Kiss ending theme, “Jikan yo Tomare” (“Hey Time, Stop”). While this was originally in glorious HD, it obviously didn’t translate over nearly as well in streaming format, but it does showcase how well AZU and SEAMO can perform live. Unfortunately, this is only a short version of the song and doesn’t quite have the same effect as a pumped up crowd on Music Station, but is nice regardless.

On a related note, I’ve been slowly catching up on the series when I get a chance to and feel the urge to mention something about it given this opportunity. While refraining from mentioning any spoilers, I can understand that the series is trying to show us the “complete relationship” between Kotoko and Naoki from beginning to end (something that isn’t done in a lot of anime adaptations), but I couldn’t help but feel that the events in episode fourteen came across somewhat abruptly. If you’ve been following the series, you’ll probably know what I’m talking about, but if you don’t, perhaps it’ll peek your interest enough to check it out yourself.

In any case, comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome as always.

「華園 光・滝島 彗」 (Hanazono Hikari / Takishima Kei)
“Hanazono Hikari / Takishima Kei”

Episode at a Glance:
Watching Hikari chase after his plane, Kei is reminded of how she always gave him presents and stayed by his side until he opened them, just so that she can explain what they were. Back at the greenhouse, everyone figures that the S.A class was restored because Kei agreed to leave for London, but Hikari is furious about being challenged to a competition that Kei never intended to win in the first place, so she decides to go to London too. While Akira tries to explain that Kei did this for her sake, Hikari says that’s what pisses her off so much, before storming out. Ryuu, Jun, and Megumi then decide to go along, prompting Tadashi to ask if he can sit out, but Akira naturally doesn’t let him. Sui then arrives holding onto Kei’s uniform.

Back at home, Hikari realizes that London’s farther than she thought, but recalls that tomorrow’s Kei’s birthday. Sui then arrives with a helicopter, asking Hikari to go to London and stop Kei. Shortly after, Aoi comes by with his men after following Sui’s suspicious actions and threatens Hikari with the S.A class again if she continues. However, the rest of the S.A class shows up after submitting their school resignation letters and head off to London with Hikari. Aoi says that going won’t change anything, so Hikari tells him that she never gives up and always sees things through, much like how Kei can accomplish anything once he sets his mind on it. Watching them leave in the helicopter, Sui tells Hikari that he’s counting on her.

In London, Akira is instantly goes into sightseeing mode, but they eventually make it to the Takishima Group headquarters, where they’re told that Kei doesn’t want to see them. Hearing this, Hikari suggests sneaking in, but Akira reveals that the premises are rigged with traps by using Tadashi as a guinea pig. Claiming that she has a plan, Akira suggest shopping until the evening, making everyone suspect that she just wants time to shop. Ryuu on the other hand mentions that Kei once told him that he has a room in the main tower and reminds Hikari to be careful. Inside, a butler asks Kei if he’s okay with not seeing them, which he confirms.

Later that evening, Hikari and others infiltrate the estate during Kei’s birthday party, but run into various obstacles along the way. With Ryuu staying behind to deal with the guard dogs, Tadashi with the defensive lasers, Jun with the maids (thanks to Sakura’s help), and Megumi with some additional guards (thanks to Yahiro’s help), Hikari and Akira continue to make their way towards Kei’s room. Tadashi suddenly comes flying along in a motorcycle, inadvertently interrupts a moment between Yahiro and Megumi, and catapults Hikari into the main tower. When Hikari comes to her senses, she realizes that she’s in Kei’s room.

Sensing that someone is coming by, Hikari hides in the Yappi rabbit suit, only to realize that it’s Kei, who still doesn’t want to see them. Questioning if that’s really true, Hikari tries to take off the head piece, but Kei stops her and asks her to leave as she is, claiming that seeing them would be too painful. Relieved to hear this, Hikari gives Kei a present and wishes him a happy birthday. Speechless, Kei decides to take off the head piece so that he can see Hikari’s face and recalls how she always gives him presents on his birthday. Kei then wonders if she realizes how much he eagerly anticipates them, how happy they make him, and how much he thinks about her. Opening the present, Kei finds dolls of each member of the S.A class, after which Hikari challenges him to continue the contest. Stating that there isn’t much time left in the day, Hikari stipulates that he has to return without any complaints if she wins, which Kei accepts, saying he’ll take her as his prize if he wins.

Seeing Kei chasing after Hikari, Aoi decides to call off the guards, informing them that there’s no end to this with how persistent their opponent is. Back at Hakusenkan, Sumire receives a phone call requesting the readmittance of the seven S.A members, which she happily accepts. Chasing Hikari all the way up a clock tower, Kei questions if she really hates losing to him that much, so Hikari says it’s because he’s special. With his ability to do anything since they were kids and her inability to beat him no matter how hard she tries, Hikari explains that he’s more amazing than anyone else and that she respects him as much as she hates him, before declaring that Kei’s her eternal rival. A gust of wind then comes by, blowing the bunch of flowers from Hikari’s pocket, so she leaps out for them. Instead of going for the flowers himself, Kei jumps in between, catches Hikari in his arms, and kisses her.

Back at the Hakusenkan greenhouse, Hikari shows everyone her test score where she got an extra 20 points for finishing 30 minutes early, making Akira think that she’ll beat Kei for sure this time. However, Kei arrives saying he finished the entire test in a minute and was awarded double the number of marks, before smiling at Hikari and calling her “Rank 2″. While frustrated, Hikari smiles back and tells Kei not to call her “Rank 2″.

Impressions:
Given how the last episode ended (and how they recapped it at the beginning of this episode), I have to admit that I’m slightly disappointed with the finale. The main reason for this is that they spent the majority of the episode emphasizing the strong bond between the S.A class. Once in London, they systematically had each of the members stay behind one-by-one so that Hikari could make her way towards Kei. While i could understand (and appreciate) the effect that they were going for, the whole endeavor came off a lot more silly than touching. In short, they were trying to highlight the nuances of each character and have them all work together to bring Kei back.

This includes Ryuu’s affinity with animals, Tadashi’s ability to survive any form of abuse (including lasers), Jun’s other self, Megumi’s singing (and speaking), and Akira’s overall love for Hikari. What I did enjoy though was how Yahiro and Sakura made appearances during all this, even though their presence there was never really explained. Yahiro reminded us of the role he played in the series, helping Tadashi for Akira’s sake and Megumi for his own, whereas Sakura triggered the other Jun in order to distract all the maids. All in all, it was cute how they brought everything together, but it wasn’t until the last third of the episode that they showed us what I really wanted to see—Hikari and Kei.

So as such, half of the screenshots that I decided to include were taken from the last third of the episode. It was only then that things really got good, with Kei wondering if Hikari realizes how much he looks forward to her presents, how happy it makes him regardless of what it is, and how much he thinks of her all the time. (Aww….) I actually teared up a bit seeing how taken back Kei was when Hikari gave him a present and wished him a happy birthday. Since Kei cherishes every present that Hikari has given him to this very day, including the pencil she gave him when they were kids, it speaks volumes about how much anything Hikari-related means to him. Kei even keeps the Yappi the Rabbit costume that Yahiro gave him, just because Hikari wore it once before.

As nice as that mood was, I found it befitting that they ended things with a contest, with Kei more interested in getting through to Hikari this time around rather than winning. While Kei probably could’ve easily won and had Hikari all to himself, I don’t think he wanted to force himself upon her, so it was nice to see things come full circle with the “Nii-tte Yuu na!” (“Don’t say rank 2!”) line. Except this time, Hikari seems a lot happier about hearing it.

Final Impressions:
Being a slice-of-life romance comedy with an excellent cast, Special A couldn’t have done much wrong in my eyes, regardless of whether it strictly followed the manga or not. Each of the characters were introduced and built up in such a way that made them easily amiable, despite the whole premise of the S.A class resembling the elite and arrogant F4 “class” in Hana Yori Dango. While I’m well aware they couldn’t include a lot of the material from the manga, including Finn (the girl for Ryuu), I think the anime on its own works pretty well. I’m still kind of iffy about how they decided to allocate the time in the last episode, but I’m pretty content with the actual ending itself. For a series such as this, it only makes sense to me that they end up where they started, except with most of the characters being closer to someone they care about. Since anime adaptations are usually intended to help promote the manga, I think this series has done a good job in that regard. In fact, I find myself wanting to read the manga just to see where Hikari and Kei’s relationship is now.

Looking back, I kind of wish that the production on this series was a bit better, since I feel this series deserved at least that much. For one, it wasn’t produced or aired in high definition (HD), nor did most of the episodes compare to the quality of episode seventeen. With that said, I don’t foresee a sequel for this series, but I guess DVD sales will ultimately decide that. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my coverage of this series as much as I did watching it and thanks again for reading!

Cast:
- Hanazono Hikari (華園 光) / Gotou Yuuko (後藤 邑子)
- Takishima Kei (滝島 彗) / Fukuyama Jun (福山 潤)
- Toudou Akira (東堂 明) / Nabatame Hitomi (生天目 仁美)
- Karino Tadashi (狩野 宙) / Shimono Hiro (下野 紘)
- Yamamoto Megumi (山本 芽) / Takagaki Ayahi (高垣 彩陽)
- Yamamoto Jun (山本 純) / Yonaga Tsubasa (代永 翼)
- Tsuji Ryuu (辻 竜) / Horie Kazuma (堀江 一眞)
- Takashima Sui (滝島 翠) / Shimizu Kaori (清水 香里)
- Saiga Yahiro (雑賀 八尋) / Taniyama Kishou (谷山 紀章)
- Ushikubo Sakura (牛窪 桜) / Kuwatani Natsuko (桑谷 夏子)
- Ogata Aoi (緒方 蒼) / Yusa Kouji (遊佐 浩二)
- Karino Sumire (狩野 菫) / Tanaka Atsuko (田中 敦子)
- Hikari’s father (光の父) / Imaruoka Atsushi (伊丸岡 篤)
- Hikari’s mother (光の母) / Nabei Makiko (鍋井 まき子)
- Butler (執事) / Sugisaki Ryou (杉崎 亮)

Summary:

As Maka continues to make her way towards the shrine, the newly revived Ashura gets himself adjusted into his skin. After opening his eyes and seeing Eruka in front of him, he terrorizes her with a scream before moving on. Black*Star wants Tsubaki to enter youtou (phantom blade) mode, and when she refuses because of his injuries, he decides to take on Ashura without her. He attempts to use his Big Wave attack, but Ashura isn’t fazed at all and knocks him out with a single flick of the hand. He knocks out Kid in a similar fashion by stretching out his skin like a rubber band and hitting Kid’s head with it. Ashura follows that up by using his skin as a wrapping and covering himself with it, effectively creating himself a set of clothes. He then jumps through the ceiling of the shrine and towards the surface. Maka arrives at this moment and manages to catch him by grabbing onto his skin, but when Ashura emerges above ground in the middle of Death City, she gets thrown off. Soul has to change back into his human form so that he can cushion her fall, and he can only watch everything that happens afterwards because Maka loses consciousness.

Although Ashura has escaped, Shinigami-sama’s seal is still active and tries to restrain him, but he’s already too powerful. Fortunately, Shinigami-sama himself arrives on the scene because Free’s magic wore off. Ashura recognizes his old foe and comments on the changed mask, so Shinigami-sama explains that the old mask scared children. The battle between them begins after Shinigami-sama tells Ashura to die again, however neither a Shinigami Chop nor a blast wave attack have any lasting effect on Ashura. He counterattacks with two giant beams of energy, and although Shinigami-sama is able to defend himself, deflecting the beams causes much destruction to the city. Shinigami-sama then tries to meet Ashura head on, and after Ashura knocks him away, Shinigami-sama uses an ability that keeps Ashura pinned down. Ashura is able to call up enough power to dispel it though, and Shinigami-sama subsequently wonders if he can do this without Death Scythe. When Ashura counterattacks again with an attack called Vajra, he succeeds in piercing through Shinigami-sama’s defenses and destroys part of the mask. The end of the battle comes after Ashura takes advantage of the limitations of Shinigami-sama’s range in order to escape the area completely.

In the aftermath, Shinigami-sama has Sid prioritize the safety of everyone who went underground, but he also wants Side to send out word to all Death Scythes to gather at Death City. Free, Eruka, and Mizune all escape, and though they think Medusa is dead, she’s actually got enough left in her to grab onto Stein and bite down on his shoulder. He manages to get her off of him, and after hearing her say that she loves him, he stabs her to finish her off. Stein believes that the two of them are similar in that it’s not possible for them to understand love. The following day, the residents of the city start to rebuild, but unbeknownst to everyone, a snake slithers out of a drainage pipe.

Preview

Well that was one helluva episode. It didn’t quite end how I thought it would (I thought Shinigami-sama would be able to contain Ashura), so it ended up feeling a little depressing because all the good guys other than Stein lost their battles, but it was still a lot of fun to watch. Seeing Shinigami-sama get to do some actual fighting was a treat, and now I’m curious about what he could do if he had a weapon with him. The music was also a strong point, and the parts during the climax of the battle reminded me a lot of the Xenosaga soundtrack.

I assume this episode is the end of this very long arc and next week will start the new one. Both Ashura and (presumably) Medusa are still at large, and it looks like from the preview that some new allies will be introduced to help out. Next week would be the perfect time as well to start a new OP and ED – the official website has revealed the new OP to be by the brilliant green‘s Tommy heavenly6 and the new ED by SOUL’d OUT‘s Diggy-MO’ – though maybe they’ll wait a few weeks until the new season officially starts in October.