Random Curiosity

Summary:

It’s now springtime, and Miles’ forces have arrived in Resembool on their way to the East. While they’re there, Miles smuggles Winry back home in a water tank, and she initially finds her house empty. When she goes up to her room to change however, she finds Ed eating there, and the commotion causes Greed, Heinkel, and Darius to appear. Winry ends up kicking them all out, and after expressing how worried she was about him, she informs Ed that Al is at the train station with Miles. Pinako then returns, and Ed and company explain the situation to them. Ed also needs some auto-mail maintenance, and while she’s doing so, Winry tells him about what’s going on now in Lior and how Hohenheim already went to Central. Ed wants Winry and Pinako to leave the country as a precaution, but Winry feels that he should be trying to stop whatever might happen and makes a plea for Ed to protect the country and get his and his brother’s bodies back.

Ed gets annoyed and leaves, and having overheard the conversation, Greed comments on how wanting money, women, and to protect the world are all forms of greed. Ed, Greed, and the Chimera then leave under the cover of darkness, and Ed tells Winry to bake an apple pie for him for when he comes back. Meanwhile, in Lior, Kimblee’s other two Chimera are reunited with Marcoh and Scar, and they head to Central with a group of Ishval men who share Scar’s desire to change the country. In the East, Miles and Grumman’s forces join up under the pretense of some joint exercises, but the plan is complicated by how King Bradley is there to observe. Miles also left Al behind at the train station, and Al wakes up sometime later after having been drawn to his body again. Unfortunately, he gets attacked by Gluttony and Pride and is captured.

Over in Central, Mustang pays a visit to the Armstrong estate and observes that the place is big enough to fit a battalion. He also gives Oliver a bouquet of flowers with a note attached revealing Selim’s Homunculus identity. Back at the training exercise grounds, Miles’ men have realized that Al is missing and suspect that something happened. King Bradley’s men meanwhile suspect that this training exercise is a decoy for the Ishval remnants to commit terrorism in Central and that Grumman is planning on invading Central under the excuse of suppressing that terrorism. This leads King Bradley to decide to return to Central, but the train he’s on gets bombed while crossing a bridge. When news of this reaches Central, the members of the high command panic, and Olivier considers making a move. However, she’s stopped from doing so by the appearance of Father and Sloth, and Father reassures the generals that he’s still there in Central.

Preview

First things first: as you may have heard, a huge earthquake struck Chile yesterday. This had the potential to cause massive waves as far away as Japan, so most of the channels (in this case, both TBS and MBS) had some form of tsunami warning overlaid on top of this week’s episode of FMA:B, and that’s what’s shown on all of the screens above.

Anyway, this episode had all the sides starting to act as the promised day approaches, though it still felt like more set-up/maneuvering and showed only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what’s going to happen. All of the Winry focus in the first half was nice – she certainly looked more mature than previously – but it led me to think that she won’t be playing a very big part in this upcoming arc.

It was also cool to see Scar with his own Ishval force, as well as Grumman’s side outwitting King Bradley for the time being, and Hawkeye getting ready with Fuery and Breda. It’s a shame the Homunculus side has now captured Al (with the return-to-action of Gluttony) and probably Olivier too with the move Father made. Well, it’s bad for the good guys but good for us the audience because it creates several avenues where action and plot development could happen. The preview certainly makes next episode look action-packed with what appears to be an Ed & Greed vs Pride & Gluttony battle, so I’m looking forward to it.

 
This is the second half of the glorious resurrection of the light novel section, started a couple of days ago. Maybe it’s more of a last gasp. Anyway, on to the books!
 

Title: Baka to Tesuto to Shoukanjuu v02 Author: Inoue Kenji Illustrator: Haga Yui Label: Famitsu Bunko Year of publication: 2007 Pages: 285 You may remember my review of the first volume of this comedy series, which by now has managed to get itself animated and fairly popular. I was a bit harsh last time, but knowing what to expect, I picked up volume 2 which a more positive attitude, wanting a fun, light read to cheer me up. It works, yet again. BakaTest is consistently funny, with a steady machine gun rate of jokes thrown out by the amusing cast of characters. It stands as a sharp contrast to the unfunny garbage Seitokai no Ichizon, which tries a similar approach and fails. But even if my impression of BakaTest v02 is good, I can’t help thinking it should have ended about 50 pages sooner, because it starts to drag a bit during the finale. I’ll probably keep reading this series every now and then to relax between heavier novels. Amazon link: Japanese

Title: Durarara v01 Author: Narita Ryohgo Illustrator: Yasuda Suzuhito Label: Dengeki Bunko Year of publication: 2004 Pages: 347 Narita is an interesting author. He started out with Baccano in 2003, a series which has piled up as many as 14 volumes, and had a much loved anime in 2007. In the meantime he’s also managed to write 5 volumes of Vamp, another 5 volumes of the Etsusa Oohashi series, 3 volumes of Hariyama-san, and finally 7 volumes of Durarara, which is currently being adapted into an anime. The illustration is handled by Yasuda Suzuhito, who’s also drawing his very own manga, Yozakura Quartet. Unlike most light novel series, Narita has a tendency to focus not so much on a specific protagonist and plot, but rather the development of a subculture with a large cast of interesting characters. The narrative will jump between these people, simultaneously telling separate stories, which at first seem completely unrelated and confusing. Gradually you see glimpses of what direction they’re heading, and tension will grow as all threads finally collide into one huge moment of utter holy shit epicness, when everything suddenly clicks. The first volume mostly handles things from the point of view of Ryuugamine Mikado, a youngster who’s just moved to Ikebukuro in Tokyo to enter high school, after years of being spurred on by his childhood friend Kida Masaomi’s extravagant chat reports of adventures there. In alternating chapters, we’re also introduced to a mute apparition in the form of a headless rider by the name of Celty, who smuggled herself into Japan on a quest to find her stolen head and the lost memories within. The whereabouts of this non-vital bodypart, along with the machinations of a mysterious organization called the “Dollars”, are what fill the majority of the pages, but we also run into some ten other memorable characters before it finally wraps things up. With some solidly written and charming dialogue, Narita succeeds in creating a great gallery of individuals, who in all their unique quirks combine to form a living, breathing world. The problem is that the prose between conversations is sub-par, with the depiction of events often feeling like it’s scribbled down by a bored blogger summarizing anime episodes, completely void of flair and finesse. In spite of the writing, Durarara remains an excellent read, since after all the pages of build-up, the pay-off is just so fantastic that flipping the pages left me with a huge grin on my face that refused to fade. Amazon link: Japanese

Title: Durarara v02 Author: Narita Ryohgo Illustrator: Yasuda Suzuhito Label: Dengeki Bunko Year of publication: 2005 Pages: 356 Going into the second volume, I told myself there was no way he could top the amazing finale of the previous book, but oh how very wrong I was. It somehow got even better. The spotlight turns to shy Sonohara Anri, Mikado’s bespectacled classmate, whose ample chest gets her into trouble with a lewd teacher. While Masaomi saves her temporarily, she decides to seek out a girl rumoured to have been involved with the teacher, but who suddenly switched schools in the middle of the term. In other parts of town, a reporter is trying to figure out who is strongest in Ikebukuro, a trail which leads to Heiwajima Shizuo, the man with a dozen bartender suits. And in the dark, a vicious slasher is attacking people seemingly at random, with shining red eyes and a bladed weapon. A mix of action comedy, detective work and supernatural thriller, boosted by better pacing with the early appearance of Saika, I have to rate Durarara v02 even higher than the original novel. Some of the setting seems to have changed between books, but it serves to build stronger supporting characters, so I don’t really mind. The only worry is that the series will start to show signs of power inflation. Amazon link: Japanese

Title: Durarara v03 Author: Narita Ryohgo Illustrator: Yasuda Suzuhito Label: Dengeki Bunko Year of publication: 2006 Pages: 449 As you can see in the line above, this volume was a hundred pages thicker than the earlier installments, and it’s not a good thing. It is Kida Masaomi’s turn to be protagonist (if you can call it that; the true main character is probably Celty, who gets a decent amount of exposure in all three novels), and his battle with the past. This leads to a ton of flashbacks meant to flesh out his character, and at the same time sheds some light on the mischievous information broker Orihara Izaya. We also get more details about the otaku van gang lead by Kadota, as the emerging colour gang “Yellow Turbans” make their presence felt. It should be interesting and exciting and whatnot, but in the end it feels like all build-up and no proper climax. Unlike the previous books, it’s a slow jog all the way through, and never really lifts off the ground, despite some nice flashes here and there. Finishing Durarara v03 left me burnt out on the series, and I’ll be taking a break from Narita for a while. If anyone’s wondering, the anime seems to be running the stories of all three volumes simultaneously, sometimes adding completely anime-original characters and events, which makes for a fairly fresh view despite knowing what will happen. Amazon link: Japanese

Title: Sugar Dark v01 Author: Arai Enji Illustrator: mebae Label: Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko Year of publication: 2009 Pages: 282 Heralded as the Next Big Thing, destined to change light novels forever, Sugar Dark rode the waves of being the first title to win the Sneaker Grand Prize since Haruhi way back in 2003. I ordered it instantly, of course. Written and rewritten by Arai Enji, who couldn’t shake the feeling that he could create something brilliant with the theme of grave diggers, the resulting novel is set in an alternate universe, where humanity has been struggling against The Dark, an evil that takes the shape of huge monsters that seemingly stepped right out of your nightmares. This force of annihilation has kept humanity’s progress shackled, until one day when someone discovered that the immortal creatures could be stopped, if buried in human cemeteries. One of these places sees the arrival of our main character, Prisoner 5722, a young man of 16 years and formerly in the military, who has been stripped of his name, wrongfully accused of murdering his superior officer, and is now condemned to work as a gravedigger. Struck by the graveyard’s eerie atmosphere, his suspicions grow as he’s ordered to dig enormous holes. One night he runs into a beautiful girl, introducing herself as Meria, the grave keeper. Intrigued by her nocturnal appearances, and aided by an enigmatic boy who tells him of these hidden battles, our hero chooses to wade deeper into the dark. While giving off a dark and fascinating aura with the setting, Sugar Dark buries itself in a terribly slow pace, with long descriptions and similes in ambitions of reaching literary heights. An entire page was spent on telling the reader how the main character walks up to a tree. Some people no doubt find this poetic and delightful, but I quickly get bored to death as nothing ever happens. The book could easily have been 50 pages shorter if they’d attached an editor who cared. God only knows why they gave it an award. An even bigger problem than the pacing is how bloody juvenile it is. I was 16 once, so I know what it’s like to have your mind stuffed with cute girls and fluffy bunnies, but it doesn’t make it worth reading about as an adult. Repeatedly hitting us over the head with how beautiful a girl is doesn’t make her a good character, and Meria generally comes off as a retarded moe kitten more than a romantic interest. Moreover, the antagonists and conflicts fail on an emotional level. It’s impossible to feel engaged when the enemy is simply labelled “evil” and described as “scary”. They may as well be fighting shadows, because these faceless monsters are as solid as mist to the reader. Personally I crave a reason that drives the opposition, so I can understand their side of the conflict, giving it substance. With all that hype it was probably inevitable, but I was left disappointed. Amazon link: Japanese

Title: MAMA Author: Kougyoku Izuki Illustrator: Karasu Label: Dengeki Bunko Year of publication: 2008 Pages: 281 Kougyoku’s debut work Mimizuku to Yoru no Ou had me enchanted and hungry for more, so I was happy to dig into her next novel, MAMA, which seems to take place in the same world, but is otherwise unrelated in story. Once again the theme is about man-eating demons, but not necessarily evil ones. Born into the prestigious Salvador clan, famed for its line of great magicians, little Toto is seen as a failure. She doesn’t have much of a talent for magic. Bullied by the other children, she hides from their jeers, and comes to overhear teachers discussing how she might be better off adopted away, so as not to sully their reputation. Understandably upset, she rushes to the comfort of the library, but trying to stay out of sight of the adults, she unwittingly opens the door that seals a legendary demon in the form of a little boy her own age. In order to fight off her crushing solitude, she decides to become his… mother. I’d been wondering if the true style of Kougyoku was the mesmerizing inventiveness of the first half of Mimizuku, or the less interesting second half, and with this novel I think it’s safe to say that she usually writes the dull kind. The setting and atmosphere are charming enough, bringing to mind Neil Gaiman, but the characters are rather flat, and the prose is overly simple and repetitive. I wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s bad, but after her previous novel, I hoped for so much more. Amazon link: Japanese

Title: Ben-to v02 Author: Asaura Illustrator: Shibano Kaito Label: Super Dash Bunko Year of publication: 2008 Pages: 292 To end on a positive note, here’s the sequel to Ben-to, a series I praised in an earlier review, about people who go all out fighting each other for those precious half-priced boxed lunches in the local supermarket. Convinced it was one of the most brilliant new light novels I’d encountered, I had expectations set high when digging into the second volume. This time our hero Satou You finds himself dragged into a war between the West and East side, where the powerful Monarch has the entire city mobilized in a scheme to be crowned strongest of all the wolves who prowl the half-price hours. This volumes sees the introduction of a new major character, Satou’s blonde and blue-eyed cousin Shaga Ayame, a half-Italian girl born on the same day in the same hospital as him, and the two were practically raised as twins, leading to embarrassing memories and intense familiarity, not to mention that she knows exactly where he hides his porn. If this setup sounds cliché, let me assure you that the novels are anything but. Ben-to features some of the sharpest writing available, with exceptional sections written to evoke how delicious a meal is, while at the same time containing the very best action scenes I’ve ever seen in light novels. The unparalleled absurdity of the setting, with characters putting their lives on the line in ferocious competition for microwaved meals, the passionate way they talk about honour, and the over-the-top poetic descriptions of how people act, it all comes together in a perfect blend to produce some of the most hilarious content you can find. I literally laughed so hard I cried. And then clenched my fist in sympathy. There’s a wealth of factors that make Ben-to superior to whatever else you’ve been reading: Satou’s casually sadistic anecdotes, Shaga’s wicked erotic challenges, timid Oshiroi’s homo-erotic fiction starring Sa(i)tou, protective Shiraume’s brief explosions of extreme violence, an opponent’s indignant outrage at Satou’s ill-fitting girl’s clothing. Most of all, it’s the fantastic battles that stand out. Where other fictionalized action is about 1-on-1 showdowns, Ben-to uses group brawls to build up incredible tension, with combatants briefly flickering into view to deal and be dealt punches, then tumble out of range as someone kicks them from behind. It’s written in a clear and confident manner, which only serves to heighten the absurdity level of the situation. I’ve probably gushed enough now. Toward the end it lingers a bit too long on inner monologues, and the final fight could be shorter, but on the whole, I absolutely loved the book. With the 6th volume scheduled for an April release, you should start reading this series right now. Amazon link: Japanese

Summary:

After this new Poltergeist incident, Kuroko thanks Telestina and chats with her about the interference to AIM dispersion fields. Since they’re all okay, the girls eventually return home to their respective dorms, but Mikoto is bothered by the fact that there are similarities between the current situation and the Level Upper incident. She thinks that Kiyama Harumi might be involved again, but of course Kiyama should still be in prison. Kuroko, on the other hand, is bothered by how Haruue was acting, and the clues point to Haruue being connected to the Poltergeist incidents. Over at Uiharu’s apartment, Haruue wakes up and worries that she caused Uiharu trouble, but Uiharu continues to support her and feels that Haruue can change like she wants to. The next day, while Uiharu takes Haruue to the park, Kuroko and Mikoto find Haruue’s file in the Judgment database. It reveals that Haruue is a level 2 with telepathy, but what really catches their attention is the special note that says Haruue can display power exceeding her level under certain wavelengths.

At the park, Haruue tells Uiharu of her determination to change, and she reveals that she’s searching for someone. It’s an old friend that she doesn’t want to just wait around for, so Uiharu promises to help her search. At that moment, however, Haruue starts talking to someone else again, and another Poltergeist incident occurs. It wreaks havoc on the park, and Telestina’s group is called in again to help. After learning about what happened, Mikoto and the others meet Uiharu at the hospital, and when Uiharu realizes that Kuroko suspects Haruue, she gets defensive about her new friend. Telestina interrupts them to explain that it’s possible that a telepath is behind this, but only someone above level 4. Just to be sure, she takes Haruue in for some tests, and the girls learn that Telestina is the head of MAR’s research laboratory. The tests say that Haruue isn’t behind the interference, but this means that they still don’t know who really is responsible. In any case, the girls are able to see Haruue again, and they learn that she can sometimes hear the voice of the friend she’s looking for. That friend is the girl whose picture she has in her pendant, and Mikoto recognizes it as one of the same girls that Kiyama had been taking care of. As it turns out, Haruue is a Child Error as well.

Preview

This episode had a lot of exposition that ultimately confirmed everything we had suspected: Haruue is a Child Error and a friend of Kiyama’s student Edasaki. It also made clear that Kiyama should still be in jail, so it’s still a mystery what’s going on with her. All in all, I wouldn’t call it a bad episode, but I did find it very aggravating to watch Uiharu defend Haruue when we as the audience can tell that Haruue is clearly connected to these Poltergeist incidents. Along those same lines, I’m not a big fan of how they’re trying to create some distrust between Uiharu and Kuroko because that’ll only get in the way of learning the truth. Telestina obviously knows more than she’s saying, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was all part of some grand experiment. The preview and title of the next episode seems to suggest that it could have something to do with someone attaining level 6, and I assume it’s something separate from the Accelerator/Sisters stuff because otherwise they probably would have just animated the next manga arc.

Summary:

Celty has been having more dreams of her head and how it’s beyond her grasp, and it makes her uneasy. Shinra can tell that she’s feeling glum and tries to answer her question about dreams. What he doesn’t know is that Celty has come to realize recently that she feels something like love towards him, and she offers to cook for him on her day off. He claims to love the fish she prepares, but she questions why he’s crying, and it doesn’t help that he calls her cooking cutting edge. Thinking that she messed up the seasoning, she uses her power to wrap up the food in a ball and prevents Shinra from eating it. Celty is still bothered by the fact that she’s missing her memories, and when Shinra suggests that she might not need them, she gets angry because she feels that she’s forgetting her own face. Over at the school, Mikado has to be helped out by Masaomi after oversleeping and forgetting most of his stuff. After class, Anri discovers that her shoes are gone, and he helps her search for them. He doesn’t find them though until after Anri gives up and leaves, so he brings them to her apartment. She accepts her shoes with a quick word of thanks but closes the door on him before he can say anything.

Celty meanwhile returns home after cooling her temper, however Shinra is now gone because he got called out on a job. Feeling that something was different about this time, Celty goes out to look for him. Shinra is actually at the Yagiri Pharmaceutical facility which had earlier been attacked by a guy armed with fireworks. The guy had claimed that they had done something to his girlfriend, and since he’s now unconscious, the Yagiri Pharmaceutical representative wants Shinra to erase the guy’s memories of them. Celty eventually runs into Shinra after his job is over, and he asks her out to dinner at Simon’s sushi place because it’s lonely to eat by himself. Dessert comes in the form of fortune cookies, and Celty’s says that she’ll find what she’s looking for, making her quite happy. Shinra’s, on the other hand, implies that his love won’t be fulfilled, so he eats the slip of paper to prevent Celty from seeing it. Elsewhere in the city, Seiji is with his love and comforts her when she seems afraid. She doesn’t remember anything, but that’s fine with him, and he calls her Celty. That night, for the first time in a while, the headless Celty dreams that she’s whole.

Preview

For the first 95% of the episode, this appeared to be all about things lost and found, with focus mainly on Celty’s feelings towards her head and on Mikado and Anri’s shoes. Celty certainly had some cute moments, and I laughed at how Anri closed the door on Mikado, but while that stuff fit into the nice all-encompassing theme with some strong Celty and Shinra character development, as a whole the episode wasn’t quite as interesting or fun to watch as some past ones. However, then in the final minutes they dropped a relative bombshell by having Seiji call the neck-scar girl Celty. The final dream shot of what Celty remembers her head to look like seems to confirm that the neck-scar girl does indeed have Celty’s head (which in turn makes more sense out of the OP sequence shot that the two share), but that also raises the question of who’s head is in the capsule. My guess is that it’s the head of the missing Harima Mika girl, but why did a switch have to be made? I assume that will become clearer as we find out more about Seiji and his sister’s company, which might be as soon as next week given what the preview shows.

I’ve been postponing this way too long, and the longer I wait, the more books keep piling up. In any case, it’s finally time to deal with the light novels I’ve read since I last posted some five months ago. I’ll try to keep it brief, partly because the reason I didn’t post about them in the first place was that I couldn’t work up enough excitement to write a full-length review. And partly because I’m lazy, obviously.

Despite bravely trudging through the following books, my to-read list has actually grown to an insurmountable 122 titles, reaffirming that I have some sort of sickness that compels me to buy books at a ridiculous rate.

Title: Nisemonogatari v01 Author: Nishio Ishin Illustrator: VOFAN Label: Koudansha Box Year of publication: 2008 Pages: 321 Disappointed, is an easy word to use to sum up the first volume of Nisemonogatari. Having just come off a high with Kizumonogatari, this sequel spiralled into shallow-land and felt much more dragged out. It should have been obvious all along, I guess. Nishio has simply gathered up too many characters, and he’s so intent on keeping them all in the air that he pushes every single girl into the story, no matter if she’s relevant. Kizumonogatari was probably so good because he was able to cast off excess baggage and focus on a much smaller set of people, going back to the roots that made the first stories of Bakemonogatari so strong. Maybe that’s what left me so undecided after the final arc of Bakemonogatari — there were just too many characters involved. The tension flies out the window. But it’s not really that simple. I initially enjoyed the dialogue not only because it felt extremely funny and natural, but also because he kept dropping hints smoothly into the conversations, which helped uncover what the characters were like. There would be tiny clues hidden here and there in a girl’s line, which only made sense in a later arc when the rest of the context was visible to readers. It created a sense of layering, or complexity, which made me think that here was something deeper than regular comedy. Something intricately planned. With this initial volume of Nisemonogatari, all these threads have (almost) been untied, and we’re left with what seems like trivial conversations and much more shallow atmosphere. I don’t know if it’s me being blind to the details, or if Nishio just feels unable to pull that “trick” when he’s working with long singular arcs, but it makes the series a whole lot weaker. I’m trying to tell myself there were hints and that they’ll only stand out in my memory once I dig into the concluding Nisemonogatari volume, but… ugh. I’m also really sick of the anime adaptation jokes. They might have been funny last year, but when you get into the series from watching the anime, it just comes across as weird. And almost conceited. There must be a dozen meta jokes in 321 pages, and it’s excessive. Maybe he needs to start a new series altogether. Amazon link: Japanese

Title: Satougashi no Dangan wa Uchinukenai Author: Sakuraba Kazuki Label: Kadokawa Bunko Year of publication: 2004 Pages: 201 Having finished A Lollypop or a Bullet, as it’s also called, the thought filling my mind was: What the FUCK? That was written by the same person as GOSICKs? How? What? Huh? A strange read, really. I find it absurd that they originally published it with illustrations, and no doubt it’s better off in the current format, clean and naked. Reading up on it on Wikipedia I also noticed there’s a goddamn manga of it, which seems ridiculous. If ever there was a light novel that wasn’t a light novel, surely this is it. It’s anything but light. How do you get out of that story without a heavy heart? It opens with a newspaper article explaining that the chopped up body of 13-year-old Umino Mokuzu had been found in the hills, gripping me instantly. The story then follows her classmate, from the day of Mokuzu’s arrival as a transfer student and her peculiar introduction, then through subsequent events as the two grow closer. And simultaneously, the unravelling of Mokuzu’s background. It’s tragic and depressing and it just goes on and on. I kept thinking there would be a twist eventually, that the girl was really a mermaid as she claimed, that there would be a happy end somehow, but suddenly I ran out of pages, and she was still dead. Where’s the “light” in that? No wonder Sakuraba went on to write regular novels. Lollypop and Gosick are miles apart, and the former is clearly superior. If the book that won the Naoki prize is even better, I’m going to have to get a hold of it some day. Feels like I owe her that. I spent the rest of the week gloomy, though. Amazon link: Japanese

Title: Oishii Koohii no Irekata v01 Author: Murayama Yuka Label: Shuueisha Bunko Year of publication: 1999 Pages: 205 While I didn’t know it back when I first ordered this title, it’s actually written by a woman who won the Naoki Prize for Hoshiboshi no Fune in 2003, just like Sakuraba Kazuki above. It was surprising to me, mostly because this first part of the now 13 books long Oishii Koohii series wasn’t particularly good. It’s pleasant enough as romantic stories go, with high schooler Izumi Katsutoshi abruptly finding himself living with his two cousins, as the parents in both families move out of town, and figure it’s convenient to have the youngsters under the same roof, looking after each other. Katsutoshi starts out furiously opposing this idea, since he’s been taking care of himself since the death of his mother years ago, but gradually changes his mind as he discovers what a radiant beauty his older cousin Karen has become. Observing Katsutoshi as he tackles his feelings is somewhat amusing, but the way things turn out is laughably convenient. Even then, the biggest problem lies in the fact that in spite of being written as the first person narrative of a male character, it is utterly impossible to shake the knowledge that the author was female. I’ve never known a man who’d care so much about the details of someone’s clothing, and all the mannerisms added to make the protagonist act manly simply feel contrived and silly. Still, parts of the book manage to charm, and after the shocking transformation I saw from Sakuraba, I was willing to give Murayama the benefit of doubt, and her award winning title now graces my bookshelf for future perusal. Amazon link: Japanese

Title: To Aru Majutsu no Index v01 Author: Kamachi Kazuma Illustrator: Haimura Kiyotaka Label: Dengeki Bunko Year of publication: 2004 Pages: 297 Everyone must know this title intimately by now, what with the anime in 2008 and its spin-off Railgun still running. If by some odd chance you’ve been hiding in the closet, all you need to know is that it’s a mixed sci-fi and fantasy series about a high school guy called Kamijou Touma, who wields a fist with the power of nullification, and lives a hectic life in a special city built for the education and research of kids with different abilities, varying in levels from 0 to 5. Kamijou, whose power seems to defy all the tests designed to determine the potency of an ability, obviously gets labelled as a 0. But fear not, my friends, for a cute girl soon falls into his life (quite literally), opening his eyes to the existence of magic, which works as a kind of opposite to the “scientific” abilities, related more closely to religion and myth. This brings with it an extreme amount of jargon, and wading through it can only be compared to Shakugan no Shana. Luckily Index manages to be a lot more fun and exciting, with some decent jokes, action pieces, and cute characters — especially the adorable Misaka Mikoto, a fierce tsundere who discharges electricity at will. Amazon link: Japanese Finishing the first volume left me hungry for more, so I went straight for its sequel…

Title: To Aru Majutsu no Index v02 Author: Kamachi Kazuma Illustrator: Haimura Kiyotaka Label: Dengeki Bunko Year of publication: 2004 Pages: 317 …which of course turned out to be a massive disappointment. It wasn’t a bad book, the second half. Once they stopped babbling about the hundreds of years of important history and important details used to build the story into something more … intellectually rewarding? I don’t know. It didn’t do a thing for me, at least. I was more amused by Index-tan showing some jealousy, but maybe I’m a romantic teenage girl at heart, rather than a hard-boiled sci-fi nerd burning for techno babble. I estimated that as much as 90% of the first 120 pages were given to endless explanations, often repeated twice over. To make a James Bond comparison, instead of enjoying the anticipated bang-bang and womanising, you only get a comprehensive two-hour tour of the villain’s lair. Without the sharks. The experience left me sick to death of the series, and I’ve put it on hold indefinitely, while I work through the rest of my library. Amazon link: Japanese

Title: Kiiri v01 Author: Kabei Yukako Illustrator: Taue Shunsuke Label: Dengeki Bunko Year of publication: 2003 Pages: 281 Encouraged by the information that Kiiri was both a finished series at 9 volumes, and that it had won the Dengeki Novel Prize (beating out Baccano), I picked up the first two parts, and eventually even got around to reading this first book. It quickly sets up an interesting atmosphere on a settled world in the distant future, where war has wasted most of the natural resources, and technology has started to regress, leaving society in decline. The protagonist is a 14-year-old orphan girl who happens to see ghosts, including her talkative dorm roommate. One day she runs into Harvey, a young man who, just like her, sees the spirits of the dead. Except in his case, it’s because his heart has been replaced by a now mythical power source that has rendered him immortal, a practice used in the war to build super soldiers. With the war finally over, the members of this legion suddenly found themselves hunted down and destroyed, their existence no longer deemed useful by the governing church. Attracted by the bond they share with the realm of the deceased, Kiiri joins him on his journey to put to rest the soul of an old friend who dwells in a radio, meeting new ghosts along the way, and helping them come to terms with their situation. Summarized like that it probably sounds alright, but the author’s style is a clear example of thesaurus abuse and not knowing when to stop. The writing is filled to the brim with excessive detail, describing every little thing right down to which step on the staircase someone’s foot has reached. It makes for a tedious read, and much like Murayama a few entries up, Kabei Yuka is unable to write convincing male characters, where she attempts to emulate the way a man would behave, without capturing the essence. This was the second time in a short while that I’d been struck by flawed cross-gender writing, but it’s normally not something I think about. In the multitudes of novels by female authors I’ve read before, the male depiction has never bothered me, but here it sticks out like a sore thumb. I can’t even imagine what it must be like for girls to read novels written by insensitive men. Amazon link: Japanese

I’ve finished an additional 7 books (including Durarara), but this post is already TL;DR enough, so I’ll write them up later.

Show Spoiler for Bleach Chapter 393 ▼

 

Call me unsurprised about Sakura being unable to keep her resolve and stab Sasuke in the back. Some part of me was hoping that she would do it though, just so that she’s not a completely wishy-washy character to me, even if she didn’t outright kill him. Anyway, good call for those who were expecting Naruto to arrive in the nick of time and cut the Kakashi/Sasuke fight short. Kakashi’s relatively low stamina isn’t really suited for excessive Mangekyou usage, so I’m not even sure how the prospective Hokage would’ve fared if that fight happened.

Now that Naruto has arrived, I really hope he gives Sasuke a good beating even if he’s practically blind. It seems like that’s only thing that’s going to get through to him at this point. Blaming all of Konoha for what a few leaders decided on their own is simply retarded. He already killed Danzou, the ringleader behind the decision to use Itachi as a scapegoat, so his anger towards innocent people is just stupidly misguided. Orochimaru is a freak, but at least he’s not driven by raging “emo-ness”. I really don’t buy nor feel sympathetic towards how Sasuke’s being consumed by darkness. It may work for some people, but it doesn’t for me.

Other than that, I’m still wondering where Karin will go from here. Also, seeing her completely bitten body’s always unsettling, unless you have that kind of fetish. So we have Sennin (Sage) Mode versus a bruised, battered, and nearly blind Uchiha. Anyone making bets? Given his condition, I think Sasuke will withdraw after they exchange a few heated words.

* I doubt that anyone really cares, but I’m going to fall behind on Letter Bee for “Olympic reasons”. I really can’t be bothered to keep up-to-date on any of my shows when there’s so much live coverage to watch on TV. Canada > Russia for the first time in 50 years!
* Also, Omni and I are still trying to find time to cover the new Universal Century Gundam Unicorn OVA that came out earlier this week (original timeline, hell yeah!). I haven’t gotten around to watching it yet, but I’m a big fan of the old school UC series.

Summary:

The night after Tooru leaves with his fiancée, Chizuru finally decides to bring Ryuu his present. When Ryuu sees her though, he comments on how she’s late and how his brother wanted him to tell her that she should show up properly when he visits again. This angers her, and it doesn’t help that Ryuu goes on to admit that he’s relieved that things finally turned out like this because it means that she can give up on Tooru. Chizuru ends up throwing the present in Ryuu’s face before running off, and she avoids him at school the next day. Sawako and Ayane are really worried about their friend, particularly since they feel that they can’t do anything for her, but Kazehaya tells them that it should be encouraging for Chizuru to know that they’re concerned about her.

Things come to a head during lunchtime when Ryuu stops Chizuru in the hallway to make her stop ignoring him. Chizuru thinks that Ryuu should apologize, and when he makes it clear that he has no intention of doing so, she questions if he’s always felt that it’d be better for her to get her heart broken quickly. Ryuu confirming that he did causes her to declare that she didn’t fall in love to get her heart broken and that she didn’t come over to his house yesterday to see Tooru. She admits that she wanted to, but she felt that she couldn’t and had instead come later to give Ryuu his present. What he said then still angers her, and she now storms off again, leaving behind all the bread she bought for lunch. Having witnessed most of this, Ayane and Sawako catch up with her, and Sawako isn’t able to hold back her emotions any longer. Seeing Sawako cry leads to Chizuru crying as well, and she finally expresses her frustrations about Ryuu. However, she realizes that she’s most angry at herself for taking it out on him like this because she had wanted to give him his present cheerfully. Ayane and Sawako support her and urge her to keep letting out her feelings, and Chizuru feels better afterward. Meanwhile, Ryuu calls his brother to tell him about the bread he got.

Preview

I had somewhat mixed feelings about this episode. I liked the observation Kazehaya made, and there’s clearly a lot of emotion throughout the episode, but I didn’t actually feel any significant emotional impact from it like I did at the end of last week’s episode. Part of it may be that most of those emotions were coming from Chizuru, yet I found myself not particularly sympathetic towards her character. As blunt as he was about it, I think that Ryuu was ultimately right about her, and that in turn made the extended focus on Chizuru’s frustrations feel dragged out. What she needs is probably just closure on her Tooru crush and the whole marriage thing, and the person who can do that is Tooru himself. Hopefully that’s what will happen next episode since it looks like Tooru will come back to talk to her, and maybe Chizuru will finally realize Ryuu’s feelings as well. Either way, I can’t imagine this arc going on for much longer, if for no other reason than the fact that the series is close to over and likely needs to go back to Kazehaya and Sawako’s relationship for the finale.

Summary:

As Christmas approaches, Kobato notices that Kiyokazu has been acting even more distant to her than usual, and she worries that it’s her fault. At the same time, Doumoto has been coming to see her more often, and when he hears about her worries, he tells her that she’s not at fault. Kobato learns later from Chitose that the reason Kiyokazu is this way is because Christmas Eve is when he became all alone and had to be taken in by Sayaka’s father. This leads to Kobato crying prior to the nursery’s Christmas party, where Kiyokazu is playing Santa Claus, because she recognizes how admirable he is. He, however, continues to act cold towards her and tells her that she doesn’t need to worry about him. Afterward, Kobato meets with Doumoto again and confesses how much it hurts her heart to think about Kiyokazu, and Doumoto realizes the best present to give her. He goes to visit Kiyokazu, who is working another job, and makes Kiyokazu understand that his behavior is hurting her. Doumoto sends him to where Kobato is, and once he gets there, Kiyokazu tells her that it’s not her fault. Kobato eventually realizes that Doumoto’s present was to let her make up with Kiyokazu, and the snow leads her to start singing.

Preview

This was the best episode of Kobato I’ve seen in a while, if not the entire series. That’s not to say it’s without problems, but I really liked what they did in terms of keeping the emotion level high and in terms of the production quality, namely the snow scenes of the entire last third of the episode. It irked me a little that Kobato continued to blame herself even after multiple people told her it wasn’t her fault, but at least she finally got the message once Kiyokazu himself told her. Given that she hasn’t healed Kiyokazu yet though, I assume we might be coming back to his past again later. Anyway, her song was definitely a nice way to end the episode, and I found it interesting that Ioryogi’s comment about how he’d have to say farewell to Kobato come springtime cast a bit of a foreboding heavy air. If nothing else, it reminds us that there aren’t many episodes left, and it looks like next week will feature Fai and white Mokona.

Summary:

A lot of things have been stolen lately, and since the clues point to the sewers, Hanatarou, Nanao, Ikkaku, and Houzukimaru go to investigate. The group ends up stumbling upon a few traps, one of which washes them all away to another area. There, Ikkaku gets attacked by a Toujuu with tentacles and gets separated from the others. Hanatarou, Nanao and Houzukimaru then come across a camp set up by a small white figure, and they find most of the stolen stuff. Before they can learn anything from the culprit, the Toujuu attacks again. Houzukimaru’s attacks against it are ineffective, and right as things are looking bad, the small white figure picks up his sword, heals Ikkaku with it, and then defeats the Toujuu with its power. It turns out that this figure is none other than Hanatarou’s Zanpakutou Hisagomaru, and it had run away to the sewers because of a misunderstanding. Hanatarou and Hisagomaru are thus reunited, however they get separated again while trying to exit the sewers.

Preview

Although I thought the first half of this episode wasn’t very interesting, the second half wasn’t bad. The monster of the week was forgettable – a very generic tentacle monster – however it was at least nice to see Hisagomaru in action again. I suspected that the culprit was either Hisagomaru or Nanao’s Zanpakutou, and it became evident that it was the former once he started healing Ikkaku with the sword with a gauge. It reminded me of the last time Hisagomaru showed up in episode 134, and from there the pieces all came together, including why the title card looked the way it did. It does make me wonder though when we’ll ever see Nanao’s Zanpakutou and her abilities, if ever. Anyway, it looks like they’re using these monsters-of-the-week to focus on individual Zanpakutou, and next time will be all about Kazeshini.

Summary:

When Erza and the others return to the guild, they find that Makarov is out on business, so the punishment will have to wait. In the meantime, Natsu notices a mysterious flier on the request board asking them to solve the meaning of a certain cryptic phrase. However, when he says the phrase, some magic activates. It causes Natsu to trade bodies with Loke, Lucy to trade bodies with Gray, and Erza to trade bodies with Happy. Makarov returns in time to explain that they’ve activated something called Changeling and that they have to fix it within 30 minutes or else it’ll be permanent. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know the method. Levy doesn’t know the method either, but she does do her best to research the writing and try to find a solution. She finally comes up with something right before the 30 minutes are up, but when she tries it, only Lucy and Gray return to normal. What’s more, the rest of the guild becomes affected by the magic too, causing such switches as Mirajane and Makarov.

Preview

I would say that episode reeked of anime original material and thus wasn’t that good, but I actually found it really funny. There’s not much in terms of plot, however all the switching was great – it was certainly amusing to hear all the voice actors in different roles – and Happy and Erza in particular was genius and led to some fun Erza fanservice. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Happy in Erza’s body in the future, though it appears that they’re not continuing with this stuff and instead going to a story about Natsu’s past which apparently involves that girl from the current OP and ED. Hopefully it’ll be the beginning of an arc or mini-arc and not just a one-shot type story.

Summary:

Every half-year, headquarters calls the telephone inside the fort to test if it still works. Since it’s that time again, Kanata volunteers to stay by the phone all day and wait for the call. The problem that soon develops for her though is that all the other girls have to go off-site to take care of business or, in Noel’s case, are nowhere to be found. Thus, when things come up, such as the need to bring in the laundry because it has started raining, Kanata is left to do it herself, all while keeping an eye on the phone. To further complicate the matter, Mishio, Seiya, and the priest come to see her, and Mishio trying to catch the owl sets off a series of events that almost causes the phone to fall on the ground. Fortunately, Yumina arrives and helps Kanata clean up, and she gives Kanata a change of clothes in the form of a dress. After Yumina and company leave, Kanata realizes that she needs to use the restroom, but she’s forced to hold it in because she takes her duty of watching the phone seriously. Right when Kanata is at her limit, Rio returns from a merchant guild meeting, and Kanata is able to head to the bathroom. The phone, however, rings while she’s gone, so Rio is the one who ends up answering it. Rio recognizes the man on the other end, and after confirming the phone line works, he specifically asks her to save the country. Kanata meanwhile falls and then discovers that Noel was sleeping in the bathroom all day, and before she can go in, Filicia and Kureha return. Not realizing what’s going on, the two try to help Kanata up, leading to disastrous results.

Preview

I wasn’t sure after last week’s great episode if they were going to go back to the light-hearted stuff or if the rest of the series was going to be serious. The answer – for this week anyway – is more the former than the latter. And based on how excited I was about the direction the series was going, I have to say that I was at least a little disappointed. Certainly there were a number of interesting parts, like the mention of the cease-fire agreement difficulties, the trumpet book signed by Iliya Arkadia, and most importantly, the phone conversation Rio had at the end of the episode (I would guess that was her father or some family member on the other end). However for the most part, the episode was about Kanata waiting to answer the phone, the distractions that befell her, and how she tried not to pee all over herself. It was cute, and I got a laugh out of the priest covered in girls’ underwear, but it’s not the type of episode I was hoping to see more of after last week, especially given the short nature of the series. Perhaps the typhoon related stuff next week will be better in that regard.

Summary:

Greed confronts Wrath about the memories that he’s experiencing, but Wrath calls him a fool, and the two engage in a brief battle. Wrath clearly has the upper hand, and after nearly getting his head cut off, Greed is forced to retreat. Sometime later, over at the Armstrong estate, Olivier tries to convince her father to retire and turn over the family to her, so her father has Alex to fight her. Olivier has very little trouble defeating her brother, but Alex has also realized that Olivier goal was to send the rest of the family away on vacation so that they wouldn’t be taken hostage. Meanwhile, May Chang arrives in Youswell on her way back to Xing, and she runs into a lot of friendly people. This makes her feel bad about what she’s doing, and Envy decides to use this to his advantage to convince her that it’d be better for her to go back to Central.

On the outskirts of Central, Ed and the two Chimera head to the old cabin because Ed thinks that Al might be there. Instead of running into Al though, they encounter Ling and end up feeding him. Ling subsequently fills them in on how Greed has cut ties with the Homunculus and how he took back his body for the time being. Unfortunately, Ling feels Greed returning, so he tells Ed that Father is planning on opening the gate when a certain day arrives, and he suggests that Ed and Al could get their original bodies back if they jump in at that time. Greed then regains control of the body and starts to leave because he has no business with Ed and company, but Ed stops him by suggesting that they can become his friends and allies. Being the greedy one though, Greed refuses because he feels that everything in the world belongs to him.

After thinking about it for a moment, Ed chases after Greed and agrees to work for him as a subordinate because he recognizes the opportunity. While this is going on, Ed and Al’s other allies are also on the move. Izumi and her husband learn of the promised day thanks to a message passed to them from Al and Hohenheim, and Izumi allows herself to be captured at Briggs so that she can pass along the information to Miles and Buccaneer. Falman then informs General Grumman who gets the message to Hawkeye, and Hawkeye in turn lets Mustang know by passing along to Havoc a message inside a pack of cigarettes. The message says that the promised day will come the next spring and that the north and east will make their move.

ED Sequence

Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Streaming ▼

Preview

So the action budget for this episode looked like it was blown in the first few minutes for the fight between Wrath and Greed. The battle was short but pretty exciting, and it’s too bad Greed withdrew. The rest of this episode felt like it was setting up for a showdown that’ll involve everyone, including Izumi (whose housewife scene here was pretty funny) and all of Mustang’s former subordinates. Not surprisingly, Envy was able to convince May Chang to go back to Central. What was interesting was how Ed joined forces with (or rather, agreed to work under) Greed, which makes a lot of sense strategically, but I didn’t think Greed would actually go along with it.

This episode didn’t end in a traditional cliffhanger either. Rather, they changed the ED sequence, probably as a one-time special montage which you can see above, to reflect how all the different players are in motion. To further emphasize the idea of the promised day, the episode title card was even the last thing shown in the episode, not including the preview for next week. All told, it was pretty effective, though I’m really hoping whatever happens is worthy of the build-up. I assume that the ED montage also represents some time passing and that next episode will be much closer to the spring date.

Episode 16

Summary:

After the Geacht’er incident, Ascoeur hasn’t told Q-feuille the truth, but Q-feuille has also been hiding her memory problems from Ascoeur. For the time being, the two are informed that Saphir has apparently defected from the G-Society and has taken refuge on an ice planet. The girls decide to go out to get her, and when they arrive, they find Rubis there too. After a brief battle, Saphir manages to make Rubis retreat, and she’s soon able to gain the girls’ trust. Saphir’s plan is to wait until nighttime so that Rubis can’t pursue them, but this is a trap in reality, and she makes it so cold that the girls want to sleep. This was all part of Geacht’er’s plan to capture Ascoeur, however Q-feuille now complicates things by being re-energized from a Di-air kiss and freezing Saphir. Di-air also kisses Ascoeur, but Ascoeur isn’t able to do anything after getting poisoned by Rubis. Q-feuille ends up freezing Rubis too, but this is too much strain on her, so she has TAMA carry Di-air and Ascoeur back to the ship to escape without her. In the aftermath, Ascoeur wakes up back at the GTO, and Q-feuille wakes up in an unknown place.

Episode 17

Summary:

Knowing that Q-feuille has been captured thanks to a recording made by Typhon, Ascoeur is determined to go rescue her. Q-feuille is actually being treated quite well right now by her captors, and part of that is because she has no memories of who she is. She spends the most time with Rubis and Saphir who reveal to her that they used to be assassins for the government. That changed when the Nouvlesse period ended, and their new masters tried to torture them into obedience. They were luckily rescued from this by Geacht’er. Q-feuille also meets the other Shadow Workers and learns what her own name is, and while she still has no memories of who she is, the name Ascoeur stays in her head. She goes as far as to write Ascoeur’s name down on her mirror, however Shade pays her a visit the next day and implants memories in her to make her think that she’s Geacht’er’s little sister. This changes her and makes her forget the name Ascoeur.

Preview

There were some interesting plot twists these two episodes. It wasn’t shocking that the whole Saphir thing was a set-up, but it was nice to see that instead of taking the more obvious path of having Ascoeur join Geacht’er as his little sister, the writers took the opposite approach by having it be Q-feuille. It makes sense now too why Q-feuille’s earlier memory lapses were important, and I wonder if Shade’s brainwashing will become undone when she invariably meets Ascoeur again. Of course, none of this would have been necessary if Geacht’er had just kidnapped Ascoeur himself and moved on with his plans since he’s clearly proved himself capable of getting through all of GTO’s defenses.

That brings me to a bigger issue though: this all feels like an extended digression from the Eclair and Lumiere destruction of the galaxy stuff that was explained back in episode 12. I found myself wondering during episode 17 if we were ever going to get back to that since right now the focus seems to be on Geacht’er and his attempt to build a harem of little sisters. I joke, but the preview for episode 18 makes it look like they’re going to spend an entire episode on the new Q-feuille and her relationships with Geacht’er and Letuchaia, complete with a bath scene for the girls. I’m still waiting for Geacht’er to enact his ultimate plan…

Summary:

There have been more earthquakes lately, however a more important development has been occupying Uiharu: a new transfer student is becoming her roommate. The girl’s name is Haruue Erii, and after helping her move in, Saten and Mikoto show her around because Uiharu and Kuroko have to go to a meeting with the Anti-Skills. During the meeting, Yomikawa and a member of the Multi Active Rescue unit named Telestina explain that these recent earthquakes aren’t actually earthquakes. Instead, they are Poltergeist events that resemble earthquakes, caused by the simultaneous occurrence of RSPK syndrome where ability users lose control of themselves temporarily. Uiharu and Kuroko don’t give this too much thought though, and they instead join back up with Saten and Mikoto for a day of fun with their new friend. At one point, Haruue gravitates towards a poster for a fireworks display, so the girls decide to go.

While helping Haruue into a yukata, Uiharu notices her wearing a pendant, and Haruue explains that it’s like a charm. Uiharu has been doing her best to support Haruue because she feels that it’s now her turn to do so after Saten and the others helped her so much in the past. The girls eventually get dressed and meet up, and they enjoy themselves at the event grounds. During the actual fireworks display, Haruue mentions that she remembers experiencing something like this a long time ago, but she doesn’t finish what she’s saying and instead wanders off suddenly. While Uiharu and Saten go after her, Kuroko gets a phone call from Konori who has discovered that man-made interference to AIM dispersion fields might be behind the simultaneous occurrences of RSPK syndrome. At this exact moment, an earthquake-like event hits, and Kuroko has to teleport Mikoto to safety. Uiharu meanwhile tries to protect Haruue, and they’re saved from a falling lamppost by Telestina in a power-suit. When Haruue regains consciousness, she questions where a certain person is, and unbeknownst to the girls, Kiyama is in the crowd below.

Preview

So it looks like all the side character episodes are over and we’re finally back to the main plot type material again. Unfortunately, that was accompanied by a fair amount of techno-babble about RSPK syndrome and Poltergeist events, but I think the main important thing to take away from it is what Konori figured out about man-made interference towards AIM dispersion fields. It means that someone is behind all this – Telestina seems like a pretty good guess – and is manipulating people like Haruue. As for Haruue herself, given what we saw in her locket a few episodes ago, I’m guessing that maybe she was the friend or sibling of one of the Child Errors that Kiyama oversaw and is looking for her or something. There’s probably another plot twist in there somewhere. Speaking of Kiyama though, how is she out of jail already? I’m pretty sure it’s been less than a matter of months since the events of episode 12, if even that long. Hopefully there’ll be some explanation for it since she’s probably going to play a not-insignificant role this final story arc.