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「それはあの日のこと、なので」 (Sore wa Ano Hi no Koto, Nanode)
“It’s About that Day”
Something about Tamayura always makes me smile. Somehow, someway, as the anime reveals more about our main characters I feel myself growing exponentially more attached to them.
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「追跡封じ（ルートディスターブ）」 (Tsuiseki Fuuji (Ruuto Disutaabu))
“Pursuit Prevention (Route Disturb)”
Whether you care for long expositions not, they’re one of the defining points of this series and we’re given a big dose of it this week. Personally, I’m not a fan of it being overused for story progression, but surprisingly didn’t mind when a good chunk of this episode was devoted to explaining Oriana’s abilities and why she has the nickname “Route Disturb”.
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「そしてマリノの初恋」 (Soshite Marino no Hatsukoi)
“And Marino’s First Love”
When it comes to a baseball episode, leave it up to the “springtime of youth idiot” Tsunashi Takuto to draw wary eyes from all the Kiraboshi Juuji Dan members with his dazzling play style.
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「あたしの中の……」 (Atashi no Naka no……)
“The Inner Me……”
Visually, Shiori’s arc is undoubtedly the slowest and most uneventful one thus far. However, despite the absolute dearth of things happening on screen, I still find myself amused by how long Keima will stand quietly in front of her, trying to figure out what she’s thinking, only for her to eventually walk off without a word.
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「失意の果てに～告知～」 (Shitsui no Hate Ni ~ Kokuchi ~)
“The Limit of Despair ~ Announcement ~”
Coming down to the final stretch, Yakumo is on its final arc. While the amount of information they packed into this episode was staggering, I hope that all of this buildup is leading to a GREAT finale for the series. Three more episodes to go!
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「魔眼の牢獄」 (Magan no Rougoku)
“The Evil Eye’s Prison”
Who would’ve thought that this would turn out to be one of the sleepers of the season? Ever since the second episode, this series has far exceeded my expectations for a high school comedy set in a fictional alternate universe where the Tokugawa shogunate won the Boshin War (unlike in Hakuouki), and now it goes a step above that by mixing in a fair degree of interesting plot to go with all the laughs thus far.
“Booyah! Who’s the squid!? Who’s the squid!?”
「てるてる坊主じゃなイカ？／好かれなイカ？／野球しなイカ？」
(Teru Teru Bouzu Janai ka? / Sukaranai ka? / Yakyuu Shina ka?)
“Isn’t that a Teru Teru Bouzu? / Aren’t I Liked? / Won’t You Play Baseball?”
Ika may draw like a two year-old with her hands, but it’s a completely different story when her tentacles grab hold of a pencil and she churns out masterpiece after masterpiece. Best of all, her drawings were in “squid vision” and gave us an inside look at how she perceived everyone. Eiko and Chizuru’s amazement over her artistry combined with their shock from her perception of them as a killer robot and demon respectively resulted in some priceless reactions.
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「夢幻の薄桜」 (Mugen no Usuzakura)
“Light Cherry Blossoms of Dreams”
With Koudou dropping out of the picture earlier than I expected and Kazama intent on settling his score with Hijikata, the possibility of this series ending on a promising note looked rather bleak. In addition, the series has been faithfully adapting the Shinsengumi’s historic events up until now, so Hijikata’s fate looked like it was more or less guaranteed.
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「トリノソラネハ」 (Tori no Sorane wa)
“A Bird’s Fake Cry”
Either the producers are aware that Sora’s going to be the hot thing that boosts DVD/BD sales or there’s some serious bust-size discrimination going on with the censoring of her solo bedroom scene. I’m thinking it’s the the former due to the taboo nature of a Haru x Sora pairing, but it’s a lot more fun when I assume it’s the latter and demand that smaller-sized girls receive equal treatment.
Ooooh, that’s gotta hurt.
「俺の妹がこんなにコスプレなわけがない」 (Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kosupure na Wake ga Nai)
“There’s No Way My Sister’s This Into Cosplay”
I felt a bit shortchanged by an episode title that clearly suggested a certain younger sister would be doing some cosplaying, but where Kirino didn’t dress up as Meruru (or Rinko, lol), Kanako of all people made up for it. Things would have never gotten there if it wasn’t thanks to Ayase, whom I’m surprised Kyousuke will still meet up with and help out after that… incident.