Random Curiosity

Episode 01

Episode 02

Episode 03

Episode 04

GAINAX’s unusual joint anime project with Subaru makes its debut on YouTube, and the only real connection to the Japanese car manufacturer is the Pleiades star cluster that its name and logo are based upon. (Subaru is the Pleiades’ name in Japanese.) Much like the later promo videos suggested, this is actually a magical girl anime at heart, in the more traditional sense than SHAFT’s offering this season.

Comprised of four mini episodes that were all released simultaneously, this Original Net Animation (ONA) is more of a one-shot anime than a series. However, despite its relatively short length, I quickly grew fond of the characters and was surprised by the wide range of emotions depicted. Coming in without any real expectations, I was impressed by the way the show immediately grabbed my attention too, starting with the surreal opening scene and mysterious encounter shortly after. There wasn’t much in the way of an introduction as to what’s going on, yet it wasn’t the least bit jarring since it was pretty evident that was the effect the writers were going for. For the most part, I was just as lost as the main heroine Subaru (Takamori Natsumi), but answers came when she stumbled upon a clubroom with four magical girls. Seeing her friend Aoi (Oohashi Ayuru) among them, she soon becomes a magical girl as well to help their Pleiades alien club president find a way home. Joined by Itsuki (Tateno Kanako), Nanako (Fujita Saki), and Hikaru (Makino Yui), they take to the skies to gather star fragments.

While the premise itself was pretty outlandish, everything happened fairly quickly so there really wasn’t any time to start asking questions. Coincidentally, therein lie the beauty of it, as Subaru was dragged into collecting “Engine Fragments” for their president, only to find out that the boy she met earlier, Minato (Kuwashima Houko), is their enemy and doing the same for some unknown reason. They battled, then there was a bit of a rift between Subaru and Aoi, before they made up and faced Minato again. Admittedly, the whole becoming a star bit was odd since it wasn’t explained in any detail, but I found myself too immersed into the presentation of it all to dwell on twenty or so minutes of plot not making perfect sense. All I know is that there were a lot of aspects that I like, ranging from the character interactions to the mysterious cosmos, which left me wanting to see more of this unusual project.

Quite honestly, I still don’t know what the purpose of this joint venture is since it doesn’t really promote Subaru (the car manufacturer) in any way, but if it was a means for GAINAX to dazzle everyone with one of their productions, featuring great character designs and concept art that translated beautifully on screen, they sure achieved that in my books. In fact, watching this ONA made me wish more studios would receive funding to take a bit of a risk and test viewer reception by creating conceptual anime shorts, in hopes that one of their creative ideas will catch on and get the green light on a television series. After all, I went into this show with very little understanding on what it’s about, yet came out with a feeling that it’s a unique take on magical girls that I want to watch more of. I can only imagine how many other seemingly unusual concepts never make it beyond the planning phase, when some of them could have turned out as “positively surprising” as this one. It was cute and had an inexplicable charm to it.

Of course, I gather having Subaru’s financial support helped a lot with getting Houkago no Pleiades out the door. Interestingly enough, it also featured a lot of end card illustrations from various artists in the ending sequence. A lot of them are really nice too. See below.

ED Sequence

ED: 「放課後のプレアデス」 (Houkago no Pleiades) by 高森奈津美, 大橋歩夕, 立野香菜子, 牧野由依, 藤田咲 (Takamori Natsumi, Oohashi Ayuru, Tateno Kanako, Fujita Saki, Makino Yui)
Watch the ED!: Download, Streaming ▼

「ちょ、俺輝いてる?」 (Cho, Ore Kagayaiteru?)
“Am I Shining?”

And I thought that Kore wa Zombie Desu ka couldn’t get any better — apparently I was wrong again. Somehow this show manages to combine the perfect amount of humor with spot on timing while still retaining some kind of seriousness when the time calls for it. Starting with such an innocent scene with Sera cooking for the first time and somehow creating some kind of sludge that’s strong enough to melt an iron wok, I never expected a Doberman from the underworld to randomly appear. It only got better as I watched it try to chug down a cup of hot tea only to have the contents spill all over him.

But what really grabbed my attention was the second half of the story. When Ayumu confronts Yuu about who she really is, I never expected to see such a heartfelt conversation. After listening to Ayumu read her notes out loud while connecting his memories of her from the past, I couldn’t help but feel a little sad over the entire situation. But as I watched Yuu slowly breakdown after revealing her secrets, with tears flowing down her face from the fear that Ayumu would abandon her, I started to feel my heart sting a little.

Ayumu, being the suave person he is, managed to ease Yuu’s fears and made her smile all at the same time. After such a heartfelt scene, I was surprised when after a quick transition to a battle with a huge whale megalo just after Ayumu finished talking about protecting Yuu from anything (including nuclear missiles). Once again being subjected to watching Ayumu transform into a Masou Shoujo, I was glad that focus was on the battle and not on his man-pantsu. But the embarrassing scenes didn’t end there! Apparently when you combine a zombie with Masou Shoujo, using your zombie abilities to power yourself up causes your costume to transform — frilly flowers, high heels, huge ribbons, a tiara, and a full blown dress were the few things I caught on Ayumu’s new outfit. If it wasn’t for such a girly outfit, I think his 1000% powered From the Heavens Kick might have been the manliest thing I’ve seen all season.

After watching Haruna manage to hold a gigantic whale up with magic and Sera taking the extra effort to call Ayumu a “cross dressing piece of shit festering in a bag of rotting garbage” only moments after she had just complimented him, everything just felt perfect. Like I said earlier, this show’s ability to time the jokes just right makes them that much funnier.

Preview

「鋼の咆哮」 (Hagane no Houkou)
“Howl of Steel”

It’s been some time since Operation Plantagenet was mentioned, going all the way back to episode eleven, but the joint operation between the Earth Federation Army and Neo DC to retake North America from the Inspectors finally got underway. It was pretty odd seeing them team up, especially with how friendly Bullet and Kusuha were with Yuuki and Carla; however, it was nostalgic at the same time, since they’re four of the possible eight main protagonists who debuted in Super Robot Wars Alpha.

Whether intentional or not, the temporary alliance to liberate the globe from the Inspectors also helped simplify things, much like the revelation that Shadow-Mirror has joined up with them to realize their ideals. All of a sudden, we went from five different factions on four different sides down to three different sides — EFA/Neo DC, Inspectors/Shadow-Mirror, Einst. Interestingly enough, the biggest blow comes to the good guys in the exchange, with Van Vat Tran going out in a kamikaze attack and Daitetsu heavily wounded from Shadow-Mirror’s surprise attack. Not exactly an ideal start, considering this is mankind’s united defense force and the best it has to offer.

From a broader perspective, it was refreshing to see our heroes driven back for a change with the sudden arrival of the Einst, who have quickly established themselves as the ultimate antagonists of the series. That is, if seeing Irm form a temporary truce with Mekibos was any indication of the overwhelming forces that had shown up. The rational side of me wonders if that was truly necessary, seeing as Mekibos single-handedly brought everyone to their knees with his attack just prior. In terms of overall progression, showing the Einst eclipse the Inspectors’ military power and saving Kyousuke did set the tone for the rest of the series though. After all, if there’s one thing that SRW does well, it’s constantly throwing more factions into the mix so that our heroes can never feel like they’re on top of things. Nothing is resolved immediately and the problems keeping piling up. In this sequel alone, we’ve already seen the conflict with Neo DC escalate to Shadow-Mirror, then Inspectors, and now Einst.

Amidst all the concurrent problems, Axel’s rivalry with Kyousuke looks like it may have already been resolved, after he realized that the “Beowulf” of this world doesn’t possess demonic-like mech-regenerating powers. It was his attack on Kyousuke that prompted the Einst to arrive as well, which led to Excellen getting captured when she dove in head first to save him. Of all the characters, Kyousuke and Excellen are probably considered the main ones in the OG timeline, so the dismal state they and the rest of the Earth Federation Army were left in sets the stage nicely for a bounce back. I say there’s a little creepy blue-haired girl who needs a spanking to set her straight. Unfortunately, that means going through her Persönlichkeit, which is easier said than done. Overpowered aliens are overpowered.

ED2 Sequence

ED2: 「最後の旅」 (Saigo no Tabi) by 美郷あき (Misato Aki)
Watch the 2nd ED!: Download, Streaming ▼

Considering what happened this episode, this flashback ending sequence with Misato Aki’s “Last Journey” song made it seem like Excellen will never see Kyousuke again. It’s a nice song, but boy does it come off depressing.

Preview

「天狗と親切」 (Tengu to Shinsetsu)
“Conceit and Kindness”

After a change of pace, Bakuman almost felt like a different show this week. After being introduced to Fukuda Shinta (Suwabe Junichi) and Nakai Takuro (Shimura Tomoyuki), it almost felt like the supporting characters were starting to dominate the show. What started out feeling extremely awkward slowly turned into something that grabbed my full attention. Between Fukuda taking every opportunity to mock Nakai and Nizuma showing his more calm side, I found myself extra focused watching this week’s episode.

The newly introduced characters both managed to grab my attention. Fukuda who felt like a total jerk at first actually turned out to be a really good person. He seems pretty knowledgeable about manga and is confident enough to verbally acknowledge that Nizuma is someone he needs to conquer, in front of him! But his good-willed head eventually ends up forcing him to help Nizuma with his manga. What a good rival right? After watching the trio discuss how to improve Nizuma’s manga, can you imagine what kind of manga a trio of Nizuma, Mashiro, and Fukuda could make?

Nakai on the other hand almost had me in tears. He seems like a really polite person and his skill at drawing seems to be top notch. After I learned he was a 33 year old who’s been trying for his whole life to become serialized only to end up working as an assistant to others, I felt it right in my heart when I heard him cry about not being able to achieve his dreams. After watching the episode, I don’t know how he managed to not beat the crap out of Fukuda. After taking all those insults I was expecting a Takagi-style punch to the face!

I hope Nizuma’s new calmness doesn’t affect his eccentric personality — watching him go from totally insane to calm in the span of a few seconds is pretty fun to watch. Judging from the previews it looks like Mashiro is still going to be at Nizuma’s. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see what he takes away from working with Nizuma. Maybe some of Nizuma’s personality will rub off onto Mashiro!

Preview

「バニシングエージ」 (Banishingu Eeji)
“Vanishing Age”

Ask and you shall receive, as included this week was a new maiden song by Keito, “Aki-iro no Aria”, to kick off the next arc. With Koshimizu Ami singing, it’ll probably only take another episode for the song to establish itself as the new Zero Time theme too. Combined with the obligatory beach episode where Takuto was the “oil boy prize” of a volleyball match, the only things that made this episode even better were the radical changes within Kiraboshi.

Much like the episode title suggests, Head quickly made Vanishing Age the only division that matters anymore, after he destroyed the cyber casket, revealed that only Star Drivers with a real mark can pilot Cybodies in the third phase, and added Takashi, Kei Madoka (Yukana), and Atari Kou (Saiga Mitsuki) from Otogi Bank to his group because they fulfill that requirement. It was a drastic turn of events, yet not entirely unexpected given that Head’s been seen conspiring with Keito already. It was only a matter of time before one division tried to capitalize and take over the entire brigade, even though Head downplayed what the other members perceived as a coup d’etat. The question is, will everyone who was left out sit idly from the sidelines or will they band together against the power hungry Vanishing Age? At this point, I’m inclined to believe they’ll do something about it, if the updated ending sequence with all those left out is any indication of things to come. The one exception is Takashi, but I can picture him leaving Vanishing Age for Simone’s sake.

For now, that remains some early speculation of mine as more questions surrounding Head himself are raised. This includes the person in a coma he visited, plus how he told all the Kiraboshi members that he knows who the last maiden is but won’t reveal her identity. In the latter case, his explanation was that the “Higanishi” (east) maiden’s seal must be broken when Wako’s is due to the risk of a Star Driver getting trapped in Zero Time if they can’t cancel their apprivoiser, though I wonder if that was only a pretense to make everyone stop searching for Keito. It’s definitely a possibility considering how cunning Head’s been. The only person who seems to know as much as him about what’s going on is Kanako’s husband Leon, who’s been keeping close tabs on all of Kiraboshi’s activities with Mylene’s help and even knows Head’s real name — Miyabi Reiji. (I guess that explains the “R” initial seen on all his paintings.)

On the Zero Time side of things, it feels like we’re back to the usual affair in a slightly revamped form. Madoka’s (Window Star) fight with Takuto made the newly-acquired third phase look like it was all that it’s been made out to be, until learning that Takuto was holding back so he wouldn’t hurt her quickly suggested otherwise. The one notable difference is that Sugata’s King’s Pillar has been rendered ineffective, while Tauburn’s been upgraded accordingly and Takuto keeps pulling new attacks out of nowhere to make up for it. The Tau Missile was one of his flashier abilities though — launching Takuto as a “radiant meteor” — and seemed to impress Madoka to a certain degree after she was plucked out of her Cybody. I gather the real test will be if Head gets another go at Takuto, if he’s willing to take the 50/50 odds on getting his Cybody repaired for a rematch.

ED2.5 Sequence

ED2: 「Pride」 by スキャンダル (SCANDAL)
Watch the 2nd ED!: Download, Streaming ▼

The ending sequence was updated slightly, with the most notable changes being Keito replacing Mizuno/Marino and the group shot at the very end.

Preview

「金色(こんじき)の糸はつかのまを切り裂く」 (Konjiki no Ito wa Tsuka no Ma o Kirisaku)
“The Golden Thread Destroys the Moment”

How obviously suspicious does Avril Bradley act? About a 13/10 on the “I CAN SEE THE ENDING” scale. But then again, that’s what they want me to think isn’t it?

It’s eerie how seemingly unrelated events are implied to tie into each other. First Kujou is arrested for suspect of a motorcycle beheading, which, while solved, the new transfer student Avril Bradley throws doubt. But it doesn’t even end there, with another mystery of a noblewoman and her knight, whom she selfishly trapped inside when she knew she was near her death in order to “preserve their love.” It’s implied that Avril may have some connections with seemingly two random mysteries, but I have no idea where to even begin. Judging by the preview, she’s definitely got something up her sleeve.

So how was the episode itself? It’s more interesting than the first episode, but this wasn’t as fun as the previous two. Since it’s the setup of a new arc, it’s probably just boring by nature, but it’s not like nothing happened either. I did notice the oddness of the mysteries this time around, which makes the mysteries a little wacky, such as the soldier being dead for eight years yet is still standing by the door. It implies he actually died while mid-pound, which is possible, but it’s just weird.

The MC’s get the obligatory development, as Kujou’s Dark Reaper moniker gets more time to soak in, and it doesn’t seem like the show wants to reveal why they call him that just yet. Victorique is also called other names, delivering your usual “more depth than meets the eye” development. It would have been better if some of these character developments actually came as more of a shock, which would have gave it a little more zing. Instead it’s more of a “hmm, that’s interesting and definitely means something,” like how Grevil stubbornly persists in avoiding direct communication with Victorique. There’s also that “Gray Wolf” name that he spouted with such a hateful scowl. I think it’s similar in vein to the “Black Sheep” term, since Grevil responded to her saying “a woman’s feelings are deep and strong,” so it was probably a jab towards the affair Victorique’s own mother caused. Grevil may not be so carefree after all. My personal attachment to the series, the interactions between Victorique and Kujou, seemed to also have regressed this episode. She was much meaner to Kujou compared to when they were on Queen Berry, but it could be the suppressed jealousy talking, since all the attitude came after Kujou remarked about comparing her to the girl from his imagination. Damn it Kujou, now I only get munching on rice snacks.

Perhaps the most interesting thing here is why BONES is rushing through the source material so ridiculously fast. Given that it’s going to run for another season, maybe BONES plans on catching up, or giving the series a more farther adaptation rather than a faithful but slow one. For an anime only viewer like me, I guess it’s only natural that I’d enjoy the former. The biggest draw about GOSICK right now is just how developed the series can get after maybe episode ten, especially considering the speed BONES is going. If you take a look at the opening and see the villains that haven’t even shown up yet, such as the huge hint that Victorique’s going to be snatched away, I just can’t help but be excited for what’s to come. Anywho, next week looks crackin’, so here’s hoping it’ll get the ball rolling again.

hmm, I thought about it.. maybe white wolf ate black sheep.. gets gray wolf? ..uh yeah, whatever that means.

Preview

「ビューティフルドラウマー」 (Beautiful Drama)
“Beautiful Drama”

With last week’s jokes feeling a little a weak, I was pleasantly surprised as I found myself laughing a lot more than last week. Normally I don’t enjoy Sugisaki and her Mitsuba stalking lifestyle, but for some reason everything just felt so right. Maybe it was watching her get her swimsuit ripped right where her butt is or maybe it was when her attempt to ridicule Mitsuba went horribly wrong and got her laptop burnt to ashes — something just had me laughing so hard. Plus you can’t forget Chiba’s first successful attempt at using one of his hidden techniques. Too bad there’s always something that foils his evil plans.

Early in this second season I remember talking about how I didn’t enjoy Mitsuba and the focus on her eating habits. To put it bluntly, I think that they emphasize how fat she is way too much. That and her narcissistic attitude seems to have been on overdrive since episode one. I miss the Mitsuba who was a little snarky and maybe ate a little too much at times, but deep down inside showed how much she cared about others and loved her family. With only four more episodes left, I hope the writers manage to bring out what I love about Mitsuba.

On the other side of things Futaba and Hitoha both seem to be pretty much the same. How can you not love Futaba, the girl who tries so hard at everything she does? I found it pretty sweet as she tried her best to cheer Shinya up when he was looking down. I thought it was sort of obvious that he was feeling a bit under the weather but enough pantsu can solve anything right!? It only got cuter as Futaba went as far as carrying him home after he collapsed from exhaustion. Am I the only one who thinks Futaba might be the perfect person for Shinya?

I don’t think I need to say much about Hitoha. I’m very fond of her character and I think it’s awesome that she’s getting more verbal lines. It makes her stick out more when she’s not always talking to herself! The last skit featuring Hitoha is probably one of my favorites so far. Not only did she give the first honest smile I’ve seen this season (other than in the opening) but it looked ridiculously cute. While I could go on for pages about how much I like Hitoha’s character, I’ll just stop at how she get’s the best close-up shots.

ED3 Sequence

ED3: 「Nearer My God to Thee」by 高垣彩陽, 明坂聡美, 戸松遥 (Takagaki Ayahi, Akesaka Satomi, Tomatsu Haruka)
Watch the 2nd ED!: Download, Streaming ▼

Preview

Sakurajima in Katanagatari episode 5

After procrastinating for months I finally processed the rest of the photos from my trip to Kyushu

Click here for Part 1

Sakurajima today, seen from Kagoshima

Seaside hot springs resort	Aerial view of Sakurajima	Convenience store
Vending machine + dinosaur	Kagoshima	Shrine gate buried in ash
School with ash around the ground	Lava rocks around base of mountain	Older town
On the ferry	More volcanic rocks in the ocean	Small market/convenience store

Kyushu, located to the south of Japan, is a mountainous area with several active volcanoes. Sakurajima (櫻島 “Cherry Blossom Island”) is among the most active and it spews ash every once in a while, so nearby cities such as Kagoshima (鹿児島 “Deer Island”) are often covered in a soft gray powder. As you can see in the pictures, only one of the two peaks are active. There are caves for escaping eruptions and specially-built canals for channeling lava into the sea. If you watched Katanagatari, you’ll already know that because of these volcanoes, there are also quite a few hot springs (溫泉) around.

We visited several onsen hotels, though I didn’t bring my camera in. There were quite a few highlights, featuring stuff like a sky bath and a sand bath. Yukata (Japanese pajamas) are standard issue in hotels, as is the breakfast buffet.

仙巖園- “Sengan-en”

Old residential building (鹿児島)

Road through lawn	Shot of garden and ocean	Farm on some hills
No animals due to foot-to-mouth disease	Children playing on hill	Traditional building
Garden overlooking valley	Flowers	Grass at base of mountain

Next up is some pics of the Sengan-en (仙巖園), a garden formerly owned by Shimadzu, the ruling clan of Kagoshima for several hundred years. There were also some residential buildings on site. I also visited a bunch of other gardens; it’s pretty peaceful there, and one could spend all day just lying on the grass and relaxing. I actually wanted to post more pictures but most of them ended up pretty crappy thanks to the cheap camera I got for free from some bank.

Anyway in conclusion, Kyushu is a nice place and the short time I was there certainly wasn’t enough to enjoy it all. However while this part of the country is definitely very charming, I would like to check out the excitement and buzz in a large metropolitan city like Tokyo sometime as well.

「Tempest Turn」

I was anticipating some content to be skipped if this adaptation was going to make any headway with twelve episodes, but I wasn’t expecting five chapters to be sped through in a mere twenty minutes. It was a furious and pace and came at the cost of a lengthy flashback, which is unfortunate because it showed a lot more depth to Ingrid’s character. In addition, it would’ve provided another taste of the gruesome side of the series where Pandoras and Limiters are mutilated by Nova. From a production standpoint, I can understand why it was taken out given the limited time frame though. After all, Ingrid’s adamant enforcement of hierarchy between Pandora isn’t the main focus of the series, nor is her misinterpreted way of honoring her friend Marine Maxwell (Kasahara Akira).

Admittedly, I did find it unusual to see Ganessa filling Kazuya in on what happened a year ago, since there hasn’t been any indication she’s had a complete change of heart. It definitely seemed a bit out of place to see her so nice all of a sudden, especially when Kazuya’s friends Hiiragi Kaho (Ookubu Rumi) and Arthur Clipton (Okamoto Nobuhiko) were present just like the manga and could have explained it to him. If I were to guess, I suspect the decision to add Ganessa to that incident and tell the story through her was to put more weight on it. In lieu of seeing a bunch of nameless first-year students get slaughtered from a surprise Nova attack, hearing about it from someone who was there and lived to talk about it changes the perspective ever so slightly, especially when it’s a character I’m already familiar with. It also increased the impact in some scenes and helped offset the brevity of the one and a half chapters of flashback to a certain degree.

Much like the previous episode, one aspect of this adaptation that I continue to enjoy is the action. The manga’s artwork is really nice and depicts the Pandora fights really well, but there’s nothing like seeing it all in motion with the sound effects and voices. Even with the animation inconsistencies and the quality taking a noticeable dip in various scenes, it didn’t affect my overall enjoyment all that much. This is taking into account how Satellizer’s fight with Ingrid at night didn’t help that cause, seeing as AT-X’s broadcast never seems to look all that great contrast-wise. Still, from the use of Accel Turns and Tempest Turns to the anime’s version of Pandora Mode, there were enough flashy high-speed clashes going on to keep the tension up when it was supposed to be.

As the subtle purpose of Satellizer’s fight against Ingrid was to edge Kazuya closer towards becoming her Limiter, it was naturally his time to shine by leaving everyone in awe with his Nova-like Freezing ability that completely neutralized Ingrid’s Limiter, Leo Bernard (Shiibashi Kazuyoshi). While there’s still a mismatch between his character voice and character development in that the former doesn’t match up to the latter, Kazuya has started showing signs of becoming a reliable male lead in the series. Granted, that’s primarily attributed to his unique Freezing ability, but he deserves some credit for offering to be Satellizer’s Limiter when no one else would. In comparison, Noto Mamiko has finally started using her meaner-sounding voice for Satellizer, which has been quite a treat to listen to. It contrasts nicely to the one she uses for the Untouchable Queen’s girlish side and is why I gather she was cast for the role.

Anyway, next episode sees the arrival of Rana Linchen from Tibet, whom I wasn’t expecting to see until episode six or seven. Her relatively late appearance is why I found it kind of weird to see Hanazawa Kana with Mamiko during those promotional videos; however, “late” no longer applies given how quickly the anime’s covering the material. It’s already time for the love rival to make her grand entrance.

Preview

「夢喰いメリー」 (Yumekui Merī)
“Dreameater Merry”

“Why do you care? Why do you want to help me? Why am I so important to you?” Why oh why indeed. I know, how about, “because if I don’t, there would be no story!” This works also, “because you’re a girl!” Or “because my powers happen to help your goal, so why can’t you just understand and stop being so effin’ tsundere?” Yeah. That works.

I wonder how much of a coincidence it is that Yamauchi Shigeyasu picked a show that had a plot structure eerily similar to Casshern Sins. Both shows follow an episodic structure, with each additional conflict pushing character development until the characters are ripe for the final arc. There’s no problem with this, but there is a problem with the impact of things. This episode tried to go for that, “fell in love with the monster” twist, showing the “our side of the story” for the Dream Demons, which typically comes a bit later. Too bad none of it really worked.

Do I care about the president who was just introduced now? No, and I don’t care for her love either. I first thought it was a problem with time, but twenty minutes is a universe of time to tell a story, even a deep and thought provoking one. Go see Pale Cocoon for proof. Now Chris, he’s much more interesting. He’s more ambiguous in his intentions than the previous demons, and he poses the thought, what is Merry actually doing when slapping the demons into oblivion? And why does she even possess such a power to do so for that matter? Does she really send them back, or is she just unknowingly destroying their existence? The morbid reality seems more fitting for the show.

So Rayman-kun got owned, got slapped while he was getting owned, and ended up with a smile. But that’s okay! President is happy still. What kind of shallow cliche “moral of the story” was that? The whole deal was just so.. simple. It felt more like the last ten minutes of a two episode arc. The emotions just didn’t work for me, and I believe it’s far more likely of a poor execution (or writing) than me not being easily “moved.”

There’s also Isana talking to that transfer student, who didn’t reveal anything except that, “you shouldn’t get to know me because I’m not worth your time.” And that she can disappear at train stations. Great, another one of those (she’s a filler character too). I dove into this series hoping for something pretty complex, but when you really take a look at it, it’s all just pseudo deep. Preaching about dreams and hopes, love, and the human condition? Why don’t you show me some scenes where I actually feel these values shine through the characters, rather than feeling like you plagiarized it out of a general psychology book, and then we’ll talk. The slow pacing doesn’t help either. Try harder next week Merry, because even your new-found maid fuku couldn’t save you today.

Preview

「刻限のロザリオ」 (Kokugen no Rozario)
“Rosary of Appointed Time”

For an episode that went the distance by cutting out both the opening and ending sequences, the conclusion to this arc came off like a season finale of sorts, except when it came to the actual content. Much like this series is known for, the big threat was explained yet never got remotely off the ground, as Touma settled everything with his right hand like he always does. After Biagio dropped enough clues about removing the targeting restriction of the Queen of the Adriatic Sea for Orsola to figure out his true motive of wiping Academy City and science off the face of the Earth, I was anticipating the Rosary of Appointed Time “plan” to be set into motion. Unfortunately for me, the preparation weren’t even complete and Biagio resorted to blowing up the entire fleet and going out with a bang to rid the Roman Catholic Church of their enemies instead. There may have been a big global threat, but in reality this was just a rescue operation to save Agnese. Any sense of danger was all an illusion in my mind, which was quickly shattered when it became clear it none of it would come close to fruition.

Ultimately, that’s my biggest gripe with these series — we’re told what to be afraid of and never see any of it. While this mirrors religion in a lot of ways and is rather befitting of this fictional story, it makes the problems that the characters encounter feel somewhat unsubstantial. It’s as if they’re constantly preparing for an apocalypse and beating down anyone and everyone who attempts to bring it about. A lot the excitement is lost when all I’m watching are preventative countermeasures, even when we have a huge fleet of magical ships out to shift the balance of power in the world. For once, I’d like to see an apocalypse begin and the characters’ dumbfounded on what they’re supposed to do, before finding a way to overcome the problem. If all the excess exposition was removed from this arc, we’d be left with a psychotic power-hungry bishop kidnapping Agnese, and Touma and co. rushing to rescue her. Gigantic crosses were thrown left and right and Touma had a field day with his right hand, but in the end our hero was set on punching out Biagio regardless of what his intentions were. The Queen’s Fleet? That was just a change of scenary.

There were some positives to take away from this arc though, such as how it was much more straightforward than the previous one. The last thing I wanted to find out is that Biagio’s plan to destroy Academy City was just a fake-out like the Stab Sword. There was only a little bit of that this time, in the sense that the self-destruct made made all the explanations behind the Rosary of Appointed Time moot, but nothing I had to take the time to wrapping my understanding around that would have never happened. Instead, I spent two episodes understanding something that was going to happen but never got the chance to. It probably sounds crazy when the end result is the same, except I feel a lot better when I didn’t have to take in twice as much. I’m fine with the exposition to drive the story. I just feel cheated when I’m given it in double doses using sneaky storytelling methods.

Anyway, I still enjoy this series despite these little qualms I have with it, which is why the foreshadowing of the next arc from the Pope (Kimura Masafumi) and a member of “God’s Right Seat” (Kami no Useki) Vento (Hiramatsu Akiko) already has my interest piqued. With Touma being placed under investigation and eliminated if deemed a threat, I don’t see any way the actual problem won’t be front and center when the series revolves around him. What’s more, the next arc features new characters to change things up too. That’s a big plus for me since the character interactions are a lot more appealing to me than the subplots themselves. This includes Kaori considering Tsuchimiya’s fallen angel maid outfit to thank Touma for helping Amakusa, Agnese joining the good guys, and more Accelerator, Uiharu, and the happy couple next time. Touma’s Italian vacation may have been cut short, but a certain Level 5 is eagerly awaiting his return and I want to see what sort of punishment she has in store for him.

Random thought: Do they have satellite cellphones in their world? That’s some crazy reception range that Touma and Index had on their phones.

Preview

Summary:
After Tensa Zangetsu rips out Ichigo’s hollow form from his chest, he explains that the mask his hollow form is wearing is the form he used to defeat Ulquiorra. They then merge into one and attack Ichigo together. He has trouble fighting against their combined power, but resolves the force the “Final Getsuga Tenshou” out of him to protect his friends. With his newfound willpower, he attacks viciously, but outside, Isshin is beginning to get exhausted.

In Karakura Town, Kuugo and Tatsuki encounter Aizen and Gin, and Tatsuki is trapped by their reaitsu. Don Kanonji suddenly appears and attacks Aizen, but Tatsuki tells him to leave. Kanonji refuses to run however and attacks Aizen again, only to be saved by Matsumoto. She tells Kanonji to take the girls and leave, and she stays behin. Gin takes her away to another part of town, and Matsumoto asks him why he betrayed them to work under Aizen. However Gin stabs her with her sword then leaves. Tatsuki and Kuugo continue to flee and the latter picks up a katana, but Aizen closes in on them.

Preview

Impressions:
As the series finally returns to the main storyline, it also loads up a lot of action, and this episode developed pretty quickly as Ichigo continues his battle for power-ups routine. The course of the fight was very predictable as usual, with Ichigo building up resolve through the need to protect his friends then suddenly becoming stronger to defeat his opponent. I think his fight really symbolizes his inner struggles and is literally a manifestation of what’s inside him. Tensa Zangetsu merging with SSJ3 Hollow Ichigo (his two most powerful abilities) was pretty cool too but his hyper aggressive behavior makes me worry what would happen if Ichigo really got killed in his inner world; I suppose his antagonistic attitude is really just for the good of Ichigo and his methods are his own way of expressing that.

As for Don Kanonji showing up to save Tatsuki and her friends, he just ended up as an annoying bitch and got some well deserved hits from Matsumoto and Tatsuki. There is a fine line between heroism and idiocy. Speaking of Matsumoto, she finally gets to meet Gin again but unfortunately gets taken out immediately. However their interaction did reveal some friction between Aizen and Gin, and the preview gives some bit hints at what is going to happen next. While this episode wasn’t exactly terrible, the fact that the manga material wasn’t too good is making me more apathetic towards the anime.

「ロミオとジュリエット ～Juliet and romeo～」 (Romio to Jurietto ~Juliet and romeo~)
“Romeo and Juliet ~Juliet and romeo~”

Centralizing around the creation of a play, Musuko in turn tackles the issue of puberty. While not normally regarded as a serious problem, when it comes to the characters of Musuko, it comes as a curse. A ticking time bomb, that when set off, irreversibly destroys any androgynous nature one might have.

There’s a bunch of stories being played along, and it’s admirable how layered they are. Not only are there relationship issues between characters, they each have their own individual problems to deal with, like Takatsuki and her refusal to wear a bra. Interesting as it may be, I’m hoping for some more drama similar to the past two episodes, but it seems tensions are running high for everyone.

Perhaps a problem with having so many characters will come to bite Musuko in the ass once it makes its 11 episode run. Even so, when you put it down into words, this episode garners a surprising depth of development. Nitori continues to find feelings for Takatsuki, Chiba inches closer to Nitori, and problems will most likely ensue. I’m unsure what the point of developing the sister and her boyfriend is, but I’m not complaining. Takatsuki finally giving up and wearing a bra struck me in the end, simply because it just felt weird. Nitori responding with such an unconfirmed tone in his voice makes me wonder if it’s just an inevitability? That fighting puberty added a limiting factor that they just can’t get out of? It’s certainly a dead-end problem for them, with the only next step being surgery.

What’s missing so far are reasons. Why do these characters feel this way? How did it come about? Will AIC ever answer them? The importance of these reasons might be debatable, since sometimes gender and sexual orientation just don’t necessitate explanations. But I know a little something about Nitori, so yes, I do want to know how he came about.

Update: I’ve decided to stop blogging Musuko. I haven’t found much fun posting about the show, and my “real life” workload became increasingly time-consuming as the weeks wore on. I’ll still be watching the series, and if you’re adamant about impressions, you can read about them (includes all the writers) in the monthly posts we have planned.

Preview

「決戦！クラス対抗戦（リーグマッチ）」 (Kessen! Kurasu Taikousen (Riigu Macchi))
“Decisive Battle! The Inter-Class (League) Match”

For a decisive battle, Ichika’s scrimmage with Rin was somewhat unsatisfying since their wager was quickly brushed aside by the latter in the end. However, their short-lived match came with a bit of a twist, in the form of an unknown and unmanned IS that doesn’t use one of the 467 cores out there. While there are still a lot of questions surrounding this unidentified IS, its arrival is a welcome turn of events since it opens the storyline to our cast of characters fighting on the same side, much like we saw in the cold opening of the premiere. Unfortunately, it came with the trade-off of feeling like a sudden and somewhat forced development, which didn’t unfold very naturally when Ichika and Rin were trying to fend it off. I can’t even quite describe my reaction all that well, other than saying there was a lot of action going on but I just wasn’t “feeling” the excitement.

I attribute that partly to how Ichika pulled himself together and became Mr. Dependable during the emergency situation, winning over Rin even more. Most of my attention was on those two instead of the unknown IS attacking them, as Rin continued to hide her true feelings by constantly calling Ichika an idiot. All the while, the “competition” had their panties in a knot over Ichika’s safety and the envious thought on why it wasn’t them out there with him. Okay, not exactly, but it was a lot funnier in my mind to think that way. Similarly, I couldn’t help but notice Rin didn’t have any complaints about where Ichika’s claw was nudging close to. With all that going on, I have no idea how I was supposed to remain focused on the evil IS attacking them. They just looked really cute together even when Rin continued to give Ichika a hard time.

During the battle, it never felt like there was ever a real sense of danger, despite how menacing the other IS looked with its massive arms. Because of that, everyone’s concerns seemed a bit exaggerated when Ichika and Rin seemed to have things under control. Evidently, the characters didn’t feel the same way with Chifuyu showing her nervousness by putting salt in her coffee and Houki rushing to Ichika’s side to give him some words of encouragement. While both of them seemed to be overreacting from my perspective, it did indicate how much they were worried about Ichika, which was particularly surprising in Chifuyu’s case. Seeing the normally calm, cool, and collected Orimura-sensei get a bit flustered because her little brother’s in danger? Priceless.

As for Cecilia, it’s almost unbelievable how hard she’s fallen for Ichika, considering that she’s basically at his beck and call now (…and likes it). I’m still not sure where Ichika’s confidence about her arriving on time came from though, so perhaps deep-down inside he knows she’s always got his back (…in the stalking sense). Whatever the case, her unexpected arrival before the other IS made it into the arena seemed to go unexplained, which is where most of my surprise actually came from. Still, her Blue Tears’ shot was a nice finish that showed she has some teamwork skills, and a fairly flashy one at that. We’ll just have to see how well Cecilia holds up when Charlotte Dunois (Hanazawa Kana) shows up next episode. Apparently everyone thinks he’s a guy and the second male in the world able to pilot an IS. Yeah… I don’t think so, especially not with Kana voicing “him”.

ED3 Sequence

ED3: 「SUPER∞STREAM」 by 日笠陽子, ゆかな, 下田麻美 (Hikasa Youko, Yukana, Shimoda Asami)
Watch the 3rd ED!: Download, Streaming ▼

I was expecting Shimoda Asami to be added to SUPER STREAM last week, but it seems like the different ending themes will be a bit more spaced out. My guess is that Hanazawa Kana will be added at episode six at the earliest. In any case, I really like the in-character voices for this song, as Asami makes it pretty clear when it’s Rin singing.

Preview