Random Curiosity

「えへ、学園妻です」 (Ehe, Gakuentsuma desu.)
“Hehe, I’m a School Wife.”

Kids these days are so shameless — talking about their loli loving, gap moe feelings in public. Do they have no shame?

This marks the second week that Zombie has been in slice of life mode, something that I have no problems with. Starting out strong with Ayumu vigorously using his new glasses, I was close to tears when Sera took them from him. After I recovered, I was surprised to find that there wasn’t as much humor in this episode as I expecting — swapping humor in favor of building Yuki and Haruna’s relationship with Ayumu.

Even though Yuki seems to be getting closer to Ayumu, whether it is through her love for dumping different sauces over her food or being her loud and brash self, there was something even bigger that caught my attention. That something was Hiramatsu Taeko (Yamaguchi Rie). Name not ringing a bell? Why, let me show you the girl who’s been in the ending sequence and singing with Manzo the entire time. I better not have been the only one who was curious who the random normal school girl was! I was sure that Ayumu’s harem was finally complete. So sure, that I was ready to start deciding who my favorite girl was. Wouldn’t it be funny if the one girl who seems to be completely normal ends up being the winner in this harem? All I know is that I’m really interested (and hoping) that she isn’t just cast off as a side character.

With Haruna, I actually feel really bad for her. If I were to look at the current positions for who’s closest to stealing Ayumu’s heart, I don’t think Haruna is at the top. Especially when I pair her up with Yuu or Yuki, I’m not sure how she could fair. Still, I thought her casual sundress and pink hat looked really cute and every time her jealous emotions leak out, I like her that much more. Go Haruna!

Like I also said last week, our new boss seems to have appeared. In the form of a seemingly happy looking guy, I can’t help but feel he’s just another person being mind controlled by that “King of the Night”. While I’m sure no one is complaining about these slower, easy going episodes I’m excited to see that things are about to get fired up again. With Yuu apparently missing, I can’t wait to see where things go from here — I’m hoping for Haruna and Yuki to do more fighting this time around!

P.S. Who’s your favorite girl right now? I’m torn between all of them!

Preview

「惨禍ノ地」 (Sanka no Chi)
“Land of Calamity”

Less than a month later, we have the Blu-ray release of the fourth of six movies. Surprisingly, there were some lighthearted moments, which I attribute to Rygart speaking his mind and making Sigyn snap just as much as Narvi (enough to make her point her unloaded gun at him anyway). The two of them had some really cute scenes together too, though they made me feel sorry for Sigyn at the same time since Rygart came off as a bit of a tease. He doesn’t seem unaware that she still loves him, or at least can’t fathom the possibility after she married Hodr, when we know for a fact that she does now. I have all the respect in the world for Hodr who seems more than aware of Sigyn’s feelings for Rygart, but still feel that those two blondies should be together. A farmer can afford to buy her a book every now and then and take her to the library! *sniff*

It doesn’t seem like it at first glance with all the “bedroom play” going on, but Cleo is turning out to be a key character in my eyes. I can understand why Sigyn’s been so easy on her and has given her the benefit of the doubt, seeing as Cleo disarmed her enemies without trying to kill them. Sigyn also happens to believe that she’s a 12-year-old who’s been dragged into war, which I and much of the rest of the world have a hard time buying. Regardless of what I think about her age, Cleo’s aware that Zess’ friendship with her and Rygart, and I imagine she’ll find out about Hodr later on, setting the stage for her possible release at some point that will allow her to bring news of the surrender terms back to her beloved commander. If there’s one thing about the story that drew in almost immediately, it’s how friends are pitting against one another without fully understanding the circumstances of the other side. It worked in Gundam SEED and has me hooked here, hoping that Cleo will be the one to clear things up.

On the battlefield side of things, I can’t say True’s death came as much of a shock, since the transition to that scene heavily suggested that his platoon wasn’t going to survive Athens’ ambush. The actual shock will probably be to Narvi when she finds out, which I can’t see being pretty. What his death did do is propel Nike (Shiraishi Ryouko) to a monster-level status as the “25-year-old that looks twelve” little girl who will kill you in a heartbeat if you poke fun at her. I don’t know what was scarier though, the way she won’t hesitate to chop a guy’s balls off or how she longs for Io’s affection and regresses to a seemingly innocent girl when she gets it. It’s probably a combination of both. Leto (Kitamura Eri) evidently wasn’t amused, so there appears to be a bit of a love rivalry going on there as well.

It felt like the casualties came pretty quick afterward with Borcuse and his elite confidants killing Captain Elza (Yanagisawa Mayumi) in a very convincing manner and Nike waving her corpse around to spread fear among Baldr’s men. While gruesome, it was pretty cool seeing the psychological aspect of war come into play, which Baldr responded well to by rallying his troops’ shaken morale. I still think it was pretty suicidal for him to lead them in a charge straight down the middle with Athens’ forces waiting on both sides, but I suspect there were more of his golems coming from the rear than depicted, given that their numbers were pretty even after the loss of Elza’s group. Granted, it never once looked that way when they were hemmed in from three sides until Rygart came charging in and single-handedly destroyed one side with Delphine.

As a natural follow-up to that, I expected the newly-formed Millennium Corps under Narvi’s command to run away with all the glory this time around, except they turned out to be more comic relief than anything else outside of Rygart’s drastic improvement in piloting skills. Girge (Toriumi Kousuke) did remain the one constant throughout though, namely as the big question mark on where his loyalties lie and the risk of him turning on his own forces for no reason whatsoever. I’m admittedly unsure whether he was genuinely afraid of heading to the front lines or if he wanted to cut off the enemy’s retreat all along, since he’s a prodigy with a few screws loose. He’s a far cry from his highly-regarded father Baldr, aside from how adept he is at manipulating quartz. I’d say he’s a true genius in that area, not only because he learned to pilot Cleo’s modified Artemis really quickly and has pinpoint accuracy, but also because he seems to be able to make quartz denser. His shots have a lot more weight to them and his swords cut cleaner, the latter of which Rygart took notice to.

Pitting him against Athen’s sadistic general was a match made in heaven hell, even though Girge seemed a lot more “stable” than Borcuse during their exchange. That calm, cool, and composed shot at the very end felt a bit out of place, considering how psychotic he looked just prior when he embarrassed Nike and took a lot of enjoyment in doing so. In any case, I can’t foresee Girge taking out Borcuse, despite how the he appeared to have the upper hand as the more powerful magician. I did dwell on the possibility that they’d take one another out, but I get the feeling that honor will be reserved for Rygart after he witnesses Borcuse’s atrocities. Anyway, I probably don’t say this enough, but I love this movie series. The story, characters, and setting are awesome and the visuals are just amazing. I’ll be eagerly looking forward to the fifth movie’s BD release on May 27th.

Preview

「過去の王国に遠吠(ぼ)えがこだまする」 (Kako no Ōkoku ni Tōboe ga Kodama Suru)
“Howling Echoes From the Kingdom of the Past”

Wow. It was a bad idea trying to piece together a mystery in GOSICK, because I pretty much got it all wrong. NEVER AGAIN. Nonetheless, my theory about the elder wasn’t at all improbable, and it made complete sense. The reality presented to us wasn’t absurd by any means, but I’d need some kind of trivia knowledge to have concrete proof that Herminia did it. The elder was obviously the red herring, and I fell for it, but linking pigeons to gold coins as distractions, and completely guessing from out of the blue that there was a prophecy that told Herminia she was going to die at 26, is just something I “admittedly” could not possibly figure out. Hiding in the clock and jumping out to stab someone in the back was also just way out there on the left field. I don’t think it’s hard to play the guessing game and see that Herminia was a possibility, but the show doesn’t seem like it wants anyone to really figure out who it is. It’s more just, “watch the show, you can’t possibly guess because we made it so, and just be amazed at the end.” Well, it did make Harminia’s reveal more mind blowing to me, so it wasn’t all bad.

But honestly, most people don’t seem to care about the mystery. The majority of the comments I’ve been getting only talk about how cute Victorique’s latest antics are. And it’s true, she is cute, and much of the development this episode made it clear that a lot of people care about her. Well, only Grevil and Kujou, but hiring Mildred to look after Victorique makes Grevil a tsundere, which led to a silent d’aww moment. The “fight” with Herminia reproduced the same overemotional Victorique, which is kind of weird to hear, since she’s usually screaming in this wavering brittle voice that makes me all confused inside. One peculiar thing is that when she’s holding Kujou over the cliff, neither Grevil, Ambrose, nor Mildred were there to help. I suppose they couldn’t exactly ruin such a convenient love-love development scene.

As a whole, the arc brought the two closer together, again, and shed light on the fact that the question Victorique asked was the same exact one Kujou did, creating this bittersweet fate the two share, making an even better tragic love story than Romeo and Juliet. Herminia inevitably fulfilling her own prophecy was chilling, which even further sets their fated separation in stone. Behind the scenes, we get a glimpse of Brian Roscoe and Cordelia, who isn’t too surprising to see alive. Being red-haired, Brian Roscoe looks strikingly similar to the magician.

The conclusions to these mysteries usually end up pretty satisfying, especially this one, and it helps that you typically get a healthy helping of Victorique MMM (maximum moe mode) to go with it. The introduction of Roscoe and Cordelia give an exciting foreboding marker of future plot, and our mains now acknowledge their affection for each other. They better not pull that, “let’s pretend all that emotional development never happened” BS though. The arc tied up rather nicely, and I think this was the best one so far. Next episode takes a break from the usual routine and will explore the character quirks of Victorique when she’s sick. A Victorique-centric episode is always a good episode. Oh, and more Avril too, please.

Is it weird that I thought Harminia was cute when she was scratching at her eyes?

Preview

「文学と音楽」 (Bungaku to Ongaku)
“Literature and Music”

After nearly two whole minutes of recap, I was expecting this week’s episode to be a complete let down. But to my disbelief, the tension just kept rising higher and higher as the episode got better and better. While I wasn’t really sure where things were heading, I was surprised to watch our dynamic duo to get even closer to serialization in just one episode. With a surprise outburst from Hattori, the show made another sudden turn toward awesomeness. Besides watching Mashiro fight the urge to pass out after having such a huge burden (19 pages every two weeks) lifted from his shoulders, I got excited after Hattori explained the slight change in the questionnaire cards. While our duo has had trouble being the number one favorite, I think this new “like” or “dislike” option should really work in their favor. Using Money and Intelligence as a great example, while it didn’t win first place, nearly every single person in the industry has given them praise for their work.

And just when I thought our duo had secured a really good fighting chance, Aoki Yuriko (Kawasumi Ayako) and Makaino Koji, aka Koogy (Morikubo Showtaro) decide to enter the mangaka race. First, for those of you who read my introduction post, I LOVE Kawasumi Ayako. I can’t even describe the feeling I felt when I went “Did I just hear who I think I just heard?” To my surprise, she manages to play a cold tempered character pretty well. While I’d rather have my Mahoromatic-esque Kawasumi, I’ll take what I can get. With Koogy, I felt like punching my fist through the monitor. I personally think his goal of becoming an omnipotent everything in all forms of entertainment is full of crap. While I normally wouldn’t have a problem with someone trying to be the best, his underhanded way of getting support for “Colorfusical” really ticked me off. Just because you have thousands of fans for your music doesn’t mean you can just influence their votes!

Boy, I haven’t felt this energized after an episode of Bakuman in a while. With all hell breaking loose, I was about to pass out knowing that I’d have to wait till next week to watch everyone barge into Jack. From the preview, I get the feeling that the editing department isn’t really going to do anything about the situation. While that makes me kind of angry, the feelings of hopefully watching Koogy lose to his competition because their work is better than his makes me want to laugh like an evil villain.

Preview

「文化祭 ～Dream of butterfly～」 (Bunkasai ~Dream of butterfly~)
“Cultural Festival ~Dream of butterfly~”

The cultural festival has finally rolled around and in-turn the gender bender play the characters have been planning for months. It’s a pretty important event symbolically for Ariga especially since he was the only one of the three GID primary characters who landed a main role in the Romeo and Juliet play, but I still question the wisdom of using a random draw to select the roles given the difference in acting abilities. As both Takatsuki and Nitori were regulated to sideline roles in the play, I think it’s wasn’t that bad for them to be mostly observing the play and contribute to its success. The play was also written with a strong implicit expectation that Nitori was getting the role of Juliet so the casting was still definitely unexpected.

What’s done is done and so before the play, all the characters were coincidentally brought together in the haunted house to calm their nerves by letting out the stress through screaming their heads off, though that backfired slightly when Sarashima was revealed to be a huge fan of Maiko. All the people they met that expected Nitori to be Juliet also did not help Ariga, causing him to blank out momentarily when the curtains went up. The long awkward silence had me fearing the worst, but luckily he pulled his act together and got through the play alright, although his mom teased him to no end afterwards, as all great parents do.

Saori did fine as expected, but she retains her cold personality and still seems inclined to chop off everyone’s heads, and she shows her softer side only to Nitori. Her interactions with others show an huge contrast, but she also seems to be warming slightly to Ariga. He is one of the few people who has really tried to get through to Saori, although up until now has been sharply rebuffed. Time heals wounds, and I think Saori will start to soften up a bit as the series goes on; unfortunately her feelings for Nitori will probably still be in vain.

On a side note, I think Nitori’s connection to the modeling word (through his sister) makes things pretty interesting and is a part I don’t mind seeing. The clothing and fashion that the characters wear actually caught my attention as we’re not just seeing the normal school uniform. I notice that I tend to prefer Asian fashion vs. European/North American fashion, whether it be Japanese, Korean, Chinese/Taiwanese, etc. and that makes this quirk all the more appealing. Nitori’s teen model celebrity acquaintances make for some funny scenes too and Anna especially seems like she is finding Nitori more and more interesting.

Preview

「眠れ、地の底で」 (Nemure, Chi no Soko de)
“Rest, Beneath the Earth”

Even with all the Sanger/Wodan build-up last time, it was all about the Branstein brothers’ revenge like the preview suggested. Their cousin Leona Garstein (Sakakibara Yui) was eager to help out as well, which had me eagerly looking forward to seeing Archibald get what he deserves. The episode even took a trip down memory lane to remind us exactly why that is, going back three years ago when Archibald cruelly made Elzam kill his wife Cattleya (Maeda Ai) to save the lives of everyone in the Elpis space colony. It caused the very rift between Rai and Elzam seen today, which made it all the more sweet to see the two of them finish him off themselves. Who says nothing good comes from exacting revenge? When it’s a villain with no redeeming qualities, I say kill the bastard!

Leading up to that, there was plenty of action to go around this time, featuring various new scenes to go with it. Unfortunately, the same SRX Variable Formation sequence was used, though it was still cool to see them bust it out again. I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of the music that’s played during Pattern OOC, which extended well into the ass-kicking it delivered with its Hi-Finger Launcher this time around. Everything that followed suit was pretty over the top in that awesome kind of way, from the Double Blade Kick that Ryuusei had Ryouto perform with him in the Exbein Boxer to Mai hoping onto Rio’s AM Gunner in her R-Gun because SHE CAN. Those were some “oh what” moments that quickly became a “oh hell yeah” ones. While we did get to see the start of the Dygenguar/Thrudgelmir fight that will pick up next time, Tetsuya ramming the Earth Cradle with Kurogane’s Titanic Drill followed by a good chunk of guys rushing in made me want to see what was going down inside more than outside. It was heart-pumping mecha goodness all around (for me anyway), which came with the obligatory group shot squaring off against their enemies.

Along with the heated rivalry happening outside, The School children need to rid themselves of their past demons next, namely the wretched Dr. Setme, and saving Ouka is pretty key to doing so. Cuervo seems intent on helping her after realizing how heartless Setme is, after she hooked up Ouka to the GEIM system and let it destroy her sanity as if she weren’t even human. What he’ll actually be able to do is another thing though, considering the thrashing the Rapiecage gave to Arado, Seolla, Shine, and Latune. Granted, they didn’t want to attack Ouka to begin with, but the mind-controlled GEIM System is supposed to be pretty overpowered like it was depicted to be here. I won’t say too much more so that I don’t inadvertently ruin any potential surprises, except for how Super Robot Wars is a robot series that knows how to deal out the fan-service like no other. They may as well have called it the Bondage System. Yikes.

* The opening sequence was updated a bit more, this time with an “evil” Excellen to go with her Rein Weiss Ritter.

Preview

「リビドーなお年頃」 (Ribidoo na Otoshigoro)
“Libido Coming of Age”

Well, it looks like the possibility that Tokio’s nude paintings of Sora were a figurative thing was put to rest, as one more flashback quickly indicated otherwise. What was more interesting though is that Head is aware that he’s lost a lot in his pursuit for power, which includes Sakana among them. That left me wondering exactly what he sees her as, and hoping it’s not a lover anymore since he’s much older than he appears and already has a Ginga Bishounen son.

Aside from a “very thorough” body examination by Hideki that’s way too easy to poke fun at, there actually wasn’t too much continuation of last week’s eye-opening episode. The start of the episode with Needle Star’s very short-lived second attempt to take down Takuto more or less set the tone for the rest of it, which had Window Star giving the Over Phase System a go and reaching a “3.5″ type of state. She was one with her Cybody and looked pretty darn creepy; however, this new form only gave Takuto some difficulty because he didn’t want to hurt her. It’s kind of dumb how it’s not the power from achieving the next pseudo-phase that tips things in Kiraboshi’s favor, but the fact that it causes Takuto to hold off on attacking them. It’s almost as if they’re better off using the other members as human shields to achieve the same result.

I did wonder what Takuto would’ve done if the fight dragged on since he doesn’t want to kill anymore, so Wako stole the spotlight for the rest of the episode by pulling out a maiden-type pillar attack that separated Madoka from her Cybody and allowed Takuto to “missile her” like he does with all his opponents now. It’ll be interesting to see if her ability becomes their means of dealing with Cybodies in the fourth phase, because this time around it was played up as Wako putting her libido for Takuto against Madoka and coming out on top. Assuming that means what I think it does, Sugata’s reaction raises a lot more pressing questions about how he truly feels about Wako. There’s also Keito to take into account, who’s been looking like she has nothing but Takuto on her mind lately.

Given how late we are in the series now with only four episodes to go, it’s nice to see that the love triangle of shorts is finally getting some attention. Wako volunteering to be a replacement for Mizuno in the upcoming play spoke volumes in that regard, as did Takashi’s decision to leave Vanishing Age and return to Otona Ginkou. In the latter case, I’d like to believe he did it for Simone’s sake, but it’s more likely because he’s tired of being around two crazy girls who don’t fear death and having to clean up their messes. Anyway, I’m digging the long hair look that Wako has going for the play next time, plus how Hana is coming to the island to stir things up. I’m admittedly more curious about what I would imagine to be Samekh though. I still see the King of Cybodies as the climax of the series.

* The commercial for the Shining Star opening single that’s slated to be released March 9th has been shown for some time during the STAR DRIVER’s broadcast, and shows clips from the music video.

Preview

「みつごは続くよどこまでも」 (Mitsugo wa Tsuzukuyo Doko Mademo)
“These Three Girls will keep going on and on”

I can’t believe such a great show is done already! Only after eight episodes, seven if you don’t consider the Gachi Rangers special, I have to live without my weekly dose of Hitoha, Futaba, and Mitsuba?! All in all, while I don’t want this show to end, I must admit that this final episode managed to wrap things up nicely — full of the funny gags I love which had me laughing until the final heart melting scene.

Starting strong with Yabecchi, I’m glad that this whole Gachi Rangers misunderstanding has finally been cleared up. I’ve felt so bad for Yabecchi since no one except Hitoha seemed to share his love for the Gachi Rangers. But after episode and episode of misunderstandings between the two, I was amazed when Hitoha finally cleared everything up. From that point on, I think the realization that the person who ridiculed him the most about the Gachi Rangers actually being their biggest fan probably broke something in Yabecchi’s mind.

I’m not sure what it was, but the class relay skit had me cracking up pretty hard. Whether it was Yoshioka’s epic face, Chiba’s fake love letter to Satou, or Mitsuba’s running sound effects, something about strategically using everyone’s unique traits was pure genius (I tip my hat to you Chiba). But something besides the humor caught my attention — Mitsuba and Sugisaki almost admitting to be friends. After fighting against each other for so long, it’s pretty obvious that they’d probably make really good friends — which is why I’ve been hoping that the two would give up trying to one up each other and just become friends already. Even though they were pretty embarrassed after they realized it, I thought it was pretty cute to see both of them act so innocent.

But the best skit had to be the final one. While I was expecting something close to last season’s, where there’d be some kind of heartwarming scene between our trio and Soujirou, I wasn’t expecting a heart attacking inducing, cuteness overloaded flashback. Little Hito, Fuu, and Micchan were too much for me to handle. Matching outfits, cute hair styles, no snarky Mitsuba, innocent Hitoha, extra cute Futaba — I was on the verge of passing out. To make it even better they even included Soujirou in his prime, looking like a super hunk. With the episode coming to a close while mimicking the past, except with Futaba carrying Soujirou, I was so happy to watch the show have a happy ending — to be truthfully honest, I was half expecting a police officer to ruin the whole scene.

Bonus Episode Preview

Final Impressions:

Seeing how next week’s episode is supposed to be a “secret” episode from season one, I’ll do the final impressions now. First off, what’s with the horribly low view rate on these posts? I feel the need to go and throw episodes of Mitsudomoe into people’s computers. Personally I don’t know where the argument about the art style deferring people away falls — we’re dealing with sixth graders aren’t we? Plus if you wanted realism, Futaba’s drawings are pretty good.

Seriously though, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this second season of Mitsudomoe. I personally thought that the first episode was pretty awesome, especially since I’ve always wanted to see what a whole episode of the Gachi Rangers would be like. Seeing how there were only seven more episodes after that, I’m close to saying that it’s probably the perfect amount for the show. I vaguely remember that during the first season, I felt that some of the episodes were really weak. While some of the episodes during this season weren’t particularly funny, I can’t recall one that stuck out horribly.

While I’m sad that Mitsudmoe is coming to an end, I’m happy in the fact that we even got a second season. While this show might not be everyone’s cup of tea, I’d honestly recommend this show just to about anyone. From the humor and heartwarming scenes to the dirty and really dirty jokes, I think anyone would be able to appreciate Mitsudomoe for what it’s for. With such a cast of clashing personalities, it always feels like something new is coming when different characters are grouped together. From Yoshioka’s awesome eyebrows to Matsuoka’s occult madness, every single character brings something unique to the table. Plus, you can’t forget about the silent cast — Forehead Girl and Mouse Boy being the ones I can remember clearly. Now, if only a surprise third season would be released..

P.S. Bridge, are you listening? My only wish if another season or OVA is released, is for Soujirou to blow up with anger on a police officer for doing absolutely nothing wrong — and not get arrested.

「Pandora Queen」

Seeing as I was expecting a date at the amusement park this week, the episode title struck me as rather odd. It only took me a few minutes in to quickly realize why, as we had an anime original episode centering around a yearly prom where Pandoras and Limiters get a chance to mingle. That’s what the West Genetics tradition is promoted as anyway, when in reality the Pandora Queen beauty pageant is the only thing that matters. Thus far, the anime has definitely upped the fan-service compared to the manga, and it looks like the producers pounced on yet another opportunity to promote Blu-ray sales by swapping out Kazuya and Satellizer’s cute and innocent date with a bunch of Pandora bearing it all on stage for the guys to gawk at.

While I would’ve liked to see the amusement park chapter animated, I’m pretty indifferent to the change given how the prom still developed their relationship in a positive way. As a sort of a bonus, we also had Rana taking the initiative and making sure Kazuya has her on his mind even if he’s set on being with Satellizer. It was amusing to see the two girls continue to knock heads, but even more so when Attia challenged Satellizer in the beauty pageant and was bent on winning by proving that bust size isn’t everything. For all intents and purposes, it was pretty clear that her reactions were intended to put a lighthearted spin on the entire episode, though it was still hard to perceive it as such after all the crap she’s put Satellizer through. Creo, Arnett, and Ingrid I don’t have any problems with, as they even think Attia has some screws loose. Sabotaging Satellizer’s winning outfit? Yeah, that’s real mature.

It may not have seemed like it with Attia’s hazing and Miyabi’s attempt to rig the voting, but I would still consider this a “calm before the storm” type of showing. There was a bit of foreshadowing on an upcoming Nova threat from Chiffon’s discussion with Kim and Elise, as well as Chiffon’s word of warning to Elizabeth that they should stop fighting with Satellizer to preserve the school’s battle power. Also, the preview shows East Genetic’s Cathy Lockharte (Kugimiya Rie) joining the front lines and battling Nova, which I presume means the story will finally move beyond the hazing and onto the threat from dimension invaders. This is roughly where I stopped reading the manga, so I’m actually curious to see what the series is like when the characters are fighting Nova instead of one another.

* There were so many shots to put together and some trickier than others. See images 03, 05, 06, 08, 10, 19, 24, 28, 35. If I had to pick a winner, I probably would’ve went with Rana and her Chinese outfit (if you can even call it an outfit).

Preview

「夢回廊」 (Yume Kairō)
“Dream Corridor”

Yumekui Merry has everything, plot, movement, charming characters, and an end goal in sight. So why is it so bereft of excitement? Is it the subject matter? The problems raised? The plot itself? Just me? This entire episode was just a repeat of what has been said over the past seven. Isana has no clue where to go in life, and it feels like she’s being preyed on by people, the same sentiments that I’ve had for several episodes. Akiyanagi and Rice-sensei are still being alluded as someone with ulterior evils, and that’s like the umpteenth time now. Engi is still mulling over her sister (I get it! You’re sad your sister is gone!), and Merry still likes donuts. Notice all those “still’s.”

The most entertainment I got out of this was Yui’s character development, which wasn’t even all that much. The characters of Yumekui have always been a highlight, and Yui followed the same route. She’s carefree, intelligent, happy, and stable, making an attractive persona. Her family is typically quirky, even though it feels they tried too hard to make that seem funny, and she’s completely sane in contrast, which is supposed to add to the joke. It’s interesting that even that is cliche, but Yui is nice to listen to. Come to think of it, most of the characters are nice to listen to, as they have soft smooth voices and never stray too far from being mellow. Character designs are pretty awesome too.

See, the problem is, they keep talking about this and that, but they never actually do anything that brings them a visible step closer. So in a way, yes, the pacing is too slow because it’s redundant. The demon this time was more talkative than usual, but nothing he said, again, was anything new. And we don’t even see the fight! Cliffhanger! One point I’ve been wondering about this entire series is why Dream Demons have such an obsession for our reality. Personally, I prefer dreams over reality, and if their dream world is as amazing as the ones I can conjure in my sleep, then there’s the huge question mark. What makes dream world so horrid? Also, Yumeji getting an injury that became this big of a deal because he didn’t bother using the stairs that could have taken only a couple seconds more of his time… facepalm’d.

From the preview, here’s what I’m going to predict. Mystletainn = Rice-sensei. Isana gets owned. Kawanami turns out to be a protector of Isana. Engi starts raging again. Yumeji finally realizes Merry’s actually killing demons. Okay, if that last one actually happens, I will be so disappointed, because there was no way nobody didn’t see that coming.

Preview

「猟犬部隊（ハウンドドッグ）」 (Ryouken Butai (Haundo Doggu))
“Hunting Dog Corps (Hound Dog)”

Now is it just me or is this series so much better when it doesn’t beat around the bush with religious mumbo jumbo and stuff actually happens on screen? We had Accelerator trying to get Kihara’s Hound Dogs off his back, Touma trying to do the same before Vento came along, and Kuroko causing a commotion over Mikoto like only she can. Throw in Uihara for good measure and the end result is To Aru Majutsu no Index just the way I like it.

The best part of it all is that the progression is seemingly straightforward, except with a lot of foreshadowing on things to come. This includes the attack on Academy City that Tsuchimikado’s looking into, and Anti-Skill mistaking Accelerator as the culprit after he was forced into a corner and went all sadistic on the Hound Dogs. The former served as a nice overarching problem that will need to be addressed before long, while the latter gave us something to be immediately engrossed in. Combined with Touma’s ongoing struggles fending off Vento and protecting Last Order, the balance between explicative dialogue and actual things happening this episode was ideal in my mind. It likely helped telling the story from multiple perspectives — a total of five if we include Kikyou and Aiho.

Interestingly enough, one of the things that really grabbed my attention was Kihara’s “no-nonsense, kill first, pick up the scraps” later attitude with both Accelerator and Vento. Kudos to Fujiwara Keiji for pulling off villainous roles like only he can, which at times makes it hard to believe he plays cheerful characters like Maes Hughes too. I don’t like Kihara one bit, but I do find it amusing how he’s a total ass with anyone and everyone, including his own men. I was actually hoping he would go head-to-head against Vento when she showed up, given how psychotic she is too (hats off to Hiramatsu Akiko for that).

However, it doesn’t look like we’re short of craziness this time around, as Accelerator even had me feeling sorry for the female Hound Dogs who he absolutely slaughtered. I don’t even recall him being this heartless during the Radio Noise Project (i.e. Sisters arc), though it could be that I’m just accustomed to how he’s softened up being around Last Order all the time. Of course, there’s always Kuroko in the crazy department as well, except when she flips out it always leads to good times for me. With all the havoc going on, the high tension attitudes all around seem appropriate though. It’s actually been calming when the focus flip to Touma, as he’s the only one who’s not going bat-shit insane to cope with all the problems on two fronts — the Hound Dogs and the Roman Catholic Church.

Anyway, I think we need Mikoto to start blasting all the bad guys away. Only my railgun~

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「ファインド・アウト・マイ・マインド」 (Faindo Auto Mai Maindo)
“Find Out My Mind”

I’m starting to think that Ichika doesn’t get enough credit, simply because he’s oblivious to the idea that cute girls actually like him. If we’re talking about sticking up for what he believes in, then the inter-class two-versus-two IS tournament was a prime example of some of his redeeming traits. Not only did he not back down to Laura and challenge her head-on, he and Charlotte also came with a game plan to get past her seemingly impenetrable AIC system. I loved how their tandem attacks stuck it to Laura and her arrogance, though I admittedly felt bad for Houki who was deemed easy pickings and taken out quickly to make it a two-on-one situation.

I honestly couldn’t say the same about Laura herself, even in light of her genetically-enhanced super soldier backstory. While it showed how she had fallen in status due to the nanomachine implants in her left eye and was subsequently “saved” by Chifuyu’s teachings, her resentment towards Ichika still comes off heavily misguided. I find it hard to sympathize with her, seeing as she misinterpreted how Chifuyu’s strength comes from wanting to protect her little brother as a source of weakness. Maybe Laura would think otherwise if she knew the two of them were abandoned by their parents, but even then, it seems like she had her an image of Chifuyu that she couldn’t bear being warped by any traces of kindness. If I were to give her the benefit of the doubt, then it would be how becoming the strongest soldier is all she’s known, and how that probably affected her perception of Chifuyu as her savior.

Plot-wise, the introduction of the Valkyrie Trace System spun the series in an interesting way, in that it finally looked like the story would shift towards a more serious tone. However, that impression quickly dwindled part way through when Chifuyu let Ichika handle Laura’s transformed IS instead of the teachers, making light of how dangerous the VT System supposedly is. It worked in terms of showing Chifuyu’s faith in him, yet came off rather questionable considering how Ichika only had part of his Byakushiki operable and could just have easily been killed. Likewise during the aftermath, when Chifuyu let Laura off easy and simply encouraged her to be herself.

Lately, it feels like Charlotte’s been separating herself from the pack, and the way she gave her IS’ remaining energy to Ichika followed up by that smooth finger point had me thinking that no one would even come close anymore. It came off as a promise between lovers, which the sight of Charlotte pressing her breasts up against Ichika’s back in the bath went on to reiterate. In comparison, I can’t help but feel bad for Houki who’s been in love with Ichika for years now and gets snubbed further when he promises to go out (shopping) with her. At least she knew better about getting her hopes up. It felt so warranted for Houki to hit him this time, having put up with his failure to notice her feelings even after she’s made them obvious. I’m fine with seeing Ichika get smacked around from time to time, provided that he really deserved it like he did here.

Continuing on the above, I’m surprised Charlotte revealed her true gender already, as it had me thinking she’s going to start winning over Ichika in public as well. Granted, that thought changed pretty quickly when Laura went on the offense to make Ichika her bitch wife. It seems like the tough ones always fall the hardest, but even Cecilia hasn’t stuck her tongue down Ichika’s throat like Laura seemed to be doing. The two of them may have had a nice moment when Ichika pulled her from the Valkyrie Trace System, but this sudden turnaround seems completely out of character. In any case, at least Laura knows what she wants and is willing to take it by force if need be. It’s just too bad Rin doesn’t have quite the same assertiveness to go with her brash side, since I got a pretty good laugh from her barging into the classroom in her IS. Someone should probably tell her that killing Ichika isn’t going to get her anywhere quick relationship-wise.

It sounds like we’re in store for the obligatory beach episode next time, which the preview doesn’t even throw us a bone on. I did see a volleyball net though, as well as Laura baring it all. I managed to put together a full-length shot of the latter without all the text too.

* Anyone else think “Revolving Stake!” when Charlotte took it to Laura with her shield pierce?

ED5 Sequence

ED5: 「SUPER∞STREAM」 by 日笠陽子, ゆかな, 下田麻美, 花澤香菜, 井上麻里奈 (Hikasa Youko, Yukana, Shimoda Asami, Hanazawa Kana, Inoue Marina)
Watch the 5th ED!: Download, Streaming ▼

The only downside of the full cast version of SUPER STREAM is that we never got to hear an Inoue Marina version where she sings most of the song solo. Instead, this is more a group version since Laura is the last heroine.

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「最果ての町」 (Saihate no Machi)
“The Farthest Town”

“Shut up Enri. Phryne can strip all she wants.” That’s admittedly the first (sarcastic) thought that came to mind when Enri started flipping out about our mysterious priestess taking off all her clothes in record time to go skinny dipping. More so than the actual fan-service, that scene showcased the tomboy side of Phryne yet again, and how she’s not shy about being a girl, let alone an attractive one, which is always fun to watch. It’s a refreshing change from the stereotypical “guy falls into girl’s chest and is perceived as a pervert”, since Clain is simply strung along by Phyrne and her impulsive easygoing ways. I’d definitely like to see more strong-willed characters like her in the future, who don’t get flustered by the teenage boys around her.

It almost seemed a bit too early for Phryne to reconcile with Nessa, though I guess it was more of a subplot that was never intended to be dragged out. The introduction of the Kilda-based Alabaster group whom there was no mention of on the official site seemed to suggest as much, in conjunction with their leader Dias’ (Maeno Tomoaki) radical and deceitful ways of achieving Lost Millennium’s goals. I can’t say I’m too surprised they aren’t as righteous as they seemed at first, given all the signs from the “vaccinations” to Phryne’s distrust in them; however, it wasn’t until they gunned down someone in cold blood that it really sunk in. Tricking people into removing their Fractale terminals is one thing and in line with what I’d expect from them, but coercing Fractale-dependent people into joining them is something else altogether.

The real questions this episode were the ones surrounding the man from the antenna tower, who was alluded to being Clain’s father. The photographs that Phryne stole hinted at that possibility, so I went back and double-checked the seiyuu who plays him. Lo and behold, it’s Kimura Masafumi in both roles, albeit with a bit of a typo in the credits of the first episode (木村雅文 instead of 木村雅史). I wouldn’t say that confirms it, but it doesn’t seem too far-fetched for Clain to not recognize him after living apart all these years. There were other signs as well, such as the common interest in antique technology despite how much Clain’s father had deemed that stuff as junk, and how they’re both mistaken as perverts. I’d like to believe the latter wasn’t merely a coincidence, even though the whole idea raises questions about why Clain’s father would keep this from him and why he’d lie about living a carefree life in Luimnigh after quitting the trading business five years ago. Anyway, it’s something that I’m keeping at the back of mind, which had me wondering if the man was going to curl over and die once Clain and the others left on their Danan airship.

Interestingly enough, Clain’s mother and Tsunami Granites (far right) are played by the same person too, namely Yoshida Ayuko, though I’m less inclined to believe those two are the same person since she also played a nameless priestess. I did dwell on the possibility for a bit, since it would change my perception of the series if Clain’s parents were secretly involved with all the stuff he’s been dragged into. I may be reading into it all a bit much, but I’m giving the series the benefit of the doubt in that it’s not as straightforward as it’s trying to come off.

「あたしって、ほんとバカ」 (Atashitte, Honto Baka)
“I’ve been such a fool”

The phrase “my mind has been blown away” doesn’t really fit how broken my mind is. As I try to settle my thoughts and try to figure out a way to condense them into something comprehendible, the first thing that comes to mind is how much I would like to rip Kyubei’s head off.

After trying to see the good inside of him, frankly, I’m done. Right now, I wish Homura did more than just shoot bullets through his tiny little body. I could understand if he’s some sort of higher being that lacks emotions because his only goal is to save the people of earth — but he’s not. The idea that every single witch that’s been defeated so far was once a Mahou Shoujo just blows my mind away. But even worse is trying to picture just how vicious of a circle he’s created. Create Mahou Shoujos to defeat fallen Mahou Shoujos so that in the end, he can harvest all their grief seeds. At this point I don’t want to even think about what Kyubei Incubator intends to with his grief seeds. I just want it gone!

With the revelation that Homura isn’t from this era, a few things seem a bit clearer. First, I’m dying to know what kind of relationship Homura had with Madoka. All I can piece together is that it must have been a very special one since I was surprised with how emotional she became. Second, what is that level on her shield measuring? I’m not sure why it stood out to me, but something about it going up after using a technique bothers me.

But what blew me away the most, had to be the final scene right when Sayaka’s soul gem exploded and her transformation into a witch started. While I watched Kyoko sitting there, staring at Sayaka’s warped soul gem, I was hoping that Kyoko would be her saving grace. But, even as much as I didn’t want her to, she started to transform into a witch right before my eyes.

After watching another main character disappear, I’m really rooting for Madoka to somehow find a way to save Sayaka. Unlike Mami, Sayaka’s body seems to have been swept to the side from all the force her soul gem was spitting out. Putting that together with what Kyoko said during the preview, and I’m really hoping that Madoka comes up with something next week.

P.S. Did anyone notice that second of static when Homura was about to say how she knew Madoka? Makes me thing Madoka might really be something special.

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