「BABELランキング戦、開始」 (BABEL Rankingu Sen, Kaishi)
“BABEL Ranking Tests, Commence!”

The episode title says it all, as the new arc gets rolling with the BABEL Ranking Tests. As expected, Akatsuki and Miu have all the bulleyes planted on them for one reason or another, but hey, it’s like that Burger King quote: “Have it your way!” And I’m sure Akatsuki wouldn’t have it any other way. As expected though, everyone’s pretty much a “scrub” so the term goes, so they’re taken care of barely an hour in by Akatsuki and the rest of his overpowered team. And it’s just a nice touch, because not only does the series not waste valuable time on these guys, we also get a few flashy moves in the meanwhile, and the earlier arrival of the Student Council. Due to their continued emphasis on how they wouldn’t arrive until the next day, and thus in my mind the next episode, it was a darn nice treat to see them join the fray early and prevent the rest of the episode from killing the atmosphere/mood.

In the end though, as expected, even the Student Council can’t quite do anything to Akatsuki either, despite their flashy combo techs. Rather, it seems like the only one actually around who can at least put up a fight is Motoharu. It makes me wonder how he acquired such powers in the first place, but I reckon they should give off some more details about that later. There’s the link to the Council President after all, so that’s probably related (heck, they might be related). So that leaves perhaps the most important part of the episode, which is the continued hints that Motoharu ain’t anywhere near who he seems to be. And at this point, I’m quite sure he’s the source that’s been feeding information to the other world. But the thing that seems to be rather strange is, he doesn’t seem to want Akatsuki dead or anything, but rather to maximize his powers. Probably for some end like overthrowing BABEL or something.

In any case, things start to look a tad grim, as Doctor Phil comes to crash the party. With Miu and the rest of Akatsuki’s team caught in an early cross-fire and the fact that BABEL’s protection from actual physical damage negated due to an attack on HQ (seemingly by Motoharu), it looks like Akatsuki’ll have his hands full for the first time all series. As such, next episode looks like it’ll be one of the better, if not best episodes of the series in terms of an action standpoint, which should be quite a sight to behold. I do find myself getting more and more worried at how it’ll end though, because it looks like this arc might just take the rest of the four episodes, leaving us at some kind of break in between arcs. It’s a better alternative than a total cliffhanger, but I can’t say I like series getting only part way through an adaptation before bidding us adieu…

 

Preview

26 Comments

  1. Just finished watching the episode! \o/

    Wonder what’s up with Miu’s outfit, and they do seem to be getting bigger…@_@

    Miu certainly knows Akatsuki well enough to be able to conjure that bathing scenario up? Seems legit though.

    Oh and dat Getsuga Tensho by Akatsuki. Awesome action packed episode is awesome!

    PS: Need..more..vice..prez desu-wa

    1. well, THEY ARE BIGGER, and there is an explanation to why they seems to get bigger in the LN 🙂 but for now just think it as Miu is still growing (as any other typical teenage girl) xD

      jrj
      1. I don’t know if it is her demonic powers or what… (since the newest arc haven’t been finished yet), but the explanation I am talking about has something to do with Akatsuki as well xD

        jrj
  2. I like the arrangement of the pictures in the front page. Team Akatsuki in the upper half, SC in the lower. I would prefer Miu than Akatsuki for the 3rd picture but oh well. It spoils her outfit I think.

    And Akatsuki’s attack just screams “Getsuga Tensho”. He’ll probably go Bankai later on 😛
    In any case, good episode. Next week will be better I guess with the blond entering the fray. Hoping the SC Prez joins for a 3-way.

    belatkuro
  3. Miu getting DAT OUTFIT was priceless… guess we now know who true pervert is… (hint: clothes fit personality of the wearer).
    But Akatsuki being overpowered just starts to annoy me. He can achieve 100% magic resistance when he puts his mind to it. He can teleport all over the place and channel magical tactical nukes thru his BFS. He has the 6th sense to intercept incoming attacks. He makes me wanna nuke the place just to get rid of him.
    Still, we will see if the smug snake Phil will give him a challenging fight, finally…

    ewok40k
    1. there is limitation to what Akatsuki can do by the way… I believe it will be shown in the next episode or 2… but for now I can just say that he can’t go offensive and defensive at the same time xD

      jrj
    2. I have to agree. I brought up Akatsuki becoming a bit too Gary Stu a couple episodes back and it’s only reinforced here with him taking down Student Council members like nothing at all. It just seems like he never has any real challenges and has no room for character development, and so on. It’s entertaining at first, but seeing it over and over again can get just as boring as watching an extremely dense/nerdy/etc male lead like that. If the series started from before and then showed how he GOT to where he is at the start of the series, that could be something different.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      1. well, as the LN author has said, this series (at least in the first couple of volumes) are supposed to be “after-adventure” story, which means that the protagonist is supposed to be strong (like most characters in RPGs when they beat the final boss)… but I can assure you that Akatsuki definitely has his limitations, it is just that to be faithful, the anime can’t get to those bigger challenges for him that early on…

        jrj
  4. hmm… Zephyr, it is Phil that destroyed the barrier that convert damage… not Motoharu. But you are spot on about Motoharu being more than what he seems… (though his history and all won’t be explored till vol.7 at the earliest, so it is unlikely the anime will show much more about him aside from existing info)

    another faithful episode as far as LN is concerned, pres is absent, and the other members challenge Akatsuki, but was interrupted by Phil and Motoharu… next episode or 2 will be very exciting 🙂

    jrj
  5. I think this is the first time in this series that he had a worried look on his face.

    I loved the let’s make a bath sequence, funny and appropriately placed.

    I wonder if the Student Council will join forces with him? Or Motoharu?

    Very fun series so far…

    Thanks Zephyr for your continued coverage.

    mac65
    1. I don’t know how faithful it is to the written version, but it almost seems like it was geared towards the action/story first and the hentai was put in after for a couple episodes. Of course, it’s completely opposite for some too, like they’re trying to balance some sort of quota.

      Dimagus
      1. Hmm… as far as I can tell (vol.1-7), the anime follows the LN fairly well. Typical deviation comes from fan service side of things… but in the LN, fan service typically happens in specific chapters, while other chapters are devoted to plot and actions. So in that sense, the anime is pretty faithful x)

        jrj
  6. I can’t believe for a small moment they managed to animate something that looks like action scene that doesn’t look like a slideshow (Haruka vs Akatsuki).
    So it’s only Haruka who underestimates Akatsuki.
    Kaidou ‘I like to be under the radar’ and at the same moment President ‘Oh, Kaidou”.
    I saw in the preview Onizuka standing in front of Phil. Are they going to fight?

    lilu
  7. Akatsuki-sama blows away the competition. I already want to see the next episode where we see a fight a little more to the level of Akatsuki, or will be a bigger challenge? that emotion XD
    All the girls are so cute this episode, especially Myuu is all tenderness, especially blushing. Now Myuu has the power to see the future in Akatsiku perverted actions, lol XD.

    Shadow74
  8. Yeah, Motoharu is portrayed like the typical type of guy who’s powerful but too lazy to get serious. I also think his plan and the organization’s he’s part of is overthrowing Babel, or fusing worlds, that kind of stuff.
    Nice Haruka is starting to swallow her pride and admit Akatsuki is badass. Can’t wait for next week.

  9. Sometimes people are really weird. They already left the world already, so why bother to find them?? Blood thirty fools. Akatsuki will kick ass as usual. I think he would be so pissed off that he will go back to that realm to f**k them up for pissing him off.

    Tingster013
  10. so now battle exam is on yea BOSS akatsuki as usual one big slash everyone get squash/jobber treatment.

    yea miu good grief outfit & size if keep why feeling same size of J-cup of asa made jugyou chu & BOSS think do a bath but miu goes NO!!!

    now student council go after BOSS akatsuki really go 3 on 1 yet almost til kaidou mention some “trouble” going on (aka cause back in other world emperor’s other world servant show-off his pwd’ some guard now enter BOSS akatsuki’s world).

    riyl

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