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「そのわけは…」 (Sono Wake wa…)
“The reason for that is…”
Things are certainly getting BONES-y again down NoitaminA way. Mysterious female singers, byzantine plot developments, noble savages – it’s easy to see why BONES saw these novels as kindred spirits after its own heart.
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「因果律のメルト」 (Ingaritsu no Meruto)
“Paradox Meltdown”
Wow, that was really a heartbreaker. It might have been too slow for some tastes, but I wouldn’t change a second of it.
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「子狐のとけい」 (Kogitsune no Tokei)
“The Little Fox’s Watch”
Given that I’ve been counting the days until another episode of Natsume Yuujinchou with Kogitsune for the better part of three years, it was always going to be hard for it to live up to expectations. Amazingly, it did – this episode was everything I love about this series.
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「なんでもない日」 (Nandemonai Hi)
“A Day When Nothing Happens”
Whatever you thought of the entertainment value of this episode of AoEx, there’s no denying that it was slight. Given that and the fact that it was anime-original, I’m sure there won’t be a lot of excitement in the ranks of the manga readers this week.
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「焚書官」 (Funsho-kan)
“The Book Burner”
I guess in judging this episode, one has to look at it both in context and in terms of pure stand-along entertainment value. To tackle the latter first, I guess I’d say it was pretty good. But to finally judge this ep in the context of the series as presented, I’m not overly pleased.
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「真実の嘘・虚構の真実」 (Shinjitsu no Uso Kyokō no Shinjitsu)
“True Lies, False Truths”
I’m pretty sure that never in this history of anime – and maybe any other medium – has one boy kissed another full on the lips, then said “I better go to bed. I have to get up early to shave the dogs.” And that exchange tells you pretty much all you need to know about No. 6.
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「怨嗟断絶のアポトーシス」 (Ensa Danzetsu no Apotōshisu)
“Disruption of Apoptosis”
I’m going to resist the urge for a general “I told you so” because I’m sure that by tomorrow, the combination of microanalysis and thoughtless spoilers will have found 20 things wrong in the next few paragraphs. But for now, it feels good to know that we’ve finally reached the point I’ve felt this series has been building towards.
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「祓い屋」 (Haraiya)
“Exorcist”
There’s no doubt that the highlight of this week’s Natsume Yuujinchou was the preview, but that’s more of a comment on how great the preview was than a knock on the episode itself. And we’ll get to the preview in a minute…
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「颶風」 (Gufuu)
“Hurricane”
I can hardly wait to see the response on this one. An almost purely anime-original episode – and based on the preview another one next week, and a slice-of-lifer about Shima to boot – will surely set the masses to grumbling. Yet this was a really good effort, I thought, and did a nice job tightening up some of the loose ends surrounding the issue of acceptance between Rin and his little playmates.
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「魔術師の娘」 (Majutsu-shi no Musume)
“The Magician’s Daughter”
We’ve had six separate mysteries unraveled so far, but in terms of the main characters this one felt by far the most personal.