Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai – 07

「Shining Star」

After three episodes, Kanon’s arc finally comes to a close. Given its progression, I question whether three episodes was really necessary to begin with though. Looking back, they probably reiterated her insecurities a lot more than they had to to get that point across, and also took the better portion of an entire episode to show how Keima was being supportive of her — something that Ayumi’s arc managed to do just as well in a single episode.

Hikasa Youko – LOVE Machine PV (Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin)

[flv:Seikimatsu_Occult_Gakuin_LOVE_Machine_PV.mp4 550 310]

Remember the third Anime no Chikara project last season that turned out to be a little bit of a surprise hit? Well, the first two volumes of DVD/BD releases have been available for some time now, and included with the first one is an anime PV of Hikasa Youko’s cover of Morning Musume’s 1999 hit song “LOVE Machine”. For those with a 3DTV, the Blu-ray release also included a 3D version of this little bonus, which is a part of the character cover songs included in each volume. The theme for the character songs in this series is covers of popular songs from the 1990s simply because the series takes place in 1999. Unfortunately, the later ones don’t feature PVs of the other characters’ songs, but the second volume does include the first of four mini side stories. The first one is titled “Welcome Tsucchii” and is more or less an animated short akin to what you’d expect from a picture drama, and shows Maya with Ami when they were kids and found a legendary snake known as a Tsuchinoko and made it their pet. It’s cute in the sense that we get to see more of Maya’s occult fascination when she was a kid, but doesn’t really add anything to the overall story. I actually prefer the video above with the characters all busting a move near the end of it and Fumiaki freaking out about Junichirou’s corpse’s head falling off. See the full post for some caps of the side story.

Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls – 07

「大日本を覆う影」 (Dai Nippon wo Oou Kage)
“The Shadow Cast Over Great Japan”

“My cottage!!!” That may sound ridiculously random if you haven’t watched this episode yet, but those who have should know what I’m referring to after Kanetsugu decides to make the doghouse outside Yagyuu dojo her new home. I actually went back to that scene several times and found it just as funny as the first time, thanks to Toyosaki Aki’s haughty yet amiable portrayal of our purple-haired disposable samurai.

Shinryaku! Ika Musume – 07

“Oogly boogly boo! Fear me!”

「狙われなイカ?/研究しなイカ?/働かなイカ?」 (Nerawarenai ka? / Kenkyuu Shinai ka? / Hatarakanai ka?)
“Aren’t I Being Targeted? / Won’t You Research? / Won’t You Work?

Nagisa tries to foil Ika’s invasion, Cyndi puts Ika under the microscope, and the fake squid girl returns as the newest Lemon employee. It may not sound like much on paper — much like the idea of a squid girl doesn’t — but it’s a whole bucket of laughs in execution.

Yosuga no Sora – 07

「ツミナオトメラ」 (Tsumi na Otomera)
“Sinful Maidens”

With Kazuha and Akira’s routes wrapped up, the series takes us all the way back to the end of episode one to explore a couple of other possibilities, namely Nao and Sora. As the shared episode between their routes, this was mostly about Nao and much less so Sora, which may explain why Haru’s twin sister will be getting five episodes to tell her story.

** WARNING: NSFW **