A Product of Wasted Time

Deadman Wonderland 51

2012-01-28T14:24:00.000-05:00

Ganta recovers, but so does Hagire.

No, you guys can't start the show without me!

Summary:
Inside Deadman Wonderland, Yosuga follows Hagire's instructions and hooks up a bunch of equipment to Hagire in order to save his life, and Hagire then proceeds to perform surgery on himself with Yosuga's help. Meanwhile back at the submarine, Ganta finally wakes up after being unconscious for five meals worth of time. Ganta tells his buddies that he feels fine, but Ganta's comrades remember that Makina had told them that Ganta's Branch of Sin is special and consumes his body the more he uses it. Ganta then calls a meeting to tell everyone what he saw from Hagire's memory when Hagire tried to download himself into Ganta's body. Ganta states that the Mother Goose system can be unlocked if the right Branch of Sin is inserted, and Ganta states that he himself is the key. Ganta then declares he'll be the one to stop Shiro.

Back in Deadman Wonderland, Shiro/Wretched Egg comes to visit Hagire while Yosuga is sleeping. Hagire promises that he'll release Shiro, and Shiro wonders whether Hagire or Ganta will fulfill her desires.

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A short chapter this time around. Both the good guys and bad guys are regrouping after the previous battle, and we are heading towards the final battle near the Mother Goose control station. As expected, Hagire doesn't die thanks to Yosuga and will stick around to make things worse for Ganta and company. Meanwhile, Ganta also recovers but the crystal in his chest is getting spreading. The final confrontation should be coming around soon, and Ganta will probably get to at least a near death state thanks to his Branch of Sin consuming his body, and that begs the question of whether or not Ganta will survive the series. I would be surprised if we didn't get a few character deaths in the final showdown. Obviously Hagire is going to die, but the more interesting question is whether if Ganta and Shiro will live through to the end.

Naruto 571

2012-01-25T17:57:00.000-05:00

A power-up Naruto and allies continue to battle Tobi and his beast puppets.

Kurama knocks back the other beasts with his terrible roar... and bad breath.

Summary:
The five remaining tailed beasts aim Tailed Beast Bombs at Kakashi and Guy. Kakashi and Guy are about to pull their last resort moves, but Naruto powers-up with Kurama's help and bounces all of the blasts away. Tobi's beasts decide to charge in, but Naruto forms a full size chakra version of Kurama to bounce the beasts away. Kurama warns Naruto that they can only remain in the form for 5 minutes, but Naruto thinks it's enough time to find and eliminate the chakra control rods on the beasts' bodies (using a shadow clone in Sage mode). Naruto/Kurama and Bee/Hachibi engage in some melee combat with the five beasts and Naruto's Sage clone locates all of the chakra rods. Tobi gets his beasts to combine their Tailed Beast Bombs to blast Naruto and company, and Naruto/Kurama try to counter with a giant Tailed Beast Bomb of their own.

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Naruto powered up and finally he looks like he might actually be able to win this battle. It was about time that happened. The initial fox chakra mode hasn't been all that impressive especially against strong enemies. This was a decent action chapter for Naruto/Kurama to show off their new combined abilities, and next chapter we'll probably see Naruto successfully pulling off the Tailed Beast Bomb... it'd be hilarious if Naruto fails at it even with Kurama's help, but I doubt that would happen. If Naruto does defeat all of Tobi's puppets by removing their chakra rods then it'll force Tobi to retreat for the time being, but I'm hoping something not so predictable will happen... say having Sasuke show up to crash the party? Haha one can dream.

One Piece 654

2012-01-25T17:29:00.001-05:00

The Straw Hats make their ascent back to the surface.

Hook one fish, get two larger ones for FREE!!

Summary:
The Straw Hats are making their ascent back to the sea surface. Nami takes a break from her navigator duties to take a bath, and Brook and Sanji are hanging around outside the bathroom wanting to catch a glimpse of a naked Nami. Chopper is also around but he is more interested in Nami's tempo clouds, but he accidentally touches a thunder cloud and causes Sanji and Brook to be fried. On deck, Usopp, Luffy and Zoro are planning to catch a deep sea for dinner. Luffy knocks out a large fish and Usopp hooks the fish, but the fish is eaten by a larger fish which is eaten by an even larger fish. Zoro kills the final fish with a sword strike, but the crew notices that the ship is sinking and Luffy spots a "white dragon" nearby. Robin realizes that what Luffy is seeing is an underwater whirlpool called a Whitestrom. Nami returns to the deck and tells the guys to cut the fishes loose to avoid getting sucked in to the Whitestrom, but it's too late and the Sunny is pulled inside. After spinning around for a bit, the Sunny is spat out into a school of giant Miraculous Island whales which Brook mistakens for Laboon. To avoid getting into more trouble, Nami orders the ship to sail with the whales. Brook starts singing and the whales seems to enjoy the music, and the Straw Hats are carried by the whales to the surface. The Straw Hats break through the surface and find that they are inside a huge storm, but the terrible weather fails to dampen their spirits.

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Luffy and their friends finally make their way back to the surface world. The crew is progressing towards their next big adventure, but it might take one or more chapters to actually get there. If I remember correctly, Urouge (one of the 11 Supernova/100 million+ bounty rookies) ended up in a stormy location. We'll see if the Straw Hats ended up at the same area or somewhere else entirely. It's safe to say that thanks to the fishing attempt, the Straw Hats probably don't know where they are. The next few chapters will be for the Straw Hats to figure out where they are and what is there for them to do.

Now that the Straw Hats ended up in dark and stormy seas, they probably won't be seeing Smoker's G5s anytime soon.

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE 15

2012-01-22T19:35:00.000-05:00

Grodek's task force and Flit venture into Ambat.

Bigger doesn't mean better.

Looking like an ace, slicing through grunts with ease.

Summary:
Woolf, Largan, Ract and the other mobile suits are in charge of protecting the Diva while it is docked at Ambat. Grodek leads Millais, Adams and a few others into Ambat in their spacesuits. Flit also ventures into Ambat in the Gundam and is tasked with destroying the central reactor. Flit flies through the tunnels and runs into Geera Zoi in his giant Defurse mobile armor. Flit loses his beam rifle in the skirmish but Flit damages the Defurse in a sword fight and this prompts Geera to retreat. Having heard that Geera is one of the central culprits, Flit follows him down the tunnels but this is what Geera wants. Geera leads Flit into an ambush in the reactor chamber consisting of several UE mobile suits, but Flit channels the power of ~~rage~~ X-rounder and quickly cuts down the ambush party. Flit destroys the Defurse's sword arms, but Geera opens fire with the scatter beam and takes out the Gundam's left arm. Woolf arrives to back up Flit, and Flit destroys the Defurse with a slash to the chest. Geera escapes before his mobile armor is destroyed and escaped down a personnel tunnel and Flit gets out of the Gundam in pursuit. Woolf tries to follow but has trouble getting his boosters attached.

Hey you, no name. Go out into the open and get shot so we know where the defenses are.

OMG, the UE are made up of people with crazy hair!

Meanwhile, Grodek's task force battle their way through the tunnels. They make it into the control room by disabling an automated defense system. A number of UE personnel are operating computers in the control room and none of them reacts to Grodek's gun-toting task force. Geera returns to the control room followed shortly by Flit who is sporting a pistol. Geera takes off his helmet and the Diva crew are surprised that the UE are actually human. Flit wants Geera dead for the deaths of his mother and Yurin, and Grodek wants revenge for his family. Grodek knows that Geera is Yark Dole and he was responsible for letting the UE into Grodek's home colony. Grodek then demands to know the UE's motivations, and Geera reveals that the "UE" are actually survivors from a failed attempt to colonize Mars. Many colonists died from sickness after getting to Mars, and the Federation covered up the event and told that there were no survivors. The survivors formed a new country called Veigan and Geera is here to carry out the will of their leader. Flit refuses to accept that the UE are human, and Geera dares Flit to shoot him, but Grodek is the one who shoots Geera. The wounded Geera goes to a computer terminal to activate the fortress' self destruct sequence before dying from his wounds. Geera's son Arabei returns and draws his pistol, but Grodek swats the gun away. Grodek tells Arabei that he is the one who killed Geera before leaving with Flit and the rest of his team. While all this was happening, Woolf is in the hallways and finds a dying Veigan man, and the man hands Woolf a necklace before dying. Woolf tries to venture further but his path forward is cut off by explosions, and so he returns to his mobile suit. Grodek and his team returns to the Diva and orders the ship to launch, and Flit and Woolf fly out of Ambat as the fortress is engulfed by explosions.

I activated the self-destruct. My job is done.

Classic flying away from explosion at the end of battle.

After the battle is over and the Diva has made it to safety, Grodek thanks his crew and retreats his office to reminisce about his family. Meanwhile, Emily spots Flit in the hangar sulking by the Gundam. Flit is still depressed over the fact that he couldn't save Yurin and he promises he'll defeat the UE and become the savior. After the Diva returned to Federation space, Grodek gives himself up and takes full responsibility for taking the Diva. Grodek is thrown into prison, and the Federation takes full credit for the successful operation at Ambat. Back at the Veigan's home colony at Mars, the high command is concerned about the setback at ambat but their plans will carry on.

Seems like every Veigan commander must have an unconventional hairstyle.

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That's the end of first part of Gundam AGE with Flit as the protagonist. Flit and his buddies win the battle and learn a bit about the "Unknown Enemy" that they've been fighting for 15 episodes. It turns out the UE are a bunch of disgruntled colonists who are in part pissed off because the Federation left them for dead. We still don't know all of the reasons why the martians are attacking, but it's not surprising given there is still two-thirds of the series left to go. The UE, or Veigan as they call themselves are following the plan of some mysterious leader, and that's all we know for now. Given that, it's hard to guess how Flit's son's story will play out. Hopefully his story line be distinctive enough to be remembered. In other words, it better not be a repeat of how Flit's story went down.

Since this episode wasn't series-ending final battle, it wasn't super impressive. Geera and his Defurse mobile armor didn't really do anything special, and thus Flit didn't need to turn in an exceptional performance to win the battle. I guess the X-rounder stuff will become more and more out of the world as the series progresses, and the same goes for the mobile suits. In the aftermath of the campaign, Grodek is locked away and all the credit gets taken by the Federation. It'll be interesting to see how many characters from the current cast will return after the time skip. Flit will be back as a grown-up, and Decil and Arabei will probably be back as well given that they were both kids in this arc of the series. Let's see how many of Diva crew will make an appearance again.

One Piece 653

2012-01-18T18:03:00.000-05:00

The Straw Hats bid farewell to Fishman Island.

Where is your spirit for adventure and danger, people?

Summary:
The Straw Hats get ready to leave Fishman Island and continue onto the New World. Before leaving, the Minister of the Left gives Nami a new log pose that has three separate compasses that can lock onto three different islands and tell which path is safer, but Luffy learns of this and wants to go on the most dangerous route. The crew then board the Sunny are bid farewell to Jinbe, King Neptune, the princes and all the other people at Fishman Island. As the Sunny is on its way to the exit, a tearful Shirahoshi appears and wants Luffy to guide her to the surface the next time they meet, and all of the Straw Hats make a pinky promise with Shirahoshi. The Straw Hats then exit Fishman Island and make their way towards the surface for their next adventure.

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This chapter wraps up the Straw Hats' adventure at Fishman Island... for now. Given that Shirahoshi is supposedly one of the ancient weapons, there's a decent chance that the Straw Hats may end up back at Fishman Island in the future. It's funny how King Neptune and his minister never bothered to tell Luffy and friends about the rigged bomb in the treasure Luffy gave to Big Mom, but I suppose the only thing the bomb will do is to make Big Mom more pissed at Luffy and thus King Neptune shouldn't be too concerned. The Straw Hats will have a showdown with Big Mom for sure, but as indicated in the previous chapter the immediate threat is probably Smoker and the G5 Marines. I'm looking forward to seeing where the next story arc will lead.

Naruto 570

2012-01-18T17:11:00.000-05:00

Naruto and Kurama agree to join forces against Tobi.

Stop being such a tsundere, Kurama.

Summary:
Naruto pulls the stake from Son Goku by pulling from the outside and hammering from the inside with a shadow clone, and he then destroys the stake with two Rasengans. However to Naruto's disappointment, pulling out the stake only stops stops Tobi from linking Son Goku with the jinchuriki puppet and Son is still bound to Tobi's Demonic Statue. Son Goku can see Naruto is really sincere about trying to free him and give Naruto something before he is sucked back into the Demonic Statue. The effort used to stop Son Goku has drained Naruto of most of his strength, and Tobi increases the pressure by getting his five remaining puppets to transform into full beast mode. Seeing that the odds are against them, Kurama suggests to Naruto that they should merge their chakra. Naruto agrees and lets Kurama out of the seal, and now Naruto/Kurama and Bee/Hachibi are ready to take on Tobi and his beast puppets.

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Two expected developments in this week's edition of Naruto. The first was that removing the stake only defeats the puppet and doesn't free Son Goku from Tobi's grasp, and this isn't surprising since Tobi cannot to lose any of the beasts if he has any chance of carrying out his master plan. The second is that Kurama and Naruto finally agree to cooperate and fight together as a team. This of course has been a long time coming. It took Naruto a long time to convince Kurama, and it also took Kurama some time to finally stop being tsundere and get to the point, but the day when Naruto can finally access to full power of the nine-tails may be at hand. Let's see if Naruto can do the full beast transformation and used the Tailed Beast Bomb now that Kurama has decided to help out.

Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon - Final Thoughts

2012-01-17T15:11:00.001-05:00

The Fall 2011 anime season has ended two or three weeks ago, and these days I usually do a round-up final thoughts post for all of the shows that I watched but didn't blog weekly. However, the only show in my line-up that ended last season was Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon, so hence Horizon will get the final thoughts post all to itself. Horizon was a decent show that had some good elements, but after a season of the show I'm still not sure what the entire story is about.

In the world of Horizon, humans moved into space but then returned to Earth for some reason and found that only Japan is inhabitable. The people from space (the Testament Union) conquered Japan and divided up the land, and original inhabitants of Japan are forced to wander the land on a flying city ship Musashi. The Testament Union is trying to return to space by reacting history according to some holy book, but things don't go quite according to plan and now the people on Musashi has a chance to fight back and take back their land.

That's Wikipedia version of the back story. From what I can make out from this season of the show, the ruler of Mikawa region destroyed the land to "make things interesting", and this leads the Tres Espana and KPA Italia factions to seize the P-01s automaton from Musashi because the automaton contains one of the Deadly Sin weapons and the soul of our leading man Tori Aoi's dead childhood friend Horizon Ariadust. The rest of the season is then about Tori rallying his classmates from the Musashi Academy and other supporters and mounting a rescue effort for Horizon.

The large picture of what happened in the season wasn't too hard to understand, I still don't really get the background story and details such as how the political system works in the show. There is just a lot of information that the audience needs to absorb to completely understand story, and obviously I didn't pick up everything partly because I'm watching subtitles. It certainly didn't help that there are a number of factions which results in a large number of characters. Even Tori's class by itself is around 20 named characters, and a few of them seem to have potentially good back stories, but with only one season worth of episodes and so many other characters vying for attention it's hard to set the supporting characters apart other than through appearance. I recognize the character designs, but I don't remember the names except those of the very important characters. We only saw 3-4 factions in this season of Horizon, but it certainly looks like we'll get more factions as the show continues in its next season and this will make the characters even harder to keep track of.

Although I didn't really understand all of the story and had trouble remembering who is who, Horizon was still fun show to watch mostly because it had good production quality (courtesy of Sunrise), decent action, and a good dose of slapstick comedy. Tori plays the class jester and helps to lighten the mood with his stupidly happy smile and perverted antics. Tori isn't the most courageous, cunning or skilled leader, but he has his own way of getting the job done through unconventional means and that was also amusing to watch. Another fun thing about the show is the character design. Even within Tori's class there is a wide variety, ranging from witches and girls with impossibly large hair to half-dragons, a naked incubus and a blob. The cast looks like they came out of some wacky fighting video game. All of the combat involving calling up prompts to power up was pretty interesting, and it's good to see different character source their powers from different means. The fights can be quite impressive at times, and in general they are decent.

Overall, I enjoyed watching Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon despite the fact that I didn't really understand the story. I'll probably watch the next season of the show which will come out in the 2012 summer season. The first season was the introductory story arc, so perhaps I can get a better appreciation of how the world of Horizon works as the show continues.

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE 14

2012-01-15T18:12:00.000-05:00

Flit and allies continue to attack the UE hideout at Ambat.

Time for ace pilot vs ace pilot.

Let's make this a handicap match.

Funnels are no trouble if you can dance like a maniac.

Summary:
After destroying the UE carrier ship, the Diva and allies continue towards Ambat. The plan is break a hole in the UE defenses so the Diva can dock and launch an assault team into the base. Mukred returns to his space station factory and plans on providing repair support for Grodek and allies. Flit and the other mobile suit pilots continue to battle the UE in space, but Flit is then drawn away from the main battle by Decil's telepathic messages. Decil appears in his Zedas and starts battling Flit and the Gundam. The battle is fairly even at the start, but then Decil summons his "special weapon": a pink UE mobile suit with remote gun barrels with Yurin strapped inside. Flit is reluctant to attack because Yurin is inside the suit. Decil only needs Yurin's presence and he can use the X-rounder resonance to control Yurin's mobile suit, and Decil uses this to his full advantage to deal damage to the Gundam. Flit is in deep trouble and Decil flies to finish him off, but Yurin momentarily takes control of her mobile suits and takes the hit for Flit.

Can't say we didn't see this coming.

Goodbye, Yurin. We hardly knew thee.

Yurin is killed in the resulting explosion and Flit is devastated. The feeling soon turns to anger and Flit takes it out on Decil by cutting off the Zeda's limbs and disabling its controls, but Flit doesn't kill Decil outright and lets the Zedas drift off into space. After defeating Decil, Flit returns to the main battle and re-equips with the Titus pack. Flit then takes the Gundam Titus and uses its full power to force open a docking bay door on Ambat, and in the process the Titus pack suffers heavy damage. The Divas flies into the bay and docks, and Grodek leads an assault team into the fortress. Flit returns to Diva to re-equip with the Normal pack, but he is unresponsive to Vargas' calls. After launching again, Flit vows to make the UE pay for what they've done.

That's the least that you deserve.

I'm pretty sure being left to drift in space is losing a fight, Decil.

Flit still needs something to fight next episode, so lets bring this out.

Somewhere in Ambat, Geera Zoi gets into a ancient but powerful mobile armor to get ready for battle.

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Operation "Kill Off Yurin" went off without a hitch. Anyone who is somewhat familiar with the Gundam franchise could see this coming. It's something of a tradition in Gundam to kill off a love interest in battle, and even the supposedly "kid-friendly" Gundam AGE isn't exempt. Everything went off the way you'd expect: Decil brings out Yurin as his secret weapon; Flit gets beaten down, but Yurin sacrifices herself at the last moment to save Flit, and then Flit uses the power of rage to beat Decil down. It's kind of sad that Yurin's main purpose in the series is to die in front of Flit, but that's just how Gundam likes it. We finally saw the use of remote gun barrels/funnels in the series, and chances are we'll get more funnel spam in what remains of the series. I guess Decil's whining at the end of the fight was what prompted Flit to spare his life. Decil is probably done in this part of the series, but chances are he'll be back when Flit's son takes the helm.

Now that Yurin and Decil are out of the way, the battle will likely end next week when Grodek leads the ground assault team into the fortress and Flit takes on the big mobile armor. I'm confused as to is Yark Dole the same person as Geera Zoi (the guy who got into the mobile armor in the end)? I assume the guy with the mask was Yark, but then the guy who got into the mobile armor didn't have the mask. Regardless, Flit will defeat him anyways. The main question remaining is the UE's motivation in attacking Federation colonies, but we probably won't get the complete answer given that this is only the first of three arcs in the series.

Sekirei 125

2012-01-13T15:28:00.000-05:00

Shiina vs. Amehane.

The hug of death.

Summary:
Amehane and Shiina trade attacks and the battle is even. Amehane combines special powers with physical attacks and that has Yukari worried, but Shiina reassures Yukari that he is not the same Shiina that got captured by Higa's Sekirei. To gain the advantage, Amehane pulls Itsuki in for the kiss/Norito and then shoves her away. Shiina and Yukari also kiss to perform Noritio, but they do it with mutual love. Amehane charges in with an attack, but Shiina surrounds him with the decay field and then gives Amehane the hug of death.

Elsewhere on the ship, Kusano can feel Shiina's presence.

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Short battle chapter, and not surprisingly Shiina beats Amehane rather easily, showing that mutual love is better than being obnoxious. Now that Amehane and Itsuki are out of the way, it's probably time for Kusano to reunite with Shiina and for Yukari and Minato to learn that the other is an Ashikabi. Of course, there is still the matter of jinkis to be sorted out, since Yukari, Seo and Kaho's Ashikabi all need a jinki to move on in the competition, but there are only two left (Minato will probably give his away). Also, Higa's forces might be attacking Izumo Inn/up to something naughty again. Too bad it seems that Sekirei will be on break for one issue, so the wait will be a little longer than usual for the next chapter. I'm already used to waiting longer than usual for Sekirei chapters, so no big deal.

Winter 2012 Anime First Impressions

2012-01-13T15:14:00.000-05:00

We are about a week into the Winter 2012, and I've finally gotten around to checking out some of the new series of the season. Given my increasing tendencies towards lazy blogging, I'm just going to stick all of my first impressions into a single post instead of writing a post for every series I looked at. Less is more, or so they say, although I don't know if that applies to blogging or not.

Aquarion Evol

What's better than super robot gattai? Orgasmic super robot gattai!

A sequel series about giant combining super robots. I haven't seen the original Aquarion, but decided to watch Evol just for the fun of it. The first two episodes (combined into a special) looked very nice, but I didn't understand some of the terminology and other elements likely because I haven't watched the original. The whole thing with extra-dimensional beings kidnapping people need some more explanation. Still, the episode was pretty fun to watch once the action got started, with the "orgasmic" gattai scene being one of the highlights. If the series continue to push the super robot gattai stuff, this should fun enough to watch through the season. I'll definitely watch at least a few more episodes, but no weekly blogging.

Nisemonogatari

The return of Senjougahara Fascination.

The sequel to Bakemonogatari which a lot of people loved, the first episode of Nisemonogatari carries on the spirit of its predecessor. The first episode had our protagonist Koyomi Araragi having three lengthy with the beautiful but always formidable Senjougaphara, his little sister Tsukihi and Araragi's favorite target for molestation Mayoi. Those who loved all the witty dialogue from Bakemonogatari probably loved this episode. As for myself, the conversations are kind of fun (especially when Senjougahara is teasing/torturing Araragi), but the fact that I have to read the subtitles makes the scenes a little harder to enjoy. There were no battles in this episode, although Araragi molesting Mayoi and getting bitten can be counted as action. All of the stylistic cues from such as Bakemonogatari the clean and sharp backgrounds and the distinctive angle of the shots are back. The only thing that isn't back are those black text frames saying that "this frame hasn't been animated", and that's welcome news. Hopefully the series won't have any budget issues and will actually have all its frames animated. If the series has no production issues, then it would be a pretty decent show even for someone like me who doesn't enjoy the dialogue to its fullest. Just as with Bakemonogatari, I'll watch Nisemonogatari but won't blog the show weekly.

Rinne no Lagrange

The good ol' bridging German suplex works even for giant robots.

I like giant robots and mecha, so I decided to check out Rinne no Lagrange. From what I've seen in the first episode, the show seems to be about a trio of girls piloting giant robots against some alien but human-looking guys who also pilot giant robots. Basically, girls vs. guys in piloting giant robots. The first episode was decent and it introduced two of the girls who will be piloting the giant robots. There was nothing groundbreaking, but nothing that annoyed or disappointed too much either. The CG mecha looked alright, and it was kind of funny how a fight between giant energy weapon/field using robots ended with a German suplex. I'll probably keep watching, but won't blog the show.

Senki Zesshou Symphogear

With the power of song comes the power to make tornadoes?!

A show about girls using the power of song to fight strange creatures call "Noise" that threaten humanity and civilization. Symphogear had the most impressive debut out of the new shows that I've watched. The production quality was pretty good, the concert scene was getting close to (but not quite to) the Macross Frontier level, the monsters were both amusing and dangerous at the same time and the violence was fast-paced and well-animated with a distinctive stylistic cue (move names being splattered onto the screen). However, the main reason why the first episode was memorable was because the beginning foretells that the main protagonist won't survive the show and then one of the singer/magic girls who looked like an important character dies in the middle of the episode saving our protagonist from a "Noise" attack. That was quite an intriguing way to start the show, and I'm interested in seeing what happens next. How does our main girl die, and does she turn into the magical girl who died in the middle of the episode? I'm thinking about blogging this show weekly, but I don't know if I'll have the time.

One Piece 652

2012-01-11T16:55:00.000-05:00

What happened after Luffy had confronted Big Mom's cronies...

Given that Nami took out the Big Three in an instant, does that make her the most powerful Straw Hat?

Summary:
At Ryuuguu Palace, Jinbe and King Neptune have a private chat. It was Jinbe's idea to serve under Big Mom so that Fishman Island could get protection after Whitebeard's death, but now Jinbe is considering severing ties with Big Mom and joining the Straw Hats. Later, the Minister of the Right informs Neptune that one of the treasures recovered by the Straw Hats is rigged with explosives so King Neptune should ask for it back. Unfortunately, Luffy's group returns to the palace and Luffy reveals that he had challenged Big Mom over the phone and given all of the treasure to Big Mom's henchmen. Jinbe and King Neptune both get headaches wondering what to do, while Nami beats up Luffy, Zoro and Sanji for giving away all of the treasure. Meanwhile back in town, Caribou wakes up and tries to take back the treasure from Pekoms and Tamago, but Pekoms (who has a higher bounty than Caribou) sends Caribou flying with a punch.

On the sea near the Red Line, the G-5 Marines are busy dealing with all the pirates have been freed from Hody by the Straw Hats. Tashigi, now a captain, has to do most of the work by herself since her male underlings are too busy checking her out/trying to grope her. Meanwhile, Vice Admiral Smoker is interrogating some captured pirates, but Smoker already knows that the Straw Hats were responsible for freeing the pirates.

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Haha, looks like Big Mom and her group are about to get an explosive surprise courtesy of Luffy and company. Since Luffy already declared war against Big Mom and Big Mom agreed to overlook the lack of candy, the explosive treasure will probably be credited to Luffy as well instead of to Fishman Island. Luffy may have ticked off Big Mom, but it looks like the Straw Hats' first challenge after Fishman Island will be the rowdy G-5 Marines led by Smoker. Smoker was a foe that Luffy wasn't able to solve in their previous confrontations. Luffy is obviously more powerful than before, but Smoker probably has better control of his Logia ability as well. Should be interesting if the two get into a fight again. As for Tashigi, she probably has to worry more about all the rowdy Marines under her command than any pirates.

It looks like Caribou is still in the story, but at this point he is too weak to challenge any major forces in the New World. I guess Caribou will be relegated to comedic relief and become a less funny and more psychotic version of Buggy.

Bleach 479

2012-01-11T15:10:00.000-05:00

Ichigo returns to Soul Society for some business.

What? I got my shinigami abilities back so can't I come back to work?

Summary:
At Urahara's shop, Urahara goes to check on Riruka in the morning but discovers that she had left.

Meanwhile, Ichigo shows up unexpectedly in Soul Society, and the captains (except Ukitake and Kurotuchi) decide to grant him an audience. Some of the Vizards such as Hiroko and Kensei have gotten their captain posts back. Yamamoto thanks Ichigo for his hard work, but Ichigo states that he isn't here for praise. Rather, Ichigo is here to take back Ginjou's body (which Renji had brought back) and bury Ginjou in the material world. Hiroko and the other captains argue that Ginjou is a heinous criminal and messed with Ichigo's family, but Ichigo states that Ginjou is a "mere shinigami representative".

Later, Kyoraku finds Ukitake sitting out in a field. Kyoraku tells Ukitake that Ichigo said that he trusts Soul Society and decided to keep the representative badge. Kyorarku and Ukitake the both agree that Ichigo had grown.

Back in the real world, Riruka is standing on top of a building thinking of Ichigo, Orihime, Chad and Xcution before disappearing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think this is the final wrap-up chapter for the Fullbring arc as the series is going on break for three weeks afterwards. Looking back, the beginning and middle stages of the Fullbring arc weren't too bad when Tsukishima and Ginjou were messing around with Ichigo, but the ending was like if Kubo had ran out of ideas/patience and given up. So at the end of the arc, Ichigo has his powers back and this is the most important deliverable. The principal villain Ginjou is dead, and the other surviving Xcution members will probably not be seen for a long time. As for the Ukitake/Shinigami badge conspiracy, nothing really came out of that as Ichigo just decided to accept everything (that both Ukitake and Ginjou had their reasons and blah blah) and that was all. I don't know if there will be any more to the Fullbring business either other than that Chad and Orihime have Fullbrings. Hopefully the series makes good use of the three weeks hiatus and come up with somewhat better story for next arc.

Naruto 569

2012-01-11T14:47:00.000-05:00

Naruto try to free Son Goku from Tobi's control.

Like I said, Naruto is not part of a healthy daily diet.

Summary:
Before letting Naruto out of his inner world, Son warns Naruto that he isn't going to trust Naruto that easily, but Naruto doesn't care. Naruto wakes up in Son's closed mouth and can't pry the mouth open, but he then gets an idea. On the outside, Tobi reels in Son with his chains in an attempt to absorb Naruto, but Son's mouth is suddenly forced open by hundreds of Naruto shadow clones. After getting out and calling off the clones, Naruto tries to locate Tobi's stake which is now on Son's neck. Naruto spots the stake and goes after it. Son (being controlled by Tobi) tries to swat Naruto away, but Naruto defends with fox mode and gets to the stake. Naruto tries pulling on the stake, but he finds himself being bound by Tobi's chains. However, Naruto has left a clone inside of Son. That Naruto travels down Son's throat and locates the stake from the inside. The Naruto clone then goes into Sage mode and attempts to smack the stake out from the inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not bad of an action chapter. It's finally good to see Naruto doing something right and using his head a bit in the battle. The fight probably won't be close to being over even if Naruto frees Son from Tobi's control, but it'll make the fight a little easier. Given how devious Tobi is and the importance of the tailed beasts to his plans, perhaps he has each beast secured with more than just one stake, but we'll see what happens. Other than the ongoing battle, it looks like Kurama is really warming up to Naruto's "lets all be friends" attitude, so a power-up for Naruto is probably imminent once Kurama decides to help Naruto for real.

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE 13

2012-01-09T02:38:00.001-05:00

The Diva and allies attack the UE hideout at Ambat.

Trojan Horse warship is back!!!

Good to see everyone actually has effective weapons this time.

Summary:
The Diva, along with the four ships from Zalam and Euba finally make their way to the abandoned Federation fortress of Ambat where Grodek suspect the UE are hiding out. The Diva and allies fire from long distance at the fortress, and this draws out the massive UE carrier along with lots of UE mobile suits. From some unknown location, Yark and a boy (not Decil) is watching the battle unfold and Yark comments that the Earthlings are foolish and will be defeated.

White Woolf is here to save your day!

Ah screw it. I'm just going to Rambo my way to victory like any other Gundam protagonist.

The plan for Grodek's forces is for the mobile suit forces to clear a path through the enemy mobile suits so the Diva can get close enough to blast the big UE carrier with its new photo plasma cannon (which was conjured up by the AGE system). Flit (in the Gundam Spallow), Woolf, Largan along with Ract and the Zalam/Euba contingent fight valiantly, but the big carrier sends out an endless stream of UE mobile suits. Things don't look good for the Diva, but Flit decides to take it upon himself to clear a path and goes into X-Rounder mode to clear out a dozen UE mobile suits in the way. Flit's effort inspires the others and the Diva to charge at the massive UE carrier. The Diva gets within range and unleashes the photo plasma cannon which obliterates the UE carrier and blasts a hole through Ambat. However, a section of the carrier survives the blast and charges at the Diva on a kamikaze run. The Diva can't evade, so Ract tries to pull a Don Boyage by running into the UE ship with his mobile suit to stop the ship. Fortunately, Mukred Madorna shows up with a contingent of mobile suits and a big beam cannon to stop the charging UE ship and Flit stops Ract from dying needlessly. After defeating the big carrier, Grodek and allies continue to move forward towards Ambat.

We may not have the biggest ship, but we have the biggest gun.

Having a big honking beam cannon is useful sometimes.

Somewhere within the fortress, Decil is standing in front of a Zedas while his henchmen has Yurin in a pilot spacesuit as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first stage of the big battle is over, and thus far things have gone according to plan for the good guys. Flit got himself into X-Rounder mode and got lots of kills to inspire the charge, and Diva showed off its super-duper new photo plasma cannon and the new Trojan Horse look reminiscent of White Base. The big UE carrier had lots of mobile suits, but too bad it couldn't hit any of the good guy ships with its cannons. Beam scattering particles are such awesome devices, but funny enough the photo plasma cannon is immune to it.

The good guys won the first engagement, but the battle is far from over and there are plenty of UE forces left in Ambat. It looks like Flit will be fighting both Decil and Yurin in the near future. It looks more and more likely that Yurin will get killed off in the battle and give Flit some trauma, but let's see if the "kid-friendly" Gundam AGE will go in this tragic direction. If it was any other Gundam series, Yurin will be killed for sure.

Winter 2012 Anime

2012-01-08T02:11:00.001-05:00

Once again, I've waited until the start of the new anime season to make my picks for the season. There is another new crops of shows, and choosing among them is not all that easy. Given that Gundam AGE, Mirai Nikki and Guilty Crown are still on going, I think I can watch only 2-3 more shows at the most. As always, this is just a list of shows that I'll check out. If you still need help choosing, a list of season preview blog posts is at this post.

Will watch, but won't blog:

Nisemonogatari
The sequel to Bakemonogatari, the longest 15 episode anime I've ever watched. As a Shaft/Shinbo show, Bakemonogatari had some good moments in terms of the action and girls being cute/awesome, but it was plagued by production issues (this frame has not been animated signs... ugh), and the "witty" dialogue can get over your head after it goes on for long enough. Still, it was not a terrible show, so I'll watch the sequel and hope that Shaft has its production budget worked out this time.

Will check out:

Senhime Zesshou Symphogear
Girls fighting "noise" with the power of song... sounds interesting.

Aquarion Evol
I haven't watched the original Aquarion anime, but I've heard good things about it. Although I watch a lot of mecha/robot anime, I haven't watched a "super-robot" type of the anime in a while. Let's see if I can get away with watching the sequel without watching the original first.

I think that's probably all the anime I have time to watch. I kind of want to check out the thriller/horror series Another, but I don't know if I'll have the time.

As promised, here is the list of season previews from the blogs on my blogroll.

- Bokutachi no Blog
- Kita ze Inbou
- METANORN
- Random Curiosity
- Sea Slugs!
- Tenka Seiha
- T.H.A.T.

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE 12

2012-01-05T01:50:00.001-05:00

I was busy during the weekend and forgot about Gundam AGE, so here is the late post for episode 12. In this week's show, Grodek and the Diva try to leave Minsry but they run into a Federation task force led by Strahler.

What are you people afraid of? That puny pistol shouldn't even be able to scratch the paint off the ship's armor.

Lights, explosions, but no damage? Disappointing.

Summary:
Grodek and the group return to the Diva and they immediately get the ship ready for launch because the appearance of Strahler. However, the Diva barely makes it out of the dock before being confronted by three Federation warships commanded by Strahler. Strahler tells Grodek and the Diva to surrender, but Grodek refuses to comply. Adams try to explain to Grodek's plan to Strahler, but Strahler states that his job is to apprehend Grodek. Strahler gets his ships to fire some blinding missiles to get some of his mobile suits really close to the Diva, but Flit had already launched in the Gundam and forces the Federation mobile suits back which allows Woolf and Largan to launch. Strahler has launched all of the mobile suits under his command, but Ract and his four warships show up to turn the numbers game in Grodek's favor.

Looks like someone finally got a weapons upgrade.

NewType... I mean SEED... I mean Innovator... no it's X-Rounder mode activate!!!!

As Grodek and Strahler's forces are stuck in a standoff, Strahler's forces are attacked from behind by two UE warships and a dozen mobile suits. Ract advises Grodek to use the opportunity to escape, but Grodek sends the Diva's mobile suits to attack the UE. During the battle, Flit suddenly gets the sixth sense/premonition ability that Yurin had used. The Diva also charges in with its main cannons and Strahler's ship has to get out of the way. The Federation ships and the Diva then combine their firepower to force the UE task force into retreat. After the battle, Strahler decides to let Grodek go this time as thanks for helping out during the battle. Later in the Diva, Flit tells Grodek about his move-reading ability, and Grodek states that certain people can use the "X region" of their brains to gain abilities above a normal person, and these people are known as "X-rounders".

See, isn't it more fun to fight together than fight against each other?

Noooo! Please don't make me babysit that little hellish brat!!! It'd be a fate worse than death!

Back in Minsry, Decil and Yark are in Alzack's mansion to take Yurin away. Decil has sensed that Yurin is a X-rounder and warns Yurin against resisting them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The contest of strategies between Grodek and Strahler was a bit long and neither side made any mind-blowing moves, but at least the moves were somewhat effective. Thanks to a timely UE attack, Grodek and allies managed to get past the Federation forces without getting into a bloody battle with the Feds. It's not too surprising since AGE is kid-friendly and thus will not have the good guys start a costly battle with Strahler who is not really evil (despite the laugh at the intermission). The ending with the salute of mutual respect and Strahler choosing to let Grodek continue on his personal mission fits in line with whole theme.

The battle with the UE was somewhat interesting. Firstly, Flit showed some ~~NewType~~... I mean X-rounder powers of his own, which was totally predictable but the fact that it happened is a notable occasion. Without the powers, Flit is just a proficient but not especially-skilled pilot, and the key to battlefield dominance in many Gundam series is superhuman psychic powers and superior mobile suits. Secondly, it looks like Largan's Genoace finally got a weapon that works on UE mobile suits. It was about time that happened. Lastly, while Largan got an effective weapon, the main cannons of the Diva and Federation warships didn't really seem to scratch the UE warships. I guess all the warships have invisible shielding, since Sunrise usually loves to animate explosions.

Now that the Diva and friends got past the Feds, they begin their mission against the UE hideout for real. The next two or even three episodes will probably be all out battles, and that's what Gundam is usually good at. While the Diva managed to continue on its mission, Yark and Decil and have gotten their friends on Yurin. Will this lead to Flit eventually having to fight Yurin in battle?

Gantz 355

2012-01-04T17:47:00.000-05:00

Kurono #2 vs. giant ugly alien on the ceiling.

Talk to the hand, puny human.

Summary:
Kurono #2 opens fire with his two X-rifles. The shots blasts chunks off of the giant alien and forces the alien to come off the ceiling. Kurono continues to fire but suddenly the triggers get stuck and the rifles disintegrate, and Kurono realizes that the alien is emitting some telekinetic wave from its palm. Kurono is lifted into the air by the wave and all the smaller alien creatures in the warehouse start floating in the air as well. Meanwhile, the rest of the Tokyo team is running away, but Reika is reluctant to leave Kurono. Takeda tries to convince Reika to leave with the team, but Reika screams and shakes him off and runs back towards Kurono.

Back in the warehouse, Kurono is lifted into the air by the giant alien's psychic wave and then Kurono gets all of his street clothing ripped off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This segment with Kurono #2 suddenly wanting to go mano-a-mano with the big ugly is just really strange. It's strange that Kurono #2 suddenly decided to get angsty, and it's strange that the giant alien has the funny palm telekinetic lift that rips off people's clothing. Kurono #2 is not dead yet though. On the other hand, I expected that Reika would run back to Kurono given how obsessed she is with him. I suppose the two possible endings are Kurono #2 and Reika will die together or the rest of the Tokyo team decides to come back and help Kurono kill the big monster while possibly resulting in deaths of some non-important characters. I'm leaning towards the latter, but Gantz is hard to predict.

Thoughts on Macross Frontier: The Wings of Goodbye

2012-01-04T02:42:00.000-05:00

I got around to watching the 2nd Macross Frontier movie about a month or so ago. Given how I impressed I was by the anime series, I thought I would get around to writing down my thoughts sooner, but I was busy at the time with other things so I didn't immediately start a post. After a few days I start to forget what I watched, and the post ended in the back burner (along with a post on Samurai Champloo; I finished that series several months ago). I finally got around to putting my thoughts down during winter vacation, so here are some my disorganized, random thoughts on Macross Frontier: The Wings of Goodbye. Don't read this post if you don't want to be spoiled.

Given that it is a Macross Frontier movie, The Wings of Goodbye is once again a song-and-dance and space-dogfight spectacular. The combat is still mostly "fighters darting everywhere with anti-air and missiles flying all over the place" type of scenes which are impressive but we've seen them often in the series and the previous movie. The only thing that was especially memorable was that there were a lot of Macross/Macross Quarter ships that showed up at the end. They just fired their main cannons rather than getting into a chaotic fight with other similarly sized enemies, but the scene was notable because it was the first time in Macross Frontier that so many Macross ships appeared on screen at the same time.

Moving on to the concerts and music, the concert scenes were arguably an even bigger visual feast than the combat sequences. Sheryl's concert opened the movie and Sheryl managed to one-up her own concert from the False Songstress at least when it came to amount of hologram clones dancing and being naughty with other hologram clones of herself. Ranka also made use of hologram copies of herself in her debut large concert. It was fun seeing the Sheryl concert and then the Ranka concert in the early parts of the movie, and we can clearly see that Sheryl sells through sex appeal while Ranka caters to those who love cuteness. The Ranka concert at the prison (to cover for an effort to break Sheryl out of jail) was quite memorable too. Although it didn't have the special effects of the previous concerts, the prison concert featured members of the SMS playing in the band, and who could forget Alto dancing around and rescuing Sheryl in a gothic lolita outfit with jets in his skirt. I'm not surprised by Sheryl or Ranka fan service, but the Alto fan service was pretty amusing. Of course, there was the duet between Sheryl and Ranka in the final battle, and the grand finale was big, chaotic mix of singing and fighting just as I was hoping for. Like the previous movie, The Wings of Goodbye had a number of new songs. They all sound decent, but none of them really caught my ears.

In regards to the plot, the Wings of Goodbye features a lot of the elements from the anime series, but the plot actually diverges further from the series. The False Songstress can still be considered as a condensed recap of the 1st half of the Macross Frontier, the Wings of Goodbye has some key differences that makes the dynamics of the story quite different. Here are some of the key differences:

Grace is no longer the principle villain and actually cares about Sheryl. Grace is given a much more sympathetic and redeeming portrayal in the movie, and at the end she even saves Sheryl's life. The title of principle villain is now passed on to a pod containing a consortium of survivors from the Macross Galaxy. In the anime series, Grace is heard talking with these people, but I never really knew who the voices were. The movie moves the group to the front and center. I rather liked Grace as the power-hungry, self-groping villain, but the writers are bent on redeeming her and I supposed the blob of collective consciousness without faces is more evil-looking.

Another big difference is that Ranka doesn't become the betrayer to mankind by leaving with Brera and ending up inside the Macross Galaxy. On the other hand, Sheryl is branded as a spy from the Galaxy and tossed in jail, so in a way the roles between Ranka and Sheryl are reversed in the movie. However, Sheryl's image didn't end up quite as tattered as Ranka's in the series as at least Alto and most of the SMS believed in Sheryl's innocence. Sheryl also only ended up in jail, while Ranka did join the enemy for a brief period of time in the anime series.

Perhaps the biggest difference of all between the anime series and the movies is that the movies provide a more definitive ending to the love triangle between the three main characters. Near the end of the movie, Alto chose Sheryl in front of Sheryl and Ranka. I think Alto choosing Sheryl was the more likely conclusion given how the movies have painted a closer relationship between the two than the series. It turns out in the film, Sheryl has been a fan of Alto since she was little. It's not that Ranka is shoved into the background, but her affections for Alto appears to be more one-sided in the movies. Given how things were set up in the movies, Alto x Sheryl was the right choice. While I liked the more definitive conclusion to the love triangle, Macross just had to throw a wrench into the perfectly happy ending and have Alto shoot off into deep space with the Vajra and Sheryl in a coma because unlike in the series, Sherl's illness due to the alien bacteria does not magically get cured by Ranka. I suppose we should be happy that none of the big three died in the process, and perhaps once Alto comes back Sheryl will wake up again.

In the end the Wings of Goodbye shares many of the same elements as the latter half of the anime series, but it's also quite different. The movie is more like an alternative version of events rather than a compressed recap. It might the version of events from a parallel dimension or something like that. I still enjoyed the movie a lot, mostly due to the visual and aural spectacle that the movie provides. The concerts and fighting looked awesome, and the music was pretty nice too. The story still wasn't the greatest, but it was no worse than the series.

Sekirei 123-124

2012-01-01T16:29:00.000-05:00

Given the irregular release schedule, I've forgotten about Sekirei for a few weeks. There are now two chapters that I haven't covered, and I'll just combine the chapters into one post given how short a Sekirei chapter usually is. In chapters 123 and 124, the 4th round of competition continues on the cruise ship.

Too bad Minato doesn't have a mouse mode to follow Kusano.

Chapter 123 summary:
Sanada's group discover one jinki and this is announced to the rest of the competitors. Sanada and his Sekireis then eagerly jump into combat with other Ashikabis and Sekireis who want the jinki. In the air ducts, Kusano feels something calling for her and crawls down the duct and Minato has to try and keep up. The reason that Minato only brought Kusano along to the round is because Matsu had planned a fake death where she would hack into MBI's system and indicate the Kusano has been defeated. At Izumo Inn, Matsu is having trouble breaking through MBI cyber security, and she then discovers that MBI has tracked her down through the system.

Back at the cruise ship, Minato catches up to Kusano who has found the second jinki at the end of the duct. Minato discovers a close circuit camera nearby and the discovery is announced to all competitors. Minato and Kusano are then dropped to the floor in front of some hostile Ashikabis under order from Higa. The hostile Sekireis prepare to attack, but suddenly Sekirei no. 87 Kaho and her Ashikabi appear to defend Minato and Kusano.

------------------

Wouldn't expect any less from Musubi's "sister".

Chapter 124 summary:
Kaho uses her naginata to defeat the two attacking Sekirei while her Ashikabi chats with Minato. Minato is surprised when Kaho's Ashikabi knows him as Homura's Ashikabi. Homura had saved Kaho once and Kaho's Ashikabi wanted to return the favor. He also hacked into MBI's database and thus knew about Minato's Sekireis. The Ashikabi has received the message from Higa to take out Minato's team and thus came to the competition looking for Minato. The Ashikabi mentions that Kaho had a promise and rivalry going with Musubi from a long time ago. It turns out both Kaho and Musubi were kidnapped during one of the attacks on MBI. The two Sekirei both declared that they will become the last one standing and promised to "release" all of the other fallen Sekireis.

Elsewhere on the ship, Itsuki sees the announcement about the discovery of the 2nd jinki and gets worried, but Amehane tells her to shut up because he is busy fighting Shiina. Shiina sees that Amehane seems to hate his Ashikabi, and Amehane confirms it and states that he only agreed to be winged as a way to get more power. Shiina states that he hates Sekireis like Amehane will take this battle seriously.

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Hmmm I thought we were going to see Higa's forces attack Izumo Inn or do something devious, but the two chapters were still focused on the action on the cruise ship. Supposedly Minato and Kusano will just be able to hide out in the cruise ship and Matsu will hack MBI's system to make it seem like Kusano has been defeated, but things don't quite work out. Matsu's computers get counterattacked, and Kusano finds a jinki and she and Minato were found by the hostile forces. Luckily for Minato and Kusano, Kaho and her Ashikabi come to their aid due to their connections to some of Minato's Sekireis. Minato and Kusano may be protected from the other weaker Sekireis, but Kaho and her Ashikabi still need a jinki to advance to the next stage. The same goes for Seo and Yukari. I don't see Sanada giving up his jinki. Minato might give up his since he already has two, but that still leaves only two jinkis up for grabs.

Rosario + Vampire II 49

2012-01-01T14:38:00.003-05:00

Fang Fang and Yukari find out from Sai-Lung about why the Miu family called off the truce.

Don't you villains realize that collapsing rubble rarely if ever kill important good characters!? If you really wanted them dead, you should have melted them with acid.

Summary:
Fang Fang defeats Sai-Lung by stabbing him in the torso with the coin sword. Fang Fang asks why Sai-Lung is cooperating with Fairy Tale, and Sai-Lung states that the Miu family and Fairy Tale were one from the start and they share the same creator. The founder, a mysterious figure named the Masked King, handed the reins of the Miu family to Sai-Lung because Sai-Lung's father had signed a truce with the Wong family without permission. The Masked King told Sai-Lung that all who betray him will die a gruesome death, and he then showed Sai-Lung a briefcase with Sai-Lung's father's body stuffed inside. Sai-Lung tells Fang Fang and Yukari that the Masked King hates Touhou Fuhai and therefore the two family will never be at peace as long as both Touhou and the Masked King exists. Sai-Lung states that he is just a figurehead and a failure as a leader, but Fang Fang states that he's the same and asks Sai-Lung to become his friend once again. Sai-Lung accepts, but suddenly Yuuki Gairen, the leader of the 6th subdivision, appears overhead. Gairen tells Sai-Lung that all who betray the Masked King will die. Sai-Lung tries to attack, but Gairen has melted all the support columns of the room with acid and sends the ceiling crashing down on Sai-Lung, Routier, Fang Fang and Yukari.

At the command center, Gyokuro sees what went on and comments that with Sai-Lung and Fang Fang gone, all of China will belong to the Masked King. The Masked King is on the other side of the call and warns Gyokuro to not fail him. Deeper inside the fortress, Tsukune and company have a feeling that something bad had happened to Yukari and Fang Fang.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some interesting stuff in this month's edition of Rosario + Vampire II. So it turns out the Sai-Lung is not really a bad guy but he was forced into fighting the Wong family by his family founder the Masked King. What's more, it sounds like the Masked King is the one who founded Fairy Tale and is above Gyokuro in the organization, which means Gyokuro is likely not the final boss. That's an interesting shake-up and the Fairy Tale organization. I guess one thing this sets up is that Touhou Fuhai will face the Masked King at one point and probably lose. Since Sai-Lung is just an installed figure head of the Miu family, I guess it's not that surprising that he isn't super strong and was defeated by Fang Fang and Yukari. We end with Fang Fang and company possibly killed by the rubble, but chances are they are okay. Fictional villains never learn that collapsing rubble rarely if ever kill the good guys, and likely Fang Fang, Yukari, Sai-Lung and Routier will all survive. At least Fang Fang and Yukari will survive for sure.

~~The appearance of Gairen means that Fairy Tale has more than 5 subdivisions, so I guess this might be a signal for reinforcements to show up for Tsukune and friends.~~

Happy 2012

2012-01-01T02:22:00.000-05:00

It's the end of another year. Given how lazy I am with blogging anime and manga these days, I don't really have much to say in regards to a year-end review or anything of that sort. I am back at home enjoying the holidays with my family. I still have to do work as part as my graduate research, but I don't have classes which means I have time on my hands to do other stuff... such as put some extra posts up on this blog. I'm working a "review/thoughts" post on the second Macross Frontier movie, but given how slow I write "reviews" it might be a couple more days (or weeks) before that's done. I'm not going to beat myself up for not writing though, since the holidays are the time for relaxation.

Anyways, I wish you all a Happy New Year! Happy blogging in 2012!

To Love-Ru Darkness 15

2011-12-27T18:26:00.000-05:00

Tearju meets Yami again at school.

You'd pay more attention if Tearju was teaching your class... but probably not more attention than what she is teaching.

Summary:
Tearju becomes Rito's class' assistant homeroom teacher. Because Tearju is beautiful and klutzy, she is very popular with the male students. Lala, Haruna and the other girls in the class note that Tearju looks like a grown up version of Yami, but their personalities are completely different. At the library, Momo tells Yami about Tearju, but Yami doesn't seem to be in a hurry to see Tearju again. Momo then gets interrupted by Risa who starts groping Momo. Meanwhile, Rito is at the nurse's room talking to Mikado. Mikado reveals that she and Oshizu had tracked down Tearju and brought her to Earth. Mikado and Tearju were classmates in high school but they lost contact once Tearju joined the secret research agency. Mikado states that Tearju hasn't talked to Yami yet after arriving on Earth and both are reluctant to see each other.

After talking with Mikado, Rito tracks down Tearju and asks her to go to talk Yami. Tearju thanks Rito for looking after Yami, but then she admits that she feels guilty about leaving Yami behind and hasn't worked up the courage to talk to Yami yet. At this moment, the perverted principal arrives and targets Tearju. Rito grabs Tearju's hand and tries to escape from the principal. On the way, Rito sees Lala and asks for help, and Lala gives Rito her "new and improved" teleport bracelet. Tearju trips and falls chest first onto Rito's face and the teleporter activates. Rito and Tearju end up outside in the yard with only their socks/stockings on and with Tearju's chest pressed against Rito's face. Rito tries to explain what happened but he gets punched out by Yami who happens to be sitting on a nearby bench.

Momo arrives to bring back Rito (and probably Tearju)'s clothes. After getting dressed, Tearju goes to talk to Yami while Rito and Momo watch from some distance away. Tearju refers to Yami as "Eve" and is glad she is doing well, but Yami states that she goes by the name "Golden Darkness" now. Tearju starts tearing up and apologizes for leaving Yami behind. She wanted to take Yami with her but the organization was after her life and Tearju could only escape on her own. Tearju heard about the Golden Darkness years later and knew it was Eve, and she can't imagine what Yami had to go through to become a ruthless killer. Yami is moved by Tearju's tears and softens up a bit. Yami tells Tearju that there is no way to change how things ended up, but she is glad that Tearju is still alive. Yami then quickly leaves the scene. From the sidelines, Momo wonders why Yami just doesn't get to the chase and give Tearju a hug, but Mikado shows up and explains that it'll take sometime for Yami and Tearju to close the distance between them and rebuild their relationship.

Meanwhile, Nana mentions to Mea that Tearju had become the assistant homeroom teacher to Lala's class, and Mea seems have to some devious plans in mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So Yami was actually named Eve just like in Black Cat. It seems like To Love-Ru Darkness is an alternative universe version of Black Cat. Anyways, Tearju works her first full chapter of the series, and she is still the same busty and klutzy genius scientist character. This of course makes her a totally hot homeroom teacher, so no wonder all the guys in the class love her. Being an attractive female character also means that Tearju gets groped by Rito on her first day on the job. Tearju finally reunites with Yami again, but their relationship will be a work in progress. It seems that Darkness won't give away the emotional hug scene between Yami and Tearju this easily. Tearju looks rather harmless and useless at first, but I'm sure she probably has a plan or will come up with something to help Rito and Yami to fight against Nemesis or whichever villain that might show up. For the moment though, we'll have to see what kind of move Mea makes against Tearju.

Claymore 122

2011-12-27T16:02:00.000-05:00

Deneve and company vs. Hysteria.

Let's all fly away.

Summary:
Deneve and company arrive in time to stop Miria from awakening. Uma and Cynthia start healing/calming down Miria, while the others face off against Hysteria. Hysteria takes to the skies, but Deneve and company also "hover" using Anastasia's hair technique. Deneve and company rescue the two warriors that Hysteria had impaled and then Tabitha manages to sneak behind Hysteria and chop off her wings. Deneve and company think they've slowed Hysteria down, but Hysteria lands and states that the wings were too slow anyways. Hysteria starts to power up and Miria tells Deneve to dodge, but it's too late as Hysteria blasts into the air at blistering speed and rips off Deneve's left arm and another warrior (Nike? one of Anastasia's squadmates)'s right arm. Dietrich tries to hit Hysteria but isn't nearly fast enough and then Dietrich gets shot in the torso by some projectile. Back down on the ground, Miria realizes that Hysteria is propelling herself by firing the blades from her torso and using recoil to move herself quickly and suddenly, and that's the reason why there are suddenly so many impact craters on the ground. Hysteria's speed and movement reminds Miria of the time when Clare partially awakened to defeat Rigaldo.

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The reinforcements arrive for the righteous, but as expected an Awakened no. 1 isn't going to go down without putting up a lot of fight. Hysteria's awakened form still looks ridiculous, but at least she looks more purposeful without the angel wings, and now we know what the ring of blades around her torso is for. Launching blades and using the reaction force/recoil to move is kind of neat and the flying blades are a deadly weapon, but I was kind of hoping for jet or rocket propulsion lol. Looks like Deneve and company have their work cut out for them even if they don't have to worry about Roxanne and Cassandra for now. Miria might have join in the fight again after she is healed up sufficiently.

Deadman Wonderland 50

2011-12-26T23:35:00.000-05:00

The story between Yosuga and Toto.

I don't see this ending well.

Summary:
Back at the submarine, Karako and the doctor help patch up Senji's injuries and it's likely Senji will survive. Ganta is also unconscious, but his ailment stems from the crystal in his chest and Makina and her crew isn't sure what they can do about it. The crew also knows that Yosuga had gone missing and had taken a first aid kit with her.

Inside Deadman Wonderland, Yosuga had pulled Toto/Hagire out of the rubble and patched him up. Toto and Yosuga aren't actual siblings and Yosuga is actually younger than Toto despite Toto referring to her as "big sister". Toto and Yosuga met when Yosuga first arrived in Block G. Yosuga didn't have any will to live and was being pushed around by two other deadmen. Toto saved Yosuga from the thugs and started calling her "older sister". Toto is a fearsome competitor in Carnival Corpse and he earns enough credits for both him and Yosuga to get by. Yosuga also managed to survive Carnival Corpse via her Branch of Sin which she can't control properly. Yosuga had asked recruiter Tamaki about Toto and learned that Toto had an older sister who died in the big earthquake. One day, Toto buys Yosuga a toy pistol in order to give Yosuga the "will the live", and the two of them remained close.

Back to the present, Toto/Hagire wakes up and wonders why Yosuga patched him up, and Yosuga states that it's because she's Toto's "older sister".

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So Yosuga actually went to save Toto. She is also not actually Toto's sister but is just some random girl who Toto decided was going to replace his dead sister. I guess it's not too surprising given that Deadman Wonderland is full of people with mental issues caused by past trauma, and Toto (the original one, not Hagire) and Yosuga are probably not entirely right in the head anyways. I guess Hagire won't die so easily now that Yosuga has patched him up, but what's going to happen next. Toto's body is pretty beat up and is missing an arm and a leg, but it still possesses a large array of useful Branches of Sins. Is Hagire going to keep Toto's body or will he try to transfer into Yosuga? Or in the best possible case, maybe Toto's original personality will resurface and overcome Hagire, but that's unlikely given the tone of the series.

Bleach 478

2011-12-26T20:06:00.000-05:00

The end of the Fullbring arc... maybe?

I'm not crying. Those are tears of joy for finally being done with this story arc.

Summary;
Yukio wanders off and is joined on the road by Jackie who lost her Fullbring from the fight. Jackie states that she found Giriko's body and buried him. Yukio promises that he'll make his company bigger in three years so all the Xcution misfits can come work for him.

In the woods somewhere, Shishigawara carries Tsukishima (who is somehow still alive) on his back and they walk towards the sunrise.

At Urahara's shop, Riruka wakes up next to Orihime and being watched over by Rukia and Ichigo. Ichigo states that all the other Xcution members were gone when Urahara arrived to pick them up. Riruka talks to Orihime and discovers that Orihime has no recollection of Tsukishima. Both Riruka and Orihime then start to cry.

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Looks like the Fullbring story arc is finally over. I guess it's time to break out the champagne and confetti and celebrate. The whole business of the Fullbrings didn't really go anywhere and the longer the arc went, the more we wished it was over. I'm okay with the other Xcution members being alive, but Tsukishima should have died because of how much of an asshole he was messing with other people's memories. I guess having a Fullbring somehow allowed him to survive having a big hole in his chest. Now that the arc looks to be done and Ichigo has his shinigami powers back, maybe Bleach can finally get back on the road of being not so crappy. I wouldn't get my hopes up too high, although Ichigo looking for answers about the shinigami badge may have some potential.