Urusei Yatsura - 182

うる星やつら episode 182 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura Ep. 182 review


SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Sakura is waiting for Tsubame, who's over two-hours late for their date and she's not happy about it. Tsubame, knowing he's late, races to a mansion to perform an exorcism.  He yells at the evil spirit, sending it from the rich woman's daughter, then as he leaves, he gives the woman a detailed explanation of waves and how her daughter became possessed. After getting his pay, he races to where Sakura is to be waiting, but he's now five-hours late and she's not there. Using a payphone, Tsubame explains to Sakura and arranges another date, though she's still unhappy with him. However, the fact that the two of them keep missing each other causes them to spend a depressed, sleepless night apart, wondering what to do about the situation.

At school, Sakura tells Ataru and Lum her troubles and learns that Ataru and the boys have been cursing her to keep her apart from Tsubame. Lum punishes them for this while Cherry pops in for a visit, explaining that their problems might be the result of their waves conflicting. He suggests a vigorous exercise routine at the tennis court and even has picked up the perfect tennis dress for her to wear.  Her initial attempts to attack him fail, but not her second one.  However, after giving Cherry's advice some thought, Sakura decides a workout might be what the doctor ordered.  Meanwhile, Lum decides to make her own soap by following the instructions on a video, but unfortunately, she doesn't take the process seriously, even though she does produce a bar of soap.

On the tennis courts, Lum and Ataru partner up while Cherry and Sakura partner up. It doesn't take long for Ataru's lechery to make him become the ball.  Afterward, Sakura and Lum are in the shower room when Lum's new soap slips out of her hands into Sakura's stall. Sakura hands a soap back, but it wasn't Lum's. As a result, Sakura becomes very slippery, so much so that when Ataru later tries to hug her, she ends up flying off, landing right near a waiting Tsubame. However, she's so slippery that Tsubame thinks she's being cold to him, his thoughts aided by Ataru.  He's depressed, but Lum has a solution, whereby she glues the two together. Tsubame is happy, but Sakura isn't thrilled at this kind of bonding with her boyfriend.

Thoughts/Review:

Meh.  This episode was rather stupid, and seemed to be the mashing of two separate stories into a single entity. It also made me wonder how Sakura is attracted to Tsubame.

There was too much Cherry for starters, to say nothing of the slow pacing in the episode. A little Cherry goes a LOT further than one might expect. *_*

Still, there was the Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man making a cameo here. That was cool.  ^_^

Thirteen more episodes and I'll be finished with the TV series. ^_^

Negima! Chapter 351 SPOILER Images

Negima! 351 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 351 (Image)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek SPOILER images for Mahou Sensei Negima! Chapter 351 as brought to you by World Turtle (click pic to make bigger, y'all).

If people find more, I'll share (all my normal sources are dry).

Negima! Omnibus Volume 03 Manga Review

魔法先生 ネギま！Omnibus Volume 03

--> BUY FROM RIGHTSTUF!
--> BUY FROM BARNES & NOBLE
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^_^

For the third omnibus volume of Negima! from Kodansha Comics, volume seven, eight, and nine are covered. Featured are Negi learning Chinese martial arts with Ku Fei, magic training with Eva, Asuna's and Negi's fight, Kotaro's return for Count (Graf) Herrman's arrival, and the preliminary start of the Mahora Festival arc, including the practice date between Asuna and the "aged" Negi.

It is so much fun reading these chapters again, especially in light of where the story is now. It does make me hope that Herrman can somehow make a return to the manga story before it ends.

As before, the Twins have retranslated everything, thereby tightening the translations and making for a better read.  I was a bit disappointed that the Twins removed the German honorific-title "Graf" from Herrman's name and replaced it with "Count." However, I do own the original tankoubon for volume 8, so I went to see what the Japanese said. Well, the title "Graf" isn't in the original Japanese.  Instead, the Japanese honorific-title "hakushaku" (伯爵) is used, which means "Count" or "Earl."  So, that means the original Del Rey released just decided to use a German honorific rather than an English one for a Japanese honorific since Herrman is apparently of German origin.  *sigh* So, the Twins are not at fault here because they went with a literal, English honorific rather than insert a German one. Well, that's what I get for thinking that "Graf" might have been in the original Japanese. ^_~

Did I notice any QC issues on the adaptation?  I didn't, but to be honest, I didn't pay that close attention, mainly because something called "Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" burns all my free time and then some. ^_^; Oops.

I did notice that the cover artwork, which I don't think I'd seen before, is pixelated. That means that the master image was too small for the cover shot, therefore it had to be expanded to fit and thus the pixelation. That to me is inexcusable. 

Translator notes are pretty extensive, which is always good. All the original extras are included except for the line cover art/notes.  I'm not sure if these would be in the Japanese version or not, but considering that Kodansha Comics has been dropping them from the regular volumes, it made me realize that they are missing here and should NOT be. 

Again, because the adaptation is tightened and in line with the current translations-adaptations, it is well worth making a double-dip purchase and buying the omnibus version even if you already owned the Del Rey versions.

Ah! My Goddess Ch. 278 Manga Review *MASSIVE SPOILERS*

Ah! My Goddess Manga/Oh My Goddess! Manga
ああっ女神さまっ Chapter 278

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Hagall is amazed that Keiichi was able to dispel her magic as he desperately tries to wake Belldandy. Belldandy wakes just in time to warn Keiichi of the danger from Hagall attacking, allowing them to get away just in time. However, Hagall isn't worried because Belldandy no longer has any power.

Belldandy asks Keiichi to believe in her as she pulls her final card. He readily agrees to do whatever she wants, so she wants him to affirm everything she's about to say. With that, Belldandy has Keiichi agree to dissolve the contract between the two of them, as Hagall stands off to the side, wondering what they are trying to accomplish. 

With that, Belldandy proposes a new, true contract with Keiichi, vowing to face any and all trials together and should this condition not be fulfilled, Keiichi would be barred from having any more contact with Belldandy for the remainder of his life. He is puzzled, but says yes just the same, even though she reminds him there's an option to say no. He gently scolds her for not believing in him when she asked him to believe in her.

As an impatient Hagall waits for them to get done, Belldandy says they have to seal the deal with a kiss, and kisses him on the lips. The kiss is unlike anything Keiichi has ever experienced, and to Hagall's amazement, flowers begin blooming everywhere, threatening to overrun the place with flowers.

Thoughts/Review:

*lol*  Well, based on you guy's reaction back when this chapter came out, I was pretty sure a kiss was involved. ^_^  I had expected something more along the lines of what happened in chapter 54, where Keiichi performed a mouth-to-mouth transfer of medicine to sick Belldandy, who had passed out. This time, I thought it would be more like Sleeping Beauty with Keiichi waking Belldandy up. However, she woke herself up so that goes to show why I shouldn't try to predict too closely what's going on with the immediate story.

That said, Belldandy's new contract does sound like wedding vows of a sort, with the kiss being a "you may kiss the groom" moment. *lol*  So, does this mean that we can expect Fujishima-sensei to allow Belldandy and Keiichi become a romantic couple?  Frankly, I don't trust the man in this regard. How many years has it been since they last properly kissed?  It was EARLY in the manga's life (I think I wrote extensively on this years ago for some now defunct website, but I'm too lazy to go look up my papers). 

The thing is, for many, many years now, I've maintained that if we ever saw Keiichi and Belldandy properly kiss (flowers weren't mentioned, but they are part of the deal), then we'd know that Fujishima-sensei is getting ready to end the manga series.  I still feel that is the case. 

Since Ah! My Goddess is a monthly manga, it isn't like bringing the series to a graceful conclusion will happen as fast as it could for a weekly series. So, for quite some time now, I feel that Fujishima-sensei is bringing the manga to a close, possibly with chapter 300.  Since I think chapter 280 is already out in Japan, that would be 20-months from now, assuming I'm correct in my theory.  Fujishima-sensei has gone back to the beginning by bringing back characters from early on in the manga (Sayoko, her cousin who's name eludes me, teachers, etc.) and well as certain elements, as seen in this chapter with this kiss and subsequent flower eruption. 

As I see it, twenty chapters allows for a conclusion to be brought to the current story-arc, followed by a general announcement of the new contract, and maybe an Earth wedding, possibly combining Western and Shinto aspects.  (There's been a few, good, manga series with romantic aspects which have properly ended in similar fashion.)  Of course, I could be completely off base, but this feels about right to me.  If this doesn't happen and Fujishima-sensei returns to boring stories with Keiichi and Belldandy never being romantic (including kissing), I'm not sure I could continue reading the manga. I'd be too angry.

While the kiss was obviously long overdue and the highlight of the chapter, who didn't roll their eyes as Hagall standing around waiting for Belldandy and Keiichi to do their thing?  Seriously, Hagall is going to kill Keiichi and get her plan rolling, but then she's going to twiddle her thumbs while Belldandy has her contract with Keiichi trashed, then writes up a new contract, sealed with a kiss.  Don't get me wrong, I can roll my eyes and move on just because we got the kiss.  However, from a story perspective, it makes Hagall look incredibly stupid.

So, it will be interesting to see what Fujishima-sensei does from here.