A Certain Scientific Railgun Vol. 07 Manga Review

とある科学の超電磁砲（レールガン）/Toaru Kagaku no Railgun

A Certain Scientific Railgun Vol. 07 (manga review) 

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SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:  

Highlights from this volume begin with Mikoto defending clone sister from Accelerator. The battered Touma gets up and with his Image Breaker, combined with a hard punch, puts Accelerator out for good. Mikoto visits Touma in the hospital and discovers he'd rather have homemade cookies. Mikoto promises her "sisters" that she'll be there for them now that the Level 6 Shift project is over. Mikoto gets Saten to help her make cookies, which she ends up not giving to Touma when he gets out of the hospital, though she does get him to call her by name.

Spoiled ojousama KONGOU Mitsuko transfers to Tokiwadai, but immediately runs into problems due to her attitude. Mitoko is avoiding a guy named Unabara and gets Mitsuko to pretend to be her friend to keep him at bay. Mitsuko thinks Mitoto's name is Unabara as the two spend an afternoon together. Later at school, Mitsuko learns about factions and gets to experience one of the Railgun shock waves at a distance. Thanks to Kuroko's bragging, Mitsuko develops a dislike for this "Railgun", not knowing it is Mikoto. Mitsuko decides to start a faction but fails. However, when Mikoto returns something Mitsuko had lost, Mitsuko wants to join Mikoto's faction. Mikoto isn't in one and just wants to be friends, so Mitsuko is happy to have her first friend.

Fellow level 5 esper Misaki isn't happy with Mikoto's growing popularity, so she issues her a "friendly" warning in the library by using her Mental Out power to control everyone there but Mikoto, who's immune to her power.  Uiharu is depressed because Kuroko was hurt in a recent Judgment encounter, so Saten gets her to come with her to chase a rainbow and cheer her up. Misaki has to erase her faction's memories when she's contacted in public by someone with information, who also encourages her to get in the Daihasei Festival activities. Mikoto teams up with Mitsuko in a 3-legged race, where everyone uses their powers to gain an edge. Saten runs into someone she thinks she knows.

Thoughts/Review:

Well, this volume certainly has several things to comment on.

First, there's Mitsuko.  She was introduced in the anime early on, as I recall, and she had a role in other episodes after the Level Upper arc in the anime, which fans consider canon. However, in the manga, she doesn't even transfer to Tokiwadai until this volume.  I thought maybe this 2-chapter story about her and the factions at Tokiwadai could have happened prior to the Level Upper arc, which happened in July, but Mikoto mentioning Kuroko getting hurt blows that theory apart.  I'm not sure how fans completely resolve Mitsuko being in the first anime series, but maybe Kamachi-sensei has stated something I don't know regarding the canon.

As to Mitsuko, the anime didn't leave that positive of an impression with me regarding her character. However, the manga reveals a lonely ojousama who developed this spoiled, "princess" attitude in order to cope with that loneliness.  As such, I felt sorry for her and was glad that Mikoto became her first friend. That friendship comes off in a very real and believable way, thus their partnership in the three-legged race worked for me as well.

Misaki's early introduction in the second anime series must be due to the fact that the anime is not planning to adapt Mitsuko's transfer story, nor the factions story. In the manga, Misaki's arrival makes more sense as Mitsuko's activities and subsequent friendship with Mikoto have not escaped Misaki's notice. Thus, Misaki feels the need to put Mikoto in her place since Misaki can't control Mikoto.

Misaki had the funniest part in the manga. I laughed out loud when she forced one of her underlings, who'd prevented Misaki from eating extra desert, to go speed eat 20 eclairs while Misaki talked with that guy about whatever it is that they have going on.

This volume of the manga shows why we non-Japanese are at such a disadvantage when it comes to these multimedia stories. Kuroko's and Uiharu's adventures where Kuroko gets hurt were documented in one of the A Certain Magical Index novels as well as the anime. Unfortunately, all we get are that Kuroko was hurt, Uiharu was depressed about it, and just a bit more but that's it. So, if you haven't seen the anime or read the novel, then this whole bit about Kuroko's injuries will be confusing.

As far as the new arc goes, the story is taking its time setting things up. Misaki is clearly involved in something nefarious and Saten meeting that woman whom she thought she recognized would seem to play a bigger role. I wonder who the woman is.

On the Seven Seas side of things, the usual honorifics are here, including "oneesama" and the like, which I approve of. No translator notes section, but there are very small print margin notes and in-between panel notes. In addition to their normal ads for other Seven Seas manga titles, I'm glad to see a couple of ads for the Railgun and Index anime titles, since cross promotion is a good thing.

All in all, although this manga volume appears to have a lot more pages than usual, it simply wraps up the Sisters arc, then takes its time setting the table for the Daihasei Festival arc. That's not a problem as I enjoyed the journey.

Hayate the Combat Butler! Cuties - 06

Hayate no Gotoku! Cuties
ハヤテのごとく！Cuties Episode 06 review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Risa corners Hayate at a vending machine and steals his milk while complaining about how everyone considers herself, Miki, and Izumi as idiots. The other two "idiots" show up when Hayate agrees with the assessment. They want to prove they aren't morons, so they decide to each create a video and upload it to the Web to see which video will get the most hits, proving that person isn't an idiot. Izumi is doing a time-laps movie of a plant growing. She breaks the plant, so Rika reveals she's going to record chicks hatching. Since she used unfertilized eggs from the supermarket, her video is a fail, so Risa reveals her Rube Goldberg machine. However, she activates it without recording it, so it fails, revealing that all three are idiots.

Risa corners Hayate in the halls of school after Hayate only gives her a birthday greeting but no present. After making a fuss, he gives her a bookmark he'd made. Risa is not pleased, especially since Hayate gave proper presents to Izumi and Miki. After consulting with her comrades and determining it is cuteness that makes the difference, Risa gives a call to Hina, who tells her to get studying. She calls Nagi, who suggests blushing girls are cute. With Hayate in the room with them, Risa gets Izumi to lift her skirt and blush, revealing her cuteness. Yukiji enters to give the three idiots a makeup test, but they've been goofing off instead of studying so they aren't ready.

Yukiji hands class president Izumi some printouts for the class, warning her that there's only one per person. Izumi gets distracted by Shiranui and ends up losing some printout pages. As a result, she's stuck cleaning the classroom alone. Shiranui shows back and and in the process, Miki's video camera falls to the floor. Testing it to make sure it isn't broken, Izumi makes a quick video. Because it is fun, she makes another one, making her brother-butler. Then, she makes an embarrassing video as if she's the heroin of a shoujo manga in a romance scene with a boy. She realizes it is getting late and leaves without deleting the video. The next day, Miki scolds Izumi for leaving her camera in the classroom. Risa teases her about possibly recording stuff. Izumi panics, but Miki discovers that the SD card is missing.

Thoughts/Review:

For those curious, this episode is adapted from manga chapter 356 (volume 33), chapter 373 (volume 35), and chapter 308 (volume 29) (with the splash page of chapter 309 thrown in to show who helped Izumi).

Of all the episodes so far, I find it interesting that this one takes from more recent manga chapters.

Whatever thoughts I had about the individual stories can be found in the links citing the manga chapters. The only thing I'd add is that for this episode, Miki's SD card is missing. In the manga, the card has only been reformatted, thanks to Hayate.

The only other thing I'd like to say is that this episode showed how the three "idiots" are only used as side story fodder, or to stir the pot with Hina, Nagi, or the like.

Beyond that, I really can't offer any commentary about this episode. I'm just so disappointed with this series so far, I find it hard to be enthused about it. But, I plan to continue to the end.

Hayate the Combat Butler Manga Chapter 405

ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Chapter 405

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Hina and Chiharu decide that while they wait for Nagi to arrive, they'll do some sightseeing. They start with Kinkaku-ji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion), otherwise known as Rokuon-ji (Temple of the Deer Garden). They both admire the golden temple and speak of its history.

Hina is hungry, so they decide to get a desert snack. They decide to try some aburimochi, which they both enjoy.

Upon finishing eating, Chiharu suggests they visit the Ginkaku-ji (Temple of the Silver Pavilion), otherwise known as Jishou-ji (Temple of Shining Mercy), which Hina notes is 6 KM away. As such, Hina wonders if Chiharu is OK with walking that distance. Chiharu is surprised by this suggestion, so Hina says they could run. Chiharu rejects this as a lovely high school girl and so they take the bus.

Arriving at Ginkaku-ji, both girls are surprised at how subdued this temple is compared to Kinkaku-ji. Hina remarks on how she'd prefer living in this place rather than the Golden Temple due to the old nature of the place. She says it is the same reason she likes Yukari-chan House, which Chiharu agrees with.

The girls return to their onsen inn in Arashiyama, figuring to eventually meet Nagi there. Since no one is at the onsen, Chiharu remarks that it is like they've privately reserved the place. After their bath, the girls head to bed, figuring to see Nagi the following day based on Hina's feeling.

The next morning, the girls figure they'll try to meet up with Nagi, but as Nagi passes them in the car with Kurosu-sensei, the girls miss it as they are distracted when Hina spots a tea stalk standing up in her tea, which is supposed to bring good fortune.

Thoughts/Review:

Har! Well, I suppose that in addition to wanting to have an easy chapter to do, Hata-sensei wanted to show why Chiharu and Hina wouldn't carry the manga. I hear there are a lot of Nagi haters out there, so maybe this was targeted at them.

Regardless, there's some nifty historical tidbits in this chapter, tied with the the famous gold and silver temples of Japan.

Otherwise, there's not a whole lot to say about this chapter. It was nice seeing Chiharu and Hina away from the others. Thus, we see how they are as friends and how Chiharu is more than just an otaku, which I think we already understood. I did get a smile out of Hata-sensei's obvious commentary that readers might not recognize Chiharu without her glasses, hence the reason she kept them on in the onsen (and let's face it, as Sakuya's maid who doesn't wear glasses, Chiharu is unrecognizable).

Anyway, Nagi is now in Kyoto. We'll see if Kurosu-sensei has more of a role to play as a traveling doctor. We'll also see if Nagi does end up with Chiharu and Hina. Also, we'll see if Maria and Ah-tan make it as well.

Ah! My Goddess Ch. 296 Manga Review

Ah! My Goddess Manga/Oh My Goddess! Manga
ああっ女神さまっ Chapter 296

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Daitenkaicho Tyr, still in Gate's body, counts down for Keiichi to start his Judgement Gate Grand Prix race. At zero, Keiichi takes off while Belldandy observes, praying for him to make it to her. Keiichi's first attempt has him nearly go off the edge, where he stops just in time. Belldandy shouts a reminder to him that he gets three chances, so he returns to the starting point, where he and Belldandy exchange looks before Keiichi takes off again.

Tyr remarks to his daughter that Keiichi may give up, but Belldandy says that based on her experience, Keiichi will never give up.  Rather than just trying to speed into the unknown, Keiichi takes his second turn to understand the track and get familiar with it, something Tyr notes with a sense of amusement.

As Keiichi is determining his line to follow on the course, he decides that he must complete the challenge now because he can't do it later. The clock winds down as Keiichi races ahead, but he gets distracted when Tyr shouts at him that he should stop since he only has just over four seconds left on the clock. As a result, Keiichi is not able to brake in time and is about to go off the edge of the track when he finds himself at Tyr's location.

Thoughts/Review:

There's not a great deal to discuss for this chapter, but I'll give it a go just the same.

Keiichi is puzzled about showing back up at Tyr's location because he's probably forgotten about the fact that Tyr told him this would happen should he go off the edge of the track.

So, two chances down, and as I thought, we'd get at least one more racing chapter. Keiichi has a feel for part of the track now, so he'll race through that. How he wins this remains to be seen. Will Belldandy do something to cause Keiichi to be able to make it happen, or at least help make it happen. As I said before, she's been his support in making things happen, but he has always had his role to play, so it hasn't been all Belldandy. Thus, her assisting him might be OK (and she did pray here).

Keiichi might do something on his own that is unexpected. After all, he has been with deities for a long time now, and there may be some spark within him that allows him to do the impossible.

Anyway, it is all speculation as there's no telling what Fujishima-sensei has in store. Heck, for all I know, he could pull the greatest troll maneuver ever and have Keiichi lose. *lol*