Inuyasha Vol 48 (Ch 469-472) *SPOILERS*

Thanks to Freelance for the scans.

Chapter 469

Since Rin appears to be dead, Sesshoumaru tells Kohaku to put her down. Sesshoumaru drawn Tenseiga to bring her back to life, but he cannot see the imps known as "the pallbearers of the afterlife." Outside of hell, Sesshoumaru's mother, who's observing everything, tells Jaken that Rin is in fact dead. Back in hell, Sesshoumaru is bothered by Rin's death and quietly asks Tenseiga why. Kohaku tries to apologize but is cut off by Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru quietly reflects that he didn't have to bring her with him when he raised her from the dead after they first met.

In hell, the darkness grows and washes over them. Rin's body is removed, leading Sesshoumaru and Kohaku to go deeper into hell. Sesshoumaru's mother observes this and Jaken gets very concerned about Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru's mother tells the little youkai that she would regret losing her son while he studies his sword, and so opens a path to him. She tells Sesshoumaru to come out of hell since he won't be able to leave if he continues on his path. Sesshoumaru tells Kohaku to take the path while he follows Rin scent. Kohaku decides to follow Sesshoumaru and these events annoy Sesshoumaru's mother.

Kohaku notices the stench of rotting flesh which Sesshoumaru identifies as the scent of death. A giant, slimy, humanoid shape is carrying Rin and drops her on a mountain of corpses. It is then that Sesshoumaru becomes firm in his desire to bring Rin back.

Chapter 470

In an attempt to save Rin, Sesshoumaru uses Tenseiga to cut off the arm of the "Master of Hell" -- the giant, slimy humanoid shape. With the arm gone, Rin falls to the mountain of corpses but is caught by Sesshoumaru. On "the surface," Sesshoumaru's mother continues to observe the events in hell and reminds Jaken that Sesshoumaru has already resurrected Rin once before. As such, he cannot do so again with Tenseiga. In hell, Sesshoumaru is realizing that Rin cannot be saved and drops Tenseiga, which pierces the ground. Sesshoumaru's mother observes this as Sesshoumaru grieves over the loss of Rin, deciding that Rin's life was more important that mastering Tenseiga.

Tenseiga begins to react and the mountain of corpses tries to move toward Tenseiga. Sesshoumaru grabs Tenseiga and the dead in hell begin to be purified by the sword. A meidou is opened from inside hell and from it, Sesshoumaru emerges with the body of Rin as Kohaku follows.

Chapter 471

As Jaken and Kohaku observe the body of Rin, Sesshoumaru's mother observes her son's upset countenance and reminds him that he did what he came to do. Sesshoumaru notes that she knew this would happen to Rin, leading his mother to explain the limitations of the resurrection powers of Tenseiga. He cannot save life as many time as he wants and she reminds him he is not a god. He had to learn the lesson that he must feel sadness or fear of losing someone close to him. He must understand life and have a compassionate heart when dispatching his enemies.

Jaken tears up at the knowledge that Rin had to die in order for Sesshoumaru to have a compassionate heart. Sesshoumaru's mother notices him crying, and he states that because Sesshoumaru-sama cannot show tears due to his disposition, Jaken will in his stead. Asking if Sesshoumaru is sad, his mother takes the meidou stone necklace off and places it on Rin. With it, she brings Rin back to life.

Rin opens her eyes and Sesshoumaru gently touches her face, telling her she's OK now. Jaken expresses Sesshoumaru's thanks and states that Sesshoumaru is extremely happy. Sesshoumaru's mother notes how like his father Sesshoumaru has become. Sesshoumaru then leaves with Rin and Kohaku follows. Sesshoumaru's mother stops him, asking how he was able to survive hell. He explains it is the Shikon shard. Understanding this, Sesshoumaru's mother tells him that his life cannot be saved by Tenseiga either.

Elsewhere, Inuyasha's group comes on a village surrounded by sweet smelling flowers. The flowers are making Shippou-chan and Inuyasha feel ill, but the villagers encourage the group to spend the night. In the house set up for travelers, the group takes residence with Inuyasha mildly complaining. Sango is surprised that Kagome hasn't grown weary of this, but Kagome knows that Inuyasha is still grieving for Kikyou. Meanwhile, the villagers report to "Kaou-sama" that the travelers are in the lodge, which he notes the scent of a wounded soul.

Chapter 472

As the group sleeps, Inuyasha becomes a bit irritated with the stronger scent of the flowers. Kagome awakens and tries to encourage him to lie down since he hasn't had a good sleep in a long time. Shippou-chan awakens with hay fever symptoms and Kagome has him blow his nose. Meanwhile, as some villagers make their way through the flowers, Kagome and Inuyasha observe the villagers acting strangely as they begin to cry tears of blood while vines attach themselves to the villagers. Miroku awakens and decides to end this by flinging fuda strips into the flowers. This causes ground to be revealed, which is shaped like various human bodies.

Kaou appears and states this is a flower nursery. Kaou asks the villagers that Miroku saved if they were OK since they were forced to experience something horrible (Miroku's fuda). The villagers say they are OK but express concern for those who became soil. Inuyasha demands to know if Kaou is a youkai, but Miroku doesn't sense any youki and Kaou asks Inuyasha if he senses youki. Kaou goes on to say that they must be sensing contentment. With that, the smell of the flowers gets strong and Inuyasha warns them not to smell the scent. Sango passes out and Kaou notes her unhappiness over Kohaku.

As Miroku holds Sango, vines approach them and he dispatches them with a fuda. Kaou notes that the Houshi-dono (a title for Miroku) is worried about his body and may be afraid of death. Kaou tells Miroku to entrust his body to the flowers and become happy. This causes Inuyasha to unleash Tessaiga and a Kaze no Kizu attack. This wipes out the flowers and Kaou disappears, leaving only a small amount of blood behind. Inuyasha decides to follow the blood scent and Kagome decides to go with him. He objects, but Miroku informs him that Kaou is using peoples suffering as food. Inuyasha takes off anyway, so Miroku gives Kagome a warding talisman so she can follow Inuyasha.

Inuyasha and Kagome come to the Japanese castle, where the grounds are covered in flowers. Kaou is waiting for them, having left blood on purpose for them to come to him. Beneath Inuyasha, the flowers become red like blood and Inuyasha finds he can't move.

Thoughts

The Sesshoumaru story was really enjoyable. He really does love Rin like a daughter and it was nice to let us see this. It was a shame that we never learned his mother's name though. I did fear that Takahashi-sensei was going to kill Rin since it feels like she's getting ready to wrap up this manga this year. I was glad to see that she didn't do this though.

As to the new story-arc for Inuyasha to follow, I guess this will resolve Inuyasha's depression. It feels like another so-so story though at this point.

Japanese Rap -- Grand Slam "Fresh"

Back when I lived in Japan back in the day, the Japanese were into things western to include hip-hop. Heck, some Japanese kids would pay BIG money to have a high top fade hair style (and remember, these Japanese don't have a natural curl to their hair to accomplish this). So for giggles, I thought I'd see what was on YouTube when it came to some Japanese rap. There's a lot of crap, but I did see this.



The group should called Grand Slam and the song "Fresh" but I'm not 100% about this (if you know, let me know). I don't know how old the song is (finding information has been very difficult) but I like how this song sounds. It has a 90's feel to me for some reason and has a nice, catchy background. And the rappers have a good flow to them, which always helps.

Anyway, I thought I'd share some "Nihongo Rappu" with you guys. If anyone knows anything else about these guys, please let me know.

What I'm Watching 11

As an aside, I had planned to keep the "What I'm Watching" entries to a paragraph summary and some thoughts. However, sometimes that's easier said than done, so it will be a 2-3 paragraph summary with thoughts. Having said that...

Genshiken OAV 1 (Ep. 13) -- Its the time of year for new kids to join college clubs and Sasahara and Madarame discuss whether Saki-san will allow new folks to join. Kuchiki arrives (having been rejected by Saki-san last year) and looks for a game rematch. When Saki arrives with Kohsaka, she calls him "Ku-chii," something no one in the anime club will do but something he wants very much. After initially appearing to reject him becoming a member of Genshiken, she allows it much to Sasahara's and Madarame's great surprise. Things are interrupted when a commotion across the courtyard at the manga club where the group sees a girl leap backward from the club window and injure herself.

The next day, manga club member Takayanagi-kun comes with the girl. While Genshiken knows the manga club is pawning her off, they decide to giver her a look. The girl, Ogiue, introduces herself, states she hates otaku (especially female otaku), and asks why female otaku like homos so much (yes, she says "homos" in the Japanese). She attempts to pick a fight with Saki-san and then Kuchiki. Kuchiki hits her, provoking the wrath of Saki-san. The following day, Ohno sets a trap for Ogiue by leaving a vast amount of yaoi doujinshi on the table. While she and others spy on Ogiue, hoping to catch her enjoying said doujinshi, Saki-san comes into the club room and foils the plan. Ohno returns to the Genshiken room after a call from Saki-san and she and Ogiue get into an argument over yaoi doujinshi and getting off to it. The confrontation ends when Kuchiki comes and outs Ogiue, having taken pictures of her at a yaoi otaku event. This leads to another punch out of Kuchiki by Saki-san, after which she attempt so keep Ogiue from jumping out the window.

Thoughts: I was reminded of how much I love the manga Genshiken as I watched this. The anime writers didn't try to do anything fancy and as such did a good job of adapting the manga chapters into this OAV episode. It was interesting to see that the Japanese used the terms "homo" and "homos" which Del Rey made more politically correct by changing to "queer" and "queers." The politically correct version is less funny IMO.

Genshiken OAV 2 (Ep. 14) -- Saki gets Ogiue to come with her and with Saki's "normal" friends, they discuss fashion in the cafeteria. Madarame happens to be in the area and even though Saki waves at him, he ignores her. This leads to an argument in the Genshiken club room where Madarame tells her she's from another planet and that dating Kohasaka (whom he also says is from another world) doesn't change anything. Its then that Saki notices Madarame's new rectangle glasses and finds them amusing. She then goes to lecture on fashion, which leads Madarame to a trip to buy some new clothes. He goes into a trendy shop but is quickly intimidated and flees to an arcade. After recovering a bit, he returns and notices the high prices for everything. Normally he only spends about ¥2000 on clothes, but here, that won't buy him a sock. Eventually, he decides to approach this as he would purchasing otaku things -- don't worry about price, just buy what you want.

Returning home, he runs into Saki with more of her normal friends. Learning from his previous error, he goes out of his way to speak to her. She seems offended at first, but introduces him as her boyfriend's friend. They recognize him as otaku and since they were parting company anyway, Saki decides to return home with Madarame. Before going to the train station, they stop as a sushi bar and have a lengthy talk about things including the fact that Saki has been playing more games at Kohsaka's place. On the train ride home, Madarame offers an empty seat to Saki, but she turns it down, telling him to offer her the seat is just like an otaku. He takes the seat. When the get to the train station, Kohsaka is waiting for them and wishes he could have partaken in the sushi feast. At school the next day, Madarame wears his new digs and gets approval from Saki over his choices. Ogiue also arrives with new clothes, which do not meet Saki's approval.

Thoughts: This was a bit boring since the anime writers put in a lot of filler into this episode. They changed things up to give Saki's "normal" friends some airtime, something they haven't had in the manga that I've read thus far. And the anime writers changed the sushi bar scene a bit so that Madarame isn't shown to be worrying about getting the cheap sushi. We see him just pick stuff from the conveyor belt and Saki order expensive stuff, but the conversation and Madarame's thoughts never broach the subject of sushi. Still, I enjoyed the episode just the same.

Pumpkin Scissors 13 -- In the country of Loderia, young Princess Septième is made aware of a smuggler (from Loderia) that the Imperial Army S.S. III captured and that this is "Alice-chan's" unit. So she and her elderly butler decide to pop into the Imperial capital to pay a visit. Section III is notified of this and Alice tells what she knows of the princess. At the train station, Princess Septième looks for a hot dog stand she remembered from her last visit but sadly it is no longer there. At the same time, Ored and Machs (having a day off) have been looking for the same hot dog stand with no success. Ored has other plans and takes off with a girl "Rosana-chan" on the motorbike with sidecar leaving Machs' to fend for himself.

Machs is in the restroom when Septième comes in through the window. She is haughty and arrogant as she talks about Machs being a commoner. She introduces herself but Machs doesn't believe her to be a real princess. As her butler looks for her, Septième gets hungry and Machs suggests a hot dog. Septième really wants the hot dog from the same vendor as Machs, so off to the tax records office they go to find out what happened. Machs doesn't try to pull rank but Septième does. They get the information because the head of the office knows Machs and approves. The search leads them to a bad part of town where Septième tells of the hardships of the competition between her siblings and herself over who will rule Loderia next, which includes attempted assassinations. They find the vendor and because of the costs, Septième tries to use the vendors lack of paying taxes to get a free meal. She's chastised by Machs and flees to an even worse part of town.

Meanwhile, Septième's butler is at the Section III office and with the threat of a diplomatic incident, Alice, Stekkin, and the butler get into the Section III armored car and take off, having learned where Septième is. Septième is assaulted by residents of this bad part of town and Machs comes to the rescue. He uses his military training to get her free just as Alice and company arrive. Back at HQ, Machs is stunned that Septième is really a princess and as her butler attempts to get the smuggler free, Septième decides to leave him in Section III's hands. She then kisses Machs passionately on the lips and demands that Machs be made available to her every time she visits the city in exchange for Section III being allowed to keep the smuggler. On the train ride back to their home, Septième and her butler have a talk where he comes to realize that Septième has come a long way beyond the petty using of others.

Thoughts: I rather enjoyed this episode for some reason. Yeah, it is somewhat clichéd, but I liked Machs using his military training and how Septième fell for this commoner. It was just a fun episode.

CLAMP vs. Clamp -- The Wikipedia War

I'm sure most of us know of Wikipedia -- the online encyclopedia where nearly anyone can create entries and make updates to articles that reside within its pages. I've used it quite a lot and have made entries and fixes to certain articles. But if you've used it a lot, you'll notice that things can change from time to time and for unknown reasons. In the Chobits page, try to talk about "Sumomo" and watch how quickly that gets removed because a "god of Wikipedia" has deemed that only the name "Plum" is allowed (For those who don't know, Sumomo is the name of a small female android in the manga and anime. The word "sumomo" means "plum" in Japan, so TokyoPop decided to translate the name Sumomo to Plum in the official manga translation. Although the official anime English adaptation uses "Sumomo," one of the Wikipedia gods has decided that only the TokyoPop name is allowed to be used in the Chobits article and the explanation about Sumomo/Plum has to be relegated to near the bottom of the article. All attempts to use "Sumomo" are rejected out of hand as are attempts to explain the name differential early in the article.).

Things like this may be annoying, but I was amazed when I heard of the war going on within Wikipedia over CLAMP. Believe it or not, some of the gods of Wikipedia have decided that "CLAMP" cannot be used on Wikipedia's pages and so have mass-converted "CLAMP" to "Clamp."

Wikipedia has various guidelines to have standards on posting. One such standard, called the Manual of Style (trademarks) (WP:MOS-TM), defines what can and can't be used on the site. Allow me to quote a bit:

Follow standard English text formatting and capitalization rules even if the trademark owner encourages special treatment:

• avoid: REALTOR®
• instead, use: Realtor
• but, don't invent new formats: MCI is standard English, while "Mci" is essentially never used.

Apparently, the gods of Wikipedia have decides that CLAMP is a trademark rather than a pseudonym of a group and so "CLAMP" cannot be used. The gods have deemed that "CLAMP" is a trademark even if it isn't an officially labeled trademark and so the name has to be "Clamp" within Wikipedia.

While the third bullet point would appear to apply, the gods have decided to use any erroneous printing of "Clamp" on any official website (like Amazon.com or Amazon Japan) to be official justification of their decision. Apparently, the New York Times also used "Clamp" once (which is also in error) and that's like icing on the cake. A large number of people have argued with the gods of Wikipedia citing all sorts of things (including all these official images on Wikipedia where "CLAMP" is clearly shown and not "Clamp). The gods will not be persuade.

"You plebes can get stuffed. We have officially renamed 'CLAMP' to 'Clamp' because that's the English way it should be. We are not Japan and thus we will not use 'CLAMP.' "

And so the little war at Wikipedia goes on. It will be nice if we could get this back to "CLAMP" which is the accurate name of the group rather than create a new name for them. However, I suspect that the gods of Wikipedia will never allow things to go back to the way they were no matter what. For some reason, these gods remind me of those who rather than use an Indian's real name would instead force a translated name upon them because that's the English way of doing things.

Additional: See this article for what we fans should do about this.

Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE Vol 14 (Ch 103-105) *SPOILERS*

Thanks to BWYS for the scans.

Chapter 103

Syaoran and company flee from the massive attack from creatures since as Fai acknowledges this is faster than fighting. They race to the goal of Sakura's feather and suddenly they find themselves in Clow Country, where Syaoran and Sakura are from. Fai realizes that they are in a memory from the Book of Memories based on his magical experience. Kurogane grills Fai a bit on using his "magic" which Fai says is focus on unnecessary things. The group comes to the ruins and Sakura tells the story of Syaoran's father and her trips to the ruins which irritated her brother. However, she cannot remember why she kept going to the ruins (Syaoran).

As they walk, Fai finds what appears to be a type of pocket watch at a bench which triggers a memory within Syaoran. He recalls Sakura bringing him food to the ruins and sitting at that bench. The watch is there and turned such a way that Sakura can claim not to know the time and stay a little longer.

Back in the present, Fai figures that the watch is there from Sakura's memory since it made such a strong impression on her. They walk down some stairs to a large room where a wing (tsubasa) emblem is on the floor and Mokona can feel the feather's power. It is then that the floor begins to give way.

Chapter 104

With the floor gone revealing a large, black hole, Fai asks Sakura-chan if she remembers what's down there. She doesn't but Mokona can feel the feather's power from the hole. Syaoran volunteers to go down the hold and Sakura-chan wonders why he feels the need to go to such an extent to get the feather back. Even though the person that slew his mother isn't on this world, Kurogane agrees to help Syaoran under the guise of getting them to the next world. As the two leap into the hole, Mokona encourages Sakura to be there waiting for them when they return.

Syaoran finds himself standing on ground even though he never hit the ground. He finds the Book of Memories but finds the library's guardians waiting for him. A battle ensues and Syaoran tries to get the feather without harming the guardian. Kurogane chastises him for this since he can't defeat the guardian with defensive moves, but it is too late as the guardian knocks Syaoran out. However, Syaoran gets up as a man possessed leading Kurogane to wonder.

Chapter 105

The seemingly possessed Syaoran attacks the guardian with no seeming regard to himself. His attacks are vicious and the giant guardian beast is utterly defeated. As Kurogane observes, Syaoran breaks the book and takes the feather. It is then that Kurogane asks who the boy really is. The illusion is broken and as it is, Syaoran returns to normal and puts the feather within Sakura-chan. Since people from the library are on their way, Mokona plans to evacuate them to the next world, but cannot activate the magic. Fai reasons that this is a defense of the library to prevent the book from being stolen.

The group takes off to attempt to get to a place where Mokona can transport them off world but another guardian is waiting for them in the library.

Thoughts:

The possessed Syaoran is certainly very vicious and cold. Its kinda creepy and makes you wonder where CLAMP will take this. The return to the ruins via Sakura-chan's memories is interesting since I believe that a hidden power under the ruins has been mentioned before. Other than that, there's not a lot to mention since 104 and 105 are filled with a lot of shounen action.

Inuyasha Vol 47 (Ch 466-468) *SPOILERS*

Thanks to Freelance for the scans.

Chapter 466

Ginta and Hakkaku join the group and talk with Miroku and Sango about recent events. Kouga asks Kagome if she's going to be OK and remarks on how heavy his legs are without the shards. He walks over to Inuyasha and puts a foot on his head, but instead of Inuyasha's normal reaction, he remains calm. Kouga is leaving because he doesn't want to be a burden on them. Since Inuyasha isn't doing his normal bickering back at Kouga, Kouga yells at him for thinking he's the only broken hearted one. While this causes a reaction among the group, Inuyasha remains calm and depressed. Kouga tries to provoke Inuyasha but only gets a weak response.

Kouga turns to Kagome and tells her Inuyasha will need a lot of work to return to normal. He leaves the matter to her and after embracing her, he and the rest of his pack take off. Before Kouga can leave, Inuyasha tells him that his desire to fight Naraku wasn't in vain. Saying his final goodbye to Kagome, he takes off in a run and is still much faster than Ginta and Hakkaku.

Meanwhile, Sesshoumaru-sama is apparently looking for something, which causes some speculation between Rin, Kohaku, and Jaken. Kohaku appears to know that Kikyou has passed away and wishes he were stronger. As Sesshoumaru observes the sky, a giant dog youkai appears there. He transforms himself into his giant dog youkai form and joins the other youkai. The two return to the ground and transform into human form, the other youkai into a woman. The woman addresses Sesshoumaru without an honorific, much to Jaken's irritation. However, the woman has a good reason to not use an honorific since she's Sesshoumaru's mother.

Chapter 467

Kagome suggests the group go look for Kohaku-kun because of Kikyou's last words to her. The group discusses this while Inuyasha notes the scent of Sesshoumaru and another youkai.

At a large Japanese estate (palace?), Sesshoumaru's mother asks him if he intends to eat the two human children with him. He doesn't and changes the subject to the Meidou attack of Tenseiga. She produces a Meidou-seki (a stone) and tells Sesshoumaru that she had been instructed by his father to use it if Sesshoumaru came by and that Sesshoumaru would be in danger. She decides to test Sesshoumaru and summons a hell hound. Sesshoumaru uses the Meidou attack, but it is only a crescent and not a full circle.

The hell hound goes toward Rin and Kohaku and takes them into the crescent and into hell. Sesshoumaru goes to follow and is stopped by his mother. She wonders if he's become soft to save human lives, but he states he's just going to kill the hound. He enters the Meidou and it closes behind him, leaving his mother to say he'll not be able to return to the land of the living.

Sesshoumaru finds the hound on a path and attacks. Within the body of the hound, he sees Rin and Kohaku. Back on the estate, Sesshoumaru's mother sits on her throne and remarks that to improve the sword, sacrifices will have to be made.

Chapter 478

Sesshoumaru uses Tenseiga to defeat the hell hound, using the same power that kills the "pallbearers" from hell. Rin is still alive, something Sesshoumaru's mother observes via the Meidou-seki. She then asks Jaken what Rin means to Sesshoumaru. He can't really answer beyond saying that Sesshoumaru treats her better than he. Sesshoumaru's mother states that Rin will die. Kohaku has the power of the shards which keeps him alive. Various hell creatures attack and Sesshoumaru orders Kohaku to take Rin and run. He fights the creatures but ends up having to save Rin and Kohaku. He chastises Kohaku for making him waste time as his remaining arm was meant to hold a sword.

As they journey, the cliff-path they are on begins to break up behind them. Sesshoumaru's mother continues to observe their progress, noting that only hell is before them and they cannot return the way they came. She notes to Jaken that once they enter the true darkness of hell, not even Sesshoumaru can return. As they proceed, Kohaku notices that Rin has stopped breathing and is apparently dead. Before them lies the darkness of hell.

Thoughts

With Kouga gone and shardless, I keep wondering if this is a further sign that Takahashi-sensei will end things sooner rather than later. However, the big item of interest is Sesshoumaru's mother. It's nice to get some information on Sesshoumaru's family and maybe we'll learn something more about their father.

What I'm Watching 10

Lupin III Part III 01 -- Lupin gets a call from Fujiko to come to San Francisco because she has a lead on Al Capone's missing treasure. Apparently, he baked the secret of the treasure's location onto five tiles he made while in prison. In San Francisco, Fujiko and Lupin are out to find the tiles held by Chin Kai in Chinatown. Inspector Zenigata is on their case and pursues. Criminal Star-Mo grabs Lupin and Chin Kai's gang grabs Fujiko. Star-Mo learns how difficult it is to hold Lupin in check but after some crazy driving where a bomb attached to Lupin's chair could go off, Lupin tells what he knows about the titles. Lupin is rescued by Jigen who disarms the bomb. Fujiko is stripped in an attempt to find the titles. Star-Mo comes with them, but they find they have six tiles. Only one is real and Fujiko is soon rescued by Goemon. The gang heads to Alcatraz where they find the other real tiles in Capone's original cell. Defeating Chin Kai's thugs and eluding Zenigata, they discover the secrets of the titles and dive to the north of the Golden Gate Bridge to find the treasure.

Well, I can certainly see why this TV series is considered the weakest of the lot. I honestly felt like I was watching Scooby Doo at times. The weird thing was that they never actually showed Lupin getting the treasure.

Pumpkin Scissors 12 -- As Oland and Ored look for clues about Alice's abductions, the newspaper reporter Dalton returns to the Pumpkin Scissors HQ. The captain, Stekkin, and Machs are reluctant to let him in until his remarks about the death of Dr. Colts, the father of the tank. A flashback shows Captain Hunks with the female who's involved with the Invisible 9 project. Back in the present, as Hunks and Dalton talk, Alice arrives, having been let go by her captors. Dalton leaves and gives the false impression to Oland and Ored that he knows nothing of Alice so they are surprised to see her when they enter their HQ. At a local bar, Cecile (leader of the group that kidnapped Alice) talks with Dalton. Her allies Bruno and Rick are eager for her to sell the manuscript that could blow the lid off the corruption in the government and expose the secret human weapon's project like the Invisible 9. She doesn't want to sell, but Bruno and Rick knock her out to give the papers to Dalton. Dalton's editor is happy to have the papers but acts cautiously. Meanwhile, Cecile confronts Alice while Bruno and Rick are assassinated in an alleyway. After treating Cecile's wounds, she, Alice, and Oland confront Dalton again. Alice explains why what he is doing is wrong but he too is assassinated. Alice and Oland fight the assassin, who upon being bested by Oland, takes his own life. Back at the newspaper office, the editor claims to have lost the manuscript and Cecile soon learns of Bruno's and Rick's death. Elsewhere, two mysterious figures discuss the people being ready for a post-war world.

Thoughts: This isn't a bad series, but it isn't great either. Even after 12 episodes, it still hasn't really gripped me, even though there are interesting things.

Ah! My Goddess: Sorezore no Tsubasa 23 (OAV 01) -- After waking from a premonition dream, Keiichi is greeted by Belldandy. She has found the diary of his grandfather, Hotarunosuke-san complete with a picture of his grandfather as a young man with a young woman. Urd and Skuld see a treasure map and want to explore, but get vetoed by Keiichi. However, Keiichi gets overridden when the Motor Club comes by and the group uses his grandfather's place in the country to train. Inside the western house, Bell and Urd notice something wrong, but are put off when they are greeted by Honda Chieko, an attractive maid who happens to be a shinentai. She seems to know Keiichi and calls him "Morisato-sama," much to the disgust of Ootaki and Tamiya and Skuld. Chieko isn't happy K1 doesn't remember her and doesn't care much for Belldandy. But she prepares meals for everyone and a party ensues. K1 slips away at some point and Chieko follows. In a bedroom, she produces the picture of Hotarunosuke-san and herself and tries to get K1 to remember a promise made. Urd and Belldandy come to K1's rescue and Belldandy gets Chieko to tell her the story. Turns out, K1's grandfather had promised to drive Chieko around the lake on a Brough Suprier bike, and that bike is on the premise. K1 repairs the bike after Chihiro-san puts Ootaki and Tamiya in check. He then keeps his grandfather's promise, allowing the shinentai to leave Earth. He puts the bike back in storage (to the chagrin's of Ootaki and Tamiya) and tells Belldandy what he'd do if she left him for a long period of time. She promises not to make him wait that long.

Thoughts: I always loved this chapter in the manga because it was sweet on one hand, but also showed what Belldandy (and even Urd) would do if K1 got into trouble. The adaptation of the manga chapter is pretty good, save for Bell and Urd flashing their powers in front of the entire Motor Club (but they were drunk, ANB!). I never have liked the anime writers constant need to have the megami flash their powers in public or in front of crowds.

Negima! Vol 18 (Ch 164) *SPOILERS*

Thanks to AQS for the scans.

Chapter 164

Misora puts on her nuns clothing with the (young looking girl) Cocone. She is chastised by an older nun for not hurrying and cleaning the mess hall. Meanwhile, Negi and his girls race to class as they used to do. Because of Negi's being a child teacher combined with his results in the tournament, a bevy or reporters are waiting to interview him. Some of the girls comment on Negi's fame leading Makie to say that Negi won't forget them no matter how famous he is. In class, things are back to normal, save for "Chao-rin's" absence. There is some talk about her sudden departure among those who didn't know the reason and even Negi's a bit sad.

Misora quietly reflects on how cool she thinks Negi is and wonders why Asuna appears angry. Misora then observes some of Negi's companions and the changes with them. She observes Mana and how she didn't know how famous she was in the underworld. She then observes Eva and fearfully remembers the stories told to her about Eva and how her involvement in the School Festival adventure might have made her noticed by Eva.

Ako notices Misora's facial expression and the two talk. Misora wonders if something is wrong with Ako (who had a date with adult Negi) and suggest going to confessional at her church. Her priest is popular and doesn't mind if you aren't Christian. Fumika and Fuka wonder what a confessional is, so Negi-sensei explains it.

Back at the church, Misora and Cocone clean the floors where Misora remarks on feeling worn and wishing she could graduate so she could have some fun. Cocone grabs Misora from behind and clings to her. Misora laughs and promises not to leave Cocone after she graduates because Cocone is her master. It is then that they observe Negi and Asuna in the church courtyard. Asuna is chastising Negi for having only thoughts of his Dad an being like Chao was. Negi leaves and Misora returns to her cleaning with Cocone.

Asuna decides to enter the confessional which Misora happens to be on the other side of, cleaning. Even though she knows she'll get scolded by Sister Shakti, Misora uses magic to disguise her voice and takes Asuna's confession. Asuna talks about Negi and his reckless behavior. Asuna is concerned and worried about Negi. Misora asks if Asuna likes Negi. This catches Asuna off guard and she angrily states that Negi is like a little brother to her. Misora states that even a familial love is still love. This leads Asuna to run away, stating she's not a shoutacon (into young boys).

Yue sees Asuna run off and comes to the confessional where Misora is laughing at what just happened. Misora is interrupted when Yue starts her confession. Misora and Cocone listen to Yue confess she's attracted to the person her best friend is in love with (Negi). This stuns Misora but before she can say anything, Yue runs out. Misora gets a wicked feeling at the power of using the confessional and wonders which of Yue's friends Yue talked about. At that time, Nodoka arrives to Cocone's and Misora's shock.

Thoughts

It is nice seeing more about Misora and Cocone. Apparently, she's "doing time" as a nun to be good and it seems to me, pay off some sort of debt. However, as this chapter shows, being good sometimes if very difficult indeed. Still, while not deep, it was a fun chapter.

What I'm Watching 09

Honey and Clover II 07 -- As Morita-san (Shinobu) sleeps, we are given a flashback to his father MORITA Tsukaka and his crazy little robotic inventions. His chief assistant (and I believe brother-in-law) NEGISHI Tatsuo is the serious type and just tolerates Tsukaka's silly nature. That nature lead to him having the applicants for a job in his company to build a model airplane each with the plane flying the furthest getting the job. He even got his sons Shinobu and Kaoru involved. Shinobu's plane won. When Shinobu was hurt later, Tatsuo took Kaoru home and talked about the kind of person Tsukasa was in high school. Just as Tatsuo was always in the shadow of Tsukasa, Kaoru was always in the shadow of Shinobu. Tatsuo is dying and wonders who will care for his mother. So he convinces Tsukasa to sell shares of the company, which is then bought by a large electric company. Realizing he's been betrayed, Tsukasa quits the company and leaves everything to Tatsuo, who collapses. If he dies, the electric company will gain 100% control of the company. Tsukasa curses Tatsuo, but tells his sons they aren't allowed to do so and that they most move on. And so in the present, they've done just that as they prepare to buy back their father's company.

This was an episode with little humor at all. It was amazing to see Shinobu's past. On one hand, you can see where he gets his nutty behavior, but on the other, you can see that maybe a lot of that is a front to hide the pain of what happened to his family when he was a child. And the end showing the bloody glass and apparent hair of Hagu-chan sure is ominous.

Honey and Clover II 08 -- In a flashback, Hagu-chan observes Takemoto's completed artwork and praises it. He tells her of his plans to do restoration work on old temples and other old buildings were there are no blueprints. Hagu-chan ponders on how the group of friends are going their own way and her own plans to return to her hometown of Nagano. Takemoto wonders if she's let Hanamoto-sensei know of this, but she hasn't because she's afraid. As Hagu-chan wanders the campus, the wind from an approaching storm blows out a window that apparently falls on her head. Meanwhile in Spain, Rika-san is improving since Mayama came, in part because he keeps Carlos at bay. However, their relationship has not advanced since he's been there. Back in Japan, Takemoto arrives at the scene of the accident after Hagu-chan has been taken to the hospital. Yamada tells Takemoto what happened and Sensei's instructions. Elsewhere, the Morita brothers buy out the electric company and get revenge for what happened to their father. That night, Takemoto gets news on Hagu-chan and he and Yamada come to see her in the hospital. However, her right hand has been severely injured and the nerve cut.

We get a little comic relief from the side-trip to Spain, but otherwise this is another depressing episode. On one hand, you have the Morita brothers buying back their father's legacy, getting revenge, and yet getting no real joy from it. On the other, you have the devastating injury to Hagu-chan. In both instances, we see how life doesn't always go as planned.

Honey and Clover II 09 -- Kaoru disappeared, having gone through a period of great depression about the actions he and Shinobu took against their father's wishes. At the hospital, Hagu-chan is desperate to do anything, even feel pain, to show that the nerves in her right hand have reconnected. With rehab, she may still never regain feeling in her right hand. Yamada and Takemoto ponder all of this and Yamada decides to look into purchasing a cell phone so that she could help Hagu-chan. Nomiya sees this and is happy she's getting a cell phone, but upon hearing the reasons behind it, encourages Yamada to be there for Hagu-chan (for which is co-workers are proud). Yamada then makes something to cover Hagu-chan's shoulders and arms when she sits up in bed as well as other things, which makes Hagu-chan happy. Takemoto regrets his poverty and how he can't even afford flowers, but Yamada comes to the rescue and they pick wild flowers along the train tracks. Hagu-chan has taken to biting her left hand as well as Hanamoto-sensei's hand. Takemoto gets a fax to start his new job in April and he wonders whether to take the job and be parted from Hagu-chan or turn down the job and somehow find a way to stay in expensive Tokyo and be with the woman he loves.

Another powerful and depressing episode with some comic relief here and there. I feel so bad for Hagu-chan and I can empathize with Takemoto's difficult choice.

Honey and Clover II 10 -- Hagu-chan enters rehab and Yamada brings some special food that only Hagu-chan can appreciate. Everyone else gets the shock of their life, which Hanamoto-sensei refers to as "Yamada genocide." Yamada sends word of Hagu-chan's accident to Mayama in Spain and he somehow gets it to Shinobu. Shinobu quickly returns and finds out where Hagu-chan is staying. Takemoto learns this and borrowing Yamada's bike, he races to the hospital in a desperate attempt for Hagu-chan. Shinobu rides in a car and gets there first. He comes to where Hagu-chan and Hanamoto-sensei are sitting in the courtyard and when Hanamoto-sensei leaves to get some drinks, Shinobu takes Hagu-chan away to his "secret hideout" (an apartment) in the city where he and Kaoru would at times stay. While Takemoto and Hanamoto-sensei look all over for her, Shinobu and Hagu-chan have a talk where he tells her to give up on drawing and makes a confession of sorts. Hanamoto-sensei figures Hagu-chan is with Morita and returning to his residence (?) on campus, Takemoto learns that Sensei is planing to leave school. He'd planned to take three years off to help Hagu-chan rehab but with Morita's return, she may choose Shinobu. If so, he tells Takemoto he'll travel around the world. He then returns to the hospital while Hagu-chan spends the night with Shinobu.

WHAAAAAH! I didn't want to see Morita and Hagu-chan hook up. That's TWO disappointments here, but very much like real life I suppose. Poor Takemoto. Nice guys do finish last, don't they? Well, at least we got some good humor at the beginning with Yamada's cooking.

Honey and Clover II 11 -- Hagu-chan awakens and finds her hand swollen. She asks for "Shuu-chan" (Hanamoto-sensei) and begs Morita to take her back to the hospital, which he does. This leads to a fist fight between himself and Hanamoto-sensei. Later, he pays a visit to Hagu-chan via the window and tells her what transpired. She encourages him to find his brother and tell him what he told her the night before. His words made her happy and she stated she'd always be watching him. Takemoto meets Shinobu outside the hospital and warns him to avoid Sensei, but of course that was too late. Takemoto shows Shinobu Hanamoto-sensei's plans to leave the school and quietly reflects on how they can never go back to the time when the group used to get together there. That night, Hagu-chan asks Shuu-chan to stay with her and he happily agrees. In a flashback, we get to see a child Hagu-chan and her close relationship to Shuu-chan going through the years. The two have always been very close and important to each other. Meanwhile, Shinobu and Takemoto spend the night drinking and wake up in a daze and hungry. Shinobu treats Takemoto to some convenience store food which they eat on the river bank. Takemoto tells Morita that he's glad Hagu-chan picked Sensei over Morita, which ticks Morita off. This leads to a fight where Takemoto punches out Morita. After being found by some old men, the two walk home kicking each other all the way. Morita takes a box of cash and drops it off with Hanamoto-sensei. He manages to see Morita walking away and from the window, throws the box back at him, keeping only a small wad of cash that he promises to give back one day, but not Hagu-chan. This prompts Morita to ask if Hanamoto-sensei loves Hagu-chan, which he confesses in front of many witnesses including Yamada.

Ah, revenge. I was happy to see Morita get punched out not once but twice. I'm like Takemoto in that I'm glad Hagu-chan chose to stay with Hanamoto-sensei rather than be with Morita. Granted, from a romantic standpoint, Hagu-chan did chose Morita (which sucks) but at least for Takemoto's sake, the smegger still lost in the end.

Honey and Clover II 12 -- Yamada is shocked by Hanamoto-sensei's love confession for Hagu-chan, and asking if Hagu-chan knows, he doesn't know. She never suspected due to his age and such. Mayama arrives on scene having just arrived back in Japan and hearing the news, he congratulates Sensei. Later, Mayama and Yamada go for a walk where he thanks for for giving him the news about Hagu-chan. Back at his residence on campus, Rika-san waits for Hanamoto and she kisses him. They talk for a while. In a flashback, Hanamoto-sensei also tells Tange-sensei of his planned departure. Elsewhere, Kaoru arrives at his childhood home to find it being occupied by the man he'd just removed as head of his father's old company. Realizing that Shinobu and aide Shiroyama did this, he takes a call from Shiroyama and decides to return to Tokyo providing they have some curry waiting for him. Meanwhile, Hagu-chan tells Hanamoto that she'll start doing pottery with Ayu (Yamada) because it will help in her rehab. She wants to make a piece for Ayu and for her mother's new baby that's due. Back at the electric company, Kaoru eats his curry and when Shinobu arrives, he gets the staff to get his little brother some with extra meat. Shinobu decides to work for Peter Lucas in the U.S. (ie: George Lucas).

Some time later after Hagu-chan and Takemoto have graduated, the group minus Morita has a party. Takemoto leaves the following day and is all packed up. Before Yamada or Mayama can start crying, they and Hanamoto-sensei dispatch Takemoto and Hagu-chan on an errand to get ice cream. On the way, the two talk. Hagu-chan tells him how she watched him make his tower for his final thesis and knows that he'll be perfect for restoring old temples. She worries about not being able to return anything to Shuu-chan, but Takemoto tells her Sensei is not looking for Hagu-chan to return anything but is trying to find something on his own. The next day, Takemoto gets on an empty bullet train car and sees Hagu-chan on the platform. She gives him a wrapped item and after embracing him, the train leaves. The items in the cloth-wrapping were several honey sandwiches, each with a 4-leaf clover inside. This makes Takemoto cry with happiness and glad he fell in love with Hagu-chan. As the credits role, we see that Mayama and Rika-san continue their work in Spain, Nomiya continues to pursue Yamada and she appears happy by this, Kaoru continues his work in Japan and Shinobu does in the U.S., Hagu-chan continues to rehab under Hanamoto's care, and Takemoto works on temple restorations.

This final episode was too difficult to get into one paragraph. Despite the distracting change in seiyuu for Takemoto, the episode was (after a few humorous moments) very moving. I liked seeing that Hagu-chan did care for Takemoto, even if it weren't in a romantic sense. Life goes on and the group of friends may never see each other again.

Additional: The original seiyuu for Takemoto does his lines for the DVD version of the episode. He had to miss the taping of the final episode due to an accident he was in (of some kind...don't know the details).

Cardcaptor Sakura Manga *SPOILERS*

I finished this a while back, but for whatever reason, just hadn't gotten around to blogging about it. That said, I rather enjoyed Cardcaptor Sakura and I'm annoyed with TokyoPop for not doing the 2nd-half of the manga properly (they dropped all Japanese honorifics for the final six volumes). But I digress...

As I mentioned before, the anime took the first six volumes and expanded them greatly into 46 episodes. The final six volumes were turned into 24 episodes (the final season). So there's a whole lot of extra stuff in the anime that doesn't appear in the manga. However, there are some things the anime writers for some reason decided to neglect.

The biggest item is the link between Clow Reed, Eriol-kun, and Sakura-chan's father Fujitaka. In the anime, it was explained that Eriol-kun was the re-incarnation of Clow Reed. This is how the manga plays it as well, only Clow Reed didn't just come back as a single person. He apparently split himself so that half of him became Eriol-kun and the other half Fujitaka. I was blown away by this, but then it made a question I'd always had in the back of my mind from the anime be answered. If Syaoran-kun was a descendant of Clow Reed, why was Sakura-chan able to master Clow Reed's magic so easily? Fujitaka being another re-incarnation of Clow Reed explains it. Technically, she's a direct descendant of Clow Reed and not a distant one like Syaoran.

This also explains a little puzzle I had at the begining of the Tsubasa manga. Fujitaka is the step father of Syaoran in that manga and Clow Reed was the father of Sakura-chan. I thought, "How can Clow Reed produce the same offspring that Fujitaka did in another word?" Now I know.

One other interesting item was how Sakura-chan took half of the power of Eriol-kun and gave it to her father at Eriol-kun's request. Only Eriol-kun knew he was half of Clow Reed, but held all of that power. By giving her father half of that power, he was able to see his wife, which was sweet.

Another item of interest is how there are only 19 Clow Cards in the manga. There were 52 cards in the anime. No wonder some of the cards in the anime were such a stretch such as "The Sweet," or the way it was impossible for Sakura to capture "The Twin."

Now that I've read the manga, my next "Back To The Vaults" segment will feature the anime because I am keen to re-watch it while the manga is still fairly fresh in my mind. Still, as I read more and more CLAMP titles, I am even more amazed by their works Tsubasa and xxxHOLiC. The ladies of CLAMP are gifted storytellers to say the least.

Back To The Vaults 03

Having been very sick lately, I watched the rest of Azumanga Daioh in bed. Considering the severe nature of the coughing spells I had, this wasn't the best choice seeing as how there were times when I couldn't help but laugh despite feeling like crud and having a very sore abdomen from all of the coughing I've done. But one thing that told me was just how good I find this anime, enough to move it up the charts to my #2 favorite anime.

As I mentioned before, I dislike the fact that ADV refuses to use honorifics in the subtitles save for "chan" because the honorifics are an important element in the anime (something ADV recognizes in that they rarely ignored an honorific). But I will give ADV props for otherwise good translations. I also give ADV props for having some translator notes as inserts with the boxed set. I love translator notes and appreciate this aspect. I hear that the expense of this is why we don't get more, so why not have translator notes as extras on the DVD. You can use images from the scenes to go along with the text to explain things. To me, that wouldn't seem to be very expensive.

Back to the anime itself, one of the amazing things is how much of a character-oriented title this is. While there is comedy based on Japanese culture, there is much comedy to be had from the characters themselves. I knew this show was going to be a good one when Yukari-sensei was introduced and went off on her broken bike since she was already late. Then when one of her male students come to her aid and she steals his bike to make it to work on time, I laughed and thought, "This is absolutely nuts!" I'd never want Yukari-sensei as my teacher, but as a fictional character, she's such a hoot.

Of course the rest of the cast is great too with some stellar seiyuu work done. Having seen so many anime titles since I first watch Azumanga Daioh, it was fun when I knew some seiyuu from their other roles. The chemistry between the seiyuu playing the girls is just amazing. I think this title, more than most, really captures the feelings of friendship the characters have while allowing themselves to have fun going over the top.

I think about Osaka and the "brilliant stupidity" she has and laugh. I think of Tomo-chan's insane hyperness (combined with her early attempts to be like Fujiko-chan from Lupin III) and I laugh. I think of Chiyo-chan's cuteness and I smile. I think of Sakaki-san's love for animals and I smile. I think of Kagura's competitive nature and chuckle. I think of Yomi's tolerance of Tomo and laugh. I think of Nyamo's tolerance of Yukari and I laugh. And on and on.

Basically, this is a great anime that's funny, sweet, touching, outrageous, and just plain nuts at times. That's why despite my dislike of ADV's non-use of honorifics, it is in my DVD collection.

Inuyasha Vol 47 (Ch 463-465) *SPOILERS*

Thanks to Freelance for the scans.

Chapter 463

Kagome sees that Naraku's nearly completed Shikon no Tama is within Kikyou. It is corrupted and obviously has been hidden there by Naraku. Kikyou's Shinidamachuu arrive with souls to fuel her. Kagome readies her bow and wonders if Kikyou wants Kagome to shoot her now. Naraku sees this and attempts to interfere, but the Shinidamachuu hold her up. Naraku then goes for the Shikon no Tama and Kagome fires her arrow while the Shinidamachuu come with souls. The result has Kikyou purifying the gem. In addition, using her powers and the Shinidamachuu, she repels Naraku's attempt to take the gem and launches Kagome's arrow (which is embedded in the Shikon no Tama) back at Naraku.

Naraku fights the effects and indeed, corruption appears within the gem. As Naraku starts to gloat, Kikyou's powers start breaking Naraku apart. This allows Inuyasha to free Kouga from being consumed but not before Naraku grabs his two shards. Kagome sees within the gem that the power of Naraku and Kikyou are fighting for control.

Chapter 464

Kikyou tells Kagome the rest is up to her as Kagome notes that Naraku's jyaki is spreading within the Shikon no Tama. Kikyou tells Kagome that the final shard within Kohaku is their last hope and that it is something only Kagome can do. Kagome begins to realize that Kikyou is dying and Naraku attempts to finish her off. Kagome gets on top of Kikyou to protect her and Inuyasha comes in to deflect Naraku's attack. Naraku is triumphant and gloats about the remaining shard, asking Inuyasha how he's going to fight without Kikyou. Naraku vanishes and Kikyou tells Kagome that the bow from Mount Azusa is now hers.

Elsewhere, Rin cautions Kohaku that he shouldn't be moving since he's still recovering from the poison of the snakes. Kohaku senses that Kikyou has become very weak and wants to return to her, but Rin warns about the dangers. Jaken states that Sesshoumaru-sama won't allow Kohaku to stay and that Jaken will not allow Kohaku to trouble Sesshoumaru-sama. Rin reluctantly agrees with Jaken's statement, but Sesshoumaru notes a scent in the wind and off hand says that it is too late.

Back at the village near the well, Kaede notes the color of the sunset while elsewhere Inuyasha holds the body of Kikyou. Kagome can't believe she was unable to save Kikyou and Inuyasha asks for some time alone with Kikyou. As Kagome cries, Kikyou wishes Kagome not to cry as her soul has been saved.

Chapter 465

Night has fallen and Sango, Miroku, Kagome, Shippou-chan, and Kouga site on the side of a hill. Miroku regrets not having taken out Naraku with the Kazaana due to his fear of death. He remembers Kikyou's sacrifice of her own life force to heal him. Sango feels that Kikyou saved Miroku for her sake since Kikyou had Kohaku. She quietly reflects on how she had hated Kikyou for using Kohaku, but realizes that Kikyou would fight to protect Kohaku.

Kouga quietly reflects on how his Shikon shards are gone but he's still alive. Kagome is depressed that she was unable to save Kikyou. She tells Kouga that it she'd only gotten there sooner or only had more power, things would be different. Kouga tells Kagome that it appeared that Naraku didn't want Inuyasha and Kikyou to see each other, but Inuyasha did make it in time. As such, Kikyou will not die in arms of one she hates.

Inuyasha holds the dying Kikyou who talks of their past before they were split apart by Naraku. Kikyou was going to give up being a miko and become a normal woman and Inuyasha was going to be transformed into a human to live with her. Kikyou reflects that she's now become a normal human woman and Inuyasha tells her that she was the first woman he ever loved. He cries as he tells her he wasn't able to save her. Kikyou observes that this is the first time she's seen him cry and tells him that it was good enough that he came for her. They kiss and her body dissolves into light with all of the souls now free. Shinidamachuu arrive to gather the souls and the group notes the light and warmth before the Shinidamachuu leave the area, leaving Inuyasha to say that Kikyou won't suffer any more and Kagome to recall that he'd said he'd always protect her.

Thoughts

Well, there were two very important events that happened. First, Kouga loses his shards. Eventually that had to happen, but for it to happen now surprised me. Second, Kikyou's death. At this point, I really think Takahashi-sensei is deconstructing things to push for the ending of the manga. Granted, Kikyou was brought back once and could be done so again, but I just don't think that's going to happen. So I predict that the manga will end by the end of 2007.

What I'm Watching 08

This segment is brought to you by whatever lung disorder I currently have. *_*

Kanon 24 -- Some time has passed since episode 23. Akiko-san has completely recovered (a miracle) and even made new jam. At school, Kitagawa and Kaori discuss Akiko-san's infamous jam with Yuuichi and Nayuki. Kaori has news for Yuuichi and that is that Shiori has returned to school, having completely recovered from her illness (a miracle). At lunch, Yuuichi once again eats with Mai and Sayuri, who've also recovered from their injuries in a much faster manner than anticipated (miracle). Both girls are preparing for college but will have to be ronin for a year before going to college. After school, Yuuichi has coffee with Akiko-san and learns that Ayu is alive but is in a comma in the hospital. Time passes and Yuuichi visits Ayu every day as well as the other girls. It is Shiori who wonders if Ayu's final wish was for Yuuichi to be happy, which lead to the miracles around him. It is Mai who tells Yuuichi to find Ayu because she's still waiting, and after a lengthy search, he finds her red headband. Time passes and Ayu has come out of her comma. She has to get around in a wheelchair but Yuuichi is there for her and assures her that one day she'll be able to run again.

I didn't bawl for this Kanon as I did the 2002 one, but it was still an emotional title. My only regret is that episode 24 feels a little rushed. There's no payoff scene of Ayu waking up. Amano only gets a non-speaking cameo. However, the other girls are shown nicely and I liked how they all helped with Ayu. The writers didn't use Mai for the magical recovery which was nice. And having Ayu in a wheelchair at the end was a nice touch. Should the series come to the U.S., I'd buy it.

Honey and Clover II 05 -- Miwako approves Yamada's latest works for Fujiwara Design and hears of other places Yamada has done work for thanks to Rika-san. With Rika-san in Spain, Yamada has noticed that something has changed in the relationship between Rika-san and Mayama. Miwako has noticed this as well and arranges to wear Yamada out by taking a trip to a luxury spa-resort (complete with giant indoor baths). Yamada crashes at Miwako's home and is there when Nomiya calls. Nomiya is annoyed when Miwako states that Yamada must mean a lot to Mayama. Back at school, Takemoto has spent all his money on getting a driver's license (which are expensive in Japan) and is angry with Morita for stealing his ¥100 bread crusts. Hagu-chan offers him a steamed bun, but Morita eats that as well right out of Hagu-chan's hands, leading to Hagu-chan getting upset and Hanamoto-sensei to punish the squabbing Takemoto and Morita. Morita then gets another mysterious job from his older brother while Mayama feeds Takemoto, then the two head for a public bath. Finally, Yamada is at Fujiwara Design waiting for Miwako's return when Nomiya arrives instead.

As JSM reminded me, humor is such a key component to what would otherwise be a major angst-filled anime. There's plenty of good humor here. On the serious side, hearing Mayama's plans for the future as well as Takemoto's actions for the future are nice elements. And it appears that Yamada may finally abandon her feelings for Mayama in favor of Nomiya (whom I still don't like).

Honey and Clover II 06 -- Morita-san sleeps and remembers life as a child with his father and brother. His father owned an electronics business and created a tiny robot to show his children. Takemoto works on a new creation while Hagu-chan is depressed in the library, pondering the shortness of life as it relates to her dreams, and apparently pondering being a couple with Morita-san. Hanamoto-sensei arrives and gives her some words. Meanwhile the Fujiwara Design gang have gathered and after looking at a magazine showing an uncomfortable Rika-san being embraced by the Spanish architect Mac Carlos, they discuss her "SOS" to Mayama and his reaction to it. Yamada even arrives to give some advice. She leaves and is followed by Nomiya. Hanamoto-sensei tries to get Morita to speak with Hagu-chan, but he refuses while Morita's brother reflects on their father and their goal to buy back his old business. Sometime later, Takemoto, Yamada, and Hagu-chan discuss taking a trip to the beach since Takemoto now has a license. Initially Hanamoto-sensei objects to this (since his car was volunteered) but then suggest that when Mayama returns from Spain in a month, they can all go. In the end, Takemoto tells us the group never took that beach trip.

Not a lot of humor this time. It was very interesting finally learning the purpose of Morita's jobs (and I think this is the first time we've ever seen his thoughts). I guess there's no stopping the Yamada-Nomiya pairing, but I still don't like it. Ditto the apparent choice of Hagu-chan to favor Morita over Takemoto. I would have thought them to be a good pairing, but like in real life, people choose others (for good or ill). We'll see if that relationship gets pursued (somehow I suspect not, but I don't think Takemoto will win either). Right now, the only really happy-seeming person is Mayama who got to hook up with his love last episode and is going to Spain to be with her again.

xxxHOLiC Vol 11 (Ch 126) *SPOILERS*

Chapter 126

At school, Watanuki and Himawari-chan are carrying printouts and discussing Yuuko-san's recent client, who's a first-year student at their high school. They see the girl briefly in her gym class as they drop off the papers. Watanuki asks Himawari-chan out and she bails by saying she has other plans. However, he presses (nicely) stating that if she can't put off her plans, then so be it, but if she can, he'd like to take her out. The moment is ruined when Doumeki arrives and makes a suggestion about a place to go. Watanuki takes the papers the rest of the way, leaving Himawari-chan and Doumeki-kun alone. She reflects on how Watanuki has found her out and Doumeki suggest going.

Watanuki returns home in good spirits, having gifts from where he, Himawari-chan, and Doumeki visited. He notices that Maru and Moro are not around and Yuuko-san states they are sleeping. Watanuki reflects that he hasn't seen them in a while and decides to put on some tea after a standard banter with Yuuko-san about her drinking habits.

Monoka inquires of Yuuko-san about the status of Maru and Moro. Yuuko-san confirms they are asleep as they are the ones who keep the shop in place. While within the shop, they can do what they want but if they are asleep, it means they are focused on nothing but keeping the shop in place. Monoka remarks on the danger this implies and Yuuko-san states that the shop was set up for the things that are about to happen. As such, she can't let it break. Monoka knows that Maru and Moro are doing their best because they like Watanuki, something Yuuko-san agrees with.

As Watanuki brings a tray to Yuuko-san, he discovers the high school girl there, holding the bells and looking very angry.

Thoughts:

I'm not sure if the condition with Maru and Moro is related to the events in Tsubasa or a reflection of something that's about to happen in xxxHOLiC. Still, it is neat learning the purpose of Maru and Moro after all this time.

What I'm Watching 07

Kanon 23 -- Yuuichi colapses in the snow and is rescued by a woman in a car who looks like Makoto. He awakes in a strange apartment and discovers his rescuer is Makoto-san, the woman that the kitsune Makoto based her human form on. Makoto-san knew Yuuichi from years before and was a neighbor. Meanwhile Kaori arrives at the Minase house where Kitagawa-kun is waiting. Nayuki doesn't want to talk, so Kaori does it for her. Back at Makoto-san's home Yuuichi and Makoto-san talk for a while. Yuuichi heads out to the field with the cut down tree and remembers Ayu. He dreams of being back with her, Nayuki, & Akiko-san back home. Awakening, he finds Ayu there waiting. Giving her back her backpack and the little angel, he tells her to give her third wish. Her wish is that he'd forget her, but he won't grant that. So she gives another wish and disappears. That evening, Yuuichi sits at the bench that Ayu always sat at. Nayuki comes and they make up.

Another emotional episode, but the series still hasn't made me ball like a baby as the original did. One more to go.

Honey and Clover II 03 -- Hagu-chan admired Yamada's collection of snow globes while in Tottori, Nomiya and Yamazaki discuss Yamada. At Harada Design, Yamada discovers Mayama has been invading Rika-san's privacy by reviewing her Internet browsing history. He's saved when a fax arrives, but then is upset as he confronts Rika-san over the contents of the fax. Apparently, it is for a job in Spain which will happen in a few months. He feels he's going to be abandoned but Rika-san tells him he's going with her because of the job, much to Yamada's dismay. Nomiya calls Yamada and doesn't buy her cheerful disposition, so returns to Tokyo to see her. Unfortunately, Miwako had sent her to Tottori, meaning he has to make a rapid 9-hour return drive. As Yamazaki stalls Yamada, Nomiya finally arrives and the next morning takes her around the local dunes. When he escorts her back to the train, he ends up confessing to her, much to her great surprise.

Well, I guess it was too much to hope that Mayama would ever go for Yamada, but I still don't like the thought of Nomiya hooking up with her.

Honey and Clover II 04 -- As the Hamabi Festival preparations begin at the art college, Hanamoto-sensei observes things and is reminded of his time with Rika-san and Harada when Hagu-chan finds a postcard with a Munch painting on it. He dreams of being with them again and in his dream, Harada has fallen into the lake (representing death) and Rika-san wants to follow him. He awakens and recalls how little he was able to do for her after the accident that killed Harada and how he'd begun to develop feeling for her, leading her to push him away. The next day after seeing an old man off, Mayama notices Rika-san look longingly at a train going the 19-hour distance to Hokkaido (her home). He pushes her onto the train and follows her, where she makes arrangements to secure a car for herself and Mayama. The train ride allows them to talk some and even spend part of a night together in the sleeping compartment until his discomfort leads him back to the seat in the car. They arrive at the remains of Rika-san's childhood home and Rika-san opens up to Mayama. The two sleep together and when Rika-san tries to slip away early the next morning, she finds her purse has been trapped and alarmed, leading Mayama to confront her over her plans to leave him when she goes to Spain and for what he believes will be her last act before killing herself. Once the two return to Tokyo, he does see her off to Spain, where he learns that she's changed her apartment from a one-bedroom to a two-bedroom.

Wow. A lot happened here and the flow of the story to start from Hanamoto-sensei, to his past with Rika-san and Harada, to the present situation with Mayama went well. I was stunned that Rika-san slept with Mayama, but then as Mayama implied, that was to be her goodbye present to him since she never planned on returning. Still, for someone so willing to follow her husband to death, sleeping with another man seems unreal to me, even if it was out of appreciation for everything he'd done for her. But this is a josei romance title so a bit of unrealistic moments for a romantic moment are to be expected I suppose. It will be interesting to see where this goes, especially now that Mayama's feelings would seem to no longer be unrequited.

Ah! My Goddess Chapter 221 *SPOILERS*

Thanks to Goddess Miyaku Team for the scans.

Chapter 221

Having taken a picture of Belldandy, it appears the classic Rolleiflex camera isn't broken. Skuld sees the camera and wants her picture taken, so Keiichi obliges. Skuld then decides that she should take a picture of Keiichi and Skuld quickly figures out how to work the camera. However, upon seeing K1 and Belldandy in the viewfinder, she discovers she can't take his picture. So instead, she decides to shoot the demon can Welsper instead. The camera refuses to take a picture.

Urd arrives and wants her picture taken. K1 protests saying the camera is broke, but Urd won't hear anything of it and sure enough, the camera takes her picture. K1 decides that maybe the camera is cursed which freaks Urd out. Skuld also freaks out at the thought of having her picture taken by a cursed camera. K1 suggests they just remove the curse, which leads Urd and Skuld to flee with K1 in pursuit ALL over the house.

The chase stops when Belldandy decides to investigate. She states that the camera isn't cursed but has a will of its own. She casts a spell on the camera which gives the camera a voice. The camera states its memories are jumbled while Urd and Skuld remain suspicious. The camera remembers its original owner and when K1 touches it, the camera takes offense. Belldandy asking for permission for K1 to handle the camera to investigate its history, which it agrees to.

K1 has a brilliant flash of insight by remembering the camera has film in it. He winds the camera and the film is used up, thus he opens the back and removes the film to have the film developed. Before they can return, both Skuld and Urd plot wickedness against the camera but are stopped when Belldandy and K1 return home unexpectedly. The developed pictures show nothing leading K1 to think their investigation is over. Belldandy disagrees and after a flowery speech on pictures, she casts a spell on the photos.

The pictures show up perfectly now, which the camera acknowledges, stating it is a high-end camera. Urd is annoyed by this arrogance while Bell and K1 notice a picture of an unknown girl.

Thoughts

There's not much to say. Welsper gets a cameo, which Fujishima-sensei continues to do of late (bringing in long-forgotten characters). I suspect that the girl in the photo is the old lady professor seen at the start of the arc. But this is no doubt going to be another pointless story arc just designed to keep this manga going.

Negima! Vol 18 (Ch 163) *SPOILERS*

Thanks to AQS for the scans.

Chapter 163

Negi, Asuna, Setsuna, and Konoka have returned to the Mahora Library to the door that is guarded by a large dragon. Negi produces an invitation and the fearsome dragon politely allows them to pass and leaves. Beyond the large double-doors is another wondrous place (with an outdoor feel with a building/home) where Colonel Sanders apparently resides. Entering the structure, they find Sanders waiting for them with Eva-chan. Negi attempts to address Sanders as Albireo-san, but he'd prefer "Colonel Sanders" (complete with the image of the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken to complete the joke). We learn that Eva's complete name is "Evangeline Athanasia Kitty McDowell," much to her irritation.

As the tea party progresses, Eva asks if Negi learned anything from his recent experiences. He has and she seems impressed by what he says. She goes into a speech about being evil, to the delight of Chachazero. Sanders remarks that Eva's done well in training Negi, and guesses this means Negi will become a great evil mage or her successor. This throws her off of her game as she gets frustrated with Sanders. Sanders asks Negi what his plans are, and Negi says he will continue to become a Magister Magi.

With that, Sanders asks Negi to become his apprentice to the irritation of Eva. Sanders continues to tweak Eva by going on about how she's no good and that he can provide Negi the information on the Thousand Master's combat style. In frustration, Eva grabs Sanders, who's clearly enjoying himself and teases her about liking Negi. She tries to attack him, but her frustration causes her to fail.

After Sanders has his fun with Eva-chan, he tells Negi that his father Nagi is still alive. Sanders knows this because he has a pactio card that he made with Nagi. He has many cards, but only Nagi's is active (the others have become inactive because the partner is dead). Sanders figures that clues about Nagi will be in England or Wales because thats were the door to Mundus Magicus (Magic World) lies. This excites Negi who forgets himself and accidentally generates a massive whirlwind. He decides he's going to take off for Great Britain only to be stopped by Eva. Eva and Asuna angrily chastise him for going off half-cocked like that when he has other responsibilities. The rest of Negi's partners, Kotaro, and the ghost Sayo arrive, having also been invited by Sanders.

It is Konoka-chan who realizes (to Asuna and Setsuna) that for "Colonel-han" to have a pactio card, he had to kiss Nagi. ^_^;;;

Thoughts

Sander's has been a good character to give us more information on Nagi's past, plus its fun seeing him tweak Eva. So, his promise of meeting with Negi and Eva after the festival has been done and we've also received an anti-climactic resolution to the dragon under the library. Back when the dragon was introduced many volumes ago, one would have thought that there would have been an incredible battle, but in a weird way, this works better for me.

It doesn't appear that Negima will end anytime soon as groundwork is being laid for some future arc with Negi and company returning to Wales. For now, it will be interesting to see what new things Akamatsu-sensei has in store from us.

Inuyasha Vol 47 (Ch 459-462) *SPOILERS*

Thanks to Freelance for the scans.

Chapter 459

Inuyasha makes no progress us the steps of Mount Azusa, but then sees Kagome falling from the sky. He catches her and notes that she has the bow. Kagome realizes she was fighting an illusion. She's happy that Inuyasha came for her, but noticing some of Naraku's webs shooting down from the sky, she urges they hurry. At the base of the mountain, Kouga, Sango, Miroku, and Shippou-chan wait with the injured Kikyou. They sense Naraku, but only Kikyou can see she's been captured by his webs. As she's being pulled up, Miroku grabs her and only then notices the thick strands of webs. Now he's entangled with Kikyou.

Inuyasha and Kagome come to the base of the mountain and find the group gone. Indeed, the group are all entangled in Naraku's webs. Kikyou asks why Kouga wasn't able to flee the webs with his speed. Kouga finds that amusing and upon reminding the audience about Kikyou's plan for his shards, she states that she's tainted with Naraku's spider webs and cannot purify his shards. Her only hope is Kohaku's shard.

The webs disband and the group false before Naraku, who now has Kikyou. He taunts her about recent events, leading Miroku to bluff using the Kazaana. Kouga decides he'll kill Naraku, which leads to more taunts about Kouga's legs. Kikyou wonders why Naraku chose this place to battle while Kagome and Inuyasha are in hot pursuit of the group.

Chapter 460

Kouga battles Naraku while Miroku urges caution until Inuyasha and Kagome find them. Kouga avoids Naraku's attempts to capture him and annoys Kikyou because he could be pointlessly killed. She then notices that Kouga's shards are being purified by a powerful force, leading her to wonder if this is the will of Midoriko. This gives Kikyou a new opportunity to strike. Naraku taunts Kikyou again, but seems surprised at her warning that Inuyasha and Kagome are on approach. She knows that Naraku moved the battle away from Mount Azusa because Kagome had broken free of his webs.

Meanwhile, Kagome tells Inuyasha of her experiences on the mountain. She acknowledges that Kikyou has changed from when she was resurrected and just hated Kagome. Kagome acknowledges that she must be angry with herself based on those experiences, but Inuyasha states that because she still wanted to save Kikyou, her heart is strong.

Naraku questions Kikyou why she thinks Kagome has broken free. Because of the spiderwebs that connect Kikyou to Naraku, she knows Kagome is not at the end of any thread. Kouga presses his attacks on Naraku which generates a vast shouki cloud. Kouga's legs no longer move and he's captured by Naraku. Kikyou silently hopes Naraku will touch the shards and be purified via her power as well as Midoriko. She silently urges Inuyasha to hurry while Naraku's tendrils go for the shards. Naraku has a reaction to touching the shard and Kouga breaks free.

Naraku uses a modified multi-spiked claw-arm to pierce Kikyou in many places an hold her up. Naraku had been able to use the webs that connected them to sense her hatred of him and her connection to Inuyasha. He tells her she will die in the arms of the one she hates, but Inuyasha arrives on the scene.

Chapter 461

Inuyasha attacks Naraku while Kagome prepares to use the new bow to shoot Kikyou with her final arrow and purify her. A look from Kikyou waves Kagome off while Kouga, Miroku, Sango, and Shippou-chan arrive at her side. Kagome notices that the shards in his legs are being purified, which is likely why Naraku couldn't consume Kouga. Inuyasha continues attacking and produces the Dragon-Scaled Tessaiga. Inuyasha sees a youketsu and cuts is, removing a piece of the crystal arm of Naraku. But the arm immediately regenerates and as Naraku begins to taunt Inuyasha, the arm swells and explodes, revealing a dark chasm. Kouga decides to launch an attack and Kagome can see Naraku's Shikon no Tama. Kagome tells Inuyasha, and seeing himself at a disadvantage, Naraku drops Kikyou, leading Inuyasha to abandon his attack and save her.

Naraku takes advantage of the situation to close up his body, so Kouga launches an attack. Kouga knows his purified shards can purify Naraku and it annoys him to do what Midoriko wants. As he approaches, Kagome notices something wrong and yells for Kouga-kun to stop his attack.

Chapter 462

Ginta and Hakkaku from Kouga's yourouzoku are talking bold about how Kouga can't do anything without them, but when they sense Naraku, they aren't so brave, but shakily go to where Kouga is. Meanwhile Kouga, in mid-attack, has been warned by Kagome too late to avoid being captured by Naraku. Kikyou tells Inuyasha to save Kouga while Kouga decides to attack while being held. Kagome notices that parts of Naraku that touched Kouga's shards were purified, but Naraku encloses Kouga. This leads Miroku to attack, backed up by Sango as he unleashes his Kazaana. Naraku unleashes shouki, but Miroku's Kazaana helps Kouga and he unleashes his Goraishi attack. At the same time, Inuyasha attacks, causing some damage to Naraku.

Miroku notes the shouki wound around his Kazaana has spread while Inuyasha comes to rescue Kouga. Unfortunately, Kouga cannot flee because he's being consumed by Naraku. Kagome desperately looks for where Naraku has the Shikon no Tama because Kouga's shards are being polluted. She looks to Kikyou for help, but the unconscious miko cannot help. Instead, Kagome notices something more wrong with Kikyou.

Thoughts

Well, it certainly was surprising to see Kouga being consumed. I doubt Takahashi-sensei would actually kill him, but one never knows. She's killed others. Beyond that, its hard to know what she'll do since she has to keep Naraku alive and sans the completed Shikon no Tama.

Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE Vol 14 (Ch 100-102) *SPOILERS*

Thanks to BWYS for the scans.

Chapter 100

Xing Huo observes the boy in the canister at Fei Wong Reed's residence and remarks to herself about Fei Wong's dream. Fei Wong, sitting and observing Syaoran and Kurogane talking on a distant world via a scrying glass. Talking to himself, he remarks on how Clow Reed had stated that his dream was impossible, but Fei Wong will make it come true no matter what (including killing as many as he feels are needed). And, he needs the power of the ruins in Clow Country where Sakura-chan is from.

Little does he know, but Fei Wong is observed by Yuuko-san in the liquid of a beverage. She remarks to herself about how impossible it is for Fei Wong to achieve this. No matter how much power he wants, or the thing that sleeps under the ruins, Clow Reed verified it was impossible. Yuuko-san implies that Fei Wong has done this before and that this is his second attempt.

Back on the world with the library, Syaoran and Kurogane talk, and Kurogane learns that the troops that invaded Clow Country had the same emblems as the arm that slew Kurogane's mother. Kurogane wonders if maybe he has to travel from world to world in order to meet the guy with the sword that killed his mother. Because of the useful information Syaoran was able to provide Kurogane after seeing his past, Kurogane assures Syaoran that he shouldn't worry about having (accidentally) invaded Kurogane's privacy.

As Syaoran embarrasses Kurogane with a remark about being kind, Fai, Sakura, and Mokona come in with news on Sakura's feather and hunger noises. They decide to go out to get some food and learn that the book Syaoran touched was "The Book of Memories." A person touches the book and has their memories absorbed into the book, then when the book is opened, that person will be able to see the memories. Mokona produces a copy of the design on the books cover and notes it is similar to Sakura's feather design. However, because Mokona didn't react to the book, the book Syaoran had didn't contain the feather and was likely a replica book as were all the other books. A copy of the cover of the original book proves that book is the one they need. The book is in another library that is well guarded by two powerful guardians.

Chapter 101

Taking a flying train, Mokona begins mocking Kurogane, aided by Fai. Sakura-chan notices Syaoran's determined look and is saddened by it, but puts on a cheerful face when Syaoran notices her. Mokona continues to have fun with Kurogane as they arrive at the next library, but Sakura still looks worried about Syaoran. Mokona can feel the presence of the feather, so they are on the right track. The two, giant, beast-guardians show their fearsome presence, but allow them to pass. Remarking on the beasts, Mokona loudly proclaims that Kurogane is a villain, leading him to pursue the critter much to the embarrassment of the others.

In the library, they learn that they cannot check out the book, nor can they look at the book. This is due to the number of attempted thefts of the book, which contains vast magical powers. While the guardians always caught said attempted thieves, it was decided to only allow copies of the book to be seen and not the original. Syaoran and the group later discuss the matter and Syaoran decides they'll steal the book.

Chapter 102

Syaoran and company are enacting their plan to steal the book while the library is still open. The thought is that security will be tighter when the library is closed at night. Mokona leads them through the maze of book cases until they come to a wall, from which beyond, Mokona feels the feather. It appears to be a dead end, but Fai detects a magic barrier. Fai wants Kurogane to move one of the bookcases over some and Mokona pleads in a teasing fashion to have this done. An irritated Kurogane complies and the wall dissolves to reveal a cave-tunnel.

Fai explains the theory behind the magic barrier/illusion which Kurogane notes. Fai is concerned that the guardians may have sensed what they are doing and may pursue them. As they enter the tunnel, the guardians indeed notice what has happened and approach the library. As the group heads down the passage, snake-like creature emerge from glass cases along the cave walls. Syaoran launches an attack and Fai whistles while remarking how cool Syaoran is. Kurogane is irritated that Fai keeps whistling and not helping out. More creatures emerge, bigger and with wings, appearing to be a trap.

Thoughts

Since the story is still progressing, there's not a lot to say. I did find it interesting that while Fei Wong is observing Syaoran and company, Yuuko-san keeps a watch on Fei Wong. I wonder if Fei Wong knows how closely he's being monitored.

Back to the Vaults 02

I had forgotten that I'd planned to do another of these entries after I finished re-watching Chobits. Its odd, but it wasn't as enjoyable this time around. Oh, don't get me wrong, I did still enjoy watching Chobits and plan to do so again sometime down the road, but I suppose that its lost some of its gloss over the years as I've seen better titles. Plus, there's the fact that when I watch, I think, "Smeg! I need to read the manga to get the parts the anime story dropped." Then I remember that I sold my copy of the manga because of that AWFUL TokyoPop adaptation (It's not "Plum" you smeg heads! It's "Sumomo!") made me cringe something fierce. One day I'll buy it in Japanese and read it that way.

Upon finishing Chobits, the next anime I pulled from the vault was one I'd never actually watched on DVD passed the first episode -- Azumanga Daioh. So why have I owned the box set for how ever many years its been out and not watched it? Well to put it bluntly, to see "Yukari-sensei" and "Sensei" so-called translated into "Miss Yukari," I got annoyed. Seeing "Chiyo-chan" was cool, but when they put up the image for Sakaki-san with the bubble showing her name in Kanji and and in Hiragana, ADV accurately translated the Kanji to "Sakaki-san" and the Hiragana to "Miss Sakaki" (they did the same thing for Kagura-san). I screamed, stopped the DVD player, and I never watched it again...until now.

So what changed my mind?

Well, I really wanted to see it again, and because of that, I can hold down my vomit at the forced domestication of the names (san's the use of "chan") and ADV's mind-numbing policy of "We can only use it in the sub if we've used it in the dub." So since they use "chan" in the dub, we get it in the sub.

Still, when we got to the episode where Chiyo-chan is a 2nd-year student and not getting any respect, I had to hold myself back. ADV decided to actually use "2nd-year" instead of "junior" in the subtitles and I thought, "That's odd" because I don't remember many (if any) R1 DVD's I've watched use the Japanese way of describing school terms (1st-year, 2nd-year, 3rd-year) rather than the American way (sophomore, junior, senior). But, when Chiyo-chan demanded be addressed by a kouhai as "Chiyo-senpai" and the wonderful subs said "Senior Chiyo," I had my answer. After all, it would be even MORE confusing if they'd said Chiyo-chan was a junior in high school, then had her track down a 1st-year student and demand he address her as "Senior."

HEY ADV! Get a bloody clue! Using "senior" as a forced-translation for "senpai" is awful! Heck, even bloody Geneon uses "senpai" in the subtitles (at least for the titles I own of theirs). And I think that Bandai does as well on Planetes (need to watch my DVDs there too).

But I digress...^_^;

I swallowed my irritation because this is just such a great anime. I love the girls (the chemistry of the seiyuu is perfect), I love Yukari-sensei, and I just love the wacky events (and sometimes non-events) that happen as we follow these girls through their three years of high school. Its just good, fun stuff and a perfect anime to lighten one's mood (and even overcome my irritation with ADV's honorific usage...though to be fair there, the rest of the translations were pretty accurate). Azumanga Daioh is just good stuff.

Sorry about the rant. Eventually, I'll get around to publishing my "Why Honorifics Are Important in the Subtitles" article. ^_^;;;;;

Honey and Clover Live-Action Movie Review

Summary (*SPOILERS*)

At a gathering at Hanamoto-sensei's residence, students of the art college prepare for a meal. Takemoto-kun prepares some gyouza, Yamada-san prepares some other dish, and others do other things. A group of girls observe Takemoto and decide he's dateless. Yamada sees Mayama and briefly loses herself. Mayama sees a postcard from Morita-san and discusses it with Hanamoto-sensei. At the meal, Mayama and Takemoto go to get some more beer when they run into a girl doing a painting. That girl is Hanamoto-sensei's cousin's daughter Hagu-chan.

The next day after class, Hanamoto-sensei places Hagu-chan in Takemoto's care as he has to take care of business. While going around campus, the run into the newly-returned Morita who roughly demands to know who Hagu-chan is and without her permission noses through her art books, causing her to flee. Morita and Takemoto stroll through the campus where Morita is shown to be very popular. Meanwhile Hagu-chan flees far from campus and comes upon Yamada, who's teaching children art on a hillside. Yamada and Hagu-chan talk and Yamada admires Hagu-chan's work.

Morita tries to enter his room, but the stench forces him to flee. He then convinces Takemoto to allow him to crash in his room. We are shown Takemoto's room and his love for model castles. Morita is sleeping but eventually he gets up and gives Morita a souvenir. That evening, the guys in the apartment start preparing some grilled squid when Mayama returns home. Entering his room, Mayama has a fantasy sequence where he is interrogated by detectives for stalking. Coming back to reality, he looks at the map where he's been marking Rika-san's activities.

On the way to school the next day, Takemoto runs into Hagu-chan and gets the courage to ask her to lunch. She agrees. This puts him into a good mood the rest of the day. Meanwhile, Yamada finds Mayama sleeping under his desk at one of the labs at school. He asks her to join him for lunch, but a phone call has him leave for a "job" and that doesn't please Yamada. She follows him and discovers he's following Rika-san. While attempting to hide from Rika-san seeing him, Yamada is caught. Because Yamada says something to try to explain her presence there, Rika-san notices them both. The trio then do lunch and Yamada sees things she doesn't like. So when they go to return home, they end up going separate ways.

Hagu-chan is approached by one of the school's sensei who wants her art entered into a competition, but not abstract art. Later, Hagu-chan meets Takemoto for lunch, but the crowded cafeteria has them leave for a little quite place Takemoto knows. The two talk and eat and plan to meet again. Takemoto goes to his job at the shopping district where he dresses up as a mascot. At Yamada's parent's liquor store, Yamada gives him a bottle of water during his break. They talk and its clear that Yamada wants to discuss Mayama, but Takemoto isn't interested.

Morita sees Hanamoto-sensei and after they talk, Morita gives him a carved rabbit figure with wings. That night, Hanamoto-sensei gives the figure to Hagu-chan as a gift while they eat supper. The following day, Hagu-chan is inspired to do a large painting, but it is another abstract. Hanamoto-sensei looks admiringly as does Morita. Later, Morita starts working on his own wood art, which Hagu-chan admires. The two continue to admire each others work and it is clear that Hagu-chan is interested in Morita.

Sometime later, Hanamoto-sensei talks with Takemoto and since Morita has his art in a gallery showing event, he asks Takemoto to escort Hagu-chan and Yamada. Meanwhile, Morita comes upon Hagu-chan in one of the school courtyards and the two eventually proceed to use an old add billboard to create a new abstract painting. Later, Morita returns to his shop and the two gay brothers that run the gallery (I think that's what they do in the movie, though in the anime they run a design company) are admiring his wood sculpture, which is not yet finished.

Back at his room, Mayama again fantasizes he's being interrogated about his actions regarding Rika-san. Takemoto convinces him to come to the barbecue party for Morita that they are holding, which means food and drink well into the night. Mayama is depressed through the event and the next day goes to see Yamada in the pottery lab. She runs from him and he chases her, catching her in the courtyard. He tells her that she shouldn't pursue him because his feelings won't change. She sees this as being dumped. He goes to his job at Rika-san's company where he finds that Rika-san is firing him, not for his work, but because of his feelings for her.

That night, Mayama, Takemoto, Yamada, and Hagu-chan go to Morita's art showing. The event is a fancy affair which is a bit overwhelming. Hagu-chan sees the finished work of Morita and is not impressed. The piece sold for ¥5,000,000 and despite Hagu-chan's disappointment, Morita blows off her concerns. Things get interesting when Rika-san arrives along with Hanamoto-sensei (they are old friends). The gay brothers make their greetings to the pair and Mayama (with Yamada close behind) comes to the group where talks continue. It is interrupted when Morita punches out an art critic. This leads to him fleeing the showing in anger, followed by Hagu-chan, Takemoto, Yamada, and Mayama.

The group walks and sees Mayama's clunker car. Morita convinces the group to take a trip, so off to the beach they go with Morita driving. After letting off some steam, Mayama's car won't start, so they are forced to spend the night at a local resort. Yamada calls Hanamoto-sensei to let him know where they are. Morita plays the classic Space Invaders while talking with Yamada. Mayama and Takemoto take advantage of the men's onsen and Hagu-chan takes advantage of the women's onsen. After they've returned to their room and eaten, Takemoto starts to work up the courage to confess to Hagu-chan, but when Morita wakes up, that changes everything. He then destroys a wall-scroll and proceeds to make his own art from tea, which is a beautiful Japanese dragon.

The next morning, Hagu-chan is back at the beach and is joined by Morita. Morita and Hagu-chan talk and Takemoto eventually comes to the beach where he sees Morita kiss Hagu-chan before she runs away. This depresses Takemoto and he's advised by Mayama to not give up. Back at school, Hanamoto-sensei sees something wrong with Hagu-chan and knows that something happened at the beach. He also knows that Hagu-chan liked Morita. He encourages Takemoto to talk with her, which he does.

At his new job, Mayama is doing the menial tasks for the others and is observed by Yamada from a great distance (and binoculars). She leaves and conducts another art class where Takemoto happens to pass by. The two talk for a bit about things not going well love-wise and how they want to be happy. Yamada decides they should hunt for a 4-leaf clover and gets her class to look on the hillside (filled with grass and not clovers).

Morita looks at his art piece and how it sold for so much money. He leaves and goes to the little eating establishment that Takemoto frequents. As it happens, Takemoto is there and the two have a talk. Takemoto isn't happy, but is surprised that Morita hasn't seen Hagu-chan since the beach. At the same time, Yamada comes upon Mayama as he sits outside Rika-san's apartment. She drags him to Rika-san's place and helps him get his job back with Rika-san.

Back on campus, Morita comes to the place where Hagu-chan does her work. Hanamoto-sensei is there along with Hagu-chan as the female sensei from earlier expresses her frustration over Hagu-chan not following her advice and abandoning abstract art. Hagu-chan flees and Hanamoto-sensei prevents Morita from following her. Hagu-chan runs and comes through the shopping district where Takemoto is working as the mascot. So when he grabs her, she doesn't recognize him and flees some more.

Later, Takemoto visits Hanamoto-sense at his place and is told that Hagu-chan will have to work through her issues herself. In her room, Hagu-chan decides to paint a canvas black. Takemoto decides to help Hagu-chan by cleaning and repairing her paint brushes. It is then that he sees Morita on a TV show along with the gay brothers as they look at Morita's art. He takes off on a bike to confront Morita over his actions. Takemoto is angry because Morita is the cause of Hagu-chan's pain, so he feels that only Morita can help the situation. Morita disagrees.

Upon completing their conversation, Takemoto takes the bike and goes on a ride. Stopping at a vending machine area, he decides to run away on the bike and just go someplace. He rides through the night and eventually takes shelter at a temple to sleep. The following morning, he sees someone doing work on a "kashira rail" as part of the temple renovations. The man does the work seems sarcastically impressed with Takemoto's knowledge, but sends him packing as an nuisance. So, Takemoto continues to ride and decides to go to the beach that the group had visited earlier. After spending some time there, he decides to return home.

At Hanamoto-sensei's place, he again is having a party and Morita comes late. He goes up to Hagu-chan's room and grabs her and leads her out of the place. They get into Mayama's car and leave. Hanamoto-sensei asks Mayama if he's OK with that and Mayama resignedly is. Mayama asks Hanamoto-sensei if he's OK with Morita just taking Hagu-chan away like that. Hanamoto-sensei tells Mayama to take care of his own business, namely Yamada. That night, a drunk Yamada and Morita walk home. When Yamada can no longer walk, Mayama carries her on his back where she confesses her love for him, something he knows and thanks her for.

As Takemoto returns home, Morita takes Hagu-chan to the school and as she watches, he burns his art piece. Morita comments that he's not burning his art, but cash. He further tells her that she's not alone as she has friends in Yamada, Mayama, and especially Takemoto who's very worried about her. Morita's words comfort Hagu-chan and he tells her to thank Takemoto since he's the one who got him to do this. He then tells her he's leaving the country, which Hagu-chan expected.

Meanwhile, a van with the guy who was working on the temple offers Takemoto a ride. He tells Takemoto to go find himself, gives him a bottle of water and a new headband with his construction company's name and phone number on it. The next morning, he comes to Hanamoto-sensei's home where many students are sleeping all around. He smiles when he sees Takemoto head up to Hagu-chan's room. Takemoto sees Hagu-chan about to start a new painting and when she notices him, he confesses his love for her, which seems to please her greatly.

Takemoto takes a job with the construction company, Morita goes to New York, Mayama gets a full time job at Rika-san's company, and Yamada isn't doing much. Hagu-chan does a new painting with the brush that Takemoto repaired and cleaned.

Thoughts

I'm not sure how this would be for me had I not seen the first Honey and Clover anime series. The core group in the anime are good friends on top of any unrequited love feelings they may have among themselves. I never really bought the group friendship in the movie. It was more like they were acquaintances who happened to be at the same school and through a "chain link" ended up together as a group.

Because there's less time, the writers do a good job of at least setting up the unrequited loves. We see Yamada's feelings and Mayama's ignorance immediately. We see Takemoto's "loser nice guy" right away, but the writers do have him ask Hagu-chan out which was cool. We see Hagu-chan's attraction to Morita through his art and vice-versa. And we see Mayama's feelings for Rika-san via his stalking.

While the unrequited love elements are here, the theme of this movie is about not giving up on your dreams. Mayama can't give up on his dream of winning Rika-san's heart. Yamada can't give up her dream of winning Mayama's heart. Hagu-chan can't give up her dream of doing her own art. Takemoto can't give up on his dream of doing the job he wants and winning Hagu-chan's heart. And Morita...well, he's a wild card in this I suppose. The actors do a decent job and you can see my comparisons here. Having seen the movie twice, I do like it, but it isn't as good as the anime (one day, I must read the manga).

The R2 DVD has English subtitles. You can tell they were done by Japanese, but this isn't a slam. They do a mild bit of domesticating for certain things, such as when the writing of Hagu-chan's name in Kanji came up. They don't use any Japanese honorifics except for "san" and they don't use the normal hyphen to mark it (ie: "Morita-san" in the U.S., "Morita san" in Japan). The DVD also has audio commentary track. The 2nd DVD has a "Making of" documentary, a feature where all the main cast members sit around and talk (taking turns holding a video camera), and lots more.

Bottom line: Pretty good stuff for fans of Honey and Clover. I would love to see FUNimation license this for R1 though. ^_^

Scrapped Princess 01 (Light Novel)

I put off reading TokyoPop's adaptation of the popular Japanese novel series Scrapped Princess. TokyoPop told me (and others) that 1) there'd be no honorific usage in the novels and 2) the novels would be made to appeal to a wider audience beyond fans of the anime, and would be marketed to teens. That meant that they would be toning down or dumbing down any content that wouldn't match U.S. teen standards. It really makes me ill and makes me wish I had completed my Japanese studies so I could read the novels in Japanese where I would know there wouldn't be self-censorship.

In brief, the novel establishes the prophecy of the Scrapped Princess and the doom she will bring on the world, and the young infant girl's rescue by a man named Yuma. He and his wife raises the girl as their own with their own twin children Raquel and Shannon. The girl, named Pacifica, is like one of the family even though she's adopted. Years pass and when Pacifica is roughly 15, their father is murdered (their mother having died a few years before). The will left by their father tells them the truth of Pacifica (she's the Scrapped Princess) and the siblings soon discover that assassins have been dispatched by the palace to kill Pacifica. Their father had killed all but two of the assassins before being killed and the remaining two, Big Shot and the insane Sinner find that Raquel and Shannon may be young and not have vast experience, but Raquel's magical gifts and Shannon's sword (and magic from his sister) prowess are not to be underestimated as they protect their sister Pacifica.

Dispatching those guys is only the start and after being given a horse-drawn military carriage by the Duke, a year later, the trio has survived and the palace has upped the ante by dispatching a powerful boy warrior named Chris who is eventually defeated by Raquel and Shannon, but not killed.

OK, for starters lets compare the two covers.

TokyoPop, in an attempt to fool the public about the nature of the novel, decided to trash the Japanese cover in favor of their bland cover. From what they've told people who asked, the cover change was so the novels would appeal to a wider audience, so they didn't want it to be associated with manga. This makes little sense seeing as how the book is filled with manga illustrations and the book is sold in the manga section of many (if not most) stores. Personally, I like the Japanese cover better and TP could have done it as they did the Slayers novels (keep the cover art but change the book style) but since they reduced the dimension size of book for the American public (which is still slightly larger than the Japanese version), the artwork could have easily been used.

I have a Japanese contact who's providing me additional information, but I strongly suspect that the novel has been given a domestication workover. I'm not talking about making the book readable, but I strongly suspect that the book has been toned down (and possibly dumbed down) to make it fit with an American young teen audience. It just felt like this at times to me. If this is not the case, then my apologies to TokyoPop, but I figure that even after I hear back from my Japanese source, I'll be proven right. When I hear back from this person with all the details, I'll make an update (assuming they get time to break out the first volume of the novel).

Anyway, having read the accurately translated manga and seen the anime in Japanese, I know one thing that has been changed. The Japanese perspective on fantasy is gone in favor of a western perspective. This fits with TP's strategy of wider audience appeal (apparently, the fact that the manga Fruits Basket is their best-selling manga and is an "otaku friendly" adaptation doesn't factor into the equation).

The other changes that I suspect (the "Suppii-kun" summoning spell and the Thor spell) will have to wait for the report from Japan.

I don't see a huge deal of buzz about the novel and I suspect that like the Slayers novels, this won't prove to be a big seller for TP. But then TP's marketing strategy for light novels have not been good to date.

Why couldn't TP follow Seven Seas' lead when it comes to the treatment of light novels? Along with proper marketing and advertising, I think light novels could take off and do well. Trying to force them to appeal to an American audience I feel will ultimately fail.

Will I read the 2nd novel? Possibly, but it isn't a priority at this time.

Negima! Vol 18 (Ch 162) *SPOILERS*

Thanks to AQS for the scans.

Chapter 162

Chao briefly imagines what it would be like traveling with Negi and his partners in the near future as one of Negi's partners. She admits that such a future sounds nice (which pleases Negi), but she's returning home to the future anyway. She teases Negi about partnering with him since being a partner is like being married and so he'd be proposing to his blood relative. Negi was serious about his offer to be a mage with him and she tells him to save such words for someone important to him. Since Negi doesn't want to take "no" for an answer, Chao tells him she'll be forced to use a terrible weapon she hasn't used yet, one so terrible it is certain to cause conflict among Negi's companions. This weapon is her family's registry (ie: her family tree).

Chao explains that since she's Negi's descendant, then her family registry shows whom Negi married and had children with. Suddenly, Negi's partners understand how this is an ultimate weapon. Ayaka arrives on the scene in a mood, demanding to know more about Negi's marriage partner. Paru uses her power to create a thing to fly her to Chao and Negi where she grabs the book. Chao continues to discuss how the registry would contain all kinds of details about Negi's life, which has Ayaka's nose bleeding at the thought.

Asuna takes down Paru with her harisen weapon. The book falls into Nodoka's hands, and Asuna tells "Honya-chan" (Nodoka's nickname) to dispose of the book. With Ayaka, Makie, Konoka, and Yue with her, Nodoka starts to cave to the temptation to open the registry. Chisame rushes in and grabs the book while chastising the other girls for starting to look. However, she is unable to resist the temptation to peek, resulting in Asuna breaking Chisame's glasses. This leads to a free-for-all among Negi's partners, causing Chao to be pleased with how well this weapon did work.

Chao then prepares to return to the future, stating she'll return to her own battle there. She requests Negi continue the fight here. As the multi-mandala forms in the sky and she beings to rise, she instructs Satsuki to take care of the street car cafe (Chao Bao Zi). She thanks Chachamaru and Hakase for their work. She has some instructions for Hakase and tells Chachamaru to live her life as she pleases since she's an individual. As Eva, Chachazero, and the Headmaster observe from a distance, Chao tells Ku that they should "cross arms again." She then tells Negi they should meet again, which Negi agrees to. With that, Chao is gone.

Negi's parters return with shopping bags full of food, where we learn that Asuna burned Chao's family registry. Negi tells them that Chao is gone and he was unable to do anything for her. Ku disagrees, saying that Chao happy (laughing) as she left. Negi's girls decide to have a party since the festival is now officially over, after getting some rest of course.

Thoughts

So, the School Festival Arc is actually over. Man. This thing went on for quite some time, covering nine volumes (volume 9 contained the prelude to the arc with the actual arc starting in volume 10, and volume 18 wrapping up the arc and going into some aftermath). That's some kind of mad number of chapters. No wonder there was a joke about resting for 2-years since this story took a little over 2-years to do in Japan.

Inuyasha Vol 46 (Ch 456-458) *SPOILERS*

Thanks to Freelance for the scans.

Chapter 456

Kohaku finds himself captured by Byakuya and is wrapped with numerous small (youkai?) snakes who bite him. Before he can corrupt Kohaku's Shikon shard, an attack from Sesshoumaru-sama stops him. Sesshoumaru notes that Mouryoumaru's scent is gone and that Naraku must have devoured him. Byakuya wonders if Sesshoumaru came to save Kohaku, but Sesshoumaru states that he simply came to kill a nauseating stench. With that, Byakuya flees and Rin comes forward to aid her friend Kohaku. She's warned against touching him since the snakes are poisonous while at the same time, Jaken gets bit.

Inuyasha carries Kikyou in pursuit of Kohaku and come upon Sesshoumaru's scent. She's getting weaker because the shouki is spreading within her, and her only hope is Kagome acquiring the new bow string. Kagome and the rest of the group come to Mount Azusa, and the group attempts to climb the stairs to the top of the mountain (and the shrine on top) but make no progress. Kagome wonders if her own feelings are preventing them from making progress since she's not happy about the Kikyou-Inuyasha situation. She suddenly is able to see a shape and falling off Kouga's back, finds herself alone with a humanoid, faceless shape. Back with Inuyasha, Kikyou explains what Kagome is facing and that this being's form is chosen by the heart of the person looking at it. Kagome sees Kikyou.

Chapter 457

Kouga is upset that they are back at the base of the stairs without Kagome. He wonders if that "youkai" he saw did it. Miroku urges calm, stating that the mountain most likely has accepted Kagome-sama. Kagome follows the form of Kikyou into the shrine and is told that she is tainted and wrapped in dirty spider webs. Kikyou's form retrieves a bow and gives it to Kagome providing she truly wishes to save the real Kikyou. Kagome takes the bow and runs back down the stairs. She realizes that she's making no progress and as before, there's a mist. Its then that she sees Inuyasha running and calling her name. She calls to him, but finds herself trapped in thick strands of spider webs.

Kagome sees that Inuyasha is holding an injured Kikyou, telling her he'll find Kagome soon. She yells for Inuyasha, but discovers he can't see or hear her. Kikyou tells Inuyasha that Kagome may be caught as the mountain tests a person's heart to determine their worth for the bow. Seh states that even if Kagome wasn't tainted by Naraku's webs, Kagome only sees Kikyou as a rival for Inuyasha's attention. Inuyasha wonders if Kagome doesn't really intend to save Kikyou, and she protests out loud, and Kikyou seems to look right at her. At that moment, the ground gives out underneath Kagome.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha and Kikyou race to Mount Azusa and Kikyou's bow shatters. Kikyou states that something must have happened to Kagome. She silently thinks about how the mountain causes illusions and thus traps people.

Kagome finds herself hanging off the edge of a cliff by a vine with the bow she was given suddenly very heavy. She sees Kikyou at the top of the cliff. She asks her to get Inuyasha, but Kikyou states that because Inuyasha is a hanyou, he cannot come up the mountain. Kagome states the bow is too heavy and she can't lift her arm, leading Kikyou to observe that Kagome must really want her dead. Kagome protests since Kikyou isn't helping her.

The spirit of the mountain shows up and advises Kagome to throw away the bow. The spirit, in Kikyou's form, observed that Kikyou wishes for the death of Kagome and that even if Kagome helped her, Kikyou would abandon her to be with Inuyasha. As such, Kagome should throw away the bow.

Chapter 458

As Kagome clutches the vine with one hand while dangling off the cliff, the spirit of the mountain reminds Kagome that Kikyou hates her and that she should throw away the bow, which Kagome finds very heavy. Kagome begins to consider this, knowing that she'd be happy if Kikyou died. Meanwhile, Inuyasha and company are at the bottom of the mountain with Inuyasha holding the real Kikyou. She asks to be put down and knows that only Kagome can save her if she chooses to do so.

The illusion Kikyou states that its OK if Kagome abandons her since Inuyasha would never know. The spirit of the mountain concurs. Kagome is unsure, but gets mad when illusion Kikyou is laughing. Illusion Kikyou states what Kagome was thinking -- that Kagome would be able to forgive herself even if Inuyasha did. The illusion Kikyou continues, stating how Kagome is jealous and hates her and even pretended to pity her. Kagome protests and illusion Kikyou continues by stating that Kagome is unhappy that she cannot sever the bond between Kikyou and Inuyasha. As Kikyou continues to speak of Kagome's feigned kindness, Kagome gets mad and tells Kikyou to shut up because she can't take her any more.

At the base of the mountain, Sango and Miroku notice the change in the mountain's atmosphere. Kouga decides to attempt to come up the mountain, but is stopped by Inuyasha who decides that only he can hep. As he runs up the stairs, Kagome is observed by the illusion Kikyou and the spirit of the mountain. Kagome goes off on the illusion Kikyou, stating how she'd been quite and listened to everything she had to say, but that what Kikyou has to say isn't any more important that what Kagome has to say. Kagome goes on to state that Kikyou is afraid of Kagome. She acknowledges the past between Kikyou and Inuyasha is something she cannot interfere with but Kagome has seen more of Inuyasha than has Kikyou. The illusion asks if she and Kagome are equals and Kagome agrees. As such, there's no reason for Kagome needs to be afraid of Kikyou or abandon her. When Kagome says this, the bow gets lighter.

The spirit of the mountain states that Kikyou cannot now kill Kagome and asks what Kagome will do with the bow. Kagome states she feels better having said what she said to Kikyou and that Kikyou can decide what to do next. It is then that Kagome notices that she's not clinging to a vine, but to a large bundle of webs with Kikyou wrapped in them. Kikyou fades and Kagome falls from the webs. As Kagome falls, the spirit of the mountain states that the dirty spider webs that held Kagome have been broken and that she should save the miko with the bow.

Thoughts

Well, it seems that Takahashi-sensei may be trying to resolve the love-triangle between Inuyasha, Kagome, and Kikyou. I could be wrong because we've had these stories before, but there have been signs that she may be trying to wrap up the manga.

What I'm Watching 06

Honey and Clover II 01 -- This first episode is basically a recap of Honey and Clover. So we are re-introduced to Mayama, Morita, Takemoto, Ayu, Hagu-chan, Hanamoto-sensei, Nomiya-san, Rika-san, & Miwako. Of course, we get to see the highlights of things that happened such as Ayu's unrequited love for Mayama, Mayama's unrequited love for Rika-san, Nomiya-san's interest in Ayu (much to Mayama's disgust), Takemoto and Morita's love for Hagu-chan, Takemoto's bicycle journey across Japan, and everything ending with Takemoto's return and confession to Hagu-chan.

Even though it was only a recap, I was reminded of how beautiful this josei title is.

Honey and Clover II 02 -- Hagu-chan gets the hiccups and Morita decides to take advantage of the situation to have some fun. He ends up chasing her across campus until they come upon Takemoto, who takes out Morita and gives Hagu-chan a break. He then cures her hiccups with a folk remedy, which she is thankful for before fleeing. Takemoto notes that since he confessed to her, she's been avoiding him. Meanwhile Yamada (Ayu) and Rika-san talk as Rika-san is most pleased with Ayu's work. The two come home to Rika-san's place/office where they are greeted by Mayama. Ayu notes how Mayama observes everything Rika-san does. She later talks to Hanamoto-sensei and realizes that Rika-san does have feelings for Mayama even if she doesn't express them. So later when Rika-san gets the hiccups and Mayama cures them with his folk remedy, Ayu seemingly gets her confirmation of Rika-san's feelings and her own losing position in this love triangle.

The anime loves to mix the humor and the drama so that neither takes priority, which is something I love about the show. I get the feeling that Ayu will be moving on shortly, but I could be wrong. And I really hope Takemoto ends up with Hagu-chan before this thing is over.

Kanon 22 -- As Yuuichi and Nayuki take a cab to the hospital, they pass through the area where Akiko-san was struck and nearly died. They spend the night at the hospital with no change to Akiko-san's condition and the doctor advises them to go home but stay someplace where they can be gotten a hold of. Nayuki blames herself for the accident, since she wanted that Strawberry cake. She retreats to her room and doesn't eat anything. Yuuichi distresses about destroying Nayuki's snow bunny when they were children (while he was upset at the time). He finally comes into Nayuki's room and they have a talk, which Nayuki won't be comforted. In his own bed, Yuuichi dreams and remembers his last day with Ayu seven years ago and the tragic event that happened then. Awakening from this, Yuuichi grabs Ayu's backpack and the angel he bought her back then and rushes out into the snow. He returns to the forest in a desperate attempt to find Ayu, but the blizzard overcomes him and he is unable to carry on.

The story of what happened to Ayu is so sad. Man, I sure could put myself in Yuuichi's shoes then. The end of the episode had a most unexpected person show up, but I won't say more lest I spoil it.

Honey and Clover Live-Action Movie: Characters

Well I thought that it might be neat to have a comparison to show the live-action characters against their anime counter-parts. So, here we go (in no special order).

Morita-san:

In the anime, Morita-san was very over the top, often doing wacky (and comedic) things with Hagu-chan the recipiant of many of these antics. In the live-action movie, all of the comedic and wacky things are gone. In their place, Morita-san is often dirty, a slob, and more of a mystery (IMO). Without the comedic part of his anime counter-part, the live-action Morita-san isn't as much of a presence.

Yamada-san (Ayu):

In the anime, Ayu would at times come off with some extreme (comedic) violence, mainly at Mayama, her unrequited love. That's gone from the live-action version. Most of the rest of her remains intact for the live-action version, though sadly they only showed her doing pottery once. I'd say she's a bit stronger of a character in the live-action version, especially since it is she who gets Mayama to return to Rika-san to get a job with her again.

Takemoto-kun & Mayama-san :

I accidentally put these two together in the live-action shot, so they get a together shot from the anime too. ^_^;

First, Takemoto-kun. In the first Honey and Clover anime, Takemoto is a nice guy who's not very assertive, especially when it comes to Hagu-chan. In the movie, he's still the nice guy (and that's established right away when some girls at the school observe him and conclude he doesn't have a girlfriend among other things). However, when it came to Hagu-chan, he's more assertive (movie time consideration played a part in this) so he actually asks her out twice. He doesn't address Mayama or Morita as "senpai" in the live-action movie, which also aids in that more assertive feel for the character.

As for Mayama, he's a weaker character in the movie. In the anime, he's kind of the defacto leader of the group. He manages to control Morita, he advises Takemoto, he protects Yamada, and he's nice to Hagu-chan. He has his own problems and weaknesses, but he's still strong in other areas. In the movie, he's not a leader. He caves to Morita, he is more of a stalker when it comes to Rika-san, and while a nice guy, one wonders why Yamada fell for him. Heck, Yamada has to get him back to work with Rika-san.

Hagu-chan:

As you can see, the biggest difference is that in the anime, she's blond and in the movie, she's a normal Japanese girl. While looking young in the movie, she doesn't look like a 12-year old girl as she does in the anime (which actually is a good thing). The movie Hagu-chan is played less weepy, even though she gets depressed there as well. She doesn't have the same reaction to Morita-san as she does in the anime. Her attraction to Morita-san in the movie is easier to understand since its through his art. I don't remember the anime version wearing headphones, but that wasn't a problem. She's not a clinger to Hanamoto-sensei either. Overall, I liked how Hagu-chan came off in the movie.

Hanamoto-sensei:

The live-action Hanamoto-sensei doesn't have near the anxiety over Hagu-chan going on her own. It is mentioned in passing that he'd prefer Hagu-chan dating Takemoto-kun rather than Morita-san and there's a phone scene where Yamada assures him they will take care of her on an overnight trip. He doesn't have near the presence in the movie that he does in the anime. He's used in the movie, but it always felt like he was just there more so than a character to move the plot forward. Plus, he felt younger in the movie than he does in the anime.

Rika-san:

The whole issue with Rika-san's disability is gone from the movie, so it makes Mayama's unrequited love of her have little meaning beyond, "here's a hot babe that I love but who doesn't return my feelings." She doesn't have many scenes in the movie and so doesn't have much of an impact beyond showing Mayama to be some whacked stalker.

For a complete story summary and review, go here.

Stuff From Japan!

A while back, I splurged and made an order from Japan to score the three GXP novels from Kajishima-sensei, the 101 Secrets book from K-sensei, and the live-action Honey and Clover movie. Well, everything came in yesterday and so on my next weekend, I'm going to certainly watch that movie. I'll write a review here (of course).

OK, work has been VERY busy lately, so that's why I haven't done any new manga summary/reviews for a couple of days. It may be another day or two before I get one done. So for those who enjoy those, I'll get back on track soon. ^_^;

In the meantime, enjoy a picture from one of my favorite fluff titles, Hand Maid May.