Japanese Confectionery Scandal

For those of us who've seen a lot of anime titles or read a lot of manga titles (especially those with English adaptations geared with a Japanese perspective in mind) will know of some Japanese foods and deserts. Things like taiyaki, melon pan (or other "pan" products), Pocky Sticks, Christmas cake, or daifuku products are a staple in anime and manga, and not surprising since they are a part of Japanese life.

So it was with some interest that I read about the Akafuku company (who makes mochi along with other confectionery products) is caught in a bad scandal over lying about its product.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/31/asia/31japan.php

I think it was Negima! that introduced me to mochi. Indeed, I had intended to pick up some last year when I was at the Denver Sakura Festival but didn't get it (I got some other stuff instead). Now I'm glad I passed on that.

Clannad 04

クラナド Episode 04

SPOILER Summary: Nagisa got in trouble with the Student Council for trying to form an unauthorized club and Okazaki isn't happy about it. However, the Student Council has made it pretty difficult for Nagisa to proceed since they can't make posters, fliers, or anything else to recruit members. Sunohara notices that Okazaki and Nagisa are spending a ton of time together and demands to know if his friend is dating her or not. He "confesses" that he's only in this for the free bread products that Nagisa's family makes. The idea of free bread products (pan) appeals to Sunohara, so he's decided to help with the founding of the Theater Club.

However, first things first and Sunohara challenges Tomoyo again to prove she's a man. After going on and on about his breasts, he asks to borrow hers and she asks why. Again, Sunohara feels that Tomoyo has fallen into his trap which leads to a beating from Tomoyo. Sunohara is undeterred and vows to get "him" next time when they are met by Fuko, who's been wanting to see the weird person. Fuko states that he's a rare weird person, so he decides to introduce himself properly to her. When Sunohara wonders about Fuko, she's shocked by his presence, now stating the number of weird people has doubled and he's the weird-haired person. However, she only wants to talk to the weird person and leads Okazaki outside with Sunohara following.

When she finally turns to address Okazaki, she's again shocked at the double amount of weird people around when she only wanted one weird person. Thus Okazaki is the weird-existence person and Sunohara is the weird-haired person. Sunohara leaves and Okazaki again has to remind Fuko what his name is. She wants to invite him to her older sister's wedding which is why she gave him the carved starfish to begin with. Her sister had been the art teacher at the school over three years before and Fuko wants to invite students to the wedding. Okazaki points out that no one at school would remember Ibuki-sensei since she before the 3rd-year students entered high school. So no one would really be interested in attending the wedding. However, Fuko really wants people to attend to celebrate with her sister.

Okazaki and Sunohara meet up with Tomoyo in the hall. She's not sure of their motives and when Sunohara tries to say it is different, she instinctively kicks the crap out of him. He compliments her on her powerful kick and walks with her, leading her into the boy's bathroom. That leads to her screaming and kicking him out of the bathroom, out the hall window, and into a nearby tree. She angrily confronts Okazaki about this but when he tells her it is because Sunohara thinks she's a guy, her anger leaves and she is depressed since she'd been trying to change her image.

At lunch, Nagisa and Okazaki are eating in the abandoned classroom that was also the Theater Club room. Sunohara arrives and has a solution to the Student Council problem. Since it involves violence, Nagisa wants nothing to do with it. So, Sunohara decides they should just go out and personally recruit members. His first "victims" are Kyou and Ryou, who just happen to be outside since Botan has come onto the school grounds again. Sunohara is to target Ryou (the younger sister) while Okazaki will target Kyou.

Up on the roof, Ryou is thinking that Okazaki is about to make a love confession to her. However, when he brings forward Nagisa as the one who wanted to talk with Ryou, Ryou begins to panic a bit. Nagisa begins her pitch, which Ryou misunderstands as the start of a love confession. She tries to protest about a girl telling her this, but Sunohara adds fuel to the fire by saying that gender shouldn't matter. The more Nagisa talks, the more like a love confession it feels like and Sunohara is excited by this display. However, when Nagisa finally gets to asking Ryou to join the Theater Club, Ryou says "yes" then is stunned by the question.

Kyou burst through the door leading to the roof and is not happy about how her sister had been tricked and so takes out her wrath on both Okazaki and Sunohara. Back in the old Theater Club room, Kyou has calmed down now that she knows the truth. She tells Nagisa that she should ditch the two boys as friends and be with herself and Ryou. Nagisa won't abandon those who've helped her. Ryou explains that Nagisa needs three people and an adviser to start a club. Kyou states that with Sunohara and Okazaki, the membership numbers aren't and issue. However, the two aren't interested in joining.

The following day, Sunohara is determined to "hit a home run" on Tomoyo. Okazaki coaches Sunohara on things to say and do, each a bit more outrageous than the first and Sunohara does and says them all. He then catches on that Okazaki has been having fun with him, so he decides to rush in and punch Tomoyo. She does her trademark kick attack and after a ton of hits, sends him flying towards Okazaki. Without thinking, he kicks Sunohara back which leads to a second beating from the girl.

She begs them to let this be the end, but before she can leave, Okazaki invites her to join the Theater Club. He tries to sell it to her by saying she can wear pretty dresses there. She's somewhat interested but doesn't have the time since she's running for Student Council President. So, Okazaki goes to see the genius Kotome in the library. He is unable to attract her attention until he addresses her as "Kotome-chan." Once he has her attention, he properly addresses her as "Ichinose-san" but she wants him to address her as "Kotome-chan." He begs her to allow him to leave off the "chan" honorific which she agrees to. After they share her lunch, he invites her to join the Theater Club and will come again when she's had time to consider it.

After school, Okazaki reports to Nagisa of his lack of success in recruiting members. He then remembers Fuko-san and so with Nagisa, heads to the classroom where he first met Fuko. She's carving starfish again and says she can't join the Theater Club because she's too busy. When Okazaki presses the issue, Fuko states that her every moment is at the school. He doesn't believe it but she insists she never leaves the school. Okazaki wonders if she's run away from home, but she doesn't know why she's always at school. She says she was on her way home from the entrance ceremony and almost got hit by a car, then found herself at school.

This bit of the story catches Nagisa's ear who asks for her family name and learns it is Ibuki. Because Nagisa repeated her 3rd year, she remembers Ibuki-sensei and that Ibuki-sensei had a younger sister. She pulls Okazaki aside and tells him that Ibuki-sensei's little sister had been hit by a car and was in the hospital. Further, Ibuki-sensei had stopped by their bread store only yesterday on her way back from seeing her sister in the hospital. It appears that Fuko is the ghost that rumors have been going on through the school about.

Thoughts: There was a fair amount of humor here, mainly with Tomoyo and Sunohara again. For whatever weird reason, I'd like to see them be a couple in the end with her respecting his tenacity and his respecting her strength. Hey, it could happen. Then there was Fuko addressing Okazaki as the "weird person," but then getting shocked because Sunohara means there were two weird people near her. Sunohara is mainly for comedic purposes so I guess he's doing his part.

Still, the underlying tone of sadness was here. Tomoyo being depressed about not being seen as a girl was one. Nagisa's troubles getting the Theater Club started as well as her own sickly past being another. And then there was the surprising Fuko, whom I didn't expect to be the rumored ghost. However, I got an immediate feeling of Kanon at this revelation. That's not a bad thing but something I'd already experienced.

Hayate no Gotoku! 31

Hayate the Combat Butler Episode 31
ハヤテのごとく！Ep. 31

SPOILER Summary: Sakuya arrives at Nagi's mansion to find that Nagi, in a nurse costume, is attempting to get Tama to leap through a tiny ring of fire, which of course he's very reluctant to do. Some smacks by Sakuya and a fire extinguisher later has Sakuya blasting Nagi as animal abuse is more of a problem than copyright violations. Nagi isn't concerned as the firing of a script writer or two for the series wouldn't mean she'd lose her job. Getting back on story, Tama is grateful to Sakuya to Nagi's annoyance. Hayate is surprised that Sakuya is so good with animals, and she reveals that she was like an "oneesan" to Nagi when they were younger (to Nagi's embarrassment).

As Nagi and Sakuya have tea, Sakuya states that she used to take care of Nagi. Nagi feels that she would be a great "oneesama" and gets Hayate into a school girl's costume. Hayate is to address Nagi as "Nagi-oneesama" and behave in a stereotypical fashion. However, when Hayate accidentally grabs Nagi's breast, he takes a beating for it but gets out of playing a little sister in exchange for finding some real kids for Nagi to care for. He immediately returns with a couple of kid brothers, which has Sakuya suspicious. Since this isn't Isumi-san, how'd they get lost on the mansion grounds? The kids don't want the cops involved for finding their parents and Nagi sees a perfect situation.

The kids (Itsuki being the older kid and Shunji the younger) begin calling Nagi "oneechan." However, she wants to be addressed as "Nagi-oneesama" which they are happy to do. She orders her SP's to find the kids parents and a military force launches to do just that. The kids inquire about the price of certain objects which Nagi reveals. Sakuya comes in with a suitcase, which she says contains incredible treasure so Nagi better not steal it. Nagi isn't interested, but the kids eye it with interest. Nagi instead decides to show them more treasure, which is a room filled with doujinshi, including a lot of yaoi/shounen ai stuff. This brings Sakuya's harisen out again as she whacks Nagi since the kids shouldn't even be looking at this stuff (a great deal of doujinshi is hentai in nature).

She asks if they like animals, and when they say they do, she brings them to Tama, who's dressed up in a boyish fashion (likely a nod to some anime title but I don't know what). Again, Sakuya whacks Nagi with the harisen because the kids are afraid of the giant tiger. Sakuya suggest going outside to play and reluctantly Nagi agrees. That brings a game of kick the can, which Nagi isn't pleased to play since she's a master of modern computer games and not "retro" games like kick the can. But she even agrees to play hide-and-seek with the kids as Sakuya reveals that when Nagi was small, there were no other children around, only adults after her fortune. So Sakuya brought Nagi out of her shell and helped her make friends.

The SP's are still looking for the kids' parents when one stops Nishizawa-san if the kids are hers. She is offended by the implication, then goes on about how she's only been able to hold the hand of the boy she likes and be a lap pillow for him. Realizing what she's said, she smacks the SP and races off. The SP's continue their search for the parents.

Meanwhile the games are over and Nagi admits to having fun. She then decides she's going to prepare the kids a meal, which Maria and Hayate are concerned about. She refuses their offers of assistance but when her nasty stew is done, Maria has Nagi try a sip and of course, its nasty. The kids take off quietly and Hayate notices them gone so he leaves to find them. They've gone for Sakuya's case and she's waiting for them, knowing there was something not right with them. They get away and Sakuya and Hayate pursue.

Nagi, with Maria's help, makes a decent meal but the kids are gone. They find Sakuya and Hayate, but Sakuya refuses to allow Hayate to speak the truth about the kids since it would break Nagi's heart. Instead, she makes up a story about the kids being kidnapped which has Nagi dispatch security to include the security droids. The kids are trapped but are saved by Hayate and a couple of SP's from Security Droids. The kids give up and Sakuya ends up giving them the case with its contents.

Returning to the mansion, Sakuya says she was mistaken and that there was no intruder on the mansion grounds. She tells Nagi that the kids' parents picked them up and all is well. Hayate is a bit depressed that she has no little brothers any more, but Sakuya reminds her that Nagi has other family (Sakuya, Hayate, Maria, etc.). Meanwhile the case contains two gold suits and a harisen so the kids can enter a comedy competition.

The episode ends with a third butler dispatched to challenge Hayate. This time it is with some sort of race cars and Hayate wins (no clue what series was being parodied this week).

Thoughts: A pretty funny episode. Finally, Sakuya has a decent role to play and her harisen use is actually funny (well, it was when she beat Tama in an earlier episode, but mostly, the harisen stuff hadn't been funny to me). The writers using flash images of unrelated scenes and characters to simulate crash sequences was funny to me. Seeing the super deformed characters outside Nagi's room(s) was funny. I later found out both are Ink-chan from the series Moe-tan. The other reference that I was quickly able to find was for MÄR. The characters Toramizu Ginta with his ball-and-chain mustached mace Babbo as well as Dorothy (I'm taking a guess there since the bastards at Wikipedia are too afraid of posting a blasted image of the character).

There were clearly lots of other references, but researching that was something I just don't have time for. Seriously, whomever licenses this anime for the U.S. had better do the research though because I want to know them all, just like I did for Excel Saga.

Negima! Vol 20 (Ch 182) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 20 Chapter 182

SPOILER Summary: Negi explains to Anya that the clue to his father is in the Magic World and thus he and the others are going there. He invites Anya to join them and she agrees to go, but not before giving him a hard time about being somewhat selfish in his thoughts.

Eleven days later, Negi is packed and is bringing a great deal of magical equipment and even a short sword. Asuna and Konoka compliment Setsuna for her civilian outfit, which is unusual attire for her. Negi checks in on them and Setsuna blushes heavily when he compliments her outfit. Kaede remarks on being nervous about taking her first trip overseas and Asakura, who's sewing a doll, remarks that it will take her just a bit longer before she's ready to go. Yue, Nodoka, Paru, and Anya are finishing their packing and checking out their panties when Negi arrives and gets a kick in the face from Anya for his trouble.

Negi leaves and is stopped by Chisame. She has heard about the story of Negi's village from Ayase and asks if he's really going to the Magic Country to look for his father. He confirms it and she asks about the danger. Negi can't say there won't be danger, but Chamo is sure things will be fine. She finds it amazing that the others would go through all that training just for a 10-year old boy. When asked by Chamo on if she's coming, she says there's no reason for her to join them on their trip, taking an aloof attitude. She asks if Negi is disappointed, but to her displeasure, he agrees with her. She takes off her glasses and asks if he really has to search for his father when he could just stay in Japan and act a fool with the rest of the class over their summer vacation.

Their conversation is interrupted by Kotaro, who says Eva wants them to do one final training session. This time its Asuna and Negi vs. Eva and as Eva taunts them after giving them a tough time in battle, Asuna manages to score a hit on Eva's cheek with her harisen. This causes a cut and some blood to trickle out which causes Eva to immediately encase Asuna in ice. She gives Negima-dan a passing grade. Chachamaru, who is back in her original (upgraded?) body and Kotaro are going as well. Eva feels confident that with his current level of training, he should be OK providing he doesn't go up against the "real thing," it will be a boring sightseeing tour.

Eva touches her cheek again thinking about Asuna and notices that Negi appears to be worrying. She tells him Nagi wouldn't be like that but after giving him a hard time, she decides she doesn't dislike seeing him with a struggling look. Asuna breaks out of the ice at that point, and Eva notes that normally it would take 10-years to break out of that encasement. She praises Asuna for landing a blow on her, then orders Negi to her room that night so she can pass some additional information.

The following day, the group are at the airport and Chachamaru notes that Chisame did not come. They have a ticket for her, but Asuna says that it can't be helped. On cue, Chisame arrives and is greeting by the girls excitedly, much to her chagrin. He asks her why she changed her mind and she says there was no special reason. However, since Eva doesn't think there's any danger, it should be OK but even if there is danger, she states that Negi would protect her. He agrees and the group boards the plane.

Thoughts: Asuna being encased in ice due to a spell seems a bit surprising since she has the magic nullification ability. However, since the spell wasn't targeted at Asuna but the air around her, I figure the spell wasn't nullified. However, considering that Asuna was able to break out of the ice in short order shows just how powerful she is. Since this was magic ice, I'd say that her nullification ability played no small part in her rapid escape.

Chisame shows her true colors by showing up for the trip. She does act like the loner, but in reality, she's always wanted friends and Negima-dan provides her with that. Still, being with a group is new to her which is why she still has a negative reaction to the group flocking to her at the end.

Overall, an enjoyable chapter.

Haou Taikei Ryuu Knight 38

覇王大系リューナイト Episode 38
Lord of Lords Ryu Knight Episode 38

SPOILER Summary: As a storm rages, Galden stands in it and in rage, raises his sword, which is struck by lightning. He then causes a massive forest fire to start as he blows off energy. Meanwhile in the desert, Rigel has summoned Idoro and demands to know what she has done. After listening to her pontificate, he attacks the sand to reveal an old, damaged Jya-ryuzoku ship had been buried there. The two enter the ship and two more Jya-ryuzoku pods land, with two humanoid Jya-ryuzoku. Rigel decides to give Idoro one more chance and even gives her a Doom unit before sending the three to destroy the Ryu units that Idoro has located.

At the Warp Gate by the sea, Adeu and company attempt to find the hidden entrance to the Mechanized Country (now named Eldogia). They decide to split into two groups to speed up the search. Adeu searches with Sarutobi, Katze and Hittel while Paffy, Isumi, Gratches, and Gesshin search another location. This is noted by Idoro in her crystal ball and the two with her, Doan and Gimel, flip a coin to see who gets to kill Ryu Knight. Doan wins the toss and so will stay with Idoro as Adeu's party is approaching their location. Gimel will take Paffy's group. They tell Idoro to shut up and watch when she protests their actions.

As Paffy's group searches, she sees Gimel and decides to ask him if he knows anything about Eldogia. Isumi and Gesshin see a trap and move to defend Paffy. He summons his Doom unit while the Ryu riders do the same. Meanwhile Adeu's group comes upon Idoro and Doan. Doan has another coin toss to see if he'll kill them instantly or if he'll kill them slowly and gather some data. The coin toss is for the later and the fight is on at both locations. Naturally, the Ryu units are getting spanked by the Doom units.

In Adue's group, Sarutobi decides to provide a smoke screen so they can flee. However, Idoro is waiting for them and summons her own Doom unit to kill Ryu Knight. She launches her attack and has Ryu Knight on the ropes when an attack comes out of nowhere. It is Galden's Raida Sword attack, and it saves Adeu. Idoro is not happy by Galden's sudden arrival and attack on her. Galden attacks her and injures her. However before he can perform a finishing blow, Idoro's Doom has a little surprise that injures Galden. However before she can finish him off, he manages to tap into Yamikaze's power, which destroys Idoro's Doom unit though she manages to escape.

Idoro pleads with Doan to save her from Galden, but he instead apparently kills her for being weak. Despite being angry with the woman who'd raised him, seeing her killed causes him to turn his attention to Doan. The two are in a fierce battle and Adeu decides they need to help. However, since their Ryu units can't fly, the group will drop Ryu Paladin over a cliff while attached to a chain they hold. Adeu will then attack Doan's Doom unit and save Galden. The plan goes perfectly and Doan suffers heavy damage and is flung to the sea. Adeu then drops to save Galden, who's Steru has reverted to card form.

This defeat of Doan forces a shocked Gimel to come over. Ryu Paladin has downgraded to Ryu Knight and Adeu is in no position to fight. Gimel's attack breaks the chain that's holding him. As such, he plumets to the sea, presumably with Galden in hand. Gimel then comes over to pull the injured Doan with his damaged Doom out of the sea and escape. However, Adeu does not come to the surface.

Thoughts: Well, we got confirmation that Steru was in fact a modified Ryu unit to make it a pseudo Doom unit. As for Idoro's death, well other villains have died and come back, namely Galden. So until the series is over, I'll just assume she's dead but won't be surprised to see her still alive somehow.

And speaking of Idoro, why was she surprised that Galden could access the power of Yamikaze when she had him steal it to have its power. Ah, gotta love those shounen title writers who don't worry about plot holes.

Haou Taikei Ryuu Knight 37

覇王大系リューナイト Episode 37
Lord of Lords Ryu Knight Episode 37

SPOILER Summary: A powerful storm hits Earth Tear and while a religious group prays, Adeu and company flee to a cave from a massive tornado. After the storm passes, Isumi states that this is only the beginning, but that their main concern is going to have to be the Jya-ryuzoku who will continue to send their troops to invade Earth Tear. Since they come from another planet, they have large fleets of ships that send down capsles with Jya-ryuzoku to try to penetrate the Mystic Shield that surrounds Earth Tear. As Earth Tear's two moons come closer together to mark the 1000-year cycle, the barrier will be weakest, but won't completely disappear. However, there are thousands and thousands of Jya-ryuzoku trying to penetrate the Mystic Shield and while they've encountered a few, the low number is because so many die in the attempt.

This revalation adds to the groups urgent need to find Gratches' Spirit Stone. On cue, one of Gratches' people, Freg, arrives with news. Gratches' people had been doing research to determine the location of the Spirit Stone and determined it to be located at a place known as Mechanized Country, where the Ryu units were originally constructed. However, this country was supposedly destroyed. There are also Warp Gates, which they believe will get them to the Mechanized Country faster.

After Sarutobi threatens to leave in order to pursue Galden, he's convinced to stay and finds the Warp Gate that was closest on the map. The group plans to enter the gate, but three Jya-ryuzoku pods crash into the ground. A fourth also arrives but is destroyed on impact with the ground, killing the occupant. The leader of the Jya-ryuzoku, Toka, is stunned that only three of them managed to make it alive through the barrier. To honor their comrades, he decides they will immediately kill these Ryu riders.

The group all enter their units and the fight ensues. Naturally, the Ryu units are beaten back and in frustration, Adeu finally makes Zephyr take his Paladin form. This gets the attention of Toka, who recognizes the increased power of the Paladin form over the Knight form. The other Ryu units seem to draw a little strength from Zephyr and the group begin to take the advantage but injuring all of the Jya-ryuzoku, mainly using their Spirit Stone weapons.

Before the fight can be won, another larger vessel makes it through the barrier and crashes into the ground. A humanoid Jya-ryuzoku appears and the three dragonoid Jya-ryuzoku address him as "Rigel-sama." He's not happy with their not having already dispatched the Ryu riders. He summons his own mecha unit, which he identifies as a Doom unit. His unit is much more powerful and larger than the others, including Ryu Paladin Lord Zephyr. Then as punishment, Rigel slays the three Jya-ryuzoku. This stuns Adeu but Rigel is only concerned with completing the mission from his Emperor and Jya-ryuzoku who can't fulfill their mission aren't real Jya-ryuzoku.

He then mops the floor with the Ryu units and it is decided that they must flee. Adeu protests this despite the beating he's taken but Sarutobi ensures he flees to the Warp Gate. Isumi uses a wind barrier to prevent Rigel from reaching the fleeing Ryu units while Paffy activates the gate. Isumi flees at the last moment and to prevent Rigel from entering the gate and following them, Sarutobi drops a bomb as the group is teleported out. The bomb destroys the gate but Rigel promises that it won't take him long to find them.

At their destination, Sarutobi teases Adeu a bit over having shown his back to the enemy while Gratches vows to find his Spirit Stone.

Thoughts: Hmmm...so now there are more humanoid Jya-ryuzoku and they have mecha units that are even more powerful than the Ryu units. I'm guessing the writers decided the group of heroes needed more incentive to power themselves up. Considering how the preview for the next episode appears to have Galden working with the heroes again, maybe the writers needed a new humanoid villain.

Negima!? 20

ネギま!? Episode 20

SPOILER Summary: Eva, Chachamaru, and Takahata-sensei meet to discuss events when Eva leaves with a headache. While other girls are doing various other things, Eva returns, only now she's a giant who appears to not feel so good. Asuna, who's been goofing around in the Black Rose Baron gear, saves Negi from being crushed underfoot. Eva climbs the school building to sleep on the roof and the others worry about what to do. That seems to become more urgent when the building shows repeated signs of collapse.

The girls have a pointless meeting until Nodoka suggests using her artifact. Negi lucks out and pulls the Armor Card so Nodoka can actually be useful. Unfortunately, the solution to Eva's giant size seems to be to let her sleep it off. With the building in such bad shape, the Research Group has Negi in the Mechachupa unit, but of course that fails. So Chachamaru uses a Japanese flute to wake Eva up and get her to follow Chachamaru to safety. That evening, Eva returns to her normal child form.

Thoughts: Another boring and pointless episode. The jokes with Makie-san being worthless are so old and tired now. The animation and art took a nosedive big time here. During the group meeting, the girls just looked awful. The South Park parody after the end credits had me scratching my head. I was hoping for something funny, but it just seemed like a jab at South Park as if to say, "You are as funny as a suicide bombing." I'm afraid that FUNimation is going to take a dive on this series because while at times it has very good moments, there are way to many bad moments.

Clannad 03

クラナド Episode 03

SPOILER Summary: The mysterious girl in the mysterious room with the mysterious robot of scraps she built encourages her creation to walk to her as a mother would her child while he narrates thoughts and the warmth he only gets from her. Apparently, the robot has no memories prior (suggesting that maybe a trapped soul is in the robot) and apparently cannot recall other things since his creation. He cannot communicate with the girl but she is all he needs.

Okazaki decides to pay Nagisa a visit after her collapse in the previous episode. Her father (Akio-san) isn't that happy to see him but Nagisa's mother Sanae-san is and explains that Nagisa is resting. Eventually Akio-san offers Okazaki a bag full of Sanae-san's bread, saying it will likely go unsold anyway. Sanae-san is devastated to hear this and runs off crying with Akio-san in pursuit. Meanwhile, a woman visits the store but since the owners aren't there, Okazaki ends up giving the woman his bag of bread.

As Okazaki walks home, he comes across an angry car owner demanding an electrician working nearby take responsibility for damage to his car. The car owner grabs Okazaki to be his witness but the stuff the electrician says makes no real sense to them. Eventually, Okazaki examines the damage more closely and determines it was done by a cat. As if on cue, a fat cat comes walking by and the car owner agrees the damage was from the cat. The electrician thanks Okazaki and gives him his card. When Okazaki relays the story to Sunohara and shows him the card, Sunohara is stunned as this guy (Yoshino Yuusuke) used to be a popular singer.

Sunohara still hasn't gotten over the beating Tomoyo gave him and decides she has to be a guy in drag as no girl could be that strong. So the next day at school, Sunohara decides to make Tomoyo reveal herself to be a guy and after playing nice and coming up with a wacky story, asks to borrow a razor. She asks why she should lend him her things and he takes this as acknowledgment that she has a razor and thus is a guy. She says she doesn't own a razor and as punishment for his insensitive question and innuendo, she beats him again.

Okazaki sees Nagisa sitting in the courtyard under the tree eating a bread product and she works up the courage to wave and smile at him. He joins her and after a moment, she confesses she is glad she waved to him and that he's not angry with her. She calls herself an idiot, but Okazaki assures her that he too is an idiot of sorts. As they talk, Fuuko is there trying to search Okazaki for the knife he confiscated from before. However, he soon proves to her that her hand is still injured and Nagisa is concerned for Fuuko's well being. However, Okazaki soon gives the knife back to Fuuko. She is relieved and gives him the carved star she'd made.

School is out and Okazaki wakes Sunohara and has a little fun with him since he's still half asleep. Okazaki spots a boar piglet outside and goes to find it. However, it soon finds him and rubs his leg but doesn't like Sunohara. Sunohara grabs the pig and finds himself under attack from Kyou. The book separates him from the pig and a flying kick sends him flying. As he pulls himself up, he remarks on having seen something light blue along with the sole of her shoe. That brings another kick and a warning to erase the image from his mind. Turns out the pig is her pet, whom she's named Botan.

Back inside the school, Okazaki works with Nagisa to help her practice what she's going to say for the kickoff meeting of the new Theater Club. They use the Source Material Room to find something to aid in this. They are greeted by Miyazawa Yukine, who offers them coffee. After talking a bit with her, Okazaki and Nagisa return to the room for the Theater Club and work on her delivery. In the end, Okazaki urges her to speak from the heart after hearing her talk on various things including her reasons for wanting to found this club. However, they find that their posters to announce the kickoff meeting have all been taken down since they didn't have Student Council approval. It is then that Nagisa is summoned to meet with the council.

Thoughts: I still am enjoying the running gag with Sunohara challenging Tomoyo. However, the sad feeling in the anime kinda prevailed for the most part for me. I keep thinking, "I sure hope Nagisa doesn't die." Since I've not played the game this is based on, I've no idea if someone will die or not. I get the feeling someone will die though.

The strange, happy girl with her little robot creation continues to be odd to me. I can't help but wonder if this is a trapped soul or not. I'm not versed enough in Japanese mythos to say. However, I keep thinking back to Air and the crow there and wonder if something similar will happen.

Genshiken 2 03

げんしけん 2 Episode 03

SPOILER Summary: Sasahara, Kousaka, and Kuchiki enter the building where ComiFes is being held. Sasahara talks with Madarame, who's outside in the line with Ohno and Tanaka. Kuchiki's job is to use his pass in order that he can score copies of doujinshi titles that might otherwise be sold out by the time Madarame gets there. Kousaka and Sasahara go to their table, where they find the boxes with their doujinshi as well as fliers and other stuff for their sale. They set up shop after taking a gander at the printed version of their doujinshi.

Takayanagi shows up with the Manga Club's latest doujinshi and he exchanges doujinshi with Sasahara. He warns Sasahara that Haraguchi (whom he calls "Haraguro") is also there, having scammed his way in with some other large doujinshi group who are allowed to have more than three tickets. Sure enough, Haraguchi shows up and wants to see the doujinshi. Sasahara offers him a free copy, but after he thumbs through it, he gives it back and tells them he hopes it sells out.

The doors of the building open as ComiFes officially opens and they manage to sell a few doujinshi. Ohno arrives in cosplay with Tanaka to help sell doujinshi. Sure enough, her presence does help increase sales. Tanaka and Kousaka take off for something secret which leaves Sasahara with a bad feeling. Madarame arrives to spell Sasahara, who gets to casually wander the floor while taking a break. He returns to find Madarame has fled leaving an irritated Ohno and Ogiue to sell doujinshi.

A little later when Madarame returns, Sasahara wonders how Kuchiki is doing with making all the purchases. He explains to Ogiue about the rush people sometimes get buying all this stuff and end up just going in circles. As he explains, Ogiue blushes as she has an apparent romantic thought about Sasahara.

Meanwhile, as Sasahara wonders about Kousaka and Tanaka, and as Ohno assures him all is well, they appear on the scene, only now Kousaka is dressed in drag as a female character from Kujibiki Unbalance to match Ohno's doing the same (but for a different character). Sasahara sees a nightmare developing in front of him, but Ohno and Kousaka combined are able to generate a great deal of interest and sales. As Kousaka works his magic, Madarame wonders if seeing Kousaka in a miniskirt school seifuku (uniform) should be a nosebleed scene.

Kugayama finally arrives on scene and because he's now a published doujinshi artist, they initially address him as "sensei," which is how published authors and mangaka's are addressed. He quickly scans through the doujinshi and says he'll look at it slowly later as it is embarrassing to look at it right then. Sasahara lets him know how sales are going and says he's glad they did the doujinshi. With Kugayama agreeing, the feud from episode 2 is officially done.

Sasahara decides to go an pay the big doujinshi artists that Haraguchi had set them up with initially a visit to apologize. He first meets up with Kouji-san and after he apologizes, Kouji gives him a copy of their doujinshi. Sasahara is embarrassed that he didn't have a copy of their doujinshi to exchange, but Kouji says that it is OK since they have cases of copies of their doujinshi while Sasahara likely only had a few copies of the Genshiken doujinshi. Learning from this error, Sasahara returns and grabs a few copies of their doujinshi before finishing the rounds with the other doujinshi artists he had to turn away.

As Saki arrives on scene, Genshiken has sold all of their doujinshi copies save for the ones they placed aside as keepers. Saki takes a look at Kousaka and is at a loss for words, but clearly is not happy. Kuchiki arrives in a state of delirium over his buying and gets the wrath of Saki as a result. Madarame asks if Sasahara is going to get the application for the Winter ComiFes, but after both Kugayama and Ogiue pass the decision onto him, Sasahara decides to pass on doing another doujinshi. The group then takes the money they made and head out to a karaoke place where they proceed to spend their entire earnings on food, booze, and singing in their private booth.

Thoughts: Kousaka's crossdressing cosplay was even more wrong and funny in the anime than it was in the manga. I think showing this in color is what set it apart from the start, combined with good direction. The artists made Kousaka look more like a girl than Shimoku-sensei did in the manga.

I liked how the anime writers are setting up future stories by having Yabusaki make a cameo and look at Genshiken's manga. Also, the writers continue to hint at the attraction between Ogiue and Sasahara, this time making Ogiue "look" at Sasahara and blush. That's how it should be when you already know where the story is going, which wasn't there in the manga.

The only thing I saw missing was Saki getting a look at their doujinshi and being offended at its content. Otherwise, an enjoyable episode.

Shakugan no Shana Second 03

灼眼のシャナ II Episode 03

SPOILER Summary: As the teacher introduces the new female student Konoe Fumina-kun, Shana and Yuuji see the face of the Bal Masqué member known as Hecate. Shana evokes a fuzetsu to see if Hecate will reveal herself, since she wouldn't be frozen in time like normal humans would. She is frozen, but Yoshida-san is not, to Yuuji and Shana's surprise. It seems that the Flame Haze Khamsin gave her an artifact (Hougu?) which allows her to move within the fuzetsu. Shana examines Konoe closely and even pulls her sword on her, but gets no reaction. If it is Hecate, she's acting very well. Since Alastor can't confirm if it is Hecate or not and even Yuuji doesn't sense Hecate, whom he knows very well, the trio return to their desks and Shana releases the fuzetsu.

The teacher instructs Konoe to take the vacant seat at the back of the class, but she quietly insists on taking the seat next to Yuuji, which concerns both Yoshida and Shana. The teacher asks her to take out her books, but this seems to confuse Konoe a bit as the concept of taking her own books out seems alien to her. She ends up dumping her books out all over and Yuuji helps her pick them up. Among her books is a cloth which she has been told is to be used to cover her desk, which she does.

At Sato's house, he and Tanaka are sleeping and Tanaka awakens to discover they are late for school. Marchosias finds this amusing, telling them that they don't have to hang out with Margery Daw as if it is their job. Margery awakens and states she senses a sneaky presence in the city. However, with three Flame Haze already in the city, this Tomogara would be smart to quickly retreat as if nothing else, Margery will kill it. She then falls back asleep. As if on queue, we see a Tomogara floating on wheels of fire on the edge of the city, wondering if any Flame Haze will come.

Back at school, Ogata decides to take Konoe under her wing for P.E. class. Shana warns Yuuji to be careful, but Yuuji is more concerned about the Tomogara presence he senses outside the city. Shana isn't concerned about it at the moment, but she is pleased that Yuuji could sense it and tells him so. At the girl's P.E. class, they are to play volleyball and Yoshida decides to make some discreet inquiries about Konoe by talking to her and asking her questions. If Konoe is Hecate, she doesn't give Yoshida any clues and even ends up falling asleep, her head resting on Yoshida's lap.

At lunch, Ogata again takes Konoe under her wing to go buy some pan (Japanese bread products specifically). Konoe quietly grabs Yuuji to go with them, but he tells her that he already has a bento to eat (I assume from Yoshida). Tanaka and Sato finally arrive at school and are briefed about the new girl and put in a request to Margery Daw, who specializes in unrestricted spells which might force Hecate to reveal herself. Down where the pan products are sold, Ogata finds herself alone as Konoe is outside with some birds. Margery arrives atop Marchosias and the two immediately spot the facial similarities between Konoe and Hecate. Margery does her thing and while the birds all react to her spell, Konoe does not. However, Margery's spell has drawn the attention of the mysterious Tomogara.

As Yuuji and Shana walk home, Shana decides to test Konoe again, but without telling Yuuji. She gives him her book bag and goes off to find Konoe, who's come to a shrine after following a bird. Shana quickly comes to the shrine and erects a fuzetsu to test Konoe. Konoe doesn't move, but the Tomogara on fiery wheels does. He calls himself Cache-sama and doesn't appear to know who Shana and Alastor are by sight. A battle begins and while Cache takes some damage, one of his rings comes off his finger, rolls to Shana and explodes. He feels he's got the upper hand, but Shana is unharmed and identifies herself. She attacks the now scared Cache and damages him severely.

Needing to get healing, he goes to the "frozen" body of Konoe to eat her existence. Yuuji arrives in the fuzetsu and appeals to Shana since if Konoe is actually just a human, he doesn't want her to be killed. The Tomogara gets to Konoe and touches her for a moment before Shana launches her sword into the Tomogara, slaying him. Yuuji manages to save Konoe from further harm by catching her after she had been knocked over while still frozen in time. She has an injury on her arm with blood where Cache touched her, revealing that she was indeed human.

Yuuji and Shana walk home and discuss Shana's trap and test. Yuuji wasn't too pleased with how she did it, but Shana reminded him they couldn't relax or trail properly unless she knew for sure that Konoe was human. Today's training will be with Wilhelmina.

Elsewhere, a horned, winged male humanoid in a suit named Fecor asks Bel Peol if he did OK. She confirms that he did and that the plan is going perfectly.

At school the next morning, Yoshida is told that Konoe isn't a Tomogara, which relieves her. Konoe arrives and again dumps her books all over the place. As Yuuji helps her, he notices a small bird feather in her hair. He tries to remove it, but it won't move and an amused Konoe softly grabs his arm. This is seen by both Shana and Yoshida, who are not happy about that.

Thoughts: I think Konoe will indeed be Hecate or at least some trap set by the Bal Masqué to get Yuuji. Hecate's empty existence might be why she could emulate a human but still not be sensed by Margery Daw, Shana, or Yuuji as a Tomogara. Fecor must also be a Tomogara and I figure established the "Cache-sama" Tomogara that Shana dispatched.

Yuuji is getting better though since he was at least able to sense the Tomogara as it came to the outside of the city. Then again, that too may have been part of the Bal Masqué design.

Regardless, I'm enjoying this at least as much as the first series. It is nice to see that Yoshida can be part of the "team" with her artifact.

Negima! Vol 20 (Ch 181) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 20 Chapter 181

SPOILER Summary: At Eva's resort, Negi is combat training with Setsuna in her winged form as some of the others in Negima-dan and Anya observe. Negi loses, but Setsuna is impressed that he's mastered the "Empty Air Instant Movement" so quickly. Anya is floored to know that Negi is performing such magical combat, especially since she's never seen such things in advanced textbooks. The two use the magic transporter to go to another of Eva's places where Kaede and Ku Fei are training. Kaede is distracted by their arrival leading Ku to win their match. However, their power also amazes Anya.

Asuna arrives by flying in, suddenly having wings and a halo as she calls for Setsuna to observe her. The wings were done by Paru and her artifact, which also stuns Anya. As Asuna inquires to how she could steer herself with these wings and how much time they have left, the wings disappear and Asuna starts falling. As she rushes to the ground, she activates her artifact sword, which pierces the wall of the castle and gives her a platform to stay on as Negi arrives on his staff.

Anya demands of Nodoka and Yue to know why everyone is so powerful here. Yue explains that everyone has a clear objective and study under a great teacher. That teacher is also the owner of the castle -- Evangeline. This news is most distressing to Anya, who knows all about the legendary evil vampire-mage and tells Yue they are going to sneak out now because there's no telling what Eva will do to them. Eva arrives in adult form and asks Anya just exactly what she thinks Eva will do which has Anya run away in panic to Eva's amusement.

Yue and Nodoka catch Anya to calm her down. Nodoka explains how Eva used to be scary, but she really is nice. Anya is skeptical but the two eventually convince her. Now Negi's great abilities start to make sense to Anya as does the resort(s) that Eva has constructed via magic. She's frustrated though since she'd been looking for a master to train her in combat and has studied on her own a great deal. Anya is still unsure why Negi would choose Eva to be his teacher and decides it must be her breasts. Nodoka states that Eva's true form is that of a flat-chested kid which makes Anya feel a little better and reaffirm her wanting to be friends with Yue and Nodoka.

With this, Nodoka and Yue decide to go ahead and let Anya know that they have pactios with Negi. Anya is angry that Negi has pactios with seven girls and rushes off to leave but the gate won't open to allow her to leave the resort. Yue and Nodoka inform Negi of what happened and he goes to the gate area to see Anya. She is angry and tries to punch him repeatedly, saying he's nothing like the Negi she remembered. With him surrounded by such pretty "oneechans," she thinks he's forgotten about their village. She tries to deliver a knock out punch, but Negi blocks it.

Negi assures her that he hasn't forgotten what happened to the village. Further, he's training so
hard so he can reach his father, whom he knows isn't dead. The reason he's progressed so far is because he remembers what happened when the youkai destroyed their village and he's determined to know why. With that, Anya forgives him.

Thoughts: There was a lot of fun in this chapter with my favorite moment coming from Asuna's fall and quick thinking to save herself. Up until now, Anya had seemed only like a spoiled, jealous girl who was in love with Negi but he just couldn't see it. While that certain is true, the events of when the Graf and fellow youkai destroyed their village when they were children is still heavy on her mind. That made Anya shift from just annoying jealous girl to a girl who hides her pain with her actions in trying to get Negi back. Negi also hides his pain but in other ways. Hopefully Anya can join in on the training and become a more powerful mage herself.

You're Under Arrest! Full Throttle 03

Taiho Shichauzo! Full Throttle Episode 03
逮捕しちゃうぞ フルスロットル Episode 03

SPOILER Summary: Yoriko worries about her weight and is envious about Natsumi's ability to eat anything. When Inspector Tokuno brings in a fresh batch of taiyaki from Kogane's Store, there's great excitement at the station. Nakajima doesn't see anything special about these taiyaki, but Kachou tells him they are special, made from select sweet beans from Hokkaido. Everyone grabs one and Yoriko is upset until Miyuki tells her eating only one should be already despite Natsumi's teasing.

Near Kogane's Store, a man in his apartment observes the long line there and frets about needing an opponent. Meanwhile, Miyuki and Natsumi take Today out for a patrol ride (along with a wonderful song). As they drive along the old routes and ticket parking violators, they decide to get some taiyaki. At Kogane's Store, a group has gathered and just as they are asking about police, Natsumi and Miyuki arrive. Someone has stood cars up on their end and left warning messages. Natsumi returns the cars to the ground and the two send everyone on their way. It is then that Natsumi senses something as they are observed by the man from earlier.

Returning to the station with the warnings, Natsumi speculates that maybe these warnings are actually a challenge. Kachou warns her not to get into a fight with whomever this person is. Miyuki and Natsumi stay late with Miyuki working leads. After some time looking at pictures from the area, they notice one with the man looking out from his apartment window in the distance. The man, now laying in bed, recalls when he was a professional wrestler and the injury he took which knocked him out of the sport.

The following day, it seems that the owner of the taiyaki shop, Kogane-san, is worried so Natsumi and Miyuki pop by for a visit. They talk with his daughter, Michiyo, asks for their help. Because her father is getting up there in years, he can't make the taiyaki as fast as he once could since the molds for this desert weigh over 10 pounds each. Natsumi senses they are being observed again but no one shows up. They take off and that evening, the ex-wrestler returns to take his revenge on the cars.

Natsumi and Miyuki are dispatched to the scene again return in time to see an SUV "walking" so Natsumi rushes to stop it. The ex-wrestler pushes and inititally Natsumi is pushed back. When Natsumi starts getting the upper hand, he calls her a "gorilla woman," which angers her, causing her to run the car back and put an end to the ex-wrestlers' messing with the SUV. He goes to escape and when Miyuki goes to cut off his escape with Today, he leaps into the air, has a flashback over taking a shot to his balls, and falls to the ground where he's taken into custody.

After talking with Inspector Tokuno, he has a defeatist attitude which annoys Nastumi. After she chastises him, he ends up getting a job at Kogane's and as a result, the speed with which they can produce taiyaki increases to the point to where they don't have such long lines. That's when they notice Kachou in the line and get their boss to spring for a round of taiyaki for everyone.

Thoughts: It was a fun episode with one really funny moment, but otherwise nothing special. Nothing on the Miyuki-Nakajima front.

Hayate no Gotoku! 30

Hayate the Combat Butler Episode 30
ハヤテのごとく！Ep. 30

SPOILER Summary: Maria-san, Hayate, and Nagi are off to an onsen for some relaxation and Nagi picks one that looks rundown (and classic) but is still within the city. They hear a scream and rush off to find Katsura-sensei "dead" as the library trio, Eight, and Shiori arrive. When they initially see her in the brief intro, she's wearing a bathrobe (traditional for an onsen) but is now wearing a princess outfit which Hayate points out is different to the irritation of Katsura-sensei. She verbally blasts him, but Nagi knocks her out, "smelling a crime" which the announcer states she just committed.

Nagi dons some glasses and a grade school backpack to start her deductions. Hina arrives and makes some sad, but insulting comments about her oneechan, to Katsura-sensei's irritation. She has a tape which was just delivered to her. In it, Katsura-sensei starts making a recording. Initially it is in one of the Inn's rooms, but then shifts to the bridge of some sci-fi (anime?) show. As she continues to talk about her impending death, she appears to be in a train car in space before ending up in front of a castle to be pursued by someone wearing special metal gauntlets.

First, Nagi accuses Shiori and theorizes how she killed Katsura-sensei with a speckled snake. She slaps the cuffs on Shiori, which brings Eight into the scene to free her, forcing Hayate to knock Eight out and suggest maybe it was someone else. So Nagi theorizes the killers were the library trio, using a giant, speckled octopus. They deny it and the suspicion falls on Nagi, who apparently used a spotted elephant to strangle their teacher. Hayate protests his innocense while Nagi speaks into a mic of some kind about it. This brings and irritated Katsura-sensei "back to life" to get them to push the story forward.

Hina finds a "dying message" from Katsura-sensei, that spells out the work (in Kanji) "hibiya." The narrator explains that this is when the victim of a homicide leaves a clue to their killer, in the example, Tama being shot by Vice President Cheney. The narrator explains that "Hibiya" is an area in Japan near Tokyo where the first traffic light was installed. So, after going off the deep end a bit with a UFO theory, Nagi decides the killer has to be somewhere else, say in the onsen since the *** seeds to the left could be made into radicals, changing the Kanji, thus changing the meaning to Coed Bath.

The group heads out to the bath where Maria-san is taking a bath but wrapped in a bath towel, but not before a brief fanservice scene of the library trio in the onsen. Nagi explains this is the first "must have" of an episode of this type (sexy girl in the bath). The next is exquisite food. the third is the inquiry at a bar, where Klaus gives an example in drag (the suspect picture now being shown to be a panda). The next must have is a ping pong match back at the onsen resort. It is then that the "corpse" is discovered to be missing.

Nagi summons her staff of bodyguards who find a clue -- a voice recorder taped to the underside of a table from which Katsura-sensei's scream can be heard. Nagi decides to put everything together clue-wise and after a brief scene of Nishizawa trying to trick-or-treat in Japan, Nagi assembles the group to a cliff where she has Hayate seated in a chair. She hids behind the chair and with a bow tie, proceeds to speak in Hayate's voice to explain things. However, Nagi is forced to eventually come forward after questions from the group about the tape, where it is showing that Katsura-sensei was in two different rooms, meaning she was killed in one and moved to the other.

After challenging the group to figure out whom the criminal is, they all come up with Hina as the killer. She starts to confess to being the killer but Nagi, again speaking with he bow tie, says it isn't Hina. Hina protests, but Nagi proclaims the real killer to be the voice announcer. Since she produced the script, she won't allow anyone to complain. A giant wave (the Japanese didn't use the word "tsunami") with Katsura-sensei surfing the crest approaches. Katsura-sensei is unhappy about her screen time and Nagi is not happy about the "corpse" coming back to life so often. So, Nagi throws down her scrips and at a very foggy onsen, we see the faces of all the girls bathing together. Hayate and Eight get to bath in an old metal barrel.

The episode ends with Hayate dispatching another Butler, parodying Battle B-Daman.

Thoughts: This was another funny episode, but since I've never watched Detective Conan, it wasn't as funny as it could have been. Interesting western cultural references like Halloween and Trick or Treat. There was the announcer apologizing to "Doyle-sensei" for Nagi's poor theory taken from a Sherlock Holmes short story and later having Nagi dressed as Sherlock Holmes with her addressing Hayate as "Watson-kun." The one that stunned me most (and was funny to me, even though I like the person referenced) was the explanation of "dying message" with Tama being shot by a western hunter and writing the name "Cheney" in Katakana in the dirt.

Speaking of references, besides Detective Conan, I noticed what I believe to be a reference to Galaxy Railways during Katsura-sensei's video recording. The castle background combined with the metal, pointed-finger gauntlets are clearly a reference to the best Lupin III movie, Castle of Cagliostro.

The announcer mentioning Maria-san wearing a bath towel in the onsen was for broadcast restrictions and that the audience shouldn't do the same in reality was funny. I've seen way to many anime titles and they mostly have the girls completely wrapped in bath towels, which isn't how it is in Japan.

Ai Yori Aoshi Manga Volume 17

Ai Yori Aoshi Volume 17
藍より青し Volume 17 (finale)

SPOILER Summary: Kaoru arrives at the Sakuraba estate and Kaoru's half-brother is all upset because only the one who marries Aoi will be the head of the Hanabishi family. Aoi-chan is sympathetic to him and Kaoru makes his bowed appeal to Aoi-chan's parents. Aoi-chan also has her say and so they are allowed to leave, having the official blessing of the family. Miyabi is waiting for them and is happy to see they came through this OK.

Kaoru and Aoi-chan return to the Sakuraba summer home, which has been their home for the last few years. The place is empty with all the girls having moved out. Even the furniture is all gone. However, they decide to take advantage of the time alone by spending some "quality time" together.
The following day, Tina, Chika, Mayu, Miyabi, and Taeko arrive to greet the couple. Kaoru re-introduces Aoi as his childhood friend, betrothed, and fiancée. Aoi confirms her intentions of being Kaoru-sama's wife and is congratulated by the group.

Sometime later, the group (plus Chika-chan's two friends Natsuki-chan and and Chizuru-chan) are at the airport to see Tina off. Tina has Kaoru go off to get some souvenirs so the girls can have one final talk. Mayu decides that she'll just have to steal Kaoru's love. She calls the other girls out by stating that just because Kaoru and Aoi are a couple doesn't mean any of them have fallen out of love with Kaoru. They confess and Aoi understands. So when Kaoru returns, Tina takes advantage of Aoi's understanding to kiss him full on the lips and say she loves him. Mayu and Taeko kiss Kaoru on the cheek, but Chika-chan goes for the lips much to Aoi's distress.

Four years later, Tina returns to Japan and pays a visit to Chika, Chizuru, and Natsuki at college where she gives them a group photo from four years earlier. She then pays a visit to Miyabi and Taeko, who are working at a Sakuraba Department Store branch. Miyabi is the manager and has been adopted into the Sakuraba family. Tina gives them both a copy of the group photo.

Finally, Tina visits Aoi and Kaoru's apartment, where Kaoru has taken his mother's family name of Honjou. Tina and Aoi visit and Tina wonders why Aoi still addresses Kaoru as "Kaoru-sama" since as a married couple, it would be proper for her to just address him as "Kaoru" or other term of endearment. Tina then says she met Mayu in England before coming to Japan. After relaying the story, a somewhat annoyed-looking Aoi relays that Mayu visited them two weeks before and pays a visit to them roughly once a month. Still, Aoi is happy with the group photo and Tina snaps a picture of Kaoru and Aoi when he comes home from work.

Thoughts: I have some mixed thoughts. Since Ai Yori Aoshi is a seinen title, I understand that the levels of ecchi content and nudity will be higher. The anime had ecchi humor, but the nudity was lessened due to the format. Since I loved the romance story of Aoi-chan and Kaoru, I could easily overlook the ecchi content. However, the anime didn't have the complete story so I went to the manga to get that, where we get all the nudity. After a while, I got sick of seeing all the nudity, especially the underaged naked girls volume after volume once Chika-chan and her friends were introduced.

The last two volumes had the story kinda grind to a halt to me with it clear that things were wrapping up, but Fumizuki-sensei deciding to add one more bit of drama by having Kaoru suddenly have a half-brother and attempt to make Aoi-chan his own, with Aoi's own parent's tacit approval, even making her a semi-prisoner in her parents home. However, it wasn't like I didn't know that Kaoru would make a sudden dramatic arrival, nor that there would be a scene like the end of the 1st anime series. So really, that whole thing was just tedious and boring to me.

As I said, I enjoyed the romantic story between Aoi-chan and Kaoru. They've had at least one moment of implied "quality time" together when they spent the night in a hotel. So while there had to be a payoff to let us know they are now officially a couple, I didn't need four chapters for it (one to set it up, two for the sex, and one for the aftermath). The 1st and last chapters would have been enough with the implied sexual congress between Aoi-chan and Kaoru. To be fair, the sex is not depicted in an explicit nature as it would be in other seinen titles like Futari Ecchi, but it was enough to have TP actually shrink-wrap the manga and slap a warning on the cover.

OK, so it was nice seeing everything has fallen away and Aoi-chan and Kaoru can be an open couple now. It was also nice with the final chapter showing the characters four years later. I found it interesting that Mayu was still in love with Kaoru, but no longer addressed him as "Hanabishi-sama." She now addresses him as "Kaoru-san," which I found most interesting. Aoi-chan still addresses Kaoru as "Kaoru-sama" which was also most interesting and something Tina commented on.

I haven't decided on if I'll keep the manga series or not. I usually dump manga titles that are excessively ecchi once I finish reading them. I'll ponder it for a bit, but having read the manga, I wonder if there will be another anime series.

Genshiken 2 02

げんしけん 2 Episode 02

SPOILER Summary: With three days before their doujinshi has to be at the printers, Genshiken has a crisis -- they don't have a doujinshi ready for the printers. Because of the feud going on between president Sasahara and Kugayama, Madarame is running the meeting to decide what to do. While initially things had gone well, Kugayama ended up finding excuses not to draw anything new (job, thesis). Because he was the only one who had a scanner and photoshop, no one else could do anything for the pages done in his sketchbook. Ogiue-san had done her two pages and offered to do more, but Sasahara won't hear of it.

Finally, Saki steps in and takes charge, telling the three of them that they have one week to produce 10 pages for the doujinshi. This will mean paying a fee from the printers because of the shortened time they have to work but the doujinshi will be done. With the final three days approaching, Saki orders Sasahara and Kugayama that they aren't allowed to sleep until until its done, but Ogiue can. She stays with the other two, who can't help but fall asleep anyway, and Sasahara finds himself becoming attracted to Ogiue.

The doujinshi gets sent to the printers and the group works out who will get the vendor tickets and the like.

Thoughts: Well, I have to say that in the manga, this story was very interesting, but in anime form, it seems the anime writers stretched it out quite a bit to fill an entire episode. It wasn't a bad episode, it just dragged somewhat.

Negima! Vol 20 (Ch 180) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 20 Chapter 180

Thanks to AQS for the scans.

Summary: Anya is in the onsen with Yue and Nodoka and they ask if Anya has chosen a partner. She blushes and admits that she hasn't picked a partner yet since one is supposed to do that carefully. Anya wonders if Negi has made Asuna his partner, but decides there's no way he'd partner with such an airhead. Anya has decides that Asuna is an enemy because she has breasts and Anya has to save Negi from that. To her dismay, the large-breasted girls from the class arrive in the onsen, making Anya feel even more persecuted and desperate to save Negi from all these enemies. Anya decides she can for sure become friends with Yue and Nodoka due to their small chest size.

In a flashback, we see that Anya has gotten Negi into a forbidden spell archive and he's doing hardcore studying. When someone comes, Anya has to get Negi to safety because he's to engrossed in learning new spells that he doesn't move himself. Anya wakes up and decides that they are going home immediately, but is not happy to see Negi snuggled up with Asuna sleeping. She punches him and Konoka explains that because Asuna reminds him of his oneechan, he snuggles with her. Anya concedes Asuna does resemble Nekane-oneechan but hurls some insults Asuna's way.

Anya's pressing the issue to get Negi to return causes Asuna to start to tell her about being Negi's partner when Yue and Nodoka stop her. Chisame arrives with questions about her pactio card, but again they stop her from spilling the beans to preserve Anya's thought that Negi has no partner yet. Paru sees an opportunity for mischief and is about to tell Anya everything but again, Nodoka and Yue stop her. With Anya continuing to insist that Negi return home, Konoka speculates that Anya actually likes Negi, which she strongly denies. While Anya is trying to explain herself to everyone, Konoka apparently calls Nekane and gets permission to come later, meaning Anya is forced to cool her jets.

Anya and Negi walk on the beach while the others play (Asakura carrying a doll of Sayo on her wrist) and Anya wants to make it clear that she's not "liking" him despite all that was said earlier. She wonders about all the "oneechans" around and if he's getting lovey with them, which he denies as they are his students.

With the added number of people from Ayaka's group now there, the resort they are staying is pretty full and all the girls are having to sleep in a large common room with Negi. Konoka decides to have some fun by announcing that Negi likes to sleep with an oneechan and hug them while he sleeps. While the news revolts Kotaro-kun, a lot of the other girls plot their attempt to sleep next to Negi, causing Anya to be on high alert. In the end, Negi was placed in the safe slot between Natsumi and Chizuru. Anya senses the intent of those like Ayaka and Makie but when Negi ends up in her arms, she kicks him away before realizing her mistake. Negi lands with Ayaka, who's all dreamy about that until Makie flings a couple of her gymnastic batons at her, then using her ribbon, flings him towards her. But Anya is there with a save kick and he lands between Yue and Nodoka. Yue offers Nodoka first crack at Negi, but the fierce aura from Makie, Anya, and Ayaka interrupt. Negi is accidently rolled until he reaches Chisame, where he proceeds to sleep-kiss her and then takes a beating for it.

The following morning, the battling girls are all out and in a mess with Chisame irritated, Asuna wondering what the heck happened, and Negi complaining of hurting all over.

Thoughts: Well, this was another filler chapter, but it was neat seeing how Anya had Negi's back when he would be places he shouldn't be to study magic. Beyond that, the new "fight for Negi" wasn't really my thing, but I didn't dislike the chapter either.

Clannad 02

クラナド Episode 02

SPOILER Summary: Okazaki sees Nagisa in a field surrounded by light and making an offer to take him to a place in the city where wishes come true. Okazaki is stunned by this, but Nagisa tells him it is lines from a play, which she practices in the field. This of course explains her desire to be in a drama club. Okazaki asks her if she is planning to restart the club, and she confirms this, assuring him she will give it her all.

Someplace else, a girl is alone in a room and is apparently in a place where nothing is born or dies. She puts together spare electronic parts and appears to build a crude robot, who appears to be giving the narration about this odd scene and the odd girl therein.

The next day at school, Okazaki is walking outside the campus when Kyou comes up on a scooter. She yells at him to get out of the way and has a small accident. However, there's no harm and she decides not to press the matter further since her bike isn't dented. Okazaki reminds her he's the victim here as she scoots off. He's met by Sunohara who tells him he's going to challenge Tomoyo, who beat him up in episode 1. They go inside and he issues his challenge, and she's not amused. She tries to warn him off but he refuses and presses the matter. However, with Okazaki agreeing to be witness to her act of self defense, she beats Sunohara again and as he's still in the air, she gets Okazaki to open the dust chute on the wall and she kicks Sunohara inside. Then, she causes him to lose his grip and fall down to a trash bin (one presumes) below. Despite her distaste for having to fight her fellow school mate, it seems she has taken a liking to both Okazaki and Sunohara for some unknown reason, which she refuses to speak further of (beyond being reminded of something). Sunohara vows revenge.

After hearing some guys talk about a supposed ghost in the school, Okazaki decides to cut class and get some sleep in the library. There, he finds a girl barefoot with a lot of advanced books all around her and scissors to apparently cut pages out of the books. He stops her from doing this and her response is a strange one. She offers him some of her bento. However, she only has one pair of chopsticks, so he carefully takes a piece of the omelet she'd made and tells her it tasted really good. This seems to please her a great deal. After leaving her, he wonders if that is the ghost he'd heard about, but after consulting with Ryou, he learns that her name is Ichinose Kotomi and that she's a genius who ranks in the top-10 nation-wide for every high school subject in the national exam.

Okazaki changes the subject to Kyou and the issue of her nearly running him over that morning. He starts to say the English word "bike" but only manages to get "bi" out before Kyou attacks him with a book, which he narrowly avoids. She drags him into the hall, furious that he was about to spill that she rides a scooter to school when that is forbidden. So, he returns to his class and announces that Kyou is "bi." This leads to much talk in the class about Kyou's sexual orientation, which upsets Ryou. Kyou is taking it out on Okazaki in the hall again and the upset Ryou comes out, wondering if it is true, forcing Kyou to explain it was the "bike."

That afternoon, Okazaki meets up with Nagisa, who's sitting with a broom. She asks him to meet her in the theater club room. She creates a flier and when he says it needs something else, he says she needs to add lines about the beautiful president. She is embarrassed by this and refuses, saying that he'd be a better president. But he says that he's only helping her out and has no plans to actually join the club. This makes her a bit sad, but this is forgotten when he encourages her to go ahead and add an illustration that she wants. So she adds images of "Dango" (a food) from an old anime series. He agrees to help her post flyer's.

As he's posting flyer's, he hears someone in what's supposed to be an abandoned classroom. The girl is carving a star shape with a knife. She's so caught up in what she's doing, she doesn't hear him approach and gets heavily startled, fleeing for the exit. She's apparently very happy about her carving but when he sees her injured hand, he takes the knife and sees that it is chipped. She demands that he give the knife back which he won't, saying she needs a sharp one. He points out her injury and twice reveals that she in pain even though she denied it. So to her dismay, he takes the knife.

He continues posting fliers and Sunohara arrives, stating he's surprised that Okazaki is bothering with a club. Nagisa overhears this and asks if it is true, so Okazaki tries to play it off. He goes home and makes dango characters for Nagisa when his father comes up close to him, causing him to have a severe negative reaction and to move away from his father. His father seems fairly quiet and even a bit timid. However, Okazaki is angry with him for treating him like a stranger and he flees the house, ending up near Nagisa's place where he meets her. He gives her the dango characters he'd made which pleases her. She confesses to being depressed all day and reveals that she's often the subject of being picked on. But now she feels better. He tells her about how he used to play basketball and agrees to play ball with her after school the following day.

The following day, Okazaki is hanging out in Sunohara's room as it is raining outside. He suddenly remembers his conversation with Nagisa and borrows Sunohara's umbrella to head to the outdoor basketball courts. Sure enough, Nagisa is there. He starts to chastise her about standing in the rain waiting for him, but she points out that he did in fact come, so it wasn't wasted time. She begs him to make a shot for her since she's never seen one done up close. He goes to make a shot, but the ball falls out of his hand and he collapses on the court. He confesses that he can't raise his arm above the level of his shoulder since a fight he had with his father a few years before. She's depressed about having troubled him and faints.

Thoughts: Yeah, I think I'm going to like this one pretty well. I'm liking the characters which is a good start and I'm interested in seeing where things go. Okazaki is like the standard hero character in these things, but his own issue with his father is almost creepy. I get the feeling his father beat him at some point but we'll see where that goes.

The Okazaki-Nagisa pairing is sweet. Granted, Okazaki will be involved with every girl in the anime, but much like Kanon where the paired couple for the end of the series was obvious from the begining, this one appears to be that way too.

The funny scene belongs to the fight between Sunohara and Tomoyo. ^_^ Runner up is Omazaki having fun with Kyou by announcing to the class that she is bi.

I neglected to mention it for episode 1, but the strange girl was shown there and again here with this whole weird thing about her. I guess she's the rumored ghost.

Update (18 Feb 2008): 4:3 images replaced with widescreen images.

Shakugan no Shana Second 02

灼眼のシャナ II Episode 02

SPOILER Summary: Since Yoshida-san began bringing Yuujo bento's (boxed lunches) to eat, Shana decided she needed to get in on the act. Wilhelmina is not happy that Shana is choosing Yuuji's mother (Chigusa-san) over herself to learn cooking. Chigusa-san tells Shana she's happy to teach her but wonders if Wilhelmina would be better. Shana assures her she would not since Wilhelmina can't cook real food, only microwave stuff.

Yuuji wears Alastor and trains with Wilhelmina, who's distracted by Shana's sudden interest in cooking. Her training battle with Yuuji gets rougher than it should and Reiji Maigo within Yuuji reacts, actually burning off Wilhelmina's ribbons. She asks Alastor about the power, which kinda surprises him that she would only just now notice it since his power levels are significantly higher than they used to be. Tiamat says "Seirei-den," the former residence of the members of the Bal Masqué. Because Hecate synchronized with the Mystes Yuuji, he became part of the fountain of existence. The results of the massive amounts of power that had been poured briefly into Hecate are now in Yuuji. Reiji Maigo the replenishes this vast amount of power nightly. Alastor explains that this is the reason they are hesitant to leave the city.

Meanwhile, the Bal Masqué have taken up temporary residence while Seirei-den is being repaired. Bel Peol and Sydonay discuss their current situation. Sydonay is heading out and tells Bel Peol that she better not do anything weird to his beloved Hecate. She plays innocent and he provides a specific answer -- Blue Insignia. Bel Peol tells him that Hecate knows everything they are doing is for their ultimate goal. Sydonay then leaves as Hecate continues to pray.

The next day at school, Yoshida-san has again brought a bento of sandwiches and Shana has also brought one filled with Mellon Pan. Yuuji does the only thing he can do and eat everything from both girls. However, this makes him ill and he has to be taken to the nurses office. As he lays there ill, Yoshida-san and Shana are there. Shana warns Yoshida-san off, stating that Yuuji will be no good like this. However, before it can go any further, the bells sound and Shana looks outside to see a Fuzetsu has formed in the distance. She gets Yuuji up and before they leave, Yoshida-san tells him to be careful.

Yuuji and Shana enter the Fuzetsu, but Shana feels no Tomogara presence. Yuuji is stunned to see the Misago Festival within the Fuzetsu and soon remembers the Tomogara from episode 1. He warns Shana that they are within a dream again and it appears that Shana did not kill the Tomogra. He wants to make sure that Shana is real and pinches her face, causing her to react and let him know that she's real. As they run to find the Tomogara, Yuuji realizes that the dream started when they were still with Yoshida-san and so they must be within her dream. Sure enough, they find a trapped, sleeping Yoshida-san.

A Tomogara is there in a jester-clown costume. The Tomogara introduces herself as Gisuikyou -- Mare. They are within Mare's unrestricted spell known as Gemeinde, where dreams from memories become reality. The bells she carries are a Hougu known as Papagena. Mare had simply occupied the body of a Mystes in their previous encounter. Mare attacks and Shana tells Yuuji to wake Yoshida-san. Mare states that things will only go as she wishes and prevents Yuuji from reaching Yoshida-san while Bel Peol keeps Shana occupied in a battle. Shana manages to get an attack on Mare but it does no damage. Yuuji reasons that this should not be and because this Tomogara is so small, it is within him.

Sure enough, Mare is within Yuuji and attempting to get Reiji Maigo. However, Reiji Maigo rejects Mare's touch and ejects him from Yuuji's body. This causes the image of Bel Peol to disappear. This rejection stuns the now heavily damaged Mare, who states that Reiji Maigo has a Keeper -- a powerful Hougu that the Bal Masqué have been looking for. As such, Mare can no longer get the Hougu, so she will now prevent them from leaving the dream world by killing Yuuji. Yuuji manages to get Yoshida-san to awaken, which ends the dream and defeats Mare.

The trio awaken in the infirmary and Yuuji thanks her for waking up. Yoshida-san explains that she heard him speak and wanted to see him. Shana gives up her demand that Yoshida-san not bring bento's for Yuuji and Yoshida-san decides she won't bring as much food in the future. Later at dinner, Shana relays everything she's learned to Alastor and Wilhelmina, which surprises them both. Elsewhere, Tanaka and Sato are concerned over Margery's increased drinking as is Marchosias. Margery fears something is about to happen.

Later at school, a new student named Konoe Fumina arrives, and Yuuji and Shana have an instant reaction to her, apparently seeing her as Hecate.

Thoughts: I think it was pretty obvious to everyone that Mare was within Yuuji after last week's episode. I guess she's gone for good now. It will be interesting if Fumina ends up being Hecate. And I'm wanting to see Margery Daw get into the action, but I guess that will come soon enough.

Hayate no Gotoku! 29

Hayate the Combat Butler Episode 29
ハヤテのごとく！Ep. 29

SPOILER Summary: Wataru-kun comes to Nagi's house all worried about Saki and an omiai (marriage meeting) she's to have. Apparently when she returned from spending the night at her parent's home (after staying out late with friends), her parents made an omiai for her. Because Wataru wasn't concerned at the time, an annoyed Saki tells her mother to proceed on, thus making Wataru concerned. All of this was overheard by Hayate, Maria, and Sakuya. Maria suggest they all go.

After they leave, Maria-san has a fantasy about an omiai where she's is back in feudal times and the meeting is where the samurai lord is about to "have some fun" with her. Tama hears about the omiai and wants to know more. They arrive at Isumi's house a fancy Japanese restaurant to spy on Saki, whom it turns out is meeting with Kaoru-sensei from school. Sakuya and Nagi tease Wataru about this because it increases the fun for them. While Kaoru-sensei blathers about his hobbies (which get a lot of censor bleeps), Saki recalls how she'd met her two high school friends and after staying out too late, she called Wataru so he wouldn't be worried about her, only to find out he wasn't worried. Thus her being mad with Wataru lead to her present situation.

The two end up getting lost in the woods of the place and Hayate, Nagi, Sakuya, and Wataru tail them. Hayate states he can lip read and will tell the group what Saki and Kaoru-sensei are talking about. Their talk is about how Kaoru actually likes someone else (Katsura-sensei) and has for years. However, Hayate "reads" this as Kaoru-sensei confessing his love for Saki and how he'll do certain "things" for her to make her "happy" which Saki agrees to. Wataru has heard enough, especially when Hayate's translations get worse and worse. He's about to barge in, but a whack from Sakuya's harisen stops that as she tells him they need a plan.

Hayate decides to use an old plot device where Wataru will be the hero in Saki's eyes. Nagi and Wataru are very impressed by this plan, but Sakuya isn't because its so old. Hayate tells her that since Wataru apparently doesn't watch these kinds of dramas where this plot device is used, its OK. So Hayate enlists the help of Tama, who just arrived on scene. Tama will play the fierce tiger and Wataru will be the hero. All seems well except that Tama senses something stronger than he and beats a retreat. That something steals Kaoru-sensei and Wataru comes out to be the hero. However, upon learning it isn't Tama, everyone wonders what beast is there. Turns out it is Katsura-sensei, who'd been at an omiai a day or so earlier and had been thrown out and subsequently got lost. Now saved, she drags a protesting Kaoru off for some heavy drinking at his expense. Wataru takes Saki by the hand and they go home while Sakuya beats Tama with her harisen.

Back at the academy, Kuzuha plots her capture of Hayate, to the shame of the young Shion. Kuzaha despatches her first combat butler who attacks Hayate at Nagi's mansion. Using the special field to take them out of the real world (as Shion had done), the new butler uses a deck of game cards and sets out some bug creatures for battle. Hayate-Yugi uses a card of his own, Klaus, which destroys all of the bugs. Then Hayate-Yugi gets anther card which summons a swimsuit-clad Nagi and Maria to defeat the butler. The butler flees and the announcer indicates there will be more battles to come, much to Hayate's unpleasant surprise.

Thoughts: Finally -- I got a decent laugh when the scene was clearly at Isumi's house but the announcer swore it was really a fancy Japanese restaurant and not the backgrounds for Isumi's house being reused. OK, maybe that's something silly to laugh at, but there ya go. Then there was Hayate's totally screwing up the lip-reading which was funny for me. And there were more laughs. So maybe this series hasn't jumped the shark just yet. ^_^

Detective Conan got another nod this week. However, I think a lot of people were happy about the Yugioh! parody at the end of the episode with Hayate becoming both Yugi and Atemu. I've never seen the show, but I immediately recognized it.

Basically, a really funny and well-crafted episode.

You're Under Arrest! Full Throttle 02

Taiho Shichauzo! Full Throttle Episode 02
逮捕しちゃうぞ フルスロットル Episode 02

SPOILER Summary: Kachou is officially not pleased with how Miyuki and Natsumi handled the incident with Randy as it is completely against police procedure. That out of the way, Natsumi, Miyuki, and Randy head off to grab something to eat. They discuss the situation at hand until Randy falls asleep in the booth. Natsumi carries him as she and Miyuki walk back to their (?) apartment (actually, I would guess its Natsumi's since she's been in Japan the whole time). Miyuki puts Randy to sleep on the couch, then nods off in a nearby chair while Natsumi has a few beers.

The following morning, Miyuki and Randy are out for a walk and Natsumi is sleeping at the table, which is covered in empty beer cans. She now has headphones on, which are connected to a small stereo which comes on at 08:30, ensuring Natsumi wakes up on time for work. At the police station, two more men arrive to claim Randy in order to bring him back to the U.S. Kachou decides to have Randy make the decision and he decides he wants to meet his grandfather. The two men decide to leave it at that for now.

Nakajima (Ken) decides to take Randy to see a real Japanese castle and give him a bike ride at the same time. The two talk about samurai while Natsumi and Miyuki decide to pay Randy's grandfather (Ikari-san) a visit. The address leads them to the Ikari Kendo Dojo and the two go to look for him in opposite directions. Miyuki finds evidence of a father still grieving for his daughter while Natsumi finds Ikari-san. He's practicing with a bamboo sword and when confronted about Randy, claims to not have a grandson and to have disowned his daughter. Miyuki arrives to dispute that and in the end, Natsumi ends up using force to get Ikari-san into the car to see his grandson.

Nakajima and Randy use sticks to do a little Samurai practice and Randy works hard. This is observed by the two men as well as Natsumi, Miyuki, and Ikari-san. When Randy goes for another attack, Ikari-san see's the moves of his daughter when she was young. Randy's stick breaks and Ikari-san finally decides to reveal himself, challenging Randy to press on even if his "sword" broke. The other two men decide to interrupt, but in the end, Ikari-san decides that he will be the one to take care of his grandson.

Back at the police station, the group talks about how things ended up. Nakajima stammers a bit as he tries to talk to Miyuki a bit, but finally manages to get out a "welcome back" greeting to her.

Thoughts: It wasn't really a remarkable episode, but it was nice just the same. Now that the Randy story is resolved, the preview for episode 3 looks like a regular traffic cop story. Now that Nakajima and Miyuki have finally had the official greeting, how much are the writers going to allow them to progress? Clearly, this will be of primary importance to me.

xxxHOLiC Manga Volume 10

xxxHOLiC Volume 10

SPOILER Summary: As Yuuko-san cools off in a kiddie pool, the Neko-Musume arrives suffering from the heat. Yuuko-san gives her something to keep her cool and for payment, Neko-Musume leads a reluctant Watanuki to a well on private property for some special water. Since the water is heavier than normal and there was a woman that could be seen in the window, Yuuko-san enlists Doumeki-kun to assist Watanuki. The two have to bring back a jug of water each day until 12 jugs have been filled.

As they make the trips, Watanuki sees the woman in the window and notes that she appears to be wearing the same clothing. Since Doumeki-kun can see the woman with his natural eye, it is clear that the woman is not a spirit or youkai. At school, Himawari-chan is concerned about Watanuki, who's troubled about the woman, and makes a yubikiri (pinkie promise) with him to not overdo it. Watanuki notices her touch causes a reaction for him. That afternoon, when he and Doumeki are there to draw the last batch of water, Watanuki's pinkie finger gives him pain and the cloth that Yuuko-san had given them to assist them in carrying the water gets blown up and into the window where the woman is sitting.

Doumeki and Watanuki enter the home and find it a mostly empty mess. Working their way upstairs, they find the woman, only she's dead and has been dead for a long time, though she's not begun to decay. This is something that Doumeki-kun has noted from his time at the family temple. Watanuki relays this to Yuuko-san later on and as she probes him and leads him back to the source of the problem -- his yubikiri with Himawari-chan.

That night, Watanuki meets with Doumeki-kun's grandfather (Haruka-san) in his dreams. They discuss things, especially Himawari-chan and Haruka-san tells Watanuki that he won't be able to go back to the time when he didn't notice the odd things about Himawari-chan. He also advises Watanuki to carry one of the dream balloons with him on the following day. Watanuki does this and ends up meeting Kohane-chan, who's wanting to return the borrowed umbrella. Watanuki decides to make a "date" with the young girl and the meal he'd prepared for himself and Doumeki-kun, he gives to Kohane-chan. She enjoys the repast, something her mother won't allow her to do. After talking and eating, the somewhat cheer Kohane-chan is given the dream balloon by Watanuki. She accepts but before she leaves, she asks him if he made a yubikiri with someone.

Later at school, Doumeki is concerned over Watanuki giving away the balloon. He's not concerned and inside the school, Himawari-chan touches Watanuki's shoulder which causes him discomfort. As they talk and walk, Watanuki ends up stumbling and when he goes against the window, it falls out, Watanuki as well. Unconscious, Watanuki hears the voices of his parents and they speak with him. He desperately wants to be with them, but they try to encourage him to return to life. He ends up being rescued by Haruka-san in the dream state and wakes up in Yuuko-san's shop.

Yuuko-san explains a few things to him and then Himawari-chan enters the room. Himawari-chan ends up explaining that because she's cursed, she brings unhappiness to others except for her mother and father. As such, many bad things that have happened to Watanuki are the result of his contact with Himawari-chan. Despite being injured and in bed, Watanuki assures her that she actually made him very happy. He told her he loved her and that her enjoying his food or saying his name was enough to really make him happy. He wants to continue being with her and in the end, she concedes and agrees to allow him to make her a cake.

Outside Watanuki's room, a bloody Doumeki-kun sits and Himawari-chan tells him that he doesn't know about the cake as it is something special between herself and Watanuki. He agrees but says he'll be eating lunch with the two of them just the same, which she smiles and agrees to. Watanuki asks Yuuko-san about the price for her help, which she says has already been paid. The 2nd Syaoran-kun paid part of the price in advance to ensure Watanuki wouldn't disappear. Doumeki-kun paid the price in blood that Watanuki lost. Yuuko-san won't say what Himawari-chan paid because she promised she wouldn't. Watanuki goes back to sleep and Himawari-chan goes home, revealing to the audience that the price she paid was taking the scars of Watanuki.

As Watanuki recovers, Yuuko-san pays him for his work in bringing her the special water. It is a special golden egg. Watanuki sleeps again and the egg communicates with him. Watanuki requests it become something that can be with Himawari-chan and make her happy. It hatches and becomes a special small bird. Yuuko-san tells Watanuki that the bird can be with Himawari-chan and not be affected by her curse. She further tells Watanuki that he has changed as has Himawari-chan and that changes will continue.

Thoughts: I remember when I cheated and read ahead for these chapters. I was so ecstatic to see the Himawari-chan story-arc brought to a resolution. This had been building from the first volume and considering the slow releases of xxxHOLiC, it took a long time to get these answers to all the hints Yuuko-san had been dropping. So this was a really good volume for me.

The hinting about linkage between Syaoran-kun (and also Sakura-chan) and Watanuki is interesting (those characters being from Tsubasa). I've theorized that maybe those two are in fact the parents of Watanuki, but we'll see if that comes through or not.

Shakugan no Shana-tan The Movie

Gekijouban Shakugan no Shana-tan

Well, what we have here is a movie of just under six minutes with the chibi Shana-tan as the star. I gather these were pretty popular with the release of the first TV series of Shakugan no Shana that it was only natural that one would be done for the movie.

SPOILERS!

The first short simply introduces Shana-tan. The second features Marianne getting repaired by Friagne. Apparently being repaired is pleasurable for the doll and rather than address Friagne as "Goshujin-sama" (a very submissive way of addressing a "master"), she addresses him as Friagne-sama. The third features Shana-tan sitting on Yuuji's head and eating chicken skin (?). The 4th shows the same TV show that Yuuji watched in the movie, only now when Wilhelmina Carmel walks my, Shana-tan is with her. The 5th has Shana-tan on top of Hirai-chan's head, throwing abuse at Ike-kun in the arcade. The 6th has the touching scene before Hirai-chan vanishes turn weird with her saying odd things and Yuuji ending up finding himself holding a pair of pink panties.

The 7th is apparently a parody of a famous Japanese horror story Banchou Sarayashiki, but has Yoshida-san doing the cookies and laughing. The 8th has Friagne with his Hougu (in the shape of the Ace of Spades card) Regular Sharp and Marianne, with Friagne spewing a bunch of cards when Regular Sharp is apparently destroyed. The 9th has the scene when Yoshida-san decides to eat the cookies she'd made for Yuuji. Only this time, she finds a faceless Shana-tan inside. However, Shana-tan soon returns to form and the two have a verbal fight. The final one has Alastor attached to a giant squid.

This was a smile thing for sure, but it didn't really give me any great laughs. But at least it was better than Itadaki no Hecate-tan, the last one of these "Shana-tan" things I've seen.

Hayate no Gotoku! 28

Hayate the Combat Butler Episode 28
ハヤテのごとく！

SPOILER Summary: The next fight with Hayate going against the mysterious butler (Klaus) and the mysterious tiger (Tama) ends when Klaus goes into battle mode which shreds his clothing and sends his tie to Hayate, meaning he lost. Hayate and Nagi head to an outdoor vending area to have a drink where Nagi remembers their first meeting at such a place -- a romantic moment for her.

The roar from the stadium brings them back in time to see Himuro fight Isumi's three body guards. Hayate is keen to see what Himuro's ultimate attack. The bodyguards are keen to win since Isumi is always getting lost and thus missing school. So the 100 credits would help. This time, Isumi somehow wound up being lost in Paris, France. However, Himuro defeats them in a pile of rose petals and Hayate was unable to see him perform an ultimate attack. Hayate is next, but his opponent immediate surrenders.

In the next battle, Hina is supposed to face Risa-chan's hired butler, but he quit. Risa offers Hina a job to fight for her as well, and as incentive, gives Hina a piece of paper. It's Risa's previous butler's bill, since Risa spent all her money on a fight-series anime DVD. Hina rejects the offer which means that Hayate and Himuro's match is next. Himuro uses roses as weapons, including a rose vine as a whip. However, just as Hayate is getting into the fight, Himoru's young master calls with an emergency and needs rescuing. He's being attacked by a little dog on a leash held by a young girl.

The final match has Hayate facing Hina. Hina is serious about taking down Kuzuha and her butler Shion. She gets the crowd on her side and is serious about defeating Hayate. Hayate avoids her attacks and when Nagi speaks to him briefly, Hayate goes straight for the "kill" and takes Hina's tie. She decides to turn her fight against Kuzuha to Hayate, which means Shion and Hayate will now fight.

Nagi tells Hayate that even though she's been pleased with all his wins, she wants to see him kick bottom against Shion. Shion uses her special attack that has Hayate within her zone. Hina, from the sidelines with Nagi and the Student Council Trio, advises him to go for her legs. Shion attacks, not wanting this to happen but a sweep-kick from Hayate removes her from her shoes. Suddenly, instead of being a blue-haired, tough, high school, female butler, she's a pink-haired junior high school girl who doesn't seem to have much ability. Kuzuha arrives, not upset with Shion and Shion allows them to flee in a puff of pink smoke.

Hayate the winner, he's back at home playing a fight fame with Nagi. Nagi ends up returning the 100 credits since she often makes Hayate skip school with her, which Maria wonders if it is because Nagi was concerned for Hayate's attendance. Back at school, Kuzuha finds herself attracted to Hayate and decides to abandon the tournament stuff. She reveals herself to be the head of a secret organization known as the League of Mysterious Dark Butlers.

Thoughts: OK, this went from yuri to yuri shoujo ai -- very creepy. While having Shion suddenly turn into a young girl was humorous, the creepy relationship she has with the school superintendent Kuzuha got worse. I just don't see any humor in an adult having some sort of romantic relationship with someone so young. I tolerated it when it looked like Shion was of high school age, but to have her suddenly in junior high (and I dare say, 1st year student from the looks of things) is over the line. Ugh. I wonder if this is the "jump the shark" moment for me.

On a positive front, I saw Jigen from Lupin III in the scene in Paris. And, when Risa-chan stated she'd purchased the Ikki***sen DVD, I knew that was Ikkitousen. Yay me for easy scores. *lol* I still say that Himuro's use of a rose vine like a whip is very much like Kuruma's "Rose Whip" attack from Yu Yu Hakusho.

Genshiken 2 01

げんしけん 2 Episode 01

SPOILER Summary: Sasahara checks his mail and finds that Genshiken has been accepted to ComiFes. Heading over to the Genshiken club room, he and Madarame discuss the doujinshi the club now has to produce. Naturally, it will be a hentai doujinshi for their favorite manga and anime series. They go over where they will be at ComiFes as well as what materials they'll use for the title. Naturally, Kugayama will play a major role in the doujinshi's creation since he's an artist.

Ogiue-san arrives which brings the conversation to a halt. Sasahara tells her that they've been accepted and she actually agrees to do some pages for their doujinshi. Even after they remind her that it will be a hentai (ero) one, she states she has no problem with this, which kinda shocks the two guys. She starts working on some drawings and is secretly excited that they've been accepted into ComiFes though she doesn't show it outwardly. Kuchiki, Ohno-san, and Tanaka arrive and are happy about the news. Kuchiki is excited to see the special tickets the club got for ComiFes and Ohno plans to cosplay as the Vice Chairman of Kujian to help with sales since they are doing a doujinshi on that title. Sasahara is a bit concerned since it is a doujinshi for guys, but Ohno is not worried about this.

After Ohno and Ogiue have their normal spat, Saki and Kohsaka arrive. Ohno again tries to get Saki to cosplay, which is rebuffed, but Saki suggests that "Ogi-pe" should do this. Ogiue is not amused, especially at the nickname. The group then further discusses the work that will need to be done in order for them to get the doujinshi completed on time and sent to the publishers. To that end, Sasahara consults with Manga Research Club member Takayanagi about various printers. He takes the time to inquire about Ogiue and is pleased to hear she's fitting in. He also asks if they've told anyone else and gives a hint that hard times are ahead.

Back at the club room, the annoying Haraguchi appears having just learned that Genshiken got into ComiFes. Though he has already graduated and Sasahara is president of Genshiken, Haraguchi starts pressing forward his suggestions on how things should be done, including bringing on several well known doujinshi manga-ka so that they could make a doujinshi that would sell for ¥1000 a copy and they'd make a bunch of money. Suddenly, Sasahara understood Takayanagi's warning and tells Haraguchi they want to do this on their own and that they aren't concerned with making profit. Haraguchi belittles him, stating that his plan is like masturbating and that his way is the right way. Saki looks to see if Sasahara needs help, but he stands firm. Haraguchi looks to Madarame but Madarame states that Sasahara is in charge. That's when Haraguchi reveals that he'd already talked these doujinshi artists into doing some pages for their doujinshi. Sasahara requests their contact information so he can personally tell them not to bother and apologize for wasting their time.

Bowing to the group's wishes, Haraguchi retreats to the relief of everyone. Ogiue comments on how she hates Haraguchi's type of otaku, which catches Saki's ear. Saki gives her a hard time, leading Ogiue to states she hates all otaku no matter what type. Sasahara meets up with Haraguchi afterward and gets the phone numbers. Haraguchi still thinks they are making a mistake but decides to not make more of it. Sasahara then calls all of the doujinshi artists and is somewhat surprised when he finds that all of them hate Haraguchi, and that Haraguchi was likely trying to use Genshiken to score a huge payday. With that out of the way, Genshiken can now proceed with planning the doujinshi.

Thoughts: The busy anime fall continues. Its going to be tough keeping up with everything, but I'm glad the Genshiken gang are all back. The adaptation is from the manga story with ComiFes and its nice to have an adaptation where there are changes (some fleshing out of scenes, such as Sasahara calling the doujinshi manga-ka) but they aren't offensive. It was a fun episode and I even got a few chuckles even though I know the story well (having re-read the manga way too many times I suppose).

My only complaint is sometimes, the characters were made weird looking, almost as if done by someone else. Any shots of the characters from a bit of a distance reflected that, as did certain scenes when characters just looked odd, especially Sasahara. For me to notice that means that it was jarring since I don't normally see small flaws. However, it isn't anything worth stopping the presses for.

I liked how in the preview, Sasahara and Madarame discussed how there are so many sequels and how taking long breaks between short series (the first series of Genshiken was 12 episodes, followed by the 3-episode OVA series) helps the staff, but also how sequels to popular anime titles are much lower in risk for the sponsors. *lol*

Clannad 01

クラナド Episode 01

SPOILER Summary: (Names in Japanese order.) Okazaki Tomoya is walking to school and meets up with a girl who's talking to herself. After speaking with her, he ends up walking to school with her. Back at his dorm room (and I'm not sure if this is a flashback or not), Okazaki's best friend (I thought they might be dorm mates, but Okazaki has a home so...) Sunohara Yōhei is being punished by the rugby team for playing his music to loudly. He smarts off to them and asks Okazaki to help him. Okazaki refuses and after the rugby team has used Sunohara as a rugby ball for a bit, the dorm's resident manager Sagara Misae arrives and kicks the team out. However, she has no real sympathy for Sunohara as he brought it on himself.

Okazaki arrives at school late and the somewhat timid class inchou (representative) Fujibayashi Ryou tells him he should come properly. He gives her a hard time about it, leading other classmates to speculate that Ryou's twin sister (who's aggressive and the older twin) will soon come for Okazaki making Ryou cry. Ryou says she isn't crying and offers to perform a reading with a deck of cards since she dabbles in fortune-telling. As she attempts to shuffle the deck, she loses them to the floor. However, a few cards show face-up and from them, Ryou states that Okazaki will have a romantic meeting with a kind girl on the way to school, forget about the time passing, and will then be late. He's impressed by this but is attacked by Ryou's sister Kyou for picking on her twin. Seeing that Ryou was giving him a reading, she smirks at its meaning.

Okazaki heads outside at lunch to see the girl he met on the way to school. She's eating anpan (sweet bean bread) and won't speak with him until she's finished eating. So he waits and then when she's done, she tells him a bit about herself. She's repeating her 3rd year of high school because last year, she had to miss so much due to illness. As such, all her friends have gone on and she doesn't know anyone. Okazaki encourages her to make friends and even join the drama club if she wants. They finally introduce themselves to each other and her name is Furukawa Nagisa.

The two head back to the school and see some punks out on bikes making a nuisance of themselves. A group of students are watching this and 2nd year transfer student Sakagami Tomoyo walks out to deal with this problem. Okazaki is going to help her, but is told that Tomoyo won't require assistance and that he might just get in her way. Indeed, when the punks refuse to leave, she performs an impressive array of attacks which takes them out as well as their bikes. However, from the "spectators" perspective, they couldn't see this as the fight was over in a flash.

Sunohara decides to confront Tomoyo because he doesn't believe she can defeat guys. He smarts off and Tomoyo has him attack her so she can have a self-defense claim. She defeats him easily and suddenly, Okazaki remembers the rumors of a girl who could defeat guys who caused problems. Sunohara tells Okazaki to provide this information sooner.

Nagisa is outside the theater club room when Okazaki decides to join her. However, the room is now being used as storage as the club has been disbanded. The two talk for a bit after school and then walk home together. She tells him where she lives and whether later that night or some other night (I can't tell), he decides to accept her invitation to stop by for a visit. Her parents run a bakery and Nagisa's mother offers him her new creation. It is bread with a rice cracker inside. He doesn't care for it and says so, which has Sanae-san (Nagisa's mother) fleeing in tears. Her husband, Akio-san, is not amused and verbally takes it out on Okazaki until he learns he's friends with his daughter.

So, Okazaki is over for dinner now with Nagisa preparing the meal. Akio-san gives him a hard time and Okazaki thinks that maybe he shouldn't get involved with this family. But he stays and eats with them before heading home, Nagisa walking him part-way there. At home, his father has passed out from drink and when he comes to, Okazaki flees. We learn that his mother died some years ago and his father has been pretty worthless ever since. Okazaki sees Nagisa in a field surrounded by light and making an offer to take him to a place in the city where wishes come true.

Thoughts: Well, having watched and liked Kanon and Air, which were also done by Visual Art's/Key, it was only natural that Clannad join the mix this fall. Indeed, this feels very much like Kanon in that it is set in a city and a school. However, I can tell that short of the writers really hosing this one, I'm likely to enjoy it a great deal. I expect some sniffles down the road as well, but none now. Instead, there were some nice humor moments, like when Nagisa made Okazaki wait to answer his question until she'd finished eating, or when Tomoyo takes out some punks.

The difficult part was the apparent flashbacks all over. So it was hard to tell what was the present time and what was a recent flashback.

Update (17 Feb 2008): I replaced all the 4:3 images from the show's initial airing to the widescreen ones. I also added captions, which I wasn't doing back then. ^_^

Shakugan no Shana Second 01

灼眼のシャナ II Episode 01

SPOILER Summary: As the sakura (cherry blossoms) fall, Yuji walks to school and meets up with his best friend Ike. As they talk, Yuji has a feeling they've had this conversation before. He catches a single sakura and asks if it is currently September, which Ike confirms. They arrive at school where Yoshida-san also arrives and heads off with Ike. Tanaka and Sato, Margery Daw's assistants, also arrive at school. Ogata and Tanaka see each other and have a blushing hello. Finally, Shana arrives with Wilhelmina Carmel, and Shana is not that happy to have been escorted, but is happy to see Yuji. Yuji recalls their last adventure when Shana said something to him (a love confession), but he can't remember everything she said.

In class, the teacher gets on to Shana (whom everyone still sees as Hirai-san) for her lack of a notebook and Shana shows her knowledge of English. Later, Yoshida-san breaks out some pudding snacks for her friends (including Shana) which goes over well. Yuji seems to remember this event as well as the English one and Shana suddenly states that "it" is here. A Fuzetsu zone surrounds them and to Yuji's great surprise, the Guze no Tomogara known as Friagne appears and has the same battle with Shana as happened in the first series. When Friagne departs as he did before, Yuji attempts to tell Shana and Alastor this, but they seem to not comprehend what he's saying and press on as if he'd said nothing about this déjà vu.

After class, Yuji talks with Ike, but when Yuji mentions the strangeness of seeing sakura in September, Ike's answer is to some other question about cram school. Wilhelmina arrives and when Yuji attempts to tell her about the strange events and the past repeating, she appears unaffected and simply states she's there to pick up Shana. As she and Shana leave the school, Shana tells Yuji to not be late for training. Yuji wonders what is going on when he hears a series of small bells again (which he'd heard earlier). He decides to see another Flame Haze, Margery Daw, and sets out to go to Sato's home, where Margery is residing. This will be his first time going to Sato's house, but Yuji finds that no matter which way he goes, he keeps coming to the same communication tower.

He returns home and tries to process the events and how he's the only one that notices these changes. He reasons that if this is the work of a Tomogara, Shana and the other Flame Haze should be able to detect this, even if Unrestricted Spells are used. He has a thought and when his mother brings up coffee to his room, he decides to ask her a question he's never asked -- where'd she buy the coffee. His mother does not answer the question but answers that his father should return soon.

As he starts to contemplate this, an Unrestricted Spell happens outside and giant tentacles appear all over. This is a repeat of when the Tomogara incestuous twins Aizenji and Aizenta appeared to steal Shana's katana "Nietono no Shana." He decides to continue testing his theory and comes between the twins and Shana since these events seem to be pulled from his memories and thus people cannot answer what he does not already know. As such, he is in a world of his own creation and as Aizenji attacks, Yuji has a vision of a girl in an elegant dress and matching umbrella saying "A transient and eternal dream" when he's cut by Aizenji which breaks the dream.

He comes to his senses and finds himself in the middle of a fight with a Tomogara, the one he had a vision of. Shana kicks him out of the way and chastises him for spacing out in the middle of combat, even if the Tomogara they are fighting is weak. The Tomogara does have a Hougu. He then learns from Alastor that he'd only been out a few seconds and the Tomogara welcomes him back from his dream state. Shana tells the Tomogara that she's surprised such a weak being would step out to fight her. The Tomogara agrees, but states that she has a purpose and that the life of a Tomogara is to live as they desire. Shana dispatches the Tomogara, who giggles and glances at Yuji as she is destroyed.

Shana states she's never seen a Tomogara with such a small existence, which Alastor confirms, stating they'd never have notices her had she not revealed herself. Yuji starts to mention the Tomogara's strange power but suddenly finds himself unable to remember. The battle over, the Fuzetsu is dropped and as Shana and Yuji walk, he asks her about what she said to him at the end of the first series since he didn't hear it (or remember it). Shana and Alastor are a bit embarrassed by this and Shana decides to play it off as if she merely stated she had some respect for him.

The two walk to school and meet up with their friends. Yoshida-san is there as is Ike. Yuji remembers Yoshida's confession to him as well as Ike's statement that he would pursue Yoshida in the 2nd term of school. Shana notices she has a bento. As such, the rivalry for Yuji's affection heads into round two.

Back at Sato's place, Margery Daw is suffering from a hangover and is being cared for by Sato, who promises to bring home some medicine after school. Margery asks Marcosius (Marchosias?) to do something but he's not going to. Meanwhile, a blushing Ogata and Tanaka are walking to school together while somewhere else, Hecate is praying as usual and looks up while the giggling of the Tomogara is heard as Yuji and his friends walk to class.

Thoughts: Well, I have to say that surprised to see Friagne again, but having just watched the movie, it was pretty neat. It appeared to me (and I'd have to check this out to be sure) that these scenes were newly animated and not just recycles from the first series, which was cool. This new Guze no Tomogara is pretty interesting since she clearly is not dead. I have to say that the first episode of the new series really went by fast and with the end of the episode (and the preview for next week) showing the Bal Masqué getting involved again, well that means more fun.

The only negative I guess is Yuji not remembering Shana's confession to him at the end of the first series. But I would guess that maybe the writers had injected that confession to the first series which was not in the anime, so a little "fix" was in order to have Shana and Yoshida-san continue their love feud and to press on as the light novels have done.

Man, I already have a full plate, but there are so many good anime this fall that I can't help but watch them all. I may lag a bit at times on reviews when the schedule gets tight (for those who read this regularly) but it shouldn't get too bad.

Shakugan no Shana: The Movie

Gekijouban Shakugan no Shana

劇場版 灼眼のシャナ

SPOILER Summary: (All Japanese names displayed Japanese style -- family name first followed by given name.) Sakai Yūji is a normal high school student. His best friend is Ike. He's also friends with Hirai-chan, who's best friend is Yoshida Kazumi. Yoshida has a crush on Yuji but hasn't confessed. After visiting a CD store to check out some tunes, Hirai and Yoshida see Yuji enter, but Yoshida makes a fast retreat, not being able to say anything. Hirai makes an inquiry of Yuji as to whether Ike is seeing anyone.

The peaceful afternoon is interrupted when a fuzetsu (a field where everything is in another dimension and time stops) appears and a giant doll along with a large ball of doll faces arrive. Everyone is frozen in time except for Yuji. The dolls are consuming the life force of the people around and recognize Yuji as something special. They are about to attack when a girl with flaming red hair and a katana arrives to fight these creatures (known as Rinne). She defeats them to reveal the real culprit, a small female doll who gets away. Yuji, who had his arm cut off in the battle assumes he's been seriously hurt but is surprised when there's no blood and more so when the girl re-attaches his arm. The girl takes a moment to repair all the damage around and with a blue flame, create images of all the people consumed (including Hirai) before taking down the fuzetsu.

Yuji demands to know what is going on and she explains that she is a Flame Haze and the Yuji is dead. Those that were killed are known as Torches, as they exist for a short time then vanish, allowing the world to adjust to their existences being erased. Yuji is a Mystes, a Torch that contains a Hougu -- a magical device. Further, the talking pendants around the Flame Haze's neck is known as Alastor, who's a powerful Lord of the Crimson Realm. All of this is a great shock to Yuji, especially knowing that he's dead. Yuji heads home, following the Flame Haze, whom he names Shana, after the name of her sword (Nietono no Shana).

The following day, Shana is waiting for him, having decided to stick close by since he's likely to be attacked again. He sees Hirai, who's flame is almost extinguished. Yuji is upset by that and doesn't see why this can't be fixed. Shana can't understand why Yuji would get so worked up over a Torch. Yuji decides to try to make Hirai's last day a memorable one and gets her and Ike to go to the arcade after school. She's rather spaced out but when she leaves and is followed by Yuji, she stops at a spot by the river to watch the sun set and with her last moment, manages to say that she always loved the view from the spot. Her flame expires and Shana catches a bit of it. With her expiration, her image disappears from pictures as if she had never existed at all. She is only remembered by Yuji and of course Shana.

At school the next day, Yuji is stunned to see Shana there and more so to hear people addressing her as if she were Hirai. Shana took the last memory of Hirai and used it to insert herself into Hirai's life so that she could be close to Yuji who was sure to be attacked again. However, because this is Shana and not the real Hirai, Yoshida suddenly finds Hirai scary. While at school, another fuzetsu appears and Yuji is attacked again by the doll (Marianne) and Marianne's master, the Guze no Tomogara named Friagne appears. Shana does a good job fending off Friagne, and since he doesn't want to damage the Mystes, he and Marianne retreat. The battle has left many of his classmates serious injured and Yoshida-san half-dead. Shana proposes using her remaining life force to repair the damage and restore the others, but Yuji won't hear of it and agrees to allow Shana to use the force of himself (as a Torch) instead. That works.

Shana decides that she needs to stay with Yuji and basically moves in with him. After some misadventures with her wardrobe and him accidentally peaking, another Flame Haze arrives on the scene. This is Margery Daw and her companion is a talking book named Marchosias, who's also a Lord of the Crimson Realm. They are there looking for Tomogara and the mystery of why so many Torches are in this city, to say nothing of the number of Flame Haze's who've been killed. Margery casts a spell to wipe out several Torches in an attempt to draw out the Tomogra but fails to do so. She does draw the attention of Shana and Yuji who arrive, Yuji upset at the Torches being extinguished so easily.

Friagne arrives and using his array of Hougu, he manages to fight off both Shana and Margery. When Shana has a clear shot to kill him, Friagne uses Yuji as a shield and Shana does the unthinkable -- she stops her blade short. Friagne escapes and invites both Flame Haze to a stage for a final confrontation. Margery and Shana have a discussion about this while Friagne explains his plan to kill Shana with a gun known as Trigger Happy, which when fired, would shatter the gem in Shana's pendant, releasing Alastor and the energy he has.

Shana and Margery arrive to battle and Yuji realizes Friagne's plan isn't to merely hunt the Flame Haze, but has something to do with the city and all the Torches. The Hougu crystal bell that Friagne's uses to causes powerful explosions is also triggering activity in the city. That activity turns out to be the consumption of the city, which Friagne's plans to use to give Marianne an actual life so they can be together forever. The Torches are the catalyst to start the City Devourer spell.

Friagne has been unable to shoot either Margery or Shana, so Marianne offers to sacrifice herself to help take out Shana, since without Friagne, Marianne cannot exist. He reluctantly agrees and explodes her, but it does not kill Shana. Yuji, though injured, manages to create a fuzetsu which effectively stops Friagne's plan for the city. Shana injures Friagne, destroying his bell Hougu and sending his Flame protection ring Hougu to Yuji. Friagne then shoots Shana. However, instead of Shana exploding, Alastor's true form (Tenjō no Gōka) emerges and destroys Friagne. With the battle over, Yuji's Torch flame is almost extinguished. After making Shana promise to keep using the name "Shana," he disappears, only to re-appear just after midnight with no damage and with his Torch full of flame. It seems his Hougu is named Reiji Maigo, and it is this which causes Yuji's Torch flame to re-power up after midnight to full power, no matter what state it was in before hand. Shana and Alastor decide to stick around since Yuji is considered a dangerous Mystes.

Thoughts: Considering this was a remake of the first story arc from the first TV series (and I'm guessing that would be the first light novel as well), there wasn't anything new here and a lot that got cut from the original. At the same time, I found that I rather enjoyed this trip back. I was still sad when Hirai-chan snuffed it. And the lack of any real fighting between Shana and Margery Daw was nice. The cameos of Wilhelmina Carmel were odd. She was always showing up on TV, looking directly into the camera as the camera passed her or she passed the camera. I know that was a bit of non-sexual fanservice, but really, it was weird rather than good IMO.

Well, the timing of my seeing this is good seeing as how I'm about to start watching the 2nd TV series.

You're Under Arrest! Full Throttle 01

Taiho Shichauzo! Full Throttle Ep. 01

SPOILER Summary: Miyuki leaves America and flies back to Japan with a young boy named Randy, who's apparently lead a pretty sheltered life (he's 12 and never played a video game). He tells Miyuki that his grandfather and mother are Japanese and that he wants to meet a real samurai in Japan to learn how to become strong. As they fly back, Miyuki re-reads a letter from Natsumi, which gives a quick recount of how all the major characters are, including the transfer of Saori-chan.

Back in Japan, Natsumi has been training with the Japan Self-Defense Forces Rangers . Sh says goodbye to her army buddies and one of them agrees to drive her home in a military truck. At the Bokuto Police Station, Ken has agreed to take another motorcycle cop's patrol duties so he can be with his wife. It is then that he remembers that Miyuki is arriving from America and that Natsumi is returning from her special training. Fortunately for him, Kachou (the department chief) hands him his patrol route, which is to drive to the airport where he can meet Miyuki.

Upon landing in Japan, Miyuki notices that Randy is sitting alone waiting. She goes to talk with him again when a big man approaches, stating that he's been waiting for the boy. He takes the boy and walks off, but when Randy asks for Miyuki's help, she uses an otaku's suitcase of manga to separate the man from the boy and flee. She then steals a van and takes off, which is witnessed by Ken. The man gets in to a dark car, the mark of the yakuza, and he and the driver pursue. Ken follows them on his bike. Upon learning that Randy's last name is Hammond, she realizes he's now an orphan, his rich father and mother having died recently and somewhat mysteriously.

The big yakuza decides to shake the chasing police by shooting at one of the patrol cars, leading it to crash into a second and leaving only Ken to chase. Meanwhile, Natsumi, who's been eating lunch with her army buddy, sees the chase on TV and recognizes the driving style as that of Miyuki's. Conveniently, the military truck as a military motorcycle in the back, so Natsumi is off to catch Miyuki. Back on the highway, Miyuki uses her skills at driving to attempt to elude the yakuza, but they manage to stay on her tail, though sadly, Ken gets left behind.

Yoriko takes a call from Ken and Kachou has the department set up road blocks as he realizes that Miyuki is going to head to the station. Indeed, Miyuki tells Randy that they are going to her castle. Natsumi manages to catch them and kicks the big yakuza as he attempts to shoot at the van. She then performs an unlikely stunt to land her inside the van (the back hatch conveniently having opened earlier) and to tease her old partner about being under arrest. She closes the back hatch and as they approach the station, Natsumi performs her old foot-braking maneuver while Miyuki performs a stunt turn. The yakuza can't match this and end up wrecking. Sadly, so did Miyuki, but she, Natsumi, and Randy are fine.

Thoughts: And so, we have the start of the 4th TV series for the You're Under Arrest franchise. Yeah, I know. Some of you are going, "Wait! I thought this was season 3. How can you say this is the 4th TV series?" When people use the term "season" (which I suppose it is, but when you rename a title, it becomes more than just a "season" as I see it), they tend to ignore You're Under Arrest! Specials, which were mostly 5-minute shorts, but did have one full-length episode that AnimEigo licensed (ADV licensed the shorts).

Anyway, I love YUA even though I'll admit it isn't what I'd call anything great. What made it special for me were the characters, brought to life by the excellent job of the seiyuu. So I was really glad to hear that all of the seiyuu came back for this newest YUA attempt. I really hope that this time, the writers will give us some progress on the Ken-Miyuki romance front though. Seriously, they can't have me dragging again after the first OVA, the first TV series, the movie, the TV specials, YUA2, and now YUA3 (the in America OVA doesn't really fit into the canon of the other titles so I don't count it as such). I suspect that it will get dragged out though.

As to this episode, well, there's not much to say really. The episode was called a "prologue" in the title and the preview for episode 2 certainly will pick up where episode 1 left off. Now, are the writers planning a serial series? That could be most interesting. Too bad the Ken-Miyuki reunion didn't happen yet. And it looks like Saori-chan was written out of this series since she transfered to another station. Too bad. I hope we at least get one episode with her in it.

And what the smeg is up with the ED? Seriously, they make it look like Miyuki and Natsumi are in a freaking yuri relationship when nothing further could be from the truth. Sheeze. That really pissed me off. It was as if some perverted doujinshi artists was given permission to draw the images for the ED sequence. Leave the yuri crap for the hentai doujinshi. Ugh.

Hayate no Gotoku! 27

Hayate the Combat Butler Ep. 27

SPOILER Summary: Superintendent Kuzuha decides that she must have a contest to test the butlers at Hakuou Academy. As such, the first ever Butler Battle Tournament is started. Hina learns of this and races to the clock tower of the school (with Hayate close behind) to demand an explanation. Kuzuha explains that butlers need strength, but Hina presents Hayate as a case for being a good student. Kuzuha challenges him but before she can defeat him, she "runs out of gas," bringing her (female) butler Shion to the scene. Shion and Kuzuha share a moment with the promise of sweets to come. Shion is not happy with Hayate and without doing much of anything, traps him within her aura and defeats him by blowing in his ear. She then leaves with her master, leaving a blushing Hina and a flustered Hayate.

At home, Hayate inquires of Nagi about Shion and Kuzuha. Nagi tells what she knows and suggests he avoid them. She then tells Hayate to get into the tournament because she wants to see him win. She doesn't care about the prize (100 class credits to the master), she just wants to see Hayate win. So Hayate decides for Nagi's sake, he will enter.

At the student council meeting room, a tape is played for Hina (the president) with Kuzuha warning Hina to stay out of this as she's only a commoner with no butler. She ponders what to do when Miki-chan announces she has a plan.

The tournament starts and Izumi-chan's attempt to get a butler failed, so she loses round one. In the next battle, Risa-chan has hired a butler, a "nice person" (aka: yakuza) that had been after Hayate for the large debt. Her butler extorts his win and Hayate finally learns his name -- Kashiwagi. In the next battle, the Azumamiya butler Nonohara emerges to battle the new butler for the Hanabishi family (Miki-chan) -- Hina. Hina and Nonohara battle and Nonohara uses his ultimate move, Safety Shutter. However, Hina is able to not only overcome the attack, but when he attempts to use it a second time, she and her after-images get the best of him, defeating him.

In the final match, Hayate is up and his opponent is a mysterious butler and a tiger. Neither Hayate nor Nagi can quite figure out who these masked people are.

Thoughts: I know the show is about a "combat butler," but this Butler Battle Tournament took me by surprise. Wacky and stupid at the same time, but I enjoyed it. I guess Shion is a woman, so now we have a yuri element added to the mix. And I guess Hina will be yuri since the reactions between Kuzuha, Shion, and her suggested attraction. Whatever. Tama and Klaus were funny at the end, as was Hayate and Nagi's apparent ignorance as to their identity.

Anyway, I couldn't help but think of Yu Yu Hakusho, Negima! (manga), and certain school battle titles as this episode progressed. I'm not sure how far this can go, but it should be interesting.

New OP and ED theme songs and animation. Looks like there will be a parody of Kuruma from Yu Yu Hakusho next week. Detective Conan again shows up in the series at the end of the episode. Because I'm not taking the time to research references any more, that was all I instantly noticed.

Kagetora Volume 7

Kagetora Volume 7

Summary: Nao ends up spending the night at Kagetora's hanare when she's locked out of her home one rainy evening. Neither get any sleep as Nao is attracted to Kagetora and he isn't sure about sharing a bed with such an attractive girl. Later, Yuki ends up finding out they have a secret as Kagetora heads to a temple for some training to clear his mind. He lets Yuki know and Yuki lets Nao know. During archery training, Nao decides the archery club could use a change of scenery and so they go to the same temple. Yuki ends up going to the temple as well to bring Kagetora some food and ends up learning from Nao that she spent the night with Kagetora. Not only that, Nao confesses she has fallen for Kagetora. Yuki ends up spending the night at the temple as well.

Afterward, the archery club has their match and following that, Nao ends up confessing to him. He politely turns her down and she flees. At school, she's depressed and Kagetora wonders what to do. He wanders to the archery club room even though he's no longer a member and finds Nao there trying to get some practice. The two talk and Kagetora admits that he has feelings for Yuki. However, he can never tell Yuki this because of his job as oyakume to her. Nao decides to stay in love with Kagetora until she finds someone else. Yuki and Kagetora end up going home and Yuki, afraid of losing him, asks if he'll be her oyakume for ever. He promises he will, but that saddens him due to its implication.

In the special story, Kagetora reads a journal of a male ancestor of his and a female ancestor of Yuki's where they have an adventure together. The story is kinda similar to Yuki's and Kagetora's (oyakume and hime) but before he can finish reading, Kagetora's brother interrupts and he never finishes. The story's end has the two ancestors apparently getting together romantically even though they were oyakume and hime.

Thoughts: Segami-sensei has brought in other girls to be potential rivals for Kagetora and Yuki, but Nao was the first truly believable one in my opinion. While this volume resolves that love-triangle (mostly), the tone of the volume was much more serious with the teen love-angst and one wonders how they'll get back on a more comedic track (if at all).

Del Rey wise, I'm glad the volume's English adaptation is smooth still. That first volume was rough.

School Rumble Manga Volume 7

School Rumble Volume 7

Summary: Harima has to deal with the rumors that he and Eri are a couple while Eri also deals with her feelings. When Yakumo gets brought into the mix, Harima flees to work a fishing boat, but the captain, a giant of a man who was a former manga-ka sends Harima back to shore with a gift of a pen made from the spine of a tuna. Enlisting Yakumo's assistance, the two spend a few days working on his manga, causing everyone to think Harima and Yakumo are a couple. Harima races to get his manga to the publisher before the deadline and Eri ends up helping him in this after he has an accident with her limo.

Thoughts: I read the manga having seen all of the School Rumble anime series to date. So I knew that Yakumo and Harima would work on a manga together. I knew that it was hinted that Yakumo kinda liked Harima. I knew that it was hinted that Eri-chan kinda liked Harima. What didn't come across in the anime (at least from what I remember) is that Eri-chan actually took time off from school to consider things with Harima. Further, I certainly don't remember Tenma not only encouraging Harima to date her little sister, but I don't remember Yakumo's friends (Sarah specifically) believing the two to be a couple. Then again, maybe it has been too long since I last saw the whole series.

Anyway, I liked the added emphasis that while they don't have that kind of relationship, people think they do because of their spending time together combined with Harima's statements which could be taken wrongly. I sorta like the idea of a Harima-Yakumo pairing.

On the Del Rey front, I'm glad they use the Japanese naming conventions (family name followed by given name) for the puns. I was also glad to see them finally use the term "kappa" since many other Del Rey titles have. In earlier volumes, the translator avoided "kappa" and chose to go an English route to provide the pun joke (kappa are a mythical water dwelling creature but the word also means raincoat, and Karasuma-kun wore rain gear that looked like a kappa costume). As always, I'm glad Del Rey uses the main honorifics.

On the downside, William Flanagan isn't going more "otaku," and I think he could. For starters, Eri is addressed by her staff as "ojousama" and while Del Rey does use this title in some of their manga (notably, Negima! where Ayaka's staff address her as "ojousama" and several people refer to Konoka as "ojousama"), William uses "Miss" instead. Is this a proper translation? Yes. However, I much prefer the title "ojousama" in this situation.

There are some other things that William doesn't do wrong, but I think it would be more fun to go more "otaku." I wouldn't mind seeing Harima's use of "Ojou" when he addresses Eri. "Princess" is a correct translation. Eri addresses Harima mainly as "Hige" which means "beard." I think "Hige" looks neater and I don't like translating names, even nicknames, but "Beard" is the correct translation. Ditto Harima addressing Yakumo as "Imouto-san" (Younger Sister-san) which is shown as "Sister-san." Ditto Harima addressing Hanai as "Megane" (Glasses) which is shown as "Glasses." All the translations are correct and there's nothing wrong with that. However, as I said, I just prefer that names and nicknames not be translated and a translator note to explain the term be used. That's just me.

Negima! Vol 20 (Ch 179) *SPOILERS*

Thanks to AQS for the scans.

Summary: Negi and Asuna are talking when Anya attacks Negi with a flaming kick, which both he and Asuna avoid. Asuna is ready for an enemy, but its only Negi's childhood friend Anya, who's set her robe on fire by accident. After the fire is out, she states she's there to take Negi back for Nekane-oneechan. Anya is annoyed at having to have come to Japan to find him, to say nothing of having to track him to the beach. When Asuna speaks, Anya recognizes her as a girl who shows up most frequently in his pictures and considers her an enemy. However, she puts on pleasant face and states she'll take care of Negi and drags him off.

Negi convinces Anya to hang out for some Japanese food while the other girls are all interested in seeing Negi's friend. Anya is happy by all the food and the two get caught up with Anya speaking of her training as a fortune teller in London. Negi has grown some and now is taller than the somewhat older Anya, so she goes tip-toes to rise up, leading Negi to do the same. The girls find this cute, but Paru notices how informal Negi's speech is with Anya compared to the other girls in the class. The only others he addresses in a casual style are Takahata-sensei and Kotaro-kun (to say nothing of Chamo) which means he has a wall around his heart, which shocks the girls.

Negi and Anya continue their meal and talk when the pressure of all the girls trying to listen at the door cause it to collapse. Anya recognizes these girls but controls herself and puts on a smile to introduce herself.

Ayaka and some other girls approach Negi after dinner around the baths and beg him to address them informally. Anya enters the onsen where Yue and Nodoka are. Seeing their small chest size, Anya decides to consider them as friends.

Thoughts: Well, Anya being worked into the story while Negi is still in Japan means she's likely going to go with the group to Wales and beyond since there's no doubt she'll learn all the stuff about Negi and his pactios and will get jealous about that and want to be around Negi at all times. From a story point of view, depending on how much strength Anya has, she can be another member of the battle harem I guess. And to be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing that as Anya was there for Negi when he was studying so hard.

Ah! My Goddess Ch. 226 *SPOILERS*

Thanks to GMT for the scans.

Summary: As the group wakes up from having been knocked out, Keiichi is stunned by all the beautiful women around him, most of all by the site of Belldandy. This is because he has amnesia as do all of the megami and his sister, Megumi, who wonders if K1 captured them. Belldandy decides to explore the temple grounds for clues while Urd grills Keiichi, suspicious about the purple suit he is wearing. Belldandy returns and states there is no reason for concern, citing the open door, the signs of a party (including the empty sake bottle), and finally K1's face.

Belldandy not only lets them know they've lost their memories, but that the temple-home belongs to Morisato-san. Belldandy's actions lead Urd to name her "Holmes" after Sherlock Holmes. Megumi determines that Urd, Belldandy, and Skuld are from the same place because of the markings on their faces. That leads Urd to name her "Watson" and she then decides to name herself "Moriarty." She then names Skuld as "Lestrade," who was an Inspector in the Sherlock Holmes series. K1 wonders what his name will be from the series, but Urd has determined his name is "Purple" because of his outfit.

Belldandy-Holmes decides that that to identify who they are, they should look around at the different rooms. However, Urd suddenly feels that this is a bad idea and K1-Purple is thinking "back of the 3rd desk drawer" troubles him (meaning, that's where he keeps his porn stashed). Urd, Skuld, and K1 decide that this should wait for later, so Belldandy decides they should clean the place up. Belldandy gets on her hands and knees to clean the floor and K1 starts staring at her butt, which annoys Skuld. K1 tells her she seems to like cleaning, which she confirms. So, he decides to help. They touch hands, which annoys Skuld.

Thoughts: Well, this is supposed to be a comedy since no one remembers who they are, but I'm not laughing. Since I doubt there will be any character advancement at the end of the day, this will be just another filler arc.

Haou Taikei Ryuu Knight 36

Lord of Lords Ryu Knight Episode 36

SPOILER Summary: Hagu Hagu tries to catch some fish in a stream unsuccessfully while Adeu in Zephyr and Gesshin in Hayatemaru are in a training session. Adeu is able to defeat Gesshin and afterward, Gesshin admits that he'd hoped the training would have brought out the power of the Spirit Stones. They, along with Gratches, head back into town to eat with the rest of the group. Katze examines the Spirit Stones within their respective weapons but can't determine anything about them. Gesshin wonders why only Adeu has been able to "class change" his Ryu unit with the power of his Spirit Stone. However, he's not really sure how he's doing it since every time he does it, he's been busy with the moment at hand.

As they talk, an earthquake happens and Earth Blade, the gigantic sword piercing the ground, begins to glow red briefly. They understand that the barrier keeping the Jya-ryuzoku out is weakening and Sarutobi is anxious to find Galden and reclaim his Spirit Stone. On cue, Galden appears, leading Sarutobi and Adeu to summon their Ryu units. Idoro flies overhead in the flying base and warns him he doesn't have time for a fight, but Galden won't listen and summons Dark Knight Steru. Galden taunts Sarutobi by showing him that Steru has the Spirit Stone within it.

Adeu and Sarutobi flee to a valley of sorts and Adeu tries to warn Galden about the forthcoming arrival of the Jya-ryuzoku forces. As they fight, two giant meteors fall to the ground and much to Idoro's chagrin, two Jya-ryuzoku warriors (Gelt and Zars) emerge. Realizing the greater danger is the Jya-ryuzoku warriors, Adeu and Sarutobi turn their attentions there. An attack from Galden comes between the warring parties as Galden wishes to defeat the two Ryu units first before defeating the Jya-ryuzoku. Idoro demands he allow the Jya-ryuzoku to fight the Ryu units. He wants to know why and is stunned when Gelt and Zars begin chastising Idoro for not doing her job.

The others arrive in their Ryu units and join the fray, but their attacks lead Gelt and Zars to comment on how weak Ryu riders are now compared to 1000-years ago. Idoro again attempts to get Galden to join the fight on the side of the Jya-ryuzoku but he resists. Gelt and Zars dismiss him as a half-breed and Idoro confirms that Galden is the product of a merger between the Galden family (who control powerful dark magic) and the Jya-ryuzoku. Not only that, but Idoro is also a Jya-ryuzoku. This news briefly has Galden struggle within himself, but he soon rejoins the fight and injures Gelt. This give Adeu and opening and he class changes into Ryu Paladin. He fires a Meteor Zapper attack which dispatches the two Jya-ryuzoku.

Idoro is not happy with this turn of events and attempts to flee in the flying base. However, Galden is not about to let that happen and destroys the flying base. Idoro manages to get away in an escape pod and tells Galden that he will have no choice but to bow to the Jya-ryuzoku. Adeu attemps to keep Galden here, but he races off to find Idoro.

Summary: Well, I was right about Idoro as I stated she had to be a Jya-ryuzoku for Dragode to not turn on her. I didn't expect Galden to be half Jya-ryuzoku, but this wasn't any kind of stunning revelation. At this point, I really don't have a feel for how they'll make Galden, but I'll now predict that his mecha unit is some sort of perverted Ryu unit and he'll uncover its real identity at some point.

Haou Taikei Ryuu Knight 35

Lord of Lords Ryu Knight Episode 35

SPOILER Summary: In the flying base, Idoro casts a summoning spell to pull evil energy for Galden to absorb. Elsewhere, Izumi has a dream that his shishou (master) is calling him. He awakens to seen an energy globe outside the window of the building they are staying in and knows he is being summoned by his shishou. He quickly leaves, taking Adeu's gallop, leading Adeu, Paffy, and Sarutobi to follow, leaving Katze behind (Hittel, Gesshin, and Gratches are absent, off somewhere unknown).

The group arrives at Mt. Tarnia, where according to Izumi, the Nadja Temple is supposed to reside. They proceed up stairs on the mountain (following the energy globe) and come to a grand entry way to the inside of the mountain with two guardian statues outside. Passing through, they hear the sounds of gears moving underground and exit into a courtyard that's a crystal garden. The ground turns to sand and it is as if an antlion has them trapped. Izumi casts a blessing which allows him to escape and he provides a means for the others to escape the trap as well. Izumi warns them that they should leave, but they won't with Paffy reminding him that their combined strength is what got them through rough spots before.

They enter the next entrance and find a courtyard with the cleric symbol in the middles, surrounded by obelisks (ala the movie 2001). These begin circling rapidly, causing the group to summon their Ryu units to destroy the rocks being hurled their way. Izumi raises a barrier while Adeu destroys the obelisks. They move on and climb more stairs to the next place, where the actual Nadja Temple appears. A giant guardian emerges, issues a warning, and begins beating on the group, using its flames to scorch them. Adeu summons Ryu Paladin Lord Zephyr and holds off the guardian while Izumi attempts to enter the temple. However, a second guardian appears and things are looking bad for the group. The guardians keep issuing warnings about trespassing which finally Izumi understands and issuing a prayer to the fire god, the guardians accept the group and allow them to pass.

Entering the temple, a giant painting of the god of Time and Law, Zed, is over an open casket, wherein lies the body of Shishou. The energy globe again appears, and it tells Izumi that he is worthy to have the Spirit Stone, having passed the tests. Izumi protests that he did so with the aide of his friends, but Shishou's spirit tells him that all of them will be needed as the 1000-year period is nearly up and Earth Tear will be in danger.

Back on the flying base, Idoro has Dark Knight Steru take Yamikaze and use its power to regenerate itself before it absorbs the ninja Spirit Stone into itself. As Galden also awakens, the towering sword that pieces the ground and forms the barrier for Earth Tear begins to glow red. This is seen by the group in the temple, who know dark days are ahead.

Thoughts: Well, I think that's all the Spirit Stones for the group. Oh wait. Gratches doesn't have one yet. Hmmmm. Only Sarutobi has been robbed of his thus far, but I would suspect that others will be taken before all is said and done. I predict that Adeu will gain some new attack in the future. I predict that Paffy will finally master her Spirit Stone. I predict that Paffy and Adeu will be hinted to be a couple at the end. End of line.

Haou Taikei Ryuu Knight 34

Lord of Lords Ryu Knight Episode 34

SPOILER Summary: The group arrives at the village of Asir, where Derringer's Spirit Stone is supposed to reside. The town appears abandoned and as Katze explores, she's ambushed by three kids who steal one of her guns. She pursues them, firing her other gun to frighten them. One of the kids, named Shinderu, collapses, causing his two friends to stop to help him. Since "shinderu" means "to be dead" in Japanese, Katze thinks she's killed the kid. The others arrive to prevent the kids from escaping and take the gun from Shinderu.

The kids explain their situation. All the adults have left to find food, but the local forest is pretty barren. They stole the gun in hopes of going after a rumored treasure in the nearby mountain. Hittel suspects it is the Spirit Stone for Derringer. So they give the kids some food and offer to help them find the treasure, promising them a share of it. Katze decides she wants all the treasure for herself, so she sneaks away from the group's camp, steals the Derringer card from Hittel, and goes off to find the kids. She tells them the others are going to steal the treasure and that their kindness is just fake. As such, they agree to help her providing the treasure is divided equally, which Katze agrees to but has no intention of actually doing.

As Katze and the kids head into the cave in the mountain, Hittel wakes up and finds Katze gone. He awakens Adeu and the two go off to find her. They come to the cave just in time to find Katze and the kids under attack from some slime creatures. Katze manages to shoot them all, but some giant scorpion-like monsters emerge. Adeu and Hittel fight these and Katze takes the opportunity to leave them to fight while she goes after the treasure. She and the kids find a jungle-like opening in the cave and are soon set upon by man-eating plants. As the kids cry for help, she summons Ryu Gunner Derringer, but is not able to do much. Adeu and Hittel arrive again and fight off the plants, again giving Katze and the kids a window of escape.

Continuing into the cave, they come upon a lava lake with a bridge to a special island that surely holds the treasure. However, a lava monster attacks and Katze again has to summon Derringer. The kids offer to be decoys and allow her to get the treasure so they can get back and split it. Again, she plans to ditch the kids but once she has the treasure box, things go bad for the kids and they know they are about to die. They try to get Katze to leave and give their share of the treasure to their parents. Katze finds herself hesitating and decides to fight, throwing the treasure chest at the lava monster to try to save the kids.

Adeu and Hittel arrive, and Adeu summons Ryu Knight Zephyr while Hittel joins Katze within Derringer. Adeu slices at the monster and cuts open the treasure chest, which reveals not only treasure, but the Spirit Stone for Derringer. Hittel, controlling Derringer, grabs the Spirit Stone (Rifle) and uses its power to dispatch the lava monster. It also blasts a hole in the roof of the cave, providing them an easy exit. Outside, Katze ponders her actions while the kids report they were able to recover all the treasure. The rest of the group arrives, but Adeu and Hittel cover for Katze's greed, saying she was only doing what a Ryu rider should -- help people.

Thoughts: This was a clichéd pile of crap if I ever I saw one. I really hate the whole, "I'm so obsessed with a treasure that I don't give a rats rear about anything else." That's so clichéd. Then the change of heart and do the right thing is so clichéd. Ugh. Maybe Katze will die in the series, but I suppose that's a pipe dream.

Weird how there were only three children left in the village when all of the adults left to find food. One would think that the parents would take the kids with them. Also, glad to know the kids were such good guides to a treasure room they'd never been to.

Haou Taikei Ryuu Knight 33

Lord of Lords Ryu Knight Ep. 33

SPOILER Summary: As the group travels through a dense forest where Adeu, Gratches, Gesshin, and Sarutobi have to but a path for the wagon, Adeu and Sarutobi get into an argument. When Paffy tries to intervien, she ends up getting knocked out causing her to lose her memories. After Izumi's healing spell fails, the group recaps evens from when they met Gesshin to present but no luck. A second accident where Izumi collides with Paffy's head restores her memories but he loses his.

Thoughts: Recap episode. Nothing to see here. Move along.