Negima! Vol 23 (Ch 205) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 23 Chapter 205

SPOILER Summary: Negi is going through his Kenpo exercises and thinking back to the moment after Jack's performance. Jack tells him to give up on the dark magic as it will kill him. Negi knows the risks having seen what it will do. Further, he knows he has comrades in arms, who working together can overcome any obstacle. Chisame comes by, wondering if doing Kenpo is really that helpful to go up against some giant monster or an Aegis Cruiser. Negi explains why it is still good to have the ability to fight close-quarters if needed.

Chisame tosses Negi a scroll, where Eva has scribed the Magica Erebea spell. If Negi opens up the scroll, it will mean he's chosen the darkness. However, Chisame figures Negi has already made up his mind. As such, no matter what his decision, she'll stand by him and watch over him.

Negi goes to see Jack, who's on the pier, seated at a Japanese-style table. He laughs off the wounds he received from attempting to cast Magica Erebea, though he starts gushing blood again from his forehead, despite his bandages. Negi gives the impression that he will chose the path of light, but to the surprise of Jack, he opens the scroll and choses the darkness. His reasoning is that while he looks like his father, he is not his father. Thus, if Negi has elements of darkness in them, then only by exploring them fully will he reach his father. He also states that he loves his master, which Jack teases him for being a love confession for Eva, which Negi denies. With that, an image of Eva appears from the scroll, who then challenges Negi saying that if he can't overcome the darkness, it will be the end for him as she attacks him.

Elsewhere, Nodoka is in some ruins with a group of people as they flee to the entrance. The escape to the other side of a ravine and looking back, they watch as the ruins crumble and are no more. The group apparently found Nodoka within the ruins as they explored them and as such, they let her join their group. She quickly proved her worth to them by being able to detect traps, an ability amazing for one so young. When asked where she picked up said skill, she states it was in a club. The group is excited at the amount of treasure they've acquired and try to encourage Nodoka to take a bigger share. Instead, she only wants one item, which they gladly give her -- the Comptina Daemonia (Demon's Lullaby), which apparently Nodoka had been searching for. It has the ability to read the target's name and while Nodoka is happy to have it, she does acknowledge that the artifact does seem a bit evil.

Thoughts: Yay, Nodoka! Its nice to see what she's been up to -- being a treasure hunter. She's also seemingly picked up some new skills and that was nice to see. Having the Comptina Daemonia allows Nodoka to overcome her pactio artifact's limitation on being able to read people's minds once she knows their name.

As for the Negi storyline, I didn't expect to see an image of Eva there. I wonder if it is somehow connected to Eva on Earth or if its just some protection spell placed on the scroll. Either way, Akamatsu-sensei found a way to bring Eva in without bringing her in.

Inuyasha Volume 55 *SPOILERS*

犬夜叉 Volume 55

Chapter 539: Inuyasha shakes off Magatsuhi influence and rescues Kagome. However, Magatsuhi transfers a bit of himself into Kagome to prevent Sesshoumaru from killing him without destroying both Inuyasha's and Kagome's body. However, as Inuyasha tries to get away from Kagome, Tessaiga flies up to him and turns into Dragon-Scaled form. This draws Magatsuhi out of Kagome and prevents him from entering Inuyasha. Trapped out of a physical body to hide behind, Sesshoumaru takes Tenseiga and kills Magatsuhi.

Chapter 540: With Magatsuhi dead, Kagome's powers return to her and as she falls off a ledge, Inuyasha catches her. Being close to Kagome with her powers causes Inuyasha to return to hanyou form. Meanwhile, Sesshoumaru can now clearly detect Rin's scent and makes his way to her as Kohaku, Jaken, and Shippou try to make their way through Naraku's body. Inuyasha tells Kagome he suspects a trap as Naraku notes the light that has returned to the Shikon no Tama. He decides to turn that light into despair for Miroku and Sango and taunts Inuyasha and Kagome with this info. Miroku sees the light and decides to take out Naraku once and for all, which is what Naraku wants him to do.

Chapter 541: Kagome urges Inuyasha to look for Miroku to save him first as Miroku makes his way to Naraku's core. Elsewhere, Sango is looking for Miroku and follows the light of the Shikon no Tama where she encounters the humanoid form of Naraku at his core with the Shikon no Tama. He tells her she's the first to reach him. However, before she can attack, Naraku produces Rin, which if Sango is to save Miroku, she must slay Rin. She decides that is something she's prepared to do to save Miroku. Meanwhile, Miroku reaches the humanoid form of Naraku, who informs Miroku that Miroku is the first to reach Naraku. However, all of this is just an illusion created by Byakuya.

Chapter 542: Inuyasha and Kagome reach Miroku and the illusion of Naraku. Inuyasha attacks with a Kongousouha but Miroku doesn't notice. Just before Miroku can use the Kazaana, Inuyasha stops him and Kagome uses the beads that seals the Kazaana. Kagome tries to dispel the Naraku illusion but cannot do so. Meanwhile, Kohaku comes to a point where he can see Sango, where he learns from Byakuya that Sango is under his illusion spell and can't hear Kohaku. Sango is ready to sacrifice Rin's life as Kagome realizes her light is being pushed out of the Shikon no Tama. As Sango attacks, Kagome shoots an arrow at where the real Naraku is.

Chapter 543: As Sango releases her Hiraikotsu to attack what she thinks is Naraku, Kagome shoots into what Inuyasha thinks is no where. However, the skill Kagome learned from Hitomiko that allows an arrow Kagome shoots to reach its target no matter what is in the way comes to play and the arrow strikes the real Naraku, taking off his arm with also removes Byakuya's arm. The Hiraikotsu somehow misses Rin as she begins to fall and is caught by Kohaku. Sesshoumaru ends up with Sango's weapon and throws it back, where it misses Sango (who ducks) and nearly takes out Byakuya. Since Byakuya had told Sango the truth of the illusion, Sesshoumaru knows everything. Sango submits to Sesshoumaru, telling him she's prepared to die at his hands for trying to kill Rin, even if it resulted in Naraku's death. However, she asks that Sesshoumaru stay her execution until Naraku is dead. Meanwhile, Inuyasha and Kagome have Miroku make their way to where the action is.

Chapter 544: An agitated-looking Sesshoumaru detects where Naraku's core is and so he turns to find it. Meanwhile, Inuyasha, Kagome, and Miroku reach Naraku's core where Inuyasha attacks with Meidou Zangetsuha but the attack goes awry. As it travels within the giant body, it nearly takes out Shippou, who observes Byakuya pull out his katana, only it has no blade. It then forms a black blade, when Byakuya notices Shippou, telling the little youkai that he'd just helped himself to the power of Meidou Zangetsuha, then reminds himself his sword can only be used once. Byakuya tells Shippou that if he's going to escape, he has to do so now. Meanwhile, Naraku prevents Kagome from attacking by unleashing killer shouki. As Sesshoumaru, Sango, Kohaku, and Rin approach Naraku, Sango gives Rin her mask to filter out the poisonous shouki, meaning Sango's putting her life at risk, which Sesshoumaru notes.

Chapter 545: Despite the pain the shouki causes her lungs, Sango presses on as Naraku prevents Sesshoumaru from following her. She reaches Naraku and attacks with the Hiraikotsu, which can break through shouki and jyaki. The Hiraikotsu hits Naraku and returns to Sango. However, it is so contaminated with shouki, Sango is overcome and falls, followed by Miroku. Sango and Miroku have a few words where Sango asks Miroku to take her with him. Their despair powers the Shikon no Tama's darkness while outside, Toutousai looks up, thinking that if Inuyasha can make the Meidou Zangetsuha his own, he can win.

Chapter 546: Naraku finally absorbs the Shikon no Tama as Inuyasha uses his Meidou attack, thus Naraku survives. Naraku reminds Inuyasha and Kagome that even if he dies, the Shikon no Tama will survive, as it did when it was buried with Kikyou and reborn in Kagome. Kagome begins to talking to Naraku, ultimately stating that the Shikon no Tama didn't grant Naraku's wish. Naraku attacks with killer shouki but Inuyasha counters with the Meidou. Inuyasha confronts Naraku verbally as a fellow hanyou before re-attacking with the Meidou Zangetsuha, which instead of being a perfect sphere, are now curved blades.

Chapter 547: Naraku is damaged by the new attack ability of Tessaiga's Meidou Zangetsuha. As Toutousai thinks outside, Inuyasha realizes this change in the Meidou is because Tessaiga is a sword that cuts. The flesh all around the group sends out massive amounts of Shouki, and Miroku, who wants to live with Sango, takes her and tries to escape. Sesshoumaru understands Inuyasha has Naraku trapped and so uses his Bakusaiga to open a path to Naraku's core. This means that the giant body of Naraku will now be completely destroyed. Inuyasha points this out to Naraku, who reminds Inuyasha that the Shikon no Tama still won't disappear. Meanwhile, Byakuya appears to be sneaking up on the scene.

Chapter 548: The giant spider body begins to fall apart but inside, the shouki is too much and Miroku feels he must use the Kazaana to save Sango. Meanwhile, Sesshoumaru makes his way to Naraku with Inuyasha telling Naraku it is over. Naraku conceeds this point, but states that there is something that neither Tessaiga or Bakusaiga can cut. Kagome knows what that is -- Naraku's soul. She's going to purify him, but Byakuya swipes her with his sword, which Inuyasha notes appears to be Meidou Zangetsuha. Inuyasha attacks Byakuya and kills him, but Byakuya has done what he was supposed to do. Kagome wonders if she were cut by the blade while Miroku notes his Kazaana is no longer leaking. As such, he and Sango decide to return to the fight as Sesshoumaru continues to make his way in.

Thoughts: Man, if I were writing this, I'd be so ready for the story to be over as I'd be bored to death writing it. But that's a weakness I have in my own story writing, which if I ever "pick up the quill" to write again, I'll have to overcome that. Having said this, how many years has Takahashi-sensei been writing this manga? Some 12-years or so? I'd for sure be tired of writing this after that many years, especially with the constant, "Naraku escapes, try again" element that plagued the manga. As such, even though this is clearly the end, Takahashi-sensei could still make Naraku live another day and not settle anything.

Well, there's at least one more volume. Can she drag it out for two?

Honey and Clover (Live Action) 11 (finale)

ハチミツとクローバー (Live Action Dorama) Ep. 11 (finale)

SPOILER Summary: Morita takes Hagu-chan to a rooftop, where she thanks him for getting her away from the hospital for a time. He tells her his feelings for her before they return to teh hospital, where Hanamoto-sensei and Takemoto had been looking for Hagu-chan. Hanamoto-sensei is not happy with Morita's stunt. Back on the campus, Ayumi is surprised in the pottery lab when Nomiya comes by to see her, letting her cry over Mayama. Over in another part of campus, Teramobori-san pays Morita a visit, desperate for a piece of art to sell and wanting Morita to finish his graduation piece. So, Morita tells him to sell one of his large, completed pieces which pleases Teramobori-san greatly.

With Hagu-chan struggling with rehab, Takemoto checks out several books from the library on rehab. He then draws a map of Japan where he maps out his trip and takes it to Hagu-chan. As additional rehab (on top of what the hospital has her doing), he has developed several phases of therapy. The first being that she will take a brush and use it to follow his route 500 times, marking each time she completes it. The next phase has her placing stickers of an orange to cover a large section of the map. The third is to past some 4-leaf clovers on another large section of the map. Finally, she's to color in what's left. She does all this and as she makes progress, he recounts his story to her, all of which makes her happy and confident she'll paint once more.

Back on campus, Morita teases Shouda-sensei about not doing anything since all he seems to do is watch over students. However, Morita would prefer that to the teachers who don't care. Meanwhile, Mayama sees Rika-san off to Spain with the promise that he'll follow her as soon as the Visa paperwork is done. Takemoto picks up work on his graduation piece and decides to call Shin-san, who assures him the temple restoration job is still his if he wants it after his graduation work is complete.

Hagu-chan is released from the hospital and Mayama's Visa work is complete. So, Morita, Takemoto, Ayumi, Mayama, and Hagu-chan have a party to celebrate both events. Sometime after Mayama leaves for Spain, Nomiya returns to Tokyo for a meeting and sees Ayumi and Miwako. After giving Miwako a present, she beats a hasty retreat to leave Nomiya alone with Ayumi. She confesses to him that she's not doing well, so he drives her to a scenic spot on a river(I think the Sumida River) looking at Tokyo. She's honest about still being hung up on Mayama but in the end, Nomiya tells her that being alone won't get her over Mayama. With that he takes her hand and they walk off together.

Morita disappears much to the distress of Teramobori-san, who becomes more distressed when he learns that Morita is taking a trip around the world with the money saved up from all the art Teramobori-san has sold for him. However, he leaves messages with his friends, including his graduation piece, which he leaves with Hagu-chan along with a proclamation saying they are eternal rivals. Hagu-chan comes by to see Takemoto's completed graduation piece and feels he will be great at temple restorations. They walk across campus where she promises Takemoto to keep working hard so as not to lose. Takemoto seems like he wants to say more and she seems to expect it, but instead, they have a drawn out goodbye.

With his stuff already packed up and moved out, Takemoto takes the last of his things and leaves his dorm room, where he's seen off with a final word of wisdom from Lohmeyer-senpai and an invitation to return anytime. Takemoto gets on a bus to head to his new job's project site when he sees Hagu-chan looking around. He gets the bus to delay and let him off and she hands him a bento and a promise that they will meet again some time. With that, he gets back on the bus and Hagu-chan waves and she watches him leave. He opens the bento and finds honey sandwiches, each having four-leaf clovers inside, some with as many as three. He eats them and cries, thinking of the coward he is, but then he wouldn't have come this far without Hagu-chan.

Thoughts: Well, its over and I give props to the writers for making the ending a bit sad, as it was in the anime. Secretly, I had hoped for the writers to make a little change so that Takemoto and Hagu-chan were a defined couple in the end, but alas, that was never in the cards. I suppose that's just as well.

Overall, I felt this was a pretty good adaptation. There were things dropped (the whole sub-plot involving Morita, his brother, and their father's business), things added (lots more Lohmeyer-senpai), but the spirit remained and that was the important thing. The actors became Takemoto, Hagu-chan, Ayumi, Mayama, Morita, etc. for me whereas in a show like the live-action You're Under Arrest, those never did jell with me.

The only real problem was that the writers rarely took time to properly introduce characters (the female sensei was NEVER named that I heard and I think Shouda-sensei was mentioned by name only once as exampled) and expected people to be well versed in the original manga (or anime) at times. That's just bad writing and had they done a better job at making sure non-fans could more easily get into the series, I think it would have been even better.

With Viz cornering the Honey and Clover market (anime, manga, live action movie), I figure they'll try to score this as well. I seriously doubt I purchase it should they do so, unless they change their subtitle adaptation policies (which they started with the manga adaptation, so you never know).

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS 06

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Episode 06
魔法少女リリカルなのはStrikerS（ストライカーズ）Ep. 06

SPOILER Summary: Rein writes her log on the first mission for the 6th Mobile Division and that Seal #9 Relic is at Central Lab being researched. Shari reports to Rein that the new Devices are working well. Meanwhile on the training ground, Vita is combat training with Subaru and attacks, which Subaru defends against, but cannot help but be pushed back into some trees. Vita explains that Subaru is a "front attacker," like herself. As such, their job is to get through enemy lines without assistance and lead the defensive lines for the team. As such, Subaru will need to be skilled at barrier magic (nullify hits), shield magic (repel hits), and field magic (personal protection). She also tells Subaru how to avoid being pushed back and to better utilize her gantlet Device, Mach Calibre.

Fate teaches Elio and Caro the basics of evasion tactics since they aren't going to have as great a defensive strength. She demonstrates making it through the course at slow speed, then at rapid speed. The drones on the training course appear to have nailed Fate, but she not only avoided all hits, but ended up behind Elio and Caro without them even seeing it, which impresses them. Fate explains to Elio that he's a "guard wing," which means he'll be attacking and supporting from any position. Caro is a "full back," and will require speed to aid the others.

Nanoha is training Tia, launching energy balls near and at Tia for Tia to shoot down. Like Nanoha, Tia is a "center guard" due to her being a shooter. Tia finds herself about to be hit by Nahoha's attacks and starts evading. Nanoha teaches her to not fall into the trap of trying to evade attacks because unlike Elio and Caro, Tia's job will be to use her own firepower to shoot down incoming fire with the proper counter-ammunition and accuracy.

The training is observed by Signum and helicopter pilot Vice. Vice asks about Signum not participating in the training of the rookies. Signum doesn't feel she has anything to teach the others due to her being an old-style knight. Her magic style and fighting with a sword are not skills that will aid the others as she sees it unless they wanted to get in close and slice someone. Plus, she's not a teacher.

The morning training session ends and since Fate's other duties will prevent her from heavily participating in training sessions, Vita promises the rookies to be there often. Fate wants to make sure that the rookies take good care of themselves, which they promise to do. With that, the group is off to get some lunch where they encounter Hayate, Shari, and Rein. Hayate is on her way to meet Major Nakajima, Subaru's father. Hayate asks if Subaru has any messages for her father or sister, which she doesn't.

At lunch, the rookies talk about Subaru's family and how at one point, Hayate had served in her father's command. The discussion leads to how well connected the 6th Mobile Division is. Shari reveals to the rookies that Hayate and Nanoha came from the same world (Non-Administered World 97, aka: Earth) and that Fate had lived there for a while. Subaru says that her father's ancestors also came from that world, but that she's never been there. Subaru asks about Elio's place of origin, which he reveals to have been the main office for the Space-Time Bureau's facility for special kids. Fate is his guardian, who because of her childhood, goes out of her way to help children like Elio or Caro.

At Lt. Colonel Hayate's meeting with Major Nakajima, his daughter (and Subaru's oneechan) Ginga comes in, who's in her father's command. Hayate wants Nakajima's help investigating smuggling routes for her Lost Logia case (the Relic). Since investigating smuggling cases his his unit's main objective, he doesn't mind helping Hayate but wonders she wants his unit to assist her rather than get HQ's investigators. She says she has already enlisted their help, but Hayate feels that Nakajima's unit, who know the area well, are the best suited for the job, which he can't deny. Ginga will be the liaison on his side and Fate, who's leading the investigation for Hayate, will handle things on their end. Considering that Fate had rescued Ginga four years earlier, they should work well together.

Ginga and Rein discuss this and Ginga is excited to be working with Fate. Rein has a present for Ginga, a Device that is the same model as Subaru's, only designed for Ginga. Ginga wonders if this is OK, which Rein assures her it is. After all, if Ginga is to accompany Fate, she'll need a Device, so it may as well be a good one. Meanwhile, Hayate and Nakajima sit and talk over tea, with Nakajima marveling at how rapidly Hayate rose in the ranks so that she now outranks him because of her mage abilities. Hayate says that the rank is basically decoration since she's still treated by other officers as a young girl. 1st Lt. Rad Caritas interrupts via communication holo-screen and is instructed by Nakajima to secure a conference room and make sure Ginga gets there for a briefing.

At the Time-Space Administration Bureau Central Surface HQ, Fate and Shari are going over Relic data. Shari doesn't understand the purpose of the Relic since it doesn't conform to normal crystallized energy forms and it really can't be used as a proper power generator. Fate reminds her that Lost Logia aren't easily understood. Looking over the data of Type-3 Gadget, Fate immediately sees something in the destroyed Gadget that she recognizes. It is a Lost Logia, known as a Jewel Seed, something she and Nanoha had been collecting a decade earlier. As a Lost Logia, all of the Jewel Seeds should be under the Bureau's control. A further look at the images reveals the name Jail Scaglietti, a scientist (doctor) who's tied to a number of Lost Logia crimes and for whom Fate has searched for a long time. Shari wonders why he'd leave such easily identifiable clues, to which Fate answers that Doctor Scaglietti is either baiting them or someone is trying to frame him. Either way, the people behind the Gadgets know that Nanoha and Fate are on the case. Fate wants Shari to take the data and set up an emergency meeting to discuss this revelation.

Hayate is eating dinner with Nakajima and Ginga when she gets word of the emergency meeting. She takes her leave of the two of them, telling Ginga that either herself or Fate will contact Ginga. Hayate reaches for the bill, but Nakajima refuses to allow her to pay. Meanwhile, Hayate and Shari are on their way to the meeting where Fate explains that Doctor Scaglietti has a number of uses for the Relics, and that his "Doctor" title is from his great skill at biological research and manipulation, for which he is obsessed.

In a lab, Doctor Scaglietti walks down a large, green-lit hall, with numerous, liquid-filled glass canisters contain naked women with roman numerals on the canister base. Not ever tube contains a girl though. He reaches his destination, where a communication holo-screen has his female assistant report that a Zest and Lutecia have resumed their activities. She also relays his client's instructions. He has her remind the client that the Gadgets, once transfered to autonomic control, are no longer completely controlled by him and that he has a request of the client, which she says she'll relay.

On a planet, a man and a young girl walk with hoods up, the girl having strange markings on her forehead and appears to wear a Device of some sort.

On the training grounds, night has fallen and Nanoha releases the rookies for the day. As Nanoha shuts down the simulator, Vita marvels that Nanoha stays with them all day. As the combat instructor for the division, Nanoha simply states that this is part of her job. Vita also expresses a concern over what she feels is Nanoha's lenient training style since their own official training had been strict on all front, including the proper way to walk and speak. Nanoha says that her training regiment is basically the same as others in the organization. If there's time to get onto the rookies for little things, then that time should be spent in simulation for a more precise and complete training. Besides, the rookies are people who are trying to be better mages. As they walk home behind the trainees, Vita promises herself to protect them.

Thoughts: The story is moving along with more groundwork being laid out for the main story arc. We learn the name of the scientist interested in Lost Logia and we see the rookies training increase without being bored with the actual details. Its enough to see that they are training and that it is tough, even if Vita thinks that Nanoha might be a little to nice with the newbies.

Now I understand why some Japanese names are done in Western order and why Nanoha and Hayate's names are still Japanese order. Because the two of them are from Japan, they continue to follow the traditional Japanese naming conventions, but someone like Subaru, who's never been to Earth but descends from there, has a Japanese name in Western order (obviously her father and sister the same). Something like this makes me wonder even more why R1 companies feel the compulsion to make all names (except Chinese names) in Western order?

Negima! Vol 22 (Ch 204) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 22 Chapter 204

SPOILER Summary: Negi pushes himself to exhaustion trying to master what Jack has taught him. He's depressed that he doesn't seem to have made any real progress and Fate and all the others are so much more powerful than he is. Indeed, 1001 cats at a .5 rating each combined would be more powerful than Negi. Chisame is not happy by this, telling Negi he will get stronger.

She takes a bath under a waterfall when she notices Jack on the other side of the rock, also bathing. After this little incident, Chisame goes to consult with Jack on his dock, where he's eating. Negi comes and tells Jack that he's hesitant about going the dark route and wants to become "idiotic" like Jack and his father. Jack tells him this is impossible as becoming idiotic is not something one trains for, it is just something one is. As such, Negi has to paths -- the light path where one works as a team (which Nagi did) or the dark path where you are a loner (as Eva was). Down the path of light, Negi could achieve his father's rank in 5 or 10 years. While Eva's spell is the quick way to get the power Negi craves, it does involve a lot of risk.

The reason the spell is forbidden is that those unsuitable to use it would lose their lives attempting to cast it. Jack decides to demonstrate the amount of damage it can cause a body. He goes out to the water and begins casting the spell, which Negi observes closely. Jack cast a spell to armor up his body, something he really doesn't need. However, despite Jack's immense power and physical fitness, the dark magic is too much for him and he soon overloads and is sent into semi-unconsciousness, floating on the water.

Thoughts: I know these kinds of chapters seem a tad tedious (despite the fanservice moments for both Chisame AND Jack), but I always remember that Akamatsu-sensei is doing table setting here for what's to come. The fact that this dark magic is even too much for Jack to handle shows what Negi will have to overcome should he wish to use it. Eva did it so I don't see why Negi couldn't.

A Japanese Burger

As I'm sure most of you know, many American companies have branches in Japan and Wendy's is no different. I'm not sure what lead me here, but I found myself on the official Japanese Wendy's site the other day. To my amazement, they were selling あんバーガー (an-burger) which you can even buy in a combo (which they call a "set"). For those who don't know, "an" (餡) is a sweet, red azuki bean that the Japanese use in many deserts, often mashing them (which is where the term "red bean paste" comes from). Taste-wise, an is only mildly sweet to me, but it has a sweeter aftertaste. It isn't the kind of sweet filling that I would go out and seek when looking for a desert, but when offered something like an-pan or the like, I have enjoyed them.

Anyway, you can get the an-burger at Wendy's with cheese on the desert menu. *lol* If I can make it to Japan when they are selling this, I'm going to have to buy one for sure just to try it. ^_^

Inuyasha Volume 54 *SPOILERS*

犬夜叉 Volume 54

Chapter 529: Jaken is in a panic over Rin's abduction when Sesshoumaru arrives. Upon learning the situation, he immediately takes off, realizing that Naraku's goal is to seal his sword. Back with Inuyasha and company, they are mourning the apparent death of Kohaku. Kagome can see the completed, black Shikon no Tama and shoots an arrow at it, Inuyasha following it with a Meidou Zangetsuha attack. Naraku taunts them but Kohaku ends up being alive, powered by Kikyou's light as Kikyou apparently chose to save the boy over destroying Naraku.

Chapter 530: Naraku reflects on his journey to now as Kagome returns to the present time to discover she got accepted into her high school of choice, thanks to them having a vacancy. Meanwhile, Naraku decides what he's going to do as he absorbs the completed Shikon no Tama and begins to transform for his final battle with Inuyasha and company. Meanwhile, the others note the large numbers of youkai being drawn somewhere and the amount of jyaki in the air as Kagome returns to continue her fight with Inuyasha and company.

Chapter 531: Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango, and Miroku leave the village, leaving Shippou behind as well as Kohaku, whom Sango doesn't wish to have his new life thrown away. They travel, following the swarms of low-level youkai to where Naraku is. Meanwhile at Naraku's location, Sesshoumaru is not impressed with Naraku's new form as it is still only a spider. He's attacked by a swarm of youkai, who all die at Bakusaiga. Byakuya observes that Sesshoumaru could kill Naraku with such a sword but with Rin trapped within Naraku, Sesshoumaru can't attack. Naraku tries to capture Sesshoumaru with his webs. Sesshoumaru eludes as Kagome and Inuyasha arrive, the youkai the were riding being dissolved when it touches the webs and the spider opening the front of its body as if to welcome them in.

Chapter 532: Sesshoumaru enter's the giant spider's body, soon followed by Inuyasha and company, leaving Byakuya to wonder why, as he would have just destroyed Naraku from the outside, sacrificing Rin to do so. Inside, they find the humanoid form of Naraku, which they attack, but Naraku reminds them that everything inside is him. Naraku further tells them that the Shikon no Tama wants their souls. As such, another humanoid Naraku forms, this one covered in armor as the giant spider gathers itself together as if the jewel itself. Inuyasha fights the armored Naraku as he's told that he and others will be trapped forever.

Chapter 533: With Naraku's spider body, Inuyasha makes no progress against armor-Naraku. Sango attacks with the Hiraikotsu, which works to take the head off the armor body, but the two pieces become two whole bodies. Inuyasha attacks with the Kongousouha, but has no luck in defeating them. He activates Meidou Zangetsuha but when they see Rin-chan, Inuyasha cannot attack. Kagome senses that the Shikon no Tama is still a jewel and not spread through Naraku's body as Naraku separates Inuyasha and Kagome from Miroku and Sango. Inuyasha and Kagome make their way to where she senses the jewel, only to find Inuyasha turn into his youkai form, as the corrupt power of this Shikon no Tama has forced him to change, as Naraku planned.

Chapter 534: Inuyasha now tries to kill Kagome with Kagome unable to do anything about it, her powers having been sealed. Naraku taunts her by giving her an arrow filled with his shouki, which would kill Inuyasha. However, she won't use it and Inuyasha attacks, knocking Kagome off a ledge. Meanwhile, Sango and Miroku are on the move where an illusion forms of the temple where Miroku was raised. Sango realizes the child in the illusion is Miroku and the man must be Miroku's father. Miroku's father's Kazaana then consumes him, leaving only a crater. Miroku comforts Sango, but realizes that the illusion was for Sango's sake as Miroku's Kazaana is close to consuming him. Elsewhere, Sesshoumaru comes upon the body of Kagome.

Chapter 535: Inuyasha comes to his senses where he is taunted by Naraku for not being able to protect the important women in his life. This frustrates Inuyasha who begins sinking back into youkai form as Naraku tempts him with an offer. Elsewhere, Kagome comes to to find she's being protected by Sesshoumaru, who is slaying weak youkai with a wave of his hand. Sesshoumaru figures Inuyasha has been consumed by Naraku's evil, but Kagome rejects this, pointing out that Inuyasha pushed her over the ledge instead of killing her. Meanwhile, Miroku and Sango are in a desperate fight with Sango not wanting Miroku to have to use is Kazaana. However, things become desperate so that Miroku feels he has no choice but use it.

Chapter 536: Miroku uses the Kazaana briefly before managing to stop it. Realizing that the Kazaana will soon consume him, he tells Sango that they must part company and flees, not wanting her to be consumed as well. Outside, the giant, black spider, looking like the Shikon no Tama, hovers over Kaede's village. Kohaku prevents Jaken and Shippou from going up to try to join the fight. Inside the body, Kagome follows Sesshoumaru to where Rin appears to be, but Sesshoumaru id's it as an illusion. Meanwhile, the real Rin awakens and is startled to see the giant face of Magatsuhi. She flees, calling for Sesshoumaru-sama, only to find Inuyasha in youkai form again.

Chapter 537: Sesshoumaru has detected the real Rin as well as Inuyasha. He informs Kagome that he's going to fly and takes off, Kagome grabbing his muff. Inuyasha looks as if he's going to attack Rin, but instead he attacks Magatsuhi. This surprises Magatsuhi, but then Magatsuhi possesses Inuyasha as Naraku begins to "swallow" Rin. Sesshoumaru faces off against Inuyasha, saying he'll cut Magatsuhi as well as Inuyasha as he draws out Tenseiga. Inuyasha draws Tessaiga and activates the Meidou Zangetsuha. Outside, Kohaku, Shippou, and Jaken are riding the twin-headed youkai steed when a Meidou Zangetsuha opens a hole in the spider's body for them to enter. Meanwhile Sesshoumaru ponders Inuyasha's apparent purposeful miss, realizing Tessaiga is holding Inuyasha together. Naraku realizes this as well and separates him from his sword. Sesshoumaru orders Kagome to grab Tessaiga as they are going to follow the fleeing Inuyasha-Magatsuhi.

Chapter 538: Sesshoumaru begins tearing through a ball of flesh to get to where Inuyasha-Magatsuhi are. Kagome tells Sesshoumaru her belief that he can defeat Magatsuhi without hurting Inuyasha. She tells him that his fighting Inuyasha is exactly what Naraku wants. Breaking through, Inuyasha-Magatsuhi immediately attacks. Because Inuyasha is in youkai form, he is able to land blows on Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru thinks on Kagome's words, but figures this fight was long overdue. Sesshoumaru uses Tenseiga, but because Magatsuhi is possessing Inuyasha, it won't harm Magatsuhi. Meanwhile, Kagome tries to get near Inuyasha, which Sesshoumaru finds foolish and Magatsuhi says is pointless. However, Inuyasha gets a whiff of her scent and as Kagome falls, Inuyasha breaks off his fight with Sesshoumaru, realizing Kagome is alive and needs to be saved.

Thoughts: Well, it is a non-stop ride at the end here (or if it is not the end, I'll be stunned, but I've not bothered to look to see what Takahashi-sensei is planning). Nothing here is really surprising, but I am curious to see where things go.

As for Kagome finally making it to high school, its about freaking time.

Macross Frontier 03

マクロスF Episode 03
Macross F Ep. 03

SPOILER Summary: Ozama has the Vajra in front of him, which unfortunately leads to a spot right where Sheryl, Ranka, and Alto are. Mikhail and Luca come to the aid of their captain, who's having hard time holding the biomechanoid in place. Mikhail uses his sniper ability to take it out. However, just when things seem over, the Vajra comes back to life and the ensuing fight breaches the dome, forcing Alto to take the frightened Ranka and dive for a shelter, followed by Sheryl. The SMS units follow the Vajra into space as it flees until they are joined by military forces. Ozama has been wounded and needs to be escorted back to Macross Frontier.

Meanwhile back in the shelter, Ranka is so frightened, she finds she is unable to let go of Alto's shirt, leading him to suspect that she's just playing around. The battles above them have caused power problems in the shelter and even Sheryl to have a wardrobe accident, which allows Alto to get a good look at her breasts. She slaps him and the two get into an argument until Ranka breaks it up, almost timidly offering some Maguro-man (Tuna Buns) which happen to look like breasts. The tension is lifted with a laugh and the three eat.

However, things are still looking bad for the group as Sheryl notices it is getting harder to breathe. There's no way out of the shelter save the way they came, and that was not a good option since everything was being vented into space. Sheryl decides she's going to take the chance just the same, only to find the shelter hatch opened from the outside. Lt. Glass, Sheryl's manager Grace, and a rescue team are there. Sheryl teases Alto about the earlier wardrobe event and gives Ranka some words of encouragement before leaving.

After she's gone, Lt. Glass gets word of what happened to Ozama. Ranka, who believed her oniichan had a safe desk job, is stunned to learn he's a pilot and to make matters worse, his craft is literally carried by Mikhail and Luca over their heads, leading Ranka to cry out in frustration at Ozama having lied to her. At the hospital sometime later (the next day?), Alto visits Ozama along with Mikhail and Luca, where Alto learns that Ranka really isn't Ozama's little sister, but someone who lost her entire family to the Vajra 11 years ago and now has dissociative amnesia over the event. As such, Ozama took her under his wing and she now thinks of him as her older brother, hence why she addresses him as "oniichan."

Alto wants to know what the Vajra are and is warned that once he learns the truth, he'll never be able to go back to the way he was. He agrees to this, but Ozama makes him cool his heels for 24-hours. On the way out of the hospital, Luca explains why they could not tell Alto of their SMS jobs and Mikhail wants to know if Alto will run away again, referring apparently to Alto running away from his family's kabuki business. Alto wanders about and hears singing in a secluded area where he finds Ranka. Ranka now addresses Alto as "Alto-kun" and mentions how she doesn't remember anything of her past but that song, which she comes to sing alone. However, she decides to let Alto hear it and he enjoys it, further encouraging her in what she wants to do.

After a funeral for one of their comrades, Ozama, now out of the hospital, sees Alto and since Alto is resolute, Ozama tells him to report to the barracks at 08:00. Luca is excited his school senpai is part of the team and Mikhail acknowledges with a smile that things are going to get interesting. Meanwhile, having been encouraged by both Sheryl and Alto, Ranka tries out for Miss Macross Frontier, her initial interview being on TV so that Sheryl gets to see that Ranka took her advice.

Thoughts: I should have known that Ozama Lee wasn't Ranka's real oniichan and that she has no memories of the tragic events that happened to her in the past. Well, I guess that means that this little tidbit will come up down the road, say when Ozama dies. I hope not, but I'm just saying.

Alto isn't really that likable of a character is he? I doubt he'll be any more likable as an SMS so-and-so. I'm glad to see that Sheryl hasn't gone goo-goo for him (yet) and that Ranka, while having been saved by "Alto-kun" a few times, appears to just be very friendly at this point, which I also like. Don't get me wrong, I'm in favor of good romance, but I haven't seen anything to make me think, "Oh! I hope they end up as a couple."

Anyway, the episode is another enjoyable one even though the table is still being set for the overall story.

Honey and Clover (Live Action) 10

ハチミツとクローバー (Live Action Dorama) Ep. 10

SPOILER Summary: Hagu-chan has an operation on her hand, which was severely injured in the previous episode. Hanamoto-sensei sends Morita, Ayumi, and Takemoto home, where Takemoto resumes work on his graduation project. The next morning, Takemoto gets a call and returns to the hospital, where Hagu-chan wakes up and remembers everyone. Meanwhile, Mayama takes a rented car with Rika-san to Otaru. She doesn't say much until they reach the snow-covered place (which her deceased husband painted once), after which she cries and thanks Mayama.

It is evening and Takemoto gets a call from Shin-san, whom he worked with at the temple restoration site during Takemoto's trip. Apparently they have an opening and they want Takemoto to join them on their next project in roughly a month. Despite school not being out, Takemoto feels he can finish his graduation project by then. Meanwhile, Mayama and Rika-san spend the night in a hotel room. The following morning, Rika-san tries to sneak out, but Mayama is quickly to confront her before backing down and apologizing. They return to Tokyo where Mayama learns of Hagu-chan's accident.

At the hospital, Ayami's father, Yamada-san, pays a visit and gives a gift certificate for liquor from his store to Hanamoto-sensei. In Hagu-chan's room, the group promise to bring her art supplies. Ayumi decides to get some flowers for Hagu-chan after the guys leave but when she comes back, she overhears Hanamoto-sensei informing Hagu-chan that Hagu-chan may not get feeling back in or use of her right hand. Ayumi returns to the campus to inform Takemoto, Mayama, and Morita of this, who take the news hard. Takemoto thinks they should bring her art supplies anyway and is elected to do so by Morita.

Meanwhile, Nomiya packs up this things to go to Tottori. Ayumi comes by and the two talk briefly before Miwako comes by to give Nomiya a bunch of food to take with him. Meanwhile at Harada Design, Mayama comes in to pack up his things, only to discover a fax with a work Visa application, which Rika-san confirms is his as she wants him to go with her to Spain. Elsewhere, Takemoto packs up some art supplies and some donughts (provided by Morita after Teramobori-san went out and bought them for Morita). Hagu-chan is in pain, but she wants to feel the pain so she'll know when feeling returns to her injured right hand.

Returning home, Takemoto finds that Lohmeyer-senpai has made him a meal (oden?) to strengthen him so that Takemoto can strengthen others. The following day after observing hagu-chan's rehab, Mayama, Ayumi, and Takemoto walk home where Mayama eventually reveals he'll be moving to Spain with Rika-san. When Nomiya hears the news of Mayama, he decides to call Ayumi, who's upset despite her claims otherwise. As such, Nomiya decides to drive all night to Tokyo.

Meanwhile, Hagu-chan tries to do something simple like hold chalk, but can't. Shouda-sensei comes by to see Takemoto's work and gives him some advice, which leads Takemoto to decide to turn down the job offer and spend time with Hagu-chan. At the same time, Morita learns the truth that Hagu-chan may never fully recover from Hanamoto-sensei and so pays Hagu-chan a visit, telling her she doesn't have to paint again. He then takes her and flees out the hospital room window (her on his back) just before Takemoto comes to try to take care of Hagu-chan.

Thoughts: As we are nearing the end, things feel like they are dragging story-wise, and I'm not sure why.

I noticed that the TV version really didn't give an indication that Rika-san and Mayama slept together on the trip. If you were watching closely, you'd notice only one bed was slept in (the one Mayama was in) in the hotel room. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't wanting to see a coupling scene but the anime did make it overly clear that the two slept together and it was only that which told me, "look for the signs" in the TV version. I think had the TV version given more of an indication of what was to happen and what did happen, it would have had more impact.

Frankly, the major problem with this TV adaptation has been the writers expecting the audience to be familiar with the source materials and just fill in the blanks that they leave. That's gone for character names and certain situations, such as the Rika-san/Mayama coupling. I think that's a poor way to write this. While I understand not wanting to get bogged down in a lot of details with only 11 episodes, some things needed to be said, characters needed to be named, and situations needed better setup at times.

xxxHOLiC Kei 03

xxxHOLiC◆継 Episode 03

SPOILER Summary: Upon being sent to where the Zashiki-Warashi is being held captive, the Karasu-Tengu immediately succumb to the evil jyaki in the air. Kuda-Kitsune uses its foxfire to penetrate the barrier around the building and in the two of them go. Since the evil presence is coming from the lower levels of the structure, Kuda-Kitsune and Watanuki head down, though Watanuki struggles to maintain consciousness, gripping a large glass shard to do so. They finally make it to the room where Zashiki-Warashi is being held, suspended in a massive spider web and apparently unconscious.

It is then that a blonde female makes her presence known, the Jorô-Gumo. She is the ruler of spiders and she now has Watanuki's right eye, recounting the struggle there was to obtain it. When Zashiki-Warashi learned that Jorô-Gumo had the eye, she comes to request the eye be returned to Watanuki, which of course Jorô-Gumo has no intention of doing. Even captured, Zashiki-Warashi, weakened by the evil of Jorô-Gumo, still wants the eye returned. Watanuki asks for Zashiki-Warashi to be freed and even offers himself in exchange, seeing how Jorô-Gumo values his eye so much. Jorô-Gumo refuses, telling Watanuki that he has no concept of the value placed on his life by others and that his offer is like telling Zashiki-Warashi that she's a fool for risking her life for garbage.

Although ensnared by Jorô-Gumo's webs, Watanuki uses the glass shard to free himself and threaten Jorô-Gumo. Kuda-Kitsune (in large form) attacks, forcing Jorô-Gumo to retreat and allows Watanuki to free Zashiki-Warashi. Kuda-Kitsune burns a lot of the webbing down, but Jorô-Gumo has her prize and consumes Watanuki's eye. Kuda-Kitsune forces Jorô-Gumo to make a final retreat while at Yuuko-san's place, Ame-Warashi is patiently waiting for the two to return.

With Jorô-Gumo gone, the Karasu-Tengu are able to enter the building where they discover Watanuki unconscious alongside Zashiki-Warashi. When he wakes up, he's in a pool of water being cleansed of Jorô-Gumo's jyaki, held by the Zashiki-Warashi who is crying and apologizing for not getting his eye back. Watanuki brushes her cheek and apologizes to her. He then finds himself in Yuuko-san's bath (along with the now normal-sized Kuda-Kitsune), which apparently has water that links it to Zashiki-Warashi's pool of water.

Afterward, Yuuko-san has something for Watanuki -- half of Doumeki's right eye, to be given if Watanuki could not regain his own eye. Having learned his lesson, Watanuki takes the eye and consumes it, his right eye now yellow. The following day, Doumeki notices Watanuki's new eye but says nothing. Watanuki has a large bento for Doumeki but forces him to take it and tells Doumeki that he should be praising "Watanuki-sama." Naturally that doesn't happen and Watanuki gets hysterical again, as usual.

Thoughts: Heh! I think that Production I.G is going to more closely follow the manga based on this story-arc. Since my manga is already packed up for the upcoming move (as of this posting), I can't check some things but I almost felt that since the writers had Watanuki basically say what he said in the manga, it was almost as if they were pushing aside the fact that they had Zashiki-Warashi show up for their version of the snowball fight story but maybe I'm reading too much into this.

Production I.G had time to fill with this episode and so they brought in Ame-Warashi to fill that time. Fortunately, they did a good job with it while not distracting from the central story of Watanuki rescuing Zashiki-Warashi. Knowing what I know now in that Ame-Warashi and Zashiki-Warashi are apparently good friends (something the manga hadn't fully revealed when this story-arc was written), having Ame-Warashi show up and wait at Yuuko-san's place worked for me. She had made her choice and frankly, making choices and the consequences of those choices are a central part of the story-arc. So, Production I.G could fill time, bring in a character that wasn't in the manga story, and NOT change the manga story. That's a modification to a manga story that I don't mind.

Here's hoping for a continued more faithful following of the manga stories, though the previews already have a problem in that they don't show Watanuki with his yellow right eye (which the manga clearly did in volume 11).

Minami-ke Okawari 11

みなみけ～おかわり～ Ep. 11

SPOILER Summary: Kana is about to leave school for home when she's stopped by Keiko and realizes she's supposed to clean. So she fakes illness and goes home. There, while Touma is visiting, Fujioka comes by to see how she's doing. She remembers feigning illness and says she's better and invites him in. However, she soon remembers that Touma is in the living room and still in her seifuku. Since Fujioka thinks Touma is a boy, this could be a disaster. Fujioka says he thinks it is cute that Touma is wearing a girl's school uniform, and Touma flees to the empty bath, embarrassed by this. Kana decides to cover for her by getting Fujioka's shirt off and trying to make him wear her seifuku, which she claims to have done with Touma.

Its evening and the following day is time for neighborhood cleanup. Kana doesn't want to do this, so she feigns catching a cold. The next day, Haruka leaves Chiaki to look after the "ill" Kana while she goes on cleanup duty, promising Kana to make a special udon for lunch. She gives Kana a bell and tells her to ring it if she needs anything. Kana rings for a drink, which Chiaki provides. Then Kana rings for a new manga (a parody of Minami-ke). All the while, Chiaki has been eying Kana suspiciously, which when Kana notices, she starts a cough. After Haruka comes home, Chiaki has had enough and accuses Kana of faking, bashing her in the head with a pitch of the Fujioka teddy bear.

It is a Sunday and Kana is sleeping in. Chiaki is dressed to go out into the cold and asks Kana if she's forgotten about the plan for the day -- t0 go shopping and then to go to an all-you-can-eat rib joint. Kana gets up but then discovers that she is actually sick. Not wanting to let Haruka and Chiaki know this, Kana tells them that she can't go shopping with them since she wants to do her homework so that she can enjoy dinner. Chiaki finds this amazing, but they buy it and are off to shop. Chiaki summons Uchida and Makoto (as Mako-chan) to come over. They bring medicines and such and try to help Kana get over her cold. Unfortunately, Kana gets worse so that by the time Chiaki and Haruka get home, Chiaki is quickly able to figure out that Kana is in fact truly sick.

Finally, Kana comes to consort with Chiaki-sama. She wants to make sure things between herself and Fujioka are peaceful, so Chiaki comes up with a plan for her. At school, Kana calls Fujioka out and demands to know why he addresses her as "Minami" when he addresses her sisters Haruka and Chiaki by their first names. As such, she demands he address her as "Kana-chan" since there are lots of "Minami" people in her house. This catching him completely off guard and he's too embarrassed to suddenly change to a more intimate way of addressing her. Kana misreads this as him being angry and so she uses the ultimate play from Chiaki -- she grabs him from behind and is going to do a wrestling move. The move fails but Fujioka is in heaven at being embraced from behind by Kana. Kana reports this to Chiaki, who's amazed that she actually did it.

Thoughts: OK, Kana's attempts to cover for Touma wearing a girl's seifuku by trying to make Fujioka wear one as well (since Fujioka thinks Touma is a boy) was amusing to me. I was mildly amused by Kana's faking being sick. The final story (which felt like something from the first series) with Kana and Fujioka was amusing as well. So this episode may have been the best of the lot, but considering how poorly I considered the other episodes, I guess that's not saying much. Still, credit where credit is due. Since I've slammed this series so hard, praise for an overall amusing story is warranted.

Hayate no Gotoku! 50

Hayate the Combat Butler Ep. 50
ハヤテのごとく！Episode 50

SPOILER Summary: Hayate tries to get Nagi interested in a game competition for girls, but fails to do so until she sees the trophy given as first prize. However, she needs another female to compete with her and she can't find anyone to do so. Before Nagi and Maria can dress Hayate up as a girl, he escapes to try to find someone. Meanwhile, Nishizawa is interested in the same competition, only she's interested in the all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu, which she intends to invite Hayate along with. Nishizawa gets lost in thought and accidentally runs into Hayate, who upon learning she's interested in the competition, immediately enlists her to be Nagi's partner.

At the competition are many girls, including Aika and Chiharu, the Vice President and Secretary of the Student Council. Nagi and Nishizawa are reluctant allies, but as the competition starts, sometimes Nagi has the answers and sometimes Nishizawa. The losing teams are ejected from the game. One question deals with sake and because all the girls are underaged, no one has an answer. However, a life-line (ala Who Wants to Be a Millionaire) is granted and Maria-san saves the day. Nagi and Nishizawa make it to the finals, as do Aika and Chiharu (who are labeled as supposed to have more screen time after the 3rd season) as well as Hina-chan and Miki-chan.

The final round has the three pairs on three separate inflatable slide that lead to a "pool" filled with giant (inflated?) balls. Hina quickly begins answering questions left and right. Each time she does so, the other two team's slide gets elevated to a sharper incline to try to force them to fall. Eventually, Aika and Chiharu do just that. Just as it seems over for Nagi and Nishizawa (as Nagi has let go), Nishizawa catches her, understanding that Nagi wants the trophy because the figure on it looks like Hayate. Then, impossibly (due to the way Nishizawa is upside down holding Nagi), the duo answer a series of questions and eventually force Hina and Miki into the ball pool, the final question being the price of a creme puff, which Nagi remembered Nishizawa buying for her way back when.

Nagi and Nishizawa give each other compliments after a fashion before Nagi rushes to get her trophy. Nishizawa has the all-you-can-eat ticket and ponders what to do with it. She's just thinking she should share it with her family when Hayate arrives to thank her for all she's done. Nagi comes up and so Nishizawa decides to continue to like Hayate as she does now and invites both of them to eat shabu-shabu with her. They agree, though when they go to eat it, Nagi does complain about things to the irritation of Nishizawa.

Thoughts: This episode started off as one where I thought, "It will be a one-paragraph summary because I'm bored." However, in the end, I did get a few laughs from this which made it pretty good. I think I laughed the most when Nagi distracted Nishizawa with the small-bubbled packing square, and Nishizawa commenting on how once you start popping the bubbles, you can't stop. *lol*

References! (Note: the site doesn't get 100% of the references, but most of the time they do get a very high percentage.)

Gakuen Alice Manga Volume 2

Gakuen Alice Volume 2
学園アリス Volume 2

SPOILER Summary: Mikan is now an official student of Gakuen Alice but things aren't looking so well as her "arch-enemy" Natsume is assigned to be Mikan's partner to assist her in adjusting to life at school. Mikan learns of the star-ranking system where high-ranking students get lots of privileges and low-ranking ones get nothing. Some of her new classmates refuse to accept her, so when the strict Jinno-sensei is teaching class, they make it seem like she's causing a disturbance and when they telekenetically try to dump a trashcan on her, Mikan instinctively uses her Alice to deflect the can where it dumps on Jinno-sensei, who punishes her by making her a no-star ranking. That means that she gets a horrible room and very little food.

Mikan decides to accept her harsh treatment and punishment as things can only go up, but Jinno-sensei doesn't like Mikan and uses his Thunder Alice to further punish her, forcing Hotaru to save her with one of her mirror creations. Mikan decides to write letters to her grandfather in a positive light and has Narumi-sensei send these letters for her. Mikan learns that due to her Nullification Alice, she's assigned to the Special Class for Alice training, which she doesn't like. On her way to class, she runs into Natsume. Some other students try to use Mikan to get to Natsume, but he doesn't care and she ends up being saved by the upperclassman Tsubasa.

Since Tsubasa is also a special-type Alice, they are in the same class and he escorts Mikan there. Mikan is excited to have a senpai and relieved to find the Special Class is full of pretty normal people, though for the school, they are considered weird. Mikan is excited to introduce Tsubasa-senpai to her friends and at his encouragement to create a channel for her regular classmates to channel their energies into (rather than cause trouble), she manages to organize a volleyball game, goading those who are reluctant to join. The game ends in a draw, but it does appear to have the desired effect.

Mikan isn't received letters back from her grandfather and is concerned about that. She consults with fellow classmate Otonashi, who's Alice is fortune telling. She learns her grandfather has been outside the school gates trying to see Mikan but is being refused access. This is confirmed with one of Hotaru's inventions (where Mikan's grandfather appears ill) and Mikan is reminded that the teachers cannot be trusted. So, she puts Narumi-sensei to the test by giving him another letter with a couple of Hotaru's special stickers on it. She learns that Narumi-sensei is burning her letters rather than send them and so confronts Narumi-sensei about it, leading to her being harshly punished.

Desperate to make contact with her grandfather, Mikan enlists the help of Hotaru, the class president, and even Natsume's friend Luca to make a daring breakout of the school. This sets off an alarm for the teachers but unfortunately for Mikan, instead of running into her grandfather, she runs into a couple of thugs who realize she's from Gakuen Alice and as such, worth a ton of money. They try to kidnap her, but she manages to get away briefly before having to be rescued by Narumi-sensei, who's injured in the process. Returning to the school, Narumi-sensei has Mikan stay with him for the night, where he tells her he can't answer her questions on why he burns her letters, why she can't contact her grandfather, or why the school is watching her so closely. However, he wants to improve things and asks her to trust him. She decides to so much so that she asks for permission to sleep in his bed and even calls Narumi-sensei father (as "Grandpa" is too much for him) before falling asleep.

Thoughts: I am completely sold on this manga. While I enjoyed the first manga well enough, my forthcoming move (as of this posting, in 8-days) had me ready to just pack volume 2 and read it after my move. However, since I wanted some light reading for the hotel at Starfest and I had some major insomnia on the first night of the convention, I blew through the first volume fairly quickly.

So, why am I sold on this after two volumes? For start, I like the way Higuchi-sensei is presenting the story and drawing it. Mikan-chan is a force of nature and just fun to follow. So there is a fun aspect but at the same time, there's this dark and ugly aspect with the Alice Academy not allowing students to contact their family or the like. Higuchi-sensei often throws mini-flashbacks of comments stated while presenting a situation in the present to confront Mikan. While I don't need to be spoon fed, I liked these flashbacks because it shows that while Mikan is quick to act first and think later, she is listening to the warnings being issued to her. Basically, I love Mikan's "can do" spirit and how no matter how tough things get, she's going to press on.

I really look forward to reading more of this manga, especially since TP continues to keep the Japanese honorifics in the adaptation.

Keroro Gunsou 38

ケロロ軍曹 Episode 38

SPOILER Summary: The Keroro Platoon is working with an alien Candid Camera program to trick Giroro. Sumomo-chan, the female from Keron, is going to be in an armored battle suit that looks like Natsumi. She does so and proceeds to try to use Giroro's feelings for Natsumi against him. As such, Giroro finds her in his tent, in a traditional Japanese high school girl swimsuit. As Tamama waits anxiously with the sign to make fun of Giroro, Sumomo fails to trick Giroro into completely losing it with her breakfast routine, her "naked apron" (with swimsuit underneath) routine, or the "take a bath together" routine.

Having failed at this, Sumomo, still in the Natsumi suit, attacks Giroro with his own weapons. As they battle, Natsumi comes home and finds her "twin," and thus heads down to confront the frog aliens. She's given a collar device, which activates a battle suit and she's off to confront Sumomo. Now that the gig is up, Sumomo goes all out, but Natsumi ends up defeating her. Sumomo is soon removed from the suit where Natsumi then learns that this will be part of an episode known as "Female Pekoponian Soldier Natsumi VS Natsumi." She then decides to take out her irritation on Keroro.

Natsumi is frustrated because the collar is still on her neck. Keroro says they need the password, which they don't currently have and which will take some time to get from HQ. However, providing Natsumi doesn't get worked up, the suit won't activate (it will deactivate when she's calm). Keroro also reveals that anyone saying "sentou" (battle) or "kougaki" (attack), the suit will automatically activate. She warns Keroro to get the password by the time she gets home. Unfortunately for her, Keroro has the password and simply has established it so that once someone else activates the suit, Natsumi will fight for the Kerons.

In class, Natsumi is asked for the lowest denomination of U.S. currency, which she answers "sento" (cent). The collar alerts and she barely makes it out in time before the suit activates. She calms down and at P.E., the teacher tells her she's the first batter ("sentou") and that's the attack slot. Natsumi runs off and the suit activates again. Before she can calm down, Keroro and Tamama are out in a transport and activate her conditioning. However, Kururu made a mistake and so she attacks everything, including those from Keron. Keroro is defeated, followed by Tamama. Giroro is dispatched on a large mecha and using the scent of a baked sweet potato, he causes Natsumi to pause long enough to enter the (romantic) password in English. The collar comes off and the others tease Giroro for saying the password (a love confession), which Natsumi doesn't remember hearing but wants to hear.

Thoughts: Pretty funny stories. I loved how Giroro had to say the password, which was the English phrase "Natsumi, my love. Kiss me tender and hold me tight forever." I wonder why the Japanese went with English there, but I loved it.

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS 05

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Episode 05
魔法少女リリカルなのはStrikerS（ストライカーズ）Ep. 05

SPOILER Summary: As the helicopter carrying the rookies and Nanoha approach the train that is currently under attack by Gadgets, looking for the Relic, Caro thinks back to her childhood when she was forced to leave her village by tribal elders afraid of her power. Nanoha sees her nervousness and brings Caro back to reality, assuring Caro that things will be OK and that Nanoha and the others will still be there for her. Because a group of flying Gadgets are providing cover for the ground Gadget units, Nanoha leaves the helicopter to clear the sky. Fate, who had managed to make it to a parking lot, transforms to her battle uniform and flies to meet Nanoha. The two soon clear the sky of all aerial Gadgets, giving clearance for the two rookie members of the Stars Squadron (Subaru and Tia, for whom Captain Nanoha is their squadron commander) to dispatch as well as the two rookie members of the Lightning Squadron (Elio and Caro, led by Captain Fate). Rein with oversee things locally while Hayate leads things from the Command Center.

Subaru and Tia land on the train and discover that their new Devices, while similar to their previous ones, are indeed much superior. Subaru has two Devices (her skates and her gauntlet) which sync perfectly and even instinctively react to situations when needed. Both Subaru and Tia manage to take out the Gadgets in their area. However, Caro and Elio run into a new design Gadget. As such, its AMF nullifies both of their magic, forcing Elio to engage in melee combat. Caro sees this and Elio is not doing well. She thinks back to when the brass at the Time-Space Bureau had basically rejected her, only to have Fate take her under her wing. As such, she wants to be able to do something.

Fried's fire-based attack does nothing to the Gadget and it soon has Elio unconsious and flying out of the train car. Caro leaps after him, and as they gain distance from the Gadget, her magic returns and she's able to catch him with her powers. She then apologizes to Fried for keeping him sealed, then releases him. Friedrich, instead of being a mini-dragon, is in fact a large, silver dragon. He has Elio and Caro on his back and Caro has him attack the Gadget again, but it fails. Elio, who'd regained consciousness, understands why the attack failed, and asks Caro to help him. She agrees and he launches himself back into the fight, with Caro casting a powerful enhancement spell on his Device, increasing its melee capability. He is then able to destroy the Gadget. As Subaru and Tia secured the Relic and there are no more Gadgets, the mission is a success.

Elsewhere in a lab, a scientist observes all of this and is asked about the Relic. While he wants the Relic, gaining all this data on the girls and Elio was more than adequate. He refers to them all (Fate and Nanoha included) as living and moving remnants of Project F, something he also wants to obtain.

Thoughts: I hate henshin sequences for the most part. I especially hate them otaku mahou shoujo titles because it means a lot of time-wasting, fanservice filler within the episode. Now take this series, which has not one, not two but FIVE girls that have to get naked, y'all! Because one of our members is a boy, well we can't totally discriminate, but we know that most of you otaku aren't fapping to naked boys, so we'll makes his henshin moment the fastest. What really annoys me (beyond the simple fact that you couldn't watch this on your laptop while waiting at the doctor's office or the mechanic's shop) is that for four episodes, we didn't need any stinking henshin sequences. Indeed, Nanoha and others transformed from normal uniforms to battle uniforms without all the fanfare. I know that henshin is an expected part of the mahou shoujo genre, but I don't have to like it.

What did I like? Well, I liked the bit of character development for Caro. Making her pink-haired not only adds to her cuteness factor, but also makes what happened to her feel more tragic. I loved how Fate basically takes Caro under her wing when the Time-Space Bureau people seemed to poo-poo Caro for the most part.

I like how it appears that Nanoha will have a squadron and Fate one as well. That makes her apology to Elio and Caro in the previous episode make more sense. She's their squadron commander (and apparently has the rank of Captain as well, though she mainly uses "Enforcer"). It will be interesting to see how the Knights break down between this new Stars Squadron and Lightning Squadron.

Negima! Vol 22 (Ch 203) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 22 Chapter 203

SPOILER Summary: Yue is being treated by the medical sensei for her head injuries. Sensei is also trying to determine what might have caused Yue's memory loss (physical or magical) and has not been able to identify Yue via a search. Still, since Yue is at the educational city-state of Aridane, she'll be allowed to remain there until her memories return. Collet offers to allow Yue to stay in her room until Yue's memories return. It seems that Collet was flying on her broom and studying when Yue suddenly appeared in front of her. She collided with Yue and her want accidentally cast a forgetfulness spell. As such, Collet doesn't want the teachers to know that she is the cause of Yue's forgetfulness.

Yue asks if she can take lessons for the Mage Knight cadets, the same ones Collet is taking, while she waits for her memories to return. The sensei is OK with that since children who want to learn are always welcome.

Back in Collet's room, the two talk, with Collet marveling at how much Yue must have loved studying to want to do so with amnesia. She wonders why Yue wants to be in the same classes as her, to which Yue states that Collet's stories of the Mage Knights piqued her interest. As such, Yue would like to try the same thing, Collet finding the Mage Knights to be cool, especially the Valkyrie Brigade. Collet produces an old practice wand and broom for Yue, which she's very thankful for. Instinctively, Yue casts the little flame spell (Ardescat) that Negi had taught her previously, which Collet finds encouraging since that means Yue hasn't forgotten simple magic (Collet assuming of course that Yue is from the Magic World). However, Yue finds she is unable to fly the broom.

Yue begins taking classes and takes her studies very seriously. The one thing she has trouble with is broom flying, which she still has not managed to get off the ground. The class rep is not amused by this and treats Yue a bit harshly for it. Yue is undeterred and continues to study hard, and practices hard to fly. With Collet helping her, 24 days pass with Yue finally managing to get lift on her broom, determined to become a great mage like "that person," only she can't remember whom "that person" is.

Back at Jack Rakan's place, he tells Negi of the forbidden Magica Erebea. It took Eva some ten years to perfect this technique and because it requires a large amount of dark-based magic to use, very few people can even use it. Negi ponders this as Jack tells him the technique suits him. Negi is shocked by this, more so when Chisame agrees with Jack, stating that Negi worries all the time and as such is a dark person. Jack works through how to begin using this art, which Chisame wonders about the outcome.

Thoughts: Wow, a Yue chapter (most of one) and I absolutely loved it. Interesting that the forgetfulness spell that Negi tried to use on Asuna way back in volume 1 is what Collet accidentally uses on Yue. I see how Akamatsu-sensei is working this though by having Yue in a place where she can become more powerful and thus more useful. I'm not sure how much she learned during the time at Eva's resort, but by the time Negi and company find her, she'll at least be able to ride a broom and maybe even cast some basic spells (beyond the tiny flame one).

Negi's training does seem a bit tedious on the surface, but I know this is table setting. It was interesting seeing the image of Chachazero and Eva from back when Eva first developed this forbidden technique. I think that in the end, Negi will walk the patch between dark and light, drawing from both and thusly surpassing Nagi.

xxxHOLiC Kei 02

xxxHOLiC◆継 Episode 02

SPOILER Summary: Watanuki pays Doumeki a visit at the temple Doumeki resides at, bringing a bento with him. After Doumeki eats and makes his usual request for specific foods, Watanuki decides to help him in the research regarding Watanuki's eye. As such, Watanuki accidentally finds a secret area where a book written by Doumeki's grandfather is. Almost too good to be true, the instructions on how to recover an eye taken by a spider is there. However, the book that Himawari-chan lent to Doumeki opens and the letters form a snake-like creature. It immediately goes after the book containing the method for recovering Watanuki's eye, consuming the words off the page.

Because it is very hostile when they approach it, Watanuki ends up tossing the bento box on the creature. Doumeki points out that this doesn't help them since the creature is still eating the words of the book. Yuuko-san arrives and wryly observes what is happening and suggests they need to take care of the problem. She receives Doumeki's permission to use his grandfather's o-fuda, which Mokona "sucks" from the four corners of the storeroom (that had been used to protect the storeroom magically) and entices the creature to consume them instead. The creature, a bookworm, indeed consumes the o-fuda, and ends up sealing itself up due to the magic on the o-fuda.

Doumeki looks at his grandfather's book, but the section about the spider and the eye has been consumed. Yuuko-san notices the book from where the bookworm came and inquires as to whose book it is. She learns it is Himawari-chan's while Watanuki freaks out over her book being destroyed. Yuuko-san decides its time for food and drink, and even has a big bottle of sake to get things started. Doumeki again asks for croquettes, and Yuuko-san agrees. The following day at school, Watanuki apologizes about what happened to the book to Himawari-chan and a promise that Doumeki will buy her a new copy. However, despite his joy at being with Himawari, he can't help but think about Yuuko-san's ominous statements regarding Himawari-chan.

Watanuki is walking home when his blind eye again sees a vision. He then sees a flying goldfish, which is caught by a young lady, who consumes it. She recognizes Watanuki and makes mention that there's currently a fight over his eye in her world. She'd like to get the eye too, but "that girl" would be mad if she did. She's off to chase more goldfish, so Watanuki goes to Yuuko-san's place and relays the story to her. He learns this girl is a Neko-Musume (cat girl) . However, Yuuko-san tells Watanuki that if he doesn't hurry, he'll lose his eye forever.

Watanuki reflects on this at school the next day, but it is soon forgotten in the high of getting to walk home alone with Himawari-chan. After they part ways, Watanuki again thinks on why Yuuko-san is so omminous about Himawari-chan. He has a vision of a woman passing in front of his blind eye and stops. At the intersection in front of him, a car hits a woman but before he can do anything, the Zashiki-Warashi's Karasu-Tengu whack him, angry with him. They go to Yuuko-san's place where they have a wish of Yuuko-san -- to remove the barrier that has trapped the Zashiki-Warashi. They offer a Tengu fan as payment, but it is too much. As such, Yuuko-san has a willing Doumeki join the Karasu-Tengu to rescue Zashiki-Warashi. She also has the Kuda-Kitsune (pipe fox) go with Watanuki and though the Kudakitsune aren't happy with this, they have no choice since even with the barrier gone, they still could not rescue Zashiki-Warashi. With that, Yuuko-san sends them to were the barrier is.

Thoughts: If Production I.G can keep the changes to the original manga to a minimum (as they've done thus far), I won't have much of an issue with this sequel series. Still, I think to the accident scene in this episode. In the manga, when Watanuki sees the figure pass in front of his blind right eye, he stops and thus avoids being hit from a falling transformer. In this episode, it causes Watanuki to miss being hit. Now, I have no problem with the change as such per se, but it makes it SEEM like the woman getting hit is the one his blind eye saw, and that's not true. Plus, the manga has Watanuki consider how seeing this apparent woman in his right eye prevented him from getting hit and possibly killed. I didn't get that same feeling from the anime.

Beyond that, the episode was fine with me. It appears the writers are actually having to deal with Himawari-chan and Watanuki, whereas this was kinda pushed to the side in the first series (as I recall it).

I know Production I.G can do things right if they chose to do so, as seen in Tsubasa Tokyo Revelation. So I'm hoping that things will be better this time around.

Negima!? 21

ネギま!? Episode 21

SPOILER Summary: Yue, Para, and Nodoka are in the library that looks a lot like New York's harbor looking for magic books. As they are scaling the side of a building/bookshelf, Yue's rope snaps and she falls and is rescued by Negi. Elsewhere, Chachamaru wakes up Eva, who discovers the hard way that her house is now a house boat as it is out in the middle of a massive body of water with Chachamaru fishing off the front porch. Apparently, they were sent to the Magic World by Takamichi.

Meanwhile, the Library group returns to the library and because Yue hurt herself, Negi offers to take her bag and her reactions make Paru think that maybe she likes Negi. Nodoka asks about the juice she's drinking and Chamo tries some as does Negi. Turns out it is founder juice, which stuns Negi and the others. After they leave, Motsu and Shichimi wryly observe to Yue that she's in love with Negi-sensei. She denies it, but Motsu presses on, stating that by Yue drinking from the same straw as Negi, its an indirect kiss. Shichimi doesn't its any big deal and Motsu reminds Yue that she has kissed Negi. She counters that everyone in the class has kissed Negi, leading Motsu to respond that most of the class kissed a Chupacabra (Negi's form at the time) but that Yue kissed him in his normal, human form. Since then, she's been in love with him as he observes with a pun, leading Yue to stomp him.

Yue goes for a walk to ponder her feelings for Negi, and everywhere she goes, she overhears conversations where the phonetic sound "negi" shows up, causing her to be nervous. Observing this, Motsu and Shichimi again show up. Motsu speaks a two phrases leading Shichimi to wonder what that was about. He then puts them together as a single sentence with a linker so that the "negi" sound appears. Again he gets stomped. She runs away frustrated and is seen by Nekane.

Yue consumes several flounder juices and sees Negi. She then observes some 4-leaf clover in the area around her and figures to give him one as a charm. However, each time she attempts to do so, others in the class arrive to give Negi something. Paru arrives and remarks on how popular Negi is and how hard it must be for Nodoka. This reminds Yue why she shouldn't be falling for Negi-sensei since Nodoka likes him and Yue is Nodoka's best friend.

Elsewhere, Makie comes to Takamichi's ramen shop, but discovers she has no money. Motsu shows up and so Makie decides to ask her "daddy" (a long-running joke in the series where Makie treats Motsu as if he were her father) to treat her to ramen. So Motsu agrees. He plays the part of Makie's father, asking her about school, telling her if she's bullied to see him, etc. Takamichi apparently serves them the special -- so-called "Turbo World Delicacies Ramen." Both end up in the hospital because of it with Motsu soon being pronounced dead. Meanwhile back at Eva's place, both are fishing for food.

The research group are looking for clues and Chizuru thinks the names of the class are linked by the game of shiritori (the last phonetic sound in a word, or name in this case, is also the same phonetic sound as the next word/name), but that theory is soon proven wrong despite Chizuru calling Natsumi and trying to get her name changed in order to help make the theory work.

In the classroom, Nodoka and Yue do research in the books and discuss Negi. Nodoka's casualness causes Yue to not feel right as she doesn't think it is good that she loves Negi when Nodoka does as well. As such, she says something mean to Nodoka and flees to the waterfront. She's met by Nekane who tells her this is her favorite spot to shout and get things off her chest since no one is around. She suggest Yue do the same thing, stating that she wouldn't hear what Yue said. So Yue does so, shouting repeatedly her love for Negi-sensei. Yue returns to the campus and makes up with Nodoka, giving her the 4-leaf clover and telling her to give it to Negi. Yue has decided to not pursue her feelings.

Thoughts: OK, maybe it was because I hadn't seen an episode in a while or maybe it was because this had funny moments, such as Chachamaru having to "fish" Eva out of the sea, or Yue drinking a fish-flavored juice drink. Then it got tedious and boring when Yue wanted to give Negi a 4-leaf clover but kept being "blocked" by everyone else in the class because they are giving him stuff but then got humorous again when Motsu tweaked Yue. So, a mixed lot to be sure.

There were a lot of puns in this as there are so many Japanese words that sound alike (koi=fish and koi=love, negi=green onions and Negi=Negi-sensei, etc.) and while I got them, I guess not being that great with Japanese, they didn't do anything for me really.

Inuyasha Volume 53 *SPOILERS*

犬夜叉 Volume 53

Chapter 519: Kagome dreams she took the high school entrance exam and failed. When she awakens, she's at Kaede's village along with Inuyasha and the others. Kohaku is still unconscious, so Kagome tries to purify it but fails as Magatsuhi has sealed her powers. Outside the cabin, Toutousai constructs a sheath for Sesshoumaru's sword, Bakusaiga. Sesshoumaru goes to leave, but Rin stops him, asking to wait until Kohaku awakens. Sesshoumaru states that Kohaku will be staying behind as will Rin and Jaken, which to Rin means that Sesshoumaru will return as he always has. As Toutousai says, only Sesshoumaru can kill Magatsuhi. Meanwhile, Kagome deals with the sealing of her abilities as Inuyasha comforts her while Naraku figures on what Magatsuhi's next move will be.

Chapter 520: Its been 10 days since Kagome discovered her powers were sealed and she returned to the modern times to study for her high school entrance exam. Inuyasha hadn't bothered her, for which she was thankful but after she leaves to take the test, he shows up to take her back. Learning from her family that she's gone, he tracks her to the train station, where he has to "osuwari" him so that she can get on the train. Others assume he's a bad cosplayer and ignore him. She's not happy and determined not to let him interfere and he's determined to get her to the past. She loses her bag as she gets off the train so Inuyasha, who'd tailed her, tracks the train. He's going to blast it apart but Kagome has to "osuwari" him again. He retrieves the bag for her, but no exam pass. Her mother shows up with the pass and Inuyasha promise to wait for her to finish the exam as Kagome's mother makes him wear a scarf over his head to cover his youkai dog ears.

Chapter 521: Sesshoumaru is on the hunt for Magatsuhi and finds Byakuya, who's confused by Sesshoumaru now having an arm. Magatsuhi appears, but when Sesshoumaru cuts it with Tenseiga, nothing happens. That's because it is an illusion from Byakuya. Back at Kaede's village, a cloud of low-level youkai attack, forcing Miroku to use his Kazaana until Sango can help with her Hiraikotsu. Miroku quickly discovers the youkai attack is a diversion and returning to Kaede's cabin, Magatsuhi (having recovered from Sesshoumaru's previous attack) has possessed Kohaku in order to make the Shikon no Tama complete.

Chapter 522: Magatsuhi-Kohaku summons a swarm of low-level youkai who destroy Kaede's house to take him away. Miroku activates his Kazaana to suck in Magatsuhi (sans Kohaku) but ends up damaging his Kazaana hole more. The Shikon shard allows Magatsuhi to recover but Miroku is also poisoned now. Magatsuhi-Kohaku attacks Sango and when Rin comes to stop Kohaku, she's knocked out by the aura from Magatsuhi and Magatsuhi-Kohaku escapes. Inuyasha and Kagome come upon the ruined cabin where Inuyasha discovers not only that the shouki wound is near Miroku's heart, but his Kazaana hole is leaking. Meanwhile, Sesshoumaru finds he's been tricked by Byakuya.

Chapter 523: Byakuya figures to restrain Sesshoumaru by summoning a few thousand youkai, but Sesshoumaru kills them all instantly with the Bakusaiga. At Kaede's village, Miroku and Rin are unconscious. Sango gears up to follow Inuyasha and Kagome. She returns to the shed where Miroku and Rin are along with Jaken and Kaede. Kaede and Sango talk for a bit about things before Kaede takes Rin and Jaken out to let Sango be alone with Miroku, where she kisses him. Meanwhile, Inuyasha and Kagome arrive in time to prevent Naraku from taking the final shard. Kagome attempts to purify Kohaku's shard with a Hama no Ya (purifying arrow) but fails, to which Magatsuhi reminds her that her powers are sealed. Naraku announces the Shikon no Tama will soon be complete, which Inuyasha rejects.

Chapter 524: Inuyasha and Kagome try to get Kohaku to "wake up" as they learn that he's currently reliving the nightmare of when he slew his family and fellow youkai hunters while under Naraku's control. Sango arrives to aid with this and Kohaku can hear her in the nightmare. They wonder about Kikyou's purifying light while Kohaku manages to escape the nightmare to see where his sister is kneeling by the injured Miroku's side before turning to Kohaku to ask for his help, not only for herself, but for Miroku's sake as well. The image of Sango assures Kohaku he can do it, which causes him to wake up.

Chapter 525: Kagome discovers that the light from Kikyou has moved in Kohaku's shard as Magatsuhi is astonished that Kohaku's heart hasn't shattered. Kohaku decides to let himself fall into the ravine below him to force Magatsuhi out, which works as Inuyasha leaps after Kohaku to save him. Naraku tries to grab the boy as well, forcing Inuyasha to use the Meidou Zangetsuha attack into the youkai cloud-mass that contains Naraku. Naraku isn't dead and soon has the boy. Magatsuhi proclaims that Inuyasha and company have lost but Sesshoumaru arrives on the scene.

Chapter 526: Sesshoumaru uses Bakusaiga to destroy a large part of the mass of Naraku, then uses Tenseiga to attack Magatsuhi, who flees. Sango has a bad feeling about this and reports to Sesshoumaru that both Rin and Miroku are out because of Magatsuhi. Sesshoumaru understands what this means and immediately leaves as Miroku's body is covered in an evil aura in Kaede's village. Sango urges the others to return to the village as well, but Naraku appears and captures Kagome. She is able to sense where the Shikon no Tama is and reports it to the others before Naraku makes her unconscious. He erects a barrier as Kohaku senses something in his shard.

Chapter 527: With Kagome out and held by Naraku, Inuyasha can't do anything that would risk her life. However, Sango feels that she can attack with the Hiraikotsu and its anti-Jyaki ability. Naraku drops his barrier to allow her attack to succeed, but the Shikon no Tama is in an impenetrable armor shell, thanks to the consumed youkai Meioujuu. After some posturing on Naraku's part, Kohaku notices that one of Kagome's arrows is glowing and makes as if he's fleeing at Inuyasha's request. As Kagome is being sucked into Naraku, Kohaku surrenders to Naraku for the promise that Kagome won't be killed. Now captured, Kohaku takes the arrow he retrieved and stabs the shell holding the Shikon no Tama.

Chapter 528: Kohaku's attack, strengthened by Kikyou's pure light, forces Naraku to release him lest Naraku be destroyed. Inuyasha frees Kagome, with the remains of Naraku fleeing into a cloud. Sango comes to rescue Kohaku, telling him its OK to live. Just as Kohaku is coming to terms with things, a piece of Naraku's broken body forces the Shikon no Tama shard out of Kohaku's body to the cloud, leaving Kohaku to fall to the ground. Meanwhile back at Kaede's village, Miroku is suddenly well as the evil aura has left him, making him think it was too good to be true. Rin has also recovered, but as Jaken soon discovers, it is she who is possessed and a low-level youkai takes her away.

Thoughts: Sesshoumaru leaving Rin, Kohaku, and Jaken in Inuyasha's care said a lot to me. There's some more progress on his part as I see it. He trusts Inuyasha to take care of his "children" if you will.

Chapter 520 made me giggle. Its been a while since an Inuyasha chapter made me laugh at all. There's just something about Inuyasha about to attack a train that just made me laugh (to say nothing of Kagome's reaction to it).

The rest of the story arc makes it seem as if Takahashi-sensei is trying to wrap things up and maybe she is. I admit, Sango kissing Miroku was a nice touch, but if kinda says to me, "we are nearing the end." That said, I know there are nearly two more volumes of manga after this, so maybe Takahashi-sensei will wrap it up by year's end.

Macross Frontier 02

マクロスF Episode 02
Macross F Ep. 02

SPOILER Summary: Alto fires away at the mysterious enemy unit (the Vajra, code named "Victor") to save Rakan's life as other members of the SMS fighter squadron arrive. They see the fighter engaged below and assume it is one of their members, Gilliam, until they see Gilliam is not in the cockpit but someone else. Ozama, the "oniichan" of Rakan, also arrives on the scene as Alto exhausts his ammunition supplies. He carefully gathers Rakan into the hand of his mecha unit, then still in half-form, rockets away through the streets, trying to avoid being taken. The other SMS pilots who observe this are impressed that an amateur can do so well.

Alto finds he runs out of space as the enemy closes in and a multi-storied building is in front of him. So he races up the side of the building and into the sky, were the Vajra continue to attack, blowing a hole open in the dome. The Valkyrie is damaged, causing Alto to lose Rakan, who's being blown out the hole in the dome into space. However, Alto, held by a teather, launches himself at Rakan and manages to retrieve her, getting the Valkyrie back through the hole before it sealed itself, leading one SSS sniper trooper who'd given Alto some cover fire to remark on how green Alto is. The battle ends when one of the SMS guys manages to kill one of the Vajra units, and the rest retreat.

At school the next day, Alto is summoned by Lt. Catherine Glass (who'd been escorting Sheryl) and a couple of military guards for medical testing. Meanwhile, at the hospital, Rakan is with Ozama, whom she thinks just has an office job rather than still being a pilot. Rakan has just done her own medical tests and is describing the princess-looking guy who saved her when Also comes in with Catherine. So once Rakan's gone, Ozama decides to pay a visit just as Catherine is making a proposal that Alto join the military. Because the craft Alto wrecked was one of their SMS fighters, his people, though civilians, have jurisdiction.

Once Ozama takes Alto to the SMS facility, they go underground were many of the new fighters are. We learn that the SMS people, while civilians, are hired to test out the new fighters in actual combat. Ozama wants to learn how Gilliam died since Alto was there and many others gather around to hear, including Alto's high school flying teammates Mikhail and Luca. Meanwhile, Sheryl is throwing a wobbler about the tape of the concert and ends up taking off to find Alto. She tracks him to the SMS building where she encounters Rakan, who despite being a huge fan of Sheryl's doesn't recognize the pop star. As Rakan leads Sheryl into the SMS building, and they talks, mainly about Sheryl.

Down in the SMS building, the "Victor" alert goes off as one of the Vajra, who'd been hiding nearby, decides to attack. The pilots begin to scramble and Alto wants to fight along side them, but gets punched in the face for making such a request and literally thrown out. As the fighters launch, Rakan and Sheryl observe, with Rakan mentioning her brother before singing part of Sheryl's song. Sheryl picks up the song, revealing her identity to Rakan, who's amazed that her idol is here. The dejected Alto comes upon them with Sheryl apparently glad to finally have found him.

Thoughts: I know one of the trademarks of the Macross franchise is the singing, but at times, I could just do without it. I'm not much of one for musical-type stuff, though I'd be the first to admit that good music (even in song form) can add to a scene. However, for me, it was just a cringe moment to have Ranka suddenly break into song in the middle of her talk with Sheryl.

I liked how the SSS brought Alto in for questioning (in some ways, the scene of Ozama bringing Alto to the SSS building and down to where the "good stuff" is reminded me of when Shinji was brought to the Nerv facility in Neon Genesis Evangelion.) because they'd want to know how Gilliam died. However, I liked it even better when the SSS pilots, some of whom had seen Alto fight, forcefully rejected his request to fly a Valkyrie with them. No mater how good you are, an amateur is an amateur, and seeing the fight wasn't a life-or-death, "we need everyone who can fly up in the sky" moment (ala the end of Star Wars), him being thrown out was a nice touch.

With Sheryl, Ranka, and Alto ending up together at the end, one wonders if this will form a love-triangle eventually. Sheryl seems interested from a purely business sense (it appeared she liked the video she saw of him). Ranka would be interested from a hero sense, seeing as how Alto has helped her out of a tough situation (her clothes getting wet before the concert in episode 1) and then saves her life.

OK, so we get a tiny glimpse as to why Alto's hair is so girl-like (the son of a famous kabuki star) but that doesn't explain why he still keeps the hair even though he's apparently out of the kabuki training.

Overall, a pretty good first two episodes.

Hayate no Gotoku! 49

Hayate the Combat Butler Ep. 49
ハヤテのごとく！Episode 49

SPOILER Summary: Hayate comments to Nagi about her recent school participation when the Student Council Trio show up, wanting Nagi and Hayate to participate in their club -- the Motion Picture Research Club. As Nagi is not in a club, Hayate thinks it is great that she shows an interest until he discovers footage of himself in embarrassing situations in their DVD collection. He gets frustrated with them, but they beg him to join as they are trying to protect their club from being terminated by Kuzuha-sensei. She arrives but because Hayate destroyed the DVD of himself that would have preserved the club, Kuzuha-sensei orders the club shut down. However, when Hayate agrees to do a Jackie Chan-like stunt (which thrills Nagi), Kuzuha-sensei backs off and Hayate has to jump off a school building as the club records.

The Motion Picture Club decides to hold a competition on who can tell the most normal story. Risa-chan starts it, and many others participate until it ends with Wataru. As the STC say their goodbyes, the scene returns to Hayate jumping off the building, where he makes a perfect landing only to be hit by a trolley.

Thoughts: It was an OK episode I suppose. It had the feeling of the series coming to an end (though I believe a new sequel series will be produced). Then again, my being so tired at the moment as I both watched and tried to write may be interfering my enjoyment meter.

References! (Note: the site doesn't get 100% of the references, but until recently, they got a very high percentage.)

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS 04

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Episode 04
魔法少女リリカルなのはStrikerS（ストライカーズ）Ep. 04

SPOILER Summary: Subaru writes a letter to her father and sister, where she discusses the training. At the end of one training day, Nanoha tells the four trainees (five counting the mini-dragon Fried) that for the next five minutes, she'll be attacking them. They have to either avoid her attacks or try to score a clean hit on her. As tired as they are, they don't think they can avoid Nanoha's attacks for five minutes, so they decide to go on the offensive after Nanoha's initial volley. Using teamwork, the trainees do well but Nanoha is still more than a match for them. However, with a magical boost from Caro, Elio is able to launch himself with enough speed to make a mark on Nanoha's battle uniform, meaning they pass. However, Subaru has damaged her magical roller blades.

Fate and Hayate show up in Fate's car to check on the training. Fate apologizes to Elio and Caro, because they will be on her team and she hasn't had time to work with them yet. Nanoha reports the progress of the trainees has been good and that they are actually ready to deploy. Fate and Hayate are off with Fate dropping off Hayate at the Northern Midchilda, Belka Governed Cathedral of the St. Monarch Church for a meeting with Carim Gracia, a powerful Knight of St. Church and a supporter of Hayate's 6th Mobile Division. Hayate and Fate talk about Carim on the drive, where Hayate reveals she thinks of Carim as an older sister.

Back at the 6th Mobile Division, the trainees are getting cleaned up. The girls end up taking time as they talk while Elio and Fried, having cleaned up much faster, are bored as they wait for the girls. Meanwhile, Hayate meets with Carim, who reveals that they may have a lead on Relic. There are also new Gadget models that have been put into use, which can do more than the previous models, meaning overcoming them could prove difficult. However, Hayate isn't too concerned.

The trainees meet with Nanoha, who has a "gift" for them all. They've all been given new Devices to be used in the field rather than the ones they'd been using in training. These will be much more powerful and allow them to use them in the field. Shari explains the bureaucratic limiter system installed in the devices. Such limiters are also in Nanoha's Raising Heart Device, so even though Nanoha is an S+ rating (the 3rd-highest magic rank), she's limited to an AA-rank. Fate also has the same ranking and limitation as Nanoha. Hayate, with an SS-rank (2nd highest), is restricted to an A-rank, a 4-rank reduction. The limiters are only lifted when someone with authority authorizes it, such as Admiral Chrono or Carim.

With the limiter system and its bureaucratic reasons for being established, Shari explains how the new Devices will differ from their original ones. Meanwhile, Fate is returning home from her appointment when the unit alert goes off in her car and at Nanoha's location. Hayate reports that the Church has discovered a Relic-like object on a train. It has been assaulted by Gadgets and Hayate needs Fate and Nanoha for sure to help. She asks the trainees if they are up to this challenge, which they say they are, so they are included in the mission as well. Fate races to the rendezvous location in her car while Nanoha and the rookies take a military transport helicopter. She assures the rookies that even though their Devices are new and untested, they should work like the old ones they were used to. She gives them some last minute advice and tries to be reassuring since this is their first mission. Elio sees Fried looking concerned at Caro. Elio looks at her and sees her looking very nervous, so he makes sure she's OK as the helicopter takes them to their destination.

Thoughts: Hmmm. The power limiter is explained in this episode. What a crock the explanation is. "Oh, we don't want jealousy because some people are more powerful than others, so we've put limiters on the more powerful member to keep them in check." Ugh. What pap. I don't mind having limiters as a plot device as such per se, but this loser "everyone's the same" crap sucks. Everyone isn't the same. Some people kick arse at some things and suck at others. There's no such thing as "completely fair." But, we must feed the kids a pipe dream I suppose, to shield them form the reality that is life.

But I digress...

Otherwise an OK episode, I guess. Besides the simplistic dialog, there's something missing from the series thus far, but I can't put my finger on what that is. It hasn't stopped me from liking the series, but it has prevented me from really, deeply enjoying the series.

What to Make of This?

I'm always interested to see how people find my anime blog. After all, my anime and manga blog is one in an ocean of anime and manga blogs. It is certain that some blogs have the advantage of me in that they either have a staff and can blog a lot of titles and/or they have superior Japanese skills to me and watch the stuff raw. My blog has only been around a little over a year whereas some of the "big boys" have been around for years.

Still, with my blog growing by leaps and bounds (hit-wise), I'm always amused when I see people finding me by looking for various hentai anime, manga, and doujinshi. I have no such materials here so I'm not sure why my blog would show up in such searches, much less why people would click on the link to me when it should be pretty clear that they aren't going to get fap materials (though I suspect that this blog entry will begin getting a lot of hits once published due to the number of key words that will show up).

Anyway, I was recently included on the Best Anime Feeds site with some of what I consider "the big boys of anime blogging" and so I asked the site owner what brought my blog to his attention. He told me and that led me to do some looking, where I was amazed to discover a porn blogger (who's trying to make money hoping you'll click those porn links on his blog) made mention of me, or rather my Minami-ke 05 review, and even took the time to quote a few passages here and there. ^_^; The blog claimed to do a search on "at no bikini beach" to find me, which I found amazing considering how deep into said search one has to go to find me. Further research found that this was some bot blog (bot programming is getting much more sophisticated I have to say), but that would explain how a porn blogger would find my site on some obscure search, to say nothing of quoting from it.

Then there's this hockey fan who was ranting about a sports columnist. Apparently, the columnist wrote a joke about a certain player scoring as often as a sports blogger, and the hockey fan didn't get the joke. He wondered if sports bloggers "scored" any more or less than other bloggers, including ones with an anime fetish, where he specifically linked to me. Heh! I told the hockey guy that I had other fetishes as well. ^_^

Anyway, my search lead to others quoting me regarding a series or topic that I'd written about. All of them threw links back to me so it was all good. ^_^

All in all, this was an educational experience for me. While I write this blog because I enjoy doing so, it is neat to see that in a giant sea of anime blogs, my little piece has a bit of notice, hopefully for the good. ^_^;

Dirty Pair 06

ダーティペア Episode 06

SPOILER Summary: 3WA has been tasked with delivering the Super Stone Prism to KNK. Because it is such a valuable energy source, the pirate organization Devil's Syndicate is keen on getting this prism. To prevent that from happening, Yuri and Kei are assigned to be one of the many decoy ships used to increase the odds of the ship containing the real stone getting through. The ship carrying the real prism will have its cargo container rigged with bomb so that if the container is forced open, it explodes. Since traveling by warp would damage the prism, all ships are having to do this the old fashioned way.

Kei and Yuri are making the run when they discover that the pirates have already hit a large number of the decoy ships. A cruiser intercepts them and attacks. Yuri evacuates to the secondary cockpit and stalls for time while Kei detaches the main cockpit, which is a fighter when not part of Lovely Angel. She breaches the hull of the pirate ship, then proceeds with Mughi to head to the bridge. The overcome the pirate crew where Kei learns that the pirates have the passwords for all of the 3WA ships assigned to the Super Stone Prism project. "The Sun" is the code name for the ship carrying the stone.

Kei returns with Mughi in the fighter, only to discover that a large, gaudy, pirate command ship has arrived. The leader of the Devil's Syndicate knows Kei and eventually Kei comes to know this flamboyant man as Kaia, a childhood friend. Kaia allows Kei to redock with Lovely Angel and then requests knowing the actual name of their ship. Kei decides to give him what he wants and says the name of the ship is Lovely Angel of the Sun. The code name used, Kaia has no choice but to attack as Yuri sends Lovely Angel away.

More pirate cruisers arrive to try to snare Lovely Angel, so Kei decides to further give Kaia what he wants. Her plan is to send him the cargo container, only she's going to plant a bomb in it. Yuri avoids being captured and inflicts damage on several pirate ships. Kaia tries to convince Kei to give up and hand over their cargo, after which they can go. Kei reaches the cargo container and opens it, only to discover they were in fact carrying the real prism. Kei works desperately to remove the stone without setting off the attached bomb. Once this is done, she announces that she's going to give up the cargo as Yuri reports that they are surrounded.

Kei ejects the cargo and the pirates snag it with the command ship. Kei had set the bomb in motion before sending it over, so it explodes in the pirate ship cargo hold as Lovely Angel escapes. They report to their boss, who is not happy with how things have gone. Kei and Yuri challenge him on actually having placed the real prism on their ship and giving the passwords to the pirates as part of the ploy. In the end, rather than take a pay cut, they duo get a bonus and make the delivery of the prism to the KNK people.

Thoughts: A typical Dirty Pair episode -- nothing really special, yet somehow a fun waste of time. Hurray for dumb pirates. ^_^

Honey and Clover (Live Action) 09

ハチミツとクローバー (Live Action Dorama) Ep. 09

SPOILER Summary: As Takemoto continues his journey north, Ayumi and Morita have a conversation about her wanting to stop liking Mayama and his suddenly getting out of painting. The female sensei who's been pressuring Hagu-chan talks with Hanamoto-sensei about her and her work, which he encourages her to view as Hagu-chan is painting once again. Meanwhile, Rika-san and Mayama drop off their latest project work to Fujiwara Design, where Ayumi also stops by. Mayama and Ayumi have an awkward small talk before Nomiya drops by. When Mayama and Rika-san leave, Nomiya distracts Ayumi by writing "baka" ("idiot") on her hand. That way when she thinks of Mayama, she can look at that and be mad at Nomiya.

Teramobori-san is excited to see Morita has given up painting but is disappointed to learn Morita's latest piece isn't for sale, but is his graduation work after eight-years of college. As Hanamoto-sensei has a talk with Hagu-chan on her doing what she wants and Nomiya considers taking the Tottori project, Takemoto continues traveling north through the cold rains and thinks of things. When the rain stops and the sun comes out, he decides its time to return to Tokyo, where upon returning, he immediately visits Hagu-chan (who's nearly finished with her painting) and confesses his love for her. She smiles and welcomes him home.

At the dorm, Morita and Mayama are enjoying a large pot of oden. Morita notes how happy Mayama seems to be and wonders if Mayama has kissed Rika-san yet, which he denies. The two have a bath and upon their return, Mayama notices that Takemoto is in his room, apparently asleep. So, he and Morita decide to play a joke on Takemoto by taking what's left of the oden and shoving it in his face. However, he startles them by suddenly sitting up, announcing he's home, having faked being asleep. As such, Mayama and Morita shove some oden into his face just the same. Outside, Lohmeyer-senpai has cleaned Takemoto's bicycle and gives his three favorite underlings more words of wisdom. When he leaves, he's written Takemoto's name on the bike, only misspelling it as "Takeyama."

At work, Mayama gets a fax from Spain saying Rika-san is going there for a project. He sees Rika-san put plane tickets in her desk drawer when she comes in and he confronts her over this. She wants their unfinished projects to be given to other companies. He wants to know why she didn't tell her and wonders what's going to happen to this place. Elsewhere, Takemoto runs into Hagu-chan and the two walk and talk about his trip. He thanks her for her words before he took his trip and she thanks him for the courage he gave her and the letter he wrote her.

That night, Mayama confirms that Rika-san's airplane ticket is indeed for Spain before he goes to consult with Hanamoto-sensei. Takemoto has acquired a number of books on temple restoration and starts to read when he's paid a visit by Morita, where he tells Morita he learned what he wanted to do on his trip, which Morita can see based on the books Takemoto has.

The following day, Ayumi learns that Nomiya is going to Tottori from Miwako and when Nomiya drives Ayumi home, she confronts him about his not telling her. He didn't want to tell her because he finds he really likes her. Back on campus, Shouda-sensei is amazed to find Morita finally working on a graduation piece after so many years. Shouda-sensei teases Morita, but Morita gets the last laugh when he points out that the 3-minute mark for Shouda-sensei's Cup Noodle passed some time ago, meaning the noodles are now soggy. Elsewhere on campus, the female sensei looks at Hagu-chan's latest piece and makes a confession to Hagu-chan about her own past with creating art and how it has affected how she treats Hagu-chan. However, she now understands Hagu-chan and wishes her well, meaning the pressure is off Hagu-chan.

Still elsewhere, Rika-san and Mayama drop off their last project work before Rika-san goes to Spain. At the train station, Mayama thinks on what Rika-san and Hanamoto-sensei have told him. Seeing an express train for Sapporo, Mayama grabs Rika-san and they board the train just before it leaves. He tells her that they should go to her deceased husband's town of Otaru. Back on campus, Hagu-chan is feeling very happy and as she walks across the grounds, she accidentally runs into a workman carrying a large window. She stumbles and falls to the ground and the window falls on the steps above her, some small glass pieces falling onto her and somehow knocking her out.

Thoughts: I did not like how the the series handled the end of Takemoto's journey. In the first anime series (episode 24), Takemoto goes to Sōya-misaki (宗谷岬), which is the northernmost point on mainland Japan. He can go no further north and has come to terms with things. The live action TV series, Takemoto just stops his journey (suddenly coming to terms with things) and is instantly back home what seems like moments later (though to be fair, when Takemoto decides to return home in the anime, it is equally as instantaneous seeming). I felt the anime version had a lot more meaning whereas the TV version lacked it. Plus, I wanted to see Sōya-misaki.

I hate to say this, but Hagu-chan's accident was almost a laugher in the TV version. In the anime, you knew she was seriously injured when the window fell from an upper story of a building. Here, a few glass shards come at her after some workmen drop a window a few feet to the ground and she's suddenly unconscious. Yeah, whatever. I guess the Japanese couldn't figure a way to have the window actually appear to fall on her, which would make her being unconscious believable.

While there was still good stuff in this episode (Takemoto finally confessing to Hagu-chan), I also think it is the weakest of the lot to date.

Negima! Vol 22 (Ch 202) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 22 Chapter 202

SPOILER Summary: Jack Rakan briefly discusses the situation in the Magic World which lead to the formation of Ala Rubra, led by Negi's father Nagi, who was only 14. He talks about how Nagi was his rival. Chisame isn't that interested, but Negi is. However, Jack tells him that to learn more of his past, Negi will have to pay 1-million for every 10-minutes Jack speaks. Chisame asks Jack if he was supposed to meet them at the gateport. He says that he was as Takamichi had told him Nagi's son was coming, but it was too much trouble to come and the name of the city was too long. In the end, Negi ended up coming to him.

Jack asks Negi to punch him in the stomach, stating that if it wasn't strong enough, Jack wouldn't even bother training Negi. Further, he wants Negi to hit him with the finishing move he used in the arena. Chisame is stunned by this, knowing the power of the move despite herself. Negi complies and hits him with the Oukahouken attack. Chisame still is amazed at the amount of power from the attack and Negi is amazed when Jack is still standing as if untouched. However, he soon vomits a lot of blood and instinctively punches Negi into the sky because Negi's punch hurt.

After both recover, Jack is amused to learn that Negi has been training under Eva, though it explains a great deal to him. As such, he tells Negi he'll train him. He wants to know why Negi wants to get stronger. Negi has the usual answers such as wanting to protect the others and his father, but Jack suspects something else. Negi concedes that he wants to defeat Fate Auverruncus, whom he has come up against twice. The name is known to Jack, though he hadn't heard it in a while. For 1-million, he'll tell Negi the whole story.

Jack sets up a chalk board to show where Negi is in power, Chisame rated a 1 -- bottom of the barrel. Magic school grads rate about 100 and a D-rank. An army tank rates about 200. Magic teachers and the like, a B-rank and rate 30. Negi is in an A-rank, rating about 500. A non-magical dragon is 650. Kagetarou is too. An Aegis Heavy Cruiser is 1500. Takamichi figures to be about 2000. Fate, with a AAA-rank, comes in with a 3000 rating. As such, it is impossible for Negi to beat Fate under normal terms. However, there are unapproved ways that Negi could use to possibly defeat Fate. One is a forbidden technique created by Eva hundreds of years ago.

Elsewhere, a head-bandaged Yue is greated by a humanoid girl her age named Colette. Colette invites Yue to dinner but Yue passes, wanting to spend time researching in the library. While she knows her name, she remembers little else and holds the Ala Alba badge, wondering what it means.

Thoughts: One day, I'm going to have to research where the Japanese come up with their ranking system. I first noticed it in Yu Yu Hakusho, where youkai were given class ranks as was Urameshi and company as they got stronger. Lately, the ranking system has come to life in Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS. Regardless, it was interesting to see where Negi stands as far as power goes.

It was nice to see Yue again, though she has no memories. She's dressed as a witch so likely folks don't pay her any mind, especially with amnisia.

Tsubasa: Tokyo Revelations OVA 03

Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- Tokyo Revelations Ep. 03
ツバサ TOKYO REVELATIONS Episode 03

SPOILER Summary: Kurogane is about to attack Syaoran when he's stopped by Yuuko-san, who explains that this Syaoran did not kill Kurogane's mother and does not know how to get to the man that did. Fai is dying and so Kurogane begins to make a wish of Yuuko-san to save Fai's life even though Fai does not want that. With the water supply under the building now gone, Subaru wants to ensure that gets restored, which is his wish. So, the deal ends up being that Kamui will mingle his vampire blood with Kurogane's, which Fai will then drink and become a vampire. Because Kurogane's blood is in there, he becomes "e" or prey (food) for Fai, meaning Fai won't hunt other humans for food. However, this will keep him alive. This grants Kurogane's wish.

Yuuko-san produces several jugs of water, which despite their small size (a gallon or so), they end up pouring thousands of gallons of water into the reservoir. Now Subaru's wish is filled and the payment is an egg. Sakura, now awake, demands to be briefed on everything that's happened and states that she will get the payment for the water alone. Borrowing Yuuma's bike (his group having come over the Tokyo Municipal with one of Sakura's feathers and a truce), Sakura heads out into the wasteland. She's attacked by the giant worms and a giant multi-eyed lizard, which destroys the hover bike. She kills the beast and proceeds on despite being injured. After a perilous journey where she's injured more, she's attacked by a giant, twin-headed cobra that she also manages to shoot and kill at her final destination. She obtains the egg and heads back despite her injuries, partially guided by Sakura-chan from Cardcaptor Sakura.

Back at the Tokyo Municipal building, Fai and come to and is not happy about things. He wants to set off after Sakura, but is prevented. Syaoran says things that remind Fai of the Syaoran-clone and so Fai remains where he is. Sakura soon arrives and the guys go out to meet her and bring her in. She passes the egg to Yuuko-san and Yuuko-san then informs the group about Fei Wong Reed and his wish to travel dimensions. He created the Syaoran-clone for that purpose and scattered Sakura's feathers across the multi-verse for that purpose, Sakura's body to be the vessel which records the journeys for Fei. Fei also arranged for the events that would lead Kurogane to come to Yuuko-san and Fai as well. Yuuko-san asks them what they will do. Sakura wishes to follow "Syaoran-kun" and possibly save him. The others agree to join her. Sakura leaves her feather behind, tossing it into the reservoir and the group is off for the next adventure.

Thoughts: I got to say that the anime adaptation does its job by really bringing out the difficulty Sakura had in obtaining the egg as part of the whole wish-granting deal as the final payment to Yuuko-san. It was weird seeing Sakura-chan from Cardcaptor Sakura (which was not what Sakura saw in the manga) guide Sakura from Tsubasa, but I have to say that while it changed things a bit, I liked this change.

All in all, I have to hand it to Production I.G for proving a really good adaptation of the manga. The few changes they made were not offensive (as they were to me in their xxxHOLiC adaptation) and as such, I wouldn't mind seeing them release some more OVA series (providing they continue to be mostly faithful to the original manga). I also would like to see FUNimation license this 3-episode OVA series because I'd certainly buy it.

Downtown Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!!

ダウンタウンのガキの使いやあらへんで!!

I love wacky Japanese comedy shows. The guys of the comedy troop Downtown Gaki no Tsukai have some of the nuttiest stuff I've ever seen. So, I thought I'd introduce those of you not aware of this group or their nutty humor. I was introduced to this show via this clip, known as "Silent Library" on the web (which comes across the language barrier).



I did some more research and found this 5.5-minute clip (over half of the actual segment) from when they go to high school. Despite it being untranslated, it comes across pretty well as they are in English class.



I'd love to see FUNimation score these but somehow, I don't think they would ever be licensed.

Fruits Basket Manga Volume 19

Fruits Basket Volume 19

SPOILER Summary: Kyo has a lengthy talk with Tohru's grandfather at Kyoko's grave. Tohru and Shigure have a talk about the curse, now that Tohru knows more about it. Tohru and Kyo get closer as do Yuki and Machi. Yuki pays a visit to Ayame with Kakeru and ultimately Machi, where Yuki learns of Ayame's relationship with Mine. A more masculine, adult-like Momiji-kun and several others of the Zodiac gather at Shigure's house to visit and eat with Tohru. Kakeru confronts Tohru about her loss as his new girlfriend Komaki lost her father in the incident that took Tohru's mother's life. However, he patches things up with Tohru after learning more about Komaki's feelings on the subject.

Thoughts: Whew. Things have gotten a might more angst-filled, haven't they? There are times when I miss the fun of the early volumes. The way the story that linked Kakeru's girlfriend Komaki with Tohru (Komaki's father killed & Tohru's mother killed in the same accident) was odd. Initially, I thought I missed something when suddenly Tohru is under verbal attack. It made sense in the end, but I didn't really think it worked too well from a story-telling perspective.

I liked how Takahata-sensei managed to bring in most of the other members of the Zodiac for cameos. Uo-chan and Hana-chan get speaking cameos as well (Hana-chan getting a really oddly-placed second cameo). However, now that I think about it, as Tohru's best friends, why aren't they closer to her?

I liked how Yuki and Machi's relationship takes small steps forward. Ditto Kyo and Tohru's. I liked learning how Mine and Ayame are in fact a couple. So there was a lot of good stuff here.

I'm not as keen on Takaya-sensei's character designs now either. I've tried to put my finger on exactly what she's changed that makes things less visually appealing to me, and I can't quite do it. I think it is partially the eyes though. That said, I did enjoy seeing the more adult Momiji-kun though.

I dislike how the manga adaptation still has those who know Akito's secret use the "he" pronoun when talking about Akito. I understand that writing a sentence without using a male/female pronoun is difficult, but Del Rey has done so and I don't see why the TokyoPop adapter could not do so. My understanding is that in the Japanese, no gender is assigned to Akito and as such, it is just assumed that Akito is a male. However, it doesn't appear that the adaptation will ever change. In instances where it is absolutely clear that characters refer to Akito as female, the adaptation will reluctantly use "she" but then will immediately go back to "he" and that's just nuts.

Well, four more volumes to go, which considering TP's decision to slow things down to a craw on releasing the manga to a volume roughly every four months, I guess it will be July 2009 before we get volume 23.

Macross Frontier 01 (TV Edition)

マクロスF Episode 01 (TV Edition)
Macross F Ep. 01 (TV Edition)

SPOILER Summary: At the Miboshi Academy High School, Alto (a bishounen teen with long, feminine hair style), takes off in his winged jet suit and flies around the inside of the giant colony ship. However, he soon approaches 2000 feet, which is as far up as he can fly off the "ground" before hitting the dome roof and this frustrates him.

Elsewhere, the female singer known as Sheryl arrives on the ship for her concert. She's tired but is going to do the press conference just the same. In preparation for this concert, Alto and his fellow high school flying members, led by the flirtatious Mikhail, are waiting with their gear inside the building where the concert will be held. Sheryl passes them with a smile along her manager, security, and a female from the Macross fleet. Once out of sight, she's angry that fans have been aloud in. Once she's told they are part of the flying act, the focus of her anger shifts to not wanting to do things with amateurs.

Near the concert building, Ranka, who's "oniichan" has scored her tickets to the concert, attempts to make her way through the crowds. She's not very successful, so she decides to take a short cut through the nearby woods. In those woods, Alto's comrades are suiting up for the concert. As they finish, they begin leaving with the moody Alto being last to finally suit up. Meanwhile Ranka gets soaked from an automatic sprinkler system and seeing Alto changing from behind, she thinks he's a she, which annoys him somewhat. He dries her clothing with his jets and then leads her through to were the concert building is. As a reward, she tells him to stop by the Chinese restaurant she works at where she'll hook him up with something good.

The team flies in and the concert starts. Alto decides to do his corkscrew maneuver which goes awry and send Sheryl off the holographic meteor she was on. Alto saves her and being quick witted, Sheryl sternly tells Alto to keep flying and makes this seem like part of the concert by picking up the next verse and even being flirty during the song with Alto. The crowd loves it and soon the squad are up in the rafters, using their suit cameras to help provide coverage. Alto sees and zooms in on Ranka in the crowd, which is broadcast on TV.

While all this has been going on, an alien force approaches the fleet. They take out the first wave of interceptor fighters and when the heavy fighters show up, the aliens start taking them out as well. The president of the Macross fleet orders an evacuation which means the concert is over. Sheryl is reluctant to leave but is forced to do so. Seeing that they are going to flee to safety, Alto confronts them outside the building as they board a limo. He's angry that they are getting to safety when so many people are still trying to leave the building. Sheryl tells him it is a job for pros, not amateurs.

Despite the "wall" of incoming fire from the fleet, the alien things (mecha suits?) have no trouble penetrating the defenses and one gets through the colony ship that held the Sheryl concert. The enemy unit begins destroying buildings, but is engaged by army tank units. It quickly destroys them to then continue its rampage. It spots Alto in his winged mecha suit and attacks him, shooting him out of the sky but not injuring him. One of the heavy fighters follows it and orders Alto out of the area. The enemy unit gets on top of his fighter and forces him to eject where he's in a mecha suit of his own. The fighter pilot starts firing on the enemy and is grabbed and crushed, all of which is seen by Alto and the frightened Ranka. Leaving the damanged fighter, the enemy moves on Ranka while Alto gets into the fighter and activates it. He's able to get it into the "winged-leg" mode where he can use the fighter's main weapons but be standing on its mecha legs (half-transformation if you will). As such, he begins blasting away at the enemy, forcing it to turn its attention from Ranka to him.

Thoughts: I'm not sure what the deal is with the Deculture release of the first episode and the normal TV release. There were differences, but I'm just not clear on the reasons behind it (beyond the obvious thought that the Japanese believe they could make more money this way).

That said, I didn't go back to watch the first version to discover all the differences. I did like that there was less time spent at the school for Alto angst. Because the episode shifts to have a scene with the high school flying squad suddenly in the facility so Sheryl could see them and be a snob, it didn't make sense for them to suddenly haul all their gear outside to change. Why not change inside? Don't get me wrong, I know that it was decided to reuse the outside footage from the first version, but its just one of those things that stand out to me.

The change in the concert...meh. I really am not much on the music but showing more of the flying act makes more sense seeing as how they are supposed to be part of the concert. That made the concert seem longer in some ways and there was more fanservice as Sheryl clothing "shifted" into something more revealing. The battle between the aliens and the Macross fighters was shorter in that the buildup was removed (the probes) and the scene of the alien burning its way through the dome of the colony ship was removed.

Ultimately, the changes are a mixed bag but that's OK. We'll see what's in store next episode.

Negima! Vol 22 (Ch 201) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 22 Chapter 201

Summary: Chachamaru and Asakura (both in child form) go over the search plan for finding the other members of Ala Alba with Negi, Kotaro, Chisame, Natsumi, and Akira. Asakura reveals that she has a pactio with Negi, which Sayo (in doll form) is very excited about. Her artifact gives her control of six spy golems, which can be controlled from great distance, which will be able to not only help in the search, but allow them to know how they are doing as well. Chisame wonders how she did a pactio when Chamo is not around. Asakura reminds Chisame that they are on the Magic World and so went to a Pactio Store. She even has a picture of the kiss, which she says was her first kiss, shocking Akira and Natsumi as they learn that kissing is how one obtains a pactio. Akira wants to make sure Ako doesn't see the picture, but when she learns that Negi has made eight pactios, thus kissed eight girls, she runs off, calling him a "scum."

Chachamaru, Asakura, and Sayo (in chibi forms and Sayo still in the doll) are ready to find their comrades. Chachamaru assures Negi that she'll take care of Asakura. Negi tells Chachamaru to take care of herself as well, which touches her. Chachamaru then goes over to Chisame to ask her to take care of Negi, which Chisame already planned to do.

Once they leave, Negi prepares to leave as well to train with Rakan. Once well out of town, Negi dispels his teenaged form and changes into clothing to fit his 10-year old self, to include the robes with the hole where Fate's attack pierced him through. A voice chastises him a bit for not having a new robe. It is Chisame, who's returned to her normal form. When Negi asks why she's there, she tells him she's going to be Asuna's substitute for the time being. They arrive at the place where Rakan is at and observe as he, shirtless, performs powerful attacks (as well as writing notes on a large chalk board) as he's looking for the perfect finishing move to train Negi with.

After witnessing this, Chisame concludes that all of Negi's father's comrades were weirdos. Negi sees it differently, and that Rakan being an "idiotic person" is just what he needs. He announces himself to Rakan, who's pleased to seem Negi, remarking on Negi's true form as a kid. Rakan tells Negi he has a finishing more for Negi, but is disappointed that Negi doesn't have the money to pay for the move. Negi asks Rakan to train him to become stronger. Rakan agrees and says Negi will be able to defeat the shadow user in a couple of weeks. However, Negi wants to be even stronger than that, which amuses Rakan.

Thoughts: So, Asakura finally got her pactio. Akamatsu-sensei had created her pactio card ages ago so its nice she finally got it in the story. Sayo was so adorable in this as Asakura recounted the pactio stuff.

I guess with Chachamaru, Asakura, and Sayo off to locate the others, we'll start seeing more of the other's stories brought in as Negi trains. Sayo is the cutest, isn't she? ^_^

xxxHOLiC Kei 01

xxxHOLiC◆継 Episode 01

SPOILER Summary: Watanuki is only able to see out his left eye and not his right one, but sees Himawari-chan, which cheers him. The only thing is that he can't hear her and then wakes up to discover Mokona on the right side of his face, covering his right eye. He's angry about that but happy he dreamed of Himawari, and thus when Maru and Moro toss him out of his futon, he ultimately goes to make a good breakfast. Yuuko-san wonders what he's so happy about and learning its Himawari, she reminds him that Himawari is not the good luck Watanuki thinks she is.

Walking to school from Yuuko-san's place, Watanuki passes the shrine where Doumeki lives. He vainly hopes to sneak passed unnoticed, but Doumeki spots him and soon has him helping to clean the shrine grounds. During the cleaning, Watanuki is flailing about and gets caught up in a spider web. For some reason he can't get out of the web and Doumeki takes a stick to break apart the web and free Watanuki. The spider that made the web is apparently not amused. At school during lunch, Doumeki mentions he might have a bit of dust in his right eye and while walking home, Watanuki discovers that the condition has gotten worse despite Doumeki's attempt to hide it. The eye won't open and is covered by what looks like a web.

At Yuuko-san's shop, Watanuki relays this story and the fact that Doumeki won't come by the shop, saying he cannot. Yuuko-san explains that the spider is angry and holds a grudge against Doumeki for destroying its home completely. As such, Watanuki makes a wish. That night, Doumeki hears something outside and when he goes to investigate, a wind comes up and his eye is healed. The next day, Doumeki catches Watanuki passing by. Watanuki won't turn around and so Doumeki forces him around to discover that Watanuki is wearing an eye patch on his right eye. Removing that, it is clear that the eye is in fact dead.

Doumeki demands a meeting with Yuuko-san, so the next morning, she comes to the park to meet him, telling his it will cost him. He makes a wish to have Watanuki's eye restored, but the wish is denied since the cost would be Doumeki's own eye. Since Watanuki made his wish first, it carries weight. Doumeki is angry with Watanuki, which Yuuko-san understands. She believes that Watanuki must learn that his wishes sometimes have negative consequences. Meanwhile Watanuki is given a book by Himawari to take to Doumeki. As Watanuki goes to the shrine, his dead right eye suddenly has weird visions.

At the shrine, Watanuki is not happy at having to deal with Doumeki. He notices the books Doumeki has retrieved from the shrine archives. These books deal with curses and their removal. Returning to Yuuko-san's shop, Watanuki is dressed as Alice from Alice in Wonderland as Yuuko-san is having a tea party from that book. After listening to Watanuki, Yuuko-san figures out what Doumeki is up to despite the fact that he was told it wouldn't be possible. However, that's why Doumeki has no need of Yuuko-san's shop. Yuuko-san and Watanuki discuss this, which Watanuki not really understanding why Doumeki is trying to lift Watanuki's curse. He leaves as Yuuko-san and Mokona predict that Watanuki will pay Doumeki a visit.

Thoughts: You know, I thought about this when the manga story this episode was based on came out -- I'm thankful that we don't have these whacked spiders in the U.S. Seriously, spider webs are destroyed all the time. With these Japanese spiders, they hate so much, they cast curses. I'm surprised that creatures that eat spiders aren't dropping dead all over the place in Japan.

The anime brings out the impact of Watanuki "losing" his right eye though since the color helps there. Also interesting is the table setting for Kohane-chan later on.

The anime followed the manga to a degree, until weird Alice in Wonderland tribute. In the manga, the scene had it set up so that Yuuko-san could eat Soumen Nagashi. In the anime, Watanuki in a dress as Alice and he doesn't scream protests about it? What was the point beyond having the tribute. Weird but maybe they needed to kill time to fill the episode.

Oh well. I promised myself that I wouldn't refresh my memory on the manga stories because I'd rather not get as frustrated when the anime goes way off base. ^_^;

Minami-ke Okawari 10

みなみけ～おかわり～ Ep. 10

SPOILER Summary: It's a cold, early-spring afternoon as Haruku comes home with Maki and Atsuko, all three carrying groceries. Maki complains about the weight of her bag (which is for Haruka) when the wind comes up and somehow knocks her over, causing all the eggs to break. Inside, Kana is grilling Atsuko about whey she likes the news until Atsuko heads to the bathroom. A stray cat that comes by is on the balcony of their 4th floor apartment/condo so Chiaki lets it in, the cat's name being Atsuko as well. Then a series of human Atsuko entering the room just as cat Atsuko disappears under a table or the like, and vice versa happens.

Chiaki decides that human Atsuko needs some training on comeback lines as spring is sure to bring out the "bakayarou." Kana sees that Maki wasn't invited for this training and lets her know that Chiaki must considers Maki an idiot. The conversation turns to skirt steak ("harami") which Chiaki hears as "hanami" (flower viewing, done in spring). As such, Chiaki is teased by Kana for this error and Chiaki is embarrassed by making such an idiotic mistake, especially since the sakura trees are not blooming just yet. However, when Haruka comes home (buying more eggs?), things have become such that now a hanami is planned despite the fact that its too early for such a thing. That means inviting the gang over.

The day of the early hanami arrives and Kana hands out assignments. Makoto, who'd told Chiaki he'd come, arrives as Mako-chan instead, causing some minor concerns for himself. Makoto, Fujioka, Fuyuki, and Touma are assigned to find a good place for the hanami while Chiaki, Yoshino, Uchida and Kana go buy stuff for the hanami. Haruka, Maki, and Atsuko will prepare yakiniku to bring out. With that, everyone goes to do their thing, which Chiaki having a time keeping Uchida and Kana in check as they want to buy other things. Fujioka and company find a good spot, while Haruka gets Maki and Atsuko to leave the kotatsu to help her until Hayami-senpai arrives with "juice," having previously overheard the hanami plans.

Fujioka's group has long found a good spot to set up the blankets and are waiting when Kana and company finally arrive with the stuff they've purchased. Since there is no sign of Haruka and company, Kana returns home to find out what the hold up is, only to discover that Hayami has gotten the other three girls drunk and incapacitated. Hayami comes onto Kana again and tries to get her to drink, but Kana wisely stays out of it and manages to escape with a bag full of "juice." She returns to the hanami spot and because her answers are odd as to what happened with Haruka and company, Chiaki decides to find out for herself. Kana follows her and gets home just in time to see Chiaki downing some "juice." Back at the hanami site, everyone is drunk but Fuyuki, who's desperate for someone to rescue him.

Finally, it is a cold, rainy night and Chiaki has spent some of her own money to buy a "cup noodle" and is waiting the 3-minutes for it to be done. Kana comes home all soaked and so Chiaki goes to draw a hot bath for her. Kana spots Chiaki's ramen cup and so turns on the TV and begins to consume it. Rather than go off on Kana when Chiaki returns, she's resigned to the fact that Kana is Kana and tells her that once she's done eating, the bath is ready. Seeing her depression, Kana feels bad and leaves, soon returning with two other ramen "cup noodle" bowls for Chiaki to choose from, which cheers Chiaki immensely.

Thoughts: Another completely pointless episode that was not funny and as such, a complete and total waste of time. I see there are a few people who seem to think this series is just hot stuff, but I'm not seeing it at all. There was nothing funny about a little wind making Maki fall over. There was nothing funny about Atsuko having a stray cat named after her. There was nothing funny about Chiaki's mix up. There was nothing funny about the shopping antics or finding a hanami spot. There was nothing funny about Hayami getting everyone drunk.

I will admit that the last little story, while not funny, was sweet with Chiaki not going off on Kana for eating her Cup Noodle and Kana producing two others for Chiaki. That was a good thing.

Keroro Gunsou 37

ケロロ軍曹 Episode 37
Sgt. Frog Ep. 37

SPOILER Summary: Rabbie-chan is handing out fliers for her brother Kogoro's (556's) new business for being a space detective, but people aren't interested in that. She sees a flier for Dororo's Ninja School, which is the latest scheme by Keroro to raise money for the platoon. Keroro figures people will pay money to learn the art of ninjutsu, but at the dojo they establish, they receive no customers. As such, Keroro decides the whole platoon should train to be ninjas, so they dress in the appropriate garb. However, whether it be teaching them to use and avoid being hit by the shuriken (or kunai for that matter), using the water for their advantage, or whatever, the platoon doesn't seem truly interested in learning. Finally, Kogoro and Rabbie arrive with Kogoro challenging the dojo. The platoon turns and fights Kogoro, using a combination of ninjutsu and their own military skills. Natsumi arrives, irritated by the explosions she's heard which caused her to miss Mutsumi's radio program. While Dororo provides a smoke cover for them to escape, he gets trampled under foot and left behind.

Sometime later, Natsumi is again listening to Mutsumi's radio where he's about to read her 2nd letter when a small pterodactyl comes through her room and crashes out the window. Fuyuki arrives to see what was wrong before the two head down to see what Keroro and the boys are up to. Using the refrigerator entrance, they find themselves looking at a tyrannosaurus rex. It tries to eat them, only to be stopped by Keroro, who's placed a control device on the dinosaur's head. This is his latest money making scheme, whereby he creates Jurassic Paradise (a parody of Jurassic Park). However, the control devices will make the creatures tame. As such, Keroro names the t-rex "Gao-chan" ("gao" is the Japanese way of going "grrrrr"). While playing fetch with Gao-chan, the control device comes off and everyone is in grave trouble. The rampaging t-rex damages the way home as well as part of the Keron base. Returning back to the park, Natsumi finds the gun used to turn people/creatures into younger versions and fires it at the dinosaur. She misses, but through a series of coincidences, she manages to create a time warp which send Gao-chan back to his proper time while at the same time, repairing the portal home. After returning home, a t-rex fossil is found with a Gunpla, the very one Gao-chan had chased through the time-warp.

Thoughts: I guess it was an OK episode. When Dororo is heavily involved, I start thinking, "Where's Koyuki" when she's not around, as she wasn't this time. The parody of Jurassic Park was amusing. Beyond that, not really much to say about this one.

Inuyasha Volume 52 *SPOILERS*

犬夜叉 Volume 52

Chapter 509: Kagome is trapped by Hitomiko, who chastises Kagome for merely shooting the bow that Kikyou had her get rather than use the bow's power. Naraku shuts her up and reveals to Kagome that the body of Hitomiko is possessed by a spider. He taunts Kagome by telling her that the only way to save her life and kill Hitomiko is to kill the spider. Complying with Naraku is not what Kagome wants to do and as she thinks over the problem, she wonders if using the bow properly will save Hitomiko.

Chapter 510: Kagome still refuses to shoot Hitomiko, so Naraku forces the former miko to get harsher with Kagome, sending them to a place that is a representation of hell and starts to strangle her. Kagome forces Hitomiko away where her hand comes off and becomes youkai-like. Kagome is being burned by the flames of hell and Kagome is tempted to shoot the spider, but then realizes that the feeling she got from Hitomiko while being strangled was sadness. Kagome clutches the severed hand again, not wanting Hitomiko to spend eternity in hell. It is then that Hitomiko returns to her normal self and reveals that Kagome can shoot through her and hit Naraku.

Chapter 511: Hitomiko convinces Kagome to shoot, which is what Naraku wants. However, the arrow disappears as it approaches Hitomiko and respawns on the other side of her, hitting the face of Naraku (to his surprise) and ending the spell. Hitomiko tells Kagome that she is a mystery in that her spiritual powers have been sealed, likely from the day Kagome was born. With that, Hitomiko dies again as Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha enter the building. After she is buried, Kagome reflects on things and wonders if Kikyou was the one who sealed her powers.

Chapter 512: Kagome returns to the modern time to find her classmates getting ready to take their high school entrance exams in order to get into the high school of their choice. As Kagome attempts to study, she ponders the sealing of her power. Meanwhile, the others inquire of Kaede, who thinks that maybe the Shikon no Tama is the cause of the seal. Inuyasha comes to the modern time to visit Kagome, where instead of her studying, she pours out her thoughts on getting stronger to keep up with Inuyasha and the others, and to try to purify the Shikon no Tama. As such, the two return to the past where she's not studied at all.

Chapter 513: Sesshoumaru is challenged by a couple of oni now that he's not using a sword. However, Sesshoumaru soon slays them with his bare hand, which is noted by Byakuya. Returning to Naraku, Byakuya witnesses the "birth" of a new creature from the Shikon no Tama jewel and Naraku. It takes off, which is noted by Kagome as evil and Inuyasha as coming from Naraku. It comes and attacks Sesshoumaru's group, after Kohaku's shard. Sesshoumaru attacks it, but the latest detachment simply tells Sesshoumaru that he's weak.

Chapter 514: Sesshoumaru attacks the Naraku detachment with a killing blow, only to find that the youkai has him trapped. Sesshoumaru breaks free but his sole arm is now damaged. Kohaku tries to help, but finds that when the youkai's bony protruding limb touches the jewel shard, it starts to become tainted. Sesshoumaru tries to save the boy, getting his hand and arm pierced in the process. Just when it looks over for Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha comes in and rescues him. Kagome knows she needs to purify the shard, but before she can do so, the youkai looks and her, which knocks her out.

Chapter 515: With Kagome out, Sesshoumaru tells Inuyasha's group to take Kohaku and get out of there as they are in the way. Inuyasha is not going to leave the injured Sesshoumaru alone, which Sesshoumaru finds offensive. Sesshoumaru uses his abilities to heal himself and then transform into his giant dog youkai form. He rips the head off the Naraku youkai but it is still alive and trying to prevent Miroku, Sango, Jaken, and the others from fleeing. The youkai tells Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha that his is only a borrowed body from Naraku (meaning destroying the body doesn't matter) and that his name is Magatsuhi.

Chapter 516: From a distance on their youkai steeds, Sango and Miroku discuss how Magatsuhi is the dark will of the Shikon no Tama. Magatsuhi has Sesshoumaru and is beginning to crush him, leading Jaken to wonder why Sesshoumaru didn't just return to humanoid form and escape the trap. Eventually he does and Inuyasha rushes in, Tessaiga becoming black for the Meidou Zangetsuha. Magatsuhi simply scatters his body and prevents Inuyasha from attacking without harming the others. Sesshoumaru saves Kohaku from Magatsuhi's attempt to get the shard and has the others follow him to try to force Magatsuhi's body to come together. Once they are in a spot where they can defend themselves, Sesshoumaru is going to take Magatsuhi out as a matter of pride.

Chapter 517: Sesshoumaru pulls out Tenseiga, and attacks an area in the air, which turns out to be Magatsuhi's real body (a spirit one). Having been damaged and now enraged, Magatsuhi stabs Sesshoumaru repeatedly and envelopes him as if to consume him, calling him weak. Inuyasha attacks, trying to free Sesshoumaru, but to no avail as Magatsuhi mocks him. Magatsuhi captures Inuyasha but a powerful burst of energy comes from where Sesshoumaru is encased, freeing him and revealing that the shoulder of the arm Inuyasha cut off so long ago is the source of the energy.

Chapter 518: Magatsuhi is stunned at what Sesshoumaru has just done and as if on cue, Toutousai arrives. This makes Sesshoumaru realize what is happening and his arm is regenerated, bearing a sword which Toutousai identifies as Bakusaiga -- Sesshoumaru's own sword. Because Magatsuhi is made of youkai pieces, some of which form new youkai, he attempts to reform his body, only to discover that not only can he not do so, but even the uninjured youkai are destroyed as they come in contact with the injured youkai. Sesshoumaru finishes off the body, though the actual Magatsuhi escapes. Toutousai explains that now Sesshoumaru is a true daiyoukai as he has cast off his father's crutches and stood on his own feet. He lost his arm trying to obtain Tessaiga and grew a new one and his own sword by casting it off. Thus he has surpassed his father.

Thoughts: The Hitomiko story was kinda "meh" because it wasn't anything we hadn't seen before. Still, Takahashi-sensei managed to provide a reason for Kagome never being much more than a 2nd-rate miko.

The one-chapter modern time story showed what might be the first real evidence of the passage of time. After all these many years, Kagome is finally getting ready to leave junior high school for high school. I figure that's part of Takahashi-sensei's plan to end the series, though she sure is taking her sweet time about it.

Magatsuhi. *sigh* Another proxy villain to fight instead of Naraku. Still, seeing Sesshoumaru actually in a real fight for his life was interesting to me. Having him grow a new arm and obtain his own sword was a nice touch. As a daiyoukai, he's often looked down on others, but over time he's shown he's a good guy in how he protects not one but two humans, to say nothing of Jaken. I'd kinda like to see him accept Inuyasha by the series end.

Minami-ke Okawari 09

みなみけ～おかわり～ Ep. 09

SPOILER Summary: The Minami sisters have sukiyaki for dinner as there was a great sale on meat at the market. After eating, Kana decides she's psychic in that she had dreamed about eating sukiyaki the night before and had dreamed of the previous night's meal as well. Chiaki doesn't believe it so Kana is going to prove it by announcing her dream to Chiaki the next day. Her dream does involve food, including Chiaki eating what appear to be carrot sticks, but it gets weird and she makes no sense of it. As such, Chiaki just thinks Kana is lying.

At school, Black-san-sensei asks Haruka to consider participating in the Overseas Exchange Program (which ends up depressing her) while Kana tries to remember the details of her dream. At the elementary school, Makoto mentions to Uchida that he thinks Chiaki has changed. Indeed, he gets invited as himself to a homework session with Uchida and Yoshino. Shuuichi-kun also wants to attend and is also invited. At the Minami residence, Makoto taunts Kana since he's there as himself. However, a punch from her sends Makoto flying, where he lands on the ground looking up Chiaki's skirt. Chiaki tells him to leave, and after he does, Uchida follows, with a bag containing girl's clothing from Kana. Makoto changes and returns as Mako-chan. Kana wins.

Makoto becomes concerned that Yoshino is about to discover he's actually Mako-chan based on her talking with him, so when Touma stops by, Makoto tries to get her to sit between himself and Yoshino. However, Touma wants to benefit from Chiaki and Yoshino's abilities in order to get the homework done, so Makoto is out of luck. Yoshino makes Makoto feel uncomfortable, as if he's about to be revealed, so he flees. As the others do their homework, the discussion of Chiaki changing comes up. Shuuichi mentions not wanting to be "Plain Yogurt," a reference to the nickname Chiaki gave him in the superior first series, but she's already forgotten all that.

After the others leave, Chiaki is reading and Kana decides that Chiaki needs to make her dream come true by forcing Chiaki to eat carrot sticks. Haruka coming home saves her and Chiaki goes to take a bath. Chiaki asks Haruka if she's changed. Haruka asks if this comes from Chiaki's friends, which it did. As such, Haruka confirms it, assuring Chiaki that friends influence people. At dinner, Haruka has bought crabs and as they are eating crab legs, Kana realizes that her dream came true, only the orange things Chiaki ate weren't carrot sticks but crab legs. She decides not to say anything but enjoy the feast.

The next morning, Chiaki has two hair "bobs" (for lack of a better term), showing her change, which is noticed by Kana and her friends. Yoshino causes Makoto to panic as she wonders aloud what Mako-chan is up to.

Its another day at high school and Hosaka is told by a Black-san-sensei to fix his tie. Hayami has one of his bento's and is celebrating that fact. However, he wants it back, so she slaps him. Hayami challenges Hosaka about his making bentos for Haruka when Maki walks up and demands to know what he should do. She tells him to eat his bento so he tries to get it again, leading to another slap. She again verbally challenges him and ends up kicking him because her bento is ruined. The lesson he gathers from this is that he is delicious no matter what and is totally for Haruka.

Thoughts: I didn't even recognize Shuuichi. Egad. The episode was mildly amusing with Makoto again trying to shake his Mako-chan alter-ego. Beyond that, it was a bunch of pointless (and I do mean pointless) series of events that lead no where and aren't funny. For the first time, we get a chapter story with Hosaka, the bentos, and Hayami but it wasn't funny. Kana's dreams and the whole "I'm psychic and can see what we are going to have to eat at dinner tomorrow" didn't lead anywhere and wasn't funny. The Black-san characters are as annoying as ever, and not funny. What was this whole deal with pressuring Haruka to do the overseas exchange program? So she'd be a bit depressed (not funny) and then forget about it (not funny)? Then again, maybe the writers needed another tedious story thread (like Fuyuki-kun's) that adds an element of depression to the series so that other stuff will just seem funny by comparison. Not funny.

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS 03

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Episode 03
魔法少女リリカルなのはStrikerS（ストライカーズ）Ep. 03

SPOILER Summary: At the Special Management 6th Mobile Division HQ, Hayate (a Lieutenant Colonel) receives Fate (Enforcer/Captain) and Nanoha (Captain) into her command as part of her command staff alongside Reinforce Zwei, Hayate's Guardian Knights (Second Lieutenant Vita, Second Lieutenant Signum, Medical Officer Shamal, and Zafira), and Griffith Lowran (adjutant). Hayate addresses the newly formed unit of not only combat mages, but support staff as well, keeping her speech short. Signum reports directly to Fate and for the first time, the two are in the same unit together. Signum feels that maybe its inappropriate to address Fate as "Testarossa" or "hey you" (as she normally did) and that maybe she should use the polite "keigo" speech. Fate figures Signum is joking and tells Signum its OK to address her as normal.

Nanoha meets trainees Subaru, Tia, Caro, and Elio for a training session. First Private Shario Finieno, a mechanical designer (engineer) is there and sets up the training grounds, which is in the middle of a bay (created via hologram?). Nanoha introduces the four trainees to Autonomic Magical Machines, otherwise known as Gadget Drones, which are large, pill-shaped machines which the team will encounter as they do Lost Logia cases. As Subaru pairs up with Elio and Tia with Kyaro, Vita is observing from a distance and is joined by Signum. Once the trainees are further along, she'll join the unit to help Nanoha in the training.

Meanwhile at the Time-Space Administration Bureau, Midchilda Surface Headquarters, Central Command Center, Hayate and Fate give a briefing on the purpose and goals of the 6th Mobile Division. In addition to looking for Lost Logia, the division will be looking for a specific Lost Logia known as Relic. It looks like a normal gem, but is incredibly powerful, so much so that three of the last four times it has been found, it has caused massive destruction. It appears that some organization may be looking for the Relic now as some destroyed, illegal research facilities seem to indicate. Further evidence is the Gadget Drones which have apparently been deployed by this group, looking for the Relic. After the briefing, HQ completely supports the 6th Mobile Division's mission.

On the training grounds, the trainees learn first hand about the Gadget Drone's Anti-Magic Field (AMF) as the drones easily dispel the pair's magical attacks. After hearing Nanoha's explanation, Elio takes out some drones by collapsing a bridge on them. Subaru also uses a physical attack to grab a drone and take it out. Caro has her small dragon Fried use a powerful Blast Flare attack which damaged the drones before using summoning magic to create actual, non-magical chains to bind the drones. Two drones are getting away, so Tia figures that if she puts a barrier around her magic bullets, they will cancel the drone's field and thus destroy the drone. Nanoha tells Shari this as well, but states its a AA-rank skill. Tia pulls it off, destroying the final two drones.

Hayate enters the mess hall after the briefing to find the Guardian Knights there. She joins them and reports that the briefing went well. This means that several admirals have supported the 6th Mobile Division's mission as well as the Saint Church and the leader of the Church Knights, Carim. Elsewhere, the exhausted trainees are returning to their rooms while Fate joins Nanoha in their large room. Fate asks about the training, which Nanoha states is going well. She promises to train them well.

Thoughts: I had a few problems with the simplistic nature of the dialog at times but otherwise it wasn't a bad episode. I think if the dialog were done to make this feel like Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate were 19, it would be better. Nanoha did seem more mature when she observed the trainees going through a training session. Most people hate training chapters or episodes. Since we were able to learn something of the 6th Mobile Division's mission and what they are up against, I don't see how that can be a bad thing.

GANXTA CUE -- 踏み出すだけ feat.弘Junior

Ganxta Cue -- Fumidasu Dake feat. Hiroshi Junior

In my ongoing attempts to find Japanese music that interests me, I came upon this promotional video for the Japanese rapper Ganxta Cue. Too bad the song is cut off, but I like the sound of it enough that once I get moved, I'm going to try to track down the single



With a name like "Ganxta Cue," I figure the lyrics of this song may be ugly, but for now, I'm just going to enjoy my ignorance. ^_^

Update: I bought the CD from CDJapan. Here's the whole song for those interested.

Shakugan no Shana Second 24 (finale)

灼眼のシャナ II Episode 24 (finale)

SPOILER Summary: Wilhelmina and Shana engage Hecate and Sydonay in a pitched battle with both Flame Haze taking serious damage. As Yoshida observes from outside the field, the Flame Haze discover that Hecate and Sydonay won't attack if it might hit the structure that had been the clock tower. As such, Wilhelmina and Shana have some protection, though Alastor tells them that they need to not engage the Tomogara but get the Reiji Maigo back. Within the structure, Yuuji works his way to where he senses the Reiji Maigo is, knowing he needs to get it back. However, the droids dispatched to take him out are still in pursuit, forcing him to use more of his Power of Existence to fight them off.

As Marchosias attempts to heal Margery Daw, Shana makes her way within the structure to find Yuuji while Wilhelmina faces off against both Hecate and Sydonay. Shana eventually finds Yuuji, who's starting to fade. The two head further into the twisted maze of steel (Yuuji having recovered the Blutsauger) when Hecate actives the next phase, the coming to life of this new, metal Tomogara. The blue field breaks like an egg and though injured, Margery Daw manages to get a Fuzetsu raises, which irritates Dantalion, who simply causes wings to activate on the giant creation of his so that it can fly out of the Fuzetsu and do the destruction they crave.

Shana and Yuuji race to the center where the silver armor (the Silver) has come to life and faces the pair of them. It has the Reiji Maigo and during the fight, Yuuji has to cover Shana by countering the Silver's silver fireball with one of his own. Hecate, apparently looking through the Silver's eyes, causes the giant Tomogara to flex its wings, causing massive destruction everywhere as Margery Daw rescues Yoshida from the falling glass and debris. Wilhelmina prepares a giant spear since Sydonay can't risk a ranged attack that would hit the newly formed Tomogara.

Yuuji figures out where Shana needs to attack to stop the giant Tomogara, but the Silver stops her from doing so. Through Hecate, the Silver attacks Yuuji, but what should have been an easy kill was a miss as the fireball lands well behind Yuuji to the surprise of Hecate. Shana comes in for another attack, and when the Silver looks at her, her wings make her take the form of a bird, which is seen by Hecate, who then has a vision of a human hand reaching out to a flock of birds. As such, the Silver drops its weapon and holds its hand out as if to allow Shana to land on its hand. Shana instead hits the Silver hard and Yuuji follows with an attack from Blutsauger as Hecate is confused as to what has happened.

Yuuji summons the Reiji Maigo, which returns to him. Alastor urges Shana and Yuuji to flee, which they do as a flock of birds seems to fly up from the Silver, who's arm is still outstretched. Within Seireiden, Fecor asks Bel Peol what happened, to which she replies they can't change the laws of the universe. Sydonay asks Hecate what happened, but she doesn't have an answer. Dantalion is extremely frustrated that things have gone so wrong, but there's nothing he can do and so Sydonay orders a retreat. Dantalion is not down for that, forcing Domino to make their craft retreat. Sydonay follows suit, but Hecate lingers for a moment and tears fall from her eyes, much to her surprise. She quickly regains composure and evacuates as well.

Wilhelmina and Margery are with Yuuji and Shana when Yoshida comes up and is happy to see them both alive. As such, she welcomes them home. Once things are restored to normal, Yuuji again must make his choice. While we never see the choice, seeing Shana's eyes brighten and smile while Yoshida has the opposite expression suggests that Yuuji chose Shana.

Thoughts: So, the good guys win, the bad guys evacuate the area, and apparently, Yoshida gets rejected (to be expected, but sad nevertheless). Thus endeth the 2nd Shana TV series and it was a good one. I thought for sure that Yoshida would use the Hougu but she didn't. However, if I'm right and she was rejected as the ending moments suggest, then maybe she has a better reason to go ahead and use it.

The other item of interest was Hecate. Konoe always was interested in birds and it was intriguing to see that when the Silver was coming to life, it saw Shana as a bird, which somehow Hecate saw (I guess through both of their linkage to Konoe) and Hecate shedding a tear surprised me. I would love it if this got explored further in a potential 3rd series. I dare say that no one expected Hecate to be effected by the emotions from Konoe or her love of birds.

Keroro Gunsou 36

ケロロ軍曹 Episode 36

SPOILER Summary: The platoon gets their bonus pay from HQ, all except Dororo. Keroro is going to spend his on Gunpla and since Fuyuki promised to go with him, he's off to see him. However, Fuyuki isn't interested, citing the cold as he lies underneath the kotatsu. Natsumi informs Keroro that "Winter-shogun" is out in full force. Keroro assumes this is some powerful shogun in charge of the winter and decides he will face his foe, only to have the cold wind send him back inside. Defeated, he too is under a kotatsu at the platoon's underground base. Tamama tells him about a Gunpla sale going on, so Keroro decides to train in a winter simulator, but fails. When he learns that Winter-shogun is a term for a cold air mass over Japan, he's not very happy with either Fuyuki or Natsumi. As such, he sends them to the winter simulator, but for the first two levels, they adapt quickly. Annoyed, he goes to send it to maximum, but Giroro tries to stop him, which overloads the machine. As a result, everyone but Keroro are swept out of the house in a massive avalanche of snow.

Nishizawa hears about the platoon wanting winter training, so she sets it up so that they, along with Fuyuki, Natsumi, and Koyuki as well as herself, Paul, and other staff, can spend time at their private ski resort. As they approach, the lifts and lodge all rise from the ground. Natsumi and Koyuki go skiing while Fuyuki and Nishizawa are together for her to have her plan enacted to get closer to Fuyuki. The platoon goes off to train, but Keroro doesn't like the good weather. As such, Kururu activates his weather satellite while at the same time, Paul activates a specialized snow machine at Nishizawa's request. The result is a terrible blizzard, which causes Kururu's remote control to be blown away and Nishizawa to be knocked out.

Fuyuki gets Nishizawa to a cabin she'd previously set up to be there for her plan to get closer to Fuyuki. Meanwhile, Koyuki and Natsumi also get to safety in another cabin while the platoon seeks refuge in a large cave. Nishizawa comes to and tries to get Fuyuki into bed with her, but fails. She then uses her final trick, which is to tell him bluntly that two bodies together produce warmth (something Koyuki is also telling Natsumi) and she needs said warmth. He agrees while at the same time in the nearby cave, the platoon finds one of Keroro's training devices -- a mecha bear. The bear attacks and Keroro is sent flying into Nishizawa's cabin. She's angry and throws him back out, but that means that she's OK, so Fuyuki doesn't have to lay with her after all. Instead, he gives her a heating pad, still in its package. On the return trip home, while Nishizawa's plan failed, she was still happy as she held the heating pad in its package.

Thoughts: Fun stories, though nothing too special. Seeing Fuyuki use the Keroro teruterubouzu, I did laugh but only because I remembered the Minami-ke episode where Chiaki was used as a real, live teruterubouzu. ^_^

There were some parodies in the episode, including to one of the Macross sequels (can't remember which one off the top of my head).

Clannad Extra

クラナド Extra Chapter
Clannad 23

SPOILER Summary: Tomoya and Nagisa are walking to school for supplemental class given to 3rd-year students when Tomoya suggests blowing it off for a trip to the beach with Nagisa. She rejects that since school is important and Tomoya is important to her. He suggests holding hands, which has both of them flustered, but before they can finally bring their hands together, Kyou arrives on her scooter, teasing them about the possibility of Nagisa and Tomoya about to engage in a kiss.

At lunch in the Theater Club room, Kyou complains to Ryou, Nagisa, and Kotomi about their summer break being ruined by supplemental classes. Kotomi doesn't mind since she gets to spend time with everyone and Ryou enjoys the lunches they spend together. Kyou then turns her irritation on Tomoyo, who is not a member of the Theater Club and yet is eating lunch with them. Tomoyo rolls with the verbal jab since she has to be at school for Student Council stuff and changes the subject by asking Nagisa where Tomoya is. She answers that "Okazaki-san" is with Sunohara, which catches Tomoyo's attention. Kotomi remarks on how Tomoya refers to Nagisa as "Nagisa" and Tomoyo thinks its OK for Nagisa to refer to Tomoyo by his given name, something Nagisa seems to remember someone else telling her.

At Sunohara's room, Sunohara is shocked that Tomoya and Nagisa haven't even held hands. Misae-san (sp) comes by to tell Sunohara that a really cute girl wants to see him. Extremely excited by this, Sunohara races out to the common room, only to discover his little sister Mei-chan there. The three work on giving Sunohara's room a complete cleaning, with Mei commenting on how hopeless her "oniichan" is.

That night, Tomoya returns to Nagisa's family residence (where he's still living) along with Mei-chan, where they proceed to have (noodle dish where everyone shares from a center bowl). Mei is going to spend the night with with the family in Nagisa's room. Early the next morning, Tomoya gets up to find a fairly energetic Mei-chan up and a very sleepy Nagisa. Mei reports that they stayed up late, mainly talking about Tomoya. She tells Nagisa to get a little more sleep, but since they don't have class today, Nagisa says she'll be fine.

Nagisa, Tomoya, and Mei are going to work the bakery so that Akio-san and Sanae-san can have the day off. Akio-san is very excited by this and tells Tomoya to make sure he works hard. Sanae-san brings out the bread she's made (rainbow bread for lack of a better term), and offers one to Mei-chan, who accepts. Despite the sound of crunching glass as Mei chews, she never gives anything away and when asked by Sanae-san how it was, Mei responds that the tray of bread looks absolutely delicious, which pleases Sanae-san. Tomoya and Nagisa witness this and take note for future dealings with Sanae-san's bread.

Things are quiet at the store since it is summer and the usual student customers aren't stopping by. A lady pops in to shop and Mei is quick to assist. The lady remarks on how cute the girls are, leading Mei and Nagisa to send the compliment each other's way. After the woman leaves, Mei remarks on how useless Tomoya was, which he agrees since three people aren't needed to run the store. Nagisa is happy to have him there though.

Mei tells Tomoya to man the cash register and is off to go round up some customers. A woman enters, soon followed by a (college aged?) otaku-type, who is surprised that this is only a bakery, but decides to buy something anyway. Three more guys appear, all expressing the same kind of sentiments and remarking on how cute Nagisa is. Tomoya realizes what's going on and races out of the shop to find Mei working over young men, sayint that their store has cute girls, leading the guys to misunderstand what kind of shop this is, but end up buying just the same. That evening, the store has been cleaned out, even Sanae-san's bread, and when Akio-san checks the register, he figures they haven't made that much money since the store opened.

Hearing Nagisa's parents proclaim their love for each other, Mei tries to get Nagisa and Tomoya to do the same, but they get flustered and embarrassed and find other things to do instead. So the following day when Mei is supposedly out with Nagisa, Tomoya goes to Sunohara's place, where Mei soon arrives. She kicks her brother out so that she can talk with Tomoya alone as the Cupid of Love. Tomoya misunderstands and thinks that Mei is about to tell him of her attraction to her oniichan, which leads to an entire fantasy sequence. Mei brings him back to earth, saying she wants to talk about him. Again, Tomoya heads into fantasy land, using a similar fantasy as before, only with Sunohara and himself as the yoai romantic couple, who end up running on the beach in boxers together. Tomoya finds this image very disturbing and again, Mei has to get him on track as she wants to talk about him and Nagisa. So they talk about it a bit.

On cue, Nagisa arrives, and Mei scampers off to leave them alone. Nagisa addresses Tomoya as "Tomoya-kun" (which surprises him) and asks him to go on a walk. Nagisa struggles to talk with Tomoya (clearly embarrassed) as she tells him he's lucky to be walking with a slightly cute girl, emphasizing "slightly." He asks where they are going and she turns around and says they are going home as this is part of the plan (which she then tries to correct as her own idea). They return to the bakery where Nagisa insists on going through the motions of buying a bread product and then has Tomoya pay for it. They head back out and end up at a bench where Nagisa continues working through her scripted performance for the perfect date to get them closer.

Tomoya knows what is up and finally sees Mei-chan, who'd been hiding nearby. She takes off and Tomoya wonders if Mei had something on Nagisa to put her up to this. Nagisa explains that Mei figured that Tomoya wasn't the type to "press the advantage" on Nagisa, so Nagisa would need to take the lead. Nagisa wonders if Tomoya hates him because of this, which he assures her he doesn't. He takes her hand and asks her to take a walk with him. She's flushed by this but agrees, saying she'll walk anywhere as long as it is with him as she will always be with him.

Thoughts: Man, this was good stuff. There was plenty of humor, with Mei-chan hustling customers and the other wacky things that went on. However, the icing on the cake was Tomoya and Nagisa taking another step forward together as a couple. I know that their relationship may seem somewhat childish, but I like that as it is so refreshing. There's none of the massive sexual pressure (despite the sex jokes done earlier) or anything, just good, sweet, wholesome, cute, first love. I loved how it was difficult for Nagisa to call Tomoya "Tomoya-kun" instead of "Okazaki-san" but that was a big step for her. Man, just good stuff.

I don't know what the DVD extra episode will be about (hopefully another good one like this) but the tiny preview about Clannad: After Story was cool. Can't wait to see that.

Negima! Vol 22 (Ch 200) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 22 Chapter 200

Summary: Kagetarou is shocked that Rakan of the Thousand Blades from the infamous group Ala Rubra is there, since only Eishun and Takamichi are accounted for. Rakan claims ignorance of Ala Rubra but when Kagetarou attacks, Rakan brings out a pactio artifact card and brings out a giant, double-bladed sword-like weapon. Multiple large blades land all around Kagetarou before Rakan enters the sky and does a finishing move, summoning a sword many, many stories high to slam into the ground. Kagetarou is unharmed since Rakan wasn't trying to kill him. Kagetarou wants revenge on Ala Rubra, so Rakan makes him a deal, saying that if he beats this his 10-year old pupil (Negi is still in teenaged form) in an official tournament, Rakan will then fight Kagetarou.

Negi (still in teenaged form) is thinking when Chisame and Chachamaru, still in kid form, hit him with a pineapple. Chisame then rushes and punches Negi in the gut and Chachamaru rocket-launches one of her hands to punch Negi in the face. Chisame chastises him for his carelessness when Kotaro arrives with a letter from Asuna and Setsuna.

At their location, Setsuna is bathing in her true, winged girl form. As she bathes and grooms, a large number of branches are launched at her, which she deflects before realizing she's about to be attacked from the other side. She deflects the attack, which is from Asuna, but Asuna roles with the deflection to go into another attack immediately, which Setsuna wards off with her wings, sending Asuna flying. Setsuna's impressed with Asuna's progress, but Asuna isn't since none of her attacks got through. However, Asuna decides its time for a bath as well and so she ditches her clothing to bathe with Setsuna. Asuna helps Setsuna groom her feathers, something that Setsuna is a little uncomfortable with considering the intimacy of it. She teases Asuna about being cheerful for communicating with Negi, and Asuna counters by mentioning Konoka. Hearing the name, Setsuna is depressed about "ojousama." However, Asuna is confident Konoka is OK and is determined to continue to get stronger.

Setsuna realizes that Asuna has made incredible advances in power and ability since coming to the Magic World and that Asuna will soon be as powerful as herself. Setsuna senses something but then thinks it is nothing. However, their bathing is observed by swordswoman Tsukuyomi, who is enjoying what she's seeing.

Thoughts: So, Al is very well hidden, even after his appearance at the school tournament. Interesting. I wonder what made Al go into hiding, Nagi disappear, and this Rakan guy apparently keep low in the Magic World.

Rakan has some kind of insane power to be able to summon a weapon like that. If Nagi is his partner, it would further prove that Nagi is alive. It should be interesting to see what Negi learns from Rakan. Also, it was interesting that Rakan knew Negi was really 10 despite looking older, something no one else has been able to do.

Finally, the fanservice fans likely had an orgasm in their pants with all the naked Setsuna and Asuna stuff. Sheeze. I'm glad to see them since I like both characters, but not being a fanservice fan, that was a bit much for me. ^_^;

Honey and Clover (Live Action) 08

ハチミツとクローバー (Live Action Dorama) Ep. 08

SPOILER Summary: Ayumi finds herself in the lobby of a nice hotel in Yokohama as Nomiya checks them into a room. When he returns, she suggests they return to Tokyo, but he's not going to have any of that. He remarks on the comforts of a one-sided relationship before taking her to their room. There, they have a view of Cosmo Clock 21, a giant ferris wheel clock. He tells her of his first job where he did the interior design for this hotel and how seeing the ferris wheel was always a comfort to him. The two go onto the balcony where they drink and talk, mainly about Mayama. It is here that Ayumi confesses she should wish him well, but she's always wished he'd break things off with Rika-san.

Back on the campus, Teramobori-san pays Morita a visit. Teramobori-san decides to give Morita some advice and tells him to give up painting something useless and get back to sculpting. Elsewhere on campus, Hagu-chan has struggled and struggled to paint something until she collapses unconscious from exhaustion. Hanamoto-sensei returns to find her there and sees the materials the female sensei had given Hagu-chan regarding overseas art studies. He then takes Hagu-chan and places on a couch and covers her with a blanket. When she wakes up, Hanamoto-sensei tells Hagu-chan that she doesn't have to paint if she doesn't want to.

Takemoto continues riding until he falls off his bicycle in exhaustion. He gets back on and then decides to spend the rest of the night on a beach, where he's awoken by a dog. He's hungry, so he heads to a nearby convenience store. He starts placing a lot of bread products into the basket before deciding to check his money situation. His wallet reveals only ¥3000 (~$30). So he grabs a few things, including some bananas, and as he eats outside, he notes a couple of people on bicycles clearly traveling some distance as they have not only backpacks, but carrying pouches on their bikes.

In Yokohama, Ayumi awakens in the hotel room. She panics, wondering if she'd done things but discovers she's fully clothed still. Nomiya is sitting in a chair nearby and jokes about what he learned, pointing to the large volume of empty alcohol cans and bottles on the table. Ayumi panics again when she realizes she never told her family her plans, but Nomiya suggest they have breakfast and then return home. He notices she's looking at the ferris wheel and so suggest that they take a ride before going home. So, that's what they do.

Miwako calls Mayama, who'd stayed late at the Fujiwara Design office due to his being worried about Ayumi, to inform him that Ayumi is fine and that Nomiya had just called in and they were about to return to Tokyo. She assures Mayama that Nomiya didn't sleep with Ayumi since he wouldn't take advantage of a girl like that. She then hurries over to the Yamada Liquor Store, where Yamada-san is severely chastising Ayumi for being gone without telling them. Miwako interjects herself, telling Yamada-san that Ayumi got drunk at a farewell party for a co-worker. She has a gift of salted shougora from Sanriko, which goes good with sake. This immediately calms the angry father down, and the two go into the store to sample it, saving Ayumi.

On campus, Hagu-chan decides to tell the female sensei she's not going to enter the art competition. The sensei is not pleased and tells Hagu-chan that she'll have not place in society and that Hagu-chan is to stop painting. Back at her and Hanamoto-sensei's residence, she begins gathering her painting supplies as if to put them away for good.

Miwako returns to Fujiwara Design to find Nomiya there. She shows off the large bottle of sake she scored from Yamada-san and tells Nomiya he owes her some sukiyaki and shabu shabu meals. She teases Nomiya for taking Ayumi on the ferris wheel, since he used to say that Cosmo Clock 21 was for looking at, not riding. Miwako then wonders if maybe Nomiya is getting serious about his feelings for Ayumi, which he scoffs at.

At Harada Design, Mayama presents some things to Rika-san and she gives him some additional tasks to perform. He's relieved because it means that she's accepted him back. She goes a step further and gives him a key to the office. That night when he comes home, he has brought home dinner, which leads Morita to remark on the difference being happy has made Mayama. They are about to start eating when they realize that Takemoto is missing, who at that moment is somewhere in Japan at a country bus stop trying to stay out of the rain. Mayama and Morita go to Takemoto's room where they disover his ID and bank book are still there, only his bike is gone. Lohmeyer-senpai tries to aid them by making a "missing" poster, only the picture doesn't really look like Takemoto and his name has the wrong Kanji.

The following morning, Takemoto is on a road at the coast where many small fishing boats are moored. He stops at a pay phone but only has a few ¥10 coins to make a call with. He calls Hanamoto-sensei to let him know where he is. Mayama and Morita are there waiting to hear what Takemoto says but Takemoto's step-father, Kazuo, gets on the line. He's so happy to hear from Takemoto that he ends up blabbering about a fire at a gas station across the street from their home and that one of the police officers who responded was his old childhood friend Kobayashi. Takemoto tries to get the call on topic since he has very little time left but fails. Kazuo realizes what he's done once the line goes dead and ends up at Yamada-san's place with the other members of the shopping district to eat, get drunk, and complain about the fire and Kobayashi preventing him from learning Takemoto's location.

Takemoto continues his journey, receiving some kindness from an older lady running a country store (where he refills his water bottles for free), getting some fruit from trees, and looking at the Cup Noodle top he'd saved with Hagu-chan's note about hoping he'll find what he wants to do and her drawing of a 4-leaf clover. It is then that he decides to look for a real 4-leaf clover and spends many hours until late at night until he finds one. He manages to send a postcard to his friends but gets a flat tire on his bike. With no money to get it fixed, he is forced to walk the bike instead of riding it.

One night he crashes at a temple currently undergoing renovations. The work crew find him and initially think he's dead. He's not, but he smells pretty bad. The foreman remarks that Takemoto doesn't look like he's been eating well. That night, a cleaned up Takemoto is eating with the work crew where they are depressed about having to eat curry again for the umpteenth time. Takemoto finds the food very good, not having eaten a proper meal in days. Hearing the other's complaints, he offers to use his cooking skills to make them something different. This excites everyone.

The following morning, Takemoto gets up early and makes a Japanese breakfast for the crew, who are extremely happy to have something new and delicious to eat. At breakfast, he's asked about what he's going to do. With his bicycle in need of repair and not having any money, Takemoto isn't sure what to do. One of the crew suggest to the foreman that they take care of Takemoto for a while. The foreman reluctantly agrees to hire Takemoto to mainly do cooking and laundry for the crew, though he can't pay much. So as Takemoto does his chores, he finds himself drawn to the stuff the work crew are doing.

Back in Tokyo, Shouda-sensei gets Hagu-chan to watch his child for a bit while he attends a meeting. The child is using chalk and drawing on the nearby pavement. Hagu-chan gets drawn in by this and asks if she can join the child. The child agrees and Hagu-chan re-discovers the joys of art creation for the fun of it.

Meanwhile at the temple, Takemoto tries to help the crew by doing other things. So the foreman puts him to work doing some carving since Takemoto was an architect major in college. So, Takemoto starts doing this. When the foreman comes by later to check his work, he's unimpressed and has Takemoto do some hand planing of wood. Takemoto does this but discovers the foreman redoing what Takemoto had already done. When Takemoto tries to tell the foreman this, the foreman tells Takemoto to go make dinner. After dinner when everyone is asleep, Takemoto decides to work on the initial carving project again, determined to get it right. One of the crew comes out and understanding what Takemoto is trying to do, gives him a tip on how to do the carving right. So, Takemoto works on the carving while in Tokyo, an inspired Hagu-chan returns to painting, having read Takemoto's latest postcard to her, which also has a real 4-leaf clover taped to it.

One morning at Harada Design, Mayama has a satisfied client wanting them to do some work in Otaru. Hearing the name of the town, Rika-san tells Mayama to refuse the project as they have enough work already. Mayama is confused since this project is an easy one, but this only makes Rika-san annoyed. As such, Mayama checks with Hanamoto-sensei, where he learns that Otaru is where Rika-san's deceased husband was from.

Its night at the temple at the crew are again complimenting Takemoto on his excellent cooking. He tells them to make suggestions as to what he should make next, which the crew excitedly do. However, the foreman has heard enough and calls Takemoto outside. He gives Takemoto a pay packet with 2-weeks of pay -- ¥50,000 (~$500). He tells Takemoto that he should leave, reminding him that he was in the middle of a journey and his reason for leaving Tokyo in the first place will become lost. Takemoto realizes the truth of this.

At the campus, Teramobori-san is all excited, holding a newspaper and calling for "Morita-dai-sensei." The newspaper article shows that Morita's painting won first place. Morita is on the roof of one of the school buildings with Hagu-chan. He seems to be about to confess to her when she cuts him off, saying that they are rivals as they talk about their respective works. This seems to take Morita back a bit, but then he agrees that they are rivals.

Takemoto prepares to leave the temple work site and is thanking some of the crew for fixing his flat tire. They point to the foreman, who'd been the one who actually fixed the bike. The foreman is working on a piece of wood and so Takemoto makes a deep bow to thank the foreman for what he's done. The foreman never even looks up, but continues working. After saying goodbye, Takemoto is off. That evening when the crew comes in for the day, the foreman sees a block of scrap wood with his belongings. On it, Takemoto carved out a message thanking the foreman. The foreman reads this and smiles.

Thoughts: Gah! No names again when new characters are introduced. Yeah, I know that this live action title was done for fans of the original manga and subsequent anime titles. I suppose that in this regard, these fans would immediately go, "OH! There's so-and-so!" My memory isn't so good so that while I'm a fan of Honey and Clover, I can't remember names for anything.

If I ever get to return to Japan, I'm going to have to spend at least one night in Yokohama at the hotel that overlooks Cosmo Clock 21. I've seen it featured in a few anime titles before (aside from Honey and Clover, Ai Yori Aoshi seems to spring to mind as well) and I'd like to see it for real.

Speaking of places, I hope the live action series has Takemoto go to the northern-most point of Japan. I've seen that in a couple of anime titles and think it would be neat to see a live action version of it.

Beyond that, while I certainly am enjoying the series, it continues to suffer just a bit from compression. In the anime, we had a clear understanding that Takemoto was working for that temple repair company for a few weeks. In the dorama, if the script hadn't said, "here's your two-week's pay," I would have had no concept that anything other than a couple of days had passed. I certainly didn't really get the feel that Takemoto was slipping into a comfortable new life. Too bad this series only scheduled itself for 11 episodes. I think had they done a few more episodes, things would have been smoother in this regard. Now, it looks like I'll have to go back and re-watch the anime sometime (maybe after my move).

I was surprised that Hagu-chan prevented Morita from confessing to her, shifting things to friendly rivals, as he had suggested before. I don't remember this in the anime and I know that when Takemoto gets back, he's supposed to confess to Hagu-chan. Maybe that's what the dorama writers opened the door for -- a possible romance between Hagu-chan and Takemoto.