xxxHOLiC Kei 11

xxxHOLiC◆継 Episode 11

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Watanuki and Himawari-chan are walking home and talking foods before parting company. For some reason, Watanuki's pinkie starts hurting him again out of the blue. While serving Yuuko-san dinner, Watanuki's finger again hurts him so that he drops a sake cup and breaks it. She inquires about his pinkie and he has to think back in order to remember making a yubikiri (pinkie promise) with Himawari-chan. Yuuko-san has Watanuki think back to any other negative events that happened because of Himawari-chan. He starts to say these are coincidences, but recalls Yuuko-san's words about there being no such thing -- hitsuzen.

That night, Haruka-san visits Watanuki in a dream. Watanuki ends up telling Haruka-san about Himawari-chan, the pinkie promise, and the other things as well as the fact that he's starting to believe in hitsuzen. Haruka-san tells Watanuki to stick near his grandson (Doumeki). The following morning, Watanuki awakes and wants to tell Yuuko-san his dream, but she is indisposed. Moro and Maru tell him to make breakfast just the same, which he does. On the way to school, he meets Kohane-chan and gives her a choux cream desert. She accepts, but then asks whom Watanuki made a pinkie promise with.

At school, Watanuki mentions his dream to Doumeki. Upon entering the school, Himawari-chan taps him on the shoulder. The two slowly walk and talk but after a bit, Watanuki stumbles. As such, he touches the windows on the hall wall, which fall out. This causes Watanuki to fall out of the window and down to the ground amongst the broken glass. He finds himself in a dark place and cries for his mother and father. To prevent him from dying, Haruka-san enters Watanuki's dream-state and sends him back to the land of the living.

Watanuki wakes up in bed at Yuuko-san's place. Yuuko-san explains that Doumeki had been nearby and had planned to get Watanuki to a hospital. However, Yuuko-san had dispatched a butterfly messenger, instructing Doumeki to bring Watanuki to her. He did so and Yuuko-san was able to save Watanuki's life along with Haruka-san. Watanuki weakly jokes about the cost of his salvation, leading Yuuko-san to reveal that the price had been paid by Himawari and Doumeki. Himawari comes to the bed as Yuuko-san departs. Watanuki remembers Haruka-san's words about not being able to ignore the negative things he sees in Himawari-chan. As such, he starts to mention this to her. She smiles and asks what took him so long to notice.

Thoughts/Review: One of the negative things about the restructuring of the manga plot is that a plot element, like the pinkie promise, has to be swept aside for a while until it can magically be brought back to resume its place as a plot element. That's the unfortunate thing which has happened with the anime.

In the manga (volume 10), the events of finding the dead woman (because of the pinkie promise with Himawari) are immediately followed by an encounter with Kohane-chan who asks him about his pinkie (and whom he might have made a pinkie promise with) and then an encounter with Yuuko-san about it. After that, Watanuki has his accident.

In the anime, this plot is started, then ends. So a lot of time is spent on the Kohane-chan story. How fortunate that Watanuki's pinkie didn't cause him any problems there, eh? Then we wrap up the story and, "Oh yeah. Lets go back and revive the pinkie promise thread." I'm glad Watanuki has such a good memory. Isn't it great that Kohane-chan couldn't detect Watanuki's pinkie promise earlier? This is why some changes to manga stories just boggle my mind. Would those who have never read the manga care? I'd be curious to hear from them (if they exist).

I was disappointed that Watanuki's parents (assuming that's who they were from the manga) didn't speak with him to try to send Watanuki back. However, I figure that since all of the Tsubasa stuff has been excised from the xxxHOLiC anime, that may be the reason for not including that moment in this episode.

Otherwise, the adaptation is a fairly accurate one from the manga. It is just that the anime writers fail (for me) by having that break between events, as I mention earlier.

Clannad Tomoyo Chapter

(クラナド) もうひとつの世界 智代編
Clannad episode 24 (OVA)
Another World Tomoyo Volume (Arc)
Mouhitosu no Sekai Tomoyo Hen

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: It is just before the student council elections and Tomoyo and Tomoya are in love. Tomoyo wins the election and they are a happy couple. However, students begin to talk about the terrible delinquent Tomoya hanging out with Tomoyo. Teachers begin expressing concerns about this to the couple. Even fellow student council members are disturbed, pointing out to Tomoya that the only problems Tomoyo has had can be traced back to Tomoya. Tomoyo has great potential and Tomoya is seen has holding her back. As such, Tomoya decides to break up with Tomoyo. She initially refuses to accept this but then agrees.

Time passes and Tomoya and Sunohara hang out as usual but it isn't the same without Tomoyo around. Tomoya doesn't skip class and as the school year proceeds, Tomoyo is able to save her precious Sakura trees. Tomoya and Sunohara (with his hair now black) begin looking for jobs and one winter's afternoon, Tomoya meets Tomoyo on a road. They talk and Tomoyo confesses she still loves Tomoya and feels her accomplishments have cost too much. She wants to be with him. Tomoya initially refuses because he doesn't want to hold her back but she tells him it is her choice and that she will go where he goes. As such, Tomoya decides that he too will go where ever Tomoyo goes. With that, they are a couple once more with Tomoya working his job and Tomoyo finishing high school.

Thoughts/Review: I was hesitant about watching this. I like Tomoyo, but this being an alternate reality episode based on the game's path where Tomoyo and Tomoya are a couple made me uncertain. I guess I'm too attached to Tomoya being with Nagisa.

As to the episode, we jump right into the melodrama of Tomoyo and Tomoya having great difficulties maintaining a relationship with everyone talking about them, with the student council work she has, and with the teachers opposed to them being together because "Tomoyo can be so much more, but every problem we've had with her is because of Tomoya." So, everyone dumps on Tomoya. Boo hoo. *sigh*

I know that this theme of high expectations is common in Japan due to their society but it isn't one I really enjoy. Besides, part of the joy of Clannad wasn't that is was a depressing anime, but it managed to mix depressing elements with elements of fun too. Sunohara, usually the comic relief, wasn't funny here, even when he had to return his hair to black in order to get a job after high school. The writers tried to insert a traditional Sunohara comedy moment with Tomoyo but it didn't work for me.

In the end, this came off more as a "who cares" episode to me. Yes, it has a happy end and if you were a fan of the visual novel and followed the Tomoyo path, I'm sure this made you happy. For me, as much as I like Tomoyo, the relationship aspects between her and Tomoya just didn't feel right. As I said earlier, maybe it is because I'm such a fan of the Tomoya-Nagisa romance.

So what would have made this better? A complete reboot. Make this a multi-episode OVA, ignore all the previous girls from the TV series (and game), and then start the story from scratch. That way, the audience can warm up to this Tomoyo-Tomoya romance and it will have impact when they break up and get back together.

Space Battleship Yamato 02

Uchuu Senkan Yamato Episode 02
宇宙戦艦ヤマト Ep. 02 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: The Earth Defense Force HQ is losing contact with the underground cities around the world, leading Captain Okita to inquire about the progress on the Yamato. In the sick bay, Yuki bandages up Susumu after he and Daisuke were rescued. They are paid a visit by the red robot "Analyzer" who decides he needs to take a look under Yuki's skirt. After the robot retreats from the room under a rain of medical items thrown by Yuki, Daisuke and Susumu are summoned to a waiting air car and are joined by Analyzer, who invites himself.

The car takes them to a part of the industrial section of the underground city along with Sado-sensei. They look up and see the bottom of a space ship's hull protruding from the ground above them. As they gape in wonder, a voice on a loud speaker instructs them to get into elevator 10. They do so and are surprised when the elevator tilts at an angle before depositing them on the bridge of a ship. There on the bridge is Captain Okita. He explains to Daisuke and Susumu that they had been on special training for a mission on this ship. Further, the blueprints they brought back from Mars were used to create the new faster-than-light engine, the Wave-Motion engine.

The ground above them comes under attack from a Gamilon carrier, which has launched fighter-bombers. However, the ship's engines have not come to full power yet, meaning they cannot leave the ground they are encased in. The attack continues until the engines are up to power. Okita assigns Daisuke to be the ship's helmsman and Susumu to be in charge of the combat crews. The ship emerges from the ground and sheds its WWII scrap to reveal a similar battleship within. While the weapons look like WWII weapons, they are in fact current weapons of the day and with them, the Yamato takes out the enemy carrier.

On Gamilus, Supreme Ruler Desler receives word of the destruction of the carrier and the Earth having built a new warship in secret named the Yamato. Meanwhile on the Yamato, Captain Okita asks Daisuke and Susumu what they think of the ship. He explains that it had been built using the original WWII ship and then gives the history of the WWII ship. The new Yamato had not been built as a warship initially, but as an ark to allow some humans to flee the Earth. However, with the Wave-Motion engine combined with the opportunity to get help from Iscandar, the mission of the Yamato has changed and they have 1-year to get the Cosmo Cleaner-D from Iscandar and back.

Thoughts/Review: I don't like how the first two episodes are presenting the story. The writers make things confusing at the start, then go back and explain things in the 2nd-half of the episode. The one thing they didn't explain is how the heck they were able to construct this new Wave-Motion engine onto the new Yamato hull so quickly. It is difficult to gage how much time has passed since Susumu and Daisuke found the message capsule which contained the blueprints for the new engine. It only felt like a few days at most.

It is clever to use the old WWII Yamato hull as a shield to disguise the fact that they were building a new ship underneath. The fact that the new Yamato's mission was one to preserve some of humanity and not be a warship worked too. There's still the issue radiation though. With radiation covering the entire planet's surface and seeping underground, why isn't the Yamato irradiated? Then again, maybe a change in radiation readings is what prompted the Gamilons to attack the Yamato wreckage since they clearly didn't know what it was hiding.

Well, I guess we'll see where things go.

Slayers REVOLUTION 04

スレイヤーズREVOLUTION Anime episode 04

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Lina and turning up a forest with various destructive spells looking for Pokota while Gourry assists. After no luck, Gourry and Lina are feasting while Amelia chastises Lina for being cruel to the animals in the forest. Amelia heals them and continues to lecture, leading Lina to remind Amelia what would have happened had she really unleashed in the forest. Further, Lina is forced to eat a feast of fruits and vegetables when she'd much rather have animal protein. This gets Amelia to shut up.

However, Zelgadiss is not impressed by Lina's haphazard approach to flushing out Pokota. As such, he threatens to leave. To keep him around, Lina makes mention of the fact that just maybe, Pokota has knowledge on how to return Zelgadiss to human form. Despite his protests to the contrary, the ploy works and he initially begins blasting the nearby hills, much to Amelia's distress. Lina and Gourry head off to execute another plan while Zelgadiss, somewhat calmer, devises traps of food in which to snare Pokota. His reasoning is that a creature using the amount of magic that Lina does would need the same amount of calories that Lina does.

Amelia is not convinced the plan will work, but sure enough, Pokota is snared, having eaten a banana laced with a drug. Zelgadiss promises to bring the pain to Pokota which Amelia finds to be a villainous way of doing things, so she frees Pokota, heals him, then provides him with a big feast. While Pokota is reluctant to discuss why he's so interested in destroying mage-tanks or who originally stole them, Amelia is touched by his words that declare his desire to keep said weapons out of the hands of those who would use them for evil. Thus, Amelia decides that they will partner with Pokota on his quest for justice.

The trio arrive at a small town where a mage-tank is now terrorizing the residence. Amelia and Pokota go into action, attacking the tank. Unknown to them, the tank is a fake and is being "driven" by Gourry's pedal power. After taking a few hits, Lina decides its time to take some action against Pokota and Amelia. Because Lina is so powerful, she's able to defend the tank well against Amelia and Pokota's increasingly powerful spells while bringing the rain with Flair Arrows and Fireballs back at them.

As the fight continues, Lina too gets more serious in her attacks, using a Burst Flare spell (which is much more powerful than a Fireball) at Amelia. Amelia, having previously been hit with a Bomb Di Wind spell, is unable to dodge. Pokota, seeing Amelia in trouble, uses his replica Sword of Light to dispel the attack. Lina fills the sky with Flare Arrow spells while Pokota and Amelia perform a double Arc Brass spell, which brings down a rain of lightning, taking out not only the mage-tank, but the city's aquifer as well.

Amelia celebrates this victory until an annoyed Lina emerges from the rubble and demands to know what Amelia is doing with the Digimon. Amelia immediately assumes that Lina's appearance at the scene means that Lina is the criminal who's stealing mage tanks and that Wiser should arrest Lina. Zelgadiss points out that the mage-tank is fake and hearing that, Pokota decides he has better things to do. Pokota takes off with an annoyed Lina in pursuit, demanding he wait. Meanwhile, the townspeople have only rubble left where their town stood due to the battle.

Thoughts/Review: The start of this episode had me laughing again. Lina on a rampage through the forest is just too much. *lol* Her little threat at Amelia for Amelia's lecture and the animal's fear of more Lina wrath (followed by Lina consumption) is good stuff. Even though there may have been not a whole lot of point to the episode (beyond tracking down the Digimon Pokota), I get a kick out of watching Lina rampage, manipulate people, and scarf down food, all of which happened a plenty here.

Plot-wise, it seems that we are getting small bits of table setting here and there. Pokota's attempts to take out all mage-tanks he sees is clearly part of some bigger story. The who and why is another issue, as is why Pokota created a faux Sword of Light.

Thankfully, there was no Wiser in this episode, but I did like that he received a name-drop. Believe it or not, I'm hopeful that this is a sign that the writers intend to produce a well-crafted plot over time.

There were a lot of new spells used in this episode. I say "new spells," but in fact, these have already been established in the world of Slayers via the novels (or so I'm told). I highly recommend a trip to KanzakaDex to learn about each of the spells and their rankings power-wise. Very educational stuff over but there may well be spoilers for stuff to come too.

Thus far, I'm pretty pleased with how things are being done in Slayers REVOLUTION. Despite the few minor concerns from last week's episode, things have generally been a ton of fun with just a few elements to suggest what might be in store. More fun on the horizon as Xellos returns next episode. ^_^

Macross Frontier 16

マクロスF Episode 16
Macross F Ep. 16
Macross Frontier Anime

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Alto has his meeting with the SMS owner, who has a dream to make travel across the galaxy quicker. Alto is skeptical, but "Owner" (as the boss is also referred to as) feels that it is, thanks to the Vajra and an element known as "Fold Quartz," which he apparent has a gem of in his ring. So, the SMS begin to bring in dead Vajra units after their fights, which has some of the crew of the Macross Quarter speculating on a reason.

Sometime later, Ranka returns to school and is escorted by Brera, who causes quite a commotion. In class, his presence is found to be disruptive by the teacher. Ranka tries to explain that she's told Brera to stay outside, but he refuses. Alto has heard enough. Alto goes to attack Brera, only to find himself easily taken down. As Micheal would later explain, even Alto couldn't take on a cyborg.

Meanwhile, Ranka is taken by Grace to the recording studio to perform her ballad. Ranka is concerned over Grace now being her manager since (1) Ranka had a good manager in Elmo (who is depressed at having Ranka taken from him) and (2) Grace is already the manager of Sheryl. Grace tells her not to worry about it, saying that if Sheryl recovers, she can handle two clients. In the studio, her song is monitored but it is not having the desired results. During a break, Brera gives her a beverage and remarks on her singing, complimenting her. Ranka wonders why Brera knew her song when they first met, leading him to tell her that this information is a secret.

Elsewhere, Alto is returning to his SMS dorm when he comes across Sheryl, who's clearly not feeling well. He manages to get her to his room where she recovers but can't remember how she got there and thinks Alto is trying to sleep with her. Micheal comes in (being Alto's roommate) and seeing Sheryl, tells Alto he should have left a handkerchief on the door as a warning if he were going to have a woman in the room. Alto protests this but a message from Cathy has Alto and Micheal gearing up for a special mission regarding Ranka. They leave, Alto telling Sheryl to stay put and out of sight, which of course she doesn't.

As the squadron heads out, trailed by Brera in his fighter, Ozama asks Ranka if this mission is what she truly wants. Ranka states that it is, so Ozama returns to his fighter. The other squadron members ponder the mission, wondering if this "Minmei Attack" will really work. Klan is skeptical, knowing that it had worked on her people but would it really work on the Vajra. Sheryl comes to the bridge of the Macross Quarter, having refused to obey Alto's orders, and requests to be allowed to observe. Since she already knows about this classified mission, she's allowed to stay.

The SMS attack a Vajra nest as the President, Leon, and Grace observe from Macross Frontier. The Vajra retaliate and Ranka sings. Her song, which somehow travels through fold space, does cause the Vajra confusion which allows the SMS fighters to have a serious advantage. This is noted by Brera, who's watching wave monitor. When Ranka stops singing, the Vajra return to normal and furiously counter-attack. Brera is ordered to clean up and using his superior fighter, does just that with the SMS people assisting. When a Vajra goes after the craft with Ranka in it, Alto is unable to get there in time, but Brera is, reminding Alto of his belief that Alto isn't good enough for Ranka.

On the bridge of Macross Quarter, there is much happiness at the success of the "Ranka Attack," with people positively referring it to what Minmei did and calling Ranka "Super-Dimensional Cinderella." Ranka is embarrassed by this and Bobby feels that using "Minmei" as a reference is too outdated. Instead, he prefers people use "Basara-sama" as a reference, which the others find outdated as well. Inside, Ranka is worried about things though as she thinks of Alto and Ozama, both of whom are worried about Ranka as well.

Thoughts/Review: An interesting episode to be sure. So I finally get some point of reference to why Sheryl's earring has significance. So why does Sheryl have an earring made of this "Fold Quartz?" What is the SMS owner's role in this? What, if anything, does this have to do with the Vajra?

I feel bad for Elmo. I'm hoping that by series end, he's back to being Ranka's manager when Grace is finally killed like the dirty dog she is.

It is interesting that everyone seems to know that Brera is a cyborg. Then again, the SMS may have given Brera a medical and determined this, or the government let them know.

It is still unclear as to what Leon and Grace are scheming. I find it difficult to believe that they want to rid the universe of the Vajra. That leaves having the Vajra rule, but somehow controlled by them through Ranka.

Even though I haven't seen Macross 7 myself, I did appreciate Bobby's reference to "Basara" just the same while everyone else was gushing over Minmei.

School Rumble Sangakki OVA 01

スクールランブル三学期 (OVA) Ep. 01 / 25
School Rumble San Gakki (OAV) ep. 01 / 25

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Fast-forward past many, exciting events that have never been animated to a time when class 2-C and 2-D are in a walking marathon competition. Karasuma-kun and Tenma are paired up, so Tenma attempts to confess but every time she does so, Karasuma races ahead of her. She ends up falling on her face and thinks it is over, however Karasuma returns to help her back to her feet. Now she has the perfect opportunity to confess her feelings for Karasuma while Harima and Hanai have a final race to the finish.

Class 2-C wins the competition and as Mikoto, Eri, and Akira look for Tenma and Karasuma. They find Tenma alone by the beach crying and know what has happened. Harima sees this and learning that Karasuma will be going to the airport, Harima steals Tani-sensei's bike and races to the school. There he finds Karasuma alone in their classroom. Deciding he's had enough of Karasuma toying with Tenma, Harima starts beating Karasuma, landing several good blows. However, Karasuma fights back. As the two battle, Karasuma reveals that he actually does have feeling for Tenma. After Harima wins the fight, he understands why Karasuma is the way he is and helps him out.

While the fight has been going on, Yakumo tells the whole truth of Karasuma's reason for going to America to Eri, Makoto, and Akira. Tenma has gone into a kind of denial, so the group gets her back to her and Yakumo's home. There, a party starts with some serious cola drinking, leading to Tenma getting drunk somehow and ranting about her feelings for Karasuma. Harima arrives at the home to retrieve Tenma to make her happy. Tenma isn't sure about this, but Harima won't take no for an answer. Thus, he grabs her, puts her on his motorcycle, and takes off to the airport so that Tenma can see Karasuma before he leaves.

Thoughts/Review: What the...?! OK, let me get this straight. Instead of doing a proper 3rd TV series, lets do a 2-episode OVA, only lets skip everything in the manga that Nigakki did not get to when it ended until near the end of the manga run. Yeah, because that makes sense. Sheeze. I realize that due to OVA expenses, these things are done for fans of the manga but seriously, this disappointed me greatly and I am a HUGE fan of the manga. *sigh*

The way this OVA is being done, I really wonder if there will be any more anime after episode 2 comes out. Combine this with the way that Kobayashi-sensei has abruptly ended the manga in Japan (supposedly, he's going to do a sequel manga called School Rumble Z but that's all I know at this point) with unresolved plot threads and one wonders if Kobayashi-sensei and the anime production staff are purposefully trying to anger School Rumble fans.

That annoyance aside, there are moments of fun despite the fact that so much story has been skipped. I did chuckle a few times. Getting drunk off of soda is pretty funny after all. ^_^; However, with no buildup, it is hard to find a lot of good in this if you haven't read the current manga in Japan, and I haven't. This episode certainly does touch some spoilers though, so I know what to expect in the manga (some of it not unexpected but still...).

Update: I see the episode is actually being labeled as "episode 25," as if it were the OVA episodes attached to the end of a TV series (but not shown on TV) when it makes its DVD/Blue Ray run. I don't know what that means but if you do, by all means enlighten me. ^_^

Keroro Gunsou 56

ケロロ軍曹 Episode 56
Sgt. Frog anime, 56
Keroro Gunsou episode 56

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Koyuki-chan is training because she now feels that she must defeat Natsumi. Meanwhile at the Hinata residence, Natsumi is practicing her tennis, to which Keroro reveals he sees her weakness. He puts on a blonde, female wig and a dress and mocks Natsumi's weakness. Koyuki-chan arrives, firing a bunch of shuriken at Natsumi, which Natsumi deflects with her tennis racket. Koyuki-chan challenges Natsumi to a duel, having watched a sports drama where two rival baseball players become great friends. Koyuki-chan's hope is that by challenging Natsumi, the two of them can become closer friends.

Keroro-chan (my term for the Keroro in drag for this review) tells Koyuki-chan that she should use tennis as the battlefield for her challenge, which Koyuki accepts. However, Keroro-chan has a condition -- the loser must get an afro. Natsumi doesn't like this but Koyuki-chan agrees to it. Keroro-chan puts Natsumi through tough training designed to weaken Natsumi's moral. As he confides to the announcer, Natsumi doesn't really have a weakness, he just wants her hair in an afro. The day of the match comes and Koyuki-chan uses her ninja arts to quickly get a lead. However, Natsumi adapts and catches up. After that, no matter what techniques Koyuki-chan uses, Natsumi counters, making things even. Keroro has had enough and summons Dasonu Maso (the Dance Man parody alien), who can make afros happen. He fires his afro beam at Koyuki and Natsumi, only to have Dororo defect it onto Keroro, Moa-chan, Tamama, and Fuyuki. However, the events made Koyuki's dream of being better friends with Natsumi come true.

Keroro discovers a swallows' mud nest on the wall outside the front door of the Hinata residence and attempts to take it down with a broom, though without success. Natsumi forbids it, waxing poetic on the swallows. Keroro is pissed about this, but his attempts to "accidentally" knock down the nest by kicking a soccer ball at it fails when Natsumi performs a soccer kick that blocks the shot. The following morning, Keroro plans to knock some baseballs into the nest, but discovers that Natsumi has a small mud nest on her head with an egg in it. Fuyuki does as well. Keroro then finds his whole platoon, save Dororo, have said nest. Dororo points to the giant mud nest on the roof where a giant swallow is. This bird is actually a Subaruwajin, and she made all the nests. The eggs hatch and the alien birds take off with a thank you as Keroro asks that next time, he be given a nest for his head as well.

Thoughts/Review: I don't know why, but the afro jokes amuse me for some reason. I think it goes back to my time in Japan when Japanese youth were big into the high top fade. Then again, there's just something funny about the way this episode had Keroro obsess over Natsumi being given an afro.

While this half of the episode appeared to be a parody of Prince of Tennis, I've no clue if Keroro was supposed to be a parody female character or not. Either way, "Keroro-chan" was funny to me with the accent and drag outfit.

The second story, which came from a manga, actually hit closer to home for me. As I recently blogged about on my personal blog, I've had to deal with swallows and their nests. *lol* So I understood Keroro's "need" to take down the swallows nest when he found it. ^_^

Anyway, a fun episode all around despite weak animation.

Dirty Pair OVA 10 (finale)

ダーティペア OVA Episode 10
Dirty Pair OAV 10

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: After another independent cargo hauler ship is destroyed, the "truckers" at the Pawarnue Cargo Station are not keen to make any more runs. However, a couple of new girls, Kei and Yuri under cover, are loading cargo onto another hauler. The boss, Jayd, questions their motives considering how dangerous it is out there. Kei and Yuri say they are in it for the money and continue to work. Upon completing the load, they get ready to depart. Jayd and trucker Mash board a second cargo ship and decide join Kei and Yuri for part of the run, as their final destination is different from Daldo Station.

Kei and Yuri discuss the case and suspect that Universal Company is behind the attacks. They reckon that the company wants to have a smuggling operation and to do this, they'd need the independent haulers off the station as it would be used by the company. A couple of long-range torpedoes come in, targeting both cargo haulers. Kei and Yuri avoid being hit, but Jayd and Mash aren't so lucky. They evacuate in EVA suits to Kei and Yuri's ship, only to find the two girls in their own suits armed with big weapons and jet packs. After a short battle against two fighters (where the two girls tease each other about being poor shots), Kei and Yuri take down their prey and with their two male companions, proceed to Daldo Station.

On the ship, Jayd questions who they are. Kei and Yuri don't answer the question and Jayd understands the need to keep secrets. Indeed, he has one where he killed a man in self defense nearly 15 years ago before fleeing to Pawarnue. Mash tells the girls that Jayd has made payments to the family of the dead man all this time. However, despite the fact that the killing was self defense, he's still wanted for murder until the Statute of Limitations, which should be soon. It is then that law enforcement fighters approach the cargo hauler and request the ship follow them to Daldo Station for inspection of smuggled goods.

Once landed, Kei and Yuri have Jayd and Mughi hide in a cargo container. As Kei, Yuri, and Mash wait outside, two cops (under orders) plant Paranium in a small cargo box and bring it out. The three are then arrested and put into a cell for smuggling. When this is reported to the chief, he requests that the three be "removed." The chief is with the president of Universal Company where they talk about their deal and the troubles the president has had with Pawarnue Cargo Station.

Kei and Yuri learn that the president of Universal Company is on the station and so they enlist Mash's help. So when the guards come to get the prisoners, Kei and Yuri spring their own trap and get the facts from the main officer. They take him back to the chief's office, where the two confront the chief and the president. The main officer gets the drop on Mash and escapes and in the confusion, the president and chief escape. Kei and Yuri give chase but soon find themselves pinned down by fire from the other police officers.

Things look grim until all of the truckers from Pawarnue Cargo Station arrive outside Daldo Station, having been summoned by Jayd. They launch cargo pods and containers at the Pawarnue Cargo Station, causing some damage. This allows Kei and Yuri to relieve the station of a couple of rocket launchers, where they then proceed to take out the president's ship and the chief's ship before the two can exit the station (both men on their ships when said ships were destroyed). The truckers from Pawarnue fear that Kei and Yuri will arrest Jayd, but they tell him that on the station, the Statute of Limitations is past and they leave. However, Jayd knows that once he leaves the station, the warrant will be active again, something Kei and Yuri find out later and bicker about.

Thoughts/Review: Heh! Tenchi's seiyuu KIKUCHI Masami (he's also Keiichi from Ah! My Goddess) played Mash in this episode. It is always fun when I hear a seiyuu who's voice I know well do another role.

This makes yet another episode where Kei and Yuri decide to take EVA suits out to battle space ships, this time fighters. *lol* That really is too much but oh well. It is the last episode so we'll let it slide I guess.

We had a tribute to Aliens with the loaders Yuri and Kei used, complete with the loading of what looked like the missiles from Aliens.

It is too bad that rather than use the original Kei and Yuri, the franchise was turned into Dirty Pair Flash, which was awful. I wouldn't mind seeing more (and maybe I'll get to do just that with the TV series since I've only seen a few episodes in my re-watch). Despite it being mostly fluff and sometimes defying logic, there's a certain level of fun with the series that overcomes its flaws.

Space Battleship Yamato 01

Uchuu Senkan Yamato Episode 01
宇宙戦艦ヤマト Ep. 01 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: It is 2199 and Earth has been under attack from a planet known as Gamilus, who've made the surface of Earth uninhabitable (and contain no surface water) due to their radioactive meteor bombs. Earth Defense Force Fleet is patrolling the solar system when they are attacked at Pluto by they forces from Gamilus. Meanwhile, the Earth Defense Force HQ detects an object heading for Mars. Two trainee pilots, KODAI Susumu and SHIMA Daisuke, are currently on Mars and sent to investigate this crashed ship. They find the ship and discover its female humanoid occupant out of the ship and dead. However, they also find a message container and retrieve it.

In space, the Earth fleet is being wiped out by the superior weapons of Gamilus fleet. Only two ships remain -- a battleship headed by Captain Okita and a missile cruiser headed by Captain Kodai (older brother to Susumu). Because they are the only two ships in the fleet, Okita orders a retreat, but Kodai refuses to do so, saying he cannot bear the shame of retreating when so many gave their lives. As such, Kodai makes a suicide run on the enemy forces and is destroyed while Okida's ship gets back to Earth safely after picking up Susumu and Daisuke.

On Earth, humanity now lives deep underground but with the constant meteor bombardment, the radiation will reach the settlements and humanity will die in a year. Susumu sees Captain Okita and wants to know why Okita didn't bring his brother home. Okita has no answer. Sumumu and Daisuke bring the message capsule to HQ. After leaving, they see a girl in the hall who looks just like the alien female they found on Mars. Before they can consider it further, the encounter SADO Sakezo, a "daisensei" (a great doctor, specifically a vet) in a losing encounter with a large hog. A robot arrives to explain and praise the doctor, but Sado emerges to say he failed. The robot remarks that this is the doctor's fifth failure of the day.

In the hospital, Captain Okita gets a report from HQ in his room while in the waiting room, the nurse, MORI Yuki, wonders what is wrong with Susumu. Daisuke is explaining when the robot returns and basically insults Yuki. She leaves but the robot has news for the two young men. The message capsule has been decoded. A woman named Starsha from the planet Iscandar has sent her little sister Sarsha to Earth with an offer of assistance. They have a device that will clean up Earth, known as the Cosmo Cleaner-D. Since there's only a year for humanity to survive, they will need to send a ship to Iscandar (some 140,000 light years away) to pick up the device and return in that time. The capsule also contained a new engine design.

An enemy scout craft is spotted and the base goes on alert. Susumu and Daisuke decide to take out a fighter to take out this scout, which is flying over what used to by Kyushu and near where the WWII battleship Yamato sank. However, before they can engage, their fighter's engine overheats and they crash. Susumu is dejected because he wasn't able to take out a single scout to help avenge his brother's death. However, that is soon forgotten as the two see what the scout was investigating -- the conning tower of the Yamato protruding out of the Earth in what had been the ocean floor.

Thoughts/Review: In order to continue my anime education, I felt it was time to watch another classic, this time going WAY back to Space Battleship Yamato. I vaguely remember seeing bits and pieces of the Americanized version of this, known as Star Blazers, but to see the original is what I want and that's what I'm doing.

Because this anime is from 1974, things look old and that's not a problem. The episode starts off a bit confusing because the audience doesn't have a clue what's going on, but fortunately, the writers do work in an explanation with the announcer so no problem there.

Since the first episode is a table-setting episode, there's not much to go on. Still, why did the Gamilons attack Earth for? Why would they be interested in a WWII Japanese battleship that's been either under the ocean (when that existed) or buried for 254-years? Then again, how historically accurate is this going to be since the Yamato exploded before sinking and is in two pieces on the bottom of the ocean? Why would people from Iscandar want to help Earth?

One side note. I couldn't help but think of Neon Genesis Evangelion when the underground city was shown. Maybe this classic anime is where the inspiration for the underground city in EVA came from.

Sasami: Magic Girl Club DVD Review

Sasami - Magical Girls Club: Season One
砂沙美☆魔法少女クラブ
Sasami: Mahou Shoujo Club

Being a Tenchi fan as most of you know, I am glad that AIC is still putting out new Tenchi titles, even if non-canon spinoffs. In the latest spinoff, AIC returns to the magic girl (mahou shoujo) genre with Sasami - Magical Girls Club. The characters Sasami, Washu, Ryo-ohki, and Mihoshi are brought over from Tenchi while the character of Misao is brought over from the Pretty Sammy series. How does it work? Surprisingly well.

Since magic girl titles are a dime a dozen in Japan, the production team had differentiate themselves somewhat from the pack while still making use use of the common elements of the genre (baton's, magical creatures, a magic world, girls in magic girl costume). One thing missing from this series are the dreaded henshin (transformation) sequences. I hate how most magic girl shows waste a lot of time going through these transformation sequences, so I'm very happy this one passes on that cliché.

Another thing missing from this series is a plot, though the groundwork is set to have one in Sasami - Magical Girls Club 2. Instead of a plot, the stories are character driven. The first four episodes are dedicated to introducing the different magic girls and their coming into the club. Then, we are given a 2-part episode to introduce us to the magical (witch) world, which is nothing fancy at all (something the characters remark on as well). It is here that Sasami-chan meets Ami-chan, a mysterious older boy who appears to be focal for a plot that will happen in the 2nd series.

The remaining stories are still character driven, including the final 2-part episode with the Magical Girl Tournament. Sometimes, the stories might focus on the group or on an individual character. Because the girls are all voiced by real-life girls in the Japanese version, they bring a stark realism to their characters that I have not felt before from an anime (the boys are still voiced by adult women). As much as I like YOKOYAMA Chisa as Sasami-chan in all of the previous Tenchi titles, she could not have done what OGAWA Mana did (or the other girls) in bringing that true child emotion there. Chisa has done a great job playing Sasami-chan, but Mana takes the character to a new place. Normally angst bothers me, but this time, the voice acting changed all that for me in this series. As such, I actually felt for Sasami as she went through her first crush/love. I also felt for Misao as she dealt with her shyness.

The series, while geared to a younger female audience, has some surprising things for older folks as well. I was surprised at how many laughs I found in the series. The writers do delve into some toilet humor (which I admit to finding the funniest stuff, but then I'm a guy), but by using the children seiyuu to deliver the jokes, the phrase "out of the mouth of babes" comes into play. Many of the jokes wouldn't have been as funny had real girls not been doing the Japanese voices.

The standout story for me is episode 10, which featured a very cute young girl who's parents are dead, causing her to live with her grandfather. That's sad enough as it is, but the production staff really brought home the emotion with their story. I admit that I had the sniffles by the time the episode was over. Having the loss of a parent or parents is not an uncommon anime or manga theme. Indeed, the character Tsukasa's mother has passed away. Normally, these things don't affect me, but the way this episode was presented really hit me. Maybe I'm just becoming a softy as I get older.

For those wondering about the new seiyuu doing the voices of Ryo-chan, Washu, and Mihoshi, they all do fine. I felt they captured some of the spirit of their predecessors without making it a pure copy presentation. I have never learned why AIC went with new seiyuu, but it isn't a problem here and I don't suspect the change in voice actors on the English dub side will present much of a problem either.

As to the DVDs from FUNimation, the case is a traditional hard-shell plastic case that is set up to hold two DVD's. I'm kinda glad they went this route because making a mini-box with two thin cases just doesn't work as well for me. The DVD cover is a reversible one, with the reverse-side artwork being the Japanese volume 1 cover. To bad the artwork from the other four volumes (yes, in Japan, the first series is a 5-disc purchase) couldn't have been included somehow.

There are no extras to speak of save textless music and ads. I miss not having the Japanese title screens for each episode. So those hardcore fans like myself have to settle for the English title screens. Hardcore fans will be happy to hear that the Japanese honorifics survive in the subtitles (normal practice for in-house translated FUNimation titles). The audio and visuals look fine to me, but then I'm not an audio or videophile.

Ultimately, Sasami is a wonderful little anime that sucked me in and made me really enjoy my time in this fantasy world, enough that I can see myself visiting again and again. This is not because I'm a Tenchi fan (indeed, one does not have to have seen ANYTHING Tenchi or Pretty Sammy to completely enjoy this), but because we have a nicely-written, laugh out loud funny at times, touching at times, sweet and relaxing set of stories. For the kids, I think they will enjoy it for what it is and for the adults (especially those watching with their kids), I think the series will make you feel like a kid again, even if only for a moment. I know it did for me.

Keroro Gunsou 55

ケロロ軍曹 Episode 55
Sgt. Frog anime, episode 55
Keroro Gunsou anime, episode 55

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Natsumi wakes up to find out that Giroro has planted giant, alien plants all over the city. Since Keroro can't control him, Natsumi decides to put an end to Giroro's actions. She encounters a couple of large plants which would eat her, but she defeats them. She's then snared by another large plant, but easily escapes it. She sees a band of small flowers, but in fact, they are an early alarm system for Giroro, who's on the Tokyo Tower. Natsumi climbs up the giant vines to get to Giroro but a giant Venus Fly Trap opens beneath her and she's nearly eaten. However, Keroro arrives to help. Natsumi uses him as a launch to send herself to Giroro and punch him. The platoon sprays herbicide on the plants and the city returns to normal. Natsumi confronts Giroro, saying she wants him close so she can keep an eye on him, so he returns to the Hinata home and is greeted by Neko.

Fuyuki gets a package from his grandma which contains carp kites (flags) and an old kids samurai helmet. While Keroro and company are very interested in this, Fuyuki feels he's too old. So Keroro rectifies this by shooting him with a gun that makes him a small kid again while Kururu makes the kites into craft. As such, Fuyuki is now enthused and after taking the samurai helmet from "Keroro Shogun," he tells the platoon it is time to take over the world. They start with a small playground but soon take over a large part of the city. The platoon get caught up as they appear to be finally making ground and agree to invade the Diet. However, when evening comes and the Japanese National Anthem is played, Fuyuki cries about being late and returns home. When Fuyuki is in bed, Natsumi and Aki-san talk about the events as Fuyuki will return to normal in the morning. Natsumi reveals that the aliens are now hanging from the poll, dressed in the carp kites.

Thoughts/Review: Well, I was wrong about one thing. I thought the anime might go for quite some time without picking up a manga story. However, the second story with "Keroro Shogun" and the younger Fuyuki was from the manga. It was funnier seeing the Keroro Shogun moment in the anime. Beyond that, pretty normal stuff. I did enjoy hearing the Japanese National Anthem played. We used to hear it every evening when I lived in Japan.

Ditto for the first story, where things just facilitate the return of Giroro to the platoon.

Now that FUNimation has the license for this series, I guess we can expect to see something possibly by year's end.

xxxHOLiC Kei 10

xxxHOLiC◆継 Episode 10

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: With all of the negative press on Kohane-chan, Watanuki decides to rescue her from her mother with Doumeki's help. Kohane-chan's mother is angry and trying to purify the girl. Despite the mother's wrath, Watanuki and Doumeki get her out, where Watanuki takes Kohane-chan to Yuuko-san's place. There, she has a relaxing bath with Mokona, Maru, and Moro. She shares a sushi feast with Yuuko-san and after Yuuko-san explains about giving thanks, she enjoys her meal and the antics of the others. She then spends the night at Yuuko-san's place.

The following morning, Watanuki is preparing breakfast. Kohane-chan tells him she's returning home because that's where she belongs. Watanuki reluctantly accepts this and gives her a dream balloon. She takes it home and uses it on her mother, who's been crying. With that, Kohane-chan pays a visit to the home with two ghosts (which she'd been ridiculed for seeing when others hadn't) and sees the female ghost off. A skeleton of the girl is found and suddenly Kohane-chan is not a villain to the press, which Watanuki has great difficulty understanding as he discusses the situation with Doumeki and Himawari-chan. Kohane-chan cuts her hair and before she and her mother move away, Watanuki gets one final visit with her to say goodbye and to witness Kohane-chan's dream come true.

Thoughts/Review: I can't remember the last time I saw Maru and Moro in the manga since CLAMP wrote them out of the story for now. I was reminded of this with the anime version of the conclusion of the Kohane-chan story (which of course had to be completely different since the manga Kohane-chan story is tied up with Tsubasa story and Kohane-chan appears to still have a role to play there). Still, for what it is worth, I the anime story conclusion works.

While I'm thinking about it, while the "Grey-san" characters (those non-descript background characters) aren't as annoying as "Black-san" characters, they are still annoying.

Dirty Pair OVA 09

ダーティペア OVA Episode 09
Dirty Pair OAV 09

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: A troop of rebel soldiers, anticipating an end to the war they are in, is attacked by a group of five superior soldiers who start slaughtering all the rebels. One of the rebels manages to nick one of the attackers in the ear with his shot before getting shot himself. The shot super soldier's ear starts to spark. Sometime later in the capital, Yuri and Kei show up to be briefed by the President on this case, where the attack by the five soldiers has ruined peace talks. Before they enter the President's office, an older, rich, perverted man exits and tries to embrace Yuri, who avoids the gun dealer. However, he manages to cop a feel of both Kei and Yuri's butt before leaving.

After being briefed, Yuri and Kei take a military vehicle into the ruined rebel city. They encounter an armed kid and stop, where the rebels surround the two girls. They show one of the rebel leaders that they are looking for the five soldiers that derailed the peace process. He takes them to the main rebel leader, Brast, who provides the duo with an armed escort into the jungle, where they nearly run over one of the soldiers they are looking for. However, he's clutching a photo of himself and family and the device on his head is sparking. Kei and Yuri realize the importance of this escape with him as the rebels come under attack from the other four soldiers.

When Kei and Yuri return back to the rebel base, they discover Masoho concluding a deal with Brast for making a delivery. Before taking off, he tries to get a look at their captured soldier, but they deny him access and he takes off, making a radio call. One of the rebel techs discovers the device on the soldier is controlling the soldier. However, the damage the device received is making is short out which is why the soldier has regained some control. Yuri works the equipment to try to give the soldier more control. Because of this, they learn the soldier's name is McMurphy and that he's not even from this planet, but had been kidnapped and the control device was installed by Masoho.

Masoho has ordered the remaining four soldiers to attack the rebels and they begin wiping out all the rebel forces. Though still having difficulties, McMurphy asks to be allowed to take care of this problem. He exits the building and with a couple of grenades, taking out to of the four soldiers and himself. Kei and Yuri manage to get the best of the two remaining soldiers, but now, everyone is dead. Kei and Yuri want revenge, so as Masoho leaves the planet with a fleet, the Lovely Angel intercepts them. Kei and Yuri exit their ship in EVA suits and rocket launchers, where they then take revenge on the advancing fleet.

Thoughts/Review: The problem with this episode was that the moment Masoho showed up at the rebel base after having been at the government office (where I figured he would have something to do with the problems on this planet), I knew he was the one behind keeping the war going. That kind of made the whole rest of the story an exercise in going through the motions.

Also, what happened with Lovely Angel's weapons? Seriously, do you attack a fleet of ships by exiting your ship in EVA suits and rocket launchers? Apparently that's how we do things now, y'all.

Too bad these episodes are written so poorly at times.

Ah! My Goddess Ch. 232 *SPOILERS*

Ah! My Goddess Manga/Oh My Goddess! Manga
ああっ女神さまっVolume 37 Chapter 232

Summary/Synopsis: Belldandy sings a recovery spell for Chrono, which Chihiro questions, leading Keiichi to make up a story which Chihiro believes. After making an unintended insult to Chihiro's shop, Chrono then flubs up her greeting. Belldandy tries to help but flubs it up to and can't get it right. She then remembers that she broke the Melody Ball and races out to recover the program inside. She can't find it and is depressed about how clumsy she is and how much of a failure she is. Belldandy comes up and buys her a soft-serve ice cream cone, which cheers Chrono temporarily.

Chrono explains to Belldandy that she was supposed to deliver the Melody Ball with the Note Tuner Program so that Belldandy could sing it. Belldandy assures Chrono that no one is without mistakes and it is how people deal with their mistakes that is important. This cheers Chrono.

Keiichi comes home to find Chrono waiting for him with a greeting. Urd tells the naive Chrono that she was supposed to address Keiichi as "master" in the greeting. Keiichi learns exactly what has happened and wonders what the problem is. According to Belldandy, if they don't recover the program, songs will disappear from the world.

Thoughts/Review: I see Fujishima-sensei has decided to go down the "Baka Bell" road. {hick voice} "Hey, its funny when Belldandy is stupider than a squashed apricot. Hyuck!hyuck!hyuck! Hey! I just got me a better idear. Let's make Chrono even dumber. That'd be a hoot, y'all."

No, it is not funny, Fujishima-sensei. I know the anime production team thinks it is, but it isn't.

I don't dig the angst-filled goddess who's always screwing up. That said, I figure there are people who can relate to Chrono's problem though. Fortunately, I'm not one of them. ^_~

Oh well. You know I'll keep reading though. ^_^;

Macross Frontier 15

マクロスF Episode 15
Macross F Ep. 15
Macross Frontier Anime

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Grace is in the medical tube and communing with others before being brought online (for lack of a better term). Discussion of their mission dealing with the Macross Frontier, the Songstress of the Galaxy (codenamed Fairy-9, aka: Sheryl Nome), and Ranka (codenamed Code Q-1, aka: Queen). Meanwhile on the Macross Frontier, Leon briefs the president on their resource losses during the last Vajra attack and mildly rebukes the president for smoking since they lost so much air. The president feels his smoking is the least of their worries.

In the hospital, Sheryl has a blood sample taken which Grace swaps for a fake one, using her cybernetic abilities to do so. Sheryl is also a bit depressed about Ranka's rising star now that footage of her appearance on Gallia 4 has been found and released. Grace comforts Sheryl before leaving her room and going to the hospital roof. There, she remarks on Sheryl's strength and how Sheryl shouldn't be alive. With that, she proclaims Project Fairy a failure while setting her sights on he Queen (Ranka). She then drops the vial of blood onto the street below, where a small cleaning robot removes the mess.

Elsewhere, Ozama and Cathy are discussing the situation and Alto's summoning to the SMS owner, Mr. Bilrer. Ozama doesn't like how things are, especially since it is confirmed that the mystery fighter is Brera's. Cathy knows Ozama suspects her father (the president), so she tells him that she has done her own investigation and knows that her father is not involved. Ozama and Cathy both reach the same conclusion -- Cathy's boyfriend and presidential aid Leon must be behind things that have been happening. For his part, Leon reflects on how he's scored a strike with Ranka.

Back at the hospital, Alto pays Sheryl a visit. She's happy by this, but less happy to see that Ranka is with him. As the news airs discovered footage of Ranka's performance for the Zentradi on Gallia 4, the three head to a balcony. Ranka is embarrassed by the footage of herself singing, so Sheryl decides to take some advantage of the situation with Alto. Ranka ends up countering as the two girls are putting Alto on the spot. He decides to thank them both for their help to him before two security people from the president's office arrive for Ranka. At the same time, Alto receives his official summons to see the SMS owner.

Grace observes Alto reach his destination from a distance as she and Brera head for Leon's office. Ranka is there and Leon tells her that she may have the key to defeat the Vajra with song. As such, Ranka is being put on a special project. Grace and Brera enter with Grace being the project leader and Brera her bodyguard. Meanwhile, Alto finally meets the owner of the SMS, the Zentradi named Richard Bilrer.

Thoughts/Review: Initially, there was intrigue for me about how Grace, Leon, & Brera all fit into this story. Now, it just comes off as some massive conspiracy that after years of plotting, planning, and scheming is finally possibly paying fruit. I hate conspiracy theories and that has clouded my opinion of this episode.

That aside, what the smeg is this all about anyway?

As to the episode, I see my fellow bloggers call it a recap episode. In some ways that is true and in some ways it isn't. There's certainly an amount of reused animation and a recap as far as things go concerning Ranka and Sheryl from an outsiders (I guess the people yacking about it are cyborgs like Grace) . The writers pushed the love-triangle almost to a head with Alto between both Sheryl and Ranka. However, with Brera being assigned to Ranka as bodyguard, who knows what will happen.

The president went up in my eyes with his reaction to Leon's remarks about pollution. Just blow more smoke because pollution WILL be the least of the worries if the Vajra attack.

I liked the nod to Lin Minmei in this episode. Ranka is very much like Lin, only not annoying. ^_^

I think I may understand the SMS a bit better with the Zentradi Richard Bilrer being in charge. For some odd reason, it made sense to me in a weird sort of way. We'll see where the writers that this.

Since the Zentradi SMS Pixie pilot Raramia Rerenia was apparently killed last episode, I am disappointed that when we see Klan, she's in happy mode nursing Micheal back to to health. I would have liked for the writers to have at least touched on Raramia Rerenia's passing.

Keroro Gunsou 54

ケロロ軍曹 Episode 54
Sgt. Frog anime, episode 54
Keroro Gunsou anime, episode 54

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: After hearing about how Fuyuki solved a mystery at school, Keroro feels his deductive skills are superior. As such, he lays out how Natsumi sliced her finger in Home Ec class while thinking of "Saburo-senpai" (Mutsumi). However, Keroro pushes his luck too far when Natsumi realizes he's reading from her diary. With this, Keroro launches a new plan to found a detective agency and to do this, the platoon will enlist the help of Kogoro, the Space Detective. However, arriving at Kogoro and Lavie's tiny apartment, Keroro sees through the keyhole that Kogoro is unconscious on the floor.

After Moa breaks the door and Lavie arrives, the space ambulance carries Kogoro off while Keroro decides to solve this dastardly crime. He summons Natsumi and Fuyuki to the apartment where he accuses Fuyuki of being the one to lay out Kogoro with a piece of tofu. However, Fuyuki has an alibi and in the end, Keroro's deductions end up pointing back at himself. So, Keroro accuses Natsumi using some funky math, but again finds his deductions rebound to point to himself. Finally, Keroro accuses the creator of the 1st season OP theme, "Kero! to March" as being the culprit, but again, Keroro seems to be the criminal. Fuyuki takes over and determines that Kogoro had been making Tofu, ate too much, and pass out. Kogoro returns to confirm this and as everyone leaves, Lavie repeatedly apologizes for her brother.

In the 2nd story, Dororo has been training while the platoon join Natsumi and Fuyuki at Grandma Hinata's house to help with the farming. As such, they plant rice in the fields as Dororo watches. Koyuki joins him, wondering if he doesn't want to rejoin his friends. Seeing Keroro planting rice makes Dororo think that Keroro has turned a new leaf, thus he must too. After the planting is done, Grandma Hinata tells how an oni is supposedly in the woods nearby. This excites Fuyuki, who gets Keroro and Tamama to join him in a search. After talking with Koyuki, Dororo decides to return to the platoon. However, his entrance is marred by the return of Giroro, who's decided not to take any more orders from Keroro and do the invasion his own way. Even when Natsumi arrives on the scene, Giroro won't be dissuaded. Dororo's featured story has been ruined.

Thoughts/Review: The new OP and ED themes are growing on me. ^_^ I may have to pick up the soundtrack.

As for the first story, it was pretty amusing with everything rebounding back on Keroro. I'm guessing that the first detective Keroro was dressed as was Sherlock Holmes. I've no clue who the Japanese detective Keroro was supposed to be dressed up as. I suppose it could have been Zenigata Heiji but I've no way of knowing for sure at this point. The second story finally had Dororo, Giroro, and Koyuki-chan return. I still don't like the jokes about the forgotten Dororo. They aren't funny to me. I was surprised that Giroro returned in this episode though, but that too was part of the joke since the story was supposed to be about Dororo.

So, we have two reasonably entertaining stories but nothing that special.

Dirty Pair OVA 08

ダーティペア OVA Episode 08
Dirty Pair OAV 08

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: The space cruise ship, White Swan, comes under attack by masked gunman who gas the passengers to death. One, Dr. Nea, races to his daughters quarters and takes her to a cold sleep escape pod along with her stuff animal dog (from which a microchip fell out of in her room as they escaped). A gunman arrives on the scene and gets unmasked by Dr. Nea, causing Tia to react with surprised recognition. Dr. Nea jettisons the escape pod before dying, where it is found 20-years later by Kei and Yuri on a small asteroid after receiving its signal.

Returning to 3WA HQ, Kei and Yuri are joined by Madam Beryl and briefed on the White Swan incident, which Madam Beryl had been assigned to in her active days and which case remained unsolved as to who attacked the ship. Kei and Yuri are assigned to the case now that the only surviving witness has been found and given the one clue from the scene -- the number 42731 which Dr. Nea wrote before dying. Kei volunteers to sit with Tia and try to obtain information from her. She tries to win Tia over by doing different things, including head first. The young girl will not speak and Kei is frustrated when she leaves and joins Yuri. Yuri has been doing some research and discovered that Dr. Nea's partner, Bill Jones, is still alive. He'd been investigated by Madam Beryl previously and found to have had an alibi.

Kei and Yuri take Tia to the J.C. Headquarters where Bill works. Bill is stunned to see Tia alive and when he introduces himself to Tia as "Bill-oniichan," she has a negative reaction and hides behind Kei. Bill asks to be allowed to keep the girl, but Kei and Yuri refuse the offer considering the active case. They leave and Bill makes a call to have a hit made on the trio. As Yuri drives, Kei sits in the back with Tia. Yuri and Kei are discussing things when they are ambushed by another vehicle and nearly sent off the overpass as a result. The shooter gets away.

Realizing they are on to something, Kei and Yuri take Tia to the shipyard where the White Swan is parked. Wearing environmental suits equipped with jet packs (as the ship has no power and no gravity), the trio begin to explore when Tia takes off. Kei and Yuri follow Tia to her old bedroom, where she retrieves the microchip that had fallen from her stuffed dog. Inserting it into the toy, who opens up the nose and presses a code, which causes the dog to talk. Kei and Yuri suddenly know what 42731 is for and use that code on the toy. Sure enough, Dr. Nea's voice is heard, where he reveals his suspicions that Bill is planning to kill him.

A ship arrives and attacks the White Swan and the trio barely make it out in time before the ship is completely destroyed. Kei and Yuri take Tia and the stuffed dog to confront Bill in his office. When they play the message, he angrily knocks the dog off his desk, leading Tia to rush to get it. Bill grabs Tia and now has a hostage with which to make an escape. Kei and Yuri give chase but are unable to nab Bill. Yuri gets stranded trying to make a leap and Kei ends up losing her weapon when she gets close and Bill threatens to kill Tia. Tia sees Kei signal her and uses Kei's roll to escape from Bill on a bridge over a pool of circuit fluid. Kei disarms Bill, but not before the gun goes off, taking out the bridge and sending him into the pool to die. Yuri arrives just before the section containing Tia and Kei gives out and pulls them to safety.

The case solved, Tia is given over to Madam Beryl's custody as guardian. Kei says goodbye to the still silent Tia, who responds by doing another head first roll to Kei. She then grabs her stuffed dog and leaves with Madam Beryl, leaving Yuri and Chief Gooley stunned at what just happened.

Thoughts/Review: So, Yuri reads "Playgirl," eh? I got a chuckle out of that and Mughi's reactions for some reason.

Unfortunately, this episode had Yuri and Kei be a couple of world class non-thinkers after being cautious before. Seriously, why would you confront the chief suspect in your case while bringing the chief (child) witness who might be killed at worst or even hurt. Well, there wouldn't have been a 2nd-half to the anime had the writers made Kei and Yuri play things smart. Oh well.

Not that Bill was that smart. First, he lets Dr. Nea write some numbers. Then he lets an escape pod actually escape. So I guess there's enough brain farts to go around.

Kagetora Manga Volume 10

Kagetora Manga Volume 10
カゲトラ Volume 10

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Chapter 43 sees Kagetora decide to take Yuki to his village for a trip to his mother's grave. However, his father has returned and has words for Kagetora. In chapter 44, Kagetora confesses his love to Yuki and she to him. Sakuya learns of this and encourages Kagetora to not stop being Yuki's oyakume, but for the couple to keep things secret. Kagetora and Yuki visit Kagetora's mother's grave in chapter 45 where Yuki has some private time to say something at the grave site. The two miss their stop on returning home and end up going on a date to a temple.

Chapter 46 sees Sousuke learn of Kagetora and Yuki's relationship. Yuki and Kagetora learn that Aki is now dating Kujou. Meanwhile, Kaya is sent by Yuki's grandmother to also be Yuki's oyakume after Yuki's mother sees Yuki's improved skills. In chapter 47, Kaya tests Kagetora at school and loses. She reports to Yuki's mother that Kagetora is doing a great job as oyakume. Kagetora is summoned by Yuki's mother, who compliments him on his fine job and then tells him his job as oyakume is over. She then orders him to return to his village and await his next assignment.

The omake chapter shows how Kagetora got Sousuke as an animal partner.

Thoughts/Review: I'm glad that Kagetora and Yuki are now a couple. Granted, this was the expected outcome but when it finally happens, it is a nice moment. I'm guessing that Yuki's mother sending Kagetora away is her way of clearing the path so that Kagetora and Yuki can be a couple.

Speaking of couples, I'm glad that Segami-sensei made Aki and Kujou a couple. That was hinted at last volume when Aki showed she had respect for Kujou. Aki has been a character that has changed most. She started out as a tough-girl character who seemed to have a lesbian crush on Yuki in the first volume. Indeed, I see Aki-Yuki-Kagetora as the first love-triangle of the manga which then dissolves before Segami-sensei introduces the next person to add to Yuki and Kagetora for a love-triangle.

One thing I enjoy about this manga is the light-hearted nature of it. Even when Kagetora or Yuki ponder their feelings for each other, we don't get bogged down in angst, long-standing misunderstandings, or other things that might put me off. As such, this is a manga who's world I don't mind returning to again, even if there's nothing deep to it.

One more volume and the manga is over.

Negima! Manga Vol 24 (Ch 220) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 24 Chapter 220 (manga)

Summary/Synopsis: Paru shows off her ship, which she calls Great Paru-sama. The ship can be used to by Negima-dan as a hideout, though the sleeping quarters are a bit cramped. Since the ship is worth 150,000DP, Asakura wonders if they could sell it to help with paying off the slave debt of Akira, Natsumi, and Ako. Paru rejects this outright.

Upon returning to the "dock" (for lack of a better term), Asuna confronts Negi about his strange appearance and technique, having observed him perfectly from a great distance. When she learns that this is dark magic that Negi is using, she gets worried, telling him to never use it. Chisame interrupts, telling Asuna that Negi made the choice to protect them and that he did this after taking into consideration Asuna's objections. While Negi isn't worried about Magia Erebea since Eva used it without problem, Asuna figures Negi is lying. That said, she remembers that she decided to support and back Negi no matter what and the rest of Negima-dan agrees to support Negi as well.

Elsewhere, Makie and Yuuna arrive on Ostia with Johnnie-san and begin to enjoy the festivities. In the skies, Yue is finishing getting ready as the Battle Maiden Knight Squad are assembled on deck, where they will soon meet the governor of Ostia.

Negi goes off to meet with Jack, who's seated on the edge of the floating island. Jack tells Negi a tale of the Kingdom of Vespertatia and the Twilight Imperial Princess (with her powerful magic cancel ability -- Asuna) and the tragedy that caused so many of the floating islands to crash to the ground. Despite all that Nagi did during the war, he was unable to protect a single country, and a single weak little girl. As such, Jack asks Negi to protect Asuna, then thinking about it further (because Negi now knows the Magia Erebea), tells Negi to protect all of the people in his charge.

Thoughts/Review: Heh! As expected, Asuna is much older than she appears. When the first spoilers of this came out, there were a lot of apparently disappointed American fans who'd argued that there was no way that Asuna was older than 15. Now we know she's older than 20.

One thing I found most interesting is Jack pointing out Nagi's failure to protect Asuna or the Kingdom of Vespertatia. I think it is pretty safe to assume that Asuna caused all of the floating islands to crash with her ability. Certainly, that would be a good reason for Jack to have Negi give Asuna medicine to keep her memories suppressed so that she doesn't lose control and cause an even greater disaster. Her abilities would seem to be able to remove all magic, which would seem to put Fate in a tough spot if push came to shove.

Now, if Negi is Nagi as I suspect, then this would be his way of continuing to try to protect Asuna while at the same time learning new things that he didn't bother to learn previously (remember, Nagi needed a spell book for most spells), to say nothing of Magia Erebea. Whatever event caused Nagi to disappear 10-years ago would likely be related to whatever group Fate belongs to.

Plus, if Negi is Nagi, with Asuna being older than she looks, their being a couple is no longer an issue. ^_~

Where oh where is Anya? With Yue close by, one would think that Chachamaru would soon detect her. We'll see how that goes.

No chapter next week, so fans go into a 2-week Negima! withdrawal. *lol*

Slayers REVOLUTION 03

スレイヤーズREVOLUTION Anime episode 03

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: A rich woman walking her poodle by the lake at night is horrified to find the dog disappears into the lake after jumping in. In town during the day, Lina and Gourry are at a restaurant engaged in an eating contest with the loser picking up the tab as Amelia and Zelgadiss watch in resignation. Lina is getting close to winning the contest when Wiser arrives and flings one end of a long-chained handcuff on Lina, attaching the other to himself. He accuses her of being a serial pet abductor and when the patrons of the restaurant hear Lina's name, they flee in terror thanks to the rumors that Wiser has planted.

Wiser presents his case of missing pets in the hopes that Lina will be touched and confess. Lina gets angry at being accused and punches Wiser through the roof into the sky. However, since she's chained to him, she goes flying as well. Still chained together, Wiser and Lina along with Gourry, Amelia and Zelgadiss are going to investigate (Lina in it for the money in addition to proving her innocence). However, the townspeople refuse to talk to any of them and Wiser denies having spoken to these people. Gourry discovers some animal tracks heading for the lake where in the center, a small island with twin towers is.

That night, they take a boat into the lake when they are attacked by a giant jelly fish. Lina is about to counter with a fireball, but Wiser prevents her from doing so, stating this is just a ruse by Lina to have her creation attack. The boat is destroyed and Lina is left to fly both Wiser (to whom she's still chained) and Gourry out while Amelia and Zelgadiss fly themselves. Because of their weight, Lina decides to send Gourry to the jellyfish to buy the rest of them time to flee. When they arrive on the island, they are attacked by lesser demons. So, Lina leaves them to Amelia and Zelgadiss to fight while she drags Wiser to the twin towers.

Inside, Lina and Wiser are attacked by lesser demons which Lina dispatches. She thinks that Wiser has seen enough to know she's innocent but Wiser states that this means that Lina is the boss of a massive criminal organization bent on world domination. Lina send Wiser flying through a door which in the process removes the cuff from her wrist. Through the door, Lina discovers a large chimera lab and the mage responsible for the pet abductions. However, Wiser is out so Lina cannot show the real culprit. The mage sends some chimera at Lina, but she takes them all out. The mage then brings out the pets, now chimeras, but Lina takes them out as well, however she does not kill them as they were pets.

The mage summons Death Chimera Tarou to fight Lina. This chimera has defenses against magic attacks, so Lina is going to be forced to do something more. Before she can, she hears Gourry as the giant jellyfish bursts through the wall. It takes out Tarou as Gourry is on top of the jellyfish, having become good friends with the creature. It even rescued Zelgadiss and and Amelia from the army of lesser demons buy. The jellyfish then spits out Zel and Amelia, who are covered in slobber and wondering if it would have been better to die in the fight with the lesser demons.

The mage tries to get away, but is arrested by Wiser. The mage can't believe it since a prince in Ruvinagald is behind his works and is supposed to be protecting him. Lina understands now that Wiser was using her to get to this mage. Because of the prince's protection, Wiser could not go after the mage directly, but if he discovered the mage while pursuing another case (Lina Inverse), then he could make the arrest with no problem. Wiser claims to not know what Lina is talking about, but Lina knows better and he has her respect. Meanwhile, the pets are returned to their owners, but they are still chimeras.

Thoughts/Review: Hmmm. This episode wasn't quite up to the first two for me thought still enjoyable. I have to say, Wiser began to really, REALLY annoy me. I was afraid that we were in for a lengthy spell of, "I'm arresting you for being Lina Inverse and you are responsible for every bad thing that happens in Ruvinagald. Fortunately, it seems Wiser was just using Lina to catch someone else (at least this episode). If we never see him again, it won't bother me. However, who knows if the prince behind the mage making chimeras will be behind other things.

The fun? Gourry and Lina's eating contest. It is an old joke, but I can't help but chuckle every time. Lina punishing Wiser by punching him into the air, only to have herself dragged along was amusing as well. I also got a chuckle out of Gourry befriending the giant jellyfish.

The animation was down this week as was the story, but not every episode can be a home run.

Next episode sees the return of Digimon Pokota.

You're Under Arrest! Full Throttle 17

Taiho Shichauzo! Full Throttle Episode 17
逮捕しちゃうぞ フルスロットル Episode 17
You're Under Arrest anime

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: It is evening and as Miyuki finishes the snacks, Natsumi gets wasted on one beer, much to Miyuki's surprise. Since this is not normal, Miyuki checks and discovers Natsumi is running a fever. Miyuki comes in late the following day as she takes care of Natsumi. She's briefed by Tokuno-san and Kachou about a new bugler with the English name "Spider" who's able to leap from building to building and climb up-down buildings to access luxury apartments for robbery. Since Natsumi is out, Tokuno-san is a bit worried about the plan to have Miyuki do her part to keep an eye open for the criminal, but there's no helping it.

As Aoi-chan and Yoriko discuss Natsumi's illness and dreams, Natsumi first dreams of going to a luxury restaurant and deciding to try everything on the menu. However, she soon discovers that the restaurant is completely out of food. Waking up hungry, Natsumi discovers that her fridge is empty, meaning no making any food. Natsumi then dreams she spots an expensive sports car violating road rules and uses her Motocompo to stop it. However, she discovers that inside sits a laughing Strike Man and she can't open the door of the car. She wakes up and in hunger, tries to open a jar of pickles, but cannot do so. In her third dream, she's climbing a cliff and sees Strike Man, who taunts her. She gives chase and comes to a cabin, where she opens the door and finds Strike Man waiting for her.

Elsewhere, Miyuki and her partner are doing some patrolling and checking with residence who might be targets or who'd been previously robbed. Aoi-chan and Yoriko decide to pay Natsumi a visit while Miyuki spots Spider on the move. She and her partner give chase on the road below but eventually, Spider loses them on the roofs. Miyuki sees Natsumi's Motocompo in the back of their mini-patrol car and wishes Natsumi was here.

Natsumi has awoken from her third dream and steps out on her balcony where she spots someone prowling around on a balcony on a floor above her. Spider sees he's been spotted and he takes off to the elevator and heads to the first floor. Natsumi races down the stairs and makes it to the first floor just in time. However, when the doors open, there's no one. Natsumi feels ill and remembers her 3rd dream and looks up to see Spider clinging to the ceiling. Natsumi stumbles inside the elevator as the doors close and Spider drops to the floor. Spider is going to take out Natsumi but her sneeze takes him out. The doors open and the criminal falls out while Natsumi collapses as Aoi-chan and Yoriko arrives on scene.

Aoi-chan and Yoriko get food for Natsumi, who feels revived now. Aoi-chan hears Natsumi's complete adventure, to include the dreams and states the dreams are premonition. Natsumi returns to work the following day all happy, but as she and Miyuki enter the office, they discover everyone is sick. Apparently, Natsumi gives her illness to Aoi-chan and Yoriko, who in turn gave it to everyone else. In jail, Spider also finds himself sid.

Thoughts/Review: When Natsumi had her dream, I hoped that she'd find Shouji in them since he's been MIA in this new series (which sucks). Strike Man was an unexpected surprise though and for the story, that worked well.

Still, the episode reminded me of one of the elements that has been so lacking this time around -- heart. You're Under Arrest! 2 had heart in it. I liked Shouji and Natsumi's relationship and the anime dealing with them gave that series heart. I liked Saori-chan because she'd come over from the first series and as an officer, gave a fresh look to the police department. She helped provide heart as she learned the ropes. Nakajima's dad and young step-mom also helped add to that heart, as did the addressing of the Nakajima-Miyuki romance (though it was frustrating that so little progress was made).

You're Under Arrest! Full Throttle has no heart. Thus far, I would compare it more to the 2nd TV series, You're Under Arrest! Specials. The only difference is that (1) Full Throttle has full episodes while Specials has shorts with one full episode and (2) Miyuki isn't a loser in Full Throttle. What I'm getting at is that Full Throttle just goes through the motions with the characters, but there's no depth, no heart, no character growth, and not much else to make me care. Unlike the 4th Slayers TV series, where the writers appear to be trying to get things right, the 4th YUA! TV series has the writers unconcerned about getting it right.

I'll keep plugging along as I'm able in the name of fairness and completeness. However, I don't hold much hope that things will get any better.

Hoshi wa Utau Manga Volume 2

星は歌う Volume 2 (manga)
Twinkle Stars Manga Vol. 2
(Twinkle Stars Like Singing a Song)

SPOILER Summary: Chapter 6 has Sakuya deal with Chihiro-kun's transferring to her school. Chihiro-kun makes it clear he wants nothing to do with Sakuya, but when she returns his gift to her and he tosses it out the window, Sakuya decides she can't bear to part with the gift. In chapter 7, Chihiro-kun is pretty popular, but Sei-chan manages to get him away and join herself, Yuuri, and a dismayed Sakuya. To make matters worse, Sei-chan convinces Chihiro-kun to attend their club's presentation, which Sakuya will be giving. Sakuya gives her presentation in chapter 8, which is not only visited by Chihiro-kun, but others as well. This leads to a change of attitude by Chihiro-kun toward Sakuya.

Chapter 9 has Chihiro-kun return to his hating on Sakuya. Yuuri gets into a fight (I think defending Sakuya). Despite everything, Sakuya accepts Chihiro-kun into the club and despite his protests, he does spend time with the group. Sei-chan confronts Chihiro-kun for his treatment of Sakuya in chapter 10 as the rainy season forces a cancellation of a club event. In chapter 11, the club meeting is back on at Sei-chan's house. Sakuya has to escort the reluctant Chihiro-kun to Sei-chan's large home where Sei-chan reveals she has a mini planetarium for home use.

Thoughts: I really don't know what to make of Hoshi wa Utau. The strangeness of Chihiro-kun's arrival, the fact that the manga is about "stars" ("hoshi"), and the fact that Sakuya's club is star watching makes one thing that Chihiro-kun is a star or something. This tankoubon seems to imply that as well.

I'm not really a fan of this unrequited love thing. In School Rumble, I'm fine with it because of the comedy aspect. Here, Takaya-sensei has written things more for a shoujo market than she did for Fruits Basket (or at least, when Furuba started). So with that in mind, I understand why she's has Sakuya get all happy at the least little crumb that comes from Chihiro-kun, to include something like escorting him to a star watching club event at Sei-chan's house. However, Chihiro-kun is just so unlikable. From someone who's well past his angst-filled days of having an unrequited love, I cannot find myself feeling for Sakuya's poor choice of whom she fell in love with.

While I do kinda like Sakuya now, Sei-chan still is the star of this manga for me. She's the one element that adds an element of fun to what would otherwise be a dreary manga for me.

Since Hoshi wa Utau is a monthly manga, only two volumes will be published a year. The materials for volume 3 have been published in Hana to Yume, so I may go ahead and read/blog that, or I may just wait for the manga tankoubon to be officially released in Japan. I haven't decided yet. That said, I will proceed on despite the fact that this manga isn't something that I would want to re-read at this point.

xxxHOLiC Manga Volume 12

xxxHOLiC Manga Volume 12

SPOILER Thoughts/Review: For some reason, I neglected to read several of the chapters in volume 12 when they came out in Japan. So it was a delight to read this manga and have a few surprises (not that I mind reading ahead, mind you, because I'm still doing that) in store for me.

The focus of volume 12 is dreams. It is very difficult to tell what is real and what isn't. I say "real," but CLAMP has written this and say, "Yeah, dreams can become real too." Indeed, Watanuki asks Yuuko-san a very important question at one point -- is this your dream or is this my dream? Of course, Yuuko-san's answer of "It is the same thing" just makes me want to scream, not in rage, but in an "GAH! Could you muddy the waters up some more, please?"

Sakura-chan from Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE shows up in this volume a few times as she's sent her soul into the dream world. Her being here and communicating with Watanuki is interesting and makes me think that maybe she and Syaoran are actually Watanuki's parents somehow. Hey, as whacked as the two manga titles are, anything is possible. Regardless, I got a chuckle out of the translators insistence that one doesn't need to read Tsubasa. Technically, that's true, but if you've never read the volumes of Tsubasa (18 & 19 I believe) in which Sakura's soul goes into the dream world, her blathering about her companions would not only be mostly meaningless, it would be "BORRR-RING!" (Note: said in a Homer Simpson voice.)

The story with Kohane-chan is advanced a bit in this chapter. The thing that has surprised me about how CLAMP has handled Kohane-chan is that they continue to evolve the story slowly. For Himawari-chan's story, it made sense for it to progress slowly because she is a main character. Kohane-chan is not a main character, so I didn't expect her to continue to be around. That said, I like Kohane-chan and seeing where she goes from here will be most interesting so I'm glad to have this story-arc continue.

Finally, there's Yuuko-san. I really liked her reaction when Watanuki asked her if he could grant her wish, whatever that might be. It was a nice moment and shows how far Watanuki has come as a character. I wonder what her wish is?

Bottom line: another good manga volume in the xxxHOLiC line. While the dream theme makes things disorienting at times and Sakura-chan's appearances may confuse those who haven't read Tsubasa, there's still plenty of good stuff to be found in volume 12.

Keroro Gunsou 53

ケロロ軍曹 Episode 53
Sgt. Frog anime, episode 53
Keroro Gunsou anime, episode 53

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Natsumi and Fuyuki are watching a TV program on alien connections to Earth landmarks. Keroro hears this and figures this is previous aliens who had invaded. So he enlists Fuyuki to aid him, Kururu, and Tamama to check out these sites. First up are the Great Pyramids. After an investigation on site, Kururu determines that the aliens from Nigeru's 5th planet had created the Great Pyramids to be a haunted house. Next up is Machu Picchu, which surely must be an ancient space port. Instead, it is the remains of an alien jest coaster. Stonehenge turned out to be a giant stove for cooking. Easter Island turned out to be a Whac-a-Mole game. Depressed, Keroro returns with the others to the Hinata home, with an Easter Island head as a souvenir.

Moa-chan returns from wherever she was at and immediately begins trying to destroy the Earth again. However, her blows cause all the sakura to fall off the cherry trees, interfering with Keroro's current invasion plan. Keroro tries to get Kururu to help restore the cherry blossoms, but he's not interested. Moa has a way, but hearing this makes Kururu suddenly interested in helping. As Keroro and Fuyuki go through various steps from a Japanese children's story, Kururu arrives with his invention. However, it will require Moa-chan to make a sacrifice of the one she loves. She sacrifices this in the furnace so that the resulting ash causes the sakura to bloom again. Keroro is happy until he touches a sakura petal and feels great pain and loss. That's because Moa-chan is burning all of Keroro's Gunpla.

Thoughts/Review: I knew they would go to Easter Island in this episode. That will conflict with a future manga story (future in terms of the anime production). However, I'm sure the writers will come up with some way to deal with this and not ignore it since Alisa-chan is in it. Still, it was amusing to see how these famous landmarks were simply used for alien amusement or cooking.

Moa-chan returns (finally). No Giroro though or Dororo. I wonder why the writers went this way for the show. I don't see a reason to re-introduce all the characters again.

There weren't a lot of laughs here, but the rapid-grow tree moment was pretty funny.

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that the 2nd season will be mostly anime-original episodes. We'll see how they hold up.

Dirty Pair OVA 07

ダーティペア OVA Episode 07
Dirty Pair OAV 07

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Hard Muscle (known on the street as "Hustle") is a new drug whereby the user injects himself and gains muscle mass as well as a lack of pain. However, the use of Hustle has also seen an increase in the number of violent crimes and murders. Yuri and Kei wonder why they are being assigned to a drug case when it should go to law enforcement. However, the crime syndicate that controls Hustle is run by a muscle-bound woman named Sandra. She had been in the 3WA training program at the same time as Yuri and Kei but had not been selected to become a Trouble Consultant. Because of her 3WA connections, 3WA wants to handle this, thus "Dirty Pair" get the job.

Kei poses as someone working the underground fight scene and finds herself in a cage match with a large, muscly man named Mad Bull. Because Mad Bull is on Hustle, nothing Kei does even slows the man down. Yuri, who's in the audience, tells Kei to use her Shock Ring. Despite the name, the Shock Ring actually is a hand weapon used with a fist attack that delivers a powerful electric shock on impact. Kei provides the punch into Mad Bull's mouth, and he's down for the count. Yuri goes shopping while Kei is at a nearby bar as bait to try to find someone to sell her Hustle.

Because of Mad Bull's loss, a henchman races to inform "Sandra-sama" of this. A camera in the bar shows Kei and Sandra immediately recognizes her. She tells her underling that she'll deal with Kei but in the meantime, the Hustle factory, which is in fact a large spaceship, is to be prepared to relocate. As such, the bartender offers Kei a drink on the house with a thing of Hustle inside. When Kei asks for more, the bartender arranges for her to be taken to a place to make an order. Kei is taken blindfolded to the place and Yuri is not far behind on her hover bike. When they arrive at the location, Kei learns that this was all a trap. She's in the ring (as "Ms. Kei") and forced to fight Sandra for the amusement of Sandra's people.

Kei does what she can to survive while Yuri tries to make her way up the mountain to where Kei is. Yuri comes under attack by some small security drones but manages to make her way inside the factory. Because of their communication earrings, Yuri knows that Kei is in trouble, but still has to be careful not to get caught herself. As such, she gases a large number of men watching the match in a control room. However, it is here that Yuri learns that the factory is in fact a space craft and as such will need to be taken out of commission.

Kei manages to escape with Sandra in pursuit while Yuri sets up a bomb. However, Kei is soon caught and injured by Sandra, who's still angry over not having been selected to be a Trouble Consultant when she saw herself as better than Kei and Yuri. Meanwhile, Yuri comes under attack and is temporarily blinded by this. She's unable to set the bomb and begins to blindly fire an automatic weapon. The injured Kei arrives to help Yuri but before Kei can set the detonator, both are tossed off the balcony they'd been on by the rumbling of the ship's engines coming to life. Since Kei can't life the rocket launcher due to her injury, Yuri does that for her with Kei's eyes being used to target the bomb. They fire the rocket and set off the bomb which destroys the engines.

Sandra is only mildly hurt by the explosion and is enraged as she attacks. Because of this, Kei and Yuri (both having recovered from their impairments) are able to dodge the attack. Further, Kei uses Sandra's momentum to send her through the window, where Sandra falls down to the valley below. The case now resolved, Yuri teases Kei for a remark she made about simplicity, implying Kei is a simpleton. With that, Kei chases Yuri across the planet's surface.

Thoughts/Review: Clearly, Hustle can be seen as an allegory for the issue with anabolic steroids. I'm not sure just how bad the issue was seen in the late 80's, but some quick research on my part showed that for the U.S. at least, in 1990, the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990 was passed. That says that our idiot lawmakers clearly saw some threat and wanted to show the electorate they were doing something about it.

As to this episode and the case Kei and Yuri were assigned to, this had to be the stupidest thing I've seen for for the smarts of Kei and Yuri. So, Sandra is a former 3WA person who knows Yuri and Kei. They supposedly knew she was the crime boss syndicate. So what made them think they could infiltrate the Hustle factory and take down Sandra so easily? Instead, Kei acts all surprised when she's forced to face Sandra in the ring and only then realizes this was all a setup. I just rolled my eyes.

BTW, just where do Kei and Yuri hide those big weapons they produce? *lol*

How nice that Yuri's eyes and Kei's arms miraculously were healed once they fired the rocket at the detonator. Well, I do know that one can't watch this series too deeply because that's not the point. However, even by Dirty Pair standards, this one was a bit too silly. That doesn't mean I didn't get entertained, but this was just...well, silly isn't the right word, but it just was a bit over the top for Dirty Pair. How's that?

Also, I didn't like that the explanation of how Sandra related to Yuri and Kei wasn't fully revealed until near the end when Sandra blabbed about it. We knew that Yuri and Kei knew her from the training program but that was it. I think the writers should have let it be known that Sandra had not been selected for duty as a Trouble Consultant.

Macross Frontier 14

マクロスF Episode 14
Macross F Ep. 14
Macross Frontier Anime

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Alto manages to barely avoid destruction as the effects of the Dimension Eater disappear, leaving much of Gallia 4 blown away. Back on Macross Frontier, Luca meets with Nanase where he tells her about what happened with Ranka and Micheal. Bobby and Ozama have a talk about how Ranka has become a young woman. On the bridge of the Macross Quarter, the three female bridge officers and Kathy talk about relationships while they share a pizza. After briefly discussing Cathy's former relationship with Ozama, the conversation turns to Monica's romantic interest in the Macross Quarter's captain when the captain appears on the bridge and enjoys one of Monica's sausage creations when she offers it to him.

The alert goes off on SMS Macross Quarter as sensors detect a large number of ships defolding. On Macross Frontier, the alert goes off as well with people being told to evacuate. To bring home the point, the Macross Frontier closes its armored lid as the island ships raise armor over their glass domes. People begin to panic as they head for shelter. Luca tells Nanase that he has something to tell her and then takes off, vowing to himself to protect her. Luca returns to the Macross Quarter to rejoin the Skull Squadron. After launching fighters, the captain orders the ship's transformation into mecha mode.

Back at Gallia 4, Alto realizes that the Vajra fleet must have gone for the Macross fleet. He connects with the new fold engine still in orbit and folds out. On the battle site, Sheryl finds their fighter still clinging to a Vajra warship but Micheal is unconscious. She sees the fighting and decides that she can do anything. However, despite what little training she's had, it is not enough and it is all she can do to not crash the fighter. Luca hears her transmissions and races to help as Vajra fighter units are en route to her. Sheryl and Micheal's fighter is destroyed, but both are still safe thanks to Sheryl's ejecting them. Luca can't reach Sheryl and thinks they are all about to die when the Vajra units are taken out by Alto as Alto defolds on the scene. Together with Luca, they take Sheryl and Micheal back to Macross Quarter.

Meanwhile, on board the Vajra mother ship (formerly the Global), Ranka longs to be with the Macross Frontier fleet and Alto. Her ship and escorts defold behind the Macross Frontier fleet. Despite raising energy shields, the new ships are able to penetrate Macross Frontier's shields and armor. Leon points to the mother ship as the reason for the highly organized Vajra attack and his words cause the President to authorize the use of Reaction weapons. In response, the captain of the Macross Quarter orders the ship to turn to face the new threat. Alto, who is refueling and rearming his fighter, begs for the captain to wait as Ranka is on the mother ship. The captain gives Alto permission to show him what Alto has.

Alto is armed with four (large) Reaction missiles and takes off after telling Sheryl he's going to rescue Ranka. He's joined by Ozama, who promises to kill Alto if something happens to Ranka. As the two race to the mother ship, Ranka has a vision of a group of women all looking alike (based on Ranka's mother apparently), who have a song for Ranka from them. The woman sings and Ranka also sings her ballad as the fighting continues. Alto launches his Reaction weapons, which take out four supporting ships before Alto opens fire on the mother ship to open a hole in the hull.

Brera hears the singing and races inside the mother ship, passing Alto. Alto gives chase but Brera reaches Ranka first and frees her. Alto arrives and while Ranka is happy to see him, she tries to stop him from attacking the Vajra queen. Alto cannot hear Ranka and launches everything at the queen Vajra, the explosion forcing him out of the ship. Brera also leaves, then makes a broadcast announcement stating that he is a survivor from the Macross Galaxy, Antares Squadron, and his name is Major Brera Sterne. The President and others are stunned by this, but Leon just has a knowing look. The SMS forces soon take out the mother ship completely and inflict heavy damages on the Vajra, defeating them. Ranka cries and Brera asks her why, but she doesn't have an answer.

Elsewhere, Grace is in what appears to be a medical scanner bed. She opens her eyes and wonders if this girl (Ranka?) is the "Little Queen."

Thoughts/Review: Ha! I knew that Grace wasn't really dead even if that body on Gallia 4 was destroyed. So, maybe she wasn't a cyborg, but an android...or maybe a biomechanoid like the Vajra units.

Is Brera really from Macross Galaxy? With the time distortions from fold technology, maybe he is or maybe he isn't. I still think he's Ranka's real older brother, which would make him have been a part of the Global originally. That doesn't mean he couldn't have infiltrated Macross Galaxy since the Vajra did apparently take them out first.

What exactly is Ranka? "Little Queen?" Maybe she was experimented on during her time on Global. It would explain her apparent connection with the Vajra.

I'm glad Sheryl failed as a fighter pilot, not because of any dislike for Sheryl, but because while I might believe she's had some flight training, I do not believe she's had any fighter training. So no Iron Eagles moments here, thankfully. Anyway, based on the previews, it looks like Sheryl returns to the song spotlight. Maybe she takes over Ranka's gig.

Tactics. I'm glad to see the Macross Frontier fleet actually use some this time. In the first episode, even though the fleet came under attack, the various colony ships failed to shield themselves. This time, the armored lid closed on Macross Frontier, and the island ships (for lack of a better term) raised armor. Then, shields were also raised. Its about time.

Leon seemed keen on getting the President to authorize the use of Reaction warheads without making it obvious. I still don't know what his game plan is but I'm sure it will soon come to light.

One side note, the three bridge female officers of SMS Macross Quarter are as I suspected -- a tribute to the bridge officers on the original Macross series. I'm not sure what Monica would see in the captain, but oh well. There's someone for everyone as they say.

Speaking of romance, I hope Luca gets to confess to Nanase and she accepts. You go, boy!

So, another good episode.

You're Under Arrest! Full Throttle 16

Taiho Shichauzo! Full Throttle Episode 16
逮捕しちゃうぞ フルスロットル Episode 16
You're Under Arrest anime

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: A bomb is planted at the site for a local festive event for families, and this is reported on the Internet. So the Bokuto Police Station is assigned the case. However, because of the concern about scaring the children, uniformed officers will not be permitted to search the premises. So Yoriko, Aoi-chan, Miyuki, and Natsumi are given the assignment where they will wear costumes. Yoriko gets the monkey suit, Natsumi gets the cat suit, Aoi-chan gets the chick suit, and Miyuki gets stuck with the odd suit -- the mushroom.

After the foursome is introduced to the crowd of children, they begin to fan out to search for the bomb. Aoi-chan and Yoriko (still in costume) are searching through garbage cans for the bomb when they are spotted by mothers with their children. The children speculate that "Duck-san" and "Monkey-san" are hungry and looking for food while the parents wonder what these weirdos are up to. Miyuki is found by two young children, the youngest (Shuu-chan) of which is excited to see the giant mushroom. Since they are alone, Miyuki tells them to get her if they need anything, which they agree to do. Natsumi finds herself the butt of pranks and jokes from other kids.

After searching for a bit, the foursome finds Nakajima lurking around the site in his uniform. Nearby, Shuu-chan has taken a toy prize for the raffle game and his older brother thinks the cop (Nakajima) is there to arrest them, so they hide under the stage. As the foursome refresh themselves with a cold beverage, Tokuno-san arrives, revealing that the bomb threat is indeed real. So they continue to search and the two kids see Nakajima from under the stage, leading them up into the rafters above the stage. They hear Nakajima and Tokuno-san talk about the bomb and the older brother realizes he sees the bomb on one of the giant balloons. He doesn't want to get arrested so he doesn't know what to do.

Shuu-chan, who's been absorbed by the tokusatsu TV show (or movie...think "Godzilla") on the stage's big screen falls off the ledge and is caught by his older brother. The older brother screams for "Mushroom-oneechan" and Miyuki hears it. Nakajima comes up the rafters to help the boy and his brother, but the brother can't hold on and drops his little brother. Natsumi races below with her giant mushroom head and catches the 3-year old Shuu-chan. Realizing that they aren't in trouble for the stolen toy, the older brother reveals where he saw the bomb. Miyuki gets the mini-patrol car and Natsumi grabs the rope of the giant balloon, where they drive the balloon away from the crowd and release it just before it explodes. However, the explosion is more like fireworks with confetti released. Turns out, a fan of the idol MC on the stage set up this for her and as such, is arrested.

Thoughts/Review: Being that I haven't watched an episode of You're Under Arrest in ages, I'm not sure if I found this episode humorous because of that break or because it was actually decently humorous (or both). Seeing Miyuki, Natsumi, Aoi-chan, and Yoriko in costume was funny to me. Miyuki's embarrassment was amusing somehow. Natsumi getting kicked by some kids amused me as well. So there were chuckles here for me, which surprised me seeing how disappointing the series has been for me.

As I'm watching the episode, I'm thinking that the premise of this episode is shaky. If you think the bomb threat is serious enough to have four cops in costume search for it, then why not call off the event and properly search for it? Yeah, I know; we wouldn't have an amusing story if things were done logically.

Ah! My Goddess Ch. 231 *SPOILERS*

Ah! My Goddess Manga/Oh My Goddess! Manga
ああっ女神さまっVolume 37 Chapter 231

Summary/Synopsis: Chrono presents the Tuner Renewal Program to Peorth to be delivered to Belldandy, but since Peorth is busy dealing with the fallout from the gate issue, Chrono has to deliver it herself. However, Peorth decides to have some fun with Chrono and has her wear a maid outfit to make the delivery to Earth. She's not sure about the outfit, but as she flies around Japan consulting a map to locate Belldandy, she accidentally crashes into a power line and drops the "egg" containing the Tuner Renewal Program.

Keiichi is taking a bike Chihiro worked on for a test run when he finds this girl falling from the sky (Chrono) and he catches her. Back at Whirlwind, Chihiro notes how late Keiichi is as Belldandy sings and makes tea. Chihiro likes the singing as it calms her, but shes soon a bit annoyed when she hears Keiichi finally return. She steps out to find out what took him so long and is surprised to find him with an unconscious girl. Keiichi explains things, leaving Chihiro to wonder why the girl is dressed as a maid. Belldandy emerges and immediately recognizes Chrono, concerned for her welfare.

Thoughts/Review: If my memory serves me correctly, Chrono was an anime creation, I want to say for the Ah! My Goddess Movie. As such, Fujishima-sensei figured, "What the heck. I'll have her officially in the manga."

Anyway, I sense a "meh" story coming. The real question is, "Will Chrono remain on Earth and be the pet of Urd and Skuld?"

Slayers REVOLUTION 02

スレイヤーズREVOLUTION Anime episode 02

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Lina, still furious at having been out staged by a Digimon small critter, demands some answers from Amelia and Zelgadiss. Amelia reveals that Ruvinagald Kingdom requested the help of Saillune to find Lina, but Amelia wasn't told the reasons behind this. Since she knows Lina and Saillune could not turn down the request, she and Zelgadiss (hired to be Amelia's body guard) accompanied Wiser to find Lina. Lina wonders why a country would be so interested in a mere sorceress, to which Amelia answers that the Seillune legislature considers Lina capable of causing major problems for them. Lina decides that the next time she visits Seillune, she will have to turn it into ash, followed by the Ruvinagald Kingdom.

Wiser enters the ruined building where the foursome is at and views Lina's threats as further proof of her crime. Lina is not amused by this and tells Wiser that he better present a case to her. If she sees the facts point to her actually having done something wrong, she'll submit. If not, she will go on a rampage. Wiser presents his circumstantial case, which hinges on the fact that mage-tanks have been destroyed with Dragon Slave spells and Lina Inverse has a reputation of firing off Dragon Slave spells with frequency. Gourry, Amelia, and Zelgadiss hear this and confer, agreeing that the evidence against Lina is strong. Lina is forced to remind them about the Digimon critter they witnessed casting the Dragon Slave.

Wiser leads the group to a nearby fortress, which is armed to the teeth with cannons. Lina is determined to catch this critter and provide Wiser with the proof of her innocence. In the fort is another mage-tank, this time looking like a cow instead of a turtle. It doesn't take much time at all before a massive fireball spell comes flying into the vault holding the tank. While the initial impact is absorbed by the tank, the tank still ends up being destroyed, injuring Wiser, the captain of the guards, and others. Leaving Amelia and Zelgadiss behind to take care of the wounded, Lina and Gourry go in pursuit of the critter, who had just taken off.

Lina and the critter do battle with various spells. The critters small size and speed keep him from being trapped while Lina's abilities keep her protected. Gourry gets into the act (having cut down a tree the critter was hiding in), behaving like a wild monkey and coming close to nailing the small creature. However, the critter hits him with a Diem Wing spell and then has the ground basically swallow him with a Behfis Bring spell. Lina shows back up and the mage fight is back on. Lina knows the critters size and speed gives him an edge on avoiding her attacks and the critter prevents her from casting any big spells. So she casts Furious Breed while on the run to avoid an attack from the critter, which the critter is not familiar with. Lina tells him he'll see the results of the spell pretty soon and sure enough, the critter is attacked by a large, angry flock of birds.

Though Lina scored a hit with that spell, the critter is angry at being called "tiny creature" by Lina constantly and begins insulting Lina for her small stature, especially her small breasts. The critter, seeing Lina react to the insults, he presses his verbal attacks, calling her the Boobless Queen. Lina has had enough and the atmosphere reacts to her anger, dark storm clouds circling overhead, causing the critter to react with surprise. He's further surprise when Lina activates her Demon's Blood Talismans and begins to cast an amplified Dragon Slave. The critter pulls a Sword of Light out of his zipper and activates it as Lina casts the spell.

The critter emerges from inside a rock with the help of his sword, leading Gourry and Lina to question where he obtained the Sword of Light. The critter says it is a replica that he built along with the mage-tanks. Lina introduces herself and Gourry and the critter introduces himself as Pokota. Pokota tells Lina that he's after the person who stole his mage-tanks, but before Lina can learn more, Wiser arrives to arrest Lina, giving Pokota time to escape.

Thoughts/Review: Another fun episode of pure Slayers (and Lina Inverse) goodness. We'll start with the good. It was funny to me how Wiser's circumstantial evidence on the destruction of the mage tanks with Dragon Slave spells pointed to Lina. Of course, it is funnier to have Lina threaten to go on a rampage. *lol* The thing is, based on my previous experiences with Lina, I know she could turn Saillune and Ruvinagald into ash if she wanted.

Gourry's pursuit of Pokota while emitting wild monkey sounds cracked me up. The fact that the animators kept his sword in messed up condition (from Gourry's many repair jobs) cracked me up as well.

Someone pointed out that the incidental music is the same from the original TV series. I hadn't paid attention to that because it is just natural for me to hear this music. Now that it has been pointed out to me, I am glad they kept the old music.

I liked the little moment between Gourry and Lina before the obvious joke of Lina punishing him for his statement happened. It shows me that the writers are very keen on doing things right, and that means the hints of romance between Gourry and Lina. I hope that gets advanced as the story progresses.

I liked the battle between Pokota and Lina purely from a mage-fight perspective. Modern animation techniques allow for a much more animated battle, which I liked. However, the amplified Dragon Slave (and kudos for having the Demon's Blood Talismans brought into play) was a bit of a problem for me. I laughed at Lina losing it over the breasts jokes, but when someone survives a direct hit from Dragon Slave, I'm not laughing so much. Now, did Pokota's replica Sword of Light help him to survive somehow (it seemed the critter was encased in a rock after the spell was over)? If the writers provided a means of explanation (or Lina acting surprised that the Digimon survived even), maybe I could buy it. However, what good is an amplified Dragon Slave if it can't even kill a tiny, annoying creature (but a flock of birds apparently do him some damage)?

Still, that's a small complaint at this point as I did thoroughly enjoy the episode.

That leads me to some obvious questions. What is Pokota (likely someone who's been modified like Zelgadiss was)? Why did he create a replica Sword of Light? Why did he create the mage-tanks and who stole them?

I'm looking forward to more Slayers goodness with episode 3.

Negima! Manga Vol 24 (Ch 219) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 24 Chapter 219 (manga)

Summary/Synopsis: As Negi launches an attack on all four powerful bounty hunters, Chisame (in chibi form) is talking with Jack about Negi and the Magia Erebea (sometimes translated Magica Erebea). Jack tells Chisame that Negi's affinity to the dark magic is great because of the darkness in his heart. Meanwhile at the battle site, Negi takes out Zaytsev before taking out PaioII and the two giant worms. Rizo is impressed and happy to be able to use his full strength, but Negi stuns him by taking him out with a single blow.

The bone demon Morborgran has witnessed this with utter amazement that his powerful companions have been taken out so quickly. Negi understands that Morborgran is a mazoku (demon) and readies a new attack while Morborgran remembers hearing about the techniques Negi is using from his grandfather -- Dark Evangel's forbidden technique "Magia Erebea." Morborgran is slammed and pinned to the ground by a giant energy spear. Zaytsev is about to change into a new, more powerful form but a look from dark Negi makes Zaytsev realize that he would die if he attempted to carry on the fight.

Setsuna keeps an eye on Zaytsev as Negi powers down and loses the darkness. Negi apologizes to Morborgran for being so rough and assures the demon that the spear will disappear after a while. Morborgran understands since what Negi did was the only real way to defeat him, complimenting the boy for his incredible strength.

A topless Nodoka (having lost her top to the worms) rushes over to thank Negi, but her naked breast are seen by Negi and he turns to hide his eyes, telling her about her missing clothes. Craig gives her a robe to cover herself as he and Aisha comment about Negi, whom they've heard of from Nodoka. Asuna comes up, demanding to know what that was that Negi displayed but is interupted when Paru's ship arrives with Paru, Konoka, chibi-Asakura, doll-Sayo, Ku Fei, and chibi-Chachamaru. Konoka starts healing Nodoka's companions as everyone is amazed at Negi's display of power. With the festival starting on the following day, the only two members of their group unaccounted for are Anya and Yue.

Thoughts/Review: So, Negi uses the Magia Erebea and kicks all four bounty hunter's arse, even taking down a powerful demon with little problem. No playing here, y'all. Still, Akamatsu-sensei dropped two foreshadowing items here regarding the Magia Erebea. First, the flash-over to Jack and Chisame where they talk about Negi using the technique and Morborgran recognizing Eva's forbidden technique and its effects on the user based on something the demon's grandfather said. In the showdown between Negi and Fate, Negi seems likely to cost himself a great deal.

Well, now we sorta know the whole scoop on Negi, Setsuna, Kaede, and Asuna's arrival. Setsuna and Kaede didn't expect a trap of the magnitude that they found. I can buy that and this is a good lesson learned for them to not underestimate their opponents. The bounty hunters had played things smart; why fight Kaede and Setsuna when you can get a massive anti-army mine to take them out?

Asuna's "catching up to Negi" is still a question mark to me. How? I suppose if Negi wasn't out of range that she could have contacted him and had him teleport her to his location. However, the text doesn't seem to indicate this. Then again, I'm not sure how Kaede and Setsuna got there so soon either (maybe they had a head start and can teleport themselves short distances). I may have to go back and re-read the chapter where Negi sets off.

We know that Yue will be arriving but Anya is still MIA. I still can't shake the feeling that maybe she's working against Negi out of jealousy over his superior power and abilities (to say nothing of his battle harem).

There were two laughs in this chapter. The moment Negi notices Nodoka is topless made me laugh as did Zaytsev's reaction to seeing Dark Negi give him the eye.

Hayate no Gotoku Manga Volume 1

ハヤテのごとく！Manga Volume 1
Hayate the Combat Butler Manga Volume 1

Review: As I blogged about the Hayate no Gotoku anime series, regular blog visitor HughRoe suggested I read/blog about the original manga. I figured to do just that, but I wanted to wait until after I'd seed the four seasons that composed the first series. Why? Well, I know from my own experiences that if I've read the source manga first, I generally don't care for the anime adaptations quite as much (meaning they aren't as enjoyable). However, if I watch the anime first, then read the manga, no matter what changes are made in the anime or how better the manga is, I don't have as big a problem (I cite Love Hina as such an instance).

There are nine chapters in this first volume and all but one I remember from the anime (chapter X story with Tama and the giant snake don't strike a cord with me but maybe I've just forgotten it). Basically, things are like I remember from the anime -- Hayate is left with his massive debt from his family; Hayate decides to become a kidnapper; Hayate and Nagi have their misunderstanding; Nagi gets kidnapped for real; Hayate rescues her; Hayate is hired as Nagi's butler.

Reading this first volume, I was reminded of just how funny the anime happened to be. I still laughed at things in the manga such as Nagi's insults to her kidnappers, asking them to stop breathing as they are polluting the air. While there are things that the anime makes funnier (I think), there are just moments captured in the manga which made me laugh, especially with Nagi. The story with the giant snake and Nagi forcing Tama to fight it made me laugh and laugh. If that was in the anime, I sure don't remember it (I guess I'll have to look through my blog archives).

It was interesting getting to see the stuff the anime had been forced to censor, such as blood. Hayate gets pretty bloody when he attacks Nagi's kidnappers. That kind of surprised me.

The only thing I didn't care for so much was the character designs for Tama. He didn't have nearly the funny face he had in the anime. However, in the extras of the manga, Tama looked a bit better so I'd guess that improvements are made to his design in the manga.

I haven't read the Viz release because I'd been boycotting them. However, since they've been doing an OK job with Honey and Clover AND I read they are doing a similar job with the translations on Hayate the Combat Butler (sans explanations), I think I'll take a risk.

Update (08 Sept 2008): I picked up the first volume from Viz. The only down-side I see is that there are no translation notes. However, this adaptation by Viz is pretty otaku in nature with full use of Japanese honorifics, including the term "ojousama."

Macross Zero OVA 05 (finale)

Macross Zero OVA Episode 05
マクロスゼロ OVA Ep. 05 (OAV)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: The "birdman" head alien artifact comes alive as Sara and Aries are on it, the Anti-U.N. forces manage to fly it out. Shin and Focker are rescued by the U.N. Spacy as Sara and Aries are taken to an Anti-U.N. submarine. Professor Hasford attempts to convince Sara to make the birdman sing its song. Nora adds to this, revealing the U.N.'s secret plans to destroy the birdman if needed. Meanwhile on the Asuka II, Mao is on the birdman's body, which also has reacted. She manages to cause it to show them where Sara and Aries are being held and what's being said to them.

Focker and Shin decide to launch a rescue mission as the Asuka II and its battle group as well as the Anti-U.N. submarine are lifted out of the water to hover in the air. Edgar clears the two pilots for flight, their VF-0 fighters having been equipped with rocket boosters. Because of their launch, the Anti-U.N. sub launches its own fighters (also equipped with rocket boosters) piloted by Nora and Ivanov. Shin finds himself targeted by Nora, who then finds herself targeted by Focker, who then finds himself targeted by Ivanov.

Shin manages to make it to the sub and breach the hull to rescue Sara, only to have Nora shoot his fighter off the hull. Thinking Shin must be dead, Sara's grief causes the birdman head and body to leave their respective ships and come together. Now regenerated, the birdman biomechanoid asks Sara some things, including if man has reached the stars and if they are still fighting. Sara confirms it, so the birdman begins to execute its programming to wipe out humanity to prevent them from infecting the stars. In doing so, much of Asuka II's support fleet is destroyed as Sara and the birdman sing the song of destruction.

Shin comes to just before crashing and returns to the skies. Nora tries to finish him off, but the birdman destroys her instead. Ivanov gets angry and tries to destroy the birdman, but is destroyed instead. Shin discovers Sara is inside the birdman, directing its destruction while Mao, still on the Asuka II, makes telepathic contact with Shin to stop him from making the same mistake as the Russians. Mao gets Shin to listen to the song and hear Sara's sadness. So Shin flies in and jettisons his weapons as she attacks. She's finally able to see Shin instead of a creature of evil and calls off her attack.

However, the U.N. Spacy has decided that the birdman is just too dangerous and on the deck of the Asuka II, a large mecha weapon launches four nuclear shells. Mao's scream causes Sara to realize what is happening. She sends Shin back into his fighter, erects a shield, and after taking the attack, appears to fold away. Meanwhile, Focker has managed to rescue Aries, but she's critically injured and dies on the beach. Back in the sky, Shin's plane is damaged from the nuclear strike and he's about to crash into the ocean. However, at the last moment, Mao's hands seem to touch Shin's and his fighter glows as she and the villagers sing. He crashes into the ocean, but rises again, heading into space and he too appears to fold out.

Thoughts/Review: It is a shame that this series didn't try to properly establish itself in conjunction to how things were with Macross, or at least they didn't do a very good job of it IMO. Granted, this story appears to play a bit loose with the original Macross time-line so maybe they felt it was better this way.

Anyway, I wonder if Macross Zero will play more of a roll in Macross Frontier. We've already had the episode 10 tie-in with the movie being filmed depicting the events of Macross Zero. However, it seemed to me that the birdman was kinda like a Vajra. Both are biomechanoid units which are very powerful. That would be a neat tie-in.

As to the episode itself, I am only guessing that both Shin and Sara folded out somehow. Sara would have used the tech in the birdman. However, Shin's fighter was still covered in the energy from Mao's singing. Mao could have wished for Shin to be joined with her sister since she knew how much Sara loved Shin and vice versa.

It is unfortunate that so many things ended predictably. I figured Aries would die since Focker is single and swinging in Macross. Given how the two Russian pilots were, once the birdman was active and destroying, I figured that it would destroy them. I was wrong in that I figured Sara would get rescued by Shin and the birdman would be destroyed. However, how things ended actually works better I suppose, especially if it ties in with Macross Frontier.

Overall, this was a good series that was beautifully done on an art an animation front. The characters were interesting, as was the story, which fortunately didn't get too preachy.

Negima! Manga Volume 18

Negima!: Magister Negi Magi, Volume 18

Read the chapter summaries and individual reviews for volume 18 here (scroll down and they will be displayed in reverse order after this volume review).

With volume 18, the Mahora School Festival mega-arc comes to an end (there having been several sub-arcs within the main one). When I was reading this arc on a week-to-week basis, I was ready for it to be over but as I re-read the series, by the time we get to volume 18, it seems to be alright.

Chao's return to the future may not be the last time we see her. I strongly suspect that she'll show up again before the manga ends. I loved the how she imagined traveling with Negi and the battle harem on a quest. I wonder why Akamatsu-sensei didn't include Kaede in this image but did include Ku Fei.

The tea party was pretty fun with Al having fun with Eva after Eva has some fun with Negi. However, it is a shame that Negi didn't get some answers he wanted due to the others Al invited arriving. There's still no information on why Al has been living there for 10-years though.

The 2-chapter Misora and Cocone story is a real hoot. I'm glad that Akamatsu-sensei gave her this time after having her play a role in the battle against Chao. I hope we learn more about Misora and Cocone's relationship at some point. Some fans suspect that based on Misora saying that Cocone is her master, Misora has a pactio with Cocone. I'm not convinced since Cocone doesn't come off as a master. Also, Cocone is shown with a pactio card in the sketch of the back image along with Misora. Sister Shakti on the other hand does come off as a master. Indeed, it is she who punishes both Cocone and Misora for the fake priest thing.

The near-silent chapter is a lot of fun too. I like how Akira gets a feature. It suits her that she'd be in such a chapter considering she doesn't say much (well, at least at this point). I didn't mention this in my chapter review, but Zazie took part in the keep-away game with Negi and appeared to get punished by Akira at the end. Considering how mysterious Zazie is, I find this very interesting.

As to the Del Rey adaptation, my "favorite" adapter Ikoi Hiroe does this volume. Ikoi keeps the honorifics this time for the most part. Konoka is for the first time addressed as "Lady Konoka" rather than "Konoka-ojousama" though, which I disapprove of. There's only one instance of this though due to Setsuna not having much of a role. However, Misora would address Konoka as "ojousama" because nearly everyone who knows her does so. Also, they don't have Fumika call Fuka "neechan." Minor things to be sure, but for sure, next volume we better see "ojousama" return to the adaptation. Oddly enough, a lot of other things did survive ("boya") so why not "ojousama?"

Bottom line: a nice conclusion to the Mahora arc with some nice "downtime" chapters for Akamatsu-sensei and staff which are still very entertaining in addition to providing some character growth for featured characters.

Macross Frontier 13

マクロスF Episode 13
Macross F Ep. 13
Macross Frontier Anime

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: As Ranka and Alto observe the Macross-class vessel, Ranka has a flashback and screams. A little later, both are back on the Valkyrie in Gerwalk mode where Ranka states that while she doesn't remember back to the time when she was a child, she sometimes has flashbacks. Their conversation comes to an end when another D-pulse shuts down the fighter as well as the 33rd Marine Corps base. Alto determines the source to be the Macross-class ship. Back on the base, Micheal is with Sheryl when he finds the pill that Grace had given Sheryl on the ground. Giving it a closer look, he sees the pill is marked "639 Witch Craft."

Also takes the opportunity to get cleaned up a bit at a waterfall while they wait for the fighter to recover from the D-pulse. Afterwards, he and Ranka talk as she puts his hair back into its traditional ponytail. Upon returning to the fighter, Ranka suddenly realizes she has to go to the bathroom and after a little embarrassment at how to inform the clueless Alto of this, she calls him an idiot and races off to take care of business. However, she isn't gone long before she screams. Alto goes to find her and sees a tunnel-path has been cut through the trees on a direct line to the Macross-class ship.

Back on Macross Frontier, Cathy briefs some of the SMS folks, including the SMS Pixie Squadron Zentradi, that communications with Gallia 4 are lost. Klan suggests using the new fold engine that Luca provided for Michael's mission. Kanaria states this won't happen as Luca won't be allowed to do that again. Indeed, Luca has been summoned to Leon's office, where Leon calmly listens to Luca explain his role within the LIA gives him the authority to do what he did in providing Micheal one of the new fold engines. Leon understands that Luca did this for his friends, but in doing so, he jeopardized the relationship between the government and LIA, to say nothing of putting a civilian in harm's way.

On Gallia 4, Sheryl is feeling a lot better, something Micheal isn't surprised about as he still holds the pill given her by Grace. Sheryl suits up, having been trained to be a pilot in school, and warns Micheal not to tell Grace what she's up to. Since Micheal has apparently found a way to counter the effect of the D-pulse, she's going with him to search for Ranka and Alto, whom they know never made it off the planet. Elsewhere on the planet, Brera Sterne receives his orders regarding Ranka from Grace. Ranka is said to be the secondary objective, which will change only if the primary mission fails or she shows signs of higher value. Grace will now prepare a weapon known as the Dimension Eater.

Alto discovers this Macross-class ship is actually "04" and named Global. It was the flagship of the 117th Research Fleet, which Ranka had been in when she was a child and rescued from the Vajra attack by Ozama. Alto makes it inside Global and discovers a research lab with Vajra specimens in it. He finds the ships data has only recently been erased and he also finds a large jewel with the image of Ranka and family inside. The jewel shatters when he touches it though. Meanwhile Brera makes his way down inside the ship with his fighter, wondering why he cares so much for Ranka while Ranka has a dream memory of a song and her mother. Ranka awakens to find herself on a pedestal while nearby, a giant queen Vajra is laying eggs.

Ranka makes contact with Alto, who races on his jet pack to her location. The Vajra queen comes for Ranka, leading Brera to defend her by attacking the queen. Alto races to rescue Ranka, but a membrane of sorts closes around the pedestal. Alto cannot get through and Ranka's stomach starts reacting with a purple light. Soon, Alto and Brera find themselves ejected from the Global as the entire ship comes to life, bathed in purple light. Grace observes this with satisfaction from a distance while Alto returns to his fighter, which has recovered from the D-pulse. He launches, determined to rescue Ranka but is prevented by Brera, who states that Alto is unworthy of Ranka.

Before Brera can take a shot, his weapon is shot out of his fighter's hand as Micheal and Sheryl come on the scene in Micheal's fighter. Alto asks them to go after Ranka on the now flying Global with its fleet of ships while he takes care of Brera. Sheryl agrees to this as Brera and Alto get into a dogfight. However, Grace orders Brera out as she activates the LIA Dimension Eater weapon, which will take care of the Fairy of the Galaxy as well as destroy the Forward Division. Grace reveals herself to be a cyborg as she connects to the weapon, setting it off, the effect of which is like a massive space fold.

As the Dimension Eater effect appears to take out Grace, then the 33rd Marine Corps base, Micheal and Sheryl see the Global and Vajra ships attempting to fold out. As such, Micheal attempts to get their fighter close enough to also use the fold effect to follow the fleet. Meanwhile, the Dimension Eater effect is consuming the planet and as Alto thinks of Ranka, he pushes his fighter to try to escape the effect of the blast.

Thoughts/Review: Yikes. There were some definite unexpected things in this episode of Macross Frontier. First, the Macross-class ship Global. As best as I can tell, up until now, only SDF-1 Macross had the ability to transform. SDF-2 Megaroad-01 supposedly did not have this ability and supposedly became its own class of ship. Now, either fans are wrong and there is no Megaroad-class or the Megaroad-class is an unofficial classification within the Macross universe (this might make sense seeing as how SDF-2 Megaroad-01 is considered a Macross-class ship AND the start of the Megaroad-class ship).

Next is Grace. I have a hard time believing she was destroyed in activating the Dimension Eater. She may be dead, but this is science fiction we are talking here and sometimes those who are apparently obviously dead really aren't. Her being a cyborg didn't surprise me, considering that Brera Sterne (her subordinate) is also one. I'm no clearer at understanding her objective though. She wants to kill Sheryl for some reason. Why? Having seen Macross Zero and knowing that Sara and Mao had the family name of "Nome," might this be a connection (Sheryl's family name being "Nome" as well)? If Sheryl is the target, why here and now? Clearly, Grace had been poisoning Sheryl for some time. Why is Sheryl apparently known as the Fairy of the Galaxy?

Also, why did Grace need to take out the 33rd Marine Corps? It seems that in order to do this originally, Grace and Leon were going to have them destroy each other. I guess the rebel Zentradi would then be at Grace's and Leon's disposal.

Speaking of the 33rd, what kind of military force were they anyway? Didn't they do any planetary exploration? Seriously, how do you have a large Zentradi base on Gallia 4 and not know that a Macross-class ship is in a nearby swamp? How do you not detect the installation of a bomb (for lack of better terms)? I suppose the later could be covered by the rebel Zentradi leader, but would he have been able to cover up SDF-4 Global (based on the "04" numbering, I'm assuming this Macross-class ship was designated as "SDF-4")?

Ranka. What is up with her? What is her connection with the Vajra? Is she some kind of experiment that somehow escaped? Also, why the stories that the 117th Research Fleet was destroyed by the Vajra if in fact it was not (or at least, not completely)? Does this mean that Ozama has been lying? I can't imagine this to be true.

With the memory flashes, I guess that Brera Sterne is in fact Ranka's real brother. This episode also proved that Brera Sterne is not the critter (that was always a long shot, but the critter could still be attached to Brera somehow).

I think it is safe to say that this episode had a tribute to the movie Aliens with the scene of the Queen Vajra laying eggs. ^_^

This episode certainly didn't pull any punches.

Macross Zero OVA 04

Macross Zero OVA Episode 04
マクロスゼロ OVA Ep. 04 (OAV)

SPOILER Summary: On Mayan, Shin is beaten while in the nearby skies, Focker is nearly taken out when Ivanov destroys the air tanker Focker is refueling from. As they dual in the skies, the Anti-U.N. forces reveal that the elderly Professor Hasford is working for them with his arrival on Mayan. Seeing him and the beads he offers to Sara again, Sara remembers the mistake of her childhood and her powers cause the rocks to float up. One "rock" looks like cruise missile and begins flying. Shin jumps on it and grabs Sara, who's lost it for the moment. Above them, Focker gets shot down but as he crashes on the island, he takes out Nora's fighter as well as a nearby mecha unit.

Focker takes Aries and races off as his fighter is destroyed. Nora manages to shoot down the thing Shin and Sara were riding. However, before they hit the ground, an energy bubble appears around the two. When Shin comes to, he's in a cave being treated by Sara. Sara, now in control of her senses, demands to know why Shin saved her when she was the one who broke the rule of blood by giving some of hers to Hasford as a child. Shin doesn't have an answer for that, but he does ask where Mao's treasure (the head of the artifact) is. As morning dawns, Nora has lost her prey and decides to order a strike on the island with fuel-air bombs.

On the Asuka II, the surviving Mayans, lead by Nutuk, find that Mao's operation is a success. However, they wish to perform a special ritual for her, and do so. Back on Mayan, Focker and Aries have a long talk about the past and their history. Aries ends up stepping on a land mine, forcing Focker to disarm it. However, after he disarms it, he doesn't tell her right away, letting her talk. When he kisses her and lifts her off, she thinks it is over, but of course, the mine is safe now. On another part of the island, Shin and Sara come across the wreckage of a VF-0 fighter in Battlroid mode but the pilot is long dead. After this, Shin and Sara also have a long talk about things that end up in Shin coming to a better understanding of Sara. With the breaking of a new dawn, Shin then kisses Sara.

Back on the Asuka II, Mao is now awake and senses a great danger coming. On Mayan, some fighter-bombers have arrived to drop the fuel-air bombs requested by Nora. The bombs going off cause a similar reaction for both sisters.

Thoughts/Review: The pacing of this episode was much slower, after the break-neck pace of episode 3. I think the only thing I really had a problem with is that even though the Anti-U.N. forces are after Focker and Aries as well as Shin and Sara, both pairs do a lot of things to give up their presence to the enemy. I had no problem with the writers using the time to do a bit of character development, but neither Shin nor Focker came off as competent military pilots trained in survival.

I don't suppose it was that surprising to see Professor Hasford with the Anti-U.N. forces, but the question is "why?" What deal would he get working with them that he wouldn't get with U.N. Spacy.

The lolicon fans may have an iku moment as a flashback shows a young, topless Sara. *_*

Hopefully, we'll get some answers regarding the alien artifacts and stuff as there is only one more episode to go.

Slayers REVOLUTION 01

スレイヤーズREVOLUTION Anime episode 01

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: A fleet of pirates are on the seas with the captain of the bunch sitting on a pile of treasure they've captured. However, the celebrations are short-lived as two ships are taken out by fireball spells. Looking to discover the cause of this, the pirate captain sees a small ship with a red-haired female on the bow and a blonde-haired man in the rear. The pirate captain orders a counter-attack, but the sorceress takes out all of the cannon balls with a widespread Flare Arrow spell.

The sorceress orders the man in the back, named Gourry, to ram the lead pirate ship, which he does. The sorceress introduces herself as beautiful, genius, and other things before announcing herself as Lina Inverse. The pirates don't know the name and decide she's to be taken down. So, Lina decides to have herself some fun and punish the pirates. This is all observed from afar by a fleet of military warships, upon one of which Princess Amelia of Saillune (sometimes spelled Seyruun) and Zelgadiss (a chimera consisting of rock golem, blow demon, and human) ride. Amelia observes her former comrades in action, noting they haven't changed at all.

Also on the ship is a man named Wiser Flayon, who is Ruvinagald Kingdom's Special Inspector and who wants to talk with Lina Inverse. As the pirates bring out a hostage, a pink fish-woman who'd apparently been named "Miss Mermaid," to try to get Lina to back down. She tells them the her people's knowledge of Lina, and suddenly the pirates know Lina for real, having been put off by Lina's talk of beauty and genius. As such, they all immediately grovel before her. The military fleet launch their own attack on the remaining pirates. Amelia orders the pirates to surrender and seeing her old friend, Lina doesn't get angry about being attacked. The surviving pirates flee in long boats, but a spell from Lina puts an end to them.

On shore, Lina and Gourry finish a large meal when Amelia and Gourry finally join them. Amelia explains that they couldn't just dock a military fleet in port. Wiser introduces himself, then throws handcuffs on Lina, arresting her for being Lina Inverse. While Amelia is shocked by Wiser's unexpected decision to arrest Lina, she, Gourry, and Zelgadiss feel that as Lina's legal council, fighting a charge of being "Lina Inverse" will be difficult. Lina is not amused by this. Figuring Lina might try to escape, Wiser has an army of knights, cannoneers, archers, and mages surround the restaurant.

Lina has had enough and breaks her handcuffs. She then takes out much of the armies surrounding the joint. Wiser orders the survivors to attack and with the cannoneers firing, Zelgadiss suggests running. They run into "Miss Mermaid," who's just escaped from being turned into soup and they flee with her. Wiser hops on a bicycle and pursues. Before the group can reach the city gates, Wiser catches them and reveals his backup, which crashes through the gate -- a mage-tank type Z1. The Z1 looks like a turtle, so Lina and company simply turn and flee back into the city where they encounter the surviving knights.

The Z1 follows them, and fires, nearly taking out Gourry if it weren't for Zelgadiss using his stone-like shell as a shield for Gourry. Lina decides it is time to take the fight to the mage-tank and the group attacks the wheels of the tanks. This causes the Z1 to flip up and then roll through the city like a coin on its side, where it takes out buildings and the rest of the knights. Lina is about to finish things up when the group hears a Dragon Slave spell being recited and look to see a small critter about to cast the spell. Lina is frustrated by this and while the four in the group escape (with fish-girl and Wiser surviving somehow), Lina is now pissed that someone stole her thunder.

Thoughts/Review: Hearing Megumi-san doing the voice intro at the start of the Slayers Revolution episode, I got shivers; this indeed was Lina Inverse again, as if no time had passed at all.

This first episode does things right on so many levels. For long time fans of the series like me, we get the good stuff we enjoyed from Slayers. There's Lina's "beautiful, genius, sorcerer" introduction. There's Gourry's super strength (seen with the boat) and idiocy. There's Lina's punishments for insults steered at her. There's Gourry's frantic nature when something goes wrong (such as instantly needed to reforge his sword). Of course, there's Zel and Amelia too.

For those who've never seen a moment of Slayers in their lives, the writers have set this first episode up so that you don't have to know a thing about it. Yeah, there's a very quick rundown of some previous incidents Lina's been involved with, which establishes her reputation to new viewers and for us old fans, gives us something to laugh about. There are a lot of laughs in this first episode of Slayers REVOLUTION, if you liked the humor from the original Slayers. In many ways, this episode was like a different version of the very first Slayers episode (pirates instead of bandits, a mage-tank instead of a dragon), only with Zel and Amelia in from the start.

I had been afraid that fish-girl ("Miss Mermaid") would annoy me. However, she provided a few laughs with her making the pirates understand exactly who Lina Inverse is. Also, Lina's jokes about fish-girl's nearly being fish dinner were amusing to me. I just hope fish-girl doesn't become annoying. I see that as been a possible pitfall.

As for Digimon-mage, the jury is still out on him as well. His being able to cast a Dragon Slave spell is interesting (and funny that Lina goes nuts because she was beaten to the punch). Again, there's a possible pitfall here, but I'll give the writers space to play this thing out.

So, exactly why does Wiser want Lina Inverse arrested? Being "Lina Inverse," while funny, is no crime. What is that Digimon-like mage? Why did he feel the need to take out that town with a Dragon Slave spell?

Speaking of Dragon Slave, I missed the after-cast sound effect from the original TV series. I hope that gets put back in.

I'm hoping that elements from the main storyline in the novels come out in this anime. The fact that Gourry and Lina have been looking for a new sword for Gourry is one such element from the novels. I hope others come out as well, including a segment of Ruby Eye Shabranigdo. Seeing the remaining Mazoku lords would be cool as well.

While Slayers TRY may not be the best of the TV series, I do like the idea that with the mazoku barrier gone, guns and gunpowder (introduced to the franchise in Slayers Try) made their way into the lands that were once sealed off from the rest of the world.

Music-wise, I like the OP and ED themes. They haven't grown on me to the point of my saying, "must buy soundtrack" as I have done before, but that could happen in time.

Character design-wise, everyone looks pretty much as they did in the original Slayers, only with the cleanness that CGI animation and art offers.

Basically, this first episode of Slayers REVOLUTION has gone a ways to show that it won't be a Slayers TRY (at least, not yet) and that's a good thing. I eagerly look forward to episode 2.

Happy Birthday AKAMATSU Ken-sensei!

AKAMATSU Ken-sensei has a birthday today! Yep, that lolicon/moé lover who created classic stuff like A.I. ga Tomaranai! (A.I. Love You). Itsudatte My Santa!, Love Hina, and my favorite, Mahou Sensei Negima! (he also did Hito Natsu no Kids Game, which was his first manga) has turned 40.

お誕生日おめでとうございます!

Here are a few images to celebrate Akamatsu-sensei's excellent work.


If anyone has a bigger version of that last image, let me know.

FUNimation Gets Some ADV

(source) Wow! I am literally floored by this. I never expected FUNimation would also pick up 31 former ADV licenses. Unlike the Geneon deal, these are complete license rescues (or transfers if you will). So while some already have dubs, some like Keroro Gunsou will have to be dubbed from scratch (I think ADV only dubbed a couple of episodes).

I'm thinking the FUNimation Channel will now have enough content to actually get off the ground now. I'd love to see that happen.

Quote of the day: "Anime in the US has been Funimatiowned." --Funkatron

Negima! Manga Vol 24 (Ch 218) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 24 Chapter 218 (manga)

Summary/Synopis: The treasure hunter group with Nodoka takes a heavy beating from the powerful bounty hunters with females Lyn and Aisha out of commission. Nodoka wants to help by using her artifact, but Kris and Craig are determined to protect her and keep her out of harm's way. However, their attack on a bounty hunter is short-lived as he is a bone demon of some sort and Nodoka is quickly captured, being bait to snare the rest of Ala Alba. Nodoka thinks quick as she learns her companions are about to be killed and gets one of the bounty hunters to give her his name.

Her artifact then allows her to read all of their minds, though knowledge of Zaytsev's secret name causes him to wonder about her. She asks him why she's being used as bait and "reads" how this is a trap to snare Ala Alba, especially Setsuna and Kaede who's bounties continue to go up. Nodoka asks about what she's read in his mind, revealing that she has that ability. She tries to escape but is soon caught and partially stripped in the process. Kaede and Setsuna instantly appear on the scene, setting Nodoka free. She tries to warn them of the trap, but is grabbed by the bone demon and teleported away.

The bounty hunters activate their trap, which is a device from the war. It is an anti-army magical land mine which creates a massive barrage of lightning attacks in a 100-meter area. The satisfied bounty hunters observe their work from a safe distance, telling Nodoka that Setsuna and Kaede likely won't die from the mine, but will be damaged. However, they notice that the lighting has stopped prematurely. Nodoka sees the reason -- a determined-looking Asuna has nullified the magic. Behind the bounty hunters, a dark-magic infused Negi is ready to attack.

Thoughts/Review: Wow. The end of this chapter was completely unexpected. It was not unexpected to see Nodoka and company beaten and captured, but the fact that Setsuna and Kaede were apparently the main targets of the bounty hunters to say nothing of them arriving before Negi was. I had expected Negi to arrive, fight, have a tough time of it, then teleport in the battle harem.

Good thing Asuna came when she did because despite their great strength, Setsuna and Kaede were toast for sure. Now, do the bounty hunters truly not recognize Asuna (not as the princess, but as a wanted criminal)? Somehow I think that next chapter, they'll recognize her as another of Ala Alba...assuming Negi doesn't kick arse first. I'm hoping to see Negi put his new skill to play next chapter.

Now, will we get an explanation of just how Setsuna and Kaede arrived on scene first? I'm hoping that it was Negi who actually arrived first, saw the problem, summoned help, then executed an attack plan. After all, if Ala Alba is going to be a true force to be reckoned with, they will need this kind of leadership.

Macross Zero OVA 03

Macross Zero OVA Episode 03 (Anime)
マクロスゼロ OVA Ep. 03 (OAV)

SPOILER Summary: Mao's song has caused the rocks to float, leading Mao to wonder why. She becomes aware of Shin watching her, then aware of her own nudity. This causes the rocks to fall. She angrily swims off to where her clothes are and gets dressed before returning to Shin, threatening him and demanding he not tell anyone what he's seen. He promises he won't, saying that no one would believe him, something Sara agrees with. Aries arrives with Edgar and some sensor equipment. She believes Sara has strange powers and Sara wants the research team off the island. However, Shin intervenes, saying that Sara's powers are real and that she can make rocks fly and even fly herself. Aries believes that Shin is making fun of the proto-culture theory that her mentor, Professor Hasford, came to the island years earlier to develop.

This is all observed by Mao from a nearby tree. As Shin and Edgar walk to the beach (Edgar giving Shin grief at being alone with Sara, suspecting the two were doing something naughty), Mao sneaks up on them and tags Shin from behind. She laughs at his lack of skill in detecting someone approaching from the rear when he's a pilot. A little later, she takes Shin on a boat to see her treasure, where they go diving, shin with a mask and snorkel, Mao with nothing. Shin is amazed at the various life he sees. However, he's more amazed at Mao's ability to swim with the penguins under the water and how she's able to hold her breath for so long.

Back on the boat, Mao tells Shin they still haven't seen her treasure, which is at a much deeper depth. After witnessing a school of flying fish come out of the water and soar in he air (and over the boat), Mao tells him they are the first children of Rooy Kanu and Rooy Waka (part of the Mayan legends about the creation of humanity and more). As Mao leads him down to her treasure, Sara returns to the place where the "holy relics" are. She sings to try to make things better, which is observed by Aries. Down in the ocean, Mao's "treasure" (another alien artifact) begins to glow and a giant eye opens. Shin is shocked by this and loses his air. Mao kisses him, transferring air to him.

Instantly, Sara seems to sense this and shows signs of anger and jealousy and increase in power levels. The artifact's glow turns red in response, though this doesn't seem to be noticed by Mao, who's just kissed Shin. As they return to the surface, Sara demands the hiding Aries come out. Aries video camera broke as a result of Sara's anger, which she attributes to Aries power. Sara is not happy because since the white people came to the island, things have been getting worse. Back on the boat, Shin wonders if what he saw is what the military has been looking for. Mao comments that this is the first time it has glowed that brightly.

A squadron of Anti-U.N. fighters, lead by Ivanov, launches to attack the Asuka II battle group and take the alien bird-mecha artifact. Mao senses this and pleads with Shin to not allow the evil to take her treasure. Shin's radio gives off an attack alert signal and Edgar takes their VF-0 in Gerwalk mode to where Shin is out on the ocean. Meanwhile, the Anti-U.N. squad reaches the battle group as night falls and attack, taking out a destroyer. Nora provides cover so that Ivanov can board the Asuka II and take the artifact. However, resistance is very heavy and while they cause damage to the Asuka II and her defenses, the U.N. Spacy have a few surprises for the Anti-U.N. folks, which ends up causing Ivanov to be ejected from the carrier by Focker's VF-0.

Back at the island, Shin realizes that Mao's treasure is being targeted by a small submarine for capture. Remembering the flying fish and that the VF-0 can operate in space as well as survive in the water for a few minutes, he has the craft dive into the water where they battle the small sub, ultimately defeating it and taking the piece that it held. They return to the island with the piece and land on the beach in Gerwalk mode, so that they can leave the stricken Mao with Sara, who's not happy with what's going on. Nutuk says only the power of Pukinuha can save Mao.

Nora receives word that the piece of alien artifact on Mayan has been taken by the U.N. Spacy, so she leads some of the Anti-U.N. forces to attack the island. This they do, with devastating results, killing islanders and destroying the village. Aries orders the research team to evacuate and to bring Mao with them since she is a precious sample. Meanwhile, Shin and Edgar return to the sky with the artifact piece to protect it. They make a valiant fight against Nora, but the added weight of the artifact causes their fighter to get shot up beyond repair and drop the artifact. She dives to catch it, only to discover Shin has sent the remains of his fighter into hers, forcing her to crash.

The U.N. Spacy make it safely off the island and return to the Asuka II, which while on fire is still afloat and under power. Mao is taken to the medical ward where she's to be given a blood transfusion taken from the "birdman" since their blood types are the same. Meanwhile back on Mayan, Shin is hiding from patrolling Anti-U.N. troops. He's found by an angry Sara, who attacks him with a machete. She accuses him of stealing the birdman's head. He tells her he was trying to protect Mao's treasure, not knowing what it was. Sara is angry, but afraid that if the birdman awakens, the world will be destroyed. It is this that Nora arrives to find with her fighter in Gerwalk mode (well, I think it was her fighter).

Thoughts: Ah. So episode 3 has the scene of Shin and Mao and the underwater "kiss" that Alto and Rakan reenacted during the movie scene in Macross Frontier episode 10. As before, it is cool seeing these things in context. I'm sure had I seen Macross Zero first, seeing this replayed in Macross Frontier would have made me squeal like a happy pig. ^_^

Speaking of underwater, the sequence of Mao showing Shin the undersea life was very beautifully done. Excellent CG work here and how an OVA should be done when it comes to art and animation. Watching the penguins under he water was just amazing as Mao swam with them. Of course, seeing Mao's treasure (the alien artifact, known as the "Birdman") was pretty wild too. More on that in a bit.

While war is a scary, terrible thing, the battles were again well executed. Having a night attack, while tactically sound, I'm thinking, also I'm sure saved on CG expenses (though I could be wrong). Still, the deadly beauty of the night battle made me think of Francis Scott Key's poem "Defense of Fort McHenry," which would be set to music and become "The Star-Spangled Banner." Specifically, I thought of the first stanza's line, "And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there." I realize I am likely just making no sense, but seeing the aircraft carrier Asuka II and her carrier group under attack made me think this way.

The writers have done a good job of table setting with the first two episodes so that by the time things start coming to a head here, it it really, really intense. I didn't catch in episode 2 that the substance coming out of the alien artifact was blood. That this blood matched Sara's blood type did not surprise me though. With the whole proto-culture element running through the series, it makes sense that the Mayans might be descendants of the aliens that obviously came to this island at some point.

Basically, this episode had a lot going for it (and those of you into sexual fanservice will no doubt be happy to hear Sara's naked breasts are shown in detail).

Viz Manga Survey

Viz Manga is doing a survey about manga and a bit about anime. So if you want to give a voice to the things you'd like to see Viz improve (I made mention of my favorite topic -- Japanese honorifics), head over and take part in the survey.

FUNimation Distributes Some Geneon

Well, as you all know by now, FUNimation will now be distributing some of Geneon's licenses (as reported here). As I stated in my speculation article on whether FUNimation would get Geneon titles, this is a distribution agreement, which means that these are still Geneon titles, only with FUNimation creating the DVD's, marketing them, and selling them.

Personally, I would have preferred for FUNimation to get the licenses outright and thus have total control over the properties. I guess that Geneon will be like Kodakawa or Enoki in that they may continue to license stuff but have others do all the work. Otherwise, why would Geneon retain the actual licenses if they don't plan to continue to exist in some future form?

That said, with titles like Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha (and I read Nanoha A's as well) or Shakugan no Shana (which are franchises with multiple sequel series in them) being distributed by FUNimation, does this give FUNimation a better reason to license the sequels? Or will Geneon license those, take care of the dubs/subs, and then sub-license the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution to FUNimation?

Of interest to me was the lack of Tenchi titles in the mix for FUNimation distribution. That could mean several things. It could be that FUNimation would like those licenses outright, thereby giving them the corner on the Tenchi anime market. If so, those would be a separate announcement. It could be that Geneon wanted to much money for those titles and from a business perspective, FUNimation decided against picking them up. It could be that some other company scored the distribution rights to the Tenchi titles. Obviously, I hope for a FUNimation total license with the canon Tenchi titles being sent to Tomato for re-translation from scratch.

The head of Media Blasters and Robert's Anime Corner Store had stated or implied publicly that an R1 company wasn't even in the running, so to be honest, I expected someone like Sony to suddenly have Geneon's titles. Robert talks a bit about this in his blog.

Regardless, this is good news for FUNimation, so congrats to them.

Macross Zero OVA 02

Macross Zero OVA Episode 02 (Anime)
マクロスゼロ OVA Ep. 02 (OAV)

SPOILER Summary: As Shin races to where Mao is up on the mountain, Sara and Nutuk recount the legend of the birdman to the villagers who've fled to a large cave while outside, Focker is engaged with the Anti-U.N. fighter. Focker recognizes his opponent, a Russian (Soviet?) instructor pilot named Ivanov. The two battle to a stalemate until Ivanov's fuel forces him to leave. Ivanov's wingman, a female pilot named Nora, comes under attack from another U.N. Spacy fighter who gets shot down. The fighter crashes as Shin reaches and protects Mao. When the pilot gets out of the fighter, Shin has a flashback to when his family was killed and goes nuts. He enters the fighter and and launches a rain of bullets up to Nora. She returns to take out her prey, but is run off when Focker arrives.

Shin is rescued and taken on board the Asuka II. He is on the hanger deck taking a good look at the new VF-0 fighters when Focker comes up, approving of not only his actions on the island, but also how he inspects the fighters. Shin doesn't like the 2-seater model because he wants to fly alone, but when a mildly injured Edgar shows up, Shin changes his mind, glad his friend and partner is still alive. With that, Focker decides that the two of them are worthy of the Skull Squadron and will immediately begin to train. Training is tough, complete with leaning physical combat. Indeed, Shin gets an earful from the chief mechanic on how he's treating the fighter but later learns from Focker that Shin is the only one of the trainees to put the fighter to its full potential.

Because Aries has been researching the alien technology pulled from the ocean (which looks like a bird mecha) Focker has a mission for Shin and Edgar, which is to escort Aries and some support people to Mayan. Sara rejects their presence, fearing the evil they will bring, so Aries states they will camp outside the village so as not to offend the villagers. Nutuk ends up making this happen, so Aries sets up shop. Shin returns to the hut with the generator to finish the repairs. Mao wonders why he returned to which Shin answers he wanted to keep his promise while at the same time following orders.

Meanwhile, Aries is wanting to take blood samples from the villagers which Sara strongly objects to, citing snakes in their blood. Shin arrives and is pressured by Aries to make this happen since he knows Sara. Instead, Shin asks the villagers what they want to do -- have their blood checked for their health, or follow the rules of the village. They ponder this until Aries produces a large cooler of canned juice. The villagers give up their blood happily.

That night, shin returns to work on the generator. Sara asks him if he plans to steal the stars as they have had their blood stolen. She cites her father's words about lights on Earth meaning less stars in the sky. He doesn't follow her superstitious logic and finishes the work on the generator with the adding of fuel. When he throws the switch, all of the huts on the island light up. He tells Sara that if she doesn't like it, she can close her eyes and be in darkness. She notes that darkness is where Shin's heart lies.

Elsewhere, Aries makes a call to Focker as she can't sleep. She questions why he joined the war when he'd been so opposed to it before. He tells her the reason was the killing of their mutual friend Michael during a bombing by Anti-U.N. forces.

The following morning, Shin awakens in his hamock under the camouflage that has been set up to hide their fighter as Edgar continues to sleep. Shin takes his weapon and goes on a patrol where he comes upon a naked Sara standing in the middle of the body of water (apparently on top of the water) that holds the birdman relics (alien artifacts). She begins singing and as Shin observes, the flowers all around begin to bloom and small artifacts begin to float up in the air. On the beach in her research module, Aries awakens to hear the song. She then observes that the blood cells in the samples are apparently reacting to the song, almost in a snake-like fashion.

Thoughts: Hearing the Japanese use the English "cherry boy" in a sentence as part of an insult just cracks me up.

OK, so Shin gets back to civilization and is on board the Asuka II. So, why didn't he even ask about the Ilastria, which was his old ship? I think I would have at least asked. Regardless, I was surprised that Shin was rescued at all. I had the impression that he'd be stuck on the island for the series. However, the way the writers did this, he'll still be on the island, only not as a crashed pilot.

Next on my list of questions, if the generator worked before and had been used, why is Sara afraid of it? Why would her father say something so daft about lights on Earth killing the stars? I mean, why have a generator in the first place if your beliefs are this way? Not only that, why have every stinking hut connected to it so that they have electric lights if technology is so evil? This made no sense to me at all. After all, someone had to bring the generator over, and the fuel, and then wire the island for electricity.

I was wondering when the singing would come into play since we can't have a Macross anime without singing. Interesting that the Japanese had Sara sing in French (I think it was French). However, when I saw all the flowers start to bloom during the song, I couldn't help but immediately think of Belldandy from Ah! My Goddess (since this is just the kind of thing she'd do -- sing and the flowers would bloom). Still, the story takes a weird twist with Sara's ability.

The battle between Roy's U.N. Spacy squad and the two Russian (Soviet?) fighters was beautifully done. Having the wide shots from the island cave, which clearly saved money on animation, added to he scope, speed, and intensity of the fight in a way I didn't expect. It was really nicely done.

Macross Zero OVA 01

Macross Zero Episode 01 (OVA/Anime)
マクロスゼロ Ep. 01 (OAV)

SPOILER Summary: With the crashing of the alien spaceship that would become SDF Macross, a lengthy world war has broken out between the U.N. Spacy force and the Anti-U.N. forces. When three Anti-U.N. fighters are detected, a group of fighters from the aircraft carrier Ilastria launch to intercept. In that group is a pilot named Shin and his Radar Interceptor Officer, Edgar. The U.N. Spacy fighters defeat the Anti-U.N. fighters with no losses, but soon discover their carrier and its support fleet are under attack from an unknown force. They return, only to be taken out one by one by a mysterious fighter which can transform into a giant, humanoid-like form. Thus, Shin finds himself shot down.

Shin awakens on the island of Mayan in a strange building depicting birdmen. He gets up and taking a wooden sword/spear, he leaves the building and is soon encountered by an old man. Then a young woman followed by a group of children arrive and the young woman wants him to leave the island as his arrival cannot be good for them. He demands to know what happened to Edgar, but an older girl coming out of a coconut tree lands nearby to tell him he was the only one they found. This girl, Mao, tells the young woman, her older sister Sara, that to send Shin away now would draw the unwanted attention of the Kadun. As such, Sara agrees to allow Shin to stay until his wounds heal. Edgar races to the beach where he finds the debris of his fighter but no sign of Edgar.

On the U.N. Spacy carrier Asuka II, a doctor (named Aries) is giving a briefing on some 10,000-year old alien artifacts (code-named AFOS) that have been found on the ocean floor. (These things look a lot like the idols and images that the Mayans have constructed.) After the briefing, Aries finds herself reunited with Roy Focker (who refers to her as "senpai"). She's amazed to find him a pilot in the U.N. Spacy since he'd vowed to go to Nevada if war broke out. However, things changed for him as they did for her.

Back on Mayan, Shin is having to get used to things on the island (including taking a crap). Mao is very keen on learning more about life outside the island, as she has a postcard showing a cityscape. Shin is more interested in the birdmen idols, since to him, they look more like planes. Shin notices there is an old satellite dish and Mao reveals that they have a generator too, but it no longer works. Since all of the able-bodied men and women left the island because of the war, the children and old people who remained behind don't have the skills to repair it. Shin decides he'll fix the generator as thanks for his life. Witnessing a young couple on the beach with the male showing the female his sword-spear, Mao says that this is akin to giving a love letter and Shin laughs, realizing he'd threatened Sara with a love letter.

Back on the Asuka II, Roy briefs some new fliers as they are about to launch a new mission with the new U.N. Spacy fighter, the VF-0 fighter, which can transform into a mecha form. After dismissing the rookies, Roy talks with the chief mechanic about the war and how Roy treats women and fighters the same -- roughly.

Meanwhile back on the island, Shin is in a hammock while Mao listens to a small boom box in a nearby large hut. Sara turns off the music, annoyed with Mao's interest in the technology and the like, feeling it will cause them trouble. Mao points to the photo of their parents, taken by a visitor years before, as proof that technology is not evil. The following day, Shin finds Sara under one of the large huts, making the sword-spears. She's embarrassed as he teases her about it, but is amazed to find that she's apparently made a large number of the "love letters." They talk and Shin starts to make his own sword-spear when Sara has a vision and is afraid that great evil is coming. Outside, Roy Focker is engaged with an Anti-U.N. fighter. In mecha-mode, Roy destroys the other fighter and not noticing those on the ground, he rockets off to help his squad mates. As the fighting is going on near were Mao had been gathering water, Shin races to go help her while Sara is going to evacuate the village.

Thoughts: After having seen episode 10 of Macross Frontier, which featured them shooting a movie recounting the events of Macross Zero, I decided that it was time I watched this prequel series to the original SDF Macross.

I recently commented on the beauty of the animation in Gunsmith Cats and lamented that too often, modern OVA's I'd seen weren't all that impressive to me (good, but not great). Well, the first episode of Macross Zero is very impressive for the CGI animation era. Considering how impressive Macross Frontier TV series has been, I can't say I'm that surprised. It is more like I'm happy to see that Macross Zero was given such a great start in 2002.

While Roy Focker's seiyuu remained the same, his character design makes him unrecognizable to his Macross version. *lol* Don't get me wrong, I don't want that outdated design used today, but it is amazing how much the look defines an animated character as much as the voice.

I'm not sure if this has been done in the other Macross series or not, but it was neat seeing the VF-0 do its transformation. Why? The animators give the audience an idea of how a fighter becomes a mecha unit and what happens to the pilot. I don't need to see it again but the one time is good stuff for me.

As to the story, indeed, scenes from episode 1 I recognized from the Macross Frontier episode I mentioned earlier. So it was nice seeing these things in context.

Based on what I've seen in Macross and Macross Frontier, I'm going to guess that aliens (maybe even the Zentradi) visited the island of Mayan way back when. Heck, maybe the Mayan's are somehow very distantly related.

Overall, an interesting start to things. I look forward to seeing more.

Gakuen Alice Manga Volume 3

Gakuen Alice Manga Volume 3

Summary/Synopsis: Chapter 11 sees Mikan get excited over the forthcoming school festival and get her Alice classmates to actually put together an exhibit. In Chapter 12, Mikan gets to go to Central Town (on the Gakuen Alice grounds) where she discovers the ¥500 paid to no-star rankings doesn't go far. As such, Mikan gets her friends and others in her homeroom to help her raise money to buy some special candy.

Chapter 13 starts a kidnapping story arc. The former Gakuen Alice graduate and now Hollywood star Reo returns to the school for a visit. Mikan is recruited to help try to make contact with the actor, but in doing so, she and Sumire discover Reo and his security are kidnapping Natsume. With chapter 14, Sumire finally reveals her Alice (a combination of cat and dog?) to track down Natsume. Sumire and Mikan end up being kidnapped themselves, where they discover that Natsume works for the Academy as a spy. Mikan and Sumire manage to free themselves and Natsume. Though weak, Natsume gives the two girls cover to escape in chapter 15, but Mikan realizes what Natsume is going to do and returns.

Finally in chapter 16, Mikan prevents Natsume from sacrificing himself and helps him to escape. When Mikan gets hurt by Reo's thugs, Natsume creates a punishing explosion. Officials from the Academy and rescue Mikan and Natsume, both of whom end up in the hospital for a long while. Because of her actions, Mikan finally receives her first star, meaning she now gets a larger allowance and better meals as well as a better place to sleep. In addition, she earns the respect of Luca and Sumire.

Thoughts/Review: Kyaaaa! I love this manga. Seriously, I do. I hope that sales are good enough (or better) so that TokyoPop will continue publishing the manga. Mikan is such a delight to follow. It is amazing how naive she is and even how dependant she seems on others at times. Yet, it is also amazing to see how she's able to just take charge without being bossy.

We've seen this some in the past with Mikan getting Hotaru's or the class president's help. She manipulated her homeroom classmates into the dodgeball game. For volume 3, Mikan works not only her friends, but Luca, the child Yu-chan, and even the kid who reads minds to help her earn enough money to purchase that candy. She gets her Alice classmates (whom are all older than she) to actually participate in the upcoming school festival. Then she basically takes charge during the kidnapping event to make sure Natsume doesn't die. Now that Sumire, whom Mikan calls "Curly" and who went out of her way to put down Mikan, appears to be friends with Mikan, I'm very interested to see where things go.

Natsume is being developed more, which is good. Having him babysit the 3-year old boy Yu-chan may be a bit much, but it worked. Learning about exactly what the Academy has Natsume doing (considering his powerful ability) is interesting. I had a feeling the Academy performed some sort of covert operations with that woman in the mask being Natsume's handler. We'll see where this goes and how Natsume treats Mikan now that (1) she risked herself to save him and (2) he snapped when Mikan got hurt by the thugs. You know, as much as Natsume and Mikan have clashed, I wouldn't be surprised if Higuchi-sensei made them a couple at some point. *lol*

The other interesting thing this manga added was the external threat to the students. Before volume 3, the sinister stuff seemed to come solely from within the school. With the introduction of the organization Z, the threat outside the academy comes off as even greater than the internal threat. This will be fun to see where it goes.

So, how does this woman who looks like Mikan (her mother maybe?) that Reo and Narumi-sensei knew fit into all this?

As for the TokyoPop release, the honorifics are there which is cool. The Japanese terms for "big brother" are not used, but that ends up making the read a bit awkward when discussing Sumire and her older brother. Personally, I think TokyoPop should just go with the Japanese terms but oh well.

I'm really looking forward to volume 4. ^_^